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Editor:
Alexandra Gibson editor.togatus@utas.edu.au
Design Editor: Sam Lyne
Design and Layout:
Jacky Ho, Sam Lyne, Jemima Phelps, Eloise Warren
Cover:
Fabian Brimfield
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Contributors:
Laura Ashton, Fabian Brimfield, Shae Ffrench, Hannah Grey, Ella Kearney, Chloe Mayne, Caitlin Richardson, Julius Ross, Jake Snepvangers, Jarrah Watkinson Printed on Impress Gloss (FSC accredited, ECF [Chlorine Free] and PH Neutral) by GEON. Togatus PO Box 5055 Sandy Bay, Tas 7006 Email: editor.togatus@utas.edu.au
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Photo by Ally Gibson
FROM THE EDITOR Alexandra Gibson Hello Togatus Readers and welcome back to university for 2012! In 2005, straight out of school, I decided to spend a year living in London. I thought it would be like visiting long-lost relatives; the similarities between our traits would be warming and surreal and I’d fit right into the almost identical culture. Not the case. Even though my ancestors may have called this very foreign feeling place home, I was definitely an outsider. A small scale issue: I spent the first month feeling like I must look terribly depressed and lost on the outside, because people kept asking me if I was “alright?” rather than simply saying “Hi”. Distressed, I would launch into a very detailed and lengthy account of my feelings, trials and tribulations. I would finish by reassuring them I was ok, and that I was actually coping, thank you. This was met with a stunned face and an immediate withdrawal and all further interactions were avoided. I realized, too slowly, that it is merely a greeting and to just reply “alright”. Not a huge problem, but one of many. Despite my inability to communicate, I always describe my year in London as the best and worst of my life. Never have I felt more alone, awkward and uncomfortable, but at the same time, never have I had more fun, felt stronger, more independent or had a clearer idea of the kind of person I wanted to be. This Christmas, I was given the Karl Pilkington An Idiot Abroad DVD set. Not only was it hilarious, it was interesting to see a man who felt so at home where I had felt so foreign being put into a similarly uncomfortable situation. Not only that, but Karl is obviously a man who has felt absolutely no need to venture outside of his own comfort zone. Of course, the series was filled with naïve, tantrum-throwing rejections of difference, but it also included some fairly profound statements — an almost pre-modern look at globalisation. It was an interesting perspective. With Pilkington as inspiration, as laughable as that sentence may be, we have decided to make this issue an interview-heavy one, with a focus on, not only travel, but
the things that have inspired people to push their limits, change their paths, and perhaps even induce some sort of personal development. Opening this issue, we have an interview with Aaron Smith, ex-punk rocker, actor, scriptwriter, freelance journalist, removalist, English teacher, diving instructor and author of the recently released, autobiographical novel Shanti Bloody Shanti: An Indian Odyssey. Some of you may remember when Togatus published an article by Aaron a few issues back about this journey through South America; it was hard to forget. There were cannibals, psychotropic drugs, near death experiences… As it turns out, this was but part of the journey that Aaron took around the world and Shanti Bloody Shanti depicts the first leg through India. Tog writer Jake Snepvangers had a wonderfully colourful chat to Aaron about the book, his trip and his ideals. A brilliant option for travel and life-enriching experiences can be found right under your nose, here at UTas: exchange. I’m not sure why more people don’t take advantage of this opportunity. One man that has is UTas Law student Fabian Brimfield. He’s studying in Hong Kong at the moment and has provided us a rundown of his day-to-day activity as well as some excellent images, including the lovely gentleman on the cover! In terms of our other interviews this issue, we’ve spoken to Australian band The Getaway Plan, rapper 360, awardwinning style blogger and jewellery designer Alicia Hannah Naomi, Balletlab director Phillip Adams and captain of the Hobart Hurricanes, Xavier Doherty. Ella Kearney takes you on a tour through her High School memories, Caitlin Richardson takes you on a walk around the historical Moonah and Shae Ffrench takes us through this year’s Mona Foma. All and all, a pretty fat issue! See you in a couple of months!
Alexandra Gibson My Dad's best gig was Rolling Stones at Randwick Race Course… Actually, Joe Cocker & the Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour, because… Wait! The Eagles in 1980… NO! James Taylor… 2
Illustration by Sam Lyne 3
CONTENTS JACKY
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Firstly.
CONTENTS 2 / Letter from the Editor 6 / Contributors 8 / Shanti Bloody Shanti 14 / Alicia Hannah Naomi 18 / The Getaway Plan 22 / Exchanging 30 / MONA FOMA 2012: Naked, Hungry and Famous 34 / Phillip Adams 38 / 360 40 / Withstanding History 42 / Highskool 44 / Hobart Hurricanes
Photos by Jacky Ho 5
CONTRIBUTORS DESIGNERS Jacky Ho My parents most memorable gig was… Disney On Ice because it was Disney On Ice. Ho, p. 4–5, 8–13, 30–33, 42–43
Sam Lyne My Dad's most memorable gig was… when he saw Billy Thorpe perform for the last time in Launceston, a few years before Billy passed away in 2007. Lyne, p. 1–3, 22–29
Jemima Phelps My Mum's most memorable gig was… AC/DC after lining up to get Phil Rudd's autograph in a Jean Scene. Phelps, p. 18–21, 38–39, 40–41, 44–48
Eloise Warren My Mum's most memorable gig was… Bob Dylan with his raspy voice that was somewhat hard to understand, but fantastic regardless. Warren, p. 6–7, 14–17, 34–37
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Firstly.
FEATURE WRITERS Laura Ashton My Mum's most memorable gig was… AC/DC watching school boy rolling around on the floor smashing guitar when she was 13!
Fabian Brimfield My Mum’s most memorable gig was… Kylie Minogues On a Night Like This tour because I was with her as a seven year old. I didn’t ask her, I just assumed because I’m terrific company.
Hannah Grey My Dad's most memorable gig was… Daddy Cool above the ref in the early 70's because Ross Wilson got the whole crowd up and dancing.
Ella Kearney My Dad's most memorable gig was… Style Council who played in Bristol, UK, October 1984. He said "oh just say it's cause I tripped out to them". I called mum and her fav gig of all time was also Style Council. She said it was 'a heady time'. My parents have been divorced for 10 years. For some reason that warmed my heart.
Chloe Mayne My dad's most memorable gig was… Midnight Oil because he danced with Peter Garrett.
Caitlin Richardson My Dad’s most memorable gig was… Frank Zappa in 1977 because he realised what an incredible musician Zappa was.
Julius Ross My Dad's most memorable gig was… Sonny Terry's at the City Hall in 1975 due to a "tremendous display of acoustic blues".
Jarrah Watkinson My Dad's most memorable gig was… seeing Gladys Moncrieff at the Tivoli Theatre in Sydney at age 8, because he was young and impressionable and it inspired his love of music.
Photo by Eloise Warren 7
SHANTI BLOODY SHANTI Jake Snepvangers It was the phone call from Amber that clinched it, ‘Um, my boyfriend kinda found out about us and he kinda has a contract out on you now. I am so sorry.’ I thought she was being metaphorical, ‘So he’s pissed then?’ ‘Well at first, but now he’s calm, now he’s paid the guy to do the hit, said it felt like closure.’ Running into a travel agency on the last business day before Christmas I announced, ‘I want a ticket to India.’ ‘Sir we close in ten minutes.’ I slammed a wad of cash down on her desk. She stared at the money for a moment, then started tapping away on her keyboard. ‘Ok, sir, right away.’ After a few minutes she stopped. ‘Well, there is only one seat available — it leaves Christmas Eve. Everything is fully booked until February.’ ‘I’ll take it.’ ‘Look, this ticket is going to be expensive. However, for a fraction more you can upgrade to a round-the-world flight. The only problem is that you have to book it now, with all the destinations, as we are about to close and the system will be locked down for Christmas. You only have five minutes to decide. What do you think?’ She was trying to up sell me, super-size my ticket. Feeling reckless, I answered, ‘What the hell. Let’s do it.’ Typing, not looking up from her keyboard, ‘So where to?
You can pick three continents. You’re already in Asia, so that’s one. You can squeeze in one more stop over, how’s Thailand sound. Remember the clock is ticking.’ ‘Um, Ok I guess.’ Still typing, ‘Done. Now you can pick Europe or Africa, but we only have three minuets.’ At a loss, I looked around the office. There was a client picking up his ticket. ‘Excuse me mate, where are you going?’ The guy looked surprised. ‘Err, Greece.’ ‘Is it nice there?’ ‘Yeah, well, I am Greek.’ Yelling over my shoulder, ‘Lock it in.’ The travel agent stopped, stretched her fingers and wiped her forehead. ‘One continent to go, North or South America, in less than two minuets. You can choose New York or Brazil.’ ‘I’ll flip for it.’ Pulling a coin from my jeans, I threw it into the air and slapped it down on the back of my hand. ‘Heads, Broadway and pretzels, tails, samba and the Amazon.’ Lifting my hand, I looked. ‘Brazil it is.’ The travel agent finished typing. ‘It’s now or never, once I hit Enter it’s in the system and can’t be changed. Any last minute doubts?’ ‘Do it.’ 8
Feature.
In four minutes flat, I’d decided my fate for the next year of my life. Then, some twenty-four hours later, in what felt like the ass end of the world I was uncertain I’d done the right thing. On Christmas Eve in the Green Palace Hotel in down town Mumbai my last thoughts as the valium swallowed my consciousness were, this is not what I expected at all. India looked much nicer in the brochures. (Extract from Shanti Bloody Shanti: An Indian Odyssey)
Sab Kuch Milega (Everything is Possible) If you were to die right now, to face an unescapable death, would you be happy with what you have achieved in your life thus far? Would you honestly and truthfully be excited with who you are and what you have given to the world; satisfied that you made the world just a little bit better than how it was when you arrived? Those people who surround you, will they remember the things you have done and be proud to say that they truly knew you for who you really are. Do you care? If your answer is no, then why? Are you waiting for the right time to come? The right job, the dream job? The right person, Mr Right, the One, is it too hard or is all this thinking about what’s important in life a load of crap and people really need to harden up, sink another shot, numb the pain, and get on with life? This isn’t self confession and this is no attempt at force feeding you what the purpose of life is — Chinese crackers already do a good job at that — but if you have ever wondered about the bigger picture behind the TV
screen, then you join the ranks of the growing number of people who stopped to smell the roses and ask the question, “Who’s in control? Does life happen to you or do you control what happens? Who holds the remote?” It is those who have braved the question and the rollercoaster of life experiences that comes with it, that have figured out what is actually important in life. Aaron Smith, ex-punk rocker, actor, scriptwriter, freelance journalist, removalist, English teacher, diving instructor , lover of life and all round good bloke, is one such person. Author of the newly released book Shanti Bloody Shanti, he shares his experience of his Indian Odyssey — which is nothing short of it. With a bounty on his head paid by an angry drug dealer on the discovery that his girl had been giving a little to much love on the side than he appreciated, Aaron did a Houdini, selling everything he owned and cashed in on an around the world ticket — India bound. Completely ignorant to the adventure that awaited him, Aaron dives deep into Mother India’s womb, and what is regurgitated is this seductive, but beautifully mutilated garland of experiences, leaving you sometimes envious, sometimes thinking, “fuck I’m glad I’m not in his shoes”. Fatefully surrounding himself with a substituting team of fellow adventurers so diverse it puts many European hostels to shame, Aaron travels through the drug fuelled, tourist party capital of Goa; finds peace and a sense of knowing in Pondicherry; embraces the paradise of the Andaman Islands; lives large and crashes hard through the festival of colours as the Green men of Kolkata. He scaled the mountains to Darjeeling where the 9
rolling hills of tea plantations kiss the feet of the mighty Himalayas; visited the holy city of Varanasi, the city of the dead, the mouth of great Ganges and the dance arena for his own tango with death; then turned north to chase mighty Ganga up into the mountains, through Rishikesh to the Shanti Shanti (peace) community of Luxman Jhula; climbed the very stairway to heaven to the even more Shanti Shanti Gangotri and the Gaumukh’s glacier — the source of Ganga, wife of Shiva, where she is said to come out of the head of Shiva as a constant display of his almighty power. On a personal quest of inner discover, spiritually and the overall meaning of life, Aaron as graceful as a train-wreck, shows you exactly what living every moment as your last is all about. Shanti Bloody Shanti is one intense read; it’s like Lonely Planet on steroids, with no leniency for suckers. Stepping away from self conceited travel wank, and exposing Mother India for who she really is, literally throwing the Lonely Planets’ guide to experiencing India out the train window, Aaron slaps you in the face with the adorning beauty that is India. Ecstatic after completing my read of Shanti Bloody Shanti, I meet up with Aaron for a beer one afternoon to ask him how genuine the craziness of the story really is and to see whether this ‘I don’t give a shit’ sort of attitude that’s been vomited onto the pages was a reflection of real thing or real. “The X factor is the big thing that I travel by; it’s what keeps me going. You can’t engineer for some of this shit to happen, it is what it is; you can’t recreate it. It’s like pulling your pants down to the world screaming ‘here I am’. “If I were to give myself a genre, it would be fucked-up travel stories.” Currently undertaking a Master of Media and Communications at UTAS at the moment, the sequel to Shanti Bloody Shanti, Chasing El Dorado is to be his thesis. Covering the last leg of his around the world ticket through South America, with a week left on his travel visa, Aaron ditched his ticket home to Australia and opted for an illegitimate working holiday instead as an illegal immigrant and started teaching English to corporate executives. “I just wasn’t ready to go back, to slip back into my old way of life like an old pair of jeans that I didn’t want to
wear. So I threw it away and moved into a favela (ghetto) in Rio de Janeiro, in the middle of a drug war. They don’t now, but gangs used to rule these areas with an iron fist — it was fucking intense, it was like living on the Gaza Strip. These guys would have anti-aircraft rocket launchers that they would use to take out police choppers that flew over their territory. Cops weren’t allowed in, they completely controlled everything — the streets, the air, they stole power when ever they wanted and no one could stop them because they would get shot. This is where I lived, and none of this shit ever made the news anywhere out of the country, that’s how corrupt the system was. “But it’s just a small part of Brazil, everyone seems to focus on the sex, drugs and violence, but there is so much beauty there, especially when you get out of the cities and into the surrounding environments.” Driven further by his own desire to discover some form of personal divinity, the inspiration from an old comrade during his Indian travels and the yearning to go walkabout again, Aaron set out on a three year odyssey through every country in Latin America on what he would call, “an atheist search for God”. Travelling exclusively by bus, boat and donkey, his quest led him over the Andes; all through darkest Peru; the jungles of Ecuador and Colombia; down the Amazon River; and all the way to the northern deserts of Mexico. Armed with the writings of William Burroughs as a guide, Aaron was in search of a sacred spiritual potion made from the vine of the dead, known as Ayahuasca. Containing the most active hallucinogen known, DMT, and lasting all night, they believe the foul tasting brew is the actual second coming of Christ and all who drinks it gets God inside. “To say the doors of perception were flung wide open would be an understatement — It tore me a new interdimensional arsehole. I’ve heard that one night of Ayahuasca is equivalent to 10 years of psychotherapy and over the years I drank it, I certainly worked through some shit. But it was the altered states that triggered something deep and archaic in me, the visions seemed more real than reality. There was a grace to the madness, a light I wanted to follow that felt far greater than any of the constraints of a Christian hybrid reality — I wanted to delve deeper.” Stretching deeper into the very source of Ayahuasca and the Amazon Jungle, jumping, chanting, perfume spitting, sword swinging, tobacco snorting, anal raping a frog with a twig to gather a highly poisonous milk it secretes, Aaron 10
Feature.
"Shanti Bloody Shanti is one intense read; it’s like Lonely Planet on steroids, with no leniency for suckers."
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travelled along the rollercoaster of his own double-helix, exploring the outer edges of the universe as well as his own insanity. “One of the greatest things that Ayahuasca gave me was this profound understanding of the now. Speaking to something far greater than my small human mind could ever comprehend, I ask the almighty question, ‘what’s my divine purpose?’. The response was that ‘nothing really matters’ and I asked, ‘well why?’, and it is the celestial response that has stuck with me for the rest of my life, ‘there is no why, there is only is.’ It was at this point that I finally realised that, everything is absolutely meaningless, we as humans attach labels to things so that our small minds can come to grips with the vastness of the universe. What is actually important in life is absolute love for yourself and everyone around you, because underneath all the crap we fill our consciousness with — that’s all there is.” To be written more as a stand alone book, Chasing El Dorado, is a cross section of life living in Rio de Janeiro and the mighty journey into the Amazon, told from the eye of the unobserved observer. “The great thing is, whenever or wherever I travel , I never have a plan, and that will always be the plan, and I stick to that plan religiously — it’s the only plan you should have. So when people ask me for advice on travelling, I say, ‘be reckless and go forth into the world of wild abandon — one way ticket baby.’” So as we bottoms-up, say our goodbyes and shake hands, I ask him one parting question before we leave, “After all that, did you find yourself? Did you gain a profound understanding of who you really are?” “The Tibetans say that the reason we are alive is all just about preparing to die. In many ways India was both a death and a rebirth for me, it allowed me to shed a snake skin of who I no longer wanted to be and become who I am today. Every seven years all the cells in our body have regenerated, making us a new person, perhaps this is also true for our inner self too…” Shanti Shanti Jake Snepvangers It's a tight call between Bon Jovi or U2 who also did a mid concert jamming session with BB King, but my mum; ridiculously pregnant with me, and insanely in love with Jon Bon Jovi, couldn't be swayed any other way than by Bon Jovi's bed of roses; with one exception to my dad charm! 12
Feature.
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Interview.
alicia hannah naomi Laura Ashton Alicia Hannah Naomi is the creative force behind the style blog Sea Of Ghosts and a Melbourne-based jewellery designer. Recently nominated for Best Fashion Blog at the Nuffnang Asia-Pacific Blog Awards 2011 the self-confessed outsider has a penchant for all things dark and whimsical with a love for progressive/industrial music. The blog began in 2008 as a result of a won Vogue subscription and the realisation that though she loved shopping, she wasn’t all that sure about actual ‘style’. The blog was initially an experiment for her to discover her personal aesthetic through documenting outfits and purchases but has now evolved into a successful style chronicle that is influenced by the traditional Japanese wabi sabi and shibui aesthetic of symmetry, minimalism, organic imperfection and subtle femininity injected with black. Her wardrobe now includes the likes of Rick Owens, Alexander Wang and Acne (jealous, much!?), and I had the divine opportunity to interview Miss Ghost about her blogging, style, design and what she would save from a flaming wardrobe!
Laura: Where do the designs for your jewellery come from? Alicia: Sometimes I come up with a design first; other times the form comes organically as I work with my materials. I'm inspired by austerity and naturalism; a concept that sounds contradictory but sharp and smooth make a beautiful juxtaposition. Why do you think Sea Of Ghosts has become so popular? I don't really feel that it is, not in comparison to some of Australia's more notorious style blogs. Like me, Sea Of Ghosts is an outsider blog. It will never penetrate the "inner circle" of success, because it doesn't cater to mainstream fashion consumers. But I would say that any success achieved is likely due to the fact that I've been blogging consistently for three years as well as being active on other social media platforms and have built up a small, but dedicated audience through that. What opportunities have become available to you because of the blog? I've had the opportunity to attend fashion weeks and launch events, meet industry heroes of mine; I've even been flown to Malaysia for a blogging awards event. But what blogging has really given me is the forum that enabled me to develop my own personal style in a way that's positively affected my work as a designer. How has the success of your blog impacted on you and your life? On a day to day basis it would have to be the wonderful and inspiring people I'd never have known had I not become active in the blogosphere. You were recently nominated for Best Fashion Blog 15
“I think I absorb inspiration very organically and subconsciously; from people I've spent time with to the travels I've taken and the city I live in. Everything I come into contact with has the capacity to inspire me.�
at the Nuffnang Asia-Pacific Blog Awards 2011, how did that feel? It was a delightful, humbling surprise to be one of five finalists across the entire Asia-Pacific region, and the only Australian finalist at that. The entire event from the nomination acceptance to the voting process and the awards ceremony was a very crazy and surreal experience.
I've got a Diploma in Multimedia Design which covered training in graphic design, 2D and 3D animation, web design and development and film, and I've done two short courses in silver smithing. I'm currently looking at more ways I can further my metal smithing skills which may involve more short courses or even a return to fulltime study.
Do you think it's important for blogging to be acknowledged as a serious career path? Blogging is a medium with which we express ourselves. Not everyone who paints wishes to become a serious artist, and not everyone who blogs wishes to become a serious self-publisher. Much like the paintbrush, it should absolutely be acknowledged as a legitimate form of self expression; a medium that can be used to forge a career with, should the wielder of the tool have the right technique and the right story to tell with it.
What advice do you have for aspiring jewellers/bloggers? Probably the same advice I'd have for an aspiring anything; pursue what you're passionate about and inject it with integrity. People can tell when your work doesn't carry authenticity. It's not good for your career and it's not good for your soul.
Who are your 'style icons'? One of my biggest style icons would be Elle U.S.'s style director Kate Lanphear. She has a very susinct and directional sense of style that I deeply admire on a personal level.
If your wardrobe was on fire and you could only save one item, what would that item be? Oh goodness that's rough! Probably my Rick Owens wedge ankle boots. Photos from www.seaofghosts.com
What or who have been the biggest influences in your life to bring you to this point? I don't feel like there's ever been one or two singular influences in my life that have set me along the path I've taken. I think I absorb inspiration very organically and subconsciously; from people I've spent time with to the travels I've taken and the city I live in. Everything I come into contact with has the capacity to inspire me. Have you had any formal training in the creative field? 16
Interview.
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THE GETAWAY PLAN
Hannah Grey
The Getaway Plan have been hard at work. Four months of recording in Toronto with world-renowned producer David Bottril resulted in Requiem — a strong statement album released in November featuring tracks such as Phantoms and The Reckoning which flaunt new influences spiked with fervour and tenacity. Hannah Grey chats to lead guitarist/ backing vocalist Clint Splattering about the pressures of recording a make-or-break album, why the band is excited for the Breath of Life festival and how disbanding turned out to be the best thing that could have happened in taking their music to a new level.
Hannah: The band has been reformed for just over a year now. How is everything going? Clint: Yeah, we have been pretty busy. Just been gigging and rehearsing in practice for the Big Day Out festivals coming up in Melbourne and Sydney [January]. Your new release, Requiem, is a strong statement album. Can you tell me about your experiences recording in Toronto? It really was the best experience of my life. It was such an incredible way to kick-start the band. It was just a great way for the band to re-bond. Everyone felt really privileged to be a part of the process. What was it like working with [world renowned] producer David Bottril [Muse, Silverchair, Placebo, Tool]? It was so great. Working with David Bottril meant that we had access to everything we needed and we could do whatever we wanted. If we wanted a children’s choir we could try that. He was just like “hey, I know where we can get one”. We could give everything a go and experiment with every kind of instrument to find the sound we were after. He [Bottril] had such a good catalogue of music to consider, to be inspired by. The band is really proud of what we achieved with him. 18
Interview.
You were recording for three or four months… was everyone pretty keen to head home after that? I got a bit homesick, but ultimately I think everyone was really locked into the whole process. We all felt like it was a good space of time, and we felt we could really focus and put our energy into the process. We all really enjoyed the area we lived in; Toronto almost felt like a second home. I’d love to spend more time there. Some of us are vegan and there were heaps of shops nearby for us to get food that suited our diets which was cool.
that if we couldn’t make it work then there wouldn’t be any point to it.
There wasn’t any tension in the house? Did anyone get sick of one another [laughs]? At times the journey did feel long and exhausting, but the house was big enough so we could get away from each other a bit [laughs].
Your band split at a peak time when everything seemed to be going really well. Looking back now, do you feel that taking a break was beneficial for the band, or do feel that the band missed out on opportunities because of the split? To be honest, I think that the band splitting up was the best thing that could have happened. I think we all needed that break to figure out what we wanted our band to be and who we wanted to be. In a way, it was all part of the journey.
The Reckoning and Phantoms definitely have a new edge and a deeper sound to them. How would you describe the sounds that you guys have developed in these new tracks? I wouldn’t say our new tracks are totally different to our old stuff, just a lot bigger. Requiem was about sorting out our sound, playing with sound…developing it to the next level. We all really considered Requiem to be the make or break album, and we were all really conscious of the fact
There wouldn’t be any point in making more music together? Yeah. I guess that ultimatum really influenced our music because the overall theme of the album was a lot darker. Actually, really dark! Everyone put in everything they had and in a way that [ultimatum] contributed to the strength of the album.
So no regrets? Well, yeah, at the time it did suck, but in retrospect the band really needed that break. When we were a younger band we jumped onto everything and every 19
“I FIND TASMANIAN CROWDS TO BE HEAPS OF FUN; JUST REALLY NICE GENUINE PEOPLE THAT ARE UP FOR A CHAT.” opportunity…that was a good thing in a way and every emerging band should have that attitude but it made it very overwhelming. I think because everything was coming at us at once it came to be too much. We were like “yeah let’s do this and this and this” regardless of what we already had on. We listened more to what others said and thought and what media people said instead of what was best for the band. The statement released about disbanding stated that “there comes a time when you must sit back and assess if everything is working the way it should be”. How are things working now? This time around we aren’t doing what we are told or doing what media people are telling us to do; we are putting our decisions first. When we issued that statement we were a young band and we were really burnt out. Now we really think before accepting each opportunity, and weigh up whether it is the best idea for the band. For example we are really looking forward to playing at Big Day Out [January] because we know the crowds will be great. Now we really consider the crowd and what the band will gain from each performance. We think “what can we get out of it?”. We are doing things the way we want to do them, and we don’t worry about saying yes to everything that gets thrown in our direction. You also play with The Amity Affliction. Do you find it hard to balance that with Getaway? [Laughs] It was too hard to balance. I had to leave The Amity Affliction! Rehearsals and shows clashed and I had to make the decision. I tried to keep up with both, but it all became too intense and I just couldn’t do it. I didn’t fully anticipate how huge The Amity Affliction really would become in such a short space of time.
To me it’s all music [laughs]. How did you guys react when you heard about your ex-band manager [convicted for sex offences]? It made us all really consider who our friends are and how you don’t really know what people in your life get up to. It really took us back. I guess now I try to block it out. I try not to think about it too much. The whole band has moved on now. The media really blew that one out of proportion; he was reported as our band manager but, really, he only helped us sell a bit of merch [merchandise]. Getaway are playing at the Breath of Life festival in Launceston in March. You guys have played at festivals in Tassie before. Is the band excited to be coming back down to play in Tasmania? Yes for sure. It is a great place. As a band we find it hard to always get down there so it will be good to make the trip. Promoters aren’t always keen for shows in Tasmania! Breath of Life has a really good line-up. I am excited. Tasmania is lucky. Thoughts on the Tassie crowd? I find Tasmanian crowds to be heaps of fun; just really nice genuine people that are up for a chat. I find them to be appreciative. They are not so much about the scene or the pretentious side of things, just there to get into the music and have a good time. Really good people. I noticed on your Twitter that you are Skrillex fan. Will you be in the Skrillex mosh at the Breath of Life festival [laughs]? I reckon I will be in there somewhere. Come and say hello. I am always up for a dance! [Laughs] Photos from thegetawayplan.com
When you did play in both bands did you find it hard to switch between the two, or did you feel that you could bring something new to each practice and show because you were playing in both? When I did play in both, it wasn’t really about switching personas or anything huge like that. I think you can perform with two different bands with the one mindset. 20
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EXCHANGING Fabian Brimfield
“Just the other day, I was on a live film set of a Cantonese short film playing an extra as a Caucasian boyfriend. I can’t remember the last time that happened to me in Hobart.”
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It’s 6.30am and I’m waking up early to do tai chi with my favourite 80-year-old women from the local housing estates. Early in the morning is always the best time, because the sun is rising and the air is relatively smog-free. After that, I walk down to Tsuen Wan and have breakfast at a Cha Chaan Teng, a very local and traditional (read: rundown and ramshackle) kind of café. I have a lychee and dragonfruit coconut tea, French toast and a beef noodle soup so spicy that it would make most Indians blush. All up it costs around four dollars. If you try to speak English in these places, you’re usually met by a fat Chinese chef holding a rather large rolling pin screaming “YOU LEAVE NOW!”. The food is so good that I’ve managed to master enough Cantonese to confidently work my way through the longest of eclectic Hong Kong menus. That, and I value my life. With breakfast done, I head to the subway which operates with a Germanic like efficiency, catching the central line to Prince Edward station, switching to the Tiu Keng Leng line and getting off at Kowloon Tong. I pick up a green tea latte on the way (good coffee doesn’t exist in Asia), and I manage to tumble through the lecture theatre doors at the CityU just in time. After class, I meet friends down in busy Mong Kok, the most densely populated place in the world, at our favourite dim sum place. The wait to get in is usually an hour or so, so one of us always gets there early to secure our place in line. The place is so busy that you have to order whilst you wait. You wait for a surly looking grandma to come outside and grab you tightly by the hand, leading you through a maze of people sat on small tables and plastic chairs. She finds a thirty-centimetre gap in between the toilet door and a large family seemingly in the middle of a heated debate about why their daughter hasn’t yet married, to which you’re told to sit. Mountains of shrimp and chive dumplings, roast duck and barbeque pork buns washed down with litres of cold, cheap mainland beer. This is how I wind down after a busy day of class. Then it’s off to do some late night shopping in Tsim Sha Tsui (because shopping is best done at 10PM). Clothing is religion here and malls are the churches of the fashionable youth. With tomorrows outfit purchased, there’s just enough time to grab a cheeky glass of Moet at a 118th story rooftop bar overlooking all of Hong Kong, before scrambling and pushing through rivers of night revellers in Lan Kwai Fong (bar central) to catch the last train home. Same again tomorrow? 24
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“Mountains of shrimp and chive dumplings, roast duck and barbeque pork buns washed down with litres of cold, cheap mainland beer. This is how I wind down after a busy day of class.�
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This has become my life for the next month, because I am of course, on student exchange. In Tasmania, I think while we like to import students from places like China, Malaysia and Singapore, few of us are actually brave enough to go to those countries for a semester. Surely if all our international students are leaving their home country to come study in Tasmania, the grass mustn’t be a whole lot greener on the other side, right? Not necessarily. For a start, exchange looks very good on a resume. Depending on what career you’re going into, having studied and being familiar with another culture can look very appealing to a future employer. Exchange is also a great opportunity to pick up another language. By purposely not picking an English speaking country, you throw yourself into the deep end. And when you’re a food deprived, beer impoverished exchange student who can’t understand anything bar English, you find that learning how to order a pint becomes top priority. There is of course, the serious side of exchange, you know… actually studying. It can be a fascinating opportunity to do units not offered at home. For one course alone, I’ve been able to meet a delegation of mainland Chinese judges, visit the high court here in Hong Kong, as well as travel to other cities in China, and I’ve only been here for a month. This is very exciting for a law student, but the same kind of opportunities are out there for all exchange students. Best of all, I’m away from home. Don’t get me wrong, I love Hobart dearly and will always call Hobart home, but every so often we all need to get away, because exciting things happen in other places in the world. Just the other day, I was on a live film set of a Cantonese short film playing an extra as a Caucasian boyfriend. I can’t remember the last time that happened to me in Hobart. Exchange combines three things I hold very close to my heart. Travelling, meeting new people, and study. Talk to anyone who has been on exchange and they’ll yarn on endlessly about how good a time they had. For most people, you’ll only ever have one opportunity to travel and study. You’ll make new friends, eat glorious food, learn a new language and see sights you’ve never seen. And you’ll be proud of putting it on your resume at the end. Photos by Fabian Brimfield
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MONA FOMA 2012: NAKED, HUNGRY AND FAMOUS Shae Ffrench Before moving to Hobart from Melbourne a couple of months ago, I knew very little about this city. I had no idea Cascade was brewed here (please don’t hurt me), however, I had heard of MONA FOMA. Us mainlanders are more than a little bit jealous of your Museum of Old and New Art, and the associated music festival is drawing out-of-state crowds in huge numbers. MONA FOMA is purposefully (sometimes painfully) eccentric, visionary, and wonderfully unique. I suppose it could be argued (and it is) that Hobart doesn’t deserve MOFO. Certainly, it is the type of festival that would feel right at home in a city like Melbourne or even New York. Is it too cool for Hobart? Perhaps. But Hobart is just small enough for MOFO to feel like it is taking over the city, and its relative isolation from the rest of Australia’s art and music scene makes it an absolute standout. For MONA FOMA’s fourth year, curator Brian Richie brought together a wonderfully diverse mix of musicians, performers, sound artists, dancers, theatrical groups, and many acts that defy any type of label or category. Big names include PJ Harvey, Girl Talk, The Dresden Dolls, IHOS, and Phillip Adams BalletLab. The scope of the festival is enormous; stretching from the Princes Wharf I at Salamanca to the top of Mount Wellington; out to sea (onboard the MV Cartela, in the company of a bohemian operatic jazz collective); and up the Derwent River to MONA itself. MOFO has taken over the oldest theatre in Australia, a Catholic cathedral, and several art galleries throughout the city.
The branding and marketing of MONA FOMA definitely deserves a mention. It is slick as hell, consistent, and absolutely pervasive; even the signs for the toilets in PWI are in the ubiquitous MONA font. The program is polished, expensive-looking, and cleverly organized, with MONA’s particular style of too-cool humor sprinkled throughout. For me, the musical highlights of the festival were cabaret-punk royalty The Dresden Dolls, Chinese rockers Hanggai (human didgeridoos), Tuba Skinny, Prince Rama, and Senyawa (an Indonesian duo who may or may not be possessed by musical demons). There are so many other acts worth mentioning, however, for this article I’m focusing more on the aspects of MONA FOMA that distinguish it from more traditional music festivals. For example, there aren’t naked art museum tours at any other music festival I’ve heard of. Sure, you get overeager ladies flashing their set at musicians, or the odd hippie who thinks that clothes are a barrier to his appreciation of music, but I’d hazard a guess that Stuart Ringholt’s Naturist Tours of MONA is the first time planned nudity has showed up in a music festival catalogue. Ringholt’s performance-based artwork is a tour of Wim Delvoye’s show, claiming “The artist will be naked. Those who wish to join the tour must also be naked”. Ringholt is concerned with what makes us embarrassed or uncomfortable, and has done similar naked tours at ACCA in Melbourne and Brisbane’s Institute of Modern Art. The tours are social experiments, with the aim of normalizing nudity and forcing people to consider their own fears and self-confidence. So. Who wants to get naked and wander around an art museum at night? Apparently, lots of people do, as the tours quickly book out. The prospect of being 30
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naked in public divides us into two camps: the willing and the chicken-shit. Ringholt has brought us to our own conclusions about ourselves, and I fall firmly into the second category. I wish that I had been willing to experience something like this, but I just wasn’t comfortable enough with myself. I spoke to Will, 22, who did have the, ahem, balls to go on the tour. Having arrived late, he and a friend got the unique opportunity to stroll around MONA alone, at night, butt-ass naked. Will told me that it was quite an experience to be able to appreciate the artwork so intimately, and they were reluctant to catch up to the group. He explained that being naked around so many other people was odd at first, but he was surprised at how quickly he got used to it, and how natural it began to feel. Of course, there were moments of awkwardness, and he noted a heightened awareness of his personal space: “The main thing you notice when you’re walking around is how much you brush up against people when you’re clothed… When you’re naked you really don’t want to touch elbows or shoulders. Somehow the removal of underpants makes the entire body a no-go zone." It seems that nakedness in an art gallery pushes the normally passive spectator into the centre of attention. The focus of this tour was the audience themselves, and their interaction with each other, not Wim Delvoye’s artworks — spectacular and subversive as they are. Another highlight of the festival was Aviary: A Suite for the Bird performed by Phillip Adams’ BalletLab. More contemporary dance than ballet, this was an intense and unabashedly bizarre performance, where the seven
dancers, energetically channelling the spirit of birds, literally bled for us. The majestic Theatre Royal (the oldest in Australia) gave the performance a certain weight and dignity, and was a spectacular setting for the third act in particular. Mounds of freshly cut branches, leaves and twigs were scattered across the stage in an extravagant nesting ritual; wafting the heady scent of eucalyptus towards the audience. The dancers rolled around in the foliage, sweaty bodies becoming criss-crossed with shallow cuts from the branches. Their technical skill as ballerinas and ballerinos were obvious; they were able to make a carefully choreographed performance seem blissfully improvised. However, it was their intense, almost trancelike commitment that made the performance so enthralling. The food at MOFO wasn’t there just to feed the masses; I thought that it was an important part of the experience. Most notably, professional chefs put on two cooking demonstrations: Really Big Paella on Thursday Jan 19, and Really Cold Food on Friday Jan 20, both in Princes Wharf I. Personally, I thought that it was not at all out of place or strange to have a cooking demo in the same venue that had hosted Girl Talk just hours before. The paella demo was surprisingly popular, there were perhaps a couple hundred people there, some gathered in a tight ring around the chef and his really big paella pan, the rest lounging in the pink and black bean bags, watching the action on a big TV screen. At the end, everyone got a taste of the chorizo and seafood paella, which was super delicious (of course). Then there was the food at the festival venues. PWI had a couple of food stalls and bars, plus a coffee and dessert stall. The bars obviously sold Moo Brew and 32
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the Moorilla range of wines, and also some tasteful additions like Chimay, Sierra Nevada, and some utterly un-pronounceable European beers that I’m not even going to attempt to spell. The food was not your normal festival food. Think Thai fish cakes with chili and paw-paw salad, Asian-style chicken and peanut noodle salad, vegetable fritters with wasabi mayo. Om-nom. Then there is MONA’s attempt at a fresh food market. They’re calling it MoMa (Mona Market — coolly clever and on-brand, as always). Beginning on Jan 21, 1:306:30pm on the MONA “rooftop” (a.k.a. outside), and supposedly will be an ongoing feature. According to the MOFO program, MoMa will be “only slightly shitter than Salamanca market. Much, much shitter than the MoMA in New York”. Now that our expectations are appropriately lowered, I think it could be fun. As a music festival presented by an art museum, and with a man like David Walsh at the helm, there is obviously so much more to MONA FOMA than just music. Personally, I see Mr. Walsh as a Willy Wonka-esque character: strange, complex, a bit mysterious, and stubborn in his overthe-top altruism. And we’re all extremely lucky that he decided to spend his millions on art and music festivals rather than yachts and mansions. Let’s just hope MOFO and MONA don’t burn out in a blaze of glory and are here to stay for a very long time. Photos by Rémi Chauvin
Shae Ffrench My mum's best gig was Leonard Cohen, because according to her he is our greatest songwriter, and his voice is still as beautiful as ever. Also she thinks he is the coolest 78-year-old on the planet. 33
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PHILLIP ADAMS Jarrah Watkinson Melbourne based production company Balletlab performed their latest work, Aviary, at the Theatre Royal as part of the Mona Foma festival in January. Aviary was inspired by French composer and birdwatcher Olivier Messiaen’s musical Birdsongs, connecting dance, art and theatre to create a modern interpretation of his music. Director of Aviary, Phillip Adams spoke to Jarrah Watkinson about his production and the inspirations for it and his passion for Mona.
Jarrah: Tell me a bit about Balletlab. Phillip: I’m still trying to get my head around Balletlab. I think it’s a vehicle for my ensemble classes and myself to articulate in the experiment. It opens up a lot of territory for us to explore in dance, as opposed to looking at how we typically present ballet work. The lab part is of course purporting to a representation or a re-think of what classicism is. It comes down to it, it’s a syllabus of steps that Louis XIV gave us, and it’s interesting how what Balletlab is, is a company that can drift in very multi-hybrid art forms, and I think I feel much more confident exploring those pastures on the other side. Are all your dancers professionally trained ballet dancers? All my dancers have a background [in dance] and a degree, and in this particular ensemble, all are from the Victorian College of the Arts, except for PJ Wilson, whom is from the Australian Ballet graduates. I look at different ways of engaging with dancers at early parts of their career. At the beginning of Aviary, there is very sophisticated articulation in the way that post-modern ballet can have, and can be explored. I had the privilege of working with the Australian ballet, and that’s how the first section of Aviary, ‘Bird Cage’ became apparent, by combining two companies together. 35
“In the ‘80s fashion and art were at their peak, you just need to look at groups such as The Clash, The Cure and The Sex Pistols. They were real nightclub cult, new wave and punk groups that we all tribally danced, took drugs in nightclubs and dressed-up to.” How long did you spend on developing Aviary, and what were your inspirations? It’s not often that artists get long periods to develop work, but I had two years, which was a long time. For me now, in retrospect, all artists just need time to make work. We do need to experience, and research, and to perhaps get rid of what we’re trying to hold onto, and really say what it is for our audiences to connect. In the case of Aviary, I wanted my audience to connect directly to the beauty of the music that Olivier Messiaen wrote to the birds. I obviously jumped quite flamboyantly into different domains of that, but the centre is still Messiaen’s works. The dancers’ costumes show quite a lot of skin, what was your reason for choosing these costumes? It was a collaboration of everything. Toni Maticevski, a wonder-kid of Australian fashion and Richard Nylon, a prized milliner, came on board, and they got it from the beginning. They understood the connection. In the ‘80s fashion and art were at their peak, you just need to look at groups such as The Clash, The Cure and The Sex Pistols. They were real nightclub cult, new wave and punk groups that we all tribally danced took drugs in nightclubs and dressed-up to. We [Maticevski, Nylon and I] all unanimously agreed that the first scene was to be a silhouette of black and white, and we wanted that deep commitment to looking at the tutu in respect to a bird and what fashionable ‘80s attire would look like on a runway. Together the whole collaboration became apparent — fashion, art, and ballet. We all gave each other the permission to just get out there and come to the table with sketches to design what the piece was trying to say — it was jackpot. We all kind of got into bed together in the right way, no pun intended.
Are you excited to be part of the Mona Foma festival? Who isn’t?! I’ve had a relationship with the Mona Foma festival from the very beginning, and they just won’t let me go, and I’m really happy about that. Who doesn’t love Mona Foma, I think it’s a really sexy festival. It’s not like a shopping mall, it’s really out there. Judging from the atmosphere at every [Mona Foma] festival, it shifts the paradigms of what is new in music and art, and I don’t think anywhere else in this country is committing at that level. What do you think of Mona? Oh at last, there is a museum that celebrates a shift of the paradigm of what duration is in our country. David Walsh at the helm, I feel is the brains and the courageousness behind allowing for that to be part of the Australian culture. The fact that it is in Hobart is so wicked. That museum will always be a flagship for all of us to look towards in the world of art, fashion, music… and what’s next David, what have you got now?
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360 Chloe Mayne
Chloe: How have you found the reception of your new album, Falling and Flying? Matt Colwell (360): It’s been great, yeah! Everything’s been really positive, everyone seems to be taking to it really well. It’s been fucking awesome! You have just returned from playing the Falls Festival in Lorne. Was it a good way to bring in the New Year? Most definitely. It’s probably my favourite gig I’ve ever done; the vibe, the atmosphere was epic. Everyone was ready for good time and I was playing right on New Year’s Eve at 10pm, so things were starting to get pretty loose and wild. Could you explain to us the concept of ‘rapper tag’? ‘Rapper tag’ is where I made a video of me rapping a verse to the camera over a beat, and at the end I chose a rapper, pulled him out and tagged him in, and it was his turn to rap over a beat and do a sixteen-bar verse or whatever he felt like doing. Then when he was finished he’d tag in another guy, and so on — it just kept going! Have you seen the ‘rapper tag’ website that’s dedicated to you now? Yeah, it’s amazing, it’s sick! There’s also a UK rapper tag
that‘s just started up, and an Arab ‘rapper tag’, there’s even a Christian one, it’s going mental! Talk us through a few of your tattoos and what they mean to you? Have you got any other designs planned? I’ve got heaps to be honest, and every one means something. I’ve got to keep going though; get my arms finished off, but yeah I love them. How did you find your collaboration with Josh Pyke in “Throw it Away”? You both have very different musical styles. Originally I sung the chorus for ‘Throw it Away‘, but we’d always had it in the back of our heads to get another vocalist. We threw around some ideas, then Craig Hawker from EMI said “what about Josh Pyke?”. I said, “hell yes”, so Josh sent us a demo recording from his laptop and it was amazing, so we got him in the studio and recorded it, it was sick. He seems like a really cool dude. The video clip for “Throw it Away” depicts you getting out of the ‘rat race’ and shows you throwing your money away. What message are you trying to convey with this song? You don’t have to do something that you hate doing just 38
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for the money; of course you’ve got to do what you need to do to survive, but I don’t think I could ever do a job that I hate from 9 til 5 for like 20 years. You only live once, so you’ve got to make the most of it, and even if you fail, just try to do what you love doing. Do you ever feel like you get caught up in the world of wealth and fame as an emerging artist? People start to really recognise me everywhere I go now, which is a new thing to me. Even just going to the shopping centre. We went down there yesterday and I was asked for photos with eight different people which was pretty insane. I don’t really mind it, but there are certain times when I’m out with my girlfriend and it’s not the right time. Apart from that it’s all good, I really appreciate it. It just shows that I’ve got some really good fans. Australian hip hop has emerged to form its own genre. What makes Aussie hip-hop so different from its American counterpart? I guess it’s just people talking from their own perspective. Australians live ten times differently to Americans, so a lot of Aussies relate more to it than they do American hip-hop.
working hard, and make sure your music’s good enough before you start promoting and whoring yourself on the internet. Lots of artists start flooding the internet trying to get people to listen to their stuff, when it isn’t so good in the first place. But if you’re talented, the music should speak for itself. After the release of your new album you are launching straight into a big Australia-wide tour. Do you find it a welcome change to the confinement of the recording studio? Yeah it’s great! It’s awesome to get out there and perform, hearing the whole crowd sing along to choruses and lyrics is amazing. When are you playing in Tassie and what can fans expect from your live show? I’ll be at Breath of Life festival, which should be amazing. We do about an hour set, and there’ll be some special guests along the way so it’ll be pretty nuts.
What would you say to other young budding hip-hop artists trying to make it on the scene? Just to really focus on your music, make sure you’re 39
withstanding history Caitlin Richardson I’m meeting Warren at his restaurant, Environs, in Battery point. With its little dainty cottages and narrow streets, I’ve always thought Battery Point must be the epicentre of historic Hobart, but according to Warren, the area isn’t that old. “It can’t be, because Battery Point was just three land grants originally. It wasn’t until about the early 1830s that it was divided up and streets were developed,” he says. Although a chef and restaurateur by trade, Warren has a passion for Hobart history, and is the historian for YouDo tours Hobart, his history app. Years of research has given Warren a wealth of knowledge about Hobart buildings remaining from an even earlier time, and they’re not where I was expecting to find them. “Moonah?” “We always think of Moonah as being a very industrial area and perhaps even a post-World War I kind of established area,” Warren says. “But what Moonah has to offer is a very unique collation of extremely early Georgian buildings.” As Warren explains, within days of the first British landing at Sullivan’s Cove, free settlers were taken up
the river to New Town bay and granted lands beside the rivulet. This means that Albert Road — the bustling gateway to Moonah’s industrial estate — is actually the earliest road in Tasmania. The area offered the settlers access to fresh water and great soil, but in a massive oversight by David Collins who had hand-picked his settlers back in England, not one had any farming expertise. “Only one man, Richard Pitt, ended up building on his land grant and making a good fist of any kind of farming attempts,” Warren says. Pitt was a justice of the peace, and his home included an expansive cellar, which was used as a holding cell for convicts and bushrangers. Still standing today, Pitt’s Farm is the second oldest farm house in Australia. Although the home has suffered several fires, parts of the building have remained intact for two centuries. Today, it sits right in the centre of the industrial estate, wedged between a construction firm, joinery and Ziggy’s Boys Toys. Over the blast of a sander, a man from the joinery speaks to us across the car park. “Lots of people come down here to look at it,” he says, nodding to the cottage over the fence. The property is so well hidden you’d have to know exactly where to find it. As Warren explains, “old houses are tucked off the streets because they look for water”. In a quiet cul-de-sac just around the corner is the entrance to another farm estate from the early years of British settlement. With access to a fresh flowing water supply, George Gatehouse’s property in Hamel Street was the site of the island’s first brewery. Hop and tobacco plantations were harvested on the property at a time 40
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when bushrangers were wreaking havoc in the area, and a monumental 16-foot high wall was built to protect the precious crops from thieves remains standing today. Warren adds that with the later occupant’s pioneering refrigeration technologies, the small site has experienced “three or four tiers of industrial history”.
“Albert Road — the bustling gateway to Moonah’s industrial estate — is actually the earliest road in Tasmania.” Along with water access, the view was a factor determining the location of homes in early Moonah. At the top of Hopkins Street, the Summerhome property takes in panoramas across the river. Built in the 1840s, “that property was literally the summer home for probably the most wealthy merchant and industrialist in the southern end of Van Dieman’s Land, Henry Hopkins,” Warren says. Hopkins lived in Westella, the massive sandstone mansion on Elizabeth Street, but Summerhome was his ‘weekender’. In the days of coach travel, Moonah was a distant retreat from the hustle and bustle of Hobart Town. The property is still in the Hopkins family, and has been passed down to successive female descendants for seven generations. Beneath big old trees, the gate looks like the entrance to a grand old farmstead, but Shiner’s Car Wash and Coogan’s are only about fifty metres down the road. Further up the hill is an even wackier juxtaposition. Surrounded by brick bungalows and pastel weatherboard homes sits Prospect House. With ivy spidering up the sides, and paint flaking from the walls, the 1816 villa looms over the street like The Haunted
House in a kids movie, so out of place it looks like someone planted it there as a joke. Although early building techniques ensured that houses were constructed with unique characters and subtleties, ‘if you look at Georgian buildings, you can basically go, there are four or five blueprints’ Warren says. Limited access to building materials and skilled craftsmen, along with a steep tax on glass restricted architectural experimentation in the colony. However Prospect House ‘doesn’t have the common, colonial, Georgian appearance’ Warren says. With yellow shutters, white painted bricks, and a steep façade, the house looks more like a Tuscan villa than a colonial home. As Warren explains, the property’s owner, William Rout was also responsible for the weird castle-esque structure on the corner of Tower road and Main Road New Town. Warren tells me that the interior of Prospect House is also unusual for its time. The open plan of the living areas ‘is very much like a villa in Europe’ he says. So why is this building here? What inspired its design? Out here in the suburbs, there’s no sign or museum on site that can offer any clues. But it’s these mysteries and surprise discoveries which inspires Warren to continue his research. ‘I’m always coming up with questions, because I’m constantly on the lookout for things that are a bit unusual.’ Perhaps these properties and their stories would be less surprising if they were in New Town, or Battery Point, or other suburbs more commonly associated with ‘historic’ Hobart. As Warren points out, there are treasures all over, ‘but on Moonah side of the creek, it’s a bit more of a secret’. Photo by Jemima Phelps 41
HIGHSKOOL Ella Kearney “Back in High School we was cool me n’ you” — Tupac Yes, Tupac, you may have been cool in high school, but for the majority of us the pinnacle of cool came at 8.30pm on a Friday night at Regines, sippin’ back a Red Bear, trying to fend off some acne faced midget with pickle breath. Let’s cast our minds back: Stylin’ If I was to send photos of myself in grade 8 and 9 into Vice magazine I would become a permanent fixture in their ‘DON’T’ section. Think tight flares with diamante feature, customised tops, skate shoes and why not throw in a billabong visor to really add some surf-girl edge. Gorgeous. Perhaps my worst offence was in grade 8 when I wore a white Detroit cap for a year non-stop. I couldn’t be without my white cap. The standout outfit was Detroit cap, white parachute pants and a white boob tube with a tiger face on it. If anyone was “killin’ it”, I was. Meanwhile, over at Collegiate, Esprit was to Private school girls what Fubu was to Chiggers. It’s all rugby tops, jodhpurs and matching hair ribbon — and we all know if anyone’s going to start the party, it’s a chick with a ribbon in her hair. Titties I looked like a boy until about the age of 15. This was torturous. For some reason, having boobs in high school was like your ticket to freedom. A powerful tool allowing you to get whatever you wanted. Finally, when my boobs started to present themselves, I was at the Aquatic Centre hanging out with my brother and his friend. I was in the “warm” pool (warm = the shitty/pissy kids pool) calmly
floating underwater. My brother’s friend (all in good fun) decided to tackle me underwater, his arm hitting my chest. Anyone who is in the process of growing boobs knows that sudden hits to that area feels like wild fire spreading through your body. I drifted through the water, clutching at my chest, silently screaming — nevertheless, I had… boobs! Asking questions in class This is a fine art. In order to ask questions to avert attention away from an impending assessment task, it is crucial that you get to know your teacher. What are their likes/dislikes, what’s their star sign? How many children do they have? How old are their children? If you can get the names of their children you’ve hit the jackpot. I remember grade 9 Japanese, those mini tests happened all too frequently and after a heady night on msn, an oral Japanese exam was the last thing you needed. Simply bring up your Japanese teacher’s naughty older daughter. Ella: “What’s Claire been up to Mrs J?” Mrs J: “Oh Claire… She’s actually about to begin a course in…” As the teacher launches into discussion, you can lean back in your chair, gazing around at all your admirers, saved for another day. MSN (insert wink emoticon) When setting up my first ever email account in grade 7 so I could use msn, my brother told me that your email address doesn’t really matter, “No one is going to see it Ella, just choose any name!”. Looking over at the TV, I saw Surprise Chef was about to start and the chef’s name was, 42
Reflection.
"…nothing will beat the days of msn, when Ja Rule was pumping through your speakers and that hot guy from the bus just said he’ll TTYL x."
“Aristoss” — a name I found hilarious at the time. So, since 2001 my email address has been “Aristoss@hotmail.com”. That didn’t stop me from having some amazingly deep and meaningful conversations on msn: Convo 1: E: Yeah, what r u wearing 2 the social? B: I don’t know, but Sarah borrowed my glitter top and now I won’t have anything 2 wear E: Omg, why does she always do that? Convo 2: S: U r hot E: So r u! S: Brb! What I remember most clearly about msn were the fights between my brother and I to use the computer. Especially during the msn hot-spot 7pm – 9pm. During the hot-spot everyone was online and the sound of the message alert going off while you waited for your turn was excruciating. Facebook’s OK, but nothing will beat the days of msn, when Ja Rule was pumping through your speakers and that hot guy from the bus just said he’ll TTYL x.
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Hobart Hurricanes Julius Ross Hobart was overcome by a purple haze in December and January as the state’s first Twenty20 representative side, the Hurricanes, fought valiantly in their inaugural Big Bash League season. Falling one match short of a final berth, captain Xavier Doherty sat down with Togatus to reflect on the tournament’s success, his selection in the Australian side and criticism of the short-form game. Julius: The Hurricanes had a fantastic debut season in the inaugural Big Bash League but fell shy of a finals appearance. Was the side disappointed you missed out on a final? Xavier: I think we were confident that we could have gone all the way but everyone new when it came down to the semi-final stage [against the Sydney Sixers] it was going to be a matter of who was better on the day. Luckily enough we locked in that semi-final position early in the tournament, but unfortunately on the day we weren’t quite good enough, it’s just one of those things in sport. Did the team’s performances surpass expectations or was there the belief from the start that you could fare well in the BBL?
Looking at the betting odds and what other people were saying about us we weren’t given a lot of chance but we were pretty confident internally that we could match it with some the bigger teams and we played some really good cricket throughout the tournament, won some close games and beat some good teams.
“I’ve got four brothers and two sisters, so we played a hell of a lot of backyard cricket.” How did you find the experience playing in front of record crowds at Blundstone Arena? The crowds that we had were excellent and the BBL really took off and the support we got was fantastic. To get over 14,000 people a couple of times suggested the product that we put out was really entertaining and people didn’t mind what they saw. That’s probably why people supported us and I think the tournament was a great success. How much impact did the crowds have on the team’s success? It was huge. Especially when we took a wicket or a batsman had momentum, it was tough for the opposition 44
Interview.
45
to come out and really wrest that momentum off us. I think when we came out to field the team really lifted. Then when we went out to bat, particularly when Travis Birt and Owais Shah were on strike and they saw and heard the crowd’s reaction when they hit a boundary it was quite awesome and it certainly got us over the line in big matches such as the one against the [Melbourne] Renegades. The crowd was a massive help to us. And to lead that successful team as captain? Unfortunately [original captain] Tim Paine missed the tournament — which was a last minute development — so it was a bit of a shock to receive the captaincy to start with. When I found out I was going to be in charge in the first year of the Hurricanes I was pretty pleased to lead the team out in front of some pretty big home crowds and almost achieve something special [reaching the final]. It was a huge honour and I learned a lot about myself and the game of Twenty20 cricket and about captaining a team. What was the highlight of the tournament? Our first win in Perth [against finalists Perth Scorchers] which was our first game together and to have Ricky
[Ponting] and Hilfy [Ben Hilfenhaus] playing with us. We scratched around and made 140 and then our bowling and fielding effort was the best of the tournament. To have beaten the Scorchers on their home patch first up with those guys in the team was pretty special. What would you describe as the team’s strengths and weaknesses? The team’s strengths would certainly stem from having a couple of key batsmen in Travis Birt and Owais Shah in some great form, which really set us up. They were first and third leading run scorers [Birt 345 runs/Shah 282 runs] and we had a really good bowling outfit, which we thought could defend any lead. To have a couple of good batters and a good bowling group really propelled us through the tournament.
The Twenty20 format has come under criticism from some traditional quarters, in particular it is argued the format is there only to attract sponsorship, get bums on seats and sacrifices technique for a spectacle. How do you view those criticisms? If that’s what it all about — getting bums on seats — 46
Interview.
"To play for your country is a privilege in any form of the game. I’m really looking forward to it and it’s what kids aspire to when they grow up — walk out with a coat of arms on their cap and represent their country."
then it’s a winner. I think it helps to get people back and interested in cricket and whatever form of cricket it is, it must be good for the game. Of those 14,000 who turned up at Blundstone Area you’d have to say at least half of them were kids and to have those sorts of numbers getting a taste of the game, it’s good for cricket. And they keep coming back. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. As a flow-on effect of the success of Twenty20 cricket on our game, you just have to look at someone like David Warner who started as a Twenty20 specialist and is now playing one day cricket and is also now a successful test cricketer and one that everyone wants to watch, I can’t see anything wrong with that. Warner is has a strike rate of 80 or 90 and can play all forms of the game. I don’t have an issue with the format and a lot of it is about entertainment and revenue raising but to get people such as women and children experiencing our game, that’s got to be a good thing. It’s got to be a good thing for you personally now that you have been selected in Australia’s Twenty20 team? It was a bit of a shock. I’ve played test cricket and oneday cricket for Australia but also to add some Twenty20 to that will be a huge honour. To play for your country is a privilege in any form of the game. I’m really looking forward to it and it’s what kids aspire to when they grow up — walk out with a coat of arms on their cap and represent their country. Do you think your selection was based on your performances for the Hurricanes? You’ve played 16 one day internationals and two tests for Australia, do you think they played a part? If you look at the make-up of the team, the team’s not necessarily a ‘Big Bash team of the tournament’ there are some guys in there who have put in good performances in other forms of the game and that has obviously played a part in their selection. I’d like to think that some of those games that I’ve played for Australia in 50-over cricket have had an impact in being selected for this. Having George Bailey as captain of the Australian side it must be great to have a mate in the side? It’s great for George, he’s a guy who has been in the system for around 10 years now and he’s a very good cricketer and I know a lot of people thought he was going to get a chance with Australia at some point so I don’t think that it was a surprise that he’s got a chance. I’m rapt for him and there is a real Tassie flavour in that team with George, myself, Travis Birt who has spent a lot of time in 47
Interview. Tassie, James Faulkner — a born and bred Tasmanian — and Matthew Wade who is now a Victorian but grew up playing his cricket in Tassie. Tasmanians seem to continue to make an impact at the top level of cricket. Hilfy and Punter both had sensational test performances for the country in the series against India. Do their performances at the elite level really inspire you as a player? No Doubt. To see Ricky play 15 years ago that was the inspiration for me to play test cricket or to try to play test cricket and I’m sure it was the same for Hilfy.
I’ve got four brothers and two sisters, so we played a hell of a lot of backyard cricket. We had a spare block next to our place where we grew up and we were out there every day of the summer we played. There was always a cricket match and it no doubt had a huge influence on my development and the love for the game I have. It was a sad day when they put a house on that spare block. It had a huge impact on me and played a big part. Photos from hobarthurricanes.com.au
Ricky is the guy I grew up loving to watch. There used to be a time where if Ricky didn’t perform well I’d turn off the TV. It was an honour to play with him and receive a baggy green from Ricky, he’s a guy I really look up to. Obviously appearing for Australia on a regular basis would be a career highlight but what would you pinpoint as your career highlight thus far? There is no doubt playing those couple of tests were a real highlight for me. Unfortunately I didn’t really put in my best performances out there and unfortunately the team was beaten by England, which obviously wasn’t great. But it was a fantastic three or four weeks being around that group and playing in the biggest series that there is, the Ashes. The limited exposure to that level has left me hungry for more. It seems to be a bit of a pattern for me to have a little taste of national duties going in and out of the team. How much of your life is dedicated to cricket? There is another part of my life but cricket does take up a huge chunk of it and my wife, Emma, is great support. Obviously she puts up with a lot of cricket and a lot of time with me being away, there is another side to my life, but at the moment cricket is a huge part of my life. You’ve got a couple nicknames ‘X’ and ‘cheese’. The first one is a little self-explanatory but how did you end up with the later? X has obviously come from my first name but cheese came from when I first came into the team I didn’t really say much, I just walked around with a cheesy grin on my face, so I think some of the older guys got a little annoyed about it and they came up with that. You grew up with six other siblings. Did you finetune your skills playing with your brothers and sisters? 48
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