X-Press Magazine #1312

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

MORE MOO

YOUTH PARADE

If you love art and live music or you just enjoy a celebration, head to Kings Square from 3pm on Sunday, April 15, for Incubate – the City of Fremantle’s National Youth Week celebration.

This free event features a stand out line-up of local youth acts, headlined by psych rock aficionados Sonpsilo Circus and supported by stellar local acts Wolves At The Door, Lucy Peach, Slackjaw, Amanda Merdzan, Natasha Shanks and James Hall. For more information go to fremantle.wa.gov.au.

Van She

PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

It has been a long time between drinks for Sydney electro outfit Van She. But the wait is over as they return this month with the title track from their forthcoming record Idea Of Happiness (set to drop in early June), which comes a whopping four years since their debut V. Given it’s been a while since the glam quartet got up close and personal with fans, they’ll be road-testing their new tunes on a small tour around Oz this April, including a WA show on Sunday, April 15, at Down The Rabbit Hole (at The Court Overflow). Tickets are available from Moshtix. Stillwater Giants, Parachute Youth, Flume and more also appear.

Groovin’ The Moo returns for its third time to Bunbury’s marvellous Hay Park on Saturday, May 19, and they’ve just revealed some excellent local additions. After taking out the Triple J Unearthed competition for a spot at the fest, Stillwater Giants are on the bill, as are festival veterans The Brow Horn Orchestra, Needing Cherie and Rainy Day Women. Plus Channel [V] will also be in Bunno as part of their Presenter Search 2012, so check out vmusic.com.au for more info on that one. Head to gtm.net.au or Moshtix for your tickets to Groovin’ The Moo.

MAY CONTAIN NUTS

With less than a week to go until their much anticipated F#*K THE WORLD DVD/CD package hits the shelves, Australia’s most notorious hardcore band Deez Nuts have announced local supports for their upcoming tour. Joining the mayhem on Saturday, April 21, at Amplifier will be Saviour, Cabin Fever and Dying Sun. For their all ages show on Sunday, April 22, at YMCA HQ, Saviour, Fallfromglory and Common Bond will be providing support. Tickets to both shows are on sale now from Moshtix, Oztix and Heatseeker.

LOVELY LAURA

Melbourne post-rock legends Laura bring their alluring musical wares to Perth and Fremantle for the first time this June. Performing and writing music since 2001, Laura have had plenty of time and experience to perfect their sound.

Their 2004 album Mapping Your Dreams received extensive airplay around Australia, and introduced audiences to a live show that exhibited the band’s talent at crafting an intense landscape of sound a perfect blend of melody and noise. The last few years have brought Laura even more experience points - by way of a third studio album in 2011, Twelve Hundred Times, and east coast support slot for Japanese powerhouse Boris earlier this year.

Set what all the fuss is about on Saturday, June 9, at the Rosemount Hotel (support comes from Usurper Of Modern Medicine, The Silent World and Craig McElhinney); and June 10, at Mojos Bar (support from The Long Lost Brothers and Race To Your Face). Presale tickets are $19 plus booking fee from lifeisnoise.com.au, Oztix and Heatseeker.

Hanson

MMMPOP

The Ocean

MOTION IN THE OCEAN

Berlin metal masters The Ocean will bring their brutal, dramatic sounds and modern visual live show to the Rosemount Hotel on Sunday, May 27. Originating in the basement of a World War II aluminium factory in 2001, the band is led by Robin Stabs and has had between 30-40 past members. Support on the night comes from local progressive legends Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving who will play a special extended one hour set on the night. Presale tickets are $26 plus booking fee from lifeisnoise.com.au, Oztix and Heatseeker.

SAVAGE SOUNDS

7 Flesh 8 Reactions/ Comp 10 Music: DZ Deathrays 12 Music: Ball Park Music/ Sublime With Rome 14 Music: Dead Meadow/ Amon Amarth 15 Music: Django Django/ Pink Mountaintops

Singapore black metal legends Impiety are heading out on their very first Australian tour, and will turn it up to 11 at Amplifier on Friday, June 29. With their new album of war hymns, Ravage & Conquer, released this past week through Pulverized Records, it features the band’s new drummer Dizazter, who was born Louis Rando and plated in such Perth bands as The Furor, Malignant Monster and more.

Support comes from Nails Of Imposition and Animistic. Tickets from Moshtix, 78 Records and Primce Cuts Music.

16 New Noise 19 Eye4 Cover: The Fairbridge Festival 20 Eye4 News/ Music 21 Eye4 Movies: American Reunion/ Elena 22 Eye4 Art Stories/ Arts List 23 Eye4 Lifestyle 25 Salt Cover: SkisM and Zomboy 26 Salt: Cover Story/ News/ DJ Havana Brown/ J Rippa 27 Salt: Bag Raiders/ Reason 28 Salt: Rewind: Hermitude 30 Club Manual/ Scenery 32 Scene: Live/ Pub Scene/ Pub Blurbs 33 Scene: Local Scene 34 Tour Trails 36 Gig Guide 38 Volume

Cover: DZ Deathrays play the Prince Of Wales on Thursday, May 3; Amplifier on Friday, May 4; and Mojos on Saturday, May 5

Salt Cover: SkisM and Zomboy play Grizzled 004 this Sunday, April 8, at Capitol

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Last seen rocking out in Katy Perry’s video for Last Friday Night (TGIF), clean-cut brothers Isaac, Zac and Taylor Hanson, who set hearts racing in the ‘90s, are heading our way to showcase all their hits – from 1997’s runaway #1 MMMBop to Where’s The Love and Thinking Of You. The swoon-worthy trio will hit Metropolis Fremantle on Saturday, September 22, as part of their Australian leg of the Shout It Out World Tour 2012. Diehard fans can sign up to join Hanson’s fan club via their website (hanson.net) to purchase presale tickets on Thursday, April 5. Regular tickets go on sale on Thursday, April 12, from Oztix.

ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS

Minimalist dub outfit Absolute Boys’ unique sound has been described as “ridiculously good pop music” with “some ritualistic elements”.Sound like your cup of tea? The eclectic Melbournian three-piece kicked off 2012 with a slot at the east coast DIY festival Sugar Mountain and an international tour supporting underground superstar Sun Araw. Now they’re set to bring their hazy, psych bangers to the West when they set up shop at The Bird on Sunday, April 15. Support comes from stellar local outfits MmHmMm, Weapon Is Sound, Billabong (comprised of Seams’ Lyndon Blue and Badminton Bandit head honcho David Egan) and Clunk. Entry is $8 on the door from 6pm. Absolute Boys also play The Bakery on Saturday, April 14, at Usurper Of Modern Medicine’s EP launch.

DEATH BECOMES THEM

Widely regarded as the biggest death metal band in the underground scene today, local fans will finally get the chance to witness Six Feet Under in all their gory glory when they join the monster metal bill of Devildriver and Darkest Hour at Capitol on Wednesday, May 9. Tickets are on sale through Moshtix.

SUMMER OF ‘69

During the early years of Australian rock‘n’roll, the scene was almost entirely male-dominated. As the beat softened and the frantic momentum diminished during the early ‘60s, the first female solo singers began to emerge. From the original class of ’69, Patricia “Little Patti” Amphlett introduces the humbling beginnings of Australian soul music performing her string of hits. The second set brings together four of the world’s most recognisable voices – Diana Ross, Lesley Gore, Petula Clarke and Dusty Springfield performing a tribute to their catalogue of hits that established the ‘60s musical landscape. This unmissable tribute show touches down at Burswood Theatre on Saturday, December 1. Tickets are available through Ticketek.

DEEP IMPACT

Fresh from supporting Children Collide over the weekend, Sydney five-piece Deep Sea Arcade are all set to return in June to celebrate the release of their debut album Outlands. The band have already received some well-deserved hype over the months following the release of kaleidoscopic pop songs like Girls, Steam and Don’t Be Sorry. With support from The Cairos, the band will embark on their own headline run of dates starting smack bang on the first day of June. Check them out at the Indi Bar on Friday, June 15; at Amplifier on Saturday, June 16; and at Mojos Bar on Sunday, June 17. Pre-sale tickets to all three shows are $12 plus booking fee, and are available from Moshtix, Heatseeker and Oztix.

SOUNDS OF SILVER

GIRI VOODOO STYLE

World renowned rhythmic didgeridoo virtuoso and world electronic fusion band Ganga Giri are coming back to town to launch their fresh, live visual projection show. Produced in conjunction with Serbian VJ and artist Meltstation, the show features footage captured by Ganga Giri on his travels deep into the heart of Australia and around the world. Since Ganga Giri launched their record Good Voodoo in May last year, they’ve been on globe-trotting touring adventure.

These guys are known for their high energy live show. Catch them on Saturday, April 21, at the Fly By Night; Sunday, April 22, at Recliffe On The Murray, Pinjarra; and Tuesday, April 24, at the Indi Bar.

Deep Sea Arcade

Runner

WAM GRAND SLAM

The annual celebration of West Australian music, the WAMi Festival returns this May, with a jampacked week of events to entertain and delight as well as skill building and networking events.

Kicking off proceedings is the official launch of the 2012 Kiss My WAMi CD/DVD compilation on Thursday, April 12, at The Bakery, with Sean Pollard, Runner, Husband, Russian Winters and The Stoops performing on the night. The 2012 Kiss My WAMi compilation features 62 tracks and 23 videos from up and coming and established WA bands, including all of the artists playing on the Kiss My WAMi launch line-up.

Those attending the Kiss My WAMi launch will also be the first to find out who is nominated for the 2012 WAMi Awards. Entry to the launch is $10 presale or $15 at the door, and each ticket comes with a complimentary copy of the compilation.

Doors open at 8pm. Tickets are available online at nowbaking.com.au.

The WAMi Festival then hits Western Australia with a series of regional tours throughout May and events starting in Perth from Saturday, May 26 ‘til Saturday, June 2. 2012 will also see the return of the WAMi Business Conference on Friday, June 1.

Canadian post-hardcore band Silverstein are set to bring their unique brand of mayhem to our shores this June when they debut tracks off their 2011 released critically acclaimed LP Rescue.

Having sold out previous tours in 2005 and 2008, fans new and old alike will revel in the news of the forthcoming tour, which will showcase the band’s high energy emotive live show in more intimate club sized settings. Witness exactly what’s inspired the rave reviews and converted fans by the dozens across Australia when Silverstein hit Villa for Oh Snap on Thursday, June 7. Tickets will be available at the door only.

IN A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN

Despite having only been playing together since early 2011, NSW four-piece The Rubens have already won over a legion of fans with their rich, soulful take on blues rock. To celebrate their recent signing to Ivy League Records, the awesome foursome are taking to the road to gather even more fans during a national tour this April. Catch the talented lads at Speakeasy at Villa on Friday, April 27, where they will share the spotlight with co-headliner Rufus. Tickets will be available on the door.

MADE IN MANHATTAN

Showcasing tunes from their debut album Death.

Savor. Life, Adelaide-based punksters Manhattan Jinx will be hitting the road for a massive national tour which includes two WA shows – at The Den on Friday, May 18, and the Railway Hotel on Saturday, May 19. Keep your eye on facebook. com/manhattanjinx for support announcement and ticket details.

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with Melissa Erpen... Send your name, address and daytime phone number to win@xpressmag.com.au with the name of the competition in the subject line or enter online at www.xpressmag.com.au. Snail mail entries can be sent to Locked Bag 31, West Perth 6872. Entries close 4pm Monday.

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Photography Stefan Caramia, David Chong, Daniel Grant, Sammy Granville, Matt Jelonek, Denis Radacic, Mike Wylie

Contributing Writers Reuben Adams, Nina Bertok, Shaun Cowe, Derek Cromb, Graham Frizzell,Chris Gibbs,Alfred Gorman,George Green,Chris Havercroft, David Geoffrey Hall, Joshua Hayes, Brendan Holben,Travis Johnson, Rezo Kezerashvili, Joanna Lettenmaier, Tara Lloyd, Adam Morris, Ely Nas, Andrew Nelson, Chloe Papas, Daniel Parkinson, Ben Swan, Conan Troutman, Tom Varian, Mike Wafer, Ben Watson, Chela Williams, Jessica Willoughby

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Music Services / Local Music

The Inbetweeners movie

THE INBETWEENERS MOVIE

Fremantle Street Arts Festival presents Little Creatures Busker’s Gala on Saturday, April 7, and we have two double passes up for grabs. The Town Hall will burst to life as performers from Australia and the world transform the hall into a home for dazzling delights. Sit back and enjoy an amazing array of spontaneous cabaret from Alfred and Seymor, The Rubberband Boy, Abi Collins, The Space Cowboy, Anthony Livingspace, Adrian Schvarzstein and Loco Brusca. Get in now for your chance to win.

If you haven’t heard of the hilarious British sitcom The Inbetweeners then you have been living under a rock! The series is based on the lives of four socially troubled 18 year olds from the south of England and has recently been made into a film that takes them on a holiday to Malia. Guaranteed to provide plenty of belly laughs, we have three copies of the newly released DVD up for grabs. Get in now for your chance to win.

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Agency / Movies / Education Paul Morgan

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AMERICAN PIE REUNION

Over a decade has passed and the gang return to East Great Falls, Michigan, for the weekend.

They will discover how their lives have developed as they gather for their high school reunionWanna win a double pass? Get in now.

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CAB AUDITED CIRCULATION: 38,000 APRIL 2011 – SEPTEMBER 2011

Deadlines

GRIZZLED

Big acts, big bass, big venues. This time Grizzled welcomes back the badman that is SKisM, along with one of the biggest names in Drum & Bass, TC, plus Zomboy, Inspector Dubplate and Beataucue. The party shifts venue over to Capitol for the first time for your Easter long weekend bass fix on Sunday, April 8! We have two awesome double passes to giveaway so get your entries in now for your chance to score one.

From the producers of the Fringe World Festival comes an elevated new offering to the Perth summer menu: Rooftop Movies - a pop-up cinematic oasis in the heart of the CBD. Rooftop Movies screens classics, cult movies and recent releases until the end of April. Special events include Bulmer’s Comedy Wednesdays, Friday and Saturday double features and Stella Artois Sunday Classics. Want to win tickets? Well enter now as we have five double passes up for grabs.

ROLLER DERBY

Perth Roller Derby is the finest Roller Derby league in Western Australia and they are thrilled to kick off the season with home teams The Bloody Sundaes and the Mistresses of Mayhem doing battle at our all new venue the Herb Graham Recreation Centre, Mirrabooka.

The very skilled ladies will hit the track on Saturday, April 14, and we have three double passes up for grabs. Get in now to win tickets to see competitive ladies skating at its very best.

General - Friday 5pm, Arts - Thursday 10am, Comp’ Thing Monday Noon, Clubber’s Guide - Monday 5pm, Rock X-tras - Monday Noon, Gig Guide - Monday 5pm

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Nineties boy band Hanson are heading out for an Australian tour later this year. Here’s what our Facebook fans had to say about the announcement…

Nicky When I received the Middle of Nowhere album for my birthday years ago, I thought Hanson was a Swedish Metal band.

Mike Why?

Alice I remember when that catchy little single came out... I bought it with some birthday money I got when I turned 12. Within a week I threw the disc out the window because hate started to grow. It still shits me to this day.

David Ah, it’s these young ladies again.

Leah Can’t wait!

This Thursday a multi-stage bonanza at Amplifier Capitol will get underway as the venues present Hot Cross Buns! Fifteen acts in three rooms of baking goodness! Kick off your long weekend with Tonite Only (DJ set) and live sets from The Medics and YesYou plus many more. We have four double passes up for grabs so get in now to avoid disappointment as this night it’s going to be a choc full of party!

CHECK OUT WWW.XPRESSMAG.COM.AU AND SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER ONLINE FOR LOADS MORE EXCLUSIVE COMPS!

ROGUE POGUES Dear X-Press,

EDITORIAL

Cancellations - Monday 5pm, Bookings / Copy - Tuesday 12 Noon, Classifieds - Monday 4pm

Get on down to the Leederville Hotel on Friday, April 20, for our massive Mexican Standoff Readers Party! There will be heaps of cool comps and giveaways including best Mexican costume, Piñata smashing, chilli eating plus our mega door prize of two tickets to Creamfields festival on Saturday May 5! Entry is free and if you make it through the door between 6-8pm you have the chance to score yourself a free drink, movie ticket and some yummy nacho testers. Hitting the stage will be The Novocaines, Emperors, Cal Peck & the Tramps and Sugarpuss. With drink specials all night long, it is sure to be one hell of a party so save the date and dust off your sombrero!

HOT CROSS BUNS

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I would like to complain about all the Irish people at The Pogues at Blues N Roots festival on the weekend. You should all be ashamed or yourselves ya stinkin’ potato farmers. Ya act like ya own Shane MacGowan but ya forget they actually formed in Kings Cross in London. Their owes (sic), the Irish are good for nuthin’ ninnies. And ja always will be. The Pogues are ours. And the next time I need to hire a bar staff for a festival, no Irish need apply.

Argh, Hugh Via Email

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DZ DEATHRAYS Blood, Sweat & Beers

Designed to play at house parties in the shady parts of Australia, in recent times DZ Deathrays have expanded their horizons to stretch across the globe. JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD chatted with the duo about their new album Bloodstreams (out Friday) ahead of their performances at the Prince Of Wales on Thursday, May 3; Amplifier on Friday, May 4; and Mojos Bar on Saturday, May 5.

“It could all double back on us, and all of a sudden you’re not getting any press at all or you’re only getting bad press.”

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DZ Deathrays, from Brisbane, is Shane Parson’s baby.

He writes the songs, sings the fantastically sleazy and compact lyrics (“No sleep till you pass out, you gotta / Motherfucker say, I don’t wanna back down,” he taunts on current single No Sleep) and plays the riffs.

The songs on Bloodstreams, the band’s debut album, are surly and mischievous – a pungent, effective collision of garage-rock bashing and Ramones sneer. Drummer Simon Ridley, the only other band member, may be here only to enact mayhem on his kit, but it makes for almost a 50-50 split of responsibility. Shane is the meaning, and Simon is the emphasis, roles that in this primal band aren’t very far apart at all.

“I just wanted to write a really solid rock album. I feel like there’s not that many rock bands who are trying to be mainstream, or who are going for that pure rock‘n’roll vibe,” Shane says.

This is a band that quite clearly recognises the value in keeping things simple; heavy guitar riffs, racing drums and grungy vocals comprise the Brisbane twosome’s modus operandi. Formed in 2008, the band, which was then called simply ‘DZ’, was originally intended for house parties – a unique rule that was quickly broken due to their sheer popularity and demand.

It was clear from early on that DZ was going to be big. By mid 2010 they had released their first EP Ruined My Life and played the country over.

They’d toured with Crystal Castles (who personally invited them), Dananananaykroyd, Ratatat and The View; performed live with Biffy Clyro and The Temper Trap; and joined festival line-ups including Big Day Out, Parklife, Field Day, Sunset Sounds, Playground Weekender and more. They had been “Unearthed” by Triple J and received personal kudos from Mark Ronson, saying he “loved” the band.

In the past 18 months the talented twosome have made several trips overseas including performances at SXSW and The Great Escape, shows with Band Of Skulls, Male Bonding and full tours of the UK with NYC punk band Cerebral Ballzy and the NME Radar tour.

“We’ve only done two tours overseas, so it was really just people rocking up to see what we’re about, I guess,” Simon says. “But our last London show was really good, people were really getting into it, going crazy and all that – that show was on a Tuesday night, so it wasn’t even the weekend which was good.

“First time to America there was, like, no one at our shows. Second time there was still, like, no one at our first couple of shows and then we played South

By Southwest and there was a bit more excitement and more people rocked up. So hopefully when we go back later this year there’ll be even more people at our gigs,” Shane says.

DZ Deathrays also quickly fell into the good graces of highly respected publications NME Magazine and Q Magazine who both placed the duo in their “top 10 bands of The Great Escape”, while NME took their praise even further and placed them as the fourth most exciting new act of 2012.

“It’s pretty weird, we definitely weren’t expecting anything like what we’ve been receiving.

Thankfully it’s all been positive so far,” Shane says, to which Simon adds: “It’s kinda scary though, because it could all double back on us, and all of a sudden you’re not getting any press at all or you’re only getting bad press.”

Upon returning to Australia in November last year, Shane and Simon finally ventured into the studio to record their highly anticipated debut LP. “There are 14 tracks and we recorded it in two weeks, so basically a song a day, but once we got past that first week of the recording the real base of the song, it was pretty fun, like, recording the vocals and doing all the extra fun shit over the top,” Shane says.

Recorded in a pro studio with a team of engineers that included Richard Pike of PVT fame, the duo report that they think the final mixes are “awesome”, however Simon confesses that he felt like his creativity was being stifled in this new environment.

“The first EP we did in an afternoon at a friend’s house, the second one half of it was recorded at a house party and the other half was recorded in our jam room. Then we did two [EPs] with [producer] Neil [Coombe] who [would eventually go on to produce] the album, so that was kind of a lead into the album, and that was really different,” he says. “I don’t really enjoy recording. Just sitting in a room playing drums to a click track and then having to re-do that over and over and over is harsh. You realise how bad you are at playing.”

Despite Simon’s reluctance to head back into the studio, the critical acclaim the duo have already garnered for Bloodstreams means it’s likely their label will be pushing them to produce a follow-up in the not-too-distant future.

“We don’t really write on the road,” Shane says, to which Simon adds: “But we’re going to have to this year because otherwise we’re going to get to the end of the year and be like ‘shit, we don’t have any songs to make a new record’.”

For now, though, Shane and Simon are more than content to take their new tunes on the road.

“Touring’s the best, you just get to meet new people, travel the world and, yeah, it’s just awesome,” Simon says, adding that he’s most looking forward to playing for their hometown crowd: “Our last show in Brisbane was pretty mental. There was a full, like, circle pit/moshpit going on. Someone got naked, one girl got [knocked out] and another girl dislocated her shoulder. It was a pretty wild show.”

“We’re going to New Zealand and then we’re going over to London then across to America and then over to Canada and then back here. We’ll be coming over to Perth during our headlining tour, which will be pretty sweet because we haven’t had that many opportunities to come over there – we’ve only been to Perth twice. Then we go back overseas to England and America for some crazy fucking tour,” Shane says, to which Simon adds: “It’s like 32 shows, with seven days off, in, like, six weeks. Just looking at our schedule makes me exhausted.”

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BALL PARK MUSIC Strike Out

Ball Park Music

it’s heading in. “At this stage, it’s diverse. The first album – one comment that seemed to appear over and over was that it was eclectic, and there was lots different stuff on there. And I think that that’s just Ball Park Music are currently on the of the nature of our band. This time it’s different too; road for their 180° tour, dominating our last album was a product of almost three years being a band put onto a record – there were the country with cheeky tunes and of some songs on there that were really quite old. boisterous performances. Charismatic Which is fun, I like that.” is the brains behind the band; frontman Sam Cromack spoke to each one ofCromack those ironic, pop-infused ditties originates CHLOE PAPAS ahead of their shows with the extra-talented musician. But as he states, he’s really a pop kind of guy. “I’ve always really loved at Amplifier this Saturday, April 7, and not miserable music, in fact, I probably listen to mostly the Newport Hotel on Sunday, April 8. miserable music. But for whatever reason, I don’t write that much of it.”

At this point in the interview, a track from When X-Press speaks to Sam Cromack, he and the band are finishing off tour preparations and doing Ball Park Music’s first record Happiness And Surrounding some last minute writing and recording for their Suburbs comes up – Alligator – and Cromack implies new album, due for a potential release before the that their new, as yet unnamed, album will head in the heavier, ballad-based direction. However, in the same end of the year.

Cromack tells us a bit about the direction breath, he cites a couple of different, unexpected genres.

“I’ve been listening to a lot of hip hop and jazz,” he says.“And I know some of the others have been listening to a lot of hip hop as well. I think rhythmically we’ve been exploring a lot more on this record; it’s very groove-based and it’s a lot of fun. But that’s not to say that our next album is going to sound like a hip hop and jazz record, it’s all those aspects of all the other things you listen to that influence what you do.”

Ball Park Music have been on high rotation at everyone’s favourite youth station for the past year or so, and Cromack says the band loves the recognition – but as the saying goes, it always comes at a price.

“I just find it difficult to relate to songs after a while, especially the recording of it…When you make it, you feel so close to it and you’re so proud of it, and you know, you think this is the one, this is the single, I can’t wait to share it with everyone. And you sort of have to let go of it – you don’t really own it anymore, everyone else connects to it and it becomes their song and not yours… It’s a strange sensation. And it’s a scary realisation.”

There’s always a dose of insanity associated with fame, and Cromack explains that vivacious bass extraordinaire Jennifer Boyce is the band member that attracts the crazy.

“Jen is the one that gets the crazy fans, she’s the cute little female bass player that everyone falls in love with,” he says. “She’s sold bits of her hair, and bits of her fingernails that she’s broken off at shows. We did a show and a big chunk of her fingernail broke off, and she auctioned it off while we were playing – and it went for, like, five bucks.”

So if you do catch Ball Park Music this time around, make sure to make a bid for their body parts.

Sublime With Rome

SUBLIME WITH ROME

Not Built In A Day A new incarnation of legendary third wave ska band Sublime will be in town at Metropolis Fremantle next Wednesday, April 11. BEN WATSON spoke to bass player and sole remaining founder Eric Wilson.

Few bands can lay claim to being legitimately legendary but Long Beach, California, ska trio Sublime are absolutely one of those bands.

Active in the early 1990s, they pumped out two albums and jumped on a couple of gigantic national festival tours in the USA, just as punk rock was returning from obscurity with a vengeance.

And then in 1996, prior to the release of their third, final and perhaps most famous album Sublime, guitarist/singer Brad Nowell died of a heroin overdose. It was supposed to be the end of the band, and for many years it was, but as Eric Wilson now explains, the band’s premature demise left a lingering sense of unfinished business.

So, a couple of years ago Wilson got together with former Sublime drummer Bud Gaugh and a relatively unknown singer/guitarist named Rome Ramirez – 20 years their junior – and started playing those songs.

“Just with me and Rome,” Wilson responds when asked how it happened. “And the need to play those old songs that we never had a chance to play that we recorded. Brad died like two weeks after that was done. So... yeah.”

A man of few words, Wilson seems guarded about most of the details. But he assuresX-Press that Ramirez is the right man for the job. “Well, he’s just a really great guitar player and sings amazing, and he has killer songwriting skills so he fit the slot just perfect.”

It is probably little wonder that Wilson sounds run down and a touch reluctant, for this entire project has been surrounded by controversy. Not the least of which entailed a court injunction on behalf of Nowell’s family to prevent the band using the name Sublime.

Hence: Sublime With Rome – theoretically at least, a new band that released their first album of new material, Yours Truly, in 2011. “I like it a lot,” Wilson offers, “I think that it’s a great album.”

Within months of its release, however, Bud Gaugh quit the band and is quoted on his own website as saying that the reunion, while fun for a little while, felt wrong.

But Wilson doesn’t mention that. “Bud quit during the time when we should have been touring for that album,” he says. “And that kinda hurt our record sales. But everybody that’s heard [the album] was really impressed.”

When asked about Gaugh’s departure, Wilson offers an entirely different explanation.

“He’s had another kid. So he’s got two kids now, and he decided to do the family thing instead.”

In any case, Sublime With Rome recruited session drummer Josh Freese, who has worked with bands as diverse as The Vandals, Nine Inch Nails, and Devo, and are heading to Australia.

Wilson says audiences can expect a good 75 per cent classic Sublime material with some newies for good measure.

“He’s a friend of mine that I’ve known for a long time,” Wilson says of Freese. “And I’ve always wanted to play with him. He’s a top-notch drummer. So it’s not like stepping down at all as far as talent goes.”

To coin some colloquial parlance, it all sounds like a bit of a clusterfuck. Whether or not it is Perth audiences will find out next Wednesday.

But for Wilson, the end is by no means in sight. He’s pressing on.

“We’re gonna be doing some more touring to try and promote the album and stuff, and then we’ll be back in the studio before you know it.”

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Dead Meadow

Amon Amarth

AMON AMARTH Viking Quest

The Vikings of Swedish melodic death metal Amon Amarth have brought back the brutality on latest effort, Surtur Rising. JESSICA WILLOUGHBY talks with frontman Johan Hegg ahead of the band’s return to Perth at Capitol on Thursday, April 19.

“Our last album, in hindsight, was maybe a bit too heavy metal for our liking,” Amon Amarth vocalist Johan Hegg explains of the band’s new writing mindset. “We wanted to bring all the aggression back and Surtur was just the fire giant to help us do that.”

Norse mythology has become synonymous with Amon Amarth. From the might of the hammer-wielding Thor to Odin, the ruler of the gods, these five musicians have covered them all. But their 10th anniversary sparked an idea this outfit just had to stoke. Fire, the one symbol that has brought them together as artists, had never been fleshed-out in full on any release. After years of holding him at bay, Hegg says it was time for the fire giant Surtur to finally stake his claim. “A few years ago I was working on a song about Surtur,

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but nothing really came out of it,” he tells X-Press.

“He is a very cool character in Norse mythology and fire has kind of always been our element as a band.

So we decided to pick up the thread again for this album and everything fell into place this time. It just felt logical to run with it. We didn’t base the whole album around him, just a few songs. But it makes it easier to have some idea when you’re writing and designing covers. And he also paved the way for us to return to an angrier sound we’d be craving.”

Quick to note their prior full-length, Twilight Of The Thunder God (2008), surpassed all hopes, the burly frontman points to the album also bringing to light some pivotal changes the quintet wanted to make – in a writing sense. “We thought that album turned out great,” Hegg explains. “But it was too far away from the aggression that we wanted. It was too polished and heavy metal. So this time we went into the writing process with the mindset of bringing the brutality back and regaining that hard-hitting sound. One of the ways we did that was to work on taking our live aspect into the studio. From my own point of view, the most important thing for us is that we can play the songs live as a five-piece without having to rework them because of crazy instrumentalisation. Though we did add some strings on this release to heighten certain aspects, we mainly kept it to the basics.”

Hegg says another way the band were able to hit at their core was to take on music duties full-time for the first time in a decade. “The band is what consumes us now,” he says. “It’s great because now we can just be 100 per cent dedicated. When we had to work full-time and write music, it was difficult. We are not fast writers anyway, so it made the process twice as long. If something happens and we can’t make a living off our music, we will get jobs again. But we are just enjoying doing what we love for now and we’ll see how that goes.”

DEAD MEADOW Kings Of The Stoner Age

Taking their cues from the psychedelic heyday of the ‘60s and hard rocking vibes of the ‘70s, Dead Meadow’s acid jams have been expanding minds since 1998. Ahead of their performance at The Bakery on Saturday, April 7, vocalist/ guitarist Jason Simon ruminates with JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD. “We want people to be able to hear all the different dynamics, and we want our live shows to be as tight as possible,” Dead Meadow vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Jason Simon begins.

That Simon and his bandmates (Steve Kille, bass; Mark Laughlin; drums) care about things like tightness and dynamics might surprise a casual listener.

Since Dead Meadow’s inception in Washington DC circa 1998, the trio has been circulating slices of woozy psychedelia and shaggy, droning stoner-rock that often sound more sloughed off than composed. Even the work Dead Meadow has done in studios, like the bulk of their most recent LP, 2010’s Three Kings, bears the rough-hewn hallmarks of a bedroom auteur: they like to dunk rambling meat-and-potatoes rock in a thick gravy of reverb, echo and distortion.

“Our sound comes from a place of classic power trio rock – Hendrix, Sabbath, Cream, Zeppelin – though I we’re definitely doing a more modern thing with it,” Simon says.

Despite their slow burning sound, Simon reveals that a lot of effort goes into creating a vibe that’s effortless. Three Kings is nearly as difficult to conceptualise as it must have been to execute. Teaming up with the film company Artificial Army, the band captured a live show at a warehouse space and proceeded to intercut it with narrative film clips portraying the titular three characters – as played by the band – strutting around in wizard garb while animated sequences show a group of weed-creatures setting themselves on fire, their smoky bodies rising to be inhaled by the moon.

Just to make matters more multifaceted, the audio companion to the DVD intersperses the already-mentioned live recordings with brand new studio tracks.

“Since the beginning of the band we have had people coming up after the shows saying ‘Man, your records don’t do you justice at all... you sound so much better live.’ That was the initial impetus for recording the show that became the majority of Three Kings,” Simon explains. “We had been on tour for three months straight and the band was extremely tight. After we had recorded it, we discovered that the concert had also been filmed with multiple cameras. The project just kept expanding from there.

“This is [also] the last release to have our old drummer Stephen [Mcarty] on it. After the Three Kings tour he decided that his time in the band was done, so I am really happy that Three Kings really shows what he did best when he played as part of the band.”

With a live show that takes audiences on a feedback-soaked, expansive journey, Dead Meadow left Perth reeling after their first appearance in 2010, and are set to do so once again when they embark on a national tour in early April.

“Having Mark playing with us again has definitely been a highlight of the last 12 months.

We’ve fallen back into a groove and we’re feeling connected, which is important,” he concludes.“After playing for a whole year with Mark I think we’re in a good place as a band. People can expect a loud, rockin’, droning, mellow sound.”

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

PINK MOUNTAINTOPS Ain’t No Mountain Higher

Pink Mountaintops

DJANGO DJANGO

Default Setting British art rock quartet Django Django have brought out one of 2012’s most talked about albums with their selftitled debut. Frontman Vincent Neff talks to JOSHUA KLOKE about their humble beginnings. Django Django is out now through Warner Music.

Stephen McBean is no stranger to the recording studio as he’s working with no less than three bands this year. He chats to MATTHEW HOGAN ahead of Pink Mountaintops’ debut Perth show with Dead Meadow at The Bakery this Saturday, April 7.

The last time Stephen McBean was in town, he led Black Mountain through a thunderous set at Beck’s Music Box in 2009.

When prompted about that show he remembers the local band that played a surprise set that night with them. “I remember we played with Tame Impala, but I didn’t catch their name or anything,” recalls the grizzled Vancouverite. “I guess they were just starting out, and I then remember seeing them later and it was that young band that we played with in Australia. That was cool.”

S i n c e t h a t t o u r, B l a c k M o u n t a i n released their third album Wilderness Heart, and they’ve just readied something of a followup to that. “There’s a half new Black Mountain record that just came out,” he offers. “It’s a soundtrack with five new songs and five old

ones. It turned out cool. It’s for this surf movie called Year Zero, and they filmed it all on 16 millimetre. It’s really amazing. At first they just wanted us to write them a song, and then they asked us if we wanted to write some more. It was one of this things - we did it and we felt that it warranted some sort of release. We’re doing vinyl only, and internet, or whatever.”

McBean is also hard at work on a new project with occasional member of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs Imaad Wasif, entitled Grim Tower.

“He’s a cool cat, and we just kinda a made a record at my house,” he says. “We haven’t mixed it yet, but it should be coming soon in the next month or so. It’s kinda like a weirdo open tuned acoustic thing. It’s a weirdo record, I guess. The drummer from Jonestown plays on some of it.”

Pink Mountaintops is McBean’s task at

hand at the moment as he heads to Australia with the plus-sized collective that he leads. On the record, the band features a massive rotating line-up of collaborators, but McBean says he’s bringing a three-piece version. “It’s me and this guy, Gregg Foreman who’s played with Cat Power, Delta 72 and lots of good stuff, and our friend Jules Ferrari, she’s actually from Australia but she lives in Los Angeles and plays with us there,” he says. “So it’s us with guitars and synth and bunch of machines and stuff, causing quite a racket.”

That band’s last album was 2009’s splendid Outside Love, but fear not, as McBean says the band will be heading back into the recording studio momentarily. “We’re going to start when we get back from Australia,” he says.

“We start recording in May or June. We’re going to try to make an album. It sounds good. We’ll probably play like a few new songs live. The stuff is different, but we haven’t gone rap or anything.”

McBean and his fellow Mountainmen and Mountainwomen are also known for their work with Insite, an organisation that helps the drug-addicted and mentally ill community in Vancouver, but McBean says he needed a break from that. “I worked there for eight years or so,” he says. “HIV and death rates are way down, same with Hep C, but it’s still a very odd and at times depressing place, but people have better shelter generally, then they would have before. They have a lot more access to medical attention and counselling. It has had a very positive effect...”

Django Django Vincent Neff can finally spend some time reflecting.

After four arduous years spent crafting Django Django’s self-titled debut in an east London bedroom with his old art school buddy, drummer David Maclean, Neff is happy to look back on the time spent building not only their incredibly catchy and eclectic full-length, but the expectations which the band had four years ago.

“Not really,” says Neff when asked if the band had a vision of what exactly they wanted the album to be beforehand.“I moved down to London about seven years ago. About a year-and-a-half later, I heard Dave was moving down. I’d kind of lost touch with him. We’d kind of planned to do something together in Edinburgh, but we never really got around to it. We were just too busy in the pub. It’s very easy to fall into the pub culture in Scotland. We met up and we talked about what we were into. I had a bunch of songs and he’d grown tired of doing that straight dance stuff. I’d grown tired of just having these songs sit there. We just said, ‘Well, let’s give this a crack’.”

Reached on the phone from his London home, digging into a plate of vegetarian spaghetti Bolognese at the behest of his vegetarian girlfriend, Neff can certainly be proud of the result of those four years.

Django Django is a remarkably self-assured debut which defies standard classification. It would be easy to call it “quirk-pop,” but that wouldn’t do justice to the record’s density of sonic textures.

Yet four years is a long time to stay committed to one project. Neff admits that while there were challenges in creating Django Django, taking their time ended up being the best option.

“It was around February 2010 when Dave and I went full tilt on the album. So up until that point it was still very sporadic in terms of the way we recorded.

We’d work on one song over a few weeks, do a bit of gigging, so we weren’t very focused.We were also trying to get the live thing going and we also built our own studio a few times over; we kept getting moved from place to place. We were in construction while we were constructing the album,” he chuckles.

While Neff cracks wise throughout our interview, it wouldn’t be fair to lump Django Django into the indie slacker genre. Neff and drummer Maclean still adhere to the mentality they adopted at art school in Edinburgh: take what you can get and work well with it.

“Going to art school you learn quite early on that no one’s going to give you a bunch of money to make a nice, luxurious product,” says Neff. “You’ve got to make do with what you’ve got. And art students don’t have a lot of money. We tried to achieve what we could with the means that we had. We never really thought about making demos and working with a certain producer. We just thought, ‘Here’s the songs, let’s just do them as well as we can.’That was very much about coming from an art institution, learning to adapt and create with what you’ve got.

“In terms of the songs themselves, there are layers of complexity to them. What might start as something simple would require something added to it.

What may appear as something very superficial at first, we were convinced there was something underneath it. A lot of texture and colour. That’s the strength of it, I think.” www.xpressmag.com.au

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SIA Best Of…

VARIOUS ARTISTS The Hunger Games: Songs From District 12 And Beyond

IE Music / Inertia

After five studio albums, four ARIA awards, collaborations with everyone from the David Guetta to Christina Aguilera, quirky songstress Sia Furler has released a retrospective containing all the goodies spanning a rather brilliant career.

The release comes hot on the heels of her Twitter updates last month when she tweeted “hi. i’m not touring or doing appearances or being in videos or doing interviews anymore. i like to be behind the scenes for now. cheerio!”.

The collection does a fine job of living up to its title – it’s certainly a celebration of Sia’s career and includes some of the most thrilling pop music ever to come out of this fine country.

As to be expected, the album contains her bigger hits Clap Your Hands, Breathe Me and current #1 dance collaboration with Guetta, Titanium; but also collects some of her more memorable earlier material such as Numb and Sweet Potato from her third album, 2004’s Colour the Small One, as well as Destiny, a track from her work with Zero 7, and a CSS remix of Buttons.

While listeners who have been introduced to Sia through her recent collaborations with Flo Rida (Wild Ones) and Hilltop Hoods (I Love It) may be disappointed to find these tracks missing from the mix, superfans may well die happy with this much concentrated Sia: 18 tracks covering nearly every phase of her 15-year career.

Universal Music

The literary phenomenon of The Hunger Games is a strange hybrid that has attracted fans from both the Twilight and A Song Of Ice And Fire camps in equal measure. Songs From District 12 And Beyond, the musical companion to The Hunger Games film is equally as broad in its brushstrokes pitting artists like Maroon 5 next to Neko Case and The Decemberists.

Arcade Fire, who also contribute to the official score, start proceedings here with Abraham’s Daughter.

Frontman Win Butler hands over the vocal reigns to band member Regine Chassagne who gives this dour march a haunting appeal.

Songs From District 12 And Beyond gives the impression that in the future, we are likely to have a country soundtrack when we are hosting our games to the death, if the inclusion of Miranda Lambert,The Secret Sisters, Punch Brothers and The Civil Wars are anything to go by.

Taylor Swift also casts her hand with the appropriately cinematic Eyes Open. Its formidable strings and stirring chorus are the kind that Swift could write in her sleep, but that says more about her staggering talents than any failing of the tune.

Early reports indicate The Hunger Games is making a killing at the box office. Songs From District 12 And Beyond should do equally big business and with good reason too. _CHRIS HAVERCROFT

_JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD

JAMES VINCENT MCMORROW Early In The Morning

JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE Nothing’s Gonna Change The Way You Feel About Me Now

Believe Digital / DEW Process

Bloodshot / Inertia

In a manner that is befitting any folk artist, James Vincent McMorrow’s debut album was recorded in solitude with just the comforts of nature surrounding him.

His previous interests in music were found in hardcore rock, however after a change of heart, McMorrow decided to learn all that he could about making music and the result is Early In The Morning; a collection of tracks that are folk by nature and are accompanied by McMorrow’s delicate vocals.

As is the case with folk albums, there is always a risk of flatness, but McMorrow has avoided that in this instance by keeping the tracks interesting, allowing his quieter vocals to crescendo into spirited choruses in a likeness of Mumford & Sons.

An example of such work is Sparrow & The Wolf, which is one of the faster paced tracks and is an accomplished blend of indie and folk.

Another track of note is We Don’t Eat which exudes a haunting appeal and will surely satisfy for any fans of intense and slow folks tracks.

Not everyone will appreciate the album on offer here but it could very easily blend into your aural landscape for some mellowing out time. Also check out McMorrow’s cover of Steve Winwood’s Higher Love, it’s a good slow tempo version of the song.

Bone fide son of a gun Justin Townes Earle is as dynamic a performer as there is going around. One day he will be treading the boards of the Ryman Auditorium and the next he will book himself into an institution of a totally different kind. His lifestyle never stands still and his music mirrors this phenomenon.

Earle may be winning Americana awards by the bucket load, but his new album Nothing’s Gonna Change The Way You Feel About Me Now is firmly steeped in Memphis Soul.

Earle took to recording these songs in a converted church insisting that there would be no overdubs in an attempt to make an album that would be ‘real’.

Earle relishes the change in direction, adopting greater rasp in his voice and bringing in some inviting brass for Look The Other Way. There is plenty of bluster and bombast via the soulful horns throughout, but it is when Earle tells humble stories about the downtrodden that he is at his best and Unfortunately, Anna does this in spades.

Justine Townes Earle sure does write cracking songs, with a healthy dose of the reality of the South. Nothing’s Gonna Change The Way You Feel About Me Now is another success for an artist who never appears to be trying too hard.

_HAYLEY MIDDLETON

_CHRIS HAVERCROFT

CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG Stage Whisper

PAUL MCCARTNEY Kisses On The Bottom Hear Music / Concord Music Group

Because Music / Warner

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Charlotte Gainsbourg’s singing career began at age 12, with an (incredibly questionable) duet with her filmmaker father, Serge Gainsbourg, entitled Lemon Incest. (I challenge anyone to sit through the video clip without feeling slightly nauseous.) Since then, she has had a fruitful career as a film actor and has released a number of solo albums as a singer, with mixed success.

Stage Whisper is a collection of live and unreleased material from Gainsbourg’s last two releases.

It comes after IRM, her Beck-produced third album. IRM is unpolished, and sometimes a little clumsy, but still managed to find an interesting perspective that seemed missing in indie rock.Though Stage Whisper doesn’t hold the same naked poignancy as IRM, there are still enough beautiful moments to warrant repeat listens.

Amongst a detached ‘80s-like veneer, the album’s strongest moments are where it is exposed – to hear Gainsbourg sigh nervously through headphones is strangely affecting. She is not an overly confident singer, particularly on the live tracks, but she manages to channel this discomfort into a sense of authenticity.

On All The Rain, there is an incredible vulnerability to her voice and the instruments seem to join in with this apprehension – the guitars are bare, electronics twitch and flicker nervously about the stereo field. Stage Whisper, it seems, is a perfect title.

Picture this: it’s a post-war household in sunny ol’ Liverpool and the McCartney clan is gathered evening after evening around the grand piano. A young Paul listens to his mother and father sing along to the songs of their heyday. That is the tone set for the latest album by Paul McCartney, Kisses On The Bottom, on which the iconic musical maestro delivers 14 tracks that pay homage to his parent’s generation of music.

Some of the tracks you may recognize from your own parents, The Glory of Love and More I Cannot Wish You (from the Broadway musical Guys And Dolls) for example; but what you will find is not an adaption of these classic tracks paired with the Beatles aesthetic of ‘60s rock‘n’roll. Rather the tracks are recorded as the original artists intended no doubt – slow and sensual melodies and with McCartney just about whispering the vocals, essentially allowing the instrumentals to take centre stage; as was the nature of the day.

Some of the tracks are McCartney’s own, such as My Valentine, but they do perpetuate the same style as the other tracks on the record.

Essentially this is a well rounded album, neatly compiled and extremely smooth on the ear drums but you’ll likely only find it appealing if you already subscribe to the adult contemporary genre.

_HENRY ANDERSEN

_HAYLEY MIDDLETON X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

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SETH LAKEMAN

Sounds In The South West Michael Bolton

WHEN A MAN LOVES AN ORCHESTRA Camille O’Sullivan

CAPTIVATING CAMILLE

A master of music, performance and style, Camille O’Sullivan will head down under this June, promising to captivate audiences with a dramatic show at the Astor Theatre. Breathing new life into songs by Jacques Brel, Nick Cave, Tom Waits, David Bowie and more, O’Sullivan has been described as fierce and mesmerising, so chances are her Perth show on Thursday, June 21, will sell out. Tickets go on sale this Thursday, April 5, via BOCS.

Accompanied by his band and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Grammy legend Michael Bolton is set to fill the Riverside Theatre with soulful classics, power ballads and arias on Tuesday, April 17. Accolades for Michael’s artistic achievements include two Grammys for Best Pop Male Vocal Performance, six American Music Awards, nine Million-Air Awards, one Hitmakers Songwriter of the Year Award and a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. If your Secret Passion is Michael Bolton, you won’t want to miss his sensational live show. Tickets are available through Ticketek. Michael Jackson’s final guitarist Orianthi supports.

FINE PRINT

Artists who work in print mediums are being called forward to enter in the 37th annual Fremantle Arts Centre Print Award, supported by Little Creatures.The award attracts entries from all manner of artists and printmakers, thus bringing together some of the best work on offer from around Australia. Entrants will be judged by three industry professionals and the artist selected as the winner will receive $15,000; making it the most prestigious prize in Australia for the category of print artwork. Over the past 37 years the award has showcased some fantastic artists that constantly explore and push the boundaries of the medium. Last year’s winner was of course Peter Burgess for his piece Modern Equivalence #28. Entry forms are available from fac.org.au and must be lodged before Friday June 8.

TEASE TO PLEASE

Circus Joseph Ashton

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The folks behind Sugar Blue Burlesque and Circus Joseph Ashton are joining forces for the Big Top Tease, a night of circadelic entertainment at Langley Park. On for two nights only, the Big Top Tease will be hosted by MC Baron Frauhausen, featuring performances by Sugar Blue Burlesque artistes and Carnies with Candy, plus Circus Joseph Ashton’s Wheel Of Death, the amazing Flying Trapeze, incredible acrobats and juggling by Max Balls plus plenty more to keep you on the edge of your seat!

Punters are encouraged to dress up in their finest burlesque or circus gear to be in the running for the best costume prize.

The fun is set to go down on Friday, April 27, and Saturday, April 28, under the big top at Langley Park.

Bookings can be made via aladdinstix.com.au.

One of the UK’s foremost folk artists, Seth Lakeman is coming to WA as one of the headline acts for the Fairbridge Festival; an annual celebration of folk, roots, blues, and world music in the idyllic bushland site at Fairbridge Village, north of Pinjarra from April 13-15. Bookings can be made via fairbridgefestival.com.au. Lakeman also plays at Clancy’s Freo on Tursday April 12; and Hyde Park Hotel on Friday, April 13.

With a new album in his wake, folk artist and fiddle virtuoso Seth Lakeman is in WA for the Fairbridge Festival. Lakeman is also bringing his unique blend of folk and rock to a string of shows around the country, marking his first time touring Australia as a solo artist, and supported by Perth’s own singersongwriter, Carus Thompson.

“I met Carus about 10 years ago, he was in a local town over here and we just hung out, had a few beers and then he back came out and toured with us.

He’s actually done about three or four tours with us over the years and he’s been building a good following over here,” comments Lakeman, in his soft, English accent.

Lakeman is a folk singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, well known for his fiddle and tenor guitar abilities, but he has also mastered the viola and banjo. His style is a mix of traditional folk tunes, English blues and pop rock, a combination he attributes to being brought up in a musical family, with two brothers who are also musicians.

“I grew up playing Irish/Scottish tunes on the fiddle, I loved the rhythms and the energy behind them,” responds Lakeman when asked about his background.“Then songwriting, I’m a big fan of stories and content in songs. Massive fan of early ’90s bands like Crowded House and Counting Crows.”

His latest album, Tales From The Barrel House was, as the name suggests, recorded entirely in a heritage listed, disused barrelhouse and cooperage.

Except the first track, which was recorded deep in a copper mine. Obviously.

Lakeman explains, “it was all written over a year period, this concept about skills and professions using your hands. I chose to record it on location at this old barrelhouse. I started using tools around the workshop to try and emulate percussion sounds, like the anvil and the bellows. A tool sharpener is a shaker, chains hanging from rafters for tambourine sounds that sort of thing. Just trying to get some really

Seth Lakeman authentic sounds to draw the listener in.

“Then we went down an actual copper mine for one of the tracks, the first song, we recorded it a few hundred metres down in a chamber. Just me and this engineer to capture it all. Oh and the train driver. Got to have one of those,” says Seth, laughing.

Though he played all the instruments recorded on Barrel House, he’ll be bringing along a merry band of musicians to WA with him, to help bring energy to all his shows.

“Yeah a quartet of musicians. One of my brothers and I, a double bass player and a fantastic percussionist. It’s a lively, rhythmic, festival show.” _TOM VARIAN

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

American Reunion

AMERICAN REUNION The Gang’s All Here

Directed by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg Starring Seann William Scott, Alyson Hannigan, Jason Biggs, Chris Klein, Eugene Levy, Jennifer Coolidge After floundering around in direct-to-video land for a handful of spin-offs, the American Pie series returns to the big screen. And while you’d be hard-pressed to call the films a cultural phenomenon, the cache it does have, combined with the genuine likeability of the cast, make it worth revisiting.

The title is the plot, as the film uses the serviceable trope of the high school reunion to check back in with the characters we followed through the first three films. Jim (Jason Biggs) and Michelle (Alyson Hannigan), married in the third film, now have a young son, but their sex life is suffering. Oz (Chris Klein) is a sportscaster and B-level celebrity. Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas) is an architect, while Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) is - or gives the appearance of being - a well-travelled renaissance man.

But the star of the show is Seann William Scott’s Stifler, and it’s been interesting watching him transition from supporting player to star attraction over the course of the series. Here it’s clear that he peaked in high school, and sees the reunion weekend as a chance to relive his glory days and reclaim his Stifler-hood. Whenever the narrative starts to drag in its efforts to juggle so many characters and plotlines, Scott can be relied upon to drop a raunchy one-liner,

and it’s easy to see why he’s one of the few original cast members to still have something of a high profile career.

Which ties in with the thematic core of the film, which is all about grappling with the gap between youthful aspirations and adult realities. It’s more than a little bittersweet that so few of the cast went on to huge success - no one’s ever gone out of their way to see a Chris Klein film, and Nicholas and Thomas have been off the radar for years - but it serves to underline the central theme quite nicely, and the film never deals with it in a mean or nasty way. For all their raunch, the American Pie films have always been pretty big-hearted, and that continues here.

Perhaps that’s why pretty much every actor from the original film agreed to appear here (that, or they really needed a paycheck - Natasha Lyonne, we’re looking at you). The filmmakers have managed to shoehorn in almost the entire original cast, with only Molly Cheek, who played Jim’s mum, being noticeably absent. Having said that, taking her out of the picture lets the film do a lot more with Jim’s dad, the iconic and hilarious Eugene Levy.

Interestingly, American Reunion doesn’t serve as a reboot, but instead feels like the final chapter of the franchise. It’s possible that we might see a further instalment some time down the track American Funeral, perhaps? - but for now, this serves as a suitable farewell. While it’s by no stretch the comedy of the year, anyone who got a kick out of the earlier films will find something to enjoy here. _TRAVIS JOHNSON

Elena

ELENA

Russian Autumn Heart Directed by Andrei Zvyagintsev Starring Nadezhda Markina, Yelena Lyadova, Aleksey Rozin, Andrei Smirnov, Igor Ogurtsov The word that comes most immediately to mind when considering this, the third feature film from Russian director Andrei Zvyagintsev (2003’s acclaimed The Return), is ‘deliberate’. There’s an impeccable sense of craftsmanship to the piece, combined with a refusal to pander to the audience.

The result is a kind of thrill-less thriller, one that compensates for its lack of momentum with an exquisitely constructed, chilly atmosphere and well drawn, nuanced characterization. Little wonder that it won the Jury Prize at Cannes.

The story is noir by way of Dostoyevsky.

Put-upon, middle aged Elena (Nadezhda Markina) shares a tidy, passionless life with her older husband, Vladimir (Andrei Smirnof), but finds joy in visiting her son from a previous relationship, Sergei (Aleksey Rosin), and his family. Sergei is an unemployed bum, and so cannot afford to pay for the university placement that will prevent his teenage son, Sasha (Igor Ogurtsov) from being drafted into the military.

When the wealthy Vladimir refuses to help out, Elena begins to consider more drastic solutions to the problem.

Matters come to a head when Vladimir suffers a heart attack, and a reconciliation with his estranged daughter, Katerina (Elena Lyadova) indicates that Elena - and by extension, Sergei and www.xpressmag.com.au

Sasha - may not benefit from the old man’s will. Thus, the stage is set for a taut, unforgiving meditation on choice, morality, class, wealth, and the human heart’s capacity for treachery.

In truth, there’s nothing too new in the basic plot - hundreds of American thrillers trod similar ground in the post-war period. But it’s the telling, not the tale, that counts here. Zvyagintsev uses long takes, deep silences, and a washed-out, blue and gray colour palette to relate his story, forcing the audience to drink in every detail of every shot to find meaning.

The atmosphere created is one of such pervasive coldness and foreboding that one is almost relieved when the oppressive silence is broken by Philip Glass’s sparse but effective score. The obvious cinematic precursor here is Hitchcock, particularly in the depiction of a universe that mercilessly punishes those who, even once, transgress against conventional morality, but Zvyagintsev is no slavish imitator, instead repurposing such well-worn tropes to illustrate his own philosophical conclusions.

It’s doubtful that Elena will find much purchase with local audiences - the demand for slow moving, subtitled Russian meditations on ethical dilemmas not being what it once was - which is a crying shame, as the astute viewer can find many rewards under the film’s seemingly opaque surface.

After stumbling somewhat with his second film, the problematic The Banishing, this represents a real return to form for Zvyagintsev, and it deserves to reach a much wider audience than its limited theatrical engagement will allow it.

Elena screens at Somerville auditorium from Monday, April 9, ’til Sunday, April 15.

Bookings via perthfestival.com.au. _TRAVIS JOHNSON 21

In This is set to deal with equally confronting material and one issue that is particularly topical.

When asked whether this latest work comments on contemporary behaviours and habits Alessi says there is more to it, “it’s a little more geared to ‘modern life’ and how we conduct ourselves. So far as the programs we watch on telly, the interactions we have with people, the bars we go to, and the machinations of how we operate.”

No one can deny that a day devoid of email, Facebook,SMS or internet surfing could cause a great deal of distress, a topic which In This dissects.“[The production looks] at how technology affects us in modern life and how we become seemingly more connected but despite that the research tends to gear towards putting us in a more isolated package.”

Ahead of the opening of the production, Alessi gives X-Press a rundown of the show, describing a piece called The Dinner Party, which takes place at a social gathering where none of the guests really engage with one another. “They all arrive at this dinner party, but are not communicating with each other at all. It is just iPhone, iPad and laptop city.

They’re even playing a poker game with their iPhones, shuffling them around – totally disconnected.”

Rather than dealing directly with our increasing use of technology Alessi says she prefers

engage with on a day-to-day basis. How long to do you wait for a reply to a text? An email? A Facebook update?

How many times does one check to see how many times a post has been ‘liked’. As Alessi explains, “it’s just that thing about anticipation or anticipatory behaviours.

You become anxious because someone hasn’t texted you back immediately… the whole notion of instant gratification.”

A work that has involved much research and experimentation, In This is engaging for dance fans and the uninitiated, which is a testament to Alessi’s ability to transform issues and current events into movement.

“There is a body of research that goes into each piece, it’s not just about frivolous, meaningless steps that are threaded together to call it pretty contemporary dance.

“We really work at it like a research project.

So it has that basis and it can hopefully reach a greater audience because it’s about subjects that are tangible or topical or interesting.”

In This deals with issues that face the modern citizen, focusing on the fact that humans are engaging with technology like never before. Like many things in life, technology has its positives and its drawbacks, and this modern problem is played out beautifully in a traditional art form with In This. _JOE CASSIDY

In This (Photo: Christophe Canato)

IN THIS

Modern Dance For The Masses In This is on at Studio Underground at the State Theatre Centre from Wednesday, April 18, ’til Saturday, April 21. Bookings can be made via BOCS. If you mention Claudia Alessi’s name to anyone involved in the WA dance scene you’ll be bombarded with positive feedback and comments about her ability to take modern dance to a wider audience. Her resume reads like a true dance industry professional - she’s a prolific dancer in her own right, and has choreographed many thoughtful dance pieces in WA, as well as spending time working within regional communities to demonstrate the passion that dance can evoke in anyone. She’s also a lecturer, movement director and is about to launch her own dance company, Company Complesso.

Alessi works closely with local dance company Strut, taking on ambitious projects that bring together talented young performers from a range of fields, including aikido specialists (a Japanese dance/ martial arts), high-energy hip-hop dancers and classically trained performers too.

Fuse, a Strut production staged at PICA last year, dealt with the complexities of romantic relationships and conveyed the related themes wonderfully with minimal dialogue; and in 2012,

how technology affects us in modern life and how we become seemingly more connected but despite that, the research tends to gear towards putting us in a more isolated package” to look at the way that technology influences our interactions. It’s the idea that we are perhaps becoming too involved in the online world and not really seeing what’s there that was the catalyst for the creation of InThis.

Many of Alessi’s inspirations for the piece came from news articles about failed online relationships, “people living out their relationships in second life… finally moving in with their avatar boyfriends and finding it didn’t work.”The fact remains that if we engage with this technology we ultimately exist in a mediated environment.

“We’re spending much more time Facebooking each other in the virtual world or 2D world rather than sitting down and having a glass of wine or a cup of tea and having a good old fashioned chat.”

The Dinner Party also raises questions about the expectancy of this mode of communication that we

DEANNE SMITH The Sweet Life

DeAnne Smith performs at the Astor Theatre for the Perth International Comedy Festival from May 3 ’til May 5. Bookings can be made through BOCS. Life is pretty sweet for Canadian comedian DeAnne Smith at the moment. On the back of a successful six year career in comedy, during which she’s received many accolades, Smith is down under with her new stand up show Livin’ The Sweet Life, and boy do we sure know how to roll out the red carpet for our international guests.

“So yeah, I’m in Adelaide, and the show is called Livin’ The Sweet Life and immediately before the show while everyone is piling into the venue, I was standing there in the tents getting bitten by mosquitoes, with no toilets around. My dressing room was a shipping crate with no lights in it and I was like ‘yup, living the sweet life alright!’.” But that’s not to say that Smith is complaining, rather her latest show is a series of comedic observations about the irony of the sweet life.

“It’s just funny for me to look at the world and to feel like the experiences I am having are the sweet life either because they generally are or they are on such a low scale that they are actually still kind of sweet,” she says.

Until she found her true passion in

Appetite Electric: Tu Stairwell Gallery, Northbridge In a series of urban landscapes and colourful abstracts, photographer Ebony Frost explores how electricity has permeated every aspect of our lives and how it shapes the way we see our world.

Inspired by the nocturnal subjects of her 365 photography project The Night Owl, Ebony’s first solo exhibition, Appetite Electric, part of the FotoFreo Open Programme, asks us to look beyond the elements of life we take for granted and appreciate how comfortable our lives have become because of electricity. Runs ’til Apr 14.

DeAnne Smith

THEATRE/DANCE James Price Point by Adam Monk The Power And The Passion: Perth Town Hall, Perth The Power And The Passion exhibition comes to Perth after a successful showing in Broome. It features the images of renowned photographers such as Australian and West Australian Landscape Photographer of the Year Christian Fletcher, Adam Monk, Nigel Gaunt, Ingetje Tadros, Rod Hartvigsen, David Bettini, Fleming Bo Jensen, Jim Delios and featuring audio and visual by Jeff Skinner. Runs ’til Apr 11.

An Optimistic Mid-Career Retrospective: Spectrum Project Space, ECU, Mt Lawley Artist Matt Jackson’s latest exhibition – An Optimistic Mid-Career Retrospective looks back on his life, the trials and the tribulations that have made him the artist he is today. Matt has lived with HIV/AIDS for the past 20-years.Throughout his career he has used art as a way to speak out in world which still considers the disease to be taboo. The exhibition, showing at Edith Cowan University (ECU)’s Spectrum Project Space, spans two decades of Matt’s career, presenting many previously iClick: King Street Arts Centre Foyer, Perth A community arts program to breakdown barriers un-exhibited works from private collections along with between authority figures and young refugees and large multi-panel paintings from the last decade. Runs migrants has resulted in a photography exhibition April 13-27. that captures a snapshot of suburban life through the eyes of new Australians. More than 25 young people Animal Attraction: Linton & Kay Contemporary, from Thornlie and Langford were asked to use the Subiaco medium of photography to explore their notion of Celebrating the connection between disparate identity, space and place and at the same time build creatures, the union of Gillie and Marc’s dog and positive relationships with authority figures. Runs ’til rabbit shatter all of the conventions to become life long soul mates. In the wild, dogs hunt and kill rabbits, Apr 15. but in Gillie and Marc’s world old rules are called into Munda Ungai Munda (Earth To Earth): Japingka question and enduring love triumphs. In these semiautobiographical works, Gillie and Marc represent their Gallery, Fremantle Wayne Quilliam is one of Australia’s leading own unique partnership. Runs April 26-May 10.

Indigenous photographic artists and in Munda Ungai Munda, Quilliam has curated his work into three The Western Desert Show: Elements Art Gallery, themes. Respectively titled Lowanna, Ceremony Dalkeith and Towindri, Quilliam’s style encompasses the Curated by well-known private collector Dr Jo spiritual and artistic dimensions of Aboriginal culture Lagerberg, The Western Desert Show encapsulates as his art is transformed through traditional and the blossoming of the Western Desert art scene, a modern practices, including developing a world first distinctive movement that has taken its place amongst technique that infuses the artwork with traditional the most highly regarded in contemporary Australian art. Runs April 12-29. ochres and plant dyes. Runs ’til Apr 24.

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_HAYLEY MIDDLETON

Larry Mitchell: A Pilbara project Exhibition: FORM Gallery, Perth It takes a skilled and sensitive artist to interpret the complexities and contradictions of the Pilbara, and show its scenery in a fresh light. In Larry Mitchell: A Pilbara Project Exhibition, we have the opportunity to witness the encounter of one of Australia’s leading visual artists with this vast region, from the industrial landscapes of the Burrup and Port Hedland to the Spinifex-studded hills way east of Newman. Larry Mitchell’s paintings offer a perspective of the Pilbara in painstaking and sometimes painful detail. Runs ’til May 29.

VISUAL ARTS Year 12 Perspectives: Art Gallery Of WA, Northbridge An annual survey of work by WA’s top Visual Arts students, Year 12 Perspectives promises to deliver works of technical excellence and emotional complexity. Works depict relationships between self and the wider community, amongst family members and explore the relationship one has with one’s self. Fifty-one artists challenge us to reflect, explore and understand the world in which they inhabit and provide us with an opportunity to connect to the experiences of the young people of Western Australia. Exhibition runs ’til Apr 9.

comedy, Smith worked a variety a jobs around the globe including stints as an editor, teaching English in Mexico and doing Street Outreach programs in Baltimore; which at the time, was the capital city for homicide in the US, according to Smith.

Sometimes I think it is brave or challenging to be a comedian but I used to just walk around some of the most dangerous streets in the US and go up and talk to people and give them condoms and food and see if they had any issues and how my group could help them. Comedy seems a lot easier than that.”

Needless to say, Smith is more than qualified to talk about what constitutes the sweet life and is well aware that she is in fact living the dream. “I’ll be doing gigs and I’ll literally forget that I am getting paid and then someone puts money in my hand at the end and I’m like ‘what? Really? This is great!’ Because I would do this on any given night,” she says.

Smith is rolling into Perth this May for the Perth International Comedy Festival, playing at the Astor Lounge. It’s only her second trip to our fair city but she will no doubt garner a few more fans with her effortless charm and her love for Aussie audiences.

“Something I do notice about Australian audiences is that they seem very knowledgeable about comedy in general. Australians really seem to know their comedy and know their comedians and be able to put things in context, which for someone that really loves comedy, like me, that’s really cool,” she says, adding that although we are generally a fun bunch there have been a few memorable evenings down under, one of which saw a pair of underwear being hurled at Smith on stage in Port Augustus (bloody South Australians!). But Smith hasn’t let that phase her, “things are always happening but that’s kind of the joy of comedy, I think, the whole point of comedy is that you can really handle when things go wrong, and that’s kind of the point, that’s what’s funny.

I don’t think things ever get too awkward because I think everything can be diffused with humour. That’s the strength of humour.”

FutureGen 2012: John Curtin Gallery, Curtin University, Bentley On display for FotoFreo, FutureGen 2012 is an exhibition of the work of the best graduating and undergraduate photography students from the leading tertiary institutions teaching photography in Australia, together with the best student and graduate student photography from the leading teaching institutions in China. Runs ’til May 11.

Image by Kenji Higuchi from the Atomic Photographers Guild Divergence: Photographs From Elsewhere: Midland Railway Workshops, Midland Featuring the work of over 60 artists from 15 different countries, the adventurous Divergence exhibition depicts highly divergent worlds, from the industrial landscape of the English Midlands, to playfully kitsch images of Russia and intimate moments of domestic life in India. Runs ’til Apr 15.

4.48 Psychosis: Subiaco Arts Centre, Subiaco Mood Theatre is excited to announce its upcoming season of what has been hailed famously as “the most beautiful suicide note in history”. Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis is her last play, written just before losing her battle with severe depression. But it is much more than that. It is a poetic, funny and haunting investigation of the meaning of existence at the beginning of the 21st century. Runs from Apr 3-14.

Bookings via BOCS. John Gavin: Blue Room Theatre, Northbridge In a daring and visually arresting first time collaboration between aerialist Dawn Pascoe and actor Nick Candy comes a dynamic new retelling of a landmark West Australian story, John Gavin. In the early hours of Easter Saturday 1844, John Gavin became the first European to be executed in the Swan River Colony. He was tried, convicted and hung within three days and buried without ceremony in an unmarked grave in the Fremantle sand hills.

He was 15 years old. 168 years later, highly skilled aerial theatre, dramatic reconstruction and physical performance will re-animate John Gavin and the twisted adolescent dreams that painted him guilty of murdering his master’s son. Runs April 17-May 5.

Bookings via blueroom.org.au.

Skin: Blue Room Theatre, Northbridge Written, directed and performed by Helpmann Award winner Humphrey Bower, Skin tells the tale of a hairdresser on holiday in Vietnam who undergoes an unexpected metamorphosis, and an actor in search of inspiration at a remote WA salt-lake gets more than he bargained for. These the two original stories of transformation address cultural identity and difference in a rapidly changing environment, both in our own back yard and abroad. Season runs from April 26-May 12. Bookings can be made via blueroom.org.au.

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

GARTH COOK

Countdown To Perth Fashion Week

Spring/Summer 2012/13 by Garth Cook

www.xpressmag.com.au

The inaugural Perth Fashion Week is fast approaching, and established Perth designer Garth Cook is counting down the days to his standalone show on Friday, April 20, at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre. Though he’s currently full of enthusiasm for his forthcoming Spring/Summer 2012/13 collection, six months ago it was a different story entirely…

“I went to London in October last year because my partner had been based there for about eight months for work... When I went over to London I was thinking that with the way retail and the brand was going I didn’t feel satisfied and decided that I’d had enough and didn’t want to do it anymore. And then I discovered the reason why I felt like that was because I wasn’t doing what I wanted to do, I was trying to please far too many people,” Cook explains of his rocky end to 2011.

“It’s not that people were telling me what to do, it’s that I felt I had to do certain things to please people. So I felt like I had all these expectations on me and I had to compete with really big brands and do massive ranges and really low price points but what it came down to was that I can’t do that – the way my business is structured, because I’m pretty much a one man band, I could not work like a big company can, I just don’t have the money to do that.”

Though he could have easily thrown it all in, Cook decided to give his label one last go (praise the fashion gods), working solidly to figure out the future of his self titled brand.

“So I took some time out and had three months to design and to really think about what I want my business to be. That led me to looking at all the work I’ve done in the past and why I did it and why every season was so different in terms of inspiration. I feel that the brand was evolving but it was confusing – every season had such a different perspective.

“I am still proud of the work I’ve done previously but I never felt that it was exactly what I wanted to do. The styles that I end up selling in stores are the ones that I actually believe in. All the other shit I’ve made people don’t like because my heart’s not in it,” Cook says with a candid chuckle. “I looked at my strengths and what I really wanted to produce and I ended up designing 55 digital prints, which took close to seven weeks to do, and I also sketched about 350 styles of garments just for this collection and started to really break it down and figure out what I wanted.

“By the time I got back to Perth at midnight on New Year’s Eve, I had a whole lot of fabric on the way and a whole lot of design ideas but I hadn’t really started developing my work in terms of turning sketches into actual garments. I spent a couple

of weeks doing that then as I was evolving the range I realised my shapes weren’t quite right for my fabrics, so I pretty much had to redesign the whole thing again but it actually turned out for the best. Having the fabric there to work with while developing the silhouette was so beneficial and I feel like this season has really worked.”

He may have had to jump over hurdle after sartorial hurdle to get his ideas together but thankfully Cook eventually finalised a design concept, combining feminine floral prints with contemporary shapes and silhouettes to create a collection that blends the old with the new.

“This season is really about me and things that I love. I looked at floral photography and my favourite flower - oh my god, this is going to sound so daggy – which is the orchid, and I designed my textiles based around the orchid. I was working towards a vintage floral feel that looks like it was dug up 50 years ago but is still really contemporary. So the way I’ve cut the garments makes the print kaleidoscope on the body. I looked at the ’50s and ‘0s, which are two eras that I really love, and did my own contemporary version of that in terms of the cutting and silhouette.”

As for his forthcoming runway show, Cook assures X-Press that the runway presentation will be sleek and chic, with naught a dancer/ gymnast or performer in sight.

“I just want the show to be clean – I don’t want any gymnasts backflipping down the runway or anything ridiculous. It’s going to be contemporary and modern, and all about the clothes.”

Tickets for Perth Fashion Week are on sale now from ticketbooth.com.au.

BLUEBIRD BDAY A haven for bespectacled taxidermied animals, fabulous vintage frocks, sensational ’60s sunnies, kick ass cowboy boots, bric-a-brac and a whole lot more, Bluebird Vintage is a small store with big personality.

Next week, while we’re all recovering from Easter egg overdoses, Bluebird Vintage will celebrate its second birthday, and to commemorate the historic occasion, shoppers will be given 10 per cent off store-wide, with 20 per cent off clothing, from Tuesday, April 10, ’til Saturday, April 14. Happy Birthday indeed!

You’ll find Bluebird Vintage at 288 Cambridge Street in Wembley. The store is open from 10am-5.30pm from Tuesday-Saturday. Find out more at bluebirdvintage.com.au. _EMMA BERGMEIER

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

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Speaking from his hotel in Turin at The Big Snow – a snowboarding festival where he is playing – Zomboy explains that he is working on new music and looking out onto one of the most amazing views he’s ever experienced. His good mate SKisM isn’t far away, enjoying life in the UK. Over there, the sun is out and he’s also looking forward to their rendezvous in Australia. RK talks to the two producers about how primed they are to rip it up down under.

Joshua Mellody, aka Zomboy, and Tommy Dash, aka SKisM, are two of the UK’s most talked about producers. Both lads have been smashing out gigs around the globe recently and it’s not likely to stop this year with France, Italy, the UK, Romania and the Netherlands all on Dash’s tour agenda between now and July. And, Mellody is off to America and Canada to play festivals alongside Calvin Harris, Borgore, Chase & Status and more – and that’s all before July too.“I’ve been gigging everywhere from Serbia to Belgium and running the Never Say Die label,” Dash begins.“I don’t have a life outside of music,” he adds, laughing.

But, touring hasn’t been the only thing on both boys’ agendas, they’ve been pretty busy in the studio too.“I’ve been doing lots and lots of amazing shows, remixes, collaborations and things,” Mellody says.“I’ve also been preparing for tours and also working on my Follow E.P, that I will be releasing in the near future though the label Never Say Die. There are actually quite a lot of exciting things going on at the moment. The EP I’m actually really, really excited about to be honest, I hope everyone else is too!”

Life for Dash isn’t much different either. “I’m definitely still twiddling knobs,” he says. “I think everyone’s sound evolves to an extent. In a scene that’s moving as quickly as dubstep, you have to keep up with the production techniques and sounds that are doing it on the dancefloor. My stuff always has a certain atmosphere to it and one thing that always stays consistent is having a strong theme which usually comes from a sample or a melody hook. Content wise though, I always try and keep it as varied as possible from tune to tune.”

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massive legacy that became the Skrillex movement, and the man himself is humbled by the thought. “I think that the big man of course hugely influences my sound as he’s the reason I wanted in on the whole electronic dance music scene,” Mellody says.

“I also think you’d be insane not to feel on his sound and vibe – but you will be hearing a different side to me with upcoming releases.”

Many of these releases will be coming out on London independent record label Never Say Die Records, the brainchild of Dash himself, which focuses on bass heavy dance music. “The label is going great and our core artists are really coming into their own,” Dash says. “We’ve got our first compilation album coming out at the end of May in association with UKF, which showcases the past, present and future of the label. It’s packed with our biggest hitters and a load of exclusives from the stable. I’ve mixed the second CD on that too which was awesome fun to do.”

Musically, the lads maintain a sound that likes to mash up a little dubstep, electro, glitch and grime. Mellody’s take on the sound is pretty straightforward.“I guess certain parts of these styles appealed to my musical tastes so I thought ‘why not mash them together?’,” he says. “I do like zombie films and games too so that will have had some form of influence behind it.”

And, as for Dash’s take on the sound, he says it’s about pushing the boundaries and challenging yourself.“I guess there’s always pressure to live up to what you’ve done before but at the end of the day you just have to keep at it regardless,” he says. “Every time I get into the studio I learn something new and I think if you stop learning, complacency may be kicking in and you might need a reality check because you can always push Zomboy yourself to do better.”

Both lads are excited about their Dash has also been pretty busy with collaborations of recent times. “There is a bit going upcoming tour down under. One claims he is here on, yeah,” he says. “There is sExisM with Excision on so often that airport staff already know him by his Mau5trap album; there’s Jump Back with Flux name; the other claims he is terrible in hot weather.

Pavilion and the Foreign Beggars. Both of those Both Dash and Mellody say punters can expect a lot were awesome to do.” He goes on to admit that of energy with fresh, heavy tunes at their upcoming producing is such a process, one that can be quite gigs. Dash adds that there will be a lot of different laborious at times but always fluid and enjoyable. styles and tempos in his set and Mellody warns “You have to be really comfortable with someone to fans of potential slow dancing from behind the work with when you’re in the studio,” he says. “This turntables. “I’m currently rocking the Kontrol S4 but year I’ve got a couple of collaborations coming out slowly moving towards CDJs to control Traktor,” he with Zomboy, who is a good mate and is technically says. “I can’t wait to get down there!” one the best producers in the game, so those ones always come out really interestingly.” » GRIZZLED 004 It’s impressive words from Dash when you » SKISM & ZOMBOY consider that some people have even suggested that Zomboy is the successor – the prodigy – to the » SUNDAY, APRIL 8 @ CAPITOL

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SHE GOES OFF

It’s the name of Kid Mac’s latest track featuring Mickey Avalon.The Sydney emerging talent is about to release his debut record No Mans Land later this month and to celebrate, he’ll be bringing his new tunes to Capitol on Saturday, May 26. His recent singles Nobody Sleep Nobody Get Hurt and Hear You Calling have smashed in on YouTube with over 250,000 views and sold out shows across the country. He’s spent the last 18 months in the studio writing and working alongside Melbourne-based producers Twice As Nice and supported Mickey Avalon throughout California and Texas last year. Stay tuned for ticketing deets.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY VILLA

Villa is turning three this week and to celebrate, they are holding a mighty birthday bash featuring breakbeat masters The Freestylers, German lad Marten Hørger, DNGRFLD and Black & Blunt this Thursday, April 5. Hit up Moshtix and the Boomtick Shop for tickets.We talked to Boomtick’s Director Liam Mazzucchelli and Micah Earnshaw who handles Artists and Programming what their most memorable gigs at Villa have been.

BRAINFEEDING BEATS

Just in case you haven’t already heard, 22-year-old Stuart Howard, aka Brainfeeder’s newest signee Lapalux, is coming to town. Flying Lotus thrust Lapalux into the spotlight last year and it’s no surprise – check out his EP When You’re Gone to pleasure your ears with his happy, hazy and synthy beats. San Francisco producer Christopher Dexter Greenspan, aka oOoOO, will also be joining Lapalux to showcase his genre-defying sound. He’s all about Southern hip hop with a touch of pop and rap. It’s all happening on Saturday, May 19, at The Bakery.

Tickets are $29 plus booking fee and are available from Oztix, Heatseeker, nowbaking.com and lifeisnoise.com.

FANGIN’ IT

“An adventurously nude, fluctuant, immaculate, rainbow-coated thunderstorm with arpeggios, 1-up mushrooms and disco basslines plus a wobble or two” – this is how Estonian producer Mord Fustang describes his sound. Over the last year, this lad has dropped five singles on Miles Dyson’s Plasmapool label and he just took out Best Breakthrough Artist at the Beatport Awards for this year. Now, the dude himself is coming to Ambar on Friday, May 11. Dead Easy, Philly Blunt and Beastsmack are on support duties.

Tickets are $25 on the door or hit up the Boomtick Shop for $20 presale tickets.

Liam Mazzucchelli

Favourite gigs: Krafty Kuts, Steve Aoki, Stanton Warriors, Pharoahe Monch and Jean Grae.

Standout gig – Skrillex: The gig was beyond amazing with a stadium type electricity buzzing before Skrillex took the stage, then place absolutely erupted! It was intense, explosive, intimate, personal, engaging and just pretty damn special along with being sweaty.

Micah Earnshaw

Favourite gigs: Opening night with Fake Blood & Sinden, Stanton Warriors, Miles Dyson, Skrillex.

Standout gig – Rahzel: This was such a special night for me – three amazing performers together in unison on the Villa stage, each one a legend in their own right but together it was something to behold. There was a brilliant vibe in the room with the intimate crowd transfixed by the jaw dropping performance from Rahzel, JS1 and the mighty Supernatural! It was just one of those gigs that made your hair stand on end while you were witnessing it.

Skrillex playing Villa (photo by Atomik Arts)

RIPPIN’ IT UP Perth is synonymous with drum’n’bass and one of the champions of the sound is legendary local MC, J Rippa. Now a family man – married with kids – he is taking time out to deliver the noise once more next weekend at Trafik: The Drum & Bass Reunion. RK talks to him about music and the old days.

RUNNING THE CHARTS

“I knew I’d love the song as soon as I first heard it even when it was still very raw,” Brown begins. “It wasn’t quite completed and it was still disjointed but I knew that there was something special about it. I expected it to do well but I didn’t think it would do this well. It’s taken me internationally – not down a different path but more like it’s opened a few more doors for me. When We Run The Night was released in the States, I did a bit of a tour over there, then the track went #1 on the Billboard chart which is a huge achievement. It’s amazing, it’s incredible to be recognised as an artist and to be a part of Billboard history, really.”

What’s more, Brown notes that the success of the single not only provided the opportunity to work with one of her favourite artists, but also with some big name producers – perfect timing in the lead-up to her debut album.

“I did the video with Pitbull and that was incredible because I used to have the biggest crush on him!,” Brown enthuses.“He’s such a down-to-earth guy and he’s incredibly loyal and he has a great heart.

He works extremely hard but he plays hard too.

“He loved the track when he first heard it, he liked me, he was interested in the project and he jumped all over it. He didn’t have to, no one was

Easter Thursday is tomorrow kids and if you’re heading along to Roller Easter Thursday at The Rosemount Hotel and want to keep the party going on into the wee hours then the official Roller Easter Thursday After Party is for you. Boomtick and Roller are putting on a massive local lineup for it – Ambar favourite Tee El, drum’n’bass special guest Jazza and the Roller crew boys Dart, Devo and Kent will be laying down the beats. Inhibit’s PDMA nominated DJ Sempy will be making his Roller debut too. It’s all happening tomorrow, Thursday, April 5, at Ambar. There will be a free bus to Ambar leaving from The Rosemount Hotel around midnight for all the cool cats. Tickets are $10 on the door. Check it.

J RIPPA

DJ HAVANA BROWN

Even in its completely raw stages, DJ Havana Brown knew there was something special about her debut single We Run The Night. Her gut instinct certainly proved to be right because not only did the song reach #5 on the ARIA Singles Chart last year, more recently, its international version (featuring Pitbull) peaked at #1 on the US Billboard Hot Dance Song Chart. As Brown tells NINA BERTOK, the smash hit single has opened more doors for the DJ than she could have ever hoped for.

ROLL ON

DJ Havana Brown paying him. It’s funny because I’ve been playing Pitbull in my DJ sets from the very beginning. I used to play his stuff to get people moving on the dancefloor. Of course, I didn’t go on about that; I would have sounded like a total fan-girl!”

Currently putting the finishing touches on her debut artist album, Brown reveals that one of the “big names” she managed to collaborate with is super-producer RedOne [Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Enrique Iglesias]. “Enrique was the one who told him about me after we did a tour together,” Brown explains. “I was singing on X-Factor with him as well as on a new song he had at the time called Heartbeat, and he went back telling RedOne all about it. RedOne told me he was raving about me.”

Brown’s excited to get the debut record out but says putting it together has been a lot more work than she anticipated. “Doing this original album is actually a lot more than what I expected it to be because I never planned on having the chance to work with such amazing people,” she says. “It’s been a challenge – especially trying to break it overseas – but I love a challenge! Not a lot of people know me in the States so it feels like I’m starting from scratch but, of course, you never want it to be easy – that would just make the whole journey very boring.”

» DJ HAVANA BROWN » THURSDAY, APRIL 5 @ METRO FREO

“I pretty much just started out as most people do and was a punter in the scene,” explains an energised Rippa. “Then it was a few chance meetings and things with the right people and we just started doing a few things and started up a drum’n’bass club. I think it was basically the love of the music itself. I was always into the urban sound; I like all genres of music but there was something about hip hop and drum’n’bass that was appealing to me and that’s why I wanted to be an MC!” Although Rippa’s priorities now lie with his family, he’s getting ready to spit some rhymes next weekend when he and the likes of Xsessiv, Frantik, Rufkut, Rintel and more hit the stage for the reunion of Trafik, a big drum’n’bass and breaks night which returns next weekend after a six year hiatus.

“It’s a chance to get back together, hang out and do what we loved,” Rippa says of the reunion.

“Trafik was just a bunch of mates - a lot of us went to school together - and we used to hang out a fair bit and stuff. We just wanted to bring a productive party vibe through with our music and it worked for a long time. The parties back then were all about having a good time but it was also about being professional. We hadn’t seen each other for about six years so I don’t even know how it got back on the burner but we had a bit of a bash with one of the guys and are now really fired up for the reunion.”

Laughing, he adds that he hasn’t been doing a hell of a lot to prepare for the night, suggesting rather that he is “all freestyle”. “I have to say, I have a few ideas and I’m always rhyming to myself in the car,” he says. “I don’t call myself a superstar but I like to think I’ve got structure and that it sounds alright.” Know too that these sentiments were delivered with the necessary dose of humility and poise.

J Rippa Finally, he adds that the crew are all about the old school era – now while that covers a broad gamut in the spectre of drum’n’bass, be assured that this will be a night of good music. The reunion is a chance for the guys to come out of the woodwork and get loose. “It’s the same way we used to party back in the day,” the man professes.

“The gigs back in the day were pretty intense; they were something that we looked forward to every single weekend – they had that kind of vibe. It wasn’t anything other than that - basically what we want to do is have this night model itself as a sort of mirror image of the vibe we had back in the day.”

» J RIPPA » TRAFIK: THE DRUM & BASS REUNION » FRIDAY, APRIL 13 @ THE ROSEMOUNT HOTEL X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

BAG RAIDERS

FINDING THEIR WAY BACK HOME

Bag Raiders

Sydney electronic duo Bag Raiders have enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame over the past couple of years.

Having released their debut record after much anticipation in October 2010, the lads have since been touring and working on their next album in LA. TARA LLOYD chats with one half of the duo, Jack Glass, about their fresh Leave It All Behind compilation.

REASON TRANSITIONS Having decided to hang up the microphone, Australian hip hop pioneer Reason, aka Jason Shulman, is farewelling Perth punters at Easter Launch this Sunday. He speaks with JOSHUA HAYES about the next phase of his life.

Although Jason Shulman is retiring from recording and performing, he will remain a presence in the Australian hip hop scene as a show promoter, workshop facilitator and mentor to upcoming artists. He made the decision to retire 18 months ago after thinking about it for some time. “I just realised that I’m not in a position where I want to continue to forge on in my writing and creating of the music itself,” he says.“I personally don’t want to be a 40-year-old-plus MC trying to rap like a 22 year old.”

He started working on his farewell album, Window Of Time, after making the decision. It was released last November and features collaborations with Bias B, Hunter and Hau, as well as production by Suffa and Simplex.

Knowing that the album would be his last, he was able to savour the experience of recording it.“When I recorded my last verse for that album, I happened to be at DJ Debris’ house in Adelaide, and I went in the studio and had four bars to go, and I looked at him and said ‘Debris, I’m now about to do the last four bars, ever, on a Reason album’,” Shulman recalls.“I actually sat down and absorbed the vibes in his studio, and went for it; went for gold. It was quite a poignant moment.”

Shulman’s show at Easter Launch this weekend – where he’ll share the stage with two other veterans, Mass MC and The Master – will double as a farewell gig and WA launch for Window Of Time. “I’d certainly say without hesitation that it’ll be all heart and passion,” he says of the gig. “[People say] I may not be your most talented lyricist, as such but no one’s ever questioned my heart for the game.”

Over his two-decade-plus career, Shulman earned a reputation as an artist always willing to help up-and-coming artists. It’s something mirrored in his life outside music, working as a high school teacher and running hip hop workshops for youth organisations.

This work brought him into contact with recently deceased footballer Jim Stynes, who involved Shulman in his Reach Foundation.

“Jim was the catalyst to pull me out of my day job and take a punt [as the] Education Consultant at the Reach Foundation, and it’s one of the greatest decisions, professionally and personally, I ever made,”

Reason Shulman says.“Throughout this week it’s certainly been quite challenging, but I must say that now it’s a good time to move forward and embrace the good times ahead. It’s what Jim would have wanted.”

Moving on is a bit of a theme in Shulman’s life at the moment, as he leaves rapping behind (not before one final show in Perth, of course) and enters the next phase of his life. “I’m doing my masters at Melbourne Uni, I’m in a leadership position at [the] school [I teach at], I’ve got two kids, a lovely wife,”he says.

“My transition from the stage to behind the scenes is a natural progression.”

» REASON » EASTER LAUNCH » SUNDAY, APRIL 8 @ THE ROSEMOUNT HOTEL

Since working on their ARIA and J Award nominated self-titled debut record, Chris Stracey and Jack Glass of Bag Raiders have been cooped up in their LA studio. This Friday, April 6, sees the release of their Leave Them All Behind compilation. It’s the fourth edition of the acclaimed mix series which features exclusive tracks and remixes which have been hand picked and mixed by the boys. “LA is great, I love it here,” Jack Glass begins, touching on the topic of their hectic studio sessions of recent times. “It’s a similar city to Sydney in many ways so I’m not feeling too homesick.”

Sydney was, in fact, where the Leave Them All Behind compilation was recorded and then bits and pieces were done on the road before it was taken into the studio for some “polishing… like a fine diamond” according to Glass.“Picking the tracks and getting them approved was a bit of a new process for us,” he continues.“Usually when we do mixes - like the monthly ones we’re putting on SoundCloud at the moment - we don’t have to go through the ring-hole of getting them cleared. So that added a few extra weeks and minor headaches to the equation. What was great was that Modular gave us complete control over the selection. That’s not usually the case with mix CDs so we were very lucky in that respect.”

Bag Raiders fans can expect to hear their usual slices of party electronica on the compilation but, Glass says there is one track on the record which he claims is a standout. “I love the Hudson Mohawke remix of Krystal Klear,” he says. “[I’m] super glad we got that one on there.”

Way Back Home and Sunlight are just two of the tracks from the duo’s self-titled 2010 album which debuted in the top 10 on the Australian ARIA charts. And, just like that record, the duo aren’t sure how fans will react to Leave Them All Behind when it drops later this week. “We never know if people are going to like what we do, we’re going through the same thing at the moment as we work on our second album,” Glass says. “I guess all we can really do is make tracks we like, tracks that make us want to dance, or cry, or drive down a highway late at night, or whatever it is that we’re going for and hope people feel the same way about them as we do.”

After the release of their debut record, the lads toured 16 countries last year, playing DJ sets and live shows. “The one constant [between DJing and live sets] is good times,” Glass says. “We picked up plenty of tour stories, most are probably not fit for print. The best thing about touring is easy - we love travel, seeing the world, new experiences, new people, and good food. Sure it can get boring and you can get tired of airports pretty quickly but you won’t catch me complaining!”

As for the duo’s upcoming gig this weekend, Glass says their set is unlikely to be “totally weird ambient electronica”, the description which Chris Stracey gave to Bag Raiders when X-Press talked with him in 2010. “I don’t think we’ll go total ambient electronica,” he says.“What movie is that in? - ‘never go FULL-retard’.” (We’ll save you the Google, it’s Tropic Thunder).

“Everyone needs to get a little weird now and then,” he concludes, in a straight forward manner.

» » » »

BAG RAIDERS LEAVE THEM ALL BEHIND [MODULAR] OUT FRIDAY, APRIL 6 SATURDAY, APRIL 7 @ VILLA

www.xpressmag.com.au

27

Hermitude (photo by Max Fairclough)

DANCING WITH THE DEVIL HERMITUDE Amplifier Saturday, March 31, 2012 Blue Mountains duo Hermitude wrapped up their national HyperParadise tour, promoting their recently released fourth full length album, with a well received set at Amplifier. They managed to easily fill the venue, despite some friendly competition in the form of Elefant Traks label mate Joelistics, who was performing down the road at the Hydey.

Prior to HyperParadise, the group had released three full length albums of elaborate and melodic hip hop beats – the type of music perfect for head nodding, if not dancing. This all changed, though, with their absurdly catchy single Speak Of The Devil, which made #44 on the Triple J Hottest 100 – and likely contributed to the diverse range of punters at the show.

Local instrumental hip hop beat-maker Padlock opened the night, playing some of his own productions, before Darwin electronic soul act Sietta, one of the most recent signings to Elefant Traks, took the stage. The duo – singer Caiti Baker and producer James Mangohig – got the crowd going with selections from their debut, last year’s The Seventh Passenger.

The slinky Silence and single What Am I Supposed To Do had the crowd singing halfway through the well received set. Baker showed off an impressive vocal range and entertaining hip hop dance moves, before finishing with No Longer Hurt.

28

Hermitude were on stage not long after.

The pair – Luke Dubs standing stage left in front of an array of keyboards and synths, and Elgusto next to him manning the turntables and drum machines – worked perfectly in unison to bring their beats to life with interesting flourishes, such as the back-andforth solos (Dubs on synths, Elgusto on electronic percussion) that they wrapped up their opener, the upbeat All Of You, with.

The set drew heavily from HyperParadise, with Sloucho Darx following. Can’t Stop got a cheer of recognition before its melancholy keys were mashed with a dancehall number.

On a number of occasions the beat-makers grabbed a microphone and showed off their sense of humour, such as when they had the audience sing The Lion Sleeps Tonight, or when Dubs joked about Elgusto’s grammar, after the latter told the crowd “I wanna ‘splain something to you.”

It also brought a slightly disconcerting habit to the fore, though – Elgusto’s tendency to use the word ‘motherfucker’ in every sentence (“get your motherfucking hands up,” was fair enough, but it seemed a bit odd when he introduced Sunsetter by saying “we wrote this song in Norway, motherfucking Norway”).

The downbeat The Hunt and HyperParadise lead single Get In My Life both got good responses, before Hermitude moved onto more melodic material, including the haunting Frayed.

Up to this point, the set had mostly consisted of the head nodding beats Hermitude are renowned for.

However, when Speak Of The Devil played, everyone let go and the tightly packed Amplifier was full of punters jumping around to the exuberant song, before the night ended on a hard hitting note with The Villain.

» JOSHUA HAYES

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

www.xpressmag.com.au

29

FLUXX

AMPLIFIER

FRAT HOUSE FRIDAY

WEDNESDAY 04/04

THURSDAY 05/04

Blvd Tavern – Dub Step Project Captain Stirling – Fiveo Clancy’s (Applecross) – Upbeat – DJ Andy Connections – DJs Joby /JJ / Rueben Double Lucky – Last Wednesday Eurobar – Wild Wednesdays - DJ iPod/ Ben Pettit Eve – DJ Don Migi/ Skooby The Flying Scotsman – UniQue DJs Gold Bar–DJ Adroc Hipe Club – DJ Roger Smart Leederville Hotel – We Love Wednesdays ft DJ Slick Metro Freo - Rapture ft DJs Mind Electric Vs Wasteland Mustang – DJ Giles Sovereign Arms – Lokie Shaw The Deen - DJ Zelimer/ DJ Viper/ DJ Benny/ T– Zone 1 The Rosemount - Lucidity ft Diabise/ Electric Sea Spider/ James Ireland/ Zeke/ Rorschach The Queens – Wriggle on YaYa’s - DJ Agent 85/ Dr Zaius

Ambar – Official Roller Easter After Party ft Tee EL/ Jazza/ Dart/ Devo/ Kent/ DJ Sempy Amplifier Capitol - Hot Cross Buns Easter Thursday ft Tonite Only/ The Medics/ Yesyou/ Mind Electric/ Death Disco DJs/ Kno Agents/ Sun City/ Jus Haus?/ DJ Cody and more Blvd Tavern – DJ Andy Capitol – Hot Cross Buns Clancy’s (Canning Bridge) - DJ Wrighteous Claremont Hotel – Charlie Bucket/ DJ Dan/ Double Dee/ Jack Masel/ Matt & Millie/ Jimmy Thorne Club Marakesh – DJ Simon Cottesloe Hotel – DJ Shots/ DJ Andy M Empire Bar – Halo/ DJ Bojan/ DJ Ben Sebastian Eve – DJ Tony Allen Flawless - DJ Zelimir/ DJ Minna/ DJ Kid Massive Flying Scotsman – Cowboys & Indie Kids DJs

Leopold Hotel – DJ Riki/ Roger Smart Library - Dorcia Llama Bar – DJ Maxwell/ EMAS/ Lukas Wimler Metro Freo - DJ Havana Brown Mint Nightclub – DJ Simon Barwood Mt Henry Tavern - DJ Matty J Mullaloo Beach Hotel - DJ John Paul/ DJ Slick Mustang – DJ James Paramount – DJ Johnny Boi/ DJ Jordan Shape - M.A.N.D.Y & Stacey Pullen South St – DJ Castasia/ Dpad Swinging Pig – DJ Simon The Avenue – Jon Ee The Bakery - Machine Drum & Jacques Greene/ Nik Ridikulas vs Ben Taaffe/ Ylem vs Rachael Dease/ Rok Riley/ Kit Pop/ Solar Barge/ Clunk/ Modo/ Oni Cash/ Sleepyhead The Carine Tavern – Punchy & Juicy/ Little Nicky The Causeway – EMAS DJs The Craftsman – Roger Smart The Deen – DJ Flex/ DJ Nano/ DJ Surge/ DJ Don Migi

Kid Massive

The Freestylers

30

Marten Hørger

METRO FREO

DELICIOUS

VOODOO LOUNGE

Llama Bar – DJ Reuben/ DJ Melvin Malt Super Club – Fiveo Metro City (R&B Lounge) - DJ Slick/ DJ Ruthless/ DJ Soso Metro City - DJ Stevie M/ DJ Matty S/ DJ Ruthless/ DJ Makka Metro Freo – DTuck/ Darren Briais/ DJ Wazz Mint Nightclub – Pop Life ft DJ Aaron/ AJ Mullaloo Beach Hotel – DJ Danny Mustang – Rockabilly DJ/ DJ FRIDAY 06/04 James MacArthur Niche – Frankie Button/ Cee/ GOOD FRIDAY Jonny Zimber Norma Jeans – DJ Darren SATURDAY 07/04 Oxford Hotel – DJ Sequeria Ambar – Japan 4 ft Bitrok/ Buda/ Paramount- DJ Cornflake / DJ Micah/ Dead Easy/ Tee EL Jordan/ DJ Johnny Boi Amplifier – Pure Pop ft Eddie Queens Tav - Gareth Richardson Electric Rocket Room – Delicious (Ladies Basement On Broadway – DJ Only) ft DJ Brett Rowe Ricky South St Ale House – DJ Jay Boheme Bar – Carte Blanche DJs Sovereign Arms – Rockwell Broken Hill Tavern – DJ Nick The Avenue – Jon Ee Alexander/ James Wilson The Aviary - Van She Tech Capitol (Upstairs) – Cream Of The The Brighton (Upstairs) – ‘80s ft DJ Ryan Micah/ Kill Dyl/ eSQue Clancy’s (Canning Bridge) - DJ The Boheme – DJ Sneakee Dood The Causeway – Sun City DJs Claremont Hotel – DJ Tone Def The Clink – Az-T Club Bay View – VIP Saturdays ft The Cornerstone – Dylan DJ Ryan Hammond Empire Bar – DJ James Ess The Craftsman – Aidan Wallis Eurobar – Roger Smart/ DJ Raci Eve Nightclub – DJ Don Migi/ DJ Stevie M Flawless - Stache Saturdays ft DJ Zelimir/ DJ Minna Flying Scotsman - Under The Influence DJs Flying Scotsman (Defectors) Fore DJs Geisha - Soul Project ft Miss Honey Dijion High Road Hotel – DJ Simon High Wycombe – DJ Matt Hipe Club – DJ E-Funk Library – MKT ft DJ Riki/ DJ Richie G/ DJ Vicktor Little Creatures Loft – Marine Beats Liquid Nightclub - DJ Klar55/ DJ Stevie M The East End Bar - The Prestige The Queens – Kapitol The Rosemount – Roller Easter Thursday ft Ekko & Sidetrack/ Deflo & The Roller Crew The Whale & Ale – Josh Tilley The Whistling Kite - DJ Gareth Tiger Lils – Paul Malone/ Adam Kelly Villa - Villa’s 3rd Birthday ft The Freestylers/ Marten Hørger/ DNGRFLD/ Black & Blunt Woodvale Tavern – DJ Melvin

The Deen - DJ Birdie/ DJ JJ/ DJ Tony Allen The Generous Squire – On Tap ft DJ Defanutely The Overflow (The Court) - DJ Hype/ Sigma The Saint – DJ Anaru The Shed –DJ Glenn 20 The Wembley – Lokie Shaw The Whistling Kite - DJ Craig The Vic – DJ Kristian Tiger Lil’s – DJ Bojan/ DJ Ben Sebastian Victoria Park Hotel – DJ Melvin Villa - Bag Raiders Windsor – DJ Ray Woodvale Tavern – DJ Real McCoy YaYa’s – Saturday Social ft The Kings Of Cheese DJs

SUNDAY 08/04 Capitol - Grizzled ft SKisM/ Zomboy/ TC/ Inspector Dubplate/ BeatauCue and more Captain Stirling – DJ Jay Claremont Hotel – DJ Double Dee Clink – DJ Tony Allen Empire Bar – CB3/ DJ Riki/ DJ Vicktor Euro Bar – DJ Flex Eve Nightclub – DJ Birdie Flying Scotsman – Under The Influence DJs

Bag Raiders

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

FLAWLESS

DJ HYPE AND SIGMA

NEWPORT

Flying Scotsman (Defectors) – Eclectic Picnic Mint - Chris McPhee Mustang – DJ Rockin Rhys Rocket Room – Coyote Ugly The Avenue – Az-T The Causeway – Lukas Wimmler The Cott – Cott Sessions The Kiosk – DJ Cinder The Rosemount Hotel - Easter Launch ft Reason/ Mass MC/ The Master/ Complete/ Aftershock/ Freethought/ Smiley/ Anomalies/ Ranga and more The Saint - DJ Anaru The Shed – DJ Andyy

IN THE THIS WEEK: Lucidity ft Diabise/ Electric Sea Spider/ James Ireland/ Zeke/ Rorschach Wednesday, April 4 @ The Rosemount Hotel

Reason

MONDAY 09/04 EASTER MONDAY

TUESDAY 10/04

Zomboy

Bar Orient - DJ Lyndon Eastern Hotel – Jon Edwards High Road Hotel – DJ Matty J High Wycombe – DJ Ricky Hipe Club – DJ Roger Smart The Cott (Upstairs) –Maxwell/ Jus Haus?/ Damian John Victoria Park Hotel – DJ Melvin

Dubplate/ BeatauCue and more Sunday, April 8 @ Capitol

Supafest ft P.Diddy/ Ice Cube/ Rick Ross/ Trey Songz/ Kelly Rowland/ Lupe Fiasco/ Chris Easter Launch ft Reason/ Brown/ Missy Elliot/ Mass MC/ The Master/ Big Sean/ Naughty By Complete/ Aftershock/ Nature Freethought/ Smiley/ Sunday, April 22 @ Arena Anomalies/ Ranga and more Joondalup Sunday, April 8 @ The Rosemount Hotel Ganga Giri Tuesday, April 24 @ The Indi Bar

GRIZZLED 004

FT ZOMBOY/ SKISM/ INSPECTOR DUBPLATE/ TC AND MORE

SUNDAY, APRIL 8 @ CAPITOL

Tritonal/ Downlink/ ShockOne/ MaRLo/ Bombs Away/ MC Stretch Saturday, May 5 @ Supreme Court Gardens

Lapalux/ oOoOO Saturday, May 19 @ The Bakery

Groovin’ The Moo ft 360/ Hilltop Hoods/ Adrian Lux/ Beni/ Digitalism/ Hermitude/ Machine Drum & Jacques Sub Zero & MC Muscles/ Purple Greene/ Nik Ridikulas vs Eksman Sneaker DJs/ Wavves Ben Taaffe/ Ylem vs Rachael Saturday, May 5 @ Villa Saturday, May 19 @ Hay Dease/ Rok Riley/ Kit Pop/ Park, Bunbury Solar Barge/ Clunk/ Modo/ Atmosphere/ COMING UP Oni Cash/ Sleepyhead Evidence Kid Mac Thursday, April 5 @ The Bakery Trafik: The Drum & Bass Galapagoose Friday, May 11 @ Villa Saturday, May 26 @ Thursday, April 26 @ The Capitol Reunion ft Rintel/ Rufkut/ Villa’s 3rd Birthday ft The Bird Mord Fustang Frantik/ JRippa/ Armee/ Freestylers/ Marten Hørger/ Xsessiv/ Mystique/ Dazz K/ Friday, May 11 @ Ambar Mickey Avalon DNGRFLD/ Black & Blunt Clark Saturday, May 26 @ The Roller Crew/ Dart/ Devo/ Thursday, April 5 @ Villa Friday, April 27 @ The Krafty Kuts Rosemount Hotel Kent/ Teneacity/ Webbz Bakery Saturday, May 12 @ Villa Friday, April 13 @ The Official Roller Easter 360/ Hermitude Rosemount Hotel Thursday After Party ft Tee It’s A London Thing Digitalism/ Adrian Lux Friday, June 22 @ Villa EL/ Jazza/ Dart/ Devo/ Kent/ Force Majeure ft Doctor ft Duane A/ Trent Friday, May 18 @ Villa DJ Sempy C/ Rhys D/ Rufkut/ J 360 Werewolf Thursday, April 5 @ Ambar Rippa/ Ru-Kasu/ Eyan Showtek Saturday, June 23 @ The Friday, April 13 @ Ambar Friday, April 27 @ Shape Friday, May 18 @ Shape Astor Hot Cross Buns Easter Amon Vision ft Daniel Thursday ft Tonite Only/ The Funkoars Kandi/ 4 Strings The Medics/ Yesyou/ Mind Friday, April 27 @ Bar 120 Friday, April 13 @ Shape Electric/ Death Disco DJs/ Kno Agents/ Sun City/ Jus The Herd/ Thundamentals Derrick May Haus?/ DJ Cody and more Friday, April 27 @ Ambar Saturday, April 14 @ The Thursday, April 5 @ Amplifier Rosemount Capitol The Funkoars Saturday, April 28 @ The Slackjaw launches DJ Havana Brown Fremantle’s Finest Remix EP Rosemount Hotel Thursday, April 5 @ Metro Freo Saturday, April 14 @ The Bird Ben UFO Saturday, April 28 @ M.A.N.D.Y & Stacey Pullen Sneaky Sound System Venue TBC Thursday, April 5 @ Shape Saturday, April 14 @ Villa Japan 4 ft Bitrok Saturday, April 7 @ Ambar

Roger Sanchez Friday, April 20 @ Villa

Bag Raiders Saturday, April 7 @ Villa

Jungle Shakedown Pt 11 Friday, April 20 @ Ambar

Van She Tech Saturday, April 7 @ The Aviary

Ganga Giri Saturday, April 21 @ The Fly

By Night

SkisM

www.xpressmag.com.au

THE OVERFLOW

Soul Project ft Miss Honey Dijion Saturday, April 7 @ Geisha Grizzled 004 ft SKisM/ Zomboy/ TC/ Inspector

Make The Face ft Kid Kenobi/ Surecut Kids Saturday, April 28 @ Villa Soul Project ft JT Donaldson Saturday, May 5 @ Geisha

Creamfields ft David Guetta/ Above & Viper ft Metrik/ ShockOne/ Beyond/ Dirty South/ Phetsta/ Ekko & Sidetrack/ Alesso/ Excision/ W&W/ llusiv & Dvise/ MCs Xsessiv/ Giuseppe Ottaviani (live)/ Congorock/ Bear & Stylee Vitalic/ Sied van Riel/ Saturday, April 21 @ Villa

31

The Pogues

WEST COAST BLUES ‘N’ ROOTS 2012 Fremantle Park Sunday, April 1, 2012 In their ninth edition, West Coast Blues ‘N’ Roots have truly trimmed the fat to present a veritable smorgasbord of acts that caters from ages eight to 80. Felicity Groom must have slightly misread the festival name as she decked out her band in blue and Groom herself was modelling boots. Thrilled to have the early punters turning out to confirm her ever growing popularity, the local chanteuse hugged her autoharp for the brooding Finders And Keepers, and showed her playful side with a cover of Mental As Anything’s Live It Up. Gin Wigmore came fashionably inked, but not as well prepared in the song department. The strong voiced Kiwi presented her own blend of trailer trash rock with a little bit of country thrown in for good measure. The gentle shuffle and honest duet of Sweet Hell was a set highlight, although it was Wigmore’s swansong of Black Sheep which really got the crowd moving.

It’s odd that a man and just his guitar could have technical difficulties, yet Steve Earle stood (not so) patiently at the side of the stage while technicians tried to sort things out. With a shortened set Earle whirled his way through Waiting On The Sky, Gulf Of Mexico and Someday but

by the time he got to My Old Friend The Blues, his shiny white teeth finally started to break through his ample beard. Another pearler of “same girl different harmonica”, led into Goodbye. His biggest hits Galway Girl and Copperhead Road were obvious points to finish as the big Virginian raised his shiny white cowboy hat to signal the end to an all too brief set.

Blitzen Trapper hail from Portland, Oregon, the current indie capital of the world, and have suitably found themselves on the formidable Sub Pop label. Staying within the indie folk guidelines, the beard ratio for this quintet is high as is the quality of their harmonies. Being somewhat of an unknown to many, Eric Earley lead his men through a dynamic set that bordered on Jayhawks like material in My Home Town as well as the more raucous Fletcher.

Delving into the most easy listening act of the afternoon Crosby Stills & Nash know how to play to a festival crowd. With strong vocals and the tunes that have been a soundtrack to many of our lives were trotted out with regularity. The wind may have played havoc with some of the harmonies and the David Crosby appeared at times to only be on the stage to offer his signature moustache, flowing grey locks and moral support, more than

musical accompaniment, yet the hits kept flowing.

Marrakesh Express, Our House and Love The One You’re With kept the crowd smiling, before Steve Earle joined them for the Pièce de résistance Teach Your Children.

If there was one band that a large portion of the crowd had been steadying themselves to see it was 2 Tone superheroes The Specials. The 30 year wait was well worth it for many who jumped and danced through the whole set, as did Neville Staple, Lynval Golding and Roddy Byers. Fashion was always part of The Specials appeal, but that shouldn’t take away from the delivery of tunes such as Rat Race, Stereotype/Stereotypes and Too Much Too Young. The audience clapped along throughout, sung in unison to A Message To You, Rudy and were left to reflect on a fun time had by all after the final strains of Enjoy Yourself. But Ghost Town was noticeably absent.

You could be excused for thinking that every ex-pat Irishman in the state had made their way to the Big Top by the time The Pogues entered the stage, such was the electric atmosphere as people crammed in like sardines to the oversized tent. The pin up boy for drinking songs, Shane McGowan, appears to be aging backwards, while chain smoking and raising his glass to the crown all evening. Their crowd favourites came thick and fast with Streams Of Whiskey, And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda and Dirty Old Town has fists pumping, Irish flags waving and alcohol fuelled voices off and on the stage flowing. MacGowan staggered on and off stage as Spider Stacey took the lead, or the band took a more traditional approach with some acoustic fare, but he always returned to rapturous applause particularly when returning for a frenetic take on Sally MacLennane and the sparkling Rainy Night In Soho.

My Morning Jacket had the dubious role of being the last band of the night who were tucked away in the tent while the masses were over at John Fogarty or making their way home. This lead to a less than packed arena when Jim James and his men walked onto the stage, but it did little to deter the band from giving 100 per cent. It is easy to see why My Morning Jacket are considered one of the best live bands going around as they blasted their way through the loudest set of the day. Things got off to an abrasive start with Victory Dance, but it didn’t take too long for the guitar slinging to kick into action. The heady hooks of Off The Record and I’m Amazed were given a solid kicking before the riff heavy Mahgeetah threatened to raise the roof.

At the much quieter main stage, John Fogerty played another festival defining set that was on par with the one he played at the same

BASEMENT BIRTHDAY

Wash

BEAT NIGHTCLUB

This Thursday, April 5, catch killer live music upstairs from Wash, Spitfires, Mezzanine, Sulu and Rich Widow. The party continues downstairs with Play showcasing DJs Blackbelt & Sunny spinning all the best in hip hop and R&B. Then on Saturday, April 7, get down to Runaways and catch punk rock DJ sets by live bands and red cup beers!

Dani, Mike, Ben

Martha, Alex

MUSTANG BAR

This Easter Thursday catch Adam Hall & The Velvet Playboys on stage with a Swinging DJ in between sets, then catch Party Rockers to kick the night off! The ‘stang is shutting their doors on Good Friday, but they bounce back bigger on Saturday, April 7, with The Continentals, 10 Cent Billionaire and DJ James MacArthur. Sunday, April 8, sees Peter Busher & The Lone Rangers with DJ Rockin’ Rhys and Blue Gene. Then on Easter Monday, Marco & the Alley Cats hit the stage finishing off a superb weekend of music!

PADDO

Tonight, Wednesday, April 4, the Paddo presents another week of POW. This evening catch the epic talents of Hyte, Custom Royal and Paperfish.

Tunes kick off at 8pm and as always, entry is 100 per cent free.

THE ELLINGTON

Sheeds, Abeni 32

The Specials

KALAMUNDA HOTEL

Clancy, Kav

Sarah, Nic

_CHRIS HAVERCROFT & MATTHEW HOGAN

Sisters are doing it for themselves at the Indi Bar’s all new Ladies Night on the first Wednesday of every month. First off the mark, local lasses Jay Grafton, Billie Rogers and Edie Green will be proving to local music lovers that girls really do do it better this Wednesday, April 4. Entry is $5 and there will be cheap champers on the bar!

The team at the Norfolk Basement celebrated 10 years of great music, beverages and good times last weekend, with a slew of local rock and pop legends performing to mark the occasion. Kav from Eskimo Joe, Abbe May and the guys and gal from San Cisco all took to the stage to wish the Basement a happy 10th birthday, and there was plenty of birthday cheer had by all. From everyone here at X-Press Magazine, happy birthday Norfolk Basement; here’s to another 10!

Bianca, Jess

festival four years ago. Kicking off with classic Creedence Clearwater Revival album Cosmo’s Factory in its entirety, the crowd was awed by the exented jams of Ramble Tamble and Heard It Through The Grapevine, although it was Lookin’ Out My Back Door that brought on the most feet-tapping. The second half of his set saw a cover of Roy Orbison’s Pretty Woman go down a treat, although it was the fiery anti-war fave Fortunate Son and ode to the Big Easy, Proud Mary, which ensured Fogerty and Blues ‘N’ Roots was one to remember.

INDI BAR

Norfolk Hotel Thursday, March 29, 2012

Photographs by Matt Jelonek

John Fogerty (Photos: Denis Radacic)

San Cisco

Head to the Ellington for two very special Easter shows with Cynthia Utterbach (USA), Audrey Tang (Singapore) and James Flynn on Thursday, April 5, and then again on Saturday, April 7. Then catch the The Groovesmiths Nu-Jazz Ensemble for a very special Easter show on Sunday, April 8, which will finish up with a late night set from Poise.

Saturday, April 7, Alitia Martin plays live in the beer garden from 2pm. On Sunday, April 8, let Stella Donnelley serenade you with her tunes from 2.30pm, plus there will be an Easter egg hunt in the bistro area for the kids!

Then on Tuesday, April 10, head on down for the very last open mic night commencing at 7pm. All musicians and vocalist welcome!

Call 0416 976 475 to register.

MOJOS BAR

Thursday, April 5, Mojos Bar are running a big blues and indie rock party to kick off the Easter break. There’ll be an egg hunt, five free beers for the person with the best party shoes and a few bar tabs may be found whilst on the Easter egg hunt.

Playing this massive night are Red Engine Caves, Shimmergloom, The Crooked Cats, The Vans, Misty Mountain, Wrongtown, The Beers and Sirens of Sounds. Mojos is giving double passes to this show, just email mojos@coolperthnights.com with “Jesus Lives” in the subject line.

ROSEMOUNT HOTEL

This Wednesday, April 4, catch Dibiase, Electric Sea Spider, James Ireland, Zeke and Rorschach in the main room from 8pm.

Entry is $20 on the door. The Rosemount is giving away double passes to this killer gig so just email win@rosemounthotel.com.au with “Win” in the subject line.

RAILWAY HOTEL

This Saturday, April 7, catch We Stand As Heroes, Dead Set Radio, One Armed Scissor and Jessika Alyce Lawrence for a mere $5 entry. Then on Sunday, April 8, the venue will host an Easter reggae session in the Beer Garden featuring Ngati, Basement Sea, Ronmak, DKO and Glen Prophecy.

Entry is $10 on the door from 6pm.

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

THE MORNING NIGHT Lucy Peach / The Deep River Collective / David And Nathalie / The Fremantle Ukulele Collective / Richard Lane / Elk Bell Mojos Bar Saturday, March 31, 2012 The most punctual of punters who rocked up to Mojos Bar on Saturday evening were greeted by the dulcet tones of Elk Bell, easing them into the night with her acoustic melancholia. As the crowd continued to gather, the mood was lightened by blues virtuoso Richard Lane, alternating between his own Clapton-esque acoustic compositions and interpretations of classics like Rolling Stones’ Little Red Rooster.

The stage, having been warmed by solo acts of sultriness and subtle smarm, was soon filled with the eight-strong Fremantle Ukulele Collective, who strummed along, stumbling only occasionally, to crowd pleasing covers of ‘80s hits. The group was later joined by four female vocalists in a quirky, simplified rendition of Talking Heads’ Road To Nowhere, from which an all in sing-a-long ensued.

Next up were David And Nathalie (comprised of two members of The Big Old Bears), who commanded the attention of expectant friends, family and fans of the headliners, filling the room with squirming anticipation. David Craft, channeling Johnny cash through a combination of dark attire and country rhythm, was contrasted beautifully

by Natalie Pavlovic’s smooth dark vocals. Beginning their set with fast paced, toe-tapping tunes, the mood then shifted with the introduction of dark harmonies and brooding love ballads. The pair finished up with an endearing collaboration on the keyboard in a display of skillful versatility.

With the smell of incense filling the room, The Deep River Collective took to the stage, sans shoes, reminding everyone they were in Freo. Starting off with slow, familiar psychedelic blues, a well performed version of Black Magic Woman fulfilled a necessary increase in pace. Jamie Canny (Hurricane Fighter Plane) provided the welcome introduction of

ADAM ANT

Georgie Girl And Her Poussez Posse Astor Theatre Sunday, April 1, 2012 There was a palpable excitement in the crowd, at the Astor Theatre on Sunday night, which only makes sense - it’s been 30 years since ‘80s icon Adam Ant’s last sojourn down under.They’re also a fairly theatrical lot, and there was a goodly amount of gold brocade on display, an uncountable amount of silk sashes and scarves, and a lot of war paint.

That level of anticipation for a headliner can be tough going on an opening act, as they’re essentially just a barrier between the fans and the fawned-upon. All-girl act Georgie Girl And Her Poussez Posse failed to make much of an impression, but arguably that’s hardly their fault.

When Adam hit the stage, and the underwhelming warmup act was quickly forgotten. It’s hard to believe the man is 57 years old - he looks about a quarter-century younger. In fact, the only noticeable difference between Ant circa 1981and the 21st century edition is that the

The Morning Night (Photo: Stefan Caramia) saxophone (and footwear), resulting in a soulful funk sound.

Lucy Peach followed, her dark vocals and assured stage presence like that of a folk/pop cross between Joan Jet and Stevie Nicks.

The modestly refined presence of Nick Vasey on guitar added depth to the yearning lyrics. The more upbeat songs of the set inciting Mojos icon Dancing John to take to the dance floor, spurring others to join in, preparing the crowd for the final and most anticipated act of the night.

By the time The Morning Night graced the stage to launch their debut album Otis the room was heaving. With their unique blend of guitar-laden country pop, the six-piece didn’t disappoint.

Despite dislocating his arm backstage prior to the show, frontman Adrian Hoffman’s well oiled musicianship didn’t appear to suffer.

Coasting through songs off both their EP Decide What You Want and their new release, the band brimmed with quiet confidence. Part way through their hour and a half long set, Ed Smith traded guitar for violin, lending a third dimension to the group’s already multi-faceted appeal.

The headlining performance was lengthy for a local act, limiting variety in parts, but otherwise an excellent showcase of fresh new music and a great way to warm up and welcome the first of many wintery nights. _ASHLEIGH WHYTE Stand And Deliver era tricorn hat has been traded in for a faintly ridiculous Napoleonic-looking bicorn. That’s not a dig, though; Ant has always revelled in the somewhat silly theatricality of his image - it’s part of his charm.

Backing band The Good, The Mad, & The Lovely Posse proved they had the chops in fairly short order by the simple expedient of having two drummers, which every good Ant fanatic knows is the core of the classic Ant sound. Adam himself took a couple of songs to get his voice in gear, but the man’s deep well of charisma more than compensated for such teething problems. Wisely, the concert stuck mostly to Ant’s greatest hits. We got a scattering of new material ostensibly taken from the long anticipated but still unreleased album Adam Ant Is The Blue Black Hussar In Marrying The Gunner’s Daughter, but the bulk of the show consisted of singalong-friendly heavy hitters.

Ant Music and Good Two Shoes got a look-in, along with Kings Of The Wild Frontier and Prince Charming, and we also got to hear some of the second-tier stuff that never crops up on ‘80s compilation CDs, such as Xerox Machine and Physical. Two encores later, the dandy highwayman had proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that he can still stand and deliver. _TRAVIS JOHNSON

NO YOLK

This Saturday, April 7, two of Freo’s finest join forces for an epic evening of musical treats in celebration of Easter Saturday. That’s right, The Love Junkies and Black Board Minds will be co-headlining Mojos Bar, promising dirty riffs and even dirty banter. Entry is $10, from 8pm.

Call Collector

CALL COLLECTOR Bearing the terrible clichéd nature of this question, how would you describe your band’s sound?

Most people that hear us won’t realise that we did it backwards - we didn’t play gigs and establish our sound first, we developed an album to discover what we sounded like. I think the best way to describe our sound is lyric-driven pop/rock with a grunge edge. Our sound is very riff-based and that certainly drives the songs - which makes the live shows slightly louder, heavier, faster and more energetic. There are layers of anthemic guitars hooks and punchy rhythms with a melodic focus and a bit of a brit-pop song structure. So it’s a little bit of everything all in one, super-condensed into music that we love.

Tell us a little bit about your new single Quicksand…

Quicksand is about the ending of a relationship, and the guilt and confusion that come along with it, while still being in love with that person. Even though you’re thinking about them all time, deep down you know the relationship has to end - that they’re no good for you – and that as an individual, you have to move forward and say goodbye. It’s about the struggle of leaving someone you care about so much, and how that can tear you to pieces, how it can pull you down, just like quicksand.

What can a punter expect from your upcoming single launch?

The single launch will be a great night. From our set you can expect to hear our whole album, which is due for release in the coming months, as well as a couple of our newer songs that we’ve been working on. Our live show is generally a bit louder, heavier and more energetic, and you’ll see us doing what we love doing, and having fun doing it. We’ve got some great supports in The Siren Tower, The Arsonist, Hoot And Howl and Dead Reckoner, who all bring something different to the show and are all great at what they do. We’ll also be giving away a free download coupon for the single with entry to everyone who puts their name on the mailing list at the launch.

Call Collector launch their new single Quicksand at the Rosemount Hotel this Saturday, April 7. www.xpressmag.com.au

LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE

As we head into winter the weather may be getting chilly, but Sunshine Brothers, Shangara Jive and Ensemble Formidable are set to provide one last burst of warmth when they showcase their reggae, African, Gypsy and global grooves at the Fremantle Arts Centre courtyard on Thursday, April 5, from 5.30pm.

TOTALLY EGGCELENT

Kick off the Easter long weekend at The Claremont on Thursday, April 5.

Featuring the talents of In The Clouds, Atmosphere, Terra Firma, DJ Charlie Bucket, NFA, Split Seconds and Emperors, this is one end-ofsummer extravaganza party people won’t want to miss. Tickets are $20 and available from Heatseeker; limited door sales will be available for $25 on the night. Ticket price includes a complementary Malibu Jungle Juice and a license to have fun!

BOB’S YOUR UNCLE

Riotous Fremantle rockers Dublin Jazz Aunts will be performing at Ya Ya’s this Saturday, April 7.With an electric cello rock sound, a tight rhythm section and unique/powerful vocal sound, this eclectic ensemble is a roots-based rock band with an edge. Support comes from BURNhabit, The Reductors and Simone Taylor. Tickets are $10 on the door from 8pm.

LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS

This Easter Saturday (April 7), due to the threat of litigation, The Fags will sadly be no more. Back in the closet and proud, they will be known hence forth as Loose Lips. Don’t miss the rock quartet’s first outing under their new moniker at the Norfolk Basement on Saturday, April 7. Support comes from Yokohomos (who’ll be playing their last show in town before heading off to tour Japan), I’m A Spaceship and Fiona McMartin.

ANYTHING BUT IDLE

After a few months of solid touring over on the East coast and in Japan, The Novocaines are back on home soil and have been gigging their arses off with shows all around town. This week you can catch the awesome five-piece at The Bird on Thursday, April 5. Support sets come from Dux N’ Downtown and Puck, and entry at a mere $5 from 8pm.

33

Michael Bolton, April 17, Riverside Theatre

APRIL 04 – APRIL 10 12 Prince Of

Wales Esplanade XAVIER RUDD 13 Busselton 4 Fly By Night 14 Swan 5 Astor Theatre Basement 15 Newport YES 18 Mojos 5 Riverside Theatre 19 Mustang Bar 20 Dunsborough MACHINE Tavern DRUM / 21 & 22 Settlers JACQUES Tavern GREENE 26 Gypsy Tapas 5 The Bakery House Freo 27 Velvet Lounge BAG RAIDERS 29 Indi Bar PASSENGER 7 Villa 13 Fly By Night COLD CHISEL FAIRBRIDGE 7 Sandalford Winery FESTIVAL OF WORLD & FOLK Swan Valley MUSIC (Paul Brady, Seth DEAD MEADOW Lakeman, My / PINK Friend The MOUNTAINTOPS Chocolate Cake, 7 The Bakery Chipolatas, Chris While, JAY HOAD Julie Matthews, 7 Clancy’s Freo Kavisha, 8 Dunsborough Tjupurru, Tavern Stiff Gins, The Woohoo Revue and more TBA) BALL PARK 13 - 15 Fairbridge MUSIC / CUB Village Pinjarra SCOUTS ABSOLUTE BOYS 7 Amplifier 15 The Bird 8 Newport Hotel VAN SHE The Court STRAWBERRY 15 Overflow JAM MUSIC THE HERD FESTIVAL Rosemount (P.O.D., Hawk 14 Hotel Nelson, Mike SEAL Mains & The 14 Sandalford Branches and Estate more) SNEAKY SOUND 8 Handasyde SYSTEM Strawberry Farm 14 Villa Albany SPIRAL DANCE 14 Bassendean Hotel APRIL LAST SUBLIME WITH DINOSAURS ROME / MAT 14 Amplifier McHUGH 15 Mojos Bar 11 Metropolis JUSTIN TOWNES Fremantle THE NEVER EVER EARLE 12 YMCA HQ (early) 14 Fly By Night 15 Rosemount / Villa (late) Hotel DUBLIN JAZZ MICHAEL AUNTS BOLTON / 12 Norfolk ORIANTHI Basement 17 Riverside SETH LAKEMAN Theatre / CARUS SHOOGLENIFTY / THOMPSON THE CHIPOLATAS 12 Clancy’s Fish 18 Fly By Night Pub Fremantle 13 Hyde Park Hotel AMON AMARTH JAY HOAD 19 Capitol

34

Loon Lake, April 20, Capitol BLUEJUICE / LOON LAKE 19 Settler’s Tavern 20 Capitol CALLING ALL CARS 19 Indi Bar 20 Prince Of Wales 21 Rosemount Hotel BIG SCARY / THE SALVADORS 20 Amplifier SNARSKI VS SNARSKI 20 The Velvet Lounge 21 Norfolk Basement BEN SALTER / JOE MCKEE 20 The Fly Trap 22 The Bird GANGA GIRI 21 Fly By Night 22 Redcliffe 24 Indi Bar LIAM BURROWS 21 The Atrium Mandurah 22 The Ellington DEEZ NUTS / PHANTOMS 21 Amplifier 22 YMCA HQ SUPAFEST (P. Diddy, Chris Brown, Missy Elliot, Naughty

By Nature, Big Sean, Ice Cube, Rick Ross, Trey Songz, Kelly Rowland, Lupe Fiasco) 22 Arena Joondalup LOU BARLOW 22 Rosemount Hotel RTRFM’S IN THE PINES 22 Somerville Auditorium BURT BACHARACH 23 Riverside Theatre AUGUST BURNS RED 25 Amplifier AN HORSE 25 Rosemount Hotel BLEEDING KNEES CLUB 25 Indi Bar WHITLEY 26 Newport CLARK 27 The Bakery THE RUBENS 27 Villa

Lou Barlow, April 22, Rosemount Hotel

THE FUNKOARS 27 Bar 120 28 Rosemount Hotel BLEEDING KNEES CLUB / DUNE RATS 27 Amplifier 28 Mojos Bar POND / THE LAURELS 28 The Bakery THE RUBENS / RUFUS 27 Villa PAUA 27 Fly By Night HOODOO GURUS / REDD KROSS / THE FLESHTONES 28 Astor Theatre

MAY THE MOUNTAIN GOATS / CATHERINE TRAICOS & PHILIP EVERALL 1 The Bakery MIKE STEWART 2 The Ellington GOSSLING 2 Little Creatures Loft 3 The Bird DZ DEATHRAYS 3 Prince Of Wales 4 Amplifier 5 Mojos PJ O’BRIEN 3 Albany Blues Club 4 Southwest Blues Club Bunbury 5 Hyde Park Hotel 6 Mt Helena Tavern 8 Charles Hotel 9 Mojos Bar 12 Settlers Tavern HUSKY 4 The Bakery FU MANCHU / BLACK COBRA 5 Rosemount Hotel DEVILDRIVER / DARKEST HOUR / SIX FEET UNDER 9 Capitol FRANK TURNER & THE SLEEPING SOULS / WILLIAM ELLIOTT WHITMORE / THE SMITH STREET BAND 9 Amplifier Centre 12 Fremantle Arts Centre

DEAD LETTER CIRCUS 10 Prince Of Wales 11 Metropolis Fremantle 12 Capitol BOY & BEAR 10 Albany Entertainment Centre 11 Bunbury Entertainment Centre 12 Fremantle Arts Centre 13 Mandurah Performing Arts HARD-ONS 11 Civic Hotel 12 Prince Of Wales 13 Indi Bar SICK OF IT ALL / AGNOSTIC FRONT 11 Amplifier ATMOSPHERE 11 Villa CLARY BROWNE & THE BANGIN’ RACKETTES 11 Fly By Night KRISTIN BERADI 11 & 12 The Ellington LANIE LANE 12 Fly By Night Club 13 Amplifier RALPH MCTELL 13 Fly By Night DAVID CAMPBELL 16 Mandurah Performing Arts Centre 17 Queens Park Theatre Geraldton 18 Perth Concert 19 Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre ANDREW W.K. 17 The Bakery FLORENCE + THE MACHINE / BLOOD ORANGE 17 Burswood Dome WAVVES 18 Rosemount Hotel THE GETAWAY PLAN / NEW EMPIRE 18 Amplifier THE MACCABEES 18 Capitol KAISER CHIEFS / DEEP SEA ARCADE / LOON LAKE 18 Metro City

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

Listing deadline is Monday 5pm. The Gig-Guide is a service to advertisers listing bands.

All inclusions are at the discretion of X-Press Magazine. Email reception@xpressmag.com.au or fax 9213 2882.

Lights, June 5, Metro City MANHATTAN JINX 18 The Den 19 Railway Hotel DREAM ON DREAMER 18 Metropolis Fremantle 19 Amplifier 20 YMCA HQ GROOVIN THE MOO (360, Andrew W.K OneMan-Party Tour, City And Colour, Digitalism, The Getaway Plan, Hilltop Hoods, Kaiser Chiefs, The Maccabees, Public Enemy, Wavves, Ball Park Music and more TBA) 19 Hay Park Bunbury NATURALLY 7 19 Perth Concert Hall LAPALUX / OOOOO 19 The Bakery HANNIBAL MEANS 20 The Ellington CITY AND COLOUR 20 Fremantle Arts Centre MUTEMATH 20 Amplifier THE POOR 20 Newport

KIMBRA / DANIEL MERRIWEATHER / SAM LAWRENCE 21 Metro City THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE / THE RAVEONETTES 22 Astor Theatre ANTI-FLAG / STRIKE ANYWHERE / FLATLINERS 24 Capitol S-CLUB / BIG BROVAZ 25 Metro City CATCALL 26 Amplifier BITTER END 26 The Den 27 YMCA HQ LIAM BURROWS 26 Friends Restaurant 27 Jazz Fremantle THE OCEAN 27 The Bakery BARNEY MCALL 27 The Ellington NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK / BACKSTREET BOYS 29 Burswood Dome BOB HIRST 30 & 31 The Ellington

JUNE HARRY MANX 1 Fly By Night

Alpine, June 9 & 10, Astor Theatre REEF 1 Metropolis Fremantle ERIC BOGLE WITH JOHN MUNRO 2 Fly By Night JOSH KYLE 2 The Ellington KIMBERLEY MOON EXPERIENCE (Paul Kelly, Kasey Chambers, The Black Sorrows and more) 2 Jim Hughes Amphitheatre Ord River THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT / NUMBERS RADIO / GREENTHIEF 2 Prince Of Wales 3 Metro City SAMUEL YIRGA QUARTET 4 & 5 The Ellington THE JEZABELS / LIGHTS 5 Metro City SILVERSTEIN 7 Villa TINA ARENA 8 Riverside Theatre MATT CORBY / ALPINE 9 & 10 Astor Theatre LAURA 9 Rosemount Hotel 10 Mojos Bar

Lisa Mitchell, June 15, St Joseph’s Church

THE MISSION IN MOTION 9 Amplifier 10 Newport DEF FX 11 The Bakery THE BLACK SEEDS 14 The Bakery TIM FREEDMAN 14, 15 & 16 The Ellington LISA MITCHELL / GEORGIA FAIR 15 St Joseph’s Church, Subiaco LENNY HENRY 15 Burswood Theatre DEEP SEA ARCADE / THE CAIROS / WOE & FLUTTER 15 Indi Bar 16 Amplifier 17 Mojos GUY SEBASTIAN 19 His Majesty’s Theatre 20 Mandurah Performing Arts Centre CAMILLE O’SULLIVAN 21 Astor Theatre 360 / GOSSLING / HERMITUDE / BAM BAM 22 Villa 23 & 24 Astor Theatre

KARNIVOOL 22 & 23 Mermaid Hotel Dampier 27 Prince Of Wales NADIA ACKERMAN 28 The Ellington

JULY LADY GAGA 7 & 8 Burswood Dome MELISSA ETHERIDGE 20 Riverside Theatre KARNIVOOL 27 & 28 Rosemount Hotel NARISSA CAMPBELL 27 & 28 The Ellington EIFFEL 65 / N-TRANCE 28 Metropolis Fremantle

AUGUST BELL BIV DEVOE / GINUWINE 9 Astor Theatre BOB BARRETT 9 The Ellington

SEPTEMBER SUBHUMANS 12 Amplifier HANSON 22 Metropolis Fremantle

XAVIER RUDD

Whether he’s using native Australian bird sounds as percussion or making his signature Weissenborn slide guitar crank out some weirdly wonderful electric sounds, roots troubadour Xavier Rudd is living proof of the diversity of the 21st century’s incarnation of blues and roots. The talented troubadour will be playing tunes from his forthcoming album Spirit Bird at the Fly

By Night on Wednesday, April 4, and the Astor Theatre on Thursday, April 5. Tickets to the Fly By Night show are available from flybynight.org and tickets to the Astor Theatre show are available from BOCS.

Xavier Rudd

BIG SCARY

Big Scary

www.xpressmag.com.au

Melbourne duo Tom Iansek and Jo Syme – aka Big Scary – will be doing an Australian tour in April on the back of their critically acclaimed debut LP Vacation. Having played a small run of sold-out intimate performances in October, the Vacation Tour will see them return to the stage in all their genre bending glory. The indie rock twosome have warmed up for their pending tour with recent sets at SXSW and Canadian Music Week, and are sure to impress when they hit Amplifier on Friday, April 20. Click on over to bigscary.net to secure your ticket.

35

Davey Craddock, Wednesday at The Moon

The Novocaines, Thursday at The Bird

WEDNESDAY 04.04 ROSIE O’GRADY’S BALMORAL Nathan Gaunt Bar 120 Felix BLACK BETTY’S Blue Gene CLANCY’S FISH PUB (CANNING BRIDGE) Chris Ravatt Luke Zarm CLAREMONT HOTEL Open Mic Night ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB The Collaboratory With Ray Walker & Tom O’Halloran FLY BY NIGHT Xavier Rudd HALE ROAD TAVERN Fenton Wilde INDI BAR Jay Grafton Billie Rogers Edie Green LOBBY LOUNGE (BURSWOOD) Courtney Murphy LUCKY SHAG Howie Morgan MOJOS BAR Dream Tree Mat Cal Jordan Danah Mitchell MUSTANG Kickstart NEWPORT Hed Kandi Classics PADDO Paperfish Custom Royal Hyte PADDY HANNANS 5 Shots ROSEMOUNT Dibiase Electric Sea Spider James Ireland Zeke Rorschach

(NORTHBRIDGE) Matt Milford SOUTH ST ALE HOUSE Greg Carter THE MOON Ash Hendriks Davey Craddock Mel Hall UNIVERSAL Strutt YA YA’S The Whores Kaya Brothers Live At Infinity Fliptop

THURSDAY 05.04 BAILEY BAR Modsquad BALLYS BAR Jamie Powers BALMORAL Gotham City BELGIAN BEER CAFÉ Feisty Burlesque BENTLEY HOTEL Karin Page BLVD TAVERN Lemz Solo BOAB TAVERN Zenburger BROOKLANDS TAVERN Celebrations Karaoke BRASS MONKEY Adrian Wilson CIVIC HOTEL (THE DEN) Listening For Triggers Afraid Of Heights Amend The Exit Line CLAREMONT HOTEL Split Seconds Emperors COMO HOTEL The Other Guys DEVILLES PAD Rock‘n’Roll Karaoke

Call Collector

CALL COLLECTOR

THE SIREN TOWER,THE ARSONIST HOOT AND HOWL,DEAD RECKONER

SATURDAY,APRIL 7 ROSEMOUNT HOTEL

36

EDZ SPORTS BAR Sugarfield ELEPHANT & WHEELBARROW Daren Reid & The Soul City Groove ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB James Flynn & Cynthia Utterbach EMPIRE Halo FUSE BAR Howie Morgan FREMANTLE ARTS CENTRE Sunshine Brothers Shangara Jive Ensemble Formidable GREENWOOD Baby Piranhas HIGH ROAD HOTEL Damien Cripps Band HIGH WYCOMBE HOTEL Switch HYDE PARK HOTEL Nathan Gaunt Morgan Bain Minky G Mama Boots Switchback INDI BAR Bex’s Open Mic Night INGLEWOOD HOTEL Easy Tigers KALAMUNDA HOTEL Blue Bottles LEISURE INN Acoustic Hwy LUCKY SHAG Nathan Gaunt MARKET CITY TAVERN Nathan Mayer Honeywheeler Grave Forsaken MOJOS BAR Red Engine Caves Shimmergloom The Crooked Cats The Vans Misty Mountain Wrongtown The Beers Sirens Of Sounds MUSTANG BAR Adam Hall & The Velvet Playboys Party Rockers NEWPORT Angry Buddah NORFOLK BASEMENT The Silent World Lanark Antelope OSBORNE PARK HOTEL James Wilson OXFORD HOTEL Johnny Taylor

Cal Peck & The Tramps, Saturday at Hyde Park Hotel

PADDO Stu Harcourt PADDY HANNANS Dr Bogus PARAMOUNT Flyte ROCKET ROOM Blunt Force Trauma Reapers Riddle Gates Of Perdition Accursed ROSIE O’GRADY’S (FREMANTLE) Clayton Bolger ROSIE O’GRADY’S (NORTHBRIDGE) Bill Chidgzey SPRINGS TAVERN The Mojos STEVES BAR Retriofit STIRLING ARMS Sophie Jane SWINGING PIG Dirty Scoundrels THE BIRD The Novocaines Dux & Downtown Puck THE BOAT Jen De Ness THE BROOK Chris Gibbs Duo THE GATE Better Days THE SHED Kickstart THE VIC Jack & Jill UNIVERSAL Off The Record YA YA’S Sprawl Sidewalk Diamonds Sexy Robot Lanark

FRIDAY 06.04 EAST 150 Trevor Jalla NEWPORT Party Rockers

SATURDAY 07.04 AMPLIFIER Ball Park Music BAILEY BAR Lush BAKERY Dead Meadow Pink Mountaintops The Devil Rides Out Sugarpuss BALMORAL Retriofit BALLYS BAR Stu Harcourt BAR 120 Flyte BELGIAN BEER CAFÉ Karin Page BLACK BETTY’S J Babies BLVD TAVERN Peace Love & All That Stuff

BROOKLANDS TAVERN Karin Page BURSWOOD (PRIZE DRAW STAGE) Switch CAPTAIN STIRLING Howie Morgan CIVIC HOTEL (THE DEN) Antagonist A.D Into The Sea The Others Driven Fear Negative Reinforcement Dying Sun CLANCY’S FISH PUB (CANNING BRIDGE) The Limelights CLANCY’S FISH PUB (CITY BEACH) The Limelights CLANCY’S FISH PUB (FREMANTLE) Jay Hoad CLAREMONT HOTEL Pete Busher & The Lone Rangers COMO HOTEL Tip Top Sound DEVILLE’S PAD Ziggi & The New Generation Les Sataniques ELEPHANT & WHEELBARROW Gun Shy Romeos ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB James Flynn & Cynthia Utterbach Empire GREENWOOD Cargo Beat GYPSY TAPAS HOUSE Minky G HIGH ROAD HOTEL Losing Julia HYDE PARK HOTEL Cal Peck & The Tramps The Sure Fire Midnights Blazing Entrails INDI BAR Matt Gresham INDIAN OCEAN BREW CO The Other Guys KALAMUNDA HOTEL Alitia Martin LAKERS TAVERN Dr Bogus LEISURE INN Rack A Fellas LEOPOLD HOTEL Steve Hepple LOBBY LOUNGE (BURSWOOD) Pop Candy

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

Listing deadline is Monday 5pm. The Gig-Guide is a service to advertisers listing bands.

All inclusions are at the discretion of X-Press Magazine. Email reception@xpressmag.com.au or fax 9213 2882.

Loose Lips, Saturday at Norfolk Basement MERRIWA TAVERN Celebrations Karaoke METRO FREO Hi-NRG MOON & SIXPENCE Blaze M ON THE POINT Rhythm 22 MOJOS BAR The Love Junkies Blackboard Minds Oh You Pretty Things MUSTANG 10 Cent Billionaire The Continentals NEWPORT Kizzy Gravity NORFOLK BASEMENT Loose Lips The Yokohomos I’m A Spaceship Fiona McMartin OSBORNE PARK HOTEL James Wilson PADDY HANNAN’S Decoy PADDY MAGUIRE’S PUB Masterplan PARAMOUNT Felix PRINCE OF WALES Return Of Lizard Silver Lizard S.S.A Kettle Fingers The Nighthawker QUARRIE BAR Electrophobia RAILWAY HOTEL We Stand As Heroes Dead Set Radio One Armed Scissor Jessika Alyce Lawrence RAVENSWOOD HOTEL Parker Ave ROCKET ROOM Kickstart ROSEMOUNT Call Collector The Siren Tower The Arsonist Hoot & Howl Dead Reckoner ROSIE O’GRADY’S (NORTHBRIDGE) Blue Gene SAIL & ANCHOR The Kickstarts SOUTH BEACH HOTEL Nasty Dogz STEVES BAR Sean Scott SUBIACO HOTEL Off The Record SWAN BASEMENT The Wishers Falloe Tokyo 5 Matt Collyer

SWINGING PIG Lips McConague THE BIRD Rok Riley Oni Ca$h Frodo Bolsty Clunk Shadow Nomad THE BOAT Free Radicals THE GATE Dirty Scoundrels THE SHED Huge THE WHALE & ALE Damien Cripps Band TWO ROCKS TAVERN Keith McDonald UNIVERSAL Soul Corporation WANNEROO TAVERN Lips McConague WOODVALE TAVERN Modsquad YA YA’S Dublin Jazz Aunts Burn Habit The Reductors Simone Taylor

Friday Friday Travis Caudle Sal Albate, Sunday at Travis Caudle FlyBy ByNight Night Rocket Room Fly

EMPIRE CB3 GREENWOOD One Trick Phonies HIGH WYCOMBE HOTEL The Organ Grinders HIGH RD Mike Nayar HYDE PARK HOTEL Simon Kelly Sophie Jane INDI BAR Aarons Crusade St Ravine Ryan Webb INDIAN OCEAN BREW CO Dove Retriofit KALAMUNDA HOTEL Leighton Keepa LAKERS TAVERN Jamie Powers LAST DROP TAVERN Brett Hardwick LEISURE INN Ivan Ribic M ON THE POINT Bluebottles MOJOS BAR Special Brew Isolites The Accelerators SUNDAY 08.04 MUSTANG TH 7 AVENUE Blue Gene Good Karma Peter Busher And AMPLIFIER The Lone Rangers Afterlife NEWPORT BALLY’S BAR Tim Nelson Greg Carter OCEAN VIEW BALMORAL TAVERN Cranky Free Radicals BLVD TAVERN PADDY HANNAN’S Annabelle Flyte Cassie Enright PIG AND WHISTLE Cam & Leon Sophie Jane Duo Lazarus PRINCIPAL BROKEN HILL Karin Page HOTEL PINK DUCK Chris Murphy Kevin Conway BROOKLANDS QUARRIE BAR TAVERN Jack + Jill Greg Carter CAPTAIN STIRLING QUEENS TAVERN Christian Parkinson Mister & Sunbird CARINE RAILWAY HOTEL The Mojos Ngati CHASE BAR Basement Sea James Wilson Ronmak CLANCY’S FISH PUB DKO (DUNSBOROUGH) Glen Prophecy The Fancy Brothers Australia CLANCY’S FISH RAVENSWOOD PUB (FREMANTLE) HOTEL The Zydecats 100 Strangers CLAREMONT REDCLIFFE HOTEL PINJARRA Sunday Driver Warning Birds COMO HOTEL ROCKET ROOM David Fyffe Coyote Ugly EAST 150 Sal Albate Stu Harcourt ROSEMOUNT ELLINGTON JAZZ Easter Launch CLUB Reason The Groovesmiths AJ Nu-Jazz Ensemble Mass MC Poise

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Karin Page, Sunday at Principal

The Master Porsah Laine Smiley Seasta Chani Mama Tiger Cat + Complete MX Axis Anomalies Rukus Napalm Switchblade Ranga Sever Gusto Archey Moses Tera Synx/Nima AF Raw Defekt Aftershock LSD & The Missus Adam Crook The New Breed Divine Kings Tongue Elite Azmatik Daniel Ray Freethought SAIL & ANCHOR Shawne + Luc THE BIRD Falloe Matt Collyer Tokyo Five THE COURT Gun Shy Romeos THE GATE Better Days One Trick Phonies THE SAINT The Howie Morgan Trio Mike Nayar SOUTH ST ALE HOUSE Sean Scott SPRINGS TAVERN Adrian Wilson SWINGING PIG Adam James THE SHED The Healy’s Renegade UNIVERSAL Retriofit VICTORIA PARK HOTEL Neil Colliss

WANNEROO TAVERN Matt Milford WOODVALE TAVERN Damien Cripps

MONDAY 09.04 BRASS MONKEY The Organ Grinders BURSWOOD CASINO Hi-NRG DUCKSTEIN BREWERY Selestial LOBBY LOUNGE (BURSWOOD) Courtney Murphy MOJOS BAR Wide Open Mic Night MUSTANG BAR Marco & The Alley Cats THE BOAT Adam James THE DEEN Plastic Max & The Token Gesture

TUESDAY 10.04 ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Penny King LOBBY LOUNGE (BURSWOOD) Chris Murphy LUCKY SHAG Ben Merito MOJOS BAR I Of Ra Samot Frod Thirty Three Basso PADDO Stu Harcourt PRINCE OF WALES Open Mic Night SETTLERS TAVERN Open Mic Night X-WRAY CAFE Open Piano Night

Dublin Jazz Aunts

DUBLIN JAZZ AUNTS BURNHABIT THE REDUCTORS SIMONE TAYLOR

SATURDAY,APRIL 7,YA YAS

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Classifieds and Music Services Hotline: 9213 2888 Display ads: musicservices@xpressmag.com.au Deadline: 4pm Monday Credit cards welcome

DANCE CLASSES BELLYDANCE CENTRAL STUDIO CLASSES Free class 20th April. Special fun beginners courses. Term 2 starts Mon 23rd April.

For brochure, info & free class invite shaheena@iinet.net.au 0409 511 125. www.bellydancecentral.com.au FOR HIRE STATE OF THE ART EQUIPMENT PA Hire - Digital lights / mixer-pro operator.

Competitive rates. www.aapahire.com.au 0417 997 381 FOR SALE R O L A N D FA N TO M G 7 Pr o fe s s i o n a l workstation. $3200 ONO. Bought from Kosmic. Jo: 0415 324 798.

SOUND INSULATION FOAM Ex Recording Studio. 35 sq metres. Will sell separately or as a whole. $60 per sq metre. 0408 907 826.

HAIR, HEALTH & HAPPINESS MENS WAXING/CLIPPING Itís a guy thing!

Hair removal for men, private, qualified, experienced. Ph Athletes Effigy 9384 2950 MUSOS WANTED B A S S P L AY E R & D R U M M E R 4 0 + Wanted to form cover band playing 60’s-00’s. The idea behind this is to provide quality entertainment that’s not loud and overbearing for the private function/ corporate/restaurant market & suitable live venues that cater for the more mature patrons. The set list is wide & varied but mostly classic top 40’s based pop/rock/ dance/easy listening genres. Looking for reliable versatile people that want to play live, earn a few dollars and willing to learn & do their part in making this a long term successful business. Based NOR 0404 189 656..

DRUMMER WANTED For original band, m u s t b e re a d y a n d w i l l i n g to to u r.

Influences include Arctic Monkeys, The Clash, The Libertines, Oasis, The Cribs. Text 0488904181 for audition. Good haircut and crap sense of humour essential.

EXPERIENCED LEAD FEMALE VOCALIST WANTED For working 80’s cover band. No time wasters. Ph: 0439 408 909.

LEAD GUITARIST WANTED For rock cover band ready to gig. Ph Mara 0409 088 207.

OPEN MIC NIGHT every Thursday night at Indi Bar. Just call Bex on 0404 917 632 OPEN MIC NIGHT Every Tuesday night at the Craigie Tavern 8-11pm. Call Simon for bookings 0431 619 885 PROFICIENT KEYBOARD & GUITARIST Wanted to jam in Country Rock style band.

Fremantle area. Able to learn original songs. Ph Ken 0437 225 575.

SERIOUS MUSO’S NEEDED Professional female singer/guitarist looking for a lead guitarist for duo work. Would also love to hear from any band looking for a lead female vocalist. Please call Nadia 0431 558 333

WANTED TALENTED TRUMPET AND TROMBONE PLAYERS If you are new to Perth, have left school or university and want to be in a big band, please phone Chris: 0451 458 533 WA N T E D : 5 0 ’s D A N C E B A N D F O R RESIDENCY Similar to Perth 80’s Band ‘Teddy Bears’. Send Info to Soundzmusicperth@ gmail.com or PO Box 307, Joondalup DC, 6919 PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT PHOTOGR APHY Pr o m o photography, studio, live, location. Mike Wylie 0417 975 964 www.projectphotography.com When its time to ice the cake...

PRODUCTION SERVICES CD & DVD MANUFACTURE Check out our latest CD & DVD specials online at www. procopy.com.au 9375 3902 MATRIX PRODUCTIONS AUSTRALIA Lighting, staging, sound systems, smoke machines, night club FX, intelligent lighting, strobes & mirror balls, crowd barriers, video projectors. 9371 1551 PA HIRE FX Lights club to concert size. Pro Equipment www.perthconcertsound.com. au.. Ph 9307 8594 / mob 0404 410 020 / 9309 6219 RECORDING STUDIOS ALAN DAWSON’s WITZEND RECORDING STUDIO Prof quality albums or demos, large live room, experienced engineer, analog to digital transfers, mastering..Alan 0407 989 128 or Jeremy 0430638178 www. witzendstudios.com ANDY’S STUDIO International multi award winning songwriter / producer. No band required. Broadcast quality. A songwriter’s paradise. Ph 9364 3178 AVALON STUDIOS BIBRA LAKE One of Perths best equipped studio. Record to analog tape or digital, Avalon pre amps, Neumann mics, the latest and best universal audio, plug in’s for digital recordings. All styles of music, $55 per hour call Tony 0411 118304 email - avalonstudios@bigpond.com CASTLEROCK STUDIOS ROCKINGHAM Old school analogue gear, latest cutting edge technology, competitive prices. Work with a producer who really cares and offers industry direction about what to do and who to approach after you’ve recorded.

Whether it’s radio airplay, doco’s film or tv.

We work internationally and have assisted several bands in getting signed, touring and

airplay in the US. Our staff have worked for most major records labels and 100’s of the biggest bands in the world! www. castlerock.au.com Ph: 08 9529 2021 GOLDDUSTCONSTRUCTION.COM Pr o d u c t i o n , m i x i n g, r e c o r d i n g a n d composition for your music. Unique award winning skills to take songs from ideas to finished mixes or to fulfill the potential in existing ones. Located in Subiaco. $60 p/h.

Andrew 0408 097 407 LAYER CAKE AUDIO Fully equipped, worldclass, spacious recording facility with an internationally experienced and award winning engineer. From preproduction through to final product, full showcasing rehearsals and project management. Call Sebastien or Kieran on 0437 592 849 or email us: layercakeaudio@gmail.com 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 R E CO R D I N G M I X I N G M A S T E R I N G PRODUCING Fremantle location. Call Pete Kitchen Cooked Records. Ph 0407 363 764 / 9336 3764 REVOLVER SOUND STUDIO Ph 9272 7505. www.revolverstudio.com.au SONGWRITERS! - UNLOCK YOUR SONGS’ POTENTIAL +FREE BAND APPRAISALS. U K Pro d u ce r, 4 0 , 0 0 0 + h o u r s s t u d i o 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 TONE CIT Y RECORDING STUDIO Professional recording & mixing. Clients include Abbe May, Pond, Felicity Groom & The Silentís. Ph: 0409 297 362.

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 PLATINUM SOUND ROOMS Professional rehearsal rooms, airconditioned, quality PAs mob 0418 944 722 STREAM STUDIOS The place to rehearse in Perth.. Phone: 0403 152 009 www. streamrehearsal.com.au TUITION AAA CLEAVER ACADEMY OF VOICE Professional vocal training for singers All Styles and levels.

Have some fun & learn new skills!

Speech level training included.

Phone 92724497 for info.

W/Pth Mt Lawley. * * * G U I TA R L E S S O N S * * * J A N / F E B ENROLMENTS NOW. Beg-adv, all styles and all levels including bass. Cliff Lynton Guitar Institute. Mt Lawley 9342 3484 / www.clifflynton.com BASS LESSONS Rock, funk & jazz. Tony Gibbs 9470 6131 DRUM LESSONS All styles, WAAPA prep.

Modern techniques, rudiments, soloing, favourite songs. Beg-Adv. Ph: Pascal 0413 172 817. Available 7 days & all holidays.

SINGING LESSONS Learn a technique that actually works! The method used by over 120 Grammy award winners.

Certified Speech Level singing instructor.

Call Simon 0431335495.

S I N G I N G T E AC H E R COT T E S LO E Experienced teacher providing comfortable & fun learning for all levels and age groups Cost $60/hr. All enquiries please email: fpmusicservices@gmail.com

DJ FACTORY

With a little more cash than that four-song demo cost back in the late ‘90s, musicians can invest in a studio that will produce high-quality multitrack recordings, complete with mixing and mastering software.

One thing that often gets overlooked when someone invests in a home studio, however, is the monitoring system. Those who are less experienced with the recording process often, settle for using headphones or speakers that are inappropriate. This week in Volume we take a look at just two of the many great products DJ Factory have on sale which may help musicians and DJs of every level produce the sound they want both in and out of the studio.

Demo Dilemma

In the not-too-distant past, producing a decent-quality demo required a few 100 bucks, some quick takes in the studio, and a short mixing session.The final product wasn’t always the most stellar-sounding recording, but hey, it’s a demo, and that’s what was expected. In a matter of a few years, this has changed dramatically.

KRK ROKIT 8

KRK ROKIT 8 Sennheiser HD 25-1-II Adidas Originals For years the Rokit series has been a popular choice for accurate monitoring in studios large and small.

Now the all new Generation 2 Rokit provides a new standard for even better performance and accuracy, raising the bar once again. The KRK Rokit Series takes value-priced monitors to a new performance level.

All of the great stuff that Rokit’s have been known for (front-firing bass port, soft-domed tweeter, glass aramid Want the very best? Check out these headphones! composite yellow cone) are still there, but the G2 Rokit’s feature refined voicing and a new curved baffle that Professional sound combined with the Adidas Originals style make the Sennheiser Adidas HD 25’s looks great, reduces diffraction and provides even more than just a little bit fancy. Underneath the flashy better monitoring accuracy. KRK originally made their reputation by building Kevlar-coned speakers, but the blue three stripes is the supreme Sennheiser HD 25 quality sound just as it’s meant to be, super loud 120dB woven glass-fibre composite used on their lower-cost without distortion and a very crisp clean 16-22,000 models still combines physical strength and stiffness Hz frequency response. Wear the HD 25s in any DJ with good self damping, which in turns helps deliver a tighter sound. With 20W feeding the tweeter and 70W situation, including in the club, at parties or at home for clean precise mixes. With a full two year warranty available to the mid-range/bass driver, the Rokit 8 is very they can handle the rough lifestyle of the DJ and you efficient, which means musicians won’t need massive can even replace all parts individually. internal power amplifiers.

Both of these products will be available for sale during the DJ Factory’s 12th birthday sale, which runs ‘til Saturday, April 7. For more information, call (08) 9228 1911.

SENNHEISER HD 25-1-II ADIDAS ORIGINALS

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays