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2 • THE MUSIC • 25TH FEBRUARY 2015
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GROUP MANAGING EDITOR Andrew Mast
NATIONAL EDITOR MAGAZINES Mark Neilsen
EDITOR Steve Bell
ARTS EDITOR Hannah Story
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CONTRIBUTORS
THIS WEEK THINGS TO DO THIS WEEK • 25 FEB - 3 MAR 2015
Alice Bopf, 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 Clerke, Sam Hobson, Sky Kirkham, Sophie Blackhall-Cain, Tessa Fox, Tom Hersey, Tony McMahon, Tyler McLoughlan
INTERNS Elijah Gall
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ART DIRECTOR Brendon Wellwood
ART DEPT Ben Nicol
Mick Thomas had forged a strong solo career and has a penchant for large Xmas tours, and seeing that Queensland missed out at the end of 2014 we’re being given our very own special run of shows now to atone – you can catch Mick Thomas & The Roving Commission at the Soundlounge on Friday, the Beetle Bar on Saturday night and the Beach Hotel, Byron Bay on Sunday!
The cricket summer has been nothing if not long and strange, with the World Cup and all of the tragic early disruptions, so thank god that the footy season is finally upon us! For AFL fans the action kicks off this Saturday, with the Brisbane Lions opening their NAB Cup pre-season by taking on sleeping giants St Kilda out at Moreton Bay Sports Complex at Burpengary, kicking off at 3.10pm.
ADMIN AND ACCOUNTS Jarrod Kendall, Leanne Simpson, Loretta Zoppos, Niall McCabe accounts@themusic.com.au
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CONTACT US Phone: (07) 3252 9666 info@themusic.com.au www.themusic.com.au Street: Suite 11/354 Brunswick Street Fortitude Valley QLD 4006 Postal: Locked Bag 4300 Fortitude Valley QLD 4006
BRISBANE
read
So many people have written books about their lives that shouldn’t have. Has Rebecca Black written a memoir? Probably. Don’t check. The point is that Kim Gordon has lived a book-worthy life, and now she’s written one: Girl In A Band, out today. She’s the Sonic Youth mega-star with a fairytale marriage that couldn’t last (fuck you Thurston Moore’s midlife crisis), an important role model from a decade in which women weren’t allowed to be kickass. Highly recommended reading.
JONSON STREET BYRON BAY FRI 27 FEB
KING OF THE NORTH ROYAL ARTILLERY BAREFOOT ALLEY DJ TAYA MILLS SAT 28 FEB
THE VOYAGES THIS OLD SUNN CHESTA HEDRON DJ SIMON BIRD FRI 6 MAR
WAXHEAD TSUN BORNEO SAT 7 MAR
FLOATING BRIDGES FRI 13 MAR
VERNAS KEEP HOUSE OF LAURENCE SAT 14 MAR
TIMBERWOLF THURS 19 MAR
TIKI TANNE FRI 20 MAR
REDCOATS SAT 21 MAR
MESA COSA WED 25 MAR
STICKY FINGERS THURS 26 MAR
CLINT BOGE SAT 28 MAR
STICKY FINGERS TICKETS AVAILABLE ONLINE WWW.THENORTHERN.COM.AU
THE MUSIC • 25TH FEBRUARY 2015 • 9
national news news@themusic.com.au HOT DUB TIME MACHINE
SAN CISCO
SANTASTIC NEWS HOT DANG
It’s dance party time, all around the country. Hot Dub Time Machine is the ‘world’s first time travelling dance party’, utilising DJs to traverse various music genres and decades over the past hundred years. The crowds are varied, and absolutely gigantic. If high intensity multi-genre experiences are your thing, they’re starting 14 May, Metro Theatre in Sydney; then 23 May, The Hi-Fi in Brisbane; 29 May, Villa Night in Perth; and 5 Jun, The Hi-Fi in Melbourne. They’re also playing Groovin The Moo, which makes its way around the country 25 Apr – 10 May.
LEADING THE WAY
Melbourne’s Jericco are set to release their new album Machine Made The Animal in March, and to celebrate, they’re heading out on a tour around the country. Catch their signature driving bass lines and melodic vocals when they take on Rosemount Hotel, Perth, 26 Apr; Rad Bar, Wollongong, 14 May; Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle, 15 May; Bald Faced Stag, Sydney, 16 May; Crowbar, Brisbane, 29 May; and Prince Bandroom, 5 Jun, Melbourne.
GRUESOME FUN
US heavy metal band The Black Dahlia Murder have announced a June tour of the nation. They’ll bring their abrasive, yet melodic style of metal to Crowbar, Brisbane, 17 Jun; Capitol, Perth, 18 Jun; Northcote Social Club, Melbourne, 20 Jun and both an AA and 18+ on 21 Jun; Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle, 25 Jun; The Basement, Canberra 26 Jun; and Factory Theatre (AA), Sydney, 27 Jun.
MORE FUTURE NEWS
Future Music Festival has announced its food and drink precincts, with Smokey Tails, a venture from world renowned DJ Seth Troxler, headlining in each city. Troxler will bring crowd favourites such as mac and cheese and buffalo wings to each edition, while the respective cities will fill out the bill with a selection of local favourites. A DJ booth and a pop up cocktail bar will also feature in each culinary district.
GOING, GOING
Steve Smyth is reaping the rewards of the hard work put into Exits. The record was a Double J feature album and his Written Or Spoken video was nominated for Rolling Stone Award Video Of The Year. Smyth and his band The Outlaws have now been invited to Austin’s prestigious SXSW festival. They’ll play 10 Apr, Four 5 Nine, Perth; 11 Apr, Howler, Melbourne; 25 Apr, Oxford Art Factory, Sydney; 8 May, Woolly Mammoth, Brisbane. More dates at theMusic.com.au.
METAL HEADS UNITE
It’s confirmed – California metal mainstays Machine Head are heading out on an Australian tour, their first since 2010. The tour will give fans the chance to witness the stalwarts perform tracks from their most recent album, Bloodstone & Diamonds, which proved that the band have still got heaps left in the tank and are truly riding one hell of a career-reviving wave. They’ll be bringing their extremely heavy riffs to 170 Russell, Melbourne, 22 Jun; Metro Theatre, Sydney, 24 Jun; Eatons Hill Hotel, Brisbane, 27 Jun; and Astor Theatre, Perth, 29 Jun.
TROYE SIVAN
BACK AGAIN
Nicky Bomba’s BUSTAMENTO had a big year in 2014 with the Intercontinental Journal 7 record. The seven-piece pay tribute to the smooth rhythms of the Caribbean, with influences in calypso, mento, early reggae and ska. Their latest single Back Again takes things down the Motown path. The gang tours nationally, playing Soundlounge, Gold Coast, 2 Apr; Paddington Uniting Church, Sydney, 10 Apr; Caravan Music Club, Melbourne, 18 Apr and Rosemount Hotel, Perth, 24 Apr. More dates at theMusic.com.au.
PRETTY SURE I KNOW WHAT RICK ASTLEY ISN’T GIVING UP FOR LENT. HURRRR, IT NEVER GETS OLD, HEY @NOTKENNYROGERS? 10 • THE MUSIC • 25TH FEBRUARY 2015
San Cisco have announced a national solo tour alongside their Groovin The Moo festival dates. They’ll do Fremantle, Fremantle Arts Centre, 23 & 24 Apr (AA); Gold Coast, Coolangatta Hotel, 15 May; Brisbane, The Triffid, 16 May and 17 May (U18 matinee); Melbourne, 170 Russell, 22 May and The Hi-Fi, 23 May (U18 matinee); Wollongong, University Of Wollongong, 29 May; and Sydney, Enmore Theatre, 30 May (AA).
LOUD AND CLEAR
The biggest names in comedy and music are coming down under for Amplify, a nationally touring festival aimed at the ‘connected generation’, right on time for the first school holidays of 2015. Troye Sivan, Connor Franta, Jamie Curry ( Jamie’s World), Kimmi Smiles, Tyde Levi, Jai Waetford, Shani Grimmond, Kurt Coleman and Smallzy round out the first line-up announcement. 7 Apr, Hordern Pavilion, Sydney; 9 Apr, Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre; 10 Apr, Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne; 12 Apr Perth Arena, Perth.
local news qld.news@themusic.com.au
FRONTLASH NOW FIX IT
New Qld Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has taken on the mantle of Minister For The Arts in her new cabinet - let’s see if she can reverse some of the devastation caused to the sector by Newman and his cronies.
BEST CLIP EVER? You’d have to be dead inside to not love the incredible cross-cultural pollinisation with resulted in the kids from Bob’s Burgers starring in the clip for Sleater-Kinney’s single A New Wave.
IGGY POPS OFF It seems weird that it took so much online harassment for Iggy Azelia to realise that Twitter is a platform for trolls to troll, and quit the medium.
GET PSYCHED
LIVING THE DREAM
Having recently toured right across the US, Melbourne-bred rockers Bellusira have signed a record deal with Pavement and are taking themselves around the country in March. It’ll be your last chance to see them in the flesh, as they’ve actually been living in the USA for the last 12 months and have now decided to permanently reside in the country due to their latest success. They’ll be playing an acoustic pledge show on 6 Mar, before heading to Miamo Tavern, Gold Coast, 7 Mar; and Crowbar, 8 Mar.
ALL RIGHT STOP Poor Vanilla Ice, first he resorted to metal and now grand theft? Surely the residuals from Ice, Ice Baby would be enough that you don’t have to resort to burglary, even if it is for a sweet new reality TV show about home renovation (groan).
VERY MUCH ALIVE
Brisbane rockers Halfway are playing The Triffid on 24 Apr to launch the third part of the four-part series of 7” vinyl releases from the band’s award winning album Any Old Love: Shakespeare Hotel. They’ll be joined by fellow locals Mosman Alder and another guest still to be announced.
CODE BREAKER
Local cricket fans got doubly screwed by the weekend’s storms, depriving us of the only World Cup game featuring Australia. Sigh, we still have Ireland vs UAE to look forward to...
Brisbane has a new premier music venue. The Foundry will be opening its doors this month and following up with a string of shows. Catch the launch party 6 Mar, with Velociraptor, Spod and White Lodge; WAAX and special guests, 7 Mar; Harts single launch, with special guests, 13 Mar; Hound single launch with guests, 14 Mar; Babaganouj with Flowertruck, Statler and Waldorf on 20 Mar; Ray Davies 7” launch with Per Purpose and 100%, 21 Mar; Rolls Bayce with The Walking Who and The Bacchanales 27 Mar; and Oslow 7” launch with guests 28 Mar.
HALFWAY THERE
BACKLASH
WASH OUT
GET TO THE FOUNDRY
This March, No Body Died head out on the road to support the release of the single Arp and their forthcoming EP The Nihilist And The Pretender. They’ll be performing a collection of dreamy and emotive songs from their debut release The Eaorpe Project and new material exploring a post-apocalyptic landscape – catch everything from electronica to pop to post-rock when they perform Byron Bay Brewery, 7 Mar and The Bearded Lady, 27 Mar.
WORLDS COLLIDE!
Incredible the whole Qld sporting industry seems to be caught up in this cocaine sting, with Karmichael Hunt being given the lion’s share of attention so far despite it being rumoured to run a whole lot deeper.
BABAGANOUJ
UK electro duo Audiojack will embark on a March national tour in celebration of the release of their new Psychonautics EP, released last week. The group are used to bringing the good times, and that’s what they’ll convey to Coco Lounge, 14 Mar.
COUNTING CROWS
JACKSON FIREBIRD
TWISTED FIRESTARTERS
Rock‘n’roll duo Jackson Firebird return from their touring stint throughout Europe and Brazil to play a run of local shows in March and April as part of their Bang The Mohican tour. They’ll road test some new tracks on 10 Apr at The Northern in Byron Bay (free show), and 11 Apr at Beetle Bar.
A WELCOME INCLUSION
American alt-rock band Counting Crows have added a Brisbane performance to their Australian headline tour this April. Having recently completed a tour of the US in support of their seventh studio album Somewhere Under Wonderland, fans will have the chance to hear those tracks when the band play The Tivoli on 12 Apr. THE MUSIC • 25TH FEBRUARY 2015 • 11
local news qld.news@themusic.com.au CLOUD CONTROL
MICROWAVE JENNY
JENNY & THE SIX
Microwave Jenny, the alter-ego of husband and wife musical force Tessa and Brendon Boney, is set to release a brand new EP, Microwave Jenny & The Six Song EP, early next month. To celebrate, the duo will be taking on the country with an extensive national tour, bringing their eclectic mix of electronic pop to The Spotted Cow, Toowoomba, 10 Apr (free show); and The Milk Factory Kitchen & Bar, 11 Apr.
EXTRA EXTRA
Indie rockers Cloud Control are confirmed to join the celebrations at the 2015 Urban Country Music Festival. The band have already played a couple of summer festivals around the country this year, and now they’ll be joining the likes of Lee Kernaghan, Beccy Cole, British India, Augie March, Last Dinosaurs and more from 1 – 3 May at Caboolture’s Historical Village. Tickets to the event are still available from urbancountry.com.au. Proudly presented by The Music.
FIFTY SHADES OF GREY WOULD BE A GREAT TITLE FOR A MOVIE ABOUT A DOG TRYING TO READ A MAP OF THE U.S. LENNON THROUGH A GLASS ONION
HONOURING A LEGEND
To celebrate the life of a legend gone too soon, Lennon Through a Glass Onion will return to Australia, after a triumphant run in the US. This New York production pays homage to the beloved icon, John Lennon, with songs Imagine, Strawberry Fields Forever, All You Need Is Love and more. Created and performed by Australian actor/ musician John Waters and singer/pianist Stewart D’Arrietta, this event celebrates the genius and the wonder that Lennon brought to his audiences. QPAC, 23 – 28 Jun. 12 • THE MUSIC • 25TH FEBRUARY 2015
SO MANY ENJOYABLE 50 SHADES OF GREY POSTS TO ENJOY OVER TWITTER THIS WEEK - @THEOGJB MADE US CHUCKLE.
SUPER STATUS
Everybody’s favourite Super Best Friends are finally releasing their debut album Status Updates on 20 Mar, which of course they need to tour to launch and celebrate with y’all. The punk-rock trio’s national tour comes to Ric’s Bar, 23 Apr; 24 Apr, it hits up Byron Bay Brewery; 25 Apr, 4ZZZ Punk Party, Fortitude Valley (all ages); and 26 Apr, Sounds Of Sunday, Broadbeach Tavern, Gold Coast.
A MOTLEY GROUP
Rock icons Mötley Crüe have confirmed dates for their highly anticipated Australian leg of their last ever tour with Alice Cooper. Brisbane Entertainment Centre, 19 May, with tickets on sale at 11am on 4 Mar. The group’s newest single All Bad Things has also been released, available now.
THE MUSIC • 25TH FEBRUARY 2015 • 13
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OUR TOP FIVE PICKS FOR THE BRISBANE COMEDY FESTIVAL Do you feel overwhelmed by the selection on offer at the Brisbane Comedy Festival, at the Brisbane Powerhouse, 24 Feb – 22 Mar? Do you think ‘OH GOD HOW AM I EVER GOING TO CHOOSE WHO TO SEE SOMEONE HOLD MY HAND SOMEONE HELP DEAR GOD PLEASE’? Thank Christ for your pal Hannah Story, who’s set out a handy dandy guide of The Music’s festival favourites.
RHYS NICHOLSON: FORWARD Australia’s entrant to the Andy Warhol/David Bowie lookalike contest (not a fact, although he does look kinda like Tilda Swinton) is 24-year-old Novacastrian Rhys Nicholson. For his latest show, Forward, he uses his wit to take a look forward and backward at his life to pre-write his own eulogy. Expect good things from the Best Newcomer at Sydney Comedy Festival, 2012, and the 2009 RAW Comedy finalist (when he was just 16!). 3 – 8 Mar, Rooftop Terrace, Brisbane Powerhouse
PAUL FOOT: HOVERCRAFT SYMPHONY IN GAMMON # MAJOR You probably recognise oddball comedian Paul Foot from his British panel show cred (think Never Mind The Buzzcocks and Would I Lie To You), or maybe from his sold out 2013 BCF debut. He’s a man of distinction, who won Best International at the Sydney and Perth Comedy Festivals last year, and has been nominated for the Barry at MICF twice. Watch his show about clams? It’s apparently about clams. 17 – 22 Mar, Turbine Studio, Brisbane Powerhouse
EM RUSCIANO: THE MOTHERLOAD This is Em Rusciano’s debut show, so we don’t have a lot to go off, except its title and Rusciano’s stellar career: from Australian Idol to radio on Perth’s 92.9 to The Project to writing credits the length of my arm to cabaret at Adelaide Fringe and MICF. It’s a father-daughter show (Rusciano is bringing her father Vince along) about motherhood and marriage, pop culture and John Farnham. It’s sure to be a hoot: Rusciano might just be the next Fiona O’Loughlin. 10 – 15 Mar, Turbine Studio, Brisbane Powerhouse 14 • THE MUSIC • 25TH FEBRUARY 2015
WIL ANDERSON
NOW I’LL HAVE TO KILL YOU You know Glenn Robbins and Dave O’Neil, right? I don’t need to describe to you the one and only Russell Coight, and Kel from Kath & Kim, and Wayne Wheeler from Upper Middle Bogan? Or that fat guy from every Australian TV show from the last ten years, the standup, radio broadcaster, author, sketch writer, who makes jokes about getting smashed at the pub. You know ‘em, you love ‘em, watch them encourage guest comedians to tell you all their secrets. 20 & 21 Mar, Visy Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse
GLENN ROBBINS & DAVE ONEIL
EM RUSCIANO
RHYS NICHOLSON
WIL ANDERSON: FREE WIL You want to see Wil Anderson. We don’t need to tell you that. You (and your mum) know him as the host of every hit ABC panel show since the early ‘00s (The Glass House, The Gruen Transfer), from his sold out comedy shows, from his podcasts TOFOP and Wilosophy, and from that gelled hair and those thongs. He’s one of our cleverest comedians and biggest exports, the Australian Pied Piper of comedy. Go have a chuckle and learn from the best. 17 – 22 Mar, Powerhouse Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse
NO LAUGHING MATTER Stepping back from “superficial jokes”, triple j star/ comedian Matt Okine tells Daniel Cribb why he was scared to perform his new material at first.
I
f you saw Matt Okine doing stand-up comedy in 2014, you were probably delivered a healthy amount of “killer bread jokes” and observational pieces on the trials of sharehouse living. That material was penned when the breakfast co-host was still adjusting to his new position and figuring out his life in the spotlight. A year into the job and a lot has changed for Okine. While he was hosting a carefree and fun on-air attitude, things were a little more hectic behind the scenes. “I’m in a different position now,” Okine tells. “I’ve broken up with my long-term
girlfriend, I am getting more comfortable in my job, and I am also starting to enjoy being able to afford little extra things in life. Like, I can fill my petrol tank up every time… every one of my shows is where I’m at a particular stage. A lot of things can happen in a year.” But the luxury of a full tank of petrol comes at a price. An increased presence in the public arena also meant a rise in hatred and hurtful comments, something that Okine still struggles to simply shrug off. “It never stops hurting,” he admits. “I started work the other day at 6am and the very first text that came in just said, ‘Shut up, Matt. You’re
not funny. Piss off.’ Imagine if you walked through the door of your work and the first thing you were told was, ‘Mate, shut up, you’re shit. Get outta here.’ It feels kind of weird. You either have to get upset by it or you have to start embracing it, and I’ve learned that being divisive is a lot better than being ignored.”
comedy
While his previous shows have been done in retrospect, the new show, The Other Guy, focuses on the present. And dealing with such hatred and a hectic 12 months has helped Okine open up more on stage. “It’s a really full on show, and I’ve done a few trials and people have come up to me afterwards and been like, ‘Holy shit. You say a lot of deep stuff in the show, and then manage to keep it funny.’ And that is something that I am exploring, being funny and being light-hearted but, I think I’ve moved past just doing superficial jokes and I want to talk about things that people wouldn’t often talk about on stage. I want to bring that sort of honesty to my shows because I just can’t joke about vacuum cleaners forever. “I’ve kind of got to do what I’m scared of because that’s the stuff that people really connect with… When I say something that scares me, that I am scared to reveal about myself, all it is telling me is that there must be a million other people who are going through something like this who are also too scared to say it. I feel like it’s my duty, as someone with a microphone, to talk about things that other people might be going through.” WHAT: Matt Okine: The Other Guy WHEN & WHERE: 14 & 15 Mar, Brisbane Comedy Festival, Powerhouse Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse
DONKEY BUSINESS
comedy
Hannah Gadsby says her passion for donkeys, the namesake of her latest comedy show, has waned, but the show must go on. She speaks to Cyclone.
H
annah Gadsby is staging an all-new stand-up show, Donkey, which, depending on what you read, is either about representations of the donkey in art or her bike. “Well, it was gonna be about animals in art and then it wasn’t,” Gadsby says drolly. “I got a new bike, so I said, ‘Oh, fuck it – I’ll call the bike Donkey and talk about that’.” She continues, “[The comedy festivals] ask us what the show is and for a blurb, in October, and I was thinking about donkeys a lot in October... But I can’t talk for an hour about donkeys.” The ‘donkeys in art’ concept did seem random to begin with. “I just think they get a rough go, like, they’re the symbol for the fool,” Gadsby demurs. Mary and Joseph had a reliable ol’ donkey. “I think the donkey broke Mary’s hymen!” Gadsby quips. Gadsby, who hails from Smithton in remote Tasmania, has a scholarly background: she completed a BA in Art History and Curatorship at the Australian National University. Gadsby only then started to seriously perform stand-up – winning 2006’s RAW Comedy competition. She was introduced to a wider audience on Adam Hills Tonight. Gadsby, today known for her comic art lectures both here and in the UK, has also written and presented documentary programs. Last year’s Hannah Gadsby’s Oz on the ABC was everything Robert Hughes’ much-feted 2000s Australia: Beyond The Fatal Shore
wasn’t, with its inclusive and contemporary perspectives on Antipodean art. Gadsby also appears in Josh Thomas’ Please Like Me, the alt-sitcom that has a grassroots following stateside, where traditionally shows are (badly) remade. “Good luck recreating Josh,” Gadsby cackles. Ask Gadsby if Please Like Me, nominated for an International Emmy, has opened doors for her and she’s unsure. “I’m not exactly acting – I’m just playing myself. So it’s not like they’re going, ‘Ooh, she can act…’ I assume it’s given me more exposure. [But] I don’t keep tabs on myself.” Regardless, Gadsby has had one acting ‘role’.
She cameoed in the ‘20s-themed Underbelly: Squizzy as “a cross-dressing photographer”. “I’ve never seen any of the Underbelly series,” Gadsby whispers. It looks good in her bio. “Yeah, that’s why I do anything!” Five years ago Gadsby took a book pitch to a publisher and received an advance, despite then being a “nobody”. Alarmingly, the tome will document her “accident history”.
WHAT: Hannah Gadsby: Donkey WHEN & WHERE: 24 Feb – 27 Feb, Brisbane Comedy Festival, Visy Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse; 28 Feb & 1 Mar, Brisbane Comedy Festival, Powerhouse Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse To read the full interview head to theMusic.com.au THE MUSIC • 25TH FEBRUARY 2015 • 15
comedy
COMEDY’S WEIRD Loudly dishing out abuse for a living, Ronny Chieng has also copped his fair share. Daniel Cribb finds out what the lawyer-turned-comedian now has in the crosshairs.
I
f we’re led to believe everything that comedians do and say onstage reflects their beliefs and habits off it, then Ronny Chieng might just be the most frustrated person alive. From Twitter to indecisive friends, it seems there’s very little that doesn’t enrage him, and an interesting Facebook message out of the blue last year almost joined that list. “I was opening for Dave Chappelle at the time, and [Bill Burr] sent me a message on Facebook out of the blue… I didn’t believe it was him; I thought it was another comic friend of mine playing a prank on me but I just went along with it. I was actually going to say, ‘Yeah, go fuck yourself,’
but I went along with it on the off-chance that it was actually him,” a calm and collected Chieng tells. Perhaps he’s not angry all the time. The message from Burr was legitimate and saw Chieng tour big theatres around the country once again, allowing him to test out material from his new show, You Don’t Know What You’re Talking About, once again dealing with conflict, to a wealth of people. It’s not that he’s trying to resolve the world’s problems, though, rather commenting on how trivial a lot of them are, a heated joke surrounding the iPhone/Android debate being a shining example. “My biggest
comedy
thing is, if you don’t know what you’re talking about, you shouldn’t talk and that applies to me as well. And that is the irony of the show I guess, because I am calling people out who are calling other people out. “I don’t think I am a very controversial comedian, I just rant a bit. I try to avoid those more divisive topics. I don’t really talk about politics or anything, so I don’t think I’m near that line, but I appreciate that line and people will draw that line and people who try to not step over that line, and people who do step over it on purpose. Comedy’s weird, man.” The whole show isn’t just about conflict, though. Only being in the game for six years, Chieng’s had a swift rise into the spotlight, which saw him temporally fill a prime-time slot at triple j. “I thought I liked music until I started working at triple j and then I thought, ‘Apparently I don’t like music,’” he laughs. “I am an undeserving piece of shit with no taste in music, so I really expanded my music horizons on triple j. “The biggest thing is opening yourself up to that national level of feedback, and criticism on the internet. I learned how to deal with that a lot better. People who listen to triple j have very strong opinions about what should be on it, including what voices should be on it and obviously the music… You’d have to be some kind of terminator to be able to take all this shit directed at you and just really brush it off.” WHAT: Ronny Chieng: You Don’t Know What You’re Talking About WHEN & WHERE: 14 & 15 Mar, Brisbane Comedy Festival, Powerhouse Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse
CRAZY BUSINESS Tom Ballard is just like you: “trying to fall in love and date, and deal with people not liking who you are”, he tells Cyclone.
W
arrnambool’s Tom Ballard once combed the beach for relics of an old Portuguese shipwreck – “a local legend” – with school friends. “Our teachers would be like, ‘Oh, if you look carefully, you might find some of the Mahogany Ship’ – which was bullshit,” mocks the fast-talking Ballard. “That was busy work – they were trying to distract us!” The openly gay comedian ultimately left his “boring” coastal Victorian hometown. “It is a lovely place, and I do enjoy going up there, but, by the time I was getting [to] 17, 18, I was kinda getting pretty restless and figured that, if I was gonna be an international superstar in the world of acting and film and comedy, then I maybe had to move to Melbourne.” Ballard exhibited comic flair in high school when he was a three-time finalist in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s Class Clowns competition. But the school dux initially went on to study law at Monash University rather than pursue comedy – chiefly to “placate” his parents. “My mum was a careers teacher, so her entire life was about back-up options,” Ballard reveals. Nonetheless, he dropped out after six weeks, his career in entertainment already on the ascent. Ballard and Alex Dyson secured airtime on triple j, eventually becoming breakfast presenters. “I guess with this crazy business, when things are going your way, you’ve kinda gotta go for it.” 16 • THE MUSIC • 25TH FEBRUARY 2015
More recently, Ballard hosted the ABC’s engaging TV program Reality Check – which won’t be returning because, he laughs philosophically, “The ABC has not found room for it in its 2015 schedule.” “I got to meet Brynne Edelsten, so that’s a career highlight.” Ballard has just piloted the SBSbacked web sitcom series, Fully Furnished, with Tommy Dassalo. The comedian is touring his stand-up show Taxis & Rainbows & Hatred on the festival circuit. “It’s about this bad, weird, homophobic thing that happened to me in a taxi in Newcastle in 2013. That incident got me thinking about a whole bunch of different
things – including how many stories I have about taking taxis and about homophobia and dating and rainbows and, yeah, being gay in 2015. I mean, my first stand-up show [2009’s Tom Ballard Is What He Is] was about me growing up and coming out in regional Victoria. I’ve been out for, like, seven years – and my life is great and fantastic and I have wonderful people who love me and stuff. But now I just have to deal with the stuff that everybody has to deal with, which is trying to fall in love and date, and deal with people not liking who you are... I’ve been working on it a lot and taking out the shit bits and putting in better bits... I feel like I’ve got a vibe of who I am and the kind of comedy I like to do and the kind of show I put together so, yes, Edinburgh 2015 is the dream.” WHAT: Tom Ballard: Taxis & Rainbows & Hatred WHEN & WHERE: 10 – 15 Mar, Brisbane Comedy Festival, Visy Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse
THE MUSIC • 25TH FEBRUARY 2015 • 17
comedy
FRENCHYATTACK Cyclone talks to Ben French, better known as Frenchy, about making Wollongong cool again.
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ising comedian and social media phenom, Frenchy (aka Ben French) isn’t sure if he should “apologise”. Year 12 students have told him that his YouTube channel SungaAttack, which has over 100, 000 subscribers, is a major distraction with its hilarious series, such as Around Girlfriend Vs Around Mates. “They’re like, ‘Ohhh, I’m supposed to be studying, but I watched all your videos,’” French says. French, who originates from the “ghettos of Wollongong” in New South Wales but currently lives in Sydney, launched his cult digital hub in 2013. He’d recruit “mates” (“absolute legends!”) as SungaAttack’s
extras. “They love being in it now ‘cause they get a little bit of nightclub fame sometimes.” In fact, French headed to Sydney to study film – and to be closer to the stand-up circuit. But, while you can take the boy out of Wollongong, you can’t take Wollongong out of the boy. French is inspired by rap superstar Iggy Azalea, who burst straight outta Mullumbimby. “Mullumbimby’s cool now, I know – it’s a sick name, too. That’s what I’m gonna do with Wollongong, hopefully – make Wollongong cool again.” The comedian’s touring live show, Live And Lanky, its theme dudes messing around, has
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its share of improv beyond his “base jokes”. “What I realised is that some people will come twice and three times to the same show – and I’m like, I don’t want them to get the exact same show every time. So I always talk to the audience – always. Sometimes it goes for ten minutes, sometimes longer [laughs]. I just get lost in the world of whoever’s in the front row. It’s really fun. That’s often [the source of ] my best jokes, [I] just muck around with the audience, ‘cause that’s always different. You’ll always get some characters or some drunk girls or just people who throw dildos on stage.” Punters will also hear songs from the SungaAttack band, French joined by Zach Gervaise, frontman of The Maze: the one with “the actual musical skills”. “I just make sure it’s funny, pretty much,” he says. As it turns out, French has “quit” his film studies. “I was like, I don’t need a degree – that’s not gonna help me get a job. I think your body of work helps you get a job, not your piece of paper.” In case any TV execs are reading, he aspires to parlay the success of SungaAttack into a program. In the interim, French, whose 2014 Sydney Fringe Comedy gigs sold out, is all about stand-up. “This is my first big tour, so that’s why I’m very excited – I’ve got my best jokes ready for it.” And he’s working towards an overseas jaunt. “This year I’m hopefully going to Edinburgh, which will be cool.” WHAT: Frenchy: Live & Lanky WHEN & WHERE: 3 – 8 Mar, Brisbane Comedy Festival, Turbine Studio, Brisbane Powerhouse
INTERNET FAME Alex Williamson admits to Cyclone that, despite YouTube celebrity, he still has to go scavenging for cigarettes.
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delaide muso-cum-comedian Alex Williamson, notorious for his bogan characters the Loosest Aussie Bloke Ever and Musical Drug Dealer on YouTube, is grappling with fame – mainly because he’s yet to experience the ‘rich’ bit of the equation. And he’s riffing off that with his latest show, That Guy From The Internet. “That’s just what everyone says to me: ‘Hey, it’s that guy from the internet!’” Williamson relates, from a borrowed phone, his own being bust. “Believe it or not, there’s very little privacy in my life when I go outside – it’s insane! People come up to me in every capital city and say ‘Hi.’ I think one of the perks of being one of these celebrities in Hollywood is that you have a lot of money and you have big homes in the hills and you’re away from all that. I seem to be recognised as much as some of these people, but I have no money and I have to catch the train and pick up cigarette butts off the ground, so that is a bit embarrassing when fans are seeing you doing that.” Williamson’s show will again feature him singing “sick” songs. “One’s about how I like to send pictures of my penis to everyone, including my parents, I’m just so proud of it. It goes to a tune that’s just so melodic and so deep and dark and disturbing that even a young mum with their kid in the car would have to turn it up and just listen to the tune – despite the lyrics being about sending cock shots to family members.” 18 • THE MUSIC • 25TH FEBRUARY 2015
Williamson, a selfdescribed “clown”, proves that you can still be famous without circulating a sex tape. Sure, his YouTube channel Shooter Williamson has a huge number of subscribers, but his success has come through hard graft – and, yep, talent. Growing up in rural Willunga, Williamson taught himself to play guitar and piano. “It was the only thing to do when the power went out when I was a kid.” He completed a degree in filmmaking at Flinders University. Williamson entered the world of stand-up in 2007. Impressed by his interviews of AFL players on, yes, YouTube, Southern Cross Austereo packed
him off to Los Angeles – where he (irreverently) covered red carpet events for The Hot Hits Live From LA. “I interviewed Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston and all these people, high as a motherfucker.” Williamson is now settled back in “comfortable” Adelaide – the weed, he claims, was “the main hook”. Williamson’s comedy plays with the Australian archetype of the politically incorrect bogan (check out his Aussie Sniper spoof ). However, international audiences are loving him. When Williamson performed at 2013’s Edinburgh Fringe, The Scotsman’s fierce critic Kate Copstick touted him as “the future of comedy”. “I’m spreading the word of the bogan and the way I’m doing it is people just think Australians are all bogans,” he says. WHAT: Alex Williamson: That Guy From The Internet WHEN & WHERE: 6 – 8 Mar, Brisbane Comedy Festival, Powerhouse Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse
THE MUSIC • 25TH FEBRUARY 2015 • 19
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SPLIT PERSONALITY For Sydney comedian Heath Franklin, what started as a skit for a university revue soon gave him a global audience. He talks to Brendan Hitchens.
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erforming on national television for The Ronnie Johns Half Hour, the advent of a videostreaming website would significantly change the life of the stand-up comic, Heath Franklin. “I was incredibly lucky,” says the man once nominated for both a Logie and ARIA Award. “I was on TV just as people were starting to figure out YouTube. If it had been six months earlier no one would have known what YouTube was and had it been six months later, you’d have to wade through seven million keyboard cats.” Over the years the skit he’d based on the late Mark “Chopper” Read morphed into a stage show that has toured internationally in various incarnations,
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including festival shows titled Harden The Fuck Up, A Hard Bastards Guide To Life and Shitlist. Despite the loaded titles, the latest instalment, Repeat Offender, has something of a social consciousness lurking beneath its hardened exterior. “It’s Chopper starting to process the fact that there are consequences to his actions and trying to get to the bottom of his anger issues. Every time somebody asks me what the show’s about, it makes it sound like a TED talk,” Franklin laughs. While Read, who died in 2013, has provided inspiration through his erratic behaviour, short-lived
“art” career and even a gangster rap album, it’s Eric Bana’s characterisation in the 2000 film, Chopper, that Franklin draws most from. “Everything I thought that was good about the Chopper character came from the movie. There were never any points during his real life where I was like, ‘That’s really funny, I should add that.’” In a disconcerting case of life imitating art, the two once briefly met and it didn’t exactly go to plan. “It was really weird, mostly because it was for a photo shoot and I was dressed up as him... I’m going to avoid meeting people dressed as them in future,” he pauses, “especially people with a violent past.” Read would later publically threaten harm against Franklin over what he claims was a broken promise, telling The Standard, “next time he shakes my hand I’ll break his arm.” Franklin laughs off the threat, quoting the man himself, “‘Never let the truth get in the way of a good yarn,’ was pretty accurate.” Losing the handle-bar moustache, DIY tattoos and potty mouth momentarily, Franklin, with the help of close friend Harley Breen, will shift tack at this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival, also performing in a children’s comedy show, Captain Fun Pants. Playing a fun-loving pirate by day and a vicious killer by night is fraught with danger. “The worstcase scenario is if I start doing kids’ stuff during the Chopper show. Imagine if you came along expecting shoot-from-the-hip stand-up and you start all of a sudden getting balloon animals and fancy dress.” WHAT: Chopper: Repeat Offender WHEN & WHERE: 27 Feb, Brisbane Comedy Festival, Powerhouse Theatre
SUPERNATURAL FORCES Celia Pacquola used to go see psychics, and worried people would think less of her. Cyclone finds out why.
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elbourne comedian Celia Pacquola hopes skeptics and judgey types go easy on her solo stand-up show, Let Me Know How It All Works Out. It has been touted as Pacquola’s “most revealing” foray – and, considering that all her comedy is “quite personal”, that means something. So will she spill? “It’s about a true part of my life that I have kept secret from people because of the judgement involved – which is seeing psychics,” Pacquola responds. “It took me a long time to decide that I wanted to talk about it on stage, ‘cause I was worried – I’d had friends who I’ve told and they said, ‘I think less of you now.’” Pacquola, a “realist”, started visiting psychics as de facto therapy. “I’m not hardcore into it. I’d go every now and then – and I don’t remember what they’ve told me or if it’s come true, because, by the time they’ve said it’s supposed to happen, I’ve forgotten about it. I would just go on the day that I was feeling a bit shitty. It just made me feel better. It’s basically somebody who looks like they know who says, ‘Everything’s gonna be fine.’ That’s the service… I don’t buy shoes or dresses or get manicures and stuff, so this is like a massage for hope!” Still, Pacquola is surprised at the reactions it engenders. “I’m not religious and, if you are, I wouldn’t judge you. You might like to listen to a man talk about a man in the sky. I would rather listen to a woman in a purple dress talk about me for half-an-hour.” 20 • THE MUSIC • 25TH FEBRUARY 2015
Ironically, Pacquola’s own growing disquiet in fortune-tellers prompted Let Me Know How It All Works Out. “I got into a fight with a palm-reader at the end of 2013,” she shares. “I used to do [sessions] as a bit of fun – I hadn’t really thought about it… Then this palm-reader told me something bad – well, something I didn’t wanna hear.” Pacquola questioned whether she believed in “fate” – or wanted to. Pacquola maintains that, even if punters reckon psychics are “absolute bullshit”, they’ll enjoy the show – which, incidentally, not only sold out at 2014’s Melbourne International Comedy
Festival, but also won her an Amused Moose Laughter Award at the Edinburgh Fringe. These days the Yarra Glen native – who has worked in radio, TV and print – splits her time between Australia and the UK. Pacquola acquired a peculiar notoriety when, gigging in Swansea, Wales last year, a heckler proved so persistent that the venue called police. Today the comedian suggests that the episode, which she described on Twitter as being like “a very strange dream”, was beaten up by the media (including the BBC). “That’s the real story – it’s not as exciting but, yeah, I glad that’s attached to my name forever. Fantastic!” WHAT: Celia Pacquola: Let Me Know How It All Works Out WHEN & WHERE: 24 – 28 Feb, Brisbane Comedy Festival, Visy Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse
THE MUSIC • 25TH FEBRUARY 2015 • 21
comedy
A-Z OF JEFF GREEN British comic Jeff Green is flattered we still have the Union Jack in the corner of our flag... but doesn’t quite understand why. He chats to Cyclone.
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he acclaimed stand-up comedian Jeff Green was a household name in the UK when he transplanted to Melbourne with his young family. Today he’s instantly recognisable across Australian media culture. But the Brit still feels like an outsider – and, ironically, that’s his greatest asset. Green is touring Australia with two different shows – he’s taking the hit All Guns Blazing to Perth but staging the fresh Happy Hour everywhere else. The situation is “a bit unique”, he admits. “I haven’t played Perth Fringe [World], so I can run my old show there, but I think the reality will be half-and-half of the old show and then me trying material for the new show.” In All Guns Blazing Green targets
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(among other things) “Australian pollies”. As an Englishman, Green is bemused by Tony Abbott’s controversial (or, at least, “anachronistic”) decision to knight Prince Philip. “We’re flattered that you still have the Union Jack in the corner [of the Australian flag], I suppose. [But] as Brits, we don’t know why you still feel a fondness so many years later. Then, of course, we’re used to Australians surging towards republicanism and cronyism in equal measure, depending on who’s in power. So I don’t think anything fazes the Brits any more, except that it’s still a live issue – which is probably the weirdest
thing for us to get our heads ‘round.” In contrast, Happy Hour is about Green’s “pursuit of happiness”. The Northern lad from Chester studied Chemical Engineering at uni. He fell into comedy “purely by chance” after a mate took him to London’s Comedy Store to cheer him up (“I’d been dumped by a girl”). It was his vocational epiphany. “The minute I walked through the club and sat down and laughed heartily at the comedian, I went, ‘This is what I want to do.’” Green’s mum cried when he told her. “She didn’t even know what a stand-up comedian was. She thought they were drug-addicted self-loathers.” Green would appear on TV. He actually competed seriously in Celebrity MasterChef, which was “terrifying” yet “lifechanging”: “I went from being a can-opener to a cook, not a chef – but I’m not a bad cook now.” Green is also a best-selling author, with his A–Z “survival guide” series (beginning with The A-Z Of Living Together). Green first toured Australia in 1996 with pal Jo Brand – and loved it. He’d marry a Melbourne woman. They moved Down Under from London at the end of 2008. “I went, ‘Yeah, sod my career in England (laughs), I’ll start again!’” The experience could even inspire Green’s next tome, The A–Z Of Australia. “Those books work with me being an outsider – and often that’s where my comedy comes from, being an outsider looking in: you can see the jokes that people can’t ‘see’ because they’re habituated to them. I always find the best comedy for me is when I’m looking at subjects that I’m not a part of.” WHAT: Jeff Green: Happy Hour WHEN & WHERE: 3 – 7 Mar, Brisbane Comedy Festival, Visy Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse
SHE’S LEAVING HOME Legendary yarn-spinner Fiona O’Loughlin is finally ready to open up about her big move from Alice Springs to the city, Baz McAlister reports.
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round three years ago, Fiona O’Loughlin left the quiet town of Alice Springs, where she had lived for 27 years, for the bright lights of Melbourne – also leaving her husband. “I’m so in love with this new show because it’s about looking back and realising I am ready to talk about all of that now, to say ‘Holy crap, how did I do that?’” O’Loughlin admits. In the same vein as previous shows that have won the warm, open comic a huge fanbase, her new one is simply a collection of autobiographical stories. It’s not hard to see why she cites quintessential anecdote master Billy Connolly as a comedic influence. “With this show, you’ll never see the same one twice. It’s been overwritten, because there are too many stories! I have to take one or two out every night and replace and rotate them. Three stories have got the same purpose, I guess. And I am talking about some tricky stuff, like race relations in Alice Springs. I’ve got this gorgeous story about meeting ‘Aboriginal me’ and taking her home. I love her!” South Australian-born O’Loughlin says she feels refreshed by the move out of the Outback. She’s still enchanted by the feel of the city – despite having toured through cities for eight months of the year, in a blur of hotel rooms and taxis, she says she’s enjoying 22 • THE MUSIC • 25TH FEBRUARY 2015
people-watching, putting down roots, and even just getting a coffee is “exciting”. She’s not considering moving back to the town she called home for most of her life. “I only ever felt transient anyway in the whole twenty-seven years I lived there. I felt like a guest, because I think Alice Springs is such a cathedral for Aboriginal people. It’s a very sacred place and I don’t think unless you were born there it will ever feel like home. But one of my (five) kids was born there and it’s incredible to see the difference.” Since last comedy festival season, O’Loughlin’s episode
of Australian Story has aired on the ABC with a frank and revealing account of her suicide attempt. Her battle with alcoholism had already hit the headlines after she collapsed on stage in 2009. “I reckon people are pretty over me and my shit,” O’Louughlin says with her winning trademark self-deprecation. “I do laugh at myself in the show – the closer is a big gag about myself and about how much I’ve let the public into my life. But the payoff for wrinkles is that you can say more, and I love that as a stand-up.” WHAT: Fiona O’Loughlin: The One Where She Left Her Husband And Moved To Melbourne! WHEN & WHERE: 4 – 8 Mar, Brisbane Comedy Festival, Visy Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse
THE MUSIC • 25TH FEBRUARY 2015 • 23
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ANNIVERSARY SNAPSHOTS With a monstrous sound and a reputation to match, guitarist Barry Burns of unassuming Scottish rock heroes Mogwai talks to Tyler McLoughlan about being 20 years in the band.
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s Mogwai begin the last run of touring in support of their eighth studio album, Rave Tapes, guitarist Barry Burns contemplates how he feels to be celebrating 20 years in the business. “Really old,” he starts with a big laugh from the bar he owns in Berlin. “It’s difficult not to think about that because I remember being a teenager and lookin’ at The Rolling Stones and thinkin’ ‘God, it’s pretty sad
that they’re still goin’,’ and now despite havin’ like a hundredth of their success, we’re doin’ the same thing… We’ll have a big party for it but you get the feelin’ that a good half an hour after the party starts, that we might go home and put our slippers on and go to bed. We’re still gonna go for it when we go to Australia; because of the jet lag, you just have to go crazy on the drink.” Burns is a super-lovely bloke who’s happier chatting about gigs that have moved him to tears and his coveted copy of Tales From The Australian Underground – Singles 1976-1989
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than the reasons for Mogwai’s longevity, though this distinct lack of rock-star ego on all levels has certainly contributed. “[For the Australian shows we’ll have] magicians, dancers, tigers, lions, all that!” he roars with laughter, before conceding, “I dunno, we just come over and play a concert like we always do. There’s never anything special, just people tryin’ very hard to play insanely difficult music!” As conversation turns to the events of the past year and the reception from the use of a more electronic palette across Rave Tapes, Burns shares one of the biggest insights from 20 years with Mogwai. “It’s nice to be at that stage when it’s almost – apart from the Australian and New Zealand and Asian dates – it’s pretty much finished for [Rave Tapes], so it’s quite nice to get a bit of perspective on the whole thing and see that it’s done quite well and people that never used to listen to us have started to listen to us. A lot of that is to do with the television show [French series Les Revenants] that we did the music for as well – that’s brought a lot of different people, which has been a good thing for us. I’m kind of itchin’ to get new stuff; I don’t know about the rest of the band to be honest, but I’ve started to write songs for a new record already and we’ll just have some time off and get back into it again. I’m pleased with how it went on a whole; I think you always want to change stuff and music is never finished, so there’s a lot you wanna go back and change, but that would be fairly hard I think. I was just sayin’ to the lads that I feel like albums are sort of like a photograph or a snapshot of everythin’ that was goin’ on in your life at that point, and you don’t really wanna change it anyway.” WHEN & WHERE: 4 Mar, The Tivoli
STEELY CONVICTION A Most Violent Year’s Jessica Chastain speaks with Brendan Telford about playing strong female characters and making her own luck.
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ince arriving on cinema screens in 2008, Jessica Chastain has created a gallery of strong, often cold female characters whose steely countenances uncover deep reservoirs of conflicting and resonant emotions. In A Most Violent Year, the third film from rising director JC Chandor (Margin Call, All Is Lost), Chastain stars as Anna Morales, the faithful wife to burgeoning immigrant businessman Abel (Oscar Isaac) who struggles with his abhorrence of the violence in the increasingly corrupt backdrop of 1980s New York. “Anna is very much a woman living in a man’s world and she has in a way played a role, that of the wife,” Chastain says. “But in reality she is Dick Cheney to Abel’s George Bush; she is doing things behind the scenes that no one is aware of, but she is colder, more of a serpent, who will hide her cards.” The dichotomy between Abel and Anna is the centrifugal force in this morality tale. While their roles seem relatively clear-cut – Abel the knight of moral fortitude, Anna the scheming Lady Macbeth – it is clear through myriad nuances of conversational tone and surreptitious action that they are more codependent than is shown on the surface. Chastain maintains that it is this that makes the Morales the perfect power couple. “Anna absolutely loves her husband and would do anything for him, but at the same time she feels his actions are putting their family
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in direct danger. The interesting thing about her that makes me laugh is that her man is her king, she loves being his wife and the idea of being the wife, but in the next instant will totally emasculate him. It’s this mixture of wanting power and love – no matter how much they fight and she knocks him down, he is her everything. And she gets a perverse pleasure when Abel shows he will do what it takes. You know those girls who walk down the street, and cheer her boyfriend on when they get in a fight? That’s her.” The incongruous yet incisive worlds that Chandor creates in his films are something
A MOST VIOLENT YEAR
that Chastain immediately identifies with, as most of her career choices thus far have revolved around what has fascinated her and pushed her to think and act beyond what she deemed possible. “I think [Chandor] illuminates capitalism as something we don’t really talk about. I see Abel as a metaphor for the United States in search of the American dream. Can he maintain his morals in a corrupt industry and still find success? I think this is a film that occurs before Gordon Gekko says that greed is good; you have A Most Violent Year, you have Wall Street, and then you have the banking crisis. For me, this isn’t a secret. I work with great directors. If you work with an artist who is really good and challenges you it makes you a better actor, and your performances are going to be amazing because all you have to do is show up and react to what they are doing. Being able to say what you are feeling is such a relief and opens things right up. But you have to be there for that to happen.” WHAT: A Most Violent Year In cinemas 26 Feb
SOUTHERN VOICE It’s all about the spirit of place and the energy of performance for Southern rockers JJ Grey & Mofro, as John “JJ” Grey tells Michael Smith.
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he way the North Port, Florida-based singersongwriter John “JJ” Grey tells it, he was at his grandmother’s funeral and his aunt and uncle were singing I’ll Fly Away when another relative “hollered out Ol’ Glory”. That became the title to the seventh album from JJ Grey & Mofro, but more importantly, it gives something of an idea of just how the sound of the band, a mix of Southern rock, soul, gospel, blues and funk evolved – it’s very much a reflection of the landscape of Jacksonville, up by the Georgia border, in which Grey grew up.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, everything here musically has always been, as I grew up, call/ response,” Grey explains. “It was that way in church when we were little kids. It’s holler and holler back, man. And my favourite music does that. Even country music here, ol’ country music – if the singer stops singin’, then somebody else steps up and says somethin’, whether they’re sayin’ it vocally or on a piano or a pedal steel guitar or whatever. They’re listenin’ to the singer and they’re listenin’ to each other and they’re always responding to that. Instead of playin’ parts – instead of like, okay, this is C somethin’ somethin’ chord
and then we go to the D somethin’ chord and we go to E, they just listen and play.”
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And so it is with Ol’ Glory, the album – catching something of that spirit that happens live on stage when JJ Grey & Mofro play, responding to each other’s playing. Grey also wanted to get himself back into that place. “I’ve been steadily workin’ my way that way with every record, and I felt like this album, I wanted to give myself a little more time with the material so when I actually sang it that it felt a little more lived. Actually what it comes from – you do a record, you go on the road for a year, and a year later you listen to the record and you’re like, ‘Shit, I wish we could re-record it all right now,’ ‘cause a year later you really settle into this thing. So I really tried to spend more time singin’ the stuff at home to try to settle in a lot more and I’m glad I did. “With all the records, man, they write themselves and I’m just kind of along for the ride. It’s sorta like I’m on a sailboat and I just kinda man the rudder, ya know what I mean? And let the wind and the current carry me. I just kinda steer it every now and again. When I say these songs write themselves, it’s kinda like a conversation, but a conversation with yourself, and the only time when I come into play is if I feel that the stuff that pops into my head I can do a little bit better. I start with the music and let the words come later, most of the time. I call it chasin’ the rabbit – you gotta be in the woods to sorta catch one.” WHAT: Ol’ Glory (Mascot Label Group/Warner) WHEN & WHERE: 3 & 5 Apr, Bluesfest, Byron Bay
ALL GOOD FUN
music
There are days Wayne Hancock could do an Elvis and shoot his TV for all the bad news it imparts. Instead, he’s making music even Elvis would have dug, as Michael Smith discovers.
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here are plenty of artists out there travelling under the roots/Americana banner, but not many of them make the kind of records you can imagine the pioneers of rock’n’roll – Carl Perkins, Hank Williams, even Presley himself – would have made themselves. Texan through and through, that’s exactly what you get from Wayne Hancock.
dive of a place to play, and one day I took home $350 and that was more than I made in a week and I quit ma job the next day.”
“Elvis would’a liked it ‘cause he was in the Army,” Hancock laughs as he chats about his most recent album, 2013’s Ride. Hancock served four years as a US Marine, shipping out for training literally straight from winning a talent contest when he was 18. “This kinda music just makes me feel good, ya know? Like most people who enjoy doin’ what they do, I enjoy it to the point where sometimes it doesn’t even matter if I get paid or not, even now – it’s that enjoyable. Whenever I’m feelin’ down, all I gotta do is just go play a show and I’m on cloud nine for the next week.
It sounds like Hancock has just as much fun in the studio with his five-piece – economics demand his trip to Australia is in threepiece mode – but it’s all there in the music anyway, with its heady mix of honky-tonk, Western swing and Texas rockabilly.
“Music’s better than the pay-out half the time! I’m about due to cut another album…” At this point Hancock starts to laugh uncontrollably. “I ran a tour this last month and boy, I took a bath! When I left, I had money in my account, when I got back I didn’t have nuthin’. So obviously music is worth it – it’s fun. I probably started in ’91 or ’92 and I was playin’ for tips. The club at that time they’d pay $150, just a
“I can write some real doozies, songs that’ll make you go out and slit your wrists, but that don’t do nobody no good and don’t do me any good – makes you just feel
terrible when you hear ‘em. You wanna feel bad? Turn on the news! Watch TV.” More laughter. “I broke ma… I’m gonna get rid of ma TV, man. Our TV over here? It sucks over here in the United States, man. I don’t even know why I watch it.” Hancock’s forthcoming visit to Australia will be his third, but his connection to this country could have been a whole lot different. “Ma father and ma uncle stopped over in Australia durin’ World War II, and y’all had somethin’ happen in the ‘60s and ma father wrote a letter to your government volunteerin’ his services basically, and they wrote back sayin’ how they appreciated it but they had it covered! I thought that was really cool. Ma dad always says I was just one letter away from bein’ born in Melbourne.” At which point, well, more laughter. WHEN & WHERE: 3 Mar, Lefty’s Old Time Music Hall THE MUSIC • 25TH FEBRUARY 2015 • 25
ALBUM OF THE WEEK
★★★★
album/ep reviews
PURITY RING
BADBADNOTGOOD & GHOSTFACE KILLAH
Another Eternity 4AD/Remote Control Megan James and Corin Roddick collaborating as Purity Ring yielded an almost perfect debut in the shape of Shrines (2012). Their latest album moves on from Shrines in an altogether more accessible direction. James’ vocals are less heavily processed and sit louder in the mix: sure to invite singalongs at gigs. Purity Ring take a step closer to attracting the attention of bigger and more mainstream audiences. Let’s not be surprised by this development, they did remix Lady Gaga’s Applause. Unlike Shrines, the tunes on this album ascend higher peaks, offering grander vistas before crashing into the next song. Bodyache is sure to draw inevitable comparison to Sia. Meanwhile the drop on Flood On The Floor suggests EDM ambitions and washes over like a David Guetta collaboration. In full flight Sea Castle evokes La Roux.
Sour Soul Lex/Warner
Without wanting to alienate their fans, Purity Ring take these steps towards accessibility on their own terms. Their pristine electronic pop still reflects the influence of trap, witch-house, electro and indiepop. It’s a tasteful collision of styles that fluidly slips and slides between their influences, ultimately arriving at a highly original sound that could only bear their signature. The duo continues to maintain a mysterious and enigmatic presence. Waves and waves of luscious synthesised sound create a nocturnal wonderland best visited in dreams. More spellbinding pop perfection. Guido Farnell
★★★½
While the majority of the legendary Wu-Tang Clan have struggled to remain relevant in the 21st century, Ghostface Killah has done it with ease. The key to his success has been to sonically branch out, finding a new path of his own. 2012’s Twelve Reasons To Die with Adrian Younge embarked upon a new ‘live’-based sound and this continued through last year’s wonderful 36 Seasons. Hot on the heels of that release, GFK has teamed up with Canadian jazz-funk-rock threesome BADBADNOTGOOD who provide an ice-cold-soul backdrop. Ghostface gets really mean with all the measure, confidence and menace you’d expect from such a jaded veteran. The up-tempo live breaks of Ray Gun provide space for MF Doom to strike up yet another collaboration (we wait impatiently for the full-length)
★★★★
★★★½
LOVE OF DIAGRAMS
MOON DUO
Blast
Shadow Of The Sun
PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING
Bedroom Suck
Twelve Suns/Rocket
The Race For Space
Blast is the heavy dream-pop three-piece’s fourth record, and thankfully they haven’t yet been tempted to get all polished and perfect. That might sound backhanded, but it’s rare to see a band understanding exactly what makes them great and delivering it with guts and precision like this.
Moon Duo take the repetitive hooks of Circles (2012) to a darker place with increased sonic density while still sounding like a band trying to create the aural equivalent of interstellar travel. Sanae Yamada’s keyboards conjure up the gothic garage rock of Zero, and the billowy dream-pop of In A Cloud while Slow Down Low could easily be early rock’n’roll if it wasn’t for the Suicide and krautrock filter applied to it. This is ghostly music that rephrases the past and is a mind-altering, chemical-free trip of the highest order.
Test Card Recordings/ Inertia
The constant low-key, sweetyet-tough vocal sound is cool, but lacks a bit in dynamics, amplified by how compressed the album feels in general. Though not a particularly short record, Blast rockets past in a haze of raw declarations and driving guitar. Still plenty to sink your teeth into. Madeleine Laing
Chris Familton
Abandoning Cold War paranoia and scratched tapes for high gloss synths and high speed film, this concept album arches smoothly between the clean, empty ambience and catchy ‘70s pop-inspired riffs and trills of Space Race nostalgia. The elastic duo snap between bounce and slap bass and synth landscape seamlessly, all overscored with their trademark historical samples from US and USSR news coverage of shuttle launches, political conflict and internal radio broadcasts between crew and ground control. Niche in focus, but sleek in execution. Richard Moore
26 • THE MUSIC • 25TH FEBRUARY 2015
★★★½ while the creeping oriental motifs of Six Degrees suit Danny Brown’s whiney weirdo-speak. Elsewhere, Tone’s Rap slows things down to an absolute crawl, allowing Ghostface to drop some of his most brutal, pimped-out, ho-slapping lines to date. It’s dark, heartless stuff and all the better for it. Creating undeniable tension, BADBADNOTGOOD’s backdrops move from Pulp Fiction surf-blues to up-tempo blaxploitation funk-soul as equally devoid of warmth as they are full of cinematic atmosphere. The ugly bastard child of a fleeting tryst. A hip hop one of a kind. Darren Collins
★★★★
SPIRIT VALLEY Give Trance A Chance Sweet Baby Baby Records Give Trance A Chance is an album that’s not afraid to get dark and dirty, hard and heavy, or loud and abrasive, and that’s why it’s so damn good! There are moments where both the guitar and drums shine individually, before intertwining with one another to create sublime psychedelic splendour – instrumental track Victory is a perfect example. Don’t be fooled by the faux ending at the ten-minute mark of closing track Forever, the final three minutes are the bomb, rounding the album out with an air of peace and calm. Jazmine O’Sullivan
album/ep reviews
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★★★½
★★½
★★★½
SHIFTING SANDS
THE POP GROUP
TOM ZÉ
Beach Coma
Citizen Zombie
Tom Zé
Spooky Records
Freaks R Us/Rocket
Kartel/Shock
The transformation of SixFtHick’s Geoff Corbett from crazed rocker to demented lounge crooner continues unabated with Shifting Sands’ debut, a robust collection of dark noir anthems perfect for post-midnight rumination and reflection. Partner-in-crime Dylan McCormack sets the tone wonderfully with perfectly restrained musical beds, but it’s Corbett’s whisky-soaked vocals and occasionally bleak worldview which on strong tracks like Boyfriend, Other Girls, New Flame and Didn’t I? bring a gravitas reminiscent of greats such as Hazlewood, Dulli and Lanegan. Far more than a mere side-project.
Thirty-five years: that’s how long it’s been since The Pop Group’s last album, an age so distant I’m not going to crank out the usual bad comedy comparisons; you can Wikipedia “1980” yourselves. Not as dangerously bleeding-edge as once they were, their third album is still one of the most politically scathing releases of recent times. Musically it’s all over the place (in both senses), unpredictably veering from slick funk workouts (Mad Truth) to nihilistic loathing (the title track) to the just plain silly (St Outrageous).
Something of a lost classic, this tropicália nugget was gestated by small town bumpkin Tom Zé while navigating his way through the metropolitan sprawl of early ‘70s Brazil. Clearly Zé’s melodic and harmonic imagination doesn’t contemplate too many boundaries, as his charming, sometimes oddball, compositions veer from the gently rhythmic samba-style lullabies to lurching horn sections (sometimes in the same song – see Dulcinéia Popular Brasileira). The quality ebbs a little in the second half, but it’s time this singular artist earned some long overdue recognition and maybe a new wave of fans.
Christopher H James
Drake – If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late Etienne De Crécy – Super Discount 3 Au.Ra – Jane’s Lament Future Brown – Future Brown Foy Vance – Live At Bangor Abbey Rumer – Into Colour Enforcer – From Beyond Various – Fifty Shades Of Grey Original Soundtrack
Christopher H James
Steve Bell
THE MUSIC • 25TH FEBRUARY 2015 • 27
live reviews
J MASCIS, ADALITA The Zoo 19 Feb A couple of months shy of 20 years ago – on March 31, 1995 to be precise – American alternative behemoth Dinosaur Jr rocked the much-missed Brisbane Festival Hall, supported by fiery Melbourne up-and-comers Magic Dirt, who at that stage only had a couple of well-received EPs to their name. It was a fine night of rock’n’roll, loud and furious as was the wont back in the day. Fast forward to the present and tonight the creative forces and voices behind those two fine acts are reunited once more, no doubt older
After a short break the wonderfully grey-maned J Mascis enters the fray – wearing his seemingly obligatory truckers’ cap – and takes a seat, opening with the languid Listen To Me. His voice is so distinctive and that trademark warble so unique, as he moves through Me Again (from last year’s Tied To A Star album) and old Dinosaur Jr number Little Fury Things, during which the distortion pedal gets smashed for the first time bringing a wall of static-like noise which breaks things up wonderfully. It’s still cool seeing Mascis utlising restraint after years of watching him dwarfed by stacks of Marshalls amps, even though he shows his virtuosity via huge guitar squalls during Amarring (a song by his old
J MASCIS @ THE ZOO. PIC: STEPHEN BOOTH
but also hopefully somewhat wiser for the passing of time. Adalita is now a few years into her solo foray and the format still suits her wonderfully, her emotive voice resonating with rich timbre as she opens with the moving Invite Me. She resonates a worldly persona – a perceived wisdom radiated by her stately demeanour rather than words – and she carries on with gorgeous numbers I Want Your Love and Trust Is Rust. She now favours lots of space where once would have lived squalls of feedback, but she changes moods subtly with shifts in her singing range and subtle loops which augment her deft guitar playing. On Hot Air she builds a cool soundscape which she then drags out and extends for ages, finishing a strong opening gambit with the beautiful and uplifting Blue Sky. 28 • THE MUSIC • 25TH FEBRUARY 2015
left and hits everyone with his Like A Version cover of Frenzal Rhomb’s Punch In The Face.
The Hi-Fi 20 Feb
With a show that hosts a broadened hip hop audience, Seth Sentry bridges the underground scene to the fickle hipsters coupled up into one crowd craving to break from reality, just for one night with one of Australia’s best storytellers. Support act Coin Banks staggers but gathers his start. Without a DJ, the Perth MC drops bars a cappella, prowling the stage like a headline act and going from Heads to Tails for the captivated crowd streaming
SETH SENTRY @ THE HI-FI. PIC: DAVE KAN
band The Fog). The intricate and up-tempo Every Morning brings an almost country twang, before Stumble segues into the evergreen Dinosaur classic Get Me, which has lost none of its power or poignancy. The bluesy instrumental Drifter rolls into the powerful Heal The Star, complete with huge bombastic outro, before a pair of tracks from Dino’s 1992 album Where You Been – Not The Same and the plaintive Out There – lead into a positively beautiful rendition of Mazzy Star’s Fade Into You. A couple more songs from his old band – Pond Song and soaring b-side Not You Again – close the main set, before he shuffles back out to conclude with another glorious cover, this time in the form of The Cure’s Just Like Heaven. Steve Bell
SETH SENTRY, CITIZEN KAY, COIN BANKS
Crowd participation has peaked. So when The Waitress Song ramps up it’s recited line by line like a nursery rhyme. Being the consummate showman, Sentry runs that straight into Dear Science and careful not to trip over, employs security to tie his laces before balancing himself out on to barricade railings at the left of stage to chat with punters. With some so-called “Ninja Scroll shit” he tightropes back on stage, front and centre for new single Run, crossing the line for curtain call by midnight. Sentry encores with Strange Lot and Langoliers Banquet leaving its backing track to linger on as he and Sizzle humbly thank everyone. For a big-time rapper,
MINERAL @ THE BRIGHTSIDE. PIC: MARKUS RAVIK
in. Citizen Kay follows on before your girlfriend’s crush Seth Sentry takes the mic with his running mate DJ Sizzle behind him, decked out in a pinched handlebar moustache and glitzy blazer. Together, they cover everything from the 2008 EP The Waiter Minute EP, 2012’s This Was Tomorrow, and a few sneakies off the new album. The setlist opens on Vacation which instantly provokes a strong singalong. He then parts his audience into hipsters and suits and breaks into My Scene. In true storyteller fashion, Sentry speaks between tracks setting each one up, as he does with Room For Rent and Float Away sending it out to all the bartenders, wait staff and those in hospitality who have had to put up with dirtbag customers, which receives huge roars of approval. Sentry then swings a
Seth Sentry’s the guest who will offer to clear plates and thank you for having him over before taking off with your girl. Rip Nicholson
MINERAL, GARRETT KLAHN, ARROWS
The Brightside 22 Feb Even for a Sunday, Brisbanebred outfit Arrows are contending with an early time slot on The Brightside’s stage. If not for the thin crowd (which swiftly blows out to a filled room), though, you’d never know it; their commanding presence does much to recommend their abilities as
live reviews refined purveyors of emotive post-rock. Watching their polished performance tonight, the reasons for their success are obvious – they’ve made such headway as to even have released a split with US revivalists Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate) – but it does raise the question: why haven’t we heard more about this band? A lone, hatted figure is next to appear, his humble drawl giving him away as being revered troubadour Garrett Klahn, best known for his work with ‘90s cult icons Texas Is The Reason. Klahn is all affability and homespun charm as he delivers a set of man-‘n’-guitar acoustic treats, the crowd utterly in thrall to his every strum; to every word. The respectful hush that blankets the crowd as Klahn tunes between songs speaks volumes, and we all share in his disappointment as he tells us an Australian airline was responsible for the destruction of his beloved guitar ‘Patsy’. Klahn actually treats his audience to a few Texas Is The Reason gems – When Rock’n’Roll Was Just A Baby, If That Thing Is Still There When
We Get Back, It’s Ours – and, in a set that even includes a Smiths cover (Jean) and a heartbeat stomp-along, which drives closer Back And To The Left, Klahn captures our attention from the outset, and he never lets it go. By the time the evening’s raison d’etre, Austin-bred emo heroes Mineral, hit the stage, the bubbling excitement is palpable; this is a band who likely soundtracked much of the audience’s mid-to-late adolescence, and who had broken up well before their far-flung fans had a chance to see them perform. Thus, the silence that emerges here is one of awkward expectation, as a room of adults regress to their 15-year-old selves, staring up in hushed awe at these kings of heartbreak and meek romance. The guitar arpeggios of Five, Eight & Ten begin. When the song initially drops its pretence, exploding in a cacophony of distortion and wailed vocals, the crowd loses its starch, heaving and swaying in a mass along with every crash and whisper. The high-energy Gloria immediately follows, the rawness
and energy of its recorded iteration on 1997’s The Power Of Failing more than translating with style in the live setting.
earnest, accomplished and exciting acts to have come out of the mid-‘90s. We witnessed something special tonight.
Aside from a few vocal yobs in the crowd, it’s difficult to fault the Texan four-piece – the spectrum of sounds and dynamics they make with simply two guitars, a bass, a drum kit and exceedingly limited effects should make latter-day gadgetpeddlers hang their heads in shame; from the ethereal false builds and hypnotic minuteslong snare roll-driven outro crescendo of February to the slow-burn relief of Unfinished, the relentless highlights – Slower, For Ivadel, ALetter, non-encore close &Serenading – and the way they link dual encores LoveLetterTypeWriter and Palisade utterly seamlessly before generously dropping a third farewell in the form of fan favourite Parking Lot, Mineral have proven beyond all doubt tonight that, even 20 years after they first pinned their hearts to their sleeves and stepped in front of a crowd, they’re still one of the most
Mitch Knox
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PERFUME GENIUS @ THE BRIGHTSIDE. PIC: MARKUS RAVIK
Ben Frost @ Brisbane Powerhouse The Necks @ Old Museum
arts reviews
GIRL IN A BAND
GIRL IN A BAND Lit
In stores 25 Feb
★★★
It is obvious from the first page that Kim Gordon can write. The prose has an almost Didionesque quality in that it eschews ornamentation and yet somehow still feels poetic. Gordon weaves together seemingly unrelated fragments to create a feeling, an atmosphere, giving readers a very real sense of what it felt like to live in Los Angeles in the ‘70s or be a part of the New York creative scene during
the ‘80s and ‘90s. Obviously much time is spent recounting her experiences fronting the seminal rock band Sonic Youth. However the dizzying pace at which she moves through these experiences often leaves certain sections of prose feeling flat and, at times, confusing. As the title aptly implies, Gordon’s gender has played a major role in her life and career. Throughout the memoir she questions not just what it is to be a girl in a band, but also what it means to be a girl in what she obviously sees as a man’s world. Her relationships with male figures feature prominently, particularly those with her father, brother and Thurston Moore. In fact, at times the memoir feels as though it is as much about Moore as it is about Gordon. Ultimately, this book is for fans of Sonic Youth and Gordon. However there’s also something in there for any girl with dreams of someday turning her creative dreams into a reality. Zara Selman
JUPITER ASCENDING Film
In cinemas
★★
We’re not psychics but are willing to wager that in the future Jupiter Ascending will either be forgotten entirely or simply seen as what it is: a runof-the-mill sci-fi yarn about fucking estate planning that is only distinguished by the occasional glam visual and the odd misjudged performance. The Wachowskis love their ‘chosen one’ stories, and in this case the chosen one is Jupiter (a wan, disengaged Mila Kunis), whose mundane life as a Chicago cleaning lady takes an unexpected turn when she learns she’s the reincarnation of a galactic matriarch whose family basically owns Earth. Said matriarch’s three kids – including The Theory Of Everything’s Eddie Redmayne – are squabbling over who inherits the planet (so they can strip-
mine it of the most valuable resource there is: human life). Luckily, lawman Caine (Channing Tatum, kitted out with wolf DNA, anti-gravity boots and the rent-boy hairstyle he sported in Foxcatcher) is there to protect her. Much zooming through the cosmos ensues, but even if you’re traditionally the target market for such a story you can probably give this a miss, unless you’re mad keen on a version of Guardians Of The Galaxy with all the life sucked out of it. Guy Davis
JUPITER ASCENDING THE MUSIC • 25TH FEBRUARY 2015 • 29
30 • THE MUSIC • 25TH FEBRUARY 2015
the guide
GUARDS OF MAY Member answering/role: Jimmy (bass) How long have you been together? Since 2010 How did you all meet? Richo and I are the last remaining founding members now, we’ve been making music together for many years. Keita and I went to school together, we found Damo through friends and Levi came rolling in on a magic carpet from some cyclone-stricken place called Townsville. 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? Ha! Probably Michael Jackson. Or Deftones. Would you rather be a busted broke-but-revered Hank Williams figure or some kind of Metallica monster? What about Mr Potatohead? Which Brisbane bands before you have been an inspiration (musically or otherwise)? In our genre, there are a few; the Butterfly Effects, the Melodyssey’s (Sunshine Coast but close enough), Dead Letter Circus and so on. For us writing the music that we do, they were really the trailblazers. What part do you think Brisbane plays in the music you make? I think Brisbane by virtue of its relative isolation, and Australia as a whole, forces musicians to really write to the absolute best of their ability if they’re wanting to make a career out of music long-term. It’s such a difficult environment (small population base, large distances between crowds, fragmented media base or platform for an artist to live) that you either need to have a cracking good set of tracks or a lot of money to piss up against a wall. What reality TV show would you enter as a band and why? Ink Master. To be “celebrity” canvases. Because we’re cleanskins (apart from Levi, filthy drummers). What’s in the pipeline for the band in the short term? New album, new tours. So close we can taste it. Guards Of May play El Grande Music Festival @ The Hi-Fi on Friday 20 March.
PIC: Terry Soo
THE MUSIC • 25TH FEBRUARY 2015 • 31
eat/drink steph@themusic.com.au
MAKE ME, EAT ME Batter up. Basic mixtures to slather ya fish in. Beer: great crunch, better flavour. 3/4 cup plain flour, 1/2 tsp salt, then 1 cup beer (or soda). Egg white: proteiiiin, mate. Also fluffy. 3/4 cup plain flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 cup cold water. Rest 30min. Beat 3 egg whites + pinch cream of tartar to form medium peaks. Fold into first mix.
FISHIN’ FOR CHIPS OR, ODE TO SEAFOOD, TUBERS AND OIL
FISH & CHIPS Good any time of the year, but particularly in summer. Evan Young scopes out where to get some excellent F&Cs. Illustrations Sophie Blackhall-Cain.
Deery’s Restaurant & Smokehouse – 200 Main St, Kangaroo Point A new manifestation inside the old Story Bridge Hotel, the Deery’s fish and chips are a house special. A cider battered barramundi with a crisp baby cos salad, hand cut chips and a tangy capers mayo, you won’t need anything else. Brunswick Hotel – 569 Brunswick St, New Farm Served with a tangy lime aioli, crispy chips and
32 • THE MUSIC • 25TH FEBRUARY 2015
a delicious house salad, the fresh James Squire battered barramundi at the Brunswick is a real jewel in the crown of an already revered establishment. The Elephant – 230 Wickham St, Fortitude Valley Both a charming historic British pub and a funky outdoor bistro, The Elephant caters for everyone. The fish and chips, complete with a stunning dill and caper mayo, and a salad to boot, don’t discriminate either.
Tempura: light and crispy. Beat 1 egg + 1 cup ice cold water until light and fluffy. Quickly mix in 3/4 cup plain flour + pinch bicarb soda; don’t overbeat. Yeast: bready flavour and thick, crunchy crust. 1 tsp active dry yeast + 3/4 warm water; rest 10min. Stir in 1/2 cup plain flour, cover in plastic wrap, leave to rise for an hour or when batter’s doubled in size.
Does that subheading make sense? Perhaps not. But what makes PERFECT sense is the marriage of battered and fried fish with deep fried oblongs of potato. What a union. Not only the foods, but the words go great together, too: “We’re getting fishanchips tonight!” “Let’s go to the fshnchp store!” Poetry. The words just roll off the tongue, and the food rolls into your mouth. And so it goes. So, as you’re reading the rest of this page, which I’m sure you were planning to, try this foodimagination exercise I just made up right now: chew as you read, imagining the crunch of the batter before your tongue hits the juicy, flaky fish. Add the snap of the crisp skin of a potato chip between your teeth and then that steamy, fluffy inside and you’ve got a symphony of fried foods going on in your head. It’s a dish many of us hold near and dear.
SAUCE & SIDES
Sarah Barrett’s suggestions. Sauce yo-self Sick of tartare and tomato? Try using mayonnaise as a base to mix up your sauces. Add crushed garlic for a simple garlic aioli to start, or some finely chopped fresh chilli and basil. To get more experimental, add sour cream, Dijon mustard, gherkins, capers, parsley and lime to some mayonnaise to make a killer spicy remoulade sauce. Sidelined Now to the sides, other than chips, of course. Classic alternatives are a coleslaw, green salad, Greek salad, but sometimes friends are not won with salad. Creamy/mushy peas are a good one; cook green peas with butter, cream, salt, pepper and then mash. A chunky chilli salsa can also go down a treat; chop red peppers, tomato, cucumber, onion, coriander, add some lime juice, and add lots of avocado. Use it to dip and spread.
THE MUSIC • 25TH FEBRUARY 2015 • 33
the guide qld.live@themusic.com.au
CHART WRAP
SAN CISCO
Precocious West Australian outfit San Cisco have emerged as the week’s highest new entrants on the Carlton Dry Independent Music Charts, with new single Too Much Time Together stepping out comfortably inside the top 20, at #13, on debut. The stalwart indie-poppers’ new cut comes in just a couple of rungs ahead of Cody Simpson and his single Flower, which manages a still solid #16, one place ahead of Safia’s 12-weekstrong You Are The One. The top five singles for the week — Sia’s Elastic Heart, Chet Faker’s Talk Is Cheap, Sia’s Chandelier, Hayden James’ Something About You and Sheppard’s Geronimo, respectively — all remain unmoved from last week, though previous top ten closer Through The Roof, by Hermitude (featuring Young Tapz), makes a nice leap up to fall just outside, at #6. In the Albums stakes, Feed Her To The Sharks come close to tying San Cisco for highest placed debut but fall just short, with Fortitude settling nicely at #14, ahead of fellow new faces Sober & Godless, by The Rumjacks (#16) and Perry Keyes’ Sunnyholt, which nabbed #19. The top five story also remains the same on the fulllength ladder: Sia (1000 Forms Of Fear), Flight Facilities (Down To Earth), Chet Faker (iTunes Session and Thinking In Textures) and Sticky Fingers (Land Of Pleasure) all keep their respective places from last week. Singer-songwriter Gordi and her new cut Nothing’s As It Seems, as well as Adelaide punks Grenadiers with Summer, have both stepped out on the radio play charts at #13 and #15 respectively. 34 • THE MUSIC • 25TH FEBRUARY 2015
INDIE NEWS
CORDIALE FRIENDS
GHOST TUNES
GOT THE BOOT
Lyall Moloney will support Lime Cordiale, pictured, on their Aussie tour. Moloney’s hip hop and electronic vibes will warm audiences up at Black Bear Lodge, Thursday.
Brisbane’s The Comfort launch their moody debut EP Ghosts on Friday with an all ages show at Upstairs 199, and all proceeds will go directly to Beyondblue. Melodic hardcore fans, discover your new fave while helping a charity out.
At Solbar, Maroochydore on Friday, see a band who inspired a fan to steal a horse. True story: a guy came up to Bootleg Rascal when they played Woodford Festival and told them so. Mad music, mad times.
GONE FISHIN’
KEEP AWAY
DANCIN’ SANDS
Scrappy Brisbane power-pop quartet Go Go Fish are hitting the road with their new single Gradutation Day, performing Currumbin Creek Tavern, Friday and Beetle Bar, Saturday.
Brisbane trip punk band The Keepaways recently released their debut album KA QLD and will now celebrate it with a launch gig at The Zoo on Thursday with Release The Hounds, Ape Farm and Barge With An Antenna On It.
This Friday at The Bearded Lady, Shifting Sands are set to launch their debut record, Beach Coma, in full-blown band mode. They’ll be joined by Keep On Dancin’s, who will bring it all crashing down. Waves anf foam, ahoy!
DOUBLE WHAMMY
STRONG SET
CHARLIE BLUE
On the back of their 2014 release Favorite Waitress, The Felice Brothers are returning to Australia to play headline shows alongside supporting Conor Oberst. Catch them playing a full headlining set Wednesday, The Triffid.
Aussie meets Berlin at The Milk Factory on Thursday, with Melbourne singer Phia (who’s based in Berlin, pictured) and BigStrongBrute (who used to live in Berlin) both playing.
It’ll be a night of blues with Charlie Musselwhite when the man himself comes to The Triffid, this Thursday. The harmonica master and Blue Music Award and Grammy winner will be enchanting.
NUMBER TWO
HEATING UP
SO LONG SUZE
Socially conscious Perth soul singer Shameem has a new album to show the world. See her performing songs from her second full-length record, The Second City, at Ric’s Bar on Friday and Treehouse, Byron Bay, Saturday.
Microwave is back on at The Brightside this Saturday, so prepare to be cooked. They’ve got All For The Nookie doing nu-metal covers, and What We’re Worth doing some pop punk classics. Plus Thriller DJs keep it going.
Suzie Quatro is currently down under for her final ever Aussie tour. Give her a fond farewell at The Events Centre, Caloundra, Wednesday; Mackay Entertainment Centre, Friday; Townsville Entertainment & Convention Centre, Saturday.
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SINGLE FOCUS
HAVE YOU BEEN TO to get from Gold or Sunshine coasts... Exit 100 off the M1.
SAN CISCO Answered by: Jordi Davieson Single title? Run What’s the song about? A boy that doesn’t know if he should run after the girl or away from her. How long did it take to write/ record? About three months. It started in Josh’s home studio, travelled through Rada Studios in Perth and was finished off at the Compound in Fremantle. Is this track from a forthcoming release/existing release? Yes, it’s from our second album that will be released in March.
What was inspiring you during the song’s writing and recording? We wanted to have a strong groove with smooth vocals. Our reference track was Walk On By by Isaac Hayes. We’ll like this song if we like... Someone called Isabella. Do you play it differently live? Not really. When and where is your launch/ next gig? 10 May, Groovin The Moo, Townsville Cricket Grounds, Annandale. Website link for more info? sancisco.com.au
What’s the history of the venue? Opened late 1998 as major performing arts centre for Iona College and the local area, including music theatre, dance, drama and instrumental comps. Having this place has made a huge difference to what we can pull off locally... so many more fabulous shows.
IONA PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE Name: Jan Raymond
What is your venue doing to help the local music scene? The local community musical theatre company Savoyards has been performing here since 1999 and we host school instrumental competitions.
Venue Address: Iona College, 85 North Rd Suburb: Lindum What’s the capacity? 500 Why should punters visit you? Loads of free parking and easy access for EVERYONE, a licensed bar with not a bad seat in the house! What’s the best thing about the venue? Soooooo comfortable in the air conditioning. Even has an orchestra pit for the musos; you don’t see that often! It’s so easy
HAVE YOU HEARD
What are some of the highlights? Les Miserables, Pirates Of Penzance, The Boy From Oz and The Phantom of the Opera (QLD Community Premieres – Savoyards!). Website link for more info?: savoyards.com.au
COMEDY FOCUS
– what would it be? Can’t Buy A Thrill - Steely Dan. That album chills me out and I would hopefully conserve oxygen by being so damned chilled.
BORN JOY DEAD Answered By: Ben Dalton How did you get together? I’ve known Mitch and Steve for years now and Ben (the other Ben) goes to Uni with Steve. We have very similar tastes and a shared fondness for playing music. Sum up your musical sound in four words? Beach Boys Dinosaur Jr. If you could support any band in the world - past or present who would it be? I’d have to say Alabama Shakes. It would be a pleasure to play with them.
Greatest rock’n’roll moment of your career to date? Tim Rogers smelled my groin after a show. He went in for a hug and I stopped him because I was concerned about my body odour. Then he did it. It made me feel a lot better actually. Why should people come and see your band? Come and figure out some of the time signatures for us. I got no idea. We like to party. When and where for your next gig? We’re playing 27 Feb at the Brightside with Dom Miller and Sports Fan. Website link for more info? facebook.com/bornjoydead
Answered by: Mark Chavez Can you give us a tweet-length summary of your show? A live, comic existential meltdown that takes place as two comedians attempt to stage an epic, historical, romance novel in under an hour. What do you f ind funny? I dunno. I find tons of different things funny, but its hard to pin down. Its kind of like pornography: I know it when I see it. What do you f ind unfunny? Toddlers in leather jackets and sunglasses being “cool”.
You’re being sent into space, no iPod, you can bring one album 36 • THE MUSIC • 25TH FEBRUARY 2015
PAJAMA MEN
S U P P O R T I N G
I N D E P E N D E N T
That’s not funny. And it’s for sure not cool. What’s a ridiculous situation you’ve been in that you got a joke out of? My whole life often feels like a ridiculous situation. Do you have a pre-show ritual? Shenoah and I have a contest to see who can drink the most gallons of milk right before we got on stage. He usually wins, but it’s always very close. When and where is your show? 20 & 21 Mar, Brisbane Powerhouse. Part of Brisbane Comedy Festival. Website link for more info?: pajama-men.com
A U S S I E
M U S I C
CAFÉ - BAR
321 BRUNSWICK STREET MALL, FORTITUDE VALLEY
WED 25TH FEB THE DRAFTS (9:30PM) + THE BLINKY BILLS (8:30PM)
THU 26TH FEB CON AND THE LIAR (10:30PM) + JACKET (9:30PM)
FRI 27TH FEB SHAMEEM (10:00PM) + GUEST (9:00PM)
SAT 28TH FEB JUST MONDAY (10:00PM) + ALPHA PI (9:00PM)
SUN 1ST MAR TBC FROM 8:00PM
MON 2ND MAR SAMUEL DYLAN COOPER (9:30PM) + VAN LARKINS (8:30PM)
TUE 3RD MAR BLISS (9:30PM) + GUEST (8:30PM)
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STORE.THEMUSIC.COM.AU THE MUSIC • 25TH FEBRUARY 2015 • 37
the guide qld.gigguide@themusic.com.au
THE MUSIC PRESENTS Seth Sentry: The Hi-Fi 20 Feb, Solbar 21 Feb
Nations: The Tivoli 22 Mar
Real Estate: The Zoo 27 Feb
Bluesfest Byron Bay: Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm 2-6 Apr
Sharon Van Etten: The Zoo 4 Mar
Mavis Staples: Brisbane Powerhouse 8 Apr
London Grammar: Brisbane Riverstage 7 Mar
The Beards: Spotted Cow 30 Apr, The Triffid 1 May, The Northern 3 May
65daysofstatic: The Hi-Fi 11 Mar DZ Deathrays: The Brightside 13 Mar Mojo Burning Festival: New Globe Theatre 21 Mar Xavier Rudd & The United
WED 25
Rock’n’Roll Trivia: Musos vs Punters. + Various Artists: Beetle Bar, Brisbane Yarn - Final Frontiers + Various Artists: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley Trivia: Glenmore Tavern, Norman Gardens Locky: Irish Murphy’s, Brisbane Big Jam with Chris Ramsay: Manly Hotel, Manly Seamie Kehoe: Mick O’Malley’s, Brisbane Billy Connolly: QPAC (Concert Hall), South Brisbane
Urban Country Music Festival: Caboolture 1-3 May San Cisco: SolBar 14 May, Coolangatta Hotel 15 May, The Triffid 16 & 17 (U18) May Supersuckers & The Bellrays: The Zoo 22 May
Education is for Plebs feat.+Tucker + Remmelt + Brat Camp + Senpai: Alhambra Lounge, Fortitude Valley Open Mic Night + Various Artists: Bay Central Tavern, Urraween Alex Edwards + East of Eden + Michael Gill + Shane Mead + Alex Crook: Beetle Bar, Brisbane Lime Cordiale + Lyall Moloney: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley Big Jim: Brothers Leagues Club, Manunda Jam Night + Various Artists: Capalaba Tavern, Capalaba
Trivia: Redland Bay Hotel, Redland Bay
Judas Priest + Dragonforce: Eatons Hill Hotel, Eatons Hill
The Drafts + Blinky Bills: Ric’s Bar, Fortitude Valley
Karaoke: Glenmore Tavern, Norman Gardens
Open Mic Night + Various Artists: Solbar (Lounge Bar), Maroochydore
Twelve Foot Ninja + Caligula’s Horse + Opus Of A Machine + The Orchard: Griffith University (Gold Coast Campus) (Uni Bar) , Southport
The Lyrical: The Elephant Hotel, Fortitude Valley Suzi Quatro: The Events Centre, Caloundra Deltron 3030 + Travy P: The Hi-Fi, West End Fall Out Boy + Twin Atlantic + Emily’s Army: The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley Conor Oberst + The Felice Brothers: The Triffid, Newstead Level 1 Wednesdays + Various DJs: Victory Hotel, Brisbane
THU 26
Karaoke: Alderley Arms Hotel, Alderley
Karaoke: Imperial Hotel, Beenleigh Jabba: Irish Murphy’s, Brisbane Various DJs: Jupiters (The Kitty Bar), Broadbeach Karaoke: Manly Hotel, Manly Sarah Booker: Mick O’Malley’s, Brisbane Stevenson St: Oxford 152, Bulimba Karaoke: Prince of Wales Hotel, Nundah Karaoke: Redland Bay Hotel, Redland Bay The Flumes: Solbar (Lounge Bar), Maroochydore
GIG OF THE WEEK STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS: 28 FEB, THE ZOO Trivia: Springwood Hotel, Rochedale South
Various Artists: Commercial Hotel, Nerang
Russ Walker: Redland Bay Hotel, Redland Bay
The Boys + The Golden Age of Ballooning: The Bearded Lady, West End
Lisa Hunt: Coolangatta Hotel, Coolangatta
Shameem: Ric’s Bar, Fortitude Valley
Various Artists: Coomera Tavern, Upper Coomera
Method: Royal Mail Hotel, Goodna
Various Artists: Dalrymple Hotel, Garbutt
Various Artists: Smithfield Tavern, Smithfield
The Baton Jukes: Eat Street Markets, Hamilton
Hayden Hack: Solbar (Front Bar) , Maroochydore
Dillion James: Habitat Restaurant & Bar, South Brisbane
Bootleg Rascal: Solbar, Maroochydore
Wolver + Calrissian + TV Dads: The Brightside, Fortitude Valley Graham Moes + Josh Lovegrove: The Elephant Hotel, Fortitude Valley Phia + Big Strong Brute: The Milk Factory Kitchen & Bar, South Brisbane Papa Roach + Godsmack + Nonpoint: The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley A Night of Blues feat. + Charlie Musselwhite + Mal Eastick + Buddy Knox: The Triffid, Newstead The Keepaways + Release The Hounds + Ape Farm + Barge With An Antenna On It: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley DJs From Mars + Various DJs: Victory Hotel, Brisbane
FRI 27
The Black Catapult + We Are Servants + Blak Transistor: Beetle Bar, Brisbane
Jesse Davidson: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley Fingerprint: Brothers Leagues Club, Manunda TGIF + Various Artists: Buderim Tavern, Buderim Various Artists: Capalaba Tavern, Capalaba Daryl James: Cardigan Bar, Sandgate Heavy Roller + Dr Bombay + Punxie & the Poison Pens: Chardons Corner Hotel, Annerley
S U P P O R T I N G
The Green Sinatras: Hamilton Hotel (Public Bar), Hamilton Various Artists: Hinterland Hotel, Nerang Various Artists: Irish Finnegans, Thuringowa Central Berst + Andrew Taylor: Irish Murphy’s, Brisbane Karaoke: Kedron Park Hotel, Lutwyche Seductive Soul: Logan Diggers Club, Logan Central Suzi Quatro: Mackay Entertainment Centre, Mackay Ace DJs: Manly Hotel, Manly Sharon Shannon + Dezi Donnelly + Alan Connor + Jim Murray + Sasta: Mick O’Malley’s, Brisbane Locky: Mick O’Malley’s, Brisbane Hayden James: Oh Hello!, Fortitude Valley DJ Rio + DJ Monique Unique: Oxford 152, Bulimba Karaoke: Pub Lane Tavern, Greenbank
Mick Thomas & Roving Commission + Danny Widdicombe: Soundlounge, Currumbin Mattyboi: Story Bridge Hotel (The Corner Bar), Kangaroo Point DJ Ritchie: Story Bridge Hotel (The Shelter Bar), Kangaroo Point Bombino: Tanks Arts Centre, Edge Hill Shifting Sands + The Keep On Dancin’s: The Bearded Lady, West End Born Joy Dead + Dom Miller: The Brightside, Fortitude Valley Alter Egos: The Elephant Hotel, Fortitude Valley Millencolin + The Vandals + The Interrupters: The Hi-Fi, West End Ingrid James & Julian Jones Duo: The Lido Cafe & Restaurant, Ascot Marilyn Manson + Apocalyptica + Deathstars: The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley Calais + Eden Mulholland: The Triffid, Newstead Real Estate + Blank Realm + Thigh Master: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley
Various Artists: Raintrees Tavern, Manunda
I N D E P E N D E N T
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the guide qld.gigguide@themusic.com.au Various Artists + Various DJs + Karaoke: Victory Hotel, Brisbane
Day 2 Post-Festival Cool Down + Various DJs: The Brightside, Fortitude Valley
Level 1 Fridays+Various DJs: Victory Hotel, Brisbane
Mark Hennessey: The Elephant Hotel, Fortitude Valley
Karaoke: Warner Tavern (Sports Bar), Warner
Felicity Lawless: The Milk Factory Kitchen & Bar, South Brisbane
Lil Jon (DJ Set): Wharf Tavern, Mooloolaba
Triffid Roots feat. Nick Saxon + Fieu: The Triffid, Newstead
SAT 28
Statoz Quo: Acacia Ridge Hotel (Acacia Room), Acacia Ridge
Jug & Hooter Sundays + Various Artists: Victory Hotel, Brisbane
Casper: Alhambra Lounge, Fortitude Valley
MON 02
Mick Thomas & Roving Commission + Danny Widdicombe: Beetle Bar, Brisbane Brisbane Comedy Festival: Running is Good + Jack Druce: Brisbane Powerhouse (Graffiti Room) , New Farm Soundwave 2015 feat. Slipknot + Slash + Marilyn Manson + Fall Out Boy + Judas Priest + Godsmack + All Time Low + Papa Roach + Of Mice & Men + Escape The Fate + Apocalyptica + Lagwagon + Tonight Alive + Crossfaith + Butcher Babies + Confession + The Swellers + Conditions + Coldrain + King 810 + Dayshell + This Wild Life + Soundwave + Millencolin + Killer Be Killed + Exodus + The Vandals + The Wonder Years + Twin Atlantic + Animals As Leaders + Fucked Up + Nonpoint + Le Butcherettes: Brisbane Showgrounds, Bowen Hills Karaoke: Brook Hotel, Mitchelton 4 In A Groove: Brothers Leagues Club, Manunda
MARILYN MANSON: 27 FEB, THE TIVOLI Who Remembers the 80s: Logan Diggers Club, Logan Central
DJ Ritchie: Story Bridge Hotel (The Shelter Bar) , Kangaroo Point
Various Artists: Manly Hotel, Manly
Cosmo’s Midnight: TBC Club (The Bowler Club), Fortitude Valley
Ace DJs: Manly Hotel, Manly The Jimmy Watts Band: Mary’s Commercial Hotel, Dalby Irish Sessions + Ger Fennelly: Mick O’Malley’s, Brisbane Murphy’s Pigs: Mick O’Malley’s, Brisbane Ramjet: Mick O’Malley’s, Brisbane King Social + Tayla Young + The Badlands + Some Can’t: New Globe Theatre, Fortitude Valley DJ James Brown: Oxford 152, Bulimba Various Artists: Pub Lane Tavern, Greenbank Karaoke: Raintrees Tavern, Manunda
Karaoke: Capalaba Tavern, Capalaba
Absolutely 80s Tribute Show: Redland Bay Hotel, Redland Bay
Lil Jon (DJ Set) + Steve Frank + XO + Various DJs: East 88, Broadbeach
Karaoke: Redland Bay Hotel, Redland Bay
Sundown Jury + Peace by Piece: Eat Street Markets, Hamilton Village People: Eatons Hill Hotel, Eatons Hill Various Artists: Ferny Grove Tavern, Ferny Grove SCNDL: Gilligans Backpackers Hotel & Resort, Cairns Stewart Fairhurst + Jeff Carter: Hamilton Hotel (Public Bar) , Hamilton Jabba + Locky: Irish Murphy’s, Brisbane
Billy Connolly: Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre, Broadbeach
Back to Woodstock with Late For Woodstock + Madison Curve: Royal Mail Hotel, Goodna King of the North + Hobo Magic + Matt Stillert: Solbar, Maroochydore Sarah Frank: Solbar (Front Bar) , Maroochydore Andrej Kouznetsov: St John’s Cathedral, Brisbane The Big Duo: Story Bridge Hotel (The Corner Bar) , Kangaroo Point
Souls + Inigo + Noah Slee + Kieran Thomas: The Bearded Lady, West End Shifting Sands: The Bison Bar, Nambour Microwave! Annual After Party feat. All For The Nookie + What We’re Worth: The Brightside, Fortitude Valley Berst: The Elephant Hotel, Fortitude Valley Vanguard feat. Manaz Ill + The Saurus + Planz + Caustic + Dwizofoz + Madness: The Hi-Fi, West End Galleri + Creature Kind + The Stained Daisies: The Milk Factory Kitchen & Bar, South Brisbane Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks + Guests: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley Suzi Quatro: Townsville Entertainment & Convention Centre, Townsville City Chester: Warner Tavern, Warner Nu:Tone: Woolly Mammoth, Fortitude Valley
SUN 01
Jimmy Watts: Black Bunny Kitchen, Alexandra Heads Stuart Daniel Hoy: Brewski, Brisbane Livespark feat. Robbie Miller + March of the Real Fly: Brisbane Powerhouse (Turbine Platform) , New Farm
S U P P O R T I N G
Brisbane Comedy Festival: Beard Game Strong+Nick Cody: Brisbane Powerhouse (Turbine Studio) , New Farm Soundwave 2015 feat. Faith No More + Soundgarden + Incubus + Lamb Of God + Ministry + Antemasque + Gerard Way + Mayhem + New Found Glory + Fear Factory + Hollywood Undead + Atreyu + The Aquabats + Area 7 + Godflesh + Crown The Empire + The Interrupters + Icon For Hire + Emily’s Army + Patent Pending + Fireworks + The Bennies + Soundwave + The Color Morale + Monuments + Nothing More + Deathstars + Ne Obliviscaris + The Treatment + Steel Panther + Falling In Reverse + Dragonforce + One Ok Rock + The Devil Wears Prada + Lower Than Atlantis + Bayside + He Is Legend + King Parrot + Rival Sons + Sleepwave + Raglans: Brisbane Showgrounds, Bowen Hills
Uncle Bob’s Music Club + Various Artists: Prince of Wales Hotel, Nundah Trivia: Pub Lane Tavern, Greenbank
TUE 03
Alex Crook: Brewski, Brisbane Wayne ‘The Train’ Hancock: Lefty’s Old Time Music Hall, Brisbane Cassandra Wilson: Logan Diggers Club, Logan Central Trivia: Prince of Wales Hotel, Nundah Trivia: The Gap Tavern, The Gap
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Fingerprint: Brothers Leagues Club, Manunda Suzi Quatro: Cairns Convention Centre, Cairns Irish Sessions+Ger Fennelly: Mick O’Malley’s, Brisbane J-Funk: Oxford 152, Bulimba Bart Thrupp: Solbar (Front Bar), Maroochydore Asher Chapman: Solbar (Lounge Bar), Maroochydore
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DJ Ritchie: Story Bridge Hotel (The Shelter Bar) , Kangaroo Point
I N D E P E N D E N T
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