X-Press Magazine #1356

PA I N T E D F R O M M E M O R I E S

ISSUE 1356 Wednesday 6th Feb 2013 - Free 38,000 October 2011- March 2012 Australia’s Highest Circulating Street Press

Your Guide To Everything Urban

DIVINE FITS

SAVE YOUR LEGS!

12:34 PM

DANNY BHOY

DESCENDENTS

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LET IT LEE

Lock up your daughters and mothers! Following the big Kiss and Motley Crue show at Perth Arena on Thursday, February 28, legendary Crue skinsman, Tommy Lee, will be hosting a special after-party at Metro City. Lee will hit the decks for a 90 minute DJ set and there’ll be a special guest band plus meetand-greet opportunities and merchandising prizes to be won. It happens straight after the concert from 10pm until late. Tickets are $30 (plus booking fee) through Oztix.com.au.

LET THE FESTIVAL BEGIN

The Perth International Arts Festival launches this week with Beginnings, a ceremonial opening performance taking place on the bank of the Swan River this Friday, February 8.

Among the guests will be celebrated indigenous singer and songwriter Archie Roach, who will follow his appearance there with a performance of his new album, Into The Bloodstream, at the Chevron Festival Gardens on Sunday, February 10.

Roach is keenly anticipating the sold-out performance, saying, “It’s good. It’s really good. Good news. I suppose it has more of a positive vibe to it than most of my other albums, that’s for sure, and people are just having a good time.”

The performance also features a 12-piece musical ensemble and a 10 voice choir, which Roach jokingly says takes some of the pressure off him.

“Craig Pilkington, who produced the album, is the musical director, so he handles the musicians. As far as the choir goes, we’ll be picking up some local singers in Perth, so that’ll be good. All I’ve got to do really, basically, is sing.”

Archie Roach

PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS

Legendary California punk rockers Pennywise have reunited for a globe-spanning tour that’s sure to please the palates of the hardcore - that’s the good news. They were supposed to play here back in August and they didn’t - that’s the bad news! But there’s more good news! A new raft of shows have been announced, and all tickets to the earlier, now cancelled, shows will be honoured! With support from Face To Face and The Menzingers, Pennywise will storm Metropolis Fremantle on Tuesday, April 11. Head to oztix.com.au for more details.

Yolanda Be Cool

GET YOLANDA COOL

Crate diggers Johnson Peterson and Slyvester Martinez, aka Yolanda Be Cool’s second single, We No Speak Americano, sold over five million copies and hit number one in 18 countries. After extensive tours of North and South America, Australia, Asia and Europe, including Ibiza, the two are back in Australia putting the finishing touches on their highly anticipated debut studio album.

Catch these road-hardened party warriors as they play an exclusive WA show at the Newport Hotel on Friday, March 1 - and it’s all for free!

Tommy Lee welcomes you to his Metro City afterparty...

THE DEVIL IN MISS JONES

Pennywise Rickie Lee Jones

Renowned singer/songwriter Rickie Lee Jones brings her intimate The Devil You Know Tour to our shores this March.

A legendary performer, held in high regard by audiences, critics, and fellow performers alike, Jones has a long list of acclaimed hits to her name, including The Horses, We Belong Together, and the immortal Chuck E’s In Love. Joining her will be Jeff Pevar on guitar, bass, and keys, and Ed Willett on cello.

Jones performs at The Astor Theatre on Tuesday, March 5. Head to rickieleejones.com for more news.

8 Reactions/Comp Thing 11 Flesh: Elvis Costello 12 Music: Divine Fits/Dead Can Dance/ Descendents / Lucky Wonders 14 Music: Deer Tick/Two Gallants/Norman Blake/The Men 17 New Noise 19 Eye4 Cover: Danny Bhoy 20 Eye4 Movies: Lincoln/Save Your Legs!

21 Eye4 Arts Stories 22 Arts Listings

Sampology

23 Advertising Feature: Urban Central 27 Salt Cover: Miguel Migs 28 Salt: News/Klute/Magical Noise/Calyx & TeeBee 29 Salt: Felix Cartal/Jackmaster 30 Salt: Club Manual 31 Salt: Rewind: The Presets 33 Scene: Live 34 Scene: Local Scene 35 Tour Trails

SUPER VISUAL

Sampology has gained an almost legendary rep for his audio-visual DJ sets. In 2011, Chris Lilley of Angry Boys/Summer Heights High fame asked Sampology to produce an audio and video remix for his suburban American hip hop character S. Mouse and in the same year iconic kids’ entertainers, The Wiggles got him to create an audio and video remix for their 20th anniversary tribute album ReWiggled.

Leederville Hotel will be showing a live Sampology AV set on Friday, March 8 and tickets are only $10 from Moshtix. Who knows, they might even wake up Jeff!

36 Gig Guide 38 Volume: OKA

Cover: Elvis Costello & The Imposters headline An Evening On The Green at King’s Park & Botanical today, Wednesday, February 6. See Flesh for a look at his career.

Salt Cover: Deep house producer, Miguel Migs, is set to make Villa sexy on Friday, February 15. www.xpressmag.com.au

SLAMMIN’ GOOD TIMES!

SLAM Day is almost upon us! The nationwide festival, designed to promote and celebrate original live music, takes place at huge number of venues across the land. Last year, over 150 live gigs went down in various small venues, all in support of the live music industry, and this year, on Saturday, February 23, they’re hoping for even more. SLAM lobbies to promote issues that affect bands, punters and venues, including licensing and zoning laws. It’s a grassroots campaign and anyone can get involved. Head to slamrally.org to find out more.

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with Casey Hayes... Send your name, address and daytime phone number to win@xpressmag.com.au with the name of the competition in the subject line or enter online at www.xpressmag.com.au. Snail mail entries can be sent to Locked Bag 31, West Perth 6872. Entries close 4pm Monday. By entering you agree to X-Press Magazine’s Terms and Conditions, which can be found online. All competition entries will automatically enable you to become an X-Press subscriber! No details will be given to a third party.

Print and Digital Editions Publisher/Manager Joe Cipriani Editorial

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Managing Editor Bob Gordon: editor@xpressmag.com.au Fashion Editor Emma Bergmeier: fashion@xpressmag.com.au Dance Music & Features Editor Jo Campbell: danceeditor@xpressmag.com.au Local Music & Arts Editor Travis Johnson: localmusicarts@xpressmag.com.au Gig & Event Guides Co-ordinator Casey Hayes - guide@xpressmag.com.au Entertainment Services Co-ordinator / Competitions Casey Hayes - win@xpressmag.com.au Photography Callum Ponton, Stefan Caramia, Daniel Grant, Sammy Granville, Matt Jelonek, Denis Radacic, Emma Mackenzie, Guang-Hui Chuan, Max Fairclough, Michael Wylie Contributing Writers Henry Andersen, Ashleigh Whyte, Nina Bertok, Shaun Cowe, Derek Cromb,Chris Gibbs,Alfred Gorman,George Green,Alex Griffin,Chris Havercroft, Joshua Hayes, Brendan Holben, Coral Huckstep, Rezo Kezerashvili,Tara Lloyd, Adam Morris, Andrew Nelson, Chloe Papas, Tom Varian, Ben Watson, Jessica Willoughby, Miki Mclay, Morgan Richards, James Manning, Joe Cassidy, Shane Pinnegar For band gigs and launches - plugyourgig@xpressmag.com.au

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ROCKET ROOM

DJ Yoda

Every Friday is Coyote Ugly at Rocket Room. Start your weekend off with a bang! Be entertained with dancing girls on the bar, followed by live old school rock from Kickstart until the early hours. Coyote Ugly is perfect for bucks’ parties or guys’ nights out, with seated areas and food platters provided a great night is guaranteed. We have a $40 bar card to give away for this Friday night, enter now to win!

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Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

CANDY COATED CARNAGE

One of the most disturbing and creepy nursery rhymes has been taken and flipped on its head.

Hansel and his sister Gretel are no longer the poor hungry children abandoned in the forest - they are bad-ass witch hunters. Starring Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton this is a gory action packed adventure you won’t want to miss! Grab one of five double passes we are giving away for Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters in 3D.

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CAB AUDITED CIRCULATION: 38,000 OCTOBER 2011 – MARCH 2012

Deadlines EDITORIAL General: Friday 5pm,, Eye4 Arts: Thursday 10am, Comp’ Thing: Monday Noon,, Salt Clubs: Monday 5pm , Local Scene: Monday Noon,, Gig Guide: Monday 5pm ADVERTISING Cancellations: Monday 5pm, Ads to be set: Monday Noon Supplied Bookings / Copy: Tuesday 12 Noon, Classifieds: Monday 4pm Published by: Columbia Press Pty.Ltd. A.C.N. 066 570 803 Registered by Australia Post. Publication No PP600110.00006 Suite 55/102 Railway Street, City West Business Centre, West Perth, WA 6005 Locked Bag 31, West Perth, WA 6872 Phone: (08) 9213 2888 Fax: (08) 9213 2882 Website: http://www.xpressmag.com.au

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Advertisers and/or their agents by lodging an advertisment shall indemnify the publisher, and its agents, against all liability claims or proceedings whatsoever arising from the publication. Advertisers and/or their representatives indemnify the publisher in relation to defamation, slander, breach of copyright, infringement of trademarks of name of publication titles, unfair competition or trade practices, royalties or violation of rights or privacy and warrant that the material complies with revelant laws and regulations and that its publication will not give rise to any rights against or liabilities in the publisher, its servants or agents. Any material supplied to X-Press is at the contributor’s risk.

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Todd Margaret

TODD MARGARET

The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret is a comedy mini-series starring David Cross and Will Arnett (Arrested Development), Sharon Horgan, Blake Harrison (The Inbetweeners) and Spike Jonze. Todd Margaret is useless at most things; he takes a job running the London sales team for the energy drink Thunder Muscle. He has no experience with British culture, knows nothing about sales, and has only one employee, Dave. It’s uncomfortable and depressing but hilarious. We have five DVD’s of the series to give away - enter now!

Save Your Legs

LET US ENTERTAIN YOU

X-Press Magazine and Movies by Burswood are teaming up to bring you the exclusive premiere of Save Your Legs. It’s a ‘coming of middle-age’ story of a man who refuses to lose his local cricket team to the realities of growing up. An uplifting adventure from the heart of Australia to the soul of India filled with comedy, cricket and Bollywood music. The night will kick off at 6.30pm with entertainment from DJ Charlie Bucket. Email us now to grab yourself a double pass to our exclusive movie night on February 27!

DJ YODA

Named one of the ten top DJs to see before you die, DJ Yoda’s show needs to be seen to be believed.

Always out of the ordinary, a night with DJ Yoda can bring you the lines from Wayne’s World synced into a classical score or an electronic beat accompanied with a YouTube clip of a cat playing piano. He’s back with his new release, Chop Suey, and has just as many surprises up his sleeve. We have two Boomtick prize packs to give away including a double pass to his February 22 show featuring Stickybuds, a copy of Chop Suey and two double entries to Ambar. Email in or jump on our Facebook page and let us know what your all time favourite YouTube video is.

DONAVON FRANKENREITER Once More With Feeling

Donavon Frankenreiter performs at Caves House this Friday, February 8; the Ocean Beach Hotel and The Breakwater on Saturday, February 9, and on Sunday, February 10, at The Merrywell @ Crown (see back page for playing times). CHRIS HAVERCROFT reports.

Donovan Frankenreiter

While there will be many a familiar tune, Frankenreiter is keen to show off some of his new tunes from his latest album, Start Livin’. Having stripped back the band by farewelling a trio of longterm members, this album is a new chapter for the affable surfer, who went for a more natural approach to making it.

“Usually on the other records I made you would finish this track and they would present a polished track and then I’d have to sing on it,” he explains. “It felt weird for me, like I wasn’t part of the Donavon Frankenreiter is well-known to track as I would be presented with this polished Australian audiences as he was a professional at thing that I then had to sing on.

“With Start Livin’ I played guitar and one of our national pastimes – surfing.

On top of that he has made more than a would sing and we built the songs off the live track fair splash as a feel good folk musician and has a in the studio. It was great to get to do it this other way. For me it was all about the feeling.” moustache that is hairier that some small dogs.

The Hawaii-based musician is part of the Corona Extra & La Casa Artist Residency that will see Frankenreiter play a host of free shows around the city in a set of intimate venues. Without the pressure of ticket sales, Frankenreiter is able to take a more relaxed approach to these gigs and take it as it comes.

“Last year was so fun because we’d hit three pubs in one day and as they are free gigs it is first in first served. It’s a great vibe to be able to meet people. We are just doing a duo-acoustic so there is no big rock and roll set up. It is one of those things where people get to have a few beers at a pub and CHECK OUT WWW.XPRESSMAG.COM.AU AND we get to play an acoustic set that’s free for anyone SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER ONLINE FOR LOADS MORE EXCLUSIVE COMPS! who wants to show up.”

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HANSEL & GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS Slapstick, Sass & Spectacle Directed by Tommy Wirkola Starring Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton, Famke Janssen, Pihla Viitala, Peter Stormare The dark fairytale vein has been mined pretty regularly over the last decade, with some pretty disappointing results. Hansel & Gretel: Vampire Hunters stands out from the crowd because it never takes itself seriously and completely foregoes metaphor and allegory in favour of high adventure, extreme violence and, y’know… having fun. It’s madness… who wants to have fun at the movies?

The film has a very simple premise: whatever happened to those deeply traumatised kids who were kidnapped, beaten and nearly eaten in that strange gingerbread house in the woods?

What kind of people did they become?

Don’t look here for a story about resolving childhood trauma… this is all about payback. Hansel (Renner) and Gretel (Arterton) are 15 years older and perhaps not much wiser. They’re all about bagging the bad guys (who are of course women), protecting the innocent (for cash) and being bad-ass leather fetishists.

With big f-off steampunk guns.

This film is so shamelessly over the top one can’t help but enjoy it. Everything from

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

Hansel and Gretel’s American accents and bad language, the make-up effects borrowed from the Army Of Darkness style catalogue, to wanton dismemberment rendered in eye-popping 3D, it’s all here.

And speaking of the 3D, this is a film that is well worth seeing at the cinema, you will certainly get your money’s worth of screen-popping visual effects. And that’s the beauty of an unrepentant popcorn spectacle: it’s impossible for the visual effects to get in the way of the story-telling.

Perhaps one of the other reasons this film works so surprisingly well is that despite being ‘big dumb fun’ writ large, it’s been made and performed by a bunch of smart people having a good time.

Renner’s star-power is still on the rise, Janssen is delicious and dangerous as the big bad witch and the consistently brilliant Stormare (Fargo, Dancer In The Dark) is so good as the bad sherriff that he provides one of the film’s biggest moments, despite his position in the supporting cast. It’s almost as good as the scene in RED where John Malkovich uses a rocket launcher concealed in a plush-toy pig.

The bottom line: sometimes a film is just a movie, and that can be a brilliant thing when it’s done right. As this is director Tommy Wirkola’s first Hollywood effort (see interview online at xpressmag. com.au), one can only hope that this becomes the big stupid film of the month, so we can see what he does next.

Funeral For A Friend

FRIENDLY PUNKS

Over the course of a decade, Funeral For A Friend have remained one of the most fascinating bands to come out of the UK. Their debut album Casually Dressed & Deep In Conversation has long been upheld as a landmark punk album of the 2000s. Having just released their seventh studio album, Conduit, the Welsh five-piece return to Australia for a national tour for which tickets go on sale for this Friday, February 8, through heatseeker.com.au. See them play at Amplifier on Friday, May 17, and Saturday, May 18, at the Prince Of Wales, Bunbury.

ALL STRUNG UP

Song-goddess Sarah Blasko will be joined by WASO on the Perth leg of her national I Awake tour. Perth fans are in for something extra special with revered trio The Necks joining the bill as main support. With 16 albums to their name, The Necks have long been seen as one of the great cult bands of Australia. Blasko will also be joined by Melbourne’s Wintercoats, aka one-man chamber pop orchestra, James Wallace.

Tickets are selling fast for Blasko’s Kings Park & Botanic Garden show on Saturday, February 23.

_ SABIAN WILDE

GET GROOVY

\Last Dinosaurs, First Degree tour

WHY STUDY?

You really should be thinking about hitting the books but The First Degree Tour is probably gonna be more fun. The gig, which will hit UWA and Curtin University, will feature Brisbane boys, Last Dinosaurs, whose debut album In A Million Years and single Honolulu received much radio play last year. The Curtin University show will also offer support from local indie heroes Rainy Day Women. UWA will have the show on Friday, February 22, while Curtin will see it on Wednesday, February 27. Maybe do all your readings beforehand?

UK soul pioneers Soul II Soul (Sound System) are set to play at The Astor, Friday, March 1. Their career began in ‘88 when the group first began attracting attention as a sound system, playing records at house and street parties, where their clothing and music style was dubbed ‘Funki Dred’. Their stage show consists of an eclectic mix of rare groove, classic soul, house and reggae, with Jazzie B on turntables and keys accompanied by Caron W h e e l e r and MC Chick aboo.

Check that!

Jazzie B

LA VIDA LOCA

Local indi rockers, Vida Cain, have just released their debut EP, Vida Cain Rots Ya Brain, with the first single, Only Love Things, already receiving airplay. The EP launch takes place at Rosemount Hotel on Friday, February 15, with guests Gombo, Room at the Reservoir and Bears and Dolls.

Tickets are available now from Heatseeker.

\Band Of Frequencies

FREQUENT FLYERS

Surf-root rockers Band Of Frequencies, having honed their stagecraft with the likes of John Butler, Angus Stone, and Ash Grunwald, are heading West for a series of shows along the coast. Rich in spirit and rocking sounds, they’ll play Mojo’s on Saturday, February 23; Indi Bar on Sunday February 24; Ellington’s Jazz Club on Wednesday February 27; Bunbury’s Prince of Wales Hotel on Thursday February 28; Settler’s Tavern in Margaret River on Friday, March 1; the Nannup Festival on Saturday March 2, and Clancy’s Fish Pub back in Perth on Sunday, March 3. bandofreuencies.com has ticket details.

BARITONE BLUES

Caesar Must Die

JAIL CAESAR!

Premiering at UWA’s Somerville Auditorium on Monday, February 11, is Caesar Must Die, winner of the Berlin Film Festival Golden Bear award in 2012. A group of former Mafiosi in Rome’s Rebbibia maximum-security prison seemingly revisit the major themes of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar as they stage a production of the famous play. It screens until Sunday, February 17, as part of the Lotterywest Festival Films season.

Check out Travis Johnson’s online review of Caesar Must Die at xpressmag.com.au. www.xpressmag.com.au

Deliciously deep-voiced American singer Josh Groban brings his trademark vocal stylings to Kings Park on Tuesday, April 16, for a unique, oneoff concert. Renowned for his electrifying live performances and comedic stylings, as well as his countless appearances on Oprah and The Ellen DeGeneres Show, this is one prestige event you won’t want to miss. Head to mellenevents.com to book your tickets.

EXTREMELY BAD NEWS

The upcoming Extreme/Richie Kotzen tour has been postponed, due to “overcrowding in the live market during the originally scheduled tour.”

Although new dates will be announced, at this point we have no indication of when that’ll be.

Elvis Costello & The Imposters, supporters of slamrally.org

ELVIS COSTELLO Painted From Memories

There could be little doubt that Elvis Costello deserves to be included within the top 100 artists of all time. The man who has been termed a ‘pop encyclopaedia’ due to his diverse and melodic offerings over the past 40 years heads up An Evening On The Green tonight, Wednesday, February 6, with Sunnyboys, Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons and Stephen Cummings. CHRIS HAVERCROFT writes the book...

Born Declan MacManus in England in 1954 to a band leader and musician, Elvis Costello started playing pub gigs in London in the early ‘70s.

When MacManus was signed to Stiff Records on the strength of some demos he has been floating around, he combined the stage name of his father (Day Costello) with his admiration of Elvis Presley to rebrand himself as Elvis Costello.

By 1977 Costello had a debut album under his belt and by the end of that year a soonto-be-acclaimed backing band, The Attractions.

My Aim Is True featured album artwork with Costello sporting a giant pair of spectacles that would become his trademark. Soon to become a poster boy of the new wave movement of the time, Costello continued his dramatic rise and commercial success with more stellar releases by the end of the decade in This Year’s Model and Armed Forces.

Fresh on the back of the triumph of the number #2 reaching single Oliver’s Army, Costello launched into the ‘80s like a man possessed. His

most fruitful period by a margin saw him release nine albums during the decade. It was this feast of releases that cemented him as one of the most astute wordsmiths going around.

While that decade may have seen Costello at his chart-denting best, it was also the period where the relationship between the artist and his backing band The Attractions steadily deteriorated. The group would limp through to the start of the ‘90s, but the unit had passed its usedby date for Costello. It was this freedom from the tried and tested formula that had served him so well that would lead to Costello’s biggest asset to his longevity.

It was from this moment that Costello started to embrace the diversity of the music that he had heard along the journey. There were forays into jazz, collaborations with classical singer Anne Sofie von Otter, a break up album (Painted From Memory) with maestro Burt Bacharach. He offered tunes to soundtracks and composed songs for his third wife, jazz singer, Diana Krall.

These efforts may not have had the commercial success of earlier albums, but that wouldn’t differ from how many other ‘elder statesmen’ track throughout their catalogue. What it did for Costello though was to open new audiences and offer him the nourishment that he needed to keep his passion and his writing fresh.

Being ever comfortable with his celebrity the charismatic Costello found his way onto television screens through The Simpsons, Frasier and Two And A Half Men through to grittier productions such as Treme and Sesame Street. These brief on camera stints lead to two series of his own talk show, Spectacle: Elvis Costello With… where he interviewed and/or performed with acts such as Bruce Springsteen and Elton John through to Neko Case and She & Him. The career of Elvis Costello has been broad and full indeed.

With that wealth of experience to draw from, an Elvis Costello live concert rarely disappoints.

Whether he be selecting the songs for his set via an onstage chocolate wheel, stripping his songs back to their bare essentials in an acoustic mode or belting out his greatest hits as part of a festival line-up, he delivers at the very least a little bit for everyone.

With his band of crack musicians, The Imposters, in his pocket for this current tour, and with an arsenal that is almost certain to contain Watching The Detectives, Alison and Everyday I Write The Book, this will be a show not to forgo. With Costello you can always be assured of a spectacle.

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Dead Can Dance Divine Fits

DIVINE FITS True Britt

Divine Fits perform as part of the St Jerome’s Laneway Festival this Saturday, February 9, in the Perth Cultural Centre. BOB GORDON chats with Britt Daniels.

They’re loathe to being called a ‘supergroup’, but Divine Fits and its line-up of Britt Daniel (Spoon), Dan Boeckner (Wolf Parade/Handsome Furs) and Sam Brown (New Bomb Turks) must qualify as some kind of meeting of the minds.

Even so, after extensive touring of the US in 2012 in support of their first LP, A Thing Called Divine Fits, it seemed not everyone necessarily knew what to expect.

“There’s still funny circumstances,” says Britt Daniel, down the line from LA. “Like in Boston, we were standing outside a show and a guy came up and said, ‘hey Britt Daniel, what are you doing at this show?’ And I said, ‘well I’m playing at it, I guess’ (laughs) and he was like, ‘oh I didn’t even know you were playing.

I just bought a ticket to the show because I heard a song on the radio and thought it sounded like Spoon’.

“Some people just don’t know about it.

So that was weird, but cool at the same time. It’s happened a few times, it’s quite interesting.”

Daniel had known Boeckner since 2007, when the latter joined Spoon onstage for a song at New York’s Radio City Music Hall.

“I liked looking over and seeing him there,” Daniel says. “He looked like he was having fun. That kinda gave me the idea that it’d be fun to be onstage with this guy more often.”

Soon joined by New Bomb Turks’ drummer Brown, the trio soon hit the studio to write songs, though they were champing at the bit to perform.

“Well it was not as fun when we weren’t doing shows,” Daniel considers,“I’ll tell you that. It was weird; to have been in a band for as long as we were, to work so hard making a record, working so hard in rehearsals, but to never actually play to anyone. We were real happy when we got to get to that part of it.”

As such, Daniel feels that Divine Fits are still evolving as a live act, given that despite their previous experience, their own history is still nascent.

“We didn’t know how good we’d be live and now we’re really focussing on that a lot,” he says.

“Like, I’m at rehearsal now and we’re trying to write some new songs that we’ll have to play in Australia then soon as we get back we’ll record a single, hopefully. And we’d like to do it in the studio live.”

So there’s another album coming, then?

“There’ll be another album for sure,” he says. “I just don’t know when. For now, we’re just hoping to get another single out.”

One gets the feeling that Divine Fits is still a new experience for Daniel. As the creative force in Spoon he seems to be thriving in a band that is all about sharing the load.

“It’s different and refreshing,” he says. “I knew I wanted to be in a band where I wasn’t the guy doing all the singing and all the songwriting, because I really like that side of music. The part where you don’t write it, but you get to back somebody up and add to what’s already a great idea. I really wanted to do that and I’ve gotten that with this band.”

DEAD CAN DANCE

Out Of The Ether Legendary dark wave duo Dead Can Dance play the Perth Concert Hall this Saturday, February 9, as part of the Perth International Arts Festival.

TRAVIS JOHNSON talks to vocalist, Lisa Gerrard, about the band’s astounding legacy.

It hasn’t been easy, being a fan of Dead Can Dance. Though Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard have kept busy with their own projects - Gerrard, in particular, has contributed to a number of film scores - the band as an entity ceased to be back in 1998.

To be sure, there was a reunion in 2005, but no album resulted, and Australian fans got short shrift on their world tour. It’s only now that we finally get not only a new album, the sublime Anastasis, but a chance to see the pair live in concert. It’s been, frankly, a long time coming.

And a lot of work. As Gerrard explains, “We started working together about seven-and-ahalf months ago. We spent three months recording the album and the rest of the time we’ve been doing concerts, so it’s been quite a long time. And then it’s going to continue on to June or July or

something horrendous. And I also did some stuff for cinema; I did some stuff for Superman (Man Of Steel, the upcoming Superman reboot), Frankenstein and a series called The Bible. So, I’ve been busy.”

Busy enough, perhaps, to make even the thought of trying to shoehorn in a Dead Can Dance project more than a little daunting. Gerrard assures us, however, that despite the long timeframe, collaborating with Perry once again was something she’d been longing to do.

“I suppose it was just a kind of grief for the work, really,” she says. “Because the pieces that Brendan and I have written over the years, some of them are really close to us and we felt that we wanted to go back to that area and still explore and create really wonderful things. It’s more curiosity than anything else.”

Still, she does admit that heading back into the studio with her old partner wasn’t always easy. “It’s never like putting on an old pair of shoes - oh god, I wish! No, it’s always tricky. When you’re working with someone in that close proximity, within that particular area of the work, there are moments where you really have to analyse things, and you have to work really hard, and you have to be quiet, and you have to be extremely patient.

Doing movies really taught me that. There was still friction in the relationship, but I don’t think it was as intense as it had been earlier on in our relationship.”

For those who have never experienced Dead Can Dance in the flesh - and let’s face facts, that’s a large contingent of the group’s current fanbase - Gerrard is adamant that the live experience far exceeds what can be found on those cherished albums.

“It’s a really amazing difference,” she says enthusiastically. “It’s hugely different. We’ve always been better live than we have been on albums. It brings a whole new dimension to the sound and a whole new energy. The pieces have a completely different life.”

THE LUCKY WONDERS

Gaining Gumption The Descendents

THE DESCENDENTS Punk’s Not Old

Seminal West Coast punk outfit, The Descendents, play one show only this Saturday, February 10, at Amplifier, with support from Bodyjar, and Bouncing Souls. TRAVIS JOHNSON talks to lead singer, Milo Aukerman.

It happens to everyone. The march of time is inexorable - all you can do is try to weather it with some dignity.

Not every punk icon has done that successfully - remember John Lydon’s appearance on I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here or Dee Dee Ramone’s rap album? The Descendents, on the other hand - who have been thrashing out some serious hardcore off and on since 1978 - dealt with it by going out and getting day jobs.

Of course, that means they don’t spend nearly as much time as they used to on the road.

“I’m a scientist at DuPont,” explains lead singer and biochemist, Milo Aukerman. “And so I try to take my vacation time off from that to try and play shows and so I can only play a certain number of shows every year. We’ve all got our own different things that we do, so we definitely can’t really tour for any stretch of time.

“When we go to Australia, that’s about the longest we’ve been out. Anything longer than that, it just eats away too much of my vacation time.”

It’s a weird notion to get your head around, the idea that the man who gave voice to such tracks as I’m Not A Loser and My Dad Sucks slips into a white lab coat on a daily basis. Then again, Milo Goes To College was one of the band’s most notable releases (Aukerman was briefly replaced by Ray Cooper on vocals while he earned his PhD). Still, Aukerman 12

admits that sometimes his two worlds interact in weird ways.

“Before I got hired at DuPont,” he recalls.

“I had to do an interview there, and the person I was interviewed by had heard about the band and said, ‘Do you still do that?’ And I said that occasionally I do and I told them that we were playing a show the next day. I didn’t think anything of it until I got to the show and saw him standing in line to get in and realised that this guy, who was the guy that was going to hire me, was coming to the show to check out my band, which was totally bizarre. I got up on stage and thought, ‘Oh great, this is like part two of the interview’.”

The challenge of balancing his musical endeavours with his laboratory work has forced Aukerman to get touring down to an exact science.

“A lot of it is me flying. We fly in to play a show, and then we fly home. So I’ve got my travel bag, which is where I can just fit in the bare minimum of clothing that I need. I can also fit my tablet in there, which is my one prop that I take on stage - that fits in there too. It’s kind of fun to take the bare minimum from gig to gig. It’s been fun to do it this way.”

Still, he admits that there are some perks to now being viewed as an elder statesman of punk.

“It used to be that we were in these stinky, smelly vans where you couldn’t sleep or whatnot, and now we stay in hotels, so we’ve kind of moved up in the world.”

Byron Bay based folk-indie-pop four-piece, The Lucky Wonders, came to life after songwriters Emma Royle and Jessie Vintila created live music for a puppet show as part of the Adelaide Fringe Festival in 2009.

ANNABEL MACLEAN chats with Jessie Vintila about their new record Lay Down My Arms. The Lucky Wonders play X-Ray Café this Friday, February 8; Indi Bar on Sunday, February 10; and Hotel Rottnest on Friday and Saturday, February 15-16.

Jessie Vintila never planned to make a career in songwriting and performing full-time.

“I left WA in 2004 for Northern NSW, planning to train as a singing teacher,” she says. “My songwriting and performing were always there but I didn’t have the gumption to make it a full-time career and I kept dabbling with study and ‘proper jobs’. I met Emma (Royle) in 2008 and we started writing songs together and loving it.

“We got a big response at our first few shows. She had extreme gumption - she sold her flat to fund The Lucky Wonders, so all of a sudden I had a full-time job running this band with her and making a debut album (Thirteen O’Clock) of a production quality I’d dreamed of my whole life.”

It wasn’t until October, 2009, when Royle and Vintila formed The Lucky Wonders with Anastassijah Scales on drums, Sam Parker currently on bass, Royle on guitar, ukulele and backing vocals and Vintila on lead vocals, guitar and ukulele. Their tune, Happy Pill, released in November, 2009, from their debut LP, Thirteen O’Clock, was supported by Triple J and hit #1 on Unearthed Roots.

The band are hitting the road to showcase tunes from their sophomore record, Lay Down My Arms. Vintila says the record is themed with

The Lucky Wonders acceptance and self-forgiveness.

“We could see a theme when we put these songs together - of acceptance and surrendering to life and the constant challenges that ask us to open our hearts, again and again. The title, Lay Down My Arms, is about owning our roles in the many conflicts we find ourselves in as humans and finding selfforgiveness too.”

As for post tour plans, there is a lot on the cards.

“There could be a video clip or two in the making,” Vintila says. “We’re considering writing a hugely successful hit single and becoming rich and famous. I’d use all the money to buy back the coal seam gas from whatever bastards the Australian government sold it to and leave it in the ground.”

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TWO GALLANTS In Bloom

Two Gallants team with Deer Tick at the Chevron Festival Gardens on Tuesday, February 12. BOB GORDON speaks with vocalist/guitarist, Tyson Vogel.

Returning from a five-year hiatus, San Francisco’s Two Gallants released a new album, The Bloom And The Blight, and quickly reminded themselves about what it is to be in this band.

“The album came out in September and we’ve basically been on tour ever since,” says guitarist/vocalist, Tyson Vogel. “We did six weeks in the US and another six weeks in Europe after that. We came home for a week for a holiday then were off again for some shows in the US. Now we’re coming to Australia. It’s been a pretty busy time.”

The familiar old aches and pains of the road came calling but Vogel and vocalist/guitarist Adam Stephens, had learnt a thing or two since they shut down operations following the release of their self-titled third LP in 2007.

“In the time off that Adam and I took between this record and our last one, we both kind of went of and did our own things. He toured with his own band under his own band and I toured with a band called The Devotionals and some solo record touring as well.

“I think we both kind of learned a little bit more about how we, as individuals, have to approach this kind of lifestyle. I mean, when we first started doing all this touring we were like 21 years-old, we did four national tours on our own, playing anything from parks to sidewalks, just because we really felt that we wanted to see our country.

“Coming back into this new record we sort of learned a little more of how to cope with living like that. It’s not the easiest lifestyle in the world. It’s an honour to be able to do what we do, but in a lot of ways we sacrifice a lot to be able to do it. The only way to survive that is to try and be as healthy as possible and I think we’re trying to do that as best we can.”

Deer Tick

DEER TICK

Infectious Groove Two Gallants The reaction to the return of Two Gallants has been excellent, with Vogel and Stephens being able to see their fans’ enthusiasm up close.

“Absolutely,” he affirms. “There were many different factors why this hiatus we took actually took longer than we anticipated (Stephens was injured in a car accident and was unable to play for four months). When we got together and were just rehearsing we thought it’d be good just to get out and do a couple shows and even then it took off quite quickly.

“We’re really honoured that people still have faith in what we are doing. I feel like we’re just getting to know the people who listen to our music again. Because we hadn’t really played very often we hadn’t really been connecting to people on that level for a while. After these last five months of touring we’ve really connected with our audience.

And what’s surprising is there’s a lot of young people who probably were like 15 when we stopped playing and are like 21 now and are coming to the shows. We can definitely feel it.”

Accordingly, The Bloom And The Blight reflects the push and pull of life in its songs. And there’s little wonder...

“To be candid, I think we both needed it,” Vogel states. “There was this kind of necessity that was drawing at us.”

Alt-country rockers Deer Tick play the Chevron Festival Gardens on Tuesday, February 12, along with San Francisco duo, Two Gallants.

TRAVIS JOHNSON talks to Deer Tick mainstay, John McCauley.

You get an interesting mix of acts playing at the Perth International Arts Festival. Some are more interesting than others. Some, though, you wonder if the festival organisers knew exactly what they were getting into when they booked them.

Take Deer Tick, for example, the acclaimed alt-country band that John McCauley fronts. Their live gigs are legendary - and legendarily destructive, with more than a few perturbed venue owners left in their wake.

“We’re definitely not jumping around as much or lighting shit on fire,” McCauley reassures in his slow, deliberate drawl. “I think getting banned from the club I can deal with a lot easier than getting banned from the recording studio. We definitely don’t do things too much different - when you’re in the studio, there’s no one to really put on a show for, so I guess you concentrate a little bit more. Especially because your creating a product, a definitive

The Men

THE MEN Mark’s House

Brooklyn punkers The Men hit St Jerome’s Laneway Festival this Saturday, February 9, in the Perth Cultural Centre. BOB GORDON reports.

The Men are at it again. Their new album, New Moon, is being released on March 8, but there’s no time for celebrating.

“Right now we’re actually writing songs for the follow up,” says bassist/producer Ben Greenberg down the line from Brooklyn. “We’re getting all that together at Mark’s (Perro, vocals/ guitar) house and we’re getting ready to record.

I don’t know when that’s gonna come out or anything but we’re just kinda getting the ball rolling, basically.”

It’s good to be ahead of the game and clearly, in The Men, everyone’s on the same page.

Fortunately, they aren’t hampered by label or management in terms of what they play live and how frequently they release material. After all, they know themselves best.

“Well we know the nature of our timing sort of leaves us in a place where we wind up touring music for a year and then the record comes out that the music is on,” Greenberg laughs. “So a lot of the time we’ll be playing a show somewhere and you know, there’s always older songs that everybody still likes to play and we try to make our set a big mix of all of our favourite songs.

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“People know what’s going on a lot of the time, but there’s definitely moments when we play shows that you can kind of feel that people are like, ‘I don’t know what’s going on!’ And they haven’t known what’s been going on for three songs in a row (laughs). It’s kind of cool though because it all fits together, it all works out in the end.”

The Men’s 2012 album, Open Your Heart, was something of a breakthrough release that afforded the band some new opportunities, but Greenberg feels that life continues in the same vein that it always has.

“It’s allowed us to play a lot more shows and it’s allowed us to play a few shows in front of a lot more people,” he notes, “which has been really exciting.

“Other than that we’ve just been doing the same thing we’ve always done. We hang out and jam at Mark’s house; we write songs and record them when they’re ready. It’s been a really fun year for sure, but as far as its impact on how the band functions or who we are as people, all that stuff is the same as it was before.”

New Moon was recorded in Big Indian, upstate New York, in a studio built into the side of the Catskill Mountains. The area is known for its ‘predisposal to celestial intervention’.

“We were up there for about two weeks, recording,” Greenberg says. “It was actually the opposite of a new moon, it was a super moon. Like a gigantic full moon that was happening for a long time while we were recording. That really kind of enhanced the vibe of what was going on while we were there, so it’s kind of a play on that.”

Yes, Super Moon hasn’t got the same moody ring to it...

“It’d be kind of hard to call your album Super Moon,” Greenberg agrees. “But there is a song on the record called Super Moon. It’s a very good song, if I do say so myself (laughs).”

statement with whatever song you’re recording.”

The reference to studio time is because, once his touring commitments are done and dusted, McCauley plans to knuckle down on a new Deer Tick album. In fact, work has already begun. “We started working on it earlier this year. We didn’t get too far along; we’ll go back in the studio in maybe February after the Australian tour. I think we’re just gonna start over again and try to get everything done in one window of time.”

It’ll be interesting to see what direction the new material takes. While Deer Tick’s sound is firmly rooted in modern alt-country, recent releases have mined a heavier vein; compare 2011’s Divine Providence with 2007’s War Elephant, for example. McCauley chalks it up to the process of collaboration; although Deer Tick started out as a solo project back in 2004, with a rotating roster of musicians, the current line-up has been stable for a few years now (“It’s the permanent line-up, McCauley says. “it’s not gonna change any more.”) meaning that everyone can bring their own influences to the table.

“I guess we all grew up playing in heavy bands and whatnot,” he muses. “Rock bands and stuff, but the more people who came into the fold, the louder our sounds could get. I guess we all wanted to go with that for a while and see if we could pull it off. Also, I find the alt-country and indie rock scene incredibly boring. It was fun to shake things up.

“Now, I guess we know what we’re capable of doing, and our next album will probably be a lot smarter and more organised than maybe Divine Providence was. It helps to have a nice, big sound. I’m pretty excited about the new stuff that we’re doing.”

Joe Pernice and Norman Blake

NORMAN BLAKE

other that the other is not familiar with, so that we have to work it out up there on stage. I think it’s working out with plenty of anecdotes between songs and so on.”

Of course as a member of the band that recorded an album entitled Songs From Northern Britain, Blake is a born and bred Scot, but relocated to Toronto three years ago.This led in turn to him hooking up with Pernice.

“Myself and Robyn Hitchcock were recording an album for a Norwegian band called I Was A King last year,” he recalls.“The drummer on that Teenage Fanclub’s Norman Blake has project was a guy called Pat Berkery who works with ‘You know that Joe lives in Toronto?’ teamed up with Joe Pernice to form The Joe and Pat“Isays, met Joe years ago so we know each other, New Mendicants. Ahead of their show but I was unaware of him living in Toronto. So I emailed and we started hanging out and out of that we just on Friday, February 8, at the Chevron him thought we’d do some music together since we were Festival Gardens (supported by Dirty both in the same place.”

For those unacquainted with the term Beaches), Blake gets the chat on with Mendicants, the band name has something to do with beggary.

GARETH GORMAN. “Yeah, it does,” Blake laughs. “Joe quite Chatting with Teenage Fanclub’s Norman Blake is naturally goes, ‘Hey Norman we need to get a fucking usually a pleasure, but this time things get off to a name for this band!’ And I’ve always thought a good name for a band would be The Mendicants and he bad start.

“For this tour it’s two acoustic guitars...” commented that this was uncannily bizarre, as he’d The line drops out. We’re reconnected. had the same thought.When we Googled it, it turns out “There must be a bullshit detector on this there’s of course, tons of Mendicants around. So we just went and added ‘New’.” phone! I’ll have to tone it down.”

The boys will be touting some wares at the Yup, it’s the same old Norman Blake.

“We’ve only done two shows prior to this gigs, namely a six-track Australian EP. “We thought it would be nice to have tour. We decided against rehearsing too much for this, as we wanted to keep it spontaneous and different something representative of the show,” Blake notes.

“Most of the songs on it are acoustic versions of every time. That’s what we want this band to be.

“When we recorded the album - which is things on the album, an acoustic Fanclub song and a pretty much finished - we recorded it on a portable Pernice Brothers song. Joe suggested that we cover an set-up at my house. We pushed back the settee, set Australian song and he played me the INXS song, This up a drum-kit and recorded stuff there. The album is a Time, and we bashed it out in 20 minutes.

“There may be some available on Joe’s full band, but all recorded at home. And that’s the way we’re going to continue to work, no big studios, we website, but other than that they’re at the show and don’t want it to be too slick. We’ll suggest songs to each once they’re gone - they’re gone.”

Turning Joe Pernice

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BIRD TO PREY Saved By The Storm

ME Even The Odd Ones Out

Such A Punch / Independent

FIDLAR Self-Titled FIDLAR Records / Warner Music Australia

While the Secret Agent Mansounding guitar riff that opens this album may suggest some retro-garage inclinations, it’s the eventual chorus of this song that sets the agenda - ‘I drink cheap beer/So what?/Fuck you’.

And Cheap Beer is certainly what it’s all about for these young LA skate punks - whose name is a acronym for ‘Fuck It Dog, Life’s A Risk’ - as well as a couple other things With song titles such as Stoned And Broke, Max Can’t Surf, Wake Skate Bake and Cocaine (which references Dillinger’s Cocaine In My Brain) it’s fairly easy to tell that the music on this album represents a slice of life for these guys.

Fortunately, punk rock history has dictated that some folks are better at writing songs about getting wasted and not getting laid than others, and FIDLAR do rather a good job of it. They have worshipped at the altar of Blink 182, but they’ve still got a sneakered foot on the street and a bandaid-ed finger scratching their collective arse.

The hype surrounding FIDLAR seems to echo that of The Strokes in 2001, but this band probably won’t believe in it, simply because they can’t be bothered. Because fuck it dog, life’s a risk and, you know, YOLO and stuff. _ BOB GORDON

TWO GALLANTS The Bloom And The Blight

Lizard King Records/MGM

Bird To Prey is the stage name for Perth-via-Adelaide musician, Sarah Turk. After finding her feet in the close knit musical community of Fremantle, Turk spread her wings and found herself a new home in New York. The fruits of this bold relocation can be heard in her second album Saved

By The Storm.

Stepping into the ‘anti-folk’ Mecca of Sidewalk Café, (the venue that launched Kimya Dawson and Regina Spektor) Turk found kindred spirits and gentle souls that welcomed her skewed acoustic tunes with vigour. The Devil Deep Inside highlights the mood of much of the album as Turk delicately sings about how shitty life can get.

Old Wooden Shed starts off with a whisper but builds to a whimper to become a delightfully understated spectacle, while Emily is the kind of acoustic ramble that the Violent Femmes readily turned into stadium pleasing sing-alongs.

Turk was always an artist to keep an eye on, but with Saved By The Storm she has started to build on her quirky appeal to create a far more rounded and realised effort.

ME’s debut is ambitious and completely over-the-top, taking many cues from the Muse handbook of pomp and grandeur. The Melbourne four-piece’s debut Even The Odd Ones Out lacks all notions of modesty and takes a kitchen sink approach by throwing absolutely everything at each song. String sections, brass and horns back up the already bombastic rock, not to mention the choir sections to add to the cacophony.

The difficult part of listening to the album is trying to turn off that part of your mind that recognises and points out musical influences. There’s smatterings of Sgt Pepper’s in Under The Sun and the heavy influence of Queen (and by extension, Muse) in Working Life basically slaps you in the face.

Luke Ferris is a less gaspy Matthew Bellamy with excellent control of his highs and lows, matching the rock opera aesthetic of the album. Less busy tracks such as Rock And Roll Dandy kick along with catchy pop hooks, leaving the more extravagant tracks feeling bloated and excessive as the guitars are relegated to the background. ME’s attempt at adding some hugeness to the Australian musical landscape is a valiant effort and technically proficient, but its lack of unique voice lets the album down.

_ CHRIS HAVERCROFT

_ BRENDAN HOLBEN

ATO Records

From The Black Keys to The White Stripes, The Mess Hall to The Cheats, two-piece bands are ultimately defined by their limitations. There is only so much sound two can make, so one thing these groups must strive for is an emphasis on performance and feeling.

San Francisco’s Two Gallants are no different, blending unhinged ‘70s riffs and acoustic Americana into a not always cohesive whole.

Following a split in 2007, a couple of solo records and a car accident, Two Gallants’ Adam Stephens and Tyson Vogel regrouped in 2012 for The Bloom And The Blight. There are several moments here where they’re an unstoppably powerful beast, fashioning a ruckus you might imagine coming from their eightlegged kinfolk.

Taken individually, songs like My Love Won’t Wait and Ride Away are rock solid screamers, and reaffirm the tight musical bond between the two. Having played together since before puberty hit, the profound and intuitive communication is palpable. The softer and folkier side to the band, displayed on Broken Eyes and Song Of Songs, is passable enough, but it’s hard to get excited about these tender moments when they only serve as a breather between the deranged rockers.

Like soon-to-be touring mates Deer Tick, you get the sense that live they really could become something else, and make you wail along to the heavens as you spill beer on the person in front of you. _ NICK HILTON

LORI CULLEN That Certain Chartreuse Independent

Lori Cullen is a Canadian singer/songwriter whose vocal and interpretive ability turns good songs into enlightening musical stories.

These include Rainy Day People by Gordon Lightfoot, the Gibb brother’s Emotion, the fascinating Solitude Standing by Susanne Vega - with great solos by guitarist Kurt Swinghammer and David Matheson on it - and Cullen’s own composition, Come a Little Closer.

I found this artist while surfing the internet a few weeks ago and after listening to two tracks bought two of her CDs. I tried to analyse why! Normally I’m a softly softly catch the monkey kind of girl, but when they arrived and I played the first two tracks off her CD, That Certain Chartreuse I realised why. Cullen is real, with a light, pure, warm sound, impeccable intonation and an intuitive understanding of the lyric. It’s like overhearing a gentle conversation. Not to mention the inventive arrangements and those perfectly selected musicians.

Don’t take my word for it, pop on to her website at loricullen.com. _ HELEN MATTHEWS

NEIGHBOURHOOD YOUTH Holiday Independent

The thoughtful chaps of Melbourne’s Neighbourhood Youth have attached a biography to their debut release that talks about many of the bands that they have played gigs with, but gives no information at all about the type of music that they play. The optimist in you may think it is because their tunes are so exciting that the songs are beyond categorisation. Sadly the truth is that the four songs here can all be filed neatly into the category people commonly refer to as ‘shit’. _ CHRIS HAVERCROFT

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

DANNY

BHOY Caledonian Comedy Once again making his annual sojourn to Australia, Edinburgh-based stand-up comic Danny Bhoy brings his new show, Dear Epson, to The Astor Theatre from Tuesday, February 19, to Sunday, February 24. TRAVIS JOHNSON has a word.

Danny Bhoy loves coming to Australia. In point of fact, he’s been journeying to our shores for a good decade now.

“I was just talking to someone about this,” he says.“And this is gonna be my 10th year when I come out next month. So it’s gonna be our 10th anniversary, Australia - I hope you bought me something nice.”

Bhoy, for his part, has brought along something very nice: his new show, Dear Epson, which he’s been touring around the UK for the past few months. “It’s in pretty tip-top shape. I’ve been doing a lot of sort of grim Northern England towns in the winter months, which is about as much fun as it sounds like it is.”

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Of course, what flies in snowbound York may not play so well in the sunny climes of Australia, but Bhoy is a canny performer, one who takes pains to tailor his material to his audience. It’s something he’s learned over years of touring, making regular trips to Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.

“It’s a bit lazy if you don’t do it,” he explains. “If you don’t make the effort to find out what phrases and references work. I have the advantage of having been there lots of times, so I understand that you guys say certain things - it’s all just a matter of sitting down and working out where I have to change it.”

It’s that flexibility, combined with an agreeable kind of everyman charisma, that has made Bhoy a popular figure everywhere he goes. Well, almost everywhere; there’s one particular place he’s yet to find a foothold - the lucrative American market.

“Every comedian wants to crack America,” he tells us. “And anyone who tells you otherwise is lying. Everyone has a go at it at some point but, I mean, it’s an incredibly difficult market to get into. If you go to a club in LA, everyone’s

doing five minutes - everyone’s doing an audition set. It’s not the way I was brought up with comedy. I was brought up with Billy Connolly doing an hour and a half and telling one story. It’s kind of the complete opposite to what I love about comedy, which makes it quite depressing at times.”

The Big Yin, of course, was a huge influence on Bhoy as a young comedian, although he also cites such disparate performers as Bill Hicks, Lenny Bruce, Steve Martin, and Jerry Seinfeld as having had an effect on him. “Comedy’s kind of like a magpie profession; you don’t take the feel, but you take certain mannerisms and ideas and confidence from watching different styles of comedy, otherwise you end up looking too much like one comedian.”

It is clear, though, that Bhoy’s storytelling style owes much to Connolly. “I always try to make the audience feel like they’re sitting around a table in a pub, talking to me, and I’m talking to them and telling them a story. I grew up with old Scottish guys coming into a pub and they would tell a story, and I still believe that’s the most comfortable way to hear comedy - to feel that you’re just sitting around with a couple of friends, shooting the breeze.”

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SWARMnight Jacqueline Ball - Surveyor

SURVEYING THE SCENE

Surveyor, the new exhibition by emerging photographic artist Jacqueline Ball, opens at Turner Galleries this Friday, February 8 and runs until Saturday, March 9. Consisting of a series of images of sculptural formations, Ball’s latest works combine rigid architectural lines and soft organic motifs in order to juxtapose the artificial with the natural, and the eternal with the transient. Go to tunrergalleries.com. au for further information.

SWARM AROUND THE LIGHT

Joel Quartermain of Eskimo Joe and Jon Stockman of Karnivool trade the stage for the gallery this Friday, February 8, 8:30pm, at the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery at UWA. In collaboration with Associate Professor of Visual Arts Jon Tarry, they present SWARMnight, a combination of music, sound and visual art in three 20 minute sets. It’s all part of LUMINOUSnight, a free celebration of art and culture to celebrate UWA’s centenary. Go to culturalprecinct.uwa.edu.au for more.

Sally Field and Daniel Day-Lewis star in Lincoln

LINCOLN

All The President’s Men

Sharron

BLAME THE FAME GAME

Perth’s own suburbanite superstar, Sharron, brings her sage advice on the perks and perils of the celebrity lifestyle to Fringe World’s Sun House Tent until Friday, Tickets by Luke Marshall - The Perth Centre February 2. Featuring an impressive number of special For Photography guests, including - but certainly not limited to - Lisa Scaffidi, Alannah McTiernan, Lisa Fernandez, and Frisky & Mannish, this is sure to be one of the highlights of the Collective, the Perth Centre For Photography’s annual festival. For more information, go to fringeworld.com.au group exhibition and auction, goes down from 6pm this Thursday, February 7, at the Centre’s Aberdeen street premises in Northbridge. Featuring works by both emerging and established artists, the auction is an opportunity for photography aficionados to purchase rare pieces while at the same time supporting the PCP Program Fund, who receive part of the proceeds. pcp.

The Lords of Luxury org.au is your destination for further information.

UNDER THE HAMMER

THE LAST BEAT OF MY ART RTRfm launches their new art and culture show, Artbeat, this Friday, February 8, from 9am with a live broadcast from the steps of the GPO in Forrest Place. Encompassing all manner of artistic endeavour in and around Perth, Artbeat aims to examine the intersection between art and everyday life, and their inaugural guests include Artrage director Marcus Canning and performance artist Erin Coates. rtrfm.com.au has all the details.

LUXURY GOODS Clothes maketh the man is an axiom that tuxedo-clad sketch comedy group The Lords of Luxury have taken to heart. Now based in Melbourne, a good 75 per cent of the group originally hail from Perth, and their homecoming show promises to be a riot. Featuring sketches, improv, and apparently a real life lion, they’ll be strutting their stuff at Fringe World’s Idolize Spiegeltent until Friday, February 16. point your browser to fringeworld.com.au for session times and tickets.

Directed by Steven Spielberg Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, David Strathairn, Joseph GordonLevitt, James Spader Lincoln is a film Spielberg can do in his sleep, but unlike Amistad, his last cinematic look at the issue of slavery, this time he is wide awake. By eschewing the grand speeches and martyrdom of this iconic historical figure, Spielberg aims for what is essentially the heart of the matter, portraying the struggle of a decent man haunted by the future, but with the power to change it.

Abraham Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis, superb as always) finds himself and the Union on the cusp of a victory against the Southern states toward the tail end of the American Civil War. Frustrated that the countless deaths will be in vain, Lincoln charges his Secretary of State (David Strathairn), to secure the 20 votes he needs to pass the Thirteenth Amendment to abolish slavery. So begin the back room deals and briberies required for the White House to ensure the bill gets passed into law.

After a violent, albeit short, opening scene portraying a close-quarters battle between Union and Confederate soldiers, the film settles down into what can only be described as The West Wing: 1865.

Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner narrow the focus of this biopic to the period between Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address and his assassination to show the political battlefield that needed to be

traversed in order to make history.

Spielberg achieves this spectacularly, not only with his usual crew of expert craftspeople - most notably cinematographer, Janus Kaminski but with the murderer’s row of character actors he has assembled to fill almost every major speaking role in the film. Tommy Lee Jones is terrific as Thaddeus Stevens, the radical Republican whose support is vital to Lincoln’s success, but the MVP has to go to James Spader as Bilbo, one of the men hired to poach votes from both sides of the aisle.

While Spielberg is quite content to sit back and let the amazing talent around him shape the film we see on screen, his worst tendencies do arise at a couple of moments, most notably with the use of John Williams’ score. While quite minimally applied throughout (a rare occurrence for these two), there are times when the music becomes too obtrusive and the patriotism is spread a little too thick. The subject matter could prove problematic too, as an audience unfamiliar with the Civil War or that time period could find themselves adrift in a sea of facial hair and confusing rhetoric.

Otherwise, this is another amazing achievement from a director who we have come to expect to deliver on a motion picture of this magnitude. Comparisons will be drawn with Schindler’s List, and rightly so, but Lincoln is a larger canvas on which Spielberg paints a portrait not just of a man, but an entire nation that found itself in the crucible of modern history and made the change for a better world. _ LIAM DUNN

Save Your Legs!

SAVE YOUR LEGS! That’s Not Cricket

Directed by Boyd Hicklin Starring Stephen Curry, Brendan Cowell, Damon Gameau, Pallavi Shardi, Darshan V. Jariwala, Sid Makkar

obvious pitfalls. There’s a perfunctory romance between Teddy and Sanjeet’s gorgeous daughter, Anjali (Pallavi Sharda), complete with a snooty rival in the form of Bollywood star Rai (Sid Makkar), and everyone learns important lessons about loyalty, mateship, responsibility and tolerance. We’re treated to predictable but still amusing riffs on Aussie-abroad larrikinism, Indian food and culture, and there’s a smattering of lip-service spirituality to smooth out the occasional uncomfortable patch.

There are no real villains present - even Rai turns out to be mad about cricket, an attribute that endears him to Teddy even as they face off on the field.

Those who have no time or patience for cricket shouldn’t allow themselves to be put off; the sport is used as a framework rather than a focus, and almost any masculine obsession could have been subbed in without doing much damage to the film’s basic plot and themes. Although less skilfully realised, the film’s central concerns put it in the same ballpark as Nick Hornby’s novels, such as High Fidelity and Fever Pitch. Closer to home, it’s not a bad companion piece to the recent I Love You Too, a not-too-bad Australian romcom that, coincidentally, also featured Brendan Cowell.

Solidly entertaining and unpretentious, Save Your Legs! is, much like the sport it features, decent lazy Sunday afternoon entertainment. Go in expecting to be amused rather than thrilled and you should have a good time of it.

There’s nothing too original going on this amiable arrested development underdog comedy, but that’s probably for the best. Director Boyd Hicklin and screenwriter Brendan Cowell, who also co-stars, play to the strengths of their concept and cast rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, and the result is a gently enjoyable romp that mixes bromance, sporting clichés, and culture clash to good effect.

Teddy (Aussie comedy mainstay, Stephen Curry) is a knockabout manchild who lives in the garage of his best mate, Stav (Damon Gameau), much to the consternation of Stav’s long-suffering wife. Teddy’s sole obsession is cricket, and as captain of the D-List Abbotsford Anglers, he gets to live his dreams of Ashes glory every summer weekend down at the local park.

However, time is marching on; Stav has been tasked with evicting Teddy, and the third leg in their lad triumvirate, party animal Rick (Brendan Cowell) is dealing with the sobering thought of impending fatherhood. In a rash attempt to hold onto his youth for a few more weeks, Teddy convinces local businessman Sanjeet (Darshan V. Jariwala) to sponsor the Anglers for a tour of India. Turn to page 18 for details about the X-Press/ Hijinks inevitably ensue.

Bankwest Movies By Burswood screening of Save The comedy is broad and the film skates Your Legs. right up to the edge of cultural insensitivity, but it’s got enough heart and charm to avoid the more _ TRAVIS JOHNSON 20

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

ALI MCGREGOR Gold Dust Woman

Ali McGregor is back in Perth for Fringe World Festival 2013. She speaks with CORAL HUCKSTEP ahead of her show Alchemy, which runs Monday, February 11 to Sunday, February 17. Tickets for Alchemy and other shows can be purchased from fringeworld.com.au.

Alchemy is a kind of magic that transforms seemingly unrelated elements into something dazzling. It suits the name of a show that will see a soprano sing pop music in jazz fashion in the baroque Idolize Spiegeltent.

“Alchemy is turning things into gold, turning trash into treasure. It’s the whole idea of taking songs that people have written off as cheesy pop or not highbrow enough, and singing them with a bit of ingenuity and genuine love,” McGregor says.

“And it also meant I could wear gold glitter heels!”

McGregor’s show was warmly received at Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival last year. During her seven performances in Perth, audiences will see famous pop songs of the ‘80s and ‘90s transformed into stalker ballads (Britney Spears’ Oops I Did It Again) and Shirley Bassey-esque torch songs (Foo Fighters’ Best Of You) among other ‘40s siren style interpretations. It’s not often you hear material from the likes of Madonna and Britney Spears sung with a darker suggestiveness, but in doing so, McGregor challenges their reputation as trashy. “A good pop song… you just can’t get rid of that. Oops I Did It Again is a fantastic pop song. – it’s catchy, it’s got a great hook, it can be played in lots of different styles,” she says.

The idea of injecting one’s personality into well-known songs contrasts the classical world, in which McGregor was a central part of as principal soprano for Opera Australia.“In opera, quite often you get told where to stand and what to sing and how to sing it. You don’t have a huge amount of input really, especially as a young opera singer. You don’t really have any chance of finding your own motivation or reasons for doing anything. That’s not always a bad thing but I really lacked that,” McGregor says.

She fell in love with a different type of drama after seeking out burlesque cabaret performances. “It was the intimacy and the rawness of it,” McGregor says. “I found it fascinating seeing these people perform and see the sweat on their faces and their make up run and the stitching falling apart and their hems falling down. There was something just so visceral about it

Liza on an E

TREVOR ASHLEY Liza (On An E)

An intimate and affectionate parody of the iconic Liza Minnelli, Trevor Ashley is Liza (On An E) plays at De Parel Spiegeltent from Sunday, February 10 until Saturday, February 16 as part of Fringe World. Head over to fringeworld.com. au for tickets and session times.

For seasoned stage veteran Trevor Ashley, the one and only Liza Minnelli has been a personal obsession for almost as long as he can remember.

It all started many years ago when, as a boy, he was www.xpressmag.com.au

Ali McGregor and real and in these days where there’s not much reality and so much is glossed over on TV and stuff, it was really nice to see something that’s vulnerable and dirty.”

However, McGregor insists both worlds can easily fuse:“Singing opera is like driving a Jag and singing jazz is like riding a Harley-Davidson: they’re both top of the range but with different mechanics. I like all the pomp and circumstance of opera, but I love the intimacy and reality of going to a cabaret venue.

I don’t think the two are mutually exclusive. Certainly in my life they’re able to feed off each other.” bored and restless during a country holiday with his family.

“I’m not much one for the outdoors, myself.” Ashley recalls. “Everyone else was outside, and they said ‘Oh, you’ll like this. Watch this video.’

It was a video of The Main Event, which was Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Liza Minnelli. I watched that and I thought, Liza - oh my god!

She’s amazing! I just sort of fell in love with her as a child and have always watched all her concerts.

I just think she’s a great performer and a fabulous comedienne, and she’s a ripe subject to take the piss out of, as well.”

Which is exactly what he does in his one-person show, Liza (On An E), which sees Ashley masticate the scenery in a pitch-perfect, albeit beautifully overblown, send-up of Minnelli’s larger than life eccentricities. Still, for all the savage satire his act contains, Ashley insists he’s coming from a place of love.

“Yeah, absolutely!” he enthuses.

“Certainly, I absolutely love her, but there’s certainly a lot of topics and a lot of things that she does. She’s sort of, in a way, become a parody of herself in her old age. Some of the things that were just little quirks about her are now the main thing. It’s quite bizarre, her mannerisms and the way she speaks, all of that. She’s had a great and very interesting life, and I think that’s certainly a great subject to find humour in.”

Ashley is, of course, well aware of the high place of honour Minnelli occupies in the gay community’s cultural pantheon, and it’s something he embraces.“She’s Judy Garland’s daughter - that’s huge to begin with, Judy Garland being one of the most famous gay icons of all time. And then Liza repeated a lot of her mother’s mistakes, and that sort of fragile struggle against drug addiction and all these things - I think the gay community is always attracted to that. And she gets to wear sequined pantsuits and belts the shit out of everything, so I think that adds to it. And she was in one of the biggest gay classics of all time - Cabaret.

There’s plenty of reasons.”

And as a veteran of countless massive stage musicals, including The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and Hairspray, Ashley admits to looking forward to the more intimate scale of Liza (On An E).“I love the immediacy of a small audience and everyone being very close - I think it’s a great feeling to make people in that sort of environment laugh. It’s very different. The really big musicals are fantastic to do and I really love them, but by the time I’ve hit 500 shows in Priscilla, I just wanna kill myself.” _TRAVIS JOHNSON 21

THEATRE/DANCE/ PERFORMANCE VISUAL ARTS Luminous World: Ar t G aller y O f WA, Northbridge An exhibition from Wesfarmer’s significant corporate art collection, featuring more than 60 paintings, photographs and sculptures by 50 contemporary artists, including Susan Norrie, Rosemary Laing, Howard Taylor, Dale Frank, Bill Henson, Brian Blanchflower, Brook Andrew, Timothy Cook and Barrupu Yunupingu. Runs ’til Feb 11.

Traversing Antarctica: Western Australian Maritime Museum, Fremantle A rare collection of artefacts from the 1911-1914 Australasian Antarctic Expedition, famously led

by Sir Douglas Mawson. Runs ’til Feb 23.

Picturing New York: Photographs From The Museum Of Modern Art: Art Gallery Of WA, Northbridge Depicting the iconic New York that captivates the world’s imagination and the idiosyncratic details that define New Yorkers’ sense of home, this exhibition from MoMA’s extraordinary photography collection celebrates the city in all its vitality, ambition and beauty. Made by approximately 90 artists responding to the city as well as professionals on assignment, including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Walker Evans, Lewis Hine, Helen Levitt, Cindy Sherman, Alfred Stieglitz, and Weegee. Runs ‘til May 12.

Made To Remember: Art Gallery Of WA, Northbridge Made To Remember is a beautifully considered display of significant Indigenous objects from the State Art Collection. With a diverse selection of works including glass and ceramic objects, textiles and clothing, as well as examples of traditional sculpture, Made to Remember encourages dialogue about the place of an object not only in Indigenous art and culture, but in the broader Australian context. Runs ‘til Jun 30.

Baby Don’t Save Me: Feast Your Eyes Gallery, Fremantle Artist Anya Brock brings Brooklyn to Fremantle with her new collection, a meditation on loneliness, home, and the relationship between the two. Runs from January 25 until February 10.

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Ballet At The Quarry: Quarry Amphitheatre, Floreat Bring a picnic, relax under a starry sky and be immersed in three superbly choreographed works from around the globe as part of the 20th anniversary of Ballet At The Quarry. Showcasing two world premieres, Yes, I’ll Move For You from Cass Mortimer Eipper and Jubilaté from Daniel Roberts, and by the great Glen Tetley the West Australian premiere of a modern Everest, Voluntaries, this special season includes the music of Poulenc, Mozart and the American band, Beirut. Runs Feb 8-Mar 2. Bookings via perthfestival.com.au.

MUSIC

Perth Festival: numerous locations across Perth Bringing together the best in visual arts, theatre, dance, classic and contemporary music, films, opera and more, the Perth Festival is an all encompassing celebration of art. Runs Feb7-Mar 2.

Fringe World Festival: numerous locations across Perth and surrounding suburbs Perth’s Fringe World Festival is set to massively entertain in 2013. Expanding on the success of the first full Fringe Festival in 2012, Perth will be brought to life over four jam-packed weeks with more than 300 events taking place in more than 50 traditional and nontraditional venues throughout the City of Perth and beyond. Runs Jan 25-Feb 24. Bookings through fringeworld.com.au.

Australian Chamber Orchestra: Perth Concert Summerset Arts Festival: City Of Stirling Now in its fifth year the City of Stirling’s premier Hall, Perth Performance Feb 6. Bookings via aco.com.au. cultural celebration the Summerset Arts Festival returns for three weeks in February 2013. Jam packed Elvis Costello & The Imposters: Kings Park Botanic with over 22 free or low cost events, the community Gardens, Perth can look forward to a mix of art exhibitions, live Performance Feb 6. Bookings via Ticketmaster. comedy, kids events, theatrical shows and live music.

Runs Feb 6-23.

Maceo Parker: Chevron Festival Gardens, Perth Performance Feb 7. Bookings via Ticketek.

Archie Roach: Chevron Festival Gardens, Perth Performance Feb 10. Bookings via Ticketek.

Soft Soft Loud Sof t Sof t Loud: The Antihero Suite: Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle Performance Feb 14. Bookings via fac.org.au.

David Lynch Presents Chrysta Bell: Chevron Festival Gardens, Perth Performance Feb 14. Bookings via Ticketek.

Celtic Thunder: Perth Arena, Perth Performance Feb 16. Bookings via Ticketek.

Cliff Richards: Sandalford Estate, Swan Valley Performance Feb 23. Bookings via sandalford.com.

Laurie Anderson & Kronos Quartet: Perth Concert Hall, Perth Performance Feb 27. Bookings via Ticketek.

Western Australian Police Pipe Band, The Quarry Amphitheatre Performance March 13. Tickets via Ticketmaster

FESTIVALS Summer Nights: Blue Room Theatre, Perth Over the last four years The Blue Room Theatre’s Summer Nights has developed as a significant program of eclectic performance, creative development of new work and contemporary theatre experiences. In 2013 Summer Nights will progress once more and feature the premium theatre and performance offerings of the Fringe World, spread across The Blue Room Theatre and PICA performance spaces. Run Jan 25Feb 24. Bookings through blueroom.org.au.

Chrysta Bell

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

THE X-PRESS GUIDE TO EVERYTHING URBAN to ADVERTISE: EYE4@XPRESSMAG.COM.AU food wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t Mexican. It was more like an Aussie-Mex mix. The food that was being served in Perth wasn’t really Tex-Mex either. It was more built on the party atmosphere than on the food itself. The correct ingredients are a lot easier to get now - they weren’t easy to get when we first opened.

There’s a lot of people now who know what they’re doing now - they’ve done their research.”

It’s that drive towards authenticity that is perhaps powering the cuisine’s rise in popularity. For his part, Bauer offers his customers a sit down dining experience that his more in common with Michelin Star restaurants than the cliché of the taco truck. “I think people understand that there’s more to it now.

It can be a nice cuisine when you’re out on a date or something like that - it doesn’t have to be a big party table of 15 people.”

WELCOME TO THE FIESTA Mexican cuisine has seen an unprecedented surge in popularity here in Perth over the last few years, with a number of exciting new venues opening their doors. We thought the best way to investigate this tantalising trend was to put some top Mexican chefs in town under the grill, so to speak.

Mexican food - is there anything finer? Not to Perth palates, apparently; over the last several years, sandgropers have embraced the flavours of Mexico: burritos, quesadillas, tostadas, enchiladas, tacos... the list goes on. Still, the question remains: is this a fundamental shift in Perth tastes, or brief trend?

“I think it’s a lot to do with an evolution of taste,” says Courtney Smith, proprietor of Guzman y Gomez Mexican Taqueria, which has just opened it’s doors on James St in Northbridge. “As Australian people become more and more well travelled globally.”

With over 20 years of experience in the restaurant game, Smith knows what he’s talking about. Indeed, when he first tasted a Guzman y Gomez burrito on a holiday in Sydney, he knew he wanted to bring the wildly popular street food franchise back to Perth.

“You’re gonna have a definite ethnic mix as people move to new countries and bring their culture with them,” he continues. “Some people are business minded and see an opportunity, and so it’s just a matter of time before people embrace the different cuisines and cultures from around the world.

I can tell you that, compared to when I first arrived in Perth 14 years ago, the difference is immense in terms of the offerings. Even in the last few years, it’s been a massive change.”

That seems to be a common theme amongst the Mexican restaurateurs of Perth; as fans of the cuisine, they were disappointed with the range of food available in the city. Take Anna Heifetz, owner and operator of The Flying Taco, located on Alma St in North Perth, opposite The Rosemount Hotel. Proud that her establishment has just celebrated it’s fifth birthday, she too admits that she was disappointed by the range of dining options available when she first moved to Perth.

“The Flying Taco was born out of a need for Mexican food in Perth,” she tells us. “When I moved here eight years ago, there was none. That was unacceptable to me. Growing up in Southern California, I just had an innate love for the food, and

Anna Heifetz - The Flying Taco it just didn’t make sense to me to live somewhere without it. I kind of made it my business to teach myself how to cook proper Mexican.”

The Flying Taco operates under a policy of authenticity, eschewing fusion flavours for real Mexican street food flavours. “We make everything from scratch, which is not the most time efficient thing to do, but I think in terms of taste and quality it shows. We make everything daily.”

When Gavin Bauer first opened That Little Mexican Place, which now boasts locations in North Perth, Victoria Park, and Fremantle, there were a few other Mexican places around, but he found their menus wanting. “There were 12 restaurants. A lot of the ones that were around before us don’t exist any more. Mexican food has definitely become more like Mexican food since we’ve opened. Before, Mexican

WORKOUT TIPS FOR SUMMER We’re smack-bang in the middle of the glorious summer months, and the temperature just keeps rising. Workout routines and exercising don’t stop with the heat, so CHLOE PAPAS has come up with a few tips to stay cool and healthy during the hotter months.

Head for the Waves There’s nothing better than heading down to the beach on a sweltering day to cool off. It’s all too easy to work some exercise into your beach-going routine. Go for a jog, run or power-walk along the beach and then head into the water to cool off – perfect! Swimming is great for burning calories and strengthening and toning muscles, and heading to the beach or pool is an excellent way to exercise and keep out of the heat. Those with a little more skill can go for surfing, body boarding or other types of watersports. Or, why not head down to the beach with a few friends and set up a game of volleyball or water polo?

Timing is Everything If you are somebody who prefers to get your 30 minutes (or more) by pounding the pavement or taking outdoor classes, then timing is important.

Choose early morning or classes to beat the heat, or head out for a run in the evening when it has cooled down. Check out the weather before you head out – running in 42-degree heat is never advisable, and it sure won’t be comfortable!

Keep Hydrated It’s always important to keep hydrated when exercising, but it is absolutely imperative during the www.xpressmag.com.au

hotter months. Extreme heat and humidity means your body becomes dehydrated more rapidly, and dehydration can lead to headaches, cramps, and some cases, severe illness. Make sure you’re drinking plenty of water before, during and after your workout. Some people choose to drink sports drinks and flavoured water when exercising, but unless you are training for the Olympics, it’s best to go for the straight-up H2O to avoid getting dehydrated.

Stick to the Air-Con If you are somebody who doesn’t like the beach, isn’t a runner, and doesn’t take outdoor classes, it’s still important to keep up at least 30 minutes of exercise per day. There are still many ways to exercise without leaving the comfort of the aircon! Joining a gym is a popular option, and gym membership purchases always skyrocket during summer months. Exercising at home is also an option if you have the equipment to do so – it isn’t too expensive to hire a treadmill or cross trainer on a monthly basis, and equipment like weights, skipping ropes and yoga mats are often cheap as chips at department-type stores. Using game-based programs like Wiifit can also work a treat, and there are hundreds of smartphone apps (Fitocracy, My Fitness Pal) dedicated to helping you keep up with your fitness routine.

Israel Ochoa & Gianni Monte - Casa Mexicana

Pork Tacos - That Little Mexican Place Authenticity is also important to Gianni Monte, who opened Casa Mexicana - El Compa on Lake St in Northbridge last July with his business partner, Israel Ochoa. In that regard, the pair have a bit of an edge, in that they are both, in fact, Mexican.

“The idea behind El Compa,” he explains.

“Was two Mexicans who met in Perth and were

working in a Mexican restaurant and decided to break away and do our own thing.”

As for the popularity of the food, Monte sees Mexican flavours are perfectly complimentary to the Australian palate. “I think there is a lot of similarities in terms of the produce that you can get in Australia and what we have home in Mexico. There are similarities in flavours, colours, and textures, so the palates of Aussies are, to a certain extent, similar to a Mexican’s. The Asian influence is what has contributed to that - using shallots, onions, coriander, chillies, and limes in a lot of things. The basic flavours used in Asian cuisine are found in Mexican food, so we find a lot of similarities there.” _TRAVIS JOHNSON

JAVA PALAVER The Darkstar Blend, Darkstar Decaf, and any of the single origins that are sourced to produce these blends may be purchased at the Darkstar website: darkstarcoffee.com.au Last week I popped a cherry. I went to my first cupping, a strange event where a group of grown adults move around an otherwise quiet room, sniffing and slurping coffee from teaspoons as loud as the gale force in their throats will allow. The hosts were Darkstar Coffee, and the experience was a pleasant (if a little strange) one.

Darkstar Coffee is a labour of love from coffee fanatic Tim Fraser and trained chef Duncan Mathews. Over the last ten years Fraser has worked tirelessly to perfect the Darkstar Blend, travelling to Melbourne to learn the secret art of coffee roasting and bringing these lessons back to our shores. This blend is what is known as a ‘specialty’: meaning that throughout production, from soil to cup, there are very few defects. Over the course of an hour Fraser demonstrated to us how beans from around the world are chosen for inclusion in the Darkstar blend.

There were two main stages to the cupping experience. The first began with ‘sniffing’ where each member of the group moved around the table of coffee samples, taking in the smells of each brew. Following this, was the main event: the tasting. Throughout the experience words like ‘chocolatey’and ‘berry’ and the occasional ‘bergamot’ were bandied about. At first this was a little overwhelming (what I could mainly taste was ‘coffee’), however with a little help from the Darkstar duo, the language of coffee tasting started to piece together.

Following tasting came question time, and one of the most discussed issues surrounding coffee production: Fairtrade. Somewhat controversially, Darkstar are not a Fairtrade brand. Instead, as Fraser explained, Darkstar works to develop small-scale, personal, and direct relationships with their growers, with an agent that “knows the names of the families that grow [their] coffee beans” As such, workers that sell to Darkstar are paid more than their non-specialty coffee producing counterparts. Fraser argued that without the regulation of Fairtrade, growers work harder to produce premium product, and that by working this way, Darkstar are able to produce coffee of a specialty grade.

This does seem like a noble enterprise and a genuine attempt from a small business to combine ethical activity with high quality production.

What does concern me is that without a governing organisation such as Fairtrade, the buyer can only

Darkstar Coffee Photo: Sabian Wilde glean a limited understanding of the conditions that the coffee growers are working under, and that information comes from the business themselves rather than an impartial body. This is less of a reflection on Darkstar however, who do seem to be genuinely concerned with the way in which they treat their growers.

Overall, my first cupping was an enjoyable one. Tim and Duncan were lovely and welcoming, if a little caffeinated, and the coffee was to be recommended to anyone looking for a brand that is passionate about delivering a quality product. _LEAH BLANKENDAAL 23

THE X-PRESS GUIDE TO EVERYTHING URBAN to ADVERTISE: EYE4@XPRESSMAG.COM.AU

POP UP SHOPS Fleeting Fashions Here today, gone tomorrow, the pop-up shop phenomenon continues to intrigue Perth, providing unique concept spaces for shoppers and collectors of curios to explore. At a time when designers are finding it harder than ever to pick up stockists due to a downturn in the retail sector, pop-up shops are providing the perfect alternative platform for emerging labels to sell their wares directly to the public, without huge overheads.

Alongside the established pop-up community at 140 William in the heart of the city, there are numerous other pop ups around the CBD and Northbridge, including the two most recent additions - Fashion Cinque at Brookfield Place and the aptly named Pop Up Shop - Northbridge.

Featuring creations by some of our state’s most exciting design talent, including the likes of On A Whim, Wild Horses, The Butcher and the Crow, Catini Designs, Enid Twiglet, Dfaced and La Boheme, Pop Up Shop - Northbridge is a serious style destination, with more dresses and jewels than you can poke a mannequin at.

One of the masterminds behind Pop Up Shop - Northbridge is On A Whim designer Kate Wilks, who believes there are countless benefits for independent designers who get involved with temporary retail initiatives.

“Pop up stores give new and emerging WA labels an opportunity to create their own retail space in areas suited to their label’s clientele,” she muses.

“Being in a pop-up allows us to have face to face communication with customers and provide services most other stores don’t offer - like custom alteration.

We also get direct feedback from customers which proves invaluable to us as young designers.”

Located at 224a William Street, this pop-up only opened its doors last week, which means it’s currently chock-a-block full of amazing WA designer produce ready to be given a new home. But you’ll need to act quick, because the store will close its doors at the end of February.

Pop Up Shop - Northbridge Over on St George’s Terrace and Fashion Cinque at Brookfield Place is attracting a lot of attention for all the right reasons, housing collections from another group of talented local designers Jessica Bratich, The Little White, Little Dove, T-Shirt Company, Siss on Bare, Steph Audino and Jonte.

Proving popular amongst fashionistas and suit sporting corporate types who frequent the Terrace, Fashion Cinque is home to a wide range of garments and accessories all lovingly designed here in Perth. Top picks include Little Dove’s beautiful handmade jewellery, Steph Audino’s gorgeous gowns and Jessica Bratich’s covetable clutches and handbags.

Other pop up shops nearby worth a look-see include Street X at 224B William Street, Northbridge and Look, Feel, Be’s garden party concept store at the Hay Street end of Carillon City. To keep up to date with all things Fashion Cinque and Pop Up Shop - Northbridge visit facebook.com/FashionCinque or facebook.com/ PopUpShopNorthbridge.

Fashion Cinque TEA FOR TÚ Tucked away at the rear of 218A William Street, Tea For Tú is easily Northbridge’s cutest cafe, and with daily dessert specials such as giant raspberry macarons with self saucing vials, it’s shaping up to be one of the tastiest too. Barely big enough to swing a cat in (although you shouldn’t be doing that anyway), this petite tea parlour serves up local brews from Seventh Duchess and Rewind, plus freshly made icecream and pastries, making it a delicious destination perfect for catching up with friends, or conquering unread emails (yay for free wifi!).

Decked out by crafty design duo Dunk N Wagnall, Tea For Tú has a welcoming, unassuming interior, with a rear courtyard that backs on to the uber hip Mechanics Institute.

Accessible from Hook Lane or from Tú on William Street, this terrifically tiny cafe is open seven days a week. Hit up facebook.com/teafortu to keep up to date with all their delicious concoctions and daily specials. _EMMA BERGMEIER

Tea For Tú’s giant raspberry macaron with self saucing vial

Tea For Tú 24

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

S E R I O U S LY

S E X Y

Hail Hailing iliing from San il San Francisco, Francisco deep h house ouse D DJJ and pr producer oducer d Miguel Miguell Migs personifi personiifi fies es the h ch chilled hi d out West hilled Coast scene he helped cultivate in the ‘90s. JO CAMPBELL speakswith him about his relaxed state of mind and the inspiration behind creating the soul-driven grooves he’s loved for.

He might be in his mid-40s, still holding down a non-stop DJing schedule and running a record label, but like the laid-back, deep house sounds he’s so prolifically produced for the past 15 years, Miguel Sundance Steward is hard to ruffle, especially when put on the spot when asked if he’s as sexy as his tunes.

“Thanks! Especially if you mean that in a good way,” he responds without arrogance.“Music is a form of self expression, it’s a creative expression and I don’t try to do anything. With music, you sort of have to let it flow and it has to come from a pure and natural place within you to be able to resonate. And no matter what I try and do, the music just sort of comes out the way it does.”

Not a bad response from an influential player whose worked with big-name artists as diverse as Macy Gray, Lionel Richie and Britney Spears and founded his own label, Salted Music, which has gone on to release many a played record. Steward puts the relaxed nature of his work down to being raised by open-minded parents.

“My folks are really cool, easy going Californian hippies so I was always around a lot of great music - all the same stuff that I love and listen to today, actually. I remember being a kid and going through my dad’s record collection and he had all this amazing music. I was just mesmerised by digging through his records, playing his records and feeling his records. They listened to everything from the Stones to Zeppelin to Jimi Hendrix and a lot of reggae. So a lot of classic rock and a lot of reggae - that’s the sort of stuff I still listen to and love today that I suppose helped shape and mould my tastes and musical preferences.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 28

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together for so many years. She’s always great pleasure to work with because we both love all sorts of music and she’s really open, so whether it’s a little hint of disco or a little hint of soul, we’re always on the same page and we’re always open to each other’s thoughts. So it’s very easy to write material together.”

And Steward certainly has written a lot of material, enough to be asked last year to choose a selection of his work to be released as part of the House Masters Compilation series on Defected ITH, a process that Steward says wasn’t that easy. “When they approached me do that compilation, I found it kinda difficult to go through and choose the material because you’re only allowed to put it on two discs and sometimes you want to put some things on that aren’t as easy to licence from other labels and what not,” he says.

“But overall it was all about choosing a random sort of diverse selection of material and putting it together to showcase some of the styles that you’re into and some of the work that you’ve done over the years. I don’t really listen to all that older stuff because, to be honest, that older stuff, I did a really long time ago and I had to do it on a small budget and I rushed it you know. So it’s tough to judge my old material, because a lot of it, I did on the fly. You know, a lot of that old stuff I did in just a matter of hours and looking back at it now, I think I should have spent some more time, and that I should have done this or should have done that and it’s a bit too much over-analysis.”

Now in his 40s, Steward is still receiving notoriety, recently being nominated as Beatport’s Best Deep House Producer, and is still inspired to produce.“I’ve been spending much time in my studio writing new music and it’s really exciting but you know, as you get a little bit older or whatever - and Miguel Migs I hate to use those words - , you mature a little bit.

Steward’s third studio album, Outside the Skyline, You learn a little bit from what you’ve done in the released in 2011 on Om Records, moved beyond past and take all that experience to achieve more house into more dub and reggae territory. “I love and do better. Just spending more time on the sound bass-driven grooves. I’m connected to its simplicity and songs and being in the place that I am at the and the effects,” he explains. “And it’s not so far from moment, which is a really relaxed state, you end up house music, if you think about it. The steady beat, the enjoying what you’re doing and the process just bassline-driven element as well as the delays - you flows more naturally. You can get a lot of really great can really dub house music up. So I enjoy throwing things done when you’re in that place. So whether it’s in some of those elements and working with reggae writing new songs or working on my DJ set or with new vocalists, I’m really gliding on it all right now. artists.”

“I really feel that I haven’t produced my Collaborating with vocalists is another way Steward finds to add depth to his music, having best work yet. I’m still reaching there.” worked with original disco diva Evelyn ‘Champagne’ King, reggae legends Capleton, Half-Pint and Meshell Ndegeocello, but his main staple is vocalist Lisa Shaw. » MIGUEL MIGS “Oh yeah, I love Lisa. Lisa’s great, she’s one » FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15 @ VILLA of my old school collaborators and we’ve worked

PUNK ‘N’ BASS

Expect some wonky live hip hop from the last instalment of Sets on the Beach (End of Summer Party), with headliners Hermitude all geared up to perform a live set. These guys are pure genius in and out of the studio and wowed us with last year’s award winning LP Hyperparadise, with the Flume remix finding its way into the Triple J Hottest 100 at #18. They’ll be joined at Scarborough Beach Amphitheatre on Sunday, March 17 by Strange Talk, Yes You, Twinsy, Drop Out Orchestra, Luke Million and turntablist DJ Lord from Public Enemy. Second release tickets are $58+bf - get ‘em from setsonthebeach.oztix.com.au.

MOVE TO THIS

Tickets to the first Movement Festival will go on sale next Monday, February 11 with bad boy US hip hop legend, Nas, to headline. The Queens lyricist is also co-curating the national festival and will be joined by our own boys Bliss N Eso, who Nas is currently recording an album with. They’ll be joined by 2 Chainz, Chiddy Bang, Joey Bada$$, Angel Haze and Spit Syndicate at Red Hill Auditorium on Tuesday, April 30. Watch out!

Stanton Warriors

CLAP YOUR HANDS

Easter long weekend is shaping up to be a huge one. Local champions of fine drum’n’bass, The Roller Crew, have confirmed they’ll be putting on Easter Roller at Rosemount, while local hip hop lyricist Sydney electro house duo, The Potbelleez, are Drapht will be ending his national tour at the same headed our way Saturday, February 23. Best known venue. If that’s not enough, those UK breaks gods for their singles Don’t Hold Back, Hello and From Stanton Warriors are set to play Villa on Sunday, The Music, one wonders why they aren’t mega March 31. These guys are regular visitors to our fair internationally famous. They’ll be performing a DJ city - probably cos we can’t get enough. They’ll be set at Joondalup’s The Dusk Lounge. Tickets are joined at Villa by Far Too Loud and Micah. Might $20+bf from moshtix.com.au. have to think about booking some annual leave?

The Potbelleez

DON’T HOLD BACK

PARTNERS IN RHYME

For veteran drum’n’bass producer Tom Withers, aka Klute, there’s not much that’s new under the sun. He’s a straight talker with a staunchly independent outlook on music.

It all makes sense when you find out he used to be a drummer for a punk band in the ‘80s, as SIMON HAMPSON discovers.

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Nas

BEACH-ITUDE

MAGICAL NOISE EXPERIMENT

KLUTE

Tom Withers is returning to Australia this month along with one of his Commercial Suicide label artists, Dutch producer Nymfo. He loves the “relaxed attitude, great Asian food and great record stores,” in Australia and has toured here many times before.

Music fashions change constantly, so it’s a testament to his determination that he’s been going since ‘95, but he’s scathing about the industry when it comes to reflecting on how he would deal with things if he had his time again. His advice? “Be more of a dick, because that’s the language most of the music industry speaks.”

So was there more of a political message in the songs of his punk band, The Stupids, and is his music as Klute less direct? “Only in that the majority of my Klute music is instrumental,” he reflects.“There wasn’t a particular ‘message’ with The Stupids, to be honest. Maybe a touch of teen anxiety and social alienation, otherwise it’s all just music.”

Withers still feels that punk made a lasting impression. “I suppose it has an effect on my whole life rather than just with music. Punk taught me to question things. Not just in a reactionary way but positively too. I guess musically it allowed me a bit more mental freedom. Often I don’t feel I need to ask permission to try ideas out in tunes. I’ve always just tried to do my own thing.”

With such a long history as a producer it’s easy to get stuck in habitual ways of doing things.

With the evolution of laptops and mobile production possibilities, there are more opportunities to create music on the road. “I keep trying to do stuff on the move but I’ve always chosen to look out the window and experience life when I travel rather than work on music,” he says. “However, the iPad is changing things by making it seem so much more intuitive and fun. You can literally turn it on and blast

Hermitude

Mail order brides, sitcom raps, and booty. These are just are few of the alchemical substances that go into the rap/comedy act that is Magical Noise Experiment. NICK SWEEPAH reports.

Klute away for a few minutes instead of playing a game.

I’m enjoying Nano studio, Animoog and Samplr. I think it’s become a serious instrument now.”

There has been a new Klute album almost every second year and Withers has been working hard on a new one to come out this year. “I’d say I’m about halfway through the process and I’m really enjoying it,” he reveals. “I’ve done a few collaborations over the last few months. A tune with Survival and Silent Witness for their LP called Visitation and a couple of tunes with Prolix. I’ve definitely got some collaborations in mind for my LP too.”

Withers spent last year concentrating on his label, Commercial Suicide, and 2013 will continue to be a busy year. “First off is a single from Skeptical called Static, then a single from a new comer from the Ukraine called Detail, a brand new number from Nymfo, and something from Phil Tangent.”

» KLUTE » BASS AGENDA 2 » SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9 @ VILLA

Perth based duo Magical Noise Experiment recently released a video for the first single from their debut, self-titled album. It’s called The Online Bride, and the description on their Youtube channel explains that: ‘Love can be a dark and unforgiving place, as we soon found out after ordering our dream brides from a completely legit online service’, which begs the question - was it inspired by a true story?

“Um,” chuckles MC C Sage Hart, “Sort of. I lived in Hong Kong for a few years and I saw some very interesting cases of it. Let’s just say that in some casinos and nightclubs I saw some very disturbing images.”

It’s in this world, where disturbing images can cue comical tales and inappropriate laughter, that C Sage Hart and his partner in rhyme Hugo Perlskog find their voice. With Hart’s background in film and stand-up comedy, and Hugo’s background in DJing and producing mixtapes, the duo met through mutual friends and bonded over the idea of a “hip hop act, with a nice, comedic, storytelling vibe.”

Hip hop’s always had it’s comedians, from the likes of Slick Rick and Kool Keith, right through to Eminem. MNE’s high concept songs and videos however, are more ambitiously focused in a style similar to The Lonely Island. “I’d been looking for a project that was a bit more light hearted and fun, a bit more modern than the stigma of ‘90’s rap, that has to be something posing and gangsta,” explains Perlskog. Hart expands; “I like to see every project that I’m doing as entertainment, first and foremost. I think my inspiration comes from classic comedians like Richard Pryor, and Eddie Murphy to a lesser extent, who were entertainers but told amazing stories, and made them funny. Which is what I hope our stuff comes out as, and I think it does. Almost like a comedic journey, but a story at the same time.”

Perlskog however, brings another

Magical Noise Experiment element into the team’s inspiration: his education in advertising. “The reason I think I started getting into rap at the age of eight or 10 was the wordplay and the fun. So while C Sage Hart is more focused on the storytelling, I’m more focused on the use of words and the plays with language. So, people that have inspired me are of course people that work a lot with that, like Kanye West for example, has perfected that art of using pop culture references.

But then again, great writers and advertising people such as David Ogilvy just working with words and delivering a story or a message. That’s an ingenious thing that I want to get at, that inspires me.”

While their ideas could potentially alienate fans from either the hip hop or comedy crowd, MNE are uniquely conscious of their audience.

“We understand the concepts of audiences and accessibility,” explains Perlskog, “because you want people to understand and relate to the stories you’re telling.” Hart chimes back in, echoing the chemistry of the pair on their recordings, and summing it all up “I think our creed is: if people are paying their hard earned money to see us or hear us, we want them to be nodding their head to the beat, but also with a big grin on their face.”

» MAGICAL NOISE EXPERIMENT » THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7 @ THE GOOD SHEPHERD X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

FELIX CARTAL NO TRICKS EDM

Combining pop-inspired melodies and aggro electro breaks is Felix Cartal’s modus operandi. Taelor Deitcher (to his friends and family), catches up with JO CAMPBELL for a chat about his latest album and something about our boy Flume.

After a busy year racking up 200,000 plus air miles, Deitcher is back in his Vancouver condo working on a new EP to add to his growing collection of releases since signing to Dim Mak in 2009. Since then he’s gone on to release two LPs 2010’s Popular Music and last year’s Different Faces. Touring with The Bloody Beetroots, Wolfgang Gartner, and most recently, Clockwork, has also kept the 25 year-old busy.

“At first it was kinda hectic but now it’s just part of my life,” Deitcher reflects.“It kinda stresses me out more when I’m not on the road now. I have this weird theory that the busier I am, the more I get done because I use my spare time more wisely. If I have months to work on something it’s really hard to focus. So I think that having the travelling lifestyle has been helpful as a weird motivation.”

The main review of Different Faces is that it posits a more pop vibe than Deitcher’s previous offerings, an observation that he agrees with. “And that’s what I wanted. I find a lot of dance music today is a cool producer trick and there’s lots of interesting sounds, but I think the songs that will really last are the ones that can played in a multitude of ways, you know if someone played it on guitar and just sang along. That’s the kind of music I want to play.”

One of the most successful singles from the album to date is Don’t Turn On The Lights, which sports a film clip made by Deitcher and lifelong friend David McDonald. The clip features three scenarios perhaps reminiscent of Deitcher’s earlier years, and, fittingly, was partly filmed in his parent’s home where he grew up.

“We literally did it all together and came up with the concept together. The party scene was actually filmed in my parent’s living room in their home. It was a family affair because we only needed a thirty person party so we thought we didn’t really need to pay to rent a house just for that. So I just hijacked my parent’s living room for the night.

Felix Cartal “The concept was sort of about all those high intensity situations that, when looking back, it seems weird that you got really nervous about. And with those three vignettes - I wanted them to represent the sort of things you used to get in trouble for when you were younger.”

Deitcher has developed a penchant for collaborating with strange bed fellows, such as Maja Ivarsson of The Sounds on last years’ Tonight.

“I’m really open to who’ll I’ll work with. That’s the thing that excites me most about being an electronic producer is that I never feel pigeon-holed. Collaborating with someone who is totally unlikely gives a new spin on something that you’ve done before.”

In terms of the future, Deitcher is predicting a middle ground in the world of EDM - a transition he says Flume has already nailed. “When I’m producing, I’m trying to write stuff that’s nice to listen to when you’re on your iPod but I think that in my DJ set I’m a little more aggro.

“I think that’s gonna change soon. Music is changing right now - I feel that people are getting exhausted! People are maturing a little bit, now that EDM has been around for a while. Flume is doing really cool things. Someone needs to find the middle ground between chilled out, nice to listen to music and translate it into a really exciting live show. I think that’s the way it’s going to go.”

» FELIX CARTAL » HABITAT » SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10 @ THE COURT

CALYX & TEEBEE UNDERGROUND POPULARITY

With an illustrious history within the underground of drum’n’bass spanning twenty years, it seems fair to say that Torgeir Byrknes (TeeBee) is a much-adored figure alongside partner in crime, Calyx (Larry Cons).

MIKI MCLAY catches up with Byrknes ahead of the duo’s Australian club dates.

It’s a rare stretch of time off for busy DJ and producer TeeBee with the recent release of his and fellow drum’n’bass stalwart Calyx’s second record together, All or Nothing, and subsequent fast-paced touring, the duo have had a chance to reflect on the years of painstaking effort that went into producing the highly-successful, critically-acclaimed album.

“When you look at it in retrospect you realise what you could have done different, in terms of sound selection, structure, that stuff - but that’s what’s good about it, because it means we’re always trying to better ourselves in every aspect,” Byrknes muses.

“I must say, the time spent on it was crucial to us, as a learning curve, to sort of get our craft in the right department for us. And looking back on what it’s done for us, it’s amazing.”

Managing the difficult task of releasing an LP that pleases the fickle tastes of underground purists whilst finding its way into the realm of the mainstream dance music community is no mean feat, but Byrknes remains unfazed by all the fuss. “When the music you make is appreciated it means a lot to you, obviously,” he says, sounding extremely humble.“At the end of the day we do it for ourselves and we always have, but it is how we make our living and it is our chosen path, so of course it’s nice to at least get some financial benefit from it all!

“That said, as far as the popularity of drum’n’bass goes, we’ve seen it all before - the ‘90s, for example… a club like Metalheadz would be filled up with everyone from Spice Girls to Bjork to David Bowie.

It’s nothing new, all the majors signed up - people like Photek, Dillinja, Goldie… they all got great big shiny record deals signing to labels that didn’t really know how to handle the music, and the inevitable happened.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from past mistakes, it’s that the artists releasing the big tracks know how to choose their labels wisely.” www.xpressmag.com.au

Calyx & TeeBee Speaking of choosing labels wisely, the relationship that the duo share with drum’n’bass’ seminal imprint RAM Records, headed by legendary spinner Andy C, remains as strong as ever – despite the serious demand for the duo’s talents, as Byrknes explains.

“We had loads of offers on the table - not just from drum’n’bass labels but indie labels and majors, but RAM really understands us. Their track record with the likes of Sub Focus, Chase and Status and all the other guys on the label is incredible, and what they’ve achieved in the past 20 years of being a label - they’re one of the pillars of dance music, still going strong, even better than they have in certain aspects. We took our album to Scott (Red One) and Andy ‘cause even when we started out we said we’d play the album for Andy first, as a courtesy for someone who’s always been a massive support to us.”

It’s not all serious business for the two, however – the key to a long-lasting friendship and working partnership, it seems. “On tour, we’re really professional, and actually, we spend most of our time apart,” he says, surprisingly.“We don’t even sit together on planes! It’s vital to us to keep that sense of self when you’re with someone for that long. Maybe go out for dinner or meet up before heading to the club.

“In the studio – it’s a whole other story.We do joke around non-stop. Especially when we’ve been up for so long you’re ready to fall over, it really gets intense as far as the ludicrousness that comes out of us. We’re serious about our music – just not about the process of getting to the end result!”

» CALYX & TEEBEE » FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8 @ SHAPE 29

BIRD ON A WIRE

WEDNESDAY 06/02 Bar Orient – DJ Ben Renna Boulevard Tavern – Wub Wub Wednesday Capitol – Harlem Wednesdays Captain Stirling - Fiveo Connections – DJs Joby /JJ /Reuben Flying Scotsman – Raaghe Flying Scotsman (Defectors) – Bodega ft Klean Kicks Geisha Bar – Roulette ft Dart & Devo/Deflo/Darren D/David James Leederville Hotel – DJ Slick/DJ Reuben/DJ ViSon Llama Bar – Jo 19 Mustang – DJ Giles Niche Bar – Frankie Button Newport Hotel – Tom Drummond/ Angry Buda/Mr Phat/Wot Evs Rosemount Hotel – DJ Anton Maz Sovereign Arms – Jeremy Stark The Bird – Seventh Son/Mister Kicks The Grand Central - DJ ANG3L The Velvet Lounge - Face

THURSDAY 07/02 Boulevard Tavern – 151 Thursdays Old Skool R&B Claremont Hotel - Institution Thursdays ft DJs Bryn Jones/ James Thorne Eve Nightclub – Retro Thursdays DJ Tony Allen Flying Scotsman –Gidget Duck/ Muldoon Wing Geisha Bar – Jackmaster Leisure Inn – DJ Peta

GEISHA

THE COURT

Llama Bar – Danni Boi/ Charlie Bucket/Skooby/Klean Kicks Mullaloo Beach Hotel - DJ John Paul/ DJ Slick Mustang – DJ James MacArthur Newport Hotel – DJ Tim Paramount –DJ Jordan Rosemount Hotel – Sons Of Rico DJs The Avenue – Jon Ee The Craftsman – Fiveo The Deen – Chase The Sun ft DJ Flex/ DJ Nano/ DJ Surge/ DJ Don Migi The Good Shepherd – Magical Noise Experiment The Grand Central – Roger Smart The Queens – DJ Riki Toucan – DJ Matty J

FRIDAY 08/02 Admiral Hotel – DJ Beats & MC Amplifier –DJ Jamie Mac Ambar – Challenger Ready ft Genga vs JS/ Philly Blunt vs Black Laces/Oli vs JMC/ Dead Easy vs Carla/Tonic vs Teel EL Bar One Twenty – DJ Grandmaster Vicious Boheme Bar - DJ Majiika Boulevard Tavern – Habit@ ft DJ Andyy/(6-8) Sea Level Brass Monkey - DJ Viktor/DJ James Ess/Green George Brighton Hotel – Peta C5 – Underground ft DJ K-La Capitol – Retro Mash

Capitol (Upstairs) – I Love ‘90s Claremont Hotel – The Soul Purpose/Tea King Club Bayview – Fresh Devilles Pad – Mondo DJs Eastern Hotel – DJ Munch Empire Bar – James Shipstone Eurobar - DJ Fat Albert/DJ zOOM Eve Nightclub – DJ Don Migi Flying Scotsman – Rok Riley Flying Scotsman (Defectors) – Back To Mono DJs Ginger Nightclub – Mondo Fridays Lakers Tavern –Grizzly And Friends Library - Dorcia Llama Bar – Jim Pearson Malt Supper Club – DJ Scotty J Metro Freo – Frat House Fridays ft Death Disco DJs Mint Nightclub – Club Retro Mojos Bar – Hussle Hussle ft Ozi Batla/Creed Birch & Rob Shaker/ Cortext/Childs Play/Ravs Mustang – Swing DJ/ DJ James MacArthur Newport Hotel – Scotty Boy ft Sardi/Evan Niche Bar – DJ Jonny Zimber North Fremantle Bowling Club – DJ Mark Davies Paramount - DJ John/DJ Jordan Rocket Room – Coyote Ugly Sail & Anchor - Balcony Beatz Shape - Calyx & Teebee ft Ekko & Sidetrack/Voltron/Eyesdown/Genga Sovereign Arms – Fiveo The Avenue – Jon Ee The Carine – Shane Hewson The East End Bar – Az-T The Generous Squire – Tastes Like Chicken The Grand – The Jinx Project The Saint - Abstar The Shed - Krank/ DJ Glenn 20 The Velvet Lounge – The Community ft Vishnu/The Boost Hero Man/Leon Osborn/Lowaski/ Ylem Tiger Lil’s – Paul Malone/Adam Kelly Toucan – Misschief Whale & Ale - DJ Spinback

SATURDAY 09/02

M.A.N.D.Y.

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Admiral Hotel – DJ Beats & MC Ambar – Japan 4 ft DNGRFLD/ Bezwun/Tee EL/Philly Blunt/Wish Amplifier –Eddie Electric Bar One Twenty – Little Nicky Bar Orient – DJ Troy Boheme Bar – Carte Blanche/DJ Sneakee Brass Monkey - DJ Peta (downstairs)/ DJ Jewel (upstairs)

THE PARAMOUNT

Brighton Hotel - Misschief Capitol – Death Disco Capitol (Upstairs) – Cream Of The ‘80s ft DJ Ryan Claremont Hotel - Safari Club Bay View – DJ Roger Smart Devilles Pad – Johnny Nandez Hammond Explosion/Razor Jack Dusk Lounge – Scotty Boy Empire Bar –James Shipstone Eurobar – DJ Fat Albert/DJ Zoom Eve Nightclub – DJ Crazy Craig Flying Scotsman – Andrei Maz Flying Scotsman (Defectors) – Future Wives Club Gilkisons Dance Studio – Hard Kandy ft Scott Alert/Josh Lang HMS Lissa, Baileys Marine - Radio Caroline - The Boat That Rocked ft Stratosfunk/Beehives Gogo/DJ Gareth Bird/MC Robin Chapple MLC Leederville Hotel –DJ Vison Library – DJ Victor/DJ Riki Liquid Nightclub - DJ Klar55/ DJ Stevie M Llama Bar – DJ Reuben Malt Supper Club – DJ Scotty/ Cheecho Brothers Metro City – Rhythm & Dance Saturdays Metro Freo – Roger Smart/DJ Wazz/ Ben Carter Metro Freo (Upstairs) – I Love 80s 90s DJ DTuck Mint Nightclub – Pop Life ft DJ Aaron/ AJ Mullaloo Beach Hotel – DJ Danny Mustang – Rockabilly DJ/ DJ James MacArthur Newport Hotel – Tahli Jade/Tom Drummond/Sardi/Lucas Norfolk Basement – EightOEight VI ft LoFo/BLNT/Whoa!gan Niche Bar – Frankie Button/ Cee/ Jonny Zimber/Adam Kelly Paramount- DJ John/DJ Jordan Perth Cultural Centre - St Jeromes Laneway Fesitval ft Flume/ EL-P/ High Highs/Jessie Ware/Nicolas Jaar/ SHLOHMO Rosemount Hotel –DJ Carlsani Sail & Anchor – Catch The Child’s Play DJs Sovereign Arms – The Jinx Project The Avenue – Jon Ee The Boheme – Amanda Power The Causeway – Luke Miguel/Clint Turner The Cornerstone – Mark Circleworkz The Craftsman – Michael Brittliff The East End Bar – Little Tim/DJ John Carder/DJ Loki/DJ Janoek

Gridlok The Generous Squire – On Tap ft DJ James Nutley The Grand Central – Armee The Queens – Fiveo The Saint – ANG3L The Shed –DJ Andyy/ Huge The Velvet Lounge – Trap City by The Backyard Project ft The Barons Red/ Zeus/Vortex/Donald Krunk The Wembley – Lokie Shaw Tiger Lil’s – DJ Bojan/Benjamin Sebastian Toucan – DJ Samuel Spencer Villa – Bass Agenda 2 ft Klute/ Gridlok/ Prolix/ Nymfo/ Rregula/ Voltron/

SUNDAY 10/02 Claremont Hotel – James Thorne/ Dan Delstra Club Bay View - Jon Ee Empire Bar –DJ Riki/ DJ Victor Eve Nightclub –DJ Slick Flying Scotsman – Nathan J/ Nizbet/ Pasha/ Chris Ginger Nightclub – DJ Rudebean Mustang – DJ Rockin Rhys Newport Hotel – Tim Nelson

The Avenue – Az-T The Court - Habitat Garden Party ft Felix Cartel / M.A.N.D.Y/ Butch/ Edu Imbernon The East End Bar –DJ Gold Finger/ AZ-T The Grand – Lockie Shaw/Philly Blunt The Queens – Samuel Spencer The Saint - DJ Anaru The Shed – James Wilson and more

MONDAY 11/02 Eve Nightclub - DJ Don Migi Llama Bar – Jo 19 Malt Supper Club – Industry Night The Deen – DJ Birdie

TUESDAY 12/02 Bar Orient - DJ Lyndon High Road Hotel – DJ Matty J Llama Bar – Charlie Bucket Victoria Park Hotel – DJ Melvin

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

AMPLIFIER/CAPITOL

WOLFGANG GARTNER

VILLA

FRAT HOUSE FRIDAYS

METRO FREO

IN THE THIS WEEK

COMING UP

Jackmaster Miguel Migs Thursday, February 7 @ Geisha Friday, February 15 @ Villa Bar Lunice ft Kit Pop/Benny P/ Sink Or Swim Boat Party ft Dr Space Morgan Then/Mackie/Austy Friday, February 15 @ Geisha Friday, February 8 @ Barrack Bar St Jetty Ambar Alley Birthday Challenger Ready ft Genga Carnivale ft Micah/4by4/ vs JS/ Philly Blunt vs Black Beatsmack,/Benny P/ Laces/Oli vs JMC/ Dead Easy DNGRFLD/Genga/Len vs Carla/Tonic vs Teel EL Bones/Marko Paulo/Mr B/ Friday, February 8 @ Ambar MR eD/Ol Wright/Oli/Philly Blunt/Qwerk/Tapeheads/ Calyx & Teebee ft Ekko Tee EL/Tonic & Sidetrack/Voltron/ Eyesdown/Genga Friday, February 15 @ Ambar Friday, February 8 @ Shape Bar Phetsta ft MC Xsessiv/ Scotty Boy Ekko & Sidetrack/Illusiv & Friday, February 8 @ Newport Dvise/Motion Hotel Friday, February 15 @ Shaoe St Jeromes Laneway Fesitval ft Flume/ EL-P/High Highs/ Jessie Ware/Nicolas Jaar/ SHLOHMO Saturday, February 9 @ Perth Cultural Centre

Future Classic Showcase ft Scenic/ Panama/ Flight Facilities/ Mitzi Saturday, February 16 @ The Chevron Festival Gardens

Blawan & Huxley Saturday, February 23 @ Shape

Savage Skulls The Potbelleez Saturday, March 9 @ Ambar Saturday, February 23 @ The Dusk Lounge Sets On The Beach ft Hermitude Mac Miller Sunday, March 17 @ Saturday, February 23 @ Scarborough Beach Metro Freo Amphitheatre t Speakeasy ft Clubfeet/ What So Not Saturday, February 23 @ Villa Chance Waters Thursday, February 28 @ Newport Hotel & Saturday, March 2 @ Civic Hotel Yolanda Be Cool Friday, March 1 @ Newport Hotel Slaughterhouse Saturday, March 2 @ Metro City

Future Music Festival ft The Prodigy/ The Stone Roses/AVICII/ PSY/ Dizzee Flosstradamus Rascal/ Bloc Party/ Azealia Radio Caroline - The Boat Banks/ /Rita Ora/ Boys That Rocked ft Stratosfunk/ Saturday, February 16 @ Shape Noize (live)/ Hardwell/ Beehives Gogo/DJ Gareth The Temper Trap/ Fun./ Bird/MC Robin Chapple MLC Madeon/ Rudimental/ Paradise Found Saturday, Fberuary 9 @ HMS Ellie Goulding/ Steve Presents Heatwave Dance Lissa, Baileys Marine Saturday, February 16 @ The Aoki/ Alesso/ Gypsy & The Cat/ A-Trak (live)/ Feed Bird Bass Agenda 2 ft Klute/ Me (live)/ Zeds Dead/ Gridlok/ Prolix/ Nymfo/ Kill The Noise/ DJ Fresh Marcell Dettmann Rregula/ Voltron/ MCs: XSESSIV, Bear & Stylee Sunday, February 17 @ Shape (live)/ Nervo/ Zane Lowe/ Borgore/ Sven Vath/ Saturday, February 9 @ Villa Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Richie Hawtin/ Ricardo Villalobos/ Seth Troxler/ Habitat Garden Party ft Felix ft UPNUP Magda/ Cosmic Gate ft Cartel / M.A.N.D.Y/ Butch/ Sunday, February 17 @ Emma Hewitt/ W&W/ Edu Imbernon Chevron Festival Gardens tyDi/ Andy Moor/ Super8 Sunday, February 10 @ The Court Judge Jules ft Seans Tyas/ & Tab/ Ben Gold/ The Stafford Brothers/ Timmy Illuminor/German Trumpet/ Tenzin/ Bombs Sunday, February 17 @ The Away Court Sunday, March 3 @ Arena Joondalup Bass Culture ft Joe Mac/A10bra/JS/Genga Sampology Thursday, February 21 @ Friday, March 8 @ Newport Hotel Leederville Hotel

Jackmaster

JACKMASTER THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7 @ GEISHA

www.xpressmag.com.au

State Of Mind Saturday, March 9 @ Villa

DJ Yoda ft Stickybuds Friday, February 22 @ Villa

Smokey’s Tour ft Urthboy Friday, March 8 @ Mojos

Clockwork-RL Grime Friday, February 22 @ Ambar

Smokey’s Tour ft Urthboy Saturday, March 9 @ Amplifier

Ministy Of Sound Clubbers Guide To 2013 ft Denzal Park/Uberkak’d Friday, March 22 @ Villa The Uni-Verse Tour ft Drapht Thursday, March 28 @ The Rosemount Roller Easter lineup TBC Thursday, March 28 @ The Rosemount Jason Lema Friday, March 29 @ Mullaloo Beach Hotel PVT Saturday, March 30 @ The Bakery Stanton Warriors ft Far Too Loud/Micah Sunday, March 31 @ Villa

The Presets (photo by Emma Mackenzie)

THE PRESETS NO SELL OUTS

The xx Tuesday and Wednesday, April 1 - 2 @ Metro City

Parachute Youth/ Light Year/ THE PRESETS Metropolis Fremantle Thursday, January 31, 2013

Jason Lema Friday, April 4 @ The Dusk Lounge

Aussie electro pop was loudly represented in Freo last Thursday to a sold out show that, in view of how many cables and electronic devices were in use, surprisingly suffered no technical difficulties.

Best known for his tracks Sex Education and 5 Girls, Sydney-sider Light Year delivered two separate half-hour DJ sets with impressive technical skill. Both sets were putting out the party vibe, but the layout of the stage to accommodate the two live acts on the bill dictated that the DJ was completely off the side lines and not visible to the crowd. They may as well have just gotten a CD and pressed play for all the performance factor this enabled.

Pumped by their #33 placement in Triple J’s Hottest 100 with their only release Can’t Get Better Than This, Johnny and Matt from Parachute Youth were obviously loving their first performance in Perth, despite the fact that the audience was yet to swell. The mechanics of their show, whilst being similar to the

Movement Festival ft Nas/2 Chainz/Chiddy Bang/ Joey Badda$$/Angel Haze/ Spit Syndicate Tuesday, April 30 @ Red Hill Auditorium Groovin The Moo Festival ft Alison Wonderland/DZ Deathrays/Example/Flume/ Midnight Juggernaughts/ Pez/Seth Sentry/Shockone/ Tuka w/ Ellesquire/ Urthboy/DJ Woody’s Big Phat Mixtape/Yacht/ Yolanda Be Cool Saturday, May 11 @ Hay Park Bubury

headliners’ with mostly pre-programmed synth sounds, some live percussion and energetic vocals, lacked depth and, except for their rendition of their position winning dancefloor banger, failed to completely impress.

It may have been their first club tour in four years but The Presets weren’t showing any signs of weathering. Starting with the Kubrick-esk Push from their latest album Pacifico, the duo took their set from a slow build-up to thomping techno, offering the crowd all the expected favourites in between. Preferring to let the music speak for itself, Julian Hamilton spent minimal time talking on the mic while Kim Moyes delighted with the occasional making of eyes. Hamilton never faltered energy-wise and played many a melodic riff live.

A particular highlight was a continuous selection mid-set that blended Boys In Love and My People to create some real galactic, techno inspired ecstasy. Even though these guys have referenced the name of their band to denote the use of digital synth sounds, the product is often explosively analogue, and the club’s sound system used it well. The visual design for the show was masterminded by Martin Phillips, who has done the same for Daft Punk, consisting of four large screens offering digital images synched to the audio.

To be honest, Phillips’ presentation was pretty low-key and was thankfully upstaged by Hamilton and Moyes’ dynamism.

» JO CAMPBELL

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32

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

THEE OH SEES

Thee Oh Sees - Photo: Daniel Grant

The Long Lost Brothers The Bakery, Perth.

Saturday, February 2, 2013.

Seeing a band for the first time is an interesting experience. That’s part of why I do what I do. My theory is be honest: go in blind. Don’t go do a bunch of half-arsed research and come away with a boring read. Just go in and describe what you see. Easy.

But in the case of Thee Oh Sees it’s necessary to deal with a few pretensions. For example, why would a band from San Francisco want to be named after Orange County – the most conservative

AMPLIFIER

Get ready for Tuesday night! Heavy music’s most established and innovative band, Converge is in Australia. They are considered one of the most intense, important, and influential metal/hardcore bands of all time. The band’s latest album All We Love We Leave Behind is their best album to date, in a catalogue that’s celebrated to an almost religious degree by countless fans of punk, metal and hardcore. Joining them on the dates will be US supergroup Old Man Gloom. with special guests Forstora. They are playing this Tuesday, February 12. Tickets from heatseeker.com.au

INDI BAR

Oka is a celebration of Australian cultures, with a very present and powerful indigenous overtone running throughout the music. Electrified didgeridoo, heavy slide guitar, soaring flutes and juju rhythms are some of the many ingredients in this Australian sound that’s matured over a decade. Showcasing their latest studio album Milk & Honey, that hints to be their most exciting yet, they play The Indi Bar this Wednesday, February 6, with support from Simmo T. Tickets are selling fast, entry is $18 presale through okamusic. com or $20 at the door from 8pm.

and, therefore, worst place in America – a place that is so synonymous with being insufferably bourgeois that it has since inspired one of the worst television programs in history?

The weird spelling is even more infuriating.

Yet they come highly recommended, and have been called the best live band ever – an extremely, extremely huge call – especially in Perth where the quality of live music is uncommonly high. This band was going to have to be pretty impressive.

Local supergroup The Long Lost Brothers took to the stage with consummate ease but very little in the way of pyrotechnics. It was necessary to get closer to the stage and have a bit more of a gander to really get one’s head around the complexities at play.

This was no one-sound-wonder band.

Here an epic guitar lick, there a vocal snippet. Was (guitarist/vocalist) Andrew Ryan singing about the Navajo? Indeed he was. And then there’s Snakes & Ladders, a discordant, relatively heavy post-punk piece that attracted and captivated.

The excitement leading up to Thee Oh Sees was almost palpable. ‘Dude, seriously they have 17 albums and never stop touring,’ said the crowd, ‘you’ll love them.’ The first thing that suckered me in was the dude playing bass. His name’s Petey Dammit!, and he looked like a skinhead version of a lumberjack.

But it was his playing that was truly captivating.

The constant rhythmic bass pulse made me wonder how he kept up the pace. And eventually I realised – of course! – Petey Dammit! was pumping his normal guitar through an octave pedal to make it sound like a bass. The advantage of doing this is extra dexterity and stamina.

Both he and the polite, casually cool psychedelic man on guitar/vocals held their guitars very high on their chests, like John Lennon. They were the most unlikely band in history. And still they pummeled forth, indecipherable vocals from John Dwyer, melodically underpinned by vocal/ percussionist Brigid Dawson. Psychedelic post-punk garage rock.

Eventually, I found a wall out of the way near the front of the stage. Thee Oh Sees played for an hour or more, but the feeling was that they could have gone all night, and it would only have been awesome. I don’t think anybody walked away from this show unhappy. Greatest live band ever?

No. Erstwhile Perth rock legends Jed Whitey would have smashed them out of the park on any stage anywhere in the world on any night of the week. But a brilliant time guaranteed? Yes indeed. _BEN WATSON

CIVIC HOTEL

This Saturday, February 9, Melbourne’s own Iron Mind return to Perth for the first time since early 2012. They are ready to put on more intense shows with support from Perth’s top hardcore bands Negative Reinforcement, Cabin Fever, Tikdoff and Worst Possible Outcome. These shows are not to be missed! Catch them in The Civic Hotel Backroom from 8pm.

MOJOS BAR

Saturday, February 9, WA supergroup The Kill Devil Hills return to Perth after touring Europe over the last few years.

With a new album in the works for 2013 this is one bluesy, rocking live act you won’t want to miss. With support from The Long Lost Brothers and Deep River Collective. Tickets are $15+bf through fringeworld.com.au, with limited tickets at the door from 8pm. To win a double pass to this show email mojos@coolperthnights. com with ‘Kill Devil Hills’ in the subject line.

This Friday, February 8, at The Rosemount Hotel Perth rock ‘n’ roll veterans The Devil Rides Out return for their first show in ages, don’t miss them along with special guests Wizard Sleeve, Room At The Reservoir and Troll. Doors open 8pm and entry is $10.

RAILWAY HOTEL

CAPITOL

This Saturday, February 9, catch some new Perth talent in the form of Taun, Rip, Design of the Jüngling Submarine and Forever 27 at The Railway Hotel. Doors open at 8pm and entry is $8. Sunday, February 10, get your groove on in the beer garden with Queensland reggaeroots heroes Oka as they return to the Railway. Doors open 6-10pm, grab a ticket now as they will go quick! www.xpressmag.com.au

BOYS BOYS BOYS! Axe Girl/Mezzanine The Beat Nightclub Friday, February 1, 2013 It’s hard to know what a promoter or venue has to do to fill a room in this town these days. Last Friday, The Beat Nightclub pulled out all the stops for their first birthday celebrations: three good bands, free entry, free cake, free pizza, cheap beer - the works.

The thing is, it still wasn’t enough to entice more than perhaps 50 punters through the door.

What can you do?

It’s a testament to the bands who performed that night that they didn’t let the size of their audience affect the quality of their work.

All three acts knocked it out of the park - it’s just a damn shame that there was almost nobody there to see them do it.

Weirdly enough, the whole night felt like a kind of ‘90s throwback, from the venue - Beat is a boxy, smallish room one floor removed from the street, and if you’re an old Loft veteran, the similarities are obvious - to the bands. Take Mezzanine, for example, who opened the proceedings with an energizing dose of driving, fuzzy, old school alternapop. With their melodic guitar, wistful, yearning lyrics, and a tone that effortlessly shifts from paisleypop light to a heavier, crunchier groove along the course of their set, they’re like the Platonic ideal of every respectable pop band of the last 30 years.

Their decision to serenade music industry mainstay Luke Rinaldi with a cover of The Cure’s Just Like Heaven only sealed the deal. Apparently it was their first gig in a while. You couldn’t tell.

Then there’s Axe Girl, British expat Addison Axe’s outfit. Addison and company are channelling the energy of a long line of ass-kicking female rockers, from The Runaways right through to Hole and beyond. Their music is loud, aggressive, insistent, and unapologetic, and Axe herself brings a fierce charisma to the stage. As an added bonus, it’s always gratifying to see Vanessa ‘Jebediah’ Thornton rocking out with her low-slung bass once more.

The crowd reacted by planting themselves in the couches that lined the walls, or else gravitating around the bar if they couldn’t snag a seat. There was applause between songs, but not a lot of energy.

To be fair, both Mezzanine and Axe Girl paused their sets to tune up or consult with the sound engineer a couple of times, which robbed the proceedings of a little energy - but not that much.

Finally, synth-pop moppets Boys Boys Boys! hit the stage, and at last - at last! - we got some movement out of the audience. Of course, failure to respond to a Boys Boys Boys! gig is proof of brain death. Bridget Turner and company are so full of life, energy, and just rampant good-time positivity that it’s damn near impossible not to caught up in the shenanigans. Their set was an explosion of lights, fun, harmonies, and pure, unironic joy.

Ultimately, coming at it just from the creative angle, it was a successful night: three bands at the top of their game, giving it their all. Still, it’s impossible to ignore the disappointing turnout, and it might have been nice of just a few more punters had made the effort to attend - you missed a hell of a show. _TRAVIS JOHNSON

THE BEAT NIGHTCLUB 1ST BIRTHDAY

Georgia, Anita

Beat Nightclub Friday, February 1, 2013 They grow up so fast! After a whole year serving as one the best new live venues in Perth, Beat Nightclub celebrated with cake, pizza, drink specials and performances from Mezzanine, Axe Girl, and Boys Boys Boys!

Photos by Matt Jelonek

Kane, Shenae

MULLALOO BEACH HOTEL

For the last six weeks over 60 girls have battled it out to make the top 12 of Toys Collective’s Hunt for a Hottie. The winner will be decided this week in the grand Final taking home $2,500 cash and prizes!

Head down to the Mullaloo Beach Hotel this Friday, February 8, to see the 12 hottest girls strut their stuff and battle it out for the title. Grand Final kicks off at 7pm, photo opportunities with top 12 and winners after the comp, while DJ Kenny busts out all the coolest tunes all night.

Mullaloo Beach Hotel is the place to spend this Friday night!

ROSEMOUNT HOTEL

Boys Boys Boys! Photo: Matt Jelonek

Getdown to the Harlem Wednesdays Launch Night! Harlem is catering for people who like to do things a little different on a Wednesday night. In keeping with the 1920’s vibe, the venue will be transformed into a decadent speakeasy. The bartenders will be on call to showcase their abilities on a well priced cocktail list. DJs Genga and Benny P to get you moving. Doors open at 9pm and entry is $5.

Angel, Damien Dave, Mike

Sophie, Rachael

Charlotte, Sarah

Kane, Shenae

Josh, Katelin 33

THE DEVIL RIDES OUT

The Devil is in the Details Local doom rockers The Devil Rides Out play their first show of 2013 this Friday, February 8, at The Rosemount Hotel, with support from Wizard Sleeve, Room at the Reservoir, and Troll. TRAVIS JOHNSON has a quiet word with singer Joey K and guitarist Andrew Ewing.

It’s shaping up to be a big year for those daring doom dealers The Devil Rides Out. First, a gig or two to blow out the cobwebs after the holiday break, and then it’s back into the studio to finish laying down their fourth EP. Not bad for a band who, back in the heady days of 2006, started as a bit of a joke between two somewhat aimless musos.

“Joey and I have been mates for years,” recalls guitarist Andrew Ewing. “Through respective older bands. All those bands broke up in the late nineties, early noughties, and we’d always bandied around the idea that it would be funny to form a band together. Initially it was a very much tonguein-cheek... not a complete pisstake, but a pastiche of what a rock and roll band is, because we just wanted it to be a fun thing, and I guess the first EP is in that mode. But things sort of took off when we played In The Pines.”

That success, coupled with a rapidly rising reputation as an energetic, fearless live band, saw the group start to adjust their sights a bit. Though the inherent, pitch-black humour is still present in their output, they began to take things a touch more seriously.

“The tone of the band started to change a bit and get heavier and heavier,” Ewing explains.

“And we did the album (2010’s The Heart & The Crown) that way.”

It was singer Joey K who came up with the band’s name. A lifelong fan of horror cinema, he dealt

The Devil Rides Out with a brief creative blank by going back to one of his key inspirations.

“I’m a big Hammer Films fan,” he tells us, referring to the venerable British horror studio. “I remember when we were looking for a band name, we just had pages of shit, and I just started listing all the Hammer films, and that one jumped out at everyone else. It just sounded cool - it’s as simple as that.”

If all goes according to plan, the middle of the year will see the release of their latest EP. “We’re about halfway through the process. We took a break in the middle of it because Royce (drummer Royce Uyen) had his first child, but we’re getting back into it soon. That’s gonna be coming out in June, and we’ll be following that with the usual touring and stuff that we do with every release.”

Anyone wanting a sneak peak at the upcoming release can sample it this weekend, including a special surprise.

“We’ll be playing all of the EP,” Ewing says.

“Including the cover. It’s the first time we’ve done a cover. Should we reveal the cover?”

“We thought we’d do something local,” Joey contributes.“And we thought we’d do something that wasn’t predictable, so we thought we’d do an Abbe May song, rather than cover another heavy rock band. We’re doing Blood River from the Design Desire album. She’s really excited about it. I wanted to get her blessing on it. I said, ‘You know we’re turning it into this 10 minute doom metal thing, right?’ She was like ‘Awesome!’”

Heavylove

WHEN LOVE COMES TO TOWN

High energy rock outfit Heavylove ply their nefarious trade this Thursday, February 9, at The Rosemount Hotel, with support from Dry Dry River, Mantl, and The Order Of The Black Werewolf. It’s bound to be a night of high quality, hard and heavy tunes. Doors open at 8pm.

Bayou

SWAMPY SOUNDS

Dirty, swampy, southern-fired rockers Bayou are launching their self-titled debut album this Saturday, February 9, at The Rosemount hotel. Drawing on a keen if unhealthy interest in horror and exploitation films and the seamier side of life, Bayou make music that leaves a stain on your soul. Psychonaut, Blunt Force Trauma, and Amidst The Broken will be there in support. Doors open at 8pm, tickets are $12, or $20 with a CD.

Chainsaw Hookers

WHICH WITCH IS WHICH?

A whole new late night musical experience kicks off at The Beat Nightclub this Friday, February 8, with the inaugural Witching Hour. It all goes down at midnight, when Day of the Dead and Chainsaw Hookers will take turns in blasting the audience with their blend of superbly cinematic rock ‘n’ roll.

DJ Tyranny will be spinning tunes in between, along with some special guest DJs as well. Doors open at 11:45pm, entry is free.

The Crooked Cats

CAT SCRATCH FEVER

Bluesy, groovy, goodtime act The Crooked Cats are set to make your toes curl this Sunday, February 10, at the Indi Bar. Joining them will be The Aztech Suns, Logan Crawford, and Chrispy Nylon. Doors open at 10pm, entry is $8.

+10 CHARISMA

The effortlessly cool Charisma Brothers continue to spread the love around this Thursday, February 7, at Perth’s newest small bar, The Midnight Fox, in Melville from 7pm. Then catch them at their regular Friday night slot at Tsunami Sushi Bar from 8pm, while Saturday finds them at Gypsy Tapas House from 8pm and Sunday sees them at XWray Cafe from 4pm.

34

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

Bat For Lashes

Gin Blossoms

Deer Tick

10 Fremantle Arts Centre Paper Arms) DINOSAUR JR/ THE 1 Metropolis Fremantle JON SPENCER BLUES THE xx EXPLOSION/ MOON DUO 1 Metro City 12 The Astor 2 Metro City RONAN KEATING/ BRIAN PENNYWISE MCFADDEN 2 Metro Freo 12 Crown Theatre LUKA BLOOM TITLE FLIGHT/LUCA BRASI 2 Fly By Night 13 Amplifier COUNTING CROWS 6 Kings Park Botanic Gardens 14 YMCA HQ 3 Perth Concert Hall THE JACKSONS THE SCRIPT DEER TICK & TWO 14 Perth Arena 3 Perth Arena AUSTRALIAN GALLANTS PAUL KELLY/ NEIL FINN/ SOUL II SOUL FRANK TURNER CHAMBER 12 Chevron Festival Gardens LISA MITCHELL/GRACE 1 The Astor 4 Amplifier ORCHESTRA WOODROOFE YOLANDA BE COOL GRINSPOON 6 Perth Concert Hall 14 & 15 Kings Park Botanical 5 Prince of Wales 1 Newport Hotel Gardens BAND OF FREQUENCIES 6 Amplifier NORAH JONES GLENN SHORROCK/ 1 Settlers Tavern OKA BIRDY 13 Riverside Theatre WENDY MATTHEWS/ DOUG 6 Riverside Theatre 2 Nannup Music Festival 6 Indi Bar STARS 7 Mojos Bar 13 Chevron Festival Gardens 3 Clancy’s Fish Pub Canning PARKINSON ROGER HODGSON 14 & 15 Quarry Amphitheatre 7 Riverside Theatre Bridge 8 White Star Albany CHRYSTA BELL DAMIEN DEMPSEY 9 Settlers Tavern 14 Chevron Festival Gardens THE TALLEST MAN ON JOSH GROBAN 15 The Bakery 10 Railway Hotel FATHER JOHN MISTY/RUBY EARTH 16 Kings Park Botanic Garden 1 Chevron Festival Gardens FESTIVAL OF THE WIND BOOTS ZUCCHERO 15 Chevron Festival Gardens DAVID BRIDIE AND FRANK (Dan Sultan, French Butler 17 Regal Theatre MACEO PARKER Called Smith and more) YAMMA STU LARSEN 7 Chevron Festival Gardens JIMMY BARNES & JON 16 The Sound Shell Esperance 17 The Ellington 1 Fly By Night STEVENS BOB MOULD 1 Nannup Music Festival 15 Perth Zoo DAVE JACKSON NORMAN BLAKE & LORD / SILENT KNIGHT 16 The Rosemount NEIL YOUNG 24 The Ellington PRESIDENTS OF THE 2 Perth Arena JOE PERNICE/ DIRTY 15 Amplifier MARILYN KELLER UNITED STATES OF ANTIBALAS 16 Eliot St. Blues Club Bunbury 26 The Ellington BEACHES 2 Chevron Festival Gardens AMERICA / HEY GERONIMO FAIRBRIDGE FESTIVAL 8 Chevron Festival Gardens CELTIC THUNDER 16 Metro Freo PETE MURRAY 16 Perth Arena (Tinpan Orange/ IN HEARTS WAKE 2 Capitol FUTURE CLASSIC Bustamento/ Frank Yamma/ REEF THE LOST 16 Amplifier 16 Chevron Festival Gardens 3 Fremantle Arts Centre Kristina Olsen) 17 YMCA HQ SLAUGHTERHOUSE CAUZE JIMMY BARNES & JON 26-28 Fairbridge SETS ON THE BACH 2 Metro City 8 Civic Hotel STEVENS MIDGE URE VOLUME 10 (Hermitude, BABY ANIMALS 16 Castelli Estate Denmark 27 Charles Hotel 3 The Quarry Amphitheatre Strange Talk, DJ Lord, Yes DAVID HASSLEHOFF MOVEMENT FESTIVAL (NAS, WINTERFOLD You, Twinsy, Drop Out HOODOO GURUS 17 Capitol Bliss N Eso, 2 Chainz, Chiddy 8 C5 Fremantle Orchestra, Luke Million) 3 Hotel Rottnest MACKLEMORE & RYAN Bang, JOEY BADA$$, Angel 9 The Camel Bar 17 Scarborough Beach GALLOWS LEWIS/UPNUP Haze, Spit Syndicate) Amphitheatre 17 Chevron Festival Gardens 3 Amplifier 30 Red Hill Auditorium DONAVON THE MARK OF CAIN FUCKED UP JENS LEKMAN 17 Capitol FRANKENREITER 18 Chevron Festival Gardens 3 Capitol MUTEMATH FUTURE MUSIC FESTIVAL 8 Caves House SLEEPY SUN BLACK SABBATH 19 The Astor 9 The Ocean Beach Hotel 19 Chevron Festival Gardens 2013 (The Prodigy, The 4 Perth Arena VANCE JOY Stone Roses, PSY, Dizzee 9 Breakwater Hotel IAN DATE AND GEORGE HAPPY MONDAYS Rascal, Bloc Party, Azealia 22 St Josephs Church 9 Ocean One Bar WASHINMACHINE 8 Capitol Banks, Rita Ora, Boys Noize, WILLIAM ELLIOT 10 The Merrywell (Crown) 19 The Ellington GROOVIN THE MOO (Alison Hardwell, The Temper Trap, WHITMORE 10 Whistling Kite, Secret JOANNE SHAW TAYLOR Wonderland/Alpine/ 23 Mojos Bar FUN, Madeon, Rudimental, Harbour 19 The Perth Blues Club The Amity Affliction/The Ellie Goulding, Steve Aoki, WEST COAST BLUES HOW TO DRESS WELL & Bronx/DZ Deathrays/ & ROOTS FESTIVAL Alesso, Gypsy & The Cat, AXOLOTL ST. JEROME’S Example/Flume/Frightened Chevron Festival Gardens A-Trak, Feed Me, Zeds Dead, (Sensational Space Shifters, Rabbit/Hungry Kids Of LANEWAY FESTIVAL 20 Iggy & The Stooges, Chris Kill The Noise, DJ Fresh, RINGO STARR Hungary/The Kooks/Last Nervo, Zane Lowe, Borgore, Isaak, Jason Mraz, Staus 2013 (Alpine, Alt-J, Bat 21 Challenge Stadium Dinosaurs/Matt And Kim/ Quo, Manu, Chao La Cocoon Heroes ft Sven JOSE JAMES/ HOATUS For Lashes, Chet Faker, Midnight Juggernauts/Pez/ Ventura, Tedeschi Trucks Väth, Richie Hawtin, Ricardo KAIYOTE Cloud Nothings, Divine Regurgitator/Seth Sentry/ Band, Fred Wesley & The 21 Chevron Festival Gardens Villalobos, Seth Troxler, Fits, El-P, Flume, Henry Shockone/Tame Impala/ New JB’s, Julia Stone, Magda, Wake Your Mind Wagons & The Unwelcome JULIA STONE Tegan And Sara/The Temper Newton Faukner, Kitty, ft Cosmic Gate & Emma 22 St Joseph’s Church Company, High Highs, Trap/They Might Be Giants/ Daisy & Lewis, The Music Hewitt, W&W, tyDi, Andy Holy Other, Japandroids, DJ YODA Maker, Blues Revue, Grace Tuka With Ellesquire/ Moor, Super8 & Tab, Ben Jessie Ware, Julia Holter, 22 Villa Urthboy/DJ Woody’s Big Gold, The Stafford Brothers, Potter, Russell Morris, THE RAAH PROJECT Kings Of Convenience, Phat 90’s Mixtape/Yacht/ Mama Kin, Blue Shady & 22 Chevron Festival Gardens Timmy Trumpet, Tenzin, The Men, Ms Mr, The Yolanda Be Cool) Bombs Away & More TBA) Breakthrough Winner) Neighbourhood, Nicolas WORKING HORSE IRONS 11 Hay Park, Bunbury 23 Fremantle Park 3 Arena Joondalup 22 Amplifier Jaar, Nite Jewel, Of CHRISTINE ANU REWIND DEBORAH CONWAY SOUNDWAVE 2013 Monsters & Men, Perfume 23 Prince Of Wales – THE ARETHA FRANKLIN 23 The Ellington (Metallica, Linkin Park, SARAH BLASKO/THE Genius, Polica, Pond, SONGBOOK Blink-182, A Perfect Circle, THIS WILL DESTROY YOU Real Estate, The Rubens, NECKS/WINTERCOATS 17 & 18 The Ellington 23 Rosemount Hotel The Offspring, Paramore, 23 Kings Park Shlohmo, Snakadaktal, FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND WEST COAST BLUES & Garbage, Slayer, Cypress MAC MILLER Twerps, Yeasayer) 18 Prince Of Wales Bunbury Hill, Bullet For My Valentine, ROOTS FESTIVAL (Ben 23 Metropolis Fremantle 9 Perth Cultural Centre 19 Amplifier Harper, Santana, Paul ED SHEERAN/ PASSENGER and more) 4 Claremont Showgrounds Simon, Steve Miller Band, THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM 23 Challenge Stadium Wilco, Bonnie Raitt, Jimmy 19 Metro City IRON MIND RUSSELL PETERS CLIFF RICHARDS DEFTONES Cliff, Rufus Wainwright, 9 Civic Hotel 5 Perth Arena 23 Sandalford Estate Michael Kiwanuka, Gossling, 21 Metropolis Fremantle 10 YMCA HQ RICKIE LEE JONES TIM ROGERS/ THE Ash Grunwald, Graveyard AIRNORTH KIMBERELEY 5 The Astor BAMBOOS Train, Brothers Grim, Sticky MOON EXPERIENCE (Guy DEAD CAN DANCE 23 Chevron Festival Gardens NICK CAVE & THE BAD Fingers, Benjamin Francis Sebastian, Mark Seymour, SEEDS BAND OF FREQUENCIES 9 Perth Concert Hall Leftwich, The DomNicks & James Reyne, Gurrumul 6 Red Hill Auditorium 23 Mojos Bar Davey Craddock And The Yunupingu) DEEP PURPLE/JOURNEY 24 Indi Bar DESCENDENTS/ 25 Jim Hughes Amphitheatre Spectacles) 7 Perth Arena 27 Ellington Jazz Club Kununurra 24 Fremantle Park BOUNCING SOULS/ 28 Prince Of Wales Bunbury GEORGE CLINTON & THE SEEKERS FRENZAL RHOMB/ CLUBFEET/WHAT SO NOT PARLIAMENT FUNKADELIC/ DRAPHT 30 Riverside Theatre 28 The Rosemount GREG WILSON 23 Villa BODYJAR DRAGON PVT 7 Metro City PHRONESIS 10 Metro City 31 The Astor Theatre 30 The Bakery 24 Chevron Festival Gardens BOB SEDERGREEN GUY SEBASTIAN 7 The Ellington GLENN FREY 30 Crown Theatre GIN BLOSSOMS BIRDS OF TOKYO 24 Kings Park & Botanical PINK 10 Capitol 7 Prince Of Wales Garden 25, 26 & 28 Perth Arena 8 Fremantle Arts Centre SOUL REBELS HITS & PITS 2013 (Mad GUNS N’ ROSES / ZZ TOP / 25 Chevron Festival Gardens ARCHIE ROACH Caddies, Good Riddance, A ROSE TATTOO 10 Chevron Festival Gardens CAT POWER AMANDA PALMER & THE Wilhelm Scream, Voodoo 9 Perth Arena 26 & 27 Chevron Festival Glow Skulls, The Flatliners, GRAND THEFT ORCHESTRA GARY PUCKETT & THE Gardens ARAVENA-KEEVERS- LAURIE ANDERSON & 26 Astor Theatre Diesel Boy, One Dollar UNION GAP ONE DIRECTION Short, Jamie Hay, Jen WALLACE TRIO 9 The Astor KRONOS QUARTET Buxton, Totally Unicorn & 28 & 29 Perth Arena CAT EMPIRE 10 The Ellington 27 Perth Concert Hall

GODSPEED YOU! THIS WEEK EMPEROR ELVIS COSTELLO & BLACK 11 Chevron Festival Gardens THE IMPOSTERS/ SUNNYBOYS/ COVERGE / OLD JO JO ZEP &THE MAN GLOOM/ FALCONS/ STEPHEN FORSTORA 12 Amplifier CUMMINGS

KISS/ MOTLEY CRUE/THIN LIZZY / DIVA DEMOLITION 28 Perth Arena JAMES CARTER ORGAN TRIO 28 Chevron Festival Gardens JACK CARTY AND THE FALLS 28 The Ellington DEERHOOF 28 The Rosemount

MARCH

FEBRUARY

MAY

JUNE

APRIL

SEPTEMBER

www.xpressmag.com.au

35

The Coalminers Sect, Thursday at Ya Ya’s

Wardaemonic, Friday at The Charles Hotel

WEDNESDAY 06.02

THURSDAY 07.02

BAR 120 Felix BRASS MONKEY Sugar Blue Burlesque CLANCY’S CANNING BRIDGE That Velvet Echo Luke Dux CLAREMONT HOTEL Acoustica ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB The Collaboratory Jamie Oehlers Tal Cohen GREENWOOD Bernardine GROOVE BAR (CROWN CASINO) 5 Shots HALE ROAD TAVERN Fenton Wilde INDI BAR OKA Simmo T KINGS PARK BOTANIC GARDENS Elvis Costello & The Imposters Sunnyboys Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons Stephen Cummings LUCKY SHAG Howie Morgan MOJOS BAR Fremantle Blues And Roots Club Limpin Dave Foley & The Straight Legged Freaks Bryan Rice Dalton David Craft MOON CAFÉ Ash Hendriks Shane Corry Naked News MUSTANG BAR Krank DJ Giles PADDO Gazman Stone Circle Craig Skelton PERTH CONCERT HALL Australian Chamber Orchestra ROSEMOUNT 10past6 Alex The Kid Here Come The Cavalry Blindspot DJ Anton Maz ROSIE O’GRADY’S (NORTHBRIDGE) David Fyffe THE BROWN FOX Courtney Murphy UNIVERSAL Strutt Ses Sayer YAYA’S Mt Mountain Lucidity Silver Hills

ADMIRAL Greg Carter Karaoke BELGIAN BEER CAFÉ Howie Morgan BRASS MONKEY Rhythm Bound Karaoke BRIGHTON Open Mic Night BROOKLANDS TAVERN Celebrations Karaoke CHEVRON FESTIVAL GARDENS Maceo Parker CLANCY’S CANNING BRIDGE Tom Fisher The Layabouts Duo COMO HOTEL Courtney Murphy DEVILLES PAD Rock ‘N’ Roll Karaoke DUNSBOROUGH TAVERN Open Mic Night ELEPHANT & WHEELBARROW 5 Shots ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Callum G’Froerer GROOVE BAR (CROWN) Dr Bogus HIGH WYCOMBE HOTEL Flyte INDI BAR Bex’s Open Mic Night LUCKY SHAG James Wilson MALT SUPPER CLUB Kaberet Thursdays Adam Hall And The Velvet Playboys MARKET CITY TAVERN Emily J Lauren O’Hara Chantelle Schuurmans Kap T Serge Sharinovsky MOJOS BAR OKA Simmo T MUSTANG BAR The Autumn Isles Jacob Diamond Band DJ James MacArthur NEWPORT HOTEL Split Seconds Stillwater Giants Bastian’s Happy Flight NORFOLK BASEMENT Shy Panther Leure Whiskey Winter PADDO Easy Tigers ROSEMOUNT Heavylove Dry Dry River Order Of The Black Warewolf Mantl Sons Of Rico DJs ROSIE O’GRADY’S (FREMANTLE) Clayton Bolger

Split Seconds

SPLIT SECONDS

STILLWATER GIANTS BASTIAN’S HAPPY FLIGHT THURSDAY 7TH NEWPORT HOTEL

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ROSIE O’GRADY’S (NORTHBRIDGE) Bill Chidgzey SOVEREIGN ARMS Fenton Wilde THE BOAT Jen De Ness THE BROOK Open Mic Night THE GATE Greg Carter THE SHED Mike Nayar UNIVERSAL Off The Record WOODVALE Two Plus One YA YA’S Coalminers Sect The MDC The Whores

FRIDAY 08.02 7th AVENUE Free Radicals AMPLIFIER In League BAILEY BAR Mod Squad Tip Top Sound DJ Bren BALLYS BAR Bernardine BALMORAL Mike Nayar BAR ORIENT The Reggae Club The Empressions Mumma Trees Sista Che BELMONT TAVERN Electrophobia BENTLEY HOTEL Ryan Dillon BISTRO 38 JOONDALUP RESORT Gary Fowlie BLACK BETTYS Everlong BRASS MONKEY Acoustic Aly BREAKERS Ragdoll BROKEN HILL HOTEL Nat Ripepi BROOKLANDS TAVERN The Bluebottles BROWN FOX Easy Tigers C5 Fremantle Winterfold CARINE Pop Candy CARLISLE HOTEL Reload CAVES HOUSE Donavon Frankenreiter CHARLES HOTEL Wardaemonic Advent Sorrow Mhorgl Obscenium CHASE BAR Chasing Calee CHEVRON FESTIVAL GARDENS Norman Blake & Joe Pernice Dirty Beaches CLANCY’S CITY BEACH Marc Osborne Quartet CLANCY’S DUNSBOROUGH Dave Mann CLANCY’S FREMANTLE Zarm COMO HOTEL Trevor Jalla CORNERSTONE Easy Company CRAFTSMAN Nicki Rose Trio DEVILLES PAD Bang Bang Betty & The H-Bombs Mondo DJs Les Sataniques DUNSBOROUGH TAVERN Nathan Gaunt

Cyclone Tess, Friday at The Swan Basement

EAST 150 BAR Chris Gibbs EDZ SPORTZ BAR Cornerstone ELEPHANT & WHEELBARROW Darren Reid & The Soul City Groove ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Elle Deslandes Rachel Claudio EMPIRE BAR Howie Morgan FLY BY NIGHT Motown & Soul Night GLOUCESTER PARK Midnight Rambler GREENWOOD Greg Carter HERDSMAN Velvet & Stone HIGH ROAD HOTEL Glen Davies Envy HIGH WYCOMBE HOTEL Dr Bogus HIGHWAY HOTEL The Reals HOTEL ROTTNEST Hundred Acre Wood HYDE PARK HOTEL Ricky Green INDI BAR Vdelli INDIAN OCEAN BREW Ben Merito KALAMUNDA HOTEL Sophie Jane And The Chilli Bin Boys LAKERS DJ Grizzly Slickenside Melee LAST DROP TAVERN Neil Adams LEFTBANK Groove Acoustics LEGENDS BAR The Organ Grinders MAHOGANNY INN Dean Anderson MARKET CITY TAVERN Reilly Craig Tamika MERIDIAN ROOM (CROWN) Local Heroes MERRIWA TAVERN Nasty Dogz M ON THE POINT James Wilson MOJOS BAR (ARVO) Captn K Simmo T MOJOS BAR (EVE) Hussle Hussle Ozi Batla Creed Birch & Rob Shaker Cortext Childs Play Ravs MOON & SIXPENCE Soul Corporation MUSTANG BAR Adam Hall The Velvet Playboys Swing DJs Cheeky Monkeys DJ James McArthur NORFOLK BASEMENT The Love Junkies Morgan Bain Anton Franc PADDO Stu Harcourt PARAMOUNT Flyte PEEL ALE HOUSE Baby Piranhas PINK DUCK LOUNGE Jonathan Dempsey PRINCESS ROAD TAVERN Local Heroes ROCKET ROOM Coyote Ugly Kickstart ROSE & CROWN Kizzy

ROSEMOUNT The Devil Rides Out Wizard Sleeve Room At The Reservoir Troll ROSIE O’GRADY’S (FREMANTLE) Wesley Goodlet Jamboree Scouts ROSIE O’GRADY’S (NORTHBRIDGE) Billy & The Broken Lines SAIL & ANCHOR Howie Morgan Nightshift SOUTH ST ALE HOUSE Robbie King Karaoke SPRINGS TAVERN Kevin Curran STEVE’S BAR Better Days SWAN BASEMENT Cyclone Tess AbandonEarth Honeywheeler The De Niros The Lungs SSA SWAN LOUNGE Kite Magic Darren Guthrie Stephanie Robson Chelsea Cullen Simon Marks SWINGING PIG Tandem Greg Carter THE BOAT J Man & Rosie THE BROOK Jamie Powers THE EASTERN Matt Milford THE GATE Dirty Scoundrels THE PRINCIPAL B.O.B THE SAINT Almost Famous THE SHED Krank THE VIC Jen De Ness THORNLIE BOWLING CLUB Mustangs UNIVERSAL Retriofit Nightmoves VICTORIA PARK HOTEL Ivan Ribic WHITE STAR ALBANY OKA WOODVALE TAVERN The Damien Cripps Band

SATURDAY 09.02 AMPLIFIER Scalphunter BAILEY BAR Slim Jim & Phatts Tip Top Sound DJ Bren BALLYS BAR Dove BALMORAL Pop Candy BAR 120 Flyte BELGIAN BEER CAFÉ Mike Nayar BELMONT TAVERN Stu Harcourt BLACK BETTY’S J Babies BLVD TAVERN JOONDALUP Afterglo Minky G Duo BREAKERS Mixtape Band BREAKWATER HOTEL Donavon Frankenreiter BROOKLANDS TAVERN Carbon Taxi CIVIC HOTEL Iron Mind Negative Reinforcement Tikdoff Cabin Fever Worst Possible Outcome

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

Listing deadline is Monday 5pm. GO TO www.xpressmag.com.au /PLUG YOUR GIG and plug away!

The X-Press Guide is a Perth metropolitan service for advertisers listing tours, live, dance and arts events.

All inclusions are at the discretion of X-Press Magazine. The one entry system will update our print edition, website and App

Scalphunter, Saturday at Amplifier CLANCY’S CANNING BRIDGE Mister And Mitch CLANCY’S CITY BEACH Zarm Duo CLANCY’S FREMANTLE Toby COMO HOTEL Aidan Hargreaves DEVILLES PAD Johnny Nandez Hammond Explosion Razor Jack Les Sataniques ELEPHANT & WHEELBARROW Gun Shy Romeos ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Ali Bodycoat Quintet Rachel Claudio ELMARS IN THE VALLEY Chris Gibbs FORRESTFIELD TAVERN Christian Thompson GOSNELLS HOTEL Chasing Calee GREENWOOD Pretty Fly GROOVE BAR (CROWN CASINO) Hi-NRG HIGH ROAD HOTEL Dr Bogus HOTEL ROTTNEST Hundred Acre Wood INDIAN OCEAN BREW The Blackbirds INDI BAR Ben Merito LAKERS Celebrations Karaoke LANGFORD ALEHOUSE Die Hard Karaoke LEOPOLD HOTEL Steve Hepple MALT SUPPER CLUB Chelsea J Gibson M ON THE POINT Rhythm 22 MERIDIAN ROOM (CROWN CASINO) Howie Morgan Duo MERRIWA TAVERN Nasty Dogz MOJOS BAR Kill Devil Hills The Long Lost Brothers Deep River Collective MOON & SIXPENCE The Damien Cripps Band MUSTANG The Continentals Rockabilly DJ Milhouse DJ James McArthur NEWPORT HOTEL Gravity NORFOLK BASEMENT EightOEight VI LoFo BLNT Whoa!gan OCEAN BEACH HOTEL Donavon Frankenreiter OCEAN ONE BAR Donavon Frankenreiter OSBORNE PARK HOTEL Plastic Max PARAMOUNT Felix PEEL ALEHOUSE B.O.B PERTH CONCERT HALL Dead Can Dance PERTH CULTURAL CENTRE St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival Alpine Alt-J Bat For Lashes Chet Faker Cloud Nothings Divine Fits El-P Flume Henry Wagons & The Unwelcome Company

High Highs Holy Other Japandroids Jessie Ware Julia Holter Kings Of Convenience The Men Ms Mr The Neighbourhood Nicolas Jaar Nite Jewel Of Monsters & Men Perfume Genius Polica, Pond Real Estate The Rubens Shlohmo Snakadaktal Twerps Yeasayer PORT KENNEDY TAVERN Christian Thompson QUARIE BAR The Crux Magician Rhys Scooby Red Beret Rose Belly Dancer RAILWAY HOTEL Taun Rip Design Of The Jungling Submarine Forever 27 ROSEMOUNT Bayou Psychonaut Blunt Force Trauma Amidst The Broken ROSIE O’GRADY’S (NORTHBRIDGE) Blue Gene SAIL & ANCHOR Better Days Childs Play SETTLERS TAVERN OKA STEVES BAR Jamie Powers SWAN BASEMENT A Nameless Fear Epignosis Severtone Nails Of Imposition SWAN LOUNGE Half Stack Stealth *Bush* Alien Parker Avenue Campsite Armour SWINGING PIG Greg Carter Rock-A-Fellas THE BOAT The Organ Grinders THE BROOK The Mojos THE CAMEL BAR Winterfold THE EASTERN Bonfire THE GATE Dirty Scoundrels THE SAINT Lixy THE SHED Huge THE SHIP Nathan Gaunt THE VIC Greg Carter Karaoke UNIVERSAL Soul Corporation WANNEROO TAVERN Chris Gibbs WHALE AND ALE Mixtape WOODVALE TAVERN Courtney Murphy & Murphy’s Lore YAYA’S Them Sharks Gloria Ironbox The Caballeros The Kuillotines

SUNDAY 10.02 7TH AVENUE Good Karma

www.xpressmag.com.au

Friday Friday Kill Devil Hills, Saturday at Travis Caudle Travis Caudle Mojo’s FlyBy ByNight Night Fly ADMIRAL Sugarfield James Wilson BALMORAL The Blackbirds BARRACK ST JETTY Folk @ The Jetty Lauren Arthur BELMONT TAVERN Acoustic Aly BLACK TOMS Domenic Zurzolo BLVD TAVERN JOONDALUP Open Mic Night BREAKERS BAR Chris Gibbs BRIGHTON Stu McKay BROKEN HILL HOTEL Chris Murphy BROOKLANDS TAVERN Mike Nayar CAPITOL Gin Blossoms CAPTAIN STIRLING Jamie Powers CARINE The Bluebottles CHASE BAR Chasing Calee CHEVRON FESTIVAL GARDENS Archie Roach CIVIC HOTEL Neil Adams CLANCY’S DUNSBOROUGH Zarm CLANCY’S FREMANTLE The Zydecats CLAREMONT HOTEL Sunday Driver DJ Dan COMO HOTEL Adrian Wilson ELEPHANT & WHEELBARROW Daren Reid & The Soul City Groove ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Aravena-Keevers-Wallace Trio EMPIRE BAR CB3 FLY BY NIGHT Open Mic Night GOSNELLS HOTEL Conny The Clown GROOVE BAR (CROWN CASINO) Switch HIGH WYCOMBE HOTEL The Organ Grinders HIGH ROAD HOTEL Nat Ripepi HOTEL ROTTNEST Howie Morgan Project INDI BAR The Crooked Cats INDIAN OCEAN BREW CO Retrofit Shawne & Luc INGLEWOOD HOTEL James Wilson KALAMUNDA HOTEL Chris Gibbs METRO CITY Descendents Bouncing Souls Bodyjar M ON THE POINT Sophie Jane And The Chilly Bin Boys MERIDIAN ROOM (CROWN PERTH) Local Heroes MOJOS BAR (ARVO) Sto Orchard’s Welcome To The Week MOJOS BAR (EVE) Over Reactor Serial Killer Smile Opia & Law Of Attraction MUSTANG BAR Peter Busher & The Lone Rangers DJ Rockin Rhys

Them Sharks, Saturday at Ya Ya’s

NEWPORT HOTEL Tim Nelson OCEAN VIEW TAVERN Jack + Jill PADDY MALONE’S Gary Fowlie PEEL ALEHOUSE Matt Williams PINK DUCK LOUNGE BAR Glen Davies PORT KENNEDY TAVERN Dirty Scoundrels PORTOFINO’S RESTAURANT Glen Davies QUARIE BAR & BISTRO Better Days QUEENS TAVERN Joe Black Trio RAILWAY HOTEL OKA DJ Simmo T ROSIE O’GRADY’S (NORTHBRIDGE) Neil Colliss David Fyffe SAIL & ANCHOR Mike Nayar SOUTH ST ALE HOUSE Blackhart & Strangelove SOVEREIGN ARMS Craig Ballantyne SPRINGS TAVERN Leighton Keepa STIRLING ARMS Helen Shanahan SWINGING PIG Jamie Powers Stu Harcourt THE BEAUTIFUL PUGILIST Steve Tallis Rose Parker THE BOHEME Todd Woodward THE DEEN Plastic Max & The Token Gesture THE GATE Greg Carter THE LAST DROP Fenton Wilde THE MERRYWELL Donavon Frankenreiter THE PRINCIPAL Bernardine THE SAINT Howie Morgan Project THE SHED James Wilson UNIVERSAL Retriofit VELVET LOUNGE Good Buddies Fundraiser for Rhys Catlin Brown The Reptilians Like Junk Duo Ducks On A String Ermine Coat The Disintegrates Laurel Fixation Axel Carrington John Elliot Lost/Tuneless

WANNEROO TAVERN Adam James WHISTLING KITE Donavon Frankenreiter WOODVALE TAVERN Free Radicals YMCA HQ Iron Mind The Others No Regrets Mindless Truthseeker

MONDAY 11.02 BRASS MONKEY James Wilson CHEVRON FESTIVAL GARDENS Godspeed You! Black Emperor GROOVE BAR (CROWN CASINO) Chris Murphy & Courtney Murphy MERIDIAN ROOM (CROWN) Chris Murphy MOJOS BAR Wide Open Mic Night MUSTANG BAR Marco & The Alley Cats THE DEEN Plastic Max & The Token Gesture YA YA’S Big Tommo’s Open Mic Variety Night

TUESDAY 12.02 AMPLIFIER Converge Old Man Gloom Forstora CHEVRON FESTIVAL GARDENS Deer Tick & Two Gallants ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Sid Pattni Whiskey Winter GROOVE BAR (CROWN) Ruby’s Groove LUCKY SHAG Ben Merito MERIDIAN ROOM (CROWN) Courtney Murphy MERRIWA TAVERN Celebrations Karaoke MOJOS BAR Mathas Rhythm & Stealth FG Sarah Pellicano Ravs MUSTANG BAR Danza Loca Salsa Night PADDO Stu Harcourt SETTLERS TAVERN Open Mic Night TWO ROCKS TAVERN Jump For Joy Karaoke YA YA’S SAFE Perth Fundraiser Rag ‘n’ Bone Lionizer

Limpin’ Dave Foley & The Straight Legged Freaks

LIMPIN’ DAVE FOLEY & THE STRAIGHT LEGGED FREAKS BRYAN RICE DALTON DAVID CRAFT WEDNESDAY 6TH MOJO’S BAR

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MUSIC GEAR & TECHNOLOGY EDITED BY TRAVIS JOHNSON

EMPLOYMENT & TRAINING Do you know what a roadie is? Have you got any background in AUDIO, LIGHTING or BACKLINE? Are you looking for CASUAL work in the entertainment industry?

If that sounds like you contact Events Personnel Aust. On 08 9361 5005.

FOR SALE AUDIOFLY HEADPHONES Designed in Perth by a small team, unique headphones to capture every detail in your favourite music www.audiofly.com MUSOS WANTED BAND MANAGER WANTED Articulate/Professional/ Experienced. 5 piece contemporary electronic lounge band. Contact 0438 771 128 BAND MEMBERS WANTED 21 y.o. Guitarist. Infls Marty Friedman and early Megadeth/GNR. Call 0439 976 770.

(West Perth Abode) MUSO’S FOR ANGELS TRIBUTE Guitarist looking for exp muso’s with prof attitude to form Angels tribute band.

Email:overthetopband@gmail.com MUSO’S WANTED For Blues/Rock cover band. Required.. drumer, guitarist and keyboard player. Reliable and professional. Email trevorkidd@y7mail.com OPEN MIC NIGHT every Thursday night at Indi Bar. Just call Bex on 0404 917 632.

OPEN MIC NIGHT Every Tuesday night at the Craigie Tavern 8-11pm. Call Corey for bookings 0431 448 235 VOCALIST WANTED For established Blues/Rock band.

Been together 7 plus years. No time wasters please! Ph 0410 088 596 or 0423 252 970.

PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT PHOTOGRAPHY Promo p h o to g ra p hy, s t u d i o, l i ve, l o c a t i o n .

M i k e W y l i e 0 4 1 7 9 7 5 9 6 4 w w w. p r o j e c t p h o t o g r a p h y. c o m When its time to ice the cake...

PRODUCTION SERVICES * L I G H T I N G * AU D I O * S TAG I N G * www.nightstarlightingaudio.com. au www.nightstarlightingaudio.com.au w w w . i n s t a n d t . c o m . a u w w w . i n s t a n d t . c o m . a u 9381 2363/ 9444 6651

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CD & DVD MANUFACTURE Check out our latest CD & DVD specials online at www.procopy.com.au 9375 3902 MATRIX PRODUCTIONS AUSTRALIA Lighting, staging, sound systems, smoke machines, night club FX, intelligent lighting, strobes & mirror balls, crowd barriers, video projectors. 9371 1551 RECORDING STUDIOS ALAN DAWSON’s WITZEND RECORDING STUDIO Prof quality albums or demos, large live room, experienced engineer, analog to digital transfers, mastering..Alan 0407 989 128 or Jeremy 0430638178 www.witzendstudios.com ANDY’S STUDIO International multi award winning songwriter / producer. No band required. Broadcast quality. A songwriter’s paradise. Ph 9364 3178 AVALON STUDIOS BIBRA LAKE One of Perths best equipped studio. Record to analog tape or digital, Avalon pre amps, Neumann mics, the latest and best universal audio, plug in’s for digital recordings. All styles of music, $55 per hour call Tony 0411 118304 email - avalonstudios@ bigpond.com GOLDDUSTCONSTRUCTION.COM Production, mixing, recording and composition for your music. Unique award winning skills to take songs from ideas to finished mixes or to fulfill the potential in existing ones. Located in Subiaco. $70 p/h. Andrew 0408 097 407 POONS HEAD MASTERING Analog mastering at its best.

Clients include Mink Mussel Creek, Jeff Martin, The Panics, Pond + The Floors. World class facility. World class results. www.poonshead.com 9339 47 91 RECORDING MIXING MASTERING PRODUCING Fremantle location. Call Pete Kitchen Cooked Records. Ph 0407 363 764 / 9336 3764 R E V O LV E R S O U N D S T U D I O P h 9 2 7 2 7 5 0 5 . www.revolverstudio.com.au SONGWRITERS! - UNLOCK YOUR SONGS’ POTENTIAL +FREE BAND APPRAISALS. UK Producer, 40,000+ hours studio experience. 20 yrs in London with bands and songwriters. Kicking arrangements, great studio and the ability to really listen will give your material the edge you need. Call Jerry on 0405 653 338 or visit www.jerichomusic.com.au REHEARSAL STUDIOS AAA VHS REHEARSAL ROOMS Great facilities, great vibe & great price!!! Unit 5 /16 Peel Road, O’Connor.

Phone 9418 5815 or 0413 732 885 BIGBEAT SOUND STUDIO Clean rooms, all new PA systems, air-con and good parking . Willetton Ph: 0425 698 117.

PLATINUM SOUND ROOMS Professional rehearsal rooms, airconditioned, quality PAs mob 0418 944 722 TUITION ***GUITAR LESSONS*** The Guitar Specialist. New year enrolments. Beg-adv, all styles and levels including bass. Cliff Lynton Guitar Institute. Mt Lawley 9342 3484 / www.clifflynton.com BASS LESSONS Rock, funk & jazz. Tony Gibbs 9470 6131 DRUM LESSONS All styles, all ages. WAAPA prep. Modern techniques & rudiments, Beginner to advanced. Ph Pascal: 0413 172 817.

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All instruments, all ages, all experience levels. 0403 162 641 | walthermusic.com GUITAR & KEYBOARD TUITION (Beginners- Professional) One on One lessons. Burswood Ph 6460 6921/ 0415889645. www.gvkschoolofmusic.com.au

OKA, see Tour Trails for dates

OKA The Live Interface Having been purveyors of ultra-smooth reggae/ soul studio tracks for over a decade, the live sounds of OKA have been tearing up venues and festivals around the world in recent years. Multiinstrumentalist and percussionist Charlie Zappa speaks to SABIAN WILDE. OKA originally formed as a three-piece, releasing three albums before their original drummer left the band, leaving DidgeriStu (beats/keys/didge) and guitarist Chris Lane as a duo before meeting Zappa at Earthcore (WA) in 2007.

“We became good friends first before embarking on a Canadian tour together in ‘09. There was no doubt the magic had arrived on that tour and the new OKA chapter began. It feels solid and exciting this year, with a lot of new material surfacing and our first tour to Europe on the cards,” says Zappa.

“Travel has definitely changed our song writing. We’ve been building new songs and jams.

Usually Stu brings an idea to a live show and we just take it from there. There’s a trend developing of trying new songs live on the spot, seeing how it feels and feeling out the response. Its pretty natural and easy.”

For OKA, the massive response they’ve been getting at festivals is now part of their sound.

“I know it sounds clichéd but it feels as if we’ve let the music evolve and take its own journey.

Thriving off the live crowd energy is something we relish and look forward to every gig. After I brought a live drum-kit back into the mix, Chris started playing a lot more distorted slide guitar and Stu was experimenting with dirty synth melodies,” Zappa says.

“This started an edginess and rawness that can only be seen live. We still enjoy producing clean slick recordings and it really works having two different aspects to our sound – studio and live.”

However, Zappa says there’s not much in the way of an agenda for the album they plan to record this year.

“We might have a few more vocal tracks but it’s more about letting the music take its course while we tour from place to place. We make lifestyle choices rather than musical ones. The good music seems to flow when we’re all happy and content.”

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

www.xpressmag.com.au

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays