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WITH SPECIAL GUESTS

THU 25 JUL OXFORD ART FACTORY TICKETS ON SALE NOW Presented by Secret Sounds by arrangement with WME

deapvally.com | secret-sounds.com.au

Niche proudly presents a live performance by

LIL B NICHE PRESENTS

SATURDAY 15TH JUNE THE STANDARD SYDNEY — TICKETS: MOSHTIX.COM.AU —

and the

support by

half shadows tour

& Thomas William

SATURDAY 29TH JUNE THE BASEMENT Tickets available now through thebasement.com | for more details: follow @tokimonsta & NicheProductions.com.au

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BRAG :: 516 :: 10:06:13 :: 7

rock music news welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town...with Nick Jarvis and Lisa Omagari.

he said she said WITH

KATE GOGARTY OF GOGARTY Growing Up Growing up music was 1. always around us, there were always instruments and records around the house. We all got the opportunity to start performing at local venues in our teens due to having musical parents. This was a great opportunity and a big influence to help us all become musicians.

Inspirations To list all our influences 2. would be difficult to do because we all come from different musical backgrounds, but a few we have found in common are Neil Young, R.E.M, Fleetwood Mac and Coldplay. The sounds of these artists were a major part of all of our early lives. Many other genres of music inspire all the members of Gogarty such as jazz, blues, folk and rock.

Your Band The members of the band 3. consist of Kate (vocals/guitar), Bucko (electric guitar), Bill (bass) and Joe (drums). Bill and Bucko are brothers and the rest of us

Paul Kelly

Lenka

ART DIRECTOR: Sarah Bryant GRAPHIC DESIGN: Alan Parry SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER: Tim Levy SNAP PHOTOGRAPHERS: About LST Night aka Lincoln Jubb, Daniel Boud, Capital H aka Henry Leung, Katrina Clarke, Kate Lewis, Ashley Mar, Amath Magnan, Teeeightch aka Tim Harris, Prudence Upton

SWERVEDRIVER

ADVERTISING: Ross Eldridge - 0422 659 425 / (02) 9212 4322 ross@thebrag.com ADVERTISING: Les White - 0405 581 125 / (02) 9212 4322 les@thebrag.com PUBLISHER: Rob Furst GENERAL MANAGER, FURST MEDIA: Patrick Carr patrick@furstmedia.com.au, (03) 9428 3600, 0402 821 122 DIGITAL DIRECTOR/ADVERTISING: Kris Furst kris@furstmedia.com.au (03) 9428 3600

Legendary ’90s band Swervedriver is back with a fresh serving of heavy slacker rock’n’roll from their classic 1991 album RAISE, which AllMusic called “like the songs of a road trip junkie made weary by exhaust fumes, brutal heat, amphetamines, and heartbreak.” They’re performing RAISE in its entirety along with a career highlights set on Friday September 27 at the Metro, tickets from metropolistouring. com.

GIG & CLUB GUIDE CO-ORDINATOR: Katie Davern, Blake Gallagher, Naomi Russo gigguide@thebrag.com (rock) clubguide@thebrag. com (dance, hip hop & parties) AWESOME INTERNS: Natalie Amat, Katie Davern, Mina Kitsos, Blake Gallagher, Naomi Russo, Rachel Eddie

Please send mail NOT ACCOUNTS direct to this NEW address 100 Albion Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010 ph - (02) 9212 4322 fax - (02) 9319 2227 EDITORIAL POLICY: The views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher, editors or staff of The BRAG. ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE: Luke Forrester: accounts@furstmedia.com.au ph - (03) 9428 3600 fax - (03) 9428 3611 Furst Media, 3 Newton Street Richmond Victoria 3121 DEADLINES: Editorial: Wednesday 12pm (no extensions) Artwork/ad bookings: Thursday 12pm (no extensions).

Ad cancellations: Tuesday 4pm Published by Furst Media P/L ACN 1112480045.

All content copyrighted to Cartrage P/L/ Furst Media P/L 2003-2013 DISTRIBUTION: Wanna get The Brag? Email distribution@furstmedia. com.au or phone 03 9428 3600.

PRINTED BY SPOTPRESS: www.spotpress.com.au 24 – 26 Lilian Fowler Place, Marrickville NSW 2204 Win a giveaway? Send us a stamped, self-addressed envelope and we’ll mail your prize on over...

8 :: BRAG :: 516 :: 10:06:13

The Music You Make We are about to release an album 4. which was produced by Benjamin McCarthy (Pete Murray, Kate Miller-Heidke, Thelma Plum) and Sean Carey (Thirsty Merc, The Saints). It was recorded at The Vault and Trackdown Studios late last year and early this year. Our first single ‘Don’t You Ever’ is now available from iTunes. The album is due to be released later this year.

Music, Right Here, Right Now Music right here, right now is, in our 5. opinion, one of the most exciting forms of art, there are so many possibilities now that the world is connected more than ever, making it possible for people to have their voices heard.

In regards to the live music scene in Sydney there are many acts that can be checked out around the city and inner western suburbs but the only criticism is that we feel that it lacks a main hub, where there is a thriving musical scene in any genre.

Where: Lizottes, Dee Why / Brighton Up Bar When: Wednesday June 12 / Thursday June 13

LENKA

Y’all know this lass from her days in electro-rock outfi t Decoder Ring, but she’s equally impressive as a solo artist.

Lenka Kripac has just announced she’ll be touring the East Coast in October to perform tracks from her latest record Shadows, an album written while she was preggers with her son. Comprising a handful of lullabies designed to soothe herself, the new little tyke in her life and the audience, Lenka’s gig at The Vanguard on Friday October 25 is sure to calm the hell out of you.

EDITOR: Nick Jarvis nick@thebrag.com 02 9212 4322 ARTS EDITOR: Lisa Omagari lisa@thebrag.com 02 9212 4322 STAFF WRITERS: Benjamin Cooper, Alasdair Duncan, Jody Macgregor NEWS: Nick Jarvis, Lisa Omagari, Chris Honnery

REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Nat Amat, Shannon Connellan, Simon Binns, Katie Davern, Marissa Demetriou, Christie Eliezer, Chris Honnery, Kate Jinx, Lachlan Kanoniuk, Jody Macgregor, Alicia Malone, Chris Martin, Hugh Robertson, Jonno Seidler, Rach Seneviratne, Simon Topper, Rick Warner, Krissi Weiss, David Wild

met through music. Three of us share a house together, which is a positive creative experience when writing new material.

FBI SUPPORTER DRIVE

PAUL KELLY TOURS

Praise be to Paul Kelly, the closest Australia has to a living music deity.

Right now he’s killing it in the US, touring his album of last October Spring and Fall, but come July and August he’ll be back in Australia for an exhaustive string of dates around the country playing his new material and a “generous selection” from his back catalogue. Catch him at Newcastle’s Civic Theatre on Monday August 5 and in Sydney at Recital Hall on Tuesday August 13 and Wednesday August 14, with Urthboy in support for all dates. Tickets on sale this Friday June 14 at 9am.

AT FIRST SIGHT

Woah. Woah. Woah. Stop what you’re doing and come take a look at this. Martin ‘Silky’ Doyle (Dusty Fingers on FBi) has brought together HTRK, Beaches, Super Wild Horses, Twerps, The Laurels, Straight Arrows, Songs, Holy Balm and Day Ravies for one epic day of fine local music this July – and that’s only the first lineup announcement. You can also ruin your credit card and bolster your vinyl collection at a record fair stocked by Sydney’s finest indie record stores and labels. The whole deal costs a friendly $35 and happens Saturday July 20 at Carriageworks – tickets via carriageworks. com.au.

You like the Good, the Weird and the Local when it comes to music, right? So help keep FBi Radio on air by giving them a little of your hard earned cash during their supporter drive.

Over the next two weeks, non-profit tastemakers FBi will be calling out for your assistance – and if you give it to them, you might even win a trip for two to the UK with two tickets to Bestival!

(Where you’ll find Elton John, Fatboy Slim, Snoop Dogg, The Knife, Wu Tang and a stupid amount of other awesome bands.) Call 833 22 945 between 6am and 9pm to become a supporter.

GOBLIN TOUR

Holy shit! 1970s Italian prog rock masters Goblin are coming to Sydney for the first time ever! If you’ve ever seen one of Dario

SARAH BLASKO

So Sarah Blasko just came back from an extended stay in Paris, getting all Gertrude Stein and Anaïs Nin up in its face (we assume). But don’t be too jealous, for she’s coming back with her new album I Awake in tow for an extended trip around regional Australia.

Locally (and within Brag’s distribution circle, crucially), she’ll be at the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre in Penrith on Tuesday July 23, and at City Hall in Newcastle on Wednesday July 24 with full band in tow, as well as stopping by Byron for Splendour in the Grass (Saturday July 27). Get your tickets from Tuesday June 11.

Argento’s kooky and amazing b-grade horror films, you will have heard their spine tingling soundtrack work. They played ACMI in Melbourne last year, but this time they’re bringing their classic albums and soundtracks Suspiria, Dawn Of The Dead, Deep Red and Roller to the Metro on Tuesday July 16. Tickets on sale this Tuesday June 11.

OF MONSTERS AND MEN

At Laneway this year, the Icelandic chamberpop quintet inspired a near riot when they played ‘King And Lionheart’ – the first (and hopefully last) time we’ve ever seen a moshpit during a folk song. If you missed out, you can help recreate the mayhem at their newly announced third (and final) Sydney sideshow, Wednesday July 31 at the Metro with Mammals. Tickets on sale this Wednesday June 12 from 9am.

YELLOWCARD

Floridian pop-punks Yellowcard recently reissued their best-loved album Ocean Avenue as an acoustic set, and they’ll be bringing the unplugged album to Australia for a set of dates, playing the acoustic album in full followed by an amplified greatest hits set. Catch them at the Enmore on Saturday October 26 (all ages) with Toy Boats in support – tickets on sale 9am Thursday June 13.

Sarah Blasko

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BRAG :: 516 :: 10:06:13 :: 9

rock music news

free stuff

welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town...with Nick Jarvis and Natalie Amat.

five things WITH

GYPSY & THE CAT

BROOKE SHELLEY FROM RESONAXIS Growing Up I was the only musician in my 1. household but there was always

in musical taste. I’m teased for liking Europe so much.

music playing. My father listened to his LPs a lot – Bob Marley, Manu Dibango, ’60s rock. When I got my own cassette player I wore out all those compilation cassettes of the ’80s, like Rocktrip ’82, Summer Breaks ’83. And then I started piano lessons…

The Music You Make Perhaps the band that’s 4. closest to our style is Nightwish.

Inspirations Europe’s my favourite band. I 2. think I stole my brother’s cassette of ‘Final Countdown’, and then I bought every album since, plus every solo Joey Tempest album – he’s one of my favourite singers (along with Marco Beasley, Kate Bush and Rogers Covey-Crump).

Then there are groups like The Cult, VAST, Sonata Arctica…

Your Band Resonaxis started with me 3. telling David Drury the wider world needed to hear him play organ rather than just Sunday morning churchgoers. Matt Roberts (drums) is a relative of David’s, and Adam Bodkin plays bass in the Frank Zappa cover band Petulant Frenzy, which Matt sings in. I met Richard Hundy (guitars) through sound and recording contacts – so not only did he play guitar, he also recorded and mixed the album (Hymnarium). We all get on well but we definitely have differences

But then, we have two major differences to European metal/ gothic bands: 1) I’m not your usual rock diva; and 2) we have a pipe organ. So you won’t be hearing me scream into the mic – instead I’ll be floating over the top of some mean sounds from the organ. Not your usual rock band.

Music, Right Here, Right Now 5.

Lately, the only gigs I’ve been to are the ones involving band members – David Drury’s been playing a lot at the Sydney Opera House and I always like to hear Petulant Frenzy. The talent and skill of these musicians never ceases to amaze me. The fact I don’t get to as many concerts as I’d like highlights two of the obstacles a lot of musicians have to overcome: cash and time. We need cash to fund what we do and the time in which to do it.

This is also partly why you don’t see Resonaxis perform live often.

So make the most of it on June 22!

Where: St James Church When: Saturday June 22

BEACH ROAD

Sosueme have scored indie pop prince Pluto Jonze for this Wednesday June 12 at the Beach Road in Bondi, with Tigertown on hand to play support and the Indian Summer DJs dropping a sandy selection of tunes to wash down your 50 cent wings from the Public Bar. As ever, Sosueme is 100% free, as is the Fresh Fridays Reggae & Hip Hop Party, and Saturday night in the Rex Room, when they’ll have finalists from The Voice on hand for you to spin your chair around on.

Beaches

THIRD LAURA MARLING SHOW

Aristocratic, acid-witted and almost albino (with her platinum hair) Laura Marling has added a third Sydney date after punters snapped up tickets to her first and second shows – in the pious surrounds of St Stephen’s Uniting Church, no less – like rioters carrying off plasma screens. Don’t miss out on the third show (Wednesday July 24) – tickets are on sale now.

Foals

BEACHES

Melbourne-based psych-rock five piece Beaches have launched their second album She Beats. Produced by Jack Farley (Twerps, Scott & Charlenes Wedding) who also worked on Beaches’ debut album in 2008, the record vouches for the band’s love for ‘60s pop, ‘70s psych, shoe-gaze, prog, southern boogie and all that jazz. An eclectic mix of styles and interesting collaborations (German guitar icon Michael Rother features on the album), She Beats includes fusion tracks that morph from droning cello scrapes in ‘Veda’ to pop in ‘Send Them Away’ and ‘Out Of Mind’. She Beats is out now on Chapter.

THE SMITH STREET BAND

The much-buzzed-about Melbournian punks have a new EP in the works Don’t Fuck With Out Dreams, due out August 9, but not before they take US buddies Joyce Manor and Cheap Girls for a trip around the country, stopping by the Great Northern in Newcastle on Friday August 30 and the Annandale on Saturday August 31. Tickets: thesmithstreetband.com.

10 :: BRAG :: 516 :: 10:06:13

RAW FORUM

TOY

TOY is the name on everyone’s lips, with their Shoreditch haircuts and Noel Fielding lookalike frontman. The London-based rockers, who revel in indie and shoegaze-y sounds with just a hint of the psychedelic, broke away from Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong and started making their own tunes only three years ago. In that time, they’ve happily received rave reviews from The Guardian, NME and the like and have toured (and are now best buds) with The Horrors as well as The Vaccines. TOY make their Australian debut next Wednesday June 19 at Oxford Art Factory and The BRAG have two double passes to give away! To score yourself one, share your favourite song from their 2012 self-titled killer-of-a-debut album.

TOY

FBI SOCIAL

Get your surf-rock-gypsy-carnival-freakshow fix at FBi Social this Friday night when Darth Vegas, Mr Bamboo and La Tarantella take to the stage, while on Thursday night Dead Air present another unusual/heavy collection of sounds. Ted Danson With Wolves combine scrappy punky indie with a saxophone (one triple j Unearthed commenter called them ‘math pop’, which works for us), alongside “Sydney’s answer to Sunny Day Real Estate” Oslow, shouty punk types Harbourer and hardcore kids Yo, Put That Bag Back On. Wednesday night things are significantly more chill, with The Folk Informal bringing out Andy Golledge, The British Blues, Elwood Myre and Garrett Kato. All tickets $10. More: fbiradio.com.

SIDEWAYS THROUGH SOUND 2ser’s home for all things psychedelic and drone have been blowing minds on air for five years, so to celebrate they’re throwing a FREE party at Brighton Up Bar with some of Sydney’s finest proponents of paisley tunage. Catch shoegazers Devotional, folk guitar from Sam & The Bird, ex-Dolly Rocker Movement main man Daniel Darling with his new band The Poltergeist, and psych tinged country rock’n’rollers Sister Jane. It all happens Wednesday June 26.

Melbournian disco dudes Vaudeville Smash had to sadly postpone their last run of Sydney dates (which were supposed to be June 21 and 22 at the UTS Glasshouse and the Beresford), but never fear for they’re rescheduled the dates for August – stayed tuned here to find out the new dates shortly.

Is your closet full of corsets and waistcoats and your record collection full of Tea Party albums? Then you’ll want to head to the Great Northern in Newcastle this Friday June 14 and the Annandale on Sunday June 16, when Queensland singer Kimberley Dawn Lysons and her renegade band of musicians, collectively known as Dawn, play in support of their new record The Spinning Jenny Vol. 1.

Australia’s future runners of festivals, record labels and venues will get an insight into the sorry (jokes) state of the music industry at JMC Academy’s forum ‘RAW: A fresh insight into the Entertainment Industry’. The panels will tackle questions about the current state of the Australian music industry with industry experts like Mark Dodds from Inertia, Craig Beck from Universal, Julia Green from Big Top Luna Park …and then there’ll also be the BRAG Editor, Nick Jarvis. It all happens Tuesday June 25 at JMC Academy, Harris St in Ultimo, open to all, $5 for students, $10 others.

This week’s cover stars Gypsy & The Cat play Oxford Art Factory on Wednesday June 26 as part of their national ‘It’s a Fine Line’ tour, and they want you to come along and help them party heartily (before they retreat back to their Victorian country idyll).

For the chance to win one of five double passes, just tell us the name of their debut record.

VAUDEVILLE SMASH NEW SHOWS

SPOTIFY & RDIO DISCOVERY DAWN Still deciding between your music streaming drug of choice? Spotify and Rdio have a couple of new features to make your choice that much more difficult. Spotify are launching a Discovery page, which makes recommendations of similar music curated by the likes of Pitchfork and Tunigo, along with recommendations from your social media friends and those you follow. Meanwhile, Rdio is launching its own Music Discovery service, including stations that autoplay similar music to what you’re listening to, as well as recommendations from social media connections and a ‘thumbs up or thumbs down’ feature, to help Rdio refine its idea of your music taste.

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

BUZZ CLUB

FOALS ADD NEW SHOWS

Missed out on tickets to see the immaculately-bearded Yannis and his Oxford brethren? You’re in luck – they’ve added extra shows for Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane – catch their frenzied live show locally at the Enmore on Sunday September 29 with Alpine in support. Tickets to the new show are on sale now so act quickly!

It’s time to get buzzed. Newest kid on the live music night block, The Buzz Club, is landing at Herman’s Bar on Saturday June 15. Launch party acts will include ’70s rockers Mushroom Planet, voodoo garage kings The Intercontinental Playboys, freakbeaters The No Such Things, power poppers Double Crosses with Solid Gold Hell DJs and DJ Van der Smuts. For more info visit facebook.com/ buzzclubsydney.

GRETA GERTLER GOLD

Brooklyn, strings and electro – Greta Gertler Gold & The Universal Thump have got it down.

After a successful gig at Blue Beat in Double Bay last month, they’ve extended their stay to play a second show on Sunday June 16. Greta’s brining the party with her melodic pop songs while Adam D Gold thrashes it out on kit, Alex Hewetson digs deep on bass and Matt McMahon scatters across keys. Tickets at moshtix.com.au.

You Can’t Stop the Music... ...unless you have a properly approved Noise Abatement Order 2013

Is our live music scene in dire straits?

In the 1970s and 80s, Sydney was a haven for bands like Cold Chisel, Midnight Oil, Icehouse, AC/DC, The Angels and the Hoodoo Gurus to play live, build a following and launch international careers.

With over 40 million attendances at live music performances

MC Zan Rowe Introduction Bernard Zuel Senior Music Reviewer SMH Welcome Clover Moore Lord Mayor Keynote Speaker Dave Faulkner Hoodoo Gurus Discussion Panel John Wardle Chair, City of Sydney Live Music and Live Performance Taskforce Meagan Loader Content Director triple j Mark Gerber ‘The Boss’ and Founder Oxford Art Factory

Wednesday 26 June 6.30–8pm Lower Town Hall

each year, live music is still venues and suggest one of our favourite forms practical steps. of entertainment.

Join lead singer of the But classic venues, such Hoodoo Gurus and as the Annandale and the founder of the Dig It Up Hopetoun have closed festival, Dave Faulkner, or are closing and as he talks about the Sydney’s musicians are state of Sydney’s struggling to be heard. live music scene.

Afterwards, he will The City has established

a Live Music and Live in Sydney’s music Performance Taskforce industry to discuss to look at the challenges how the bands can facing live music play on and on.

Brett Murrihy CEO Artists Voice Performance The Laurels Jep and Dep Venue Lower Town Hall Sydney Town Hall 483 George Street, Sydney (entrance via Druitt Street) Transport Rail: Town Hall station Bus: George, Druitt and York Streets Bike: Free u-rail pavement bike parking located on the Druitt Street side of the building

Accessibility Auslan interpreter services and live captioning for this event can be arranged on request. For these or other access enquiries please contact the City of Sydney on 9265 9333. This venue is wheelchair accessible.

Podcast You can also watch a podcast of the event soon after at cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/ council/news-and-updates/ podcasts Visit sydney2030.com.au for a full update on our sustainability projects.

Tickets FREE AND ESSENTIAL Available from Ticketmaster on 136100 or via ticketmaster.com.au

Presented by the City of Sydney & The Sydney Morning Herald

BRAG :: 516 :: 10:06:13 :: 11

Industrial Strength Music Industry News with Christie Eliezer

drove Bieb’s Ferrari recklessly in 25-mph zone near Bieber’s home in Calabasas, California which drew complaints to police from neighbours. * Tyler, the Creator had his own woes in Australia. Liberal Party MP Alex Hawke has demanded to know why he was given a visa to the country given the lyrical content of some of his songs. In between all this, cops shut down his in-store appearance with Earl Sweatshirt when thousands of fans packed out Culture King’s store in George Street creating a security problem. * The new owners of Newcastle’s famous Star Hotel have decided not to turn the site into a high-rise development. Rather, at a cost of $3.5 million, they will convert the pub and surrounding buildings into a mix of units and commercial space. Meanwhile, the site of the Jolly Roger Nite Spot will be bulldozed this week for a $40 million residential tower with 18 storeys and 252 units. * Courtney Love reckons that Kristen

THINGS WE HEAR * While in Brisbane last December, Coldplay fell in love with chocolate-covered berry treats, insisting that boxes by local company Dr. Superfoods be sent to them while touring Australia. Now they’ve put in a new order, to have a package sent each month to wherever they are in the world. * Michael Jackson’s 15-year-old daughter Paris attempted suicide after a blazing family row over attending a Marilyn Manson concert. She flipped out, reportedly cut her arm with a cleaver and took an overdose of painkillers. Paris had been bullied in school of late and battling with relatives. * Justin Bieber’s legal woes continue.

First a girl claimed he fathered her child (he’s denied it) while a Florida photographer says he was roughed up by his bodyguards after he took shots of the singer skateboarding in a parking lot in Miami. In the meantime, his pal Tyler, the Creator, admitted he’s the one who

STUDY: GLOBAL ENTERTAINMENT WILL TOP $2 TRILLION IN 2016

HANLON JOINS SONY MUSIC AS EDM DIRECTOR DJ/producer turned founder of Melbourne’s electronica Konkrete Agency Jon Hanlon joined Sony Music as Director of Electronic Dance Music in Australia, NZ, and Asia (excluding Japan). Konkrete is a boutique dance agency and management which includes Bass Kleph, John Course, Vandalism, Seany B, Sgt Slick, Godwolf, Mind Electric and Peking DuK. Hanlon will identify new EDM artists and tracks for Sony to record or sign, to broaden rights arrangements, and market these through the Asia Pacific. Hanlon moved from Ireland to Melbourne three years ago. He will continue to run the agency in conjunction with his Sony duties together they will set up a global management division.

The global entertainment and media market will hit US$2.152 trillion by 2016, according PricewaterhouseCoopers’ 2013-2017 Global Entertainment and Media Outlook report.

There might be new markets like China, Brazil and India that will storm the sector, but the report makes clear that the United States will continue to dominate, with a market share of 29.4%. In 2012 the US entertainment and media market generated $479.23 billion, accounting for 29.2% of the worldwide revenue of nearly $1.639 trillion. In terms of consumer spending on E&M, China will rise from #5 in 2012 to #3 in 2017, overtaking the UK in 2013 and Germany in 2016. Brazil will also grow to reach #7, surpassing Canada in 2014 and South Korea and Italy in 2016.

Traditional media will continue to dominate.

The 9% of consumer entertainment and media spend on digital content in 2012 is predicted to rise to just 16% in 2017.

BUZZ OVER HOTTEST 100 TOP 20S More than 940,000 votes were cast over 20 days, after triple j listeners heard every Hottest 100 song on the Hottest 100 pop-up digital station. Over 200,000 were placed on the last

Stewart’s Twilight role as Bella nearly went to her and Kurt Cobain’s daughter Frances Bean. Then 13, Frances turned it down because it was “a sexist Mormon piece of shit.” * Flume’s ‘On Top’ is now certified gold, following on from ‘Sleepless’ and ‘Holdin On’ are gold and double platinum respectively, while the self-titled LP achieved platinum. Flume returns to Europe and the States for a three-month tour next month that takes in club dates (both London dates sold out) and festival slots including Roskilde, Wireless, Latitude and the first ever Detroit Laneway Festival. * Is Florence Welch up for a role in the new Star Wars trilogy? *Tamworth has officially become a sister city to US country capital Nashville. * ABC-TV’s Spicks and Specks won’t be back until 2014. * Has Coldplay’s Chris Martin been recording with U2? * Boards Of Canada’s live album playback crashed their official website.

day of voting, making it the biggest singleday of voting in Hottest 100 history. The age group that submitted the most votes was 22 to 25-year-olds, with 25-year-olds submitting the most votes of any age. 30 songs are from debut albums. Most of the individual years were pretty even for song count but 1997 stood out. There are 49 songs from the 1990s (1993 – 1999) and 51 songs from the 2000s (2000 – 2012).

DJANGO DJANGO UP FOR SCOTTISH ALBUM OF YEAR Despite having only two members from Scotland, Django Django have been shortlisted for the 2013 Scottish Album of the Year Award. Calvin Harris and Emeli Sandé missed out but also on the shortlist were Admiral Fallow, Human Don’t Be Angry, Karine Polwart, Lau, Meursault, Paul Buchanan, RM Hubbert, Stanley Odd and The Twilight Sad.

HELLIONS SIGN TO UNFD Sydney hardcore act Hellions were signed

by UNFD. Formed from the ashes of The Bride, Hellions emerged from the scene that gave birth to Northlane, Thy Art Is Murder and Buried In Verona. Hellions debut album, Die Young, is set for its release in September.

Debut single ‘Infamita’, with Adrian Fitipaldes from Northlane on guest vocals, is on the UNFD YouTube Channel.

MUSIC HEAVYWEIGHTS SUPPORT BROOME INITIATIVE

E HIFI 1300 THO M.AU THEHIFI.C

Blues & Grooves feat. Phil Emmanuel Fri 16 Aug

Alexander Abreu Fri 6 Sep

Sydney-based music exec Vicki Gordon is program director of the inaugural Nurlu Jalbingan, a skills development scheme to be launched in Broome for indigenous artists and managers. Gordon says it’s essential for nonindigenous members of the music community to connect with indigenous artists, culture and land. Nurlu Jalbingan will feature keynote speakers Archie Roach, Gina Williams and Native American guitarist Stevie Salas.

East Coast facilitators Jill Shelton (Archie Roach Management), Clive Hodson (Perfect Pitch Publishing) and Michael Chase (MGM Distribution) will join WA musician Guy Ghouse.

This Week

Coming Soon

CREW REUNION

This Week

Just Announced

Anberlin (USA)

& Havana D’ Primera (CUB) Sat 7 Sep

The Red Paintings Fri 14 Jun

HTC & Speaker TV Presents

Mono (JPN)

Pludo

Dappled Cities

Thu 27 Jun

Sat 29 Jun

Sun 16 Jun

Thu 20 Jun

HTC & Speaker TV Presents

Hardcore 2013 Sat 13 Jul 18+ Sun 14 Jul All Ages

Saint Vitus (USA) & Monarch! (FRA)

Haim (USA)

Hungry Kids of Hungary

SO LD

O UT

Municipal Waste (USA)

Sat 6 Jul

Nejo Y Dalmata (PUR) Fri 26 Jul

Wed 24 Jul

Fri 19 Jul

Airbourne

DBSTF

Sat 27 Jul

Sat 10 Aug

Hits & Pits 2.0 feat

(USA) Sun 17 Nov

ENTERTAINMENT QUARTER, BUILDING 220, 122 LANG RD, MOORE PARK, SYDNEY

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The Australian Road Crew Association launches its Sydney chapter at the Bald Faced Stag Hotel (345 Parramatta Rd, Leichardt) on July 21, running from 1pm-10pm for $50 at the door. You must notify them via Australianroadcrew.com for entry to the invite only pre-1992 road, rigging, lighting, stage and sound crew. Coordinator Ian Peel says the event is a catch-up and acknowledgement of what road crews have done for the music industry, and to remember the 76 roadies who have died. One third of them took their lives, most of them lighting guys. The first event, held in Melbourne last year, was a sell-out.

ABC MUSIC SIGNS BEN SALTER Singer/songwriter Ben Salter (The Gin Club, Giants Of Science, The Wilson Pickers) signed with ABC Music. His new European Vacation EP came from a project where he travelled across Europe for five months to collaborate with as many songwriters and artists as he could. The EP is out July 12, around which time he’ll do an extensive national tour.

MUSIC BUSINESS WORKSHOP ‘From Contracts To Copyright: Making Music Your Business’ is a free workshop

arranged by MusicNSW on legal and finance issues facing musicians and their teams.

It will be held on Tuesday June 18 from 6.30pm at Café Lounge, 277 Goulburn St, Surry Hills. The panel includes Jules Munro (Simpsons Solicitors), Ben Fletcher (Moneypenny Business & Taxation Services) and Anika Valenti (Arts Law Centre of NSW). Also in attendance will be CIIC: the Creative Industries Innovation Centre, part of the Government’s ‘Enterprise Connect’ program, supported by Sydney’s University of Technology. You can register for their ‘Biztro’ service, a free, one hour creative consultation and RSVP at samantha@musicnsw.com.

COLES GOES IN ONE DIRECTION After successful campaigns with Status Quo to get the oldies and the jeans set, supermarket giant Coles is targeting a younger demographic by signing One Direction for its latest ad campaign. Media outlets received a box of cupcakes which spelt out “That’s what makes you beautiful.”

1D’s October tour sold out in three minutes.

But Coles is giving away 10,000 tickets to their shows and 2,500 four person passes to a new matinée October 6 show for Coles customers only.

Lifelines Engaged: Whitesnake singer David Coverdale read out the marriage proposal for two fans during the band’s show in Sheffield, UK. Ill: Sharon Jones has been diagnosed with stage-one bile duct cancer. She is expected to fully recover but has given up touring for the time being.

Injured: an unlucky fan was accidentally hit on the head and now may be suffering brain damage when R&B singer Miguel tried to jump from the stage to the catwalk at the Billboard music awards.

Injured: W.A.S.P. are off the road for the time being while singer Blackie Lawless undergoes surgery for an injury suffered in a car accident.

Arrested: John Eastman, 45, of Connecticut, posed as Harry Styles of One Direction when he asked under-aged girls to pose nude over Skype.

(Not) In Court: George Michael won’t be charged for not wearing a seatbelt. On May 16 he fell out of a moving vehicle on the busy M1 motorway, almost causing other cars to crash, and earning himself a spell in hospital.

Suing: after being dumped in February and sued by the band he helped create, Scott Weiland is counter-suing Stone Temple Pilots.

He wants $7 million in damages for what he claims was a conspiracy to oust him.

Suing: a US woman claims she got oral herpes after sampling Rihanna’s signature lipstick, RiRi Woo, at a pop-up shop at her New York show. She says the sales assistant “didn’t use a fresh or new lipstick tube, but rather one that had been used for other patrons”.

Suing: veteran Sydney journalist Richard Sleeman, 62, takes action against Oxford Street nightclub Palms for defamation after a bouncer allegedly loudly refused to let him come in because he was “way too drunk.” He says he was not drunk but had been denied because of his age.

Arrested: one time N-Dubz singer and former X Factor UK judge Tulisa Contostavlos after a newspaper claimed that she supplied cocaine to one of its journalists by introducing him to a drug dealer.

In Court: Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins denied two charges of raping a baby, conspiracy to rape another child, sexual assault and possessing indecent images involving an animal.

WAY-2-FONKY AND JOINT VENTURE PRESENT

WITH STRICKLIN & MARCO POLO

THURSDAY 13TH JUNE

$35 + BF (EARLYBIRDS) // $40 + BF (GENERAL RELEASE) VIA MOSHTIX

THE STANDARD

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playing showcase gigs Stateside, but with the Australian winter comes a new run of dates across the country on the ‘It’s A Fine Line’ Tour. The Late Blue, at least, has injected some newfound life into Gypsy & The Cat’s live show. Its sonic palate draws much more from organic melodies and acoustic drums than before, and the effect transfers to the stage.

The (Late) Blues By Chris Martin

I

t’s seven months since the release of Gypsy & The Cat’s second record, The Late Blue, and Xavier Bacash is in the mood for reflection. “I’m happy with how it turned out,” says the DJ-turned-vocalist about album number two. “But I’m not happy with the reception of it.”

Ah yes, it’s those second album blues – and Bacash seems to have swallowed an unhealthy dose. 2010’s Gilgamesh spawned ‘Time to Wander’, ‘Jona Vark’ and ‘The Piper’s Song’, singles that garnered the band considerable attention and airplay. The Late Blue has not hit the same note.

“Tame Impala are probably the only [current] band I can think of whose second record has pushed them further forward… I felt like it was the right time for this record, but it hasn’t done as well as we would have liked.”

As interview subjects go, Bacash is honest – more honest than most. He’s unassuming and considered, and he speaks about The Late Blue less with anger than with disappointment.

After the bounding success of Gilgamesh, this one has hurt Bacash – and the feeling is contagious. Hell, in the band’s eyes at least, it’s downright better than their first.

“Musically, technically, everything about it,” Bacash reckons. “If this was our first record, maybe it would’ve been a bit different.”

“We always knew that this was going to be a transition record, and that people who had listened to the first one were going to be a little freaked out. And through the commercial radio play we’ve received from a few of the [Gilgamesh] songs, there’s probably a whole stack of fans we could afford to lose, that weren’t fans that come to the shows. A lot of indie bands – like Tame Impala and Bon Iver and whatever – have those fans that have invested in driving those careers forward, and making sure they keep buying their records and they’re interested in what they do.

“It just shows you how fickle commercial exposure can be to a new band. On one side it’s been really disappointing, but on the other side we’re still getting heaps of fans on Facebook and a whole new [set of] fans. I guess instead of doubling our fan base we’ve swapped out a lot of fans that probably aren’t positive for us moving forward.”

It’s back on the road, then, to do just that.

Bacash, collaborator Lionel Towers and their band have spent the recent months

“We had such a successful first record… people are just waiting for you to fuck up.”

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“I guess there’s a bit more freedom, there’s less on the backing track and you can have more of a dynamic – light and shade within the song, and better variation from the record to live,” says Bacash. “When things are very electronic, like on the first record, it was pretty difficult trying to translate without feeling like we were putting everything on backing tracks and just pressing ‘play’… I guess on this record we were conscious, writing the record, of playing it live.”

Not that the duo approaches its live shows with relish, exactly – Bacash usually feels more comfortable in the surroundings of his family farm in rural Victoria, where he set up a recording studio some 18 months ago to cut The Late Blue. “We’re pretty private, Lionel and myself, we don’t really like – we didn’t go to the ARIAs, we’re not interested in that competitive side of music. So it’s kind of weird playing shows because I feel like there’s this huge expectation. We had such a successful first record, so there’s always pressure when you announce a tour to sell it out, and the media expect all this stuff from you…people are just waiting for you to fuck up, really. So it’s nice to be in the bubble up at the farm.”

Still, one inspiring asset the band picked up on its American excursion was visual artist Yr Friend Matthew, AKA Matthew Caron, who shot the video for ‘It’s A Fine Line’ in Los Angeles (witness Bacash dancing like his hero Ian Brown in the clip: “He probably has more of a swagger than I have. I met him – he was the nicest, most down-to-earth dude I reckon I’ve met in music”). Caron is also working on the visuals for Gypsy & The Cat’s live show, continuing the band’s habit of jumping into bed with talented artists.

“I guess we’re just lucky enough to get the right people who are very, very good at what they do involved in what we do,” says Bacash.

“We like to be thematic with things, and this new artwork and the film clip especially is kind of a link to our next record, which we’ve

been working on, so it’s all very deliberate.

We never just solicit ideas from random artists – we go after people we really like.”

It’s all part of the band’s dedication – a stubborn one, perhaps – to the old-fashioned album experience. “We sell more records than we sell singles, so we feel like we’re an album band more than a singles band. And from the experience of having singles on commercial radio, it’s felt like, yeah – we want to have really strong songs, and songs that need to go on radio, because especially as an indie band you have to have songs on radio to keep propelling your career forward, but we weren’t desperate to do that. We’re more focused on having an album package that makes sense and is interesting as a whole.”

It’s hard to find fault in Bacash and Towers’ commitment to independence and freedom in their art. It’s the reason The Late Blue is out on their own label, Alsatian, rather than on a major label deal like Gilgamesh was. Bacash confesses that’s probably a key reason for The Late Blue’s underexposure.

“It definitely made a difference, because you don’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars being chucked at things,” he says. “The major record labels spend so much money yelling at people about how good something is than actually [on] the quality of the product they’re yelling about. It’s hard to compete. So it’s really important to us that we find the right fans, which it felt like with this record we’re doing – sure, we’re not making millions of dollars like some other bands, but it’ll all be worth the wait soon.”

If the payoff is to come with Gypsy & The Cat’s next release, expect it to arrive early in 2014. “We’ve been writing and we’re probably halfway through it, in terms of instrumentals,” says Bacash. “We’ve learnt a lot off the last record and the record before that, so it’s been a really easy process actually, writing [our third] record. Hopefully it will do pretty well – I’m pretty confident that there are some songs that might do alright, but you never know (laughs).”

Where: ‘It’s A Fine Line’ Tour at Oxford Art Factory When: Wednesday June 26 And: The Late Blue out now on Alsatian Music

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Jimmy Eat World

Abbe May

Confounding Expectations By Benjamin Cooper

A

bbe May’s second album Kiss My Apocalypse is not what you expect.

Regardless of what anyone else thinks, the new album has the Perth musician feeling good. “Life is on the up, as far as I’m concerned,” May says. “I’m still writing love songs, and there are barbs in there too. But I’m about to take some time to do some visual work, just for myself.”

May’s 2011 debut Design Desire was a riffing and bluesy affair, which won her fans all over Australia and a nomination for that year’s Australian Music Prize. The only similarity between that record and Kiss… is the personnel. May has again decided to work with producer Sam Ford – a decision that was made in the middle of last year when the artist consulted tarot cards, apparently not for the first time when it came to an important choice.

The new album is a simmering collection of darkly electronic pop that hints at the failings and trappings of a life constantly in transit between two cities. “I live between Melbourne and Perth,” May explains. “My relationship is in Melbourne, and my creative partnerships are in Perth. I like to get myself out of my

All Grown Up By Alasdair Duncan “Even the most insane, out-there science fiction writer has to ground their work in some kind of observation and experience,” he says. “The person who’s speaking the story, he doesn’t do anything out of whitehot passion. He’s in a calm period after his initial reaction to things. That’s where you get the real complexity, but also where some of the harder stuff starts to come out.”

comfort zone – I think that’s why I’m doing it like this.”

Does she think that her ceaseless travel has resulted in a state of flux? “I think my situation is definitely going to affect the next album, but at the same time it’s how I like to be,” May says.

The shift in May’s sound has caught some people by surprise – “I haven’t had any abusive emails yet, which is good,” she laughs – but the change is no accident.

May admits that much of Design Desire’s aesthetic was informed by the psychedelic music scene in Perth. “Psych musos were the only ones I could find at the time,” she says. “The music we’ve made since then, and that we’re making now, runs the risk of being lambasted because it’s not the same. But if you’re not prepared to have some ovaries, what’s the fucking point?”

May is very clear about the reasons why Kiss… sounds like it does. “Our motives were very much about experimentation,” she says.

“We wanted to go as far away as possible from what we’d done before, and from what we knew in Perth. You can get bored quite easily when you’re working five days a week in the studio.”

“This album is us massively kicking against what is around us,” May continues. “Don’t get me wrong – Kevin Parker (from Tame Impala) is the closest to a genius I’ve ever met. But the reason it works for Kev is because that IS who he is. He’s not trying to be a guy in a bedroom; he just is that guy.”

The Western Australian is quick to clarify that she isn’t against psychedelic music.

“Funkadelic’s Maggot Brain is one of my favourite records, and I really love psych music. What I am anti is unoriginal music. I can’t stand stuff that’s boring as batshit.”

Where: Oxford Art Factory When: Friday June 14 And: Kiss My Apocalypse out now through MGM

“When it comes to love songs, I guess the ones that deal with tough times are just more interesting to me,” Adkins says. “I wanted to approach the topic with as much honesty as I could, without feeling like a fraud…

Relationships are different when you have more experience, there’s more of a grey area between right and wrong in arguments.”

Take a song like album closer ‘You Were Good’ – as break-up songs go, it’s less of a ‘screw you’ than a sad send-off. “The complexities of having a mature relationship, or dissolving a mature relationship, are endless,” he continues.

“It’s messy – it’s really fucking messy – and it’s not easy. There’s a lot to write about.”

I ask Adkins how many of the album’s lyrics are based on personal experience, but it seems he doesn’t like to talk about this too much. The emotions on the record are his, he says, but he has chosen to put them in the mouth of a character, as a short story writer would.

Adkins is fond of quoting the Jesus And Mary Chain’s maxim that, if a song isn’t worth playing on acoustic guitar, it isn’t worth keeping around. This principle underpins the songs on Damage, and I put it to Adkins that this holds true for a lot of contemporary pop music. I put it to him that if Katy Perry’s detractors, for instance, heard some dude with an acoustic guitar playing ‘Teenage Dream’, they would probably find that they liked the song. He laughs, and says he agrees.

“That’s the thing with modern pop,” he says.

“A lot of the animosity is aimed at the artifice of it all. Everything sounds computerised and perfect – pop music production today is about trying to correct the errors of humans, whereas I think you have a better chance of connection with somebody if you leave all that rough and raw shit in there.” He pauses for a second. “Mind you, that goes the other way too,” he says. “You can make something really stupid sound cerebral and intelligent by fuzzing it all out…”

What: Damage out now through Sony

The BellRays Blowing Minds By Jody Macgregor

T

he BellRays’ sound is one of those simple but undeniably effective combinations: soul vocals and garage rock music, both of which they belt out with maximum force. Those things work perfectly in combination but, as their singer Lisa Kekaula explains, getting in front of a rock band wasn’t easy at first. Her audition for the band, then called ‘The Bloodthorns’, didn’t go well at all.

“It was one of the most horrifying experiences I’ve ever been through in my life,” she says. “It actually made me not want to do bands at all, that one audition. It was just the fear of it, it was so different from what I had been doing.”

remember having a talk with the choir teacher, and she said the other girls they pick sang monotone, and they sang with a higher voice.

She said ‘Well, they just hit all those notes exactly the way I want,’ and blah blah blah. I remember thinking that sounds like a load of shit! I didn’t do choir anymore, just made my decision that somebody like that can’t stop me from being able to sing. Why don’t I just go sing on my own?”

What Kekaula had been doing was singing with jazz performers, extremely professional and well-mannered modern jazz groups full of the kind of musician’s musicians who take the job very seriously. But while Bob Vennum, the guitarist who had invited her to try out for The Bloodthorns, seemed excited for her to be there, “the guys that he was playing with at the time really didn’t seem to care that much.”

After that first disastrous audition with The Bloodthorns, Kekaula went back to jazz and Vennum stayed with his rock band, but the two – who had met while working the same shift at their college’s diner – started dating and eventually married. That’s what finally convinced Kekaula they should be in the same band. “You have a family, you have a kid and all that stuff, you figure ‘Well, we’re gonna have to figure out a way to at least see each other.

If I’m doing a jazz band and you’re doing this it’ll be difficult, so maybe I should try to sing rock’n’roll.’ I just gave up,” she says with a laugh.

Kekaula had known she wanted to be a singer from an early age, and tried out for her school choir several times, but didn’t receive much encouragement. “Because of how deep my voice is – it’s always been that way – I remember realising ‘I know what I’m doing when I sing,’ and any time that I would audition for any of the lead parts I would never get them, ever. I

With a new name and an altered lineup, they made it work. Although they’ve never broken through to the mainstream, The BellRays have survived for 23 years, doing the hard work of frequent gigging and eventually building a reputation for legendarily hectic live shows and becoming a reliable recurring part of the bill at festivals like South by Southwest.

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They’ve put out 14 albums and toured the world repeatedly, visiting Australia in 2006, 2007 and 2008, although they had to put off expensive trips like that for the last five years because, as Kekaula says with another laugh, “there’s a whole thing that happened with the music industry exploding in on itself.”

While The BellRays have been slogging away, Kekaula has maintained a sideline lending her impressive voice to dance acts. Basement Jaxx’s 2004 hit ‘Good Luck’ is the best known of these collaborations, but she’s also appeared on tracks

by The Bloody Beetroots and The Crystal Method.

Although she says that it’s fun doing songs for other people, it’s not the same feeling that she gets when recording vocal takes for The BellRays, “because there’s so much energy in that live performance… If I have to go back over and sing something for The BellRays I think I’m much more critical, because that’s my baby.

That’s my heart.”

What: Black Lightning tour with Spurs for Jesus and The Demon Parade Where: The Manning Bar, Sydney University When: Friday June 14

Abbe May photo by Courtney Illfield

The reviews and interpretations of May’s work don’t go unnoticed by the musician. She views the exchange between music writers and artists as occasionally unbalanced, but acknowledges the potential within the process. “You have to understand that we review your work too,” May says. “In a recent review the critic challenged me on a few points, which I view as a sign of respect. I’m willing to take that on board. But I think there also needs to be willingness on the part of the artist to have mystique. Sometimes the transitioning between albums is what actually creates the mystique, and creates something truer.”

J

im Adkins, the singer of Arizona altrockers Jimmy Eat World, says that his band’s latest album Damage is an adult break-up record. It’s a raw and wounded collection of songs, far more stripped-back than anything in the band’s recent discography.

The album represents an attempt by a guy in his 30s to pick through the wreckage of a broken relationship in a mature and grown-up fashion.

From here, our talk turns to the sound of the album. The songs on Damage are simple and unadorned, as if Jimmy Eat World are standing in your living room, bashing out the songs on guitar, bass and drums. “In the past, we’ve always reached for the best recording we could get, without giving a lot of thought to how we’d be able to play the song live,” Adkins says. “You hear of people using the studio as an instrument – we did that for a while. This time around, we wanted to do things very simply – the songs on Damage all started out on acoustic guitar.”

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TOY Hard At Play By Patrick Emery

I

toy box, to when most of the band members were attending the same high school in the seaside suburb of Brighton. “We formed about three years ago, but we went to school together before that,” Barron says. “Even before we formed the band, we played guitar together.

We met our keyboard player [Alejandra Diezand], who’d just come back from Spain, in Brighton, and we met our drummer [Charlie Salvidge] in London.”

In the case of English band TOY, nothing could be further from the truth. “No, it’s never been suggested that we’re a children’s band,” laughs bass player Maxim ‘Panda’ Barron. In fact, TOY’s music – a blend of ‘60s psychedelia, ‘70s Krautrock and early ‘90s shoegaze – is arguably diametrically opposed to what’s suggested by the band’s name. But in a Lewis Carroll sort of a way, the name is entirely appropriate. “We originally found the name from the side of an old toy box in a friend’s house,” Barron explains. “We really liked the logo and how it was used on the box, and the name just jumped out at us. And it had a really good meaning and connotations for us, so we decided to use it.”

Raised on a musical diet of Television, The Stooges and the Velvet Underground, the young TOY did what most young bands do – they sat around in a rehearsal space, jammed, and created songs. “We just got in a room and started playing music,” Barron says. “Our keyboard player bought a Korg synthesiser, which has a really amazing sound – that’s what Roxy Music had in the 1970s, and that helped form our sound. We’d grown up listening to Television and the Velvets, as well as bands like Can and Neu!, so we just spent a lot of time listening to music and thinking about ideas.”

Upon closer examination, however, there’s a symbiotic relationship between the two genres.

“Krautrock generally has a straight, hypnotic beat,” Barron muses. “But even though Krautrock can be seen as monochrome, it can definitely take you to other places. We really like that heavy, hypnotic beat. And there are plenty of Krautrock songs, especially from bands like Can, that are psychedelic.”

The blend of Krautrock and psychedelia is, on one level, paradoxical – Krautrock is rooted in Germanic discipline, while psychedelia prides itself on its sonic and rhythmic elasticity.

In mid-June TOY will leave the northern summer for the southern winter (“it’s not much of a summer here at the moment,” Barron notes wryly) to undertake their first Australian

The genesis of TOY can be traced back some years before the encounter with the Victorian

Boris ‘E

Founding member and drummer Atsuo explains why the band has chosen to tour Flood in such an ambitious way. “It started because we played Flood last year in Japan at the Leave Them All Behind 2012 festival, which was really good,” he says. “When we go on big tours, it’s usually after we’ve released a new album. So, we always have to focus our set list on songs from each new release. We’ve been touring overseas many times since 2005, but we haven’t played much from our albums released before that time.

That’s why we thought we’d like to do a show that was focused on Flood, and include material from our past and our future, including new songs.”

Atsuo admits that in preparing for this tour (and due to the specific nature of the tour) there have been many discussions about the changes Boris have gone through as a band, and the musical growth they have each undergone on their respective instruments. People usually get better as time goes on, but Atsuo jokes that perhaps there are also things they can no longer do as well as before.

“We’ve been playing in a special environment for a long time where we use low tunings, we go

for a big sound and big drums, so now there’s a big gap between our bodies and those of what are considered normal musicians,” he laughs.

“We can’t play normal music. It’s impossible to play sessions with other artists. We’ve been losing the ability to be normal musicians, but that’s been increasing the abilities of what only Boris can do.”

Make or Break By Krissi Weiss you do need to separate yourself in a way,” he says.

“Business is business and art is art and I think that can be a problem with artists, they think they can just get away with doing the art and the business side is something they don’t bother learning. I know The Red Paintings has taken so long to get to where it has because of that. I wasn’t the best business guy making the best business decisions but oh-my-god did I learn a lot about life in the last five years.”

Boris have been extremely prolific in their time, with a steady stream of albums, collaborations and uniquely “Boris” musical creations, appearing over their nearly 20 years together.

It’s hard to do a simple count of studio releases because, like their music, their approach to recording and releasing transcends standard musical labels as well. They are tireless creators and forever breaking new ground, seeming not to care when their music fails to find a neat little home, and remaining true to their vision.

They also draw influence from more than just music. “Culture influences us too. There are unique twists that occur in the places where cultures collide as they pass through the factors that are Japanese,” he says. Even determining whether the band can be filed under “heavy” is a challenge. While their music can swing between an aural assault and a soothing and hypnotic wash, Boris put emotion first, with timbre and tempo taking a back seat. “Well, it’s necessary to be heavy in order to make reality motivate people’s hearts,” Atsuo says. “In this context, things like tuning down low and going for bigger sounds are not what I mean by the term ‘heavy’. For us, heavy means that we, as players, limit our own personal expressions in favour of what the song requires of us, to the utmost.”

Where: Manning Bar, Sydney Uni When: Friday June 21

L

os Angeles via Geelong via Brisbane art rock/orchestral rock band The Red Paintings have been on an epic journey to get to their debut album. It’s been ten years since their formation, although formation is a confusing term in itself because The Red Paintings really is frontman, song writing and creative force Trash McSweeney. With players strewn around the world, McSweeney has travelled both physically and emotionally to get to this point in his career - from a seizure that brought on synaesthesia, the catalyst for the band’s creation, to a residency at LA’s Viper Room and global touring, it has been a long and difficult road.

Relying entirely on his own money and fan donations to fund The Red Paintings, McSweeney has taken a thoroughly independent road solidified by a less than amicable brief signing with Sony. “Back then, things were changing a lot for bands and I went through all that being very naïve and feeling very upset and angry, feeling like I got the raw end of the deal,” McSweeney says. “I still say to this day that I got the raw end of the deal but I also didn’t have enough experience or information to make choices. You learn a lot from experience and from that, I have been able to be smarter in my moves and smarter in who I was gonna work with and who I wasn’t.”

The Red Paintings have a dedicated cult following around the world, but McSweeney has often felt the brunt of judgment from the industry for his approach to music making and the difficulty people have separating him from his band.

“I don’t have an alter-ego – although some people seem to think I do – and I never step away from it and look at myself from afar, but

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Where: Oxford Art Factory When: Wednesday June 19

The Red Paintings

Flooded With Sound By Krissi Weiss xperimental rock band’ seems like a bland and simplistic explanation for the complex and ever-evolving music that seminal and groundbreaking Japanese three-piece Boris produce. Part drone rock, post rock and psychedelic rock, with mesmerising ambience, Boris make intensely emotional music on a symphonic scale. (Not symphonic in the way that people claim Muse write epic rock music, but more like a modern-day Wagner opus.) After a successful tour of Australia last year, the elusive band are returning to play their breakthrough album from 2000, Flood, in its entirety (along with a few other tracks).

tour. Barron says TOY’s live show is more than a replication of its recorded sound. “We’ve played our record live quite a bit, and when you’ve been playing the songs live for a while, they tend to morph into something different,” Barron says. “Our live show is different to the record – we’re not just trying to replicate it.

There’s quite a lot of room for improvisation in the songs. And while each show is different, it’s not a conscious thing to change it.”

The Revolution Is Never Coming, The Red Paintings’ debut album, has finally been completed – a task that seemed doomed to fail at many points along the way. McSweeney is particularly moved by the fact that engineer Bryan Carlstrom (Alice In Chains, The Offspring and many more) passed away shortly after delivering McSweeney the mix that he was finally happy with.

“In five years of making that album, spending over $230,000, knowing I’m never gonna own a house because I’m in so much debt, the first seven and a half mixes of that album devastated me,” he says. “This was the only mix where my body – this is weird but I relied on my body telling me it was right, and when my body felt tense I knew it wasn’t right. I went with that every time and that pissed a lot of people off but it was like fuck, I wanted to put this album together because I wanted my fan base to feel my heart for the first time ever. Every single time I listened to it my body relaxed and I knew it was what I wanted to achieve.”

While most artists like to pretend they really don’t care what people think of their art, McSweeney admits that this album will either launch The Red Paintings on an unstoppable trajectory, or spell the end of a truly epic era for him. “I really do care what people think because I put so much on the line, so it’s a make or break album for The Red Paintings,” he says. “My goals for the success of this album are fucking huge and if I don’t hit them then I’ll crumble as an artist. I’ll go on to do other things in my life, but this will be a chapter I’ll have to close.”

Where: Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle / The Hi Fi, Sydney When: Thursday June 13 / Friday June 14 More: The Revolution Is Never Coming out now through Bird’s Robe Records/MGM Distribution

TOY photo by Steve Gullick

f the lessons of post-modernism are correct, and language does indeed create social reality, calling your band TOY – including the deliberate capitalisation – is going to lead to an immediate and potentially misleading inference on the band’s music. Is it, for example, a band specialising in performing children’s songs, or possibly an act deriving its influence from the antics of Buzz Lightyear and his fellow CGI characters?

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Chucho Valdés & the Afro-Cuban Messengers Latin Jazz Legend By Marissa Demetriou ell us a little about the title of your new album Border-Free…

It’s meant literally – it suggests there are no borders in the music. In a world of limitless musical possibilities, the album goes beyond borders, freely exploring all kinds of influences from Algeria to Spain, from Africa to Arabia.

T

late nineteenth century, 700 Comanche Indians were deported from the U.S. to Cuba, where they mixed with Afro-Cubans. My descendants were called ‘Afro-Comanches’. This album pays tribute to ‘Afro-Comanches’ and traditions of flamenco, Arabic and classical music. It’s a fusion, and free of borders!

How does it differ from 2011’s Chucho’s Steps? Did you take a different approach with this record?

Basically, I’m continually expanding on and exploring new genres, and taking on other people’s influences. Chucho’s Steps was a tribute to musicians that I admire – the late Joe Zawinul in ‘Zawinul’s Mambo’, the Marsalis family in ‘New Orleans’, and John Coltrane in ‘Chucho’s Steps’. Musically it drew on Afro–Cuban music and hard bop, and taps into the spiritual essence of Latin folkloric music.

What is Afro-Cuban music to you? It seems to encompass quite a wide range of influences.

This is a big question. As I say, Cuba is a very diverse country, but it all comes back to African rhythmic influences and those sounds born out of the Americas. For me personally – with my European classical training and US jazz experience – it means everything from J.S. Bach to Jelly Roll Morton.

On Border-Free, the music is still AfroCuban and jazz, but I introduce many other styles including flamenco, North African (Algerian and Moroccan) folkloric music, and reference classical composers such as Bach, Rachmaninoff and Chopin.

What jazz record would you recommend to introduce someone to the genre?

For me (and there are so many to choose from), you cannot go past Sunday at the Village Vanguard by The Bill Evans Trio. For a new listener, this is one of the best live jazz recordings of all time.

Tell us about your label, Comanche – what prompted you to start your own label?

It really was for the freedom that you get when running your own label. It’s about removing artistic borders, pushing your own boundaries

and being in control of the music from its creation through to production and to release.

Border-Free is the first album on the label and it features some of my favourite collaborators and musicians, including Branford Marsalis.

What are you listening to at the moment?

I have a very full iPod and it really is everything from the amazing Chinese concert pianist Lang Lang to my favourite Art Tatum tracks – who remains to this day one of my great inspirations and teachers. My ears are always open!

Where: Sydney Opera House Concert Hall When: Wednesday June 12

Strange Talk

Xxxxx photo by Xxxxx

Historically, ever since the arrival of Christopher Columbus, Cuba has been a multi-ethnic colonial melting pot with Arabic, Spanish and African influences. The track ‘Afro-Comanche’ refers to a little known episode in the history of Cuba. In the

You were declared a Goodwill Ambassador in 2006 – can you tell us more about this?

Have you been involved in any new projects in your role as ambassador?

Yes, I continue to be involved with the UN. Roberto Chile, a Cuban filmmaker, and I made a short film called Haiti Volverá (Haiti Will Come Back) after the devastating earthquake in 2010.

The music and images respond to a call made by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation to support the recovery of our sister nation.

The documentary shows the will of the Haitian people to look to the future with hope and strive to recover, while living in a huge camp in the

capital Port-au-Prince. The proceeds of the music are donated to support the reconstruction of the country.

When the Going Gets Strange… By Marissa Demetriou

M

elbourne synth pop outfit Strange Talk have certainly found themselves in some very strange situations. From a near kidnapping scenario in L.A. involving some rather over zealous fans, to equally overly keen punters at shows, bassist Gerard Sidhu barely contains his laughter as he recalls an early Strange Talk show.

“There was this girl at the front barrier of one of our shows, she was quite a buxom woman and she was kind of giving me those crazy eyes, dead staring into my eyes and towards the end, she kind of just lifted her boobs up over the barrier, had them over the other side and kind of just squeezed them together – she had absolute crazy eyes!” he laughs.

While they’re still riding high on the success of recently released debut LP Cast Away, which spawned the rave-ready pop gem ‘Falling In Love’, and preparing for their national ‘Strange Geronimo’ tour with indie pop lads Hey Geronimo, Sidhu explains that plans for a sophomore record are already in place.

“It’s such a long turn around time to getting the final 15 tracks or so, getting ideas down, then getting it mixed, mastered and out; the earlier you can start working on ideas and get a game plan together, the better it will run,” he says.

“I think, if anything, I’ve moved on a little bit from that [Cast Away] sound; we started writing this record at the end of 2011, so it’s been a long time for us since we started it. It’s just natural for you to go looking towards the next thing, but I still love the record,” he explains.

The band initially started turning heads after the release of single ‘Eskimo Boy’ and their self-titled EP back in 2011, which Sidhu says helped in establishing and refining the Strange Talk sound. Early references for the band leant heavily toward the dance-pop sounds of M83, Phoenix and Bloc Party, but Sidhu says

recording Cast Away was a huge learning curve for the quartet.

“The EP was just putting together the basic framework for what Strange Talk was, just a lot of trial and error. I think from the EP to the album, we’ve progressed dramatically, but it’s also given us a huge palette to pick from for the next album, so it was definitely a big learning experience.

“Once we kind of established the stuff we loved sonically and melodically, we really experimented with a wide range of different influences, and I think that’s evident on the album; you’ve got influences from The Police all the way to Daft Punk, to Michael Jackson, to Queen; there’s a lot in there.”

Tony Hoffer, whose résumé boasts the likes of Beck and M83, was brought in to mix the debut cut, and Sidhu says his touch brought the, “big, fat, warm and gritty analogue sound” the band wanted. “[Tony] was our go-to-guy, he’s kept it big and warm. We didn’t want a clean, sharp, digital sounding record,” says Sidhu. “We’ve always been drawn to [acts like] Soulwax because they have that dance sound but there’s that warm, thick, analogue sound and drums to it,” he explains.

As for the rest of 2013, Sidhu says the Strange Geronimo tour will be the last national tour for the band before they head overseas again.

“We’re looking at getting back to the US and trying to do more shows over there, continue working on the next album; hopefully we’ll have some big announcements at the end of the year with more tours and releases”.

Where: Beach Road Hotel, Bondi / Small Ballroom, Newcastle When: Wednesday June 19 / Friday June 21

The Black Angels Keeping Austin Weird By Edward Sharp-Paul

H

aving cruelly kept their distance for much of their existence, Austin psych rockers The Black Angels will be rewarding their Australian fans this June with their third visit here in three years. Singer Alex Maas says that the delay was frustrating, and borne of circumstance, rather than any malice toward the band’s Australian fans.

“I know, it took forever!” he sighs. “Passover came out in Australia before anywhere else, as a sort of advance screening to test people’s responses.

We didn’t sell a million records or anything, but the response was really good. Touring took so long partially because it’s so expensive, and partially because it takes so long to establish relationships in new places. And also because a number of people had told us, ‘If you don’t come over here, we’re going to kill you.’ So basically, we’re coming over here because we’re alive,” he reasons. “I love Australia, it’s beautiful – it’s like someone took Texas and California, and hauled that shit together into a big island.”

Maas is a big fan of our local breed of psych-rock, too. “Oh yeah, there’s some great stuff happening in Australia: The Dolly Rocker Movement; Astral Kaleidoscope; Beaches; Morning After Girls. You guys are probably used to it, but I’m also really into the Indigenous sounds, with the didgeridoo and the circular breathing. I couldn’t believe Indigenous Australian music when I first heard it, it just sounded completely new to me. It’s almost the original trance music, with its drones and rhythms.

It’s similar to the Indigenous music of America, in the way it comes from the soul. When I listen to it, it makes my mind all gooey.”

“We still want to do it,” Maas says. “We just couldn’t lock in a venue, or the team of people that we wanted. Location is everything – it doesn’t have to be something amazing, but a cool warehouse, or an old mill, it’s gotta be some place with the right personality. 2014 might be a bit more realistic, though.”

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“Well, on Phosphene Dream there were times when we were a four-piece in the studio. On Passover and Directions to See a Ghost, it was just two of us and three of us – that side of things didn’t really change the sound too much. When we go in to make a record, I never know what it’s going to sound like. It’s like shooting a documentary. You have something that you’re focusing on, and then you realise that the real issue is that the chemicals are spilling into the water and killing all the frogs.

You were just shooting some cool frogs, and then this whole frame opens up.”

Maas is rightly piqued by the suggestion that this move towards brevity has been driven by a quest for radio-friendliness. “That idea has been brought to my attention before,” Maas says, “but it seems like a tacky way to make art. Going back to The Beatles, Buddy Holly – Elvis had songs that were a minute and 50 seconds long. That’s as long as Buddy Holly needed to get his point across. If you like it, listen to it again! Listen to ‘Peggy Sue’ a thousand times if you have to!”

By way of explanation, Maas offers a typically left-field metaphor. “If you’re an author and you’ve only written a couple of books, you might talk about somebody’s shirt for a whole chapter – you describe the colour, the buttons, etc. What we’re doing now is asking, ‘Does that chapter need to be there? Does that extra verse need to be there? Or did we get our point across already?’

We’re trying to find the song within the song, and cutting all the rest of the fat away.”

Where: The Enmore Theatre When: Saturday June 15 And: Indigo Meadow out now through Blue Horizon

Strange Talk photo by Kane Hibberd

Besides their own recording and touring duties, The Black Angels are also the organisers of Austin Psych Fest, which is in its sixth year, and an Australian edition has long been rumoured to be in the works.

Indigo Meadow represents a continuation of a trend over the last handful of Black Angels releases, in which the band’s characteristically dark, sludgy textures have been deployed with ever-greater focus and concision. Though the band has downsized to a four-piece since Phosphene Dream, Maas says that the personnel change has nothing to do with their more direct sound on Indigo Meadow.

Empire of the Sun A Gift From Heaven By Alasdair Duncan

“A

bluebird flew down from the heavens, and landed in the Cal Mar Suites in Santa Monica,” Luke Steele tells me, explaining the inspiration behind ‘Ice On The Dune’, the title track of the new Empire of the Sun record.

“Much later, we were shooting the video for ‘Alive’ in Bryce Canyon, Utah, and as we stood there, thousands of feet up, I looked around and saw ice melting on the top of these canyons. Littlemore turned around and said to me, ‘There you go Steele, Ice On The Dune.’”

This kind of thing happens quite a lot with Empire of the Sun, Steele tells me. “We write things, and then they happen – ask and you shall receive. Sometimes I feel like our songs are sent from another place, and we’re just puppets.”

You can forgive Steele for feeling a little dazed. The first Empire of the Sun record became a surprise smash hit around the world off the back of glistening electro pop tracks like ‘Walking On A Dream’. It was hard work crafting a follow-up, and pressure from outside forces weighed heavily on the band.

“I told the label I wanted a year and a half to make the record, and after about two months, everyone started calling to ask when it was going to be fi nished,” he says. “People were very impatient, and it created a lot of stress, and it’s funny, because in the end, Ice On The Dune took a year and a half to make – the exact time frame that I predicted all along.”

Before the pieces of Ice On The Dune could come together, Steele needed to reconnect with his enigmatic Empire… band mate Nick Littlemore. Littlemore himself is famously difficult to pin down – he’s touring with his band PNAU one minute, and composing soundtracks for Cirque Du Soleil the next. Steele and Littlemore famously fell out of contact for a long time following Empire’s debut. The band toured the country with an elaborate stage show, but Littlemore wasn’t a part of it – for a time, Empire of the Sun seemed as if it might continue as a Luke Steele solo project. The universe, however, wasn’t done with Empire of the Sun, and it would soon bring the two together again.

and makes the seas and waterfalls fl ow.

The Prophet is basically his disciple, who goes out and surveys the land and then reports back to The Emperor. In this next segment, his crown is stolen by The King Of Shadows. Waterfalls start fl owing backwards, trees bury their heads in the sand, animals are born strange…we set out to regain The Emperor’s crown and restore peace to the world.”

Once Ice On The Dune is out, Steele promises a killer live show to go along with it. “If the first show was like someone pouring water on your head, this one is like the whole ocean raging through you,” he explains. After that, the duo’s plans are grander still. “We’re planning to produce a lot more music, and we’re going to make our fi lm,” Steele says. “We want to develop hotels and amusement parks and oceans.

I’ll tour the show and we’ll continue in the studio, in that world. The band is growing so much.”

What: Ice On The Dune out Friday June 14 through EMI/Capitol

BERNARD FANNING DEPARTURES TOUR SECRET SERVICE & VILLAGE SOUNDS PRESENT

“Sometimes I feel like our songs are sent from another place, and we’re just puppets.”

“I think it got to the point where, after I’d toured for the record for a couple of years, it became pretty obvious that all the fans needed new songs to sing, new rhythms to dance to,” Steele says, when I ask about the delicate process of reconnecting with his old friend. “Nick and I started tinkering with things, sending images and recordings back and forth. We slowly started communicating again, and then after a while, we got back together.”

Once the two were in the same room together, during a trip to New York, it all crystallised.

“We’ve always had a pretty powerful musical chemistry,” Steele says. “It’s like the yin and the yang. Nick has books and books of lyrics, all divided into colours, and when I sing a melody for him, he’ll decide what colour it is, bring out the book and say ‘here you go.’ It works well for us.”

Xxx photo by JXxx Xxxx

The new album opens with a stirring orchestral track called ‘Lux’ – it comes across like the opening strains of a sci-fi soundtrack, and I ask Steele what exactly inspired it. “Nick had a strange keyboard contraption where none of the black keys worked, just the white keys,” he explains. “That kind of thing is really confusing for a keyboard player, but we thrive on weird things like that. I fi nd that’s the trick to song writing, tricking your brain to make it do things in a different pattern. My father was always saying, after the first record, that he was fascinated to see where The Emperor and his Prophet would go,” he continues. “I like this track because it sounds like an army coming over the mountain, ready to go into battle. It seemed like the perfect opener.”

In the world of Empire of the Sun, Steele is The Emperor and Littlemore is The Prophet.

These are the roles that the pair play in their colourful videos and, if they get their way, will one day play in a movie. I ask Steele if he can tell me more about these characters, and how Ice On The Dune develops them further.

“The Emperor, through his crown and his priestesses, conjures up visions and dreams for people,” he explains. “He designs animals,

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arts frontline

free stuff email: freestuff@thebrag.com

arts news... what's goin' on around town... with Lisa Omagari

five minutes WITH

THE CARROLL HARRIS SISTERS What themes does Into Thin Air explore?

LCH: The show isn’t about climate change. And it’s not about anxiety. It’s about the feeling that makes you turn off the news when something hideous is being reported. That feeling has been called Global Dread by environmental philosophers – the sinking feeling of collective fear that comes from living in an age of disaster, whether or not that disaster is realised.

I think everyone knows that feeling.

R

ecently founded Archive Space is an artist run initiative spearheaded by a group of creative go-getters who endeavour to help artists support other artists.

One of the names behind the gallery is Lauren Carroll Harris, who has collaborated with sister Hannah Carroll Harris to produce their upcoming show Into Thin Air. The exhibition comprises dystopian landscapes in both sculpture and installation that investigate our challenging relationship with the natural world. We caught five with the sister duo ahead of the show.

What informs your artistic collaboration?

LCH: Some artists take to collaborating to produce a joint show deadly seriously. It’s like a marriage and you’re proposing to them.

Hannah’s work and mine are related, and we’re related, so it makes sense. And we’re not too precious about our work. It’s been really drama-free.

Xu Hongfei, Flying Copper

Jamie Foxx in Django Unchained

HCH: We’re exploring these feelings but not in a way that will induce more anxiety about the state of our planet. We’re exploring them in a way that you’ll actually want to engage with.

The show comprises sculpture and installation. Explain what audiences are seeing.

LCH: They’ll see an odd, beautiful apocalypse made of fragile, three dimensional, man-made fabrics. They’ll see a space transformed into strange, cut-up natural/unnatural forms. I make dystopian, plastic landscapes from obviously artificial stuff. There are disjointed stalactites hanging in mid-air, ghostly shadows cast across the wall and rotating, iridescent, nylon glaciers with no horizon line or anchor. We’ve taken the landscapes off the canvas and fractured them into space. It’s a ghost town.

HCH: I do the opposite. I make living and textiles sculptures and installations of broken ecological forms from materials like crystals, algae and wax. They’ll grow and change throughout the show. I’m weaving algae on a

modern warfare has on individuals. A free public showing will take place Friday June 21.

Bookings essential. More info at sydneytheatre. com.au

loom and presenting it in tiny specimen jars on light boxes. There’s a shambolic paper and wax shantytown that hangs in the middle of the gallery. And I’ve grown crystals on fabric before suspending them in wax to create bizarre coral-like forms that seem to grow from the gallery walls.

How will audiences react to the work HCH: I think they’ll be surprised that it’s not just stereotypical “environmental art”. They’ll do a double-take: we transform materials in unexpected ways to the point that they’re almost unrecognisable, but in recognisable natural forms.

Tell us more about Archive Space.

LCH: It’s a gallery run by some go-getters from CoFA, as well as a digital publishing project that grows every fortnight. We hook up artists with great art writers and photographers to produce a body of work that exists online into the future after the show has finished. So it’s a physical space first, then a digital gallery to infinity and beyond! It’s an artist-run gallery, so it’s founded on the idea that it’s not enough just to produce your own work, it’s about artists supporting other artists. I’m really proud to be part of it.

What: Into Thin Air Where: Archive Space When: June 17-28 More: archivespace.com.au

DJANGO UNCHAINED!

Quentin Tarantino’s Western Django Unchained follows the story of freed slave Django (Jamie Foxx) as he sets out on a mission with bounty hunter Dr King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) to rescue his wife from a cruel plantation owner. With Wild West shootouts aplenty we’re hella keen to get in on the action. The film is out now on BluRay, DVD and UltraViolet and to celebrate we’ve got ten copies on DVD to give away.

To win one, just email us at freestuff@ thebrag.com with your name and tell us your all-time favourite Tarantino film.

The End

BODY ART TRAINING

FORESHORE FROLICS

AN ALPHABET OF AROUSAL

Welcome to Sydney Theatre Company’s An Alphabet Of Arousal, the 20th installment in STC’s Rough Draft series. A collaboration between STC co-resident director Sarah Giles and writer Angus Cerini (Wretch, Drill Down), the production is the result of a week long creative development program where theatre makers come together to try out new ideas and ways of working and collaborating. The play follows returned soldier Charlie and partner Juliet who are a couple in crisis attempting to deal with issues of sex, violence and the impact 22 :: BRAG :: 516 :: 10:06:13

Hola mis amigas! The Spanish Film Festival is nearly here! On June 19 the festival kicks off at Palace Verona in Paddington with comedy hit A Gun In Each Hand directed by Cesc Gay. Featuring a blue-chip cast comprising Latin American good lookers Ricardo Darín, Luis Tosar, Javier Cámara, Eduardo Noriega, Leonor Watling, Candela Peña and Leonardo Sbaraglia, the film follows the humourous dilemmas and chance encounters between old friends, ex-spouses and acquaintances. Other festival highlights include international guest, actress Maribel Verdú (Y Tu Mamá También, Pan’s Labyrinth) and an impressive program of films including Fernando Trueba’s 13 Goya Awardnominated The Artist And The Model, and Jorge Torregrossa’s suspense thriller The End. For more details and tickets, visit spanishfilmfestival.com

MORGAN QUX

SYDNEY CONTEMPORARY

The recently announced gallery lineup for Sydney Contemporary, a new major biennial art fair hitting Carriageworks in September, is enough to have any bona fide art afficionado frothing at the mouth. Sydney Contemporary has confirmed more than 70 galleries will represent at the art fair including 10 Chancery Lane (Hong Kong), China Art Projects (Beijing), The Drawing Room (Manila) and Sundaram Tagore Gallery (New York, Singapore, Hong Kong). Australian gallery heavy weights also on the bill include Anna Schwartz (Sydney), Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery (Sydney), Olsen Irwin (Sydney) and Sullivan + Strumpf Fine Art Sydney (Sydney). Stay tuned for forthcoming details and for more visit sydneycontemporary.com.au

SPANISH FILM FESTIVAL

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Worried about how severe your Vivid come down’s going to be? Don’t be, for we’ve got the solution! Chinese master sculptor Xu Hongfei is headed down under to scatter the Sydney Harbour Foreshore with 18 life-sized works from June 18-26. Hongfei followers will know the artist for his acclaimed Chubby Women series that depicts Chinese women going about their daily lives in funny ways such as being leapfrogged over, flying off bicycles and playing tubas. And budding sculptors at the ready, because you’re being welcomed to join Hongfei’s master class on Saturday June 22.

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Graphic artist Morgan Qux (Tom Ryan) is exhibiting his illustrations, sculpture and text at M2 Gallery (4/450 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills) from June 12-16. Ryan’s work is informed by the artist’s reaction to the media-driven western world as well as his experiences of

dealing with family tragedy within it. “There are many themes going on in this show that I’ll [be] leaving conclusions up to the audience from decay and regeneration, metamorphosis and the erotic, decadence and disgust. I’d like to think of this show as a crystallisation of my conscious and subconscious concerns.”

DC WILLANS

Airbrush craft master DC Willans is set to launch his first standalone exhibition in Sydney on Monday June 24 at Global Gallery in Paddington. The artist creates photorealist portraits and landscapes commenting on society’s fascination with pop-culture. DC’s work fuses the visual arts and music with live models; something that needs to be experienced first hand to be fully understood. The exhibition’s show night on Saturday June 29 will see said live models emerge from works in weird and wonderful ways. It’s going to be where all the action’s at so pen it in the diary! For more information on DC’s work visit dcwillans-artworks.com

DC Willans

Steven Spielberg on

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teven Spielberg’s cinematic visions have made for many a great film. The director’s early work demonstrated his imaginative prowess with fantastically inclined films like Indiana Jones: Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981), E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Hook (1991) and Jurassic Park (1993). Spielberg is also known for his historical films such as Schindler’s List (1993) and Saving Private Ryan (1998) both of which won him the Academy Award for Best Director. His latest historical muse? Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln, starring Daniel Day-Lewis, chart’s the president’s bid to pass the 13th Amendment to abolish slavery and end the Civil War.

LINCOLN

Lincoln loomed large in your childhood but what was the era of history that first excited you?

My first interest in history was war — the European war, WWII, and that would be because my father fought in that war and those were the first stories that he told me.

Your father fought in the ChinaBurma-India theatre, right? Yes, CBI. He was involved in a couple of sorties, bombing missions and then because he was so good at electronic equipment and radios he became the Tech Sergeant, Head of Communications, for the airbase. So at that point he was grounded, but my dad did talk to me all through my childhood about WWII. It has been said that Lincoln is inspired in part by your reconciliation with your father…

Not really. I reconciled with my father 22 years ago. My father and I have been so close for 22 years and we were close before our hiatus from each other. That informed a lot of my movies, certainly, but it hasn’t informed my decisions to make certain movies. Even if I had had a really happy relationship with my father and there was no emotional hiatus for a decade and a half, I probably still would have chosen to make the same movies I have.

Were you very conscious of not over-eulogising Lincoln? What Tony [Kushner, the screenwriter] and I avoided was any form of hero worship. Also we weren’t going to any great lengths to explore every aspect of him, because most of that to me was unknown, especially his depths.

They are a private matter and scholars and historians can only speculate about where he went when he would go fugue and deep. That was often interpreted as depression but perhaps it was just that he was going some place to figure out the future. Nobody really knows and he certainly didn’t have a therapist in 1855. We did want him interacting not just with the big issue at hand — which was fighting to get enough votes to pass a constitutional amendment that would abolish slavery and end the war — but we also wanted to see him as a father and a husband.

© 2013 xxxx

Before you start shooting any film you like to revisit certain films and filmmakers, Lean, Kurosawa etc. Did you run through anything specific before you began shooting Lincoln? No I didn’t, because Lincoln was an 11-year process. I kept getting to a starting mark and having to back down off the blocks. This happened about nine times. My inspiration was the actual historical record not the Hollywood version of history so I didn’t use Hollywood to jump-start my inspiration with Lincoln.

This film is your most dialogue heavy. Did you deliberately avoid action pieces, or were they just extraneous to the story you were telling? James McPherson, who is the great Civil War historian, said to us that the Civil War is a landscape so vast that even a gigantic figure like Abraham Lincoln could get lost in it. And we never forgot those words and to trifurcate this film –

Director Steven Spielberg, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Jared Harris on the set of Lincoln. between the North and the South on America’s battlefields and Lincoln prosecuting the war while balancing his righteous position – would have been like one of those Greatest Hits albums. Without a lot of dialogue, we wouldn’t have been able to allow you to get to known Lincoln the man, the human being. So the war had to go.

Daniel Day-Lewis said no to a Lincoln project you had around a decade ago. How did you go about persuading him that this was the movie to do? I was having dinner with Leonardo DiCaprio who is a family friend of ours and he said, “What is happening with Lincoln?” I told him the whole story

of how Daniel had turned me down many years ago – he did so in his inimitable, gentlemanly fashion by saying no in a beautifully handwritten letter. Leo just listened, but the next day he called me in the office and gave me Daniel’s cell phone number.

Leo had called Daniel and said, “You have just got to talk to this guy.”

That’s what started it rolling.

You must have been delighted with the Mary character in the script and also with Sally Field’s portrayal of her, because it would have been easy to make her a sketch... Yes, very easy to make her a sketch and she has had so many unpleasant things written

about her. They are unfair and very unpleasant. Sally is a force of nature as an actor and I knew she would create an unforgettable Mary and not shy away from the fact that Mary was always standing on the edge of her own cliff.

What’s the longest period you have gone without directing? Three years. I had a couple of times I have had three years. I was still working though. I was developing scripts and I was working on TV shows but I wasn’t physically directing. I think there were three years from 1994 to 1997 and then I did the sequel to Jurassic Park, The Lost World. In that period I directed three films in one

year, The Lost World, Amistad and Saving Private Ryan. I shot all three films inside a one-year period just like the old directors used to do. And then I was so exhausted after doing that, I took three years off.

Is returning to the director’s chair after a break like riding a bike for the first time in awhile?

Filmmaking is part of my DNA now, but it was a bit wobbly the first couple of weeks back after three years of not directing, that’s for certain.

What: Lincoln is out on Blu-ray, DVD and DigitalHD June 13.

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Phèdre [THEATRE] A New Take On A Little-Known Epic By Holly Orkin

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ome theatre classics get under the skin, enter the blood stream and become part of the artistic consciousness. In Australia, for reasons unknown, Phèdre has not been one of them.

An intense tale of mythological demigods, sex, love, curses, bloodiness, incest, slaughter and family, it remains a mystery to many a theatregoer as to why the play hasn’t cultivated a resonance similar to that it has developed overseas, particularly in Europe. It is a colossal work, loved most in France were writer Jean Racine brings the fabled milieu to life, and a work best known globally in its free verse form, translated and written by Ted Hughes.

most famous plays in France and all these writers have had a look at it. There have been thousands and thousands of productions but very few Australians I think would’ve ever seen it,” says Evans.

Story goes: Phèdre is a descendent of Sun God Helios and is married to King Theseus who is AWOL, possibly in the underworld.

When rumours of the demigod king’s death reach the kingdom, the beasts of lust and desire break loose and Phèdre’s forbidden love for her stepson sets off a series of devastating events.

And there are twists and turns aplenty – most of the characters are related to gods or are demigods themselves. Despite the characters’ mythological status, they are also fully realised and very human. “The characters are aware of their legacy, they’re aware of their fame, they’re aware that their actions will go down in history, which is a burden for them as well and yet they’re people too,” says Evans. It’s this balance between gods and people, story and history that Evans is hoping to find in the staging of this production.

“It’s exciting for us as a company to be putting on such a great play that people have never seen! It’s exciting for me because when you come to a Shakespeare you’re coming to something you’ve seen before, you know the story but there’s a different kind of interest when you’re doing something people don’t know. You can sit in the audience and feel people react to the twists and turns in the plot that they’ve never seen before. It’s wonderful.”

Now to the play’s unique production. The work is set on its own square platform on top

of the existing stage at the Sydney Opera House’s Playhouse. By leaving the edges empty, Evans hopes the audience will be captured by the stunning story but never unaware of the storyteller. He wants the text laid bare and the dialogue to be comfortingly raw. “We stick it on a block that is sort of in the middle of the stage. We leave the edges of the stage free so we know we’re dipping in and out of this piece of theatre, in and out of the story,” says Evans, “so you can get involved with the characters but you’re always aware of the storyteller too.”

Bell Shakespeare’s Phèdre is a tale of love, fate, gods and kings. It is also a story of people and of humanity told by a director whose primary goal is to decode and re-present the theatrical prowess of a complex play often misunderstood by Australian audiences.

What: Phèdre by Bell Shakespeare Where: Sydney Opera House Playhouse When: Until June 29 More: sydneyoperahouse.com

The Maids

Les D'Arcy in Ping Pong

[THEATRE] Sisters In Crime By Simon Binns

B

enedict Andrews has been a defining force on the Australian theatre scene in the last decade. His audacious productions like Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf and War Of The Roses stand out in the theatrical memory as landmark events. One need only look at the current main stages, to the productions of Simon Stone or Matthew Lutton, to see the long shadow of Andrews’ influence.

Ping Pong [FILM] You’re Never Too Old By Alasdair Duncan

H

ugh Hartford’s Ping Pong is not your typical sports film. The UK documentarian followed a group of eight players as they prepared to compete in the World Over ’80s Table Tennis Championships. He was initially inspired by Australia’s Dorothy Delow, who at over 100, is one of the world’s oldest and most tenacious athletes. “I saw a picture of Dorothy, taken at the World Championships in Rio,” Hartford says. “She was standing there wearing her uniform, and the description underneath was from her opponent’s perspective. The opponent said that when they saw Dorothy being wheeled up to the table in a wheelchair, they assumed it was going to be an easy game, but then Dorothy pushed away the wheelchair and proceeded to bear her.

There’s a real sense of playfulness there.”

Hartford was taken with the idea of older people representing their countries in sporting events, and he knew they’d have a lot to say for themselves. As research for the film continued, he met an eclectic bunch of players from around the world. Some play the sport out of a life-long love of competition – take Lisa Modlich, the spirited retiree who collects awards while telling stories of her time with the French Resistance during the Second World War. For some, the game is a way to reconnect with life after suffering a tragedy – German Inge Hermann withdrew from life after her husband of 40 years passed away, and after suffering a series of strokes in a nursing home, found a renewed interest in life through ping pong.

While spending time with the participants, Hartford got to know them very well – he came to regard them as friends, which made watching them compete in the Table Tennis Championships all the more stressful. “There were times when we had to split into two crews to film when there were two games

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going on simultaneously,” he explains. “My brother Anson would take one camera and I’d take the other.” Hartford grew particularly close to the English player Les D’Arcy, and found himself too nervous to film when he reached the finals. “I couldn’t film it,” he says with a laugh. “Anson filmed his game while I filmed Lisa’s. There was definitely that temptation to get involved and shout from the sidelines and cheer people on.”

The players in Ping Pong may be old, but they certainly haven’t lost any of their fire. In fact, at times, the smack-talk gets downright personal. The film shows Lisa entering – and eventually winning – her first international tournament after playing in and around the United States, and her entry into the competition ruffles some feathers. Without giving too much away, the phrase ‘stupid cow’ is thrown her way by a jealous competitor in one especially colourful scene. “Yeah, her opponent was defending her title,” Hartford says. “In the previous competition, she’d won quite easily, and she was expecting quite an easy ride. Lisa was a newcomer in terms of the World Championships. She’d played a lot in America. It was surprising to see this woman coming out of nowhere and being quite a vicious, competitive player.”

Sadly, one of the film’s stars, Les D’Arcy, passed away earlier this year. Hartford is grateful that he was able to show Les the finished product beforehand. “Some of the participants didn’t realise we were making a movie – they thought it was just a very long news piece or something. Being able to sit and watch it with them was wonderful – there have been some noisy screenings, with cheering and clapping and laughing. To see it with Les in particular was really great.”

What: Ping Pong is in cinemas now.

And while it might be Cate Blanchett and Isabelle Huppert on the poster for this new production of French writer Jean Genet’s The Maids, it’s Andrews’ theatrical imagination that is the driving energy. The production is also the realisation of a life-long passion for the director. “I’ve loved Genet since I was 15,” says Andrews, “I was very obsessed with him and I never went near him as a director.” It wasn’t until Blanchett and Upton (who at the time were still both co-artistic directors at STC) suggested the play that Andrews finally entertained the idea of taking on the work of his idol.

Set in an alluring apartment, the play sees two sisters who are maids, losing their minds. Each night they play out sadomasochistic fantasies, where their wealthy mistress is murdered but on this particular night, it seems the fantasy might not be enough to sate them.

And of utmost important to Andrews was a successful match in The Maids’ two leading ladies. Blanchett has found her match in Huppert, the French legend of stage and screen (particularly memorable for her incredible turn in 2004’s I Heart Huckabees as a sexy nihilist). “It’s fascinating because you have these two queens on stage together and they’re both very playful, they’re both adventurous,” says Andrews.

For Andrews the play goes to the source of what theatre is. “It’s about the act of playing – why you need to be someone else and it comes out of a crisis,” he says. “The sisters are each other’s Cate Blanchett and Isabelle Huppert

mirrors. Good, bad and ugly distorting mirrors.

They love each other too much but they also hate each other – they’re trapped in the same prison cell and everything that’s shit in themselves they see in the other one. It’s an intense volatile closeness that the piece is about.”

It’s messy material, but as Andrews explains that’s what drew him to the work. “I’ve never done anything well made,” he says, “I’m not of a school that you adapt a play to make it more digestible, because the danger in that is that it becomes a kind of soap opera. Everything that is knotty and ambivalent and fucked up about the play is ironed out.”

But for all the praise Andrews’ work has received, his shows have also been dogged by criticism, none more so than his last Sydney effort Every Breath, which was savaged by the local press. “My writing is very important to me and I took a big risk by directing the play myself even though I never intended to. I find all of [the criticism] very hurtful, but fuck it… I’m aware that I’m not writing user-friendly plays. I find it limited and small and sad that you only get sentimental wishy washy bullshit going on the stages where everybody feels some sort of false middle-class notion of catharsis at the end of the play.”

His passion for his art is intoxicating, and it’s clear that in The Maids, Andrews has found a play that suits him down to the ground. “It’s a mirror reflecting another mirror in an endless hall of mirrors and you’re stumbling through this labyrinth following these two queens playing maids.

Formally, conceptually, politically and imaginatively it’s transgression.”

What: The Maids by Jean Genet Where: Sydney Theatre Company When: Until July 20 More: sydneytheatre.com.au

Phedre photo by Rush

Director of Bell Shakespeare’s version, Peter Evans, is seeking to explore why the play hasn’t been received with the same level of success on our shores and aims to deliver a reinvigorated take on the original. He aims to re-present the little-known epic in a new light.

“I find it fascinating because this is one of the

Catherine McClements in Phèdre

Film & Theatre Reviews Hits and misses on the silver screen and the bareboards around town

Julian Assange

FAST & FURIOUS 6 In cinemas now All the roads lead to this. Every suburban street, crooked lane, bustling highway and every goddamn bypass ultimately lead to Vin Diesel driving a car through the flaming nose of a cargo plane. Four-time Furious director, Justin Lin, wins by an inch and a mile in the sixth installment of the Fast & Furious.

Fast & Furious has evolved into its own genre – auto-heavy, hip-hop-fuelled action films based on a surefire crowd-pleasing formula: certified “dayum” rides, budgetblowing stunts and a whole lot o’ Ludacris on the soundtrack. Fast & Furious 6, sticking to a NOS-heavy recipe, gives the fans exactly what they want, from handbrake-destroying London street racing to Vin Diesel victoriously catching Michelle Rodriguez midair between highways after being thrown off a moving army tank. Top notch.

Producer and leading man Diesel returns to his best-known role outside The (abominable) Pacifier, our tough-criminalwith-a-heart-o-gold Dominic Toretto. The still-attractive Paul Walker joins him in the passenger seat as Brian O’Conner, now familying with Mia (Jordana Brewster) and still overusing the word ‘bro’. Perhaps the most celebrated return for Furious fans is that of Rodriguez, rising from the ashes of Fast & Furious (fourth installment) and wearing the oldest trick in the rehashed character book: memory loss. Classic.

Former Fast & Furious friends also return to Ride or Die another day. Somewhere around Fast no. five, the series took a slight Italian Job turn, dragging favourites like Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges and Tyrese ‘Tyrese’ Gibson out of retirement to form Toretto’s Eleven. Dwayne Johnson dishes out the ’tude again in Fast & Furious 6 as DSS Agent Luke Hobbs, with crime fighting mindbogglers like “I want to come crashing down on them like the Walls of Jericho.”

The Fast & Furious series is the guilty pleasure of Hollywood cinema, the Friday night Domino’s, nay the Cheezel of filmmaking. It’s questionably nourishing, indulgent fun that we’ll keep coming back for with grease and cheese all over our faces, because we know that this shit’s gonna be awesome.

Shannon Connellan Vin Diesel in Fast & Furious 6

What's been on our TV screens this week Email: freestuff@thebrag.com

S AY W EA IV G

■ Film

Giveaway COCKNEYS VS ZOMBIES! DVD! WIN!

■ Film

WE STEAL SECRETS: THE STORY OF WIKILEAKS In cinemas July 4 Julian Assange. Friend or foe? Some will look at you doe eyed and speak with almost cult-like conviction about a modern day Robin Hood who steals secrets from the empowered and empowers the masses with truth. Others will spit his name alongside allegations of inhumane behaviour and rape. But what is the truth of Julian Assange? Who is this white haired mousey-looking man so frequently plastered over our news broadcasts and what are the implications of his transparency website Wikileaks?

In We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney traces the story of Julian Assange from long-haired student cyber hacker to facilitator of the largest security breach in US history. With a pace that is captivating rather than sensationalist, Gibney reconstructs the events that lead to Assange’s release of sensitive classified Army and State documents through major newspapers and on his controversial website, Wikileaks.

Running parallel to Assange’s narrative is the story of Bradley Manning, the often forgotten young intelligence analyst who provided the classified documents.

Stationed on an army base outside of Baghdad, Manning’s isolation and turmoil over the events he has witnessed is revealed through harrowing transcripts of his online conversations with internet hacker, Adrian Lamo.

W

hen Cockney wannabe gangsters get on the wrong side of an army of zombies, a showdown at a nursing home ensues and the late Richard Briers is left holding an automatic weapon. Directed by Matthias Hoene, Cockneys Vs Zombies is released this Wednesday June 12 on Blu-ray, DVD and digital copy with special behind the scenes features and a ‘Zombie School Featurette’. It won the Audience Choice Award For Best Feature Film at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2012 so you know it’s going to be loads of fun.

WIN!

To win one of five DVD copies of the fillm, email us and tell us your favourite Cockney expression.

Far from being a Michael Moore-like ‘good cop, bad cop’ portrayal of Assange and the Wikileaks story, the film is in fact much more disconcerting. It presents an array of interviews, often with conflicting opinions, that leaves the viewer with huge questions that go left unanswered. We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks moves with the intensity of a spy thriller and tackles the issues of morality and privacy that we all engage every time we turn on a computer.

Amelia Saw

See www.thebrag.com for more arts reviews

Arts Exposed Get some culture in ya with our pick of the week

Comedy: True Lies Thursday June 13, 8-10pm SFF Hub @ Lower Town Hall Much like its James Cameron filmic namesake, Comedy: True Lies will be a night loaded with belly laughs following a generous dose of embarrassing confessions. Terry Serio, the star of virtually every Australian prime-time drama you can think of, will be introducing comedians and storytellers to the stage to spill the beans on anything and everything movie-related.

Watch for free as film critic Giles Hardie, Happy Feet 2 screenwriter Gary Eck, Kath & Kim writer Rebecca De Unamuno and others relate their own side-splitting film experiences and encounters. sff.org.au for more.

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Album Reviews What's been crossing our ears this week...

ALBUM OF THE WEEK BEADY EYE BE Columbia/Sony

When part-time menswear entrepreneur Liam Gallagher is back in the music press spouting off quotes that range from the mildly amusing to the sublimely ludicrous, it can only mean one thing; he has a new record coming out. While Beady Eye’s first album, Different Gear, Still Speeding, was an OK but sometimes clumsy effort that felt like it was trying too hard to play to type, the second album from Oasis minus Noel has mostly dropped the rock pomp in favour of a deeper, darker groove.

Xxxx BE is far stronger than its predecessor. Like the broader sonic palette of Oasis’ Dig Out Your Soul, BE ventures to fields anew and is all the better for it.

‘Flick Of The Finger’ provides an epochal opening. Driven by heavy horns, the track builds up to a climactic finish that features actor Kayvan Novak reading a monologue from the Peter Weiss play Marat/Sade. See, told you it was different. ‘Soul Love’ could easily have been played as a straight rocker; instead much more space has been given to atmospherics and Gallagher’s voice, which gives the tracks a far more introverted feel.

LL COOL J Authentic 429 Records / Universal

Twenty-two years ago, hip hop legend LL Cool J growled at us not to call it a comeback, but on opening track ‘Bath Salts’ he now wisely admits “Honestly I was scared to comeback / It was ugly not knowing how the game would react”.

This is LL Cool J’s first album since leaving his career-long home of Def Jam in 2008, but realistically, this is the first time in over a decade any of us have heard him rap.

Once an angry young man, LL Cool J is now a middle-aged network TV star, and to his credit, this album doesn’t try to gloss over this change. On the slow jam ‘Closer’, with the also-no-longer-a-teen balladeer Monica, he narrates the evolution of his career, making clear he’s not here to turn young fans – he’s in it for the mums who grew up with him.

The album was originally going to be titled Authentic Hip Hop, and on paper, with guests like Chuck D, Snoop Dogg and Bootsy Collins, LL Cool J could have been the senior figure to rally a self-questioning genre back to its basics. However, they’re only a few of the featured artists on a much longer list including Seal, Eddie Van Halen, Earth Wind & Fire and Brad Paisley, that seems to position this as more of a Santana vanity/desperation project. 11 of the album’s 12 tracks feature guests, and the results vary as widely as the names. ‘We Came To Party’ uses Fatman Scoop to ridiculously fun effect, while ‘Whaddup’ builds the kind of hectic intensity you’d expect from Tom Morello, Travis Barker, Chuck D and Z-Trip.

Unfortunately more songs veer towards the flat-out lame ballad ‘Not Leaving You Tonight’ on which Fitz & The Tantrums squint and emote like Idol contestants, and Van Halen’s abbreviated guitar solo swoops in out of nowhere, flies around the room and back out the window like a disoriented bird.

With a guest list including anyone walking past the studio, LL Cool J deserves to feel like more than a featured artist on his own comeback album – but at least in his comfortable middle age he can admit he’s not challenging anything.

Simon Topper

JIMMY EAT WORLD

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Damage Dine Alone Records / RCA Records

Music from Baz Luhrmann’s film The Great Gatsby Interscope

The blistering, disjointed guitar riff of Jimmy Eat World’s 2001 breakthrough single, ‘Bleed American’, still holds firm as one of the most recognisable rock moments of the noughties.

Jim Adkins and co. captured the disenfranchisement of youth in a flashfire three-minute song and ever since, the band has held an ardent fan base. It’s been a tough road for a lot of these fans though; Jimmy Eat World’s subsequent albums have been hit and miss, traversing mostly from benign alt-rock to over-produced slick pop.

2013’s Damage is no different.

Despite the interesting premise of recruiting Alain Johannes (part-time QOTSA member and guitar genius) as producer and recording the album on analogue tape, the LP falls pretty flat. Jimmy Eat World too often fall into the comfortable, radio-friendly pop-rock that they’ve been doing for the last few albums. That’s not to say that they aren’t good at it. Adkins can definitely pen an accessible rock tune and they know enough studio tricks to get some love on commercial rock stations, but it just seems so safe.

The most interesting moments on Damage come when the band cast aside the safety net and try something a little bit more creative. The acoustic recollection of ‘Please Say No’ and the playful ‘Book of Love’ (which has Alain Johannes fingerprints all over it) are very strong, and album opener ‘Appreciation’ is the closest to the early aggression heard on 2001’s Bleed American and 2004’s Futures, but these are overshadowed by a lot of unimaginative dross (Does the title track ‘Damage’ sounds like the theme to Friends to anyone else?).

First single ‘Second Bite Of The Apple’ is anchored by a hefty bass groove.

The horns reappear, blistering their way through the choruses. Gallagher’s vocals have a fierce snarl to them on this track particularly. His voice may not have the range and firepower it once did, but his delivery throughout more than makes up for it. Like on the first album, some of the lyrics on BE come across as either barbs or olive branches from Gallagher to his estranged sibling. ‘Don’t Brother Me’ (see what they did there?) is a mix of both love and loathing that diverges into a haze of backwards guitars and keys.

Michael Hartt

HENRIK SCHWARZ, DETTMANN | WIEDEMANN, DIN Masse

Baz Luhrmann’s soundtracks are renowned for their ‘essential hits’ nature so it makes sense that he would turn to entertainment zeitgeist machine Jay-Z to capture the multifarious music styles relevant to contemporary listeners.

Naturally, Jay-Z opens the soundtrack with ‘100$Bill’. Establishing himself as an elder statesmen intimately familiar with Gatsby’s story of decadent tragedy, Hova raps about going “numb until I can’t feel” with a subdued delivery. Lana Del Ray does her pouty best on ‘Young and Beautiful’ and Jack White’s bombastic cover of U2’s ‘Love Is Blindness’ whirrs violently, with fervent guitar solos and howling vocals.

Staying true to Luhrmann’s manic cinematic vision, the soundtrack is full of contrasts. Bryan Ferry adds sensuous crooner touches to the jazz-flavoured appropriation of his classic ‘Love is the Drug’. The ‘party’ atmosphere starts on will.i.am’s ‘Bang Bang’, a misguided attempt at jazzed-up electro that demonstrates why Pitbull and jazz should never be combined.

The soundtrack is more effective at capturing Gatsby’s tragic core, notably Andre 3000 and Beyonce’s cover of Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black. The xx’s ‘Together’ continues the R&B ambience until crashing out on a wave of dramatic strings. Gotye’s ‘Heart’s a Mess’ marries inner suffering with grand(er) musical arrangements and proffers the most pertinent line on the soundtrack: “I’m just desperate to connect”; ironically, this pinpoints the soundtrack’s problem.

This release is not at all what you might expect from five heavyweights of German techno and its review doesn’t really belong on these pages. Masse is a three-part score written for a ballet performed by the renowned Staatsballett Berlin at a former power station next door to the German capital’s legendary Club Berghain. By all accounts the show was as spectacular as it sounds.

Examined out of context – separate to the choreography – Masse is difficult to judge; ‘good’ or ‘bad’ won’t do. The compositions are certainly more minimal techno than classical but you’d struggle to dance to them unless, of course, you’re classically trained.

Schwarz’s third probably works best for your listening pleasure, opening with Spanish guitar and pizzicato strings that soon take flight above atmospheric strings.

It sets a tone not dissimilar to the intro of his fine contribution to the DJ-Kicks series.

Before too long, this sound has morphed completely into a heady combo of marching drums and the sort of throbbing bass that underpins a typical Interpol or Joy Division track.

‘Menuett’, the part overseen by Marcel Dettmann and Frank Wiedemann, is on a more ambient tip, building over 20 minutes to a crescendo of wispy filtered snares and wind chimes. The final section, entitled ‘EVOLVE’ and produced by Phillip Sollmann and Marcel Fengler (AKA DIN), progresses from a solo piano to tribal drums and circling strings without ever really engaging.

Jimmy Eat World seems determined to walk safely down the middle-of-the-road.

Music from Baz Luhrmann’s Film The Great Gatsby is a scattered attempt to cover all musical bases, leaving you wanting something more cohesive and unified.

Rick Warner

Larry Lai

David Wild

INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK Change of Heart Capgun Kids / MGM Change of Heart is the album, or in this case mini-album, that Australia has made its priority for decades – the Big Dumb Rock Record. Whether you first heard it from Dallas Crane, Jet, Grinspoon or The Angels, not much in the template has changed. Kingswood (the good ole Aussie suburban tradition theme runs deep) is four mates playing in a garage in Melbourne, inevitably downing a few cheeky stubbies, and in that respect, as much from this decade as any of the past five.

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Wilderness Spunk

OstGut Ton

Credit to the producers involved for contributing to such an ambitious artistic endeavour, but unfortunately the music of Masse doesn’t hold much merit in isolation from the physicality of the dance it was written for.

KINGSWOOD

THE HANDSOME FAMILY

Just because it’s the latest in a long and feted tradition doesn’t mean that Change of Heart shouldn’t offer something unique.

Admittedly, the eight-track “EP Deluxe” starts with its most derivative moment, the sub-three minute guitar assault ‘She’s My Baby’, featuring drums reminiscent of James Baker’s tribal beats on Hoodoo Gurus’ ‘Leilani’. From this fun but forgettable start, the songs are split evenly into those that absolutely work, and those that would benefit from a little spontaneity.

– song is the ultimate high here, and in a perfect world, this harmony-soaked song would be playlisted on radio stations across the world. Then, in an unlikely second half twist, those beautiful harmonies are the record’s undoing. On a run of consecutive songs, Linacre’s lead vocals are replaced by song-length two, three and four part harmonies, which while technically faultless, restrain potential raucous rockers like ‘Yeah Go Die’ into upbeat folky-choir performances.

The single ‘Medusa’ falls into the former group, a thumper highlighting Fergus Linacre’s rough but nuanced vocals, that swing between sweet soprano and canine growl within a single line. ‘Ohio’, a bluesy southern rock – or even R&B

A classic ‘less is more’ mistake is an unnecessary blemish on a record that otherwise can stand proudly amongst its classic Aussie pub rock forebears.

Simon Topper

There are many husband and wife duos making music – particularly folk and country music – but few are as consistent as Brett and Rennie Sparks.

The couple celebrated their 20-plusyears together on 2009’s Honey Moon and now return with Wilderness, in which they spin yarns relating to all sorts of fauna. Every track is named after a creature – this album has ‘Frogs’, ‘Flies’, ‘Eels’ and ‘Owls’.

Recorded at their home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Wilderness very much sticks to the bluesy Americana blueprint of The Handsome Family’s previous output.

Again the surreal words are the star of the show. Rennie Sparks has a way of poetically immersing you in her narrative as Brett Sparks’s inviting baritone puts a big bear-like arm around your shoulder and guides you ever deeper into the fairytale.

It’s also partly down to the attention to detail given to these unsettling stories.

‘Caterpillars’ tells the Lynchian tale of Sylvia, who was struck by lightning and subsequently cocooned in silk by the titular creatures. Her appearance is painted in vivid detail: “She wore dark-tinted spectacles, several furlined capes / Three pairs of velvet gloves, a veil of dotted swiss.”

Elsewhere we become acquainted with “Lovely Mary Sweeney, the famous window-smasher” and Granny Green, who can speak to the birds. These characters and more are brought to life against an atmospheric backdrop of lullaby melodies played out on honkytonk piano, pedal steel and fiddle.

Wilderness is charming, but exactly what we have come to expect from The Handsome Family. Existing fans will enjoy it without hailing it as a spectacular addition to the duo’s sound body of work.

David Wild

OFFICE MIXTAPE And here are the albums that have helped BRAG HQ get through the week...

BABYSHAMBLES - Shotter's Nation GHOSTFACE KILLAH - The Big Doe Rehab GENIUS OF TIME - 'Houston We Have A Problem'

ELO - The Electric Light Orchestra THE BLACK ANGELS - Passover

BRAG :: 516 :: 10:06:13 :: 27

snap sn ap

love parade

PICS :: KC

up all night out all week . . .

teenage hand models

PICS :: KC

31:05:13 :: FBi Social :: Kings Cross Hotel 248 William St 9331 9900

jack carty

PICS :: HL

31:05:13 :: The Standard :: 3/383 Bourke St Darlinghurst 9331 3100

jinja safari

PICS :: KC

30:05:13 :: Hibernian House :: Studio 401/342 Elizabeth St Surry Hills

30:05:13 :: Paddington Unting Church :: 395 Oxford St Paddington

28 :: BRAG :: 516 :: 10:06:13

san cisco

PICS :: AM

phebe starr

PICS :: HL

31:05:13 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford St, Darlinghurst 9332 3711

31:05:13 :: The Metro :: 624 George St Sydney 9550 3666

snap sn ap

sosueme ft. van she

PICS :: ALN

up all night out all week . . .

spirit faces

PICS :: HL

29:05:13 :: The Beach Road Hotel :: 71 Beach Rd, Bondi Beach 91307247

northlane

PICS :: AM

30:05:13 :: Brighton Up Bar :: Level 1/77 Oxford St, Darlinghurst 9572 6322

01:06:13 :: Annandale Hotel :: 17 Parramatta Rd, Annandale 9550 1078 :: ABOUT LAST NIGHT :: KATRINA S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER LEY MAR :: PRUDENCE UPTON ASH :: NAN MAG TH LEUNG :: AMA CLARKE :: TIM HARRIS :: HENRY

BRAG :: 516 :: 10:06:13 :: 29

live reviews vivid sydney 2013 What we've been to see...

C.W. STONEKING Sydney Opera House Saturday June 1

On a rainy night in Sydney, C.W. Stoneking was dressed all in white, his hair neatly oiled, with a golden Telecaster slung across his shoulder. Early in the set, Kitty and Daisy Durham (of Kitty, Daisy & Lewis) joined the Katherine-born bluesman and his band on stage for a sterling combination of their country songs (‘Going Up The Country’ and ‘Goin’ The Country’ respectively) before staying to provide everything from harmonies, to harmonica, to a sprinkling of sass. His wry humour and easy charm were the perfect complement to his dustbowl tales.

sounds of the south

For an encore, Stoneking came back onstage with his band and the Durham gals, saying “we’ve played all the songs on the list, but we’ve got a couple’ party numbers,” leading the audience in the shout-along chorus of ‘Good Old Cabbage Greens’. It was a rocking, raucous way to end a fun and funny set by a man who is the blues personified.

C.W. Stoneking looks and sounds like he’s a character from another age entirely.

It would be easy to write off his act on paper as a joke or parody, but when he’s standing on stage singing the ‘Jungle Blues’, you can’t help but believe he’s the real deal.

Natalie Amat

PICS :: PU

Taking the stage after almost a year away, with some shiny new guitars, the jungle man declared, “I thought I’d try something different” – leaving his old gear, banjo and all on a boat for three months.

Electric Stoneking still delivered the goods – the cheeky ‘She Was A Bread Baker’ accompanied only by Kitty on harmonica was a mid-set highlight. He also played a new song, ‘I’m The Jungle Man’, which was a more electric C. W. than previously heard, but a fun jive none the less. He regaled

the swaying audience for almost two hours and they threw back cheers, whistles and a well-deserved standing ovation as tokens of their appreciation.

01:06:13 :: Vivid Sydney 2013 :: Sydney Opera House

VIVID LIVE CLOUD CONTROL Sydney Opera House Friday May 31

It’s Friday night at Vivid, so cue weaving through thousands of gawkers at the lights and fountains and general spec- tacle of the harbour, to get to the Opera House. Luckily, inside the Joan Sutherland Theatre is just as visually stunning, with smoke and a dripping sound lending Cloud Control’s Dream Cave set (named after their forthcoming album) an air of mystery.

Given this is the world’s first live performance of that album, the feeling of not knowing what comes next is appropriate.

From the outset, any doubts about any second album slump are allayed, with the newer songs interspersed and comparing favourably with Bliss Release standards through the set. While we’ll have to wait to know the titles of many newies, generally the four-piece has further pushed the boundaries of their songwriting, with swirling melodies, changing tempos and layered vocals combining to almost disguise the fact that at their heart, Cloud Control write classic pop songs, demonstrated by the excited squeals that greet old favourites like ‘Gold Canary’, ‘There’s Nothing In The Water’ and ‘Meditation Song #2’. Before the show I’d heard a fan describe them as “Australia’s Grizzly Bear”, but tonight’s crowd bounces in their chairs, and eventually dances in the aisles far more vigorously than I’ve seen for that band.

UPTON PHOTOGRAPHER : PRUDENCE

more vocal duties too. However, whether on songs brand new or familiar, Cloud Control really excel when they swerve into long, cyclical instrumental jams, perfectly matched tonight by the galaxy-themed projections dashing across the layered cave set.

Finishing on the oldest song of the night, ‘Buffalo Country’, the outlook for Cloud Control’s immediate future is entirely positive.

Simon Topper

sunnyboys

PICS :: PU

Alister Wright is still an exceptional singer, imbuing sometimes obtuse lyrics with genuine emotion, and by the sounds of the new material, keyboardist Heidi Lenffer will be taking on

02:06:13 :: Vivid Sydney 2013 :: Sydney Opera House D PHOTOGRAPHER : DANIEL BOU

30 :: BRAG :: 516 :: 10:06:13

RIS :: ABOUT LST NIGHT :: TIM HAR S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) CE UPTON DEN PRU :: OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER MAR LEY ASH :: :: AMATH MAGNAN :: HENRY LEUNG :: KATE LEWIS

EMPIRE OF THE SUN, HIGH HIGHS Sydney Opera House Thursday May 30

How could High Highs, with just a string of fairy lights adorning their instruments, compete with the night’s headliner? They couldn’t, despite having a nice way with an airy melody. The trouble was not only that the three-piece Sydney band lacked a significant production budget and fan base, but there is also nothing to distinguish them from a raft of superior sound-alike acts.

A quick bar visit confirmed that many of the audience were in a festival spirit and insanely excited about hearing new material from Empire of the Sun. At that moment the Sydney Opera House seemed like a strange place for the gig.

Minutes later, when Luke Steele rose from beneath the stage wearing full metallic Emperor regalia and fist held aloft, flanked by a drummer in a centurion helmet and a bassist in MC Hammer’s trousers, the venue made perfect sense: this was choreographed, costumed theatre. It was designed as a striking spectacle more than a listening party.

Which is just as well, as of the six songs premiered from new album Ice On The

Dune, none were memorable except set closer ‘Alive’, and that is probably because it has been banged to death on TV show trailers. It’s enough to say that there has been no radical departure from the previous album’s ‘80s synth-pop.

But this takes nothing away from the entertainment value of the hour-long show, even if it was all a little kitsch (the obviously pre-planned guitar smash was, maybe, a bit try-hard). In Nick Littlemore’s absence – a detail that will have disappointed the pumped Pnau fan I’d spoken to earlier – Steele held the audience’s attention throughout. Mind you, he did have significant help from some fun retro-futuristic visuals and four eccentrically costumed dancers who, for the show’s most brilliantly camp moment, strummed flashing pink double-neck guitars in sync to ‘We Are The People’ while dressed like the troupe from Kylie Minogue’s ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’ vid.

David Wild

PHOTOGRAPHER : ASHLEY MAR

VIVID LIVE HERITAGE ORCHESTRA: MUSIC FROM BLADE RUNNER Sydney Opera House Sunday May 26

Neither Vangelis nor a single frame of Ridley Scott’s dystopian masterpiece were present, or needed. From the moment the UK’s remarkable Heritage Orchestra began the swell of Blade Runner’s ‘Main Titles’, you could practically feel the fire billowing from the industrial leviathans of Los Angeles, 2019.

No soundtrack score commands the obsession of Vangelis’s retro-futuristic Blade Runner, with countless fan-made bootlegs easing completists’ resentment at the gappy official release. No one could complain at the treatment it received at the instruments of the 30-piece Heritage Orchestra, reverent but not slave to Vangelis’s compositions.

Opening to the haunting clicks of an Esper Machine, the whirring hum of technology awoke the percussion section; drums and symbols built before submitting to a mesmeric surge of strings. The dimming lights of a moving cityscape signalled a shift into noir territory and the dreamy chimes and sleazy sax of ‘Wait for Me’,

as a sunset burnt its way through the backdrop blinds.

The flawless instrumental arrangements demanded vocalists of equal calibre to do justice to three of Blade Runner’s key cues.

Stepping up to the mic to soar through the ethereal ‘Rachel’s Song’, Micaela Haslam answered every question asked of her, as did Shannon Brown, perfectly crooning his way through ‘One More Kiss, Dear.’ Yet dramatic as Omar Ebrahim’s booming baritone was on ‘Tales of the Future’, it was no match for the raw, ear-straining atmospherics of the original’s Demis Roussos.

For a film so steeped in breathtaking visuals, it was in fact Blade Runner’s words the night most longed for. Renegade replicant Roy Batty’s dying meditation on memories and what it means to be human is so married to ‘Tears in Rain’ that the naked cue lacked its perfect partner.

Yet this omission, while noticeable, failed to interrupt a transportive evening of music, which took its audience from the City of Angels to the shoulder of Orion, off-world and back again. Precious moments like these will be lost in time, so want cherishing while you have them; any replicant with an ounce of humanity would tell you that.

WE ARE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR ARTISTS AND HUMAN CANVASES JOIN US ON STAGE PAINTING ALONG WITH THE MUSIC OR OFFER YOUR BODY AS A HUMAN CANVAS.

Check out our NEW artist recruitment page on facebook facebook.com/TRPartistpage where we post the latest artworks submitted and the art created on stage during our tours all over the world.

For more information, or to submit your art (or your body) to be part of an upcoming show in your city, email artsubmissions@theredpaintings.com theredpaintings.com

facebook.com/TRPartistpage

Tristan Burke picture by Susan Weingartner

BRAG :: 516 :: 10:06:13 :: 31

g g guide gig g send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com

pick of the week Panama

FRIDAY JUNE 14

Revesby Workers Club free 8pm Bells, Borneo + special guests Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst $5 8pm Sosueme Presents: Pluto Jonze, Indian Summer, Tigertown, Tai Daniels The Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 8pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Chris Raicevich + guests Cat and Fiddle Hotel, Balmain free 7pm TAOS, John Chesher, Gavin Fitzgerald, James Stewart Keene, Barry O’Donnell Coach & Horses Hotel, Randwick free 7pm THE FOLK INFORMAL: Andy Golledge, The British Blues, Eldwood Myre, Garrett Kato FBi Social, Kings Cross Hotel $10 7pm

JAZZ & BLUES

David Helbock Trio Venue 505, Surry Hills $15-20 8:30pm Jazz Nouveau Revesby Workers Club free 8.30pm Muso’s Club Jam Night Bald Faced Stag, Leichhardt free 8pm

Goodgod Small Club, Sydney

FBi Radio’s ‘All Our Friends’ Fundraiser Panama, Cosmo’s Midnight, Rainbow Chan & Moon Holiday, Victoria Kim $15 ($10 for FBi supporters) 8pm MONDAY JUNE 10 ROCK & POP

Frankie’s World Famous House Band Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney free 9pm Leah Flanagan Ruby L’otel, Rozelle free 1pm Lewis Brothers, Spencer Ray Duo Orient Hotel, The Rocks $5 2pm / 7pm Mike Aquilina Campbelltown Catholic Club free 6pm

Kellys On King, Newtown free 7pm

TUESDAY JUNE 11 ROCK & POP

Co-Pilot Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 9pm Tales From The Eastern Suburbs (CD Launch) The Basement, Circular Quay $25 7.30pm

JAZZ & BLUES ACOUSTIC & FOLK Helmut Uhlmann, Chris Brookes, Massimo Presti

32 :: BRAG :: 516 : 10:06:13

Old School Funk and Groove Night Venue 505, Surry Hills free 8.30pm

Erimaj Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre $20-30 8.30pm

WEDNESDAY JUNE 12 ROCK & POP

Happy Hippies Ettamogah Pub, Rouse Hill free 7pm The Lonely Boys Scruffy Murphy’s, Haymarket free 10pm Mark Travers Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 9pm Movement, The Kite String Tangle Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $8 8pm Paulini, Emily Williams

THURSDAY JUNE 13 ROCK & POP

Bernie Hays Ruby L’otel, Rozelle free 8pm Cath & Him Campbelltown Catholic Club free 6pm Clay Coogee Bay Hotel Beach Bar, Coogee free 10pm Elevate Scruffy Murphy’s, Haymarket free 10pm Flyte Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 9.30pm I Exist, One Vital Word, Those Things, Mood Swing Spectrum, Darlinghurst $1520 8pm The King Khan and BBQ Show, Mesa Cosa, Frowning Clouds Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $25-30 7pm Oslow, Ted Danson with Wolves, Harbourer, Yo, Put That Bag Back On FBi Social, Kings Cross Hotel $10 8pm Jess Dunbar, Gogarty, Adam Tripodi Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst $10 8pm Southerly Buster, Broken Hands, Hey Baby, Jetson Manic Valve Bar, Tempe free 8pm Staff Picks w/ Twin Lakes, The Grease Arrestor, The Darkened Seas Annandale Hotel, $5 8pm Wildcatz Three Wise Monkeys Pub, Sydney free 10pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Folk ‘N Oaf w/ Tin Sparrow, Sons of the East, Goldsmith, Penelope Austin Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $5 8pm Peach Montgomery, Warren Munce, Beck Fielding Forest Lodge Hotel, Glebe free 7.30pm

JAZZ & BLUES

Amali Ward (Back in Time album launch) Venue 505, Surry Hills $10-15 8.30pm Muso’s Club Jam Night Carousel Hotel, Rooty Hill free 8pm

Amali Ward

FRIDAY JUNE 14 ROCK & POP

Bang Shang a Lang Unity Hall Hotel, Balmain free 8.30pm Nathan Cole Figtree Hotel, Figtree free 8pm Benn Funn Tahmoor Inn, Tahmoor free 7.30pm Angus & Malcolm Vineyard Hotel Vineyard free 9.30pm Acoustic Dave Coogee Bay Hotel Beach Bar, Coogee free 7.30pm Aimee Francis Ruby L’otel, Rozelle free 8pm AM 2 PM North Sydney Leagues Club, Cammeray free 9.30pm Baby Animals The Factory Theatre, Marrickville $33.40 7pm Beaches, Songs, Friendsters Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $10.70 8pm Big Rich Beamish Hotel, Campsie free 8.15pm Byron & Steve Ryan’s, Thirroul free 8.30pm The Bellrays Manning Bar, Sydney $40 8pm Christine Anu The Basement, Circular Quay $30 7.30pm Craig Thommo St. Leonards Tavern, St. Leonards free 7pm Darth Vegas, Mr Bamboo, La Tarentella FBi Social, Kings Cross Hotel $10 8pm The Deep Parramatta Leagues – The Firehouse, Parramatta free 8pm Dirty Deeds – The AC/DC Show O’Donnoughues Hotel, Emu Plains free 9pm DJ Marty Wentworthville Leagues Club, Wentworthville free 9pm Drover Mad, The Trobes, Shunky Zen, Dirty Sweet Nothings, The Wildbloods The Square, Haymarket $15 8pm East Coast Band Scruffy Murphy’s, Haymarket free 10.30pm FBi Radio’s ‘All Our Friends’ Fundraiser w/ Panama, Cosmo’s Midnight, Rainbow Chan & Moon Holiday, Victoria Kim Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $15 ($10 for FBi supporters) 8pm Flamin’ Beauties Crown Hotel, Sydney free 8pm Gay Paris Studio 6, Sutherland $12 7pm Greta Mob, RocketHead, Machine Valley, Face Command Town Hall Hotel, Newtown free 8.30pm Gus n Ella

The Winston, Winston Hills free 9.30pm Hooray For Everything Mittagong RSL, Mittagong free 8pm Ignition Three Wise Monkeys Pub, Sydney free 10pm Jacky Wotton, Karl Christoph The Gaelic Club, Surry Hills $10-15 8.30pm JJ Duo Captain Cook Hotel, Botany free 8pm John Vella Chatswood RSL, Chatswood free 5.30pm The Lonely Boys Coogee Bay Hotel – Beach Bar, Coogee free 11pm M Seven Blacktown RSL, Blacktown free 8.30pm Marty's Place Hornsby RSL, Hornsby free 10pm Mad Season Bull and Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills free 10pm Metallica and Chillie Peppers Double Show Three Swallows Hotel, Bankstown free 9.30pm OXBLVD, Del River Oxford Art Factory (Gallery Bar), Darlinghurst free 8pm Panorama Moorebank Sports Club, Hammondville free 9.30pm Pear Shaped (EP Launch), The Guppies + more Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst $14 8pm Pete Hunt, Reckless Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 4.30pm / 9.30pm Raise the Crazy (Album launch) Annandale Hotel, $10 8pm The Red Paintings The Hi-Fi, Moore Park $27.50 7:30pm The Remixes Kingswood Sports Club, Kingswood free 7.30pm Renae Stone Customs House Bar, Circular Quay free 7pm Rose Tattoo Revesby Workers Club $30 8pm Ryan Thomas Bankstown Hotel, Bankstown 3pm The Secret City, These Vagabond Hours, Beloved Elk Metro Theatre, Sydney $10 4.45pm Triple Grip Windsor Leagues Club, Windsor free 9.30pm Sheppard Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills free 6pm Shannon Noll, Ollie Brown Parramatta Leagues Club $35 8pm Skyz The Limit Penrith Gaels, Kingswood free 8pm Steve Edmonds Band Kiama Leagues Club free 8pm Wildcatz Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill free 8.30pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK Richard Clapton Acoustic

g g guide gig g send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com Lizottes, Dee Why free 9.30pm

JAZZ & BLUES

Feel Good Friday Jazz Venue 505, Surry Hills free 8.30pm Mike Nock’s Trio Plus Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre $20-30 8.30pm Smooth Jazz Australia The Bluebeat, Double Bay $25 9pm Stormcellar Roseville RSL free 9pm

SATURDAY JUNE 15 ROCK & POP

Agent 69 Mounties, Mt Pritchard free 8pm Ben Goldstein, Nick Kingswell, Rob Edwards (The Voice finalists) The Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 8pm The Black Angels, The Laurels, Zeahorse Enmore Theatre, $65 7pm The Buzz Club w/ Mushroom Planet, The Intercontinental Playboys, The No Such Things, Double Crosses Hermann’s Bar, Darlington $15 8pm Craig Thommo Coogee Bay Hotel Beach Bar, Coogee free 7.30pm Creo, Siren Lines Oxford Art Factory (Gallery Bar), Darlinghurst free 8pm Chasing Karma Oatley Hotel free 8.30pm

The Deep Windsor Leagues Club, Windsor free 8.30pm Desert Sessions w/ Looking Glass + Arrowhead Annandale Hotel, $23.50 7.30pm DJ Marty Wentworthville Leagues Club, Wentworthville free 9pm Elephant’s Laundry, Forever Ends Here, Let’s Not Pretend Metro Theatre, Sydney $15 4:45pm The Good Stuff Scruffy Murphy’s, Haymarket free 10.30pm Greg Byrne, Singled Out Orient Hotel, The Rocks $5 4.30pm / 9.30pm Hooray For Everything Parramatta RSL Club, Parramatta 7.30pm JJ Duo Kingswood Sports Club, Kingswood free 8.30pm Kami Blacktown RSL, Blacktown free 9pm Klay Padstow RSL, Padstow free 6.30pm Livewirez RG McGees, Richmond free 9pm The Lonely Boys Mercantile Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm Lynn Smith Ruby L’otel, Rozelle free 8pm Macson Wentworthville Leagues Club, Wentworthville free 10pm Marty's Place Eastern Suburbs Leagues Club, Bondi Junction free 8.30pm Muddy Feet The Belvedere Hotel, Sydney free 9pm

Nathan Cole Abbotts Hotel, Redfern free 7.30pm One Hit Wonders Bayview Tavern, Gladesville free 10.30pm Panorama Duo Parramatta Leagues – The Firehouse, Parramatta free 8pm Pat O'Grady Duo Engadine Tavern, Engadine free 9.30pm Peppermint Jam Blacktown Workers Club, Blacktown free 8.30pm Pete Hunt Surfies Cronulla, Cronulla free 9.15pm Pink Chevy’s Campbelltown Catholic Club, Campbelltown free 9.30pm Rapture Rosehill Bowling Club, Parramatta free 5.30pm Rock Pulse Carousel Inn, Rooty Hill free 8pm Rock Solid Duo North Sydney Leagues Club, Cammeray free 9.30pm Second Storey Window, Feature Walls, Paul Roth The Square, Haymarket $10 8pm Singled Out Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 9.30pm Something with Numbers Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $25 8pm Soundproofed Avoca Bowling Club, Avoca Beach free 7.30pm Steve Edmonds Band – Jimi Hendrix Tribute Show Brass Monkey, Cronulla $23.50 8.30pm Ten Thousand Bald Faced Stag, Leichardt, 8pm The Trav & Rosco Show

Coogee Bay Hotel – Beach Bar Wagons, The Mountains The Vanguard, Newtown $20 6:30pm Zooo Super Band Penrith RSL Club, Penrith free 2pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK Richard Clapton Gibraltar Hotel, Bowral free 8.30pm

JAZZ & BLUES

Miser Ott (double single launch) Venue 505, Surry Hills $15 8.30pm Quentin Angus Quintet Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre $20-30 8.30pm Stormcellar The Lakes Hotel, The Entrance free 8.30pm Yuki Kumagai, John Mackie, Eddie Bronson, Paul Furniss, Martin Highland Corrimal Hotel, free 3.30pm

SUNDAY JUNE 16 ROCK & POP

Brian King Campbelltown Catholic Club, Campbelltown free 6pm Chris Read Crossroads Hotel, Casula free 1pm Cogel, Cull, Found at Sea The Vanguard, Newtown $10 6:30pm Craig Thommo Wallacia Hotel, Wallacia free 2pm Dave Tice & Mark Evans,

Wagons Paul Phills Ruby L’otel, Rozelle free 1pm Dawn Annandale Hotel, Annandale $18.40 7:30pm Klay Duo Sands Hotel, Maroubra free 5pm Merilyn Steele Band Penrith RSL Club, Penrith free 2pm Michael Peter Waverley Bowling Club, Waverley free 2pm Mojo, 3 Way Split Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 4.30pm / 8.30pm Muddy Feet Coogee Bay Hotel Beach Bar, Coogee free 7.30pm Municipal Waste The Hi-Fi, Moore Park $45.50 7:30pm Raoul Graf Western Suburbs Leagues Club, Ashfield free 11am The Regulators Three Wise Monkeys, Sydney free 9pm Richard Clapton Heathcote Hotel, Heathcote free 6.30pm

Steve Edmonds Band Towradgi Beach Hotel, Wollongong free 3pm Strange Brew Botany View Hotel, Newtown free 7pm Tullo Campbelltown Catholic Club, Cambelltown free 1pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK Rick Fensom Oatley Hotel free 2pm Velvet Road, Daniel Hopkins, Blonde Baggage, Russell Neal Evening Star Hotel, Surry Hills free 2pm

JAZZ & BLUES

Katie Noonan ‘By Request’ Venue 505, Surry Hills $2025 8.30pm Yuki Kumagai, John Mackie, Tony Burkys, Lee Hutchings, Bob Gillespie Cronulla RSL Club, free 12.30pm

& His Band mon

10 Jun

(2:00PM - 5:30PM)

tue

wed

11 Jun

(7:00PM - 10:30PM) (9:00PM - 12:00AM)

12

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

from the U.K.

Jun

Shades of Jackie Wilson & Sam Cooke

thu

13 Jun

(9:30PM - 12:30AM)

fri

14 Jun (4:30PM - 7:30PM)

sat

15

(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

(9:30PM – 1:30AM)

sun

(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

16 Jun

Jun

(9:30PM - 12:30AM)

ROCKABILLY / SOUL / R & B SENSATION

(8:30PM - 12:00AM)

With Danc Floor e Smith @ Burw field, Marri ood & ckvill e

BOOK NOW! Appearing Smithfield RSL Club • Bookings: (02) 9604 4411 Wednesday 12 June, 2013 Blue Beat, Double Bay • Bookings: (02) 9328 4411 Thursday 13 June, 2013 Burwood RSL Club • Bookings: (02) 8741 2888 Friday 14 June, 2013 The Factory Theatre, Marrickville • Bookings: (02) 9550 3666 Saturday 15 June, 2013

www.fogartyproductions.com.au/ international.htm BRAG :: 516 :: 10:06:13 :: 33

gig picks up all night out all week...

WEDNESDAY JUNE 12

THURSDAY JUNE 13

Harbourer, Yo, Put That Bag Back On FBi Social, Kings Cross Hotel $10 8pm

Movement, The Kite String Tangle Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $8 8pm

Folk ‘N Oaf w/ Tin Sparrow, Sons of the East, Goldsmith, Penelope Austin Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $5 8pm

Staff Picks w/ Twin Lakes, The Grease Arrestor, The Darkened Seas Annandale Hotel, $5 8pm

Sosueme Presents: Pluto Jonze, Indian Summer, Tigertown, Tai Daniels The Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Free 8pm THE FOLK INFORMAL: Andy Golledge, The British Blues, Eldwood Myre, Garrett Kato FBi Social, Kings Cross Hotel $10 7pm

Jess Dunbar, Gogarty, Adam Tripodi Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst $10 8pm The King Khan and BBQ Show, Mesa Cosa, Frowning Clouds Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $2530 7pm Oslow, Ted Danson with Wolves,

Something With Numbers

FRIDAY JUNE 14 Abbe May (Kiss My Apocalypse album tour) Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $25 8pm Baby Animals The Factory Theatre, Marrickville $33.40 7pm Beaches, Songs, Friendsters Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $10.70 8pm

Abbe May

The Bellrays Manning Bar, Camperdown $40 8pm Darth Vegas, Mr Bamboo, La Tarentella FBi Social, Kings Cross Hotel $10 8pm

The Black Angels, The Laurels, Zeahorse Enmore Theatre, $65 7pm

Gay Paris Studio 6, Sutherland $12 7pm

Desert Sessions w/ Looking Glass + Arrowhead Annandale Hotel, $23.50 7.30pm

Pear Shaped (EP Launch), The Guppies + more Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst $14 8pm

WED 12TH JUNE

FRI 14TH JUNE

LUNCH BREAK TIN SPARROW

DARTH VEGAS + MR BAMBOO + LA TARANTELLA

1PM // FREE

8PM // $10

THE FOLK INFORMAL ANDY GOLLEDGE + GARRET KATO + ELWOOD MYRE + BRITISH BLUES 7PM // $10

SAT 15TH JUNE NOVA & THE EXPERIENCE + GUESTS 8PM // $10

THU 13TH JUNE FBi’S DEAD AIR PRESENTS TED DANSON WITH WOLVES + YO PUT THAT BAG BACK ON + OSLOW + 10K FREE MEN 8PM // $10

34 :: BRAG :: 516 : 10:06:13

SATURDAY JUNE 15

Drover Mad, The Trobes, Shunky Zen, Dirty Sweet Nothings, The Wildbloods The Square, Haymarket $15 8pm

OXBLVD, Del River Oxford Art Factory (Gallery Bar), Darlinghurst Free 8pm

PRESENTED BY ALBERTS

The Red Paintings The Hi-Fi, Moore Park $27.50 7:30pm

HANDS UP! CLOCKWERK + SPECIAL FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS 11.30PM // FREE

level 2, kings cross hotel www.fbisocial.com

Something with Numbers Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $25 8pm Wagons, The Mountains The Vanguard, Newtown $20 6.30pm

SUNDAY JUNE 16 Katie Noonan ‘By Request’ Venue 505, Surry Hills $20-25 8.30pm Katie Noonan

brag beats

BRAG’s guide to dance, hip hop and club culture

dance music news Xxxx

club, dance and hip hop in brief... with Chris Honnery

speed date WITH

Mantra

SEAN WALKER OF MOVEMENT show privately. We enjoyed all of the recent sold out Flight Facilities shows, and if we had to choose one particular show as a standout, we’d have to say playing the Corner in Melbourne.

A lot of great acts have played at that venue and we were honoured to be there. That particular show was also special to us as it was our first show of the year, so the set we played that night was three months in the making! It was also the first time an audience had heard any of our new songs.

Our Favourite Things We’ve been taking a lot of 4. influence from Frank Ocean, Jai

What We’re Looking For in Music 1.

Our music is heavily influenced by soul music and older R&B tracks.

As a band, we get the majority of our writing and rehearsing done at night. The ideal fan is someone who wants to make memories and have experiences to our music.

What We’re Doing With Ourselves 2.

We’ve been writing pretty steadily for the past year and a half. It’s surreal for us as we wrote ‘Feel Real’ (our first single out on Modular) almost two years ago!

We are really excited to get some more music out soon as we feel we have matured and developed our song writing quite a lot in that time.

Something we enjoyed doing recently was going away for a week up the coast, to a little beach house to finish off some new music. We came away with five demos, which we’re still developing and working on.

Other than that, we’ve started to play more live shows, including a recent run with Flight Facilities and Elizabeth Rose on their sold out tour in Melbourne and Sydney.

JUAN ATKINS

Detroit techno auteur Juan ‘the Magic Man’ Atkins will headline the next Astral People party on Saturday July 20 in the intimate confines of The Basement at Circular Quay.

Atkins is also referred to as part of the ‘Belleville Three’ alongside Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson, and had a huge influence on emerging Detroit producers such as Carl

FRANK OCEAN

Xxxx

One of the breakthrough artists of last year, R&B star Frank Ocean will play a Splendour in the Grass sideshow at the Hordern Pavilion on Monday July 29.

(For the record, ‘R&B’ is a term Ocean dislikes, because he says it carries racial connotations).

While Ocean co-wrote ‘I Miss You’ for Beyoncé’s album 4 back in 2011, it was with his 2012 debut studio album Channel Orange that Ocean announced himself.

One only has to trawl through the list of awards Channel Orange garnered to have an idea of the album’s impact, with the release gathering Ocean (prepare for the roll call): a Grammy win for Best Urban Contemporary Album; a BRIT Award for International Male Artist 2013; a Soul Train Album of the Year award; and the MTV Award for Man of the Year. To cap it all off, Time Magazine recently named Ocean in its annual list of the 100 Most Infl uential People.

In terms of what’s next for us, we have our first single launch parties in Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart (this month). On top of that we are over the moon to be playing alongside Klaxons at Oxford Art Factory for the Modular Party in July.

Playing a show on the same bill as Klaxons was something that Jesse and I dreamt about back in high school!

3.

Our Best Gig Ever We’ve only done a small number of shows so far, as we really wanted to focus on writing and developing the live

Craig and Stacey Pullen when they were first starting out. Working under the Cybotron and Model 500 monikers, the former a project with Rick Davies, Atkins produced a host of seminal cuts throughout the 1980s and early 90s, including the much-sampled ‘Clear’ and ‘Cosmic Cars’, and also conceived the Metroplex label. As for what’s next for the Magic Man, he’s recently completed a fantastic

Frank Ocean

Paul and Sam Sparro recently.

There’ve been a few albums recently that have forced us to pick up our game in terms of writing and the overall depth to our songs, mainly The Weeknd’s Echoes of Silence and the new James Blake album Overgrown.

In terms of amazing shows we’ve seen recently we took a lot away from the James Blake show at the Sydney Con. Our Ultimate Rider Once Jesse and I spent a 5. productive lecture at university writing our dream rider! I’ve fi ltered this ridiculous list down from 20 requests to three essentials. These are: a PlayStation with Fifa 03; a famous local dish; and a piano.

Where: ‘Feel Real’ single launch at GoodGod Small Club When: Wednesday June 12 And: ‘Feel Real’ out now on Modular

collaborative album with Moritz Von Oswald under the moniker of Borderland (which is set for release later this month) and now intends to rebuild “the Metroplex label with more artists, and more diverse artists other than Model 500 and a couple of collaborations”. Magda Bytnerowicz, Ben Fester and James Walsh will be spinning in support, with $30 presale tickets currently available online.

MANTRA

Adjust your party calendars folks – Melbourne-based rapper Mantra will perform at The Standard on Friday June 14 (not June 8 at OAF as previously reported). Kicking off his career as a producer before being encouraged to pick up a mic, Mantra has two full-length albums under his belt, with 2011’s Speaking Volumes being selected as triple j’s ‘Feature Album’. In recent times, he’s signed with Ten To Two Records, the team behind records from Xavier Rudd and Seth Sentry, and celebrated the move by releasing the (apparently autobiographical) single ‘Loudmouth’.

BLISS N ESO

With the release of their new album, Circus in the Sky, only a few weeks away, hip hop trio Bliss N Eso have announced an additional Sydney show (Friday July 5 at the Enmore) to sate public demand after the first show sold out.

Circus in the Sky follows on from 2010’s hugely acclaimed Running on Air, which debuted at #1 on the ARIA Album Chart and achieved platinum sales. The first taste of Circus in the Sky came via teaser track ‘House of Dreams’ – the tour’s namesake – which has been on heavy rotation on triple j of late. Bliss N Eso will be joined by heavily-inked Alabama MC Yelawolf, renowned for his debut album Trunk Muzik and featured on tracks alongside the likes of Ed Sheeran and Big Boi. The support cast doesn’t end there, with UK figurehead Jehst and local lad Pez also representing. Tickets to the encore Bliss N Eso show have been on sale since last week, so get your skates on lest you miss out again.

BRAG :: 516 :: 10:06:13 :: 35

dance music news

free stuff

club, dance and hip hop in brief... with Chris Honnery

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

five things WITH

Movement

BUSTACAP Future, Das Racist and Ice Cube have a large influence on my flow and how I write. Die Antwoord made me feel comfortable in my own skin while playing live... We’re not everyone’s bag of goon.

P: I’m a huge hip hop fan, everything from crunk to boom bap. I’ve been listening to a lot of East Coast rap lately though, a lot of Action Bronson and A$AP Rocky. A huge influence on my music and production has got to be Apollo Brown. I strive to make beats as dope as his… One day.

Your Group P: Prolifik The Gifted – a 3. corn-rowed, cupid-faced vinyl

1.

Growing Up Prolifik: Our parents had a pretty killer music selection; I still rake through mum’s vinyl collection.

Thraxxy: Mum got me into Creedence Clearwater Revival and I still remember Dad showing us our first Daft Punk film clip. LL Cool J was pretty much on repeat

when ever we drove with our old man. Still...I ended up as the chubby weirdo kid in the Manson shirt at school... I guess I still am!

Inspirations T: I listen to everything 2. from Jerry Lee Lewis to Suicidal Tendencies! I would say that Santogold, Childish Gambino, Odd

vandal.

T: Thraxxy – big haired, tonguein-cheek, whiskey drinking dame.

T: Pro and I are blood, so there is no way of escaping each other! We started the band purely by accident.

I was recording some guitar tracks with him and we started messing around with beats and sounds. We ended up recording our first track in his bedroom closet, slapped it up on MySpace and the rest is pretty

LIL B

MIDNIGHT JUGGERNAUTS

SHAPESHIFTER

FUTURE CLASSIC AT GOODGOD

Berkeley’s Brandon McCartney, AKA The BasedGod Lil B, will perform at The Standard this Saturday June 15 as part of his debut Australia tour. Dubbed by Vice Magazine as “the most revolutionary MC of the last 15 years” – and who are we to disagree? – McCartney penned his first Billboard 200 hit at the age of 15 with his group The Pack. From that point, Lil B has recorded nearly 3,000 songs, self produced and directed hundreds of music videos and is even a published author. Lil B’s music is characterised by free-flowing raps steeped in absurdity and Tumblr philosophy.

New Zealand live DnB outfit Shapeshifter will return to Australia in the wake of the release of their new album, Delta, which dropped a fortnight ago. Delta is the group’s fifth LP, and people who’ve heard it tell me that it combines Shapeshifter’s customary elements of ‘heavy soul’ tempered with drum and bass, jazz, and funk with a club tempo. As a live act, the Kiwi veterans retain a reputation for putting on a pulsating show, which they’ll showcase at The Metro on Friday August 9.

much history. I work the daily grind in a body modification studio, and you can usually find Prolifik making beats or DJing at some dingy nightclub with a slew of emcees in tow.

Music You Make Expect the unexpected pal!

4. The Music, Right Here, Right Now 5.

We recently saw Flatbush Zombies at Oxford Art Factory and were in awe! Definitely blew us away. The scene now is actually really surprising. A lot of the audience now is a younger crowd and there are a lot of female artists coming out of the woodwork, which is great!

What: Steez EP launch with Deadbeat & Hazy, Broken Thought Theory and Empress MC Where: Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst When: Saturday June 22

MOVEMENT

Newest Modular signing MOVEMENT launch new single ‘Feel Real’ next Wednesday June 12 at GoodGod Small Club. It seems the trio have been drawing lots of inspiration for their upcoming EP from soul and 90s RNB so we’re well keen to hear what they come out with.

To fi nd out for yourself, win one of four double passes by telling us the last song that made you move.

Melbourne’s Midnight Juggernauts release their new album Uncanny Valley this Thursday via Siberia Records. While the ‘Juggers’ will set off for Europe and South America over the next few months, they’ll be back to launch their latest effort with a series of shows across Australia in August. Uncanny Valley is Midnight Juggernaut’s third studio album, following Dystopia and The Crystal Axis, and the video for the album’s leadoff single ‘Memorium’ is floating around online.

Midnight Juggernauts play the Metro Theatre on Friday August 16 for an all ages show.

The Future Classic DJs will once again take over Goodgod Small Club on Friday June 21, reprising the successful formula that worked so well when they last “did this,” eight months ago.

The formula for the night is simple – the local tastemakers responsible for touring the likes of Henrik Schwarz and DJ Koze over the years will take control of the decks until closing time for a set where they can, “get a little darker, push the smoke button all night and stretch out with a proper extended set.” Entry is a mere ten clams.

Onra

ONRA

France’s Onra will return to Australia next month, and is set to perform at Oxford Art Factory on Friday July 19. Born and based in Paris, Onra (or Arnaud Bernard, as he is known by his close friends and, indeed, enemies) first appeared on his producer friend Quetzal’s 2006 collaborative album Tribute. Since then the Red Bull Music Academy attendee has grown in stature through releases like his 2010 record Long Distance, which garnered accolades for melding hip hop, disco, electronic and Chinese funk influences all in the name of what Leigh Dennis described as injecting, “a bit of greasy love and boogie onto our dance floors.” Onra released another album in 2011, Chinoiseries, which explored classic hip hop sounds while delving into the producer’s Vietnamese roots. Of late, Onra has teamed up with frequent collaborator Boddhi Satva for the Yatha Bhuta Jazz Combo project, which is targeted not at the club, but rather designed to resonate with listeners who have a penchant for the jazz sounds of artists like Alice Coltrane. Onra’s live show apparently features a range of hardware, gear and “special surprises,” which you’ll have to get along to the show to experience.

Loco Dice

LOCO DICE

“What I’m playing is something between house and techno,” Loco Dice says in the trailer of his new mix compilation – that’s right, they’re making trailers for mixes these days – before delivering the punch line, “So don’t put me somewhere I don’t belong.” The mix in question is the new double-disc mix compilation for the Defected In The House series, due out next month. The tracklist fuses underground kingpins such as Doc Martin, Skudge and Kerri Chandler with well-known drawcards such as Diplo. In accordance with Dice’s stern words, I won’t attempt to describe the sound of the mix, lest I inadvertently typecast him within the confines of an inappropriate genre. I’ll allow you to listen to the release and do that for yourself.

36 :: BRAG :: 516 :: 10:06:13

UPCOMING ON WARP

Following on from the Boards of Canada release, esteemed imprint Warp Records will unveil a number of other interesting releases in the coming months. First up, UK-born producer (and downstairs neighbour to the Brag office) Mark Pritchard is releasing new EP Ghosts later this month. While Pritchard has previously released under the monikers of Harmonic 313, Troubleman, Link and NY Connection, in addition to his work as one half of Africa HiTech and Global Communication, the forthcoming

release will be put out under his own name.

Ghosts will apparently prefigure a “more developed and expansive album of songs and features.” Warp Records have even released a statement that Pritchard will no longer be releasing under a host of different guises, and will rather put out releases solely under his real name from now on. The Warp powerbrokers have also disclosed that Clark will release a new album, Feast/Beast, through the label on September 16. The early word on Feast/Beast is that it’s, “a carefully curated compilation containing the best of Clark remixes.”

Tricky Never False, Never Idle By Benjamin Cooper

“W

here am I going tonight? I don’t know. Maybe Stockholm?

All I know is I’m playing a show somewhere in Europe tomorrow, somewhere that starts with an ‘S’, I think.”

The days and the destinations are starting to blur for Adrian Nicholas Matthews Thaws. The artist known as Tricky is in his home country of England, but is a long way from home.

Tricky moved to Paris a few years back, and says he enjoys it there. Does he enjoy the French capital more than Bristol, the southern English city where he grew up and began his career as a producer and performer? “Let’s just say I like visiting London,” he says, avoiding talk of his home town. “There’s always fucked up shit going on here in London. There could be people down in the street giving fl owers to each other, and it’s such a big city that around the corner someone’s getting mugged. Life just goes on here.

“London is the place I go to get food or buy books. I can’t read French, so I come here to stock up on books, and eat food I can’t get in France.”

It’s also the place he’s been recording with Francesca Belmonte, one of the many guests who appears on the trip-hop pioneer’s tenth album, False Idols. “We’re working on some pretty incredible stuff for her album,” Tricky says. “It’s pretty scary how good the album is sounding already.

I reckon I might be supporting her next year.”

Xxx

Other collaborators on False Idols include Igbo singer Nneka, Fifi Rong and Peter Silberman from The Antlers. Silberman contributes vocals on the hypnotic lead single ‘Parenthesis’, and his involvement came about purely by chance. “I met Antlers at a festival,” Tricky explains, “and the thing that impressed me was they weren’t playing the rock stars. They’re a band that is doing well, but they’re grounded. That’s enough to make me want to work with someone, much more than any talent they might have.”

Tricky is renowned for his exacting standards in the studio. Does he think he is too demanding? “Nine times out of ten if someone is going on my album, it’s because I know that they can bring

“There’s always fucked up shit going on here in London.

There could be people down in the street giving flowers to each other, and around the corner someone’s getting mugged.” something, but it has to be done my way.

I want to hear things my way, because I know what I want, and I know what I need.

I work very fast, and I don’t like waiting around,” he says.

The Brit might be exacting, but he admits it’s because he’s in a state of bliss when in the studio. “I love the recording process,” Tricky says. “If it becomes painful I walk away. When you start analysing too much it becomes a job. An older musician told me once that when you record something, remember the first feeling it gave you and play it like that. Otherwise you start questioning yourself, and that’s never going to help.”

His latest album is the first to be released on his own label, also called False Idols. It follows a painful separation with Domino Records, who had produced his previous two albums. “When I was with them I couldn’t work quickly enough. I’d record my demos, and then the CEO of the label would have to come to Paris to tell me I was ready to mix. He’s never made a record in his life, how can he tell me if I’m ready to mix? I like the guy personally, but that was really painful business. Some artists might say being dropped is the worst, but I couldn’t be happier with where I’m at.”

What: False Idols out now through False Idols/!K7 Records

BRAG :: 516 :: 10:06:13 :: 37

club guide send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com

club pick of the week

SATURDAY JUNE 15

Lil B

The Standard, Surry Hills

Lil B (USA) $45 8pm MONDAY JUNE 10 Scruffy Murphy’s, Haymarket Mother Of A Monday DJ Smokin’ Joe free 7pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Latin & Jazz Open Mic Swim Team DJs free 7pm The Spice Cellar Spice After Hours w/ Robbie Lowe & Guests $20 4am The Abercrombie Subsonic pres. End of the Line w/ Alexkid (FRA), Gemma Van D, Kimba, Phillipa, Timmus, Jimi Polar, Andrew Wowk, Dave Stuart $15 (+bf), 2pm

TUESDAY JUNE 11 Brighton Up Bar Ziggy Pop Tuesdays Guest DJs $5 Scruffy Murphy’s, Haymarket I Love Goon Resident DJs free 7pm The Establishment, Sydney Rumba Motel Salsa DJ Willie Sabor free 8pm Trademark Hotel, Kings Cross Coyote Tuesday Resident DJs free 9pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Chu $5 7.30pm 38 :: BRAG :: 516 :: 10:06:13

WEDNESDAY JUNE 12 Ivy, Sydney Salsa Resident DJs free 8pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross KIT Wednesdays Resident DJs 10pm The Lewisham Hotel Garbage 90s Night Garbage DJs free 7pm Goodgod Front Bar The Wire Trivia, free 8pm Whaat Club, Potts Point Whip It Wednesdays DJs free 9pm The World Bar, Kings Cross The Wall $5 8pm

THURSDAY JUNE 13 Bridge Hotel, Rozelle Balmain Blitz $15 7pm Exchange Hotel, Darlinghurst Hot Damn Hot Damn DJs $15-$20 8pm Goodgod Front Bar Dip Hop Joyride, Elston free 8pm Goldfish Miami Nights w/ Jay-J, Husky, Liam Sampras, Tom Kelly free 9pm Ivy Pool Club, Sydney Pool Club Thursdays Resident DJ free 5pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross

Resident DJs 10pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross Rewind Resident DJs 8pm The Standard, Surry Hills Masta Ace (USA), Stricklin, Marco Polo $40 8pm Trademark Hotel, Kings Cross Take Over Thursday Resident DJs $10 9pm Whaat Club, Potts Point Chakra Thursdays Robust, Brizz free 9.30pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Propaganda Gillex, DJ Moody free for students/$10 9pm

FRIDAY JUNE 14 Candy’s Apartment, Darlinghurst Something Wicked DJs Robust, Prolifix, Harper, Audio Trash, Harper, Oh Dear Aydos $10-$15 8pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney WOLFGANG w/ Doctor Werewolf, kraymer, Empress Yoy, Victims, Big Deal Gillespie, Bocue, DS 10pm Goodgod Small Club, Sydney FBi presents ‘All Our Friends’ w/ Panama, Cosmo’s Midnight, Rainbow Chan & Moon Holiday, Victoria Kim, Future Classic DJs, Astral DJS $10-15 9pm Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour The Guestlist $15-$25 9pm

Gemma Van D

Jacksons On George, Sydney $5 @ 5 On Fridays Resident DJs free 5pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Fridays Resident DJs 10pm Marquee, The Star, Pyrmont Mashup Fridays DJ Vice $20 10pm Oatley Hotel We Luv Oatley Hotel Fridays Resident DJ free 8pm Omega Lounge, City Tattersalls Club, Sydney Unwind Fridays DJ Greg Summerfield free 5.30pm The Soda Factory, Surry Hills Factory Fridays, 5pm Soho, Potts Point SOHO Fridays w/ Kronic, Skinny, Zannon Rocco, Fingers, Pat Ward free (before 11pm), 9pm Spice Cellar SOFT & SLOW, Damian Hesse, Aviery Jamieson, Pink Lloyd, Dreamcatcher 12am $10 The Standard, Surry Hills Mantra, $15 8pm Trademark Hotel, Kings Cross TGIF Resident DJs 10pm Whaat Club, Potts Point Think Fridays DJs 8pm $10-15 Masta Ace

The World Bar, Kings Cross MUM MUM DJs $10-$15 8pm

SATURDAY JUNE 15

5 8pm

Abercrombie Hotel, Broadway Strange Fruit free 9pm The Argyle, The Rocks Argyle Saturdays, (free before 10pm), 6pm Candy’s Apartment, Potts Point Big Guns Presents: Vengeance, Luke La Beat, Kitsch, 2Busy2Kiss, Monstrum, Towers, Matty Whells, Death Juice, Frxon, Exray 8pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney What So Not (DJ Set), Lancelot, A-Tonez, Samrai, Whitechat, About Jack, Antoine Voice, Fingers, Pop the Hatch, Bounce Crew DJs, Barcom Ballers 9pm Goodgod Small Club Maxmillion Dunbar (USA), Pelvis, Noise in My Head $15 11.30pm Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour Homemade Saturdays Resident DJs $20-$25 9pm

Ivy, Sydney PACHA Sydney w/ Alvaro, Ben Morris, John Glover, Tigerlily, Fingers, Trent Rackus, Hobophonics, Devola, Pat Ward, Devola, Pat Ward + more $35-40 8:30pm Jacksons On George, Sydney Resident DJs free 9pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Kitty Kitty Bang Bang Resident DJs 10pm Marquee, The Star, Pyrmont Bass Kleph $30 10pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross The Suite Resident DJs 8pm The Soda Factory, Surry Hills Soda Saturdays, 5pm Spice Cellar Spice Troopers: Murat Kilic, Robbie Lowe, Steven Sullivan, Morgan, Dean Relf $20 (free guestlist entry before 12am), 10pm The Standard, Surry Hills Lil B (USA) $45 8pm The Watershed Hotel, Darling Harbour Skybar Saturdays Resident DJ $20 9.30pm Whaat Club, Potts Point After Dark DJs $10-15 8pm

SUNDAY JUNE 16

5 8pm

Abercrombie Hotel, Broadway S.A.S.H Sundays Thomas Gandey, Ben Morris, Alan Thomas, Jon Jak, Simon Brayford, Kerry Wallace $10 2pm Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach CREAM launch, free 5pm The Beresford Hotel, Surry Hills Beresford Sundays Resident DJs free 3pm Crane Bar Restaurant, Potts Point DUST ft. Significant Others w/ Inglorious Bastards, LeOch, Daniel George, James Taylor, Hannah Gibbs $10 (free before 11pm) 10pm Gay Bar, Darlinghurst Resident DJ free 3pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Easy Sundays Resident DJs free 10pm Oatley Hotel Sunday Sessions DJ Tone free 7pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross Sapphire Sundays Resident DJs 8pm Spice Cellar Spice After Hours w/ Steven Sullivan, Murat Kilic and guests $20 4am The World Bar, Kings Cross Soup Kitchen The Soup Kitchen DJs free 7pm

Deep Impressions

club picks

Underground Dance And Electronica with Chris Honnery

up all night out all week...

MONDAY JUNE 10 The Abercrombie Subsonic pres. End of the Line w/ Alexkid (FRA), Gemma Van D, Kimba, Phillipa, Timmus, Jimi Polar, Andrew Wowk, Dave Stuart $15 (+bf), 2pm

THURSDAY JUNE 13 Goldfish Miami Nights w/ Jay-J, Husky, Liam Sampras, Tom Kelly free 9pm

The Standard, Surry Hills Masta Ace (USA), Stricklin, Marco Polo $40 8pm

Moodyman

FRIDAY JUNE 14 Chinese Laundry, Sydney WOLFGANG w/ Doctor Werewolf, kraymer, Empress Yoy, Victims, Big Deal Gillespie, Bocue, DS 10pm Marquee, The Star, Pyrmont Mashup Fridays DJ Vice $20 10pm The Standard, Surry Hills Mantra, $15 8pm

SATURDAY JUNE 15 Chinese Laundry, Sydney What So Not (DJ Set), Lancelot, A-Tonez, Samrai, Whitechat, About Jack, Antoine Voice, Fingers, Pop the Hatch, Bounce Crew DJs, Barcom Ballers 9pm Goodgod Small Club Maxmillion Dunbar (USA), Pelvis, Noise in My Head $15 11:30pm Marquee, The Star, Pyrmont Bass Kleph $30 10pm Spice Cellar Spice Troopers: Murat Kilic, Robbie Lowe, Steven Sullivan, Morgan, Dean Relf $20 (free guestlist entry before 12am), 10pm

SUNDAY JUNE 16 Bass Kleph

Abercrombie Hotel, Broadway S.A.S.H Sundays Thomas Gandey, Ben Morris, Alan Thomas, Jon Jak, Simon Brayford, Kerry Wallace $10 2pm

Sundays 16 JUNE

Thomas Gandey Ben Morris Alan Thomas Jon Jak Kerry Wallace

Supper set

Simon Brayford

T

he inimitable Kenny Dixon Jr, who makes music under the moniker of – come on now, you know this one – Moodymann, has released new album ABCD, which bypassed the usual marketing hype and snuck under the radar, being released a fortnight ago without the usual fanfare. It’s now up to journalists and imposters such as myself to provide that fanfare – better late than never, eh? ABCD is Moodymann’s 10th LP since he entered the fray back in ’97 with Silentintroduction, which dropped on Carl Craig’s Planet E imprint. While some connoisseurs will pinpoint Moodymann’s Brown and Black Mahogani LPs as the Detroit auteur’s magnum opus, selecting highlights from such an illustrious discography is not an easy task. Moodymann has been increasingly active on the production front of late, issuing a free album last year through Scion and dropping a new 12˝ earlier this year with his Detroit ‘super group’, the Three Chairs project, with alongside fellow Motor City luminaries Theo Parrish, Marcellus Pittmann and Rick Wilhite. ABCD is a vinyl-only release, but before the digital generation begins with the ‘woe is me’ rhetoric, I must stress that we, the people, are lucky that the release is going to be as accessible as it is; the inside word is that ABCD was initially pressed to be sold exclusively at the 2013 edition of the Detroit Electronic Music Festival – that’s ‘DEMF’ in industry speak – which took place at the end of last month. So if you don’t have decks, get chummy with someone who does – I’m only an email away ladies – so you can have a listen to ABCD, which sits between a ‘traditional album’ and an extended 12˝ a la Moodymann’s 2008 album Det.riot ’67.

ABCD is out now through Dixon’s label KDJ Records.

It’s a bird – it’s a plane – Issakidis! Parisian cult figure George Issakidis recently released his debut solo album Karezza on French label Kill The DJ, a stable for offbeat electronica that’s overseen by tastemaking French veterans Chloe and Ivan Smagghe.

Don’t let the fact that the release is technically Issakidis’s debut solo LP throw you off the scent – Issakidis has a reputation amongst the cognoscenti for being an influential figure in the club realm. Since making his mark in the French scene ‘PDP’ – pre-Daft Punk – Issakidis has been releasing music for more than 15 years, and is renowned for his output with Christophe Monier as The Micronauts, with the pair remixing the likes of Underworld, Death in Vegas and the Chemical Brothers.

Issakidis has also collaborated with Speedy J for releases on Novamute, and runs his own record label, The Republic of Desire. Karezza is a nine-track album that features collaborations with Perc and Ed Banger’s Mickey Moonlight, along with his old pal Speedy J. Lead-off single ‘Cherry Red’ is an album highlight, and is well worth seeking out for the remixes from Smagghe and Tim Paris under their It’s A Fine Line moniker, and Issakidis’s own rework under his Dzir alias. However, you’d be doing yourself a disservice if you did this at the expense of listening to Karezza in its entirety.

For those fond of clumsy food analogies,

LOOKING DEEPER FRIDAY JULY 5 Mark E Goodgod Small Club

SATURDAY JULY 6 Mad Racket ft. Deepchild

SATURDAY JULY 20 Juan Atkins The Basement

Juan Atkins

treat ‘Cherry Red’ (and its remixes) as a delectable appetiser rather than a whole meal in itself. Karezza has been lauded by the bigwigs at Kompakt Records since its release, and should be investigated by anyone who likes to listen and dance to slightly left-of-centre electronic psychedelia.

Birmingham producer Mark Evetts, or Mark E as the listening public knows him, headlines the next HAHA bash at Goodgod Small Club on Friday July 5.

Evetts originally made his mark via re-edits, with his ten-minute rework of Womack & Womack’s ‘Baby, I’m Scared Of You’ piquing the ears of one Giles Peterson, who in turn started playing it on his well known radio show. While originally known for reworking samples from – well, he even refashioned cuts from Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey – Evetts soon graduated to churning out original productions and remixes, launching his own label MERC and using it as a forum to hone a sound that conflates house and disco. Rip-roaring remixes of Cagedbaby’s ‘Hello There’ and Matthew Dear’s memorable single ‘Little People (Black City)’ introduced him to the Ghostly/ Spectral fold, who released Evett’s first artist album, Stone Breaker, in 2011. Given the continual evolution of Evetts’ sound, one is loath to speculate what he’ll play when he makes his Sydney debut in a few weeks time for the HAHA lads. As the man himself told an online mag [which we won’t name for legal purposes], “I feel it’s important to evolve rather then revolve.” A stellar support cast, comprised of Simon Caldwell, Magda Bytnerowicz and HAHA residents D&D will also be spinning wax on the night, with $20 presale tickets available online.

Deep Impressions: electronica manifesto and occasional club brand. Contact through deep.impressions@yahoo.com BRAG :: 516 :: 10:06:13 :: 39

snap

artbar weird science

PICS :: AM

up all night out all week . . .

31:05:13 :: Opera House Studio ::

Opera House Studio Saturday June 1

A rising game-player in the thriving Sydney independent electronic scene, the artist and touring management group Astral People transformed the Opera House Studio foyer into a two-room tech-rave. The weather was cold, damp and downright miserable but that didn’t stop an enthused and appreciative crowd from enjoying the sold-out show, and with a little help from esteemed Detroit house icon, Omar-S, it possessed a festive spirit rarely experienced in such plush surroundings.

The main room started with local DJs Ben Fester and Preacha, delivering solid mixes.

The party vibe then stepped up a notch with Sydney stalwarts, Africa Hi-Tech, the local duo of Mark Pritchard and Steve Spacek.

The crowd responded to their eclectic and ebullient sound with increased urgency in their dancing. The duo’s live set traversed several different sounds, from post-dubstep, juke, bouncy reggae-influenced grime and even DnB. Backed by a nifty video backdrop, ‘Out in the Streets’ was the standout with its wobbly basslines and propulsive beat augmented by Spacek’s enthusiastic howls.

Venturing out to the ‘rave-cave’ section, the volume seemed doubly loud, as the concentrated dancefloor got into UK producer Jon Convex, who delivered heady

40 :: BRAG :: 516 :: 10:06:13

31:05:13 :: The Goldfish :: 111 Darlinghurst Rd Potts Point 8354 6630

doses of crunchy bass and bro-mantic house melodies. Known for his work in Instra:mental, he also showcased a more toned-down flavour, which is representative of his ‘deeper’ and more acidic take on house. On most nights I’d have stayed for longer but this night was all about one man.

Appearing onstage with his typically aloof demeanour, Omar-S delivered a solid mix featuring classic Detroit house tunes and new material off his latest release, Thank You For Letting Me Be Myself. Like a Zen master of raw funk and soul he was always in control, never missing a beat, assortments of jittery synths and warm bass reaching upward into the crowd’s collective consciousness. Unfortunately, the crowd had somewhat thinned out by the latter stages of the night - possibly due to the lower volume levels.

While taking a seat upstairs on the comfortable red seats in the mezzanine level, which in itself was a strange experience, I gained a visual perspective on what Omar-S does best: hypnotise audiences with understated and minimal house. When electronic and house music is increasingly saturated with frenetic, manic ‘bangers’, it was gratifying to see a producer so comfortable in his own skills and sound, and for that, Astral People delivered a night that celebrated all the best features of contemporary electronic music.

Larry Lai

the upbeats

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VIVID LIVE ASTRAL PEOPLE PARTY

the goldfish

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goodgod danceteria

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31:05:13 :: MCA :: 140 George St Sydney 9250 8443

31:05:13 :: Manning Bar :: Manning Rd University of Sydney 9563 6000 :: ABOUT LST NIGHT :: KATRINA S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER LEY MAR :: PRUDENCE UPTON ASH :: NAN MAG TH AMA :: LEUNG CLARKE :: TIM HARRIS :: HENRY

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flatbush zombies

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up all night out all week . . .

bass mafia garden party

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29:05:13 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford St Darlinghurst 9332 3711

s.a.s.h sundays

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marquee

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01:06:13 :: The Ivy :: 330 George St Sydney 9254 8100

02:06:13 :: The Abercrombie Hotel :: 100 Broadway Ultimo 9211 3486

01:06:13 :: Marquee :: Star City Sydney 9657 7737

CASHMERE CAT Civic Underground Thursday May 30 This enigmatic Norwegian beatmaker is blowing up in a big way, and his own mix on Diplo’s BBC Radio 1Xtra show is testament to that. After playing at the Opera House for Future Classic’s Vivid Live party, Cashmere Cat (AKA Magnus August Høiberg) put on a super sweaty gig at the Civic Underground that even Flume decided to attend.

Cashmere Cat’s an ultra skinny, super tall white dude with a baby face and a huge tuft of hair, and as he ambled on stage in a five-panel hat and a stripy tee the juiced crowd warmed up quickly. Opening with an ominous score before exploding into arguably his best original track ‘Kiss Kiss’, Cashmere Cat had the crowd grinding to his identifiable style; future-sex hip hop with a trap undercurrent.

vice 10th anniversary

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Only in super bassy parts of his set did the Civic’s sound system falter, but for the most part of the night Cashmere Cat’s impeccably clean production sounded incredible in the purple darkness of the venue. His massive remixes of Lana Del Rey’s ‘National Anthem’ and Drake & 2 Chainz’ ‘No Lie’ were beefed up with a

24:05:13 :: Goodgod Small Club :: 53-55 Liverpool St Chinatown 8084 0587 42 :: BRAG :: 516 :: 10:06:13

club beat as Høiberg flitted and weaved between his repertoire of originals and remixes with an arresting nonchalance.

He showed an obvious love for hip hop, dropping a super dirty Rick Ross remix and a slammin’ Sinjin Hawke remix of DJ Khaled’s ‘I’m On One’, but it was admirable watching Høiberg’s effortless transition from aggressive hip hop to his own kawaii-aesthetic on a track like ‘Mirror Maru’ or ‘Paws’. With pianos, harps and strings, ‘Mirror Maru’ is quite a lo-fi track that Høiberg somehow manages to keep relevant within the vibe of the set, without losing his crowd.

Cashmere Cat’s set culminated with his stellar remix of Miguel’s ‘Do You…’, unquestionably one of the standout remixes of this year. It faded out into James Blake’s ‘Limit To Your Love’, as Cashmere Cat looked into the crowd and made some kitten-like gestures before walking off timidly. His set oscillated between different atmospheres and tempos, and was incredibly varied; Cashmere Cat has nailed this style of club music where the 65-95bpm spectrum allows so much room for expression and adventure.

Rachitha Seneviratne

:: ABOUT LST NIGHT :: KATRINA S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER LEY MAR :: PRUDENCE UPTON ASH :: NAN MAG TH AMA :: LEUNG CLARKE :: TIM HARRIS :: HENRY