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2 • THE MUSIC • 10TH DECEMBER 2014
THE MUSIC • 10TH DECEMBER 2014 • 3
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CONTRIBUTORS Alice Bopf, Amorina Fitzgerald-Hood, Anthony Carew, Baz McAlister, Ben Marnane, Ben Preece, Benny Doyle, Bradley Armstrong, Brendan Telford, Brie Jorgensen, Carley Hall, Chris Yates, Cyclone, Dan Condon, Daniel Johnson, Dave Drayton, Guy Davis, Helen Stringer, Jake Sun, Jazmine O’Sullivan, Lochlan Watt, Madeleine Laing, Mandy McAlister, Michael Smith, Mitch Knox, Paul Mulkearns, Roshan Clerkea, Sam Hobson, Sky Kirkham, Sophie Blackhall-Cain, Tessa Fox, Tom Hersey, Tony McMahon, Tyler McLoughlan
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THIS WEEK THINGS TO DO THIS WEEK • 10 DEC - 16 DEC 2014
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The second Saturday of each month is like a beacon for vinyl collectors because that’s when the Brisbane Record Fair rolls out, held over three convenient locations at The Hi-Fi, Boundary Hotel and Rumpus Room in the heart of West End. There’s a swag of different sellers each with their own areas of interest and expertise, so if wax is your thing and you want to expand your collection head along and get digging. Best of all, it’s absolutely free!
We’re a long way away from the awesome goodness that is Victoria’s Meredith Festival, but it’s good when we get the residual shows from the cream of the awesome lineup! This week you can check out Cloud Nothings, pictured, The Lemonheads, Sleep and The War On Drugs on local stages, plus there’s already been a couple last week and Ty Segall will breeze though town next week as well.
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It’s been an absolutely incredible year for local rockers Violent Soho, who won over all comers with the awesomeness of their amazing Hungry Ghost album (which dropped late-2013). They’ve sold out tours, dominated Splendour, ruled the airwaves and best of all done it in their own inimitable style without compromising in the slightest. They’ve made Brisbane proud by being themselves, and this Saturday night they return to their home ground of Mansfield Tavern to celebrate a year to remember. Get along and smoke ‘em if you’ve got ‘em! BRISBANE
rock
THE MUSIC • 10TH DECEMBER 2014 • 5
national news news@themusic.com.au DZ DEATHRAYS
GUY PEARCE AND ROBERT PATTINSON IN THE ROVER
AACTA NOMS DZ DOES IT
After recently taking home their second ARIA Award for Best Heavy/Hard Rock Release, DZ Deathrays will hit the road again, announcing a huge national tour to kick off 2015 with Bass Drum Of Death and Hockey Dad. The Get Rich Or Drunk Tryin’ tour will visit Northcote Social Club, Melbourne, 27 & 28 Feb; Amplifier Bar, Perth, 6 Mar; Prince Of Wales, Bunbury, 7 Mar; Newport Hotel, Fremantle, 8 Mar; Newtown Social Club, Sydney, 11 & 12 Mar; The Brightside, Brisbane, 13 Mar; and The Farmer And The Owl festival, Wollongong, 14 Mar. Proudly presented by The Music.
TOUR WITH HART
The fourth AACTA Awards (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts) nominations have been announced, with winners revealed on Channel Ten on 29 Jan. Musicians Warren Ellis and Nick Cave received nominations for Best Original Music Score, while INXS: Never Tear Us Apart led to a Best Lead Actor nom for its star. Other nominees include actors Kat Stewart, Richard Roxburgh, Guy Pearce and Russell Crowe.
DETH IS THE WORD
An outsider musician, actor and painter who claims to have communicated with aliens, collects puppets and loves trains, American David Liebe Hart is probably best known for his work with Cartoon Network. With a brand new album, Astronaut, ready to drop, Hart is returning to Australia: The Brightside, Brisbane, 19 Mar; Hermanns Bar, Sydney, 21 Mar; Evelyn Hotel, Melbourne, 22 Mar; and Mojo’s Bar, Perth, 27 Mar.
Megadeth’s cofounder and bass player David Ellefson visits Australia in March, for a spoken word tour he’s dubbed My Life With Deth, the title of his autobiography: 19 Mar, The Hi-Fi, Melbourne; 20 Mar, Factory Theatre, Sydney; 21 Mar, The Hi-Fi, Brisbane; and 25 Mar at Civic Backroom, Perth.
GET DOWN ANN VRIEND
VRIENDLY RETURN
Canadian singer, songwriter and pianist Ann Vriend is following the release of her latest album, For The People In The Mean Time, with another tour of Australia that sees her play 1 Feb, Brisbane Jazz Club; 8 Feb, Ellington Jazz Club, Perth; 12 Feb, Paris Cat, Melbourne; 19 Feb, Camelot Lounge, Sydney and 20 Feb, Smiths Alternative Bookshop, Canberra. Proudly presented by The Music.
AVICII
THEY DON’T ID
The world’s largest under 18s festival, Good Life returns with a huge line-up. Avicii, Afrojack, Martin Garrix, Will Sparks v Timmy Trumpet v Joel Fletcher, Blasterjaxx, Frontliner, Carnage, Tigerlilly, Uberjak’d, Slice N Dice, and Some Blonde DJ will be doing DJ sets, with Bliss N Eso, Havana Brown and Allday playing live: 1 Mar, Royal Randwick Racecourse, Sydney; 2 Mar, HBF Arena, Perth; 6 Mar, Brisbane Showgrounds, Brisbane; and 9 Mar, Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne.
TRENDING WORLDWIDE ON TWITTER! STELLA YOUNG WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT WAS A HOOT. MARK SCOTT [@MSCOTT] AND SO MANY OTHERS PAY THEIR RESPECTS TO DISABILITY ACTIVIST, COMEDIAN AND WRITER STELLA YOUNG, WHO HAS PASSED AWAY AGED 32. VALE. 6 • THE MUSIC • 10TH DECEMBER 2014
Chicago house icon Derrick Carter will be enjoying his New Year celebrations in Australia this year, playing TBC Club, Brisbane, 27 Dec; Stables Bar, Perth, 28 Dec; Greenwood Hotel, Sydney, 1 Jan (day); and New Guernica, Melbourne, 1 Jan (night).
YOU LUCA’N AT ME?
Tasmania’s loveable punks Luca Brasi are hitting the mainland for a national tour in March showcasing their second album, By A Thread. Luca Brasi play 11 Mar, The Small Ballroom, Newcastle; 12 Mar, Crowbar, Brisbane; 13 Mar, Newtown Social Club, Sydney; 14 Mar, Northcote Social Club, Melbourne; 15 Mar, Wrangler Studios, Melbourne; 21 Mar, Amplifier Bar, Perth; and 22 Mar, YMCA HQ, Perth.
INTO THE GROOVE
The 2015 dates for the 11th edition of Groovin The Moo have been announced. The festival will hit Bunbury on 26 Apr, Bendigo on 2 May, Canberra on 3 May, Maitland on 9 May, and finally Townsville on 10 May. Tickets are on sale 3 Feb and the line-up’s out 28 Jan.
MORE SMITHS
It’s been a fortnight since The Smith Street Band finished their last tour of the nation and that’s long enough. Their next tour hits 31 Jan, The Hi-Fi, Melbourne; 1 Feb, Northcote Social Club, Melbourne; 6 Feb, The Hi-Fi, Brisbane; 7 Feb, Crowbar, Brisbane; 13 Feb, Metro Theatre, Sydney; 14 Feb, Factory Theatre, Sydney; 15 Feb, Belconnen Magpies, Canberra; and 27 Feb at Rosemount Hotel, Perth. With more dates at theMusic.com.au.
JONSON STREET BYRON BAY THU 11 DEC
NEW NAVY VINNIE LADUCE IF I HAD ANTLERS FRI 12 DEC
THE LAZYS SAT 13 DEC
GAY PARIS FRI 19 DEC
BOOTLEG RASCAL SAT 20 DEC
TY SEGALL FRI 26 DEC
DROP LEGS TUE 30 DEC
RYAN INGLES 6PM
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GOONS OF DOOM OCEAN ALLEY THE BADLANDS DJ CHRIS BRADLEY FRI 2 JAN
LYALL MOLONEY SAT 3 JAN
ELEGANT SHIVA IRISH SESSION WITH:
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THU 8 JAN
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TROPICAL ZOMBIE SUN 11 JAN
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IRISH SESSION WITH:
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STEVE SMYTH WED 21 JAN
THE GROWLERS FRI 23 JAN
THE COATHANGERS TICKETS AVAILABLE ONLINE WWW.THENORTHERN.COM.AU
THE MUSIC • 10TH DECEMBER 2014 • 7
local news
FRONTLASH
qld.news@themusic.com.au
GRAVEYARD SHIFT
Extremely sad to hear of the passing of former Faces and Small Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan, who died last week after a stroke. A talented musician and by all accounts a cracking bloke.
Nordic metal legends Graveyard have been busy of late, what with releasing their own beer brand and winning a Swedish Grammy. Their 2011 record, Hisingen Blues topped numerous end-of-year lists, and now they’re coming down to start your year: 6 Mar, Crowbar.
VALE BOBBY KEYS
FALLS NOT FULL
VALE IAN MCLAGAN
Another sad musical departure was that of long-term saxophonist for The Rolling Stones, Bobby Keys, who passed last week after a long illness. He was rocking out until nearly the very end.
BETTER BE GOOD Child protection activists have called for an end to children sitting on Santa’s knee, presumably in case old Saint Nick is a sex offender. As we say every couple of weeks now, this new PC world is fucking insane.
MAGIC MATESHIP
BACKLASH
O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!
Hey slacker! You waited on buying Falls Festival Byron Bay tickets and now you can’t go. But now’s your chance to prove it. 2,500 extra tickets are now available for the festival’s second year at North Byron Parklands, 30 Dec – 3 Jan.
DOWN WITH THE BLUES
After hosting the successful inaugural Australia Day North Coast Rock ‘n’ Blues Event in January 2014 and the Big Names Of Blues shows in April and November, the Caloundra Power Boat Club is presenting the second Australian North Coast Rock ‘n’ Blues Event, taking place 25 Jan next year at Caloundra Power Boat Club, upstairs in Pelican’s Room, Woorim Park. Bondi Cigars, Lil’ Fi & The Late Night Revival, Marshall OKell & The Pride, The Walters, Barry Charles & The Deeper Beat, Tim Gaze and Matt Stillert will all be performing.
Michael Clarke has been an absolute rock in the last week as he’s helped farewell his friend and teammate Phil Hughes. His eulogy at the funeral was heartfelt and inspirational, kudos Pup.
FIRE & BRIMSTONE Gamers furious that GTAV has been banned from department stores for being “misogynistic” started a petition to ban the “sickening and violent” Holy Bible from same stores. Don’t use logic with the PC police or point out their hypocrisy, it just confuses them.
NORTHERN EXPOSURE Well done to the eight QLD artists who made the AMP long-list this year. No doubt they’ll all be cut by the shortlist as usual, but it’s a start anyway...
8 • THE MUSIC • 10TH DECEMBER 2014
MASTODON
HUGE AND HEAVY
Fourteen years since erupting out of Atlanta, Georgia, USA, Mastodon remain one of the true innovators in the field of contemporary heavy metal. They recently released their sixth album, Once More Round The Sun, and they’re coming our way 29 Mar, Eatons Hill Hotel.
BEACH GOTH GRRR
Fresh from several months of touring the US, the UK and Europe, including their own Beach Goth Festival, California’s psyched-out five-piece The Growlers are returning to Australia to give us another dose of their latest album, Chinese Fountain. They play 22 Jan Coolangatta Hotel; 23 Jan, The Triffid; and 25 Jan, Sol Bar, Sunshine Coast.
HOME WITH ADAM
Finally stepping out from the immense shadow of his father, Adam Cohen, son of Leonard, recently released his fifth album, We Go Home, and he’ll be performing songs from it and the previous album, Like A Man, when he comes to Australia in March. He plays The Tivoli, 20 Mar.
FREAKY STYLEY
Argentinian dance duo Frikstailers (pronounced ‘freak-stylers’) will bring their eclectic party grooves to town on 14 Jan at The Zoo. Rising from the eclectic Buenos Aires cumbia scene, the duo’s infectious style of psychedelic tropicality will be complemented by guests Sabrosa and Honky Kong ft Scorpio and Archie.
TECH IT OUT
Rapper and founder of the Strange Music record label Tech N9ne will be in the country in March for a slew of his famous live shows. Having appeared on countless TV shows, in movies and featured on video games, you’ll recognise his tunes: Eatons Hill Hotel, 11 Mar. SAMANTHA HARRIS
FLICKERFEST UNDERWAY AGAIN
Australia’s only Academyaccredited and BAFTArecognised short film festival Flickerfest had its launch on 7 Dec. Guests included official trailer star Samantha Harris, Wayne Blair, Rachel Coopes and George Mason. Screening to 50 venues across Australia, the festival will officially begin on 9 Jan in Sydney for ten days before going country-wide. Tickets and full programme released 18 Dec.
THE BIGGER CHILL
The Big Chill festival have more than doubled the size of their already impressive line-up, adding Kingfisha, Captain Dreamboat, Schoolfight, Born Fresh ft Rainman, Calski, Joe Ave, I Am D, Prophet Rayza, Astro Travellers, Nick One, HTO Twerk Team, Tigermoth, Progressive Tan and Desmond Cheese. 31 Dec, Boundary Street Markets.
LA BOITE CHANGES
Artistic Director and CEO of La Boite Theatre Company, Chris Kohn has stepped down from his position in order to return to Victoria with his family. Todd MacDonald has been appointed to the position and will lead La Boite into its 90th birthday 2015 program.
ROCKING THE WORLD
British rock legends Uriah Heep are returning to Australia in March next year for the first time since 2011, when they celebrated their 40th anniversary tour: Eatons Hill Hotel, Brisbane, 26 Mar.
local news qld.news@themusic.com.au TAYLOR SWIFT
GUY PEARCE & DARREN MIDDLETON
IN THE MIDDLE
Guy Pearce and former Powderfinger guitarist Darren Middleton are an unexpected pair. Pearce, mostly known for his film career has recently released a surprisingly well made record, Broken Bones. Middleton will join him, in support of his solo record, Translations. 12 Feb, QPAC; and 13 Feb, Nambour Civic Centre. Proudly presented by The Music.
BLANK SPACE FILLED
Whatever 1989 meant to you, it’s proven a very popular year for Taylor Swift, her album of that name selling four million copies and counting. That album is of course getting Swift back together with Australia, and opening for her 5 Dec, Suncorp Stadium is Vance Joy.
BACK IN TOWN
Fresh off the plane from a dreamlike jaunt to the UK for a pair of sold out London shows, Aussie singer-songwriter Lisa Mitchell has announced a Sydney show at the Black Bear Lodge, 2 Apr. Now back on home soil, the announcement coincides with the success of new single Wah Ha.
SOLID FORM
Austin-based singer-songwriter Shakey Graves is making his way Down Under with his debut Australian release, And The War Came. This will be Shakey Graves’ first voyage to Oz, so it’ll be a perfect chance to discover what all the fuss is about: The Triffid, 6 Mar.
THE MUSIC • 10TH DECEMBER 2014 • 9
film
INIMITABLE Benedict Cumberbatch doesn’t think society is as progressive as it believes it is, and his new film The Imitation Game “isn’t a history lesson”, learns Liz Galinovic.
B
enedict Cumberbatch aims his steely gaze at a journalist who’s dared to suggest that legally enforced chemical castration as a form of punishment for a man’s sexuality is something we in the 21st century can’t imagine occurring today. “Can’t we?” His eyebrow rises. “I don’t know. People are being beheaded in parts of the world because they’re gay. It’s barbaric to think of it going on now, here, in a western democracy, but you know, the birthplace of democracy, Greece, during its period of austerity has seen the rise of the Golden Dawn. Men and women are being beaten up in public because of being gay. Russia’s attitude to homosexuality is terrifying. This
and adulthood, mostly focusing on his remarkable achievements during WWII. It was during this time that Turing and his team of cryptoanaysts broke the German Enigma code – the code used by the Nazis to communicate everything from the weather to their battle plans – thereby significantly turning the tables in Allies’ favour, shortening the war by two to four years, and possibly saving us all from global Nazism. Sadly, in 1952 he was charged with gross indecency (read: being gay) and opted for oestrogen injections designed to lower his libido over two years in
like, ‘Ok, we can just pay you a fraction of your salary, can you come edit this movie?’ and he said yes.” Even as Tyldum was trying to convince Cumberbatch, he found Cumberbatch trying to convince him. “He is very passionate about this. And it’s such a complex character; the strength, the vulnerability, the awkwardness of this lonely boy who lost so much. Benedict is able to portray all that at the same time.” At times The Imitation Game is a gripping race against the clock as Turing and his team work each day to build a machine that will crack the Enigma code before the Nazis change it again at midnight. But it’s also peppered with plenty of humour which, Cumberbatch says, was as much about being true to Turing’s character as it was about making an entertaining film. “People say how much did you invent and how much did you add into it? The fact is that it was all there,” Tyldum says, picking up speed with excitement. “The spy that MI6 knew about, he was there; the crossword which you see in the newspaper is the actual crossword that Alan Turing made when he recruited people to MI6. I mean just the idea of recruiting people to MI6 with a crossword, that’s crazy! But he did. He wrote a letter to Churchill, Churchill responded, this is all actual event. He got engaged to
BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH AS ALAN TURING IN THE IMITATION GAME
“IT’S SADLY, AMAZINGLY CURRENT AND IMPORTANT TO REALISE THAT PEOPLE SCAPEGOAT MINORITIES IN TIMES OF HARDSHIP.”
[The Imitation Game] isn’t a history lesson. It’s sadly, amazingly current and important to realise that people scapegoat minorities in times of hardship, in times of nationalism or fascism, any form, whether it’s political or social. We have to be on our guard for it.” Cumberbatch, along with writer Graham Moore, director Morten Tyldum, and co-stars Keira Knightley, Allen Leech and Matthew Beard, are promoting the release of The Imitation Game: a film that is part-spy thriller, part-WWII biopic, part-LGBT rights tale, and entirely based on the real, fascinating, and ultimately tragic life of Alan Turing. “It’s such a unique and fascinating character,” Tyldum says of Turing. “You just fall in love with him and his story. He is an outsider. I wanted to make a movie about celebrating somebody who is different, about being somebody who is not normal and how important that is.” Alan Turing, a young boy with a stammer, bullied at school for being different, was a genius. He went on to become a mathematician, a code breaker, a philosopher, and a pioneer in computer science. He pretty much invented the modern computer. He was also homosexual in a time when being gay was illegal. The film has a lot to pack in, which it does by moving in a non-linear time sequence between Turing’s youth 10 • THE MUSIC • 10TH DECEMBER 2014
prison. He died of cyanide poisoning two years later. An independent film on a small budget – so small that according scriptwriter Graham Moore they didn’t even have heat in the studio – Turing’s legacy seems to have moved anyone who was sent the script. As Tyldum enthusiastically explains, “Everybody we asked said yes to be a part of this. I got all my favourite actors, I got my favourite composer – Alexandre Desplat – who is the hardest composer to get to do anything because he’s always so busy, and he wanted to be part of it. We got Billy [William] Goldenberg, who just won an Oscar for Argo and we were
Joan Clark, he told her ‘I’m gay,’ she said ‘I don’t care.’ It was so rich, there was so much there. We wanted to make this movie as entertaining and fun as possible.” That this is a special film for Tyldum’s cast is obvious. Everyone from Leech and Beard, to Cumberbatch and Knightley, speak of Turing with warmth and admiration, and of the societal circumstances that lead to his tragic end with distaste. “When I read the script,” Cumberbatch says with furrowed brows. “I was amused and intrigued and flabbergasted and then confused and angry and very upset. When I was doing the last scenes, there were a couple of takes at the beginning of the day and I just couldn’t stop crying. And it wasn’t acting, or good acting, it was being very in tune to someone. It was near the end of me playing him so I felt defensive of him and reasonably close to him. It destroyed me and then I couldn’t lay the scene, I had to stop. It still makes me very angry. This guy is a national hero. He should be with Isaac Newton and Darwin as one of the greatest scientific minds we’ve ever had. A philosopher, a war hero, and a gay icon.” WHAT: The Imitation Game In cinemas 1 Jan
THE CLIMB As the second cycle in Middle-earth comes to a gritty conclusion in The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies, Peter Jackson and the cast muse over a fantastic legacy. Brendan Telford reports.
A
s the concluding “chapter” of The Hobbit saga, The Battle Of The Five Armies, looms, it provides one last chance for fans of the Tolkien world to immerse themselves in Middle-earth, brought to life by Peter Jackson. Picking up where The Desolation Of Smaug left off, there is a sense of impending despair that the journey is coming to an end. There has been a strong sense of responsibility that the stories and characters are delivered without disappointing generations of fans twice over. No one has felt this more than Jackson. “But I don’t have those responsibilities anymore,” Jackson chuckles. “Any film is a responsibility because you are spending money that’s not yours… and you are trying to entertain people. For me utter failure is making a film where people pay money to go to see and don’t like. Once we knew we were creating a Tolkien
SIR IAN MCKELLAN AS GANDALF THE GREY
ST VINCENT, INTO THE WOODS, BIRDMAN, INHERENT VICE
THE SUMMER FILMS TO SEE ST VINCENT In our eyes, Bill Murray can do no wrong, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t nice to see him back in the comedy saddle proper with St Vincent. After a number of years getting by on cameos and less outwardly wacky fare, Murray returns to a sense of comedic comfort in Theodore Melfi’s directorial debut feature, in which he plays alcohol-and-gambling-prone war-vet retiree Vincent MacKenna, who is conscripted by his neighbour Maggie (Melissa McCarthy) to watch over her 12-year-old son, Oliver ( Jaeden Lieberher). In cinemas 26 Dec
INTO THE WOODS
movie we knew we had to create battle scenes and characters and creatures that didn’t exist. The technology has been driven by the story being told. That combined with the way the cast managed to find the truth of these characters... it has all been an overwhelming and deeply satisfying achievement for all involved.”
Mega fairytale crossover musical Into The Woods holds a very special place in a lot of people’s hearts and minds. To hear the title instantly evokes memories of shitty VHS recordings of the original 1987 Broadway production; of its knowing humour and dalliances with sex and violence; of its memorable lyrics and clever, multi-threaded plot… all of which makes Disney’s Into The Woods, the 2014 allstar ensemble piece featuring Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine, James Corden and (for some reason) Johnny Depp. It has all the tools – story, heart, humour, imagination – to be a family favourite for years to come, but there’s just an inescapable sinking feeling about the whole thing, like we just signed over a healthy, productive cow for a sack of dubious beans and Johnny Depp. In cinemas 8 Jan
BIRDMAN
Taking on the hobbit feet of Bilbo Baggins, Martin Freeman embodies the lighter, grounded heart of the trilogy. “It gives you an opportunity to grow and expand inside what you are doing, so I have loved getting to expand inside Bilbo over the course of three years,” says Freeman. “I was always having the conversation with Peter of when I would get to be angry and show that different side, and he would always be saying, ‘It’s coming, it’s coming.’ You learn patience; the parts that you believe in and want to show in a character, those moments will come.”
Welcome back, Michael Keaton. After fading into relative obscurity following his career-defining/career-killing turn as the Caped Crusader in Tim Burton’s two Batman flicks, Keaton stands to make the kind of comeback that is quickly becoming the staple move among ‘80s stars deemed has-beens by the ‘90s. And what better way to do that than by starring in a film about a faded superhero-movie star looking to reignite his career on the stage, dappling it with surrealist, existential window-dressing and giving it an A-list support cast (Emma Stone, Edward Norton, Zach Galifianakis, Naomi Watts)?
Sir Ian McKellen’s iconic characterisation of Gandalf has become a classic character. “I said goodbye to Gandalf in 2000 when I left New Zealand; here we are in 2014 and it goes on and on,” McKellen smirks. “It has been the blessing of my professional life. I was impressed by the age of the kids who had slept out to see the premiere. Our work is part of their lives, and what are we doing it for other than to have an effect that can be crucial to them?”
In cinemas 15 Jan
WHAT: The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies In cinemas 26 Dec
INHERENT VICE Crime-comedy caper Inherent Vice is something of an unknown prospect – directed by Paul Thomas Anderson (The Master), it is the first feature film to be based on a book by Thomas Pynchon, and stars Joaquin Phoenix as private investigator and (in the novel, at least) total pothead Larry “Doc” Sportello, who is called upon to investigate the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend’s boyfriend. It’s a simple enough case, but that’s not where it ends. Doc finds himself pulled into a web of mystery involving everyone from his old LAPD rival, Detective Christian “Bigfoot” Bjornsen ( Josh Brolin), to Eric Roberts’ real estate mogul Mickey Wolfmann. In cinemas 5 Feb THE MUSIC • 10TH DECEMBER 2014 • 11
music
DIRTY DEEDS The Peep Tempel’s frontman and songwriter Blake Scott takes Steve Bell on a stroll through the sleazy underbelly of society inhabiting their second long-player, Tales.
music
hese days Aussie rock’n’roll doesn’t come much more dirty and debauched than the music of Melbourne trio The Peep Tempel. And it’s not just the raucous yet somehow groovy music – their twisted narratives are full of lowlife characters caught in seedy situations, and distinctly Australian in nature (although not in the way that fills you with national pride).
T
is their first long-player with this settled line-up. It’s still dark and gritty and strange, but the ideas seem more fully realised, making it an excellent progression in both ambition and delivery.
Starting out life as a duo utilising just guitar and drums, they soon found this format so restrictive that – having brought in a ringer to play bass on their eponymous 2012 debut album – they got bassist Stewart Rayner to join the ranks, and their new second long-player Tales
“With Tales we were looking to have a little bit more dynamic – we still have that live, loose feel to it, but the first album is pretty much red-lined all the way through in terms of pace and that sort of thing, so we just wanted to have a little bit more dynamic to this record and a little more space in the music,” frontman Blake Scott explains. “When we first started Steve [Carter – drums] and I were actually
quite deliberately trying to write almost disco music. It was, like, ‘Let’s write these punk songs and you put a disco beat on it!’ We thought we were the funniest people on earth, but even though it’s not the most original idea it seems to have stayed.” And those relentlessly squalid narratives with the cavalcades of sleazy characters are also in for the long haul. “It’s all pretty seedy,” Scott chuckles. “To us you build a soundscape or a musical bed, and from that you build a character. The characters that are built for these songs are not meant to be anyone in particular – they’re just like a faceless character and an amalgamation of different experiences and different people. I guess some of it’s lowlevel crim and that sorta thing – I suppose in an Australian sense you can look at David Wenham’s character in [2003 crime flick] Gettin’ Square, there’s a lot of those sorta dudes in our songs. There’s a lot of parachute jacket-wearing guys. “We try to keep a bit of humour without being derogatory or offensive, and that’s why there’s never any references to any actual person in any of the songs – we just build these characters that have something to do with this place called The Peep Tempel, which originally was a strip club in Vienna which had the symbol of a naked lady with skulls and crossbones underneath it. I don’t even know what the fuck that means but it conjures up the image of some pretty seedy and likely characters, so we just wanted to have a bit of fun with the lyrics. A bit of a gag and some larrikinism.” WHEN & WHERE: 13 Dec, Crowbar
THE LAST GOODBYE The dynamic singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading tells Jazmine O’Sullivan why she’s decided to make her forthcoming world tour her last.
W
hen the news came that Joan Armatrading, whose career spans over six decades now, had announced her final world tour, there can be no doubt of the collective feelings of despair among her legions of fans across the globe. Her Australian fans have had the privilege of witnessing her prowess on the stage several times, notably her standout performances at the Byron Bay Blues & Roots Festival over the years. With the reaction from her fans in mind, Armatrading explains that her age is a contributing factor in calling it quits for the major touring circuit. “From when the tour first starts off they tend to go for 18 months, and when I tour I like to do it all in one go and not have great big long breaks in the middle of it. I’m sixty-three now, I’m sixtyfour at the end of the year, and I’ll be sixty-five when the tour is finished. If I were to record again I would be about sixty-seven when it was finished, which means I would be sixty-nine when that was all finished, and I don’t really want to be on the road non-stop at that age.” Armatrading is a woman who has come a long way, both professionally and personally, as she recalls. “In the beginning I was so shy. I think all the audience ever used to see was the top of my head, and the record company that I was with at the time knew I could sing but they didn’t know I could talk – so being on stage was quite traumatic, I’m surprised I did it actually. But 12 • THE MUSIC • 10TH DECEMBER 2014
over the years you’d hear the applause, and the audience would come up to see you afterwards and tell you how much they’ve enjoyed your performance and what it means to them, and that just builds the confidence and makes it less frightening.” Armatrading intends making this last world tour really count, both for herself and her audience. “I have a feeling it is going to be emotional, and that’s one of the reasons I’ve chosen to do intimate shows. Half the shows are between 300 and 500 seaters, and then the other half are in larger theatres, and I’ve deliberately done that to get this sort of atmosphere
that I want to create and these memories that I want to create for myself.” Armatrading has also managed to find a way to make things new by taking the stage completely solo for the very first time. “I’ve had to acquaint myself with playing some of the songs actually,” Armatrading admits. “Even though I have written some of the songs and initially I would have played some of them on stage, over the years I’ve stopped playing and just sang. I haven’t played the piano on stage since 1976 and I haven’t done a world tour on my own before either, so there’s quite a lot that’s making me anxious about this tour really,” she laughs. “But the audience only has me to look at this time, so hopefully they’ll be alright with that.” WHEN & WHERE: 14 Dec, QPAC
THE MUSIC • 10TH DECEMBER 2014 • 13
music
I WISH I WAS HIM Evan Dando is in a sharing mood and Bryget Chrisfield learns about his smackie past (“I’ve done the whole face in the tagliatelle in the fancy restaurant”), before being serenaded with a spontaneous version of Ben Lee’s tribute to The Lemonheads frontman.
“O
h my god, I cannot believe that he didn’t cancel these interviews. I’ll do it, but...” Are you sure? Happy to do it another time if you can’t be bothered. “No, well, it’s more than that,” The Lemonheads frontman Evan Dando explains. “We’re in the middle of writing a song right now, me and Tom Morgan. But you know what? It’s fine. Stay put. Why not? We’re having a good time anyway, so let’s do it.” The songwriting session’s going well? “Yeah, it’s going great.
We’ve got, like, seven songs done already.” Dando is definitely in high spirits once Morgan has given him his blessing to go ahead with this interview. After proudly pointing out that he kicked the heroin habit a year ago, Dando adds, “I still like doing coke. I’m not an idiot, you know, I can still get high, but I do not do heroin anymore. It takes your soul away, it really does... I can’t say that I’m sorry I did it, but I didn’t mean to do it as much as I did it. “It doesn’t matter how you take it. Everyone says, ‘Oh, as long as they’re not shooting up’ – it doesn’t matter.
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A lot of my friends have overdosed by snorting it because they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing, you know? That’s the thing with heroin. But luckily I was always careful.” So has Dando ever nodded out? “I’ve done the whole face in the tagliatelle in the fancy restaurant, yeah. I’ve done all that,” he confesses. When asked to share some tips on how to smoke a cigarette while playing guitar without squinting or getting smoke in your eye, Dando jests, “I can’t really give you suggestions, because you’ve gotta be cool as fuck, you know, like me.” Another party trick, his “impression of infinity”, sounds like a whistling windstorm. “I’m really proud of myself. I’m still here, man, and people need to remember that, like, ‘Fuck it! Who cares if he did that stupid cover of Mrs Robinson,’ [laughs] which I FUCKIN’ hate too.” Then Dando gets excited. “Hey, check it out! One important thing was, on Alison’s Starting To Happen – you’ll hear it, the part when it goes, ‘Doodoo-doo-doo, BEN!!!’ We sampled that; because Ben Deily left the band, it was about that. We discuss whether or not sampling was popular in the ‘80s, and of course, Dando just adores Beastie Boys. “I fuckin’ LOVE Beastie Boys. Remember? Ben Lee sang about it, “He loves Smudge and Beastie Boys” [laughs]. Remember that song? That was on Ben Lee’s first record.” He picks up his guitar and proceeds to sing I Wish I Was Him, Lee’s tribute song to Dando, concluding with a loud strum. WHEN & WHERE: 12 Dec, The Zoo To read the full interview head to theMusic.com.au
AWAKE AND BAKED Like the stereotypically lackadaisical stoner, it’s taken doom metal outfit Sleep five years to ease themselves back into releasing music. Bassist/vocalist Al Cisneros and drummer Jason Roeder chat to Tom Hersey about respecting the Riff.
I
n 1998, Sleep released a version of an hour-andthree-minute song that would go on to earn them a place in the hearts of an entire generation of bleary-eyed metalheads. But before Dopesmoker would ever see the light of day, Sleep had broken up. It wouldn’t be ‘til 2009 that the band decided to play some shows to support the release, but from there things started going well. There were some hiccups along the way – original drummer Chris Hakius bailed to raise his kids, guitarist Matt Pike went through a stint in rehab – but the power of the band had not diminished one iota. So if the band is still on the top of its game, they should be releasing music, right? Well, until several months ago, that wasn’t the case. Sleep were content to focus on their chemistry in the live area. Then the band released a single as part of this year’s Adult Swim Summer Singles Program. With The Clarity, Sleep pioneered new ground. Not only is it the band’s first official recording with Jason Roeder, but it also showcases a sound that’s less hazy than what was captured on Dopesmoker. It was also put out by a cartoon television channel: “They offered us some recording money and a simple idea: we put out a free song for you and you make it whatever you want it to be. If only record labels operated the same way years
14 • THE MUSIC • 10TH DECEMBER 2014
ago,” Roeder explains. The Clarity updates Sleep’s sound by adding traces of High On Fire and notes of Al Cisneros’ doom metal supergroup Shrinebuilder. It’s as slow and heavy as ever, but notes of the technicality learned over nearly 20 years can also be heard. All of which serves to make the band’s slavish legion of fans want to know where the band is going next even more. But Sleep aren’t pandering to their fans about when anything is going to be ready. Though there have been reports that a full-length is in the works, when Cisneros and Roeder sit down to talk to The
Music they’re keeping their cards close to their chests. “It will happen organically, and only when/if it’s ready. We all respect The Riff and know not to force our will upon it,” Roeder says about when fans will hear album number four from Sleep. “We are careful not to place too much in front of us or announce anything until it’s ready to go. It’s less stress and it lets us be present and enjoy playing as we go… The Riff decides, Sleep obeys.” Cisneros adds, “Yeah – we all know if a song is complete. The process is actually the goal. Then you end up with songs eventually. The Iommic path makes itself clear. Attention must be paid during the process then songs automatically evolve.” You better get comfortable on your favourite couch, and maybe grab another packet of Doritos to snack on, because you might have to wait a while for the sequel to Dopesmoker, Cisneros says. “After all the obstacles Sleep faced, just being able to simply play music, write songs, is its own reward.” WHEN & WHERE: 11 Dec, The Hi-Fi
THE MUSIC • 10TH DECEMBER 2014 • 15
music
TAKING THE SIXTH Relieved that Scotland has chosen to remain “part of the Union”, UK folk-punk troubadour Frank Turner talks Michael Smith through his “difficult” sixth record.
I
t’s a little over a year-and-a-half since Frank Turner released his fifth album, Tape Deck Heart, the followup to his “break-out” album, 2011’s England Keep My Bones, which reached #12 in the UK charts and earned him some internet heat for “selling out”. Yet he’s well into recording the next album, with 18 songs he’s yet to convince himself all necessarily work. Either way, he’s taking a new approach to the business of making a record – or rather trying to recall an old one.
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“I’ve got this whole kind of bee in my bonnet,” he explains, “about the idea. I sort of feel like there’s nothing inherently exciting about doing a sixth record and so it seems to me that the onus is on me to kind of reinvent slightly or at least just try and find some track that’s interesting, and on this record it sounds and feels like a debut album, you know. I think a lot of bands get to the point where, when they’re on album six it all becomes slightly automatic and by rote almost, and I want to obviously avoid that as much as possible. When bands make debut records, they generally just load into the studio
and play their songs like they’re doing their live set, so I want to try and recapture that to a degree.” To that end, rather than present the songs to his band when The Sleeping Souls go in to record, they’ve already been playing them at live shows. As for what sort of direction the new songs are taking… “The last record that I did had sort of a break-up kind of vibe, which was cathartic to do but I’m quite sort of pleased that that is done – it’s quite liberating so I can write about other things. Without getting too deep into the details, I wrote a break-up record, I had a rough time in my personal life but I’ve also since experienced the joys of being on the wrong end of the press and Twitter and that kind of thing, which was a new thing for me, so there was a rocky period for a time there but I came through it thanks to my friends, and I guess the general sort of spirit of the new songs is kind of defiance in a way. It’s kind of a record about saying, like, ‘Fuck you. I’m still here. It’s going to take more than that to kill me’ kind of thing. So that’s the sort of general spirit. “I find recording quite intimidating just because when you’re playing live, you get to kind of reinvent every night, d’ya know what I mean? If you play a song badly or in a way that doesn’t quite work one night, then you can play it again the next night and swap things around. With recording, you’re capturing definitive versions on acetate and there’s something that’s just quite scary about that – that’s how everyone’s gonna hear it forever.” WHEN & WHERE: 5 Apr, Bluesfest, Byron Bay
HEART OF GLASS Glass Animals met as tweens and drummer Joe Seaward (adorably) admits to Bryget Chrisfield, “I now have two families, which is cool, and I love them both equally”. And, like any family, the bandmates are equally capable of pushing each other’s buttons.
T
hey seem such nice, wholesome lads, so the fact that one of Glass Animals’ songs was originally called ‘Crystal Meth’ comes as a surprise. “Ah, that was Black Mambo,” the band’s drummer Joe Seaward confirms. “Dave [Bayley, frontman] wrote it while he was watching Breaking Bad and, I dunno, it’s one of those things: it’s like having a child and calling it James for the first year of its life and then having to change its name to Frank... So we got used to it and lived with it and then we realised that we couldn’t call it that in the real world, because I don’t think people would’ve liked it. And also it didn’t really make much sense outside our very small bubble so, yeah! It ended up changing but we still call it ‘Crystal Meth’.” Spending some time with Glass Animals last time they were in town – for three intimate, East Coast club gigs in April before their spectacular debut album Zaba dropped – their interest in our flora and fauna was endearing. “I did not see a koala,” Seaward despairs. “I saw a possum. We were all really shocked and kind of impressed that we’d seen a possum, which had a baby on it, but all the Australian people we were with were just SO unimpressed. I think it 16 • THE MUSIC • 10TH DECEMBER 2014
must’ve been like seeing a squirrel [would be] for us.” The drummer also saw “a dolphin with a surfer in a wave, which was very cool”. Seaward estimates he’s spent a grand total of five days at home in Oxford since aforementioned tour Down Under. “I didn’t see anyone in the band, which was really nice, for five days and I think we all felt recharged enough to go and do some more [touring].” So were there big hugs when Glass Animals reunited? “I gave Drew [MacFarlane, guitarist/keyboardist] a hug when I
saw him,” Seaward laughs.”I mean, we spend so much time together that it’s like having a kind of other family. I now have two families, which is cool, and I love them both equally so it’s good. “Drew can make me more angry than anyone else on this planet. We’re all like a big married couple, I guess. But the thing is we’ve known each other for such a long time. I mean, we met when we were 12, 13... We know where all the buttons are so it just depends on whether I want to make Drew cross – if I feel, like, in the mood where I want to piss him off, then I absolutely can do that quite easily. And I know the times when it’s worth me disappearing for an hour.” WHEN & WHERE: 30 Dec – 3 Jan, Falls Festival, Byron Bay To read the full interview head to theMusic.com,au.
SOUL MATES
them... I wouldn’t have written a song like that unless Dan was there. That’s the good thing about co-writing.”
Bryget Chrisfield sits down with Paul Kelly and Clairy Browne and discovers The Merri Soul Sessions singers were so awesome that recording finished a day early. So what did they do? Kelly wrote and recorded “a last-minute song” in one day.
A
s we settle into couches in a secluded nook of The Age Docklands building’s lobby, the subject is handbags. Dressed in an elegant suit, Paul Kelly jokingly apologises for having left his bag at home and Clairy Browne expresses her love for all things Vivienne Westwood. Kelly’s latest album (his 20th) is the result of various songwriting sessions and features a rollcall of this nation’s finest voices. “That’s what’s great about The Merri Soul Sessions,” Kelly enthuses, “is that the songs are mine, but the other singers come in and jump into them.” Kelly’s
tea arrives, he stirs and continues: “The idea started off when Vika Bull was singing Sweet Guy with the band. I thought, ‘We’ve gotta record that song,’ and then I wanted to add some other [songs] around it.” A couple of years ago, Kelly and Dan Sultan thought they’d try and write some songs together and once a few songs started taking shape, Kelly shares, “That’s when we thought, ‘Oh, well that song sounds like a good song for Vika and that one sounds good for Linda.’ And when we wrote the songs, Dan actually sang
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Browne lends her pipes to two songs on the album, one of which, Where Were You When I Needed You, happens to be this scribe’s favourite. ”I’m a particularly literal singer and I really enjoy cathartic expression,” Browne reveals. “That’s why I really enjoyed Paul’s songs, because they gave that platform to express, that’s the vessel.” On recruiting Browne to sing on his record, Kelly points out, “Even when you agree to work together, you don’t know whether it’s gonna work. It’s nice when it clicks. That’s the beauty of writing songs or collaborating with somebody, you’ve gotta be prepared that it’s not gonna work, you just try stuff out.” So how do songwriters deal with a situation where a co-writing session is not working? “If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t matter, you just walk away,” Kelly offers and Browne, who has been doing a fair bit of co-writing in the States lately, adds: “Exit gracefully. It’s just like speed dating, really.” Such was the quality of Kelly’s selected singers, that recording finished a day early. So what did they do with the extra day? “I had some lyrics about Noah and The Flood so I thought I’d just knock it up into a song [Hasn’t It Rained],” Kelly tells. We can’t help but laugh. “He’s a master,” Browne opines. Kelly allows, “I always like it when you get a last-minute song.” WHAT: Paul Kelly Presents – The Merri Soul Sessions (Gawd Aggie/Universal) WHEN & WHERE: 22 & 23 Jan, The Tivoli; 6 Apr, Bluesfest, Byron Bay To read the full interview head to theMusic.com.au
HUMAN SACRIFICE
comedy
Eddie Izzard is taking his new show Force Majeure around the world looking for people who get the humour in human sacrifice. He talks to Guy Davis.
“Y
ou make a plan, and then you get ready to improvise at a moment’s notice,” says comedian Eddie Izzard. “That’s what I do with the show – I know the overall direction but I can improvise if something happens; if I get an idea I can go off on a tangent. I have five-and-a-half years before [I go into] politics, and I have things roughly planned out until then. But if something that appeals to me comes up – let’s say a role in a film or something – I can adjust. Know what the objective is, and then improvise on the way to the objective.” Improvising seems to have worked out quite nicely so far for Izzard, who is currently in the middle of taking his new stand-up show Force Majeure around the world. Since beginning in 2013, it has been seen by audiences in 25 countries on five continents, and in January 2015 he’ll be performing it across Australia. The title of the show is often taken to mean ‘act of God’, but outspoken atheist Izzard doesn’t have much time for the notion of a supreme being. “I feel like maybe to get through this world, where I don’t feel any humane God is coming to help us, we all have to be our own forces of nature to deal with dictators and despots and people who make up religions,” he says. And to illustrate that, he looks at some of the more bizarre and excessive forms of human behaviour over the
centuries, taking a cue from his comedic heroes, the Monty Python gang. “They were doing stuff on religion and other issues with Life Of Brian and that’s what I’ve tried to do with my work – you start off trying to be silly and funny and then you gradually add layers to it,” he says. “With Force Majeure, I start off with human sacrifice, that maybe it was the beginning of fascism: ‘The crops have failed, the weather is bad, the gods must hate us, we’re going to kill Steve.’ It’s totally illogical but surely someone must have come up with that process. ‘But didn’t the gods create Steve as well? Surely they’re going to be very angry
if you kill something they created. Maybe we should do a dance instead or bake them a cake?’ But, no, someone thought that endless murder was the best tactic. “When I say ‘human sacrifice – what was that about?’ the kids in Moscow go, ‘Yeah, it was a bit weird.’ They get it in Istanbul or Oklahoma City or Reykjavik – they get it, and in whatever language. It’s absolutely the same. My theory is humour is human and not national. I keep it universal and that’s what makes it work. But I am playing to more progressive audiences around the world. Mainstream Britain, Australia, Russia, Afghanistan doesn’t get me. But there are people who dig it, and it seems I can play any major city or town in the world and there’ll be enough people who’ve heard of me. And who get it. WHAT: Force Majeure WHEN & WHERE: 2 Feb, Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre THE MUSIC • 10TH DECEMBER 2014 • 17
music
CALL IT A NIGHT All your band needs to do to get attention is break up. With The Swellers going out on a high, frontman Nick Diener runs Daniel Cribb through the band’s final days and what’s planned next.
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he last time Michigan punk rockers The Swellers ventured to Australia was in 2012, supporting the release of their first independent EP, Running Out Of Places To Go, after numerous releases on various labels. Just two years later, they’ve announced they’ll be calling it splits after a handful of farewell shows. An odd revelation to some punters, considering their solid live show and the fact they produced a solid record in 2013’s The Light Under Closed Doors, but a closer look at their ‘12 Aussie tour confirms being in a touring band isn’t always glamorous. “It mostly driving once we got there, there were no flights between shows,” frontman
Nick Diener begins on their Oz headline effort. “We landed in Sydney and then we had to drive 15 hours to Adelaide after being on a plane for 36 hours in a really small vehicle. The shows were fun, but we were just more used to being babied, I guess. We were pampered by Soundwavetype tours,” he laughs. With four Soundwave dates and a few in the US, with hopes to make it back to the UK and Europe, June 2015 seems to be the current end date for the band. “Which will be in time for our 13-year anniversary, so we should probably be done before then,” he jokes, before diving into the reasons behind the seemingly sudden split.
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“I think it was pretty much trying to get everybody on the same page as far as some tours and some opportunities we had coming up, and we were like, ‘Yeah, that’ll be a good tour, but it won’t be great. It’ll be kind of worth it, but it won’t really’, and then we were like, ‘Let’s only do stuff if it’s going to be awesome; if we’re really going to love it’. And then we realised the opportunity to do that stuff wasn’t going to be there unless we did it totally on our own terms, and we didn’t want to be one of those bands that just dragged it out and dragged it out and slowly died. So we’d just got off an England tour and it was awesome, and it went really, really well, so we thought we’d just announce soon that we’re going to be doing some final shows. And it was kind of weird, because all of a sudden we had given a timeline for the end of the band; it was almost relieving. We’ve done a lot of great stuff, and this means that our final shows are all going to be really fun; they’re all going to have a vibe to them. The fans are going to know it’s the last time, we’ll know it’s the last time we’re playing there, so it’ll be pretty intense, but at least we’re going out the way we wanted to go.” It’s fitting the final track on The Light Under Closed Doors is titled Call It A Night, and although The Swellers is being laid to rest, it sounds like whatever Diener decides to embark on next won’t stray too far from that sound. “That is kind of like my sound. That’s what I enjoy the most, and some of my favourite bands are Weezer and The Get Up Kids, so depending on who I’m writing with, and which direction we take, there’ll definitely be that influence… I can’t really shake that, that’s part of my songwriting.” WHEN & WHERE: 28 Feb, Soundwave, Brisbane Showgrounds
SONIC PREACHERS Metal gods Judas Priest are bringing their British Steel to Soundwave. Bassist Ian Hill tells Brendan Crabb about four decades-plus of defending the faith.
“I
look back on it with a sense of immense privilege really, to be able to have done what I’ve done for a living,” reflects amiable bassist Ian Hill, Brummie heavy metallers Judas Priest’s longest-serving member. “We all do genuinely love every moment of what we do. The proudest moment probably is your first record. You see your album on the shelf and you’ve got Cream on one side, you’ve got Hendrix there, the Stones, the Beatles,” he laughs. “It’s there, and you’ve arrived. As badly produced as (1974’s) Rocka Rolla was – it sounded like shit really – but it’s there… It’s always going to be there. That was my proudest moment, and after that fortunately we were able to build. We didn’t stagnate, didn’t flounder, we took steps forward with each album and tour, and were able to build on success.” Even long-time guitarist K.K. Downing’s 2011 retirement hasn’t hindered them. Priest’s songwriting core of screamer Rob Halford and axemen Glenn Tipton and Downing has partially dissolved, but Hill emphasises that Downing’s replacement, Richie Faulkner, injected youthful vitality into new disc Redeemer Of Souls. “We’d known Richie from the previous tour we’d just done, which was essentially really because not only did we know Richie as being a fine musician, but we got to 18 • THE MUSIC • 10TH DECEMBER 2014
know his character. He’s just as bonkers as the rest of us,” Hill laughs. “Once that was established, the friendship between us, the writing process became that much easier. “He’s certainly brought energy and enthusiasm. Not that it was lacking, but you do feel that you have to try and keep up with him. He’s young, just starting out and it took us back and reminded us of what it was like when we were his age, all those years ago. You look back on it, not with rosecoloured spectacles, but at least a sense of the fun you had back then, like dangerous fun. It sort of gave everybody a boost.” Nostalgia kick aside, Hill doesn’t believe
current trends have directly impacted on them. “I think if anything’s going to influence us, we’ll delve into our own past. After coming off the last tour, the Epitaph tour, we played something from every album. It’s not just the songs we ended up playing, it’s the delving back into the archives and listening to the old records, some stuff you hadn’t listened to in thirty, forty years in some cases. That’s probably influenced the writing for the new album. But over the years, I don’t think we’ve listened to another band and went, ‘Oh, this is great, let’s see if we can do a version of that.’” Cynics may name-check 1986’s Turbo as evidence otherwise, but The Music digresses. “That’s something that we’ve never done. We’ve actively tried to shy away from that. If somebody comes up with an idea and it sounds like something else it’s been trod on immediately.” WHAT: Redeemer Of Souls (Sony) WHEN & WHERE: 28 Feb, Soundwave, Brisbane Showgrounds
THE MUSIC • 10TH DECEMBER 2014 • 19
★★★★
album/ep reviews
PAUL KELLY
SMASHING PUMPKINS
Paul Kelly Presents – The Merri Soul Sessions
Monument To An Elegy
Gawdaggie/Universal
ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? A Pledge campaign, a series of collectable 7” singles, guest vocalists aplenty – Aussie music icon Paul Kelly is thinking outside the box with requisitely strong results. Named for Merri Creek, which runs past the Northcote studio that housed these fruitful recordings, The Merri Soul Sessions stem humbly from Kelly’s desire to record a version of Vika Bull singing his 1989 single, Sweet Guy, long a live highlight, for posterity. From there things quickly snowballed, the mandate soon becoming to record a “soul revue type record” using one band but numerous vocalists. Largely penned by Kelly (with a couple of co-writes), the batch of songs tap directly into rampant emotions in that finest soul tradition, dissecting relationship travails with an eye for the minutiae of the heart
Martha’s Music/Cooking Vinyl
that makes the best such songs ring so true. Yet it’s the soaring, sincere vocals that make this collection so special, whether it be Linda and Vika Bull together (the heartfelt Down On The Jetty) or separately (Vika’s insistent, building What You Want), Clairy Browne (the sultry Keep On Coming Back For More) or Dan Sultan (the gently swaying Don’t Let A Good Thing Go). Kelly himself offers the pianolaced Thank You and the chugging Righteous Woman, but while we don’t get a lot of his voice here we get plenty of his essence. A delightful foray. Steve Bell
Is anyone seriously invested in Billy Corgan’s musical exploits these days? Nonetheless, the reformed unit have certainly been improving since they first jumped back on stage. The awkwardly titled Monument To An Elegy, part two of the ongoing Pumpkins musical experiment Teargarden By Kaleidyscope, is pretty much more of what you’d expect after Oceania, which is to say, it’s not at all bad, but not at all warranted either. Prog-rock influenced post-grunge ballads carry the record, all anchored by Corgan’s seemingly ageless vocal chops. The songwriting is competent and occasionally quite enjoyable, especially on highlight track, the grungy rocker One And All. For all the hype surrounding Tommy Lee’s percussive appearance on the record, his presence ultimately
★★½ does little outside of solidify the man as being a hype over substance drummer. Surprising as it may sound though, Corgan and co. seem to know their limitations here, keeping the album lean and short, barely clocking in at over half an hour. Smashing Pumpkins will never reach their 1990s heyday again, but really, this is an honest to god better record than we ever had dared to expect from them in a post-Zeitgeist world. Even if Monument... is part of the ongoing piece of music that is his best material in over a decade, it doesn’t save it from being ultimately meandering, generic and a shadow of former wonder. Andrew McDonald
MORE REVIEWS
themusic.com.au/music/album-reviews
★★★
★★★½
★★★
CHARLI XCX
HTRK
MARLON ROUDETTE
Atlantic/Warner
Sleeperhold Publications
Warner
Sucker’s lead single Boom Clap is an exhausting affair; infectious but disposable – the reason some shun pop music. There’s lots of fun to be had here, though. Body Of My Own swings and sways. Famous, with its pinballing verses and chanting hook, is engaging. Break The Rules is unsophisticated fun. XCX’s vocal production recalls that of Melbourne’s noughties superhero Muscles. Numerous, varied vocal takes are layered on top of each other causing a woozy, euphoric final effect. XCX clearly still has something to offer. Sometimes it’s well hidden, though.
A new HTRK release is always cause for celebration, even when it’s just a three-track EP. Body Lotion is compiled from tunes that can be traced back to 2011’s wonderful Work (Work Work) long-player and it shows. The pop-infused groove the band has displayed recently is only being developed here, with gorgeous droning melancholia the name of the game. Highlight, Sugar, could be a modern coldwave post-punk classic were it ever to receive the audience it should. This lovely little release is an early Christmas present from one of our most exciting acts.
The second solo outing from the one-time Mattafix (Big City Life) vocalist initially appears to adhere to pop convention whilst there’s actually much seething under the surface. The Londoner has soulful, funky chops with a perspicaciously lyrical versatility – seductive one minute, wandering late-night Soho streets the next – so how this rich body of talent has so far failed to convert into mainstream success is baffling. Electric Soul has the nostalgic pulse of the early pirate radio era Kiss FM with a desperately needed maturing of the heart of contemporary R&B.
James d’Apice
Andrew McDonald
Mac McNaughton
Sucker
20 • THE MUSIC • 10TH DECEMBER 2014
Body Lotion EP
Electric Soul
NOFX – Backstage Passport Soundtrack Leonard Cohen – Live In Dublin Ueno – Variation Of Weeds Knife Party – Abandon Ship Paul Smith & Peter Brewis – Frozen By Sight Primordial – Where Greater Men Have Fallen The German Panzer – Send Them All To Hell
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THE MUSIC • 10TH DECEMBER 2014 • 21
live reviews
NICK CAVE
Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre 3 Dec Even though no one in the crowd really knows what they’re going to get tonight from the show that’s simply billed as ‘Nick Cave’, there’s a palpable sense of excitement in the venue’s foyer. The man’s name alone is enough to evoke a feverish excitement across an intergenerational cohort like few other artists can. And that excitement is doubled when what is essentially a stripped-down version of The Bad Seeds (Warren Ellis, Martyn Casey, Thomas Wydler and Barry Adamson) take their positions on stage.
feels electrifying. He has the je ne sais quoi to capture the attention of every eye in the room all the while seeming like he’d probably rather just be alone. It’s powerful stuff, and tonight Nick Cave is delivering it in a powerful way. Like the last time The Bad Seeds were in town – and we knew they were coming to town – tonight’s show focuses around the material from the latest album. Higgs Boson Blues, Jubilee Street, We No Who U R and Water’s Edge all get a look in and sound fantastic. There are also a few cuts that fans aren’t expecting – I Let Love In and a restrained version of From Her To Eternity that seems to be yearning to free itself from its shackles and cut
NICK CAVE @ BCEC. PIC: STEPHEN BOOTH
Whoever thought these shows were just going to be Cave solo on a piano has gotten it wrong, but nobody seems the least bit concerned. Especially when Cave walks jauntily across the stage – as cocksure as Mick Jagger but without all the frivolity and cliché – to pick up the microphone and snarl at a poor soul in the front row still trying to find their seat, “You’re fucking late.” That’s all the man says before striking up the band and getting into We Real Cool from 2012’s Push The Sky Away. Cave stands on the front of the stage, hunched over and stiff, moving like Mickey Rourke in Barfly, as he croons the ode to coolness. Despite so many years of playing music, Cave’s performance still 22 • THE MUSIC • 10TH DECEMBER 2014
When the encore starts up, there’s scarcely a couple in the venue who doesn’t have a quick canoodle when Cave strikes up Into My Arms, but then the mood quickly dissipates as Cave strikes up Jack The Ripper and tells the drummer to “make it sleazy”. Though The Lyre Of Orpheus closes out the set, it’s the two songs that precede it that perfectly sum up Cave’s duality as a performer: the romantic and the psychopath. And after 40-odd years we as an audience are still captivated by trying to understand the performer’s two sides.
which is the most inaccurate title for the previous killer tunes both bands have hit the punters with already.
The Factory 5 Dec
The downstairs bar is buzzing. Anticipation can be sensed in the room as The Factory in Maroochydore slowly fills up. The Delta Riggs are in town and they’re the crusaders of a heavy, dirty and sweaty night on the coast. The Royal Artillery, three semi-local boys from Brissy, are the ones to kick off the night. Convincing the crowd to
NICK CAVE @ BCEC. PIC: STEPHEN BOOTH
loose amid a sea of feedback and anger – and these come across as gems for some of the long-term fans in the crowd.
Tom Hersey
THE DELTA RIGGS, LIME CORDIALE, THE ROYAL ARTILLERY
Now, whether it’s a combination of heavily flowing beer or just general hype in the room, the crowd is getting steadily rowdier by the time The Delta Riggs hit the stage. The sound of The Delta Riggs will completely take you over and command your full attention but evidently, perhaps this pull is too strong. Maybe half a dozen punters in the room hadn’t attended many gigs before because most people know that one of the most disrespectful things to do during a show is to invade the stage. This happened so much that leader Elliott Hammond had to yell out to the crowd between songs, “You guys are all fucking mad dogs and we
THE DELTA RIGGS @ THE FACTORY. PIC: EMILY LAWLOR
get into the swing of things with bluesy, fuzzy guitar licks and a heavy, heavy sound, The Royal Artillery get all the mop-haired groms in the crowd headbanging within the first ten minutes of their set. Turning things up on the party dial are the next batch of homegrown supports, Lime Cordiale. Decked out in tropical party shirts and drenched in pink lighting, the black brick walls and grungy feel of The Factory is transformed. The dudes littering the crowd in DZ Deathrays, VS and Dunies shirts have switched from violent thrashing to swing dancing and when there’s a trumpet included in the regular instrumental lineup, you know it’s gonna be one hell of a good time. The band finish on Bullshit Aside,
wanna play some sick music, but if you keep crowding our stage, you’re gonna fuck up our shit.” This isn’t the kind of thing that seasoned musos should have to say midgig. With drummer Simon McConnell being grabbed and shaken on stage, the end of the show had them walking off with a shake of their heads. After seeing the setlist, it’s evident they aren’t completely pleased, as they left Ra Ra Radio, one of their biggest hits, off of the end of their set. Complaints and drunken punters aside, The Delta Riggs put on an insane show. They tear through nearly every hit they had plus all their new ones from Dipz Zebazios and seem genuinely blown away that so many punters know nearly every word. These guys are freaking talented and they’re
live reviews just going to get bigger and bigger. Hopefully next time they visit the Sunshine Coast, that little minority within the crowd can give them the respect they have earned and deserve. Stephanie Oakes
FACTORY FLOOR GOMA 5 Dec Most press on Factory Floor describes their live performances as a three-piece with acoustic instruments, but, at least for this tour, it seems that Gabe Guernsey and Nik Colk Void are in duo mode, and they’ve ditched the instruments and microphones for mixers and samplers. There’s no gentle build once the pair take the stage. They jump straight into brilliantly harsh techno, all distorted scraping sounds and pulsing beats. The music changes slowly, gradually, over the opening track and while elements slowly make their way into and out of the mix,
the central beat and arpeggios remain largely unchanged. The shift into the next track, when it occurs, is clean and efficient, the distortion dropping out and leaving just the driving bass, different enough to create a clear break without sacrificing the intensity. Not every layered sound works, but overall it keeps the listener engaged, on edge, and the intentional discord pulls the music solidly away from the safe confines of traditional techno or house. The space is attractive, but GOMA was always going to be a little awkward for this sort of gig: too self-consciously cool and too well lit to easily get people dancing. Still it’s hard to resist the pull of the insistent beat, and the majority of the crowd is at least bobbing along, a few brave souls making a little more of an effort. There’s certainly no performance from the band: two bobbing heads behind a desk, looking (to be kind) deep in concentration. A large screen displays
monochromatic videos that mesh loosely with the songs, but it’s to the side, entirely off the stage, and it’s hard to tell if anyone even notices.
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A little over halfway into the gig the music comes to a surprising stop and the bemused glances the artists share at the audience applause makes the pause seem accidental. It marks a noticeable shift in the set though, and when the music does kick back in, it feels faster, more intense, but less dance-friendly, the focus on rhythm and noise a temporary nod to head rather than body music. When the melody drops back in again it all meshes perfectly, and any lost momentum is instantly forgiven. By now, the floor is a little emptier and a fair bit looser, as people lose their inhibitions and begin to really move, and it’s a real shame that the night has to end so soon. But end it must, with an abrupt cut to silence and the cheering of a satisfied crowd.
John Legend @ BCEC G R A C E @ Black Bear Lodge
Sky Kirkham
arts reviews
GOODBYE TO LANGUAGE
GOODBYE TO LANGUAGE Film
14 Dec, Palace Barracks
★½ Ah, Godard. A titan of cinema now in a career phase where even his staunchest supporters, throwing around words like “challenging”, often mean “abjectly difficult”. An experience that’s as unpleasant as it is really quite humorous, Goodbye To Language is both an absurdist send-up of blockbuster cinema’s fascination with 3D, and a bunch of things far more inscrutable that remain inscrutable still. To relay something of the
THE INFINITE MAN
experience, the film’s narrated in smoky, philosophical French aphorisms and switches in and out of 3D, always while playing with depth of field. Godard! Samuel Hobson
THE INFINITE MAN Film ★★★★½
Without even a moment’s hesitation in proclaiming this, The Infinite Man is the best thing to happen to time travel movies since Primer. And Primer, to start with, was the best thing to happen to time travel movies. With a script that’s unbelievably, even giddily smart, performances
WINTER SLEEP
that sing off the screen – switching effortlessly from physical comedy to tragedy, with not a flicker’s disruption to the film’s masterfully steady tone – The Infinite Man charts a devilishly complex story whose narrative rivals the deconstructivist heights of Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, and whose machinations dance and recur to nothing but abject delight. Samuel Hobson
WINTER SLEEP Film ★★★★½
Watching the films of Godly Turkish auteur Nuri Bilge
Ceylan is an exquisite pleasure, akin in visceral terms only to something like gorging on the richest of meals, served with the finest of wines; some pleasure so sumptuous and so headily present it’s almost overwhelming. Winter Sleep, his latest film, is four hours of that, and perhaps his greatest dish yet. Like Anatolia, and Three Monkeys before it, Winter Sleep is another rich, textured drama filled with a humanity that’s drawn with an almost unbearable verisimilitude – with characters you’ll find yourself inhabiting almost as much as you do yourself. Samuel Hobson
THE MUSIC • 10TH DECEMBER 2014 • 23
24 • THE MUSIC • 10TH DECEMBER 2014
the guide
Member answering/role: Emma Dean – lead singer/keyboards/violin percussion How did you all meet? Tony (drums) and Emma have known each other their whole lives. They share parents. Francesca (keyboard) and Emma had a get-to-know-you-coffee in 2008 and became fans of each other’s music. James (theremin/other bits) used to cover Emma’s songs on YouTube. Laura (cello) and Emma went to school together. Emma developed a girl crush on Laura when they bumped heads at the water bubbler. Emma was drawn to her yellow hair and page boy haircut. Nathan (guitar) and Emma met each other at various shitty covers gigs at The Plough (I think?). They bond over food platters. You’re on tour in the van – which band or artist is going to keep the most people happy if we throw them on the stereo? Kate Bush. Which Brisbane bands before you have been an inspiration (musically or otherwise)? George (feat. Katie and Ty Noonan), Gorgeous (Fi Claus and Emma Heeney), Kate Miller-Heidke, Jake Diefenbach, The Boat People, Fronz Arp. What part do you think Brisbane plays in the music you make? After living in New York, I feel I’m surrounded by a supportive community here in Brisbane more so than ever before – musical or otherwise. It’s so much easier to sustain a music career when you have that kind of network around you. I also realise now how important space and quiet is for me to create. Brisbane has the right amount of hustle and bustle mixed with the right amount of stillness.
EMMA & THE HUNGRY TRUTH
What’s in the pipeline for the band in the short term? We’re making a music video for our second single The Hungry Truth (Will Feast On You), performing at Wonderland at The Brisbane Powerhouse on 14 Dec, performing at Cygnet Folk Festival and MONA FOMA in Tassie during January! It’s a busy time of year! Emma & The Hungry Truth play Wonderland at Brisbane Powerhouse on Sunday 14 December (7pm).
Pic: Terry Soo THE MUSIC • 10TH DECEMBER 2014 • 1
eat/drink
MEATBALLS
MAKE ME, EAT ME MOROCCAN MEATBALLS
Where to get them.
“I WILL RUIN YOU LOL.” STILL FROM EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND, S02E15, MARIE’S MEATBALLS.
IN POP CULTURE
ILLUSTRATION: SOPHIE BLACKHALL-CAIN
The Meatball & Wine Bar – three locations: Richmond, Collingwood and CBD What are the two things that you look for in a good restaurant? Meatballs and wine of course! The Meatball & Wine Bar allows you the choice of balls (which aren’t necessarily meat), sauce and side (pasta, polenta, potato etc.). But they don’t just do meat of the ball variety – try their meat and/or cheese platters or an icecream sandwich called the Whoopie Mac. The Meatball Factory – Shop A4, Barkly Square Shopping Centre, Brunswick Grab your balls in a wrap, roll or sitting on a salad – you can have them any way you want at The Meatball Factory. Select the pork variety with a roast veggie/napolitana sauce, or some deep-fried ricotta balls with Asian slaw. Don’t go past the sweet balls and coffee combo for dessert (even if it’s lunch time). 26 • THE MUSIC • 10TH DECEMBER 2014
Mamas Meatballs – 111 Cecil St, South Melbourne Mamas Meatballs go for a home-made traditional meatball with a twist. Specialising in fresh, local ingredients, these little goodies are bursting with flavour. If you’re looking that hit of meaty goodness without anything getting in between, you can get your meatballs simply in a cup. Mama pairs some classic flavours – pork and fennel, or chicken and pinenut. Meatballs & Sons – 226 Brunswick St, Fitzroy Sharing is the main theme of Meatballs & Sons, and keeping it simple is not their thing. These intriguing combos will have you coming back for more (and dragging your friends along with you). Thai chilli chicken, homemade onion jam and tempura eggplant, or slowbraised beef, bocconcini, tomato and basil sugo and grilled ciabatta are just a couple of the options up for grabs. No need to make any decisions – these meatball dishes are all inclusive, including sides!
Music “On top of spaghetti, all covered with cheese/I lost my poor meatball when somebody sneezed.” Tom Glazer’s On Top Of Spaghetti. Classic children’s song. Immortalises the cheeky meatball who dreams of a better existence. Films Lady And The Tramp. Many of us watched that iconic scene as children and promptly asked our parents how babies are made. And also if we could have spag bol that night. TV Everybody Loves Raymond, S02E15, Marie’s Meatballs. Marie teaches Debra how to make her famous meatballs, but secretly sabotages the recipe to make her look bad. OH NOOOO. Bob’s Burgers, S01E09, Spaghetti Western And Meatballs. Bob and Gene bond over spaghetti westerns, making Louise jealous. Bob and Linda are in charge of catering the conflict-resolution dinner at the kids’ school; there are a food fights.
We’ve all had the meatballs at IKEA, or made by our mum, but have you ever changed your recipe? It’s time. Put Crosby, Stills & Nash’s Marrakesh Express on while you cook. This recipe has been taste-tested and given the stamp of approval by our art director Brendon. Thanks Brendo, even though you didn’t bother sharing with the rest of us. 1. The meatballs. Mix together your all-important 450g of minced beef, an onion, garlic clove, and ginger, 1tsp of paprika, 1tsp of ground cumin, ½ tsp of ground coriander and ¼ tsp of cinnamon. Roll them around and around ‘til they’re walnut size. They should look like little spherical brains if you’re not sure. 2. Fry away, then let ‘em rest. 3. To make them saucy, add crushed 1 tsp cumin seeds, ½ tsp coriander seeds and ¼ tsp fennel seeds and some chilli flakes to an empty pan with a chopped red onion, garlic clove and grated ginger. Let it sweat. 4. Add to this 1 tbsp of tomato paste, 800g of tinned plum tomatoes, 200mls of water, ½ tbsp sugar, salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 10 minutes. 5. Add meatballs back in to shake and pop for 20 minutes in the sauce. Sing along to the tenth play of Marrakesh Express: “All aboard the train,” – as in, the MEATBALL TRAIN. Destination: my belly. 6. Sprinkle it all with mint leaves, fresh coriander and slivered almonds over a bed of couscous for that Moroccan edge. This dish is an ideal sharing alternative for Christmas. Go the whole way to Morocco by making a fresh batch of black tea with fresh mint and sugar to go with it.
HAVIN’ A (MEAT)BALL
What is it about meatballs that is so appealing? Restaurants are popping up that are dedicated to showcasing the round goodies. Is it because they’re a fun shape? Is it because you can serve them with so many different things: sauces limited only by the imagination, pasta, potato (done many ways), polenta, rice, bread, wraps, soup, vegies, by themselves? Or maybe it’s because of the variety of the delicious spheres themselves; they can be made from any meats (and even veg for the meat-avoiders), and you can add your own extras into the mix, too – herbs and spices, cheese, veg, other meats... Look, let’s not overthink it. A good meatball can reduce even the most intelligent person to a meathead spluttering incoherently because the taste and texture has rendered them incapable of forming words.
the guide qld.live@themusic.com.au
INDIE NEWS
CHART WRAP
WHEN IN FRANCE
KIRKIN’ IT
WHERE ART THOU
Gay Paris have a new music video for Draw, You Harlequin Saints, from their upcoming third record, Ladies And Gentlemen, May We Present To You: The Dark Arts. They play The Brightside, 12 Dec and The Northern, Byron Bay, 13 Dec.
Shaun Kirk will be rolling into Lefty’s Old Time Music Hall on 18 Dec to celebrate his new single Two Hands On The Wheel off his latest record Steer The Wheel. Head along and you might feature in the music video for the clip!
Psycroptic, Fit For An Autopsy, Revocation and Disentomb support western Sydney metal men Thy Art Is Murder (pictured) this weekend at Crowbar stage, 20 Dec (18+) & 22 Dec (all ages). Proudly presented by The Music.
IN THE GRIMM
TWO FOR YOU
PARTY TIME
Diplo-approved DJ GRMM from Sydney has made his way to the forefront of Australian dance music. He’ll preview new single Circles and a whole lot more when he plays live at The Helm, Mooloolaba, 11 Dec and Black Bear Lodge, 12 Dec.
Sydney duo Betty & Oswald have released a new single, Fragile Little Lover, and are taking it for a spin along the east coast, playing 14 Dec at The Bearded Lady before joining the Woodford Folk Festival line-up.
Queensland party rockers Drawcard are keen to keep their reputation solid with unrelenting party assault as part of their Goons LTD. EP launch tour. Enjoy the antics 11 Dec, New Globe Theatre; 13 Dec, Solbar; 14 Dec, The Lab.
BACK TO YOUR ROOTS
BANDHT BROTHERS
2014’S FINALE
The Triffid have a new menu, featuring a bunch of meaty and vegie burgers plus nutella milkshakes. Throw in roots tunes, featuring Bandito Folk & The Acfields 14 Dec and Pete Cullen & Felicity Lawless (pictured), 21 Dec and you’re set.
Bros Andy and Edwin White are Tonstartssbandht (tahnstarts-bandit is how you say it). Andy is Mac DeMarco’s new guitarist, and Edwin is solo moniker Eola. The Florida dudes bring their psychedelic wigouts to Trainspotters, 20 Dec.
Hey Geronimo’s new single Finale is filled with their trademark hooks. They’re taking it ‘round the east coast - Black Bear Lodge, 18 Dec; Beach Road Hotel, Byron Bay, 19 Dec; and The Factory, Maroochydore, 20 Dec.
HUMDRUM RUN
THIS IS LIVING
WAT WAT
Mosman Alder are taking a run down the east coast showcasing their debut album, Humdrum Star. The band has released a series of web-vignettes of The Making Of Humdrum Star, but for the live experience, it’s 19 Dec at The Brightside.
VanderAa are all about enjoying Australia’s adventurous nature, and they reckon they’ve caught the essence in their new single, Sunlovers St. They’ll be launching the single at The Rails, 11 Dec; Miami Shark Bar, 12 Dec; Ric’s Bar, 13 Dec; Sol Bar, 14 Dec.
Lords Of Wong are turning ten, and they celebrate with a show at Beetle Bar, 13 Dec. Performing will be Fat, New Jack Rubys and Gravel Samwidge. Here’s to another decade of cigarette smoke, spilled drinks and broken bones – in the best way.
FOR MORE HEAD TO THEMUSIC.COM.AU
HILLTOP HOODS. PIC: COLE BENNETTS
Stalwart hip hop outfit Hilltop Hoods have knocked Will Sparks off his brief perch atop the Carlton Dry Independent Music Charts, with the revered rappers seeing tour namesake track Cosby Sweater back at #1, sending Sparks’ Ah Yeah down a peg, to #2. Melburnian muso Ben Abraham was the only debutant for the week, with his new album Sirens grabbing #16 on the full-length chart – though not totally without action; ARIA winner Chet Faker, whose Built On Glass LP remains at #1, saw his single Talk Is Cheap rise four spots to #8, while San Cisco saw a resurgence for recent cut Run, which makes its way back inside the top 10, jumping up from #14 to #9. There were also some big moves from Faker (Gold, #13), Vance Joy (Mess Is Mine, #17), Sheppard (Sheppard, #18), and Emma Louise (Full Hearts And Empty Rooms, #20), whose singles all made return appearances to the top 20 after. It was a similar story on the full-length ladder, where Kingswood (Microscopic Wars, #14), Faker (Thinking In Textures, #15) and Illy (Cinematic, #17) all materialised on the charts once more. Hilltop Hoods were strong performers on the album chart too, with Walking Under Stars nabbing them the second-highest position, below Faker, but still in above both the Countdown retrospective (#3) and Jimmy Barnes (30:30 Hindsight, #4). There were massive jumps as well for Sheppard (Bombs Away, up nine places to #5), Sia (1000 Forms Of Fear, up nine places to #6) and Dan Sultan (Blackbird, up six places to #7), all of whom have now seen their respective albums spend 20 weeks inside the top 20. THE MUSIC • 10TH DECEMBER 2014 • 27
the guide qld.live@themusic.com.au
SINGLE FOCUS
SHEPPARD Answered by: Amy Sheppard Single title? Smile What’s the song about? Smile is a song the euphoric feeling you get when you meet someone special. Love is a drug. How long did it take to write/ record? Smile didn’t take too long to write but we recorded it three times. We wanted to find the right balance for the song. We kept overthinking it and overproducing it. Is this track from a forthcoming release/existing release? The track is from our debut album, Bombs Away, but exists as its own single.
What was inspiring you during the song’s writing and recording? We wanted a summery vibe, nothing too serious: a song which made people want to take a holiday. We’ll like this song if we like... Summer holidays and good vibes. Do you play it differently live? I feel that when we play live there’s a different energy for sure. With the live drums and electric guitar it sounds a lot bigger. When and where is your launch/ next gig? 2 – 6 Apr, Bluesfest, North Byron Parklands Website link for more info? wearesheppard.com
LISTEN IN
WEEKEND MONEY Answered by: Baghdaddy How did you start out producing tracks? I started on guitar; then was working in my highschool’s AV department, stole a tape recorder, got a crappy keyboard, and started tracking (horrible music) to tape. Sum up your musical sound in four words? ADD as shit: dope. If you could collaborate with any producer – past or present – who would it be? Raymond Scott changed the face of music. Totally out there; so on point. Which piece of gear are you rinsing the fuck out of at the moment? 1 • THE MUSIC • 10TH DECEMBER 2014
HAVE YOU HEARD
THE MAE TRIO
Simon’s Graceland would be a killer soundtrack in outer space.
Answered by: Elsie Rigby
Greatest rock’n’roll moment of your career to date? Probably playing at the opening night party of the Commonwealth Games to a 10,000-strong crowd at sundown in our spiritual home of Glasgow earlier this year.
How did you get together? Maggie and I are sisters, and we met Anita at various folk festivals, falling in love with her rocking cello lines. Sum up your musical sound in four words? Folkish songs, lush harmonies.
Why should people come and see your band? We sing all-original songs, refreshing and fairly folky.
If you could support any band in the world – past or present – who would it be? We would do anything to support Gillian Welch.
When and where for your next gig? We are on the road with Festival of Small Halls in Queensland until Woodford, 1 Jan.
You’re being sent into space, no iPod, you can bring one album – what would it be? Reckon Paul
Website link for more info? themaetrio.com
PERSONAL BEST RECORDS
Teenage Engineering’s OP-1. Dumb creativity, amazing sounds. It’s writers block’s arch villain.
BAND OF FREQUENCIES
Greatest musical moment of your career to date? A good one was receiving my monogrammed PAX by Ploom.
Best record you stole from your folks’ collection? They have a few original pressings of The Meters but Rejuvenation is my fave.
What is something unique about your live set? My computer is busted, it starts randomly possessing the mouse in weird ways. So on top of mixing I’m fighting to keep my computer from sabotaging me.
by Ernest Ranglin, featuring Monty Alexander. Can’t go past Jamaican jazz by these cats.
Answered by: Shannon Carroll
First record you bought? My folks were DJs and bought loads of records every week so I didn’t buy many till I got into the blues and remember asking if they could get Muddy Waters, King Bee.
When and where is your next gig? New Year’s Eve, Boundary Street Markets Complex, West End.
Record you put on when you’re really miserable? Anything by Fela Kuti does the trick. There’s a man who transmuted difficult times into amazing music.
Website link for more info? thebigchillfestival.com.au
Record you put on when you bring someone home? Below The Bassline
S U P P O R T I N G
I N D E P E N D E N T
Most surprising record in your collection? The Music of the West Australian Desert. I like collecting old ethnomusicology recordings documenting the music of Indigenous cultures. Last thing you bought/ downloaded? The Trouble Man soundtrack by Marvin Gaye. A friend recommended I check it out. When and where are your next gigs? 13 Dec at The Triffid with Bonjah and The Dawn Chorus. Website link for more info? bandoffrequencies.com
A U S S I E
M U S I C
WED 10TH DEC
GABRIELLA COHEN
THU 11TH DEC
FOXSMITH YOUTH ALLOWANCE DANA GERHMAN
FRI 12TH DEC THIGH MASTER
SCRABBLED + DJ FOXY/MORON
CAFÉ - BAR
321 BRUNSWICK STREET MALL, FORTITUDE VALLEY
WED 10TH DEC
GAMLA STAN (10PM) + GUEST (9:00PM)
THU 11TH DEC
STUDENT NIGHT: DEAD WOLVES (10:30PM) + SWITCHBLADE SUZIE (9:30PM)
FRI 12TH DEC
ELECTRIC SUEDE (9:00PM) + QUAZI SMITH (8:00PM) + JEREMY NEWELL (7:00PM)
SAT 13TH DEC
SAT 13TH DEC
VANDERAA (9:00PM) + GUEST (8:00PM)
NITE FIELDS CURED PINK/WORKSHOP CEDIE JANSON
EXPOSED ULTIMATE GRAND FINAL FROM 7PM
STRANGE YONDER
SUN 14TH DEC
THE RUSTY DATSUNS BETTY & OSWALD + SIAN EVANS
WWW.THEBEARDEDLADY.COM.AU
SUN 14TH DEC
MON 15TH DEC
VIOLET RUBERO (9:30PM) + GUEST (8:30PM)
TUE 16TH DEC
TESSA DIVINE (9:30PM) + GUEST (8:30PM) FREE LIVE MUSIC AND INDIE DJS
WANT TO PLAY? EMAIL BOOKINGS@RICSBAR.COM.AU
WWW.RICSBAR.COM.AU
THE MUSIC • 10TH DECEMBER 2014 • 29
the guide qld.gigguide@themusic.com.au Le Groove: Chalk Hotel, Woolloongabba
THE MUSIC PRESENTS The War On Drugs: The Zoo 10 Dec
Earth Frequency 2015: Ivory’s Rock 13 – 16 Feb
Gyroscope: The Brightside 11 Dec
Real Estate: The Zoo 27 Feb
Festival Of The Sun: Port Macquarie 12 – 13 Dec Violent Soho: Mansfield Tavern 13 Dec Dead Letter Circus: The Hi-Fi 18 Dec Dallas Frasca & Shaun Kirk: Lefty’s 18 Dec; Currumbin Creek Tavern, 19 Dec; Joe’s Waterhole 20 Dec Thy Art Is Murder: Crowbar 20 Dec & 21 Dec (U18) Nas: The Tivoli 20 Jan
Watsky: Alhambra Lounge, Fortitude Valley
DZ Deathrays: The Brightside 13 Mar
Bluesfest Byron Bay: Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm 2 – 6 Apr Urban Country Music Festival: Caboolture 1 – 3 May
THU 11
Trivia: Blue Pacific Hotel, Woorim Tunes from the Tube + Topology + The Kransky Sisters: Brisbane Powerhouse (Visy Theatre), New Farm
Trivia: Forest Lake Tavern, Forest Lake Trivia: Glenmore Tavern, Norman Gardens Trivia: Lawton Tavern, Lawnton Open Mic Night + Various Artists: Mick O’Malley’s, Brisbane Trivia: Oxford 152, Bulimba Trivia: Pelican Waters Hotel, Caloundra Trivia: Redland Bay Hotel, Redland Bay Open Mic Night + Various Artists: Solbar (Lounge), Maroochydore
Morning Melodies + Mirror Image: Irish Finnegans, Condon Christian Argenti: Logan Diggers Club, Logan Central
Judah & Sundown Jury: Eat Street Markets, Hamilton
Chester: Albany Creek Tavern, Albany Creek Various Artists: Alexandra Headlands Hotel, Alexandra Headlands
Various Artists: Allenstown Hotel, Rockhampton
Various Artists: Kawana Waters Hotel, Kawana Waters
Sterling + Josh Lovegrove: Archive Beer Boutique, West End
Various DJs: Kirwan Tavern, Townsville
Beetle Bar Humbug! feat. Pharaoh’s Playground + Heavy Roller + Weezal + Hisingen + Pickled Joker: Beetle Bar, Brisbane
Various Artists: Lawton Tavern, Lawnton
Open Mic Night + Various Artists: Allenstown Hotel, Rockhampton
Drawcard + Satellites + We Set Signals + Alibrandi: New Globe Theatre, Fortitude Valley
Various DJs: Breakfast Creek Hotel, Breakfast Creek
Sterling: Archive Beer Boutique, West End
Karaoke: Prince of Wales Hotel, Nundah
Open Mic Night + Various Artists: Bay Central Tavern, Pialba
Rob Longstaff + Terence Boyd: Solbar, Maroochydore
Festival of Small Halls + Mae Trio + Del Barber: Beerwah Community Hall, Beerwah
Trivia: Springfield Tavern, Springfield
Karaoke: Blue Pacific Hotel, Woorim Tunes from the Tube + Topology + The Kransky Sisters: Brisbane Powerhouse (Visy Theatre), New Farm Briefs: The Second Coming: Brisbane Powerhouse (Powerhouse Theatre), New Farm Ben Zabel: Brisbane Powerhouse (Visy Theatre), New Farm Mono Logs + The Sexy Detectives: Brisbane Powerhouse (Graffiti Room), New Farm These Things Take Wine + Natasha York: Brisbane Powerhouse (Graffiti Room), New Farm
Pete Cullen: The Bearded Lady, West End
The Late Night Sexy Show with + Grant Buse: Brisbane Powerhouse (Turbine Studio), New Farm Jam Night + Various Artists: Capalaba Tavern, Capalaba Trivia: Club Tavern, Caboolture
Ronnie Walker: The Plough Inn, Southbank
The Lazys: Crowbar, Fortitude Valley
The War On Drugs + Special Guests: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley
Trivia: Deception Bay Tavern, Deception Bay
Trivia: Springwood Hotel, Springwood Trivia: Sunnybank Hotel, Sunnybank Foxsmith + Youth Allowance + Dana Gehrman: The Bearded Lady, West End Gyroscope + The Love Junkies + Graphic Characters: The Brightside, Fortitude Valley Sleep + Frown + Golden Bats: The Hi-Fi, West End Jay Brannan + Mike Waters + Devin Luke: The Milk Factory Kitchen & Bar, South Brisbane Hayley Grace: The Plough Inn, Southbank Tig Notaro: The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley The Skatalites + Kingston Stompers + Boss Sounds: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley Tuffy: Victory Hotel, Brisbane Various DJs: Villa Noosa Hotel, Noosaville GRMM: Wharf Tavern (The Helm), Mooloolaba
FRI 12
Body & Soul - Sandy Beyon & Sean Mullen: Absynthe French Restaurant, Surfers Paradise
Various Artists: Hinterland Hotel, Nerang Bindi & the Sneekers: Irish Finnegans, Condon
Teen Sensations: Alhambra Lounge, Fortitude Valley
Stu Larsen: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley
Pete Cullen: Habitat Restaurant & Bar, South Brisbane
Apes + WAAX: Alhambra Lounge, Fortitude Valley
GRMM + cln + Deuces: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley
Public Toilets, Private Words: Brisbane Powerhouse (Turbine Studio), New Farm
The Waifs + Liz Stringer: The Pilbeam Theatre, Rockhampton
Karaoke: Imperial Hotel, Beenleigh
TGIF + Various DJs: Deception Bay Tavern, Deception Bay
Underground Sounds - Open Mic Night Competition + Various Artists: Mick O’Malley’s, Brisbane
Jam Night + Various Artists: Stones Corner Hotel, Stones Corner
Dan’s Hot Five: The Milk Factory Kitchen & Bar, South Brisbane
Danny Widdicombe & The Good Old Boys: Eat Street Markets, Hamilton
Karaoke: Glenmore Tavern, Norman Gardens
Karaoke: Alderley Arms Hotel, Alderley
Ice Cube + Citizen Kay + Ivan Ooze: Eatons Hill Hotel, Eatons Hill
Stand Up Comedy + Various Artists: Dog and Parrot Tavern, Robina
Karaoke: Forest Lake Tavern, Forest Lake Trivia: Villa Noosa Hotel, Noosaville
Various Artists: Dalrymple Hotel, Garbutt
GIG OF THE WEEK SCREAMFEEDER: 13 DEC, THE UNDERDOG
Mojo Burning Festival: New Globe Theatre 21 Mar
New Navy: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley
The Zouk Social: Chalk Hotel, Woolloongabba
Paddy McHugh & The Goldminers + Cold Hearts + Perpetrator + Midwife Crisis: Crowbar, Fortitude Valley
65daysofstatic: The Hi-Fi 11 Mar
Karaoke: Albany Creek Tavern, Albany Creek
Ben Zabel: Brisbane Powerhouse (Visy Theatre), New Farm
Various Artists: Coomera Tavern, Upper Coomera
London Grammar: Brisbane Riverstage 7 Mar
Tyrone: Archive Beer Boutique, West End
Briefs: The Second Coming: Brisbane Powerhouse (Powerhouse Theatre), New Farm
Various Artists: Commercial Hotel, Nerang
Sharon Van Etten: The Zoo 4 Mar
Guy Pearce & Darren Middleton: QPAC 12 Feb
WED 10
Various Artists: Chardons Corner Hotel, Annerley
Various DJs: Blue Pacific Hotel, Woorim
Knockoff + Various Artists: Brisbane Powerhouse (Turbine Platform), New Farm Tunes from the Tube + Topology + The Kransky Sisters: Brisbane Powerhouse (Visy Theatre), New Farm
One Sound: Logan Diggers Club, Logan Central Various Artists: Miami Tavern, Miami Various Artists: Mick O’Malley’s, Brisbane Ben Cross: Pub Mooloolaba, Mooloolaba Green Jam Sessions + Various Artists: QPAC (Melbourne Street Green), Southbank The Hillbilly Goats: Royal Mail Hotel, Goodna Recharge DJs: Russell Tavern, Dalby
Briefs: The Second Coming: Brisbane Powerhouse (Powerhouse Theatre), New Farm
Scott Russo (Unwritten Law) + Phil Jamieson: Solbar, Maroochydore
Mono Logs + The Sexy Detectives: Brisbane Powerhouse (Graffiti Room), New Farm
Various Artists: Springfield Tavern, Springfield
Pretending Things Are A Cock + Jon Bennett: Brisbane Powerhouse (Turbine Studio), New Farm
Freakin Fridays + Rotating Residents: Springwood Hotel, Springwood Various Artists: Stones Corner Hotel, Stones Corner
Grimm + ImproMafia: Brisbane Powerhouse (Turbine Studio), New Farm
Amos Pella: Story Bridge Hotel (The Corner Bar / 9pm), Kangaroo Point
The Devil Wears Leigh Buchanan + Leigh Buchanan: Brisbane Powerhouse (Powerhouse Theatre), New Farm
DJ Ritchie: Story Bridge Hotel (The Shelter Bar / 10pm), Kangaroo Point
These Things Take Wine + Natasha York: Brisbane Powerhouse (Graffiti Room), New Farm 4 In A Groove: Brothers Leagues Club, Manunda Various Artists: Buderim Tavern, Buderim Acoustic Artists + Various Artists: Burleigh Heads Hotel, Burleigh Heads Various DJs: Caloundra Hotel, Caloundra Various Artists: Capalaba Tavern, Capalaba Shifting Sands: Cardigan Bar, Sandgate
Thigh Master + Scrabbled + Foxy/Moron: The Bearded Lady, West End Gay Paris + Guests: The Brightside, Fortitude Valley Christmas Party Bash + Antiheros + Finehouse + Matty Rock + The Pool Boys: The Elephant Hotel, Fortitude Valley DJ JD7: The Four Mile Creek Hotel, Strathpine Julia Rose: The Motor Room, West End Big Boyz: The Plough Inn, Southbank Diamond Dave: The Underdog Pub Co (Public Bar), Fortitude Valley
Trivia: Vale Hotel, Aitkenvale
S U P P O R T I N G
I N D E P E N D E N T
A U S S I E
M U S I C
the guide qld.gigguide@themusic.com.au Headless: The Underdog Pub Co, Fortitude Valley
We Set Signals + Drawcard + Set The Record + Call The Shots + Far From Paris + more: The Lab (All Ages), Brisbane
The Lemonheads + Spookyland: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley
Jed Appleton + Brother Fox + Josh Brooks: The Milk Factory Kitchen & Bar, South Brisbane
Various Artists: Victory Hotel, Brisbane Festival of Small Halls + The Mae Trio + Del Barber: Wallaville Hall, Wallaville
Karma: The Plough Inn, Southbank
Ghostface Killah: Woolly Mammoth, Fortitude Valley
Dr Bombay: The Underdog Pub Co, Fortitude Valley
Juice + DJ Jarrd + DJ Blitz: Wynnum Tavern, Wynnum West
Cloud Nothings + Cannon: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley Jam Session + Various Artists: Waterfront Hotel, Diddillibah
SAT 13
Creek Bar Saturdays + DJ Indy Andy: Albany Creek Tavern, Albany Creek Jazz Saturdays + Various Artists: Albion Hotel, Albion Various Artists: Alexandra Headlands Hotel, Alexandra Headlands Watsky: Alhambra Lounge, Fortitude Valley
THE WAR ON DRUGS: 10 DEC, THE ZOO The Peep Tempel: Crowbar, Fortitude Valley Karaoke: Deception Bay Tavern, Deception Bay Sundown Jury + Alphabet Street Funk: Eat Street Markets, Hamilton
G-Bass + Pete Cullen: Archive Beer Boutique, West End
Festival of Small Halls + The Mae Trio + Del Barber: Eumundi School of Arts hall, Eumundi
Lords Of Wong + New Jack Rubys + FAT + Gravel Samwidge: Beetle Bar, Brisbane
Various Artists: Ferny Grove Tavern, Ferny Grove
Waxhead: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley Various Artists: Blue Pacific Hotel, Woorim The Green Sinatras: Breakfast Creek Hotel, Breakfast Creek Tunes from the Tube + Topology + The Kransky Sisters: Brisbane Powerhouse (Visy Theatre 6.30pm / 9pm), New Farm Briefs: The Second Coming: Brisbane Powerhouse (Powerhouse Theatre), New Farm Mono Logs + The Sexy Detectives: Brisbane Powerhouse (Graffiti Room), New Farm Pretending Things Are A Cock + Jon Bennett: Brisbane Powerhouse (Turbine Studio), New Farm Grimm + ImproMafia: Brisbane Powerhouse (Turbine Studio), New Farm
Sampology: Flinders Social, Townsville InExcess: Hinterland Hotel, Nerang Various Artists: Kawana Waters Hotel, Kawana Waters
Various Artists: Captain Cook Tavern, Kippa-Ring The Pin Up Girls + DJ Damien: Chalk Hotel, Woolloongabba Pat Capocci + Twang: Club Greenslopes, Greenslopes Metal Fields + Azreal + Headless + Sending Artax + Rogyapas + Hammers + The Black Swamp + Dirty Brew + Eternal Torment + more: Coolangatta Hotel, Coolangatta
The Scrapes: The Scratch, Milton
Various Artists: Captain Cook Tavern, Kippa-Ring
Katy Perry + Tove Lo: Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Boondall
Lucy Street Trio: Chalk Hotel, Woolloongabba
The Bachata Social: Chalk Hotel, Woolloongabba
Cider Sundays + Various Artists: Dowse Bar (Iceworks), Paddington
Trivia: Dowse Bar (Iceworks), Paddington
Renegade Armada + Take Us To Vegas: Gympie Civic Centre (All Ages), Gympie
Trivia: Kallangur Tavern, Kallangur
Jimmy Watts: Habitat Restaurant & Bar, South Brisbane
Trivia: Mick O’Malley’s, Brisbane
Bonjah + Band of Frequencies + The Dawn Chorus: The Triffid, Newstead Screamfeeder + Roku Music + Freak Wave: The Underdog Pub Co, Fortitude Valley Junkyard Diamonds + Whiskey & Speed + Fat Susan + Walken: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley Renegade Armada + Take Us To Vegas: Toowoomba PCYC (All Ages), Toowoomba
Take Me Home: Irish Murphy’s, Brisbane
Michael Bishop: Archive Beer Boutique, West End Trivia: Belmont Tavern, Belmont
Trivia: Kirwan Tavern, Townsville Trivia: Mt Pleasant Tavern, North Mackay
Various Artists: Magnums Hotel, Airlie Beach
Trivia: Pub Mooloolaba, Mooloolaba
DJ Jimmy D: Archive Beer Boutique, West End
Ger Fennelly: Mick O’Malley’s, Brisbane
Trivia: The Four Mile Creek Hotel, Strathpine
Various Artists: Miami Tavern, Miami
Fatai: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley
Mark D’s Big 3: Morrison Hotel, Woolloongabba
Ger Fennelly: Mick O’Malley’s, Brisbane
Sunday Sessions + Various Artists: Blue Pacific Hotel, Woorim
Mimi Macpherson: Noosa Reef Hotel, Noosa Heads
Fish Out of Water: Miami Marketta, Miami
Punkfest Christmas Party with The Ska Vendors + The Funaddicts + Plan Of Attack + The Black Market + Shandy: Prince of Wales Hotel, Nundah DJ Kidd NVS: Pub Mooloolaba, Mooloolaba
Devils Kiosk + Steve Tyson : Royal Mail Hotel, Goodna
Karaoke: Capalaba Tavern (Sports Bar), Capalaba
Sunday Session + Various DJs: Capalaba Tavern, Capalaba
SUN 14
Violent Soho + Special Guests: Mansfield Tavern, Mansfield
These Things Take Wine + Natasha York: Brisbane Powerhouse (Graffiti Room), New Farm
Various Artists: Caloundra Hotel, Caloundra
Ty Fader + Jezelle: The Plough Inn, Southbank
Uncle Bob’s Music Club + Various Artists: Prince of Wales Hotel, Nundah
The Best of Jethro Tull with Ian Anderson : QPAC (Concert Hall), Southbank
Big Jim: Brothers Leagues Club, Manunda
Sunday Unplugged + Various Artists: Burleigh Heads Hotel, Burleigh Heads
Various Artists: Lawton Tavern, Lawnton
Majestique: Logan Diggers Club, Logan Central
Bec Laughton: Brisbane Powerhouse (Turbine Studio), New Farm
Karaoke: Brook Hotel, Mitchelton
MON 15
Trivia: Alexandra Headlands Hotel, Alexandra Headlands
Dillion James + Vaguely Human + Master Wolf: The Milk Factory Kitchen & Bar, South Brisbane
Recharge DJs: Russell Tavern, Dalby Dallas Frasca + Drawcard: Solbar, Maroochydore The Very: Story Bridge Hotel (The Corner Bar / 9pm), Kangaroo Point DJ Ritchie: Story Bridge Hotel (The Shelter Bar / 10pm), Kangaroo Point Nite Fields + Cured Pink + Workshop + Cedie Janson: The Bearded Lady, West End Scott Russo (Unwritten Law) + Phil Jamieson + Special Guests: The Brightside, Fortitude Valley WAAX: The Factory, Maroochydore Xmas Indie Rock Party with George Higgins + The Buzzbees + Fox N Firkin + Junior Danger + Flannelette + Chasing Closure + more: The Hi-Fi, West End
Various DJs: Villa Noosa Hotel, Noosaville
Stewart Fairhurst : Breakfast Creek Hotel, Breakfast Creek Briefs: The Second Coming: Brisbane Powerhouse (Powerhouse Theatre), New Farm Emma & The Hungry Truth: Brisbane Powerhouse (Turbine Platform), New Farm Mono Logs + The Sexy Detectives: Brisbane Powerhouse (Graffiti Room), New Farm Pretending Things Are A Cock + Jon Bennett: Brisbane Powerhouse (Turbine Studio), New Farm These Things Take Wine + Natasha York: Brisbane Powerhouse (Graffiti Room), New Farm Public Toilets, Private Words: Brisbane Powerhouse (Turbine Studio), New Farm
Various Artists: North Lakes Tavern, Mango Hill Hanja: OMalleys Irish Bar, Mooloolaba Various Artists: Petrie Hotel, Petrie Various Artists: Pub Lane Tavern, Greenbank
Sweet K: Brothers Leagues Club, Manunda Trivia: Buderim Tavern, Buderim
Joan Armatrading + Creature Kind: QPAC, Southbank
Trivia: Chalk Hotel, Woolloongabba
Various Artists: Raintrees Tavern, Manunda
Trivia: Irish Finnegans, Condon
Festival of Small Halls + The Mae Trio + Del Barber: Redlands Performing Arts Centre, Cleveland T.I. + DMX: RNA Showgrounds (The Marquee), Bowen Hills Various Artists: Smithfield Tavern, Smithfield
Alchemy + Ali McGregor: Brisbane Powerhouse (Visy Theatre 5.30pm and 8pm), New Farm
DJ Ritchie: Story Bridge Hotel (Shelter Bar / 3pm), Kangaroo Point
S U P P O R T I N G
Trivia: Australian National Hotel, Woolloongabba
Trivia: Captain Cook Tavern, Kippa-Ring
Vanseraa + Bear Essence + Shae Jackson: Solbar (Lounge Bar), Maroochydore
Fingerprint: Brothers Leagues Club, Manunda
Trivia: Allenstown Hotel, Rockhampton
The Lyrical : Pub Mooloolaba, Mooloolaba
The Late Night Sexy Show with + Grant Buse: Brisbane Powerhouse (Turbine Studio), New Farm
Livespark feat. + Kate Jacobson + Texas Kate and Friends: Brisbane Powerhouse, New Farm
TUE 16
Trivia: Alderley Arms Hotel, Alderley
Fish Out of Water: Taps Australia, Mooloolaba
Trivia: Pacific Pines, Pacific Pines Trivia: Prince of Wales Hotel, Nundah Trivia: Royal Exchange Hotel, Toowong Mark Sheils: Samford Valley Hotel, Samford Valley Trivia: Stones Corner Hotel, Stones Corner Trivia: The Gap Tavern, The Gap Karaoke: The Underdog Pub Co, Fortitude Valley Various DJs: Victory Hotel, Brisbane Karaoke: Wynnum RSL, Wynnum
The Rusty Datsuns + Betty & Oswald: The Bearded Lady, West End
I N D E P E N D E N T
A U S S I E
M U S I C
32 • THE MUSIC • 10TH DECEMBER 2014