Time Off Issue #1505

HOODOO GURUS

GIRLS

THE FALL MELBOURNE SYDNEY BRISBANE

THE BIRDMANN

THE KLAXONS LIME SPIDERS REVEREND HORTON HEAT TUJIKO NORIKO

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QUEENSLAND Arties Music

Shop 64, Aspley Hypermarket, 59 Albany Creek Road

ASPLEY

4034

07 3263 7966

www.artiesmusic.com.au

Artie’s Music Townsville

99 Charters Towers Road

HERMIT PARK

4812

07 4771 4486

www.artiesmusiconline.com.au

David’s Musical Centre

Shop 2, 38 Tank Street

GLADSTONE

4680

07 4972 7177

Ellaways Music Kedron

315 & 337 Gympie Road

KEDRON

4031

07 3359 8266

www.ellaways.com.au

Ellaways Music Underwood

39 - 45 Compton Road

UNDERWOOD

4119

07 3290 5656

www.ellaways.com.au

Gallin’s Musician’s Pro Shop Fortitude Valley

59 Barry Parade

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4006

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Gallin’s Musician’s Pro Shop Mermaid Beach

2590 Gold Coast Highway

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4218

07 5504 5644

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Gallin’s Musician’s Pro Shop Southport

Shop 3 / 1 Young Street

SOUTHPORT

4215

07 5561 1106

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Green Brothers

72 William Street

ROCKHAMPTON

4700

07 4927 3088

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Guitar World Queensland

1, 22 New Street

NERANG

4211

07 5596 2588

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Instrumental Music

Suite 21, 200 Moggill Road

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4068

07 3871 1333

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Kerry’s Keyboards

Corner Main Drive & Nicklin Way (Opp BP)

WARANA

4575

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Lawrences’ Musicland

363 Mulgrave Road

CAIRNS

4870

07 4033 1363

Mooloolaba Music Centre

Nicklin Way

MINYAMA

4575

07 5444 8889

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Music Express

2048 Logan Road

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4122

07 3849 7088

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Music Express

Shop 2001 Garden City Shopping Centre

UPPER MOUNT GRAVATT

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Music Express Robina

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The Best Music Shop

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The Keyboard Shop

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Ultra Music

51 Main Street

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Vivace Music

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SUNNYBANK HILLS

4109

07 3344 1880

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Yamaha Music Mackay

Corner Victoria & Chain Street

MACKAY

4740

07 4951 3437

www.yamaha.net.au

Promotion commences 1st November 2010 to 31st December 2010 at participating dealers. Not all products listed in this catalogue are available at all Yamaha dealers. # These products are listed at normal RRP and are not part of this special distributor’s promotional offer. † The “value” specified for the bonus offers is Yamaha Music Australia’s recommended retail price of these products. *Price drop of 40% applies to selected product only. Visit yamahabackstage.com.au for full terms and conditions.

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GIVEAWAYS Two of the most gifted young actors working in cinema today – Academy Award nominees Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams – star in Blue Valentine, a love story that follows the intense relationship between a couple who fall passionately in love in their early 20s, and then face challenges to their marriage six years later. Dean (Gosling) and Cindy (Williams) are parents of a beloved young daughter, but their relationship has seen better days as they struggle with the demands and expectations of work and family life. At breaking point, but flooded with romantic memories of their courtship, the couple steals away to a hotel; they have one night to try and rekindle their passion, and save their marriage. Thanks to Palace Films we have ten double in-season passes to the film which opens Dec 26. bluevalentine.com.au. Subject Line: BLUE VALENTINE Australian hip hop is growing strong and growing with it is Brisbane MC Profecy. The 20-year-old is just about to unleash his debut CD titled ‘Let The Music Play’, a five-track EP, showcasing the versatility and talent of an artist people are claiming to be the most promising in Australian hip hop. To celebrate the release of his upcoming EP, Profecy will host a launch show at Step Inn on Saturday Dec 11. Thanks to AAA Entertainment we have three copies of the CD up for grabs! Subject Line: PROFECY

Thirty years after the death of John Lennon, Lennon Naked tells of the turbulent lifestyle of one of the 20th century’s biggest icons.

Christopher Eccleston stars as the enigmatic musician in a defining period of his life – a time of disillusion, self destruction, transformation, and ultimately, hope. John Lennon is one of the most enduring figures in musical and cultural history.

One quarter of the Fab Four, peace activist, visual artist and author, he was a man whose personal life was characterised by drama, intrigue and eventually, conspiracy. Thanks to Roadshow Entertainment we have five copies of the DVD to give away! Subject Line: LENNON NAKED Gorillaz fans, have we got a prize for you! One lucky winner will receive a double pass to their gig at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Sunday Dec 19; supporting them will be Long Island hip hop impresarios De La Soul and Swedish electronic pop outfit Little Dragon. Plus the winner will also score this amazing back catalogue collection: 1x Gorillaz CD, 1x Demon Days CD, 1x Plastic Beach CD/DVD, 1x Demon Days Live DVD and 1x Bananaz DVD. Subject Line: GORILLAZ PACK Blue Mountains-based rock-and-rollers Belles Will Ring are gearing up to launch their new single ‘Come North with Me Baby, Wow’ across the East Coast. The band will be supported by dreamy acousmatics Guineafowl and exciting new-wavers Magnetic Heads. We have got three double passes up for grabs to their gig at the GPO Hotel on Saturday Dec 11. Entrants must be 18+.

Subject Line: BELLES WILL RING

Get your music industry news from The Front Line Lowdown – news, opinions, tours, Backlash, Frontlash On its 35th birthday, we look at what the future holds for 4ZzZ Girls are still finding their feet The ever forward looking Mark E Smith tells us his highlights from The Fall’s past Hoodoo Gurus are still giving it everything they’ve got Klaxons dispel some rumours Shout Out Louds are breaking their no New Year’s Eve shows rule for Brisbane punters Lime Spiders might be back in the studio soon Reverend Horton Heat weren’t expecting fame and fortune Categorising Tujiko Noriko’s music is tough They have a new record out, but Wish For Wings just can’t wait to be back on the road The connection that brought Grouplove together was too strong to deny Hot Water Music will tour Australia to a different beat The Sunburys are comfortable with their idea of success Liam Griffin discusses combining studious pursuits with his solo career

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BACK TO TIME OFF!

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Our Live section is packed full of tour info, live reviews, local news and more awesome shit than you could imagine 41 Dan Condon gets the dirt on the blues scene from the Roots Down 52 Adam Curley cuts sick with another musical pop culture rant in The Breakdown 52 Lochlan Watt gets brutal in our new metal column Adamantium Wolf 52 Sarah Petchell has enough punk rock to Wake The Dead 52 Behind the music with Behind The Lines 64 Need to get rid of something? iFlog 65

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Italy’s other imagery comes through Tamaryn Goodyear’s exhibition Non Mi Place Versace Riz Ahmed discusses film Four Lions Cultural Cringe looks at the imagery of Australian currency. That’ll cost you a Banjo Dylan Thomas lives on in Under Milk Wood The future is Brink Party #2 Metalocalypse’s Dethklok are not…

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INDUSTRY NEWS FANS TELL BLISS WHERE TO GO

LAST STILL LAST

Bliss N Eso are hoping to harness the wide reach and influence of Facebook to shape their upcoming tour, by allowing fans to vote on the destinations for an upcoming tour. The Sydney-based hip hop outfit stand to gain a lot of free exposure if the concept catches on, as fans will “share” the link to vote on their own personal pages, exposing it to friends and other people from the region they’re hoping to bring the tour to. Early reports on the results saw Wagga Wagga, the Sunshine Coast, Mount Gambier, the Blue Mountains and Sydney the most popular destinations. The band, whose latest album Running On Air debuted atop the ARIA Charts in August, will be playing the Big Day Out tour nationally as well as the Southbound event. Voting is taking place at blissneso. com/vote, which directs you to the Facebook page.

Often looked to as the model that has helped kill off MySpace, music recommendation service Last.fm has posted another loss in its 2009 financial report, but has improved considerably on the previous year’s.

Reporting a loss of £2.84 million ($4.5 million AUD), it’s a vast improvement on the £17 million ($27 million) of the year before. Revenue grew, but liabilities increased throughout the period. The financial report submitted to the UK’s Companies House showed that advertising brought in £5.4 million, subscriptions £1.3 and a little over £600,000 came from affiliate sales. Staff costs – including that of director’s pay – was down from 2008.

Last.fm was bought by American television network CBS in 2007 for $280 million USD, making it one of the web’s biggest purchases for music and social networking focused sites at the time. This report moves the company closer to profitability.

AUS DJ TRAPS GRAMMY NOM While most news reports have decreed Keith Urban as Australia’s sole 2011 Grammy nominee, announced last week (Best Male Country Vocal Performance for his track ‘Til Summer Comes Around), they have overlooked Melbourne DJ/producer Dragan Roganovic, aka Dirty South. Roganovic has been nominated in the Best Remixed Recoding, Non-Classical category for his reworking of The Temper Trap’s Sweet Disposition with Sweden’s Axwell. It is Roganovic’s second nomination in this category – his remix of Kaskade’s Sorry lost to Benny Benassi back in 2008.

This year the local remixer faces off against David Guetta, last year’s winner in the Remix category.

No stranger to the awards, with 11 already on the mantle, Eminem has led this year’s Grammy Award overall nominations with ten nods thanks to his album Recovery, including the major categories of Album and Record Of The Year. Other leaders were Bruno Mars who picked up seven nominations, whilst Lady Gaga and Lady Antebellum managed six each. Arcade Fire will find themselves fighting for Album Of The Year honours with The Suburbs pitted against Eminem, Lady Antebellum’s Need You Now, Lady Gaga’s The Fame Monster and Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream.

XMAS CHARGERS Looking increasingly like the hot present for Christmas this year, P!nk has remained at the top of the album charts for another week with her best of Greatest Hits…

So Far, which is currently two-times platinum. Comedy duo Hamish & Andy debuted in sixth with their new record Celebrating 50 Glorious Years released in time for Christmas, whilst The Black Eyed Peas’ The Beginning debuted in ninth – their single The Time (Dirty Bit) returning to the top of the singles chart. Kanye West’s ridiculously acclaimed My Dark Twisted Fantasy dropped to 12 in its second week, yet to achieve certification. It has topped America’s Billboard chart though, ahead of Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday, her career set to launch on the back of her appearances on West’s record. Meanwhile, Short Stack’s This Is Bat Country has been certified gold.

FRESHLY INKED Brisbane experimental project Axxonn has signed with new UK label Arlen, which has sealed distribution deals across Europe and America for new album Let’s Get It Straight. Reportedly the deal comes after Axxonn played a show in London late last year that was attended by scouts. Melbourne act Pets With Pets have signed with Sensory Projects to release their debut album Aquatic – Pixie – Acid early next year. Fashion retail store General Pants Co’s record label Major Label has announced its December signings – Sydney’s Kite Club, Perth’s Felicity Groom and New South Wales’ South Coast based The Bungalows. The single label now has 15 tracks from 15 emerging acts in their catalogue. Gossling – AKA Helen Croome – has signed with Native Tongue Music Publishing. Denver’s Tennis have signed to Spunk, the duo’s debut record Cape Dory to get an Australian release in January.

INFORMATION TO LIGHT

THE SEABELLIES INSET: STITCHES AFTER THE ATTACK

Annual South Australian music industry conference and showcase Fuse has announced its major speakers for 2011. The three major speakers are Ariel Publicity founder Ariel Hyatt, Lollapalooza co-creator Vince Bannon and Eleven president John Watson. Also speaking will be Jon Mcildowie, Rob Scott, Marianna Annas, Iain Shedden, Chris Johnson, Vicki Gordon, Catherine Haridy, Gregg Donovan, Bill Cullen, Phil Stevens, Geoff Trio, Rhoda Roberts, Steven Foster, Evan Davis and more.

Run in association with the Adelaide Fringe Festival, the event will run over three days from Wednesday Feb 16 – Friday Feb 18 (management and songwriting “masterclasses” Wednesday and the conference Thursday-Friday), across 20 Adelaide-based venues.

SEABELLIES ATTACKED IN BRUNNIE ST Newcastle’s The Seabellies were the victims of an alleged attack from a gang who struck members of the band with sticks and belts last week as they walked along Melbourne’s Brunswick Street. The band were celebrating the final night in a month-long residency at the Evelyn Hotel, when the attack reportedly occurred. Suffering cuts and bruises, bass player Eddie Garven needed stitches in his forehead after being taken to hospital. “It was a shame how it all ended but we don’t blame the city,” frontman Trent Grenell told Melbourne paper The Age. “It can happen in any city in the world. It was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.” The band posted photos of Garven’s injuries on their Facebook.

THE VAMPIRE STRIKES BACK The saga surrounding Vampire Weekend’s album cover for Contra has started again, with the band issuing a lawsuit to photographer Tod Brody over the Polaroid portrait shot he supplied the band for their album cover. The band are being sued by Ann Kirsten Kennis, the model on the cover, for $US2 million as she claims she never gave permission for the image to be used. Brody reportedly produced a signed release from Kennis, but she claims Brody didn’t even take the photo. The lawsuit is unique because while they usually have to be issued in person, but neither the band nor the courts can locate Brody.

On his website, Brody has written that he has no comments to make but states, “Ms Kennis’ dismissal of Polaroid and Polaroid film as something reserved for family snapshots indicates a total lack of understanding of the use of Polaroid in the creative community… [the] claim that the photo ‘isn’t a modelling photo, it’s a Polaroid so it must be a family photo taken by her mother,’ is blatantly false and totally ridiculous.” It is unclear what the copyright laws in regards to Polaroid casting shots – prominent during the pre-digital era – exactly are.

The summons was issued by email and Brody is obliged to respond by early 2011.

BECOMING A FACTOR Another attempt to stop the British X-Factor program from holding the number one single over Christmas comes from Slipknot’s Corey Taylor and his track X-M@$. The top spot was famously held by Rage Against The Machine’s Killing In The Name Of last year after a Facebook group petitioned the public. Taylor’s track will raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

THE MONEY MAKERS

MOVERS AND SHAKERS Tom Larnach-Jones is leaving his post as the entertainment booked for Melbourne’s Toff In Town venue after almost four years in the position. Finishing in January, Emily Ulman – entertainment booker and publicist for St Kilda’s Prince Bandroom – will take up his role. Alicia Massey has joined Sydney touring, booking, distribution and management agency Troubadour. Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O have renewed their deal with the Today Network for three years, with 2011 set to be the 11th year for the highly successful breakfast radio duo.

Shock Entertainment has moved offices, and is now based at 369 High Street, Kew, Victoria 3101, the main reception line is (03) 9205 0900. Following their sale to Regency Media in August, the independent label claimed that there would be no lay-offs.

By putting a stop to LimeWire’s free file transferring service, prosecutors of copyright infringement claims have killed off the company. Customers to the legal paid-subscription services were sent an email last week that stated, “LimeWire Store will cease accepting new customers on Nov 30, but will remain online through the end of December to allow current subscription holders to redeem their credits.”

A statement from the company said, ““As a result of our current legal situation, we have no choice but to wind down LimeWire Store operations. Despite our dedication and efforts, Dec 31, 2010, will mark the day when LimeWire Store shuts its virtual doors.”

FOSTER ACTS The winners of the Sunset Sounds Foster Band Initiative have been announced, six-piece folk-pop group Charlie Mayfair and indie rock outfit Ball Park Music awarded the opening two spots at next year’s Sunset Sounds festival on Wednesday Jan 5 and Thursday Jan 6.

INDUSTRY AWARDS PLANNED

AMID EDITOR STAYS ON Following the Street Press Australia (Time Off’s publisher) acquisition of the Australasian Music Industry Directory, managing editor Justine Lynch has joined the company from previous owner Immedia to continue to work on the mag. “I’m looking forward to working with Street Press Australia,” she told The Front Line, “and to continue to work on Australia’s leading industry resource.”

Fever Pitch Golden Leaves Cutloose

Wednesday 8th December The May Strikes Joys Horizon Maggie Collins

U2 UNDER THE HAMMER All four members of U2 have signed a Fender Electric Guitar currently up for auction at aidarena.com.

The proceeds of the sale will go towards Sydneybased charity The Australian Children’s Music Foundation. Bidding closes Sunday Dec 19.

SHOCKWAVES

OFF THE WIRE

Tuesday 7th December

The BRW Entertainer’s Rich List has been announced, with Global Creatures – the production company behind Walking With Dinosaurs – the new number one with $140 million in earnings last year. The Veronicas ($2.4m last year) have fallen off the list whilst The Temper Trap joined it with apparently $2.5m, largely thanks to their royalties from appearing on television advertisements and the popular (500) Days Of Summer soundtrack. Once the authority on the subject, the BRW list has attracted increasing criticism in recent years for its accuracy.

Industry magazine The Music Network and Peer Group Media have announced that they will be launching an awards event for members of the music industry next year. Covering all aspects of the industry (including publishing, promotions, journalism and festivals) the nominations and voting processes will be conducted by members of the industry, while subscribers to The Music Network will be able to vote.

Friday 10th December Axxon Tape/off ANIKI/ Danny Cool

Saturday 11th December 1000 Needles in Red Joel Myers TBC Charlie Hustle/ Butterz

Thursday 9th December 648 Ann Street Fortitude Valley QLD 4006 www.xandybar.com.au

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BOYS AND GIRLS TBC TBC $12 tickets on door $10 host list

Sunday 12th December Sharon Friel The Chutes Discount DJ’s

INDUSTRY NEWS

MUSIC IS NOT ENOUGH In town for U2’s massive arena tour – about the only time Jay-Z’s going to be the supporting act – it wouldn’t be BONO if he didn’t find some time out for other pursuits. This time Australia got the World AIDS Day launch and he was in his finest form, writes SCOTT FITZSIMONS.

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t’s as if fronting one of the world’s biggest bands wasn’t enough for Paul David Hewson. Under the moniker Bono, Hewson has led U2 – for whom he writes songs and most of the lyrics – to international fame and acclaim and following their peak of popularity, he’s turned his attention to focus heavily on humanitarian causes and philanthropy. He’s not without his detractors – to the regular citizen he can seem overly-self righteous as he travels the world and preaches from atop his riches – but his influence and ability to attract attention to causes makes him one of the world’s best campaigners. It remains good publicity stunt for world leaders in public or private office to be photographed alongside Bono.

He’s met most of the world leaders that you can think of on the top of your head and Time magazine have listed him more than once in polls like ‘The 100 Most Influential People’ and ‘People Of The Year’ and in doing so has become larger than life – and certainly larger than his band. Appearing at a lot of his events, the rest of U2 are nowhere near as outspoken, almost like a good wife of the president, they’re supportive and quiet while he does his thing.

“I am not naturally the kind of do-gooder, I’m not naturally the kind of pain-in-the-arse protagonist for these type of issues.”

Taking advantage of a photo opportunity and a chance to put their name to a good cause, Prime Minister Julia Gillard and New South Wales’ Premier Kristine Keneally were present at the recent worldwide launch of World AIDS Day, held in Sydney and whereby the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge were lit up red to mark the official opening. If the efforts to turn Sydney Harbour red were a little disappointing – 15 seconds of flares and an elegant but mundane parade of yachts – Bono’s performance surely wasn’t. He looked more assured than either of the politicians there, both on the pedestal and then servicing the media scrums clambering for quotes and photos.

While Keneally was more passionate with the repetition of the line, “because this is a disease that doesn’t discriminate”, Gillard was more ministerial; her calculated and rehearsed delivery at odds to the wind that was undoing her hairdo. But no one came close to Bono, who had the crowd onside the moment he emerged with the line, “I feel like I’m in Charlie’s Angels”, referencing the powerful women he was surrounded by. Scoring laughs effortlessly from the crowd (too easily at times) he really was the star here, the one that everyone wanted a piece of even alongside Australia’s most powerful person.

Two large red ribbons – one each pulled by the elected officials from the plastic stand to trigger the lights – were being held by the group following their respective speeches and with Bono in the middle he toyed with the two ends, his mind obviously ticking over as to how he could spice up the photo. In the end he put it over his forehead and animated breaking through the thread, much to the delight of Keneally and Gillard and polite smiles from The Edge, who, invited on stage following his frontman’s speech, has seen this all before.

“Just walking on stage I really did think I was in Charlie’s Angels,” he told media minutes later. Citing a “lioness” energy, “You look at these great campaigners at the moment, from Oprah, who’s going to visit your city soon, right through to now at an AIDS benefit, banging the lectern there for other women.”

On the difference – or rather the comparisons between artistry and activism – he said, “They’re kind of the same thing in a way. Art is done by people who don’t know their boundaries or don’t want to know – they don’t want to be put in any kind box… I am not naturally the kind of do-gooder, I’m not naturally the kind of pain-in-the-arse protagonist for these type of issues. I think in a different life I could have been really lost in my own world. Being an artist strangely, ironically, took me out of myself; took myself out of my arse.”

The catalyst, he says, was “Listening to John Lennon when I was 11 or 12, listening to Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Marvin Gaye – these people shaped the way that I and my bandmates see the world and they also whispered this message that things don’t have to be the way they are – you can kick the world into shape or kiss the world into shape.

That’s what I got from John Lennon – your voice is as important as any politician’s. That kind of arrogance and megalomania came to me from being an artist and being in a band.” The next question would have been – had his public relations manager not led him away, with more time given to photos than words – when is music not enough?

Because despite providing the vehicle to his current position, U2 itself with their 22 Grammy Awards – more than anyone else – are not a means to an end. However travelling the world, public appearances, shaking hands and making speeches looks increasingly like it is.

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IN BRIEF AC/DC, The Wiggles, Keith Urban and Hi-5 have all made the top ten in this year’s BRW Top Entertainers Rich List.

The Dark Was The Night compilation released by 4AD last year has now raised one million US dollars for AIDS charity the Red Hot Organization.

Soul queen Aretha Franklin has reported she is in good health after a major operation. She has not stated what the operation was.

NASH TRAVELS WITH BESTY: YOU One of the undeniable smash hit acts of this year’s Splendour In The Grass was Kate Nash and the British songstress is ready to come back to Australia to wow us all over again next year. She has long been a darling of the music press in her home country and the release of her latest record My Best Friend Is You has done nothing to change that. The record is described as poignant yet playful with plenty of Nash’s much loved idiosyncratic touches, which often includes more than a little crudity, so you should pretty much be prepared for anything when she comes to town to play The Hi-Fi on Saturday Feb 19. Tickets are available from the venue and OzTix from Monday morning.

DOWN BY THE SEA We think you’ll agree that it has been pretty bloody special having Wollongong stoner rock legends Tumbleweed back in our lives. For those of you who simply can’t get enough of the band’s early material that they have been airing at their incredible live shows of late then you’ll be pretty damn excited to hear about the Aztec Records double-CD reissue of the band’s earliest recordings, entitled The Waterfront Years. The compilation features all the material the band wrote prior to signing with Polydor Records in the mid-90s and is a must for all fans. On top of this, the band has been writing new material so here’s hoping we’ll see a new record materialise before too long. This summer they are heading up here for a quick trip to the beach, playing the Great Northern Hotel in Byron Bay on Sunday Jan 9 with special guests Dropping Honey. Tickets are available from OzTix and the venue right now for $23.50.

Mister Heavenly is a new supergroup featuring Man Man’s Honus Honus, Islands’ Nick Thorburn, Modest Mouse’s Joe Plummer and, for the moment, movie star Michael Cera.

MOUNTAINOUS MUSIC

A couple of years back Black Mountain made their way out to Australia on the back of their kick arse second record In The Future and managed to impress us all more than sufficiently with their live show and have us excited about their future. This year the band released the follow up to that aforementioned record, Wilderness Heart, and it has seen the Canadian act pick their game up considerably, which is really saying something. The album is a rootsy chunk of psychedelic prog-rock, but probably about 15 times less wanky than you’re imagining from that description. The band are on their way back to Australia in support of the album and will once again drop by The Zoo while they’re here, this time on Thursday Feb 17. Tickets are on sale now for $54.10 and you can get them from the venue’s website, OzTix and usual outlets.

Temptation, the sixth album from The Waifs, will be released in March next year.

Last week Sony Music mistakenly had some of Bradford Cox’s Atlas Sound tracks (as featured in Time Off’s On The Download section last week) taken down. The company has apologised for the bizarre mix up.

Eminem has picked up ten Grammy nominations for next year’s awards.

He was followed by Bruno Mars with seven, while Jay-Z, Lady Antebellum and Lady Gaga all scored six apiece.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard was spotted in the audience at the Blondie show in the Yarra Valley over the weekend.

IN BRIEF Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil has said that the band will be writing new material before long.

VINTAGE BLUES The second announcement for next year’s Byron Bay Bluesfest has dropped with British proggiants Jethro Tull a surprise inclusion, Texan rock kings ZZ Top, pictured, a not so surprising addition while funk and soul legends like Irma Thomas, The Funky Meters and Booker T all beef up the bill considerably. Reggae masters Toots and the Maytals, Latin blues favourites Los Lobos, modern day soul crooner John Legend, Tim Robbins and The Rogues Gallery Band (aka High Fidelity’s Ian “what fucking Ian guy?!?!” Raymond), Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, B.B. & the Blues Shack, Joe Louis Walker and Barrence Whitfield round out the international contingent. On the local front the announce is honestly almost as big; Gurrumul plays an exclusive performance, Kasey Chambers, Pete Murray and Wolfmother are the big young guns while Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band, The Dingoes and Phil Jones & the Unknown Blues will be bringing back memories for many. Diesel, The Snowdroppers, Ray Beadle and Nat Col & the Kings cap off another huge announcement. The festival hits Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm Thursday Apr 21 through to Monday Apr 25.

OH WHAT A FEELING There’s no hiding from the fact that he was an odd choice of act to perform at the AFL Grand Final (to say the least), but that doesn’t change the fact that Lionel Richie is one of contemporary music’s most cherished artists. His beginnings with 70s funkateers The Commodores were auspicious, but it was when he started releasing solo albums in the 1980s that he really shot to the highest echelons of fame. The master of song is returning to Australia next year to bring you to your knees with his messages of love and will be performing at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Friday Mar 25. Support comes from none other than Guy Sebastian and tickets are on sale from Ticketek from Tuesday morning.

ENTER THE FOLDS

SUITABLE LOCATION Dream popsters Beach House are without a doubt one of the most highly anticipated acts on the bill for the 2011 Laneway Festival and, as such, one of the acts many people around town are saddened about not being able to see at their own club show. Well wipe away those tears, the duo have just announced that they will be playing a special show in the suitably beachy town of Mullumbimby on the New South Wales north coast. The band are riding high on the outstanding success of their latest record Teen Dream and those who have seen the band on past visits will move mountains to make it to see the band at the Mullumbimby Civic Hall on Saturday Jan 22. Support comes from incredibly popular locals The Middle East and New Zealand’s Tiny Ruins. Ticket are available from OzTix right now.

14

It’s been a while since we were treated to a tour from Ben Folds, which is kind of surprising given his close connection with our country. But on the back of his new record Lonely Avenue – which was a collaboration with acclaimed author Nick Hornby – Folds will return to our country to sit down at the piano and take us through songs from the record as well as plenty of tunes from his vast back catalogue, including tunes from his much loved Ben Folds Five, the band that initially shot him to stardom all over the world, as well as solo material.

His live shows are constantly raved about so you won’t want to miss your opportunity to catch him live in the flesh at the QPAC Concert Hall on Tuesday May 17.

Tickets are available from Qtix from Tuesday morning.

Mick Hucknall of Simply Red has apologised to the 1000 women he slept with during the band’s heyday in the 1980s. We await the apology to the entire world, who have had to deal with the mental image of Mick Hucknall having sex.

MOOD INDIGO With over 12 million album sales, seven Grammy nominations and over 20 years in the game, the Indigo Girls are one of modern folk music’s most popular acts. They have a new live double-album called Staring Down The Brilliant Dream out now, featuring 31 songs handpicked by the duo from their live shows between 2006 and 2009. The record has all of those gorgeous harmonies and thought-provoking lyrics that their fans know and love and is a must for any fan’s collection. They were announced for Bluesfest a couple of weeks back and now they’ve also announced a sideshow at QPAC on Tuesday Apr 26. Grab your tickets from Qtix right now.

NO MORE MUTANTS Sadly the legendary Brazilian psych rock outfit Os Mutantes have been forced to cancel their Brisbane show that was set to take place at The Tivoli on Tuesday Mar 8. Full refunds are available now.

According to Britney Spears, her new record will be out in March of next year.

Peter Buck has revealed that Patti Smith named the new R.E.M. album Collapse Into Now. The official weight of the cannabis Willie Nelson was busted with has come up at four ounces, which is only enough to be charged as a misdemeanour. Had he been carrying six ounce, as was estimated last week, it would have been a felony.

The Living End’s Chris Cheney along with wife Emma, manager Rae Harvey and her partner, record producer Woody Annison, have opened Red Door Sounds, a new recording studio in Melbourne.

Gossip website TMZ falsely reported that Kurtis Blow was arrested for cannabis possession last week.

The People’s Key is the name of the first Bright Eyes album since 2007’s Cassadaga. It will be released in February next year.

THAT SPARK IS BACK Sparkadia are well and truly back in the saddle after spending the majority of this year holed up over in Europe and they are pleased to let you all know that their brand new record The Great Impression is all set for release on Friday Mar 18.

The band made a solid return to the live scene as they headed out with Little Red a couple of months ago and now, in support of the new record, they’re going to chalk up plenty more miles as they dash around the country with some particularly esteemed company in tow. Gold Coast young adults Operator Please will head along as the main support act while Melbourne up-and-comers Alpines will open things up. These three bands will play the Coolangatta Hotel Thursday Apr 7 and The Hi-Fi Friday Apr 8. Tickets are available from OzTix now!

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15

IN BRIEF Pete Doherty has admitted he might seek former Libertines band mate Carl Barat’s advice for his new Babyshambles songs.

PURRFECT POWER For the second summer in a row Australian audiences will be treated to performances from the incomparable Cat Power as leading lady Chan Marshall continues what has become quite a love affair with our country. Marshall is currently in the midst of making her new record, which will be her tenth, so when she’s out here early next year you would imagine she’ll have plenty of exciting new music to go alongside all of her fantastic previouslyreleased material. Once again she’ll be flanked by drummer Judah Bauer and guitarist Jim White – which, in itself, is a good reason to attend – and we’ve no doubt the shows will be as beautiful as they are intriguing. Cat Power plays the Brisbane Powerhouse Friday Jan 28 and the Coolangatta Hotel Saturday Jan 29; tickets are available from the venues or OzTix for the Coolangatta show.

LATE BLOOMER Twenty years of worldwide success and acclaim ought to be enough to convince you that Irish singer-songwriter Luka Bloom is a very special artist, but if it’s not then we highly recommend going to see him perform live.

His records have been much loved by audiences all over the globe, but one cannot truly understand his genius completely without witnessing his transcendent live shows that have had Australian audiences in awe each and every time he has visited. He’s just released his latest album Dreams In America and to celebrate he has booked himself a couple of months in Australia – he has been quoted as saying that he spends two months of every 24 in Australia and 22 waiting to return. He plays The Tivoli Friday Apr 1 and Joe’s Waterhole, Eumundi Saturday Apr 2. Tickets are on sale now.

Justin ‘Beebs’ Bieber has cancelled his appearance on a German TV show after a contestant was seriously injured while attempting to somersault over five cars using springpowered stilts.

Susan Boyle completely screwed up her performance on talk show The View, stopping halfway through claiming she had a ‘frog in her throat’.

It has been reported that Prince Harry has enlisted Snoop Dogg and Tinie Tempah to perform at his brother’s bachelor party.

Harry Wayne Casey – aka K.C. of K.C. and the Sunshine Band fame – has accused the Black Eyed Peas of ripping off his classic tune Give It Up on their new track Love You Long Time.

HAD TO RETURN They sold the fuck out of their show up here just a couple of weeks ago, so Shihad have wasted absolutely no time in making their way back up here to give those who missed out another chance to see them in action. For well over a decade these Kiwis have been regarded as one of the most exciting live bands going and not much has changed in that regard. Of course their music has become incredibly diverse over the years, no album is ever the same as the last and that’s just the way they like it. They head up here to play Byron Bay’s Great Northern Hotel on Wednesday Jan 5, Surfers Paradise Beer Garden Thursday Jan 6, Villa Noosa Hotel Friday Jan 7 and The Zoo Saturday Jan 8. Gold Coast heavy hitters Electric Horse and Helm will be there in support and you can grab yourself a ticket from the venues, outlets and OzTix right now. Don’t miss out again!

ALL SIZES WELCOME He’s long been considered one of the finest songwriters of our generation, in fact many of the biggest names in contemporary music sing his praises, and now Randy Newman is coming to Australia for the very first time to show us the wide scope of his career as an artist. Since his second album, the enormously well received 12 Songs, Newman has been held in the absolute highest regard as an irreverent and satirical songwriting master, but also, more recently, he has been considered one of the finest film music composers of our time, with a whopping 17 Oscar nominations. Newman is heading to Brisbane to play a show at QPAC with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra on Friday Jul 22. Tickets are available through Qtix right now, they begin at $45 and go up to $109.

TEARS IN HEAVEN Carlos Santana remains one of the biggest names in the guitar world these days, just as he has been since the release of the first Santana album back in 1969.

He’s still hard at it, his latest record Guitar Heaven matching him up with some of the world’s most famous vocalists to run through some of the most iconic guitar tunes of all time – an intriguing concept but one that his legion of dedicated fans have lapped up. It has been a couple of years since he last visited us, so you can bet there are plenty of people very excited to hear of his return early next year.

He will drop by the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Thursday Mar 24 to dazzle all and sundry and tickets are available from Ticketek as of Thursday morning.

VIBE LIFTS The line-up for the Good Vibrations festival set to hit the country early next year is undoubtedly a monstrous one and now it has just gotten even better. British duo The Ting Tings made massive waves in Australia with the release of their debut album We Started Nothing and particularly their earworm hit That’s Not My Name, which was a massive radio hit upon its release. The band were forced to cancel their visit to Australia scheduled for mid-2010 but have made up for that with the announcement that they’ll join the Good Vibes road show through February 2011. Catch them at the Gold Coast Parklands on Saturday Feb 19.

WE GOT THE FEVER If you don’t know who Justin Bieber is then you really need to start paying more attention to, well, the world in general. This teen icon has kids all over the world in hysterics thanks to his infectious pop hooks, heartfelt lyrics and ingenuous charm and he’s about to bring the whole package to Australia. The 16-year-old Canadian wunderkind has just released My Worlds: The Collection, which comprises of an acoustic album as well as his My World EP and My World 2.0 album and is sure to sell a truckload of copies this festive season. You can see the young fella ripping it up at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Tuesday Apr 26, tickets are on sale from Ticketek from Monday morning from $65 up to $95. The show is strictly 18+.

LOL just joking, settle down you little weirdos.

THE EFFECT OF SUMMER You may well have seen its members around town in various different projects over the past couple of months, but now that summer is here, it is once again time for The Butterfly Effect to come out of hibernation and kick some arse like only their modern rocking selves can do. The Summer Lovin’ tour will see the band head to regional areas along the east coast, which basically sounds like a great excuse for them to go surfing. It’s also a great chance for you to do the same as well as see this fantastic band while you’re at it and if you’re in our neck of the woods then you can catch them at Twin Towns Services Club on Friday Dec 31 and the Kings Beach Tavern, Caloundra Sunday Jan 2. If that’s not enough for you then perhaps news that After The Fall will be there in support will be? The respective venues can sort you out with tickets or you can grab a ticket from OzTix for the Caloundra show if you so wish.

COPORATE JACK IS BACK Andrew McMahon is one talented gentleman. He’s best known as the vivacious vocalist and pianist for popular rock acts Something Corporate and Jack’s Mannequin, but he’s recently turned his hand to some solo material that has been received incredibly well. In fact his last solo tour of his native US was a complete sell-out. He is heading out to Australia next year to treat his many fans out here to these intimate performances, which have received rave reviews just about completely across the board.

McMahon will play solo material as well as hits from his two hugely successful bands and will do so at The Hi-Fi on Thursday Feb 10. Tickets are on sale from OzTix and the venue from Friday morning.

16

SEARCH NOT DESTROY

KELLY GANG

What’s with the police strip-searching patrons at festivals? Some of the reports coming from innocent people’s treatment at Stereosonic last weekend have been disturbing in the extreme...

Seems the spectre of Joh is alive and well...

The four-night A To Z Show performance in Brisbane by Paul Kelly and his nephew Dan was absolutely stunning from go to whoa.

Here’s hoping they do it again soon...

LOUIS, LOUIS

DUST TO DUST It’s going to take an amazing turnaround to regain The Ashes after the ignominy of the last couple of tests. Lift your game Aussies...

The new TV project by US comedian Louis CK – simply titled Louis – kicked off on cable last week and is (so far) one of the funniest things to hit the small screen in ages. We hear it gets weird… Bring it on.

OPRAH AND OUT

PSYCH WAR

What the fuck has prompted this recent obsession with Oprah? Please let her arrive soon so that she can piss off back home and let us resume our lives...

The sad news that Os Mutantes canned their Brisbane show was tempered by the news that Black Mountain are coming back. Amazing live band, the show is bound to be rad...

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19

GENDER BENDERS The breezy and carefree tunes of San Franciscan indie outfit GIRLS pretty much perfectly encapsulate their laid-back approach to the whole music caper.

Frontman and songwriter CHRISTOPHER OWENS tells STEVE BELL why their success to date hasn’t stopped them from staying grounded.

I

f only all bands’ career paths were so interesting.

Christopher Owens, born in Florida, is raised as a member of the religious cult Children Of God – the same sect where River Phoenix and his siblings experienced their formative years – and lives a transient and often impoverished childhood, spending his youth traversing dozens of countries throughout Europe and Asia before escaping the community whilst still a teenager and moving to Amarillo, Texas to live with his older sister – a strange place indeed to become accustomed to the outside world. After a few hedonistic years in Texas, Owens hitches to California with a friend and immerses himself in the local punk scene. He joins Ariel Pink’s outfit Holy Shit as a guitarist and tours with them back to Europe, staying with the band until their eventual implosion a short time later.

By then Owens – who despite not being exposed to much music in his youth, except that written

by fellow cult members, had long been fascinated with the art form – had started writing his own songs, and when he befriended producer/bassist Chet “JR” White in his adopted town of San Francisco the seeds of the pair’s band Girls were sown. Utilising their complementary skills they recorded some songs together, chucked them up on MySpace and the reaction from the online community was instantaneous. Cue a record deal, the release of their acclaimed 2009 debut long-player Album, some massive international support slots and now – on the back of their excellent new EP Broken Dreams Club – Girls are finally making their way to Australian shores.

“It’s wonderful. It’s like a dream come true for us,” Owens marvels of the band’s rapid rise in fortunes. “It’s been really amazing the past year, we’ve gotten to do a lot of things that we never imagined that we’d get to do, so we’re all really happy and excited. We really want it to keep going.

“When we first started recording before we were even a band we didn’t really expect much – we were just kind of doing it for ourselves. But as soon as we started putting recordings out the reaction was pretty good all around the world, so we kind of had an idea that this was going to be a fairly extensive project. It kinda makes sense to us, because we try to play music that people would want to listen to. I guess if you’d told us two years ago what lay in store for us we would have been pretty surprised, but once you start putting things on the Internet you can kind of judge the reactions pretty well, and it came pretty obvious pretty quickly that this was going to be something that people connected with.”

Despite its relative brevity Broken Dreams Club is a perfect expansion of Album’s diverse brew of trippy, sun-drenched sounds, the pair’s preference being unabashed pop with an esoteric and inherently DIY bent.

“We just didn’t have much time to record last year because we were touring,” Owens explains of the abridged nature of the new release, “so we just tried to get as much done as we could and we ended up with a six song record, and we just wanted to put it out. We’re going to record the next album after these shows in Australia, but we didn’t want to wait too much longer. We just wanted to put out as much as we could, and we ended up with the EP, so we thought it was a good thing to do.”

While Owens writes all of the band’s material, his creative partnership with JR is integral to the band’s recorded sound and aesthetic.

“He produces all of the music, so it’s important for me to have somebody that I can communicate easily with and tell them what I’m trying to go for, and he knows how to record it,” Owens continues.

“It works for us – I don’t know how to record it myself, so I need having somebody around who does. And it means that we can get it done without having outside producers or engineers get involved, we can just do it all ourselves. It’s a good way for us to work.

“We’ve always played live with a full band – you can’t really play that much with just two people – but when we first started recording we didn’t have a band yet, so we just recorded the album ourselves.

Then the band came after we sort of had the demand for touring and stuff like that, so we just put together a band made up of friends of ours who played music here [in San Francisco]. They’ve played on the EP now, so we’re trying to mould it into more of a ‘real’ band.”

According to Owens the fact that Girls’ songs traverse so much musical and stylistic terrain is due to their broad music tastes rather than any specific desire to be eclectic.

“We’ve always just wanted to do a lot of different styles – we don’t really have one sound as a band,” he offers. “We feel like each song is really different from the next, so we just sort of approach it on a song to song basis, and we don’t always go through the same approach with each song. At the end of the day we end up having a lot of different styles on the record and I think that makes it interesting. It’s also more fun for us to try all those different sounds. “[Our taste] is really diverse – we listen to a bit of everything.

We listen to anything that’s on the radio, or our friends’ bands – all kinds of stuff. We’re not really into one type of music or one scene – we’ll listen to anything that’s good. All kinds of different things. If music’s good then we like it.”

The frontman’s unconventional upbringing didn’t allow much exposure to popular culture, and this experience has partially informed how he writes and appreciates music to this day.

“I think maybe a little bit,” he muses. “It kind of gives me a simple style. I think the stuff that you grow up with probably subconsciously effects the way you write. I listened to a lot of pretty simple classic music. I think it’s still something that affects me, but then sonically we have a lot of current influences, so we try and mix it all up together. The basics of the songs are all pretty simple – almost country music or something like that.”

Even though the world at large has become rapidly enamoured with Girls’ summer-tinged sound, Owens doubts that the success will affect the band’s relatively carefree attitude to their craft.

“No, because we’re doing what we want to do,” he reflects.

“We’ve always just made the songs that we want to play and the songs that we like, and I think it’s just worked out that it’s happened to be something that other people like. It hasn’t changed at all really our approach, it’s just encouraged us to keep going and sort of enabled us to do it on a grander scale. We’re totally happy with how things are going, so why change it?”

WHO: Girls WHAT: Broken Dreams Club (True Panther/Inertia) WHERE & WHEN: The Zoo Thursday Dec 9 20

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE MARK E. SMITH has a reputation for being somewhat cantankerous, but on the eve of his band THE FALL’s first Australian sojourn in 20 years he surprises TONY McMAHON with his affability, as well as his admission that he’s a fan of his own band but not his hometown.

V

enerable is one way – possibly the only way – to describe Mark E. Smith and The Fall. Emerging from the mid-70s Manchester punk scene alongside contemporaries Joy Division and The Buzzcocks, like a magnificent weed in an abandoned parking lot, this most lauded and long-lasting of musical experiments has gone on to record 28 studio albums and tour the world incessantly. The driving force behind The Fall has always been Smith, the only original remaining member, and, as the man himself puts it ‘if it’s me and your gran on bongos, it’s The Fall’.

“I can’t really see a problem going on. I’ve always got the stuff so, yeah, why not?”

The group’s latest outing is a double album, Your Future Our Clutter, which is as urgent and interesting anything Smith has done in the past decade, proving beyond doubt that, despite their longevity, The Fall are still a group to be reckoned with. With a reputation as a prickly interview subject, often of questionable sobriety, Time Off approaches this chat with the utmost caution.

But Smith is matey, polite, sober-sounding and engaged. What’s more, he’s quite impressed that Time Off has managed to purchase his new record on vinyl, something he can directly relate to.

Naturally, though, Time Off can’t resist pressing just a little further. A film script?

Smith has turned his hand in the past to spoken word recording and writing for the stage.

Might we see more of this in the future?

“I’ve got something on the go that’s not quite any of those things but similar. I don’t want to give too much away so I might just leave it there.”

“You might be getting warm.”

WHO: The Fall WHERE & WHEN: The Hi-Fi Thursday Dec 9

“Yeah, it’s come out well, I think. And you can get it on vinyl, that’s fucking good ain’t it? You’re doing well to have got it, though; I only got it a couple of weeks ago myself.

A box turned up about two weeks ago, but before that, I had to go out and fucking buy it. Bit rough, that.”

Given he’s been doing it for so long now, it feels important to ask Smith how he goes about approaching a new record. Does he feel like a time comes when he has enough material? Or does he just get itchy feet and decide it’s time to record again? It seems like it’s none of these things, and that The Fall’s gargantuan output has more to do with Smith’s incredible work ethic.

“The last LP, to me it took a long time, getting it to certain standard,” he offers. “And I wanted to strike while the group was in form.

I mean, if I had my way now, I’d start recording another album right away, but you can’t really do that. And I don’t really look at it like this is my 25th LP or anything like that. It’s more like it’s something I should do while I can do it. I always think the last one is the best one. I might be deluded sometimes, but I do think that.

“I don’t listen to them a lot to be honest. I’m a bit of a Fall fan, if you know what I mean; I just listen to them like it’s another group. I like Shift-Work, that always surprises me.

I think that’s better than I thought it was at the time.”

When asked about 1980’s Grotesque, Smith agrees it’s a notable work that continues to be relevant.

“Yeah, that’s a good one, still stands up well all these years later. It’s funny, it might be the vinyl reissues or something, but there’s a lot of 15 and 16 year olds telling me they’re into that album, it’s weird.”

Given The Fall are a group conspicuously from Manchester, as well as the fact that Smith has lived there all his life, does he feel like the city has influenced his writing?

“Well, I’m more Salford than Manchester,” he explains. “Every fucking group in the world seems to come from Manchester these days. But I suppose so, yeah. But I think it has to be said, even though I live in Manchester, I’m not the greatest fan of it, I really don’t like it very much, you know, but it must have done, yeah.”

In Smith’s autobiography Renegade, he wrote that he disliked Australia when The Fall visited in 1982. But Smith says that this has nothing to do with why he hasn’t been here for 20 years.

Rather, it’s about his new line-up being up to the task.

“No I don’t think so, I don’t think so at all actually,” he muses.

“The last group before this one, I don’t think they’d have been up to it, to be honest. I mean, I go into it in the book, don’t I? It starts off in the fucking desert in Texas and they’re all falling to bits. A lot of groups are like kids in an ice cream shop when they go on tour. I remember last time we were in Australia; I just stayed in a bed and breakfast and organised the shows. I’d had enough of the lot of them. But this group can handle it, know what I mean? I think you can hear that on the album, too.”

When he does get here, Smith says choosing tracks to play from his vast back catalogue is not going to be much of an issue. There is, however, new technology involved that he finds more than a little confounding.

“It’s funny because we’re doing one or two songs that are from 1979 and 1980 when the group were on form, and it’s working well,” he admits. “I don’t usually go in for that much myself, only about a quarter of the set is older than the last couple of years. We do Psychic Dancehall live now. That’s 1979, you know? Nowadays, they’ve got these contraptions, the rest of the group, they’re called a Shazzam or something, you just name a song and they can play it. They’ve got more access to Fall stuff than I have. They’ve got things I can’t find in the house. I said, ‘Well I bet it hasn’t got like Luke Perking from 1955 doing a rockabilly song!’ and it fucking did have it.”

The Fall are also playing The Meredith Musical festival on this trip: country Victoria, pissing down with rain and hippies everywhere, not normally the kind of gig associated with this band. Smith has been forewarned, however, and seems somewhat resigned.

“That’s what the wife – sorry my wife – that’s what my wife said, she said it looked a bit Glastonbury-like,” he sighs. “It’ll be all right, I suppose, but I’m still a club man at heart.”

So, what about the future for The Fall? Does Smith have another ten albums in him?

21

PURE VITALITY Aussie rock legends HOODOO GURUS have proven time and time again that age has not wearied them. As they prepare for another jaunt around the country, frontman DAVE FAULKNER tells DAN CONDON it’s pure passion that keeps them going.

S

o far this year they’ve released their ninth studio album Purity Of Essence, embarked on tours of Australia, the USA and Europe and they’re not done yet. For a band that has been kicking around for what is awfully close to 30 years now, Hoodoo Gurus still make a pretty good fist of the touring lifestyle. Dave Faulkner calls from Perth where he has been involved in a songwriting workshop with Lucky Oceans and generally enjoying a miniscule amount of time off the road.

“We’ve only had a couple of weeks off to be honest; it has been just a little interruption to what has been a very long year of work,” Faulkner says in his most chipper and relaxed manner. But he’s keen to get out on the road again to finish off the year’s commitments. “We’re playing really well and also I know that the sooner it starts the sooner I can get off the road and relax again. You never really fully let yourself down into relax mode while you’re

in the middle of touring; after Christmas is when I’m going to start letting off steam, but for now I’m always kind of semi-focused.”

The band visited the US and Europe earlier in the year and Faulkner was blown away by the response of some of their fans.

“We had a lot of great shows,” he tells. “We played places we haven’t done before. Valencia in Spain was a city I had very little idea about but I was blown away, it was an incredible reaction and we had devoted fans there. We enjoyed ourselves immensely and we played great. The thing about doing tours like that is that you get so much into a groove that we’re really taking no prisoners now as far as going on stage, we’re just really tight and tough, battle hardened.”

Not that we’d ever expect anything but the best from Hoodoo Gurus in the live arena. Each member of the band is either in or approaching their 50s, but their onstage performances mirror that of the most passionate and dynamic of teenage punks. They do not leave the stage having given any less than their all and Faulkner says they never will.

“We pride ourselves on the fact that we do put in,” Faulkner affirms. “That’s just how the music is for us. I mean, I can’t sing in half measures, Mark Kingsmill cannot drum in half measures and Brad [Shepherd – guitar] of course...” Faulkner bursts into laughter, “he just wants to go out there and let loose and Rick [Grossman – bass] is the same. That’s just how we express ourselves and when we can’t do that you won’t be seeing us, but while you’re seeing us you won’t see any half measures from us.”

The band want to play as much from their new record as they can.

But, as with any act of the Gurus’ prestige, fans itch for older material.

Faulkner admits finding the balance between songs the band are most excited about and those that get the crowd going is very difficult.

“We pride ourselves on the fact that we do put in. That’s just how the music is for us.”

“It’s quite tough,” he says. “We’ve had to leave out a couple of the more well-known songs from time to time now because we just don’t have the ability to shoehorn them all together into one set. We don’t do the two-and-a-half hour Bruce Springsteen show with one hour of chat. We probably do as many songs as he does but it just takes an hour-and-a-quarter! But it is hard to cover all bases, so we don’t really try to do that, we just hope that the energy and the spirit of what is there is enough to make people realise they saw something real and exciting. There’s always going to be a song that someone was desperate to hear us play and we just didn’t do it.

“It was funny, last night I was doing this thing at the Fremantle Arts Centre and someone asked me why we never play Castles In The Air – there’s this sort of rumbling between fans about this song in particular at the moment – but, you know, it’s hard to put that one in because it’s a ballad and there are some other ballads that are almost compulsory performances like Bittersweet and 1000 Miles Away. It’s hard to get everything in there but now and again we’ll chuck them in and hope that we happen to strike the right night when people hear that obscure song that they wanted to hear and it will find its mark.“ Purity Of Essence has been out for over half a year now and Faulkner is still awfully proud of how the record has turned out.

“I couldn’t be happier, I think it’s fantastic,” he shoots without thought. “I love everything about it and there’s nothing that I regret at all. Give me a couple of years and I’ll start picking holes in it – you always do – but I’m very happy. I think it’s a great album and one I’m really proud of.”

Given the record was the band’s first in six years, one wonders whether going through all the motions that go along with releasing an album becomes more difficult after such an extended period of time since doing so. Faulkner says that the old perils of procrastination and panic were his two biggest enemies.

DECEMBER 13 birdee num num, the valley tH

“The actual putting out the record wasn’t hard but getting me to that starting gate was the problem,” he says. “I was procrastinating and I was panicked about the fact that I didn’t think I had the material, which I’ve always had with every record, I’ve had that same dilemma. Because of the way I work, I don’t write a song a day and finish them off and have them neatly stored away ready to go, I assemble sketches and fragments of material; it’s sort of random and I lose track of what I’ve got and it’s not until I force myself to sit down to write that I gather all these things and start forensically going through them and classifying them.”

The record took a little longer to come out than many fans, and indeed the band themselves, had anticipated. Initially the sound of the record wasn’t up to the standard that the band wanted and as such it required a full remix.

*RSVP does not guarantee entry, so arrive early to secure your spot. Must be over 18+ to attend.

“The last three albums that I’ve been involved with have unfortunately had to be mixed twice,” Faulkner sighs. “[2004 album] Mach Schau we mixed twice and also the Persian Rugs album. It’s not a habit I’d like to get into, it seems to be one at the moment, but it’s been for different reasons each time, combinations of influences and factors that just conspired to make the remix important. In this particular case it was a lifesaver really, the album was brilliant until we got up to the mix and then it all fell apart; the particular acoustics of the room we were in we just couldn’t come to grips with.”

WHO: Hoodoo Gurus WHERE & WHEN: The Hi-Fi Saturday Dec 11 22

WELL-OILED MACHINE Amidst rumours of their record label rejecting the follow-up to their debut Myths Of The Near Future, KLAXONS’ guitarist SIMON TAYLER-DAVIS explains the hefty gap between albums one and two to BEN PREECE.

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pon their inception three years ago with a much-buzzed debut entitled Myths Of The Near Future, Klaxons were quick to be dubbed the saviours of the new rave scene by the English music press, with the rest of the world quickly following. Tracks like Gravity’s Rainbow, Golden Skans and Atlantis To Interzone went on to become hits and the band walked away with armfuls of awards including the coveted Mercury Music Prize. But after the sirens died down, there seemed to be a silence that perhaps, for most fans and music followers, seemed to go on a little too long. Rumours quickly circulated the net that the band’s record label, Polydor, had promptly rejected material the band had intended to be record number two.

While the band was in Australia for promotional duties for their long-awaited second album, Surfing The Void, guitarist Simon Taylor-Davis puts the rumour-mill in its place once and for all.

“I think everyone thought we had a bit of turbulence putting out this record,” he explains. “Yes it seems to have been reported that way but, no, we had the time of our lives writing and recording the record – we had an amazing time. I guess the main obstacle was just touring – we were touring until about this time last year so by the time we had a couple of days off and a bit of time at home it was 2010. It wasn’t really turbulence, we just had to go everywhere and then we had to go back everywhere again and again.

adorned those initial shows and suggests that things are very different these days.

“We can play now,” he suggests cheekily. “We’ve accidentally learned to be a really good live band now. We have an additional member who plays another keyboard so we’ve been absolutely on fire. We’ve really got it tuned in and dialled in now and everyone around us is saying they’ve never seen us play this good before. This record was written as a live band so translating it has been really easy and it really has been just fun to play.

I guess we’re just a well-oiled machine now.”

WHO: Klaxons WHAT: Surfing The Void (Modular) WHERE & WHEN: Sunset Sounds Thursday Jan 6

“Obviously his British sarcasm didn’t translate and some copycat stories about our album being rejected is all we seem to talk about now.”

“There are stories but the label didn’t reject anything. I guess it’s quite sad because we have the most amazing relationship with Polydor ever – it’s why we signed to them. Not to sound like a dick, but we didn’t just have one offer and we had a hell of a decision to make sure all the people we were working with were super cool and that we could bond with them. Jamie [Reynolds – vocals/bass] had some interview and he was saying, ‘Oh yeah, yeah, Polydor are going to reject our album because we gave them some music and then they went away at Christmas and we didn’t hear back from anyone for a while’. Obviously his British sarcasm didn’t really translate and some copycat stories about our album being rejected is all we seem to talk about now.”

Myths Of The Near Future set the bar high for Klaxons, quickly sending tastemakers and bloggers scrambling to their keyboards and making them one of the hottest things on the planet at that point in time. Working in Los Angeles with producer Ross Robinson (Sepultura, Slipknot, At the Drive-In, The Cure), the band steered their sound away from the blatant new rave sounds they’d crafted previously and headed more into out-of-this-world rock. The result is Surfing The Void, a record that takes cues from Muse, Blur and The KLF and smashes them into one unique rock-pie.

“I guess it was only the beginning phases of writing this record that I began to have any objectivity of Myths... and see it for what it was: this stupid bunch of bratty, gobby kids thinking they know it all, name-dropping every weirdo author they could. I guess we wanted this one to be a bit more considered. It’s not as immediate – it’s a bit more dense – but we didn’t go into it with any specific mission statement. It kind of started breathing its own language and it formed quite a personal-sounding record – the difference is the last one was outer-space and this one is a bit more innerspace, it’s personal and the lyrics are more linear and there are love songs on this record which didn’t happen on the last one.

“I guess we just wanted to make a continuation of the last one,” Taylor-Davis explains carefully. “It’s not a radical departure, certainly not with the equipment and the way we recorded – it was very similar – but the main difference would have to be Steffan [Halperin – drums] because we didn’t have a drummer on the last record and I think a lot of people have said that this record is a lot more rock. I think that illusion of rock is an energy that comes from the drums. So being a four-piece is the big difference on this one. I think we’ve fully blossomed as a rock outfit on this record, it probably means we’ll reform as an acoustic act on the next one though.”

It might’ve been logical to head back into the studio with previous producer James Ford, instead Klaxons chose the “godfather of nu-metal” Ross Robinson to helm the sound on Surfing The Void.

“We’d recorded a couple of sessions, kinda squeezed them in, with James Ford who we did our first record with,” Taylor-Davis says.

“We’d made some really beautiful music with him that will come out hopefully not too long in the foreseeable future as an EP or some other kind of stand-alone. We’re still very young as a band and, apart from this year and being in the studio for Myths..., we really haven’t been in the studio much so we went in and furiously just experimented with writing techniques and stuff with James. At the end of it, we came to the logical conclusion that we should all go our own separate ways and it’d be beneficial for us creatively to work with different people – by no means was it a falling out, he’s first and foremost a friend but we needed to change it up a bit and ignite some excitement into it.

“We finished the work with James and there was this 48 hour limbo where we thought, ‘What the fuck are we going to do?’ We didn’t know any producers, we didn’t know any we were drawn to working with. Then we got this phone call out of the blue from Coachella festival asking us if we wanted to play and it just so happened that the manager of that managed Ross Robinson also. He was a huge fan of ours apparently and we were just gobsmacked that the guy that produced At The Drive-In and Blood Brothers was into us.

We thought it could’ve been such a disaster or so brilliant – it’s something that we are drawn to, just like when we originally did the new rave thing, it could’ve really been an utter disaster.”

When Klaxons first toured Australia, reactions to their live show were mixed. Taylor-Davis acknowledges the flaws that

23

HERE COMES THE SUN BENNY DOYLE battles a crackling phone line across many bodies of land and water to check in with SHOUT OUT LOUDS frontman ADAM OLENIUS before their first Australian tour in far too long.

A

t home in his apartment in his native Stockholm, Olenius is reflecting on the good albeit all too brief summer in the northern hemisphere. Summer is important to the Swedes but fall is a beautiful time in his part of the world also. The trees are transforming into a myriad of colours and that crisp arctic air makes your blood run and your body feel alive.

mid-noughties teen TV like The OC and One Tree Hill, the band have toured extensively throughout the country.

“I love the seasons because it takes in the different moods of the year which I really like,” the softly spoken Olenius explains, “But we’re looking forward to getting back to see Australia.

It’s the first time we’re playing festivals there in summer so we are ridiculously excited.”

It’s unsurprising to hear that although Stockholm still holds a special place in Olenius’ heart, the band have taken their inspiration from a broader spectrum and in doing so, seen their sound grow exponentially.

Shout Out Louds, the band Olenius fronts, are now truly a global commodity, with four different labels representing them across the globe including local independent Dew Process in our part of the world. Having broken in the US through exposure on essential

“In the beginning we were more in the US than the UK or Europe,” Olenius says. “Swedes at home, they weren’t disappointed but it took us a little while to win them over because we were always away and they didn’t know much about us. But the last album and this one, we decided to play more festivals and more shows in Sweden.

So now the crowds are louder and they love us,” he chuckles.

“Stockholm will always be our home and recently it has been the most fun city to play. It still inspires me as it’s where I grew up but it’s really helpful that I can see so many other places in the world. I love many things about Stockholm,” Olenius continues, “things that I still hold on to when writing and touring but now it’s just not as sacred to me. I have so many other things I can write about through other things I see outside of Stockholm. Without trying too hard, I think the band can come up with something special that keeps that local sound and where we’re from but still allow us to find our own sound.”

After the gruelling worldwide touring schedule following their 2007 breakthrough second album Our Ill Will all the band members decided to take a step away from the Shout Out Louds. This resulted in a six month hiatus that saw the members strewn between Los Angeles, Stockholm and Melbourne. Olenius was the sole member that found his way down under during that time and considers the experience invigorating and invaluable.

“I think it was great to leave everything behind back home; the band, friends and family. I just needed time off from everything, just a totally clean schedule,” he admits. “It was great for summer and also because my girlfriend was studying there [Melbourne] so I had the days by myself to record and try out new ideas. At the time it worked being a bit more isolated from everything. There were things that happened and that I saw which came into the lyrics [of third album Work] during that time. I think the main help and inspiration was being away from everything. I really like that city. If it wasn’t so far away from home I might consider living there for a longer period.”

But although each band member was enjoying their own personal solitude, the band was never exactly on hiatus. In fact, it didn’t take long at all before the creative juices began flowing again – all it took was some breathing space.

“After a few months I sent a few songs. Actually, the first song I sent was Walls [Work’s first single] then I sent another song as well quickly after,” Olenius says. “We’d just finished a tour in Brazil then we went home before going our separate ways. We didn’t speak to each other for a few weeks but then emails started dropping in about ideas and different things people saw during their travels that they would like to add. It was great; we began discussing ideas and fun things to do on the next tour but we needed a few weeks in total silence.

“I mean, we get along really well as we are all friends from school and we still feel like those young kids. I just think when you’re forced into a full touring schedule you don’t become tired of each other, you’re maybe just tired of not being individual and not being able to pursue your own stuff.”

Having been roughly three years since Shout Out Louds hit out shores as a band, Olenius explains what the band is looking forward to experiencing this time round.

“We’re really looking forward to doing some festivals because we have never done that in Australia and this will be our first New Years shows also. We always have time off during that time of year, we say that New Years and Christmas are sacred – no gigs. Because we tour a lot through the year everyone is home for Christmas and New Years with their families. I think this is our first time away from that which is a big deal. I have quite a big family and we love to drink and eat on Christmas but normally New Years is quite overrated, I’m looking forward to being onstage rather than a boring party somewhere.”

And what a stage they will be on. The No Years! New Years Eve festival will see them hitting the Brisbane Powerhouse with acts such as The John Steel Singers, Jonathan Boulet and Parades.

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Visit www.viavision.com.au

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“Someone, I can’t remember if it was a label or our manager, but they said it was quite a beautiful location,” Olenius says excitedly. “Lately though, I really just want to take every opportunity to play. We’re picky with what little things we do, but we want to take this opportunity to see the world and play.

We’re going to have five days off after the Melbourne show so I’ll maybe travel around for a few days but unfortunately it’s the wrong season to go up to the Barrier Reef right?”

The good news for Olenius is that if he and the band want to hit the reef for some underwater activities, stingers are really only a problem on the coastline, not the reef. Aware that they are indeed on the bill for Pyramid Rock out at Victoria’s Phillip Island, it’s further suggested to check out the offensively cute penguin parade whilst in the area.

“I was on my way out there when I was down but I don’t know what happened, I ran out of time,” Olenius regrets. “I actually like wine a lot so maybe I’ll go on some tour with old ladies and drink some wine! I dunno. I always spend a lot of time in Melbourne so I’m looking forward to seeing something else, going to the beach and doing nothing. I’m not really looking forward to the dark winter when I come home so I’m going to take the opportunity to see the sun.”

WHO: Shout Out Louds WHERE & WHEN: No Years! @

Brisbane Powerhouse, Friday Dec 31

25

ROCK FISHING

MICK BLOOD, frontman for legendary garage heroes LIME SPIDERS regales BENNY DOYLE with talk of fresh musical possibilities from the band and finding out that one of his heroes is just another dude. children and businesses, its hard to get together at all let own get together long enough to write new songs, rehearse then record them. It’s easier if you’re living in the same city so, I dunno. Hopefully yes, we’re all up for it I think, it’s just a matter of the logistics.”

Although seminal and influential, many would say Lime Spiders were still underappreciated considering their output. However this didn’t stop them from making a lasting impact with both American and European audiences over their career.

W

ith a recent move from Perth to the Sunshine State all in the name of love, Blood discusses the affinity Queensland has had with Lime Spiders over the years.

“Our best audiences have always been Queensland and Melbourne,” he enthuses. “Sydney’s going full circle at the moment though. We got a full house there just recently but over the years, Queensland and especially the Gold Coast has been our biggest market in Australia.” Blood isn’t too sure on the reasons behind this but has a few ideas. “Certainly a lot of surfers have always loved us. We’ve had a lot of legendary nights in Coolangatta which is one of the reasons we’re trying it again down there. I think the music we play, people get off on the energy, see the positivity in the band and can get out, have a bit of fun and just cut loose for a night.”

Lime Spiders haven’t released any original material in roughly two decades. But after the success of recent shows, the idea of fresh studio recordings isn’t out of the question.

“We’ve got a guy involved with helping the band out at the moment in Sydney and after a gig the other week, he was very keen to get us to record another album,” Blood explains. “One of our guitarists lives in the far south coast of NSW and he’s got a state of the art studio he’s built, so we’d be crazy if we don’t take advantage of that. It really is a matter that everyone is so busy with

“I think we’re a very convincing act, we deliver the goods consistently and particularly have a reputation for our live performances,” Blood offers when asked why they resonated to so many overseas.

“I think the hybrid we’ve created from the start, there’s no one that sounds like us. We pretty much combine pub music with 60s psychedelia and that’s a weird mix. We’ve always had a big sound and I guess my vocals are also a trademark. I’ve got a pretty wild voice and that helped get us known.

There aren’t a lot of people who are as wild as me out there,” Blood finishes with a laugh.

But through all the crazy times across the globe, there’s still one encounter that stands out to Blood as a complete ‘what the fuck’ type moment.

“In New York at the Cat Club, we were headlining a college music showcase and backstage after the gig, Iggy Pop and Joey Ramone walk in to say g’day – our collective jaws dropped to the fl oor! But I didn’t want to talk about music. I didn’t want to go with the obvious thing. Luckily I’d read a profile on his private life before I went to America on that tour and realised he did a lot of fi shing which is the last thing you’d expect from Iggy Pop. So I thought right, I’m going there and asked ‘I hear you like fi shing mate?’ And he goes, ‘How’d you know that man?’

And I said, ‘I’m a fan of you as a person.’ He just grabbed me, hugged me and said ‘I knew you’d be a dude!’ Then we just spoke about trout fi shing for the next half hour, talking at length about lures!”

WHO: Lime Spiders WHERE & WHEN: Coolangatta Hotel Friday Dec 10, Step Inn Saturday Dec 11

AN ETERNAL FLAME

THE REVEREND HORTON HEAT have been redefining rockabilly for 25 years. Ahead of the band’s latest Australian tour, MATT O’NEILL catches up with main-man JIM HEATH to discuss the trio’s legacy.

I started this, I just had these rockabilly songs and, in forming a rockabilly band, I was basically saying goodbye to my dreams of being a rock star. I was just going to go play rockabilly songs with my acoustic guitar in pubs – and, you know, to have that spin off into a career and tours and a major label record signing...I never expected anything like that to happen.

“I realise it’s a blessing that Reverend Horton Heat has got a sound. We’re quite lucky to have stumbled upon our own way of doing things,” the guitarist elaborates. “We started out in 1985 being more of a purist rockabilly band but a significant part of Reverend Horton Heat comes from my decision to merely use that retro-rockabilly as a platform to branch off and do something else. If we’re just in our rehearsal studio and a song sounds like Spinal Tap, we’ll do a song like Spinal Tap.”

It’s incredibly easy to sell The Reverend Horton Heat short – and it happens with alarming regularity. Arguably the foremost rockabilly institution in the world for the better part of their 25-year career, the Texan threepiece are consistently hailed for their blitzkrieg live shows, punk-rock aggression and ceaseless devotion to the art of having a good time. It’s even gotten to the point where frontman Jim Heath has opted to prioritise the frivolous aspect of the band’s identity.

“Reverend Horton Heat being what we are – the upright bass, the big guitars, the zany rockabilly songs – I didn’t want us to be a novelty band,” Heath says of the decision. “Through the years, I’ve had these serious songs mixed in with the funny, party songs. Quite honestly, I think those songs would be among the best songs that I’ve written but, eventually, I had this realisation that the humorous stuff was what resonated with our fans and just decided to stop doing the serious songs.”

None of which should ever be contested. Since their 1990 debut album Smoke Em If You Got Em, The Reverend Horton Heat have done nothing if not excel at delivering high-octane, frequently hilarious rockabilly to a number of disparate audiences across the globe. The three-piece live on an almost constant touring schedule and consistently engross rockabilly and non-rockabilly enthusiasts alike – releasing records through both legendary independents (Sub Pop) and major labels (Interscope).

“I’m definitely surprised by the success we’ve had over the years,” Heath reflects. “Mainly because, when

26

There has, however, always been more to the band than frivolity and fun. The example most commonly cited is Heath’s tendency to occasionally write quite sentimental and evocative material (e.g. 2004’s Someone In Heaven, concerning the passing of Heath’s mother) but, in honesty, the most significant evidence comes from the astonishing musicianship which has defined the trio’s entire evolution.

Heath has always maintained considerable pride in the musicianship of his band and, beneath the adrenaline and amusement, there lie three musicians of unbelievable ability. Jim Heath, in particular, has long been one of the most remarkable guitarists in the world. Doubly so for the fact that, 25 years into a career, the guitarist still shuns recidivism in favour of becoming a better and more accomplished musician.

“I don’t actually like thinking about our anniversary much,” Heath explains. “Even though it’s a long time, I’m not at the point where I’m ready to sit around looking back. You know, we tour irrespective of albums.

Playing live is what we do – making albums is just like advertising. I’m still looking forward. There are a hell of a lot of tricky jazz arpeggios and scales I need to learn. I’m still trying to be a better guitarist, better musician, better songwriter and better performer.”

WHO: The Reverend Horton Heat WHERE & WHEN: The Hi-Fi Sunday Dec 12

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BEYOND GENESIS

The work of TUJIKO NORIKO has flitted freely between countless boundaries over the past ten years – pop and experimental, electronic and acoustic. MATT O’NEILL catches up with the Japanese expatriate ahead of her latest Australian tour.

HEAVY ASPIRATIONS Brisbane metalcore band WISH FOR WINGS have just finished their long-awaited second album Echoes, and to celebrate, they’re embarking on an extensive Queensland tour. DANIEL JOHNSON speaks to bassist AIDO SPINKS and guitarist AARON SPINKS.

“Working with Rick; we already had that sort of relationship with him – being school buddies and stuff – so I guess that’s important when you do go in the studio. We were just straight in there and everyone was really comfortable and the vibe was right.”

search for beauty, fun and excitement. I think in that process of searching the experimentation takes place.”

I

t’s never been easy to categorise Tujiko Noriko.

While the Japanese (now France-based) songstress has always possessed a wellarticulated and immediately identifiable aesthetic, attempts to quantify that in print have always seemed, at best, unrefined and, at worst, clumsy. The finesse of albums like 2008’s Trust has consistently been lost in hyperbolic proselytising and lazy references.

The best anyone’s ever been able to manage is a functional description. Noriko’s work over the past ten years has encompassed elements of electronic production, acoustic instrumentation, pop songwriting, post-modern deconstruction, experimental collaboration and avantgarde composition. Bearing in mind, such a list still falls short of capturing the essence of the artist’s work.

“I’m fine with words like electronic and pop. They’re just words people use around the music – it’s not actually the music itself,” Noriko reflects of her work. “Basically, it’s about making good things. I wanted to make stuff that would bring joy – to me and also to other people. I also wanted to discover things. That’s why I continue to make work today.”

It’s the inherent warmth of Noriko’s work that undercuts such reductive discussion. Throughout her career, Noriko’s output has unified practices commonly associated with intellectual experimentation with the innate charisma and sentiment of populist songwriting. Noriko’s output has effectively been defined by the re-contextualisation of academic sonic ideals within a personal musical vocabulary.

“I don’t know if I consider myself as experimental, but at any levels of days and life, I like to experiment. And I like people and things which have experimentation spirit,” Noriko offers in response. “If not it’s boring isn’t it?

But not like an experiment to be experimental, just to

To this end, discussing Tujiko Noriko’s output in regards to its stylistic components is largely irrelevant. While Noriko does employ electronics within her work, her songs do not recall electronic artists. One could feasibly discuss her sound in the context of that of similarly ambiguous artists such as Björk (and many have) but even that would be an over-simplification of matters.

“I’m indifferent to those kinds of comparisons, to be honest,” Noriko responds. “They neither impress me nor depress me. I think it’s all a bit of nothing, actually.

Saying something is like something else is sometimes a bit lazy. Like people can’t think of a way to describe. I also sometimes wonder if it’s because of being from an island.”

In truth, the only effective method of understanding Noriko’s work is through the dynamics of its construction. To discuss the individual details is fascinating but, given the fluid and transient nature of such ingredients, largely fruitless. It’s much more productive to examine the commonalities that unify Noriko’s superficial stylistic tropes.

Perhaps the best metaphor for the songwriter’s process is that of sculpture. Like a sculptor, Noriko starts with the broadest possible canvas and whittles down her work to the finest details – before employing those details to precisely construct something infinite and spacious in its own right. One need only look at the songstress’s collaborations with similarly-minded sound artists Lawrence English and John Chantler (who jointly produced Noriko’s 2009 U album and currently round out her live performance trio) for proof.

“It’s nice to be playing with John and Lawrence, I’m so happy to play with them,” the singer-songwriter reflects.

“For my feeling the trio is more open and that’s fun to be part of. We discover each other and our collective sense through our performances. Like I said before, it’s about making good things. Beautiful things. Always searching.”

WHO: Tujiko Noriko Trio WHERE & WHEN: The Judith Wright Centre Thursday Dec 9

Although more than happy with the content of the album, Aido admits the band have been a little frustrated by the delay in getting the album back from the presses, but the band have been buoyed by the popularity of the new songs.

D

espite forming in 2002 and releasing a demo EP a year later, Wish For Wings’ debut fulllength Afterlife didn’t see the light of day until 2008, but as Aaron explains, this was not due to having a shortage of songs in their repertoire.

“It probably wasn’t that we didn’t have enough material; it was just that we had opportunities to be on the road and none of us really like being cooped up in the studio,” he says. “We were lucky enough that when we put out the [From The Past To The Grave] EP [in 2006], we had a lot of offers to do a lot of touring, and it was kind of hard to say no to.

“I guess looking back on it, we probably should have recorded the first full-length CD a long time ago, but we just like being out on the road…it’s just one of those things; when we kept getting offers to be on the road, we just kept saying yes.”

On their latest album, Wish For Wings worked with local producers Rick and Darren Parker – who Aaron and Aido went to school with – after a chance encounter.

“I hadn’t spoken to Rick since we’d left high school and I randomly bumped into him and he mentioned he had a studio and he’d never recorded any sort of heavy music before, but that’s what he listens to,” Aido explains. “He had just been recording pop artists and he told me he had a studio and I should come and check it out and when I did I was like, ‘Oh wow, yeah you do, this is great’.”

Aido says working with someone the band’s members had a history with made the recording process a much more stress-free, straightforward affair.

“We played a show last night at Wyong and we just jumped in the van and were going to get some dinner and Andy [Barber – guitar] was on his laptop and we jumped on MySpace and we were the number one punk artist and the number one punk song on their homepage,” Aaron says in disbelief. “I guess that really caught us off-guard considering the album was officially released on Friday and as far as I know, none of the stores have it … but obviously people are hearing the record somewhere.”

Wish for Wings have rightfully earned a reputation as hard workers. At the moment they’re midway through a 15-date tour of Queensland and last year they undertook a gruelling 70-date tour of Australia and New Zealand.

“No, I don’t think we knew what we were getting into [with last year’s tour],” Aaron admits.

“It’s hard work but you push through it.”

“It paid off in the end,” Aido adds. “People still talk about it, [Michael] Crafter will still razz us up; going ‘Oh Wings, when are you playing Ulladulla again, you haven’t played there for a while,’” he laughs.

As for the band’s live show, Aido says, “it’s just a good night out, getting out, hanging out with your friends and watching some bands – it shouldn’t be about anything else other than that.”

WHO: Wish For Wings WHAT: Echoes (Skull And Bones) WHERE & WHEN: Blackbox Theatre,

Nambour Thursday Dec 9 (all ages), Morayfield Community Centre Friday Dec 10 (all ages), The Railway Hall, Toowoomba Sunday Dec 12 (all ages)

SHINY HAPPY PEOPLE BACK TO SCALD It’s no orgy, but something within the LA-based GROUPLOVE exudes some freaky level of friendship not often seen in your average band.

Drummer RYAN RABIN gets on the line to BEN PREECE to tell the intriguing story of how this band came to be.

Since their return to the live fray in 2008, HOT WATER MUSIC have undertaken successful tours of the US and Europe and now it’s finally Australia’s turn. DANIEL JOHNSON catches up with bassist JASON BLACK. when I was still in high school – probably when he was still in high school. It’s nice to have someone who has their own thing going on when they go on tour, who’s not like, ‘Oh my God, I’ve never done this before’.”

commune. There were a lot of people there and we were living in this living in this little village and out of everyone there, the five of us formed a fast friendship – it was one of those things that, after a week or two, you find the people you connect with the most. It was the five of us and this was even before we started playing music together, we formed this firm friendship thing.”

As they say, “All good things come to an end” and when that dreamy summer ended, the five made their way back to their respective parts of the globe, assuring each other their paths would cross once again. Long story short – absence does and did make the heart grow fonder and all five reconvened in Los Angeles to make music together. Their debut, self-titled EP is just the first step in what clearly is going to be a long and fruitful, not to mention friendly, career.

S

ometimes you just have to believe that occasionally fate, destiny or whatever it is you might believe in comes into play and drags the right group of people together under what would otherwise seem like impossible circumstances. Take Grouplove as an example – as the story goes, it seems like the meeting of its five members was simply meant to be.

“It was definitely unexpected and a lot of people don’t believe the story,” drummer Ryan Rabin laughs of the band’s series of successive meetings. “It is sort of fate, I think – we were all in very different places in our lives at the time, this was about two summers ago. I was born and raised in Los Angeles with the guitar player Andrew Wessen and we’ve been friends for a long time. His brother started this project in an artist commune in this little mountain town in Crete [Greece] and we all made it out there that summer under different circumstances – Hannah [Hooper] and Christian [Zucconi] had met in New York only the week before and she invited him to go with her, she is a painter, and he just dropped everything at home and went over there. The same went for Sean [Gadd] in London, he had some friends who were going over as musicians to play a festival that is held at the

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“We started just recording the songs that we had been jamming on together,” Rabin explains. “Once we started, we thought that this was something special so we just kept going to see how many we could do. We tracked a bunch of songs, everybody moved into my parent’s house – God bless them for being cool with that. Once we put the songs that we were jamming on in grease and let them evolve into what they became on the EP, we were all pretty sure we’d done something we thought was very special, particularly to us.

“Musically, I think it’s something that evolved out of the friendship,” he says of the EP. “Some of the songs were fragments or ideas that arose from everybody from the first time we met. Some of it has a very tongue-in-cheek vibe and is very sunshine-y and most of it came from that summer in Greece. It turned into eight songs, five of which will be on this EP and the other three will be on the debut album. The newer songs are a bit more of all of us contributing where the original handful are songs Hannah and Christian had worked on together. Each time we write one, we sit back and try to make the next one better than the last. That’s our ethos for everything now.”

WHO: Grouplove WHAT: Grouplove EP (Dew Process/Universal)

S

Before Hot Water Music recommenced touring, the band released Till The Wheels Fall Off – a 23-track collection of b-sides, rarities and covers – and Black says he was pleasantly surprised by the positive reception the record received.

ince disbanding in 2006, each of the members of Hot Water Music have gone on to perform in other projects. Bassist Jason Black now plays in Senses Fail, guitarist Chris Wollard formed the Ship Thieves, drummer George Rebello plays in Against Me! and vocalist/guitarist Chuck Ragan has forged a successful solo career. Black was in Australia with Senses Fail only a few months back but is excited about the prospect of returning with Hot Water Music, who are co-headlining their impending tour with Bouncing Souls.

“It was nice to be able to get that out right around when we started doing shows so there was a little something to carry it, too,” he adds.

“We always love coming down here and it’s the one place we haven’t really had a chance to get back to since we started doing shows on a semi-regular basis I guess,” Black says. “We were able to sort of find time for this and make it happen, so we just kind of went for it.”

Hot Water Music’s frontman Chuck Ragan has made several trips tom Australia since the release of his critically acclaimed debut solo record Feast Or Famine in 2007, and Black admits to being surprised by Ragan’s vigour since Hot Water Music first called it a day.

When asked what he is most keenly anticipating about returning, Black pauses for a second, before answering “I think everything man, honestly – great food, great beer, great people, awesome weather – the whole thing.”

“He’s been working his ass off with that,” Black offers.

“The only thing I was surprised about was how much he did, because when he wanted to stop touring he turned around and just started touring again.”

Unfortunately, due to his commitments with Against Me! Rebello won’t be joining the band for their Australian tour, but the band has enlisted the services of Lagwagon and Me First and The Gimme Gimmes drummer Dave Raun. Although Black is disappointed Rebello won’t be performing with the band, he says Raun has slotted in effortlessly and Rebello approves of the choice of stand-in.

And while Black harbours no ill-feelings about his frontman’s prolific solo touring schedule, he admits there has been some light ribbing about Ragan’s about-face.

“If it hadn’t been something that [Rebello] was okay with we never would have done it,” he says. “It was actually at his suggestion that we even thought about doing it in the first place. [Dave] is a great dude, real friendly, so it works out super-well. He’s been doing it longer than we have. He started touring with RKL

Although the band hasn’t released any new material since 2004’s The New What Next, Black says the band feels no added pressure about the next recording.

“We’re not going to put anything out we’re not happy with and we’re not going to put something out we don’t think is good,” he says matter-of-factly.

“Oh yeah, all the time man,” he laughs.” He knows; we’re all too good a friends to not be able to give each other shit about everything.”

WHO: Hot Water Music WHERE & WHERE: The Zoo Saturday Dec 11

SILENT SUN

Unbeknownst to the greater public, THE SUNBURYS are poised to launch their second album in less than 18 months. MATT O’NEILL speaks to frontman ANTHONY DETTORI about Swings & Roundabouts and the Brisbane trio’s punishing work ethic. for Swings & Roundabouts, meanwhile, also saw the band lay the foundational tracks for their third studio album (scheduled to be released late next year).

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER Local singer-songwriter LIAM GRIFFIN is preparing to launch his debut full-length Between The Colours – the result of a year of dedicated work and plenty time spent learning and absorbing and subconsciously preparing. MITCH KNOX finds out staying in school mightn’t be a total waste of time after all if you want to make it as a muso.

learned within the hallowed halls of Academia while working on his debut full-length album Between The Colours, and moreover, he found great satisfaction.

“It’s been a really quick turnaround, yeah, and I’m hoping we can keep up that schedule and deliver an album every one to two years,” Dettori enthuses. “We’ve actually recorded the beds for 13 tracks for the next record already and early next year we’re hoping to get in and do seven more so we’ve got a solid 20 songs to choose from when it comes to making the album. It’s probably a bit unrealistic to keep this up year after year but I certainly want to try.

T

here’s something strangely isolationist about The Sunburys. Their raw and memorable soulrock sound sits at the approximate midway point between the visceral rumble of Brisbane’s old musical guard and the taut, pop-savvy arrangements of its developing artists – but, for the past three years, the local trio have, to all intents and purposes, operated solely within the comfortable confines of their own private little world.

This would be understandable if they were in any way a substandard or immature outfit of musicians – but the three-piece are arguably one of the better musical outfits to have emerged from the city in recent years. The ensemble’s three members (guitarist/vocalist Anthony Dettori, drummer Scott Lapthorne and bassist Andrew Sullivan) are all veterans of the local community and, with 2009 debut Here Come The Sunburys, the band delivered one of last year’s best local long-players.

“I think this whole band has different gauges of success compared to most other aspiring musicians,” Anthony Dettori offers in explanation. “It’s not based on whether we’re getting radio play and it’s not based on whether we’re getting picked to play festivals. It’s not based on any of that sort of stuff. It’s based on having a solid body of work that we’re all proud of – if we have money, we’re going to put it toward making a good record before anything else.”

Nowhere is this more evident than on the band’s latest release – Swings & Roundabouts. Recorded live with minimal overdubs with legendary local producer Jeff Lovejoy, the band’s second album arrives with minimal fanfare less than 18 months after their exceptional debut. The recording sessions

“We’re self-funding and we’re doing everything ourselves so we’re not really at the mercy of someone else saying when we can and can’t release things.

The songs are always there and I think we should just get them while they’re good. You know, it probably makes more sense from a business perspective to push an album for five years and sit on our haunches but we’re simply not interested in doing it.”

Examining the band’s career, it swiftly becomes apparent that their isolation largely stems from the band’s relationship with pretension – in that they don’t appear to have one. Everything about the band, from their stripped-back sound to their barrelling live shows, smacks of an ensemble who have gloriously failed to comprehend the fundamental concepts of networking and branding most bands view as necessities. The only thing The Sunburys understand or care about is music.

“It doesn’t really matter to me what becomes of this record – or any of our records, for that matter. I mean, obviously I’d love a shitload of people to buy the fucking thing,” Dettori says with a laugh. “But, when it comes down to it, it’s a record that I’m really proud of and I could see this record potentially affecting other people in the same way records affected me as a kid.

It’s sort of a success for me already, this album.”

WHO: The Sunburys WHAT: Swings & Roundabouts

(Handsome Devil Records/MGM)

WHERE & WHEN: The Beetle Bar Friday Dec 10

“I have to say, it was the most enjoyable musical project that I’ve been involved in, simply because I had all the people that I wanted involved in the project,” he enthuses.

“I had them all there, and I had them – y’know, everyone was on board, and it seemed like everyone just really enjoyed the process. It was very natural. It didn’t feel forced. It felt like the right time and the right people.

So I think the time that I put into planning the recording definitely paid off; it was very beneficial to the project.”

Indeed, even on the launch side of things, Griffin has found support from friends he made during his previous tertiary endeavours, though to hear him explain their role in the album it sounds more like inevitability than an unlikely turn of fate.

L

ike a lot of university students, Liam Griffin spends quite a bit of time playing instruments and recording music. Unlike a lot of university students, however, he actually has dedication to the pursuit to the point that arsing around on Pro Tools (or what have you) is not just a way to kill time – it’s what he’s working for.

“Obviously getting in some rehearsal time has been pretty important, but actually I’ve been studying this year,” the affable Griffin explains. “I’m doing a Bachelor of Music at the Griffith Conservatorium of Music, so that’s keeping me very busy … It’s a Bachelor of Music Performance, majoring in jazz vocal.

“It covers a broad range of musically-related subjects, so my major study being jazz vocal, we are learning jazz repertoire music while also sort of focusing on refining our technique and performance skills. In terms of music theory, we’re doing compositional things and arranging music for different settings, different ensembles – that sort of thing – and using some of the musical concepts that we’re talking about in the classes.”

It’s not often that stuff you learn in class is actually applicable anywhere that isn’t exactly where you learnt it, and even less often that the art of applying that theory is enjoyable. But Griffin surely found use for the lessons

“All the people playing at the launch were involved with the band during the recording or in some capacity over the last year or so, and most of those people I got to know through studying at QUT,” he reflects. “I was doing a Bachelor of Music Production there a few years ago, so I got to know a lot of musicians through that course, and I guess it’s the nature of playing music and playing with other people is that on the way, through your travels, you get to meet new musicians and at some point I might think I’d really like to have a keyboard player in the band and so I’ll talk to other musicians that I know and say, ‘Well, who can you recommend?’ And quite often people have played with many different musicians, so you go on what people recommend and usually that works out that way.

I’m definitely excited about having the trumpet players play at the launch. That’s a first for me. I’ve played live with a rhythm section and some string players but I’ve never been able to eventuate having a horn section.”

WHO: Liam Griffin WHAT: Between The Colours (Mailbox Records/SugarRush)

WHERE & WHEN: The Zoo

Wednesday Dec 15

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SINGLES

BY CHRIS YATES

DAFT PUNK

THE PHANTOM BAND

ELTON JOHN/LEON RUSSELL

(Walt Disney/Universal)

(Chemikal Underground/Other Tongues)

(Mercury/Universal)

Tron Legacy – Original Soundtrack

ADALITA Hot Air

(Liberation)

Hot Air is the first release from Magic Dirt’s Adalita Srsen following the tragic death of Death Turner in 2009 ahead of a solo debut album to be released next year. The title track is a lilting two-chord lullaby with restrained and thoughtful vocals, looping around with extra colour added by a couple of dirty guitar lines.

It’s a beautiful song with no drums or any other kind of instrumentation at all – the sparseness adding to the melancholic atmosphere. There’s also a very low tempo cover of Eddy Current Suppression Ring’s Wrapped Up consisting only of Adalita’s wailing voice and a very dirty guitar track. The fact that it works so well in such a stripped-back fashion is testament not only to her voice but also the simplistic beauty of the original song. It’s a fantastic EP and demonstrates her immense talent in full flight once again.

PATRICK WOLF Time Of My Life (Speak N Spell)

Classical strings melt into disco before being whisked away by an acoustic guitar interlude that builds with handclaps until everything collides together into the early chorus of Patrick Wolf’s new single Time Of My Life. He has a gift of mashing genres together effortlessly and making them sound like something new, while still being entirely danceable and accessible and completely pop. It’s less gimicky than his bigger hits of the past perhaps showing a growing maturity, or perhaps completely by accident. There’s some great remixes fl oating around already, which strip back the lush production highlighting the strength of the melody, the Still Going remix in particular.

The Wants

The Union

The high level of expectation for the sequel to the 1982 cult classic Tron is almost parallel to the level of expectation that applies to everything that Daft Punk have done since the release of their debut masterpiece Homework. In a rare moment of Hollywood brilliance, Disney has teamed the world’s most famous robots up with a movie about people getting sucked into a video game.

The Phantom Band’s 2009 debut Checkmate Savage was a rough-yet-transient effort that sketched out the band’s future without laying down any real or impressive foundations. It’s a surprise then when the Glaswegian sextet return stronger, bolder and ultimately darker on their sophomore album The Wants; a dark and intimate tryst into the realms of mesmeric, dense and unmistakably rewarding songwriting.

Taken on its superficial merits, there’s no reason a full-length collaboration between Elton John and underappreciation singer/songwriter Leon Russell would merit investigation. Aside from the general decline both artists have been experiencing over the past 15 years, one would think their most recognised aesthetics would clash like oil and water. John’s psychedelic pomp and circumstance simply doesn’t gel with Russell’s rootsy authenticity.

The soundtrack for the original movie was itself a masterful work of electronica years before anyone took synthesiser music for anything other than a fad and a blight on rock’n’roll. Moog pioneer Wendy Carlos was recruited and teamed up with a symphony orchestra to create a bigger cinematic experience.

Opener A Glamour fizzles from the start and the almost primal, tribal beating of Damien Tonner’s tom-toms sets the bar. It unrelentingly throbs throughout, building towards a synth-laden, guitar-driven coda that pushes expectations further. And as the pulsating energy subsides into the new wave inflections of O it is replaced by yet more sonic invention, with the emphasis now on vocals as Rick Anthony experiments with pitch and range. The sheer level of experimentation both electronically, vocally and structurally is impressive but what is more striking is the band’s ability to confine such trials. Although long and meandering, each note and whirl is tightly controlled, meaningful and purposeful.

And yet – here we are with The Union. Arguably the best record either artist has released in over a decade, The Union is not merely serviceable or respectable but actually solidly exceptional throughout. Lead single If It Wasn’t For Bad kicks off the album with style – John’s rumbling baritone dancing playfully around Russell’s reedier drawl over a bed of gently strutting piano – and the quality’s maintained for the remainder of the record.

The same techno-logic has been applied to the soundtrack for Tron Legacy – an 85-piece orchestra helps Daft Punk build on their signature sound to create a massive spiralling score. Sometimes the pieces are nothing more than atmospheric strings and occasional computer game blips, but at some points the soundtrack delivers what could almost be considered songs in their own right. Derezzed, despite its short length, and the end titles for the film hark back to Discovery-era Daft Punk – an album that itself became something of a soundtrack for the Toei Animation film Interstellar 5555, which used the entire record as its only audio. End Of Line is a slow tempo electronic ballad, which if fleshed out could have been a sensational piece of work in its own right.

The combination of the orchestra with the distinctive Daft Punk sound and arrangement is flawless, captivating and surprisingly rewarding– even without having the benefit of seeing the visuals that are obviously an important part of the equation.

Whether it be the folk-heavy Come Away In The Dark, the acoustically built The None Of One or the processed beats of Into The Corn the whole album seems to come together as one. Weird that. Indeed, it seems that throughout the entire album The Phantom Band do their best to transmogrify themselves just enough to keep us on our toes – not so much them thinking outside the box musically but more thinking about the box itself and helping make that box as interesting and relevant as possible without fucking about with its parameters too much. As elusive as this comes across upon first listen, it’s refreshing and will eventually be the reason you reach for the play button again after the album crashes to a halt.

★★★★½ Chris Yates

★★★★ Barrie Morgan

The gospel backing vocalists and stalking drums ensure Hey Ahab practically throbs with menace and melodrama; There’s No Tomorrow is a dark, almost evangelical lament and I Should Have Sent Roses is a particularly marvellous showcase for both Leon Russell’s weathered voice and exceptional songwriting.

Throughout, producer T-Bone Burnett works his typical magic – surrounding both John and Russell’s songs with warm acoustics and exceptional sidemen (Marc Ribot, in particular, turning in a standout performance).

The only problem with the record is one feels the artists involved could have taken the concept significantly further. While feted as a collaborative record, a great many of the songs featured are individually written (albeit collaboratively performed) with a specific bias towards the classic Elton John/Bernie Maupin team.

One can only wonder what kind of record could have come from a more open approach to creation. ★★★★ Matt O’Neill

THE DEATH SET

Yo David Chase, You P.O.V Shot Me In The Head (Counter)

Forming on the Gold Coast and relocating to the now infamous ghettos of Baltimore, The Death Set have already had a very troubled and eventful short history. Johnny Sierra has decided to keep the group going despite the death of his collaborator Beau Velasco, and the first track from the group’s forthcoming second album shows that the same insane spirit and energy that existed on their awesome debut Worldwide is present, but it has been cleaned up a little. Electronic superstar Diplo contributes a keyboard line to this electro punk ‘ode’ to The Soprano’s creator in a one minute explosion of awesomeness.

DR DRE

Kush (Featuring Snoop Dogg & Akon) (Universal)

The phrases ‘highly anticipated’ and ‘long awaited’ are bandied around a lot when it comes to the release of new albums from legends of the business, but with Dr Dre it’s ridiculously accurate to the point of farce. The album Detox has been in the works for close enough to a decade and the single Kush is apparently heralding its imminent release. If you’re expecting it to sound like a classic Dr Dre number that could have been lifted from either of his previous albums, well you’re not in for any surprises. The familiar fat kick, piano line, catchy R&B hooks (even if it’s Akon instead of Nate Dogg) and even a surprisingly acceptable rap from Snoop shows all the elements intact.

It’s even about smoking weed – imagine that.

It’s proof Dre knows what works, but it’s also proof that his palette of beats and sounds hasn’t increased in ten years, for better or worse.

NO AGE

Everything In Between

BLACK DUB

(Sub Pop/Other Tongues)

Black Dub

The third album from LA two-piece No Age represents a progression into some kind of awkward maturity, kind of like when skaters grow up – they keep on wearing the same brand of sneakers, but with noticeably less scuff marks.

Daniel Lanois is usually associated with producing mega-acts like U2, but when he does venture out on his own, his ethereal guitar is a constant reminder of his understated nature and ability to beautifully colour songs.

The emphasis is way more on the way a song can hinge on a two chord progression, and making melody work in those confines for large sections of the song.

These simplistic drone-like verses make the Wirestyled punk rock changes in the chorus of songs like Depletion really stand out, and on this track in particular it contributes to it becoming a real success.

Sometimes it’s very jarring at first like on Skinned, but like most challenging listens it does start to make sense, even if it’s still not as rewarding at first.

The more up-tempo tracks are a lot more immediate – the excellent Fever Dreaming is the third track on the record but the first point where the band break a sweat. The album’s closer Chem Trails is a big dose of pop to leave you feeling satisfied and has clearly been saved just for this reason.

Some tracks are literally nothing more than just ambient noise, and act as a gap filler between tracks to create some atmosphere, yet sometimes this builds into a beautiful melody and a couple of simple loops with heaps of feedback become an amazing piece of music like Dusted, which is begging to be used in a poignant and emotional scene in an indie teen drama/comedy film.

All in all it’s a very solid record, informed by some great punk rock and new wave albums of the past, without being nostalgic or wearing any direct influences on its sleeve. ★★★½ Chris Yates

(Jive/Sony)

Black Dub is Lanois’ new band and while everything here is written and produced by Lanois, this album is a slight departure from what he’s been known for.

Bringing in the rhythm talents of Brian Blade and Daryl Johnson and the sultry vocals of Trixie Whitley, this really is a band built on the bedrock of a dub style – perfect for layering exploratory slices of guitar.

The horrific realisation as you steadily sink into these 11 songs is that this album is actually quite grating and awful. The blame for this has to be squarely levelled at Whitley, who obviously sees herself as some kind of soul diva, but doesn’t really have the voice or range to match. Her coarse delivery and benign subject matter don’t allow you to get past her to find out if the music is worth your time. When the music veers out of its groove and into rockier territory in Nomad, it’s again that voice that repels – Beth Gibbons or Sharon Jones she’s not!

So, if this was an instrumental album – as Slow Baby highlights – then maybe there’d be plenty you could hold onto and a mood you could build upon, but alas that’s not the case here. Eventually this album becomes a hybrid of themes that constantly clash when they should coagulate into one rich vein of song.

Thankfully Lanois is so busy with new projects that this album will hopefully soon be replaced with something more befitting his already established talents. ★★ Richard Alverez

VARIOUS ARTISTS Strain Of Origin (Feral Media/Lofly)

The concept for this collaboration between Sydney label Feral Media and Brisbane label Lofly is so simple that it basically guaranteed some level of creative genius to flourish. The artists were given a two week deadline to create a remix in order to keep everything as spontaneous and raw as possible. The diversity and complexity of the tracks included on the compilation speak volumes about not only the level of talent associated with these labels, but also the good taste of the people behind the labels themselves.

John Hassell (aka Vorad Fils) deconstructs the sprawling instrumental rock of Mr Maps excellent Til The Money Runs Out and turns out some minimal glitchy electronica which on the surface seems to retain very little of the original but actually manages to capture the same presence and melodic intricacies that make the track so special to begin with. As the record’s opener, it’s the perfect way to ease into this collection.

Two of the best moments on the compilation come from the ever impressive Brisbane band Re:Enactment.

Comatone’s wobbly bass remix of Them Burnt Puppies is equally as impressive as when the Re:Enactment boys try their own hand at remixing on the ambient scratchy Underlapper track Drinking Dust.

The Subsea Construction remix of An Optimists Falling by Alpen borders on insanity – the absurdity of random glitches being pulled into an understandable beat somewhere around the halfway mark.

Lofly’s reworking of Nice Place You Got There by Comatone starts innocently enough before degenerating into an assault of distorted industrial griminess.

There’s not a boring moment on the record, which is available as a free download via bandcamp – it’s essential listening for anyone with an ear bent towards the unusual and innovative elements of electronic music. ★★★★ Chris Yates

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THE SUNBURYS

NEIL DIAMOND

STONE PARADE

RONNIE WOOD

(Handsome Devil/MGM)

(Columbia/Sony)

(MGM)

(Eagle Records/Shock)

Swings And Roundabouts The Sunburys are nothing if not down-to-earth. The Brisbane three-piece have an unpretentious, organic pop/rock sound that they elaborate on with slick guitar riffs and a hefty dose of soul. Swings And Roundabouts, their follow-up to 2009’s much-lauded debut Here Comes The Sunburys, has the same upbeat, intimate feel as a live show. The songs, although straightforward and uncluttered, are catchy as hell and manage to be both serious and fun, when the occasion calls for it.

Frontman Anthony Dettori sings about whatever’s on his mind in a very direct fashion, without the need for cryptic symbolism. And most of the time, it’s stuff the average guy or girl can relate to. Hold On To Me, a lovely acoustic ballad written on Grand Final Day, explores the relationship between romantic love and sport. Title track Swings And Roundabouts is another gentle number, complete with twee piano, about a guy who wonders if he can really be “just friends” with his ex. Fight Or Flight, loosely inspired by the Victorian bushfires, is a gutsy track about sticking around to fight for what’s important to you.

At times, The Sunburys’ knack for combining blokey earnestness with touching poignancy recalls Hunters & Collectors, particularly on None Of This Is True, a powerful rock number that showcases Dettori’s ability to tell stories through song.

The closing track – a cover of Tom Petty’s Apartment Song – is a pretty good rendition and features an epic guitar solo, but The Sunburys are at their best when they play their own material. Swings And Roundabouts is an impressive second record with a good-natured feel that makes it hard to dislike. ★★★★ Daniel Wynne

Dreams

Over his 50 years in music, Neil Diamond has become a songwriting legend, and gathered so much respect in the industry that he pretty much has complete creative freedom to do what he wishes – and so long as it’s released within a month of Christmas day, it will sell a bucket load too. Something of a late bloomer, however, Diamond’s last proper studio album Home Before Dark was, to put bluntly, quite fantastic, as Neil found a more mature and reinvigorated sound that brought about a new cavalcade of fans. That’s why it’s a bit of a shame to see him once again return to another clichéd covers album with his current record Dreams.

Taking on his favourite rock’n’roll tracks, Diamond does his best to unwind the good deeds done with his previous release with the Gladys Knight & The Pips’ Midnight Train To Georgia, The Beatles’ Blackbird and Yesterday and Leonard Cohen’s classic Hallelujah. While most songs have been stripped back to the bones with acoustic natures, minimal string backings and the odd brass rise to bolster the scattered rhythm sections, overall it simply feels too much like more time spent in another thrown-together compilation release that should have been moved onto new material. The ironic part of the disc however is that the only Diamond-penned track on the list I’m A Believer – a song that he has performed thousands of times before – is the standout for its radical reworking and almost depressing approach to a song famous for its cheery outlook.

Thankfully Diamond’s rich and grizzled vocal tone does carry many of the covers through and saves them from a ‘butchering’ classification, but it’s not enough to allow taking in the 55 minutes without the odd grimace appearing on your face. ★★ Mark Beresford

Stratosphere

I Feel Like Playing

Australian hard rock is a secular society, ruled by three bands: Karnivool, Cog and The Butterfly Effect. The genre has fragmented into both a commercial approach, which Dead Letter Circus are confidently pursuing, and the more abstract, like WA’s Sugar Army. In this vacuum in between, there are a plethora of imitators and also innovators.

So where does Sydney’s Stone Parade fit into the picture?

Their debut Stratosphere won’t be a defining moment in the timeline of contemporary hard rock, but few bands are able to encase pop-rock within a metallic exterior and Stone Parade do it a lot better than the standard.

Stratosphere is important for Stone Parade not because of what it has accomplished, but what it may accomplish in the future. The band wears their influences on their sleeve, still in the process of mixing them together. Mr Spaceman is an obvious homage to The Killers, not just in the title but also the way vocalist Greg Byrne croons like Brandon Flowers over rolling disco beats. Children of The Lost Empire draws parallels with Dead Letter Circus as a pulsating staccato bassline intertwines with electronic samples and percussive guitar. However despite these discrepancies Stone Parade possess an ability to encase an anthemic sing-along within a monolithic-sized riff. Take Paranoia; sure it delves perilously close to Muse plagiarism, but the transition between the smooth finger-clicked jazz opening, furious bottom-heavy thumping and psychotic laughter exemplifies what the band are capable of when they put their minds to it. Indian Wolves and August Tide hint that progressive approaches are more than feasible.

Whilst their ability as musicians may not quite have reached the peak, rest assured that in time Stone Parade will be huge. But if Australian hard rock isn’t your thing, you certainly won’t be won over by Stratosphere.

I Feel Like Playing, in a way, it says it all. If Ronnie Wood who is a past and present member of The Rolling Stones and The Faces wants to record a new solo album then there are few people who hold the reputation or legacy to object. What Wood delivers is precisely what you’d expect – a collection of songs that focus primarily on standard blues-rock balladry, and whilst Wood calls on celebrity guests Flea (Red Hot Chilli Peppers), Slash (Guns N’ Roses) and Steve Ferrone (Tom Petty Band) the result is ultimately the musical accompaniment to the Hawaiian shirt you would give to your dad on Christmas Day. From the opening dull bar blues of Why You Wanna Go And Do A Thing Like That For, the guest session musicians lend little to the actual songwriting other than to distract from Wood’s awful quasi-reggae rap on Sweetness My Weakness. This album only serves to remind one of the sheer gluttony of the records being released every week that serve absolutely no purpose.

The funk rock of Spoonful is an aural adventure into the world of utterly redundant LA session musician excess. Flea lends overzealous basslines to complement Slash’s funk wah guitar and the result is nearly six minutes of elderly Rock’n’ Roll Hall Of Fame inductees murmuring “Spoonful! ” into a microphone.

Whilst Ronnie Wood never Let it Bleed with The Stones nor was he ever Exiled On Main St with Mick and Keith, one still expects more than this by-the numbers, midlife crisis rock album. Like Jagger learned years ago with his own solo albums, without the rest of The Rolling Stones he is but merely one part of the genius. ★½ Cam Ford

★★★½ Scott Thompson

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D

VD

D

VD BIG SCARY

NEWBIRDS

VARIOUS ARTISTS

ROCKWIZ

(Independent)

(Independent)

(Epitaph/Shock)

(Liberation Music)

The Four Seasons Big Scary are a bag of contradictions. There’s nothing remotely big or scary about them at all and the Sydney duo are well aware of it. The band is another example of the success attainable by being plucked from obscurity by triple j’s Unearthed program. They’ve endured healthy airplay, an exponential increase in fanbase and successful national tours as a result. Perhaps their biggest strength is an ability to transcend musical spectrums, ranging from garage rock to indie folk and everything in between.

Since their first four seasonally themed, mini-EPs have sold out of stock, the band has opted to amalgamate all releases into one album with mixed results.

The problem with The Four Seasons is that it’s not an album per se; it’s a compilation and bears all the resulting flaws. That’s not to discredit Big Scary’s songwriting, far from it, there are some fantastic tracks on the album but they don’t cohesively flow. Individually there are moments of brilliance dotted everywhere.

Occasionally the tracks reflect their seasonal themes, but this doesn’t appear intentional. Spring’s Gem In The Granite skips around without appearing overly joyous or flamboyant, whereas The Deep Freeze is bleak and melancholic with sparse piano interjected over droning vocal hums. Summer, true to its nature, has the grittier tracks. All That You’ve Got is a perfect reflection: lethargic, bumbling garage fuzz. It’s contrasted by Summer’s Last Gasp with gentle fingerpicking and toy piano, mixed in with the chirp of insects on a humid night.

It’s promising to think that this is merely the tip of the iceberg for Big Scary. With only two members, the vast palette of sounds they meld together is remarkable, unbound by style and genre. When they knuckle down to produce a proper long-player, wider admiration is almost an assurance.

Newbirds are a young Melbourne-birthed band that write middle-of-the-road rock tunes that blend into the background with shocking ease. Although billed as an EP, the eight tracks of Song Bird Way can easily be put into LP territory, especially in this era of download consumption. But either way, it doesn’t make the journey any more inviting.

Over the course of Song Bird Way, there is scantly anything that makes you drop what you are doing or barely pause. Keep Me Moving fails to do so but as an opener, it at least offers a chance to salvage proceedings so you press on. Bright Side is a write-off as soon as the line “I’ve had a lonely heart, now I’m giving it to you” has the shit crooned out of it, while Higher sounds like jungle gospel which is as ridiculous as the pretence.

Final stand Song Bird Way has a rumbling, Steely Dan bass element that combined with a crisp horn section, really nails the sound that Newbirds are forging to find. However then the track wraps up and it’s all over, leaving a bittersweet taste in the listener’s mouth of a band that could’ve been. This isn’t to say that the three players that make up Newbirds aren’t talented musicians in their own right. Lead vocalist Tim Hocking can definitely rip a note with vigour, but as a flowing piece of work, Song Bird Way sounds contrived, played out and without an individual soul.

It’s obvious the band’s heart is in the right place. Their touchstones in rock’n’roll are much like many aspiring young band that has their feet planted in the past (ie.

The Beatles, The Who). However much like fellow Melbournites Jet, they take the inspiration of their heroes and dilute it into an offering that is neither rocking nor rolling towards anything of substantial interest. ★★

Jackass 3D

Salute The Bowl

Expecting anything of an intellectual journey from this soundtrack would be sheer stupidity, much like our favourite lunatics, the Jackass crew. Finding unprecedented success with the third official instalment of their insane movie franchise, the boys are well and truly back. But these songs definitely need some idiot behaviour backing it up if they are going to be given repeat spins. Even the sassy voice of Karen O isn’t enough to save the lewd campfire innuendo that seems to be the running theme of the soundtrack.

There’s a certain finality to the performances on this RocKwiz episode. For one it’s the last episode of the season, but moreover there is finality to certain performers’ sense of integrity. On this DVD, as RocKwiz salutes the Sidney Myer Music Bowl 50th Anniversary, some of Australia’s most renowned commercial and alternative performers seek to cover and recapture the greatest songs that have been sung at the Bowl by bands as diverse as AC/DC, Neil Young, ABBA, Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs, Bob Dylan and Paul Kelly.

There are a few winners on the album that makes the push through the meandering fillers not such big a struggle. Classic Twisted Sister cut The Kids Are Back kicks you in the balls early with swagger and sex, while Memories, Weezer’s lead single off latest album Hurley, has the drunken potential for a messy sing-along with your friends written all over it. In fact, this is exactly what has happened already, the chorus on the track being filled out by the Jackass cast which actually helps the song push away from Rivers Cuomo’s ridiculous lyrics. The real find here though is CKY’s ghoul punk of Afterworld, which sounds like Alkaline Trio attempting glam with one foot still squarely in the coffin.

The show begins in earnest with Nic Cester(Jet)’s take on Wings’ Maybe I’m Amazed. As much as one seeks to begrudge his effort, Cester surprisingly succeeds in presenting a faithful albeit modest interpretation and when it comes to covering Wings, there isn’t much room for experimentation. The songs selected tonight truly pander to the baby boomer demographic and this may be why many performers of this generation featured appear ill-at-ease and at times almost embarrassed. Kram from Spiderbait, whilst covering The Aztecs’ Most People I Know (Think That I’m Crazy), captures the spirit of a deranged busker rather than that of Billy Thorpe, whilst Adalita (Magic Dirt) appears nervewracked and flails, struggling to hit the notes on the AC/DC anthem Rock N’ Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution. Paul Kelly comes across as a seasoned entertainer covering Neil Young’s Cinnamon Girl. Kelly dances and joins the back-up singers in the bridge, his performance brilliant and imbedded with a humour that almost acknowledges the ridiculousness of the concert.

What’s surprising is the lack of death metal, black metal or any sort of balls-to-the-wall riffing as that is the bread and butter of Jackass’s Bam Margera and Steve-O. Apart from Sassafras cut Been Blown To Shreds and Gang Green’s Alcohol, both of which weren’t even used in the movie, it is a gluttonous joke folk outing that reflects the crazed faux cowboys that the Jackass crew have become for 3D. As such, this release should still be given a wide birth at best unless you are a complete and utter diehard.

Benny Doyle

Benny Doyle

As a DVD this serves only as a boorish walk down memory lane for baby boomers in the grips of senility. You would be better off firing up a joint, blasting The Aztecs Live At Sunbury and conjuring the fading memories of a misspent youth.

Extras: None.

VD

★½

D

★★★★ Scott Thompson

Song Bird Way

Cam Ford

D

VD

Really? Does every Bob Dylan concert ever committed to tape have to be spruced up, packaged and sold to an unquestioning mass? You’d just about be able to rebuild the Great Wall of China with the amount of Bob Dylan LPs, CDs and live concert re-issues.

Still, it’s obviously an easy money ticket.

Back in ’63, Dylan was just 22 years of age and this recording exemplifies the gusto that first brought him to prominence. Here he’s a mixture of the youthful idealism that came to define the movement for change in the 60s and a stoic wisdom of a man who wants to walk the barefooted miles that his folk heroes like Guthrie and Seeger had before him. For many, this is why we listen to Dylan – for that hopeful cry for change – and given the years that have passed and the very public road he eventually travelled, you can’t help but pine for and wonder whatever happened to that Dylan in the gym hall of Brandeis University, Massachusetts.

This is a Bob Dylan, this isn’t the Bob Dylan, but this snapshot of the man is more interesting as a cultural document, not in the development of a musician – it’s nigh on pedestrian in that respect. This is captivating from the perspective of a country gripped with fear and anticipation. In ’62, Dylan was at the top of the charts with Blowin’ In The Wind. In ’64, Vietnam erupted and all the while the Commies and the bombs were everpresent. Listen to this recording for Ballad Of Hollis Brown, Masters Of War and Talkin’ World War III Blues – poignant reminders of a time we’d sooner not return to even though their sentiment is still relevant in this day and age.

Most striking here is the realisation that there are no Dylans shaping cultural change to the same degree today. ★★★½ Alex Gillies

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(Shock)

Jimmy Webb is evidence that truly great storytelling and songwriting can surpass banal tags like AOR. Whilst Webb’s legacy is all but cemented as a songwriter who truly got to the core of the American story 30 years ago, his lyricism and stories remain relevant and significant today.

Whilst his new album Just Across the River sees Webb reinterpreting the repertoire of songs that initially brought him fame, it’s seemingly a work of passion and collaboration rather than an album made for financial incentive, exuding a sense of purity and excitement that one does not expect from a performer of Webb’s experience and magnitude.

The classic Oklahoma Nights with Vince Gill opens the album and whilst the song is reinterpreted with a modernised country FM pulse it captures the original’s heartbreak, melodrama and humour. Witchita Lineman follows with Billy Joel lending piano and vocal work, and this collaboration, whilst overwrought, actually serves to prove that Webb and Joel befit one another as collaborators. Webb and Willie Nelson’s duet on If You See Me Getting Smaller is the pinnacle of the record.

When the duo with as much spite as two 70 year olds can muster croon “I’ve got a right to disappear,” it heralds a new high point in each of their respective careers.

Whilst many a young person may deride Webb’s work as a dated work of adult-oriented country rock, this only serves to negate Webb’s history and ever-growing talent as a songwriter who can construct a story that whilst a beautiful requiem for a time and innocence gone still recalls situations and problems that are still relevant. ★★★★½ Cam Ford

VD

(Columbia/Sony)

Just Across The River

D

VD In Concert: Brandeis University 1963

JIMMY WEBB

D

BOB DYLAN

JOHN BUTLER TRIO

These Are The Days – The Making Of April Uprising (Jarrah/MGM)

John Butler and his trio have never really left the public eye for a good part of the last eight years, and in that time there has been a swag of ARIA awards, three number one albums, countless sold out shows and over half a dozen different band members cycling through. Overshadowing all of that though is John Butler himself and his strong political mindset, never really afraid to tackle an issue and always doing what he can to raise awareness.

Having been called ‘Australia’s Dreadlocked Bono’, which I can assure you is an insult, John Butler Trio’s latest DVD, These Are The Days, actually breaks down all of the perceived perceptions of John Butler and strips the trio back to three friends who hit the studio in the early part of ’09 to record the album April Uprising. Showing each of the albums tracks in various performance states, it’s the fly-on-the-wall scenes that revolutionise the viewing of the trio.

Round table discussions on track structures, antics in the studios and secret recordings all blend in with the more unexpected features such as Butler walking down the historic lane of his busking past and revealing his street art love. Most of this, however, plays second fiddle to the honest look at a band that is in the midst of recording their first collaborative album, a soaring energy and morale and an extremely funny John Butler.

This DVD will do nothing but strengthen any Trio fans’ view of them being a solid act, but for naysayers, it’s likely to alter their perception in a positive manner.

Extras: interviews, around the table ★★★½

Mark Beresford

THE ROLLING STONES Ladies And Gentlemen (Shock)

The Rolling Stones live on the Exile On Main St tour of 1972. Having released Sticky Fingers in ’71 and Let It Bleed two years prior in ‘6 The Stones at this point had released three of most significant LPs in the history of rock music… in a row. The Exile On Main St tour, whilst forever known and heralded or denigrated as the height of The Stones’ decadence and indulgence, captures them playing their skag-addled bones blues at its most malevolent, bruised and damaged.

From the opening boogie thump of Brown Sugar, Mick and Keith swagger and pout like they are playing in the greatest rock’n’roll band in the world – and at that point they are. The proto-punk stomp of Bitch and the momentous Gimme Shelter exude The Stones’ ability to transform often raw and skull-thumping blues into rock’n’roll that can reverberate throughout a stadium and move every member of the audience. The R’n’B trudge of Tumbling Dice rolls into the hypnotic balladry Love In Vain and the rousing acoustic honky tonk of Sweet Virginia, which serves as an unexpected triumph of the set, along with the 70s balladry of You Can’t Always Get What You Want. The ending sequence which features the garage rock’n’roll thud of Exile’s roaring Rip This Joint, followed by Jumpin’ Jack Flash and Street Fighting Man is rock’n’roll at its most visceral, albeit inspired by guttural drug-induced pomposity and fervour.

Sadly The Stones’ modern legacy of senility stands occasionally to overwhelm their past achievements.

Fortunately Ladies And Gentlemen truly reveals The Rolling Stones in 1972 to be the most potent and forthright rock’n’roll band on the planet.

Extras: Tour rehearsal, Old Grey Whistle Test interview, Mick Jagger interview 2010. ★★★★½ Cam Ford

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frontrow@timeoff.com.au

THIS WEEK IN WEDNESDAY 8 Weird Wednesdays: Christmas Special – cult Christmas doublebill of Santa Claus Conquers The Martians and Silent Night Bloody Night. Tribal Theatre, 6:30pm.

THURSDAY 9 Non mi piace Versace (I Don’t Like Versace) – exhibition of photographic works by Tamaryn Goodyear taken on a recent trip to Italy. Expect the unexpected. Metro Arts, 7pm.

Bruce Lee My Brother – a biopic telling the life of Bruce Lee through the eyes of his brother. Tribal Theatre, 8:30pm.

ARTS earlier in the year. Closing night, 8pm.

Visy Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse.

SUNDAY 12 David Strassman: Ted E’s Farewell Tour – ventriloquist brings his most-loved puppet (sorry Chuck) on his supposed last ever tour. Don’t miss out! Playhouse, QPAC until 12 December.

ONGOING

SATURDAY 11

Robbins, Stilson, and Molloy – ninety minutes of comedy gold from three very familiar Asutralian standups: Mick Molloy, Glenn Robbins, and Jeff Stilson. Opening night, 7:30pm. Powerhouse Theatre until 19 December.

Lunch With Vincent River – doublebilling of plays by Steven Berkoff and Philip Ridley (Lunch and Vincent River, respectively). Closing night, 7:30pm. Metro Arts.

Slowdive – Claire Marshall explores further Fortitude Valley’s clubbing district, as began with Hey Scenester

Scott Redford: Introducing Reinhardt Dammn – exhibition of works – surfboard sculptures, videos, and paintings, suites of fibreglass objects and canvasses with acrylic surfaces – by Gold Coast artist Scott Redford. QLD Art Gallery until 13 March 2011.

BRISBANE COMEDY FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2011 LINE-UP The Brisbane Comedy Festival has announced its 2011 line-up, which boasts a lot of names, such as Danny Bhoy, Jason Byrne in Cirque du Byrne, Wil Anderson in Man vs Wil, Josh Thomas’ Everything Ever, Peter Helliar’s World Of Balls (…And The Men And Women Who Like To Play With Them), Arj Barker’s Let Me Do The Talking, Stephen K Amos in The Best Medicine, Mark Watson, Eddie Ifft: What Women Don’t Want To Hear, Denise Scott’s Regrets, Tom Gleeson: Up Himself, Sam Simmons: And The Precise History Of Things, Dave O’Neil in Happy To Be Out Of The House, Melinda Buttle: Buttle & Buttle, Hannah Gadsby’s Mrs Chuckles, Josh Earl’s Love Songs And Dedications, Dave Thornton: I Wanna Be Bruce Lee, Tom Ballard: Since 1989, Harley Breen: I Heart Bunnings, Steve Hughes, Asher Treleaven in Secret Door, a one-night-only Chopper’s Fuckin’ Bingo, Sammy J in Skinny Man, Modern World, Dead Cat Bounce: Caged Heat, George McEnroe in The Care Factor, Damien Power: Driven, Geraldine Quinn: Shut Up And Sing, Matt Keneally’s State Of The Nation, Stephen Sheehan, The Hermitude Of Angus, Ecstatic, and The Bulmer’s Best Of The Edinburgh Fest. The Brisbane Comedy Festival will be held at Brisbane Powerhouse Tuesday 1 March to Sunday 27. Head to briscomfest.com for more details.

STEVE SHEEHAN

MEL BUTTLE

UP

DUCK YOU SUCKER

BOOK

REVIEW

Red Hot Chili Peppers with Brendan Mullen Harpers Collin Publishers This is not your average coffee table photography book, though its hardback bound thick red cover may suggest. Inside lives page upon page of reminiscent images and stories from the ever popular foursome and their friends, bandmates and loved ones who’ve been part of the journey from 1980s ’til now.

Fans will relish the beautifully printed shots of the band taken from their very foundation through to Stadium Arcadium shots. Hillel Slovak, Dave Navarro, and numerous other members are represented in images that range from touching black and white portraits to ridiculous yet famous socks on cocks images.

In between these are stories, bite-sized perspectives on different periods represented with band member initials. The book doesn’t follow a chronological order, which may have been a better option than the slightly confusing chapters which attempt to delve into different aspects in their tenure. Some

34

subjects are rehashed and for those who’ve read Anthony Kiedis’ stunning autobiography Scar Tissue, there may not be much you didn’t already know.

There’s plenty for the newcomers to enjoy, especially stories regarding the unexpectedly warm relationship between Perry Farrell and John Frusciante, and the latter’s tale of drug addiction and rehabilitation, told with stark honesty and clarity.

The book feels more representative of Flea and Kiedis’ relationship; there’s a wealth of imagery of the pair and stories of their unique childhood based bond. Flea even wrote the band-signed intro, as he looks back fondly on a band he’s been a part of for his entire adult life and surely many years to come.

SEVANA OHANDJANIAN

THE LAST EXORCISM

THE LAST EXORCISM

her sleep and wants the devil gone from her. Cotton thinks things will be textbook. He’s wrong.

The mockumentary format has been done badly and done well, but here it’s fortunately the latter.

Director Daniel Stamm has a fine eye for creepiness and the location of the film - a crumbling old isolated Deep South farmhouse with a barn filled with rusting implements of destruction - is wonderfully spooky.

Fabian is a charismatic lead as the faithless preacher, but the standout is Ashley Bell as Nell, in a contortionist’s performance that somewhat echoes Jennifer Carpenter’s in The Exorcism Of Emily Rose. In a couple of scenes she delivers bone-chilling glances.

The ending may be a bit too Blair Witch in its chaotic execution but overall, The Last Exorcism succeeds as a slow-burning, creepy thriller.

WHERE & WHEN: Screening in cinemas now BAZ McALISTER

LIFE, ITALIAN STYLE HELEN STRINGER TALKS TO BRISBANE PHOTOGRAPHER TAMARYN GOODYEAR ABOUT SHOOTING ITALY, THE RESULTS OF WHICH CAN BE SEEN AT METRO ARTS TOMORROW NIGHT.

W

A VISUAL/ORAL HISTORY OF RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS

REVIEW

The premise for this tight little Eli Roth-produced flick is interesting: what if a self-confessed charlatan and disbeliever wanted to get out of the exorcism game while exposing it for the bunk he believes it to be? That charlatan is Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian), a showman who uses simple tricks like hidden iPods and jokeshop gimmicks like electric shock rings to convince gullible people he’s expelling the devil from them.

However Cotton has had enough of the sham, and he invites a film crew to follow him on one last exorcism (where else but in the Deep South near New Orleans?) where he’ll expose his tricks. Unfortunately for all concerned he chooses to exorcise Nell Sweetzer (Ashley Bell). When he arrives at the family farm, Nell’s father Louis (Louis Herthum) explains Nell has been slaughtering cattle in

7 NOMINATIONS FOR THE WORST ALTERNATIVE FILM TITLE OF ALL TIME

By John Eagle 1. Duck, You Sucker (AKAK A Fistful of Dynamite, 1971) 2. On My Way To The Crusades I Met A Girl Who... (AKA The Chastity Belt, 1967) 3. The French They Are A Funny Race (AKA The Diary of Major Thompson, 1955) 4. A Nice Little Bank That Should Be Robbed (AKA How To Rob A Bank, 1958) 5. The Second Best Secret Agent In The Whole World (AKA Licensed To Kill, 1965) 6. Scudda Hoo Scudda Hay (AKA Summer Madness, 1948) 7. Went The Day Well? (AKA Forty Eight Hours, 1942)

FILM

hen most tourists come back from overseas jaunts their photographic mementoes consist of blurry images of barely discernable iconic buildings fronted by fake-grin toting, sunburn-suffering family members. Brisbane-based photographer Tamaryn Goodyear, however, has returned from Italy with an exhibition of photos exploring the unexpected daily life of Sicily and Italy’s southern Islands.

“I didn’t set out to try to capture anything,” explains Goodyear of the show’s conception. “I tried not to think of any theoretical side, or any reasons or meanings; I wanted it to be free of it. That’s the way I work best, allowing myself to be open to what comes up I’ll either realise some sort of theme during it or after…

Being able to capture something [in a photograph]; the moment’s gone after it’s happened. I really like that.”

Goodyear’s exhibition Non Mi Piace Versace - I Don’t Like Versace in English - is representative of her spontaneous approach to travel photography; the title is a reference to both the typical perception of Italy and her own realisation that reality of life on the Southern Islands is much more complicated.

“I was really surprised to see that side of Italy,” she says, “You know, [in Italy] it’s very stylish and rich in culture, but that’s driven towards food and fashion; the history and architecture. I was really surprised

in the South to see the difference.

It is quite poor down there, especially Sicily. You really notice the difference straight away - you get a bit of a shock actually, it’s not what you expect.

“I’d find myself in these cities. It’s a little bit scary. But after a few days, you find the beauty within that…

What can look a bit rough and gritty, when you scratch the surface it’s really quite beautiful.”

After overcoming the shock of finding herself behind Italy’s façade of fashion, food and commerce Goodyear says, “I found myself enjoying and finding the beauty in these rougher places; it was really nice to photograph and that’s how the theme came around: people aren’t driven by material goods and get along quite well without it… No one’s living the high life but it’s just as vibrant and rich in culture in other ways.”

What developed from her sojourn to the Southern Islands was a collection of work focussing on those unexpected cultural facets that serve as propellants for daily life: religion, sex, and the simple act of survival.

“Obviously Italy is steeped in religion, you can’t really escape it,” she explains. “And the sex part...?” She laughs. “Well. It’s very different to here. I’ll start with that. I managed to have some really interesting conversations with Italian men about this topic - I think really honest conversations…I wasn’t looking

to capture that in my photographs, [but] I think it does come through.

There’s always this passion bubbling below the surface. That tied up with religion, I think there’s a lot of weird cultural, traditional suppression going on there.” It may seem rather contradictory for a religiously conservative country, but for Goodyear the seemingly incongruous

combination is a simple reality.

“That’s real life,” she says, laughing.

“I don’t know what God thinks about it, but it’s definitely happening.”

WHAT: Non Mi Piace Versace: A Photography Exhibition by Tamaryn Goodyear WHERE & WHEN: Metro Arts Thursday 9 December

frontrow@timeoff.com.au

C U LT U R A L

CRINGE

WITH MANDY KOHLER

PUTTING THE ‘MENTAL’ IN

FUNDAMENTALIST BRITISH MC AND ACTOR RIZ AHMED TALKS TO BAZ MCALISTER ABOUT HIS ROLE OF SOLDIER, FATHER, AND PRANKSTER OMAR IN CHRIS MORRIS’ UNIQUE LOOK AT THE WAR ON TERROR, FOUR LIONS.

B

ombs, terror plots, planes whacking into buildings, secret nuclear stashes, weapons of mass destruction – still, you’ve got to laugh, don’t you? Chris Morris certainly does. The British satirist who became notorious for his cheeky Brass Eye specials and took a swipe at new media culture in Nathan Barley has fixed his gaze on homegrown English jihadists in co-writing and directing Four Lions.

Morris spins a yarn about a jihadist cell made up mainly of buffoonish bombers who’d struggle to put together a kebab, let alone a terror plot. Struggling to give this group some much-needed direction is Omar, a family man with a higher purpose in mind. British rapper and actor Riz Ahmed plays Omar, and says he found three ways in to the character – he’s a soldier, he’s a father, and he’s a prankster. This, Ahmed says, gives the character clarity.

“Having a family he cares for, in Omar’s head, is synonymous with wanting to create a better world [through martyring himself],” Ahmed says. “A lot of people talk about the

scene where his kid is saying ‘Go on dad, do it’ but if you flip it around into a Disney, Avatar sort of setup where you have the goodie soldier having a wobble about going to war, and then the family come in and do the noble thing and embolden the goodie soldier – they say ‘Go on, do it, fight for us, fight for America, fight for the Jedi’, whatever – and in Omar’s head he’s a goodie soldier. The sense of wanting to care for your family and fighting a just war go hand-in-hand.

“Also, he’s a prankster. For Omar, part of the idea is he’s weirdly attracted to the theatre, the spectacle, the prank of walking around with secret knowledge in your head and a grin on your face. ‘I know something you don’t know, it’s important, and I’m playing my game in a world that really counts, not this pleb 9-5 level but in the world of global espionage’.”

Morris glommed on to Ahmed originally through his rap video Post 9/11 Blues, where the puckish MC wryly comments on the war on terror.

The director realised that Ahmed was humorously rapping about the subject matter he was investigating for the AY RSD HU T RTS STA

script that would become Four Lions.

“Chris wanted to meet up and he told me he was researching in and around the subject matter – Muslim Britain, fundamentalism, intelligence services, war on terror, and that whole circus of madness – which was kind of what my track was about. We kept meeting up every couple of months, talking about everything and nothing. At no point did he even tell me he had a script and had me in mind for a role, but it was a real eye-opener.

“Chris just looks at things differently.

What it got me thinking about was the out-takes from this narrative of terrorism, the blooper reels. If you go on YouTube and type in ‘jihadi videos’ near the top will come up this British Asian guy in Bosnia making a speech – ‘Brothers, come out here and fight, the cause is just, the people are beautiful, the country is beautiful, and brothers, the kebabs here are amazing’.”

It was this idea of following the ‘blooper reels’ and ‘out-takes’ of a terror cell that would become the crux of Four Lions. Omar, Barry, Waj, Hassan, and Faisal bicker like feuding ten-year-olds, play around with homemade bombs, wrestle, fight, and talk trash – in that respect, they’re just like any bunch of guys.

“Just like any male group endeavour, the driving force of it is testosterone

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and idiocy,” Ahmed says. “Just like bowling clubs, biker gangs, anything – you get a group of guys together the dynamic is rivalry, camaraderie, and idiocy. Of course they’re normal guys.

What else are they? If you check out people who were involved in the 7/7 attacks [in London], some of them were genuinely loved, praised as the nicest guy in the world, or the most upstanding, helpful, selfless person.

That jars in our heads with the image of evil, moustache-twiddling baddies but the issue of terrorism is much messier. It’s not a James Bond supervillain network of baddies. It’s average Joes that undertake these tasks. That picture of them as normal guys is very true to life. That doesn’t take away the fact that what they’re doing is clearly wrong.”

Ahmed has had his own brush with the intelligence forces and reports that the ‘blooper reel, out-take’ culture is alive and well among those who fight terrorism, just as much as it is in those who perpetrate it. Ahmed starred in The Road To Guantanamo a few years ago as a member of the Tipton Three, British men held for two years in Guantanamo Bay. On the way back from a screening of the film on Berlin, Ahmed was detained at Luton Airport by security officers.

“Looking back now with these eyes, I see the funny side of my detention at Luton Airport by British Intelligence officers – which it turned out was

If you inspect the contents of your wallet, push aside the expired franger and have a look at the rectangles of printed polymer that you exchange for goods. Hardly a day goes by when we don’t inspect our wallets to see if the quantity of money folded between layers of leather will carry us through, but do you know who’s on your cash?

Americans go for nicknames like Franklin to describe their bills but would you know I’d be needing change from $100 if I said, “All I have is a Dame Nellie”?

Most slang for Aussie dollar notes is related to the colour scheme, in that we trump the greenback hands down. Pinkies, lobsters, red backs, and pineys are named fairly obviously for their hues. However only the $10 note can claim to carry a name famous enough to be adopted as slang, that’s a Banjo.

So without further adieu let’s have a look at the evenly split ladies and gentlemen of Australian currency.

As mentioned, the $100 note features world renowned soprano Dame Nellie Melba (1861-1931).

A superstar of her day, Melba reached the peak of her career in the early 1900s and her outback tours drew venue busting crowds.

She’s also the inspiration for the classic dessert the Peach Melba.

On the flip side you’ll find General Sir John Monash (1865-1931), civil engineer and distinguished soldier, he was most widely admired as an outstanding military tactician who drew many victories during WWI. The $50 note features David Unaipon (1872-1967), Aboriginal writer and inventor whose inventions included an improved handpiece for sheep-shearing, a centrifugal motor, a multi-radial wheel, and mechanical propulsion device. Representing the women is Edith Cowan (1861-1932), first female Australian politician who

completely illegal, they were basically just cowboys trying to rough someone up. It was weird and scary at the time, but there were really ridiculous elements. They were sat there jabbing a finger in my face going [yells] ‘Do not use your phone!’ but when I used it they were like, ‘Well, there’s nothing we can really do about it.’

“Then at one point one of them got me in a wrist lock – it fucking hurt, he nearly broke my wrist – and he got the phone out of my hand and he was

N SOO ING COM

N SOO ING COM

successfully stood for state election in 1921 after legislation was enacted in 1920 making it legal for women to enter Parliament.

The coupling for the $20 note is a saint and sinner combo of Reverend John Flynn and Mary Reibey. Flynn (1880-1951), founded the Royal Flying Doctor Service in 1934. On the other side is Mary Reibey (17771855), a former convict who was arrested for horse stealing 1791 and arrived in Australia in 1792 and went on to become a successful businesswoman.

Besides the Queen, the $10 note features the most iconic of subjects, Andrew Barton ‘Banjo’ Paterson (1864-1941). Banjo had a cracker of a year in 1895 penning both Waltzing Matilda and The Man From Snowy River. On the flip side is Dame Mary Gilmore (1865-1962), poet and social reformer who stirred patriotism in the hearts of Australians during WWII with such poems as No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest and Singapore.

The original polymer $5 note features Queen Elizabeth II, and Parliament House, while a later edition features Sir Henry Parkes (1815-1896). Popular politician and early advocate of a federal council, Parkes was dubbed the “Father of Federation”. He convened the 1890 Federation Conference where he proposed the name ‘Commonwealth’ for the united colonies. Also on the new fiver is Catherine Spence (1825-1910); writer, feminist, and reformer, Spence was passionate about the rights of women and lobbied for greater child welfare provision. She became Australia’s first female political candidate when she contested, unsuccessfully, the election for delegates to the 1897 Australasian Federal Convention.

You may be set to part with many of your Melbas over the coming weeks but at least you know who’s peeking back at you.

going through it, making lurid faces at me like ‘Ooh, I’m looking at your secret texts’. When I got the phone back the language had been changed to Danish! This idiot was just randomly jabbing all the buttons at once.”

Ahmed’s debut album as Riz MC, MICroscope, will be released in January.

WHAT: Four Lions on DVD (Hopscotch)

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35

frontrow@timeoff.com.au

FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2011 PROGRAMME The Alliance Française French Film Festival returns to Brisbane in 2011 from Wednesday 16 March to Sunday 3 April. The festival, second only to Cannes as the largest festival of French cinema in the world, is an impressive collection of cinema across romantic comedy, farce, drama, documentary, and even a horror film, which is great considering the quality of genre films coming out of France at the moment.

Highlights of the festival include the opening night film, François Ozon’s Potiche, a comedy set in the late-’70s starring Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu; An Ordinary Execution, documenting the last days of Stalin’s dictatorship; the (surprising) French box office hit Of Gods And Men, about a group of French Cistercian monks in Algeria who become the target of fundamentalist rebels; A View Of Love, a thriller starring OSS 117’s Jean Dujardin, Claudia Cardinale, and The Diving Bell And The Butterfly’s Marie-Josée Croze; Daniel Auteuil in Donnant donnant (Fair Is Fair); Isabelle Huppert in Sans queue ni tête (Special Treatment); Crime d’amour, with Kristen Scott-Thomas and Ludivine Sagnier as rival office executives; Jean Dujardin and Irréversible’s Albert Dupontel in the black comedy Le bruit des glaçons (The Clink Of Ice); the blockbuster Les petits mouchoirs (Little White Lies), a dramady about friendship starring Marion Cotillard (Public Enemies), François Cluzet (Tell No One), Gilles Lellouche (Mesrine), and Jean Dujardin; the stunninglooking animated film Une vie de chat (A Cat In Paris); The Arrivals, a documentary Garnier described as the real Welcome; and the horror film La meute (The Pack), the trailer of which boasts a deliciously twisted joke and some crossing of the fourth wall. Closing night film is yet to be disclosed.

A VIEW OF LOVE

A CAT IN PARIS

SPECIAL TREATMENT

LOVE CRIME

THEATRE REVIEW

SLOWDIVE Visy Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse It’s not suffi cient to describe Brisbane choreographer Claire Marshall’s latest creation, Slowdive, as a piece of contemporary dance; it’s difficult, in fact, to find a neat descriptor for it at all. Combining elements of theatre, performance art, installation, and dance Slowdive is probably better described as experiential theatre.

OF GODS AND MEN

LITTLE WHITE LIES

Transforming the Powerhouse’s Visy Theatre into a 1990s club Slowdive takes its audience on a confronting journey through the Valley club scene of that era. With no seating the audience become sometimes unwitting participants in the decline of Marshall’s characters, herded from one scene of debauchery to another, watching dancers enact scenes that are - with some comedic reprieves - quite disturbing. The eerie thing about Slowdive is that despite the confronting material it’s feels undeniably familiar.

In re-creating the atmosphere, aesthetics, and feeling of a club Marshall has been hugely successful; her talent for the theatrical is undeniable. Likewise in creating a piece of dance-based, immersive performance art that manages to break down the usual barriers in participatory art Marshall has succeeded.

POTICHE

But the most impressive aspect of Slowdive is not the dancing. What is truly impressive about Slowdive is how convincing and realistic a replication of the sometimes debauched night-time world it is.

Until 11 December

THE PACK

HELEN STRINGER

FILM

WHISKEY AND WORDS

REVIEW

FRACTAL THEATRE’S JANE BARRY TALKS TO HELEN STRINGER ABOUT BRINGING DYLAN THOMAS’ UNDER MILK WOOD TO BRISBANE STAGES THIS CHRISTMAS.

W

hen Dylan Thomas wrote Under Milk Wood - written as a radio play - he was suffering the final throes of alcoholism; a negligent, offensive, nigh-on unbearable drunk, Thomas nonetheless managed to imbue his final piece with the euphony, humour subversiveness that plunged the unlikely Welshman into the literary canon. It may be apocryphal, but the story goes that his final discernable words were “I’ve just drunk 18 straight whiskies; I think that’s the record.” Fractal Theatre might not be embracing method acting to the degree that its actors are prepared to attempt this record, but their preparation for Under Milk Wood has been thorough nonetheless.

Actor Jane Barry explains that while the performers aren’t intending on emulating Thomas’ capacity to imbibe - at least not until the cast party - they have taken on the notoriously difficult Welsh accent and brought the radio play to the stage.

“It’s quite a difficult accent to do,” says Barry. “It’s really lyrical but it takes a lot to get your head around.

We’ve had a lot of coaching though… it’s taken about two or three months [of rehearsals and voice training].”

It’s not only the mastering the Welsh of the play’s inhabitants that’s a

36

challenge; Thomas wrote Under Milk Wood with the undeniable linguistic complexity of the poet he was. Vast swathes of the text are the internal musings of his characters as they go about their days: dreaming; reminiscing about past lovers; conversing with their dead loved and unloved - ones; contemplating their existences in an ostensibly simple Welsh fishing village called Llareggub. The name - if anyone was worried that Thomas might have lost his sense of humour in his final years - is ‘bugger all’ spelt backwards.

“It has been challenging,” concedes Barry. “But because we’re using highly physical techniques, it melds [it] together really well. Starting off in that dream sequence; it’s essentially a day in the life of this small Welsh fishing village, but there’s certainly nothing small about any of the characters. They’re in a way so larger than life, but in a way so relatable, [with] all of their idiosyncrasies.”

Barry explains that - true to the original version - each actor is taking on multiple roles, distinguishing each with an array of unexpected physical methods - from mime to Kabukiinfused movement.

The production - which also features 13 young actors in the theatre’s

THE DAWN TREADER

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER: 3D

first youth intern programme - has clearly been a labour of love for the rejuvenated Fractal Theatre and its cast members. Despite the workload Barry enthuses that the process has thus far been one of most enjoyable of her career. “It’s been wonderful,” she says. “It’s one of my favourite plays; it’s been really interesting taking that play for voices and transferring it onto the stage.”

Barry is equally enthusiastic about the legendary playwright, waxing a tad bit lyrical herself on the Welshman’s abilities, particularly

in light of his now legendary - and indeed infamous - relationship with alcohol. “I imagine him up late at night with a bottle of something,” she laughs, “just churning these amazing words out; I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to come up with something as beautiful if I drank that much.”

WHAT: Under Milk Wood WHERE & WHEN: Dancing Tiger Studio, Ipswich Saturday 11 December, Old Museum Building, Brisbane Tuesday 14 to Friday 23

The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader was always one of the most bewitching of the Narnia books. A frontrunner favourite to all who delved deeper than ‘Wardrobe, it brought to the series a real sense of Narnia’s immense scope, and not only of the wonderfully interconnected world that Lewis had created, but it reaffirmed of the series enduring worth as an important work of fantasy. So too, not forgetting, did it enchant simply with its Tolkien tale of a road-trip on the high seas. The Dawn Treader provided readers another glimpse into the meta-world concepts explored in The Magician’s Nephew - and revealed in The Last Battle - with the

introduction of the mysterious Aslan’s Country. We learned of the division of Narnia into mortal and spiritual worlds, and that life, whilst it has for everyone an expiry date, is not something that should be mourned, nor lived without valour. This was the book that explored Narnia as true alternate universe; a ‘what if’ land in which our moral myths actually lived.

And sadly, though in the scant instances where Lewis’s smart theological parallels were retained there remains some of the book’s beauty, most other things have been lost. The pivotal scene in which Eustace Scrubb – a name that lives in odious-kid infamy alongside greats like Augustus Gloop – has his dragon’s skin removed by Aslan loses all its cool, Cronenberg-ian bodyhorror potential, and, in all, the magic is stuck back at the mothballed coats.

WHERE & WHEN: Screening in cinemas now SAM HOBSON

frontrow@timeoff.com.au

FILM

ON THE BRINK

REVIEW

TRENT BAUMANN, AKA THE BIRDMANN, CHATS TO ALICE MUHLING AS HE PUTS THE FINISHING TOUCHES ON HIS PERFORMANCE FOR THE BRINK PARTY #2.

T DEVIL

DEVIL Quake, ye unbelievers, for the devil is among us – but fortunately he’s stuck in a lift in a high-rise office block.

Devil is the first in a somewhat ambitious series of planned Twilight Zone-esque movies based on stories

by M Night Shyamalan – whose track record, let’s be brutally honest, has been utterly abysmal in the last few years. Happily, though, Devil is a lot better than anything Night himself has helmed recently (directing duties go to John Erick Dowdle and the screenplay’s by Brian Nelson).

Devil deals with five strangers stuck in a lift while cops, security guards and maintenance men labour to free them. It soon becomes clear that they’re not exactly what they seem and all have chequered pasts. When the lights go out for a few seconds

and one of them has been scratched or bitten, panic sets in. One of these people is really the devil – and if the lights go out again, someone’s getting slashed.

Devil is a simple enough story, told in a straightforward, almost oldfashioned way, which is refreshing.

It’s not without its charms – its largely unknown cast means anyone could bow out at any time, which is a godsend for a horror thriller. However some of the dialogue is trite and ropey and it never really fully sells itself, forcing its characters to act in unrealistic ways.

With Devil, ‘The Night Chronicles’ series has kicked off in mediocre, yet promising, style and it remains to be seen if it can go on to soar.

WHERE & WHEN: Screening in cinemas now BAZ McALISTER

he future is a gold-gilded vaudevillian encounter, where mime artists mix with neontube-swallowing space cowboys, hoola-hooping DJs, and beat-surfing robots. Okay, the bit about the robots may have been made-up but the rest will become a reality on Friday night when the Judith Wright Centre hosts The Brink Party #2. Following on from the inaugural Brink Party in June this year, the cabaret-circus-musical extravaganza is back to wow and woo enthusiastic party-goers. Getting into the festive spirit and looking forward to the robot-infused promises of the New Year, The Brink Party #2 is a one-night-only event, full of music, mime, dance, delirium and oddity.

As navigator of the night-time future exploration and curator of The Brink Party #2, Trent Baumann, also known as The Birdmann, is psyched to be organising the spectacular for a local audience. “It’s a night of wild oddity,” Baumann explains. “With some of the finest circus variety acts that Brisbane has to offer.”

But be warned: this is not a conventional performance. With round-the-clock entertainment, roving performers and DJs pumping out the jams, it will be more of a dance party than a solemn sit-down

show. As such, The Brink are encouraging participants to get involved by dressing-up. Baumann promises “music, design elements and fantastic acts” as part of the eclectic night out. He says, “It’s a club setting so we’re hoping that people will come along and dress-up and get into the new millennium vibe that we’re exploring. A lot of the acts are becoming a lot more eclectic and a little bit experimental – they’re trying some new things – but at the same time they’ll be displaying skills that they have been developing in Brisbane and further a field in the international circus scene.”

Of the many different performers that Baumann has collated for the party, he is most excited to see how each act has interpreted the futuristic theme. “It’s quite an honour this time to be able to give everyone an idea and see how they explore that in different fashions. I look forward to seeing the audience responses as well. It’s definitely going to be something you didn’t expect to see.”

When it came to picking the line-up, Baumann had a plethora of local names and faces to choose from.

“I lived in Brisbane for a long time although I’m currently living in

Melbourne. I did my formative years in Brisbane – training with the Rock N Roll Circus and studying at QUT, doing street shows and various shows in little avant-garde comic spaces like The Angry Mime at the Brisbane Powerhouse.

“I got all the artists and collected them up. They are people doing interesting things on the circuit and who would relish the opportunity and would work well as an ensemble.”

As for Baumann’s own turn on the stage, he is remaining mum on the exact content of his act. “I’m putting the final touches on my act. I’m also

trying to make sure everyone else is okay as part of the curatorial role.”

So for Brisbane audiences who prefer their theatre with a twist, their song with a dance and their circus with a flourish, it’s high time you put on your best bedazzled silver jumpsuit, cardboard-constructed robot costume or just a nice pair of slacks and headed on down to the party of the millennium.

WHAT: The Brink Party #2 WHERE & WHEN: Judith Wright Centre Friday 10 December

37

frontrow@timeoff.com.au

THERE WILL BE METAL

THE LOOKING

THE THIRD SEASON OF ADULT SWIM’S HEAVY METAL SERIES METALOCALYPSE IS RELEASED ON DVD THIS MONTH. BOB BAKER FISH TALKS TO ITS MAIN CREATOR, BRENDAN SMALL.

WITH HELEN STRINGER

elcome to Metalocalypse, where Dethklock are the world’s biggest band, their brand of extreme metal so popular that they’re almost drowning in drugs, money, and groupies.

W

When they hold a press conference the world stops. By the end of the second season they are the world’s seventh largest economy. Not only do they have their own masked minions, they’re able to wander throughout the world leaving a trail of murder and destruction behind them. The thing is, the band are so out of touch they often have no idea what they are doing is illegal. Oh yeah, Metalocalypse is an Adult Swim cartoon.

“It’s not about metal, if you ask me,” offers the show’s co-creator/writer/ voice actor/composer Brendan Small.

“The way I approach the episodes is [that] it’s about celebrity. It’s about five inept celebrities who are also a family. I consider it a family show when I write for it, about celebrities who don’t know what day it is, who don’t know what time it is, who don’t open doors for themselves... I don’t look at them like they’re stupid, it’s just that they’re very good at some things and very poor at others. Just like everyone.”

38

He pauses to consider this statement.

“Okay, they’re also a little stupid,” he concedes, “but I think they’re more narcissistic, and that just clouds their judgement constantly.”

That’s why in the first episode of season three the band, sad about declining world economy, job losses, and increasing debt decide to stage the most expensive concert ever - a little like a band playing an enormous concert, ‘in the round’, whilst their country applies to the European Union for a bailout.

“We said in the very first episode that Dethklock is incapable of selling out, they’re just making the world more metal,” Small says. “As the economy has been plummeting all around the world wouldn’t it be the most grotesque thing to spend money on a concert? In fact, at one point they blow up money and black truffles, just because they can, because it’s metal, it’s wrong to do it.”

Small had a very roundabout path to Metalocalypse, graduating from music school in Boston during the height of grunge in the mid-’90s.

“It was very uncool to play a guitar solo or have any virtuosity whatsoever,” he says, laughing.

“It was a very dark time for guitar

players. So I put my guitar in its case and said I don’t know what to do, I guess I was going through some musical identity crisis. So I started doing stand-up comedy.”

It was through this that he met some animators and started pitching shows.

Yet metal was also progressing, getting heavier and better produced, and eventually his two passions met.

In fact, in doing the show he has met and worked with more than his share of idols, even recording as Dethklock and touring the US.

“The reason I get these people like, let’s say Cannibal Corpse, or Arch Enemy, or Enslaved or even guitar heroes of mine like Satriani or Vai or Slash, is because I think it’s fun for the fans. We don’t draw them in their likeness, we sneak them in. So people could be like, ‘Oh that was funny, oh that was King Diamond that made me laugh!”

WHAT: Metalocalypse Season 3 (Adult Swim/Madman)

GLASS

Way back in the dark ages of 1996 a little-known physics professor called Alan Sokal had an intellectual tantrum.

Being a scientist his tantrum began with a hypothesis: that postmodern criticism was - to use the appropriate technical language - a crock of shit and that absolutely anything couched in the correct jargon could pass itself off as “postmodern”. His hypothesis was tested and proven by writing a nonsensical, fake academic article and having it accepted and published in a real - but still nonsensical - academic journal. The art world, I think, needs a Professor Sokal for itself.

When we go to art galleries we expect to see art with a capital “A”: and so we do, regardless of whether it’s truly earned the label. A dirty spoon in your own kitchen sink is nothing more that a dirty spoon, but a soiled piece of cutlery enlarged and displayed in a gallery? That’s art.

Really, though, anything asserted with enough authority and presented with the right language can be mistaken for fact; not because we’re generally stupid, but because we’re genuinely gullible. With the right jargon - and of this I’ve no doubt galleries are fully aware - it’s possible to be convinced that pretty much anything is art: cutlery; an empty room; randomly strewn rubbish; bad fictional characters taken out of context and artfully described.

Take for instance Edward Cullen, he of the Twilight saga - an apt noun usage if ever there was one.

In everyday language we might describe him as a sparkly vegetarian vampire trapped in an interminably dull, perpetual adolescence, spending his days avoiding every single activity that’s thus far made vampire mythology alluring. In comprehensible language we might describe Mr. Cullen with a veritable multitude of adjectives: dull, paedophilic, noncombustible. But those words aren’t sufficient to turn Edward “Sparkled, Not Fried” Cullen into a piece of art.

For that we need to bring out the big guns; we need jargon.

Instead of referring to Mr. Cullen as an inexplicable abomination, as a work of art he becomes “the contemporary mythological meme”.

Instead of saying he’s sparkly like a pale, human-shaped disco ball, say instead that “the decoupage of the aforementioned character is a representative abstraction of the mirrored self”. Rather than insisting that dear Eddy is the product of bad writing and good marketing, let’s say he’s “the embodiment of the paradoxical recidivism of Christian morality and overt carnality”. The words are - mostly - in the right place, but it still doesn’t mean anything.

Jargon isn’t bad in itself; the word is only employed pejoratively when good words are plucked from their natural habitat and strewn in an incomprehensible mess. But let’s not forget that art requires us to make up our own minds; we need not listen to the authorities when the authorities don’t make any sense.

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39

40

Y 8 DECEMBER 2010 ISSUE 1505 - WEDNESDA

NOVA SCOTIA NAME AND ROLE IN THE BAND:

Chips, Dollar Bar, The Melniks, Pollen and Sekiden are the ones we loved the most.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN TOGETHER?

WHICH PUB OR BAR IN BRISBANE ARE WE MOST LIKELY TO FIND YOU FREQUENTING AS A GROUP?

Ash – guitarist

About four years now.

HOW DID YOU ALL MEET?

From playing in other bands together, and playing with each other’s bands.

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? Probably the Wu-Tang Clan.

IF YOU COULD CHOOSE THE BAND’S DESTINY HOW BIG WOULD YOU GET – WOULD YOU CONQUER THE WORLD OR BE HAPPY TO BE A BIG FISH IN A SMALL POND?

Hopefully, one day, we can just take up residency in a cocktail bar on a tropical island or archipelago.

WHICH BRISBANE BANDS BEFORE YOU HAVE BEEN AN INSPIRATION (MUSICALLY OR OTHERWISE)?

There have been many fine Brisbane bands but Minimum

Probably the Junk Bar or Jeremiah’s Cafe...both are in Ashgrove, both are awesome.

WHAT REALITY TV SHOW WOULD YOU ENTER AS A BAND AND WHY?

The Running Man – Scotty would be Sub Zero, I’d be Buzzsaw, Cam would be Dynamo, Dan would be Captain America and Nathan would be Killian the host.

IF YOUR BAND HAD TO PLAY A TEAM SPORT INSTEAD OF BEING MUSICIANS WHICH SPORT WOULD IT BE AND WHY WOULD YOU BE TRIUMPHANT? That Mesoamerican ball game where you hit the ball with your elbows – we have strong elbows.

WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE FOR THE BAND IN THE SHORT TERM?

Our album is coming out very soon on Lofly Records, you can have a listen/download of some of the tracks from it at www.lofly.com.

Nova Scotia play Burst City on Friday Dec 10 and The Zoo Sunday Jan 2 Photo by BRAD MARSELLOS.

TOUR GUIDE

GIG OF THE WEEK

42

THE FALL: The Hi-Fi Dec 9 GIRLS: The Zoo Dec 9

INTERNATIONAL

U2, JAY-Z: Suncorp Stadium Dec 8 & 9 GIRLS: The Zoo Dec 9 JEFF MARTIN: Coolangatta Hotel Dec 9, The Hi-Fi Dec 10 THE FALL: The Hi-Fi Dec 9 TUJIKO NORIKO: Judith Wright Ctr Dec 9 HOT WATER MUSIC, BOUNCING SOULS: The Zoo Dec 11 BLONDIE, THE PRETENDERS: Sirromet Wines Dec 12 REVEREND HORTON HEAT: The Hi-Fi Dec 12 EAGLES: BEC Dec 13 & 14 JACK JOHNSON, TEGAN AND SARA: Riverstage Dec 13 BON JOVI: Suncorp Stadium Dec 14 EL GUINCHO: Woodland Dec 16 JOHN CHANTLER: Step Inn Dec 16 LITTLE DRAGON: Woodland Dec 18 GORILLAZ: BEC Dec 19 BOBBY BROWN, JOHNNY GILL, RALPH TRESVANT: The Hi-Fi Dec 21 BUILT TO SPILL: The Zoo Jan 2 FLYING LOTUS: The Tivoli Jan 2 FUTURE OF THE LEFT: The Zoo Jan 3 DARKEST HOUR: The Hi-Fi Jan 4 SHIHAD: Great Northern Jan 5, Surfers Paradise Beer Garden Jan 6, Villa Noosa Jan 7, The Zoo Jan 8 EARTHLESS: The Zoo Jan 6 MYSTERY JETS: The Hi-Fi Jan 6 THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION: The Zoo Jan 9 EMMURE: The Fort Jan 12, Club 299 Jan 12 JASON COLLETT: The Zoo Jan 13, Joe’s Waterhole Jan 14, The Loft Jan 15, Great Northern Jan 16 MOS DEF: The Tivoli Jan 13 HEALTH: Woodland Jan 15 JUDY COLLINS: QPAC Jan 15, The Events Ctr Jan 16 BEN JORGENSEN: Rosie’s Jan 20 ROYAL CROWN REVUE: The Hi-Fi Jan 20 BEACH HOUSE: Mullumbimby Civic Hall Jan 22 CHARLIE PARR: Buddha Bar Jan 22, Old QLD Museum Jan 23 RATATAT: The Hi-Fi Jan 24 TOOL: BEC Jan 24 LA DISPUTE: The Zoo Jan 25, Burst City Jan 26 OWEN PALLETT: Old QLD Museum Jan 25 THE BLACK KEYS: The Tivoli Jan 25 NO TRIGGER: YAC Jan 26, Step Inn Jan 27 SKILLET: The Tivoli Jan 26 BROOKE FRASER: The Tivoli Jan 27 & 28 CAT POWER: Brisbane Powerhouse Jan 28, Coolangatta Hotel Jan 29 (HED).p.e.: The Hi-Fi Jan 28 TRAIN: Sirromet Wines Jan 30 SUFJAN STEVENS: The Tivoli Jan 30 KENNY ROGERS: Brisbane Convention Ctr Feb 1 THE UNTHANKS: Brisbane Powerhouse Feb 1 FOALS: Great Northern Feb 2 TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB: Great Northern Feb 3 JOE COCKER: BEC Feb 4 MISFITS: The Hi-Fi Feb 6 STING: Riverstage Feb 7 ANDREW MCMAHON: The Hi-Fi Feb 10 CARIBOU, FOUR TET: The Zoo Feb 15 DOVES: The Hi-Fi Feb 15 SWERVEDRIVER: The Zoo Feb 16 BLACK MOUNTAIN: The Zoo Feb 17 BELINDA CARLISLE: Twin Towns Feb 18, Kedron Wavell Services Club Feb 19 THE LIKE: The Zoo Feb 18 KATE NASH: The Hi-Fi Feb 19 THE BOOKS: The Zoo Feb 19 TORO Y MOI: Woodland Feb 24 GANG OF FOUR: The Hi-Fi Feb 25 RIHANNA: BEC Feb 25 MARTHA WAINWRIGHT: A & I Hall Feb 26, The Tivoli Mar 1 ROXY MUSIC: Riverstage Mar 1

PRESENTS

4ZZZ 35TH BIRTHDAY: The Tivoli Dec 11 FESTIVAL OF THE SUN: Port Macquarie Dec 11-12 BUILT TO SPILL: The Zoo Jan 2 FUTURE OF THE LEFT: The Zoo Jan 3 THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION: The Zoo Jan 11 OWEN PALLETT: Old Museum Jan 25 FOALS: Great Northern Hotel Feb 2 TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB: Great Northern Hotel Feb 3

JEFF MARTIN AND TEREPAI RICHMOND

THE HI-FI FRIDAY DEC 10

Fans of 90s Canadian outfit The Tea Party and subsequent solo work of that band’s frontman Jeff Martin, pictured, must be ecstatic at his decision a couple of years to set up camp in Western Australia – it’s meant that we see him in these parts more often than some of our own local acts. Th is time around the legendary guitarist and songwriter has teamed up with Terepai Richmond – the jazz-influenced drummer best known for his work with dIG and The Whitlams – for the Worlds Apart Tour. Expect lots of esoteric jamming and atmospheric improvisation – plenty to please fans of both these esteemed musicians. You can catch the duo at Coolangatta Hotel on Thursday (with support from Hazel Eyes The Devil) and at The Hi-Fi on Friday night (ably assisted by local songstress Pear). Get into it!

CARIBOU & FOUR TET: The Zoo Feb 15 DOVES: The Hi-Fi Feb 15 SWERVEDRIVER: The Zoo Feb 16 KATE NASH: The Hi-Fi Feb 19 THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS: Brisbane Riverstage Mar 4 WAV VES: The Zoo Mar 8 THE HOLD STEADY: The Zoo Mar 9 THE CLEAN: The Zoo Mar 10 BLUESFEST 2011: Byron Bay Apr 21-25 KYUSS LIVES: Coolangatta Hotel May 4, The Tivoli May 6

Sharon Jones @ The Tivoli

by Stephen Booth

REEL BIG FISH, THE AQUABATS, CHUCKNEE THE TIVOLI: 02.12.10

Tonight at The Tivoli, a rumour accumulated that a female member of the audience had pulled a gun on another patron. It’s hard to believe given the lighthearted nature of the bands on show. How anyone could have a shred of animosity in their bones after tonight’s performance is a complete mystery.

Dopamine is so thick in the air it’s almost cleavable with a knife.

Chucknee are doing their best to win over the audience and not even paper aeroplanes will work.

It’s almost embarrassing; like watching the token drunk family member make a fool of themselves at a wedding. A misconstrued joke, or are they really that bad? Most of the audience members think the latter.

SHARON JONES AND THE DAP-KINGS, VICTOR VALDES THE TIVOLI: 05:12:10

Paprika helps set up a cool vibe from behind the decks as a healthy early audience mingles casually.

They continue to chatter as Melbourne-via-Mexico harp king Victor Valdes takes the stage flanked by a bassist and guitarist, which doesn’t bode well given the natural volume of the acoustic ensemble is so low. Towards the stage Valdes has more support, his virtuosic harp playing touching on flamenco, merengue and Afro Cuban styles and whipping the crowd into a frenzy. The rest of the venue takes heed and by the time the passionate performance is done Valdes has won scores of hearts.

Miss Goldie spins classic soul tunes and the crowd’s excitement skyrockets before The Dap-Kings make their way onto the stage, busting out a couple of teaser tracks to raise the anticipation to fever pitch before Sharon Jones dances into proceedings in a dazzling sequined dress, launching into If You Call as the crowd draws to a complete hush, hanging on each sweetlycrooned note. The next 80 minutes is packed to the brim with taut funk breaks from the Dap-Kings and a powerhouse performance from the pint-sized diva; her voice is powerful, sweet and completely faultless.

It takes just two songs before Jones drags the first crowd member onstage, a young gentleman called up

to dance during Give It Back, but Jones quickly gets a better idea and drags one of the venue’s burly security guards onstage for a boogie to the crowd’s delight. When the band drop into When I Come Home, Jones exhibits her vast knowledge of 1960s dancing styles; demonstrating the soul train, funky chicken, pony and swim. Th is is followed by a selection of the finest songs from their latest studio record; The Game Gets Old, She Ain’t A Child No More and title track I Learned The Hard Way putting focus on the quality of song than purely the performance. The majority of band alight leaving Jones alone with guitarist Binky Griptite and backing singers Sandra and Starr as Jones spins an entertaining yarn before a gorgeous rendition of Mama Don’t Like My Man, this toned down moment doesn’t linger long though, the band return for a revved up I’m Not Gonna Cry, in which a string of ladies are invited to dance onstage – most doing so with good spirit, though a couple of show ponies invite themselves up, desperate for their 15 seconds. When something falls out of a girl’s pocket and Griptite leans down, picks it up and returns it without missing a beat, it’s one of the most endearing things you’ll see.

“You want to know why Australia is the best country in the world? It’s the only country where you can kick a dolphin!” Th is is just one of the nuggets of comedic gold spurted from the mouths of The Aquabats, as they boot around infl atable toys during their fi nale Pool Party! Synth infused punk, superhero pseudonyms and Hanna Barbera style visuals – why the hell not! The quintet have grown beyond a band – with their uniforms of blue neoprene tops, masks, black pants and modified bather caps they have evolved into something more of a cult. They proceed to karate chop and fly kick their way through legions of the aestheticallychallenged undead (Fashion Zombies!) and hoards of malevolent nerds (Nerd Alert!). MC Bat Commander does exactly what his name entails: he commands the crowd; ordering them to rain dance, make pizzas and partake in various other mannerisms. The Aquabats might not be the best punk act in the world but they’re certainly one of the coolest.

As the set comes to a close, Jones leaves having given her all, the band wrap things up in the slickest of fashion and when the house lights come up there’s not a face in the house not grinning. The power of soul music is alive and well.

Reel Big Fish are a band that has never taken themselves seriously – walking onstage to the Superman theme is a clear indication. It’s all a giant piss-take to them; the pranks free-flowing throughout the entire evening, ranging from the band introducing themselves (to each-other), to a one-minute rendition of Metallica’s Enter Sandman.

People just can’t resist the urge to dance and leap about, causing a cascading wave of glute-shaking and fl ailing appendages that traverses all the way to the back of the room. The sporadic blasts from the brass section are as vivid and fl amboyant as the rainbow floral shirt that frontman Aaron Barrett is sporting.

Hell, they even managed to take Van Morrison’s Brown Eyed Girl and inject it with new vibrancy.

Even the solemn number of Where Have You Been appears playful. The encore of Suburban Rhythm plays genre hopscotch; receiving thrash-punk, disco, bluegrass and metal makeovers before their renowned cover of A-Ha’s Take On Me invokes hysteria. If happiness was a drug, there are a good 800+ people who have overdosed.

DAN CONDON

SCOTT THOMPSON

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playing next at:

The BEETLE BAR (Upper Roma Street - Backpackers Central)

Friday 17th December with special Guests

Mick Medew and The Rumours The Prehistorics (sydney) The Dustbin Hoffmans CD available at Gig

43

TOUR GUIDE IMELDA MAY: Great Northern Mar 2, The Hi-Fi Mar 3 KE$HA: Riverstage Mar 3 JOANNA NEWSOM: The Tivoli Mar 4 THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS: Riverstage Mar 4 KINGS OF LEON: QSAC Mar 6 BELLE & SEBASTIAN: The Tivoli Mar 7 WAVVES: The Zoo Mar 8 THE HOLD STEADY: The Zoo Mar 9 BEST COAST: Woodland Mar 10 EDDIE VEDDER: QPAC Mar 10 & 12 JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE: Step Inn Mar 10, Joe’s Waterhole Mar 11 THE CLEAN: The Zoo Mar 10 SWANS: The Hi-Fi Mar 11 THE BESNARD LAKES: The Zoo Mar 11 WEIRD AL YANKOVIC: Jupiters GC Mar 14, QPAC Mar 15 FINNTROLL: The Hi-Fi Mar 24 SANTANA: BEC Mar 24 DOOBIE BROTHERS: Convention Ctr Mar 24 LIONEL RICHIE: BEC Mar 25 URIAH HEEP: The Tivoli Mar 31 LUKA BLOOM: The Tivoli Apr 1, Joe’s Waterhole Apr 2 GOOD CHARLOTTE: BEC Apr 8 JIMMY EAT WORLD: The Tivoli Apr 9 THE SCRIPT: Convention Ctr Apr 10 INDIGO GIRLS: QPAC Apr 26 JUSTIN BIEBER: BEC Apr 26 DISTURBED: BEC Apr 30 KYUSS: Coolangatta Hotel May 4, The Tivoli May 6 KATY PERRY: BEC May 5 & 15 JAMES BLUNT: Convention Ctr May 14 BEN FOLDS: QPAC May 17 JOE BONAMASSA: The Tivoli May 21 RANDY NEWMAN: QPAC Jul 22

NATIONAL

JONATHAN BOULET: Alhambra Lounge Dec 9 JEBEDIAH: The Zoo Dec 10 HOODOO GURUS: Twin Towns Dec 10, The Hi-Fi Dec 11, Redlands Sports Club Dec 12 BELLES WILL RING: GPO Hotel Dec 11 STRAIGHT ARROWS: The Zoo Dec 16, Woodland Dec 17 THE FUMES: Coolangatta Hotel Dec 16, Joe’s Waterhole Dec 17, Great Northern Dec 18 BRITISH INDIA: Suncorp Piazza Dec 31 THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT: Twin Towns Dec 31, Kings Beach Tavern Jan 2 BLUEJUICE, PHILADELPHIA GRAND JURY: Kings Beach Tavern Jan 5, Coolangatta Hotel Jan 6, Great Northern Jan 7 ABBIE CARDWELL: Railway Bar Jan 6, The Joynt Jan 7 TUMBLEWEED: Great Northern Jan 9 THE BEAUTIFUL GIRLS: Great Northern Jan 12 & 13, Coolangatta Hotel Jan 14, The Hi-Fi Jan 15, Kings Beach Tavern Jan 16 THE WHITLAMS: QPAC Jan 21 INXS, THE BABY ANIMALS: Sirromet Wines Jan 30 I EXIST, PHANTOM: Step Inn Feb 10 THE GETAWAY PLAN: The Hi-Fi Feb 12 – 13 SPARKADIA: Coolangatta Hotel Apr 7, The Hi-Fi Apr 8

FESTIVALS

FESTIVAL OF THE SUN: Sundowner Breakwall Tourist Park Dec 10 & 11 NO SLEEP TIL BRISBANE: RNA Showgrounds Dec 19 WOODFORD FOLK FESTIVAL: Woodfordia Dec 27 – Jan 1 NO YEARS FESTIVAL: Brisbane Powerhouse Dec 31 SUNSET SOUNDS: Botanic Gardens and Riverstage Jan 5 and 6 BIG DAY OUT: Gold Coast Parklands Jan 23 LANEWAY FESTIVAL: Alexandria St Fortitude Valley Feb 4 GOOD VIBRATIONS: Gold Coast Parklands Feb 19 SOUNDWAVE: RNA Showgrounds Feb 26 FUTURE MUSIC FESTIVAL: Doomben Racecourse Mar 5

44

LINKIN PARK, THE ART

The Lemonheads @ The Zoo

by Stephen Booth

BRISBANE ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE: 03.12.10

The foyer at Boondall is packed, a late doors time has streams of fans impatiently waiting, by the time the crowd surges down the stairs to the floor, Sydney’s The Art are walking onto the stage. They seem like they’d be the perfect fit for tonight’s show, furious playing, angst-ridden lyrics, and powerhouse drumming, but as the mistimed strobe lights of I Wanna Know flicker, the crowd is visibly not impressed. They keep the pressure on with Killing Time and Trigger but it’s fruitless, the crowd tonight simply aren’t buying it, maybe it’s the circulation stopping skinny jeans the band shares, but regardless, the only cheer the Newtown hipsters get is when they announce that it’s their last song.

It doesn’t take long for the lights to dim again and The Requiem echoes through the capacity crowd as a group of shadows stroll into view and take place around the many performance platforms dotted throughout the stage, before the lights hit revealing Linkin Park front pair, Mike Shinoda and Chester Bennington, amongst a deafening squeal from the crowd. It’s a hip hop intro with Wretches And Kings, before trailing back to their better-known hard rock roots in Paper Cut and Given Up. After being onstage for nearly 30 minutes, the group finally acknowledges the crowd with a simple “Hello Brisbane” before cutting straight back into their extremely polished production with No More Sorrow. Their spectacle is flawless, arched big screen scrolling live footage, a dazzling light show, and not a single missed note, which is probably what removes the atmosphere of the show. Only the crowd’s enthusiasm is heightening the mood of the super-tight and obviously very rehearsed performance. There is no spontaneity – aside from one Chester Bennington trip into the photo pit that was likely still written on the setlist – little band interaction, and some horribly awkward ‘rock’ moves from guitarist Brad Delson.

THE LEMONHEADS, THE CANDLES THE ZOO: 30.11.10

Josh Lattanzi is perched centre stage with an acoustic guitar working his way through tracks from his band The Candles’ debut album Between The Sounds. His brand of indie-pop is undoubtedly suited to tonight’s bill, but given he is also the bassist for the headline act tonight it all seems like a bit of an afterthought.

Closing tune Waiting For The Truth proves his got songwriting skills though and maybe he’ll pick up some fans while down here.

It’s a mere couple of hours before the official start of another Queensland summer, big red letters emblazed over a sign on the venue doors announces the venue is packed to capacity and a crowd hungry for nostalgia waits in anticipation for the classic 1992 record It’s A Shame About Ray to be rolled out by Evan Dando and whoever else makes up The Lemonheads these days. While anticipation is high, expectations aren’t necessarily so; Dando’s track record as a performer is hit and miss to say the least, but as he wanders onstage with drummer Stacy Jones and bassist Lattanzi, we wait in hope. Then, that iconic descending guitar line that opens Rockin’ Stroll blares with gusto from Dando’s Marshall stack and all fears of a trainwreck are immediately allayed. The record is played out from start to finish with very few stoppages between songs, Dando nails the entire performance – he hits every sung note, every chord, every lead guitar break and he actually looks somewhat animated behind that flowing hair.

MUSE, DEAD LETTER CIRCUS

BRISBANE ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE: 05.12.10

With hundreds of people still filling the lobby, merch stand and various bars peppered around the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Dead Letter Circus take to the stage to a rapturous cheer from those present, and the local collective duly deliver. With all the confidence of a band on the rise, vocalist Kim Benzie helps showcase debut album This Is The Warning and in the process cements their already loyal fanbase whilst picking up a few stragglers along the way.

Said stragglers, however, are more than onboard for the headliners. After a prolonged intermission extravagant alt-rock trio Muse take to the stage with their unique vision and interstellar set-up. With three “skyscrapers” engulfing the stage the synth intro helps build tension and anticipation. When the veils drop to reveal the members on their individual podiums the crowd go wild as Uprising starts. Frontman Matt Bellamy plays with all the aplomb of a seasoned vet, leading his avid followers into a trancelike, anthemic foray.

Most bands would slow it down a bit after such an ambitious start. Muse, on the other hand, do not.

Rolling into the floaty and electrified Map Of The Problematique followed by the always impressive New Born the boys are well-and-truly back in town. Their lack of a sideshow when they appeared on these shores for BDO earlier in the year is duly noted by drummer Dominic Howard, which almost seems a master-stroke.

Why rush a sideshow when you can come back and give the fans the full attention they deserve? And this modus operandi was what they had come to do. And they do not let us down.

There is a strong flavour of more recent material from their latest record A Thousand Suns, though it’s a packed finish to the main set with Crawling and staple One Step Closer. With an obvious encore approaching, the bigger fans seem to know exactly what’s coming as they shout Fallout before the band even returns, but as the riff of Bleed It Out rumbles the stadium seating, the band finally letting their well-groomed hair down slightly with a peak of energy before leaving the stage.

It’s unfortunate when a band lets their production overshadow their performance, but hopefully for the fans’ sake their next trip will shine brighter.

MARK BERESFORD

KORN, SYDONIA THE TIVOLI: 03.12.10

Melbourne’s Sydonia get the crowd warmed up with their listener-friendly brand of hard rock. There is nothing terribly unique about the music they put on offer, yet their polished sound kicks many among the crowd into action. By the end of the set there is little doubt that the band have taken yet another step towards greater success in this country.

The elated anticipation of the intimate crowd hits its peak as the 4U intro swims out of the speaker stacks.

Moments later Korn take to the stage, unleashing their mighty assault with the opener to the original line-up’s last album; Right Now from Take A Look In The Mirror. With the classic debut cut Need To trailing, it’s evident that Korn have chosen to extend upon the floor plan of their current album by redirecting the focus of their live show back towards the bottom-heavy sound that their legacy was built on.

The stage layout is a simple reflection of this attitude as Jonathan Davis, Munky and Fieldy share the spotlight with new drummer Ray Luzier, while their second guitarist and keyboardist are banished to the shadows.

Given the record doesn’t even clock in at half an hour the band smash out plenty of other tunes to bulk up the setlist. Classics like Big Gay Heart and Style from 1993’s Come On Feel The Lemonheads sit alongside newer tracks like No Backbone and their cover of GG Allin’s Layin’ Up With Linda. An incredible finishing run of If I Could Talk I’ d Tell You, Stove, Into Your Arms and the aforementioned Style cap things off charmingly and Dando and friends leave the stage triumphant. It’s great to see him in form.

Bellamy returns and after bouncing his spotlight into the darkest corners of the BEC the band keep hitting us with Time Is Running Out, Starlight and Plug In Baby before the encore. Rolling with the punches the crowd is noticeably exhausted but eager for more as the threesome return to finish us off with Exogenesis: Symphony Part 1, Stockholm Syndrome and the spectacular Knights Of Cydonia. That final track seems to capture the overall defiant mood of the night in a nutshell, as after being beaten black and blue by this overwhelming performance the crowd still want more.

Korn III: Remember Who You Are may have been somewhat of a let-down, however, Pop a Pill, Oildale, and Let the Guilt Go feel at home in the live setting and prove the new material to worthy of partial redemption. While the earliest material gains the most favour, the songs from the mid-point of their career come across as being the most intriguing. The heaving Here To Stay is ferocious in its low-down attack and Falling Away From Me comes across brilliantly. Did My Time keeps the thunder rolling before the doom like crawl of Somebody Someone steals the show entirely, pulsating with a lethargic, sonic-boom like effect that acts to envelope the entirety of the small room within its mammoth sound. The band stay lively throughout, working the moshpit into a frenzy that is only encouraged by set finishes Helmet, Freak On A Leash and Blind. The bagpipes sound the return of the band for a classic Shoots And Ladders, Clown and Got The Life encore that drives the old school devotees to a point of sheer ecstasy. The exclusion of setlist mainstays Good God and Throw Me Away is a tough blow, but the fact that The Tivoli is the smallest venue that Korn have played within Brisbane during their 17-year career is one that goes lengths to outweighing any faults that could be found within this night.

DAN CONDON

BARRIE MORGAN

JAKE SUN

That’s one of the more exciting things about tonight’s performance, it has been over 18 years since the album’s release, but Dando actually delivers the songs with the passion that they so clearly deserve.

Another refreshing element of the show is that the renditions of the songs are faithful to the originals, however they don’t have that lifeless quality that so often stifles songs when they are carbon copies of the original recordings. The lethargic verse of Rudderless explodes into its bouncy chorus and instantly reminds us it is timeless, My Drug Buddy is met with a hearty response, though when Dando offers part of a chorus’ vocals to the audience in Bit Part it must be said that they seem more unresponsive than seems just.

Supermassive Black Hole follows as everybody is notably riled up. The combination of lasers, highly-strung guitar and mesmeric drumming proves just right.

They almost transcend their mundane surroundings, acting as a glimpse of some future band that wear silver sequin pants. Feeling Good is a mid-set highlight and acts as a somewhat temporary buffer from the chaos that surrounds it. This spools into a rhythm section jam session in Helsinki Jam which finds bassist Christopher Wolstenholme and drummer Howard slowly revolve and rise on the platform.

PRESENTS...

BY ARRANGEMENT WITH PRIMARY TALENT INTERNATIONAL

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Special Guests Last Dinosaurs

The stars of Brisbane Festival’s Cantina show off their skills for free in King George Square In the week leading up to Christmas see Lady Torpedo and the Big Swing Brothers perform heart-stopping circus with a nod to vaudeville and a wink to the future, supported by Australia’s hottest swing band, Miguel.

Brisbane’s favourite youth circus, Flipside circus, kick start the evening with an energetic mix of traditional and contemporary circus.

DATE

Mon 20 – Thu 23 Dec

TIME

Flipside Circus 6pm Lady Torpedo and the Big Swing Brothers 7.30pm Miguel 8.30pm

VENUE

King George Square

COST

Free

2.2 | THE NORTHERN www.thenorthern.com.au | www.OzTix.com.au | OzTix outlets TOTAL LIFE FOREVER OUT NOW

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of musical variety, and when Every Fucking City passes and the night closes with the tragic Everything’s Turning To White everybody seems placated with the first batch of 25 songs. Nonetheless the extended ovation leads to a three song encore (from amidst the correct batch of letters, natch), meaning that instead of 100 songs over the course of proceedings we are about to be treated to 112. Incredible...

The scene for night two is exactly the same as the night before, except that the sign on the easel now reads F instead of A. The two Kellys are dressed in derivations of a theme throughout – Paul suited and dapper, Dan more grungey in denim and t-shirts – and we continue through the Fs: the moving Foggy Highway, Forty Miles To Saturday Night and the acclaimed Kev Carmody co-write From Little Things Big Things Grow all early highlights. Even though he penned them all even the older Kelly seems daunted by recalling the nuances of so many songs – occasionally deferring to his nephew to be reminded of chords and lyrics – but it’s remarkable that he needs to be prompted for the lines to From St Kilda To Kings Cross, one of his bestloved works. He laughs such mishaps off with effortless charm and nothing is derailed, entering what he refers to as “the God patch” featuring tunes such as God Told Me To and Glory Be To God, finishing the first bracket with the crowd-pleasing How To Make Gravy.

PAUL KELLY A TO Z SHOW

BRISBANE POWERHOUSE THEATRE: 30.11.10 – 03.12.10

Whatever your loyalty to a particular artist, setting out to watch them four nights in a row is a somewhat daunting proposition. Especially when every night’s performance is a separate program of material, so you can’t rely on a clutch of your favourite songs to be repeated over the duration.

As the crowd files into the Brisbane Powerhouse Theatre on the opening night of Paul Kelly’s renowned A To Z Show there’s a relaxed air of anticipation. The stage is backed by a crumbling brick facade – the exterior of the old building – giving it a somewhat industrial vibe, and in front of this backdrop are two microphones, a grand piano off to the right and an easel adorned with a large white card marked with an ornate letter A. Clearly the alphabetical component of these shows isn’t being left to chance, a sobering thought...

Before too long (now I’m getting into it) the lights go down, the intro music fires up and two figures amble onto stage from the left – Paul Kelly and his nephew Dan, who will be assisting him over the next handful of nights. After a brief

MYLES AHEAD

If you’re a dedicated Nova listener then there’s every chance you may have heard Smoke And Mirrors – the latest single from Joel Myles – on the air lately. He’s pretty chuffed about the attention but is moving on quickly, with a whole bunch of new material all ready to be road tested on audiences. He will be doing just that as he lines up in solo mode at X&Y Bar this very Saturday night, he will appear alongside Thousand Needles In Red, who will also be there in stripped-back acoustic mode. Entry is free!

introductory chat proceedings kick off with Adelaide, a beautiful but aching song about a father’s passing that would surely never be an opening gambit in a non-alphabetical situation. While the bulk of the next four nights is carried primarily along by just guitar and voice the presence of the younger Kelly is integral from the get-go, providing electric and acoustic accompaniment where required (with the occasional ukulele regalement) plus offering subtle harmonies and backing vocals which really break up the feel of the sets. Anastasia Changes Her Mind is performed vocals only – another fine weapon in Kelly’s armoury – and soon we’re pounding through the early stages of the alphabet: Before Too Long, Blues For Skip and Bradman all fly by. Dan’s beautiful falsetto intro to Careless elicits a huge response, and after Cities Of Texas Kelly replaces the C on the easel with a big sign saying ‘Intermission’ and we’ve completed the first section of the marathon.

Kelly is effortlessly charming throughout, seemingly shy but offering coy introductions and explanations to many of the songs that he pulls out of his immense bag of musical tricks. Night one continues, moving through powerful numbers such as Desdemona, Don’t Explain and Don’t Stand So Close To The Window, before the well-known intro to Dumb Things draws a massive response from the adoring crowd.

Kelly’s canon covers so many moods and styles that proceedings never seem mundane despite the dearth

THIS PITOT WENT TO MARKET

The ambient gothic/folk soundscapes of the majestic Simone Pitot will take hold of the Fortitude Valley come Sunday afternoon as she, along with her singer and guitar Matthew Palmer, will treat those who visit the Valley Laneway Markets to the finest material in their repertoire. The acoustic reworkings of this material, much of which can be heard on Pitot’s recently-released self-titled EP, is bound to have you entranced, so make sure you’re around to catch one of their three sets at 11am, midday and 1pm and hear it for yourself.

John Darnielle (mainstay of indie heroes The Mountain Goats [@mountain_goats]) is not just an amazing lyricist but a really hilarious guy as well, so he is a welcome addition to the Twitter fold. Amongst his frequent urging of followers to listen to obscure Italian metal, he drops some great quips as well.

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The third night kicks off with the gorgeous Love Never Runs On Time, and it’s striking how well proceedings have flowed so far given the arbitrary alphabetical nature of the song sequencing. Kelly laughingly refers to this as the “difficult third night” and that it’s going to take us to “mysterious and weird places”, but he quickly follows with the beautiful Luck and the atmospheric Midnight Rain and all such fears are quickly allayed. The snail-paced My Way Is To You segues into No You, and Other People’s Houses pre-empts a stunning solo version of Please Myself.

Kelly senior’s deft harmonica skills also act to break up the feel of the music and the crowd is hushed and delighted as he continues with Rally Round The Drum and an amazing rendition of Randwick Bells. Audience participation hits a highpoint as he has the crowd whistling the clarinet parts of Shane Warne – possibly the weakest moment of the whole four nights from a purely songwriting perspective – but he quickly redeems with Somebody’s Forgetting Somebody and an a capella version of South Of Germany. Even the encore tonight is righteous, featuring the playful Little Boy

The final night brings mixed emotions – part happiness that we’ve nearly survived this gruelling series, tinged with a sadness that the amazing spectacle is nearing its inevitable conclusion. The entrancing Stupid Song quickly proves that anyone who thinks that this is an exercise in quantity over quality is severely deluded, and it’s impossible not to marvel at the depth and breadth of Kelly’s canon. Standing On The Street Of Early Sorrows hits hard, as does Stolen Apples before Sydney From A 747 introduces a touch of levity to proceedings. A gut-wrenching solo version of Sweet Guy leads into the melodic Taught By Experts and the poignant They Thought I Was Asleep. To Her Door proves to be a crowd-pleaser – as it should – and they end the bracket by overcoming the lack of a ‘V’ song by renaming Thoughts In The Middle Of The Night as Very Late.

As he’s done every night so far Kelly replaces the water in front of him with a beer after intermission, and he seems delighted and relieved that we’re nearing the home straight. When I First Met Your Ma hits early, and a dearth of ‘X’ songs is again shrugged off by Paul anointing Dan as the ‘X Factor’ and leaving him alone onstage to stun the crowd with the his own track Bindi Irwin Apocalypse Jam (which the crowd positively lap up, singing the chorus with aplomb). Kelly returns to deliver You Can Put Your Shoes Under My Bed on piano and harp, before grabbing his acoustic and finally breaking a string on You Can’t Take It With You. You’re 39, You’re Beautiful and You’re Mine finally leads into Zoe, and we’re nearly there, the two Kellys returning for one final foray and pumping out Winter Coat, You’re So Fine – during which Paul barks “clap your hands” and the audience responds, clearly still entranced – and finishing things superbly with the lovely Summer Rain.

So there you have it – an incredible four night performance from one of Australia’s greatest ever songwriters and performers, perfectly abetted by his nephew and partner-in-crime. Ask yourself which other beloved musicians you’d subject yourself to such a marathon performance of their work, and if you come up with more than a couple you’re kidding yourself. You can do from Adelaide to Zoe or you can pick an individual segment of the A To Z Show and the result will be the same – an incredible and uplifting experience. Paul Kelly is a natural treasure, and it’s be an unmitigated delight spending the best part of a week with him in these beautiful surrounds. Til next time...

STEVE BELL

SIX PACK LACHLAN BELL TRIO LACHLAN BELL, FROM LOCAL HAMMOND COMBO OUTFIT LACHLAN BELL TRIO, EXPLAINS TO TONY MCMAHON WHERE HE STANDS IN THE TRADITIONAL VERSUS CONTEMPORARY JAZZ ARGUMENT AND WHY QUEENSLAND IS SO IMPORTANT TO THE MUSIC ON HIS NEW ALBUM TRANSIT.

TWEET OF THE WEEK “Daydreaming of a world where all trending topics are also symptoms of clinical depression. #lossofappetite #hypersomnia #hopelessness”

We’re well and truly in a groove now as we continue the second part of night two, Kelly offering the gorgeous I Close My Eyes And Think Of You and I’ d Rather Go Blind early on as he powers through his slew of songs starting with the prefi x “I”. We’re nearly five hours in now and it’s still compelling, Jandamarra/ Pigeon being a late highlight of the set that finished with the iconic Leaps And Bounds. Halfway there...

Don’t Lose Your Balls, Somewhere In The City – with delightful flamenco counterpoints from Dan – and the powerful Look So Fine, Feel So Low.

Hill were inspired by the ease of connection to nature that we enjoy in the region. Similarly, the metropolitan elements of our lifestyle, such as public transport, have also played an inspirational role in our music. Transit (written by Anthony Ma, our organist) and The Hub were both written about life on buses and trains, which sometimes lines up quite nicely and sometimes definitely doesn’t.”

YOUTUBE OF THE WEEK DESCENDENTS. Austin, Nov 7, 2010 Punk rock demigods Descendents are going to be in Australia for the first time ever in a couple of weeks’ time and it’s safe to say that there are a lot of people very excited by this news. Along with the excitement though is a dash of worry that, well, they’re going to suck. But thanks to our old pal YouTube such fears have been allayed; footage from the Fun Fun Fun Fest that the band headlined in Austin a month or so back has surfaced and it shows a band of (admittedly old looking) guys who absolutely tear the stage apart. Seriously, they sound amazing; the versions of Myage and I’m The One on this video will make your spine tingle.

When it comes to the never-ending argument between traditional and contemporary jazz, LBT are one of the few bands that refuse to bed down in one camp or the other.

For those of us not familiar, Bell explains the unique characteristics of the Hammond combo sound.

“The Hammond combo sound is unique in the jazz world, because the organist has the ability to play bass lines, chords and melodies. Th is means you get the great interaction that occurs in a small group like a trio, but with many more musical possibilities. The Hammond organ also has quite a different sound, and it compliments electric guitar very well.”

“I think it’s very important to look at the roots and traditions of any music when you’re trying to perform in that style, but at the same time it’s also important to recognise where the music is at at the moment as well. Our intention from the outset was to create a product which represents a good cross-section of the music as it stands today. Tunes such as Withdrawal are firmly rooted in the swinging tradition of jazz, but other pieces on the album like Please Stop Talking have a distinct contemporary influence.”

Unusually for a jazz outfit, Bell says a big part of his band’s inspiration comes from his environment.

WHO: Lachlan Bell Trio

“As a Brisbanite, I find myself endlessly traveling from the city to various places across the state.

Pieces such as The River Fights Back and Whites

WHERE & WHEN: QPAC Green Jam Friday Dec 10

WHAT: Transit (independent)

47

MIXING IT UP

If I Lie are a hard rocking band with a decidedly modern approach – they have no interest in being bogged down by genre, taking on influence from blues, metal and other brands of hard rock. They have just released their debut EP and are looking to get around and show audiences all over what they have to offer on the live stage over the coming months. The band have a US tour on the cards for early next year, so make sure you catch them before they head over there and make millions of fans/dollars and never come back to their Gold Coast abodes. You can see them tearing up Toowoomba’s Norville Hotel from 8pm this Saturday night.

SIX PACK PROFECY LOCAL EMCEE PROFECY IS ABOUT TO LAUNCH HIS DEBUT CD, LET THE MUSIC PLAY, AND, AS TONY MCMAHON DISCOVERS, THIS IS NOT YOUR AVERAGE HIP HOP RELEASE. producer Benno, who has worked with, amongst others, Cam’Ron and SAS. “I first heard Benno’s work through songs he did with US rapper Cam’Ron. I immediately became a fan and threw his name into Google to get his contact details. I originally emailed him about producing one song for me but after working on Oh Yeah, I knew that we had to do more. He is an extremely versatile and talented producer and I thought it would be foolish not to do a whole EP with him.”

HE’LL ALWAYS BE SMOKIN’ TO US Joe Robinson seems to have dropped the ‘Smokin’’ from his name lately which we reckon kinda sucks, but thankfully this young guitar guru hasn’t let this change affect his music. He’s been a hit on stages all over the world this year and will be kicking off 2011 with a big tour in which he will show off his stunning new American band. Robinson will have a new album out sometime in the middle of next year so make sure you get along to one of these shows to hear how the new material stands up. You can catch Robinson with bassist Bernard Harris and drummer Marcus Hill at Joe’s Waterhole, Eumundi on Wednesday Jan 5, The Spotted Cow, Toowoomba Thursday Jan 6, Paradise Room, Gold Coast Arts Centre Friday Jan 7 and Brisbane Powerhouse’s Visy Theatre Saturday Jan 8.

So, what’s planned for the launch at The Step Inn? Profecy seems intent on creating something of a party atmosphere.

KEEP SEARCHING The Suitcase Rummage markets have been a real hit of late around Brisbane and the next instalment is awfully exciting in that it will be the very fi rst time the markets will run in conjunction with a gig! The organisers have put together a cracking bill of local and interstate talent for the occasion with Pear And The Awkward Orchestra, pictured, Mckisko, Yeo and Spookyland all taking to the stage in amongst all of the rummaging to provide some musical delights to what will surely be a receptive audience. It happens at the Old Museum from 7.30pm on Thursday evening and entry is just $12.

Rather than rushing something out as soon as he could, Profecy says that he was well aware this was the record he would be judged by his whole career. Consequently, he was careful about getting things right first time around.

“I started on the EP in March planning for a release in June but I was constantly revising songs and wanting everything to be perfect so I kept pushing it back. There were a total of ten songs that were recorded for the EP, but I managed to narrow it down to five. At the end of the day I’m happy with the result and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

In order for the record to be even more polished, Profecy enlisted the help of Belgian

PLAYTIME’S OVER – TIME TO PLAY!

“There’s a whole bunch of local acts coming out to support, including my good friend Jae Druitt. NJE will also be launching his album on the night. As for my set, I’m bringing in a guest vocalist and Cam Bluff (Vegas Aces) will be on the turntables throughout the set. You can expect the EP played in its entirety, a couple of remixes and a brand new party anthem produced by Cam Bluff.”

WHO: Profecy WHAT: Let The Music Play (Independent) WHERE & WHEN: The Step Inn Saturday Dec 11

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49

KOOL TUNES

SIX PACK ZELITA INFLUENCED BY FLOYD AND LED ZEP, ZELITA HAVE BURST OUT OF BRISBANE’S WESTERN SUBURBS FOR AN ALL OUT AURAL ASSAULT ON INNERCITY EARDRUMS. TONY MCMAHON CHATS TO BASSMAN ANDREW KELLIE. are very laid back and don’t mind us practicing hours on end. This has helped us to tighten our sound for live performances. Living where we live is an instant bonus for band bonding because we aren’t restricted by time (when hiring a rehearsal room), we are able to grab some food (usually a gourmet BBQ feast) for lunch before we start playing or for a break, and we usually end the practice by having a game of cricket, soccer or a visit to the local pub. We aren’t the kind of band who just get together for a jam and go home; we have become very good mates and it shows in our music.”

In describing a Zelita live show, Kellie says that it’s all about relaxing.

“Our songs are the antithesis of monotonous,” says Kellie of his band’s dramatic sound. “We have memorable transitions between riff s and chord patterns, instrumentals and verses, and time changes within songs. Th is amounts to a dramatic journey which leaves you satisfied in so many ways. All our different musical influences, from Pink Floyd to Muse, shape our songwriting. The progression in the songs is due to these varying influences.”

Kellie also says that coming from the western suburbs of Brissie has dramatically effected his band’s music.

“Living in the outer western suburbs we have a nice relaxing area to practice, and the neighbours

“We like to describe our show as unforced, which to us means that the show is as organic as possible – every gig we do having different shenanigans on stage. In the background you have Kiran (drums) going off his nut making hitting skins look like the best thing in the world, Jimmy (vocals) jumping around upfront doing all sorts of amazing things, Dan (guitar) doing the silent genius thing, as it has been described, not showing off with his unique guitar work, and me giving my all.”

WHO: Zelita WHERE & WHEN: The Block (QUT Kelvin Grove) Friday Dec 10

HYH

HAVE YOU HEARD?

West End’s The Music Kafe provide a stage for musicians of all persuasions to get up and have a bash, giving over 25 acts per week a chance to find an audience, no matter what their style of music.

The venue have decided to document their personal favourite pieces of work from those who have played there over the past couple of years and will be releasing a compilation CD featuring their 12 favourite tunes.

The CD will be launched at the venue on Sunday Dec 10 and will feature every act on the CD, including The Herd Of Turtles, Kye Cole, The Lemonchili Project, Bic Benedict, John’s Diary, Big Fella Linc, Panacea, Anthony J Cox, Knights & Cavaliers, Steve Case, The Brickfields and Triplickit. Entry is free.

CHRISTMAS TURKEYS The team at Turkeyneck Records are once again putting together a decidedly weird and wonderful celebration of the festive season this year as their annual Psychedelic Critmass Party once again takes a hold of the city’s finest appreciators of underground garage music. Th is year the event will be held at the Beetle Bar on Saturday Dec 18 and will feature performances from some of the Turkeyneck stable’s finest acts, such as The Pineapples From The Dawn Of Time, The Vaginabillies, Sydney’s The Prehistorics, Screamin’ Stevie’s Australia, pictured, and the fabulous Wayne Keys Show. Entry will set you back a cool ten bucks, but if you’re one of the first 50 payers through the door then you’ll get yourself a free CD as well. It all kicks off from 8pm.

If you’re the kind of person who is more inclined to party to killer rock’n’roll than those rascally techno beats on the biggest night of the year, then you might want to think about getting your arse out of the garage and into the Beetle Bar on Roma Street this New Year’s Eve as the new venue has assembled a whopper of a bill for your listening pleasure. Spencer P Jones is undoubtedly best known as the guitarist for bands like The Johnnys and Beasts Of Bourbon as well as his tenure with Paul Kelly, but he’s a fantastic solo artist as he has proven on his many visits to Brisbane over the years and we’re sure he’ll be in fine form on this particular night.

Joining him on the bill will be Mary Trembles, New Jack Rubys, Sabrina Lawrie & The Hunting Party, Galapogos and more still to be announced. Friday Dec 31 is the date (just in case you’re an idiot) and $15 is the amount of money you will be required to hand over at the door. The fun begins at 6pm.

Daze play Pigapolooza In Paradise at Billy’s Beach House, Gold Coast on Saturday Dec 11 How did you get together?

Dan Bartlett (lead guitar/vocals): “Nick (vocals) and I got together about two years ago, meeting through mutual friends – our music tastes clicked and we started writing and forming the songs before getting in Kim (bass) and Toni (drums)... We’re lucky to have members in the band with the same attitude and taste in music.”

Sum up your musical sound in four words. “...abstract....love...hate....emotional...”

If you could support any band in the world – past or present – who would it be?

“Hmmm, maybe Justin Bieber, so I could give that kid a hard slap!”

You’re being sent into space, you can’t take

50

DIRTY NEW YEARS

an iPod and there’s only room to bring one album – which would it be?

“Tool –Aenima.”

Greatest rock’n’roll moment of your career to date?

“Playing in Melbourne at The Espy is right up there, that place has a great vibe.”

Why should people come and see your band?

“For one everyone out there should always go and check out a new original band, you never know they could be your next favorites. And we always go that extra mile to put on a show that mixes intriguing band nudity, the latest and insane 2010 dance moves, with a splash of unique new age innovative alternative sounds....”

STAMP OUT THE GENTLEMEN

Local act End To Chivalry have had an exciting year with the release of their Post Monogamy CD and plenty of live shows to go along with it, but they’re not done yet. The band have just been announced as the opening act for the big Electric Horse and Engine Th ree Seven shows that are happening south of Brisbane this weekend. The bill was already a blinder but it’s just become even more exciting with the addition of these fresh-faced rockers, you can catch them doing their thing at Byron Bay’s Great Northern Hotel on Friday night before they head up to the Miami Shark Bar for a massive Saturday night rock feast.

FURY OF THE STORM

Two key bands in Sydney’s rapidly growing brutal tech death metal scene are breaking out of their home city and looking to spread the good word about their choice of genre as they head out on the Harbingers Of Storm tour early next year. Ignite The Ibex have just recently released their self-titled debut, which has seen them compared to the likes of Ion Dissonance, Meshuggah and Devolved while Alice Th rough The Windshield Glass have been busy assaulting audiences with their powerful live shows. You can catch both of these bands when they play Miami Tavern Friday Feb 4 with support from Humality and then at the Step Inn on Saturday Feb 5 with Lynchmada.

SIX PACK BLONDE ON BLONDE LOCAL ROCKERS BLONDE ON BLONDE ARE JOINING FELLOW BRISBANIANS DEAD LETTER CIRCUS FOR A BRIEF TOUR AROUND THE BOTTOM END OF THE STATE. MITCH KNOX CHATS TO JACK BRATT LITERALLY AS THEY HIT THE ROAD.

UP IN THE AIR

“We know a couple of the guys,” he explains.

“It’s quite surprising actually, our manager got an email that said they’d been listening to our stuff and liked it, and they wanted us to do some shows with them, which is awesome because this is a mismatch, stylistically, but I think we still complement each other really well. It’s just been great because we haven’t seen them in a little while, and it’s just good to be on the road with them and catch up with some old friends and stuff. It’s been really fun.”

Local singer-songwriter Andrew Morris simply doesn’t stop and he has kindly let us know that he will be spending his Sunday evenings in December playing a residency, as is his wont, at plush local bar The Sky Room. If you are looking for a good way to wind down your weekend then you really can’t go wrong with a bit of Moz and a couple of cocktails, so head along and catch him doing his thing on Sunday Dec 12 and Sunday Dec 19. Entry is free and it all kicks off at 5pm.

SKATE TO LIVE, LIVE TO SKATE

LET’S GET WET Wet ‘N’ Wild is a much loved destination for tourists and locals of all persuasions. It seems that no one can resist the allure of a good old-fashioned waterslide, not even if you’re the member of one of the country’s most punishing sludgey hardcore punk rock bands. When Canberra’s I Exist, pictured, and Sydney’s Phantoms were last in our part of the country, they made their way down to the park and were so inspired that they both wrote songs about the experience. The resulting four tracks have been pressed up to a split 7” and the two bands are hitting the road in support of it.

You can catch them hitting the Step Inn Thursday Feb 10, presumably following a return visit to the theme park.

The Kuraby Skate Park will be going nuts this Sunday as the Museum of Brisbane present the massive Kuraby Skate Park Party. Sure, there’ll be skating demonstrations and a sausage sizzle, but we’re most interested in letting you know that hip hop group Folklaws will be performing live. Entry is free, it all kicks off at 11am and it is open to people of all ages, so get involved.

BOOKISH ORPHANS

Local alt-country balladeers Orphan Ann are setting up shop in the Brisbane CBD’s branch of the Borders book store this Saturday afternoon as they play through a selection of the material from their debut EP, which is set to be released very soon. Th is is quite a special performance in that it marks the fi rst time that the band will be accompanied by multiinstrumentalist Matthew Colin, so head along to be a part of history. The band will play three half-hour sets of original tunes, kicking off from midday. Entry is of course free and open to all ages.

Breakfast in a café in Coffs Harbour: the life of the independent musician, right? Still, Jack Bratt of local indie band Blonde On Blonde is sounding pretty optimistic given the circumstances.

“We’re in Coffs Harbour tonight; we’re touring with Dead Letter Circus, so we’re going to Lismore today,” he says cheerily. “It’s only a couple of hours away, so we’re just having some brekky. It’s been good, it’s just three dates.”

Not to give undue credit to the old ‘it’s not what you know, but who you know’ idea, Bratt is not ashamed to discuss his band’s history with their touring mates.

So much fun, it would seem, that the main reason Bratt can’t wait to get to Lismore right now is because they have… a laundromat.

“Most of our clothes are full of sand,” he laughs. “I was the responsible one; I went to bed straight after the gig last night because I’m usually the one who goes really hard the first night and just obliterates myself … but I heard Future Of The Left being blasted out of the tour van at 4:30 this morning and apparently they all went down to the beach and got nude, so there’s sand all through everybody’s shit. I’m looking forward to doing some laundry.”

WHO: Blonde On Blonde WHERE & WHEN: Surfers Paradise Beer Garden Friday Dec 3, The Zoo Saturday Dec 18

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WAKETHEDEAD Hardcore and punk with Sarah Petchell The Damned Things

Okay, this might not count as punk news, but I loved Something Corporate back in the day so I’m a little excited! Andrew McMahon, leader of Something Corporate and Jack’s Mannequin, will be touring Australia in February 2011. He will be performing songs acoustically from his brilliant solo career, along with hits from Something Corporate and Jack’s Mannequin. The Brisbane date for the show is Feb 10 and will be at The HiFi. Tickets go on sale this Friday, Dec 10.

Also on sale this Friday are tickets for the No Surrender tour announced late last week. Taperjean Records are bringing out Oh, Sleeper and The Chariot for a run of shows in April 2011. The tour will cover the major cities and regional dates between Toowoomba and Perth, with shows scheduled for Easter Fest in Toowoomba on Friday Apr 22. Oh Sleeper last played Australia in September, but to be honest I’m more excited about seeing The Chariot. This will be their first time visiting our shores, and with now four albums under their belts, it has been a long time coming! Having just released, Long Live (Good Fight/Riot!) I’m hoping to see a broad range of music from across all four albums to make up for their delay in getting here!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard about The Damned Things. The band features Anthrax members Scott Ian and Rob Caggiano, Every Time I Die’s Keith Buckley, and Fall Out Boy’s Joe Trohman and Andy Hurley. They have posted the first video from their forthcoming debut album, Ironicast, and you need to YouTube that shit because it is the funniest music video I have seen in a long time.

Anyway, the point of this particular piece of news

is to say that the album is out this Friday through Mercury/EMI. Between The Buried & Me frontman, Tommy Rogers, is set to release his debut solo album on Tuesday Feb 1 via Metal Blade Records/Riot!. If you know anything about BTBAM, you know that this guy has killer vocals and is a talented multi-instrumentalist; so doing his own thing was probably the next creative step for him to take. Using the pseudonym Thomas Giles (Giles being his middle name) as his moniker for the project, the album is called Pulse. Rogers not only self-produced the album, but also arranged, composed and played all the instruments. Rogers said, “I hope everyone enjoys this record, as I feel there is something for everyone on it.” Keep an eye out for the first single from Pulse, which is the introspective album opener, Sleep Shake. The self-filmed and self-edited video for the track is expected to drop any day now.

While he was at it, Rogers also dropped some hints about what fans can expect from Between The Buried & Me in 2011. “And don’t you all worry;” he said, “BTBAM is writing new material as I type. We have a very busy year 2011 planned, which includes lots of new music and touring.”

Stay tuned!

GIG OF THE WEEK

This week’s Gig Of The Week is going to The Paper & The Plane, who are playing at X&Y Bar for Boys & Girls this Thursday Dec 9. I’m a longtime fan of this band and with new material on the way, now is a good time to check them out and see what they have up their sleeves!

Also, special mention to Hot Water Music and Bouncing Souls, who will undoubtedly be ripping up The Zoo on Saturday night.

As a little footnote, I’m the editor of an online punk and hardcore magazine called No Heroes.

Issue 8 went live last week, and features interviews with Dangers, Dropsaw, Craigos from Midnight Funeral Records, Strike Anywhere, Josh James of Evergreen Terrace/Casey Jones and heaps more stuff. Check it out at http://www.noheroesmag. com and click the link to the current issue.

ADAMANTIUMWOLF Metal with Lochlan Watt Humon ic

This week the Adamantium Wolf writes from a Starbucks on the fringes of Shibuya, one of Tokyo’s most hectic shopping districts. Last night a band called Envy played a homecoming show down the road after having spent quite a long time touring overseas, and with a set that spanned over approximately 130 minutes with no local supports to a sold out venue, it was a surreal and completely moving experience. Though they have had their roots in hardcore since forming in 1992, the band has more recently incorporated a lot of post-rock into their sound, and it’s safe to say that many metal heads would have something to gain by listening to their latest album Recitation. The drummer was also wearing a Corrupted shirt – a pretty damn heavy sludge/doom band from Osaka that sing almost exclusively in Spanish. Check both bands out and cross your fingers that Envy come and tour Australia again sometime soon.

This Friday at Monstrothic, Victorian death metallers Humonic make their return to Queensland, and are reportedly not for the faint of heart. Joining them will be Bane Of Bedlam, Canberra thrashers Hellbringer, and Mad Machine. Upstairs will see sets from ambient rockers Echotide, hard-hitters Ironbird, and Cry Havok. As usual $10 will gain you entry to both levels from 8pm.

If glam rock is indeed your thing, head to The Step Inn this Saturday for Glam Night Xmas. DJs Hoops, Chops, and Speedball will be spinning all your favorite 80s hits until the sun comes up, with the $6 entry opening up from 9pm.

Motörhead and Zakk Wylde’s Black Label Society will reportedly play at The Tivoli on Sunday Apr 3.

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Never a band to sit still in the one genre, California’s metal/reggae/punk/hardcore/ hip-hop/whatever-else-they-can-make-fitor-not group (hed)PE are bringing their bombastic sounds and snarling attitude back to Australia for a little run of shows in January to support their eighth album, Truth Rising. Joining them will be Sydney rap metal group The Havknotz, who plan to be launching their debut EP MUSIC – LIFE – PAIN on the tour, and Melbourne’s Recoil, who will be playing the opening slot.

Brisbane’s dreadlocked contingent can check the line-up out at The Hi-Fi on Jan 28.

To make up for the recently cancelled Black Mass Festival, Armageddon Festival will take place on Feb 5 at The Factory Theatre, Sydney. So far Nazxul, Astriaal, Drowning The Light, Destruktor, Wardaemonic and Erebus Enthroned have been announced, with more acts TBC. Tickets are $35 and are currently available from factorytheatre.com.au.

Local alternative rockers The Poisoners have uploaded a new song entitled Love Like Dreams of Falling to myspace.com/ theyoungpoisoners. These guys are hard at work on a new album and will make their return to the stage on Friday Dec 17 at Monstrothic.

Melbourne melodic death metal group Orpheus has announced the details of their forthcoming ten track debut album Bleed The Way. They’ve been hard at work crafting the release for nigh on two years, and it will see the light of day mid-February through their own Rockstar Records. You can check out some samples and studio diary videos over at myspace.com/orpheusmetaloz, which should also be home to a full new song shortly.

Featuring Scott Moss of Minus Life fame on vocals, Tria Mera have uploaded two new tracks from their debut EP to myspace. com/triameraband. Fans of Trivium, Lamb Of God and other such modern-styled acts are encouraged to go have a sniff.

ROOTSDOWN

Blues ‘n’ roots with Dan Condon rootsdown@timeoff.com.au The second announcement for Bluesfest has dropped and while it’s not quite as big as the first (c’mon, Bob Dylan and BB King...) it is still undeniably incredible. A lot of the rumoured acts have been firmed up and sure enough there are a couple of nice surprises too. So it’s time for the second instalment of the Roots Down Bluesfest mixtape!

TOOTS AND THE MAYTALS Pressure Drop Okay, an obvious choice; frankly there are too many amazing songs by this band but I can’t go past this. Toots and The Maytals are true legends of reggae and ska, forming in 1963, writing and performing a string of hits through the 1960s and were even the first band to put the word ‘reggae’ in a song (1968’s Do The Reggay).

Pressure Drop is one of those rare songs that could go for hours and you’d never tire of it; it’s so breezy and carefree with such a solid rhythmic backbone. They were great at Bluesfest in 2004 and they’ll be great in 2011, you can bet on it.

IRMA THOMAS Breakaway She’s the queen of New Orleans soul and one of the real highlights of this second Bluesfest announcement. Irma Thomas released her first single way back in 1960 and followed up with a string of incredible tunes throughout the decade and through the 70s (the cheesy production on her 1980s material can be a bit hard to swallow). She’s renowned mainly for her stunning ballads, but my favourite song of hers is this stomping pop number that was the b-side to her 1967 Wish Someone Would Care single. Her and Mavis Staples will tear the house down on the Sunday of the festival.

THE METERS Look Ka Py Py Admittedly the Funky Meters who appear on the Bluesfest bill aren’t quite the classic lineup of this legendary funk band, but with Art Neville and George Porter Jr. on board I’m not complaining. These guys are one of the most legendary funk bands in history with a massive collection of killer tunes, many of which have been sampled heavily in modern hip hop.

This 1970 tune saw the band expand their established sense of groove with some vicious vocal spitting – beautiful stuff from, for mine, the most exciting addition to the Bluesfest bill.

BOOKER T & THE M.G.S Sing A Simple Song And yet another living legend rears his head on this announcement. Booker T was one of the key figures in the establishment of the Stax Records sound; writing and playing on plenty of great records but it was with his band Booker T and the M.G.s that he made the biggest splash. That band have myriad iconic funky instrumental soul tunes and Booker T’s killer organ sound the perfect melodic calling card, this one I’ve chosen is a Sly and The Family Stone cover (the majority of the band’s material was cover versions) from the band’s 1969 exploration into psych funk The Booker T. Set. But frankly, you can’t go wrong with just about anything they released in the 60s.

ZZ TOP La Grange When ZZ Top played Bluesfest back in 2000, they managed to make themselves more enemies than friends. The band’s performance was heavily critisiced by fans, critics – hell, just about everyone who saw it considered it somewhat of an abomination. But, they’re ZZ Top, they deserve another goddamn chance. This choice of track is obvious – but you can’t argue with a classic. I hope the bearded ones deliver in 2011.

TROMBONE SHORTY & ORLEANS AVENUE Hurricane Season He’s probably best known for his appearance in the HBO series Treme but Trombone Shorty is a force to be reckoned with as a live performer.

I caught him in the US earlier this year and his infectious New Orleans funk has a modern bent that will ensure he appeals to people of all ages; he’ll be the party band find of the fest for many. This tune is a pretty good example of the slick brand of N’awlins funk you can expect.

Bluesfest hits Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm Thursday 21 April to Monday 25 April

THEBREAKDOWN Pop culture therapy with Adam Curley

What’s the difference between a dumb hipster and a smart hipster? A dumb hipster will take ecstasy with his friend and then make a two-hour film documenting their inane exploits and conversations to show people. A smart hipster will charge people $20 to watch it. Well, that is and isn’t true. A smart hipster will also be able to defend the exercise, if not with an explanation of its relevance to art/film theory then with hyper-elusive quotes intended to reveal the questioner’s base ignorance of Life 2.0.

Tao Lin is a smart hipster. This month, through a self-established ‘production company’ called MDMA Films, Lin (author of 2009’s Shoplifting From American Apparel and this year’s Richard Yates) and his friend Megan Boyle set up a website advertising a “feature film” titled MDMA. The website features a link to a two-minute Vimeo trailer for MDMA, in which Lin and Boyle interview each other, assumedly while ‘high on ecstasy’, with questions such as, “Do you want to fight or kill anyone, and who?” (sic; and these people are supposed to be NYU-educated), before taking a trip to Times Square and walking around saying things like, “Extreme mumblecore… drugcore,” and yelling at strangers for directions to Toys ‘R’ Us. The website also gives you the option to purchase a DVD of MDMA (released on Dec 20), as well as films scheduled for future production, including BEBE ZEVA (referencing the teenaged Las Vegan ‘hottie’ featured many times on the Hipster Runoff blog – I think it’s now accepted knowledge that Lin is Carles from Hipster Runoff but I’m not sure), MUMBLECORE and HEROIN. The ‘films’ are US$20 each, $70 for all four or $100 for a “lifetime subscription” to MDMA Films.

So, who wants to pay $20 to watch a couple of New York 20-somethings get high? It’s a question that has been rolling around in my head and I can’t quite come up with any solid ‘for’ or ‘against’ arguments. Reaching the point of that being the most relevant question in this scenario was difficult enough. Without having seen the entire film (yet?), it’s possibly remiss to muse on the seeming self-absorption of the whole exercise, even though that’s the obvious initial desire. That also makes it impossible to ‘critique’ it as any kind of

documentary or film with an overall ‘purpose’ for the viewer, though I suspect that, if there is one, it will be like Lin’s writing: a mirror-on-the-wall to absurdism that is itself both too self-aware and unaware to say clearly what it’s reflecting; both perceptive and infuriating.

Based on the trailer, Lin and Boyle appear ‘likeable’ enough, if not slightly arrogant for the way they grin knowingly while asking each other and strangers stupid questions, but y’know, they are on ecstasy, another fact that makes the trailer conceivably relatable or in the realm of ‘fantasy travel doco’ in the same way people watch Catriona Rowntree on Getaway and wish they were on Xanax in Fiji.

Then there’s the question of whether it’s really worth discussing as a film at all, but the ‘What is film?’ debate – or the ‘What is art?’ debate – is both boring and stupid to get into without the required space and research. However, there does seem to now be a blur between the accepted ‘legitimacy’ of the instant Internet video diary as ‘film worth consideration’ and other, perhaps more ‘traditional’, film mediums that take time and effort to be released to the public. MDMA seems to be somewhere between the two, though beyond the editing process and marketing there doesn’t appear to have been a huge amount of thought involved, unless you count their combined years of education, which perhaps we should (which leads us back to having little idea what the intention behind the film is, if that matters, besides some hyper-elusive interview responses given by Lin on thelmagazine.com). It seems relevant now to mention that in their press release announcing MDMA Films, Lin and Boyle call it “an ‘extreme mumblecore’/‘drugcore’/‘emo’ film/documentary/‘event coverage’/production company”.

So, without being able to really debate whether MDMA is a film or whether it’s a film worth thinking about beyond being potentially “funny” (Lin’s word), we can really only debate the commercial aspect of the venture. So, who wants to pay $20 to watch a couple of New York 20-somethings get high? And does paying make you a smart hipster or a dumb hipster?

FINISHING IN STYLE

Local group Alphabeticus are pretty damn happy with the way their first year has panned out and we believe they have every right to be. They have brought their blend of trip hop, groove and prog music to local audience through quite a few well received live shows and now the next piece of the puzzle is set for the beginning part of next year. The band will release their debut EP early in 2011 and you’ll be able to hear plenty of material from it when they drop by Ric’s Bar on Wednesday Dec 22. Of course they won’t be alone, local electronic gurus Phantasm join in the fun, as do New Zealand indie-pop duo drdr. Entry is free and it kicks off at 8pm.

THE WINNING SOUND The winners of the Sunset Sounds Foster Band Initiative, which saw a bunch of quality local acts pitted against each other in a fight to the death battle for votes from the public, have been announced with Charlie Mayfair, pictured, and Ball Park Music scoring themselves the two opening slots on the bill. They beat out some stiff competition and we hear that Inland Sea and The Liars Chair only just missed out. The festival hits the Brisbane Riverstage and City Botanic Gardens Wednesday Jan 5 and Thursday Jan 6.

SIX PACK SHEDDING SKINS Melbourne duo Clavians call their brand of music ‘jungle-punk’ and they have been thrashing stages, ripping parties and melting faces all over Victoria for the past two years with this particular ferocious style of music.

They have a new single called Skins out now, lifted from their forthcoming EP and now they are finally coming up to show us what they’ve got. Come see what this fuzzy guitar and drum two-piece is all about as they make their debut Brisbane performance at The Club House (which is at the GPO Hotel at the moment) on Friday night. Playing alongside them will be local post-punk favourites Quiet Steps and Sydney rock shredders Chicks Who Love Guns. Doors open at 8pm. If you’re out of town then you can catch the band at Toowoomba’s Bon Amici on Saturday night and down in Byron at the Great Northern Hotel on Sunday night.

CHRIS MALLORY IT’S BEEN TWO YEARS IN THE MAKING FROM IDEA TO FINISHED PRODUCT BUT CHRIS MALLORY’S DEBUT EP FOR GREGORY IS READY TO BE ENJOYED. MITCH KNOX CATCHES UP WITH THE SINGER-SONGWRITER BEFORE HE ENGAGES CROWDS AROUND THE STATE AND HONOURS HIS LATE BROTHER’S MEMORY WITH HIS MUSIC. Written in honour of his brother Gregory, who passed away in 2006, Mallory says penning the music for the EP (especially its title track) was certainly at least partially a process of catharsis: “through this project I have been able to give the melody and lyrics I first heard in my head a complete cohesive structure to express very strong emotions,” he explains; although, that might be true of all of Mallory’s songs. “I guess for me, the act of writing a song is a very personal and emotional experience, so in order to get into the right headspace for creating, I find it easier to start with what is going on with me and my life at the time.”

As for the launch itself, Mallory is aiming to, “hopefully [deliver] an experience that will move you in some way. I write songs for myself, but I perform them so that other people can relate to them and hopefully find something similar in their own life; be it about loss, love, or having a silly crush on a girl that works in the IGA.”

GIVE IN TO THE SIN

With a sound derived from their love of AC/DC, Motörhead, Motley Crue and Guns N’ Roses all delivered with the attitude of punk rockers such as Sex Pistols, Ramones and Dead Boys, it’s pretty obvious that the live show that Sydney’s L.U.S.T will bring to us up here in Brisbane is going to be pretty nuts! The band haven’t been up here since their support slot with Ace Frehley a couple of years back, so they’ve got some lost time to make up for. Th ankfully they’ll be here with a five-track EP in hand, featuring tunes from their debut album First Tattoo, which was recorded by the legendary Ulrich Wild and will be released early next year. The band make a quick stop into the Step Inn on Friday night and the Swell Tavern, Burleigh Heads on Saturday night.

“Although I have been planning to do a recording since graduating uni in 2008 I have actually only been working on this EP project in earnest with my producer Matt Larner for the past 12 months,” Mallory says of the development of the EP. “That being said, I feel a mixture of relief and excitement. The relief is from finally being able to move on from this project. The excitement is because I will soon be able to give out copies of the last 12 months’ work to people to enjoy.”

WHO: Chris Mallory WHAT: For Gregory (Independent) WHERE & WHEN: Alloneword Wednesday Dec 8, The Basement, Gold Coast Arts Centre Thursday Dec 9, The Treehouse, Byron Bay Saturday Dec 11

BIG DAY ART DESIGN OUR COVER

AND WIN BIG! READERS’ CHOICE AWAR Vote for your favourite artwork D in the Readers’ Choice vot Check out the entries exhibit e. summerfestivalguide.com.aued at vote via Twitter. More details and soon!

TO ENTER: Competition opens Tuesday 2 November.

Create your impression of an artist on the current Big Day Out schedule and upload your entry at summerfestivalguide.com.au (go to the Big Day Art section).

WIN: Time Off cover art. Artist profile. Double pass to the BDO Festival.

A cd prize pack – the latest releases from BDO artists. Design software for each state winner.

Free entry to a CATC Workshop for each state winner.

ENTRIES CLOSE FRIDAY 7 JANUARY

MELBOURNE SYDNEY BRISBANE

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HYH

GETTIN’ COMFY with BEN SALTER Artist name: Ben P. Salter What is it about the venue that makes you want to do a run of shows there?

They asked me.

HAVE YOU HEARD?

Same set every week or mixing it up?

Same time every week, three weeks in a row. 6pm to 7pm on Fridays.

Any special guests going to make an appearance during your tenure?

Yeah, probably get various members of all my bands up for a song at some stage or another, but I’ll be regularly accompanied by Bridget Lewis and Conor Macdonald of The Gin Club, two of my best BFF besties 4 eva.

Favourite position at the venue when you’re not on stage?

Prone.

What have you been up to of late?

I have just got home from about a month of fairly intensive touring with The Gin Club; prior to that I was recording the solo album and playing some solo shows. Lately I’m just hanging in bed with my cat, Stubbs, playing Word Challenge on Facebook. Top score is about 30,000 so far. I challenge your readers to best this.

Stonemason play Pigapolooza In Paradise @ Billy’s Beach House, Gold Coast on Saturday Dec 11 and EpicAtNite Foam Party @ Epic Skate, Tweed Heads (all ages) on Saturday Dec 18 How did you get together?

Phoebe Parkinson (vocals/synthesiser): “By playing Smoke On The Water in music class.

We’re easily impressed.”

Ben Salter plays Brisbane Powerhouse on Friday Dec 10 and Friday Dec 17

You’re being sent into space, you can’t take an iPod and there’s only room to bring one album – which would it be?

“Rude ultimatum, man but I’d definitely spoon my pillow listening to Illuminate

by Lydia.”

Greatest rock’n’roll moment of your career to date?

“Sniffing talcum powder with Bardot. We didn’t, but we need the street cred.”

Why should people come and see your band?

“Have you ever seen a band play on talcum powder?”

THIS IS JAZZ COUNTRY

The match of the smooth jazz singing Sarah Collier and alt-country singer Steve Case may seem like something of a strange one, but since hooking up around a year ago the two artists have played a bunch of well-received shows and cobbled together some fine material between them. These two great local artists will front up at West End’s Inspire Gallery Bar on Saturday evening to show that the bridge between their respective musical forms is not a hard one to cross. It promises to be laid back and intimate, so head on over to the Vulture Street hang out from 7.30pm and watch it all unfold.

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Join us for a fun night celebrating Zed’s 35th year on air together, looking back on the wonderful achievements of the station and also looking forward to our bright future woohoo! We will be taking over Studio 3 at the Old Museum from 6pm tonight (Wednesday Dec 8) to catch up with old friends and make new ones, ticket price includes fantastic catering by Nundah Espresso Train and there will be booze provided by our friends at Brews Brothers. Entertainment will be provided by the Porridge crew, which will also be broadcast live on 4ZZZ for part of the evening Tickets are limited to 300 people so please get in quick: www.4zzzfm.org.au.

HAPPY 35th BIRTHDAY 4ZZZ 4ZZZ is very excited to present our Happy 35th Birthday 4ZZZ event this Saturday night! Joining Ozi Batla, DZ, Laneous & The Family Yah and Pastel Blaze will be local acts Last Dinosaurs and Oh Ye Denver Birds.

Catch them all and help us cut the cake on Saturday Dec 11 at The Tivoli. Doors are at 6pm with first band on 6:30pm.

Tickets are $15 Subs or $20 non subs, including booking fees and available from www.4zzzfm. org.au and www.thetivoli.net.au.

All subscribers who book online through 4ZZZ will also go into the draw to WIN a pretty rad merch pack.

Sum up your musical sound in four words.

“Everything you’ve ever needed.”

If you could support any band in the world – past or present – who would it be?

“Goodness. I’m really digging The Dead Weather at the moe joe so I’ll probably run with that. The Dead Weather.”

PARTY-AC ARREST!

HOT 100

ON THE DOWNLOAD PJ Harvey – Written On the Forehead One of the most anticipated releases of 2011 is bound to be PJ Harvey’s Let England Shake. The first taste of it has surfaced online with Polly Jean throwing the first single from it up on her SoundCloud page and it’s quite an absorbing listen. A frail sounding Polly Jean is only just audible over hefty swells of keyboards as all sorts of vocal samples play out in the background, just far enough away for you to have no fucking idea what’s going on. [soundcloud.com/pjharvey] Harmony – Cacophonous Vibes Harmony is the brand new Melbourne based project from The Nation Blue’s Tom Lyngcoln and early listens show that it’s something very different to what you are most likely expecting. Lyngcoln has thrown a track called Cacophonous Vibes from their forthcoming release up on their Bandcamp site and while it has a tiny bit of that abrasive touch we’ve come to know and love from Lyngcoln’s work, all in all it’s a soulful little ditty that recalls a rough and ready Sam Cooke fronting an epic rock band. It’s intriguing to say the least and definitely worth your time. The band play their first show in Melbourne next week. [harmony.bandcamp.com] Los Campesinos! – Too Many Flesh Suppers One of the finer indie-rock records to come out of the UK this year was the latest effort from Los Campesinos!, Romance Is Boring. The title track from that record was a highlight and was released as a single but, as the band put it, no one bought it. As such they have generously decided to put the b-side of the single up on their SoundCloud page. It’s as good as plenty of the material from that record, plenty of awkward violin, deep bass and awkward rhythmic changes holding interest for its duration; but you must be warned, if you can’t stand leader Gareth Campesinos!’s voice you’re going to want to stab yourself repeatedly in the ears by the end of the first verse. [soundcloud.com/los-campesinos] David Lynch – Good Day Today David Lynch is one of the most revered film and television directors of our time; from Eraserhead to Twin Peaks to Mulholland Drive, the guy has made some seriously incredible stuff and attracted many diehard fans across the globe. It has been revealed that Lynch has produced a song, an electro pop tune called Good Day Today that features him singing (with a whole lot of vocoder, mind you). There will be those who believe that everything Lynch touches turns to gold, but really this tune is unforgivably insipid. It’s lyrically dull and has absolutely nothing musically interesting going on for the painful four-and-a-half minutes. Go and make another film, please. [soundcloud.com/threeminutesthirtyseconds/good-day-today]

It’s that time of year again! We are ready to count down the top 100 songs of 2010. Broadcast on New Year’s Day from midday, 4ZZZ is asking you to cast your votes before Friday Dec 24. Get online and vote through our online system, email us your picks or even post (what’s that you say?) them in!

Checkout www.4zzzfm.org.au for all the info.

TIME WARP

Dec 8, 1980 – In New York City Mark

David Chapman shoots and kills John Lennon.

Dec 9, 1967 – Jim Morrison is arrested

onstage in Connecticut, and charged with breach of peace and resisting arrest.

Dec 10, 1967 – Otis Redding, age 26, is killed when his plane crashes into a Wisconsin lake.

Redding’s band, the “Bar-Kays”, are also killed.

Dec 11, 1998 – Greg Dulli (Afghan Whigs) sustains a fracture to the base of his skull in Austin, Texas. after an altercation with a security guard.

Dec 12, 1970 – Little Richard is charged with “larceny by trick” in Miami Beach, by Blacks, Inc. The group claims he pocketed $250 he solicited for the group. The charges are later dropped.

Dec 13, 2001 – Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic and David Grohl file a countersuit against Courtney Love, claiming she manipulated the memory and work of Kurt Cobain, for the benefit of her career.

Dec 14, 1995 – Classified documents from the White House are released that revealed the FBI had spied on John Lennon and his anti-war activities during the early 70s.

LIAM GRIFFIN

Almaryse Almaryse &

THE FRILL OF THE FIGHT

FIRST EVA SINGLE UNLEASH

Featuring Skye Staniford (Sensual Solo Set) Tenda McFly

DJ Sets

(Fresh Hip Hop)

Connor Dowling

(Dance break VOGUE Extravaganza)

IN STORES BETWEEN THE COLOURS AVANDAILABLE iTUNES

ALBUM LAUNCH - THE ZOO

The Chart Of Truth (ANTmusic)

Mistress of Ceremonies Barbra Windsor-Woo

WEDNESDAY 15TH DEC

(Dressed by Leigh Buchanan)

SUNDAY DEC 19TH ~ 5:30PM

WITH INLAND SEA & JAC STONE

Tickets $20 Bookings PH 3216 1115

TICKETS FROM WWW.THEZOO.COM.AU

Hills StageDoor Dinner Theatre 4 Cintra Road Bowen (underneath Twelfth Night Theatre)

MAILBOX RECORDS

BCC31527_271010_TO

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*4#"/& 3 # / * ( */ % 3 " 0 # & 5 " 4,

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SIX PACK THE VAUDEVILLE SMASH MELBURNIAN OUTFIT THE VAUDEVILLE SMASH IS RETURNING TO QUEENSLAND THIS MONTH TO ENTERTAIN US STIFF-NECKED NORTHERNERS – NOT THAT THEY NEED THE WORK, APPARENTLY. VOCALIST MARC LUCCHESI CHATS WITH MITCH KNOX BEFORE THEY ROLL INTO TOWN.

“It’s been pretty busy actually, and a lot of good things,” Lucchesi says of recent events in the world of The Vaudeville Smash. “I suppose the number one fun thing that’s gone on is that we’re going to South By Southwest in March. That was a bit of a surprise; they just invited us. The guy liked our stuff – the email he sent Kelly, our manager, was, ‘Y’all kill me’; I’m imagining this big Texan with a mo’ and a big cowboy hat. But that was exciting. So we’re sort of just preparing for that and trying to do as much as we can to make it worthwhile, because it could be a stinker; it’s up to you. On top of that, we’ve got an EP coming out in Feb, and a tour around that, but before the year is over we’ve got another little tour as well.”

In between all of that, they’ll be stopping off in Adelaide to ring in the New Year as well as keeping home audiences happy with regular shows in Melbourne. With the obvious chops

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behind them to warrant all these shows, Lucchesi is unapologetically clear (except about the band’s genre – “we’ve coined a new term, called ‘nu-vo yacht rock’,” he laughs) about what you should expect when you walk through the doors to a Vaudeville Smash show.

“To dance, number one,” he emphasises. “It’s a bit of a party; we always work better when people are sort of drinking and inclined to have a boogie, but yeah; you know, the show’s very energetic, and it is a show; it’s not just a bunch of dudes standing up there playing their instruments. It’s a show!”

WHO: The Vaudeville Smash WHERE & WHEN: The Loft, Gold Coast Thursday Dec 9, Ric’s Bar Friday Dec 10, The Beach Hotel, Byron Bay Saturday Dec 11

ON THE TIME OFF STEREO

CEILING LOOMS

The Waterfront Years 1991-1993 TUMBLEWEED Tyrannosaurus Hives THE HIVES We Got All Things That Are Good SOLE STICKERS Grown Unknown LIA ICES In The Pines THE TRIFFIDS Emotionalism THE AVETT BROTHERS Everything I’ve Always Wanted MARTY ROBBINS My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy KANYE WEST I WET STALLIONS I Learned The Hard Way SHARON JONES & THE DAP-KINGS

Local indie-noise quartet Loomer have turned plenty of heads with their live performances over the years and it is with great excitement that the band finally announces the launch of their debut album Ceiling. The record has been in the making for what seems like an eternity now, but as the band’s sound has grown the record has evolved to ensure it fully represents the band as they are today. A strikingly mature release, Ceiling matches the band’s ear shattering wallof-noise guitars with their superb understated vocals to culminate in something that is quite stunning. The band will launch the record with special guests Sydney’s Straight Arrows at Woodland on Friday Dec 17.

4ZzZ FM NOW PLAYING

ROCKINGHORSE RECORDS TOP 10

1. Depth Of Sound DUBMARINE 2. Grave Consequences UNDEAD APES 3. Sacrifice OH YE DENVER BIRDS 4. Mind CTRL: Psychic Chasms Possessed NEON INDIAN 5. Blur The Line/Tomorrow Afternoon GENTLE BEN AND HIS SENSITIVE SIDE 6. Virginity THE BLEEDING KNEES CLUB 7. Let’s Get It Straight AXXONN 8. Four Seasons BIG SCARY 9. Kyu KYU 10. Get Some LYKKE LI

1. He Will Have His Way: The Songs Of Tim & Neil Finn VARIOUS ARTISTS 2. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy KANYE WEST 3. Triple J’s Like A Version Six VARIOUS ARTISTS 4. Guitar Heaven SANTANA 5. Tangalooma THE JOHN STEEL SINGERS 6. The Promise BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN 7. Drama To The Finish STATESMEN 8. Come Around Sundown KINGS OF LEON 9. Tavern Slander TAVERN SLANDER 10. Annual 2011HOOK N SLING AND TOMMY TRASH

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THURS 9TH DECEMBER OF COUNTRY, POP, ROCK AND FOLK PJ WESTON & FRIENDS TASTES

• Honest, organic, and straight from the heart is PJ Weston • • From 8.30 in the laundry bar ~ Free entry •

FRI 10TH DECEMBER

LIVE IN THE LAUNDRY BAR DJ CRAIG • Music for big kids! From 5.30pm till late •

SAT 11TH DECEMBER

LIVE IN THE BACK BAR DJ MOSES • Music for big kids! From 6pm till late •

THURS 16TH DECEMBER

TIM JACKMAN (FORMALLY OF THE NAKED APES) • & Special guests ~ From 8.30pm till late *

TUES 21ST DECEMBER

TWISTED TRIVIA FROM ABOUT 7PM SHARP!

Trivia is played at Verve every second Tuesday Free to play!

To Play at Verve email info@vervecafe.com.au Verve Cafe Basement Metro Arts building 109 Edward St Brisbane City

WWW.VERVECAFE.COM.AU

TM

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WED 08

Abby Skye The Tempo Hotel Chris Mallory Alloneword Dark Debauchery, Smoking Martha, Whiskey & Speed, Facepalm A Pinata Step Inn Jezza Fibber Magee’s, Toowoomba Mark Sheils Royal George Nanna Night Wednesdays: Montpelier Vinyl Bar, The Hi-Fi Open Mic The Music Kafe Rob Cini Elephant & Wheelbarrow Slim Johnson & The Power Walkers, Brutet Ben, The Vampers Club 299 So-La Voce, Imogen Children’s Chorale Queen Street Mall Soula’ Flare Glass Bar & Restaurant Tyson Faulkner Fiddlers Green U2, Jay-Z Suncorp Stadium

THU 09

Adrian Keys Tinbilly Travellers Andrea Soler The Buddha Bar Chris Mallory Gold Coast Arts Centre Clint Boge & Trizo, Andrew Kennedy Noosa Surf Club Dark Debauchery, If I Lie Norville Hotel Darren J Ray Redlands Sporting Club Ephemeris, Snug Tatt’s Lismore Era Bowler Bar Geoff Rayner Logan Diggers Club Girls, The Honey Month The Zoo Hard Graphic, The Clues Ric’s Helm, If I Lie Coffs Hotel Imogen Children’s Chorale, Pro Musica Singers Queen Street Mall Jeff Martin, Terepai, Hazel Eyes The Devil Coolangatta Hotel Jonathan Boulet, Grace Woodroofe, Sunshine Ensemble Alhambra Lounge

Lords Of Wong, Shrewms, BMX Ray, Main Street Brats Step Inn Mark Davidson, Little Secrets, Dave Burton The Bug Memphis, Griff wood Horsefi n, Flanelette, No Right Turn The Music Kafe Paul Van Den Hoorn Elephant & Wheelbarrow Rob Black Ryan’s Bar, Treasury Casino Rokeby Venus, The Wind Up Dolls The Tempo Hotel Simon Watson Gilhooley’s Brisbane Summer Ahoy!: Pear & The Awkward Orchestra, Mckisko, Yeo, Spookyland Old QLD Museum The Fall The Hi-Fi The Febs Fibber Magee’s, Toowoomba The Vaudeville Smash, Mayan Fox, Electrik Lemonade, Francesca Sidoti The Loft Chevron Island The Wilson Pickers, Forest After Fires Globe Theatre Tujiko Noriko, Lawrence English, John Chantler, Anonymye The Judith Wright Centre U2, Jay-Z Suncorp Stadium

FRI 10

Adrian Keys Aspley Hotel Benjam Burleigh Heads Hotel Big Hits Logan Diggers Club Blindchase Kitty O’Shea’s Bluesville Station Cabarita Beach Sports Club Boat Cruise: Transvaal Diamond Syndicate, Dead Riot, Isaac Graham South Bank Brenden Schick Ryan’s Bar, Treasury Casino Brisbane Babas Band, Heather Lee & Kim Cunio, La Grand Salsa, Bilge Ozgun, Delkash, Baalo Baajo, Walisuma Brisbane Cbd Bud (The Band) Fisherman’s Wharf Tavern Candice Long Caxton Mall Clint Boge & Trizo Royal Hotel Gatton

Dachunga Gilhooley’s Brisbane Dean Watkin Rochedale Rovers DJ Craig Verve Café DJ Toxic Beerwah Hotel Downlode Hinterland Hotel Duck Duck Goose, Jimmy 2 Sox Bowler Bar Electric Horse, Engine Th ree Seven, End To Chivalry Great Northern Hotel Byron Bay Ephemeris, The Snatch, Kymatics The Palace Hotel Festival Of The Sun: Xavier Rudd, Regurgitator, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, British India, Calling All Cars, That One Guy, Dallas Frasca, The Gin Club and more Sundowner Breakwall Tourist Park Freak Morice Centenary Lakes, Caboolture Geoff Rayner Horse & Jockey Warwick Green Jam: Lachlan Bell Trio QPAC, Melbourne St Green Gung Ho Fibber Magee’s, Toowoomba Hemi Kingi Trio Wynnum Point Hotel Hippopotamus Victory Hotel Homer Q Bar Holiday Inn Hoodoo Gurus, The Break Twin Towns Incremental Records Xmas Show: Nova Scotia, Turnpike, Mt Augustus, Running Guns Burst City Jan Lennardz J’z Jazz Crew Vida Amor Restaurant Jebediah, The Novocaines, Dan Parsons The Zoo Jeff Martin, Terepai, Pear The Hi-Fi JJ Speedball, L.U.S.T., Valkere, The F1-Elevens Step Inn Lime Spiders, Devils Johnson, Fashion Zombies, Black Mustang Coolangatta Hotel Locky, Berst Elephant & Wheelbarrow Mace Murrumba Downs Tavern Mason Rack Band Ballina RSL Melissa Baker Cannon Hill Tavern Mental As Anything Lone Star Tavern, Gold Coast

Monkey Business Albany Creek Tavern Mother And Son Woodland One Dread Locknload West End Osmium, Despotic Ruin, Hate Disciple, Durumata, A Witness To The Slaughter Miami Tavern Shark Bar Pastel Blaze, Ivy May Dillon Kurilpa Hall, West End Pat Tierney Vroom Bistro Piss Off The Boss Christmas Party: Beware The Hippos, Macho Grande, Troublekarmaflow, Spruce Moose, Blue Honey Prince Of Wales Hotel Red Cell Live Wire Bar, Treasury Casino Spirit Of Christmas QPAC Concert Hall Starz, Scat Jazz Queen Street Mall Steve Trubble Southern Hotel Toowoomba Stevenson St Broadbeach Tavern Stewart Fairhurst Spring Lake Hotel Stifler’s Mum, Th ird Degree The Tempo Hotel The Big Boy Club Hotel Waterford The Darren J Ray Quartet City Golf Club Toowoomba The Decoys Royal Exchange Hotel The Delta Riggs Hard Rock Café The Febs Cleveland Sands Hotel The Peel Street Band, Desert Ghost, Wherewolves, Bird And Prey Globe Theatre The Pugs, The Cassingles, Justin Lerner, Missing Jade The Music Kafe The Roger Gonzalez & Rohan Somasekaran Trio Cuvee Lounge Bar, Sofitel The Sunburys, PJ Weston and The Precious Few, Scott Spark The Beetle Bar The Sweaty Palms Palmwoods Hotel The Vaudeville Smash Ric’s Tijuana Cartel Soundlounge Currumbin TLD Wharf Tavern Ultra Violet Fusion Villa Noosa Vaughan Ney Criterion Dalby

Venus Envy Surfers Paradise Beer Garden

SAT 11

Akasa Burleigh Bears Leagues Club Andrea Soler Nimbin Bush Theatre Beerwah’s Got Country: Luke Austen Beerwah Hotel Belles Will Ring, Guineafowl, Magnetic Heads, Gung Ho GPO Hotel Benjalu, A French Butler Called Smith Locknload West End Big Bang Theory Ipswich Jets Bluesville Station Buddha Bar Bud Club Banora Byron Short Spring Lake Hotel Chris Mallory The Tree House Clavians, Quiet Steps, Chicks Who Love Guns Gpo Hotel Dachunga Gilhooley’s Strathpine Dan England Arundel Tavern Dark Debauchery: Galactic Acid, If I Lie, Dark Symphonica, Whiskey & Speed Norville Hotel DJ Moses Verve Café Electric Horse, Engine Th ree Seven, End To Chivalry Miami Tavern Shark Bar Festival Of The Sun: Xavier Rudd, Regurgitator, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, British India, Calling All Cars, That One Guy, Dallas Frasca, The Gin Club and more Sundowner Breakwall Tourist Park Freak Morice Pine Rivers Park Strathpine Glam Night Step Inn, Upstairs Gold Field Woodland Grand Alpha Funk Live Wire Bar, Treasury Casino Grand Atlantic, We All Want To, The Stress Of Leisure, The L.P’s Globe Theatre Graz Bowler Bar Happy 35th Birthday 4ZZZ: Ozi Batla, Last Dinosaurs, Dz, Laneous & The Family Yah, Oh Ye Denver Birds, Pastel Blaze The Tivoli Harry Healy Fibber Magee’s, Toowoomba Hemi Kingi Trio The Morrison Hotel

Hoodoo Gurus, The Break The Hi-Fi Hot Water Music, The Bouncing Souls, Dave Hause, Headaches The Zoo Jabba Elephant & Wheelbarrow James Brennan Palmwoods Hotel JJ Speedball, The Wayne Keys Show, Cheap Th rills Springwood Hotel Joel Myles, Thousand Needles In Red X & Y Bar Lime Spiders, Screamin’ Stevie, The Yayas, Black Mustang Step Inn Mark Bono Southern Hotel Toowoomba Mason Rack Band Currumbin RSL Mental As Anything Albany Creek Tavern Mick Danby, Cover Story The Tempo Hotel Mick Evans Rochedale Rovers One Of Those Nights Rum Jungle, Brackenridge Pacific Jukebox Gilhooley’s Loganholme Qld University Musical Society, Imogen Children’s Chorale Queen Street Mall Sarah Collyer, Steve Case Inspire Gallery Bar Second Gear CBX Solar Rush, Stewart Fairhurst Hamilton Hotel T.H.U.G, Plan Of Attack, Mouthguard, Brixton Rockers Prince Of Wales Hotel Talltails, Mother And Son, Kira Gosselin, Chris Miller The Loft Chevron Island The Aston Shuffle Great Northern Hotel Byron Bay The F1-Elevens, L.U.S.T., Ironbird Swell Tavern The Vaudeville Smash The Beach Hotel, Byron Bay The View From Madeleine’s Couch Brisbane Jazz Club The Winnie Coopers, Mind Over Matter, Diatribe The Beetle Bar Venus Envy Surfers Paradise Beer Garden Vertigo Broadbeach Tavern Waxing Lyrical: The Blackwater Fever, Buff alo Brown, The Wilson Pickers Brisbane Powerhouse Turbine Platform

Ysobella, Beau, Elke & The Black Moon, Lattitude, Mad World, The Vampers The Music Kafe

SUN 12

A Day On The Green: Blondie, The Pretenders Sirromet Winery Adrian Keys The Breakfast Creek Hotel Akasa Gaythorne RSL Andrew Morris The Sky Room Bec Laughton Premier’s Bar, Treasury Casino Block Party Elephant & Wheelbarrow Carl Wockner Beerwah Hotel Casey Watt Palmwoods Hotel Clavians, Chicks Who Love Guns Great Northern Hotel Byron Bay Dan England Coolangatta Hotel Don’t Come Monday: The Delta Riggs, DJs Over The Pool Birdee Num Num Glenn Esmond Blue Pacific Hotel Global Grooves: Gerard Mapstone, One Dread, La Grand Salsa QPAC, Melbourne St Green Hippopotamus Broadbeach Tavern Hoodoo Gurus, The Break Redlands Sporting Club Hot Dog Live Wire Bar, Treasury Casino I Will Not Go Quietly Globe Theatre Karma Duo Victory Hotel Legless The Joynt Mad World Blues Band Caxton Hotel Mark Bono, Chris Ramsay Fibber Magee’s, Toowoomba Mason Rack Band Fisherman’s Wharf Tavern Pat Tierney Harley Park, Labrador Powerplay Rum Jungle, Bracken Ridge Reverend Horton Heat The Hi-Fi Simone Pitot Valley Laneway Markets Stadler & Waldorf Oxford 152 Sunday Session, Blind Lemon The Tempo Hotel The Darren J Ray Duo Paradise Point Bowls Club The Harmony Choir, Mark Zian, Rhesha St Andrew’s Church Hall

FRIDAY ORI

GINAL G REEN JA M 5-8PM SET SES SIONS 5 FEATUR -9PM ING TU L C A MOR SUNDA Y GLO BAL GR OOVE 2 -5PM SATURD AY SUN

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The Hayden Hack Infusion Locknload West End The View From Madeleine’s Couch, Ingrid James Trio Waterloo Hotel Thousand Needles In Red, Andrew Kennedy Brothers Ipswich Treva Scobie Southern Hotel Toowoomba Venus Envy Royal Exchange Hotel Vertigo Miami Tavern Vox Populus, Imogen Children’s Chorale Queen Street Mall Wheeler, Aislinn Grant, Arry Wilson, Jack Paterson, Anthony J Cox, Pryority, Rhythm Express, Nothing But Trouble The Music Kafe

MON 13

Chris Mallory The Cavern Bar & Café Eagles Brisbane Entertainment Centre Hungry Kids Of Hungary Birdee Num Num Jack Johnson, Tegan And Sara, Ash Grunwald River Stage Our Talons, Gigi Elliot Ric’s Scott Mercer & The Cobweb Gallery, Alex Odger, Jekks & The Ahimsa Orchestra, Triptaphene, The Fun Team The Music Kafe

TUE 14

Bon Jovi Suncorp Stadium Chris Mallory The Palmy Café Eagles Brisbane Entertainment Centre Escalate: Attention Passengers, Mofo Is Dead, A Family Of Strangers The Tempo Eyes Of Azure, Unlikely Superheroes Ric’s Locky Elephant & Wheelbarrow Now & Then, H.D. Blues, Connor Cleary The Music Kafe Paul Young Trio Locknload West End Tegan & Sara The Tivoli

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TNER

THU 9TH DEC

THE WILSON PICKERS + FOREST AFTER FIRES DOORS OPEN 7 - $15 BF/$20 - 18 ID PM

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FRI 10TH DEC

THE PEEL STREET BAND EP LAUNCH + WHEREWOLVES + DESERT GHOST + BIRD AND PREY DOORS OPEN 7 - $10 - 18 ID PM

+

SAT DEC 11

GRAND ATLANTIC WE ALL WANT TO STRESS OF LEISURE THE LP’s WITH ANDREW PETERSON DOORS OPEN 7 - $12 BF/$12 - 18 ID

SIGN UP NOW!

I CAN’t BELEIVE IT’s NOT HANUKAH SHOW + + + PM

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THU TH H 166TH DEC EC

Non Stop Block Rock

Skarlet Blue +Kinoath + Fever Pitch DOORS OPEN 7 - $12 - 18 ID +

PM

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FRI 17TH DEC

PLANET FICTION + VAN DIEMEN + YOUNGSMITH + THE RED LETTERS DOORS OPEN 7 - $12 - 18 ID PM

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SAT 18TH DEC

321 BRUNSWICK STREET MALL, FORTITUDE VALLEY WEDNESDAY 8 DEC

The Globe & Cherry Red

Christmas Extravaganza

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LE PARTI SOUL W DJ REDBEARD (8PM) +MAIN STREET BRATS (9.30PM) + COBWEBBS (8.30PM)

FRIDAY 10 DEC

+ +

DOORS OPEN 7PM - $9+BF/$12 - 18+ID

SUN 19 DEC TH

Mahli Artz + Big Book Fantasy + Hello Hokkaido + The Rum Corp DOORS OPEN 7 - $12 - 18 ID PM

DOWNSTAIRS: THE VAUDEVILLE SMASH (SYD) X 2 SETS (8.30PM) + DJ VALDIS (8-LATE) UPSTAIRS: DJ BENJAMIN BOUNCE (8-LATE) BURLESQUE FRIDAY’S WITH LOLA THE VAMP & FRIENDS (FROM 8PM)

SUNDAY 12 DEC HIS MERRY MEN ( 2 X SETS) (9PM)

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TUESDAY 14 DEC EYES OF AZURE (9.30PM) + UNLIKELY SUPERHEROES (8.30PM)

THURSDAY 9 DEC DOWNSTAIRS:

HARD GRAPHIC (9.30PM) + THE CLUES (8.30PM) + DJ VALDIS (8PM)

SATURDAY 11 NOV DOWNSTAIRS:

BLOODPOETS (9PM) + THE BRUNSWICKS (8PM) + DJ VALDIS (8PM-LATE) UPSTAIRS:

DJ CUTTS (8PM-LATE)

MONDAY 13 DEC OUR TALONS (9.30PM) + GIGI ELLIOT (8.30PM)

FREE LIVE MUSIC AND INDIE DJS

WANT TO PLAY? EMAIL

BOOKINGS@RICSBAR.COM.AU

WWW.RICSBAR.COM.AU 61

ALHAMBRA LOUNGE

COOLANGATTA HOTEL

Thursday Jonathan Boulet, Grace Woodroofe, Sunshine Ensemble

Thursday Jeff Martin, Terepai, Hazel Eyes The Devil Friday Lime Spiders, Devils Johnson, Fashion Zombies, Black Mustang Sunday Dan England

BIRDEE NUM NUM Sunday Don’t Come Monday: The Delta Riggs, DJs Over The Pool Monday Hungry Kids Of Hungary

BOWLER BAR Thursday Era Friday Duck Duck Goose, Jimmy 2 Sox Saturday Graz

BRISBANE ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE Monday Eagles Tuesday Eagles

BRISBANE POWERHOUSE TURBINE PLATFORM Saturday Waxing Lyrical: The Blackwater Fever, Buffalo Brown, The Wilson Pickers

ELEPHANT & WHEELBARROW

Friday The Peel Street Band, Desert Ghost, Wherewolves, Bird And Prey Saturday Grand Atlantic, We All Want To, The Stress Of Leisure, The L.P’s Sunday I Will Not Go Quietly

GREAT NORTHERN HOTEL BYRON BAY

Wednesday Rob Cini Thursday Paul Van Den Hoorn Friday Locky, Berst Saturday Jabba Sunday Block Party Tuesday Locky

Friday Electric Horse, Engine Th ree Seven, End To Chivalry Saturday The Aston Shuffle Sunday Clavians, Chicks Who Love Guns

FISHERMAN’S WHARF TAVERN

Friday The Delta Riggs

Friday Bud (The Band) Sunday Mason Rack Band

Sunday Vertigo

FUSION VILLA NOOSA

MIAMI TAVERN SHARK BAR

Friday Ultra Violet

GLOBE THEATRE Thursday The Wilson Pickers, Forest After Fires

HARD ROCK CAFÉ MIAMI TAVERN

Friday Osmium, Despotic Ruin, Hate Disciple, Durumata, A Witness To The Slaughter

Saturday Electric Horse, Engine Th ree Seven, End To Chivalry

QPAC CONCERT HALL Friday Spirit Of Christmas

RIC’S Thursday Hard Graphic, The Clues Friday The Vaudeville Smash Monday Our Talons, Gigi Elliot Tuesday Eyes Of Azure, Unlikely Superheroes

STEP INN Wednesday Dark Debauchery, Smoking Martha, Whiskey & Speed, Facepalm A Pinata Thursday Lords Of Wong, Shrewms, BMX Ray, Main Street Brats Friday JJ Speedball, L.U.S.T., Valkere, The F1-Elevens Saturday Lime Spiders, Screamin’ Stevie, The Yayas, Black Mustang

SURFERS PARADISE BEER GARDEN Friday Venus Envy Saturday Venus Envy

THE BEETLE BAR Friday The Sunburys, PJ Weston and The Precious Few, Scott Spark Saturday The Winnie Coopers, Mind Over Matter, Diatribe

THE HI-FI Thursday The Fall Friday Jeff Martin, Terepai, Pear Saturday Hoodoo Gurus, The Break Sunday Reverend Horton Heat

THE JUDITH WRIGHT CENTRE Thursday Tujiko Noriko, Lawrence English, John Chantler

THE TEMPO HOTEL Wednesday Abby Skye Thursday Rokeby Venus, The Wind Up Dolls Friday Stifler’s Mum, Th ird Degree Saturday Mick Danby, Cover Story Sunday Sunday Session: Blind Lemon Tuesday Escalate, Attention Passengers, Mofo Is Dead, A Family Of Strangers

THE TIVOLI Saturday Happy 35th Birthday 4ZZZ: Ozi Batla, Last Dinosaurs, Dz, Laneous & The Family Yah, Oh Ye Denver Birds, Pastel Blaze Tuesday Tegan & Sara

THE ZOO Thursday Girls, The Honey Month Friday Jebediah, The Novocaines, Dan Parsons Saturday Hot Water Music, The Bouncing Souls, Dave Hause, Headaches

VINYL BAR, THE HI-FI Wednesday Nanna Night Wednesdays: Montpelier

WOODLAND Friday Mother and Son Saturday Gold Field

X & Y BAR Saturday Joel Myles, Thousand Needles In Red

VERVE CAFE Friday DJ Craig Saturday DJ Moses

PERSONAL BEST RECORDS with DANNY WIDDICOMBE from THE WILSON PICKERS

Palmer etc. It’s probably sitting in a Salvo’s store somewhere.

RECORD YOU PUT ON WHEN YOU’RE REALLY MISERABLE? Solomon Burke’s Don’t Give Up on Me or any Bill Evans album – he’s my favourite late night, feeling low musician. What a piano player – so tasty.

RECORD YOU PUT ON WHEN YOU BRING SOMEONE HOME? The Necks’ Sex. About an hour of a hypnotic, repetitive, simple bass riff with Tony Buck’s constant percussion and Chris Abraham’s imaginative piano – I’m usually asleep after a few minutes though!

BEST RECORD YOU STOLE FROM YOUR FOLKS’ COLLECTION? There were so many – my parents’ records were kept in order standing up in rows that covered most of our loungeroom: they’re easier to flick through that way as opposed to reading the spine.

I was starting out on guitar and into the blues and there was this album by Eddie Boyd which he recorded with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers (the Peter Green years) while he was in the UK. That’s something I still love to play.

FIRST RECORD YOU BOUGHT? Probably Hits Of ’86 on LP. Bit of Lionel Richie, Simple Minds, Dionne Warwick, Robert

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MOST SURPRISING RECORD IN YOUR COLLECTION? People that know me wouldn’t be surprised by any of them but maybe the first NERD record? I didn’t like the single but that song Am I High sounds like The Beach Boys in a modern R’n’B context – Pharrell Williams is such a great producer.

LAST THING YOU BOUGHT/ DOWNLOADED? The last thing I bought physically was Ry Cooder’s first album from Egg Records in town. The last iTunes download was Brian Eno’s new album. The Ry Cooder album is getting more play than Brian.

The Wilson Pickers play The Globe Theatre on Thursday Dec 9

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BEHIND THE LINES THE RAT RACE

BROUGHT TO YOU BY

BEHIND THE LINES WITH MICHAEL SMITH BTL@STREETPRESS.COM.AU

THE CAVERNOUS LOW ANTHEM

Recording in unlikely places seems to have become the thing to do in order to find a new sound. The latest example is American indie folk band The Low Anthem who, after surveying dozens of spaces, took their portable recording studio into a cavernous, vacant pasta sauce factory in Central Falls in their home state Rhode Island to record, over 40 days and nights, their forthcoming album, Smart Flesh, with additional tracking done in a Providence, Rhode Island garage. While the four multi-instrumentalists that make up The Low Anthem took care of producing the album, it was mixed in Omaha, Nebraska by Mike Mogis, whose credits include Bright Eyes, of which he is a member, and Monsters Of Folk, at his Presto!

Recording Studios, with additional mixing done by engineer Jesse Lauter, who helped the band set up their studio in a pasta sauce factory, in New York.

As band member Ben Knox Miller explains in the official press release, they were looking at the space in which they were recording to effectively be “the main instrument for the whole record. We were able to experiment with new recording techniques to capture the sound at different distances. Mics 100, even 200 feet away caught the sound barrelling across the room.” The album will be released end of February.

SHURE NOW BETA

Renowned for its solid live vocal performance microphones, Shure has just released four new instrument mics in its Beta range, distributed in Australia by Jands. The Beta 91A has been designed specifically with the bass or kick drum in mind. Using a half-cardioid condenser boundary mic with an integrated XLR preamp, it’s tailored for a strong low-end response. There’s a two-position contour switch for optimising the sound signature and can also be used for other low frequency applications, like piano. The Beta 98A/C is a highoutput miniature cardioid condenser mic ideal for a variety of instruments where warm, natural sound reproduction is essential, like percussion, piano, reed, wind and string instruments. The Beta 98AD/C similarly uses a miniature cardioid condenser mic that uses an extremely uniform cardioid polar patter that provides excellent gain-before-feedback and off-axis rejection of unwanted noise, so is ideal for toms, snare drum and percussion, while the Beta 181 is an ultra compact, small diaphragm sideaddress condenser mic with four interchangeable capsules that offer different polar positions thus allowing discreet placement and versatility in tight conditions, a multi-purpose mic that can be used right across the board from guitars to bass to drums.

READ ABOUT RUBIN

If there’s a producer who refuses to allow himself to get pinned down to a particular genre, it’s the multi-Grammy Award-winning Rick Rubin, whose name appears there right up front on the new album, Illuminations, from American classical pop phenomenon Josh Groban. From DJing with the Beastie Boys and cofounding Def Jam Records to producing metal giants Danzig, Slayer and Metallica through funksters Red Hot Chili Peppers to setting up American Recordings and reviving the careers of Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond, he’s even produced Shakira and The Dixie Chicks. So it’s well worth seeking out Rick Rubin: In The Studio (ECW Press), a comprehensive look at the art and craft of the producer by Nashville-based rock biographer Jake Brown, chock full of behind the scenes stories on the making of some of these albums.

SOUND BYTES

German-born grand-nephew of the legendary Django, Lulo Reinhardt recorded his latest album, Katoomba Birds, with his Australian-based Latin Swing Project at INRok Studios in Sydney, co-producing it with the band’s pianist Sean Mackenzie and recording engineer Christopher Soulos, who also mixed it with Noel Elmowy, who himself mastered the disc inhouse with Keith Williams.

Melbourne’s The Resignators took themselves off to Montreal, Canada to record their latest album, See You In Hell, with Canadian label Stomp Records producer Alex Giguère (The Beatdown).

Featuring members of Karnivool, Cog and Scary Mother, the Sydney-based Floating Me have cut an as-yet-untitled debut album with producer Forrester Savell (The Butterfly Effect, Karnivool, Dead Letter Circus).

Meanwhile, The Waifs, who are all basically living in the US fulltime these days, spent ten days in a basement in Minneapolis recording their sixth album, Temptation, due for release in March.

Also due for release in March is the eponymous debut album from Adalita, recorded at Melbourne’s Head Gap Studios and co-produced by her former Magic Dirt offsider, the late Dean Turner.

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Talking on his latest solo album Black Dub, producer extraordinaire and “studio rat” DANIEL LANOIS also tells MICHAEL SMITH of his time spent with Neil Young and U2.

C

anadian-born Daniel Lanois was an aspiring singer, songwriter and guitarist when he set up his first studio in the basement of his mother’s house with his brother Bob. From there, he set up Grant Avenue Studios in an old house in Hamilton, Ontario where he produced two albums for Martha & The Muffins, after his sister, who joined the band as bass player, introduced him. It was through these that Brian Eno picked up on Lanois’ potential and called him in to collaborate on the track, Dunwich Beach, on his 1982 Ambient 4: On Land album. Within two years, Lanois and Eno were co-producing U2’s The Unforgettable Fire and in 1987, The Joshua Tree. Lanois has gone on to work with artists as diverse as Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Emmylou Harris and Peter Gabriel, but since 1989, when he released his own debut album, Acadie, Lanois has also re-established himself as an artist. His most recent album, Black Dub, is a collaborative project with singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Trixie Whitley, Belgian-born daughter of the late American alt.country artist Chris Whitley, the four-piece filled out by rhythm section Daryl Johnson on bass and Brian Blade on drums.

“It was pretty much live off the floor,” Lanois, on the line from a café in Montreal, explains, the quiet grin palpable in his voice. “It’s reassuring when you can get them that way. It means you’ve got a pretty good band there to play with. Even though the tracks were recorded all over the world because I’m a bit of a troubadour and vagabond when it comes to recording – I’ve always got something in the trunk of the car! – the vocals were done in Toronto and Los Angeles, and quite quickly: Trixie’s a first-taker.”

Lanois ran into Whitley a couple of years ago at a festival in Belgium he was playing as a two-piece with Blade. A family friend – he’d played guitar on Chris Whitley’s 1991 Living With The Law album – she presented him with a CD of her own music that impressed Lanois enough to invite her along to do a session. Her ability and soulfulness became the final component for a project he had in mind.

“I’ve always had a dream to make very rhythmic music, so this is my segue into a more groovebased music. I’ve always liked the Jamaican dub culture – in fact I’ve been a resident of Jamaica for 15 years – and I love the forefathers of dub: Lee Scratch Perry and others. I’ve always liked the minimal display but with rock and soul underneath of it all.

BLACK DUB RECORDING (FROM L-R): TRIXIE WHITLEY, DANIEL LANOIS, DARYL JOHNSON AND BRIAN BLAD

“Some Some of the songs are very band-oriented and some are ore studio rat-oriented – that’s what I call myself, ‘Studio more at’! The more laboratory aspect of things I still love of Rat’! ourse and a lot of what I do is born that way. There’s course ann instrumental on the record called Slow Babyy – that’s bviously sample-driven and rhythm box-driven but there’s obviously so a lot of vitality in the topping, the guitar playing.” also tting over a rhythm section informed by not Sitting nly dub reggae but also enough jazz and funk only to keep the groove interesting, Lanois’ guitar sounds are typically cinematic and yet edgy.

“That’s a combination really. Some of the sounds are more straight up and guttural, like you hear on Slow Baby – there’s not a lot of trickery with those – and then I’m fascinated by this new dub technique that I’ve invented.

That’s where the name Black Dub came from and it’s a technique where I extract from already existing ingredients in the recording, work on the sounds and spin them back in to the appropriate places, and that’s most evident on the track Where Love Lives. I don’t know where a sound will come and it’s directly related to one of the components already in the music but it jumps out as a surprise.

Sometimes I apply voltage control oscillators to that, which gives it a human voice sound. It’s something I’ve been working on for years and I think the Black Dub record shows it off a bit and I also recently made a Neil Young record and that really displays that technique in a big way.”

That Neil Young record is his latest solo album, Le Noise, which was recorded in Lanois’ home in the Silverlake

area of Los Angeles. As it happens, Lanois has recently opened a new studio, The Temple, at Roncesvalles in Toron Toronto. While Lanois describes the Young album as “a m man on a stool [playing acoustic and electric guitars] and me doing a nice job on the recording,” it’s those trademark tr sonic textures that sets it apart.

“I hit on this technique years ago, and I use boxes – old boxes aand new boxes – they’re really just sampling devices devices. You can think of it like, you’ve made a beautiful suit – now you’ve got to put on the pockets. So you take from an already existing motif and maybe blow it up eight times in size and then the pocket goes on and it’s clearly a different expression – genetically associated but not identical at first glance.”

I couldn’t of course let Lanois go, despite getting the windup from the operator, without a quick question about his working with U2. “Oh yeah, the Dublin boys!

I think about them every day. They’re like family to me so I always think, ‘What’s Larry Mullen gonna think of this beat?’ The Unforgettable Fire and The Joshua Tree, that whole period in the 80s it was pretty much nose to the grindstone and I had no social life.

Those records are quite deep and profound I think, largely I think because of the concentration we had in those days. I can only take so much responsibility – those guys are a force. It was nice to be with them and we kind of grew up together in the studio.”

Black Dub is out on Jive/Sony Music.

GEAR REVIEWS

IBANEZ RGA7 At last a worthy adversary has stepped into the hallowed halls of the metal coliseum. Should you be thinking of burying blues and roots in your backyard then may I suggest picking up one of these bad boys.

The Ibanez RGA7 is certainly designed for those who like to heighten the BPM. With seven strings of bonecrunching madness the Ibanez RGA7 alleviates the playing of your stock standard metal tunes, obviously having the ability to tremendously shift a wide of variety of tunings. From your standard drop D, all the way down to the likes of your drop B tunings so you can roll with your buddies from Korn and Slipknot.

The Ibanez RGA7 itself is a pleasure to look at, featuring a mahogany body with a bound rosewood fretboard, a thin wizard 11-7 neck and a pearl dot inlay with jumbo frets, the thickness of the first fret is around 19mm and the 12th fret comes in at about 21mm and with the all-round neck radius being clocked at about 400mm, it makes shredding through scales and dive-bombs that little more accessible to your all-round player.

Featuring a LZ7-B bridge pickup and also a LZ7-N neck pick up, both include ceramic magnets and low noise/high power seven-string active pickups, which both can be altered between the three-way pickup switching system. A device you’d be happy to see in

A tough one indeed this was also very intriguing as the technique is certainly a form of art. The Moog comes encased in a nice solid wooden body, all with a nice finish that gives it an old fashion look. From there it is certainly easy to get up and running, a simple extra low voltage adaptor with an input around 230-240v. Screw in the antennas into either side of the Moog, route it to you speakers or amplifier and you are ready to rock’n’roll, conduct, bust a move or whatever the case may be. Armed with a variety of manipulating features such as the pitch shifter, waveform adjustment, brightness control and, of course, volume control they’re all easily accessible by turning the knobs located on the front on the devise. your collection, based not only on the style which it accommodates and suites, but the dollar value attached to the Ibanez RGA7 is very honest and affordable at just under $1,300. Naturally there’s a little extra on top for the case is definitely a must; don’t want to send this baby out to war unprepared now do we? And it would seem that wielding this axe is akin to going to figurative war as it knocks many cheap imitations out of the water. Reach way back in to your closet and grab out that pair of leather pants that you never thought you would have a reason to wear again and strap on that headband because with something as beautiful as this in your arms, you have to looking the goods.

Raymond Barnfeld For stockists head to ibanezguitarcentre. com.au. Guitar supplied by Allans Music + Billy Hyde, allansmusic.com.au.

MOOG ETHERWAVE THEREMIN

So the first thought here is to analyse how this feels. If you caught the Lou Reed-curated Vivid Live at Sydney Opera House earlier this year, you’ll be familiar with the masterful Theremin playing of The Night Tremors’ Miles Brown. This whole device feeds off hand movements through the signal radius, essentially achieved by movements akin to traditional conducting. So for the uniformed, let us begin by scratching our heads.

An interesting point to this device you can control a lot of the volume with the movements of your left hand, and from Time Off ’s experience the right hand controls the pitch of your tone, and the left hand controls the tone volume itself. A lot of time is required to really hone in on this piece of equipment’s potential, that is probably best suited to experimental adventures, although could be utilised in either the rock or dance spheres if used intelligently.

The points when you feel like you’re conducting in the privacy of your own home and with all matter of bravado are beautifully satisfying. That and it’s a great instrument to have while people are around as a party trick, watching somebody trying to get their head around this wonderful piece of machinery is outstandingly fun.

At the end of the day, the Theremin is not an essential instrument, but one that can be superimposed upon a variety of situations. Much like the early – screeching – stage of violin, it demands a fair amount of time and dedication to learning its craft. That said, for $550 there’s plenty of laughs to be had on the journey towards Brown’s level of competence.

Raymond Barnfeld Supplied by Allans Music+ Billy Hyde.

EMPLOYMENT

ENTERTAINMENT

ADMINISTRATION

Australia’s leading online employment and news website dedicated to backstage. The website is free to search and join with out any hassles of membership fees. www.backstagejobs.com.au

Guitarist, wanted to join established Brisbane based band playing original electro groove rock, pop and soul type tunes.. CD in production with recording available, video shot and mixes by US and European and Oz producers.

Band has management and gigs.

iFlogID: 9953

TRADES & SERVICES

iFlogID: 9710

NOT AVAILABLE FOR FREE ADS. CL Bass Player needed for originals electro rock, pop and soul established AV band. Recording in production and southern management. Share stage with dynamic diva, swampy guitar synth and power drums/mc. Email links for links. Great tunes. iFlogID: 9969

NOT AVAILABLE FOR FREE ADS. CL

In January 2011 Pine Rivers Park hosts the annual ‘Raggamuffin’ Festival. This new venue allows an area exclusively for stall holders to sell their products. The capcity of 20,000 opens a great opportunity to expand clientele. More information info@ qlive.com.au

iFlogID: 9846

URBAN HUMM STUDIO, WEST END. Rehearsal Rooms, Recording Studio & P.A. Hire.Off street undercover parking, flat loading, aircond., P.A. provided. Open 6.00pm to 11.00pm.

Weekend and day slots available.Permanent weekly spots available.Phone Andy. 0411632023 iFlogID: 9153

CALL CENTRE/CUST. SERVICE Telemarketer required with music industry experience by Sydney based established music production company. Possible work from home, if more suitable. Hourly rate plus commission neg. Please email your details for an appointment. leon@ oriium.com.au iFlogID: 9367

six Dixon double braced stands. PLUS Janus hihat/dble bass pedal. Everything powder coated black! PLUS cases for all drums. Everything in excellent cond. $5950

PEAVEY BANDIT 11 80 watt 12” combo guitar amp.USA made.2 channel footswitchable.reverb,saturation etc. great fat tones.VGC.$350 Ph. 0428744963.cooroy.

NOT AVAILABLE FOR FREE ADS. CL

iFlogID: 9915

iFlogID: 9913

RNC 1773 Really Nice Compressor.

Amazing little stereo compressor.

Awesome for home recording. Bought it & never used it, it’s as new, still in the box. Regretfully selling all my recording gear. My pain is your gain.

Paid $400, sell $275! iFlogID: 9558

iFlogID: 9540

FOR SALE AMPS

Keys Player/Composer to join established band, good original repertoire recorded & in production. Can contribute to that & next album. Electro rock/pop/soulful sound, dynamic diva & emcee. Video shot & a track mixed US due out soon plus gigs & management

Marshall 2x12 cab up for sale! 2x 65watt celestion speakers both brand new, 4 screw in wheels carry handles , great quality , $350 or best offer,so if your interested call us on 0435510600

David Eden 4x10 XLT, 700 watt 8 ohm version. In good condition, sounds amazing never pushed as it was so loud $900 0402265768 iFlogID: 9984

Fender Super Reverb. 1969 Vintage 4 x 12” combo. Minor cosmetic damage. Great amp. $2895 or near offer. Call Frank 0434 686 755 or 02 9740 8333. iFlogID: 9809

Fender twin reverb combo amplifier, later 70’s. reverb and tremolo. 100+ watts. silver face with foot switch, on casters. All original including the valves no tears anywhere. excellent condition. $2100. Contact brendon at email mccarrison@aapt.net.au iFlogID: 9421

Line 6 Flextone 2 combo. 2 x 12” speakers. Good condition with full pedal board. sell $795 or near offer.

Call Frank on 0434 686 755 or 02 9740 8333. iFlogID: 9805

Markbass Studio Pre500 amp. Top of the line unit, used on 3 sessions, still under Warranty. Retail $4395...Sell $2500 o.n.o. Call Frank 0434 686 755 or 02 9740 8333

iFlogID: 9803

Trace Elliot Speed Twin all valve 100w head/guitar amp - boutique top of the line, triple channel, pentode/triode switchable, high gain, footswitchable, effects loop, speaker dampening - the British mesa boogie! Super versatile. Excellent cond. Paid $2000, sell $950! iFlogID: 9560

Trace Elliot V8 Bass Amp, very rare made in the UK edition, 400 watt all tube bass head. In perfect condition, only ever used in half power, and not used in 2 years, $3000 0402267568 iFlogID: 9982

BASS

iFlogID: 9929

Roland TD9 Electronic drumkit. All mesh pads, Pearl pedal and stool, active coaxial monitor speaker, headphones. Hardly used in excellent condition. Over $5k worth gear, sell for $3,200. iFlogID: 9960

Win a Pearl Forum drum kit with cymbals. Drummers Paradise are celebrating their 21st birthday by giving away a Pearl Black Forum 5 piece kit with cymbals. Just go to www.drummersparadise.com.au to enter. Prize is Drawn Dec 21st a noon.

iFlogID: 10026

Epiphone LP Special (Vintage Sunburst)plus Epiphone 10 watt practise amp - both in as new condition.Top beginner kit - $385.00

FENDER STANDARD STRATOCASTER

iFlogID: 9980

Gibson Thunderbird IV 2004 Sunburst, GC, has been gigged however, well taken care of. Hasn’t been played since 2008. iFlogID: 9976

DRUMS 8,10,12,14,16” rack toms, 4x13 snare, 22” bass. Electric Blue. PLUS

GIBSON SG STANDARD LEFTY

Brand New Gibson SG Standard Lefthanded guitar. Heritage chrery finish including Gibson hard case.

Logans Price $1999 WOW! (righthanded also available!) Logans Music Burwood (02)97442400 www. loganspianos.com.au AUTHORISED GIBSON DEALER iFlogID: 6614

Lowden acoustic guitar. Made in Ireland 2003. Model 032C cutaway.

Rosewood back and sides, sitka spruce top. Abalone inlays. Hiscox case. Mint unused condition suit new buyer $3500. Ph Brendon on mobile 0417644600. iFlogID: 9423

Warwick Streamer II 5 String Bass Guitar. As made famous by Dirk Lance of Incubus. As new condition.

iFlogID: 9774

iFlogID: 9895

Brand New Fender standard Stratocaster.(Mexico) Updated model including new tinted neck. Different colour options available. Package includes Guitar, gig bag and stand.

RRP $1100 Logans Price $756 Heaps

MATON accoustic steel string 3/4 guitar.model F 11.dated 10/73.no 1591. all australian timbers.good origional condition.suit collector.$500.

Ph 0428744963. Cooroy iFlogID: 9811

Vintage 1960’s “Optro” 305 compressor limiter. Vintage & classic 2RU broadcast transformer balanced opto compressor/limiter, in great working condition. Great vintage mojo. As used by Festival, ABC and Metropolis studios. Bargain! Sell for $675! iFlogID: 9564

iFlogID: 9850

iFlogID: 9815

FENDER STRATOCASTER DAN SMITH 1982. RARE MOCHA BROWN. ORIGINAL BODY AND PARTS. IN FENDER CASE. EXCELLENT CONDITION. CALL 0432 224 799. FOR MORE INFO.

MIXERS Mackie Onyx 1620 analog mixer w/ SKB Mighty Gig Rig on wheels (Complete mobile PA / recording system can be racked in this rig). 8 preamps w/ direct recording out.

FENDER SRATOCASTER. PINK PAISLEY. genuine early 80’s.with hardcase.all origional.plays great. beautiful tone and sustain.very rare. suit collector. exellent condition. $2500. Ph 0428744963

GUITARS Brand new Maton M225 acoustic guitar in unopened plastic wrapping.

Outer cardbox packaging opened for inspection. Year manufactured: 2009. $550 Pickup location: Brisbane CBD

GUITAR AMPLITUBE IRIG

iFlogID: 6618

iFlogID: 9939

iFlogID: 9974

Ernieball Musicman Stingray 4 Blue Dawn (LTD Colour), PC, 1 owner since new, used as backup, played maybe 100 times, $2000, 0402265768

of other Fender bargains instore.

Logans Music (02) 9744 2400 www. loganspianos.com.au AUTHORISED FENDER DEALER

AmpliTube iRig. Plug your guitar into your iPhone/iPod touch/iPad and jam anywhere with world class guitar and bass tone right in the palm of your hand - from the leader in studio-class guitar and bass software. Simply plug the iRig interface into your mobile device, plug your instrument into the appropriate input jack, plug in your headphones, amp or powered speakers, download AmpliTube for iPhone Free and start rocking! You’ll have at your fingertips the sound and control of 3 recombinable simultaneous stompbox effects + amplifier + cabinet + microphone just like a traditional guitar or bass stage rig! Add amps and effects as you need them — you can expand your rig with up to 11 stomps, 5 amps, 5 cabinets and 2 microphones in the AmpliTube iRig app custom shop. ONLY $59.99 UNBEATABLE Logans Music (02)9744 2400 www.loganspianos.com.au iFlogID: 6545

TASCAM 8 track digital studio recorder. 2 mike and line inputs, record 8 tracks mix down professionally and burn to cd in one unit. Perfect condition used only a handful of times $750.00 call on 0419 705 169 iFlogID: 9986

Tobacco Burst 1974 USA Gibson SG Looks it’s age if your into that relic rock’n’roll been around the traps look. Sounds amazing. A real character & a reluctant sale. Recently had professional setup & comes with it’s original hard case. iFlogID: 9430

Sell Control Surface Digidesign Control 24 (Focusrite) in excellent condition, $5000. Selling because moving overseas. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions and in order to discuss the price.

XIO NOVATION SYNTH FOR SALE NEVER LEFT BEDROOM STILL GOT BOX $300 NO LESS A SYNTH/SOUNDCARD/AND/MIDI CONTROLLER CITY LOCATION 0404221049/MARK iFlogID: 9777

iFlogID: 9736

OTHER Avalon 737SP micpre/compressor/ equaliser Amazing Class A professional quality recording strip, used by studios everywhere. Hardly used!

Very regretful sale. Perfect cond. RRP $3400, selling $1800! iFlogID: 9562

BURLESQUE & DRAG EYELASHES Petticoats & Gallantry has launched a new range of exclusive, boutique handmade & decorated false eyelashes perfect for going out. With a mix of over-the-top dramatic lashes suitable for Performances, Burlesque, Drag and even just for a special night out, you’re sure to find some one-ofa-kind false eyelashes to wear. Each pair is customised and decorated by hand in a variety of themes, and commission orders are very welcome. www.petticoatsandgallantry.com.au Look for us on facebook for exclusive promotions.

PA EQUIPMENT BSSound PA & Lights SALE Grays Online Auction: 2 to 8 December.

Inspection day Tuesday 7 December.

150 Lots of brand-name microphones, speakers, effects, amps, mixers, road-cases and lights. www. bssound.com.au/sale.htm www. graysonline.com/sale/67713 Mark Barry on 0419 993 966 iFlogID: 9651

CARVER U.S.A Twin 900 watt split mono power amp with Bose controller/pre amp. rack mount style.in covered case.will run 4 speakers each side.total 1800 watts.LOUD! VGC $750 lot.Ph.0428744963 cooroy iFlogID: 9308

PA speakers - EAW KF-550 powerful and large PA speakers (2x). 2x15” 1x12” 1xhorn horizontally oriented.

Three-way. Includes stands. Make an offer! Call or email for specs, or visit http://bit.ly/kf-550. jeremy@thebennett.org or 0400 404 919. iFlogID: 9936

iFlogID: 6658

Joe Meek Twin Q recording strip.

Mic pre/compressor/limiter/equaliser stereo/twin channel recording strip, barely used, perfect condition. Adds awesome vintage mojo to recordings. Sounds fantastic. I’m selling all my recording gear. I paid $1450, sell $750! iFlogID: 9566

Quested F11.. 2 way active near field monitors. Pro grade quality. Good Condition. $1395 or near offer. Call Frank 0434 686 755 or 02 9740 833.

MUSIC SERVICES BAND MERCHANDISE NOT AVAILABLE FOR FREE ADS. CL - PRO QUALITY BACKING TRACKS! - MIDI or MP3 - Any song you want - Send me the song today, Get the MIDI file the next day! - $25 for MIDI / $35 for mp3 - EMAIL: vangelis2133@ yahoo.com PHONE: 0449672435 iFlogID: 9706

iFlogID: 9813

For a limited time. Free online and print classifieds Book now, visit iflog.com.au 65

BOOKING AGENTS

OTHER

REPAIRS

Gig Launch has heaps of opportunities for artists in Australia and around the world. We’re always on the hunt for new artists, so head over to www. giglaunch.com.au and get submitting! Go Aussie, Go Gig Launch

Commercial Radio Airplay, get your songs on Radio! Interested? contact andy@zfmcountrywide.com

MIKES GUITAR GARAGE GUITAR REPAIRS & SETUPS www.mikesguitargarage.com (02)95862486. We are passionate about Guitar Repairs.

From simple restrings, complete setups, repairing broken headstocks or installing pickups, we can do ANYTHING! We can get your favourite axe sounding and playing better!

iFlogID: 9386

Gig Launch is Australia’s first online booking agency. Gig on a Japanese Boat for 6 months at AU$3000 per month, Submit your music to feature films, Play at any of the Scorcherfest festivals and Apollo Bay! Just head to www.giglaunch.com.au iFlogID: 10004

SnakeEyeProductions offers EPK’s also know as electronic press kits, they work as a bio/show reel, to promote your band to bookers/ promoters/labels and venues. PH0416120639 iFlogID: 9588

iFlogID: 9406

free iphone and nokia apps Radio Bondi

iFlogID: 9548

Free Radio Bondi Fm Iphone app, visit the app store, search for radio bondi, download free app, enjoy! iFlogID: 9408

Heavy Metal Community

iFlogID: 9594

Heavy Metal Music Community.

Upload And Promote Your Metal Music Online Free. Create your own band page. Heavy Metal, Black, Thrash, Death Metal, Hardcore, Gothic, Grindcore and many more.

Australian owned. Join now! www. onlyheavymetal.com iFlogID: 10031

DUPLICATION/ MASTERING

SELL YOUR BANDS C.D’S ONLINE!!!! www.rocknpops.com/unsignedmoozik

Deluxe Mastering: Melbourne’s premier mastering specialists for CD, vinyl and online release. Servicefocused, relaxed atmosphere, decades of experience in all genres, custom analogue signal path. Noobligation quotes & mix evaluations.

See website for credits. w: www. deluxemastering.com.au e: adam@ deluxemastering.com iFlogID: 9854

EP RELEASE EVERY SONG - RADIO READY! SPECIAL PRICE avail for singer/songwriters until end of January 2011...

Have 5 songs produced, mixed & mastered for ONLY $499 per track!!!

Email info@nathaneshman.com for more details as conditions apply. Visit www.nathaneshman.com for audio examples iFlogID: 9963

iFlogID: 9373

SIGNUP FREE! SONGUPLOAD FREE! RockCraze.com is a Musicians Social Networking Portal. We created an opportunity for Musicians, Song Writers. Bands and DJ’s to not only keep close ties with their fan-base but to also sell your own music on RockCraze.com Share your works on RockCraze with all the other SNS’s like Twitter, Facebook, Myspace including many others. iFlogID: 9972

www.ozjam.com.au is free to join, and with over 4500 members its fast becoming the largest online music community in Australia! If your looking to join or form a band, find a band member, or get exposure check Ozjam out today! iFlogID: 9941

PA / AUDIO / ENGINEERING

HIRE SERVICES For as low as $100, you get a professional PA system with a sound mixer with operator. Suitable for weddings, pub/club band gigs, private parties etc. infovision@yayabings.com.au Contact Chris 0419 272 196 iFlogID: 9834

INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNISED PRODUCER! Credits include: Marcia Hines, Candice Alley, Ex-Toto frontman Fergie Frederikson. Have every song produced at radio standard... under every budget. Visit www. nathaneshman.com, email info@ nathaneshman.com or call 0403 498 103 for package prices...from demos, to singles and full albums. iFlogID: 9965

MANAGEMENT MINSTREL MANAGEMENT Need help with your music career? We provide the best in Recording, Mastering, Tours, Promotion, Publicity, Solicitation, Merchandise, Music Video’s, Photography, International Licensing, Direct to fan Marketing campaigns.

WANT TO TAKE YOUR ACT TO THE NEXT LEVEL? www.minstrelmanagement.com iFlogID: 9681

PA/OPERATOR FOR HIRE For as low as $100, you get a PA system with a sound mixer, complete with a human operator as well to set it up for you for the evening. Contact Chris 0419 272 196. iFlogID: 7415

RECORDING STUDIOS Bedlam’s intimate two room studio is fully equipped with the latest in pro audio and provides a landscape for creative brilliance. Bedlam offers a wide variety of tracking, production and mixing solutions to cater from demos to complete releases iFlogID: 10010

SINGER/SONGWRITERS have a home studio and require a producer to help polish your tracks? High-end recording studio with the convenience and universal application of the Internet.

World class session musicians work with you every step of the way- more information www.rockethouseproductions.com iFlogID: 9842

iFlogID: 9578

ROCKIN REPAIRS - GUITAR TECH RESTRINGS-SETUPS-UPGRADESREPAIRS Do you live to play? Whether you’ve bought a new guitar or a favourite is feeling faded, we’ll rejuvenate it! We work hard to give you the feel/sound you want! 0405253417 tara@rockinrepairs.com www.rockinrepairs.com iFlogID: 9340

TUITION GUITAR LESSONS! Luke has been at the forefront of the Australian Music Industry for the past 10 years. Signing to 4 record labels, sharing management with Matchbox 20, playing National arena’s, and writing songs with Eskimo Joe. Call: 0400077901 iFlogID: 9679

SINGING LESSONS Certified Speech Level Singing (SLS) Instructor. Learn the Technique of over 120 Grammy award winners. Extend your Range.

No more Breaks/Flips. Develop Strength. All Styles. Eastern Suburbs. www.myspace.com / mazvocalstudio - Contact Maz: maz@mazmazak.com iFlogID: 9795

VIDEO / PRODUCTION

Credits: Marcia Hines, Candice Alley & Fergie Frederikson (ex-Toto)... Nathan Eshman is available for online guitar sessions. Email him your guide tracks & you’ll receive tracks recorded in a pro studio without leaving home.

Contact info@nathaneshman.com or visit www.nathaneshman.com ANY BUDGET! iFlogID: 9967

Experienced Guitarist looking for good Sydney Cover Band. At 23 I have been playing for over 10 years, have 4 years professional touring experience, Pro Gear (Fender, Gibson, endorsed by Mesa/Boogie). Email anthony at anthony320chmiel@hotmail.com No Time wasters please. iFlogID: 9720

Lead guitarist looking to form/ join a heavy metal band,on the central coast. Influences: Mercyful Fate, Judas Priest, Metallica,Iron maiden,Kalmah,Dethklok - Blake 0403138542 iFlogID: 9836

SESSION GUITARIST available to play on your next track remotely via the internet. Great quality tracks without the expenses of studio time and travel. Perfect for producers/songwriters Excellent equipment,tone and touch, 20 years experience. For examples further information- www. rockethouseproductions.com iFlogID: 9844

OTHER Specialising in High Energy Funk and Afro- Cuban styles. If you want fire and professional energy to your performance, then call Simon 0415 138 589. Paid gigs only iFlogID: 9614

SnakeEyeProductions specializes in live gig film clips for your website or myspace. Filming in HD with broadcast quality equipment, we edit clips and provide DVD transfers/authoring and uploads. Great way to make your music stand out from the rest. ph-0416120639 iFlogID: 9584

MUSICIANS AVAILABLE

SINGER Guy (26) with singing in his blood.

Need music in my life.I’ll give my all and be myself.Definitely a performer/ frontman. Got lots of energy, inspiration and can write lyrics.I believe that the right band will find me. iFlogID: 9882

MUSICIANS WANTED DRUMMER I am looking to join a funk/R&B/ soul cover or originals band. I’m 33, played for 20 years, and have own equipment. Tony 0437 725 521 iFlogID: 9643

Pro level drummer with good vocal ability available for gigs, sessions, tours etc. Good gear, good attitude, own transport. Can play many styles, specialising in Rock and Funk. Based on the Sunshine Coast. Call Paolo on 0404054743 iFlogID: 10012

GUITARIST Pro guitarist / singer available

iFlogID: 10022

17 yr/o guitarist been playing 5yrs keen to join a hard rock/ metal band, no scremo, death core bullshit, real metal, influences megadeth,maiden,priest,guns n roses etc... interested? call 0435510600 iFlogID: 9645

Studio Recording and musician services.

BASS PLAYER Bass player , experienced for original trio iFlogID: 10016

Double Bass to play swing, blues, rock n roll. Vocal ability a plus. Regular work. Vini & The Moonlighters vatm.com.au iFlogID: 9542

Female bass player wanted for Brisbane rock dance band. Must be 18 - 35 years, photogenic, reliable. Inf: RHCP, RATM, P!nk, Suzi Quatro, Alanis Morrissette and more. Ph: 0437 428 859 or 3267 6789. iFlogID: 9932

Next Exit are looking for a Bass player that can drive any bass-line. We are a rock coverband. Professional attitude a must. Call Peter 0412669292 iFlogID: 9893

NTL. TOURING GRP WITH AGENCY & UK/US DEAL W/AU DISTRO NEEDING BASSIST NOW! ‘ROCK N ROLL/INDIE/ NEW WAVE’ - MUSICALLY PROFI-

CIENT, MANY GENRES AS BONUS. DO NOT CONTACT IF U NO PLAYING WEB (must have myspace etc.) - newplaying@live.com

GUITARIST WANTED TO TEACH

CAUSTIC ATTACK are a Sydney based Grindcore band in search of a vocalist.

This vocalist must listen to: Napalm Death Carcass Morbid Angel Repulsion Celtic Frost Discharge Doom Crass If you’re interested contact us via myspace. www.myspace.com/ causticattack

iFlogID: 9880

Wanted: bass player/vocalist 25-35 for working 60s-00s covers band.

Some experience and good song repertoire preferred. Shows booked early 2011.

DRUMMER

iFlogID: 9631

Drummer experience required

iFlogID: 10018

Drummer needed for indie rock band.

Influences: early KOL, Bloc Party, Radiohead. myspace/tierraoutlaws.

Contact Andrew 0408255644 iFlogID: 9927

Drummer wanted for original music project, currently an acoustic solo act but I want to develop it into new sound with a new band; www.jamesdonnelly.com or call James 0400 342 852 (South Sydney Area) iFlogID: 9480

Drummer wanted for weekly jams with view for fun improv, song writing, strange rhythms, gigs, money.

Reference points include: Phish, Gojira, Tom Waits, Fishbone, Primus. mrmoolking@yahoo.com

We seek guitar players who are looking to earn money teaching guitar.

Training and teaching materials are supplied. Teach from one of our schools or your own location. Limited positions available. Visit www.g4guitar.com.au for details. iFlogID: 7447

I am a good singer with quality studio lookin for guitarist who likes radiohead jeff buckley damien rice style stuff to write with I have good contacts,i do pop as well/covers iFlogID: 9779

looking to start up a new acoustic band from scratch and am keen to get it started. looking for over age of 18 and needs to be able to contribute as a two piece band. Shane iFlogID: 9371

National touring band require professional guitarist. Age 18 -25. Must be proficient in all forms of Rock, Blues, Roots.Involves backing high profile artists. Show operates out of Queensland. For further details email marty@thewindupdolls.com or phone 0408 010 789 iFlogID: 9925

iFlogID: 9992

Drummer Wanted! hey were a couple of guys who are keen to get a serious metal band up and running in kiama area ,so far just guitar and bass influenced by megadeth,maiden,slayer so if interested call at 0435510600 iFlogID: 9499

Female drummer wanted for Brisbane rock dance band. Inf: RATM, RHCP, P!nk, Suzi Quatro, Alanis Morrissette.

Must be 18 - 35 y.o., photogenic and be ambitious. Ph 0437 428 859 or 3267 6789. iFlogID: 9934

Mature dynamic metal band based in Hills/Blacktown,Sydney. Infl: Rock, Grunge, Black, Death, Hardcore, Groove, Doom...etc Looking for like-minded drummer, own gear & car. Practice weekly. Gig monthly. myspace.com/cursedwithsanity.

PLEASE NO TIME WASTERS! iFlogID: 9616

Sydney contemporary rock band is looking for a young vibrant 22-30-yr drummer to join now!!! Songs ready to go, gigs waiting for us and we are ready to record our first album early 2011. iFlogID: 9661

GUITARIST GUITARIST WANTED FOR SYDNEY ROCK BAND. PREFERABLY AGED BETWEEN 18-25. WE ARE SUPPORTING CHOIRBOYS IN MELBOURNE IN JANUARY AND WE ARE LINING UP MORE GIGS IF YOU WANT MORE INFO THEN CONTACT US... 0404 166 433 pippincopps@yahoo.com.au iFlogID: 10029

ers are here to help you create and design your website with ease. We specialise in building websites that work. When you hire us to design your website we’ll give you a product that looks great and that actually works for your business or service.

Packages start from $400 Call Richard or Kelly on 0424 125 169 iFlogID: 6665

iFlogID: 9870

iFlogID: 9612

8 piece soul, reggae and funk style band in Marrickville, Sydney looking for a drummer who can be ready to gig in 8 weeks! Rehearsals 11-3pm every Sunday in St Peters, please contact us if you are interested, jon@ low-gear.com

SINGER

KEYBOARD

Hi, I’m looking for a great male vocalist. To sing only one dance song.

Thanks iFlogID: 9860

Looking for singers/songwriters for electronica/indie/dance project. More info mail to reigovilbiks@gmail.com Location Perth. Reigo iFlogID: 9442

Require a strong professional female singer with cover band experience for high end Corporate and private Functions Party Covers Band and agency backed! Send CV/bio to info@techwebdevelopers.com on receipt I will send applicable band website, setlists, songs etc

Offering a range of design services www.melissahowarddesign.com iFlogID: 9602

Professional Band and Business Websites: Videos, audio clips/jukebox, Photogallery, Gig Dates, About Us, Contact Us and much more from $399 fully hosted. See www. bizwebsites.com.au or contact info@ bizwebsites.com.au today! iFlogID: 9840

OTHER Do you have an Iphone? If yes, please download my free app, radio bondi, cheers

iFlogID: 9714

iFlogID: 9653

Require a strong professional female singer with cover band experience for high end Corporate and Private Functions Party Covers Band and agency backed! Send CV/bio to info@techwebdevelopers.com on receipt I will send applicable band website, setlists, songs etc

Is your life a cluttered mess? Take it Shake it Life Coaching visit www.tisi. me Xmas gift vouchers available.

iFlogID: 9838

Seeking Singer /sunshine coast cover band mod rock ,free rehersal, gear provided . Bands - Franz ferdinand RHCP Incubus Foo Fighters Queens o stoneage fall out boy .gigs in new year!

Call dave for auditions 0432448878

iFlogID: 9458

Want to capture a live performance?

Professional live recording 24 tracks, mixed and mastered my experienced audio engineer. Can also record and band mix tracks themselves.Done on budget.0406456364 iFlogID: 9504

WANTED

iFlogID: 9659

National shows, recording and management backed. Need versatile keyboard/synth. From vintage B3 and Rhodes to giant arpeggiator and melodic synth. We have a keyboard, you need to a basic knowledge of chords and willingness to learn songs. thebabyseal@gmail.com iFlogID: 9884

Piano/Keyboard Player needed to join folk/rock outfit. Gigs booked. Recording soon. Some back up singing required. Age 25-39 Ph Chris - 0407 620 744 iFlogID: 9856

OTHER Festival4Stars International Songwriting Contest - now accepting submissions. Prize of an all expenses paid trip to London, and all song submissions receive written feedback from the judges. Heat 3 winners receive $300. To submit your song, head to www.giglaunch.com.au iFlogID: 9388

singer wanted for metal bandin kiama shelharbour area, no scremo gay shit, true metal, looking for someone who writes songs with meaning and purpose not just about deamons and death so if interested call at 0435510600

OTHER missing .. man from sydney central yha.. with red hair and leather cuffs.. this is maxine kezerle..chick with roxy pants...would you like to go out for dinner sometime?? 0432470048 iFlogID: 9356

iFlogID: 9501

Singer/keyboardist to form 80s-today covers duo on GC. Must be available to rehearse, pref age 25-40, keen to gig regularly.0422 642 933 iFlogID: 9576

Sydney Band looking for creative singer to write some original music with. 18 - 25 years old, music genre ranging from soft modern rock (Temper Trap) to alternative (tool/porcupine tree). Give us a call. 0431 485 328 (Toby).

to matt damon.. and the 7foot something guy from the yha.. does anyone know you?? i keep trying to ring the places where i think you’d be to no avail..i know its been years.. please call.. iFlogID: 9741

to the guy from the sydney central yha.. please send me a message.. ill take you out for christmas dinner.. love, maxine

iFlogID: 9438

iFlogID: 9955

SERVICES GRAPHIC DESIGN MUSICIAN & BAND WEBSITES

Sydney gigs available - Empire Hotel. Launching Empire Unplugged November 25th as a showcase for Sydney artists. To submit to play, go to the Gig Launch website at www. giglaunch.com.au iFlogID: 9398

Sydney gigs available - Low302. Darlinghurst. Looking for bands to play, show usually starts around 9pm. To submit to play, go to the Gig Launch website at www.giglaunch.com.au

iFlogID: 9862

iFlogID: 9400

Create your presence online and get noticed. Sydney based web design-

World class mastering from where you are, right now.

$450* EP master $900* Album master only for Oct. & Nov. Prices exclude GST. For details see matthewgraymastering.com/blog

Looking for barperson (pub manager, bussie).

Do it for FREE.

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NightLink services for NYE Buses half hourly 1am – 5.30am

Trains from around 4am

FlatFare taxis 11pm – 5.30am

From Friday 3 December NightLink bus services will depart opposite the Valley Metro entrance on Brunswick Street, not Warner Street*.

How to get home using the NightLink service 1. Choose your bus or train route

2. Choose your pick up location

Train station

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Remember, you can ask the bus driver to stop anywhere along the bus route, as long as it’s safe to do so.

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Bradfield Hwy

Main St

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City Hall

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Anglican Cathedral

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Central station

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Story Bridge

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Fortitude Valley train station

NightLink bus stop

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For further information on NightLink services, call TransLink on 13 12 30 any time, or visit www.translink.com.au/mobile on your mobile phone to access journey planner and timetable information.

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✓ ✓ ✓ N100 - Forest Lake N111 - Eight Mile ✓ ✓ ✓ Plains ✓ ✓ ✓ N130 - Algester N184 - Upper Mt ✓ ✓ ✓ Gravatt N199 - New Farm* Route N199 runs through Fortitude Valley, so it will continue to service Warner Street.

N199 - West End* ✓ ✓ ✓ N200 - Carindale ✓ ✓ ✓ N226 - Wynnum ✓ ✓ ✓ N250 - Cleveland ✓ ✓ ✓ N310 - Sandgate N330 - Bracken Ridge ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ N385 -The Gap ✓ ✓ ✓ N390 - Ferny Grove ✓ ✓ ✓ N412 - St Lucia ✓ ✓ ✓ N464 - Forest Lake ✓ ✓ ✓ N555 - Loganholme ✓ Beenleigh train line ✓ Caboolture train line ✓ Ipswich train line

The Queensland Government encourages responsible consumption of alcohol.

Ke

Key Central train station

Stop 216. Ann St (near Birdee Num Num)

Stop 67. Queen St (near Hotel Orient)

Stop 17. Adelaide St (near the Criterion)

Stop 116A. George St (outside Treasury Casino)

Stop 153. Eagle St (near Jade Buddha)

Bus and train routes

Brunswick St (opposite Valley Metro entrance)

Pick up locations