Issue 1382

ISSUE 1382 | 7TH AUGUST 2013 | FREE WEDNESDAY |

THE BIG SPLASH

33,560 OCTOBER 2012 MARCH 2013 - AUSTRALIA’S HIGHEST CIRCULATING STREET PRESS

BOOM! BAP! POW!

BARN OWL

SPEAK @ TOTALLY HUGE NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL

YOUR GUIDE TO EVERYTHING URBAN

BRO SAFARI

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CROOKED PARTY

Milan’s powerhouse of mixed-genre dance music, Crookers, will be playing Villa on Saturday, October 5. House, dubstep, reggae, rap, melodic grime you name it, they play it. First release tickets are $25 (plus booking fee) from Moshtix and local support comes in the form of Tapeheads, DNGRFLD and Mo’Fly.

FRENCH KISSED

Tickets go on sale tomorrow, Thursday, August 8, to see Emma Louise perform in support of the release of her debut album, Vs Head Vs Heart. The LP has been received well, prompting a national tour, which will see its curtain call at Astor Theatre on Friday, October 4. Tickets from Oztix.

Emma Louise

MOBILE HOME Crookers

Triple j’s House Party is coming to Perth! As part of a monolithic national club tour, Nina Las Vegas, Flight Facilities, Cassian, Tyler Touché, and Wave Racer will be storming the DJ booth at Metropolis Fremantle on Friday, August 30, for a massive night of club anthems and floor fillers. Tickets are on sale now via triplej.net.au.

Wild Horses, Caged

CLOWN AROUND FEST

GOOD TASTE BEHIND BARS

Tickets for Circo Festival have sold fast, with some general release tickets priced at $89 left for the Saturday, August 17, gig. Featuring a huge line-up of international and national dance music acts across three zones along with some crazy circus gimmicks, Ascot Raceway has probably never seen its like before. Hermitude, Dune Rats, Chet Faker and Girl Unit are just some of the acts on the bill, which is pretty monster. Tickets will be more on the door.

The vibe at Fremantle Prison is set to be made sophisticated with a WA-focussed designer runway and tattoo art exhibition on Thursday, August 22.

Caged will feature a runway exhibiting work from designers Rosie & Broken, Wild Horses and Set Cray, along with a live performance by Lucy Peach and tattoo exhibition. Ticketholders will also receive a complimentary champagne on arrival and there’ll be a pop up bar and live oyster shucker for their enjoyment. Tickets are $39 from ticketbooth.com.au and strictly limited.

DIAMOND EYES

Hermitude, Circo Festival

Nina Las Vegas

The Beaufort Street Festival Arts Committee have put out the call for Perth artists to contribute to this year’s festival’s design aesthetic. Artists are asked to submit a square diamond shaped design addressing the theme, Celebrate Beaufort Street. The winning design will go on this year’s festival t-shirt, as well as a piece of public art that will be unveiled on November 16, as a $250 cash prize. Images in vector format can be emailed to artdirector@ beaufortstreetfestival.com.au

BEHIND WAAPA’S CURTAIN

Check out what goes into the making of superstars when The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts flings wide its doors for the annual Open Day on Sunday, August 11, from 10am until 3pm. This is an excellent opportunity to take a look at the Academy’s state of the art equipment and facilities and marvel at the wide range of courses and subjects on offer. For more information, head over to ecu.edu.au.

WAAPA Open Day

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Reactions/Comp Thing Flesh Music: RTRFM’s Jason Cleary Music: Big Splash Music: Barn Owl/ Cash Savage Music: Carcass Music: Boom Bap Pow! Music: Of Mice And Men New Noise Eye4 Cover: Totally Huge New Music Festival Eye4: News/ Flick Picks/ Bling Ring Eye4: Now You See Me/ Eye4: Harry Hummerston/ Hedda Arts Listings Urban Central Salt Cover: DMC State Finals Salt: News/ Test Pad/ Midnight Juggernauts Salt: Lo & Behold/ Shapeshifter Salt: Rewind: DMC State Finals Scene: Live: Big Splash Semi Final/ Chain Saw Hookers/ Fidlar 43 Tour Trails 44 Gig Guide 46 Volume COVER: The Big Splash 2013 Grand Final happens this Saturday, August 10, at The Bakery, with Scalphunter, Dianas, These Winter Nights and Apache. Underwater Photography: Michael Wylie at Beatty Park Leisure Centre.

SALT COVER: Bro Safari is ready to crank the trap and drum ‘n’ bass vibes at Villa this Saturday, August 10. www.xpressmag.com.au

Melbourne Ska Orchestra

SKA ISSUE

Fronted by Nicky Bomba (Bomba, John Butler Trio, Bustamento), the Melbourne Ska Orchestra is a fun, big band experience playing music influenced by the golden ska period. They do so with a 30+ member ensemble and will probably be packing many more suitcases than that when they head out next month to tour nationally in support of their self-titled debut album. Catch the Melbourne Ska Orchestra on Saturday, September 28, at the Astor Theatre, presented

by X-Press Magazine. The next day, Sunday, September 29, they head to the Wave Rock Weekender in Hyden.

Tickets to the Astor Theatre show are available from liveattheastor.com.au and showticketing.com.au. Head to soulhighway.com.au for Wave Rock Weekender tickets.

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Print and Digital Editions Publisher/Manager Joe Cipriani Editorial

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Managing Editor Bob Gordon: editor@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 guide@xpressmag.com.au Entertainment Services Co-ordinator / Competitions win@xpressmag.com.au Photography Callum Ponton, Stefan Caramia, Daniel Grant, Sammy Granville, Matt Jelonek, Denis Radacic, Emma Mackenzie, Guang-Hui Chuan, Max Fairclough 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, Ben Watson,Jessica Willoughby,Miki Mclay,Morgan Richards,James Manning, Joe Cassidy, Shane Pinnegar For band gigs and launches - plugyourgig@xpressmag.com.au

Advertising

VINTAGE BARGAINS GALORE

Claremont Showgrounds will come alive for two days of vintage and retro clothing and accessories E from the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s DOWNLOAD TH P on Saturday and Sunday, QR READER AP !

ING NN WI T August 17 and 18 as part AND GE of the Polka Dot Vintage Market. Retro collectables, vintage jewellery, vintage inspired and up-cycled wares, retro furniture, preloved designer fashion, This week we’ve teamed up with Head Office Salon handmade wares and to offer a makeover which is sure to turn heads. This gourmet goodies we exclusive package includes a cut, colour consultation, also be offer. We have 10 treatment and blow dry worth $150! Jump online to double passes to give enter. (Winner must claim prize before 1 September away!

2013, Available Tuesday-Thursday only).

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Art Director Dwight O’Neil

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UNPLUGGED ANARCHY

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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

MASSIVE MEGA FEST

Polka Dot Vintage Market- Lions and Unicorns

Luke Dux

This winter Fremantle Arts Centre’s main gallery plays host to a series of intimate, unplugged gigs by some of WA’s leading songwriters. Presented as part of Anarchy, Rock & Ink, each night will see a strictly limited audience get up close and personal with two songwriters who will perform unplugged.

For your chance to win one a double pass to see WAM Song of the Year winner Timothy Nelson and WAM Guitarist of the Year Luke Dux perform on August 15, enter online today.

Daryl Braithwaite and his band are coming to Perth and we have two packs to give away valued at $100. Catch him on Saturday, August 17 at The Charles Hotel and Sunday, August 18 at The Newport. Each pack include a double pass to the gig at The Charles and a Live in Concert DVD featuring h i s h i t s The Horses, One Summer, As The Days Go By and a Daryl Braithwaite Forever the Tourist T-shirt.

Transducer

TRUE STORY

Daryl Braithwaite

To celebrate the release of Pain And Gain, we’re giving you the chance to win one of five double passes. Pain and Gain is an action comedy starring Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson and Anthony Mackie. I t follows a group of personal trainers in ‘90s Miami who, in pursuit of Pain And Gain the American dream, get caught up in a criminal enterprise that goes horribly wrong. It’s out this Thursday, August 8.

The Imposter

The Ring Boxing Studio on the corner of Fitzgerald and John Streets Northbridge is offering one lucky reader the chance to win a free 10 session pass including gloves and hand wraps, valued at $200.

Enter online today to get fighting fit.

The Ring

WHAT’S ON AT MY PLACE

WARRANTY AND INDEMNITY

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A remarkable and chilling true story, The Imposter is the story of the disappearance of Nicholas Barclay, his grieving family and friends’ reaction upon his unexpected return and the authorities who began to question where truth ends and fiction begins. Enter to go in the running for a double pass.

GET IN THE RING

NO PAIN NO GAIN

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 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.

Totally Huge New Music Festival is kicking off this weekend and we have a multitude of double passes to give away to keen attendees. Just let us know if you’d like to go to: the Festival Opener this Friday, August 9 at The Bakery; Speak Percussion and Robin Fox at WA Museum on Saturday, August 10 or Michael Kieran Harvey at Government House or The Key Note at WA Museum, both on Sunday, August 11.

DARYL BRAITHWAITE FAN?

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Northbridge’s new cool place to be of a weekend evening is launching this Saturday, August 10.

Parker will play host to local and touring DJs and with its dress to impress policy and table service set up, sounds like it might be one of the hippest places to set your big nights out. This Saturday ACEBASIK, Chiari, Qwerk, Oli, KNO Agents are on the bill from 10pm and we have two double passes to give away.

HEAD TURNER

Sales and Marketing Manager Keeley Warren-Langford - advertising@xpressmag.com.au Online Marketing Keeley Warren-Langford - advertising@xpressmag.com.au Music Services / Musical Equipment / Bands / Record Labels Dez Richardson - musicservices@xpressmag.com.au Entertainment Venues / Live and Dance Music Promoters Tim Milroy - entertainment@xpressmag.com.au Lifestyle Development Manager Natasha Bederson - eye4@xpressmag.com.au Agency / Movies / Education / Sponsorship Keeley Warren-Langford - advertising@xpressmag.com.au Classifieds Linage classifieds@xpressmag.com.au

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PARKER LAUNCH

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My Place

X-Press and My Place Bar & Restaurant present this fantastic competition, for a fun night out for you and your mates. Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be collecting entries for a complimentary $100 food and beverage voucher at My Place.

Simply send your name and contact number to win@xpressmag.com.au with the email title ‘What’s On @ My Place’, and list three cocktails from the My Place menu to go into the draw. This one ends August 28.

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RedX

X SPOTS

Originally from Perth and now based in Melbourne, a couple of the guys from The Joe Kings now call themselves RedX and are back to play three WA gigs.

Catch them at Bunbury’s Prince Of Wales on Thursday, August 15; Albany’s White Star Hotel on Friday, August 16, and Mojos on Sunday, August 18.

Martha Davis

ROOM SERVICE

Classic ‘80s rock act Martha Davis & The Motels will be making their way to Perth for a one-off show at the Astor Theatre on Wednesday, December 4. Best known for the hit Total Control, this is Martha’s first visit down under since 2007, and is not to be missed.

Head to showticketing.com.au to book.

STICKY BUT SUNNY

Sydney based rude boys Sticky Fingers are playing The Bakery on Friday, September 6, with support from Lime Cordiale (NSW), Lo & Behold and DJ NDORSE. These guys play garage/pop, psych/soul mash of reggae and are just about to embark on their Shine Down On Us All Tour. Tickets are on sale now via nowbaking.com.au.

MORE GOODWIL

There’s been so much good feeling towards Wil Anderson’s new show that a second Perth date has been added to his national tour guide. GoodWil was the hit of this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival and you can see it at the Perth Convention Exhibition Centre on Friday-Saturday, August 30-31. Tickets are $48 from ticketek.com.au.

Wil Anderson

MAMA SAID

Local ‘60s soul 10-piece outfit Stratosfunk are back with their Perth Fringe World Festival award-winning show based on the music of Etta James. Tell Mama: The Music Of Etta James is back for one night only at Fremantle’s Fly By Night Musicians Club on Saturday, August 31. Presale tickets are $41.50 and can be booked via flybynight.org.

Haco, Totally Huge New Music Festival

HACO

Art Of Time Although a frequently performing visitor to Australia, this year’s Totally Huge New Music Festival brings Japanese composer/performer Haco to Perth for the very first time.

From her ‘80s prog-wave band After Dinner to current sound exploration adventures, Haco has been one of the most prolific and interesting artists coming from the country rich with quality musicians of all kinds. And while most of the world is aware of Japanese mega-pop stars, Haco never wanted to be one.

“I was naturally developing something what I could do originally as an organic method,” she explains. “I always liked to invent the system of how I can play my own music. If I wanted be a pop star in Japan, I would have to do choreographed dancing and sing stuff made up by some shitty producer. It would be a nightmare to me.”

At the age of 13, Haco got bored with regular musical education. She formed her first group, After Dinner.

“I’d listened a lot to post-punk, ethnic music, art-rock and John Cage type contemporary music,” she recalls. “Also, I formally studied acoustics and recording technology and I was eager in tape splicing. I thought it was an art of time. It brought me a new idea to compose something different from regular playing instruments. I had no idea I would be doing it for this long, because I always think about what I want to create for next, and usually each of my recording projects take a long time.”

Haco has been involved in various music projects, from After Dinner, through Hoahio and to solo work, all quite different from each other. Her music is getting more conceptual on each new album.

“I get very warm feedback from audiences when I tour and my records have been acclaimed by foreign musicians in a variety of fields and continue to attract countless new listeners, which is encouraging. However, my music is not easy to categorise, so the Japanese record companies do not have any ideas how to sell them in the domestic record market.

“I would like to find some foreign labels to release my recent CDs, but it seems hard because the market is getting smaller, giving way to digital downloads all over the world.”

While it is a certain sign of times, lack of sales of physical albums these days results in more artists taking their music on the road, and Haco is the one who often travels the world with hers.

“I’ve been participating in a lot of great festivals for experimental music, sound art and contemporary dance around the world, and I met numerous wonderful people to work together and have seen quite a lot of fantastic artists who I’ve been friends or collaborated with. When I play somewhere for the first time, I expect to meet new friends and gain some new experience during my stay. Sometimes I improvise with local artists. The people there and all the food, the things I see and the atmosphere in general are inspiring and will definitely influence me.

Sometimes these experiences give me some ideas for new lyrics and music later.”

Haco will appear at the Totally Huge New Music Festival opening party this Friday, August 9, at The Bakery, with Barn Owl and Speak Percussion. For full details and dates, head to thnmf2013.tura.com.au. _ PREDRAG DELIBASIC

WICKED WORK, WASA!

The WA Screen Awards were handed out to an impressive array of deserving talent on Friday, August 2, at The Astor Theatre, in the presence of special guests including Jack Thompson, Rachael Blake, Tony Martin and Nelson Woss. Winners included producer Sue Taylor, who received the Screenwest Outstanding Contribution Award and writer Keir Wilkins, recipient of the Central Institute Of Technology WA Young Filmmaker Of The Year Award. Red Dog took home ECU Best Feature Film, The Owl scored ECU Best Short Film, while Hunter: For The Record received ECU Best Feature Film - Factual.

Congratulations go to every winner and nominee.

Red Dog, ECU Best Feature Film - Factual, at the WASAs

A BUBLÉ PERSONALITY

Tickets for crooning Canadian dreamboat Michael Bublé’s 2014 show sold like hotcakes.

The silver-tonsilled singer has added a second show due to overwhelming demand and will perform at Perth Arena on Saturday, April 26, and Sunday, April 27, belting out a range of his hits and signature tunes. Will he grace us with his version of the Spider-Man theme tune?

Pick up tickets from Ticketek and find out.

Stratosfunk

NATIONAL PRIDE

‘Rainbow Nation’ is the theme for this year’s Pridefest. Three whole weeks of artistic and cultural celebration and expression kick off on Saturday, November 2, with a daytime parade through Northbridge, followed by a day-long celebration in Russell Square.

Pride WA have also given their website a makeover, so head to pridewa.com.au for all the latest info. www.xpressmag.com.au

Pridefest 2013

Michael Buble 11

a massive amount of people to volunteer to provide their time and knowledge to present shows, we pore over our program grid every year with our program committee to make sure we are doing the best we can to represent all these niches. The people are what make this at the end of the day and we need them all to allow us to provide such a great insight into different music genres and styles and the stories behind the music. You can never cover everything, but we try.

How would you say that RTRFM has changed in the years since it moved from UWA to Beaufort St? It is hard for me to say not being involved deeply at that time, but no doubt the move truly gave the station a sense of independence and visibility in the community. From what I have been told it was never really an option to stay at UWA so whilst probably not making the move any easier at least the management at the time knew what they needed to achieve.

The biggest problem I have encountered has been the loss of archives and history in the move, which is sad when you talk about RTRFM’s cultural importance - it does not seem we gave much regard to it ourselves at the time. I guess we are a slightly bigger, hopefully little less unruly ship to steer!

But we are about celebrating Perth’s culture and all the awesome things that go on underneath that gleaming surface and give people something a bit leftfield, and if people want us to continue doing that we need them to show us they do by opening their wallets and their minds, subscribe to the station, think about things and don’t swallow what corporate media tells you every day.

The one thing that has not changed is the fact we will tell stories without judgement; look deeper at issues and make you think about how we live in this world... then blow your mind with some music you never knew existed.

its own history, so there has been a lot of reflection but as someone who does not like to stay in the past I felt the reflection was very much about how great it has all been and what has been created but that the future is pretty bright, almost like the beginning of the next era for the station which is exciting, and a few more are anniversaries coming up this year. I think it is so important to celebrate them and then look forward to what is next.

Tell us about the vision for the Local Music Hub...

Well it had a few visions but when I started with RTRFM, internally we sat down and looked at what we really wanted to do with it. We do not want it to be a Perth Unearthed or something but become a historical look at Perth music, linking artists of today to the past, who played where and with who and a guide to buying Perth music... yes buying! We have a huge amount of work to get there but the aim is that this will become an important online museum of Perth contemporary music. Perth music is more successful than it has ever been but it is built on a foundation of underground, little heard music that needs to be recognised. Again it then builds for a future that recognises what has been. All we need now is to get (RTR presenter and local music historian) Ross Chisolm to open his Perth music archive!

The RTR website, overall, is looking pretty speccy these days...

Well if you saw the old site it was pretty outdated, possibly ugly could be the word! Again, relying on volunteers, this is another thing RTRFM was very lucky to have created for us, but this time around we really needed to spend some money to bring this up to date with the current web environment and the increased use of digital radio, podcasts and exclusive online content as well as simple fundamental things like people buying an online subscription, accessing a story etc. We spent a great deal of time working on it and with a board You are an alternative still, but RTRFM exists in member who is deeply involved in the technical the commercial world, especially with that big red side of IT we managed to get something we are all really happy with. Always room for improvement, building! Is that a difficult juggle?

Oh yeah, in case you had not noticed but it now gives us a base to work from and provide they like every building to be a shade of brown in our listeners with more options to interact with the Perth! But seriously the biggest, number one issue station and our presenters. This is all the things the for our station to continue to remain in an area like old site could not provide and the new website is just Mt Lawley is the operating costs. Luckily, when the groovy! building was sold, we landed in the hands of another generous owner, but these spaces are still not cheap. You recently invested in some solar panels. A 24/7 We are always out looking for new radio station must be challenging to keep green?

I’m not sure we could keep it green! And sponsors, ways to bring in income for the station, ways to save in other areas. I guess it is a constant to clarify we have not gone solar yet. We have had juggle. We also take a lot of pride in putting together a donor drive to raise money towards getting this the station’s sponsorship announcements which does done, I expect it will probably take around six months not sit well with a lot of clients, but we are pretty to get it fully funded and installed, it also relies on a stringent about this, we don’t want our listeners to few other things being sorted out but it is all coming feel like they are listening to some crass commercial together and will be very beneficial for the station Jason Cleary, RTRFM announcement in the midst of our programs and in the long term to alleviate some of the other cost hopefully not interfere with the listening experience increases. Although at the moment the old electricity bills will continue to hurt. too much.

I guess the green element is another thing I think it is vitally important cultural institutions stay in these areas we created. Mt as a responsible, intelligent community organisation Lawley would not be what it is if it was not for the we need to do our bit and we are thankful people independent businesses that many have had to shut got behind it. down or have gone out of business because of the massive hike in rents, electricity, rates etc. I guess How disappointing was the decision not to fund this is pretty common occurrence anywhere in the the Digital Radio Project in the last budget?

This was probably the single biggest world, but if an area like Mt Lawley is to remain vital and interesting it needs iconic and interesting issue facing our sector for the future. Overall, the retailers and services in the area. That is why it is so funding to community broadcasters has not only important for people to support us to remain the not increased it has gone backwards in real terms “big red building” but also those other independent so cutting this funding was pretty demoralising for in Mt Lawley or any other area of Perth the sector. The resources community stations have Beloved Perth community radio station RTRFM is holding its annual businesses put into digital radio and the need for the costs of for that matter, visit them and buy from them. transmitting in both digital and analogue for the Radiothon from August 16-25. They’ll celebrate with a Northbridge-wide What’s the flow of new volunteers like these days? time being needs to continue to be funded for it to opening party on Saturday, August 17, at The Bakery, The Bird, YaYa’s, PICA Bar We have so many volunteers coming be viable. It is not something we asked to have to do.

The mass of support the sector got really and The Beat Nightclub from 8pm with 24 of our best local outfits including through, doing our training course, so many in fact it hard often for them to get a regular show. A nice raised some eyebrows and made some ‘higher ups’ Emperors, Sugar Army, Runner, Dianas, Mezzanine and NAIK. Tickets are isproblem to have and we are always listening through realise how important and loved community radio is. new presenters’ programs. We have also a few new Luckily, this funding has now been reinstated but not available from rtrfm.com.au. programs in our grid that allows a range of presenters without stations and our sector bodies wasting a lot to get on and present and at the end of the day it is of time and money to make it happen and this will Who you gonna call?

What’s it like to actually run a funky community the passionate ones that come through. Presenting be something that in 5-10 years will be paramount It’s the catchphrase this year for RTRFM’s radio station from day to day? It’s not all just radio is a big commitment and a lot of hard work in the sector continuing to provide community radio all important annual subscription drive, Radiothon. about being groovy is it? so you really need to be into it. Probably this is services across the country. I think we all realised In a world where news, culture and entertainment Unfortunately not, otherwise we would something the listening public don’t understand, it is quite a confusing issue for the public to get is served to you as vanilla and pre-packaged as can all just sit here looking groovy! Community radio is I know I certainly did not before I had this job, so their heads around, but one day analogue radio will be, it’s the likes of RTRFM that provides something a strange beast with so many people passionately this year we created a video showing some of our disappear just like analogue TV and we need to be in cosmopolitan and independent. involved across the station in so many ways. On presenters and how great they are in everything they a position to provide the same services we currently That’s who you gotta call. one hand you manage the way this strange little do. It is all over our website so check it out. do when that happens. environment operates and on the other hand you

By BOB GORDON have to be prepared to let it be guided by the What kinds of expectations do volunteers have So Radiothon is just as crucial to RTRFM, if not people who make it happen. Not the easiest of about what RTR is and the experience they hope more so?

How’s things at the ranch? jobs, but I would not swap it for anything else, as to get from it?

If there is one thing we are not very good As you can imagine it is a pretty hectic time you mentioned earlier I have spent most of my life I’m sure they all have very different at in this country it is asking for money, but I could of the year getting everything prepared for Radiothon in bands and arts administration, I tried a few other expectations and I have no idea whether we live up not possibly tell people how important it is. We and people geared up for the most important 10 days things and realized quickly I only want to do this. to them or not but we are pretty open about who we try not to bang on about it much outside these 10 on our calendar. To be honest I am really excited This is probably to the detriment of my bank account, are and how RTRFM works so everyone seems to fit days every year, but Radiothon is basically our core about the coming few weeks and celebrating all the but I’m doing what I love and something that is into the crazy family somewhere. operating funding for the year and sets us up for great work our presenters, staff and office volunteers important to the Perth community.

Our volunteers are so diverse, they come what we can or can’t plan for the coming year. do. I think RTRFM and our listeners are pretty lucky The continuing worry about money is the here for so many reasons, people that just want to see If you listen to the station at any single we have so many great people all across the station. hardest part and has no easy answers or fixes, but what it is like in a radio station, those very passionate point in your week or listen to a podcast or visit the that is the choice of being independent and not about a certain music they love, then we have uni website, or whatever, remember that it only exists You came into the General Manager position having to answer to anyone but the members and students who are just entering the industry, school because you, the public, paid to subscribe to our with a background in both local bands and arts listeners. This sense of independence just becomes students on work experience and those that just station. We really work hard to provide great prizes administration, so RTR’s cultural importance in more and more important as we see the continued want to help out. We love every single one of them, from very generous donors each year as an extra Perth is something you were well aware of. As take over by big corporations of almost everything. they make the station the diverse and interesting incentive and we really just ask you support the such, was it daunting going into that role? station with a subscription and maybe a donation place it is.

Well sure, there was some trepidation as a The station plays a large part in the contemporary on top if you can. We feel loved, our presenters know long time listener/supporter and lover of everything music scene - live and DJ-related - but the charter As the years tick on, more anniversaries come you are listening and loving their show and we have the station stands for, but mostly I was pretty excited includes many cultural niches and musical to pass. This year it was 20 years of In The Pines a great starting point to another year of radio. It is about sinking my teeth into the role and having the styles. What’s it like maintaining those cultural and 30 years for the Drastic On Plastic show. In always our listeners that keep us on the airwaves, we opportunity to make sure RTRFM continues to be the inclinations? celebrating those there was a lot of reflection as don’t have any kind of ratings we pay for or make any bastion for our local arts, music and current affairs We spend a lot of time, maybe too much, well, what was that like for the folks at the station? profit at the end of the year, it all goes straight back and allows our presenters to showcase their amazing philosophising over this stuff but it is because we It was great to have so many people eager into the station and we run it on a shoestring. The knowledge of whatever show they are presenting. really do want to represent as many different niches to share their knowledge of these histories. As I better Radiothon goes the better the station goes, That is the reason people love RTRFM. as we possibly can and how to best do that. It takes mentioned RTR has not done a great job archiving and the better my blood pressure!

JASON CLEARY: GENERAL MANAGER RTRFM ‘Thon And On

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13

DIANAS

Nathalie Pavlovic, Dianas

Nathalie Pavlovic, guitar/vocals How would you describe your Big Splash experience to this point?

It’s been really great - minus the nerves associated with being ‘judged’ - all the bands are super friendly and we’ve seen some cool shows

THE BIG SPLASH Entertain Us...

Timothy Gordon, Lucas Jones, Matty Van Leeuwin and Nathalie Pavlovic pre-Big Splash Photography: Michael Wylie Location: Beatty Park Leisure Centre

The Big Splash 2013 Grand Final happens this Saturday, August 10, at The Bakery, with Scalphunter, Dianas, These Winter Nights and Apache, plus after-party guests The Chemist and Sugarpuss. BOB GORDON made the finalists jump in a pool in the middle of winter for our front cover. It was a Nirvana Nevermind homage, honestly.

It’s been a friendly battle happening for the last few months, but it all comes down to makes the biggest splash this Saturday at The Bakery.

The heats were hotly contested at Mojos, Ya-Ya’s, The Bird and the Rosemount Hotel, with four grand finalists emerging but many more bands have come a long way, along the way, and

will no doubt be hitting stages more often around Perth.

Saturday’s first place-getters will receive $10,000 cash; Second place-getter will receive $2,500 in prizes (courtesy of Kosmic & Yo-Yo Studios); third place gets to play The Beaufort Street Festival (courtesy of Jump Climb).

Have you discovered any bands that you particularly like?

Golden String is a pretty new band who were really cool Did you enjoy being a Nevermind baby for the photo shoot?

It was pretty fun, the water was so nice!

Swimming in winter is pretty good. After a while though it got pretty cold (laughs).

How have others described your music? How do you describe it?

We quite enjoyed Justin Walshe’s introduction on the semi-final night. I think he said something like ethereal garage pop. I guess we would There’s also the Enchantment Award, describe it as surfy/garage/dark-bubblegum-pop. presented by The City of Fremantle which will Actually I stole that from someone else’s description as see a band securing a performance on Saturday, well. I think it about covers it though.

November 9, at The Norfolk Lanes Festival.

Entry is $15 (plus booking fee) If your band wins the $10,000 prize what will you through nowbaking.com.au or $20 at the door do with it? from 8pm.

We really want to record an album! So most of it will go towards everything to do with that. We also really need to buy a good guitar amp, we still just borrow our friends’. It’s pretty bad.

SCALPHUNTER Matty Van Leeuwin, bass

scene, and for us getting to break out of our normal Oh wow (laughs) this is always the hardest punk/rock/hardcore scene for a few shows has been question. Ah, I guess someone once described us as a eye opening and a great learning curve. mix between The Bronx, Every Time I Die and Cancer Bats, but with an infectiously upbeat attitude. But I Have you discovered any bands that you think we all really just play what comes out, we are particularly like? definitely a go-with-the-feel type of band and just From The Big Splash? Yeah, for us the two play music we love to hear. Obviously we all come bands we have played with that stand out so far are from a rock’n’roll /punk background and we can’t The Dianas and Red Engine Caves, both bands that deny our roots, but we are always looking to expand we dig heaps. Also from our heat we loved Leure, our sphere of influence. In a line, she was awesome. The calibre of musicianship we Scalphunter are a fun lovin’, high energy punk have seen has us all banging our heads together rock’n’roll machine! wondering, ‘why us?!’

If your band wins the $10,000 prize what will you Did you enjoy being a Nevermind baby for the do with it? photo shoot?

We have a 10” EP coming out in To be honest I did, it was a great way to November and a 12” split with three or four other Scalphunter meet the members of the other bands in the final bands from around Australia coming out early How would you describe your Big Splash and also chill out after a week of solid gigs - did I next year, plus we only just released our WA punk mention we played four shows last week? Was 7” split a week ago, so for starters we will be paying experience to this point?

Oh wow, firstly let us just say that great to represent Scalphunter at The Big Splash off all that. Next up is to head back over East again Scalphunter feel completely privileged to not only competition and would gladly do it all over again. and finally include all those places we wanted to have made to the final, and that the quality of Even got a lift home from the photographer who go but couldn’t afford from Adelaide to Brisbane and everywhere in between! We are also lining up all the bands that we have played with has been was a supreme human being! a South East Asian tour for next year so the $10k amazing. Just getting to share a stage with them is just awesome! The Big Splash is really bringing How have others described your music? How do will go a long way to helping us get our tunes to a whole lot more people. great quality bands to the forefront of the WA music you describe it?

Apache

APACHE

Timothy Gordon, vocals How would you describe your Big Splash experience to this point?

Incredibly surprising, in the best way possible. I usually don’t really support the animosity that band competitions tend to create between musicians, whether they realise it or not, but The Big Splash has really just been all fun and games with a bunch of amazing organisers and musicians. I really look forward to seeing it develop over the next couple of years.

THESE WINTER NIGHTS Lucas Jones, guitar/vocals and hop away with your lawnmower. I’ve lost sight of where this analogy is going.

But yeah, The Big Splash has been awesome. We’ve had the opportunity to play at some killer venues to some incredible crowds with some insanely awesome and inspiring bands, and there are simply not enough adjectives in the world to describe how good it’s been – we’re really thankful to have been a part of it all! Also, Andrew (Ryan) and Maria (Florides) have been beyond awesome. They’ve given us so much feedback and guidance to improve us as a band in general, and we really can’t thank them enough for that.

These Winter Nights How would you describe your Big Splash experience to this point?

The Big Splash experience has been a bit like getting a pet kangaroo. It can be exciting and awesome, with the kangaroo teaching us how to box and whacking us in its pouch and hopping us around places. But it can also be kinda nerveracking, because at any moment the kangaroo could suddenly go mental and kick you in the face 14

Have you discovered any bands that you particularly like?

Yeah, definitely! Seriously, every band that we’ve seen and played with have been insane, but personal stand-outs for me have been Apache, Lanark, Scalphunter, Golden String, UPNUP, Spaceman Antics and Villain. All great bands creating some really cool music, and I’d highly recommend checking them out if you haven’t already!

Did you enjoy being a Nevermind baby for the photo shoot?

Yeah it was great fun and a really cool concept! I don’t think I’d actually been in a legit body of water for quite a while before the shoot, so I had to kinda relearn how to swim/float/flop

Have you discovered any bands that you particularly like?

The quality of the bands in The Big Splash is absolutely superb. These Winter Nights have been a about for it. But yeah, it was cool, and it was the personal standout, they sort of seem like a really nice first real photo shoot thing I’d ever done, so it hug in musical form. But all the heats that I have been was an awesome experience. to have never really seemed like ‘heats’, just really, really damn good gigs.

How have others described your music? How do you describe it?

Did you enjoy being a Nevermind baby for the photo We’ve been described as having an epic shoot? and cinematic sound, and being like Mumford & Yeah, that was a funny one. I hadn’t really Sons crossed with Something For Kate crossed with been relayed the getting-really-wet details of it so it Sigur Rós, which is like, the greatest description we was a rather big shock, especially as I had to wear those could ever have imagined! clothes for a gig at The Bird later that night. But who We describe ourselves as being an doesn’t love a good old fashioned dip? alternative folk band; we each have a range of different styles of music that we listen to and are How have others described your music? How do you each influenced by, so we bring them all to the band describe it? and blend them together to make our sound. But We keep getting told that we are rather yeah, Mumford/Something For Kate/Sigur Rós, I’m psych rock which I personally find rather confusing, as down with that. long as people don’t describe it as shit I don’t really mind how they want to describe it. I’d probably describe it as If your band wins the $10,000 prize what will you alt rock but that sounds pretty boring, so let’s go with do with it? music that you would listen to as the rapture begins.

We’re currently in the process of recording our debut album, so if we win the cash we’d be If your band wins the $10,000 prize what will you do putting it towards all the mixing and mastering with it? costs and also towards funding a killer tour. Also I’ve been pitching a couple of different ideas we’re really keen to make some These Winter Nights to the band but the common consensus is to continue socks... like, the really comfortable fluffy ones. So building the studio that we have been putting together if we have any money left over we’d also put it so that we can have more control over our songwriting towards their production. Actually, thinking about process and keep developing as a band. Although I it, we might just make $10,000 worth of socks. Socks really want to invest in some sort of $10,000 pillow fort are awesome. and some really nice pajamas.

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15

BARN OWL Even Flow American drone, desert rock outfit Barn Owl has always specialised in pushing devotional darkness into murky, unchartered territories.

JESSICA WILLOUGHBY talks with guitarist, Jon Porras, ahead of their first ever Perth show at the Totally Huge New Music Festival Opening Party this Friday, August 9 at The Bakery with Haco and Speak Percussion.

Doom dub. This is the new term coined for experimental desert drone outfit, Barn Owl. Of all the genres that budding music journalists have pulled out of their hat, this one would be among the most quirky. But for the duo behind the eclectic American outfit, which has taken a nod from minimal electro to horror soundscapes, there is some understanding behind the current phrase. Though that doesn’t mean they have to like the term.

“Yeah I get it,” guitarist Jon Porras says.“It’s odd that the term has been thrown around so much lately though when it comes to us. I’ll be the first to admit that both Evan (Caminiti) and I are fans of the dub recording style. A lot of dub musicians will take a live recording and use it as an artifact, then process it and reconceptualise it as a recording. The lines between producer and artist are blurred. So for our current album, we took what we tracked in the studio and did a ton of editing at our home studio.

This included a ton of processing. We even used a lot of the techniques that some of our favourite dub producers use. We also wanted to throw in some of the darker tones – the melancholy – that Barn Owl has used in the past. We wanted to include that with the dub process, so I think that is where the term came from.”

The album Porras is referring to is V. Released earlier this year, the fifth offering from these two kindred spirits sees them explore the extremities of heavy sound through hypnotic noise, sparse beats and misty drone. The effect is an allconsuming wave of auditory beauty. The band’s first major outing away from their guitars, Porras points to this album reinventing their live show.

“We are currently on tour and it’s just a whole new experience for us,” he tells X-Press. “A friend and musician I really respect recently told us, ‘it still sounds just like Barn Owl’. I share the same opinion. A lot of my favorite musicians – like Keiji Haino – can move seamlessly between instruments

and their music still carries their personal essence. I really love that. Now, we’re focussing more on sound design rather than live guitar playing, because it’s inspiring and offers so many possibilities. I’m playing a modular synthesiser now and it allows for such flexible sound design. I can have guitar-esque sounds patched simultaneously with hand drum sounds and bass – the possibilities just really open up. It’s the start of a new era live for us.

“The chemistry between Evan and I and our writing process have stayed consistent over the years. Our aim has always been to pull moments that unfold intuitively out of improvisation and solidifying those parts within a fluid structure.

Taking use of a large frequency range helps do this; deep low end, blurred midrange melodies, fuzz and haze hovering above. It’s been refreshing to build these atmospheres with synths.”

While Barn Owl’s work has previously been described as a ‘black wall of sound’, a new focus sees the band looking towards crushing serenity. Porras admits V is a deliberate shift away from the ‘rock’ sounds of their previous releases.

“There was definitely a desire to experiment with new instrumentation and recording techniques on this album,” he says.

“I view V as not having anything to do with ‘rock’ at all. I wanted to take things to the outer reaches. We used some tools of rock like fuzz and tube amps, but would use them to produce crunching noises and reverb then manipulate the recordings – slowed them down, reversed them and pulled them apart. This is where the dub influence came into play. There are dark moments, but we tried to balance them with euphoric passages and more radiant feelings. I think it’s important to make the void we create as tangible as possible. Music seems like a great way to do this; to feel elevated as you can let yourself be and overwhelmed by sound.”

With improvisation a constant core of Barn Owl’s approach, the scope with how they

Barn Owl captured this feeling on V also changed from their previous four albums. Instead of trying to relive the nuances that happened live in the studio, the pair now shifted their concentration to sculpting these passages in post-production.

“Now we are finding nuances that emerge from processing and manipulating,” Porras explains. “This was an idea borrowed from dub, which seems to blur the line between production

“When we went into the studio, not all of these songs were even finished!

Or even half-finished! And it was pretty fun to go in and work together with these guys that I’ve worked with on the road and actually put it down – that was the biggest thing for me, was how well we all worked together in the studio. It was great; it was incredible, actually.”

Cash Savage

CASH SAVAGE & THE LAST DRINKS Dynamic Hypnotic

The Hypnotiser, the long awaited second album from Melbourne country and blues legend Cash Savage, is a mesmerising and eloquent record, ranging the themes of love and loss; pain and redemption; to selfdiscovery and regret. THOMAS BAILEY reports.

The Hypnotiser is a meaty listen, with Cash Savage’s brilliant band, The Last Drinks, providing the solid tunes, and her old mate, Nick Finch, from Graveyard Train, hopping aboard as producer.

Savage is pretty damn happy. “I’m incredibly chuffed,” she says over the phone from her part-time job, where she’s been sitting in front of a computer. “You know, I’m really, really proud of what we’ve made; I’ve 16

been sitting on this finished product for six weeks or so, and it still takes me by surprise sometimes, how amazing it all came out.”

The album arrives after a long two years of being on the road, touring for her 2011 debut, Wolf. While she agrees that all the touring certainly helped drive the rambling and dirty blues-y country feel of her new record, Savage also believes that all that touring was more responsible for fine-tuning her band which, for

the most part, was more or less a fluid thing.

“It really helped shape the band, and how tight-knit we all are,” she explains. “I can’t speak for them, but I really enjoy playing with those guys, and I know we spend a lot of time together, and we’ve done a lot of shows.

“When we went into the studio, not all of these songs were even finished!” Savage admits. “Or even half-finished! And it was pretty fun to go in and work together with these guys that I’ve worked with on the road and actually put it down – that was the biggest thing for me, was how well we all worked together in the studio. It was great; it was incredible, actually.”

It was while the band was actually recording, Savage reveals, that the official lineup was born. “Yeah, we were doing a song for about six months, and it was the same band for about six months!” she says. “And then all of a sudden we realised that we were the band, and that this is what we’d become. The band ebbed and flowed with different members, and it is what it is now. It’s really organic-like; a band that really enjoys playing together and enjoys each other’s company,” she concludes happily.

That sense of cohesion and trust between Savage and her Last Drinks shines through on this gleamingly dark and assured work. So many divergent musical paths twine this way and that: new love is celebrated in the

and performance. Improvisation also lends itself well to reaching beyond, toward that devotional facet of music. Using technical skill and knowledge of your instrument to facilitate these deliberate accidents.

“That ‘flow’ when imagination runs fluidly through your actions with no second thoughts or reservations can be magical and an immensely rewarding aspect of playing music.”

– ahem – hypnotic and rambling Let Go; a gang of violent youth, hopped up on alcohol and hate, trample through the down and dirty Bareknuckle Boogie; and the haunting 95km To Sandy Point tells the tale of the unfortunate witness to the hitchhiking arsonist who started the Black Saturday bushfires. The grounding force behind all of this and more is Savage’s laconic and headstrong drawl, which just has to be heard to be believed – at times humorous, sometimes mournful and heartbreaking; at times searching, and vulnerable.

It is damn fascinating how remarkable her ability is to sing songs from so many different angles and from so many disparate characters?

95km To Sandy Point is an example - how does she go about immersing herself in the space of another human being for a song?

“Well, that one was really interesting for me,” she begins. “We were playing this gig in some dive bar on the road… I think it was Healesville or something. And there was a guy there who I was drinking with afterwards.

“He was telling me that the next day he had to go to court, and I was like, ‘What for?’ and it came out that we were both travelling the same road on the day of the Black Saturday fires. And we were both driving to Sandy Point by chance, and when he told me the story about how he picked up the hitchhiker – the story’s quite incredible – this guy, who’d started this fire that killed people, this murderer… and picked him up in his car!

“And what took me was at the end of the story,” Savage continues. “He’s like, ‘I’m really not looking forward to court’, and I was, ‘Yeah, I can imagine that’s going to be a pretty hard day’, and he was like, ‘I broke up with my girlfriend a year ago, and she’s going to be there, and I don’t want to see her’.” Savage breaks out with a deep and throaty laugh. “Out of all the things to be worried about, to be worried about seeing your ex-girlfriend – that’s what really took me about that story, and I said to him, ‘I’m going to write a song about this!’”

When I ask her about the more personal moments on the album, and if she ever finds it nerve-wracking to share herself in such a public way, Savage tells me straight up that what she aims for – always tries to be – is to be true when she writes. “And so, in doing that,” she says, “I need to put myself in the songs.

“But, whatever someone takes out of it is what they take out of it,” she continues. “I really like it when people get something out of it that has nothing to do with my original emotion and they come up and tell me they love a particular song for a certain reason.

“These songs of mine are now theirs,” she concludes, “to make of as they will.”

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CARCASS Steel The One Surgical Steel, the latest album from seminal UK grind outfit Carcass, sees the band breaking 17 years’ of recording silence. With an Australian tour rumoured for April next year, frontman Jeff Walker offers JESSICA WILLOUGHBY some insight into the hotly anticipated release.

Carcass’ first album in 17 years, Surgical Steel, was leaked to a salivating internet audience last week.

Not surprisingly, the response from anyone with a web connection has been insane.

But unlike other bands who would suffer as a result, Carcass flourished. The move, which allegedly came from the Nuclear Blast Records camp, actually prompted more physical pre-sales for the album’s release in September. The first to admit the paradox, founding member and frontman Jeff Walker played light on the situation. ‘If you hate the record, just delete it’, he told fans via the Carcass Facebook page last Thursday. ‘But if you love the album, go buy it at a secondhand store this September’.

Though this isn’t the first hiccup the band have met since deciding to release new material.

Following their unexpected reunion in 2007, a string of outstanding live shows sowed the seed of hope for another Carcass LP. But it wasn’t until last year that this pipeline dream for many became a reality.

Wanting to create a link to their salad days, Walker and fellow founding member Bill Steer (guitar) opted for the tried-and-true recording formula that had worked for them so many times before. Again settling with longtime Carcass producer, Colin Richardson, who has worked on every album from ‘89’s Symphonies Of Sickness to Swansong (1996), they laid the album down in late 2012 – with the hope of release early this year.

Self-funding most of the process as they label shopped, it was all smooth sailing until Richardson threw a spanner in the mix. After months of Carcass screaming out for their next opus to be done-and-dusted, he decided working with the iconic British death grind outfit was no longer for him.

Walker admits he was not too pleased about the events at the time. “We were definitely fucking pissed off when it happened,” he tells X-Press. “I mean, it was all going good until we had this falling out with him. It was no contest why we

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“It was all going good until we had this falling out with Colin (Richardson, longtime producer). It was no contest why we chose him for this release. He has been with us for more than 20 years.

We wanted to work with him again because he’s a great producer and he has always helped us to release great records. We also wanted to give fans that link to our early era, so those whiny fucks out there would not be able to say we ‘sold out’ or we’ve changed too much from our earlier albums.

That’s simply not true.”

Walker says the choice to complete Surgical Steel with well-known engineer Andy Sneap had played on their mind for some time.

“Colin Richardson still technically produced this release,” he explains. “But he didn’t finish it. Because he was taking such a long time to do it and we knew other stuff was going on with the situation, we already started thinking of other people we might be able to bring in to help out.

“Andy was one of our first choices. He’s worked with some big bands for his age. And he’s done a great job with us. Although I have spoken harshly about Colin over the past few months, we chose him for this release. He has been with us for are really okay. We’ll probably always be friends, more than 20 years. We wanted to work with him but we will never work together again. I can see again because he’s a great producer and he has Andy being our go-to guy from now on.” always helped us to release great records. We also Although the charismatic frontman wanted to give fans that link to our early era, so is now breathing a sigh of relief, with the those whiny fucks out there would not be able to release date for their sixth full-length set for say we ‘sold out’ or we’ve changed too much from this September via Nuclear Blast – he says the production disaster is not the only wall that our earlier albums. That’s simply not true.”

Carcass stood in the way of this LP. It literally took four years to convince guitarist and main songwriter Steer to come to the table. But it was the talent of the band’s new drummer Daniel Wilding (ex-Trigger The Bloodshed) that got the creative juices flowing.

“I’d always wanted to do new material since our reunion,” Walker says. “But getting Bill onboard wasn’t so easy. It was literally all up to him. I tried talking to him for years about it, but it wasn’t until we played a show with Trigger The Bloodshed and Bill saw Dan play live that he brought it up. Dan’s drumming reminds us of our former drummer Ken’s (Owen) style. And when he started playing with us, he was a perfect fit.

“Bill’s very particular when it comes to drumming styles and he knows what he likes. But Ken is still appearing on the new album doing some vocals. For those fucks that keep saying they won’t listen to it because the original drummer is not on the album, you’ve got no excuse now.”

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

BOOM! BAP! POW! The Suit Fits

Boom! Bap! Pow! launch their new album, So Heavy, this Saturday, August 10, at the Rosemount Hotel with support from The Love Junkies, Huge Magnet and Dux N Downtown. BOB GORDON chats with vocalist, Novac Bull.

Their band name might sound like it’s all cartoonish good times, but Boom! Bap! Pow! are chock full of good old-fashioned showbiz ethic.

Tour then tour some more, that would be, and it’s helped shape their just released second album, So Heavy.

“Because we are so self-deprecating we’re usually the first people to tell you we’re a better group of friends than we are a band, which has been a result of many a sweaty, smelly, snorey

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night spent top and tail on a tour,” says vocalist, Novac Bull.

“Most of the better songs on this record were written on the road. Clint wrote Suit after I was perving on a hot bar wench at the Espy in Melbourne. I said something about wanting to get a bit Buffalo Bill with that one, and the rest is history. We never would have ended up there and got inspired to write the song unless Dave our drummer misdirected us to the wrong Espy, where we didn’t actually have a gig.

“For any bands new to Victorian touring, there is an Espy in St Kilda and one in Queenscliffe too… thanks Dave.”

The thanks are in order as Suit, the first single, from So Heavy, is a dynamic little number that in its own way shaped the rest of the album.

“We’ve been playing My World for years to close our sets, but re-wrote it after we started playing Suit to try and beef it up to match,” Bull explains of the first single’s direct effect on other material. “It was more a case of us just rocking in and playing our live set than thinking about how it would hold together as an album, but we’ve got Luke Dux from the Floors playing lap steel on a handful of tracks and Brian Krueger on keys for three, so there are a few different textures that keep popping up and tie everything together.

“Suit was always going to be the first single. It was the first song we recorded and once we had that down everyone got a lot more relaxed.

The second single (and lead track off the album) Keeping You Happy was one of the last tracks we cut and is pretty much a balls-out, Diamond Dogs-with-too-much-coffee affair. I think the boys were all reading Keith Richard’s biography around that time so Clint and Paul were trying to out-Keef each other on the guitars.”

Bull reveals that one of her personal favourites on the album is the title track, So Heavy. It took a re-visit to get it just right.

“We tried recording it once before,” she notes, “but didn’t quite get the feeling right and canned it. So I was committed to nailing a definitive version this time around.

“It still sounds a little raw to me, because that’s the emotional centre-piece of the record, but it had to be that raw, I think. There’s a little bit of a country vibe that creeps in through So Heavy and a few of the other tracks with Clint Bracknell playing a battered old acoustic guitar on them, something we never use live but which strangely seems to make the tracks sound weightier and more tactile on record.”

The album was recorded over five days back in February, 2012, and given also that Boom!

Bap! Pow!’s first LP was pretty much a tool to launch the band, they’ve been itching to get it released.

“For this album we more or less knew what we were doing as a band, who has to play what instrument etc, and wanted to make a good old rock’n’roll album,” Bull explains. “We run on a shoestring really, so we just got in and did the job. We got a little carried away toward the end and some bits were overdone like stringy clam, or a Karnivool demo. At the end of the day most of us had no idea what we ended up with and just sent it away to get the ends chopped off.

“We’re keen as to finally stick it out there. The longer you sit on an album the harder it is to love it, like how parents with their 30 yearold children living at home must feel. Still, we put this one aside for the last six months and only listened to it when the pressings got done last week and are infatuated with it all over again. The songs are old friends, well and truly worn in now, but it’s refreshing to hear them played with the vigour associated with new things.

Boom! Bap! Pow!’s live shows are a thing of energetic repute - musicianship, soul, funk and sass colliding to considerable effect.

In the centre of it all is Bull, who has taken notes from the past and the present.

“Etta James was a huge initial influence for me personally,” she says “due to her intensity as a vocalist and her dynamic range. She can be sweet as sugar one second then she gets her ‘growl’ on and manages to send shivers up your spine every time.

“More recently I’ve been influenced

by Sia, Spoon, Feist, Jenny Lewis, Peaches, Tina Turner and just about any of the awesome acts I go see.”

As well as their own headline shows and numerous festival appearances, the band has supported the likes of Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed and Royal Crown Revue. Winning over another artist’s crowd is a difficult scenario, but Boom! Bap! Pow! are all for the challenge.

“It’s always hard to tell if you’re winning crowds over,” Bull says, “but folks got their dance on and bought stuff, so that seemed a good indication they thought we were okay.

“The guy from Deal Or No Deal was at one of those shows and was raving about us afterwards, except he told all his friends we were called Sang Choi Bow, which is a bit racially insensitive, if not misleading.”

Armed with an album release they feel strongly about, Boom! Bap! Pow! are set to go hard at it, touring interstate in the spring and still striving for a song of theirs to be played in the diner at Summer Bay. Some televisual achievements have been notched, however, with Suit picked up by Bonds for their latest advertising campaign.

Quite the door-opener, one might hazard to guess?

“Not really,” Bull says, “but they gave us a little bit of money and at least half of the band wear undies so it seemed win-win. We’ve been advised that once a band gets featured in an undies ad it means you’ve made it... so look out Birds of Tokyo!”

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“I didn’t want to make the songs too stodgy, so some of the stories are painted with a broad brush, with a little bit of poetry in there. I wasn’t trying to romanticise them at all – a lot of them are preying on vulnerable people.”

RUSSELL MORRIS

From The Belly Of The Beast

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Russell Morris’ latest album, Sharkmouth, has been certified Gold and now, at 50,000 sales, is well on its way to Platinum status.

He returns to WA on SaturdaySunday, November 9-10, for Blues At Bridgetown. PATRICK EMERY reports.

As a young boy growing up in Richmond in the 1950s, Russell Morris listened with interest to his grandmother’s stories of the colourful, and dangerous crime figures of Melbourne’s recent history.

“She would tell me lots of stories about when she was a girl in the Great Depression, and she’d see Squizzy Taylor on the corner of Bridge Road and Church Street standing outside the pub with his thugs – she said he was a squirt, but a very snappy dresser,” Morris laughs about the gangster who is currently being lauded on the Nine Network’s Underbelly. “And then, later on when I was at school at Richmond Tech, I went to school with a lot of career criminals – some Painters And Dockers, who actually became my protectors at school.”

By the 1960s, Morris had taken his first steps toward a career as a pop musician, inspired initially by the sounds of the British invasion bands, particularly The Rolling Stones.

“Initially when The Beatles came out I wasn’t overawed by them, but then The Rolling Stones came out and I thought, ‘yeah, I love this!’” Morris recalls. “So at that stage we started listening to their albums, and the songs, and we started a band of our own. And then we realised that they didn’t write their songs, and that they were old blues songs, so we started buying blues albums and learning how to play blues songs.”

In 1969, Morris teamed up with young music journalist Ian ‘Molly’ Meldrum to record The Real Thing (written by Perth’s Johnny Young, of Young Talent Time fame). The song would go on to become a major national and international success, and provide Morris with a dose of pop fame that continues to provide the historical backdrop for his musical career. In the 1970s, Morris joined the exodus of Australian pop stars seeking international success, and moved over to Europe, and subsequently the United States.

But like so many of his contemporaries in the ‘60s and ‘70s pop scene, Morris found himself increasingly marginalised and pigeonholed in a music industry institutionally obsessed with youth. Morris continued to tour, including with fellow former pop stars Daryl Cotton and Jim Keays, as well as releasing the occasional new album. A few years ago, having previously queried whether it was worth recording new material, Morris decided to return to the blues music that had originally inspired him.

“Now that I’m a little bit older, I’m going to do an album of music that I really want to do – I’m going to do an album of blues songs,” Morris says.

Morris hadn’t completely lost touch with the blues in the intervening period – “I used to always do at least a couple of blues songs in my set,” he says – though he admits it was a more commercially-slanted aspect of the blues. Despite his ongoing interest in the genre, and the encouragement of friends, Morris remained reluctant to immerse himself in a full-blown blues project. “I just didn’t feel comfortable singing about the Mississippi Delta, or doing John Lee Hooker or Howlin’ Wolf covers – I’m not American,” Morris says.

Unsure of how to realise the idea floating around in his head, Morris eventually returned to the stories of his youth. “It was when I saw a photo of Thomas Archer, who was known as ‘Shark Jaws’, and I loved the photo so much I took it home and looked at it, and then I wrote a song about it,” Morris says. That song became Sharkmouth, the title track from Morris’s new album of blues songs that delve into Australia’s sordid and violent criminal history.

“That was the catalyst,” Morris says. “I realised that the blues were around in 1916, and that I can sing all these songs about Australian history, and they’re legitimate in this cradle of blues.”

Morris revisited his grandmother’s stories, coupled with his own experiences as a boy growing up in Richmond. Morris undertook enough historical research to lend his songs a veneer of historical accuracy, without creating bland academic narratives.

“I didn’t want to make the songs too stodgy, so some of the stories are painted with a broad brush, with a little bit of poetry in there,” Morris says. The characters of Morris’s songs range from the criminal (Squizzy, Sharkmouth) to the inspirational (Big Red) and the tragic (Ballad, Les Darcy); the scenes range from vagrancy (Walking the Blues), violent confrontation (‘Bout To Break) and redemption (Mr Eternity). Aware of pop culture’s predilection for simultaneously celebrating and sanitising violent characters, Morris recognises many of the characters in his songs are fundamentally nasty people. “I wasn’t trying to romanticise them at all – a lot of them are preying on vulnerable people,” he says.

Sharkmouth has found an immediate audience, providing Morris with his first charttopping record in many years. Buoyed by the success of the album, he plans to complete a trilogy of albums exploring Australian history through the prism of the blues.

Having ridden the pop rollercoaster all those years ago, Morris has been imbued with a level of pragmatism about his music. “You have to be able to ride the beast, and if it lies down in the sand, it may be able to get up again, and if it doesn’t get up again, that’s life,” he says philosophically.

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

GREGORY PORTER Be Good Motema Music

Gregory Porter’s newest MAPS album features most of Vicissitude his own material apar t Mute/EMI from two jazz standards, Work Song and God Bless Northampton musician James The Child. The first track, Painted On Canvas, is Chapman records under the jaw dropping. Not only is the music awash with moniker Maps. His debut was classic soul and jazz fusion feels but Porter’s nominated for a Mercury Music lyrics are insightful, poetic and occasionally with Prize, but his friendly take on strong political comment. shoegaze hasn’t reached that This is par ticularly so in On The pinnacle since. Vicissitude is Chapman’s latest attempt Way To Harlem, where he laments the slow to stimulate the masses.

It is always going to be a difficult genre to gentrification of what was once the America’s excel in during a year in which My Bloody Valentine black cultural centre, Harlem (‘I was baptized by launch a surprise album and set the benchmark my daddy’s horn, you can’t keep me away from remarkably high. Maps may dip its toes somewhat in the where I was born’). Every track is a gem and the same creative pool, but appears determined to wade in line-up of musicians are exceptional, with Chip the shallow end when there are far greater depths to Crawford (piano), Kamau Kenyatta (soprano sax), Aaron James (bass), Tivon Pennicott (tenor sax) be explored.

Any hope that there may be some abrasive and horn arrangements by Kamau Kenyatta.

Porter’s composition, Real Good Hands, action is put to rest very early on as A.M.A is very much a light synth driven Europop number. The majority received a Best Traditional R&B Performance of Vicissitude is a less camp version of Pet Shop Boys nomination at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards.

It’s a testament to the whole album. without any of the memorable melodies.

Vicissitude isn’t a bad record by any stretch, it just isn’t a great record. If you like your music tepid and inoffensive then this is right up your alley. Maps are fast _ HELEN MATTHEWS becoming music to wash dishes to.

TELEKINESIS Dormarion

CLOUD CONTROL Dream Cave

Merge

Ivy League

Michael Benjamin Lerner is the embodiment of today’s indie breed. He is fond of a striped shirt, oversized glasses and sports a messy fringe and beard that hasn’t quite grown in yet. He has even been known to write some of his tunes at his parent’s house on occasion. Dormarion is the third chapter for this one man band.

Lerner is a drummer by trade, but his rock tunes as Telekinesis have him coming across as an indie chameleon. The brooding sounds of Wires with its propulsive rhythm borrows from the Cure songbook.

Emphatic People has a more straight ahead punk approach, while Power Lines has the appeal of a lo-fi, fuzzed out Cheap Trick.

Dormarion saw the Seattle native spend time in an Austin studio to give this batch of songs over to the precision ears of Jim Eno. That man’s pop pedigree is the perfect choice to be at the helm for the melodic Lean On Me. Lerner shows his full hand by dabbling in acoustic laments such as Symphony, the forgettable synth pop of Ever True and the swampy Laissez-Faire.

In spite of its many styles of indie-pop, Telekinesis do each tune with such energy that its hard not to be carried along for the whole journey.

Having spent a fair chunk of the last couple of years stationed in the UK, Cloud Control’s reverb-soaked, harmony-heavy, ‘60s-psych second album feels like a work that’s been born out of the growth only time and distance away from home can bring.

Scream Rave opens the album with a blast of echo chamber harmonies – they come as a shock to the eardrums if you’re not prepared – before dissolving into first single, Dojo Rising. That track’s bristly beat keeps kicking Alister Wright’s lethargic drawl along like it’s afraid he could nod off at any moment.

Buoyed by a bouncy bass line, Moonrabbit gleams with sun-kissed harmonies and some uplifting ‘ba’s’ (who doesn’t love a good ‘ba’ singalong?), sounding authentically like a cut from the Hair soundtrack. Island Living and The Smoke, The Feeling take things into darker, more atmospheric territory. Both songs are textured with pulsating electronics.

The haze shimmers off the jaunty guitar lines and heavy bass of Ice Age Heatwave. Tombstone plays like the soundtrack to an indie Western thriller set in a wide, arid expanse. The title track closes out the album, a haunting mid-tempo waltz that sounds like a long lost Roy Orbison tune. It ends with a field recording of water dripping down the rocks in a cave – a soothing end.

_ CHRIS HAVERCROFT _ MICHAEL HARTT

_ CHRIS HAVERCROFT

PET SHOP BOYS Electric x2

Electric is Pet Shop Boys’ 12th studio album, but a milestone for the pioneering dancepop duo: it’s their first album released independently through their label, x2. Filled with trademark catchy melodies and infectious beats, this is hands down their best work since their late ’80s/’90s heyday.

The album kicks off with the lead single, Axis, a largely instrumental synth-heavy tune that starts subtly, but layers to a climatic all-out dance spectacular. Tracks like Fluorescent and the closing Vocal reference ’90s techno and electronica while incorporating slick contemporary production for a polished, yet retro vibe. Love Is A Bourgeois Construct, Inside A Dream and Thursday also feel like familiar nods to the ’90s, this time referencing Pet Shop Boys’ pop ballads from that era (in the vein of the singles off Very). The duo has also looked to contemporary influences, covering Bruce Springsteen’s 2007 track Last To Die so convincingly you’d swear it was a Pet Shop Boys original.

Another highlight to listen out for is the electro-house influenced Shouting In The Evenings, featuring a grinding bass and pounding beat that wouldn’t feel out of place at a dubstep club. This is an album of shameless party-starting fun and a return to form for a group whose material has been patchy in recent years.

_ MARISA LUGOSI

VARIOUS ARTISTS Melodie Francaise Original Matters/Inertia

While at first, you might search for a deeper motivation behind this new compilation of French songs reinterpreted by Australian artists, there’s no need. It’s pretty much laid out on the tin: ‘Australian artists singing in French’, with an implied subtitle, ‘to varying degrees of success’.

Dappled Cities’ take on Air’s Sexy Boy is fun, if not earth-shatteringly original. Distinctive vocal tones prove they transcend language though – Kate Miller-Heidke brings her operatic stylings to Françoise Hardy’s Il N’y A Pass D’Amour Heureux, while Lisa Mitchell strains through a husky Bang Bang.

Lead single La Minute De Silence with Gossling and Oh Mercy is languid and très continental. The hauntingly jazzy interpretation of Les Feuilles Mortes showcases Katie Noonan’s crystalline voice to stunning effect, and Jinja Safari team up with performer Okenyo for a theatrical, sultry take on Le Temps de L’Amour.

Man of the moment Vance Joy covers La Mer to great success, spinning the classic into a sweetly strummed love song, all honeyed harmonies and tropical overtones in one of the compilation’s highlights. Big Scary offer a delicate, breathy version of Serge Gainsbourg’s Je t’aime… Moi Non Plus and Thelma Plum’s fragile, quivering rendition of La Vie En Rose is dusted with a spine-tingling, tragic beauty. Edward Deer’s version of Belles! Belles! Belles! is catchy and endearing. The psychedelic Mini Mini Mini features the only legitimate French singer, Soko, alongside Aussie rockers The Walking Who. It is certainly an interesting concept, and there’s a clutch of gems to be discovered (along with a couple of clunkers!) but you can’t fault these Aussie musos for trying on the French.

_ NATALIE AMAT www.xpressmag.com.au

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

TOTALLY HUGE SPEAK PERCUSSION NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL

One of the exciting acts taking part in Tura New Music’s Totally Huge New Music Festival is Melbourne’s Speak Percussion, who perform on Saturday, August 10, at Hackett Hall (WA Museum) with Robin Fox. PREDRAG DELIBASIC reports.

Artistic Director Eugene Ughetti has been involved with Speak Percussion for over 13 years, taking the act through various challenges and collaborations.

“The flexibility of Speak Percussion’s line up is a very empowering structure for me as Artistic Director,” Ughetti says. “It allows me to employ artists based on their particular strengths, specific to the project. This is important to me that somehow our creative output is greater than the sum of its parts. There have certainly been collaborations which have fallen short of expectations, some of the most extreme examples have been where the contracted artist/collaborator didn’t even last through to the first performance.

This is of course difficult on a professional and personal level.

“The best collaborations are very much like intense relationships, one has to bring a lot to the table and have clarity of thought whilst being open and flexible to the new. Too much one way or the other is problematic and I’m proud to say that the vast majority of Speak collaborations have been very successful.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 26.

HEALTH & FITNESS SPECIAL PAGES 29-31

www.xpressmag.com.au

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X-PRESS FLICK PICS Dodge the weather and soak up some culture simultaneously by taking a look at one of the currently playing films that our crack team of critics recommends...

The Heat

PACIFIC RIM

“... Pacific Rim is the purest expression of heroism to come along in a long, long time. Comparisons to Star Wars are not made lightly; an entire generation of kids is abut to have their cultural DNA completely rewired, and that’s a very good thing.”

THE HEAT

“In short, The Heat pulls off a rarity with two strong female leads who can play for laughs without compromise while retaining their dignity. Even better, it does so without any sense of a forced gender agenda.”

Home Is Where My Heart Is - image by Staci, mentored by Natalie Blom

EVERYBODY NEEDS A HOME, BOY

Home Is Where My Heart Is, presented by the Youth Affairs Council of WA, is an annual photography project that pairs emerging photographers with young people to workshop the concept of ‘home’ and what it means to them. The exhibition is part of National Homeless Person’s Week and is on display at 192 William St, Northbridge (opposite Kakulas Bros) from August 9 - 19. For more, go to homeiswheremyheartis.org.

LIFE ON MARS

He’s a comedian, a physicist and an ex-soldier - not your run of the mill resume. Now Josh Richards is attempting to expand his CV by becoming the first man on Mars! Mars Needs Guitars throws comedy, rock and roll and science into a blender, with the result being a hilarious look at the possibility of human off-world colonisation. It runs at Scitech from August 12 - 15, and all profits go to Mars One. Head to stickytickets.com to book.

COMEDY ON THE HORIZON

MAN OF STEEL

“This is a massive film, vast in scope and intent, and utterly bereft of subtlety - hardly surprising with Zack Snyder’s (Watchmen, 300) hand on the tiller. The aim here is to put big, four-colour comic book action up on the screen, and that’s exactly what they do. Cavill’s Superman is an earthbound God, with Zod his devil, and their clashes wreak havoc across Smallville and Metropolis.”

Man Of Steel

If you’re missing the joy and noise of the Perth International Comedy Festival already, don’t fret - the first news about 3014 festival is starting to trickle out.

No word of a line up yet - although the calibre of previous years’ efforts means that, when it does come, it’ll be suitably impressive - but we know that the date has been locked down now. Comedy fans should clear their calendar from Thursday, May to Sunday May 18, 2014. Watch this space for further announcements.

FROCK AND ROLL

The Western Australian Museum is gearing up to highlight the history of fashion later this year with two free exhibitions that will run concurrently from November 2. Frock Stars: Inside Fashion Week is a look at the behind the scenes drama and artistry that goes into mounting a show for Australian Fashion Week, while Aurelio Costarella: A 30 Year Retrospective charts the professional life of the acclaimed Western Australian designer. For further details, point your browser at museum.wa.gov.au.

YOU’RE KRAKEN ME UP

Nascent art movement Arcadia Collective are at it again with Release The Kraken III: Attack Of The Robo-Kraken, their third fundraiser towards establishing a new affordable art space in Perth.

The evening features live performances from Cow Parade Cow, Catbrush, Reptiluminati, and Eteana, as well as burlesque artists, street performers, live wrestling matches and more. Dress code is robot or octopus, and if you’re leaning towards the latter, there’ll be a Robot Costume Making Area for the public. sound weird? Maybe. Sound like fun? Absolutely. It all happens on August 22 at The Bakery from 8pm. Entry is $10.

ESOTERIC LESSONS

Buratti Fine Art is once again doing their part to raise the level of art discourse in our city by offering Surrealism, Symbolism And Esoteric Art, a four part course on the history of the esoteric art genre. The course costs $79, with each session taking place fortnightly at Buratti’s North Fremantle gallery space from Thursday, August 15. For further details, head to buratti.com.au.

8 IS ENOUGH

Pop artist Hi8us has a new exhibition opening at Margaret River’s Hay Shed Hill Wines. Featuring a selection of interpretations of pop culture icons from Bob Dylan to Bill Murray, it runs from August 10 October 17. Go to hayshedhill.com.au for further info.

Behind The Candelabra

BEHIND THE CANDELABRA

“The performances are excellent across the board, although it must be acknowledged that it is Douglas’s amazing transformation that will attract the most attention. At a time in life when many elder statesmen are content to stay within their established range until mediocrity takes them (call it the Connery Clause), Douglas throws himself bodily and fearlessly into the role...”

The World’s End

THE WORLD’S END

“The action is fast and frenetic - it’d be interesting to see Wright tackle a pure action film one day - and the jokes come thick and fast. The cast are across-theboard-great, but top marks go to regular collaborator Nick Frost, who gets to start out as the straight man before alcohol and necessity transform him into a deadpan, brawling bruiser.”

MUD

“Mud is undoubtedly the work of a talented auteur, and the cinematic voice that Jeff Nichols has been developing over the course of his career is now the strongest and clearest it’s ever been. This one is definitely worth seeking out.”

For full reviews, interviews, competitions and more, head to xpressmag.com.au.

The Bling Ring

THE BLING RING

Conspicuous Consumption Directed by Sophia Coppola Starring Israel Broussard, Katie Chang, Emma Watson, Claire Julien, Taissa Farmiga, Leslie Mann, Gavin Rossdale It’s hard to imagine a director more suited for this project, which is based - to what degree is up for grabs - on the well-publicised series of burglaries that plagued the homes of the Hollywood elite a few years back. As both a child of privilege and a child of cinema, Sophia Coppola is perfect for the material; if it hadn’t actually happened, she’d have had to invent it out of whole cloth.

When misfit Marc Hall (Israel Broussard) he is befriended by the chic, rebellious and fameobsessed Rebecca Ahn (Rachel Lee). Both dedicated followers of fashion and gossip websites, the pair obsessively keep track of who’s wearing what and who’s dating who. On a whim, they decide to see if they can break into Paris Hilton’s home when she’s out of town. As it turns out, they can. Bragging about the deed leads to further larcenous outings to a number of celebrity dwellings, along with an evergrowing circle of accomplices (Emma Watson, Claire Julien, Taissa Farmiga, et al) who also want a peek at the lives of the E! elite. Of course, it can’t last forever.

Plot here is far less important than tone, and as a snapshot of an almost unbelievably vacuous and shallow culture, The Bling Ring is flat out remarkable in its astuteness of vision and merciless

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in its satirical intent. It’s a portrait of a generation with an almost total lack of self-awareness, and Coppola, who has made a career out of exploring the existential ennui of the uber-privileged, adroitly evokes both the surface allure of the fame game and the hollowness at its core. This is a world where appearance trumps action 10 times out of 10, sex is currency, friendship is disposable and there’s no such thing as bad publicity.

Of the cast, Emma Watson is naturally going to get most the attention - it’s hard to compete against Hermione with a tramp stamp - but all of the young ensemble deserve praise, as does Leslie Mann in her supporting role as in ineffectual mother who spouts woolly-headed New Age-isms while her daughters snort coke and steal designer clothes.

Newcomer Chang is particularly good, portraying party girl Rebecca as not just shallow, but as a budding sociopath.

There’s really no one to root for in this film, and that’s going to be a problem for some viewers, but there’s catharsis to be had in watching the clique get there comeuppance. It makes an interesting companion piece to Harmony Korine’s recent Spring Breakers, with both films coming at similar subject matter and themes from different angles.

Although this is easily Coppola’s most accessible film to date - far more than the maddeningly opaque Somewhere - anyone who dislikes her earlier stuff will find no purchase here.

By turns both archly funny and deeply disturbing, The Bling Ring fascinates even as it repels. _ TRAVIS JOHNSON X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

Now You See Me

NOW YOU SEE ME It’s A Kind Of Magic

Directed by Louis Leterrier Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Mark Ruffalo, Melanie Laurent, Dave Franco, Isla Fisher, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman The tone and spirit of Steven Soderbergh’s all-star Ocean’s 11 trilogy is the obvious influence in this zippy, entertaining, but ultimately hollow heist flick, wherein Mark Ruffalo’s bullish FBI agent, Dylan Rhodes, and Melanie Laurent’s sophisticated Interpol cop, Alma Day, butt heads with a quartet of stage magicians calling themselves The Four Horsemen (Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco) who are pulling seemingly impossible robberies to the delight of their growing legion of fans.

Brought together by a mysterious mastermind whose identity they don’t even know, the four are executing a mysterious vendetta, the ultimate aim of which remains largely obscure for much of the film (although genre-savvy viewers will have a decent handle on it). They attract the attention of Rhodes and Day when, in the course of their debut show, they seemingly rob a French bank by teleporting an audience member from Las Vegas to Paris. Also targeting them is professional debunker Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman), who plans to expose their trade secrets for his own profit.

When Now You See Me succeeds, it’s largely because of the charm of its cast. Eisenberg and Harrelson, reuniting for the first time since

Zombieland, are having a lot of fun, and watching Ruffalo’s hard-nosed cop get increasingly frustrated with the convoluted antics of The Four Horsemen never gets old. Leterrier frames the action in an energetic if rather gauche style, all swooping crane shots and obvious CGI, and it’s easy to just sit back and let the light and colour wash over you.

That’s probably your best option, too, because close inspection of the actual story reveals a creaky narrative skeleton with little in the way of connective tissue. There’s no baseline reality at work here; although they go out of their way to explain how some of the bigger tricks are carried out, for much of the film we’re simply asked to accept that the impossibilities on display are possible within the world of the film, which also includes some mumbo jumbo about an ancient secret society of illusionists called The Eye. The presence of a phoning-it-in Michael Caine also doesn’t help, as it inevitably reminds one of the far superior The Prestige. It’s also difficult to gauge whose side we’re supposed to be on: the entertaining but distant Four Horsemen, or the dogged cop who’s determined to bring all this fun to a crashing halt.

Still, it’s all a lot of fun in the moment, and the serious underlying problems - including a plot resolution that relies on the introduction of new information at pretty much the last possible minute - only really niggle after the initial viewing.

Now You See Me is a confection of a film: fun, sweet, utterly disposable and wholly unsatisfying, but sometimes that’s exactly what you want for an evening’s entertainment. Switch your brain off and you’ll be fine. _ TRAVIS JOHNSON

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2013 RUSSIAN RESURRECTION FILM FESTIVAL OPENING NIGHT Cinema Paradiso/Oliver’s On James Thursday, August 1, 2013 The vodka flowed freely when the members of the Russian diaspora and the Perth film community came together to celebrate the best in Russian cinema.

Photos By Dan Grant

www.xpressmag.com.au

Carla, Laura

Aly, Marina, Alina

Volly, Johnathon

Mark, Sally, Zoran

Jos, Susan, Nick 25

HARRY HUMMERSTON Double Vision

H a r r y H u m m e r s t o n ’s l a t e s t exhibition, Double Vision, at the Turner Gallery until August 31.

Go to turnergalleries.com.au for more information.

Marthe Snorresdottir Rovik

HEDDA

Woman On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown Although it received mixed notices when it was first performed in 1890, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler is now recognised as one of the great classics of 19th century drama.

We spoke to actor, writer and co-producer, Marthe Snorresdottir Rovik, whose new production, Hedda, aims to demonstrate why Ibsen’s work has such staying power.

back in line with the original Norwegian text.

“How it differs from the version you might have seen in Australia or other English translations is really important.” she says. “I feel as a Norwegian, having grown up with Ibsen and also having been to acting school and studying it even more, there’s always something missing for me when I read an English translation or I see and English translation in the theatre. Having grown up in that culture I have a completely different understanding of the Ibsen plays, I think, and when you read the English translations, things get lost. I’m hoping to offer those things that I feel have gotten literally lost in translation.”

One of the elements she felt needed addressing was the common depiction of the eponymous character, whose boring married life is brought into crisis by the arrival of both an old friend and a former lover, as a victim, which is something Rovik does not believe the original text supports.

“She’s not a victim to me,” she states firmly, “As a Norwegian woman reading Hedda Gabler I would never think of her as a victim, I would think of her as a whole woman making decisions. I just think the English translation sometimes just makes her a product of the Victorian era which focuses a lot on the gender oppression, but I could almost take the woman out of the 1890s version and put her straight into 2013 and she would have exactly the same problems, which I find very interesting and maybe that’s where it’s been misunderstood. I am hoping that we will be able to deliver a version of Hedda Gabler that Australian audiences haven’t heard before.”

Speaking to us from a West Leederville production space in a rare break between rehearsals, Norwegian actor, Marthe Snorresdottir Rovik, sounds tired but enthusiastic as she explains how, after honing her craft at the Nordic Institute of Scene and Studio “It’s the equivalent of WAAPA or NIDA or something like that here in Australia.” and appearing in several Norwegian productions, including cult horror movie Cold Prey 2, before upping stakes for Australia.

“I came to Australia about four and a half years ago from Norway,” she tells us. “I’m from the same country as Henrik Ibsen, the one who wrote the play we’re doing. I have worked in Broome, I’ve worked in Melbourne, I’ve worked in Sydney and finally I ended up wanted to come back to Perth about a year and a half ago now.”

‘The play we’re doing’ is, of course, Hedda, a reworking of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler that Rovik co-wrote with the production’s director, Renato Hedda runs at The Blue Room Theatre from Fabretti. Rather than an attempt to reinvigorate the August 13-31. Go to theblueroom.org.au for text by updating it or putting it into a modern context, session times and tickets.

Rovik is at pains to stress that this reworking is an attempt to bring the English language production _ TRAVIS JOHNSON

The juxtaposition of different aesthetic images requiring t h e p u b l i c to wo r k a l i t t l e fo r their visual experience - this is the underlying theme of Harr y Hummerson’s latest exhibition. From his background in screenprinting that lent itself to the process, this collection is an organic gathering of ideas and images combined to stimulate.

Hummerston does not have a preconceived idea about what any of it will look like when he starts - by using a collection of images that he has enjoyed, liked or simply piques his interest he puts together a collection of shape and colour. This work can suggest one thing in an initial impression, but invites the viewer to look more deeply into it to recognise the imagery and begin to form links and opinions about what is being experienced.

Some are obvious, some are more deceptive to the eye.

r2d2 - Harry Hummerston of the sailing ship and shadows, and two hummingbirds over the top. They are unrelated, though the article was talking about seeing two images together and you start making relationships. That’s what I’m after really, putting two images together and letting the viewer do the work and make of it what they will, so I don’t have a predetermined reading for the work itself. In his case, he read that birds use the wind, ships use the wind, air is the common medium, etcetera etcetera. Those were the kinds of connections he was making.

How did you come to create the works that you are showing for this exhibition?

The main interest I have in putting a couple of images that aren’t normally associated together, and the colour comes about by either trying to disguise what the image might be, or to add an aesthetic to it which makes you think about it in a different way, to take time to look at the image and then suddenly there is more than you realise.

There are the odd nods to artists included in the paintings such as Andy Warhol which seems fitting for an exhibition that riffs of pop-culture with such abandon. Your work has commented on pop before - how is this collection different?

In one sense it’s a progression from those. Some of these images are from popular culture, and some are from very recognisable popular culture - for example, everyone is Dr Julian Goddard wrote about your work going to get R2-D2, but some are less obvious.

The Kiss - two disparate images of a ship and Which is fine, as some people will want to a hummingbird that come together with a find out, or take it as they will. This is a lot simpler than what I used to do. I’ve cut down common theme. Was this intentional?

I t ’s t h e v i e w e r t h a t m a k e s t h e or trimmed the fat off a lot of artwork, I guess. relationship, the background is the masts _ SHAUN FRENEY

LAURA IMBRUGLIA Life Choices

Laura Imbruglia may not have starred in Neighbours, but she is no slouch when it comes to penning heartfelt tunes about relationships gone sour. CHRIS HAVERCROFT speaks with the downto-earth singer/songwriter about the release of her third full-length LP, What A Treat.

Speak Percussion ... CONTINUED FROM PAGE 23 At the festival, Speak Percussion will perform a project created with Robin Fox. It opens with work by Karlheinz Stockhausen entitled Mikrophonie 1, followed by an original piece, Transducer.

“Robin Fox and I had been talking about collaboration for a long time and we knew we wanted it to be large scale. His background in programming and electronics and my concern with stripping back and redefining the role and territory of percussionists led us naturally to a place where the microphone and speaker are the heart and soul of the creative content where it is not about us as musicians but about these instruments of transduction, an investigation of their place, character and potential in a performance work.

“Stockhausen’s piece is one of the first examples in Western-classical music to use the microphone as notated/instrumental voice in a work and one of the earliest examples of live processing of sound in live performance also. For this reason I consider it to be one of the landmark pieces of the 20th Century and as far as we know it will be the first time it is performed in Perth. Transducer, aside from its own very specific investigation of the microphone and loud speaker, is a kind of sequel or response to this great Stockhausen piece.

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“The collaboration with Robin began first with a willingness to work together and then conceptual discussion. Early on we knew exactly what we wanted to achieve. Our first creative development was very exploratory in nature and was accompanied by research. We investigated the physics of microphones and acoustics, looked into microphone technology and undertook a kind of phenomenological research of transduction through sound.”

It’s easy enough to get under the burden of challenges for a convenient pop band, let alone an act performing the kind of music that does not appeal to a wide audience.

“We’re always dealing with new ideas and new music, often across multiple art forms and in unusual contexts,” Ughetti says about the obstacles involved with leading the Speak Percussion. ““The challenges are that one often embarks on a project without knowing what the real unexpected challenges are going to be. We have to see the scope and cost of a project before we know what we’re going to need or even do in some cases. A big part of this is problem solving and making artistic choices within sometimes limited and complicated situations, as well as having strong organisational and logistical skills.”

Since recording her second album Laura Imbruglia has relocated to Melbourne, leaving the Sydney scene behind. While some would be motivated to move cities so as to take the opportunity to expand the creative juices in a new environment by getting outside of one’s comfort zone, it is a more common tale that prompted the Imbruglia move.

“I was going out with a guy who had to come down for work,” offers the candid Imbuglia. “I moved down for that reason a few years ago. I ended up staying and it is awesome. It was really just an excuse as I had wanted to live in Melbourne for a while and I would never just do that thing by myself.”

Imbruglia has grown into her songwriting over the years, as she has moved from a fairly traditional sounding folkie to the artist who draws on pop and country influences with a knack for a tidy hook and a smart lyric. What A Treat has seen her band swell from a trio to a five-piece to give more scope and breadth to her tunes.

“I haven’t had the same band line-up on any of my records so that affects the sound a fair bit.

I am always getting into something new and I get bored of what I am doing and change direction. I don’t think that this is too drastic a change from the last record, though. There are more people playing parts and my writing has gotten simpler as I am leaving room for the other musicians. There is one song that has the same three chords the whole way through, but I am trying to make sure it doesn’t sound like that.”

What A Treat finds Imbruglia continue to pen songs about unrequited love and being someone who has recurring bad life patterns.

Imbruglia is an artist who doesn’t take herself too seriously when sharing her warts and all with punters through song.

“A lot of the songs are just me having a go at myself for continuing to make the same choices and being unhappy when there is a bad result at the end. It is mainly just going after the wrong people, who aren’t available emotionally or relationship-wise.

These are the situations that I find myself in at least

Laura Imbruglia once a year. It is probably not that uncommon, or if it is the compulsion of the artist to put yourself in that situation so as you can create something out of it.”

In the past Imbruglia has been determined not to let her more famous sibling (Natalie) impact on her own musical career, but things appear to have shifted a little now that Imbruglia has forged her own path for over a decade on the local live scene. While they will never pile on the cheese like Dannii and Kylie Minogue, the idea of Laura and Natalie writing some tunes together is no longer out of the question.

“If we ever had some time together we could write together. I have been into country music for a lot longer than Natalie, but she has been living in America and has been listening to these alt. country stations and loving it. We have spoken of writing some alt. country together but we are never in the same place together for long enough to be able to do that.

“If we were around together I would write a country song with her, and I feel it would be wrong to write a country song with her over the internet.

That would be against the idea of country music.”

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

ALVIN CURRAN Sound Adventures

In Perth for Tura’s Totally Huge New Music Festival, Alvin Curran is an artist whose CV is beyond impressive and whose discography speaks volumes.

He started creating and performing music in the mid-1960s, when the music world was split in two – The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. In such a world Curran searched for the third option.

“My models in the ‘60s were already very different - oppositional and provocatory,” he says.“The world and creative imagination of The Beatles only came to me quite surprisingly in the those late ‘60s yeas, but before that my models were Miles Davis, Thelonius Monk, Coltrane, Billy Holiday, Art Tatum, Beethoven, Anton Webern, Luciano Berio, Elliott Carter, Luigi Nono, Stockhausen, Cage, etc. I grew into an elitist world of deep music making, seeking answers to all of life’s unanswerable questions.”

An artist with such a vast experience often has obstacles during the creative process. Certain difficulties surely arise when collaborating with other, equally gifted artists, and Curran has worked with numerous musicians. “Steve Lacy was probably the easiest because his music and his personality magically charmed you into a harmonious rapport.

But of all the exceptionally strong and difficult personalities I have collaborated with - people like Maryanne Amacher, Anthony Braxton, Evan Parker, John Cage, in the end, making music with them, for them, by them, efficiently cancelled out the difficulties - since the rewarding and transformative power of sound made between us essentially made any difficulties vanish.

themselves - but that too is a necessary and very satisfying non job!”

Alvin Curran will give the Keynote Address for the festival (7.30 pm Sunday, August 11, Hackett Hall, WA Museum- tickets via heatseeker.com.au), exposing his ideas about the past, present and even future role of electronics in music. Local new music ensemble Decibel will perform newly commissioned written Curran’s work Way Out Back - “a straightforward fast moving piece of chamber music in my most essentialist style - everything is written like a children’s drawing.”

The Festival will also feature a performance of Beams (3pm Saturday, August 18, B Shed, Victoria Quay, Fremantle, free event), an open-ended structurally improvised music-theatre piece for about 50 players: “They walk, they talk, they stop, they play, they sit, they roll on the floor, they play again, they leave.

No conductor, a minimal score of instructions and I am walking around like a ring-master hurling a few bolts of lightning now and again.” “ M a r i t i m e R i t e s ( 3 p m S a t u r d a y, August 17, B Shed, Victoria Quay, Fremantle Free Event) will be a solo performance, played with laptop and midi-keyboard where I become the sonic centre of an imaginary maritime world on some imaginary maritime planet. For me it’s like playing the world directly from my fingertips, millions of sampled sounds of every imaginable origin, but all performed, spontaneously in waves of rollicking fun! At the end a rock group appears from out of nowhere on a boat and concludes the concert.” _PREDRAG DELIBASIC

Alvin Curran Photo: Angela Caitlin

“I listen to everything around me, waiting for the next clue to my next sound-adventure.

My wife Susan is my music-educator, so while driving in the car yesterday we listened to Jon Rose and Veryan Western - a great CD, music straight-up from this planet as if it were coming from some detuned outer space.

Then we listened to some Nine Inch Nails - having read a rave review of Trent Reznor in the New Yorker Magazine, saying how electronic he was. But we found the music to be nagging melodies of a bluesy minor third only and signs of electronics only in the heavy synth chords - I guess I was expecting some real nutty avant-garde, like Throbbing Gristle.”

“I listen to everything around me, waiting for the next clue to my next sound-adventure”, says Curran. “My wife Susan is my music-educator, so while driving in the car yesterday we listened to Jon Rose and Veryan Western - a great CD, music straight-up from this planet as if it were coming from some detuned outer space. Then we listened to some Nine Inch Nails - having read a rave review of Trent Reznor in the New Yorker Magazine, saying how electronic he was.

But we found the music to be nagging melodies of a bluesy minor third only and signs of electronics only in the heavy synth chords - I guess I was expecting some real nutty avant-garde, like Throbbing Gristle.

“Otherwise I listen to a lot of Beethoven, Chopin and Schumann these days, and I still learn a lot from these old, upper bourgeois masters, like the rockers, they knew who they were writing for - outside of the dance-crazed electronica, the new music world generally has no idea who they are writing for expect the other intellectuals like www.xpressmag.com.au

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VISUAL ARTS

The Colours Of My Life: The York Mill Boiler Room Gallery This collection by Sue Duperouzel is inspired by childhood recollections and dreams that followed the death of her mother last year. It runs until September 1. Head to theyorkmill.com.au for details.

Take 12: Fremantle Arts Centre An exhibition of video works by young people inspired by contemporary pieces from the City of Fremantle Art Collection. It runs until August 18. Go to fac.org.au for more.

Secrets of the Afterlife: The Western Australian Museum This collection of over 100 Egyptian artefacts from the British Museum collection - including two mummies!

The Colours Of My Life - Sue Duperouzel - explores ancient attitudes to life after death. The exhibition runs until September 22. Go to museum.gov. Beyond The Pale - Hits From Australia’s Top Rock Poster Studio: Fremantle Arts Centre au for more.

This fascinating tour through the history of rock art Recent Acquisitions Your Collection: Art Gallery of WA runs until September 15. Go to fac.org.au for further Many of the more recent additions to the gallery’s info. extensive collection are on display until October 27. Go Black Cat And Beyond... Diatribe Of The Squeegee: to artgallery.wa.gov.au for more.

Fremantle Arts Centre Van Gogh, Dali and Beyond - The World Reimagined: A collection of political posters crafted by Black Cat/ Gato Negro, an anarchist collective formed in New Art Gallery of WA The third exhibition in AGWA’s MoMA Series York City in the late ‘70s. It runs from until September encompasses works from Vincent Van Gogh, Paul 15. Go to fac.org.au for further details.

Cezanne, Richard Long, Frida Kahlo and more. The exhibition runs until December 2. Go to artgallery. Riley (the cow): Fremantle Arts Centre A look at the central character that has dominated wa.gov.au for further information. the work of Perth artist Rachel Salmon-Loams for Little Paintings,Big Stories: Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery the past 18-odd years. It runs until September 15.

Go to fac.org.au for more.

Runs until December 14. alitura: Heathcote Museum and Art Gallery Nature and nurture are compared and contrasted in this exhibition from Jillian Ciemitis, Miriam Gardiner, Del Hemingway and Debbie Oakley. It runs until August 11. melvillecity.com.au/heathcote has more Timeless Paradise: Elements Art Gallery This collection of paintings by Perth artist Jeremy Holton runs until August 13. Visit elementsartgasllery. com.au for details.

The Figure: Buratti Fine Art An exhibition of works inspired by the human form that features pieces by Alex Proyas, Salavador Dali, Pablo Picasso, Johnny Romeo, David Spencer and more. Runs until September 1. go to buratti.com.au for more.

Here & Now 13: Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery This annual exhibition of contemporary Western Australian artists includes works from Katrina Barber, Patrick Carter, Clive Collender, Aquinas Crowe, David Guhl, Tim Maley, Julian Poon, Jane Ryan, Robert Turpin, Lisa Uhl and robin Warren. Runs until September 28. Go to lwgallery.uwa.edu.au for more.

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Sawdust Sex: Paper Mountain This installation by artist and cultural theorist Tim Gregory lets audiences see the traces and debris left by a sex act in a layer of sawdust. On display until August 11. Head to papermountain.org.au for more information.

Strangers In My Palace: Heathcote Museum and Art Gallery This exhibition by Helen Seiver runs until August 17.

Head to melvillecity.com.au/heathcote for further information.

You & Me (Part 1): Ruck Rover General Store A collection of works by Perth based artist and writer Kate-Anna St. Valentine. It runs until August 31. Go to ruckrover.com.au for more.

Pilltati And Other Stories: Elements Art Gallery An exhibition of works by the Tjungu Palya Indigenous community, curated by Dr Jo Lagerberg.

On dispaly from August 15 - September 1. Go to elementsartgallery.com.,au for more.

Aconitum: YMCA HQ Gallery The first solo exhibition by emerging WA artist Dominika Grotowski. It runs from August 30 - September 12.

THEATRE/DANCE/ PERFORMANCE Empire: The Great Lawn, Crown Perth Inside a beautiful, 700-seat Spiegeltent, broaden your horizons in this burlesque blitzkrieg of theatrical excess and cabaret camp. The show runs until August 25. Head to empireaustralia.com for info and tickets.

A Conversation: The Old Mill Theatre This production of the second in acclaimed Australian playwright David Williamson’s Jack Manning trilogy runs until August 17. for session times and tickets, head to oldmilltheatre.com.au.

Swan Lake: His Majesty’s Theatre The renowned St Petersburg Ballet Theatre presents Tchaikovsky’s beautiful and moving ballet, Swan Lake.

The season runs until August 8. Tickets are available from ticketek.com.au.

Hedda: The Blue Room Theatre This bold interpretation of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler stars Norwegian actors Marthe Snorresdotter Rovik and Tone Skaardal and is directed by the brilliant Renato Fabretti. The season runs from August 13 - 31. go to blueroom.org.au for session times and bookings.

The Little Mermaid: The Blue Room Theatre This reworking of Hans Christian Andersen’s darker than you may remember children’s tale by director Ian Sinclair is a far cry from Disney - and that’s a good thing. It runs from August 20 - September 7. Head to blueroom.org.au for tickets and session times.

Cavalia: The White Big Top This magnificent equestrian event combines spectacle and acrobatic skill reminiscent of Cirque Du Soleil with jaw-dropping displays of horsemanship and derring-do.

From December 18 - 29. Head for cavalia.net for more.

MUSIC Tim Davies and WAYJO: State Theatre Centre Performance on August 9. Head to wayjo.com for information and booking.

Australian Chamber Orchestra: Perth Concert Hall Performance on August 14. Tickets through Ticketek.

The Whitlams and the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra: Perth Concert Hall Performances August 30 - 31. Go to waso.com.au for information and bookings.

Frontiers - Thomas Gould Latitude New Music Festival: The Astor Theatre Two performances presented as part of the totally huge New Music Festival: Perspectives on August 14 and Frontiers, featuring violinist Thomas Gould, on August 16. Go to waso.com.au for info and tickets.

FESTIVALS Perth Winter Arts Season: Various Locations Over 200 events are planned, encompassing film, comedy, cabaret, opera, literature, dance, music and fine arts. The season runs until August 31. Head to perthwinterarts.com.au for more information.

2013 Russian Resurrection Film Festival: Cinema Paradiso This pan-genre showcase of the best contemporary Russian cinema runs until August 11. Head to russianresurrection.com for information and lunapalace.com.au for tickets.

AICE Israeli Film Festival: Cinema Paradiso Opening with The Ballad of Weeping Spring, this celebration of Israeli cinema, which includes 19 feature films and documentaries, runs from August 21 - 28.

Head to lunapalace.com.au for details.

CinefestOZ: Orana Cinemas, Busselton This regional celebration of Australian and French cinema runs from August 21 - 25. Go to cinfestoz.com for more details.

Rottofest: Rottnest Island Our annual explosion of stand-up comedy, music and film runs from September 6 - 8. Head to rottofest.com. au for details and tickets.

The 2013 Perth Fashion Festival: Various Locations The biggest event on the calendars of WA’s fashionistas runs from September 11 - 16.

To have your performance, exhibition or cultural event listed, get in touch via

localmusicarts@xpressmag.com.au

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

THE X-PRESS GUIDE TO EVERYTHING URBAN to ADVERTISE: EYE4@XPRESSMAG.COM.AU lines is The Body Shop. In terms of scope and social outreach it is unparalleled. At the more high-end part of the spectrum Aveda do beautiful cosmetics, Ethical beauty is a controversial business. While have extensive eco-tolerant hair care treatments and many brands spend time promoting the ‘natural’ are 100 per cent powered by wind turbines, which composition of their products, there are relatively as an ethical boast is hard to top. Lush cosmetics, few lines that are completely cruelty free. And to similarly, have been kicking around for a good while further complicate things there is a sizable market as purveyors of soaps and lotions, but recently have in sulphate-free, formaldehyde free, paraben free products (and a smaller market for vegan products) plunged into cosmetics with some innovative and and while it’s universally accepted that having all gorgeous colours. The notable factor with Lush is these options is great, you’d be hard pressed to find a the fact so many of their liquid-based products need customer who could clarify what all of these options to be refrigerated which flags them as preservative free. Lush are also known for their political leanings mean.

Preservatives get bad press. They do - they are advocates of marriage equality, and freely exactly what they claim to do - they extend the life support various human and animal rights causes. of the product, allowing you a bracket of a year or And there is indeed an app for cruelty-free two in which to use a product that would otherwise last only a few months. Preservatives are present in shopping. The CCIC leapingbunny.org app gives you almost every product you bring in contact with your a definitive list of those who have pledged to not body, and unless you have a specific allergy, they harm animals in any stage of development, testing are harmless. Sulphate is usually the foaming agent or formulating, and is free to download. For a more added to shampoo to make the washing process solid look at eco-beauty and eco-living in general, easier and more thorough. It comes back to science thecatspjsblog.com and wellnesswa.com.au are versus publicity-jargon. The hair is a dead string great places to start. of protein, and nothing is going to add “life” to or ‘rejuvenate’ it. Products like the silicones found in _SUZANNE ROFE salon brand hair care do a good deal to mask damage, but ultimately the damage isn’t going anywhere until the hair falls out or is trimmed off. Therefore it is valid to consider the health of your scalp (and those with overactive allergies would do well to consider the sulphate-free lines) - but not the health of your hair.

That ship has already sailed.

Unless a product states specifically that they do not test on animals, you can assume they do.

This stance is often cushioned in PR-speak, usually involving ‘working towards cruelty free’ or, more often than not, blaming China. If that sounds overly Lush Cosmetics specific, it’s because it is. Currently, China’s consumer protection laws specify that animal testing must be conducted before being cleared for retail sale.

American label Urban Decay experienced a social media fallout over their decision to expand into China recently - the adamantly cruelty-free brand announced this decision with much handwringing, and - when their fan base turned on them - back flipped and abandoned the plan all together. The move was dismissed online as a profit-over-morals choice, and the subsequent backing down as spineless and indicative of how little UD valued their previously watertight stance.

Stylelab The Body Shop In cosmetics and skincare one of the most tried and true, steadfast, ethical-before-it-was-cool

BEAUTY ME GREEN

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Lush Lip Tint

Urban Decay Rollergirl Pallete

24/7 Eye Pencils

Aveda Beauty & Hair

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THE X-PRESS GUIDE TO EVERYTHING URBAN to ADVERTISE: EYE4@XPRESSMAG.COM.AU Formosa - 91 Aberdeen St, Northbridge.

Formosa is not fine dining but it is certainly a novelty which doesn’t wear thin. Asian favourites are converted solely to vegetarian and vegan dishes in this diner like, fast serviced restaurant. Featuring an extensive menu filled with mock meats, it is not particularly friendly to those who eat gluten free (although there are some options) but for those who have no problem with a bit of wheat should delight in the variety offered. Worthy mentions include spicy tom yum, laksa, mixed barbecue and many options to build your own meal. Bubble tea is also widely available in many flavours, as are smoothies and iced drinks called ‘snows’. There are many wonderfully decorated cakes for dessert, although many of these are not vegan. If you want to enjoy the Formosa experience at home there are freezers full of different proteins that you can buy and add to your home cooked dishes.

EATING GREEN With the onslaught of information about healthy eating and environmentally friendly food choices these days, it is easy to get a little overwhelmed.

Once far behind in the race compared to cities like Melbourne and Sydney, Perth is becoming increasingly more accommodating to those who prefer a healthier option to fast food. Here are just a few of the many restaurants around Perth who actively encourage an organic, healthy living and vegetarian eating experience. Get ready to feed your mind and body.

Genesis In The Hills Genesis in the Hills - 124 Croyden Road, Roleystone. Nestled in the hills of Roleystone is this little gem. Genesis boasts a family feel to it, which certainly comes through in the food which is seasonal, organic and vegetarian with many vegan and gluten free options. Influenced by the owners Hungarian and Bulgarian background, the menu offers delights such as stuffed tomatoes, house platters with various dips, pasta dishes and soups. There is also an extensive breakfast menu which ranges from full vegan/vegetarian plates to pancakes and quinoa porridge. After eating you can browse the books and support the local writers and artists whose work is often showcased within the restaurant, or relax with a coffee and the fabulous view.

The Raw Kitchen The Raw Kitchen – 36 South Terrace, Fremantle. When thinking of Fremantle’s bohemian lifestyle, it is not hard to picture this café in amongst it all. As it suggests the entire menu is raw, including the cakes and biscuits on offer. Innovative dishes such as zucchini pasta, wraps and soups are definitely worth a try and highly recommended are the raw nachos which are incredibly tasty. The raw kitchen promotes health and well-being through the food you eat, so everything is dairy free, sugar free wheat free and gluten free. Having experienced such success the venue is now being upgraded, moving to a larger area (yet to be announced) and providing a 7 day trading venue, live music, various classes, lectures and, of course, plenty more of the food which gained them such a following in the first place. It looks to be a fantastic set up so watch this space.

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Heavenly Plate

Heavenly Plate - 899 Canning Hwy, Applecross. Step inside heavenly plate and delight in its French provincial interior design. This restaurant is tiny but beautiful with its pale blue walls and simple yet exquisite decoration. Offering a fully vegetarian menu with many options to go vegan as well as gluten free, there should be something for everyone here. The menu is a fusion of Asian and Western, including such delicious offerings as Lemon Grass Parmigiana, Japanese burger with wedges and their famous Green Curry Spaghetti. There is a children’s menu available for the little ones, and plenty of desserts to choose from, usually changing from day to day. The venue is BYO wine and beers and caters for weddings, hen’s nights and most other parties and also offers breakfast and lunch on weekends, as well as high tea. Adjoining the restaurant is a gift shop which offers unusual gifts and trinkets which may not be found elsewhere.

The Organic Circle The Organic Circle - Shop 1 Pioneer Village 7 Albany Highway Armadale. The organic circle is a newer offering to Perth, having opened up at the beginning of 2013 in a place which seems unlikely – Armadale. Set in ‘Ye Olde’ Pioneer Village, the menu offers organic and seasonal produce, raw, vegan and gluten free options. Open for breakfast and lunch, there is a myriad of choice for whatever you may fancy. Sushi, burgers, pizza and curry all feature on the menu. Everything is vegetarian, with gluten free and vegan options. If you are thirsty, grab one of the many smoothies available. For the sweet tooth there are bliss balls, raw caramel slice and un-cheezecakes. The organic circle also offers catering for parties should you need something delicious, as well as fruit and vegetable boxes for every family from single to large, all home delivered and reasonably priced. _DAISY LYTHE

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

THE RING Are You Ready?!

The Ring Boxing Studio is definitely a sexy place to work out but don’t be fooled - major pain is metered out in their group classes. Twenty to forty participants get together for these one hour classes, which take the form of intense high cardio boxing drills and core strength exercises.

The R ing owner Phil O’Reilly says that while 80 per cent of attendees are female, everyone gets pushed to their personal limits, regardless of gender. “The feedback we get is positive and the harder the class, the better it is accepted,” he says. “Beginners are welcome as everything we do at The Ring is done at your own pace - the idea is that each session you attend, you get better at boxing technique and you get fitter and faster.

“To see people develop and to build in self confidence is really gratifying to us.

Our members are a total mixture of people politicians, fashion models and young men and women wanting to lose weight and tone up their bodies.”

It terms of getting results fast, Phil says

that cardio boxing works and in more engaging than regular gym workouts. “Most typical gym members get bored very quickly and drop off wasting a lot of time and money. By coming to The Ring you get a variety of exercises - no class is ever the same - and you work hard and have fun.”

Now four years old, The Ring currently puts on 22 weekly boxing fitness sessions. Phil says two sessions a week is a good place to start for general fitness and health. “Some people love it so much that they attend every day. Weight loss and toning is all about commitment and the more training you put in the faster the results will happen.

“We have brides to wanting to drop dress sizes, models wanting to tone up for fashion shoots and competitions, guys who want to buff up and many loving couples who just want to punch each other legally before going home to dinner!”

Phil says fun is the main aim at The Ring and as there are no membership or joining fees, the amount of commitment you make, is up to you.

THE RING ADDRESS: St Brigid’s Hall, corner of Fitzgerald and John Streets, Northbridge WEB: thering.com.au

Couples exercising together at The Ring

Dan and Amy

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At 98, Daisy is the eldest member At The Ring

Box and Burn Class

Melita and Amy are regulars at The Ring

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

Texas based Bro Safari (real name Nick Weiller) is probably best known to us as ‘Knick’ from D’n’B outfit Evol Intent.

A decade on and those guys are still making outputs together while Weiller has also ventured out into other forms of bass. JO CAMPBELL catches up with him ahead of appearance at Villa this weekend.

US trio Evol Intent are no less than drum ‘n’ bass dons.

Formed in 2000 consisting of Enemy (Ashley Jones),

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Gigantor (Mike Diasio) and Knick (Nick Weiller) this crew were behind some of the baddest D’n’B hard step numbers hailing from the US in the naughties.

They’re still producing together, currently involved in a collab project with Dutch trio Noisia and have recently remixed for Black Sun Empire, but it’s their individual side projects that are raising eyebrows.

Enemy has gone on to produce disco under the moniker ‘Treasure Fingers’ while the Gigantor is making electro house as ‘Computer Club’. Knick has decided to stick with the ever-evolving genre of bass, taking in moombahton, dubstep and most recently, trap.

When asked why the members of Evol Intent have all taken such different directions, Knick is philosophical.

“I don’t think it was intentional, I just think that over time we’ve got into other things, just messing

around with other genres,” he says from his home in Austin. “Evol Intent has been around for a long time and I think it’s just kind of natural that we start doing are own thing on the side.”

Knick’s thing on the side first came in the form of teaming up with Jake Stanczak aka dubstep producer Kill The Noise to make genre-bending sounds under the outfit name of Ludachrist. His most recent venture from the lab is with San Franciscan UFO as Knife’s most recent alter-ego, Bro Safari. They’ve just dropped a highly eclectic LP, Animal, which masterfully encompasses drum ‘n’ bass, hip hop, glitch and dubstep with a heavy dose of trap. It’s more or less the culmination of Knick’s various side projects experimenting with various forms of bass.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 34

33

Jack Steel aka Yarkhob

Dialectrix

HUSSLE HUSSLE

One of Sydney’s favourite hometown hip hop emcess, Dialectrix has just dropped his third album and is playing two shows in Perth this weekend.

See him at Mojo’s Hussle Hussle this Friday, August 9 from 8pm with support from Marksman Lloyd and Wisdom2th, Paulie P and L-Street. Entry is $15 at the door. Also catch him this Saturday, August 10 at Ya Yas with support from Empty and Mei Saraswati.

Tix are $15.

HUGE NEWS

Club Huge is taking off from this Sunday to Thursday, August 11 -15 at The Bakery. Part of the Totally Huge New Music Festival, works from the International Computer Music Conference program will be featured along with performances from local beatmakers. The lineup includes: H+ and Chris Arnold, I.n0JaQ and Andrew Nonlinearcircuits, Yarkhob and Feeding Ear, MotET, Kucka and Ourobonic Plague and Masonik and Té. More information and tix ($10) from nowbaking.com.au.

Knick aka Bro Safari “For me, the inspiration was working with UFO and I like to think it went both ways,” Knick says of the LP. “We’ve known each other for a long time, he’s an old drum ‘n’ bass head from the ‘90s and we both really respect each other’s music and creative input. “ The entire time that we’ve been collaborating, we’ve been doing it via the Internet just sending stems back and forth. We didn’t actually have a plan to make an album. We were just working together and realised we had 16 songs or something, so it made sense to package them as an album and at that point, we cut out about five tracks.

They produced some of the work on the LP together in the same geographical space when UFO made the journey to Austin to work on two of the standouts from the record - Drama and Animal. “That was when we were in the final stages of polishing things off. We tried not to over think it and it all came very naturally. We just made what we wanted to make and that was inspirational enough - just being able to make what we want and set the tempo where we want.”

Animal was only put out as a free download in a move that Knick says was part of a strategy to spread the Bro Safari word. “I’ve kinda built this whole Bro Safari thing on free downloads,” he explains. “At the start I just want people to hear

my music and the best way to do that is to give it to them free with no hoops to jump through. They just have to go click a button and it downloads to their computer. And over time, I just kept doing that and people were really responsive and more so, they were really appreciative.

“It worked so well that when it came to the album, the end goal was to get people to listen to it, and you know, it’s not really about money, because to be quite honest, there really isn’t that much money in selling records.”

In terms of what to expect from this expert of convergence in his live set, Knick says it’s all about giving us what we want. “I approach DJing a little bit differently to the way I make music in Qwerk the studio,” he says. “I feel like it also depends on where I’m playing. I tailor my sets to be appealing to everyone - that’s what I want - I don’t want to get up there and just play weird stuff just for the sake With its five unique bars, dual-level dancefloor and of being different. I want to get up there and rock table service, the opening night of new club Parker, the party - it’s that simple.” is definitely worth checking out this Saturday, August 10. With patrons advised to dress with individual style in mind, promoters are tipping this one as the new place to ‘be’ minus any dickhead » BRO SAFARI factor. ACEBASIK, Chiari, Qwerk, Oli, KNO Agents » SATURDAY, AUGUST 10 @ VILLA are on the bill from 10pm. Tickets on the door.

DIGER ROKWELL

JON HOPKINS

Ash Hosken, the co-founder of local music collective ‘The Community,’ returns with a new EP and with it fuses his love of house music alongside a production knowledge gleaned from four previous albums. The release is dedicated to the number four. Four tracks all lasting four minutes with a 4/4 time signature, but this isn’t peak-time hands in the air dance-floor fodder; it’s a lot more complex than that.

It’s easy to see from where the title of opener Coast was garnered, the warm organic sounds and deep house groove conjure an anticipatory crowd watching the sun setting over some distant ocean, eager for their night-time island clubbing adventure to begin. Grateful evokes the recent works of Bonobo and with its pitched down vocal stabs and minor key layered chords surprisingly Burial too.

Title track Innersense is another classy deep house number with layered synths and soothing pads and with final track Rain, said to “Catch the vibrations of a Perth winter,” we are again exposed to the elements, sounds of precipitation accompanied by broken beats a subtle bassline and haunting refrain.

Demonstrating his love of analogue instrumentation, this natural, free from artificial colourings, beat driven offering is easy on the palette and hopefully a prelude to a more substantial longplayer in the future.

An artist who co-produced Coldplay’s last album perhaps wouldn’t normally be mentioned too kindly on these pages, but don’t let his association with the mediocre monarchs of gloom rock put you off; Jon Hopkins fourth studio long-player is an exquisite marriage of complex beat driven electronica and lush ambient stylings that’s well worthy of an extended listen.

The album is one of two distinct halves, though the analogue synthesis and sound design techniques present on both makes it a coherent whole. Part one is akin to James Holden’s work, the kicks are stifled and muted, always bubbling underneath the main refrain, but with enough muscle to keep the listener locked into the groove.

The highlight being the epic nine minute workout that is Collider which builds, crackles and fizzes with a relentless intensity.

During part two, Hopkins displays the results of his work with ambient auteur Brian Eno and King Creosote (who guest vocals on the title track). It’s here where his classical training and studio production knowledge allows the beautiful layered soundscapes to shine though the occasional sculptured laid-back beats most notably on the excellent Sun Harmonics.

A pleasantly surprising and accomplished release which may be in many a reviewers end of year ‘best-of’ lists, and for good reason.

INNERSENSE THE COMMUNITY RECORDS

» ANDREW NELSON

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GET READY FOR THE LAUNCH

IMMUNITY DOMINO RECORDS

» ANDREW NELSON

The Rugged Man

RUGGED EMCEE

Underground hip hop legend RA The Rugged Man is coming to Perth for the first time on Saturday, September 21. This New York emcee pioneered the indie-rap hustle, pressing his own vinyl, racking up one of the most impressive resumes in rap history and has collaborated with Wu-Tang, B.I.G., Kool G Rap and The Alchemist. He’ll be playing at The Rosemount with support from Dazastah & Layla, Leonidas and Sever. Tickets are $35 plus booking fee from Heetseeker.

MIDNIGHT JUGGERNAUTS

Midnight Juggernauts

UNCANNY VALLEY

one of the talking headshots as found footage. I was thinking, ‘I wonder if our video influenced the director in her clip.’ I hope that’s the case!”

It’s fascinating to watch early abstract Midnight Juggernauts have a new creations become re-creations of human limbs faces, before suddenly the scope widens into album out and have recently been and full-blown landscapes. That’s the point where the foraging into the world of CGI. JODY Juggernauts chose to end their examination of the pioneer days of CGI. “I think people were wondering MACGREGOR reports.

‘Why doesn’t it continue on beyond the ’80s into Although Uncanny Valley is full of proggy the ’90s and today?’ But I think the era we’re in now synth and cosmic vibes it is definitely a party people are familiar with the signposts of, like, after atmosphere kind of album, with Systematic in the mid-80s. Up until then it was all computer trials particular the kind of song I’d rather be listening to in computer labs but then it was all showcased in in the middle of a dancing crowd than alone in an Hollywood blockbusters. I don’t think the clip would empty living room. “That’s a fun song,” says frontman have been the same showing a scene from Terminator 2 and then a scene from Avatar. We kept it more Vendetta Vendetta, “it’s like an ELO pop tune. It’s conceptual, where it’s first attempts at human likeness good to have a song which people can sing along to and first attempts at emotion in that wireframe so maybe we need to disperse some lyric sheets or skeletal world.” have a video with the dancing ball over the lyrics at At t h e e n d o f t h a t v i d e o d i g i t a l the bottom of the screen. We’ve been trying that song approximations of reality are replaced by the reverse out; it’s been getting a good response.”

– footage of the Juggernauts captured using the Ballad Of The War Machine sports an Kinect motion controls on a hacked Xbox that turns excellent video filmed guerrilla-style while they were them into digital models. “We like the idea that it in Russia, playing with props and dancing in the streets was harking back to the wireframe footage from the in soldiers’ uniforms. Memorium has a much more beginning, but it’s a totally new approach where it’s serious video, befitting a song about lost memories all created in real-time with the motion sensor. It’s that ends with a kind of funeral waltz. To accompany not some programmer who’s been processing for six that they put together a nostalgic mini-documentary months in his basement on some old computer, it about the early days of computer graphics, showing was us at a friend’s house on a Saturday morning just the progression from the basic wireframes and lines recording that in an hour or so and then that looks of the 1950s through to the environmental models beautiful and amazing. That’s computer technology of the 1980s. “Reading through CGI message boards today. We put down the year ‘2013’ because it’ll and seeing all these computer programmers who probably look quite primitive in years to come.” were involved in some of the productions discussing it, it’s been good to see that it connects with a lot of the people who were actually involved in the original » MIDNIGHT JUGGERNAUTS works. It’s funny, three or four weeks after the video » SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 @ CAPITOL & AMPLIFIER BAR came out Miley Cyrus put out a video which used X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

Shapeshifter

SHAPESHIFTER

drum ‘n’ bass gigs with UK DJs and thousands of people packing in - it was an inspirational time and that’s where we got the idea to play drum ‘n’ bass live,” Robinson says of the band’s commitment to the genre.

Since their second album, Shapeshifter have usually taken six months out in a special location to immerse themselves in the process, with their Southern Alps being one such place. This New Zealand drum ‘n’ bass act homeland’s time around they swapped tranquillity for the cultural Shapeshifter are currently touring in hotspot of Berlin.

“It was quite a long process, making this support of the release of their new album,” says Robinson. “We started in Wellington just album, Delta, and running true to before we moved to Berlin and then made a good of it there. Living in a European sort of vibe form it’s a finely polished product chunk with exposure to different sorts of music - not that of the genre-defying category. JO we were heavily influenced by it - inspired us by the amount of creativity and the amount of bands on CAMPBELL has more. tour through there.”

After a brief time on Hospital Records, More than a decade on and live drum ‘n’ bass act Shapeshifter are onto their fifth studio album. Not who released the remixed version of The System EP, only has every album they’ve released gone platinum Shapeshifter are back on their own label, Truetone. in their native New Zealand, but they’ve also turned Robinson says the relationship is ongoing but not heads in Europe with UK’s Hospital Records getting exclusive.

“It (being on Hospital) definitely exposed on board. With Delta, the five-piece have tweaked their studio inputs, with less focus on live drums and more on us to another audience throughout Europe. They are digital synth-driven rhythms supported by the analogue a boutique kind of label and are quite particular about what they want, which is fair enough, because they have instrumentation of vintage synths, horns and guitar.

The result is a tightly put together record, a reputation to uphold. We are quite certain about what bringing together drum’n’bass, heavy soul and funk we want as well, so every now and then there is a track with a distinct club feel. Although Delta is not strictly that they like of ours that they will release, but we are speaking a D’n’B album, there are some standout liquid not exclusive because we want to be able to do what and old skool jungle moments. Nick Robinson (bass/ we want to do.”

Shapeshifter have just completed a mostly synths) says D’n’B is the band’s first love, being the sold out tour of New Zealand and are on their way to common thread that brings their records together.

“When you think about drum ‘n’ bass, you Perth with support from brothers Jeff and Jono Hansen don’t necessarily want to hear it live, you want to go aka Ekko & Sidetrack. out raving, so it’s always been a bit challenging playing a genre live that the purists are probably thinking is not genuine. » SHAPESHIFTER “We all go back to the days of jungle and » SATURDAY, AUGUST 17 @ METRO CITY hardcore. In the ‘90s Christchurch was really awesome -

DOING IT THEIR WAY

Lo & Behold

LO & BEHOLD

hooks. The track though, is more than the some of these parts. Entitled One Way Ticket, Creed describes the track; “I think I got the concept of my verse was me hating my job so much - a job I just quit today.

I think the whole idea of how in this society we’re taught to go school, to go to university, get a job, get married and die. The song’s about not having those or anything. Just buy a ticket one way, to Recently bursting onto the scene boundaries anywhere in the world, and adventure.” Definitely an with their engaging debut single, idea that many could relate to.

While things have already kicked off for Lo & Behold may not have much Lo & Behold, Creed Birch has actually spent the last of a past as a team, but there’s couple of years working as a solo artist, releasing a received collaborative album with Rob Shaker surely a bright future ahead. NICK well called Alive Again, several compilations of his own SWEEPAH catches up with rapper beats, and contributing musically and lyrically to and beatmaker Creed Birch to find many of this city’s best local hip hop releases. So what prompted the change into a group dynamic? Creed out about their plans. explains: “A couple of years ago Matt (Roc Walla) and I started to do a project while he was travelling. He hit Lo & Behold might be a new name to many, me up on Facebook and we were going to do an EP but to local music lovers this group will contain where he would rap and I’d make the beats. And then, some familiar faces. Mainly comprised of emcee when he got back he got quite involved with The and producer Creed Birch, vocalist and multi- Stoops again. They’d kind of reinvented themselves I instrumentalist Sarah Pellicano, and emcee Roc guess. One day I just showed him a beat and he said Walla from The Stoops - the trio are also assisted ‘That’s amazing, do it again!’” he chuckles. by newcomer and beat wizard Chu Laird, and none When you hear the chemistry of the three other than Perth’s go-to guy for cuts, Rob Shaker. together though, that’s another part of the origin With only one single to their name so far, they’re story. “Bringing Sarah in was always a given. I’ve already making waves via a free download on Triple always wanted to have a name for me and Sarah. All J’s Unearthed website. my live stuff, Sarah’s involved in.”

Creed, for one, is kind of taken aback by So far the new set-up hasn’t changed the the response to this single thus far. “I’ve actually writing process too much. “Sometimes we all get been blown away by how everyone’s been loving together in the studio, but most of the time it’s just it. We had like 500 downloads in three days, out of me calling Matt every five minutes like ‘I just made the 590 plays. So everyone that’s listened to it pretty best beat!’” But as Creed goes on, it’s clear their sound much downloaded it. Today we found out we’re up is still developing. “What I’m trying to do now for to number four on the hip hop charts.” the rest of the record is get everyone into the room When you listen to the song, it’s easy to together, because Sarah’s quite an amazing musician. see the appeal. Creed’s own brand of crisp beat She plays piano and guitar, and we haven’t really used production melds with his own intricate lyrics, both that yet.” They’ve imposed their own deadline of an of which are greatly complimented by Roc Walla’s EP released by November, and at this rate, there’s sure own clever raps, and Pellicano’s soaring, melodic to be a slew of fans waiting to see what happens.

ONE WAY TICKET

www.xpressmag.com.au

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Deadline Monday 5pm. The Club Manual is a service to advertisers listing all DJs & Dance Music.

All inclusions are at the discretion of X-Press. Email guide@xpressmag.com.au

AMPLIFIER

WEDNESDAY 07/08 Amplifier/ Capitol – Battle For Harlem ft. Genga/ Peter Payne/ Philly Blunt/ JS/ Camzor/ Axen Captain Stirling - Traffic Light Party ft. DJ Chardy Club Red Sea – Cheek * Circo Geisha Bar - Concord Dawn ft.VLTRN/ Network/ Inflex Gold Bar - Famous Black & White Party Edition The Good Shepherd: The Art Games 2013 Winter Series Round 3 The Grand Central - ANG3L Groove Bar (Crown) - DJ Crazy Craig Leederville Hotel (upstairs) Kreem ft. DJ Karl Blue and MishTee Leederville Hotel (downstairs) Arena Party ft. DJ Vi Son/ Pup Leederville Hotel (downstairs inside): Bliss Ladies Night – Launch Night ft. DJ Ben Renna The Llama Bar - Akuna Club Luxe Bar - Exclusive Launch Party ft. DJ Slick/ Mr Phat Mustang Bar - DJ James MacArthur Newport Hotel – Newport Wednesdays ft. DJs Tom Drummond/ Angry Budda/ Mr Phat/ Wot Evs Sovereign Arms – DJ Lokie Shaw The Village Bar - Village People Wednesdays ft. Riley Pearce/ Curtis McEntee

CAPITOL

Mustang Bar - DJ James MacArthur Newport Hotel - Tiki Bar Open Mic Night ft DJ Tim from Mills The Velvet Lounge - Velvet Comedy MC James Masters

FRIDAY 09/08 Air Nightclub – Doctor! Doctor!

Doctor & Nurses Party Ambar - Ctrl-Alt-Del ft. Philly Blunt/ Bezwun/ Informant/ Killafoe/ Tonic Amplifier - Fridays Are Back ft.

Edward Norton The Avenue - DJ Lokie Shaw The Aviary (Birdcage) - NDORSE The Aviary (Rooftop) – Troy Division/ Paradise Paul Bar Orient - The Reggae Club DJ Battle ft. Dj Inti vs DJ Sexy Chocolate The Bakery - 2013 Totally Huge New Music Festival Opener The Beat (downstairs) - PLAY The Brass Monkey - Almost Famous ft. Jewel, James Ess & Vicktor

C5 – Bass Attic ft. Bass Attic DJs Capitol - Capitol Fridays ft. DJ Roger Smart Capitol (upstairs) - I Love 80’s & 90’s ft. Darren Tucker The Carine - Az-T Club Red Sea - Velvet Snapback Edition ft. DJs Angry Budda/ Ben Renna/ Matty S The Como - Funadelic Fridays ft.

Philly Blunt The Craftsman – Michael Brittliff Crystal Swan Charters - Motown and Soul Night The Deen - Student Night Flyrite - Self Help Ginger Nightclub - Mondos “Feel Good” Dance Party The Good Shepherd – Throwback The Grand Central – Jay Mackay Groove Bar (Crown) - DJ Crazy Craig Lakers Tavern - Grizzly & friends Library - Dorcia Metro Freo - Frat House Fridays ft.

Death Disco DJs Mojos Bar – Hussle Hussle ft.

Dialectrix/ Marksman Lloyd/ Wisdom2th Mustang Bar - Swing DJ/ Cheeky

THURSDAY 08/08 The Avenue – DJ Lokie Shaw The Beat (downstairs) - Fantasy Thursdays The Bird – Hip Hop Kara”YO”Ke Straight Hustlin’ The Causeway - Xport Thursdays ft. Nodes Connections - Bingay ft. Val Nourished Club Bay View - Dj-Vi Son The Craftsman – James Barclay Devilles Pad - Rock’n’Roll Karaoke Eve Nightclub - Retro Thursdays ft.

DJ Crazy Craig The Grand Central - DJ Roger Smart Leisure Inn - DJ Peta Kalamunda Hotel – Grizzly

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Concord Dawn

SATURDAYS

MUSTANG BAR

Monkeys/ DJ James MacArthur My Place - Karaoke Newport - Karaoke Classic with Steve Parkin with DJ Tahli Jade/ Wot Evs/ Sardi Paramount Nightclub – Flyte with DJ John Jordan The Queens - Reuben Rocket Room - Howlers ft DJ Frank N Bean The Saint – Jordan Scott Sovereign Arms - ANG3L Shape – The Switch Tiger Lil’s - Paul Malone/ Adam Kelly/ Alex Koresis The Vic - Friday Funktion ft. Jix Project Villa – Get Weird x Kitsuné Club Nights ft. Jerry Bouthier & Friends YaYa’s - ACE ft DJ Pup

SATURDAY 10/08 Ambar - Japan 4 ft. Mo’Fly/ Blend/ MR eD/ Wish/ DNGRFLD Amplifier - Pure Pop ft. Eddie Electric The Avenue - Jon Ee The Aviary - NDORSE/ Paradise Paul/ Troy Division Bar 120 - Little Nicky The Balmoral - Back To The 80’s Beat Nightclub (Upstairs) CANVAS Beat Nightclub (Downstairs) – Runaways The Bird - TROPICAL/DISCO/ HOUSE NIGHT ft. Jack Doepel & friends The Brass Monkey - DJ Peta & Jewel The Brighton - DJ Mel The Como – DJ Anaru C5 - I Love 80s + 90s ft. Darren Tucker & Dr Wazz Capitol - Death Disco ft. Death Disco DJs Capitol (Upstairs) - Cream of the 80’s ft. Roger Smart The Causeway - House party ft: France China Club Red Sea – Fresh Saturdays The Cornerstone - DJ Spinback East End Bar - Home Flyrite - FΔMILY The Generous Squire – James Nutley The Good Shepherd - Chocolate Jesus

Crizzly The Grand - Armee Groove Bar (Crown) - DJ Dan Leederville Hotel (downstairs) – Under The Arena Party ft. DJ Vi Son/ Pup The Library - DJ Victor / DJ Riki Lost Society - Chalk (indie/ hiphop) Metro City - EDM Saturdays Launch Party ft. TyDi Metro Freo – Metropolis Saturdays ft. Darren Tucker/ Dr Wazz/Ben Carter/ Shane Hewson Newport – Karaoke Classic with Steve Parkin ft. DJs Tahli Jade/ Tom Drummond Paramount Nightclub – Felix with DJ John Jordan Parker - PARKER LAUNCH ft. Qwerk/ Oli/ KNO Agents/ Ace Basik/ Chiari The Queens - Kenny L The Saint – Jordan Scott Sovereign Arms - The Jinx Project Shape Tiger Lil’s - DJ Bojan/ Benjamin Sebastian/ Alex Koresis Villa Nightclub - Bro Safari & Crizzly The Wembley - DJ Lokie Shaw YaYa’s - Dialectrix & Arcadia ft. DJ Cookie

SUNDAY 11/08 The Aviary (Rooftop) - Aviary Rooftop Sessions ft. Philly Blunt/ Troy Division/ Zel The Bakery - Club Huge Eve Nighclub – DJ Slick Groove Bar (Crown) - DJ Crazy Craig Mustang Bar - DJ Rockin’ Rhys Newport - DJ Tom Drummond Rosemount Hotel - soundz like sundayz The Saint – James Barclay/ Az-T The Queens – Five-o & Sam Spencer

MONDAY 12/08 Mustang Bar - Triple Shots The Rosemount Hotel - Bada Bingo!

TUESDAY 13/08 Mustang Bar - Danza Loca Salsa Night

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

See yourself? Tag yourself! Head to faceboåok.com/XPressMagazine

VELVET

OISIMA

CLUB RED SEA

THE CAUSEWAY

DMCS

ROSEMOUNT

IN THE THIS WEEK

EDM Saturdays Launch Party ft. TyDi Saturday, August 10 @ Concord Dawn ft.VLTRN/ Metro City Network/ Inflex Wednesday, August 7 @ Bro Safari & Crizzly Geisha Saturday. August 10 @ Villa PARKER LAUNCH ft.

Qwerk/ Oli/ KNO Agents/ Ace Basik/ Chiari COMING UP Saturday, August 10 @ PARKER Pangaea Dialectrix Friday, August 16 @ Friday, August 9 @ Mojos Geisha Bar Saturday, August 10 @ YaYa’s

TyDi

EDM SATURDAYS LAUNCH PARTY FT. TYDI

SATURDAY, AUGUST 10 @ METRO CITY

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+Eightoeight ft. Harry Webb/ Emerald Cabal and Reece Walker/ Allstate B2B Craig Hollywood Friday, August 16 @ East End Bar

Ghost Poet Thursday, September 12 @ The Bakery

The Disco Fries Friday, August 16 @ 133 Aberdeen

Hand Picked ft.

Friction And Linguistics/ MC Calyx & TeeBee/ Alix Perez Friday, September 20 @ Metro City

MAKE THE FACE ft.

Zeke/ FTW/ Sistym & Gracie/ escue/ Keymist Friday, August 16 @ Ambar CIRCO ft Flight Facilities/ Hermitude/ Chet Faker Saturday, August 17 @ Ascot Racecourse

The Aston Shuffle (DJs) Friday, September 13 @ Parker

R.A. The Rugged Man Saturday, September 21 @ Rosemont Hotel

DMC STATE FINALS

CAN’T STOP, WON’T STOP 2013 WA DMC FINALISTS/ J-RED / LEONIDAS / ARMEE Rosemount Hotel Friday, August 2, 2013

The WA DMC finals started fairly quietly, with only a handful people rocking up early enough to catch a set from DJ Armee. You generally know what Laurel Halo & Objekt you’re going to get with an Armee set and he didn’t Saturday, September 27 disappoint, spinning classics from the likes of the @ Bakery Beastie Boys and Notorious BIG, plus a little medley 2013 Habitat DJ of big Jay Z tunes. Before long, the crowd started to Illy: On & On Tour Competition build, gaining a respectable size in time for the first Saturday, September 28 Saturday, August 17 @ showcase of the evening, an MPC set from Leonidas. @ Villa Geisha Using two samplers for his set (occasionally Listen Out Shapeshifter simultaneously) he crafted a backdrop of beats that Sunday, September 29 @ Saturday, August 17@ would be at home in a spaghetti western. You could Ozone Reserve Metro City imagine this guy providing the soundtrack for the next Tarantino movie. Largely sticking with this The Substance Horrorshow Friday, August 23 @ Villa Thursday, October 3 Prince theme, he flipped one beat after another, utilising some massive drums that would make RZA proud.

Of Wales Bunbury HILINE ft. Big Chocolate Friday, October 4 Amplifier He was joined on stage at one point by Adam Saturday, August 24 @ Saturday, October 5 Mojos Crook, freestyling over the rhythms with an effortless demeanour.

Villa Bar Special guest for the night, with The Aviary Rooftop a track record of over thirteen titles in various Rufus Sessions ft. Purple DJ competitions worldwide, was Melbourne DJ Thursday, October 10 @ Sneaker DJs J-Red. Originally scheduled to play after the actual Mojos Bar Sunday, August 25 @ The tournament, this was something of a teaser, as he Aviary Porter Robinson seamlessly mixed tracks from all corners of hip hop Saturday, October 26 @ history. Suddenly though, it was over, and it was time triple j’s House Villa for the competition to begin.

Party ft. Nina Las There were only three entrants this year, Vegas/ Flight Facilities Chet Faker but the competitors covered a fairly broad spectrum Thursday, August 29 @ Thursday, October 31 @ Capitol of music and influences. First up was DJ and producer ARTBAR known as U-wish, who utilised some heavy basslines Machine Gun Kelly and quality juggling, ending up with a dubstep vibe.

PRIDEFEST 2013: Wednesday, September DJ, MC and Syllaboliks affiliate Defyre took the stage Rainbow Nation 4 @ Capitol next, executing some quick, precise cuts and a well Saturday, November 2 @ received juggle using the instrumental for GZA’s Northbridge FIERCE classic track Liquid Swords. In a move that could be Friday, September 6 @ expected if you’ve heard his recent mixtape, Defyre Stereosonic Geisha Bar closed by effectively blending the music of drum ‘n’ Saturday, November 30 bass artist Audio, with some vocals from Biggie. An Midnight Juggernauts and Sunday, December Saturday, September 7 @ 1 @ Claremont Showinteresting combination, but one that paid off. Last to Capitol grounds step up was the reigning WA champion - Midsole.

DJ MIDSOLE (Photo By Daniel Craig) Proving exactly why he took out the title last year, Midsole proceeded to destroy the decks with lightning fast cuts and juggling, scratching so fast and accurately that he was essentially making a beat out of the sounds created. There were some odd song choices, a little bit of Ciara for instance, but it was all so well thought out that nothing seemed out of place. Capping it off with some humour and showmanship, it was clear that he’d won again before the official announcement.

J-Red stepped up again after the contest was done and dusted. This set was a bit more technical, and although it’s the product of decades of hard work, he makes it look easy. It was a bit of a flashback for some of the older heads too, with J-Red grinning throughout the set and displaying just as much hunger and passion as he did 10 years ago.

» NICK SWEEPAH

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Dianas - Photo by Shaun Freney

BIG SPLASH SEMI FINAL Thursday, August 1, 2013 The Bakery R e g a rd l e s s o f w h e re yo u s i t e t h i c a l l y o n the whole throwing-scraps-into-the-lion-pit spectacle that a battle of the band competition often ends up feeling like, turning up to a one pretty much guarantees a good show; nothing motivates starving artists like prize money, and the second Big Splash semi-final mostly delivered.

Dianas have been one of the most outstanding local bands around for a long while now, sporting harmonies and songwriting that manages to act on the brain, heart and legs all at once. Calling it dream pop doesn’t do justice to how incredibly wired they are at their best, and their set reliably married the muscular and the astral, peaking with the rollicking Washed Up, (though the segue into the closing song of their set fell a bit flat).

Red Engine Caves reminded me that all of us- the living- outlived Jet. Yet, REC still ply a shirtless, bluesy style of that will never die out completely, and they do it well, but not well enough yet to really stand out personality-wise.

Next, Man the Clouds channeled Hendrix via the Black Keys (in that the songs tend to be about women endowed with the properties of natural disasters, and there’s only two of them). The songs never quite managed to transcend those influences, but Tayo Snowball exuded a positive energy that was pretty much impossible not to grin at (best audience thankyou ever, man) and the interplay between him and drummer Dave Taylor was instinctive enough to feel like it belonged in an Attenborough documentary.

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Eight-piece gypsy jazz group Ensemble Formidable (pronounced for-mi-da-blay) were the sort of band who fit right in at fringe festival opening nights, sporting immense enthusiasm. There was abundant charm in all their dancing and bopping, but the songs dragged overlong, carousing through the samey fleet-footed gypsy chord progressions as they all traded solos like a bottle of wine no one was particularly interested in finishing. For a band trying to bring the party, they were compulsively neat.

If metal is about being in total control of your environment, Scalphunter had the audience in a vice from the get-go, and they didn’t loosen the grip once. Hacking out a punishing, invigorating brand of hardcore punk (all shouted choruses and chugging guitars), Scalphunter played by an entirely different set of rules to the bands who came prior, and the comparison was odious; it felt like Malcolm Tucker entering the room with his bollocking face on. With a singer who had all the charisma and presence of a pro wrestling villain in how completely he controlled the audience, the whole room got pretty much consensually scalphunted, impromptu mosh pit and all. They played like winners, and they were, with Dianas securing the second spot to the final.

After some intraband unpleasantness marred the previous Big Splash heat, this semi was all about what a band competition should demonstrate, winners and losers aside; the diversity of a local scene, introducing bands to people who wouldn’t come across them otherwise, and stressing just how important it is to perform songs, not just play them.

Hopefully the final lives up to that promise as well. _ ALEX GRIFFIN X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

Chainsaw Hookers - Photo By Denis Radacic

CHAINSAW HOOKERS The Order of The Black Werewolf / Celebrator /Yiannos McStavros /Dan Cribb And The Isolated YaYa’s Friday, August 2, 2013 An unusual array of genres made for a confusing, yet deliciously entertaining mix of music, characters, and of course cliques in the small and cosy venue.

With a noticeable lilt of Australian vocals sounding like a placated version of Frenzal Rhomb, the boys from Dan Cribb And The Isolated triumphed in breaking the ice through their relaxed banter and cheerful dispositions. Including a multi-talented drummer and some sterling vocal harmonies, the boys played a solid show.

Each performance was delightfully punctuated by the hilarious musical stylings of Yiannos McStavros. With each set, the lyrics somehow became more irreverent, making these short bursts of pure piss taking brilliance widely anticipated. Yiannos filled the normally empty voids between bands with some thoroughly enjoyable, quick witted fun.

A complete change of pace for the night; Celebrator began their set with a beautifully still instrumental intro, with soft vocals to join. Groovy bass and smooth guitars with fantastically jazzy and intricate drumming ensured this band was a very different and pleasantly surprising stroke for the night. Stunning transitions between songs created by lulling melodies emanating from the keyboards and the subdued vocals made for a more emotive set, even when the vocals became

a sorrowful yet unrestrained yell. This band really knows how to use the quieter moments in a song to somehow say the most.

With their fast and upbeat drumming, The Order of The Black Werewolf picked up the pace. The fantastic contrast of rough lead vocals combined with smooth and perfectly delivered backups meant this 3 piece band really cut through the quiet, despite their size. The resonant vocal howling caused a stir, and the dance floor finally started to see some action as the crowd responded to the order of the night. The final song from a stellar set was a mix of Ennio Morricone inspired western twangs capped off with some ironically opposing Native American sounds, in keeping with the wolf theme.

Once the diehard fans had closed in on the stage, Chainsaw Hookers burst out with a fierce and powerful scream. They decided it was time to ‘lift the momentum’, with an undeniably much louder and more aggressive set. Due to the diverse grouping of bands, a few punters were initially a little taken aback by the onslaught of screams, however by the second song it was these shocked onlookers who seemed to be enjoying the novelty of jumping about and raucous antics the most. With their sudden outbursts of fun poking jabs at the crowd and a fuck you attitude, this loud mouthed group of dirty punk rockers growled, screamed, riffed, and hooked their way through a no holds barred barrage of trucker trash rock. The animated crowd lapped up the shenanigans while the bunch of riotous rockers hammed it up, even throwing in some guitar heroics for shits and giggles. _ LIANA KELLY

FIDLAR

Fidlar - Photo By Matt Jelonek

Dune Rats The Bakery Friday, August 3, 2013 Kids are alright. On Saturday night they came out in droves and turned The Bakery upside-down. Surely lots of alcohol and substances were involved, but nobody was seemingly hurt, and everyone walked out with a big smile on their faces.

Dune Rats opened the proceedings around 10.30 and immediately won the crowd over with their blend of punkish pop. It was nothing we have not heard before, but it was done with maximum enthusiasm and precision. Despite not having terribly strong songs, this Brisbane trio delivered them in a super tight manner and even though the music they played is not extremely difficult, it needs that amount of confidence and joy required to acquire crowd’s appreciation.

In a 30 minute break that followed it was interesting to observe that vast majority of crowd consisted of young males and, if I’m correct, there was only one female stage diving the whole night. It seems that some things have not changed in last 30+ years of punk rock – from music to equally essential things associated with it.

Still, anyone familiar with Fidlar knows that it is a band of four guys in their early 20s singing about getting wasted and alike joys of living.

A millennium old cliché that does work when the www.xpressmag.com.au

music is right. And the music of Fidlar is perfectly right. What makes them different from zillions similar bands is that their songs do not sound too similar and although a fairly new band, they have already mastered not only writing great hooks, but arranging and playing them as if they have been around for years.

They opened with Cheap Beer and, from memory, quite followed the order of the songs on their debut album. It was interesting to see how they handle not having material for playing more than 45 minutes and while it would have been much better if they just played song after song it was not meant to happen. Over excited punters occupied the stage at every chance they had, often tripping over the leads, gear and microphones, causing Fidlar to have long breaks between songs while they bring the equipment back to order. Often those breaks would go longer than the songs that followed, but admittedly, the crowd has pushed the band to perform even more enthusiastic.

Although covering Red Right Hand by Nick Cave was a rather odd decision, doing Blink 182’s Dammit as the last song in the encore worked perfectly well, with pretty much half of the packed venue getting on stage. Watching the youngsters having the time of their life, while the equipment was failing one by one until there was nothing left apart from Zac’s microphone, was a sight to behold. _ PREDRAG DELIBASIC 39

THE BEAT NIGHTCLUB

This Thursday, August 8, Victoria’s This Fiasco headline this month’s Clockwork Post Hardcore Amour! Joining the lineup is Perth’s own Aveira Skies, Make Believe Me and Vice Versa. Punk party tunes and student priced drinks! Doors at 9pm.

The Isinnerators launch their debut EP this Friday, August 9, upstairs, with support from The Lungs, Dirtwater Bloom and Creature. Doors 8pm.

INDI BAR

This Sunday, August 11, Morgan Bain kicks off his April residency and joining him on drums is Callum Kramer and on keys is Tim Ayre. Together the three piece are a life force of rockin’ roots matched with great songs. They’ve have been turning heads in Scarborough so much so that their shows are packed to the rafters, so get down early on Sunday, and every Sunday in April for that matter!

CLANCY’S FISH PUB, FREMANTLE

Tonight, Wednesday, August 7, catch Chet Leonard’s Bingteque. Friday it’s Simon Kelly And The Big Bamboo with Jack Stirling. Saturday, get a load of Badger & The Fox, The Gypsy Howls and Bears & Dolls, while Sunday it’s wind down time with joyous sound of The Zydecats.

This Fiasco

YAYA’S

It’s all about the music this week! Starting off with Matt Gresham’s first ever show at YaYa’s this Thursday, August 8, followed by Big Splash finalists Scalphunter leading up an insane night of high-energy punk’n’roll on Friday, August 9. Hip hop master Dialectrix then hits up YaYa’s as part of his national Cold Light Of Day tour on Saturday.

ROSEMOUNT

This week at the Rosemount it’s all local with King’s Justice, Bad Formula and more on Wednesday, The Midnight Mules and In The Dead Hours on Thursday, Ragdoll launching their new EP on Friday and Perth soul faves Boom! Bap! Pow! launching their new album on Saturday with stellar support from The Love Junkies, Huge Magnet and Dux & Downtown. Check the gig guide for full lineups and head to rosemounthotel.com.au for ticketing info.

MOJO’S

Friday, August 9, undoubtedly one of Sydney’s favourite hometown artists, Dialectrix is regarded as one of the most prolific MCs and hip hop performers in the country. Having just dropped his third album, Dialectrix is set to play the Hussle Hussle night at King’s Justice Mojo’s Bar. Supports include Marksman Lloyd and Wisdom2th, Paulie P & DJ L-Street. Entry is $15 at the door from 8pm. To win a double pass, simply email your contact details to mojos@cooleprthnights.com This Friday catch the king of tropical funk Hugo with Dialectrix in the subject header.

Mendez (UK) bringing his super rare collection of tropical records and dub plates for a night of dancing in the beer garden. Special guests are The Brow Horn Orchestra and DJ Charlie Bucket! Doors open 8pm and tickets are available from heatseeker.com.au

RAILWAY HOTEL

THE CAUSEWAY HOTEL Dialectrix

Thursday means it’s once again time for Xport Thursdays featuring Nodes! Friday get down for Polaroid Productions featuring Morgain Bain, while Saturday it’s a house party with France China. Don’t forget there are free buses every night at close!

See yourself? Tag yourself! Head to our Facebook

UNIVERSAL BAR 20TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION Universal Bar Saturday, August 3, 2013 The perennially popular universal Bar of Northbridge rocked hard this Saturday just gone by, celebrating a big two decades in business as one of the sexiest nightspots in the city.

Ariarna, Jess, Michael, Richard

Photos By Matt Jelonek

Nikola, Nada

Reece, Roshelle 40

Penny Renae

Tracey, Michelle X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

Edited by T R AV I S J O H N S O N

THE HIGH LEARYS Retro rascals The High Learys launch their debut album, Here Come The High Learys, this Friday, August 9, at Devilles Pad, with support from Les Sataniques and DJ Agent 85. We had a quick word.

We recorded with Rob Grant from Poons Head Studios in Fremantle.

He was fantastic to work with and had some great vintage gear that helped us get the sound that we were after!

How did you guys form?

What’s your writing process like?

We got together in mid 2012 and started jamming on a couple of tunes that Jamie (Turner) had in the working. We all felt The songs really just stem from a mood or a vibe. Jamie usually comes to the rest of us with either an idea or a whole song ready to good about making a group and giving it a crack. go and we’ll all put our own spin on it. Mike (Nutt) always helps out How would you describe your sound? Who are your key with occasional melody lines or the odd lyric here and there. It then influences? becomes a team effort bouncing ideas off each other and that’s what You could simply call it beat or garage, our sound kind of we really enjoy about playing our own songs! falls in between the two genres, we all have a massive love for the old rhythm and blues of the ‘50s and ‘60s.

What’s up next for you guys?

We are thrilled to be heading overseas and touring Europe How was the recording process? Who did you work with?

The recording process was great fun. We had only just come in October and November, We’ll be playing shows in Germany, Italy, back from a tour of the east coast the week before so we were well France, Spain and The UK! After we get back we’ll be putting on more rehearsed and itching to get in the studio and lay down the tracks. events and hopefully releasing a single early in the New Year!

ROUND ABOUT MIDNIGHT

The Midnight Mules

Fantastic four piece The Midnight Mules are putting their mark on The Rosemount Hotel this Thursday, August 8, with s u p p o r t f r o m Th e Killer Hipsters, The Coloured Chain, and In The Dead Hours.

Doors open at 8pm, entry is $7.

Blackmilk

MILKING IT

Psych-rockers Blackmilk will be lighting up the night at Mojo’s this Saturday, August 10. In what promises to be a killer night of awesome sounds, they’ll be joined by Mt Mountain, Diger Rokwell, Spaceman Antics and Silver Hills. Doors open at 8pm, entry is $10.

WALL OF SOUND

Nightmare Effect

WELCOME TO MY NIGHTMARE

Prog metal exponents Nightmare Effect offer up a senses-shattering dose of their trademark sound this Friday, August 9, at The Civic Hotel.

Also on the bill are Psychonaut, Servertone, One Too Many Camel and Left To Die. Doors open at 8pm, entry is $10.

It’s high time you checked out one of the most exciting young voices in the Perth blues scene, MattyTWall, and this Saturday, Au g u s t 1 0 , i s t h e p e r fe c t opportunity to do so. Get down to Fremantle’s Swan Hotel to catch the young maestro, as well as In Orbit and Ibis Elm. Doors open at 8pm, entry is $7.

MattyTWall

RIGHT AS RAIN

Tonight, Wednesday August 7, head down to YaYa’s to catch a stellar line up of musical talent in the form of pop punk outfit The Right Way Up, Stargazer, Turin Robinson and Showering Vixens. Doors open at 8pm, entry is $5.

ALL DOLLED UP

Ragdoll

Local trio Ragdoll and setting their latest EP, All I Want Is Everything, loose this Friday, August 9, at The Rosemount Hotel, accompanied by a brilliant supporting line up that includes heavy stalwarts Legs Electric, Vida Cain and Hailmary.

Doors open at 8pm, entry is $15.30 plus booking fee through Oztix.

09/08/2013 The High Learys Here Come The High Learys LP Launch @ Devilles Pad 09/08/2013 The Insinnerators Deadly Seven EP Launch @ Beat 09/08/2013 Ragdoll All I Want Is Everything EP Launch @ The Rosemount 09/08/2013 Simon Kelly And The Big Bamboo Ride On Album Launch @ Clancy’s Fremantle 09/08/2013 Water Graves Self Titled EP Launch @ The Bird 10/08/2013 Alex The Kid Cold Morning Video Launch @ The Civic 14/08/2013 B e i n g B e t a We Made Too Many Bombs!

EP Launch @ The Rosemount 16/08/2013 Reapers Riddle Drop Video/Single Launch @ The Civic 16/08/2013 Tracey Barnett Blooming EP Launch @ The Bakery 16/08/2013 Dan Cribb The Memories Last EP Launch @ The Rosemount 18/08/2013 Triangle Fight Self Titled Album Launch @ YaYa’s 24/08/2013 Leure Holland Sky LP Launch @ The Bird 24/08/2013 Tempest Rising Dominion That Falls Single Launch @ The Civic 06/09/2013 Timothy Nelson & The Infidels Born In The ‘90s Single Launch @ The Amplifier 19/10/2013 Sirgin One Love EP Launch @ The Civic

Simon Kelly And The Big Bamboo

ACCIDENTALLY KELLY STREET

The prodigiously talented Simon Kelly And the Big Bamboo will finally unveil their new album, Ride On, this weekend., Having slaved over the songs for just under two years, Kelly and company will showcase this collection of new material at Clancy’s Fish Pub, Fremantle, this Friday, August 9. Doors open at 8pm and Entry is $10. Alternatively, you can get down to Clancy’s Dunsborough on Sunday, August 11, for a free show from 5:30pm. www.xpressmag.com.au

Bands Enrol now www.aaca.net.au 41

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

Sarah Blasko, August 12

Cosmic Psychos, August 16

CIRQUE DU SOLEIL: MICHAEL JACKSON IMMORTAL ALESANA 18 – 22 Perth Arena 7 Amplifier RED DIRT ft JIMMY BARN OWL BARNES 9 The Bakery 19 Kalgoorlie Boulder SENSES FAIL Race Club 9 Amplifier KVELERTAK FAIM 19 Amplifier 9 PICA Bar DEAD LETTER KARNIVOOL CIRCUS 11 Metro City 19 Prince Of Wales, GLASS TOWERS Bunbury 9 Prince Of Wales, SEPTEMBER 20 Metro Freo Bunbury THE PREATURES 10 Amplifier MANHATTAN 20 Flyrite 11 Newport Hotel TRANSFER 21 Mojos Bar THE 11th TOTALLY 1 Regal Theatre THE PAPER KITES HUGE NEW MUSIC MACHINE GUN 21 Fly By Night FESTIVAL KELLY THE DRONES 9 – 16 Various 4 Capitol 21 The Bakery Venues HIT THE LIGHTS/ FOALS SARAH BLASKO HEROES FOR HIRE/ 22 Metro City 12 Margaret River STATE CHAMPS RIHANNA Cultural Centre 5 Amplifier 24 Perth Arena FAT FREDDY’S ROLO TOMASSI DROP AUGUST 25 Amplifier 5 Astor Theatre LAMB OF GOD & JOSH PYKE CARTEL MESHUGGAH 5 Prince Of Wales, 14 Amplifier 26 Metro City Bunbury OBEY THE BRAVE CALEXICO 6 Fly By Night 14 YMCA HQ 27 Astor Theatre 7 Astor Theatre 15 Amplifier TWELVE FOOT SNAKADAKTAL COSMIC PSYCHOS NINJA 5 Newport Hotel 16 Amplifier 26 Prince Of Wales, 6 Capitol ANNIHILATE MUSIC Bunbury 7 Settler’s Tavern, 10TH BIRTHDAY: 27 Rosemount Hotel Margaret River MINDSNARE/50 MELBOURNE SKA THE CAT EMPIRE LIONS/ ORCHESTRA 7 Red Hill Auditorium 27 Fly By Night, BATTLETRUK/ MIDNIGHT OUTSIDERS CODE 28 Astor Theatre JUGGERNAUTS 16 Prince Of Wales, 29 Wave Rock 6 Prince Of Wales, Bunbury Weekender Bunbury 17 Amplifier WAVE ROCK 7 Capitol 18 YMCA HQ WEEKENDER REZUME DARYL 28 - 30 Wave Rock 7 Civic Hotel BRAITHWAITE Caravan Park AMANDA PALMER 18 Newport Hotel THE CULT & THE GRAND DON MCLEAN 28 Metro City THEFT ORCHESTRA 19 Perth Concert Hall ONE DIRECTION 8 Astor Theatre PAUL KELLY 28 & 29 Perth Arena CONVERSATIONS 22 Regal Theatre XAVIER RUDD/ ANDREW STRONG: WITH GHOSTS DONAVON THE COMMITMENTS 8 Perth Concert Hall FRANKENREITER/ JAMES REYNE 22 Metro Freo NAHKO & MEDICINE THE SMITH STREET 8 Newport Hotel FOR THE PEOPLE ANBERLIN BAND 28 3 Oceans Winery, 22 Rosemount Hotel 11 Metro Freo Margaret River FOR THE FALLEN 23 Prince Of Wales, 29 Fremantle Arts DREAMS Bunbury Centre 11 YMCA HQ VANCE JOY LISTEN OUT 12 Amplifier 23 Fly By Night FESTIVAL WENDY MATTHEWS 29 Ozone Reserve GRINSPOON 13 The Ravenswood 23 Astor Theatre 14 Charles Hotel GEORGE BENSON OCTOBER 24 Riverside Theatre THE BIG SCARY 13 Fly By Night NORTHWEST THE GETAWAY PLAN SWERVEDRIVER FESTIVAL 3 Rosemount Hotel 24 Port Hedland Turf 12 Prince of Wales, Bunbury HORRORSHOW Club 3 Prince Of Wales, BERNARD FANNING 13 Players Bar, Bunbury 25 & 26 Astor Theatre Mandurah 14 Rosemount Hotel 4 Amplifier JAPANDROIDS JINJA SAFARI 26 Rosemount Hotel 15 YMCA HQ RUDIMENTAL 4 Prince Of Wales, ASH Bunbury 27 Rosemount Hotel 13 Metro City (sold out) STONEFIELD 5 Astor Theatre 14 Metro City 29 Prince Of Wales, SOILWORK PARKWAY DRIVE Bunbury 6 Rosemount Hotel 14 Metro Freo 30 Players Bar, HARRISON CRAIG Mandurah 15 & 16 Capitol 11 Regal Theatre

THIS WEEK

31 Amplifier 1 Indi Bar THE WHITLAMS/ WASO 30 Perth Concert Hall CLAIRE BOWDITCH 30 Fly By Night PERFECT TRIPOD 30 & 31 Regal Theatre CLOUD CONTROL 31 Capitol

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Japandroids, August 26

ME FIRST & THE GIMME GIMMES 11 Amplifier 12 Prince Of Wales, Bunbury BRING ME THE HORIZON 12 Challenge Stadium WELCOME TO THE VALLEY 12 Belvoir Amphitheatre RICKY MARTIN 12 Perth Arena THE DAVID LIEBE HART BAND 13 Amplifier DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT 15 Metro Freo AMORPHIS 16 Capitol REGURGITATOR 16 Indi Bar 17 The Prince Of Wales, Bunbury 18 Metro Freo 19 Rosemount Hotel SPIT SYNDICATE 17 Newport Hotel 18 Amplifier DIESEL 18 Fly By Night 19 Charles Hotel 20 Ravenswood Hotel MICKY AVALON 19 Amplifier EVERY TIME I DIE 24 Amplifier BEHEMOTH 24 Capitol THE AMITY AFFLICTION 26 Metro City 27 Metro Freo SLEEP 28 Rosemount Hotel ANDRE RIEU 29 Perth Arena TONY HADLEY 30 The Astor CHET FAKER 31 ARTBAR THE BREEDERS 31 The Astor ENSLAVED 31 Rosemount Hotel YELLOWCARD 31 Capitol

NOVEMBER BABY ANIMALS 2 The Astor JESSICA MAUBOY 2 Perth Arena PITBULL & KEI$HA 5 Perth Arena BEYONCE 8 & 9 Perth Arena SCOTT KELLY AND THE ROAD HOME 10 Rosemount Hotel LEONARD COHEN 13 Perth Arena BEAUFORT STREET FESTIVAL 16 Beaufort Street JILL SCOTT 17 Riverside Theatre

AN EVENING ON THE GREEN 17 Kings Park NILE 17 Amplifier BOY & BEAR 22 Metro Freo 23 Astor Theatre FLEETWOOD MAC 22 & 23 Perth Arena HITS & PITS 2.0 Black Flag, Boysetsfire, Bad Astronaut, Snuff, No Fun At All, Good For You, Off With Their Heads, Jugheads Revenge 24 Amplifier & Capitol MOONSORROW 24 Rosemount Hotel EROS RAMAZZOTTI 23 Challenge Stadium THE ATARIS 29 Amplifier STEREOSONIC 30 Claremont Showgrounds MUSE 30 Perth Arena

DECEMBER MARTHA DAVIS & THE MOTELS 4 Astor Theatre CITY AND COLOUR 7 Belvoir Amphitheatre AIR SUPPLY 8 Perth Concert Hall JUSTIN BIEBER 8 Perth Arena TAYLOR SWIFT 11 Perth NIB Stadium BON JOVI 12 Perth Arena HUMAN NATURE 20 Perth Zoo

JANUARY CELTIC WOMAN 24 Riverside Theatre

FEBRUARY BIG DAY OUT Pearl Jam, Arcade Fire, Blur, Snoop Lion, Major Lazor, Tame Impala, Flume & more.

2 TBA BRUNO MARS 28 Perth Arena

MARCH 30 SECONDS TO MARS 25 Challenge Stadium

APRIL MICHAEL BUBLÉ 26 & 27 April Perth Arena

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Turin Robinson, Wednesday at YaYa’s

WEDNESDAY 07.08 AMPLIFIER Academy Alesana Avastera Cupidfalls Illuminator BAR 120 Felix BRASS MONKEY Sugar Blue Burlesque CARINE Rodney Rude CLAREMONT HOTEL Acoustica GREENWOOD Adam James ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB A Saucy Little Secret Sandon Malet and Abbey Night Cap Session GROOVE BAR (CROWN) 5 Shots INDI BAR Songwriter Sessions Rose Parker Beck Dawson Jessica Nyanda Natasha Shanks LANEWAY LOUNGE Howie Morgan LUCKY SHAG Ben Merito MOJOS BAR Exhumed Russell Woolf MOON CAFÉ Going Solo Alex Alberry Leure, Sam Maher MUSTANG BAR Kickstart DJ James MacArthur PLAYERS BAR Tim Ayre ROSEMOUNT King’s Justice Bad Formula Villain Time Travellers UNIVERSAL Retrofit

VILLAGE BAR Village People - Open Mic YAYA’S Stargazer Turin Robinson Showering Vixens The Right Way Up YMCA HQ Attila Vanity Anchored Stillwater Claims

THURSDAY 08.08 BEAT NIGHTCLUB (DOWNSTAIRS) Fantasy Thursdays BEAT NIGHTCLUB (UPSTAIRS) This Fiasco Aveira Skies Make Believe me Vice Versa THE BIRD Hip Hop Kara”YO”Ke THE BOAT Jen De Ness BRASS MONKEY Rhythm Bound Karaoke BRIGHTON Open Mic Night Rob Walker BROOKLANDS TAVERN Celebrations Karaoke THE CAUSEWAY BAR Xport Thursdays ft.

Nodes LOBBY LOUNGE (CROWN ) Monarchy DEVILLES PAD Rock & Roll Karaoke DUNSBOROUGH TAVERN Pat Nicholson ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB A Saucy Little Secret Steve Magnusson with Jamie Oehlers and Ben Vanderwal Night Cap Sessions THE GATE Greg Carter

The Insinnerators

THE INSINNERATORS THE LUNGS DIRTWATER BLOOM CREATURE THE BLACK FRIDAYS THE BEAT NIGHTCLUB FRIDAY, AUGUST 9

44

Water Graves, Friday at The Bird GROOVE BAR (CROWN) Decoy INDI BAR Bex’s Open Mic Night LUCKY SHAG James Wilson MARKET CITY TAVERN Mitchell Freind Matt Cal Trio Blacksmith Tarryn Bradshaw Lost at Sea Jesmin Morton Hailee Norwood Lucie Robinson MOJOS BAR Villain The Arthur Dent Project The Itch Hello Colour Red MUSTANG BAR The Stanleys Lionizer Wise Oaks DJ James MacArthur PRINCE OF WALES Nathan Gaunt Band RAILWAY HOTEL Rodney Rude ROSEMOUNT HOTEL The Midnight Mules In The Dead Hours The Coloured Chain The Killer Hipsters SETTLERS TAVERN Acoustic Open Mic Night UNIVERSAL Off The Record YA YA’S Matt Gresham Tricky

FRIDAY 09.08 AMPLIFIER Senses Fail We Are The Emergency Statues Foxes THE BAKERY Totally Huge New Music Festival Opener Barn Owl Haco Speak Percussion BALMORAL Mike Naygar BAR ORIENT The Reggae Club BEAT NIGHTCLUB (UPSTAIRS) The Insinnerators The Lungs Dirtwater Bloom Creature The Black Fridays BEAT NIGHTCLUB (DOWNSTAIRS) PLAY BEAUMARIS SPORTS CLUB Rodney Rude BELGIAN BEER CAFÉ Jean Proude

Antelope, Friday at The Little wing Corner Gallery

BELMONT TAVERN Chris Gibbs BEST DROP TAVERN Tandem THE BIRD Water Graves Sacred Flower Union Rabbit Island Spirit Level THE BOAT Ben Merito THE BOAB TAVERN Almost Famous BRASS MONKEY Adrian Wilson THE CARINE Velvet THE CHARLES HOTEL The Perth Blues Club The Merindas CHASE BAR & BISTRO James Wilson CITRO BAR Dove CIVIC HOTEL BACKROOM Psychonaut Severtone Nightmare Effect One Too Many Camel Left To Die CLANCY’S FREMANTLE Simon Kelly & The Big Bamboo CORNERSTONE ALE HOUSE Sweet Surrender DEVILLES PAD The High Learys Les Sataniques DUNSBOROUGH TAVERN Big Steve Spouse Band EAST 150 BAR Jonathon Dempsey EDZ SPORTS BAR Cornerstone ELEPHANT AND WHEELBARROW Darren Reid & The Soul City Groove ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Allira Wilson Steve Magnusson Jamie Oehlers The SPREAD Danny Martin EMPIRE BAR Howie Morgan THE FLY BY NIGHT Motown & Soul Night GROOVE BAR (CROWN) Switch GREENWOOD Greg Carter HYDE PARK HOTEL Dean Anderson INDI BAR Vdelli KALAMUNDA HOTEL Astrobat KULCHA Flamenco Puro Clarisa Di Salvo

LITTLE WING CORNER GALLERY Antelope Flower Drums FEYEK LOBBY LOUNGE (CROWN) Decoy Duo M ON THE POINT Retriofit MAHOGANY INN Karin Page MOJOS BAR Hussle Hussle Dialectrix Marksman Lloyd Wisdom2th Paulie P Dj L-Street MUSTANG Adam Hall & the Velvet Playboys Swing DJ Cheeky Monkeys DJ James MacArthur NEWPORT HOTEL Karaoke Classic Steve Parkin PADDO Easy Tigers PADDY MCGUIRES Madam Montage PARAMOUNT NIGHTCLUB Flyte PEEL ALE HOUSE Better Days PICA BAR FAIM Yiannos McStavros Order of the Black Werewolf Tired Lion PORT KENNEDY TAVERN Dirty Scoundrels PRINCE OF WALES Glass Towers Stillwater Giants THE PRINCIPAL B.O.B. ROCKET ROOM Third Gear ROSEMOUNT Ragdoll Hailmary Vida Cain Legs Electric ROSIE O’GRADYS FREMANTLE GrooVe ROLEYSTONE COUNTRY CLUB Stu McKay SAIL AND ANCHOR Howie Morgan Duo SAIL AND ANCHOR (UPSTAIRS) NightShift SOUTH ST ALEHOUSE Robbie King Karaoke SPRINGS TAVERN Die Hard Karaoke SWAN HOTEL (BASEMENT) Big Girls Blouse Sun Tied Down Cyclone Tess Corlson Richard Lane And A Church

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

Deadline Monday 5pm. The Gig-Guide is a service to advertisers listing all LIVE MUSIC. All inclusions are at the discretion of X-Press. Email guide@xpressmag.com.au

FAIM, Friday at PICA Bar SWINGING PIG Vendetta Greg Carter UNIVERSAL Nightmoves UWA 2013 National Campus Band Comp HEAT 1 WHITE STAR Nathan Gaunt Band YA YA’S Scalphunter Blindspot The Choke Dead Glorious YMCA HQ Cupidfalls This Fiasco I, Said The Sparrow Finders To Catch A Fox Adora Heights

SATURDAY 10.08 AMPLIFIER Glass Towers Stillwater Giants Foam BALMORAL Retriofit THE BAKERY The Chemist Sugarpuss Big Splash Grand Final Scalphunter Dianas These Winter Nights Apache BEAT NIGHTCLUB (UPSTAIRS) CANVAS BEAT NIGHTCLUB (DOWNSTAIRS) RUNAWAYS Temporal Iconoclast BELGIAN BEER CAFÉ Mike Naygar BOAB TAVERN James Wilson THE BROOK The Blackbirds BROOKLANDS TAVERN Rodney Rude THE CHARLES HOTEL Proud Mary Fenton CIVIC HOTEL BACKROOM Alex The Kid El Capitan Paper Plains Suburban and Cake Gutter Drake THE CLAREMONT HOTEL ANTICS The Warning Birds King of The Travellers Lukas Wimmler CRAFTSMAN GRooVe DEVILLES PAD Odette Mercy & Her Soul Atomics THE EASTERN OASIS

Friday Friday TravisCaudle Caudle Alex The Kid, Saturday at The Travis Fly ByHotel Night Civic Fly By Night

Reload ELEPHANT AND WHEELBARROW Gunshy Romeos ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB BLOW LNG Present Tiary THE GATE Greg Carter GOSNELLS HOTEL Astrobat GREENWOOD The Reals GROOVE BAR (CROWN) Dr Bogus HOTEL ROTTNEST Morgan Bain INDI BAR Matt Gresham INDIAN OCEAN BREWING CO Shawne & Luc KULCHA Flamenco Puro Clarisa Di Salvo LAKERS TAVERN Celebrations Karaoke LOBBY LOUNGE (CROWN) Why Georgia?

M ON THE POINT Rhythm 22 MERRIWA TAVERN Flesh n’ Wood MOJOS BAR Mt Mountain SpaceManAntics Diger Rokwell Blackmilk Silver Hills MUSTANG The Continentals Rockabilly DJ Milhouse DJ James MacArthur NEWPORT HOTEL Karaoke with Steve Parkin Gravity PADDO Cheeky Monkeys PARAMOUNT NIGHTCLUB Felix PEEL ALE HOUSE Tequila Mockingbirds PORT KENNEDY TAVERN Karin Page QUARIE BAR & BISTRO Galloping Hatracks ROCKET ROOM Kickstart ROSEMOUNT Boom! Bap! Pow! The Love Junkies Huge Magnet Dux & Downtown SAIL & ANCHOR Better Days THE SHED Huge SOUTH ST ALE HOUSE Robbie King Karaoke SPRINGS TAVERN

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Die Hard Karaoke SWAN HOTEL (LOUNGE) MattyTWall Ibis Elm In Orbit SWAN HOTEL (BASEMENT) Salvage Diver Shouting At Camels Sun Tied Down Adrian Hoffman Cyclone Tess SWINGING PIG Greg Crater Rock-A-Fellas UNIVERSAL Soul Corporation WHALE & ALE Sweet Surrender YA YA’S Dialectrix Empty Mei Saraswati YMCA HQ The Moment We Fall Never Settle Pending The Silence Mourning Lilith Winter’s Calling Stagnant Tides

SUNDAY 11.08 BALMORAL Andrew WInton BELMONT TAVERN Jonathon Dempsey BOAB TAVERN Chriss Gibbs Duo BRIGHTON Ali Hill BROKEN HILL HOTEL Nathan Gaunt BROOKLANDS TAVERN Gerry Azor THE CAUSEWAY Accoustic Sunday CHASE BAR Chasing Calee CIVIC HOTEL Mike Naygar ELEPHANT AND WHEELBARROW Darren Reid & The Soul City Groove ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB A Saucy Little Secret Rick Webster THE FLY TRAP (FLY

BY NIGHT) Stage Fright Open Mic THE GATE Greg Carter GOSNELLS HOTEL Conny The Clown GROOVE BAR (CROWN) Peace Love HYDE PARK HOTEL Steve Parkin INDI BAR Morgan Bain Mitch Becker INDIAN OCEAN BREW CO Retriofit KALAMUNDA HOTEL

Boom! Bap! Pow!, Saturday at The Rosemount

Jean Proude KULCHA Jenny M. Thomas & The System LAKERS TAVERN B.O.B. LAST DROP TAVERN Brett Hardwick LOBBY LOUNGE (CROWN) Jack & Jill M ON THE POINT Chill Divine METRO CITY Karnivool Northlane MOJOS BAR Huge Magnet Davey Craddock The Spectacles Todd Pickett Blind Tiger Blues Box MUSTANG Cal Peck & the Tramps The High Learys NEWPORT HOTEL Glass Towers Stillwater Giants Foam QUARIE BAR & BISTRO Better Days ROSEMOUNT Soundz like sundayz THE SAINT Howie Morgan Project SWINGING PIG Matt Angell Jamie Powers UNIVERSAL Retrofit WANNEROO TAVERN Acoustic Aly YMCA HQ Monuments BLKOUT Flowermouth Truthseeker Idle Eyes

MONDAY 12.08 BRASS MONKEY Wire Birds ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB

JTC Jazz GROOVE BAR (CROWN) Louise Anton Trio MARGARET RIVER CULTURAL CENTRE Sarah Blasko MOJO’S BAR Wide Open Mic MUSTANG BAR Triple Shots YA YA’S Big Tommo’s Open Mic Night

TUESDAY 13.08 BRASS MONKEY Open Mic Night Chris O’Brien THE CARINE Rodney Rude THE COURT Open Mic Night THE CRAGIE TAVERN Open Mic Night GROOVE BAR (CROWN) Ruby’s Groove ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Beyonce Tribute Abbey Foster Falle Cristal Phillips KALAMUNDA HOTEL Open Mic Anthony Kay LOBBY LOUNGE (CROWN) Hans Fiance MERRIWA TAVERN Celebrations Karaoke MUSTANG BAR Danza Loca Salsa Night MOJOS BAR SicNote Leon Osborne Diger Rokwell Raaghe Sleepyhead YA YA’S Jazz at Ya Ya’s Sean Little Shaun Rammers Trio Alex Dew

Huge Magnet

HUGE MAGNET DAVEY CRADDOCK THE SPECTACLES TODD PICKETT BLIND TIGER BLUES BOX MOJO’S. SUNDAY, AUGUST 11

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MUSIC GEAR & TECHNOLOGY FOR SALE HEADPHONES all brands & styles. 23 Harrogate Street, West Leederville. Contact Headphonic 08 93886333 headphones.com.au INTERNET SERVICES OZURBAN RADIO Soul, RnB, Hip Hop, Urban Tunes, Real music, Real presenters. Internet Radio 24/7 www.OzUrbanRadio.com MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS INSTRUMENT REPAIRS Guitars, violins, clarinet, Saxaphone, Servicing and repairs. Phone: 9403 3212 MUSOS WANTED KEYBOARD PLAYER REQUIRED to complete exp. Rock/pop cover band “INSIDEOUT”. Must be committed and have a positive attitude.

0439 408 909 NCBC CALL OUT FOR ENTRIES Enter now at aaca.net.au for a chance at our huge prize pool!

OPEN MIC NIGHT every Thursday night at Indi Bar. Just call Bex on 0404 917 632.

OPEN MIC NIGHT @ THE CRAIGIE TAVERN Tu e s d ay s f ro m 8 p m . S o l o s, D u o s, Tr i o s, Originals and Covers. Contact Paula or Ceelay 0420375670 or openmiccraigie@hotmail.com WA N T E D V O C A L I S T / G U I TA R I S T E C U Joondalujp student looking for other musicians to jam with. Any type of music. Covers & originals. Multi-genre players & artists! Contact Jack 0423 972 423 PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT PHOTOGRAPHY Promo photography, studio, live, location. Mike Wylie 0417 975 964 www.projectphotography.com When its time to ice the cake...

PRODUCTION SERVICES * L I G H T I N G * A U D I O * S TA G I N G * w w w. n i g h t s t a r l i g h t i n g a u d i o. co m . a u w w w. n i g h t s t a r l i g h t i n g a u d i o. co m . a u www.instandt.com.au www.instandt.com.au 9381 2363/ 9444 6651 CD & DVD MANUFACTURE Check out our latest CD & DVD specials online at www. procopy.com.au 9375 3902 D I S K B A N K P e r t h ’s p r e m i e r C D & D V D m a n u f a c t u r e r, w i t h o p t i o n s for all budgets. (08) 9388 0800. www.diskbank.com.au/specials.

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

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Send your Volume News to musicservices@xpressmag.com.au

Edited by T R AV I S J O H N S O N

BANDS! - UNLOCK YOUR SONGS’ POTENTIAL +FREE 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 FREMANTLE RECORDING STUDIOS Offering mixdowns under 24 tracks for $150. Recalls $50. Home recordists may benefit from having a quality mix of their work by a professional engineer at a well known recording studio that’s had plenty of Triple J exp. 72 input Toft atb mixing console w/ analog equalizers & compression.

Email info@fremantlerecordingstudios.com.au.

Call 0415 738 155 GOLDDUST Production Mixing, recording and composition. Leederville $70 p/h. 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 REVOLVER SOUND STUDIO Ph 9272 7505. www.revolverstudio.com.au S AT E L L I T E R E C O R D I N G S T U D I O www.satelliterecording.com 0419 908 766 ProTools..17 Years exp 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 STREAM STUDIO’S 89 Stirling St, Perth. Mobile: 0403 152 009 info@streamrehearsal.com.au VISION REHEARSAL Perth’s premier rehearsal facilities. Visit www.visionstudios.com.au for all info. East Vic Park. Email rehearsal@visionstudios. com.au or call 0432 034 122 TUITION ***GUITAR LESSONS*** Perth’s ultimate guitar studio. 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 GUITAR & KEYBOARD TUITION (BeginnersProfessional) One on One lessons. Free guitar trial lesson. Burswood Ph 6460 6921/ 0415 238 729 www.gvkschoolofmusic.com.au GUITAR TUITION Teacher, performer with 30 yrs experience., No reading req. All ages, beg to adv.

Ph Ian Wilson 9403 3212 To advertise in Classified call 9213 2888 or email musicservices@xpressmag.com.au

PARTY U

Are you part of the next Eskimo Joe? Jebediah? Grinspoon? Frenzal Rhomb? Augie March? Well, they first made their mark by crushing the National Campus Bands Competition, and time is fast running out for you to do the same in the 2013 heats! All you need to have is at least one band member who is currently enrolled in a participating school, a modicum of talent and $25. Head to aaca.net.au to throw your hat into the ring.

Previous NCBC winners Jebediah

DEEZER OPENS A NEW WINDOW

Deezer On Windows 8

Music streaming service Deezer have announced their first app for the Windows 8 platform, which features a whole heaping helping of new features exclusively for Windows 8 phone owners. The new widget has been specifically designed to help the user discover new music, with the home screen flashing recommendations offered up by Deezer’s dedicated music editorial teams. It’s the personal touch of having dedicated music connoisseurs on staff that sets Deezer apart from other streaming services, so head to deezer.com/en/ to try it out.

EPIC DEAL ON EPIPHONE

Kosmic Sound has beginning guitarists sorted with this brilliant package deal. The SG Gothic Peformance Pack is built around a “Goth” SG-Special LTD electric guitar and a 15w Electar guitar amp. Add to that a guitar cable, a clip-on headstock chromatic tuner, an Epiphone guitar strap, medium picks and a gig bag and you’re ready to rock right out of the box.

Even better, it comes with free downloadable guitar lessons from eMedia. Until August 9 it’s only $249, so head to kosmic.com.au now!

James Gifford, Dillinger Escape Plan at Soundwave, winner Kiss My Camera 2012

CAMERA OBSCURA

Entries are now open for the 2013 Kiss My Camera, which acknowledges the best in Western Australian music photography. Presented by the Western Australian Museum and WAM as part of the WAMi Festival, this year a successful Pozible campaign means that winners of both the Best Live Image and Best Portrait categories will score themselves $5000 in cash, in addition to the usual accolades. Entries close on Monday, August 26, and the Kiss My Camera 2013 exhibition runs at the museum from November 9 - December 9. Head wan.asn.au to enter.

Epiphone SG Gothic Performance Pack Pitch Black

GEARBO X MARSHALL HANWELL ANNIVERSARY EDITION

If you’re considering picking up a portable speaker, why not go with the brand the professionals recommend? Created specifically for Marshall’s 50th anniversary, the Hanwell speaker cabinet has a single 3.5mm audio input jack and boasts two six inch woofers, two dome tweeters and a maximum output of 110 decibles. Bring the stadium into your lounge room! Headphonic is stocking these right now with a sticker price of $1149, but they’ll knock $50 off if you pick it up yourself. Go to headphones.com.au for more info.

Marshall Hanwell Speaker Cabinet

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays