ISSUE 0006 / November 6th - November 12th 2014
IT’S FREE - www.bsidemagazine.com.au
ALSO INSIDE: Radio Birdman, Katie Noonan, Kumfy Klub Amaya Laucirica, Deep Plastic, Deep South plus BOB’s BITS, TOUR GUIDE and LOCAL MUSIC NEWS
AROUND THE TRAPS There’s to be a movie night from 7.30pm on Thursday 6 November at the Arts Centre, 22 Gawler St, Pt Noarlunga, at which locally-made surf film Surfriders 1964-2014 will be screened. The film, which will also be available on the night in DVD form, features an array of surfers, including Kelly Slater, Nat Young and Billy February, from around Australia. Entry fee is just $12 and bookings can easily be made by telephoning 8326 5577 and it’s to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Seaview Road Board Riders Club. The general public has until Sunday 9 November to cast a vote in the 2014 Fowler’s Live Music Awards to be held as a free entry event at the live music venue at 68-70 North Tce from 5.30pm on Thursday 13 November. For more information, please visit the website at <fowlerslivemusicawards.com.au>. Saturday Arvo Strum is set to take place at The Coffee Pot, Level 1, 27 Rundle Mall from 4pm on Saturday 8 November and will feature Piers Diprose, Daniel Good (of Hellbound & Proud) and Dan Devlin. Kami McInnes will also be on hand to spin redneck tunes. A new singer songwriter night has been launched at The Gaslight Tavern, 36 Chief St, Brompton, from 8.30pm on Wednesday evenings. Drawing from SCALA’s large pool of artists and more, the night, known as Mid Week Melt, will have four local singer songwriters presenting a 30-minute set to showcase their talents. It’s free entry too. Gorilla Jones have been undertaking some recording for a new album of their upbeat funky, indie soul music due for release next year but will now also be having a free entry, month-long Friday evening residency at the Grace Emily Hotel, 232 Waymouth St. It kicks off on Friday 7 November and you can expect special guests to rock up each week with Nuvo on the first evening, El Caminos on Friday 14 November and These Blessed Bones on Friday 21 November, while the final evening of the four-night residency will boast an Adelaide supergroup set to play their debut gig. Sincerely, Grizzly, who have just signed to Black Night Crash Records for the release of their debut album, Halves, on Friday 14 November, and will officially launch it with a gig from 9pm at Hotel Metro, 46 Grote St, on Saturday 15 March with help from Shivers as well as Sydney band Corpus. Following sell out shows at Adelaide Fringe since 2010, The Bald Eagles will now make a flying return to the Governor Hindmarsh, 59 Port Rd, Hindmarsh, on Sunday 9 November for a dinner and show affair. Expect lots of laughs as the seven-piece The Bald Eagles’ wry humour and the inclusion of songs by The Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan and Jackson Browne makes for a great night of entertainment. Supporting the band will be songbird Cloudy Davey, who will be joined by the band to close her set with a sweet trip through kd lang, The Dixie Chicks, Midnight Oil and others. Book via OzTix or at the venue. Adelaide’s long-running melodic metal band Raven Black Night have returned home from another huge tour and will now play Worldsend Hotel, 208 Hindlley St, on Friday 14 November with Hidden Intent and other special guests. Multi-instrumentalist Adam Page continues his solo monthly Sunday afternoon residency at Crown & Anchor, 196 Grenfell St, from 5-7pm on Sunday 9 November. A mere $10 will get you in and you can maybe also maybe possibly expect a surprise guest each month with the final one for the year set to take place on Sunday 14 December. Prodigal son Matt Banham is returning ‘home’ from Sydney to play Hotel Metro, 46 Grote St, with his new band Weak
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Boys who will be launching new vinyl offering, Weekends/Weekdays on Friday 7 November. They’ll be joined by Avant Gardeners, Blood Plastic and MC Matty Hayward who has promised not to tell many jokes about condoms. Boutique bar Nook Nosh, 111 Unley Rd, Unley, which is open from 3pm on Wednesdays through to Sundays, have announced their Sunday afternoon music line-up for much of the month of November. Catch David Robinson on Sunday 9 November, Red Willow on Sunday 16 November and Short & Sweet on Sunday 23 November from 5pm. Pop in for sips ‘n’ nibbles. Local minstrel AP D’Antonio will be saying farewell for a while – he’s traipsing off overseas again – but not before gracing the Grace Emily, 232 Waymouth St, for a free entry gig on Thursday 13 November at which he will be joined by talented blues picker Frets Patrick as well as Courtney Robb. Croydon’s trendiest strip, Queen St (next to Croydon Railway Station), will live up to its name when Feast Festival joins forces with local traders and residents to present the retro queer street party of a lifetime from 6pm on Friday 21 November. Hosted by Project Runway runner-up, fashion designer and performer Leigh Buchanan as his alter ego drag persona Barbara Windsor Woo, the event will feature retro fashion parades, roving entertainers, a shopfront decorating competition, stalls by local traders, live music by five piece band Snap Crackle Pop and party tunes from DJ Lush who will be spinning some of her vinyl magic. Full bar facilities will also be available. Local punk rockers Tomorrow Rising will be launching their Oasis EP from 7.30pm at Producers Bar, 235 Grenfell St, on Friday 5 December with help from Slick Arnold, Young Offenders and The Chase as an all-ages affair. The $10 entry fee at the door includes a copy of Oasis or you can book via the band’s Facebook page for a mere $5. There’s to be a free entry, all-ages gig from 7-11pm at Prospect Town Hall, 126 Prospect Rd, Prospect, on Friday 7 November. It will feature the bands Kashmirr, Darts Of Pleasure, Tour Guides, Fusion and Dirty Boulevard. Adelaide punks The Meatbeaters are all set to launch a 12-inch vinyl album, Tug Of Phwoarrr, and will do so on Saturday 22 November with a free entry gig at The Cumberland Hotel, 76 Causeway Rd, Glanville (directly across the road from the train station), with good mates Blue Flame Special and The Toss. All copies of the vinyl sold on the night will also come with a free colour poster but it will also be available from Mr V Music at Semaphore. Adelaide’s Genghis Cardigan is an innovative alternative to alternative rock that doesn’t always make sense. On Saturday 15 November, as a silly dare, they will be launching chapter one of
their self-yelp classic Well Done Finland Well Done! with a free entry gig from 9pm in the front bar of the Governor Hindmarsh Hotel, 59 Port Rd, Hindmarsh with the CD and other merchandise – tour cardigans perhaps? – available on the night. Local singer songwriter Paula Standing will be launching her new single, Running Away, from 8pm at Wassail Wine Bar, 95 Prospect Rd, Prospect, on Saturday 8 November. You can book for dinner on 8342 2548 and Paula will be joined by special guests Lily De Leo, Emily A Smith, Brian Doddridge, Amy Baker and St Cuthbert’s Choir. Roar Evolution is a new, youth networking initiative that will kick off in 2015 and, as an introduction, is hosting a series of open mic afternoons with the first one taking place from noon until 4pm on Sunday 23 November at Voice & Music Studio, 285 South Rd, Mile End. To register, email <john@ voiceandmusicstudio.com.au>. Melt Frank Productions and Fox Creek Winery have announced the inaugural installment of Telltale And Vine which is to be held on Saturday 8 November from 2pm until 9pm at McLaren Vale’s Fox Creek Winery. Telltale And Vine, a day of local music, wine and visual creation is a boutique event showcasing South Australia’s extraordinary mix of music, art, wine and food. The family-friendly event will host a collection of South Australia’s most beloved musicians, including Adelaide’s musical darlings The Audreys, The Bearded Gypsy Band (fresh from their tour of Canada) and the neo-soul, roots and jazz musings of Abbey Howlett & The Golden Realm along with local musical connoisseurs Cal Williams Jnr and The Fiddle Chicks, while Irie Knights will be topping the day off with their reggae riddims. Along with some of SA’s best music, Telltale And Vine will be highlighting a variety of local visual artists and there will also be a unique range of tantalising food, top shelf wine and fantastic local produce. Head along, pull up a rug, grab a cold one and soak in the tunes. Tickets available via OzTix and Moshtix. Left Behind is a monthly event that takes places at The Wheatsheaf Hotel, 39 George St, Thebarton, and the next one will happen on Thursday 13 November. A mere $10 will get you in to hang out with Lori Bell, Nikki Candy and Jessica Sutherland and laugh at some top notch comics along with a chance to listen to some live musical satire from days of old. Head down to the Grace Emily, 232 Waymouth St, on Saturday 8 November as Kitchen Witch have organised a free entry gig from 9pm. They haven’t played that live music venue in a while so have also invited good friends Appomattox along for the ride as well as relatively new funky Adelaide band Friday’s Fox who will be making their grand debut.
OUR PHILOSOPHY Created by veteran Adelaide music guru Rob Dunstan, BSide Magazine is a weekly magazine totally focussed on what’s going on in the Adelaide Music Community. Every week we will be bringing you the latest news, up-to-date information and entertainment through: Regular music news updates Features and interviews Touring and gig guides Local music industry news Awesome competitions Live music and CD reviews Theatre news and interviews Plus, we welcome the return of BOB’S BITS in print. Our goal with BSide Magazine is to help rebuild the Adelaide Music Community, to refocus the emphasis on local music and uniting the different tribes encouraging and further enhancing a prosperous live music industry for all. We want BSide Magazine to be like Gaffa Tape. The thing that will hold everything together.
IN THIS ISSUE Page 2 Around The Traps Our Philosophy Page 4 Heading To Town Page 5 BSide Tour Guide Page 6 Feature Article: Sarah Lloyde Page 7 Amaya Laucirica Deep Plastic Page 8 The Clothesline Page 9 Katie Noonan Page 10 MusicSA CD Reviews Page 11 Radio Birdman Bob’s Bits Page 12 Radio Birdman (Boxed Set Review) Deep South Page 13 Kumfy Klub Page 15 The Bizzo Advertising Enquiries Ph: (08) 8346 9899 sales@bsidemagazine.com.au
ISSUE #0006 November 6th November 12th, 2014
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HEADING TO TOWN Steve Kilbey of The Church is set to launch his much-anticipated autobiography at Streetlight Music & Books, 15 Vaughan Place, Adelaide on Thursday 6 November. Mr Kilbey will read from the book and talk about it and also take questions. Presented by Matilda Bookshop, the $30 entry fee includes a signed copy of Steve’s book, Something Quite Peculiar. Tickets at Moshtix! Underground hip hop supergroup Deltron 3030, which features Deltron Zero (Del Tha Funky Homosapien), Cantankerous Captain Aptos (producer and remixer Dan ‘The Automator’ Nakamura) and Skiznod The Boy Wonder (turntablist Kid Koala) will make their Australian debut in 2015. In Adelaide they are set to hit the Governor Hindmarsh, 59 Port Rd, Hindmarsh, on Thursday 26 February with tickets now on sale via OzTix. Legendary blues harp player Charlie Mussellwhite, who blew harp on INXS’ Suicide Blonde, is among the first of the acts to be announced for WOMADelaide 2015 which will take place in Botanic Pk from Friday 6 March until Monday 9 March. Charlie will join such other great acts such as Balkan Beat Box, Youssou N’Dour, The Gloaming, Che Sudaka, Neneh Cherry, Lake Street Dive, Rufus Wainwright, Sinead O’Connor, Toumani Diabate & Sidiki Diabate, The Painted Ladies, Astronomy Class, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Emma Donovan, Robyn Hitchcock, Emma Swift, First Aid Kit, FourPlay String Quartet, Max Savage & The False Idols and Robert Forster. Singer songwriter Mark Wilkinson, who was born in Buckinghamshire, UK, but has resided in Australia since the age of four, enjoys a loyal following, has seven albums to his credit and has toured with such diverse artists as Eric Clapton, Peter Frampton, Chicago and Seal. Mark is now on his spring solo tour and set to spring into Jive, 181 Hindley St, from 8pm on Friday 14 November. A previous visit to Adelaide quickly sold out, so grab tickets soon via Moshtix. Melbourne’s Dear Plastic will be launching their The Thieves Are Babes in Adelaide oveer two shows. On Thursday 13 November they will play Hotel Metro, 46 Grote St, with Ghyti and Naomi Keyte which will be followed by a free entry affair at Crown & Sceptre, 308 King William St, on Friday 14 November at which the band will be joined by Melbourne’s Beloved Elk along with locals Animal Shadows and Orelia. Foo Fighters, after an absence from Aussie soil for several years, will now play Coopers Stadium (Hindmarsh) on Wednesday 4 March with special guests Rise Against as part of a world tour. Tickets go on sale via Ticketek from Thursday 13 November. Brisbane’s raucous The Gin Club are touring a new single, Dancing With The Ghost, which will bring the outfit to The Wheatsheaf Hotel, 39 George St, Thebarton, from 4pm on Sunday 14 December as part of a national tour at which they will have Adelaide’s Doctor Desoto as special guests. Hotel Metro, 46 Grote St, will host a gig in the band room from New Zealand’s Meth Drinker and Hydromedusa, a local five-piece who have just issued their debut 7-inch single on Major Crimes Records, on Saturday 8 November from 9pm. Also on the three-way bill will be Melbourne outfit Whitehorse. Australian singer songwriter Kim Churchill will celebrate summer with a comprehensive tour in support of Single Spark, his new single and opening track from his Silence/Win album which has garnered amazing reviews since it was released in May this year. Catch Kim at Jive, 181 Hindley St, on Thursday 5 February with tickets now on sale via Moshtix.
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Agents Of Rock, a five-piece band of hard rockers from Melbourne, are embarking on their first interstate tour and are set to hit The Land Of Promise Hotel, 172 Port Rd, Hindmarsh, on Saturday 20 December to play alongside Trench Effect and sTool. Thelma Plum is bringing her Monsters to cities and towns across Australia as presented by triple j. Having created a beautifully delicate, yet densely layered EP under the guiding hand of M-Phazes, Thelma has since assembled a misfit cast of seasoned musicians to recreate the soundscape on stage and bring her Monsters to life. Catch her at Jive, 181 Hindley St, on Thursday 20 November with Left and Dali. Book at Moshtix. Brisbane’s Ben Salter, of The Gin Club and The Wilson Pickers, is set to make a return to the Wheatsheaf Hotel, 39 George St, Thebarton, following a triumphant sold out solo affair there back in July. Ben will be make his return from 4pm on Sunday 30 November with special guest Matt Heyward and tickets, via OzTix or the venue, are available for $12. Lanie Lane, who recently performed in Melbourne with Welsh singer Tom Jones, has just announced a national tour ahead of the release of her brand new Night Shade album. Mark Saturday 8 November in your musical diary for when she hits Jive, 181 Hindley St, with tickets via Moshtix. Must be butterfly season! Brisbane’s Clint Boge, well-known for fronting metal band The Butterfly Effect, is undertaking a solo jaunt around the country in acoustic mode and will play Royal Oak Hotel, 123 O’Connell St, North Adelaide, on Thursday 20 November and the newly re-opened Crown & Sceptre Hotel, 308 King William St, on Saturday 22 November. Tickets via OzTix or via the venues. Fresh from performances at Semaphore Music Festival in early October, renowned Melbourne-based singer songwriters Mick Thomas and Charles Jenkins, formerly of Icecream Hands and Mad Turks, are heading back over our way to play a couple of gigs together. Mick, formerly of folk rockers Weddings Parties Anything, will also have The Roving Commission (Squeezebox Wally, Gus Agars and Mark McCartney) with him when he plays alongside Charles Jenkins at The Trinity Sessions at Church Of The Trinity, 318 Goodwood Rd, Clarence Pk, on Saturday 22 November and The Promethean, 116 Grote St, on Sunday 23 November. Blues In The Barossa will take place from Friday 14 November until Sunday 16 November. It is the festival’s second year and will be hosted in between the magnificent vineyards of the historic Jacobs Estate. Featured acts are to include Dallas Frasca, Blue Eyes Cry, Filthy Lucre, Mud Brothers, Lily & The Drum, Dirty Boulevard and many more across two stages. For more information head to <bluesinthebarossa.com>. Melbourne band Magic Bones have released their single and video for Anytime Anywhere which is a driving garage punk offering that draws its influences from ’70s rock and ’80s new wave garage punk. Magic Bones will now be touring Anytime Anywhere as the main support act for British India’s upcoming national tour which hits The Governor Hindmarsh, 59 Port Rd, Hindmarsh, on Saturday 22 November. Book at OzTix or via the venue. Revered Sydney band Smudge have embarked on their 20th anniversary tour to celebrate the release of muchcelebrated 1994 album Manilow and the trio will hit The Grace Emily Hotel, 232 Waymouth St, on Saturday 15 November. Infamous Melbourne duo The Stiffys are heading over to play Crown & Anchor 196 Grenfell St, alongside The Villenettes and West Thebarton Brother Party on Friday 7 November. They will be armed
with their new album, We Are Groovy Boys, and they reckon it’s the best record ever made as it tackles all the big issues. Sydney punk pop trio Bloods, who have toured with Major Leagues, Velociraptor and most recently US band Veruca Salt, are super-psyched to release their long awaited debut album, Work It Out, and have announced they will be hitting the road once again for a national tour. In Adelaide the trio will play The Edinburgh Castle, 233 Currie St, on Friday 5 December as part of Cheapskate Fridays. Canberra punks The Vacant Lot and Bladder Spasms are heading to town next month! On Friday 14 November they’ll be joined by Perdition and Fear & Loathing at The Gaslight Tavern, 36 Chief St, Brompton, and on Saturday 15 November, the punk bands will hit The Edinburgh Castle, 233 Currie St, with Ben Gel & The Boneyard Saints as special guests. The Ed Castle gig will also serve as an album launch for Ben’s new band. The legend that is American neo soul singer John Legend has announced a run of dates in Australia so mark Sunday 14 December in your diary for when he hits Adelaide Entertainment Centre Theatre with Megan Washington and Dami Im also in the bill. John will also be performing with a full band and a string section with tickets now on sale via Ticketek. One Up, Two Down is New Zealand’s George Jackson alongside USA’s Andrew Small and Australia’s Daniel Watkins and the trio play old-time and bluegrass music mixed with new compositions that have wider influences. These lads are also armed with some exciting music which they recently recorded in Nashville, Tennessee, and have just released on their debut EP. They are now set to undertake a free entry show at The Wheatsheaf Hotel, 39 George St, Thebarton from 9pm on Saturday 8 November with Melbourne’s Dan Parsons as special guest. Adelaide’s Twisted Echidna booking agency don’t ever seem to stop as they have booked a whole bunch of bands into Worldsend Hotel, 208 Hindley St, for the month of November and beyond. You can see Melbourne’s Virtue at the venue on Friday 7 November, Perth’s Axe Girl on Thursday 20 November, Tamworth’s The Urban Chiefs on Friday 21 November (and also at Punk Ass Kids at Rocket Bar, 142 Hindley St on Wednesday 19 November and Glenelg Jetty Bar on Saturday 22 November), and Melbourne’s Mushroom Giant on Saturday 22 November as well as Melbourne’s The Underhanded on Saturday 29 November. December sees the return of Melbourne-based blues rockers The Ugly Kings to the Worldsend venue on Saturday 6 September to play alongside WA’s Powder For Pigeons. UK comedy legend Eddie Izzard, whom The Los Angeles Times have called, ‘The funniest man in, well, pretty much all of the known universe’, is set to return to our shores next year with his Force Majeure show and will hit Adelaide Entertainment Centre Theatre on Saturday 31 January. Tickets are now on sale via Ticketek. Deep South, a three-day festival full of blues, roots and folk goodness, is returning to the Governor Hindmarsh Hotel, 59 Port Rd, Hindmarsh, from Friday 28 November through to Sunday 30 November. Get set to see interstate artists such as the legendary Kevin Borich, Lloyd Speigel, Ray Beadle and Hat Fitz & Cara Robinson. The Hiptones are also reforming especially for the festival and will be one of the many local acts on the bill for Saturday 29 November. Tickets are now on sale via OzTix or via the venue. Orianthi, the Adelaide-born guitarist who has shared the world stage with acts such as ZZ Top, Steve Vai, Steve Tyler, Carlos Santana, Mailyn Manson, Dave Stewart, Adam Lambert, Michael Jackson, Richi Sambora, Bon Jovi and
Alice Cooper, is heading home for Christmas. So why not play a gig? So get set for a special show at the Governor Hindmarsh, 59 Port Rd, Hindmarsh, on Sunday 21 December. Book at the venue or via OzTix. Must be festival time! Gorgeous Festival, a gorgeous boutique held down at McLaren Vale on Saturday 28 November and Sunday 29 November, has been announced with Xavier Rudd as the headliner and plenty of local acts including Echo & The Empress, The Timbers and Rin McArdle also on the bill. Rudely Interrupted, an energetic, six-piece Melbourne rock band led by Rohan Brooks and featuring members who share a range of both physical and intellectual disabilities including blindness, deafness, Aspergers, autism and Down Syndrome, will play the Governor Hindmarsh, 59 Port Rd, Hindmarsh, on Sunday 16 November. Book at OzTix or via the venue. Scott and Phil for Christmas anyone? Scott Russo of American punk band Unwritten Law and Phil Jamieson of Grinspoon have announced a Christmas tour that will have them playing The Governor Hindmarsh, 59 Port Rd, Hindmarsh, on Wednesday 17 December in acoustic mode. Book at OzTix or via the venue. Fifty-six weeks ago, Sydney-based indie band Violent Soho unleashed their third studio album Hungry Ghost to the world and have since toured the album around the globe to much acclaim. The popular band, who have played festivals such as Falls, Big Day Out, Groovin The Moo and Splendour In The Grass, have now announced another trek around the country which will bring them to HQ, cnr North and West Tces, on Sunday 23 November. Melbourne-based band Maricopa Wells will be heading over the border to take part in Saved By Summer, a huge musical event set to take place at Crown & Anchor, 196 Grenfell St, on Saturday 22 November featuring some of Australia’s best indie rock, folk and acoustic punk acts. Also on the bill will be interstaters Fear Like Us and Foxtrot as well as locals such as Paper Arms, The Hard Aches, Heath Anthony, Bec Stevens, Ry Kemp, Abby Howlett, Jake Ward and Anna Jeavons.
MONDAY 1 DECEMBER Nick Cave at Festival Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre TUESDAY 2 DECEMBER Rick Astley (UK) at Festival Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre Nahko & Medicine For The People (US), Trevor Hall (US) and Dustin Thomas (US) at Governor Hindmarsh WEDNESDAY 3 DECEMBER The Dead Daisies (Sydney/US) at Governor Hindmarsh Sage Francis (US) and Fait Accompli (Sydney) at Adelaide Uni Bar THURSDAY 6 NOVEMBER The Madden Brothers (US) at Adelaide Entertainment Centre Flight Facilities (Sydney) at HQ Shihad (Melbourne), High Tension (Melbourne) and Cairo Knife Fight (New Zealand) at Governor Hindmarsh FRIDAY 7 NOVEMBER The Stiffys (Melbourne), The Villenettes and West Thebarton Brothel Party at Crown & Anchor Hilltop Hoods at Adelaide Showground Arena Songs That Made Me: Katie Noonan, Angie Hart, Melody Pool and Sam Buckingham at Governor Hindmarsh Fred Smith (ACT) and Junior at Trinity Sessions Holy Holy (Brisbane), Glass Skies and The Dunes at Jive Citizen Kay (Ghana/ACT) at Rocket Virtue (Melbourne) at Worldsend The Weak Boys (Sydney), Avent Gardeners and Blood Plastic at Hotel Metro Brave (Sydney), Citizen Kay, Electric Exiles and Lost Woods at Rocket Bar SATURDAY 8 NOVEMBER Radio Birdman (Sydney), The Bearded Clams and Pro Tools at Governor Hindmarsh Telltale & Vine: The Audreys and more at Fox Creek Winery Gossling (Melbourne), Montaigne and Ayla at Adelaide Uni Bar Lanie Lane (Melbourne) at Jive Meth Drinker (NZ), Whitehorse (Melbourne) and Hydromedusa at Hotel Metro SUNDAY 9 NOVEMBER Joe Satriani (US) at Her Majesty’s Theatre Rudely Interrupted (Melbourne) at Governor Hindmarsh TUESDAY 11 NOVEMBER Katy Perry (US) at Adelaide Entertainment Centre WEDNESDAY 12 NOVEMBER Katy Perry (US) at Adelaide Entertainment Centre Jimmy Eat World (US), The Sinking Teeth and My Echo at Thebarton Theatre FRIDAY 14 NOVEMBER NOFX (US) at Thebarton Theatre The Dead Love (Sydney), Exiles and Andy Roberts at Rhino Room Mark Wilkinson (Sydney) at Jive The Preatures (Sydney) and Holy Holy at Governor Hindmarsh The Vacant Lot (ACT), Bladder Spasms, Perdition and Fear & Loathing at Gaslight Tavern New Navy (Ulladulla) at Pirie & Co Social Club SATURDAY 15 NOVEMBER Smudge (Sydney) at Grace Emily Corpus (Sydney), Shivers and Sincerely, Grizzly at Hotel Metro Hand Of Mercy (Sydney), Hellions and Void Of Vision at Fowler’s Live The Vacant Lot (ACT), Bladder Spasms, Perdition and Fear & Loathing at Edinburgh Castle Cat Canteri Band (Melbourne) at The Singing Gallery (McLaren Vale) SUNDAY 16 NOVEMBER Tori Amos (US) at Her Majesty’s Theatre Rudely Interrupted (Melbourne) at Governor Hindmarsh WEDNESDAY 19 NOVEMBER Punk Ass Kids: The Urban Chiefs (Tamworth) at Rocket Bar THURSDAY 20 NOVEMBER
The Smith Street Band (Melbourne), The Front Bottoms (New York) and Apologies I Have None at Governor Hindmarsh Hey Lady (Sydney) and Axe Girl (Perth) at Worldsend Hotel 8 Ball Aitken (Sydney) at Gilbert Street Hotel Clint Boge (Brisbane) at Royal Oak Hotel Thelma Plum (Sydney), Left and Dali at Jive San Cisco (Fremantle) at Fowler’s Live FRIDAY 21 NOVEMBER CW Stoneking (Melbourne) at Governor Hindmarsh The Urban Chiefs (Tamworth) at Worldsend MILLIONS (Brisbane) at Pirie & Co Social Club SATURDAY 22 NOVEMBER British India (Melbourne) and Magic Bones (Melbourne) at Governor Hindmarsh 8 Ball Aitken (Sydney) at The Singing Gallery (McLaren Vale) Mick Thomas & The Roving Commission (Melbourne) and Charles Jenkins (Melbourne) at Trinity Sessions Clint Boge (Brisbane) at Crown & Sceptre Saved By Summer: Maricopa Wells (Melbourne), Fear Like Us, Foxtrot, Paper Arms, The Hard Aches, Heath Anthony, Bec Stevens, Ry Kemp, Abby Howlett, Jake Ward and Anna Jeavons at Crown & Anchor The Urban Chiefs (Tamworth) at Glenelg Jetty Bar Mushroom Giant (Melbourne) at Worldsend
THURSDAY 4 DECEMBER Drawcard (Brisbane) at Worldsend FRIDAY 5 DECEMBER Russell Morris (Melbourne) at Norwood Live Bloods (Sydney) at Ed Castle Stereosonic at Adelaide Showgrounds Ice Cube (US) at Thebarton Theatre The Mark Of Cain and King Of The North (Melbourne) at Governor Hindmarsh SATURDAY 6 DECEMBER Ben Folds (US) and Adelaide Symphony Orchestra at Festival Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre Gay Paris (Sydney) at Crown & Anchor Stereosonic at Adelaide Showgrounds Hayward Williams (US) and The Yearlings at The Singing Gallery (McLaren Vale) Jep & Dep (Sydney) at The Exeter Hotel Powder For Pigeons (WA/Europe) and The Ugly Kings (Melbourne) at Worldsend SUNDAY 7 DECEMBER Joan Armatrading (UK) at Governor Hindmarsh TUESDAY 9 DECEMBER Sleep (US), Hydromedusa and Iron Worzel at Fowler’s Live Cloud Nothings (US) at Adelaide Uni Bar
SUNDAY 23 NOVEMBER 8 Ball Aitken (Sydney) at Semaphore Worker’s Club Violent Soho (Sydney) at HQ Trophy Eyes (Newcastle), Endless// Heights, Landscapes and Columbus at Fowler’s Live Mick Thomas & The Roving Commission (Melbourne) and Charles Jenkins (Melbourne) at The Promethean THURSDAY 27 NOVEMBER Ezekiel Ox (Melbourne) at Grace Emily The Delta Riggs (Gold Coast) at Adelaide Uni Bar FRIDAY 28 NOVEMBER Husky (Melbourne) and Ali Barter at Adelaide Uni Bar Yacht Club DJs (Melbourne) at Jive SATURDAY 29 NOVEMBER Deep South Festival: Kevin Borich (Brisbane), Mojo Juju (Melbourne), Lloyd Spiegel (Melbourne), Claude Hay (Melbourne), The Hiptones, The Streamliners, The Timbers and many more at Governor Hindmarsh Gorgeous Festival: Xavier Rudd, The Waifs and many more at McLaren Vale Golden (Sydney) at Electric Circus The Underhanded (Melbourne) at Worldsend SUNDAY 30 NOVEMBER Nick Cave at Festival Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre Gorgeous Festival: Xavier Rudd, The Waifs and many more at McLaren Vale Deep South Festival: Ray Beadle (Sydney), Hat Fitz & Cara (Brisbane), Glenn Skuthorpe and more at Governor Hindmarsh Kasey Chambers (NSW) and Kim Churchill (Melbourne) at Her Majesty’s Theatre Sonic Architects National Conference: Hiatus Kaiyote and Remi at The Gov Ben Salter (Brisbne) and Matt Hayward at Wheatsheaf Hotel
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FEATURED INTERVIEW: SARAH LLOYDE
SARAH LLOYDE By Robert Dunstan Adelaide’s Sarah Lloyde has just issued her debut single, the sassy Luv Fool, which is now available on iTunes with a video on YouTube. She has been promoting it with a series of gigs with the final show being at The Promethean next week. “Yeah, we did a big launch at The Promethean last month with the full, seven-piece band and then a strippedback acoustic show at The Jade Monkey,” she says. “And both went really well. “And the one at the Prom was such a big deal for me and I was really nervous in the lead-up to it,” Sarah continues. “But it all went really smoothly so I could not have asked for a better launch. “And then the stripped-back show at The Jade a week or so later was great fun as well,” she adds. Sarah, who fronted popular Adelaide cover band Flaming Sambuccas for a number of years, says the Luv Fool single and video has been in the planning stage for quite some time. “I think it was back in 2009 I wrote the song,” she says. “It was when I’d first met up with Sven Tydeman [an award winning songwriter and producer who has worked with Josh Pyke, Toni Pearon and many others] of Kittygroove Productions and Richie Neville of the UK boy band 5ive who was Sven’s offsider at that stage. “So I met up with them and wrote Luv Fool in a couple of days and then life got in the way because I was writing songs with other people but then, just after I’d been on The Voice, I contacted Sven over Facebook and we began talking again. “And following that reconnection, Sven and I revisited Luv Fool and kinda tizzed it up to what it’s become today,” Sarah adds. “So we decided to release it independently to see what happens. “It’s just a bit of fun,” she says of the accompanying video clip that features Sarah in a number of guises including that of film star Marilyn Monroe. “It was just something I’d always wanted to do so now I can’t wait to make the next one. “And I’m always writing new songs, Sarah adds. Sarah’s right-hand person is left-handed guitar player Sam Leske who also works with Vincent’s Chair and who has also appeared at many Adelaide Cabaret Festival shows alongside many highprofile international performers. “I’m so blessed because Sam is now my musical director and he’s just incredible,” Sarah enthuses. “On the night of the first launch at The Prom he was just amazing. And I remember continually announcing to the audience, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, Sam Leske, Sam Leske’. I think people might have become tired of hearing his name all the time.
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“And Sam’s been just incredible with the raw demos of my songs I’ve given him,” she continues. “He reworks them and, amazingly, they come to life and become exactly how I wanted them to be. And while we’ve done stuff together in the past, this is the first time Sam and I have actually worked together. And it’s been great because it seems we are on the same wavelength.” Well-known local singer Jayne-Anne Power is one of Sarah’s backing vocalists. “And that’s funny because I sometimes do backing vocals for Jayne-Anne,” Sarah laughs. “So we kind of swap and change but she’s a gem – her voice just has such a beautiful tone – and I love her choice of music. “And she’s just finished a new album of her own,” she adds. “She did a photo shoot the other week and I’ve seen some of the proofs and she just looks stunning. So while I’m not involved in her new album, I can’t wait to hear it.” Sarah appeared on television show The Voice Australia in 2012 which followed the singer making it to the top 24 of Australian Idol in 2007. “The Voice was epic is how I’d describe it and was definitely worth my while because it got my face out there,” she says. “That was always the plan – to get my name out there and get it known. And you just have to be happy about the number of times you get on TV. And you also make quite a few valuable industry contacts. I still keep in contact with Delta Goodrem and I’m still in contact with [Savage Garden’s] Darren Hayes and he’s helped me out a bit here and there. “But it is horrible when you get booted off those shows,” she admits with a laugh. “It feels like your whole world has just come down on you. But you also go in knowing that there can always only be one winner. “And, with The Voice, I kinda knew from the very beginning that Karise Eden was going to win because, from the word go, she was just incredible,” Sarah says. “And Australian Idol was a similar experience [to The Voice],” she decides. “But you go into those kind of shows knowing what the deal is and that there is always the possibility you are not going to make if very far.” Sarah, who says her mum reckons she was singing long before she began talking, was born in Broken Hill but her family had moved to Adelaide by the time she was ready to face primary school. “But we still go back there once or twice a year as some family are still there,” Sarah says of the famous mining town which is officially in New South Wales. “So I’m still really a country bumpkin at heart. And, yes, Broken Hill is hot, dry and dusty but it has such a small, closely-knit community, it’s a lovely place. It has a real country feel with lots of history. “But my family moved to Adelaide because they wanted my brother and I to
have as many opportunities as we could,” she adds. “And I now don’t think I would ever leave Adelaide although I did try and live in Melbourne for a while. I did that for 12 months and it was just awesome but I eventually had to come back home. Sarah will book in a series of interstate trips next year. ‘Yeah, the plan is to do Sydney and Melbourne and then Perth,” she says. “But that’s all in the pipeline and still in the planning stages at the moment.” Prior to that, however, the singer will be heading over to the US for a month or so. “Yeah, it’s for a working holiday,” Sarah announces. “So I’m doing a big industry showcase for some of the bigwigs over in Los Angeles. And the company I am doing it for look after James Franco. Sarah has also worked with Justin Timberlake’s band as part of a series of workshops they conduct as they travel the world. “That was amazing,” she enthuses. “And this is why I love Facebook so much because this guy contacted me out of the blue to say, ‘Oh, hi, you don’t know me but would you like to have a jam with Justin Timberlake’s band?’ “So I’m thinking, ‘Yeah, yeah, righto dude, whatever’,” Sarah laughs, “but it actually happened. They are called The Tennessee Kids and it was amazing because they are such freaks of musicians. So, again, I learnt a lot from that session. “So I will also catch up with them again when I head over to America,” she adds, “because we spent a fair bit of time together while they were here with Justin. And we had drinks after Justin’s concert back at their hotel.” For her 25th birthday, Sarah went skydiving. “Yeah, I’m a bit of thrill seeker and want to try everything,” she laughs. “And skydiving was a hugely exhilarating experience. But the guy I did it with, the guy who was in tandem with me, I later found out had the nickname of ‘Splat’. “I thought afterwards that was pretty funny,” Sarah concludes. Sarah Lloyde and her band play The Promethean, 116 Grote St, on Saturday 15 November with tickets via Moshtix. Luv Fool is available via iTunes with the video on YouTube.
DEAR PLASTIC
AMAYA LAUCIRICA
AMAYA LAUCIRICA By Robert Dunstan Melbourne-based alternative country and dark folk songstress Amaya Laucirica is heading to town armed with her latest album, Sway, for what is likely to be her very last visit before she relocates to Europe early next year. “Yeah, after three albums over the past 10 years and heaps and heaps of shows, I’ve decided it’s about time to head overseas,” Amaya says over the telephone ahead of an album launch that evening in her adopted home town of Melbourne alongside Elizaband and Laura Jean. Amaya, who has played The Wheatsheaf Hotel several times in the past as well as also gracing such Adelaide live music venues as The Grace Emily, The Exeter and Crown & Anchor hotels, is from Millicent, SA, where she lived until she ventured further afield in her late teens. “I’ve never actually lived in Adelaide,” the softly spoken singer says, “although I did about a month of schooling there while I was at high school. And then I went to Sydney where I lived for about four years but I’ve now been living in Melbourne for about 10 years. “And although I’ve really settled into Melbourne, as I said, I’ve decided it’s time to follow a completely different path. So I want to be inspired to new places so am moving to Berlin early next year for at least six month. “And while I’ve holidays overseas before, this will be the first time I’ve gone over there looking for gigs,” she adds. “But I have heard from others that Berlin is a great place to be and I really want to take in the whole European culture. “Artistically I am very pleased with it because I think it’s my best album so far,” Amaya says of her third album, Sway which follows earlier releases Sugar Lights (which became a Triple R Album Of The Week upon release in 2008) and Early Summer as well as several EPs. “And I think, as an artist, that’s as much as you can ask and hope for.” Amaya has self-released Sway, on which she sings and plays guitar, synthesiser, harmonium, an Animoog, drum machine and drums, but seems unsure if that’s the path she will follow in the future. “That whole experience has certainly been an interesting and eye-opening one,” she sighs. “And, to be honest, I’m not sure I’d ever do it again. It was just that I had such bad luck with my first two albums because both labels folded just as soon as they’d put out my records. So I thought I’d give it a go myself without any help from anyone and, y’know, that doesn’t always work out as well as you’d hoped. “The good thing is that I have certainly learnt a lot,” Amaya adds with a laugh. “So at least I got to learn quite a bit into how it all works.”
Sway was recorded by David McCluney at Atlantis Sound and then mixed by Victor Van Vugt, who has worked with Nick Cave, before being mastered by Ray Staff. It also boasts an A-list of Melbourne musicians as those taking part include JP Shilo, Magic Dirt’s Adalita Srsen, saxophonist Matthew Habben and trombone player Adam Hutterer with the later pair sometimes working with The Blackeyed Susans as does JP Shilo. “JP Shilo has become a really good friend,” Amaya says of the musician who adds guitar and toy guitar to Sway and who was recently in Adelaide alongside Mick Harvey, Brian Henry Hooper, Harry Howard and more to present Pop Crimes over two shows in tribute to the late Rowland S Howard. “I’d met JP through Adalita just after I’d moved down to Melbourne from Sydney,” Amaya continues. “So I feel pretty lucky because he’s such an amazing musician. JP also played on my last album [Early Summer] and he’s a very handy person to have around because it seems like he can play pretty much anything he picks up.” I tell Amaya that I’ve seen JP play violin, accordion and guitar with moody Melbourne combo The Blackeyed Susans when he has guested with them. “Oh, and The Blackeyed Susans have asked me to be a special guest at one of their [two] Christmas shows [in Melbourne] at The Spotted Mallard in early December,” she happily announces. “So I think that will be my last show in Australia for quite a while.” Amaya will be heading over to Adelaide armed with only her voice, guitar and a case of CDs for sale, “I play with a full band a lot – tonight’s launch in Melbourne will be with a full band – but I don’t mind playing solo,” she announces. “So I’ve done quite a few solo shows lately and it’s been nice even though it’s a lot different to playing with a full band. “It seems to a little bit less stressful but at the same time there also seems to be some amount of anxiety whenever you play. “And when I head overseas I’ll just be playing solo anyway, so it’s good to be adjusting to all that now and gaining that kind of stage experience,” Amaya adds. Amaya Laucirica will launch Sway at a free entry affair at The Exeter Hotel, 246 Rundle Street on Saturday 8 November with Scarlett Ives and The Wheatsheaf Hotel, 39 George St, Thebarton, from 4pm on Sunday 9 November with Walter Marsh as special guest.
DEAR PLASTIC By Robert Dunstan Dear Plastic are a five-piece dark trip hop and dreamy, textured electro ensemble from Melbourne who have just released their debut album, The Thieves Are Babes.
when I was a kid and I’m a big fan of Björk which I think is a much more obvious influence. I also love a lot of Motown as I really like that style. “But I don’t think that Motown influence really comes through in what we do,” Scarlette laughs, “although I am definitely the pop voice of the band.”
The group are now embarking on their first ever tour since forming a couple of years ago which will bring them to Adelaide for two shows next weekend.
Scarlette says the group is now quite excited about undertaking their first proper tour.
We spoke to singer Scarlette and immediately began asking about the band’s origins.
“Yeah, it’s going to be very interesting to see how our music travels when we play it in front of completely new faces,” she laughs.
“It kinda all began when two of met up at work and we just found we had similar music tastes,” she says. “And then we got a gig via a friend who was actually only 11-years old and he’d asked us to support his band. So we quickly put together a group to do that. “But since then we’ve changed the line-up a few times, changed the band name a few times and also changed our musical direction a fair bit,” Scarlette adds. ‘Dear Plastic, as a band name, is only a couple of years old.” The Thieves Are Babes, with its lush, dreamy textures, is quite a stunning debut with the song Buck Up & Pay The Reaper being a personal favourite. “We think the whole album is quite different to a lot of what’s out there at the moment,” Scarlette, who also creates the band’s artwork, responds. “But it did take a lot of work so we just hope it finds its place somewhere. “We did it at Head Gap,” she then announces, “and it’s a studio in Preston run by Neil Thomason [who recorded, mixed and co-produced The Thieves Are Babes] who has done a lot of work with Augie March [as well as Jen Cloher, Dirty Three, Dan Kelly’s Dream Band, Wagons and Underground Lovers]. And I think either Neil or Simon Cotter, his partner at the studio, also worked with Courtney Barnett quite recently. “And we did the original tracking about a year ago now and then spent another week finishing it off,” Scarlette adds. “And that was only because it took a while to get everyone together at the one time as we’ve all got little odd jobs going on here and there.”
The ensemble, who cite varied influences such as Curtis Mayfield, David Axelrod, Fiona Apple, Scott Walker, Madlib, Radiohead, Portishead, Björk, Herbie Hancock and Shuggie Otis along with an interest in the work of recent visitor, physicist and musician Brian Cox, are also buoyed by the fact that fellow Melbourne act Beloved Elk will be performing at the second of Dear Plastic’s two Adelaide launch shows. Beloved Elk are Amy on vocals, guitars and loops and Tina on drums, synthesisers and vocals. “They are a couple of good friends and they did our CD launch in Melbourne and our keyboard player sometimes plays with them and is working with them on another project,” Scarlette reveals. “So we asked them to come over to Adelaide with us. “And we kinda thought it would make it a bit less scary if we knew we were heading over with a couple of friends,” she laughs. “And what they do they call anti folk as they are quite electronic. So I guess anti folk is a good name for what Amy and Tina do. The Thieves Are Babes has also been released as a double album on red vinyl. “If you are going to go to the expense of putting something out on vinyl, I think you have to make it a fairly flashy package,” Scarlette reasons. “And people seem to be really getting into vinyl at the moment and really enjoying it. People also tell me that vinyl sales are now up there with CD sales.
The songwriting process for Dear Plastic is generally a collaborative one.
“So, if you are going to have a physical copy of an album available, you might as well do something quite special on vinyl,” she concludes. “And we sell a fair few of them at live gigs.”
“We all add our own parts and I think because we all have quite different influences, it all kinda somehow comes together,” Scarlette says with a laugh. “There’s a bit of hip hop from there and a little bit of pop from over there as well as other stuff. So we basically write all our own parts and then mix it all together.
Dear Plastic launch The Thieves Are Babes at Hotel Metro, 46 Grote St, on Thursday 13 November with Ghyti and Naomi Keyte and at Crown & Sceptre, 308 King William St, on Friday 14 November with Melbourne’s Beloved Elk and locals Animal Shadows and Orelia.
“And I’d say my influences are lots of pop music from different generations,” she continues. “I listened to a lot of Madonna
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RAYMOND CROWE
PIXAR IN CONCERT
RAYMOND CROWE’S THE UNUSUALIST By Catherine Blanch
interaction with the prop or the people. I’ve been doing this so long that I keep forgetting that some are trying to work it out.”
Raymond Crowe is not your typical run-of-the-mill magician. Aptly titled as The Unusualist, he is an illusionist, cabaret performer, comedian, shadow artist, ventriloquist, mime artist and quite possibly a genius.
Raymond explains that he came up with the name The Unusualist after asking friends and show-goers to describe what he does with his many different skills. The words “unusual” or “different” came up a lot.
Originally from Adelaide, Raymond has toured the country and the globe performing on television, at theatres and variety galas – including the Royal Variety Gala, is in constant demand to appear at corporate gigs and has performed along side or in front of some of the biggest names in the entertainment world.
“The Differentist didn’t sound quite right…” Raymond laughs. “That then allowed me to do anything I wanted within the performance because I wasn’t dictated by being an illusionist or a ventriloquist or whatever else I may be.
Most recently he has been touring with The Illusionists 2.0 and is now presenting his solo show at Her Majesty’s Theatre for one night only. Driving from Hunter Valley to the Gold Coast as we speak, Raymond happily discusses his appearance as a contestant on Australia’s Got Talent in 2013, something of a surprise considering he already has a career and had performed a solo show at the Adelaide Fringe that same year. “It was all about exposure,” he begins. “Australia has no variety shows on television where a ‘sight act’ such as myself can perform. Comedians are easy to put on anywhere because they are talking heads but for a visual act, there are no avenues. We [my manager and I] realised that if we wanted more people to come along to the shows, we needed to let people know that I do more than just hand shadow puppets.” Following AGT, you performed around Australia in The Illusionists 2.0. “That show continued to tour to New Zealand, Mexico, Abu Dhabi and Dubai which finished only a few weeks ago,” Raymond says. “But then we head to Melbourne in January. It’s been really nice working with other performers after being a solo act for so long; it’s great to watch others perform their own forms of illusions. I’ve performed with many of the guys overseas before so it was nice to see magic being so well received in this country.” Your performances really are open to all ages. Children are amazed at your tricks and puppets, and adults are also amused by your ‘dancing jacket’ trick and the banter that goes with it. “The nice thing about magic is that it works on lots of levels,” Raymond suggests. “I never do what they call ‘challenge’ magic where the performer plays like they are far more clever than the audience and therefore you’ll never figure it out. My interest is always in the
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“What has been nice is being able to use all the knowledge that I’ve gathered over the years and putting it in to practice. And in this show I get to do all the things I don’t get to do in the corporate world.” Tell us about what is going to be in this show. “People have been finding this show unapologetically fun,” he says. “There’s a lot of livestock in this show – apart from the shadow puppet horse, of course. We catch live goldfish in the audience, one of my best friends – who is a flea and a bit of a romantic – drops in, there’s a three-month-old baby and some paper butterflies that come to life – and then die again rather quickly [chuckles].
PIXAR IN CONCERT By Catherine Blanch Disney’s Pixar Studios have created 13 of the best-loved animated movies in recent times including Finding Nemo, Cars, Up!, Ratatouille, Wall-E, Monsters Inc, and the Toy Story trilogy.
“Yeah!” he agrees, waving the pencil that he has been holding for most of the interview. “For me it’s pure fun; there’s no power trip that goes with it.”
Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and Adelaide Festival Centre are presenting Pixar In Concert for two concerts on the one day at Festival Theatre.
“My wife says I dance on stage,” Nicholas laughs. “During the tour I did with Tina Arena, she kicked her heels off near the end of the show, so I decided to copy her… not realising that I had a massive hole at the back of my sock – which actually appeared in the review [chuckles]. I’m obviously not a well-paid conductor so I can’t afford to buy socks.”
We speak with conductor Nicholas Buc via Skype from New York who is currently finishing his Masters but often returns to his native Australia for conducting work. “Fantasia has been the Disney concert show performed by orchestras for many years – since the movie first came out,” Nicholas begins. “Pixar is a specialised branch of Disney, so it was three or four years ago when someone in the Los Angeles office decided to take the best bits – scenes and music – from all of these great Pixar movies and do a musical concert version.
“There’s a lot of audience interaction, the world’s greatest bubble blower, a bit of rear screen shadow play and a couple of hand shadow puppetry as well. It’s all quite a sweet performance, really.” Raymond told us, before continuing his drive to the Gold Coast, that he will be doing a meet-and-greet in the foyer after the show and would love people – young and old – to come and say, ‘Hi’.
For people who love the movies, or even those who have never seen them, it’s a good encapsulation of that whole world. Because there isn’t any dialogue, the focus is much more on the music.
“This is a family-friendly show although it’s not specifically aimed at children but children seem to love it and everybody walks out with a smile!”
“Obviously, people will be watching the screen, but just the fact that you have a live orchestra there really highlights that musical component,” he adds. “This will be the sixth or seventh time that I’ve conducted this concert, so it’s slowly making its way around the world.”
Book at BASS on 131 246.
You just like waving a stick around, don’t you?
Pixar have teamed up with symphony orchestras from around the world to present the memorable soundtracks (composed by Randy Newman, Michael Giacchino, Thomas Newman and Patrick Doyle) alongside the visually stunning clips from these famous Pixar movies.
“The way it works is that every film is condensed into a 7-10 minute trailer – no dialogue or sound effects – and then they cut up all the best bits of the scores, synced it and packaged it together as a presentation of the very best of Pixar.
Raymond Crowe performs The Unusualist at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Grote St, from 7pm on Saturday 15 November.
Nicholas laughs. “I wanted to be a composer first and foremost, which is why I’m here in New York furthering that. I also do a lot of musical arranging, but conducting was something I fell into as an aside.”
Even though these are children’s movies, many adults love them as well. Pixar movies, and their soundtracks, really are relatable for all ages. “Exactly,” he agrees. “UP!, for example, every time I have done that part of the show, there are always people crying at the end because of the married sequence where his wife died, which is quite sad; it’s the music that does it!” You are a composer and musician, so was conductor ever part of your plan? “Well, if you ask my mother she would have said that when I was four it was the first thing I wanted to do, apparently,”
You don’t look like your typical seriousfaced conductor. How animated are you?
Do you have a favourite moment in this Pixar concert? “It would have to be the transition between the end of the first half and the start of the second,” Nicholas says. “The first half ends with UP!; people are crying as they go into interval a blubbering mess. And then we come back with The Incredibles which is the biggest blast ever! It really knocks the wind back into the audience and picks them up off the floor.” Anything else you would like to say? “Go forth, buy tickets, come see my socks [laughs]! I could start my own trademark thing like being that famous conductor guy who wears holey socks.” You could wear brightly coloured socks? It could be your shtick. “And they could call me Twinkle Toes or something.” Or you could use glow sticks. “I was asked to conduct a Star Wars premiere with a light sabre,” Nicholas concludes. “But I didn’t do it as those sabres are far bigger than a conducting wand and there could have been some musicians’ heads getting knock off in the excitement of it all.” Nicholas Buc and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra perform Pixar In Concert at Festival Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre, from 2pm and 7.30pm on Saturday 15 November. Book at BASS on 131 246. For the full interview, head to theclothesline.com.au
time with it just being all females out the front,” she adds. “And we have a beautiful husband and wife rhythm section as well.”
KATIE NOONAN
The songstress, once the singer of popular Brisbane band george, says audiences are in for a treat when they experience newcomers Melody Pool and Sam Buckingham. “Melody is a fabulous young talent from Newcastle,” Katie says of the country singer who recently visited Adelaide with New Zealand’s Marlon Williams for a duo show at the Wheatsheaf Hotel. “And Sam lives over in Costa Rica now but has come home especially for this tour.” Katie was this year’s Adelaide Fringe ambassador and says she enjoyed the role as it marked a long association with the event.
KATIE NOONAN By Robert Dunstan Katie Noonan is taking her Songs That Made Me project on the road once again and the Brisbane-based songstress will have frente!’s Angie Hart alongside her as well as new recruits Melody Pool and Sam Buckingham. And so, a phone interview with the main protagonist was arranged although it proved difficult to make contact with Katie at first as, like us mere mortals, she had turned her mobile onto ‘silent’ to attend to something important and neglected to switch it back over again. “Yeah, sorry about that,” Katie quickly apologises when we eventually hook up. “So I now have a few missed calls.” The Songs That Made Me tour also coincides with the very recent release of an album of the same name which features Katie, Melody, Sam and Angie alongside artists such as Deborah Conway, Maples, Ainslie Wills, Mia Dyson, Sahara Beck, Stonefield, Kylie Auldist, Anna Coddington and Renée Geyer as well as Adelaide’s Jo Lawry, who has performed with many notables including Sting. The varied song selection includes Joni Mitchell’s Court & Spark and River, Lucinda Williams’ Fruits Of My Labor, Phil Collin’s Another Day In Paradise, Feist’s Let It Die, Radiohead’s Street Spirit and Paul Simon’s Still Crazy After All These Years, while the album’s centerpiece is a lovely reading of The Pretenders’ Hymn To Her by Katie, Kylie, Deborah, Angie and Ainslie. “We wanted something to do as a group thing that wasn’t too naff or too much of a cliché,” Katie says of the decision to record that particular song. “And it was my manager, Jesse Flavell [who once played in Adelaide band Crisp alongside Sia Furler], who suggested it, but Hymn To Her is certainly one of my favourite songs from my childhood days because I always remembered that opening line, ‘Let me inside you, into your room’. And I like the fact it’s called Hymn To Her. “I’m also really pleased with the whole album as a body or work as there’s a certain tone and continuality across the whole record,” she continues. “It’s a real celebration of Australian female singers as we have some real embryonic talent – people like 18-year-old Sahara Beck and Melody Pool – as well as legendary singers such as Renée and Deborah. It’s a real celebration in that way.” Katie goes on to say that the artists involved were given several options in regard to which song they chose to record. “But that was just really to give the album some kind of movement and to make sure it made some kind of sense,” she reasons. “And I must say I was surprised and quite delighted by the songs that
were eventually chosen because it has given the album a strong sense of tone. A lot of compilation albums just seem to be a bunch of thrown together song selections but we wanted something much more cohesive than that with a strong theme.” Cancer Council’s Pink Ribbon, which raises funds and awareness for women affected by breast and gynaecological cancers, will receive 100% of the profits the album will receive. “Unfortunately, I don’t think there is anyone who has not felt the impact of cancer in some form whether it’s themselves or family or friends,” Katie sighs. “So the more we can do to raise awareness about things such as selfchecking the better. “I also did a campaign for Cancer Council earlier this year when we did a version of The Divinyls’ I Touch Myself which was also with a whole other group of fantastic women and I’d thought at the time that it would be great for the Songs That Made Me concert series, which I’d first curated earlier last year, could also be turned into an album.”
“Yeah, I first came over to Adelaide Fringe to play with george about 14 or 15 years ago – we played three nights in a row at East End Exchange Hotel [now The Producers Hotel] in Grenfell St – and I have had so many great shows there ever since,” she enthuses. “So it was great to be a part of it again from another perspective, this time as an ambassador, and see how it works from behind the scenes. “And I remember that Adelaide Fringe well as it was the very first time that george had played Special Ones,” Katie says of the song which helped catapult the band to success in 2001. “I remember that as I’d only just written it.” The singer says her next solo album, her first since Emperor’s Box in 2010, is already in the works and that she has also chosen a producer.
Colin Leadbetter from Melbourne who did all the Whitley records. I really like what he did with those albums. And I’ll be premiering that early next year in Adelaide.” We conclude the interview by discussing the fact that the song Sweet & Sour, from the 1984 hit ABCTV television show of the same name which featured fictional band The Takeaways and Tracy Mann and David Reyne in the lead roles, almost found its way onto the Songs That Made Me album. “Deborah Conway sang the song for the Sweet & Sour soundtrack even though she didn’t actually appear in the TV show,” Katie says. “And I remember watching Sweet & Sour on television back in the ‘80s and thinking, ‘Wow, these guys are so cool. They’re a band that live in a huge warehouse and they have a chick singer and a chick playing saxophone’. “So I thought it was a seriously cool thing,” she decides with a laugh. “And it was Angie Hart who suggested we do Sweet & Sour as a group song for the album so, even though it didn’t end up on there, we will be doing it on the tour.” Songs That Made Me, featuring Katie Noonan, Angie Hart, Melody Pool and Sam Buckingham, comes to the Governor Hindmarsh Hotel, 59 Port Rd, Hindmarsh, on Friday 7 November. Book via OzTix or at the venue. Songs That Made Me, the 15-song album, is out now via Universal Music Australia.
“I’m very excited about that because I’ll have some of my band mates from The Captain working alongside me,” Katie reveals. “And we are going to be working on my originals with [producer]
“So that’s how it all came about,” she adds. Renée Geyer, who sings her signature song, James Brown’s It’s A Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World, on the Songs That Made Me album, recently had her own cancer scare. “Renée has now been in remission for just on a year,” Katie reveals, “but I actually didn’t know about all that when I approached her about being on the record. I had no idea but knew that I definitely wanted her on the album because she is one of those amazing singers who really paved the way for people such as myself and all those who have come after her. “So the fact Renée herself has been directly affected by cancer has made it all the more special having her on the album,” she adds. Katie goes on to say that she thinks Songs That Made Me will likely continue as a concert series with new faces each time. “I’d say so, yeah,” she says, “because I think it’s a very special and very important series. And it’s a great way to nurture and support fellow women singers. And, particularly as I am getting further and further along in my own career, it’s been good to create this kind of opportunity for younger, up and coming singer songwriters. “And I do often think that women need to support each other a little bit more,” Katie then muses, “especially in this industry that is the music business. So I’d love Songs That Made Me to become an annual concert series. “And, on stage, we have an incredibly fun
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CD/DVD REVIEWS
CD REVIEWS
Cosmo Thundercat Self Titled Reviewer: Savvy Rating: 4/5
Lily And The Drum Welcome Change Reviewer: Savvy Rating: 4/5
Before I start this review, just clear your head of the ‘80’ iconic cartoon “Thundercats”. Lion-O and Mumm-ra are not part of this line up. So now we have a clear head, Meet Cosmic-Thundercat!
This album is effortless, and I don’t mean that in the bad sense! Lily and the Drum just have music flowing through their veins, that they don’t need to put in an effort, it just seems to come naturally to them.
Listening to this three-piece band was a heart-warming experience, and for the people who purchase this EP, you’re in for a lazy Sunday, feel-good experience. This EP is one that you can just sit back and enjoy. It’s very easy on the ear and a very good mix of electric and acoustic guitars, well-balanced bass and drums, and even a good old harmonica. These guys gel well together with their various instruments. I am not a career advisor, but have a good ear for music, and my suggestion to these guys would be to try and tap into television and film. Why do I say this? Because their style of music has a lot of feel to it that would suit visuals like a TV series and/or film very well to set the scene and emotion. This comes across clearly in their music. My track of choice on the EP would be “Too Close for Comfort”. It’s a nice steady track to listen to and it’s also a “memory jogger”. By that, I mean when you listen to it, you just remember good times in your past. Great EP. Well done, Cosmo Thundercat! A well deserved 4/5.
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Ability just oozes out of their pores, and you can hear this musical love right here on their latest release. Their work can fit into a few different genres in my opinion. Contemporary retro, rockabilly, and I’m also going to go out on a limb and say blues, to a certain extent. The track “Throw Me a Line” certainly has a blues vibe, with the electric organ making its presence known in this feel good, relaxing song. On the technical side, it’s a well-recorded album with a really nice balance between instruments, and the vocals sit very comfortably in the mix. And the vocals are pretty amazing may I just add! Lily and the Drum love to tour the country performing, and if I had to make a suggestion on how to add to this already excellent album, I would have liked to have seen maybe a couple of sneaky bonus LIVE tracks as well to give the listeners a tad of variety. Overall though, it’s a pretty solid effort. Feel good music, great sound and you can have it all. Just get your copy of this album!
Music SA is a not-for-profit organisation committed to promoting, supporting and developing contemporary music in South Australia. We are thrilled to be working with BSide Magazine to bring you reviews of South Australian artists. Want to see your CD reviewed here? Go to musicsa.com.au for details on how to submit your EP or LP.
The Mynd Gardeners The Arcing Train Set Pantograph Reviewer: Savvy Rating: 4/5 The band name “The Mynd Gardeners” is perfect for this group, as they plant a seed into your “mynd”, nurture it, and then sit back and watch it grow before enjoying the fruits of their labor. These guys bring back the late ‘60s/’70s in a volley of tracks on this EP, their psychedelic rock and power pop sound reflect those decades extremely well. I also got a hint of “The Beatles” in some of their songs, such as track 4 “The Living Toys”. The other thing I was amazed by was how well they have perfected their recording and production style to match the era…. It’s amazing. Their musical style along with the vocals fit together perfectly. There are also quite a few psychedelic synth sounds in their music, which made me smile. Listening to their music just keeps sending my mind back in time and pulling famous names from history! The Beach Boys is another reference point. In fact, these guys should change their name to “Mynd Control” because this music does exactly that to you. You enter a trance and it’s mesmerizing on the ears! I really like track two, “Wait For What Will Come”. It’s addictive and has really great vocals in there with a strong psychedelic mix. Peace sign in the air people! In a nutshell….ya, it’s mynd control….and it’s good!!
Satan’s Cheerleaders The New Adventures Of Reviewer: Kyle Opie Rating: 5/5 The members of Satan’s Cheerleaders are a highly skilled bunch, being part of other jazz and progressive groups around Adelaide and beyond. ‘The New Adventures Of’ is their second release since the group’s inception in 2005. The music of this album has a very unique stylistic characteristic that keeps you on your toes; each track presents its own journey. You may face a track that seamlessly moves from heavy, fast unison passages, to slow emotive saxophone melodies, to punk influenced vocal lead sections, or it might be a quaint, piano-led, jazz piece. The setting of each piece is appropriate, nonetheless, the stylistic diversity isn’t erratic to the point that it seems inappropriate, and thematic elements tie everything together. The quirky country jazz closing track, complete with vibraphone and an a cappella section, ‘spooning on a spoon’, outlines the general aesthetic of the groups’ approach. Despite plenty of considerably heavy and dark moments, they clearly have a lot of fun with what they do, too. This album ticks all the boxes, more than adequately covering elements of variety, innovation, musicality, musicianship, humour, top notch production, attention to detail and more. It has it all.
RADIO BIRDMAN
RADIO BIRDMAN By David Robinson Deniz Tek is a legendary figure within the Australian music scene and has been doing it his way, sonically speaking, for over four decades. He is best-known by most, however, as a founder member of blistering ’70s rock‘n’roll outfit Radio Birdman (photographed here by Anne Laurent). To celebrate the release of a new retrospective CD box set, Deniz is touring Australia with the latest incarnation of the band with the line-up featuring three of the original Radio Birdman members. David Robinson caught up with Tek on the eve of the first show of the tour and asked if things were shaping up well. “Yeah, I think so,” Deniz begins. “We’re ready to go. We had our last band practice last night and it went well. We wrote a set list too so, yeah, we’re ready to get started. We’ll drive to Newcastle this afternoon.” How long is it since you played with Radio Birdman? “Our last show was in Athens, Greece near the end of 2007 and we’d had a pretty big year,” Deniz answers. “We played something close to 80 shows, it was a good year but we haven’t been together since. We’ve all been working on individual projects. Rob [Younger] has The New Christs, I’ve been doing solo work, Chris Masuak moved to Spain and has his own band over there so, you know, we’ve all been doing different things.” What were the audiences like on the world tour? Did you attract new fans? “We did,” Deniz confirms. “For one thing, in the old days we never played in America. We were supposed to go on tour with The Ramones in the second half of 1978 but got dropped from the label, from Sire Records, and it never happened. So there were a lot of people across America that were interested in Radio Birdman that had never seen the band.” You’ve just released an eight-disc box set containing you r’70s albums as well as a host of unreleased material, including the entire 1977 Paddington Town Hall gig. There’s also a DVD. Are you happy with the final product? “We’re all very happy with the way it turned out,” he declares.” Sonically, it’s great. The unreleased stuff will be of interest to collectors and the really deep fans. It’s a unique package, and it sounds and looks great. We’re very happy with it from an artistic standpoint.” Why is now the right time for this reformation and tour? “It’s probably a combination of things, but the main motivator is the release of the box set,” Deniz says. “We were very keen on getting the box set out and having as many people know about it as possible. The best way to do that is to go out and play. So the box set was the prime motivator but other things play a part too. When you haven’t been together for a long
time it makes it fresh again. It becomes another new adventure.” You’ve played in many bands, and alongside some of the great names of the genre. Why is Radio Birdman particularly special for you? “I think the original members of the band had chemistry,” he suggests. “I suppose you’d say that we worked together well. It’s the only format that really makes the songs come to life. I think we had a pretty good batch of songs and they don’t really sound dated today. This is the band that can present them in the right way. “Then there’s the matter of getting together with good friends; people that I’ve known for so long. We’ve gone through a lot of things together, and that forges a bond that’s not easily broken.” You have, more or less, three albums worth of material to choose from in terms of selecting songs for your setlist. Are you looking any wider than that for this tour? “No, we’re gonna focus on Radio Birdman songs,” Deniz says. “We’ll play the songs that are well-known and requested but we’ll also play some of the more obscure things that maybe didn’t get that much attention when they came out.” Once this tour is over, what’s next for you? “When the whole idea for this tour came up I was already half-way through my next solo album, which is a follow up to the Detroit album I released last year,” he replies. “So I’ll have to go back and finish that. That’s what I’ll be doing.” Any future plans for Radio Birdman? “We are going to reconvene in March for Golden Plains Festival, Deniz says. “After that, we’ll have to see. Maybe we’ll do some touring overseas. You never know, we might come out with some new songs and do some recording as well. It’s all within the realms of possibility.” That’s good news for fans. If you do come up with new material, do you expect it will deliver more of the unique Radio Birdman sound? Most people seem to think you pulled it off with Zeno Beach. “Well, it won’t be a dance album, or electro pop,” he jests. “It will be rock’n’roll and it will sound like us.” Do you have any last words for the people of Adelaide? “Some of the great live footage of the band was shot in Adelaide; some of the best stuff at the Marryatville Hotel,” Deniz concludes. “Adelaide has always been dear to our hearts because of those gigs in the seventies. We’re looking forward to getting back there and playing again.” Radio Birdman play the Governor Hindmarsh Hotel, 59 Port Rd, Hindmarsh, on Saturday 8 November with The Bearded Clams and The ProTools. Tickets are available via OzTix or at the venue. For the full interview, head to <theclothesline.com.au>.
Well, it would seem like this particular issue of BSide Magazine has almost become Radio Birdman edition as we are running a review of their box set and also an interview with guitarist Dennis Tek. Yeh, hup. Anyway, where am I? Not sure but I do know that back in 1977 I was at The Marryatville Hotel in the leafy Adelaide suburb of Marryatville seeing Radio Birdman play for the first time. I’d heard they were coming to visit Adelaide as it had been announced by radio announcer David Woodhall on his late night ABC radio show, Nocturnal, which, I do believe, later spawned the late night ABC television show Rockturnal. David had also played some of their tunes which I had listened to via the airwaves and – this is the cool and trendy part of me coming out – I made a note to go and see them and be part of the in crowd as he had indicated they were causing quite a buzz up in Sydney.
landed in my inbox. ‘Who on earth is sending emails at this time of night?” – it was evening although I may not have mentioned that bit although those of you who know me would know that I rarely frequent the Governor Hindmarsh Hotel during daylight hours – I had thought to myself. Curiosity got the better of me, of course, and I opened up my email account to discover that the sender of the email was Chris Masuak. “Ah, he’s forgiven,” I said to myself, “as, due to the fact he lives in Spain, Chris would have been sending said email in the early part of his morning. And then I thought to myself, “Chris Masuak from Radio Birdman? I wonder what he wants?” I was, of course, soon to find out.
So I had toddled along to the Marryatville Hotel in my trusty motor car – everyone drove to gigs back then as, unless you side-swiped a parked car on the way home, it was all pretty okay although I would not attempt such a thing these days – while listening to a cassette tape of Jackson Browne playing over the car stereo. I seem to recall walking into the room and seeing Chris ‘Lofty’ Loft there and also certainly as certain Paul Slater although the latter now firmly denies it. Which is odd as, like the many thousands of people who now claim to have witnessed Sex Pistols play their first gig in front of less than 50 people, you’d think it would be something you’d own up to, especially if someone who was there actually thought you were actually there. Anyway, I do digress. I have no idea who the support bands might have been – I was certainly not in attendance in a reviewing capacity – but now recall being quite amazed by Radio Birdman as it was nothing like what I’d ever seen or heard before. They had an intensity I had not previously experienced and I seem to recall singer Rob Younger doing some kind of pole dance with one of the poles. And I remember at the end of their gig, one of the two guitar players – either Dennis Tek or Chris Masuak – left their instrument leaning against an amplifier. Said instrument then slowly began to feedback with increasing loudness and when it reached an almost unbearable level, only then did a roadie jump onto the stage and quickly unplug it. Relief. And I have a feeling I was so overwhelmed by what the evening had brought that I went back to see Radio Birdman the following evening. Anyway, let’s fast-forward the Jackson Browne cassette tape almost 40 years which then finds me at the Governor Hindmarsh Hotel looking at a poster announcing that Radio Birdman would be playing in the main room on Saturday 8 November. “Lordy, lordy”, I thought loudly to myself as my iPhone made an even louder noise to indicate that an email had just
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RADIO BIRDMAN BOXED SET
RADIO BIRDMAN BOX SET (Citadel) Reviewed By Robert Brokenmouth While fans of the band have known about this little ripper’s imminence for some time, most of you won’t know the band. Which is just fantastic, because you’re about to have your head torn off by some blistering rawk. The violent power and exhilirating passion he - and thousands of others witnessed was swiftly legendary. Radio Birdman gigs could be barely-contained riots, and afterwards, well on one occasion a mob churned through the streets of Paddington. Birdman’s products were of a similar high quality - clothing, skateboards (in 1977!) - so they stormed Sydney shops when a live bootleg appeared, tearing it off the shelves and stomping off. Wasn’t up to the standard. Mind you, the gig was great. So, while we would’ve killed to have a box set like this in 1979 after the band had broken up, by 1984 Birdman’s impact (and The Saints’, and X’s) had caused total upheaval in the Australian music industry, and bands like Hoodoo Gurus, The Beasts Of Bourbon and The Scientists were various splinters of another new wave. Thirty years on from that last huge shift and their original fans are well and truly older citizens, most of whom don’t see bands as much, and the new young world… Er, I have diverged. The packaging is classic. The booklet will fill you in on the guts of the history. Much of this wealth of bonus material sound a damn sight better than the originals on my old, crackly vinyl. The bonus disc of the Trafalgar version of Radios Appear features the infamous and much-pirated Burn My Eye EP and a slew of never-before-issued out-takes. The Sire version of Radios Appear - with different and extra tracks and which was mastered in NYC - is more powerful, though purists still squabble (as they do over the mixing of the guitars). The bonus disc features out-takes, demos and alternate arrangements.
The band broke up after recording Living Eyes, and with the new wave scene by then completely changing, the LP did not do well even though it was a better record. Their development is plain to see here and one cannot help but wonder, ‘What if?’. The extra disc features more out-takes and three live tracks. The fourth pack is the last Birdman gig in Australia - a gig not, in the opinion of a friend who was there, one of their best, not that you’d notice. It blisters your ears and if that’s not enough, the bonus disc is a DVD featuring six live songs from three different periods which is just enough to whet the appetite. One assumes they either couldn’t obtaon permission for the ABC’s Marryattville Hotel footage (yes, filmed here in Adelaide) or they figured it had already done the rounds on YouTube. Sure the world took Birdman for punkers at a time when the wave was toppling. But they were closer to Blue Oyster Cult, MC5 and The Stooges than they were to The Ramones, The Clash and Dr Feelgood. Their fine pop sensibility, as well as their twin-guitar assault and scary front man, made them unique, precious and extraordinary. They all went on and did other things; most recently, Younger’s New Christs, while Tek and Chris ‘Klondike’ Masuak have toured Europe and Australia. And while this box set is firmly aimed at Radio Birdman’s core audience, if you say love rock and don’t buy this box, you’re a liar. Radio Birdman are where Australian music entered the modern zeitgeist for real. Radio Birdman play the Governor Hindmarsh Hotel, 59 Port Rd, Hindmarsh, on Saturday 8 November with The Bearded Clams and The ProTools. Tickets are available via OzTix or at the venue.
DEEP SOUTH
DEEP SOUTH By Robert Dunstan
For the first time Deep South will have a Friday evening component called Women Sing The Blues.
Deep South, a three-day festival full of blues, roots and folk goodness held at award winning live music venue the Governor Hindmarsh, is now in its third year with this year’s festival promising to be better than ever.
“Again, I was looking at doing something different so I approached Carla [Lippis], Gail [Page] and Zkye about doing something,” Dennis says. “And because they all play around town so much, we wanted to put on something quite different to what audiences would normally see them do. It’s going to be unique in that way.
Deep South boasts a strong line-up of local talent – The Streamliners, The Hiptones, Huckeberry Swedes, Kelly Menhennett, Zkye, The Bakers Digest, Carla Lippis, Lazy Eye, Steve Brown Band, Filthy Lucre, The Saucermen, Gail Page, Nikko & Snooks, Billy Bob’s BBQ Boys, Tavis Taylor & One More Mile, Glenn Skuthorpe and Sam Brittain – alongside interstate guests Kevin Borich, Mojo Juju, Lloyd Spiegel, Claude Hay, Hat Fitz & Clara Robinson, Ray Beadle and Bec & The Big River Trio. We spoke to Deep South organiser Dennis Kipridis (who plays in local bands The Streamliners and The Dirty Roots Band among others) about the festival and he began by saying its origins came from when he was putting on a regular night of blues and roots music. “Yeah, I’d been putting on a series of regular nights of blues and roots music at the Gov with local bands and occasional interstate acts,” Dennis says. “So the first festival was getting all those bands involved in that series to play on the one day over three stages – the main room, the dining area and the front bar – at the Gov. “And I got such great feedback that I thought of new ways of adding to it so decided to put on Up Close & Personal in the dining area on a Sunday afternoon after the big, full day on Saturday. “That more intimate Sunday idea actually came about from having The Yearlings on the main stage for the first festival because, as great as they are as a duo, I just felt that they kinda got a bit swamped with all the madness of the day,” Dennis reveals. “And putting Up Close & Personal on also allowed a focus on acoustic acts in an environment they were more suited to.” This year’s Up Close & Personal will boast Sydney guitarist Ray Beadle who has previously ripped it up at Adelaide International Guitar Festival. “And this show will have Ray playing acoustic guitar,” Dennis reveals. “That’s how he actually started off in Sydney before switching to electric but, to my knowledge, Ray hasn’t done a strictly acoustic show in Adelaide before. “So that will be quite a treat,” he enthuses, “and will be a great way to end the weekend. “And I’m also pretty pleased with how the whole line-up has come together for this year although each time it becomes more of a challenge as it gets fine-tuned here and there,” Dennis then says. “The trick is to make it more interesting each year and also have a fair bit of variety. “So looking at the program over the three days, I’ve tried to instill some kind of balance – there are younger bands and more established acts – and it’s become a nice little festival package.”
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“So Carla will kick off the night paying tribute to Billie Holiday and Mahalia Jackson and then Gail will do some Ann Peebles and Mavis Staples songs and Zkye will be doing the songs of Etta James and Koko Taylor,” he continues. “So it will start off slowly – Carla will be doing her set with just a piano player and maybe double bass – and then it will build to a grand finale with all three singers on stage together. “And it also helps to give the festival a bit of a gender balance,” Dennis adds, “as blues music, especially, is often dominated by males.” Legendary New Zealand-born guitarist Kevin Borich, whom you can find on YouTube playing alongside Carlos Santana, has also been enticed to take part in Deep South. “Kev’s been to town recently but only for a low-key gig or two and hasn’t done a big show or festival in Adelaide for a long, long time,” Dennis says. “I’d have to look back, but I don’t think he’s played the Gov for ages.” Saturday’s shindigs will once again be spread over three stage. “It is programmed a little bit differently though,” Dennis says, “because I wanted to avoid too many clashes of having the same style of music on the three stages at the same time. Once again, it’s just a matter of listening to the audience and the musicians’ feedback and fine-tuning it a little.” The Hiptones, featuring vocalist Snooks La Vie, have also reformed to take part in Deep South, as have Huckleberry Swedes. “It’s great that bands such as that want to reform to take part in a festival such as Deep South,” Dennis reasons. “It shows a kind of respect, not only for the festival, but for the younger bands that are playing. “And that’s what I see as being the longevity of the festival,” he concludes. “Hopefully, at the end of every year, there will be nice boutique festival at the Gov that continues to develop and grow.” Deep South takes place at the Governor Hindmarsh Hotel, 59 Port Rd, Hindmarsh, from Friday 28 November until Sunday 30 November. Book tickets via OzTix or via the venue.
THE KUMFY CLUB
THREE D RADIO TOP 20+1 The 21 most played new releases for the week 24/10/14 – 31/10/14
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THE KUMFY KLUB By Robert Dunstan The Kumfy Klub began in the late ’90s and ran on a monthly basis at Crown & Sceptre Hotel. The DJ-focussed event quickly became an Adelaide institution until it would up almost a decade later. When the King William St hotel re-opened its doors only last month following a period of hibernation, The Kumfy Klub was quickly engaged to return to its old haunt on a four-weekly basis until the end of the year. “It’s basically just to see how it would go,” Andrew ‘Smiley’ Peters, who organises the event as part of the 3 Reasons team and also DJs as one half of TrunkFunk Sound System, says, “but we’d done a big reunion show for The Kumfy Klub at The King’s Head a while ago and that had gone well. “And when Crown & Sceptre reopened, we were approached about presenting it again as the manager, Daniel Gitsham, knew about the history with the pub. Initial response suggests that the event may well continue at Crown & Sceptre next year following its successful relaunch at the venue last month. “Yeah, it went well,” Smiley, as most people have come to know him over the years due to his ever smiley face, says. “There was a really good vibe and lots of familiar faces so it was a really good night. And Luke Million, who is doing really well at the moment, played a really great set.” He then reveals the history of The Kumfy Klub. “We set it up in early 1998 as a monthly event in response to what seemed to be the emergence of the huge super clubs at places such as Heaven [now HQ] and The Planet,” Smiley says. “Those super clubs seemed to be where all the dance music focus was at the time so we wanted to create something in a much more intimate, relaxed environment. We wanted to have a club atmosphere in a comfortable pub environment. And we wanted it to be quite a casual affair.” The Kumfy Klub proved to be a great success and it spawned several much larger events during its lifetime. “Yeah, we did one down at The Shores Function Complex at West Beach – that was back in 2006 – and back in 1999 we also put on a big New Year’s party up at Stoneyfell Winery, but its home was always the Crown & Sceptre. It was just for the big, special, one-off events that we took it elsewhere.” The Kumfy Klub excelled in providing an eclectic array of DJs for each event. “We’ve always gone for a bit of variety,” Smiley decides. “So we’ve now got something called nu disco which is old disco tracks edited and remixed, And, with Luke Million last time, it was that electronic indie dance kind of vibe. And then there’s the funky house stuff and by
the end of the night it’s a real mix of stuff that includes some of the classics that used to get played during the old days of The Kumfy Klub.”
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Magic Bones
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Anytime Anywhere
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The Dunes
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Bad Lands
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Meatbeaters
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Tug Of Phwoarrr
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Tom Redwood
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Look
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Tales
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Various
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Love Replaced By Machine
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Lucky Seven
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Hire A Small Plane
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The Burning Sea
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The New Adventures Of Satan's Cheerleaders
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The next session of The Kumfy Klub will have The Manuel Portio (pictured above) as the main attraction alongside TrunkFunk Sound System, Juddo, Bos, House Cats and Jason Lee. The Manuel Portio is the Adelaide-based DJ duo of Lunabass (AKA Adrian Whalland) and Josh Pathon who have issued their material via Mullet Records and DeNote Records as well as their own Ba-Doop label.
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“And they’ve been having a lot of success recently with their deep house and house tracks,” Smiley says. “They’ve been producing stuff that has been getting a lot of response overseas and topping charts such as Beatport as well as getting support slots for lots of visiting international DJs at places such as Electric Circus. “So The Manuel Portio do a kind of live DJ thing,” he adds.
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Satan's Cheerleaders
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The Tonight Show
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Dirt
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The Church
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Further/Deeper
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Bonnie Prince Billy
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The Datsuns
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Mark Lanegan Band
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Various
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Nekkro Electrio
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Diesexual
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Misanthro PC
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The Mynd Gardeners
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The Arcing Train Set Pantograph
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Troika
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Crossroads
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The - TOP 20+1 - show Saturdays 7.00 - 9.00pm www.threedradio.com
Local Australian Last week Returned after a week off the chart Fresh entry into the chart
TrunkFunk Sound System is Smiley selecting the tunes with JD adding funky percussion. “And we’ve just put together CD based on what we did at Lola’s Pergola as part of this year’s Adelaide Festival,” Smiley announces. “And TrunkFunk is something we’ve been doing together for a long time now as I think we did something at pretty much every Kumfy Klub event in the past and we’ve also done places such as The Persian Garden [as part of Adelaide Festival in 2008] and The Fringe Club over the years. “So The Kumfy Klub will now also serve as some kind of launch for the TrunkFunk CD,” he adds. “And it’s great to be back at Crown & Sceptre again even though it’s quite strange in some ways.” For those who are yet to step back into Crown & Sceptre, Smiley says that little has changed. “Obviously it’s been cleaned up a bit because it was kind of let go a bit during its final stages of life,” he says. “But it still has the same vibe and décor but it’s been freshened up. “And, of course, it has a long history due to some of the acts that have played there,” he continues. “I remember The Cat Empire doing one of their first Adelaide gigs at Crown & Sceptre and also PNAU playing there. A lot of what are now quite high-profile acts have played there over the years. “So it’s good to see the old place up and running again because, as well as The Kumfy Klub, they are also programming a really good variety of live bands from here and interstate on other nights,” Smiley concludes. The Kumfy Klub takes place at Crown & Sceptre, 308 King William St, from 9pm until 3am on Saturday 15 November. RSVP on Facebook for an entry fee of only $5.
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BROUHAHA’S BIZ
BIG BANG VS SLOW BUILD By Kelly Brouhaha I’ve been lecturing Music SA’s Cert 4 students this last semester and have been watching a lot of young bands make their debut into the music industry, many of which have launched with a simple free entry show and a Facebook event to promote it. All classic strategies for any young band starting out and exactly the strategy I used when I first started making music. The thing about building a profile is it all comes down to how others perceive what you are doing, with the goal to build a perception for your act that puts you at the top of the minds of the people handing out the great opportunities. Christian Andrew is an act who comes to mind for doing things slightly different and making it work. Having spent the last 12 months playing low key shows in Adelaide and organically building an audience he recently launched his single at The Gov , quite the achievement for an act releasing his first single. Employing a publicist to promote the show, ticket sales doubled through editorial in The Advertiser. Exclusive streaming of the single through Rip it Up and the buzz of a new artist playing The Gov for his supposed “firt” launch certainly does wonders to the smoke and mirrors campaign. The thing is, Christian had been working behind the scenes building an audience, releasing music to a small local niche and is still for the most part, completely un-known. Prior to this single he had released an EP and sold a few hundred copies (in the grand scheme of things nationally, this is not a lot), played shows in smaller venues and worked his way through 100 and 150 capacities before landing a show on The Gov’s main stage – but most of this has gone un-noticed to the wider public. Now armed with a strong local audience, his strategy to release music nationally and on a much larger scale holds so much more weight in the profile department and creates a kind of momentum to follow up with interstate touring and national PR campaigns to release this next EP because of the ground work put in over the last 12 months. The perception of this being his first launch is all smoke and mirrors, but it does wonders for his overall profile. Using his show at The Gov to get video footage of him entertaining a large crowd, actual statistics of ticket sales to use when asking for interstate gig swaps with bands that can pull a similar audience and the buzz from the small local PR campaign are all clever strategic points to get the ball rolling. Having toured for the last 3 years myself and working with numerous acts who are all on the slow build grind with me
(and struggling because momentum is slow) it begs the questions – how can we as artists work smarter and get the momentum rolling? And more importantly what can we stop doing that will save us time and money (and really had little effect on our career anyway). I think a lot of us are under the impression that slow build touring works. We all love the story of how The Waifs toured the country for 10 years and built a loyal audience organically, but realistically these guys were playing 100-200 capacity rooms until the single “London Still” was picked up by Triple J. I know many bands touring full-time that love the lifestyle and love the slow build strategy. I also know a lot of acts emotionally and physically burnt out from a hefty touring schedule and struggling to make rent from a lack of income on the road, and in my experience this is the major issue that see’s great bands retiring before achieving any real success. I’d love to know your thoughts on big bang strategies versus slow build touring. Flick me an email at kelly@ bsidemagazine.com.au You can listen to more of Christian’s music at christianandrewmusic.com.au Free Marketing Tools You Should Probably Know About If momentum comes down to great strategy and good marketing, then you need to know about these free tools to get your marketing looking schmick. (It’s all about perception right?). CANVA Free Graphic Design Program. Drag and Drop Editor. As easy to use as paint, looks like it’s been done by a pro. WIX Free Website Program. Drag and Drop Editor. Web design made easy. MAILCHIMP Free Newsletter Program. Drag and Drop Editor. Send professional looking emails to a lot of different people all at the same time. VISTAPRINT Cheap Cheap Cheap Printing and Merchandise. DROPBOX File Sharing Program. Send your press kit to the rest of the world with the push of a button. (Makes for a really easy way to send your music to media/venues/festivals). And don’t forget about the hundreds of uni students needing to build a portfolio of work who might be interested in creating some great looking stuff for you for free to help them out. High quality photo’s, video’s, posters and websites are a must to build your profile.
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CAREER PATHWAYS 2015
courses.musicsa.com.au