X-Press Magazine #1314

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

LAUGH AND A HALF

Rottofest, the only ‘overseas’ festival that you don’t need a passport for, has announced acclaimed comedian, writer and producer Tim Ferguson (Doug Anthony Allstars, Don’t Forget Your Toothbrush) as host of the film screenings and award ceremony for this year’s festival to be held on Rottnest Island from Saturday, September 8, ‘til Sunday, September 9. The fourth annual Rottofest will be a weekend of film, comedy and music, which celebrates the finest comedy filmmakers, stand-up comedians and musicians from Western Australia and across the country. Tickets go on sale in June and the 2012 stand-up comedy and musical line-ups will be announced soon. If you need some laughs from the organisers to tide you over in the meantime, head to the Hyde Park Hotel tomorrow night for the Vulture Culture Comedy Showcase, which has 16 local comedians lined up from 8pm, for free.

The Bamboos

MARVELLOUS MEDICINE

The Black Keys y

READY TO ROCK

After a three year hiatus the Rock It festival has returned with a vengeance and one hell of a headliner in The Black Keys. Arguably the hottest rock‘n’roll act on the planet right now, the duo are scheduled to strut out massive hits Lonely Boy and Gold On The Ceiling during the closing set on Sunday, October 28, at Arena Joondalup. Although the much of the rest of the acts on the Rock It line-up are yet to be announced, we can tell you that highly touted Sydney rockers Royal Headache will be making an appearance. Just like previous Rock-It headliners Kings Of Leon, Foo Fighters, and Green Day, the festival has secured a band at the height of their powers and they no doubt have the ultimate rock show in store to kick off our summer! Just a pity it’s autumn now... Tickets go on sale for $107 from Heatseeker on Friday, May 4.

Tim Ferguson

FEEDING FRENZY

STAND DOWN

The Novocaines

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Reactions/ Comp

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Flesh

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Music: Emperors

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Music: Record Store Day

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Music: Deez Nuts/ Chainsaw Hookers

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Music: Big Scary/ Rob Snarski

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New Noise

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Eye4 Cover: Perth Fashion Week

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Eye4 News/ Music/ Movies: Spud

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Eye4 Movies: Salmon Fishing In The Yemen/

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Eye4 Arts List/ Arts Stories

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Eye4 Lifestyle/ Eye2Eye

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Salt Cover: Roger Sanchez

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Salt: Cover Story/ News

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Salt: Funkoars/ Chet Faker/ Clark/ Obie Trice

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Club Manual/ Scenery

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Scene: Live

Battleship

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Scene: Local Scene

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Feature: Cheap & Cheerful

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Tour Trails

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Gig Guide

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Volume

Cover: Emperors plays Mexican Standoff: X-Press Readers Party this Friday, April 20, at The Leederville Hotel

It’s a massive weekend for music lovers in Perth, and it kicks off this Friday, April 20, as X-Press Magazine hosts the Mexican Standoff: An X-Press Readers Party at the Leederville Hotel.

A free event, there will be giveaways galore (including movie tickets, food from Zambrero and drinks from Corona and Olmeca Tequila), and from 8pm The Novocaines, our cover stars Emperors, Cal Peck & The Tramps and Sugarpuss will rock the massive Leedy stage.

Plus there will be chilli eating contests and prizes for the best dressed Mexicans. Head on down to this free event from 6pm and get amongst it! Arriba!

Soul revivalists The Bamboos have announced their first national tour in two years. The tour is in support of new album Medicine Man, which features the most excellent single I Got Burned collaborations with the surprisingly high pitched Tim Rogers. The album comes out through Inertia on June 1, and also sees the likes of Washington, Daniel Merriweather, Kylie Auldist and Aloe Blacc.

Special guests will be announced soon for their show at The Bakery on Friday, July 6. Tickets are on sale today from nowbaking.com.au.

Frenzal Rhomb

Punk rock gurus and all-round Australian higher powers Frenzal Rhomb have added three WA dates to their never-ending touring schedule.

Their WA shows are perfectly timed with the June long weekend, meaning there is no excuse not to go! Flagging their latest stuff as “older, shinier and wiser”, the politically incorrect rockers can be expected to host some very energetic shows.

Their latest album, Smoko At The Pet Food Factory, debuted at #14 on the ARIA charts, and is their eighth opus to date. See them at Settlers Tavern on Thursday, June 14; Prince Of Wales on Friday, June 15; and the Rosemount Hotel on Saturday, June 16.

Tickets go on sale this Friday.

SNOOZE AWARDS Sometimes, you really have to question how some organisations go about awarding the arts, and the processes they go through to come up with not only their nominees and eventual winners, but also the ‘categories’ that are awarded.

The awards I’m speaking of have one magazine’s name all over them.

I’m speaking, of course, about the TV Week Logie Awards over the weekend what a waste of time!

Firstly you have a glorified disc jockey winning the award for best person on television. Everyone has a soft spot for Hamish, but c’mon now, Hamish & Andy’s Gap Year was yawn-inducing from the word go, not to mention the fact that its ratings declined over time.

Hamish’s show was always going to win. Australia’s television history is packed to the brim with programs that the Logies proudly refers to as “light entertainment”. At least in the old days the TV show sets were somewhat intricate - even Hey Hey It’s Saturday had whipped up ingenious devices for competition contestants to grab their prized chicken.

Now we’ve got more than enough shows that just feature people yammering back and forth, including The Project, The Circle, The Joy Of Sets, First Tuesday Book Club and whatever show Adam Hills is attached to at the time.

And is it really fair single out Hamish from Andy when they’re supposed to be a comedy duo? It should be all for one and one for all. Darn it. Next thing you know Hamish will run off with Bret or Jermaine...

Where were the nominations for edgier, funny shows like Angry Boys, Twentysomethings, Laurence Leung’s Unbelievable or even Judith Lucy’s Spiritual Journey.

Sometimes it just seems that safer wins. _MATTHEW HOGAN

Salt Cover: Roger Sanchez plays Villa this Friday, April 20 www.xpressmag.com.au

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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.

By entering you agree to X-Press Magazine’s Terms & Conditions which can be found online. All competition entries will automatically enable you to become an X-Press subscriber! No details will be given to a third party.

Print and Digital Editions Publisher/Manager Joe Cipriani Editorial

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Music Editor Matthew Hogan: musiceditor@xpressmag.com.au Arts & Fashion Editor Emma Bergmeier: artsfashion@xpressmag.com.au Dance Music & Features Editor Annabel Maclean: danceeditor@xpressmag.com.au Staff Writer Jennifer Peterson-Ward: localmusic@xpressmag.com.au Gig & Event Guides Co-ordinator Melissa Erpen - guide@xpressmag.com.au Entertainment Services Co-ordinator / Competitions Melissa Erpen - win@xpressmag.com.au 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 For band gigs and launches - plugyourgig@xpressmag.com.au

Advertising

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Sales and Marketing Manager Paul Morgan - advertising@xpressmag.com.au Online Marketing Paul Morgan - advertising@xpressmag.com.au Music Services / Musical Equipment / Bands / Record Labels Des Richardson - musicservices@xpressmag.com.au Entertainment Venues / Live and Dance Music Promoters Luke Andrioff - entertainment@xpressmag.com.au Agency / Movies / Education / Sponsorship Paul Morgan - advertising@xpressmag.com.au Arts / Fashion / Lifestyle Alia Bannani - eye4@xpressmag.com.au Classifieds Linage Melissa Erpen - classifieds@xpressmag.com.au

Production

National Interest

NATIONAL INTEREST

Smirnoff by Beastman and Nanami Cowdroy

SMIRNOFF LIMITED EDITION BOTTLE

Acclaimed Australian artists Beastman and Nanami Cowdroy have designed two limited edition Smirnoff No. 21 packs. Both artists were invited to create their own interpretation of purity, starting with a blank canvas. These specially designed bottles are no longer available through retail stores but we are giving our readers the chance to win one of these limited edition bottles.

Get in now for your chance to win this amazing prize and a slice of Smirnoff history!

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Production Co-ordinator Bryony Crowe

production@xpressmag.com.au

Art Director

Black Swan State Theatre Company presents the gripping play National Interest and we have four double passes up for grabs to see it at the Heath Leger Theatre on Saturday, May 5. Tony Stewart was just 21 when he was killed in Balibo in October 1975. 32 years after Tony and his television news crew were murdered; the ghosts of the past are awakened again during the coronial inquest. This production is sure to leave you in awe so get in now for your chance to win tickets.

POLKA DOT VINTAGE

Polka Dot Vintage Market is a vintage lover’s paradise and it is returning to Claremont showgrounds on April 28 and 29. With over 300 indoor market stalls selling clothing, accessories and other beautiful trinkets, you are guaranteed to find yourself a treasure or two! We have 10 double passes up for grabs so enter now as it is sure to be a lovely day out.

X-PRESS MEXICAN READERS PARTY!

Get on down to the Leederville Hotel this 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!

GREECE 2012

Greece 2012 is the celebratory 10th anniversary instalment in the extremely successful series, showcasing today’s best pop and dance from the biggest artists in Greek music. We have five copies up for the taking so get in now as this is sure to be a party favourite!

Dwight O’Neil

STEPS YOUTH DANCE COMPANY

Design + Production

art@xpressmag.com.au Brooke Gerrick, Andy Quilty, Anthony Jackson

Printing Rural Press Printing Mandurah

Administration

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Receptionist Melissa Erpen

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Accounts Lillian Buckley

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

ROOFTOP MOVIES

From the producers of the Fringe World Festival comes an elevated new offering: Rooftop Movies - a pop-up oasis in the heart of the CBD. Want to win tickets? Well enter now as we have five double passes up for grabs.

Try Hard, a new dance production involving 48 young dancers set to hit the Heath Ledger Theatre stage in late April will be the first in Western Australia to incorporate Parkour, an urban street movement and philosophy that is sweeping the world. Involving 48 dancers from ages seven to 22, Try Hard is the 2012 major production for STEPS Youth Dance Company and will be presented to the general public for three performances only on April 28 and 29. We are giving our lovely readers the chance to win a double pass to see the show spectacular so get in now as you do not want to miss out.

Deadlines EDITORIAL General: Friday 5pm,, Eye4 Arts: Thursday 10am, Comp’ Thing: Monday Noon,, Salt Clubs: Monday 5pm , Local Scene: Monday Noon,, Gig Guide: Monday 5pm ADVERTISING Cancellations: Monday 5pm, Ads to be set: Monday Noon Supplied Bookings / Copy: Tuesday 12 Noon, Classifieds: Monday 4pm Published by: Columbia Press Pty.Ltd. A.C.N. 066 570 803 Registered by Australia Post. Publication No PP600110.00006 Suite 73/102 Railway Parade, City West Business Centre, West Perth, WA 6005 Locked Bag 31, West Perth, WA 6872 Phone: (08) 9213 2888 Fax: (08) 9213 2882 Website: http://www.xpressmag.com.au

Rock It returns to Arena Joondalup on Sunday, October 28, with The Black Keys headlining. On the back of the announcement we asked our Facebook fans to share their favourite Rock It memories…

Peter Greenday setting drums on fire in 99ish.

Tyler When Green Day pulled random ppl out of the crowd to play their instruments and Billie Joe ended up giving his guitar to the kid he pulled up.

Russell My favourite is when the bogans got too rough during Wolfmother in 07 (or was it 08?) and started crushing the crowd near the front. They then closed off the barrier so no one could get in for the rest of the night, had to watch Foo Fighters/Oasis from ages away, it was impossible to move around because of that. Great!

WARRANTY AND INDEMNITY

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

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Cam John Butler, Shihad (as Pacifier) and MGF for $40.

I think that was ‘02. Goooood times, Rock-Its were always the best.

Sophy Kings Of Leon!

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

Dear X-Press, I had a horrible nightmare last night. I dreamed it was the future and instead of paying hundreds of dollars to see our musical heroes in the flesh, we were paying hundreds of dollars to see digital versions of them... Oh wait, that actually happened and now we have the ghost of 2pac haunting a trillion computers worldwide.

This is the beginning of the end of the touring industry. Why would a performer want to tour if they can just get a hologram to go and do it for them? Those sheep at Coachella slapped their fins together like trained seals when 2pac went all Star Wars on us, so what going to stop the upcoming Michael Jackson back from the dead tour?

Can You Feel It? No. Cheers, Biggie

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IT’S ONLY NATURAL

Tijuana Cartel

MARIO CARTEL

Gold Coast boys Tijuana Cartel are bracing themselves for another Australian tour before jet-setting to the Northern Hemisphere for the summer festival season. Armed with a new single in Offer Yourself, the band head to WA for six dates. Catch them at the Prince Of Wales on Thursday, May 31; Setters Tavern on Friday, June 1; White Star in Albany on Saturday, June 2; Divers Broome on Friday June 8; Hotel Kununurra on Saturday, June 9; and The Bakery on Friday, June 15.

RUN FOR COVER

Sky’High

THE ELEFANT WOMAN

Elefant Traks’ announcement of their signing of Sydney’s Sky’High earlier this year came as something of a shock to the local hip hop scene - Sky’s raw aggression seemingly puts her at odds with many of the Elefant Traks family, but her sheer talent and songwriting skills are undeniable.

One of the most compelling artists to emerge from the local hip hop scene, she has a natural authenticity; an unpredictability that is kept in check by her fierce loyalty. Voted Best Female MC at the 2011 Ozhiphop Awards, Sky’High takes live performance to a whole new level and is set to amuse and astound when she crashes on to the stage at Mojos Bar on Saturday, May 12.

If you’re an artist or a band that can perform a great acoustic cover, 96FM’s Friday Live want to hear from you! The Friday Live segment is the one day of the week when Blackers, Carmen and Fitzi turn the 96FM studios over to the city’s best live entertainers, who strut out their best covers instudio, and get the opportunity to perform in front of a live audience and the people of Perth! If you’ve got an awesome version up your sleeve, click on over to 96fm.com.au to fill out an entry form.

HARDCORE HEAVEN

Having made a name for themselves with chaotic and violent live shows, California hardcore/punk purveyors Ceremony are set bring their full scale musical riot to WA for two massive dates. Catch them at The Den on Tuesday, July 3; and YMCA HQ on Wednesday, June 4. Tickets are available from Moshtix. They’re in the country for the massive Hardcore 2012 festival in Sydney on July 7 & 8, which also features the final ever shows from Perth legends Break Even.

They may be as New York as the Empire State Building, but Naturally 7’s Australian fanbase could not be stronger. The group that critics worldwide are raving about are returning to our shores following their sell-out Vocal Play tour last year. The musicians blend harmonies with beat-boxing and recreate the sounds of drums and guitars using nothing but their vocal chords. Their electrifying performances of pop culture’s iconic bands, including The Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel will no doubt be in the mix with their latest material from album Wall Of Sound. Think Motown. Think R&B. Think hip hop. Think Perth Concert Hall on Saturday, May 19. Tickets on sale now from Bocs.

DAYS OF OUR LIVES

Never got a chance to Rip It Up or ask What’s The Deal?, fret no more! Oh Snap is bringing the almighty 28 Days to the west coast for a special club show, an event that is sure to get tongues talking for years to come. Supporting the almighty punk (sometimes rap) rockers on this special occasion is the crème de la crème of local punk and rock, including The Decline, Vanity and Know Your Knot. Plus, there will be DJs spinning all your favourite punk, party, hardcore and metal tunes across two levels all night long. Tickets are $20 on the door from 9pm. Get your nostalgia on tomorrow, Thursday, April 19, at Villa.

GROUP LOVE

Sydney-based cinematic art-rock antiheroes Charge Group are hitting the road this June in support of their long-awaited second album. The self-titled record has received an abundance of dashing reviews since it’s release earlier this year, with music critics across the country predicting it to be one of the finest Australian releases for 2012. Joining the quixotic quartet on the road will be former frontman of acclaimed Perth group Snowman, Joe McKee. If that weren’t enticing enough, you can catch both these hugely talented acts at Mojos Bar on Friday, July 22; and the garage out the back of Dadas on Saturday, June 23 - entry will be by donation.

AMP IT UP

Hype Williams Gasoline Inc

BELIEVE THE HYPE

Even though they’ve risen to fame under the guise of being a musical duo – comprised of Russia-born Inga Copeland and London’s Dean Blunt – internet rumour persists that Hype Williams is in fact a relay art project curated and founded by another lady – Denna Frances Glass – and that Copeland and Blunt are simply the current baton-holders. Whether or not this is the truth is unascertainable; however what is certain is that the cult reputation Hype Williams have built up over the past year is thoroughly welldeserved, with several brilliant 7’’s and LPs – not to mention a run of entrancing live performances around the world – already to their name. They’re set to make an impression (albeit shrouded in smoke and mirrors) when they hit The Bakery on Saturday, June 16. Support comes from a slew of stellar local acts including kučka, Savoir, The Underground Sound Solution System, Travis Doom, Clunk and Rok Riley. Tickets are $26 plus booking fee and are available from lifeisnoise.com, oztix, heatseeker and nowbaking.com.au.

PINES TIMES

As you could tell by our frickin’ rad cover last week, we love RTRFM’s local love-in In The Pines, and we’ll be at the Somerville Auditorium with bells on this Sunday, April 20. Here are the playing times for all y’all: 12pm Tusk 12:30pm The Love Junkies 1pm The Big Old Bears 1:30pm Frozen Ocean 2pm Suffer 2:30pm Runner 3pm Hang On St. Christopher 3:30pm Benedict Moleta Band 4pm Sonpsilo Circus 4:30pm Drowning Horse 5pm SMRTS 5:30pm The Leap Year 6pm Apricot Rail 6:30pm Sunshine Brothers 7pm Boys Boys Boys!

7:30pm San Cisco 8pm The Ghost Hotel 8:30pm The Kill Devil Hills 9pm Split Seconds 9:30pm Sugar Army www.xpressmag.com.au

PERTH POLTZ

You remember that time Steve Poltz did that show in town where he also recorded an album at Bang Bang with Malcolm Clark (Sleepy Jackson/ Bob Evans)? Well now the Southern Californian rocker is back and promoting said album, Noineen Noiny Noin. Poltz is known for his commanding stage presence, where he takes the time to tell stories in between songs leaving the crowds enraptured. See him at The Fly Trap on Thursday, May 10, and while you’re there, get his latest reelase, Noineen Noiny Noin-And A Haff.

IN A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN

Local punk rockers In League are set to join the electrifying bill of metal mayhem next week, when Pennsylvania-based metalcore giants August Burns Red, Arizona’s Blessthefall and Sydneysiders Northlane bring their aural assault to the stage at Amplifier on Wednesday, April 25.

Tickets are available from Moshtix and Heatseeker.

NO PLANS? HEAD TO THE CINEMA!

It’s that time of the year again! AmpFest is raring to go, with applications now open for any original WA bands, duos or solo acts aged 12-25. The competition sees local talent perform what they do best to win over $15,000 in prizes and get some industry experience while doing so. Application forms can be found at ampfest. com.au and wam.asn.au or from WAM and CIT Leederville council offices. X-Press Magazine proudly supports AmpFest.

In The Pines pic by Luke Thompson

Steve Poltz

THE PRICE IS RIGHT

Ever wondered what the music scene is like in Tom Price? Well, you can soon find out when WAM releases its free Sounds Of Tom Price compilation CD. Through WAM’s excellent Regional Program, musicians based in Tom Price have recorded their best songs for the compilation album, a rare opportunity for regional artists who usually don’t have access to recording equipment. The CD is the fourth in WAM’s Sound Of series and is assisted by Country Arts WA through the Regional Arts Fund.

Head to wam.asn.au/regional for more information.

MORE FLIGHTS

Were you kicking yourself yesterday after you missed out on tickets to Flight Of The Conchords on Wednesday, July 18? Well you should have stayed on the computer because they added another show 30 minutes after the first one sold out. See them for a second time on Thursday, July 19, in what is surely the best tour you will see from a New Zealand musical comedy duo this year in Mount Claremont.

SHOCK TREATMENT

While their decision to relocate to Melbourne left many a local rock fan saddened, former Perth rockers Gasoline Inc are making a short trip back to the west coast to coincide with the release of their second single Shock. Catch the outfit for one night only on Friday, June 15, at the Rocket Room.

Tickets are available from the venue.

A LITTLE BIT CHILLY

Sydney based lo-fi surf pop duo Sures and local psych-rock up-and-comers Sonpsilo Circus will bring their most blessed beats to the Rosemount Hotel on Friday, May 18, when they perform support sets for Californian kings of chill Wavves. Tickets to the show are available from Heatseeker, Planet Video, 78 Records, Mills Records and Star Surf outlets.

WAM UPDATE

Details are becoming clearer about what the WAMi Festival entails this year, so here’s what we can tell you about the premier week-long celebration of some WA music: It kicks off with the massive WAMi Festival Opening Party on Saturday, May 26, at The Bakery (lineup to be announced), before the opening weekend is rounded out on Sunday, May 27, with Sunday Night Live featuring performances around the City Of Perth (lineup to be announced); and Foodchain’s Crustacean Cup at Russell Square in Northbridge featuring members of many a Perth band getting hot and sweaty in a soccer tournament; the day closes with a WAMi Music Film Screening at Northbridge Piazza.

Throughout the week, live showcases take place at The Bakery with JazzWA hosting Victoria Newton, the Glyn MacDonald Quartet and Horizon Art Orchestra on Monday, May 28; RTRFM’s Adam Trainer curates a night of experimental music on Tuesday, May 29, with Heytesburg, Race To Your Face and Usurper Of Modern Medicine; Fairbridge Festival hosts a night of folk with Ensemble Formidable, Rhys Wood and Rachel & Henry Climb A Hill on Wednesday, May 30; Jumpclimb hosts a party with The Empty Cup, Sunshine Brothers, Bastian’s Happy Flight and Sam Perry on Thursday, May 31; and The Wire (not the TV show) hosts Split Seconds, Emperors, Ruby Boots and Warning Birds on Friday, June 1. Friday, June 1, is one

Did you drink too much at their Sandalford show last week? Fear not, because Cold Chisel are hitting the big screen for one night only with a live concert event screening via satellite from the Hordern Pavilion. It hits cinema screens across the state tonight, Wednesday, April 18, at 7pm. Chisel will be performing tracks from No Plans, their first new album in 14 years, as well as their classic hits, during this one-off show. Tickets are $39.50 which includes a copy of No Plans. Head to cinemalive. com for tickets and locations now!

A NEW LEITH

Can you believe it’s been half a decade since Irish crooner Damien Leith won Australian Idol?

Well it’s even harder to believe Leith is now releasing his sixth album, Now & Then, on Friday, April 20. The album showcases Leith’s signature mix of his own songs as well as tributes to his favourite artists, namely The Traveling Wilburys, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, George Harrison and Tom Petty. Leith begins his accompanying national tour in September. Fans can see him at Mandurah Performing Arts Centre on Friday, September 7; and Astor Theatre on Saturday, September 8. Presale ticket sales start Wednesday, April 16; general tickets sold from Friday, April 20. of the biggest days of the festival, with The Community showcasing Perth’s best beatmakers in James Ireland, Diger Rockwell, Assembly Line, The Boost Hero Man, Lowaski and Mostark at Ya Ya’s; Soundworks representing the heavier side of Perth music at Rocket Room with Paradise In Exile, Reflections Of Ruin and Malignant Monster; and local label Gun Fever bringing us Kill Teen Angst, Coveleski, Ex-Nuns, Dead Owls and Grim Fanbanjo at The Beat Nightclub.

During the daytime of Friday, June 1, The Bakery hosts workshops in two rooms in addition to Industry Speed Dating out in the courtyard, while the Bill Me Festival Pitch takes place in The Bakery on Saturday, June 2.

Like last year, the Northbridge Saturday Spectacular (line-up to be announced) happens on Saturday, June 2, across Northbridge and Perth, and the WAMi Awards happens on Saturday, June 2, and will feature performances from non-nominees John Butler & Mama Kin, Eskimo Joe and Dom Mariani feat. Hurricane Fighter Plane. The WAMi Award nominations were announced last week to industry folks at The Bakery, and San Cisco, Pond, Split Seconds and Abbe May took out the most nominations. X-Press Magazine is proud to present the Hip Hop Act of the Year award, which sees The Empty Cup, Mathas, Drapht and the late Hunter in the running. Head to wam.asn.au for all the latest WAMi Festival happenings.

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EMPERORS Ready, Set, Snow!

“I wish I’d been in this band when I was a much younger man.You don’t realise what you’re looking for until you’re in it, and I’m definitely in it for the long haul,” begins vocalist/guitarist Adam James.

By his own admission, the two years since his new outfit Emperors’ inception have been far from easy for James and his fellow founding members bassist/vocalist Zoe James and guitarist Greg Sanders. During their short history, the makeup of the band has changed significantly with guitarist Vaughan Davies leaving the band to take up with folk-pop outfit Split Seconds and drummer Dayvid Clark being replaced by Dane Knowles of mathrockers and XTC-devotees Generals & Majors.

“We felt like the live sound needed to be stripped back a bit – for example, we had three guitars before and now we’ve only got two. The

With their catchy single Be Ready When I Say Go all over the radio right now, local rockers are making some serious noise. JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD sat down with the band’s frontman Adam James ahead of the release of their debut LP Stay Frosty this Friday, April 20, which is also the same day they play the Mexican Standoff: an X-Press Readers Party at the Leederville Hotel.

Emperors\\ Emperors three guitars kinda cancelled each other out, so with just two we’ve got a lot more room to inject power into it. Even though [there are] less instruments it actually seems a bit louder now,” he says.

As James attests, generous airplay from Triple J was instrumental in Emperor’s success from the get go. “It’s been pretty priceless really. I can’t put a number on how valuable it’s been. We have had a couple of songs knocked back, but it really has been an invaluable way to reach people,” he says. “Radio generally everywhere has been great to us – RTRFM are also awesome, and our album is going to be the Drivetime feature the week of it’s release which is great.”

That new album, Stay Frosty, is the soon-tobe-released debut LP for the quixotic quartet, and the first release for the band since their critically acclaimed EP Sam hit the shelves in early 2011. “Stylistically it’s similar, but we’re a lot happier with the songs on the album than the EP. We put a lot more time into figuring out the sound we wanted before we started the recording process,” he says. “A lot of bands these days make albums which are collections of individual songs, but we wanted to make a really full album, which sounded great and cohesive as a whole.”

James attests that enlisting the help of big name local producer Steve Parkin (Jebediah, Sugar Army) was quintessential during the recording process of the album, and with Parkin’s input, a subtle shift took place within all of the tracks on Stay Frosty, with their collaborated efforts making for some minor changes in the makeup of their album.

“Parkin has a way he likes to work which fits well with the way we like to work. [He] always starts off the process by saying ‘give me five records you want your album to sound like’ and then he goes off and has a listen himself and then we all have a listen together; it’s pretty enjoyable,” he says. “When Parkin asked me what I wanted the album to sound like, my first response was [Nirvana’s] Nevermind, but there were some other big influences from other musicians – like, we listened to Manchester Orchestra’s Everything To Nothing a lot too.

“What was interesting is that some of the records we listened to had these huge guitars and drums pulled back and then others had these massive drum sounds, so what we ended up with is something with huge guitars and a huge drum sound.”

While James says the recording for Stay Frosty wrapped up in two short weeks, he reveals it took a little while longer for inspiration to strike regarding cover art for the LP.“I’d always liked the idea of having a picture of a kid with a gun on the cover of an album. I put something on Facebook ages ago to see if any parents would be cool with us taking a photo of their kid with a gun, but I didn’t get much feedback,” James recounts.

“Then, a little while later, I was at a friends house and I saw this picture of her on the mantelpiece where she’s holding a gun and it was just perfect. I love how it looks now.”

From that point, James says the album’s title came easily: “Greg and Zoe were watching a documentary or a docu-drama or something called Generation Kill [in which they] heard the term. Basically it’s a US military term which means ‘be cool’ so when soldiers tell each other to ‘stay frosty’ it means ‘just be cool’. We just really liked the way it sounded and it went well with the image on our album cover.”

As well as the Stay Frosty album launch on Saturday, May 5, at Amplifier, Emperors have a busy couple of months planned, with a national tour planned throughout May. The talented foursome is also set to battle with fellow local bands The Growl, Abbe May and Sonpsilo Circus for the coveted ‘Rock Act Of The Year’ title.

“I notice I didn’t get a nod for ‘Best Male Vocalist’, but that’s okay,” James jokes. “Look, I think [the WAMi Awards] are a good thing to have but sometimes I do question the process of how people are nominated and how things are chosen. I do care, but also not really, if that makes sense.”

Whether or not they take out the title or not, with their singles Be Ready When I Say Go and Plastic Guns already doing the business at radio, their highly anticipated debut album waiting in the wings, and plans to head back in the recording studio later this year, Emperors are proving they are more than willing to put in the hard yards to earn their rightful place in the industry.

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78 RECORDS

914 Hay St, Perth. Ph: 9322 6384

RECORD STORE DAY Feed Your Addiction

This Saturday, April 21, is Record Store Day. Across the globe, independent record shops will be stocking limited-run releases, offering one-day discounts, and putting on gigs to celebrate the timeless music medium that is vinyl.

MATTHEW HOGAN looks at what’s happening around Perth and raises his credit limit in anticipation.

PLASTIC PASSION

DADA RECORDS

Brief history of your store? We opened in 1985 as an exclusively vinyl store and despite the encroachment of CDs we’ve maintained a healthy stock of LPs ever since.

How will you be celebrating Record Store Day? Just like we celebrate every other day, with lots of rare and interesting vinyl!

Will you be stocking any Record Store Day exclusive releases? We don’t go there. All our stock is original and pre-loved.

Do you think vinyl is better than digital? Try impressing the girls with a collection of mp3s under your arm Apple fanboy!

What does your store specialise in? In store we have a cross section of LPs from the ‘40s to the ‘80s, with plenty of old school rock. We also have 7” and 12” singles on our website.

The most annoying question you’ve been asked by a customer? “On this rare Japanese Beatles’ LP in the rack, are they actually singing in Japanese?”

If there was one artist you could ban from your shelves, what artist would it be? Gary Glitter – for obvious reasons!

Brief history of your store? Opened in 1970, went through a couple of owners and then Rob Sampson bought it and has been running the store with his unique managerial approach ever since.

How will you be celebrating Record Store Day? Perth’s premiere psychedelic agoraphobics, Mayor Dadi are launching their EP in our garage, supported by Frozen Ocean, Doctopus, Air Mutande and Reverse Engine Ear. It’s free entry, all ages and boasts a cracking food stall. From 4-8pm.

Will you be stocking any Record Store Day exclusive releases? We’ve ordered some.

Stocking them depends on if they turn up…and if they turn up on time.

Do you think vinyl is better than digital? It’s not. Its better for some things, worse for others.

If there was one artist you could band from your shelves, what artist would it be?

Screwdriver would be a good candidate. Nazi punk isn’t really worth supporting.

36 Pier Street Perth. Ph: 9325 2666

releases? We’ve ordered a heap, if they get here on time is another story!

Please give us a brief history of your store? We’ve How will your shop be celebrating Record Store made it past the first year which is always the most Day? We have live music in-store all day featuring difficult selling an old format in a digital age! some great artists including Amanda Merdzan, Fall What does your store specialise in? We sell purely Electric, Todd Pickett and many more. We will be vinyl and the only CDs we sell are local (which we stock having 50 per cent off all second hand records and 20 over 300 titles).

If there was one artist you could ban from your per cent off new vinyl.

Will you be stocking any Record Store Day exclusive shelves, what artist would it be? Timothy Nelson.

The Basement, 37 Barrack Street. Ph: 0434 373 292

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Will you be stocking any Record Store Day exclusive releases? Yes. There will be approximately 250 RSD exclusive items such as 7”s from Arctic Monkeys, David Bowie, Deep Purple, Flaming Lips/Mastodon, Sex Pistols, The Supremes, Beach House, Small Faces. Limited release 12”s from Animal Collective, Mclusky, The Cure, Abba and The Kinks, plus loads more, including something special from a little Liverpool band.

If there was one artist you could ban from your shelves, what artist would it be? One? How about anything that rhymes with ‘butt crack’ - Nickelback, Short Stack, Attack Attack, even Whispering Jack.

JUNCTION RECORDS

43 Eighth Avenue, Maylands. Ph: 9272 1158

FAT SHAN RECORDS

Brief history of your store? 78 Records was started 41 years ago by three industrious record collecting hippies for the sole purpose of sharing the love of hard to find music. For 25 years it roamed the streets of Perth from Forrest Chase through to a tin shed next to His Majesty’s Theatre, all the way to our where we are now - an old motorcycle repair shop on Hay St. How will you be celebrating Record Store Day? In store performances and signings by Jeff Martin (The Tea Party), Calling All Cars, Dom Mariani (The Stems/ Datura), Adam James (Emperors), Scott Tomlinson (Kill Teen Angst), Benedict Moleta, and Hayley Beth. Plus 15 per cent off all non-RSD vinyl and more special offers.

Do you think vinyl is better than digital? Sounds Shop 48, 27-35 Murray Street Fremantle. better, feels better and looks better. People are proud of the vinyls they own, I’ve never heard a customer Ph: 9430 9666 express pride in owning an mp3 file...

Brief history of your store? We started out as The What do you specialise in? We buy and sell second CD Library in the early ‘90s but as the rental market hand CDs, DVDs and vinyl as well as stocking new declined with the advent of downloading we CDs, DVDs and vinyl. We love doing special orders for concentrated more on the new and second hand customers. We stock a good range of heavy metal, market for CDs and DVDs. Following a change in blues, jazz and reggae. name to Junction Records we started to stock vinyl, Most annoying question you’ve been asked by both new and second hand, and started to import a a customer? “So how’s business with everyone lot of our stock to get a better selection to offer our downloading and buying on the internet?” Or,“I don’t customers at a better price.

How will you be celebrating Record Store Day? know the artist or the name of the song but it’s played Stocking some Record Store Day releases and a lot on MTV and the radio...” offering up to 50 per cent discount on selected vinyl If there was one artist you could ban from your LPs, and trying to make everyone’s day a happy vinyl shelves, what artist would it be? Justin Bieber or One Direction. Take your pick. shopping experience.

NOISE POLLUTION

280 William Street, Northbridge. Ph: 9328 3128 Brief history of your store? I am a new store and have only been open 14 months, but have been selling records online and in Perth for 15 years.

How will you be celebrating Record Store Day? We will be have for the first time a new vinyl and t-shirt super sale. Plus we will also be having solo acts Luke Dux, Brown and Maurice Flavel playing, plus guest DJs playing in store.

Will you be stocking any Record Store Day exclusive releases? Yes and exclusive reissues.

Do you think vinyl is better than digital? Sound wise, you would have to ask the audiophiles that question, but it is a whole different experience putting a record on the turntable where you have to turn the records over to hear the full LP even with all the crackles and pops. Unlike CD stackers or iPods

where it is continual listening , also some collectors buy records just for the artwork - the 30cm x 30cm album sleeve looks fantastic on the wall..

What does your store specialise in? We specialise in collectible used and new vinyl records. I also enjoy finding drum breaks, beats and samples for DJs, we also sell preloved guitars on consignment and do guitar repairs through Strummers guitars.

The most annoying question you’ve been asked by a customer? A statement from the horny goldrimmed sunglass wearing married women boasting that their husbands have more records than I have in my shop. I always reply “Does he have more Crime & The City Solution records than I have?”

If there was one artist you could ban from your shelves, what artist would it be? The Smiths. They are very popular, and I sell a lot of them, and they have very loyal fans, but its about what the customer wants not what I like or dislike.

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

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lyrical reference to more B-grade horror films than most people have ever seen – is a long-term game not suited to the commitment-shy or those out to make a quick buck on the corporate rock circuit.

But the lengthy apprenticeship has allowed this band to find exactly the right guys to take their uniquely wild west music to the wider world. “Got a solid four members now,” says Jon Russo matter-offactly, “which has definitely shaped the sound over the last couple of years.”

Russo himself came on board in 2007 and quickly earned a reputation as one of Perth’s better DIY managers. He agrees things changed for the band at that point.“I think in the early days it was just more of a fun sorta thing, bit of a novelty live act. But since I joined the band we kinda changed gears and all focused on the goal that we wanna achieve. Just been pushing for High energy rock’n’roll heroes Chainsaw it non-stop.

“A couple of line-up changes and we’ve got Hookers are launching their self-titled four guys who all want the same outcome.” debut album at the Rocket Room this But Russo’s frankness shouldn’t be mistaken a lack of humility. When X-Press asked him to Friday, April 20. BEN WATSON chats to for clarify what ‘outcome’ the band is after, the goals are guitarist Jon Russo. surprisingly simple. “Just to be able to play, as much as possible, to the right people; have people enjoy our On the one hand, it’s hard to believe it’s now seven music; and to be able to record the music we want. years since Chainsaw Hookers first took the stage, Obviously experience all the things along the way – but on the other their experience definitely shows. touring and that.”

The band has become pretty much The things Chainsaw Hookers are doing ubiquitous on the Perth rock’n’roll circuit, matching along the way are increasingly cool. Following this their high-energy Motorhead/Turbonegro style punk week’s launch, they’re off to tour the east coast of with a relentless work ethic and determination.

Australia with Scottish punk icons The Exploited. There’s Seven years is quite a long time, but also been some interest from the US where, Russo rock’n’roll like this – edgy, furious and with entrenched reveals, legendary metal label Earache Records have

CHAINSAW HOOKERS Blood On The Tracks

Chainsaw Hookers once they get the album at home I think it’s gonna pick been giving the band quite a hand.

“There’s doors opening there,” he says. “We up a bit more. want to head over to the States and do a bit of a tour, “But yeah, we’ve got a few new tracks on [the hopefully next year. So, that’s a big step for a band from album] that people probably haven’t heard yet.

Perth, but that’s what we wanna do.” “[The launch is] a celebration of what we’ve But this week, Perth audiences can revel in put together, and we’re playing it with our mates and the fruits of the labour of their hometown heroes, who that, and hopefully it’s a good night.” have been slowly dropping the album’s fresh songs into their set alongside older, more familiar material.

“Everybody’s taking to it,” Russo says of the new songs.

“They’re pretty catchy choruses so they’re pretty easy to pick up, and everybody seems to be getting into it. But

Deez Nuts

DEEZ NUTS Here To Go Nuts

Melbourne hardcore titans Deez Nuts have just returned from two solid years on the road. Releasing their first band documentary, Fuck The World, to commemorate the experience – vocalist JJ Peters tells why the DVD is full of everything for the fanatic. JESSICA WILLOUGHBY reports ahead of their shows at Amplifier Bar on Saturday, April 21; and YMCA HQ on Sunday, April 22.

“I still think the best moments of the band will never make it on a camera because we are always busy living it and enjoying it,” Deez Nuts mastermind JJ Peters says of the band’s documentary debut.

It has been a long time since these hardcore punk lads have been on Australian shores.Since touring in March last year, the quartet have done the Europe round trip three times with a few stints in America and Canada thrown into the mix. Hectic for some, vocalist Peters believes he is just living the dream – taking what was originally a tongue-in-cheek outfit onto more serious ventures as they establish their legitimacy as a band.

Fuck The World, the latest foray for Deez Nuts, is a film that holds this journey of self-discovery as paramount. “It’s something we’d been thinking about for a long time,” Peters tells X-Press. “But it was only recently that we’d gathered enough footage to actually make it happen. We’d been filming and grabbing footage from where we could for the last two years to put this together.

“In hindsight, I actually kind of regret that we hadn’t filmed everything from the very start,” he ponders. “Especially when I watch things like the Parkway Drive DVD, where they had everything right from the very beginning. They draw comparisons from certain venues and moments from early shows to later on and illustrate the progress of the band so well. But we never expected so much from Deez Nuts, so we didn’t have the foresight…or a camera.”

Full of interviews, tour footage and studio sessions, this 40-minute snapshot of these four musicians not only shows their inner dynamics but also the shenanigans they get up to.“Competitive drinking,” Peters notes as his favourite on-tour ‘sport’. “There is a lot of candid stuff on there. And I think it’s a pretty honest portrayal of who we are as a band because the bulk of it was filmed and edited by close friends – so a lot of who we are shines through accurately. But the best stuff was recorded on the Cool Sitch tour last year because we had Joel Birch from The Amity Affliction manning the camera almost constantly. We found that was the only way to get real footage of the band.”

With a new album on the way, recently recorded at Drop Dead Studios in the UK, does this mean the camera will be following Peters and company consistently in their future endeavours?“Well that’s what we planned after being pissed at ourselves for not filming prior events,” he says. “But in true Deez Nuts fashion, we forgot pretty quickly and got carried away living it to bother filming shit. Hopefully we can get someone to travel with us and film because we never will.” Any takers?

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

ROB SNARSKI Family Tree Big Scary

BIG SCARY Permanent Vacation

Fresh from playing to packed rooms at SXSW, pop rock twosome Big Scary have big plans for the rest of 2012.

JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD sat down with vocalist/guitarist Tom Iansek ahead of their show at Amplifier this Friday, April 20; and at Groovin’ The Moo on Saturday, May 19.

Returning to his hometown with his brother Mark, Rob Snarski chats to MATTHEW HOGAN about the Cat & Fiddle, throwing records out windows and The Beach Boys. See the Snarskis at the Velvet Lounge on Friday, April 20; and at the Norfolk Basement on Saturday, April 21.

Rob Snarski

having a bit of a battle on stage. I get lots of heckling from my brother while he wanders around the crowd which is most annoying but hey, he’s the older brother, what am I supposed to do?”

A regular stop when Snarski comes to A regular visitor to his hometown of Perth, Rob Snarski this week returns with his brother Mark, town is the Velvet Lounge, which is a venue he recalls with the Snarski Vs Snarski show, which has never frequenting when he was first discovering Perth music.

“It was the first place I ever saw The Triffids perform, before been seen in Perth.

“It started when the Black Eyed Susans and members of The Scientists used to play there, members the Jackson Code used to play together,” Rob begins. of the Beasts Of Bourbon used to play there and that “Since then, Jackson have called it a day and the Susans was a bloody long time ago,”he says.“We’re talking early still exist. We get together as brothers and perform in ‘80s when it was known as the Cat & Fiddle. There were solo and duo mode. We’re performing each others’ only a few venues that really promoted original music songs and interpreting each other’s material and back then.”

Perth got it’s fair share of touring bands during Snarski’s formative years, and recalls seeing The Beach Boys at the Perth Entertainment Centre in 1978. “Brian Wilson was part of that tour and they got absolutely panned from the critics because they were so addle-brained, they were drinking copious amounts and taking various drugs and so forth,” he says. “I remember Brian falling about on stage, but I was a kid and it was the first concert I ever saw and it was the best thing. I think Brian is a bit more with us these days, I think there has been a case of the lights are on but nobody’s home but I’m not sure what was going on back then. I was just a kid and I just thought they were fantastic!”

If you thumb through second hand record shop racks around town, you may find relics from a Snarski’s record collection, as this interviewer found a Pretenders record with ‘Snarski’ handwritten on the back of it recently.“That’s weird,” exclaims Rob.“I would be less surprised if it was my brother’s. There was a time when he was living in Perth and he had a sort of major meltdown and decided to throw all his vinyl out of a second-storey window. Throwing them out like frisbees. All that he had left was Marquee Moon by Television and the first Velvet Underground record.

“I’ve still got a red vinyl copy of Adventure, the second Television record,” Rob continues. “I think Marquee Moon is the pinnacle, for sure, and that’s something that really influenced our first band [Chad’s Tree]. We adored that and it changed the way we approached music and it was from another planet.

The guitar arrangements, angular and obtuse, were something we really aimed for. I remember hearing it for the first time and thinking that’s that I want to do.”

How do you know when an up-and-coming band is well on their way to making it into the canon?

It used to involve endless coverage in music magazines and radio airplay, but now the litmus test is an invite to play a showcase at South

By South West. Melbournian boy/girl two-piece Big Scary are one of the few Australian acts who made the pilgrimage over to the bubbling cosmopolitan hot-spot of Austin, Texas, this year, in the hope of making a splash at this year’s incarnation of the world’s biggest music industry showcase.

Packing out venues and garnering rave reviews from some of the industry’s biggest critics, the trip proved fruitful for the outfit who, according to vocalist/guitarist Tom Iansek, “just love the idea of an artist being given the opportunity to pursue what they love”.

According to Iansek, it was this very train of thought which spawned the title of their debut LP Vacation, released late last year. “The word is wrapped up in the idea of the ideal lifestyle, this eternal vacation where you’re travelling the world making music and you’re always on holiday.”

Luckily for Iansek and bandmate Jo Syme, Big Scary are set to spend the next few months in the continual pursuit of this dream as they take to the road for a massive national headlining tour. The talented twosome are then set to take part in this year’s Groovin’ the Moo – a festival that Iansek praises for bringing bands and remote fans together.

“I think every audience is different – from country to country, from state to state and from gig to gig. You never know if you’re going to get a bunch of people talking all the way through your set, or total silence,” he says. “But we shape our sets accordingly – we’ll definitely keep the festival sets upbeat to keep people engaged. People have short attention spans at festivals. We always want to connect with our audience, but festival audiences can be different and a lot more difficult to play to.”

With a back catalogue of six original EPs, one compilation and their aforementioned debut record Vacation, the duo has more than enough material to fill their sets, however Iansek reveals they are hoping to use their upcoming shows to test out new material on willing audiences.

“We like to mix it up,” he concludes. “We want to see how [the new songs] go down and some of our older ones might get a restructure too.

[Our live shows] might be up-beat or [they might be] down tempo, it really depends how we are feeling that day.”

www.xpressmag.com.au

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M.WARD A Wasteland Companion

CHILDREN COLLIDE Monument

Spunk / Universal

Universal

Over the past three years M.Ward has been busy adding his talents to his friend’s records as part of Monsters Of Folk and She & Him, but somewhere along the line he has managed to record a dozen tunes in eight different studios for A Wasteland Companion.

Being itinerant over the past few years is reflected in A Wasteland Companion in both style and substance. There is, as always, a healthy draw on retro sounds, but this is as diverse a record as Ward has made to date. There are the delicately picked tunes like Clean Slate and Wild Goose that remind listeners of how the honey toned vocalist was raised on his dad’s old country records, while there is also plenty of room for up-tempo bar room piano romp Primitive Girl and the chugging Watch The Show.

It’s not all roots Americana though, with Daniel Johnsons Sweetheart has been transformed into an utterly charming Spector-esque pop tune that will resonate with fans of Ward’s She & Him project.

Friends including Howe Gelb, Steve Shelley and Mike Mogis are part of an impressive cast that add to the many tones of A Wasteland Companion that make it a rich listen.

A Wasteland Companion is another fine effort from M.Ward, a musician so accomplished that he probably plays his guitar in his sleep.

_CHRIS HAVERCROFT

NEW BUILD Yesterday Was Lived And Lost

When Melbourne indierockers Children Collide played Big Day Out 2009 on the main stage around noon, there was a small but solid crowd rockin’ along to tunes from the three-piece’s debut studio record The Long Now. But, it wasn’t until May 2009 when their smash hit single Farewell Rocketship really pricked the ears of indie, rock and post-punkers. Now, frontman Johnny Mackay is back (sporting a new, clean cut haircut) with mad bassist Heath Crawley and drummer Ryan Caesar (who recently completed his last tour as the band’s drummer) with their third record, Monument.

Still withholding the band’s recognisable echoing basslines and raw guitar crunches, Monument is darker, more melodic and showcases some of Mackay’s most personal song-writing yet. Beginning with the modest and repetitive The Flat Earth, the energy picks up with lead single Sword To A Gunfight and catchy rocker Cherries. To-be-commercial lullaby Black Lemon adds a slice of psychedelic-garage rock to the mix with its religious referencing continuing in the brilliant Praying For Sunshine – Mackay’s vocals hit a whole new level here.

Prussian Blue sounds like Speed Of Sound from their second record Theory Of Everything, Sphere Of Influence could be a dance-rock anthem recorded in space and Smooth Gown offers up a touch of Krautrock.

Slow burning compared to previous work but a varied record nonetheless stamped with the band’s signature sounds.

_ANNABEL MACLEAN

THE MENZINGERS On The Impossible Past

Lanark / Inertia

New Build is the new project from LCD Soundsystem’s Al Doyle and Hot Chip’s Felix Martin, with producer Tom Hopkins putting a gloss on it. The rather sedate cover picture is reminiscent of The Moon from The Mighty Boosh, and this muted tone carries into the music and lyrics.

“When you’re all alone, and you’re feeling terrified, try some medication,” sings Doyle on album opener Medication, pondering our modern condition, over funky wah-wah guitar and slap bass. In similar fashion follows Misery Loves Company, but no amount of cowbell can save it from sounding like a second rate disco off-cut from LCD. Behind The Shutter threatens to break out into Funky Town at any second, with the kitsch vibe at times a little too permeating. When venturing more into the electronic sphere they have more success, such as on Miranda, Be My Guide and Schism Of The Mind, where the Hot Chip connection is evident.

New Build are a definite homage to all things retro, ‘80s and pop, but whereas LCD and Hot Chip took influence from these sounds and mixed them with a modern sensibility, this collection of songs is too often stuck in a rut, never seeming to take off. Perhaps it’s due to great expectations of the players involved. Fans will definitely enjoy some of the offerings here, and others looking for a bit of a new take on old tricks - it’s a groovy record baby yeah!

Epitaph Records

The Menzingers exude the kind of punk that we don’t get to see too much from new bands these days; they are raw, rough, and bluesy, with no over-produced pretention or wanky lyrics.

On The Impossible Past is their third, and undeniably, best offering. From the beginning of first track Good Things it’s evident that this album is going to be a good one – and even in this first instance, it’s all too easy to make the comparison between the band’s sound and fellow US rockers Gaslight Anthem.

A few more tracks in and you’ll have a feel for it: the shouty punk harmonies, the emotionally intelligent lyrics, name-drops of American cities and references to booze and smokes – it’s enough to have you gleefully, yet earnestly, belting out the words after a few plays.

The Obituaries proves the classic punk vibe through lyrics: “I will fuck this up/I fucking know it”, and shows off the throaty, Brian Fallon-like vocals of frontman Tom May. Mexican Guitars is a standout, and Casey is the sweet, tortured token track about a girl.

Freedom Bridge is a great narrative tune, with a chorus that will be permanently engrained in your brain.

This kind of punk album is a rare find; refreshingly solid, well formed and stylistically tight. Even after 14 songs it’s likely that you won’t want this album to end.

_ALFRED GORMAN _CHLOE PAPAS

CLARK Iradelphic

KUČKA Kucka

Warp Records

Independent

On Iradelphic, the recent installment in his increasingly impressive Warp Records canon, English producer Chris Clark returns with an album which was three years in the making. The LP follows on from 2009’s well-received Totems Flare and 2008’s Turning Dragon and was recorded in Australia, Berlin, Wales, Brussels, Cornwall, Norway and London.

The album features extensive field recordings and obscure instrumentations, this was bound to be chock-a-block full with the artist’s trademark eclecticism but some producers can fall into the trap of forgoing all musicality just to produce something that’s different.

This is certainly not the case here.

The Spanish guitar of Henderson Wrench is a stirring, moving, opener segueing into the crisp, clear harpsichords of Com Touch before the plucked strings return with Tooth Moves which sounds as though Bibio had been asked to produce a number for a prog rock opera. Martina Topley Bird (vocalist with both Tricky and Massive Attack previously) makes an appearance on a couple of tracks, but it’s the instrumentals which evoke the most emotions especially CD highlight The Pining Pt1 with its punchy beats bringing out the soaring piano refrain.

Whilst not wholly a dance album (there are some quiet contemplation moments on there), for home listening this release is quirky, affecting and distinctive, without being up its own arse.

_ANDREW LANARK 20

Kučka is the stage moniker for local electronic song-smith Laura Lowther. Her self-titled, debut EP is a remarkably accomplished affair with every track presenting some new aspect of Kučka’s unique musical persona. The production is excellent, with woozy synth tones, lo-fi beats and murmuring atmospheric sounds, but the EP’s stand-out quality is Lowther’s voice. It pulls the songs effortlessly through constantly shifting musical terrain.

Take, for example, the second track, The Operation, in which narcotic synths lead to a muffled heartbeat and then a twitching, industrial drum line. Or Polly, which starts out sounding like a warped record caught in a locked groove and ends up as a bass drum puncturing the EP’s most traditionally song-like moment.

In every Kučka review I’ve read, there is the obligatory Björk comparison to be made but, while it’s definitely an apt reference point, the EP doesn’t sound derivative. Where Björk’s currency is tied up in naivety and wide, open spaces, Lowther’s tunes carry a cagier, more claustrophobic feel.

The music’s synthetic sheen veils a sinister undercurrent which only surfaces occasionally in sudden, violent bursts. Lowther is a master of delaying these extroverted moments, at stretching out an uneasy calm until breaking point. It is this play between the suggestion of violence and its realisation that gives the EP its unique dynamic.

_HENRY ANDERSEN X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

www.xpressmag.com.au

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

PERTH

FASHION WEEK Jonté takes centre stage at the New Gen showcase

SPUD | FILM

www.xpressmag.com.au

FELICITY WARD | ARTS

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COCKATOO CALL OUT

Come October, Sydneysiders will get to experience a celebration of cinema on the spectacular Sydney Harbour thanks to the Cockatoo Island Film Festival. I know what you’re thinking – how is a Sydney film festival relevant to me in Perth…?

Well, technically it isn’t, unless you’re a budding filmmaker wanting to share your work with east coast audiences. Cockatoo Island Film Festival organisers have put the call out to filmmakers worldwide who want to have their work showcased to an audience of 45,000 film fans, inviting documentaries, short films and narrative pieces. The deadline for submission is July 31, so hop to it and head on over to cockatoofilm.com for more info on how to get involved.

Westwind opens the Audi Festival of German Films

WELCOME THE WESTWIND

German cinema buffs and kraut lovers will be pleased to hear that the 2012 Audi Festival Of German Films is fast approaching, touching down in Perth from May 3-6. The program of films on offer is award-winning, literally, with every flick showcased having received at least one award at The Deutscher Filmpreis (The German Film Awards), Germany’s answer to the Oscars. A huge range of films will be on offer for keen cinephiles during the festival, including If Not Us, Who?, Colour Of The Ocean, Cracks In The Shell and The Fräulein And The Sandman.

The fun kicks off on Thursday, May 3, with a screening of Westwind by Robert Thalheim at Cinema Paradiso at 7pm; tickets are on sale now from lunapalace.com.au. Multi-passes are available.

O MY

The streets of Northbridge will come alive with music, art, food, theatre and free family-friendly entertainment on Sunday, April 29, thanks to Northbridge’s O Day, an event which will run down James Street and into the Northbridge Piazza. A troop of talented performers will entertain punters during the day, including the Ayres Rock Surf Life Saving Club – featuring two deluded lifesavers on an imaginary beach.

Punters can also expect a pop-up circus school, a vintage carousel and cupcake decorating in the Urban Orchard. Find out exactly what’s on and when at perthcultrualcentre.com.au.

PRINT STINT

Artists who work in print mediums are being called forward to enter 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 work by artists who 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.

Ayers Rock Surf Life Saving Club will perform at O Day

WHEEL APPEAL

The Wheel Journey event will roll down to Lake Monger this Sunday, April 22, raising funds and awareness for Wheelchairs For Kids, a charity which empowers disadvantaged children. People with and without disabilities will gather at Lake Monger from 9am-1pm, to make the most of the entertainment, food and stalls promoting wheelchair friendly activities which will be on offer. Entry is $10 for anyone over 12 years of age. Find out more and purchase your ticket via stickytickets.com.au/8059.

LIAM BURROWS

Caught In A Buble Bubble Liam Burrows plays the Ellington Jazz Club on Thursday, April 19, and Tuesday, April 24, and The Atrium in Mandurah on Saturday, April 21.

Bookings can be made via the venues.

While most 18 year olds are out drinking, attending uni and generally causing havoc around the place, Liam Burrows has a very different plan in mind. Ever since his stint on Australia’s Got Talent, where he made it to the semi-finals, he’s been concentrating on launching his music career.

After his piano and singing teacher and mentor inspired him to take up jazz, Burrows has never looked back. “I’ve been singing since I was very young, and when I was 12 I met my singing teacher Dorian Mode; he introduced me to soul and jazz.

“As my voice got deeper and started to develop more depth, I started to get into Sinatra, Michael Buble, Harry Connick... I keep singing it, and I love it. I want the world to hear more of it. The music’s very unique, it’s in the moment, and it’s very improvised. You can really express yourself through the music, there’s so much space to move around with your voice. It’s a style where you can show off.”

Even though Burrows seems like a very modest young lad, there’s no denying that he has an engaging on-stage charisma that saw him take Australia by storm during his time on Australia’s Got Talent.

“For years I wanted to go on a show like Australian Idol or X Factor,” he says of his decision to venture into reality television. “It was just about choosing the right time. I didn’t want to look like a gimmick, like a little teenager getting up and singing. I wanted to let my voice set and then go on as a young adult having a go, and not look too desperate or anything. I wanted to get a lot of exposure and see if people liked my voice.”

And like it they did, with Burrows making it to the final rounds of the show. Even so, he’s still surprised by the strength of the fan’s reaction.

“I’ve had people coming up to me in the streets, saying ‘I’ve never heard jazz and I love it now,” he laughs. “I had a police officer come up to me and say ‘I hate jazz, I hate Frank Sinatra, but you’ve got me back into it’.”

The show’s led to many opportunities for Burrows, including releasing his own album and touring with The Pointer Sisters.

Liam Burrows “I’ve done about 80 performances so far around the place, and I’m touring at the moment with my six piece band and quartet... it’s a lot of performing, but I love it.”

While his debut album comprised of covers

by Burrows’ biggest inspirations, his new album will feature original songs.

“It will be some jazz, but maybe some contemporary stuff as well,” he says.“I’m not very good with lyrics, like, I’m not very poetic. But I’m good at writing music. I’ve learned that a lot of songs are cowritten, or with three or four people writing the one song.”

With such an intense recording and touring schedule, what do 18 year old jazz singers do to unwind and relax?

“I like to watch TV,” he laughs. “I practice a lot at home, I’m just a normal kind of young guy. I just recently turned eighteen so I go out clubbing.”

They’re probably not the gin-soaked joints of the jazz singers of yore, but it’s nice to know that some reality TV stars turn out refreshingly normal. _TARA LLOYD

TROYE SIVAN

Speaking With Spud

Spud

SPUD

Small Potatoes Directed by Donovan Marsh Starring Troye Sivan, John Cleese, Jason Cope, Tanit Phoenix, Genna Blair This amiable coming of age tale follows the trials and tribulations of the titular John ‘Spud’ Milton (South Africa-born but Perth-raised Troye Sivan) as he navigates the choppy waters of adolescence while attending an all-male boarding school in South Africa, circa 1990. Spud’s problems with the usual gamut of teen issues - girls, bullies, harsh school discipline, his deliriously eccentric family - are counterbalanced by the momentous social and political changes affecting his country, starting with the release of Nelson Mandela and the legitimisation of the ANC. Based on the series of books by John van de Ruit, Spud the movie suffers from many of the problems that regularly plague literary adaptations; an overreliance on voiceover, an episodic narrative structure, and an implicit assumption that the audience is somewhat familiar with the source material. In a way such leery fidelity is understandable; in their native land, the Spud books are apparently a literary phenomenon, a generation-defining series on par with Harry Potter or - more appropriately - the Adrian Mole books. Even so, what worked on the page doesn’t necessarily work on the screen, with Sivan’s narration in particular acting to distance the audience from the action.

What lifts the film are the winning performances by both the young central cast and the veteran supporting ensemble. This isn’t 24

Troye Sivan’s first film - he played a young Hugh Jackman in the pretty terrible X-Men Origins: Wolverine - but he’s certainly not a household name, and that anonymity helps to lend the character of Spud an essential “every boy” quality.

He comes across as intelligent, self-effacing, somewhat overwhelmed, and more than a little confused - exactly what is needed for the central character in this sort of business.

Sivan is surrounded by a solid team of South African thespians whose faces you’ll recognise even if their names are unfamiliar; Jason Cope, for example, who plays the hairtrigger house master Mr Wilson, has cropped up in District 9 and Doomsday, while Tanit Phoenix, who plays his wife, has featured as a standard issue pretty face in a number of films. The cast’s heavy hitter, though, is clearly John Cleese, who gets to sink his teeth into the meaty role of Spud’s erstwhile mentor, the alcoholic, acerbic, and politically incorrect Mr Edly, aka The Guv. Cleese clearly relishes the role, balancing humour and pathos with aplomb, and it’d be nice to see him get more roles that swing more toward the dramatic.

In the end, Spud is a film that really wants you to love it, and it’s so earnest and open in that ambition that it’s hard to deny its pleas.

And while the adaptation issues that plague it almost sink the film, the strong acting and warm, nostalgic tone mean that, while it’s not a classic for the ages, it’s a pleasant enough hour and change in the cinema. _TRAVIS JOHNSON

Although a relative neophyte in the world of cinema, Perth-based Troye Sivan has already scored his first starring role as the eponymous hero in the South African smash hit Spud.

Normally it takes a while to break into the word of acting, but Troye Sivan’s first big-screen performance got noticed by the right people. Then again, that performance was seen by an awful lot of people, period.

“I was in X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” Sivan, now 16 explains. “And basically somebody in Perth was doing a TV spot on me about how I got the part and everything, and the producer of Spud’s uncle lived in Perth and saw me on TV. I sing and Spud sings, and I was in Oliver and Spud is in Oliver, and Spud’s South African and I’m South African, and so he just thought that I might be good for the part.

So within a week I’d done my first audition.”

And though he acquitted himself well as his presence in the film shows - getting the role wasn’t nearly so cut and dry as might be expected.

“Because it was a South African movie they wanted to try to get a South African cast,” Sivan tells us. “The book is so, so South African; it’s a massive part of their culture there. It’s the best selling South African book of all time. They really wanted to give local boys a chance to get this role, so they went around with this almost Australian Idol style of auditioning, going around the whole country for eight months. But I had done my audition before any of that stuff, but the producers said ‘We like you, but we still want to hold auditions’.

And then eventually, when I’d almost given up hope, they said yes - the entire time they didn’t find anyone else.”

A big part of the appeal of the film was being able to return to his homeland, which he left with his family at the age of two. “I’d been back to South Africa for holidays and that, so I had a slight memory of it. In Perth we live in a predominantly South African community, so the accent and things like that have never been far from me. But it was really, really interesting to be able to spend three months of 2010 in South Africa.”

And as for his most famous co-star, comedy institution John Cleese, Sivan admits to not being overly familiar with his body of work, at least initially.

“Films like Harry Potter, stuff that came out when I was young, that’s mainly where I knew him from. When they told me that I’d got the part and that

Troye Sivan stars in Spud John Cleese was attached, I went back and watched all his stuff. I don’t think I had embraced how funny he is, and how much he’s changed the comedy world forever. I realised that afterwards, and my new friend John, this really, really nice man, I can’t believe he’s the legend that he is. And that’s a testament to John, because if you see how he carries himself, he’s just the nicest man. And on top of being a comedic genius, I watched him give, in my opinion, one of the greatest performances of his career.” _TRAVIS JOHNSON X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

Battleship

BATTLESHIP

...More Like Battleshit Directed by Peter Berg Starring Taylor Kitsch, Rihanna, Alexander Skarsgård, Liam Neeson Oh lordy, where to begin? First off, yes, this movie is based on a board-game. Secondly, yes, this movie really does feature singer Rihanna’s acting debut. With such key, inspiring elements you know you are in for a classy, well thought out affair. Surprisingly, it’s actually a shallow, heaving mess with bizarre racial undertones and a level of writing and acting that hasn’t been seen in the sci-fi genre since 2000’s Scientology, funded mess Battlefield Earth.

Let me lay out the plot, like an old dog laying a shameful mess. It starts in 2005, with NASA announcing they have discovered a planet in another solar system with conditions similar to Earth, a socalled Goldilocks planet. As a candidate for harbouring life, NASA sets about transmitting a powerful signal from Hawaii, hoping to hear a response. Cut to today and an international naval fleet, well just Japanese and Americans apparently, have met at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii for RIMPAC. No, not a bizarre sexual act, a real international naval exercise where different nations play friendly war games together. But not this year, as the games kick off and the warships enter the ocean, five alien ships enter Earth’s atmosphere on a course directly for Hawaii.

As the massive ships crash into the ocean, they land right in the middle of RIMPAC and as the largest of the ships rises up out of the waters it casts of a large, impenetrable force-field around itself and

some of our battleships, not allowing anything manmade in or out of this space.Yeah that’s right, the aliens just up and made a defined board-game like space in the ocean in which to play some Battleships. There are actually quite a few aspects of this movie inspired by the board-game. Of course the board-game didn’t have aliens, or a backstory or plot, but Battleship refers to it over the course of the movie, with the aliens having peg shaped bombs that plant themselves neatly from one end of a battleship to the other, exploding the whole thing once they sink in. Also, for some retarded reason the aliens can’t really see our ships, and we kind of can’t see theirs. But somehow the humans hack into a system of ocean buoys, laid out like a grid on the board-game, and using their movement we can see the alien ships. The ship’s crew even called out coordinates to hit like in the game.

Like Transformers, it’s an easy movie to trash. But in its way it is exactly what it claims to be.

During the bigger, city destruction scenes you could easily be mistaken that you’re watching a scene from Transformers, with a type of robot alien that never made it into the final cut. But here’s the thing about Transformers, they make a shit-ton of money. I mean like embarrassing amounts. So there are droves of people out there who obviously enjoy this genre of loud, smashing, CGI metal. Battleship is directly aimed at these people and could very well please them, but with no Megan Fox showing the outline of her growler I’d wager a large portion of that audience will be similarly disappointed.

On a scale of one to 10, with one being Transformers and 10 being Aliens, Battleship is a definite zero. _TOM VARIAN

Salmon Fishing In The Yemen breakthrough British comedy - think The Full Monty or Four Weddings And A Funeral. The cast is exceedingly charming; McGregor, utilising his natural brogue for what seems like the first time in ages, does well as the dryly sarcastic, devoutly rational scientist who finds his well-founded arguments withering in the face Directed by Lasse Hallstrom of the Sheikh’s simple faith in the healing power of Starring Ewan McGregor, Emily Blunt, Kristin fly-fishing. Egyptian actor Waked brings a sly twinkle Scott Thomas, Amr Waked, Rachel Stirling to the mystical Yemeni plutocrat, lending humanity and humility to what could have been a thinly-drawn The latest film by Swedish director Lasse Hallstrom role, and Scott Thomas clearly relishes the part of the (My Life As A Dog, Chocolat) began life as a fairly biting foul-mouthed, politically canny Maxwell. Even Blunt, satirical novel by British writer Paul Torday, who used who can be more than a little one-note, does well, the absurd central premise to make some barbed although to be honest the role is well within her points about political spin-doctoring. The story’s wheelhouse. filmic incarnation, however, has had most of its sharp The film only really falters when the darker edges sanded off, leaving a lightly entertaining - if elements of Middle Eastern politics, almost certainly occasionally overly earnest - romantic comedy. plot points from the source novel that should have Yemeni billionaire Sheikh Muhammed been cut, intrude upon the central narrative. Terrorist (Amr Waked) has a dream, the gist of which is clearly attacks and assassination attempts sit uneasily outlined in the title, and dispatches his functionary, Harriet Chetwode-Talbot (the increasingly alongside Fred and Harriet’s will they/won’t they overexposed Emily Blunt) to make it happen. Seeing storyline, as does the hovering background presence as Atlantic Salmon aren’t generally found in the of Harriet’s short-term boyfriend, a soldier we learn Middle East, this involves seeking the advice of has gone missing in action in Afghanistan. Such tonal Scottish fisheries expert Fred Jones (Ewan McGregor, shifts may have worked on the page, but they’re once again channelling Alec Guinness). His protests jarring on the screen.

Still, overall the whole thing works, albeit in against the scheme are rendered moot when Downing Street press secretary Patricia Maxwell a lazy Sunday afternoon television sort of way. Salmon (Kristin Scott Thomas) decides she could use a happy Fishing In The Yemen is confection-light, occasionally story from the Middle East, and throws the full weight too saccharine for its own good, and doesn’t linger too long in the memory, but it’s a pleasant enough of the British government behind the project.

When the film is firing on all cylinders, it piece of whimsy nonetheless. exhibits that perfect mix of the twee and the barking mad which is present in the DNA of almost every _TRAVIS JOHNSON

SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN When The River Runs Dry

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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 Munda Ungai Munda (Earth To Earth): Japingka Gallery, Fremantle Wayne Quilliam is one of Australia’s leading Indigenous photographic artists and in Munda Ungai Munda, Quilliam has curated his work into three themes. Respectively titled Lowanna, Ceremony and Towindri, Quilliam’s style encompasses the spiritual and artistic dimensions of Aboriginal culture as his art is transformed through traditional and modern practices, including developing a world first technique that infuses the artwork with traditional ochres and plant dyes. Runs ’til Apr 24.

THEATRE/DANCE

John Gavin: Blue Room Theatre, Northbridge In a daring and visually arresting first time collaboration between aerialist Dawn Pascoe and [DIY] actor Nick Candy comes a dynamic new retelling of a landmark West Australian story, John Gavin.

An Optimistic Mid-Career Retrospective: [DIY] Photocopy Exhibition: The Bird, Northbridge In the early hours of Easter Saturday 1844, John Spectrum Project Space, ECU, Mt Lawley In March YOUTHLESS placed a call-out for photographers of all skill sets to submit photocopies of their work Artist Matt Jackson’s latest exhibition – An Optimistic for an open group exhibition, taking the approach that all submissions received would be exhibited. The Gavin became the first European to be executed Mid-Career Retrospective looks back on his life, the concept behind [DIY] was to create a low-cost, no fuss opportunity for photographers to get their work up in the Swan River Colony. He was tried, convicted trials and the tribulations that have made him on a wall without dealing with expensive venue hire, printing and framing they would normally encounter. and hung within three days and buried without the artist he is today. Matt has lived with HIV/ With the diverse and extremely varied range of work they have received, YOUTHLESS will throw curatorial ceremony in an unmarked grave in the Fremantle sand hills. He was 15 years old. 168 years later, highly AIDS for the past 20 years. Throughout his career caution to the wind and plaster the walls of the Bird in a collage (like) fashion. Opens April 21 at 8pm skilled aerial theatre, dramatic reconstruction and he has used art as a way to speak out in a world physical performance will re-animate John Gavin which still considers the disease to be taboo. The exhibition, showing at Edith Cowan University Kingdom Of Characters: Gallery Central, but in Gillie and Marc’s world old rules are called into and the twisted adolescent dreams that painted question and enduring love triumphs. In these semi- him guilty of murdering his master’s son. Runs April (ECU)’s Spectrum Project Space, spans two decades Northbridge of Matt’s career, presenting many previously un- A travelling exhibition presented by The Japan autobiographical works, Gillie and Marc represent 17-May 5. Bookings via blueroom.org.au. exhibited works from private collections along with Foundation, Kingdom Of Characters showcases their own unique partnership. Runs Apr 26-May 10.

Skin: Blue Room Theatre, Northbridge large multi-panel paintings from the last decade. decade-by-decade the manga (comic) and anime (animation) characters that have been popular in FutureGen 2012: John Curtin Gallery, Curtin Written, directed and performed by Helpmann Runs ’til Apr 27.

Japan since the 1950s. It features life-sized figures University, Bentley Award winner Humphrey Bower, Skin tells the tale of of Ultraman, Hello Kitty, Mobile Suit Gundam, Neon On display for FotoFreo, FutureGen 2012 is an a hairdresser on holiday in Vietnam who undergoes In Memory Of Process: Galleria, East Perth Genesis Evangelion and Pokemon; small fi gurines; exhibition of the work of the best graduating and an unexpected metamorphosis, and an actor in Making reference to the arts and crafts movement of the mid 1800s to early 1900s, and the continuing footage; information panels; and a re-created undergraduate photography students from the search of inspiration at a remote WA salt-lake gets leading tertiary institutions teaching photography more than he bargained for. These two original Slow movement of the late 1980s, Elisha Quintal aims teenager’s room. Runs Apr 17-May 3. in Australia, together with the best student and stories of transformation address cultural identity to examine the relationship between production graduate student photography from the leading and difference in a rapidly changing environment, and consumption on both small and large scales Quarter Acre: Moores Building, Fremantle both in our own back yard and abroad. Season runs through the recontextualisation of everyday The quarter acre block has long been an idealised teaching institutions in China. Runs ’til May 11. from April 26-May 12. Bookings can be made via materials and rituals. Using silk and concrete to vision of the basic Australian living space and way create a dichotomy between materials, the artist of life. It has played a big part in the formation of Shaun Tan: Suburban Odyssey: Fremantle Arts blueroom.org.au. establishes a cause-and-effect relationship within the nation’s communal psyche. Most Australians Centre, Fremantle her work by means of a meditated use of cutting, begin their life journey confined to the borders Shaun Tan has won the world’s most prestigious I (Honestly) Love You: Blue Room Theatre, sewing, casting, dyeing, eroding and draping. Runs of the enclosed universe of the suburban block. prizes – an Academy Award for his short film The Northbridge Fremantle-based artist Michael O’Connell has Lost Thing, and the Astrid Lindgren Award for his From award winning playwright Damon Lockwood ’til Apr 28. captured this paradigm in a new exhibition that work as a children’s illustrator, but he describes comes a tale of love gained, love lost, and love The Western Desert Show: Elements Art Gallery, looks at a world full of discovery, new adventures himself as ‘a painter who fell into illustration and thrown around a bit. I (Honestly) Love You explores and alter egos. Runs Apr 20-May 6. book publishing’. Fremantle Arts Centre is delighted what happens when two people, who share the Dalkeith to present for the first time a collection of Tan’s extremely rare psychological condition of only Curated by well-known private collector Dr Jo Lagerberg, The Western Desert Show encapsulates Animal Attraction: Linton & Kay Contemporary, never before seen paintings along with original being able to tell the truth at all times, fall deeply drawings and preparatory sketches for the film The and madly in love. The two age-old enemies of the blossoming of the Western Desert art scene, a Subiaco distinctive movement that has taken its place amongst Celebrating the connection between disparate Lost Thing. Exhibited together, these works create a togetherness and honesty tangle desperately in the most highly regarded in contemporary Australian creatures, the union of Gillie and Marc’s dog and vision of Shaun Tan as an artist whose work across this exciting new play examining the deepest of all art. Proceeds from sales of artworks are returned to the rabbit shatter all of the conventions to become life genres is built on close observation of the real world human emotions. Runs May 15-Jun 2. Bookings can artists and their community. Runs ’til Apr 29. long soul mates. In the wild, dogs hunt and kill rabbits, through painting and drawing. Runs May 19-Jul 15. be made via blueroom.org.au.

DES BISHOP

The Drums of Ireland

Irish-American stand up comedian Des Bishop performs as part of the Perth International Comedy Festival at the Astor Theatre from Thursday, May 3, ’til Saturday, May 5. Bookings can be made through BOCS. He’s pretty famous in his adopted country of Ireland, and has been known to put more than a few bums on seats in the States, where he was born, but Des Bishop is still best known hereabouts for his performance of the ‘Australian History Rap’ at the 2009 Melbourne Comedy Festival Gala. Oddly, it’s a performance he’s not entirely happy with.

“That’s one of my great disappointments in life,” he recalls. “Because the gala edited out one of the choruses, and there’s too many lines in a row at the start. It was a film edit, not my edit. I was very happy with that rap, but mainly after that night, which was my first time performing it. Once I got more comfortable with the information contained in it, it became a lot better. I did a lot of research on it, but that night it was just pure concentration; it wasn’t even performance, because it was just 200 years in, like, 16 by three lines, and I was just happy to have gotten it out without making any mistakes. It was good fun. I learned a lot, actually.”

Since then, he’s become known as a comedian who isn’t afraid to dredge up his own pain in order to sift it for comedic material. His shows have tackled such topics as his relationship with his nowdeceased father, as well as Bishop’s own battle with testicular cancer a couple of years back. This time out, though, he’s decided to turn his attention to a much less serious problem: learning to play the drums.

“This show is very light-hearted,” he says.

“Ironically, I’m actually putting some rapping back in it. That Australia Rap was a one-off more than anything else; I haven’t done a lot of rapping in a long time. But my new show - because my last show was very serious, all about my dad and stuff - my new show is all about learning to play the drums. It’s called Des Bishop Likes To Bang, and it’s very playful, very improvisational, and very interactive with the audience. It’s very upbeat and light-hearted.”

Even though he insists the show has none of the seriousness of his other work, it’s clear that it still consists of Bishop’s personal experiences as filtered through his comic sensibilities.

“I do commonly do that,” he agrees.“Which sort of evolved out of this TV show I made, where suddenly I just got in this habit of experiencing a 26

Felicity Ward

FELICITY WARD

Hedgehog Infatuation Des Bishop thing and then talking about it. But with drumming I literally just started learning how to play the drums, and I just saw some funny things in terms of using an electronic drum kit. In fact, this show will not be a deep exploration of learning how to play the drum kit; it will just be very fun and silly. It’s more like a great diving board for interacting with the audience, and an excuse to sing a few songs and do some stuff that I haven’t done for a while.” _TRAVIS JOHNSON

Australian comedian Felicity Ward isn’t really obsessed with hedgehogs but she’d love to have one as a pet. “It’s illegal to own a domestic hedgehog in Australia, believe me, I’ve looked,” she tells X-Press. Ward brings her fresh show The Hedgehog Dilemma to the Astor Theatre as part of the Perth International Comedy Festival from Wednesday, May 9, ‘til Saturday, May 12. Tickets through BOCS. “To be honest, it’s hard to talk about this show and make it sound funny – The Hedgehog Dilemma or as I like to call it ‘How are you screwing your life up right now?’ - but relax, it’s the funniest thing I’ve ever written,” these are the words casually rattled off by comedian, TV personality and performer

Felicity Ward when asked about her new show The Hedgehog Dilemma.

No, the show is not entirely about hedgehogs. For a hedgehog to stay warm, it must endure pain through physical contact but for it to stay unharmed, it must choose loneliness – it is this analogy for human intimacy that Ward explores in her latest show. Alongside this, she talks of a relationship breakdown and having to move back in to her mother’s house. “I last lived with my mum when I was 28 – big pill to swallow!,” Ward says, almost as if she’s still in shock.

“Bringing back boys was a no-no. Not from her, from me. I could not ‘casually’ sleep with someone at my mum’s house. Not that the offers were beating the door down.” But there were bonuses. “She’s probably the better cook,” she admits, talking of their domestic capabilities.“Except Spaghetti Bolognaise and hot Milos. She’s terrible at those but the best at everything else.”

Having grown up in the small coastal town Killcare in NSW, Ward made her big break in The Ronnie Johns Half Hour, an Australian sketch show on Channel 10 back in 2005. She’s since gone on to make appearances on Spicks And Specks, Thank God You’re Here, Good News Week and more.

She’s been nominated and won multiple awards for her comedy shows over the years and thanks her family for her thick skin.“I’ve always had a thick skin,” she says.“I was raised at my family’s dinner table and that was the toughest crowd going. You had to be funny in our family or you’d be eaten alive.”

Aside from The Hedgehog Dilemma, Ward recently starred in Rob Sitch’s latest film Any Questions For Ben? alongside Josh Lawson and Rachael Taylor. She even managed to look at costar Daniel Henshall (who played murderer John Bunting in Snowtown) normally on set. “It’s one of the best experiences I’ve ever had creatively,” she says, talking of her involvement with the film. “And I made a conscious decision not to see Snowtown beforehand so I could look at Dan [Henshall] and kiss him in the film without thinking ‘you bloody monster’.”

Aside from being involved in Andrew Denton’s super fresh show Randling, Ward is looking forward to making the trek over west to perform as part of the Perth International Comedy Festival, not only to chat hedgehogs but to partake in long overdue catch-ups. “I have a cousin that lives there so I’m super pumped about seeing her,” she says.

“Oh! And a girl I was a camp counsellor with in America 10 years ago, I’m seeing her for the first time too. On top of that, I’ll probably head to the usual Perthy haunts and see all the lovely Perthy comics like Emma Zammit.” _ANNABEL MACLEAN X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

FUN TIMES IN FREO Fremantle Street Arts Festival Easter Long Weekend 2012 The streets of Freo came alive with musicians, dancers, performers and punters over the Easter Long Weekend as the Fremantle Street Arts Festival returned for another year of al fresco entertainment.

With plenty of entertainment for young and old, the Fremantle Street Arts Festival attracted thousands of curious individuals down to Freo, who made the most of the sunshine and fantastic program of performances.

Photographs provided by the City Of Fremantle

Jonté Spring/Summer 2012/2013 (Photography: Caitlin Worthington)

NEW GEN

Jonté’s Time To Shine The champagne is chilling, the models are backstage limbering up and Perth’s fashion pack is staring at their wardrobes agonizing over what to wear… which can only mean one thing - Perth Fashion Week is finally upon us!

In its first year, Perth Fashion Week will pay homage to established West Australian labels such as One fell Swoop, Garth Cook and Ruth Tarvydas, plus a small group of up-and-coming designers, who are currently flat-tack putting the final touches on their collections which will hit the runway for the New Gen showcase.

Set to take over the Perth Convention & Exhibition Centre at 11am this Friday, April 20, the New Gen runway will feature collections by Jonté, Jessica Bratich, Mec & The Maid, Rosie & Broken, Talweez Kaur Senghera and With Grace.

Though she’s previously created a couture collection for Perth Fashion Festival’s Hyogo Banshu event, Perth Fashion Week will mark the first time that Jonté Pike will present a ready-to-wear, commercial collection, and the young designer is eagerly awaiting her label’s catwalk debut.

“I’m very excited but a bit anxious because this will be the first time I’m showing a commercial collection,” Pike responds when asked how she’s faring ahead of Friday.

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“It’s much harder creating a commercial collection because you need to think about producing more than just one garment, and also something that more people are willing to wear, but that doesn’t mean you need to make it boring.

It’s definitely more challenging though.”

Drawing inspiration from the WA coastline, the forthcoming Jonté collection features party dresses and separates executed in beautiful fabrics, with splashes of bright blue leather and psychedelic digital prints.

“I usually like to do something which is quite ethnic, and this time I’m going to focus on the Australian coast line. The collection is called Pearlesque and it’s my Spring/Summer 2012/2013 collection. It will incorporate some of my favourite fabrics – I’ve got cobalt blue leather and gold leather as well, plus two digital prints inspired by the blue ring octopus and pearls.”

Designing for “fashion conscious women who are feminine but want an edgy flair to their outfits,” Pike has worked tirelessly to complete her collection for Perth Fashion Week, and knows its effort well spent.

“The two minutes of seeing your clothes on the catwalk is so worth the pain and the hours of stress that are behind it!”

Tickets for the New Gen showcase and other Perth Fashion Week events are on sale now from perthfashionweek.com.au.

27

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

hen bona fide legend wonic a is z he nc Sa r ge tr Ro ternational elec it comes to the int. The American house of dance music circui s remixed the likes ha er uc od pr d d an an J e D Ross and The Policcords. na ia D , nk Pu t af D ho of Stealth Re is the head honce than two decades, Now, after mor ains at the forefront of Sanchez still rem to the Grammy winner his game. RK talksfamily life ahead of his about Ibiza and r. return down unde ason at Ibiza

e next se beat tting ready for th “Right now, I’m ge e upcoming album,” chimes the uprking th wo on en be ng o rki als “I’ve and wo line from the USA. R3hab Sanchez down the rations with Sebastien Drums, DJ n-thebo lla co hands-i l rea ll ca on a lot of uld wo I music that plenty and a few others – just arrived in New York and have air-tunes. I’ve also to the to do of course!” ck in the ‘80s when Sanchez took mere a s wa It was ba sic mu ic turntables; electron would headphones and r self. “I never really knew what “I was . me ne for sce its e of th in ow rt shad ; sure ys, talking of his sta come of it,” he sa e culture – it was great back then nted nc da o at we wa int wh of ht basically sig e los t n get ul and no we had to be caref ve but we survived. Of course, it caolved to do and to achie down, though realistically, it has ev diluted and watered and matured.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 30

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29

Roger Sanchez Indeed it has matured and continues to progress and surprise listeners and fans - who would have thought that dubstep could find its way into a house performance? “That’s what’s cool about music,” Sanchez says, about this genre-defying age. “There are no rules; no one is sitting there telling people how things have to be. Things like dub and all these things are all merging into the electronic scene.

“It’s almost like the music scene just keeps feeding on itself. You have Avicii and Afrojack blowing up; and there is a lot of big-room electronic music doing great things. Even techno has gotten to a point where it’s still underground but artists are playing it

across every genre. This brings out all of this amazing new talent and such. It’s really great to see.”

Sanchez is also sold on the technological revolution in music given it has broadened its popular appeal and made it more accessible to many more people. And, while arguably it has created a movement characterised by commercial mediocrity, it could be argued this applies everywhere – not just in EDM. “Sure, it has made it harder to find the good stuff,” he says, laughing, “But the fact that the delivery of music has made it what it is - the fact that it has become a global phenomenon - is a great thing. The downside in the ability to monetise it by selling units, so you have to adjust and roll with that but it also can create global success on levels that have not been seen before.”

Although the changing EDM scene and digital revolution is a great opportunity for all those budding bedroom DJs currently hard at work, for Sanchez, his path to the top has been a long and intricate one characterised by adversity and triumph.

“I’ve always embraced music,” he says. “And I’m proud and humbled by how things have worked out for me. I certainly think back to how lucky I’ve been that Europe embraced dance music 20 years ago; it really allowed the scene to develop all over the world. Everything has its time; I really believe that it [EDM] was never guaranteed to explode in America. The fact that it became such a major force here is great – it has been one big learning curve.”

Today, Sanchez’ Stealth imprint has been

and remains one of the great labels in the house movement; a label focused on the dance spectrum and one that hasn’t swayed from its roots. And, with the likes of Prok & Fitch, Brisbane’s own The Stafford Brothers and Kid Massive being amongst others on the label, the future of Stealth is looking bright.“We’re still pushing the flavour; the guys that we are developing and working with, they’re aligned with what we stand for,” he says. “We’ve moved the label now and redesigned everything from the website to the cover art.”

Sanchez acknowledges that he won’t be around forever; especially given he has a family. “It’s the most important thing for me right now outside of music,” he says of his family. “I’m also trying to get involved with film; I’m working with the executive producer from the HBO Series Game Of Thrones and am still focused on developing the artists and growing the model.”

Aside from family, Sanchez is focused on and looking forward to his upcoming tour down under.

“I love Australian crowds; they’re always up for it and know how to have a great time,” he says. “I’ve got a lot of new productions and exclusives and I’m looking forward to sharing them with you.”

DJ Minx

CAN YOU DJ LADIES?

If you’re a lady and you’re into DJing, listen up.The She Can DJ Competition is now open for 2012. Entrants must submit a 20 minute mix along with images and a short biography via shecandj.com before next Thursday, April 26, at midnight. Last year, Sydney based DJ Minx took out the title and has since gone on to release her first official EMI compilation. She’s also travelled the world playing gigs in LA, London and Ibiza and even opened for Avicii at Stereosonic last year. Get set ladies, this is for you.

» ROGER SANCHEZ » FRIDAY, APRIL 20 @ VILLA

Craze

THAT SHIT CRAY

Two of the world’s most skilled turntablists – Craze and New Yorker Codes are coming to town as part of their Slow Roast Records Tour. Craze is a three time World DMC Champion and two time DMC Team Champion. He is regarded internationally as the best scratch DJ in the world and he’s also a renowned producer. He’s released drum’n’bass records with Cartel Recording, Breakbeat Kaos and a bunch more.

Brooklyn based beat-maker Codes will be bringing his production wizardry as well with some golden hip hop and house. It’s all happening on Saturday, June 2, at Villa. Tickets go on sale tomorrow, Thursday, April 19, for $35 plus booking fee. Grab them from Moshtix or the Boomtick Shop.

Figure

GO FIGURE

Just in case you hadn’t heard, Indiana bred DJ and producer Figure has been added to the Creamfields line-up. He’s a big name in dubstep and drumstep and is pumped to have been added to the lineup.

If you check out Beatport regularly, you’d know he’s scored a bunch of Top 10s on the site. Figure created his DOOM Music imprint last year and is celebrating the release of Monsters Of Drumstep Vol 2. Catch him alongside the likes of David Guetta, Bombs Away, Above & Beyond and more at Creamfields on Saturday, May 5, at the Supreme Court Gardens. Hit up Moshtix for tickets now.

Sky’High

SKY HIGH

Elefant Traks fresh signee Sky’High is coming to town. Having recently jumped on board The Herd’s A Thousand Lives Tour, Sky’High is due to drop her debut album in May. P-Money is handling the record’s production for the lady who was voted Best Female MC at last year’s OzHipHop Awards. Sky’High plays Mojos on Saturday, May 12. Check out her five track EP Your Highness before the gig. Head to skyhighforever.com for all the deets.

LET ME SEE YOU SWAGGA

Urban Swagga – it’s the fresh R&B night which launches this Thursday, April 19, at The Newport.

Hosted by Angry Buda and featuring a bunch of special guests, this R&B party is set to cause a bootylicious riot down in Freo every month. If you don’t know Angry Buda, get on down. He is a local legend who’s been rockin’ clubs for 14 years and he’s played all the big ones – Parklife, Breakfest, Big Day Out and more. Starts 8pm and it’s free dudes.

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

Funkoars

FUNKOARS GROWING UP

The Funkoars have a well-earned reputation as Australian hip hop’s rowdiest crew of drunken degenerates… but this doesn’t necessarily reflect reality as the lads approach 30. JOSHUA HAYES speaks with Matt Honson, aka Hons, about growing up ahead of their Being Vincent D’Onofrio Tour.

No member of the Funkoars better personifies the group’s burgeoning maturity than Honson.

Listening to his raps, you may picture him wiling away his day at a dingy TAB slash local pub, tipping the skimpies. However, what little spare time Honson has – in between recording, touring, working full time and uni – is often spent on the golf course.

“Maturity has definitely kicked in for all of us. Especially when you listen to records like [Who’s Your] Stepdaddy… You can listen to that and it’s like, ‘yep, these are 17 year old kids’, because that’s what 17 year old kids are like; they like going out drinking, getting hammered every weekend and trying to sleep with as many girls as possible. And that’s pretty much exactly what I did when I was 17 – which is cool – and that’s the record I made,” he says.

I didn’t really change that much until The Hangover.”

“It’s pretty much a story of our lives if you listen through all the records,” he adds.“[It’s] a pretty bumpy one, but we’re definitely all growing up and having adults problems, like paying bills on time and mortgages and all those heap fun adult things that you didn’t really care about when you were 17.”

The group’s growing maturity is reflected in their approach to their music, which saw them fine tune The Quickening extensively. “We had a lot more stuff recorded this time round than we had had in the past… We just spent a lot more time polishing it rather than going ‘yep, that sounds good; chuck it in the ‘done’ pile’,” Honson explains.“I think it’s us all growing up and taking it a lot more seriously.”

The result was the Funkoars’ best work to date – and their most successful, debuting at #11 on the ARIA charts. The national Being Vincent D’Onofrio Tour – named after the Dazastah-produced song from The Quickening – is their second since releasing the album. For fans that caught them last time, their set will include a number of tracks from The Quickening that they didn’t perform the first time round, as well as an extended and fine-tuned live drum machine routine.

Honson says he’s enjoying the leisurely pace of this tour, after his music, work and uni commitments resulted in him working 86 days straight without a break on their last tour. But with so many commitments, something’s going to suffer.

In Honson’s case, it’s his studies.

“I’ll probably have a handicap of three by the time uni’s finished... I’ve been [there since] I finished high school, and I’m still in the first year.

Going by that rate, I’m probably just going to finish and die,” he laughs. “Won’t have to worry about that HECS debt either, which will be fantastic.”

» FUNKOARS » FRIDAY, APRIL 27 @ BAR 120 » SATURDAY, APRIL 28 @ THE ROSEMOUNT HOTEL

CLARK

BEATS FROM AROUND THE WORLD UK producer Chris Clark has released five records and a bunch of EPs and has carved out his own niche and developed a worldwide following.

ANNABEL MACLEAN chats with the Warp Records signee about his new album Iradelphic ahead of his upcoming tour down under.

Recorded in over six different countries over three years, Iradelphic is the product of much experimentation. Wanting to create something that didn’t sound like previous work but still withheld his signature sound, Clark says it was difficult paradox to achieve. “It just takes a lot of writing,” he says, having just woken up in Switzerland and eaten a steak for breakfast.

“Once you’ve got hundreds of tracks you can start to see the stylistic links between things and placing them together in a context that is new and fresh but still has subtle hints of what you have done in the past, it becomes easier. It seems utterly strange to me that people get angry that I haven’t done something similar to what I’ve done before.”

Compared to previous work such as 2009’s long player Totems Flare, Iradelphic showcases softer tones and offers listeners a cultural slice of the various environments and places which inspired the sounds on the record.“I finished the album off in Melbourne which was pretty weird for me because I’ve never had a hot Australian Christmas,” he says. “The rest of the album was made in much colder places - Norway, Wales, Berlin. Making it in these places, well the music served as an escape, the music doesn’t sound very Norwegian. I dig the English rain though.”

Laptop microphones, crumbling cassettes, dictaphones, Cold War microphones and field recordings all make an appearance on Iradelphic, an unplanned and experimental move by Clark. “I found this great hire place where you could get really lavish old vintage equipment for a week or so at virtually no cost,” he says. “I didn’t plan what to

OBIE TRICE

CHET FAKER

After six years off the radar, Eminem associate Obie Trice (his “real name, no gimmicks” as he memorably stated in his cameo on the intro to Without Me) recently released his third album Bottoms Up. He speaks with JOSHUA HAYES.

Melbourne singer-songwriter and beat-maker Chet Faker released a cover of Blackstreet’s classic No Diggity which hit #1 on Hype Machine last year. Since then, he’s performed at South By Southwest and has just released his debut EP Thinking In Textures. ANNABEL MACLEAN chats with the bearded 23-year-old known to some as Nick Murphy about it all.

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use, as I had no idea what the tracks would sound like, so it was more a case of having lots of piano tracks and then working out the best way to record them. The field recordings were made in Teufelsberg, an old CIA listening tower in Berlin; it has the most amazing, endlessly refracting reverb.”

Hitting town to celebrate the release of Iradelphic shortly, Clark says the live set up he’s got going at the moment is “really fun”. “It’s basically a load of customised modular gear and some synths,” he explains. “It allows me to improvise quite freely but then reign it back… These two things - being able to write a track on the spot and then fuse it to more familiar material – make it really exciting for me, it’s like having the relaxed feeling of being in my studio but on stage in front of lots of people it’s also terrifying.”

Performing in front of a crowd isn’t as terrifying for the UK beat-maker as conducting an online live streaming of a workshop, something which Clark recently partook in from his studio in Berlin. “It was really nerve-racking, I though I would be cool with it but then as soon as it’s filming, I was petrified, because it was essentially just a loose jam,” he says. “[It was] weird, letting people see you that close, all the flaws and mistakes shine through, but it felt important to do it... I like the challenge of letting people in to see those slightly tense/vulnerable moments.”

Speaking of challenges, Clark has a few in store for this year. “I want to do something epic with more instruments and I also want to buy a load more modular equipment,” he says. “I’m aiming to build the ultimate drum machine but I’m not sure if those things will ever be combined. Possibly, we shall see!”

» » » »

CLARK IRADELPHIC [WARP RECORDS] OUT NOW FRIDAY, APRIL 27 @ THE BAKERY

NOTHING FAKE

STILL NO GIMMICKS

“Just because I haven’t been in the public eye for a while, I still create,” Trice says. “I have a studio at home and I still make music constantly.

[Over] the last six to eight months I put together Bottoms Up; that’s what I wanted to do and it was just the right time to go ahead and release this thing.”

Trice says he has grown as an artist since fans last heard from him. “I’m older; I’ve been through a lot; my perspective is different on certain things,” he says, citing the murder of his close friend Proof in 2006 as an example.

Despite rumours that his 2008 departure from Shady Records was due to a falling out with Eminem, Trice confirms that they are still tight. Eminem makes a guest appearance on Bottoms Up, and Dr Dre contributes production.

“Shady [Records] was somewhere I thought I would never leave, but it was more so an Interscope situation. Me and [Interscope boss] Jimmy Lovine couldn’t see eye to eye on certain things,” Trice says. “I hate that it had to happen that way for my fans, and everybody had the misconception that me and Eminem wasn’t friends anymore… [But] business is business at the end of the day. For the fans that appreciated Obie Trice’s music, I will never take this long to give them another album from myself.”

Trice met Eminem through the Hip Hop Shop - the epicentre of the vibrant Detroit hip hop scene which has spawned the likes of Eminem and D-12, legendary producer J Dilla, acclaimed rappers Elzhi and Guilty Simpson, and young upstart Danny Brown.

Trice is hoping to be able to give other up and coming artists from his hometown a boost, in the same way Eminem helped him. In 2010, he launched his own record label, Black Market Entertainment, to promote talent from Detroit. “We’re a musical city… the whole history

Clark

Obie Trice of Detroit; Motown Records. And we’re in the mid west; we absorb music from the south, from the east coast and the west coast,” he says.

Trice was recently in Australia as part of the ill-fated Heatwave Festival. Although the national festival was a critical, commercial and logistical failure (and the Perth leg was cancelled), Trice says he enjoyed himself. “The Heatwave Festival was great, man… the crowd was very receptive out there; I had a great time and enjoyed myself. I wish I could have made it to Perth but, as you know, the promoters was janky,” he says, laughing.

Trice adds that the festival was his first time performing, anywhere in the world, in two or three years. He plans to return soon to promote Bottoms Up. “We just got a touring agent who plans on working us to death so we’re definitely going to be in Australia again,” he says.

» OBIE TRICE » BOTTOMS UP [UNIVERSAL] » OUT NOW

There seems to be much mystery surrounding Chet Faker but this element of secrecy surrounding his pseudonym, his musical background and his beard is all a bit of a media spin.“It’s just a beard,” he says, in a casual and friendly tone down the line from Melbourne. “But, I mean everyone’s got a beard now you know. When I grew it I thought it was really interesting and cool but now people call it ‘hipster beard’.”

Having just returned home from South By Southwest, Murphy is still in recovery mode from his seven show stint in America and is about to celebrate the launch his debut EP Thinking In Textures recently released. Having released a cover of Blackstreet’s No Diggity last year which knocked out Bon Iver for the #1 spot on Hype Machine, it wasn’t long before Murphy quit his audio engineering studies at RMIT in Melbourne and immersed himself in music making full time.

“I wrote the track in one sitting and so it was actually initially going to be an original song,” he says, talking of No Diggity. “I did the whole instrumental first and then I couldn’t really come up with any vocals on top of it and No Diggity was jammed right in my head so I sort of tried that on top and it worked pretty well.”

Having come from an acoustic, disco and house music background, Thinking In Textures is a fusion of electronica and soul with Murphy’s personal stories of love and loss. “I always jumped around between heavily produced music and the complete opposite like bare minimum folk music because they’ve both got something in them,” Murphy says, talking of the EP’s various sounds.“For years, I would jump in between the two of those and I’d either be working on beats or house tracks. I think a big realisation for me was to combine those two ideas which is when I started making this music, I don’t know why it took me so

Chet Faker long to realise that I wasn’t going to be able to do one without doing the other but you know, I’m only 23.”

Perhaps the most challenging part of the last year for Murphy was transferring those songs from Thinking In Textures from the studio to a live setting. “It took me about four months to turn the seven songs from the EP and a few others into a live thing,” he says.

“That was probably the hardest thing I’ve done in the last year and a half. It was like reverse engineering and that made me nearly want to give up the whole thing because this music was initially never designed to be played live. I just wanted to make sounds that I like but I put four months into it and by the end of it, I had something I was pretty happy with.”

Murphy heads to the UK in May to play The Great Escape Festival and a few shows in London before settling down to work on an album upon his return. He’s also collaborating with Sydney producer Flume and working alongside Perth producer Taku so a potential visit over west could be in store.“There’s nothing locked in but we’re definitely talking about it!,” he concludes, not without a hint of excitement in his voice.

» CHET FAKER » THINKING IN TEXTURES [REMOTE CONTROL] » OUT NOW 31

SHAPE

WEDNESDAY 18/04 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 Andy Reid Mustang – DJ Giles Newport – Newport Wednesdays Sovereign Arms – Lokie Shaw The Deen - DJ Zelimer/ DJ Viper/ DJ Benny/ T– Zone 1 The Queens – Wriggle on YaYa’s - DJ Agent 85/ Dr Zaius

THURSDAY 19/04 Blvd Tavern – DJ Andy Clancy’s (Canning Bridge) - DJ Wrighteous Club Marakesh – DJ Simon

METRO FREO

Cottesloe Hotel – DJ Shots/ DJ Andy M Empire Bar – Halo/ DJ Bojan/ DJ Ben Sebastian Eve – DJ Tony Allen Flawless - DJ Zelimir/ DJ Minna/ Flying Scotsman – Cowboys & Indie Kids DJs Leopold Hotel – DJ Riki/ Roger Smart Library - Dorcia Llama Bar – DJ Maxwell/ EMAS/ Lukas Wimler 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 South St – DJ Castasia/ Dpad Swinging Pig – DJ Simon The Avenue – Jon Ee The Carine Tavern – Punchy & Juicy/ Little Nicky The Causeway – EMAS DJs The Craftsman – Fiveo The Deen – DJ Flex/ DJ Nano/ DJ Surge/ DJ Don Migi The East End Bar - The Prestige

Naik

32

The Newport Hotel – Urban Swagga ft Angry Buda The Norfolk Basement – Bassment ft Sam Perry/ Naik/ Troy Division/ Joe Macc The Queens – Kapitol The Whale & Ale – Josh Tilley The Whistling Kite - DJ Gareth Tiger Lils – Paul Malone/ Adam Kelly Woodvale Tavern – DJ Melvin

FRIDAY 20/04 Ambar – Jungle Shakedown pt 11 ft Greg Packer/ Rewind/ Devo/ Krank/ Dazz K/ Leroy Amplifier – DJ Jamie Mac/ Shannon Fox Bar 459 - DJ Smurf Bar Orient – Higher Fyah Reggae Club ft DJ Killian/ Mumma Trees/ Sista Che/ The Empressions/ H-Mut Crew/ DJ Skooby Beat Nightclub - Play Boheme Bar - DJ Majiika Boulevard Tavern – DJ Andyy Broken Hill Hotel – DJ Nick Alexander Brooklands Tavern - DJ Jayden Capitol – Retro Mash

Roger Sanchez

AMBAR

JAPAN 4

Capitol (Upstairs) – I Love ‘90s ft DJ DTuck Carine Tavern – Greg Packer/ MC Assassin Clancy’s (Canning Bridge) - DJ Boogie Claremont Hotel – DJ Nick Sheppard/ DJ Max Como Hotel – DJ Gazz Empire Bar – DJs Halo/ Bojan/ Ben Sebastian Eve – DJ Don Migi/ DJ Danny Boi Flawless – Therapy ft Zelimir/ Rob Sharp Flying Scotsman – DJs Jo19/ Rok Riley Flying Scotsman (Defectors) - Back To Mono DJs Ginger Nightclub – Rondevoo Fridayz Gosnells Club – DJ Now Hipe Club - DJ E-Funk Lakers Tavern – Fresh Fridays - DJ Dooey Left Bank – DJ Frankie Button Library – Sneaky Little Creatures Loft – Marine Beats Llama Bar – DJ Reuben/ DJ Morris Malt Super Club - Fiveo Merriwa Tavern – DJ Real McCoy Metro City (Solace Bar) – DJ Slick Metro Freo – Frat House Fridays ft Death Disco DJs Mint Nightclub – Club Retro ft Chris McPhee Mullaloo Beach Hotel - DJ John Paul Mustang – Swing DJ/ DJ James MacArthur Paddy Hannans – Crazy Craig Paramount - DJ Johnny Boi/ DJ Jordan Players Bar (Norma Jeans Bar) – Retro DJ Queens Tav – DJ Rueben Rocket Room – DJ Brett Rowe/ DJ Cain Sail & Anchor - Balcony Beatz/ DJ J-MAC Sovereign Arms – Aiden Wallis The Avenue – JMC The Carine – Mind Electric/ Little Nicky/ Az-T The Causeway – 4by4 DJs The Eastern – DJ Midfield The Generous Squire - DJ Anaru The Queens – DJ Rueben The Saint - DJ Jordan The Shed – DJ Glenn 20 The Whale & Ale – Josh Tilley Tiger Lils – Paul Malone/ Adam Kelly The Vic - DJ Giles The Wembley Hotel – Funky Bottoms/ Jon Ee Windsor – DJ Riki and Ray

Victoria Park Hotel – DJ Giles Villa - Roger Sanchez YaYa’s – Junk ft DJ Whoa!

SATURDAY 21/04 Ambar – Japan 4 ft Fdel/ Oli/ Philly Blunt/ Micah/ Underbeat Trust Amplifier – Pure Pop ft Eddie Electric Basement On Broadway – DJ Ricky Boheme Bar – Carte Blanche DJs Broken Hill Tavern – DJ Nick Alexander/ James Wilson Capitol – Death Disco Capitol (Upstairs) – Cream Of The ‘80s ft DJ Ryan Clancy’s (Canning Bridge) - DJ Dood Claremont Hotel – DJ Tone Def Club Bay View – VIP Saturdays ft DJ Ryan Empire Bar – DJ James Ess 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 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 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 James MacArthur Niche – Frankie Button/ Cee/ Jonny Zimber Norma Jeans – DJ Darren Oxford Hotel – DJ Sequeria Paramount- DJ Cornflake / DJ Jordan/ DJ Johnny Boi Queens Tav - Gareth Richardson Rocket Room – Delicious (Ladies Only) ft DJ Brett Rowe South St Ale House – DJ Jay Sovereign Arms – Rockwell The Avenue – Jon Ee The Brighton (Upstairs) – Micah/ Kill Dyl/ eSQue The Boheme – DJ Sneakee The Causeway – Sun City DJs The Clink – Az-T The Cornerstone – Aidan Wallis The Craftsman – Dylan Hammond The Deen - DJ Birdie/ DJ JJ/ DJ Tony Allen The Fly By Night - Ganga Giri The Generous Squire – On Tap ft DJ Defanutely The Saint – DJ Anaru The Shed –DJ Glenn 20 The Wembley – Fiveo The Whistling Kite - DJ Craig The Vic – DJ Kristian Tiger Lil’s – DJ Bojan/ DJ Ben Sebastian Victoria Park Hotel – DJ Melvin Villa - Viper ft Metrik/ ShockOne/ Phetsta/ Ekko & Sidetrack/ llusiv & Dvise/ MCs Xsessiv/ Bear & Stylee Windsor – DJ Ray Woodvale Tavern – DJ Real McCoy YaYa’s – Saturday Social ft The Kings Of Cheese DJs

SUNDAY 22/04

Lupe Fiasco

Arena Joondalup - Supafest ft Ice Cube/ Rick Ross/ Trey Songz/ Kelly Rowland/ Lupe Fiasco/ Chris Brown/ Big Sean/ Naughty By Nature Captain Stirling – DJ Jay Claremont Hotel – DJ Double Dee Clink – DJ Tony Allen Club Bay View – Fiveo Empire Bar – CB3/ DJ Riki/ DJ Vicktor Euro Bar – DJ Flex Eve Nightclub – DJ Birdie Flying Scotsman – Under The Influence DJs

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

BIG APE

SHAPE

VOODOO LOUNGE

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 Saint - DJ Anaru The Shed – DJ Andyy

The Paddo – DJ John Paul The Shed – DJ Andyy

MONDAY 23/04 Bar Orient - DJ White Label Broken Hill Tavern - DJ Mario Tavelli Eastern Hotel – Adam Morris The Deen – Plastic Max/ The Token Gesture

IN THE

TUESDAY 24/04

THIS WEEK:

Bar Orient - DJ Lyndon Eastern Hotel – Jon Edwards High Road Hotel – DJ Matty J High Wycombe – DJ Ricky Hipe Club – DJ Roger Smart

Bassment ft Sam Perry/ Naik/ Troy Division/ Joe Macc Thursday, April 19 @ The Norfolk Basement

The Cott (Upstairs) –Maxwell/ Jus Haus?/ Damian John The Indi Bar - Ganga Giri The Rosemount - Dub FX/ Flower Fairy Victoria Park Hotel – DJ Melvin

Urban Swagga ft Angry Buda Thursday, April 19 @ The Newport Hotel Roger Sanchez Friday, April 20 @ Villa Jungle Shakedown Pt 11 Friday, April 20 @ Ambar The Freaks Of Nature 2000Zen album launch Friday, April 20 @ The Railway Hotel Ganga Giri Saturday, April 21 @ The Fly

By Night

Ice Cube

Viper ft Metrik/ ShockOne/ Phetsta/ Ekko & Sidetrack/ llusiv & Dvise/ MCs Xsessiv/ Bear & Stylee Saturday, April 21 @ Villa Supafest ft Ice Cube/ Rick Ross/ Trey Songz/ Kelly Rowland/ Lupe Fiasco/ Chris Brown/ Big Sean/ Naughty By Nature Sunday, April 22 @ Arena Joondalup

Metrik Ganga Giri

VIPER FT METRIK

SHOCKONE AND MORE

SATURDAY, APRIL 21 @ VILLA

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METRO CITY

Tuesday, April 24 @ The Indi Bar

COMING UP Galapagoose Thursday, April 26 @ The Bird

Sub Zero & MC Eksman Saturday, May 5 @ Villa Clark Friday, April 27 @ The Bakery Next Hype ft Pariah/ Blawan It’s A London Thing ft Duane A/ Trent C/ Rhys D/ Thursday, May 10 @ Rufkut/ J Rippa/ Ru-Kasu/ Geisha Eyan Atmosphere/ Evidence Friday, April 27 @ Shape Friday, May 11 @ Villa The Funkoars Mord Fustang Friday, April 27 @ Bar 120 Friday, May 11 @ Ambar Derrick May Sky’High Friday, April 27 @ Ambar Saturday, May 12 @ Mojos The Funkoars Saturday, April 28 @ The Krafty Kuts Rosemount Hotel Saturday, May 12 @ Villa Ben UFO Saturday, April 28 @ Venue Seven Deadly Sins Launch Night ft DJ TBC Slick/ DJ Matty S/ DJ Stevie M/ DJ Makka/ DJ Make The Face ft Kid Ruthless/ DJ Kenny L/ Kenobi/ Surecut Kids DJ Angry Buda Saturday, April 28 @ Villa Saturday, May 12 @ Metro City District ft Phetsta/ Smile On Impact/ Kill Dyl/ Digitalism/ Adrian Lux DYP/ The Tapeheads/ Ol Friday, May 18 @ Villa Wright/ MC Deus Friday, May 4 @ Ambar Showtek Friday, May 18 @ Shape Soul Project ft JT Donaldson Lapalux/ oOoOO Saturday, May 5 @ Geisha Saturday, May 19 @ The Bakery Creamfields ft David Guetta/ Above & Kings Of Sound 3 ft Beyond/ Dirty South/ Phetsta/ MC Xsessiv/ Alesso/ Excision/ W&W/ SBX All Stars/ Layla/ Giuseppe Ottaviani (live)/ Congorock/ Vitalic/ Dazastah/ Greg Packer/ MC Assassin/ Killafoe Sied van Riel/ Tritonal/ & J.Nitrous/ Rregula/ Downlink/ ShockOne/ Q-BIK/ Seeka MC/ The MaRLo/ Bombs Away/ Stoops/ Complete/ MC Figure/ MC Stretch Saturday, May 5 @ Supreme Bear/ Porsah Laine/ Voltron/ MC Stylee/ Court Gardens Slackjaw/ Zanetic/ Get

More/ Armee/ LStreet and more Saturday, May 19 @ The Rosemount Hotel

Prolix/ Aeph/ Blokhe4d/ Neonlight Friday, June 1 @ Metro City

Groovin’ The Moo ft 360/ Hilltop Hoods/ Adrian Lux/ Beni/ Digitalism/ Hermitude/ Muscles/ Purple Sneaker DJs/ Wavves Saturday, May 19 @ Hay Park, Bunbury

Slow Roast Records Tour ft Craze/ Codes Saturday, June 2 @ Villa

Kid Mac Saturday, May 26 @ Capitol

Hype Williams Saturday, June 16 @ The Bakery 360/ Hermitude Friday, June 22 @ Villa 360 Saturday, June 23 @ The Astor

Mickey Avalon Saturday, May 26 @ The 360 Rosemount Hotel Sunday, June 24 @ The Bad Taste Recordings ft Astor

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34

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

KISS MY WAMI LAUNCH PARTY The Bakery Thursday, April 12, 2012 “There’s something in the water.” It’s an old phrase, tossed around by musicians across the country as explanation for the well of musical talent in Perth.

I would conjecture that the tireless and very active organisation WAM (West Australian Music Industry Association Inc) has a lot more to do with Perth’s musical success that than any contaminants in the water supply. Every year WAM host a festival and award ceremony to highlight a selection of Perth’s best and brightest bands, musicians and industry figures.

There is also, each year, a launch party, starting off with a few speeches, distribution of the 2012 Kiss My WAMi Compilation (a 3-disc CD/ DVD collection of local tunes) and finishing up with a line-up of local talent. This year the launch party was held at The Bakery, which was fittingly nominated for this year’s ‘Best Venue’ WAMi Award, but sometimes its huge main room can be a hindrance. It takes a lot of people to fill The Bakery convincingly and, unfortunately for the launch, the room never quite reached the critical mass it needs to create an atmosphere.

Over the low buzz of industry networking, singer-songwriter Sean Pollard sang out a gorgeous but understated set of acoustic indie. Pollard is no stranger to the WAMi’s. His band, Split Seconds cleaned up last year’s awards. Impressive as Split Seconds are, it was nice to see Pollard in solo mode, using only a tiny acoustic guitar and loop pedal to accompany some excellent lyrical turns.

Next up was Runner, the highlight of the night. In the world of Runner, nothing is abrupt.

Every track sings a slow crescendo. It’s a sound that sits amongst the melodic post-rock of bands like Explosions In The Sky but with the added harmonic possibilities of three vocalists and the rhythmic nuance of two drummers.

Following Runner’s hushed colours, Husband played a set of ballsy classic rock. There is a lot of masculinity to Husband (as the name perhaps suggests) – deep vocals, impressive facial

SUBLIME WITH ROME Mat McHugh Russian Winters (Photo: Callum Ponton) hair, testosterone fuelled riffs. In a packed venue one can imagine them putting on an imposing show.

Unfortunately however, their sound didn’t translate especially well to the steadily dwindling crowd.

The sparse audience was even more troubling for Russian Winters, who took a while to really hit their straps. By about half way through the set however, the band introduced two trumpets and the set went from being enjoyable, but muted, to being joyous.

By the time local hip hop group The Stoops had taken to the stage the venue was almost empty. It was getting late and most people had either headed home or were sitting outside. To their credit, The Stoops handled it incredibly well with some good humoured repartee with what was left of the crowd and some lightening fast, old school rhymes. _HENRY ANDERSEN

DAVEY CRADDOCK & THE SPECTACLES Simone And Girlfunkle / Benedict Moleta feat. Miranda Pollard Mojo’s Bar Thursday, April 12, 2012 Walking into Mojo’s Bar on Thursday night was like stumbling into a scene from a small town Midwestern bar where everyone appeared to be either related or knew of each other. Adding to the feel were the jars of homemade chutney fresh from the kitchens of Davey Craddock himself.

Sharing the stage with former New Rules For Boats vocalist Miranda Pollard, Benedict Moleta’s lyrics were crystal clear and banter light, with his honest tunes benefitting from Pollard giving one of her most coy vocal performances to date.

Folk-pop purveyors Simone And Girlfunkle took no time in kicking into the breezy pop of Heart Goes Pitter Patter as they smiled and goofed around amongst

themselves. Ending in the same vein as they begun, Simone and Girlfunkle pulled shapes and giggled their way through the twee My Little Buttercup to end another fun set.

In between acts DJs Joshimoto and Beryl (two members of Triple J wunderband San Cisco) made off like kids who had commandeered their parent’s record collection during the neighbourhood cards night as they played retro tunes.

It’s been a long time between drinks for Davey Craddock & The Spectacles,but when his rhythm section includes Sean Pollard, who is usually fronting Split Seconds (one of Perth’s finest up-and-comers in some time) then sharing schedules can be a little on the tricky side. Not one to lie idle, Craddock has used the down time to pen some new tunes that were ready to be unleashed on a fresh audience. With top class vocals being the obvious order

of the evening, Keep On Waiting found Pollard and Pickett joining Craddock to add harmonies to a rousing country chorus, and Peanuts saw Craddock and his Spectacles playing country tune that is more akin with Timmy Rogers than Johnny Cash.

Craddock dispensed with the band members as he ran through a tune by Howard Elliot Payne before offering his own slice of melancholy of The End Of A Curve. While Craddock sung about the roots music staples of booze and Bob Dylan, punters ordered cups of tea from behind to bar to add to the intimate feel of the evening. Despite being a relaxed Thursday evening Davey Craddock & The Spectacles threw off the shackles to end with a hillbilly hoedown before bidding all adieu. Let them all eat cake indeed! _CHRIS HAVERCROFT

Metropolis Fremantle Wednesday, April 11, 2012 Without trying to sound too exclusivist here, Sublime have always been a band this writer has associated with punk rock, so the fact that the opening act was Mat McHugh from The Beautiful Girls came as a bit of a surprise. Admittedly this was a failure in thinking on my behalf that ignored the wide fan base that Sublime actually has, and was naïve about the direction and reality of the evening. Indeed, McHugh certainly touched a chord with many in the packed-out Metro Freo and there was a big base of people who were singing every word. You can’t argue with that!

But for the overwhelming majority of punters the focus was squarely on Sublime With Rome. This was a chance of a lifetime really, for although nothing can replace long-deceased singer Brad Nowell, neither will anything again likely come this close.

Thankfully, Brad’s replacement Rome Ramirez was perfectly adequate for the task, and things were made easier for him (and us) by the show’s production, especially the dark lighting which emphasised the experience of the masses over illumination of the individuals on the stage.

It also helps that Sublime With Rome are a damn good band who did the songs plenty of justice.

And the songs were reason numero uno to be part of this show – and that’s what the audience was, a part of the show.

While there seems to be popular respect among fans for the band’s new material (written without Nowell and released last year), the opportunity to be in a room with a sanctioned band singing those wonderful songs that have been such a part of our lives for so long was well worth the price of admission.

Sublime With Rome lifted the absolute roof off the club, and they did so with the blessing of Sublime’s own fanbase. It would have been an absolute mistake to have dismissed this evening out of hand based on the fact that the only original member on stage was Eric Wilson. If anyone did do that, then know this: you missed out. _BEN WATSON

MINGLING IN MIDLAND The Principal Thursday, April 5, 2012 Located in the heart of Midland, The Principal Bar & Restaurant serves up great food, local wine, cocktails and Australia’s best beer. With heaps of seating indoors and out, plus a separate dining area, The Principal is a great place to enjoy a drink, meal or check out some great live entertainment. Check out their website theprincipal.com.au for more details on the venue.

Katey, Bek & Ash

Photographs by Matt Jelonek

Chloe & Matilda Michelle, Darya & Ash

Nick & Claire Zane & Jade

Lauren, Amber & Hayley 35

Josh & Greg X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

SMRTS Pextra Curriular Activities

Led by former Bamodi and Soviet Valves protagonist Predrag Delibasic – Pex to his friends in the music world – instrumental outfit SMRTS are set to launch their new LP Have Friends And Visit Them At Night this Friday, April 20, at The Bakery. JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD reports.

Often thought of as the sad, neglected child of pop and rock, instrumental music rarely gets the props it deserves – but musical collective SMRTS are one of the ever-growing pool of local outfits embracing the style and showing the world what magic can be made when an unforgettable melody meets a sequence of unusual sounds.

Endlessly creative and surprisingly fluid, SMRTS excursions in sound have aptly been described by local music writer – and friend of the band – Tristan Fidler as “hero music for villains.”

“I think he referred to our music sounding a bit like spaghetti western stuff. We were toying with a one-line catchy description for the band for our tour media release and Tristan came up with that. No relation to the creative process though, but I love it regardless,” Pex says.

SMRTS are in the midst of one of the busiest periods in their short career, having just returned from their successful tour of the Eastern states.

“The audience in Sydney and Melbourne, however big or small, were very receptive to SMRTS… We are an unknown band over there and an instrumental one at that, so once they got used to our sound it would be just amazing,” Pex says. “I really hope SMRTS go over east at least once more this year. I think our first tour served its purpose, which was to introduce the band to new audience. I strongly believe that all people who came to see us left satisfied and would love to extend that satisfaction to more people.”

For now, though, Pex says the much-loved outfit are psyching themselves up to officially launch their new LP Have Friends And Visit Them At Night this Friday evening at The Bakery. Special guests including Craig McElhinner, Pallas Athena, Andrew Sinclair Ritual Band and Water Temple will be joining them on the night. “[You can expect] five awesome local acts playing some of the most amazing music, happy times and an opportunity to buy a SMRTS record and CD slightly cheaper than in the shops. I’m sure I speak to all band members here [when I say that] we are just ourselves on stage.

We do not take any other personality on or off the stage. Most of the time when everything works well I just get totally into the music and see images of people I love or things that happened to me – that’s why I often play with eyes closed, except at difficult bits when I have to

LOCKED AND (RE)LOADED

Due to the wildly successful (and sold out) launch of his debut EP Another Day and the resulting sellout of the EP, local singer-songwriter Morgan Bain thought a re-press and re-launch was in order! Join the festivities during his re-launch party at Mojo’s Bar this Friday, April 20.

Support comes from special guests Ricky Green, Boston & Chevy and Spoonful Of Sugar.

BROTHERLY LOVE

In the early ‘80s on the outskirts of Perth, brothers Mark and Rob Snarski formed the darkly literate Chad’s Tree. They moved east, made records and then sadly at the end of the decade Chad’s Tree disbanded. Rarely in the same country, let alone on the same stage, The Snarski Brothers play two special gigs at the Velvet Lounge on Friday, April 20; and the Norfolk Basement on Saturday, April 21.

VESPERS VICTORIOUS

After four albums, countless Perth shows and numerous support slots, Perth’s leading melodic death metal act Vespers Descent have decided to close this chapter to start anew. For 10 years Vespers Descent has been assaulting Perth with its unique blend of technical ability and musicality that has made them legendary among Aussie metal listeners.

Vespers will go out playing hard and shredding shit up for one last show at the Rosemount Hotel on Friday, April 20. Tickets are $10 on the door from 8pm; support comes from Devour The Martyr, Empires Laid Waste and Meridian.

www.xpressmag.com.au

Sugarpuss

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

Slightly breezy with the chance of late showers.

What do you love about making music?

Listening back to it.

SMRTS look at what I’m playing,” he laughs. “The best feeling is when we are in the middle of the song and I look at other SMRTS band members and see they are fully into it as well – Rachael and Matt do synchronised swinging and Chris and Scott pound their kits in frenzy.”

With glowing reviews of the new LP having already started to flow through, SMRTS are continuing to prove that instrumentals are every bit the equal of songs written to be sung.

“Any feedback is a good feedback. I’d rather someone telling me they did not like it for whatever reason than just saying ‘it’s great’.

Several reviews we had for the new album were mostly positive, and all of them constructive, so we appreciate the fact that someone took time to listen to the record and write about it,” he concludes. “Ever since we started as a band we believed in it 100 per cent, so if other people like it we think we were right!”

DO THE TIME WARP

To commemorate the anniversary of Burke & Wills fateful trip to Cooper’s Creek on April 21, 1861, alt-country storytellers The Justin Walshe Folk Machine unveil their most ambitious project to date: a collection of songs tracking the epic journey of Burke & Wills’ from Melbourne to the gulf and back to Cooper’s Creek where they met their tragic end. The Folk Machine celebrate with shows on Saturday, April 21, at Mojo’s Bar and Sunday, April 22, at the Indi Bar. Rachel & Henry Climb a Hill, Mister’s Lucky Dip and Cass & Al (NSW) will be supporting on the Saturday show and Warning Birds and Cass & Al will be supporting on the Sunday.

GHOST WHISPERERS

Fresh from their east coast leg, The Ghost Hotel continue their album tour back in WA. Catch them with special guest Polly Medlen at the Commercial Hotel in Merredrin this Friday, April 20; the Grass Valley Tavern on Saturday, April 21; Quindanning Inne on Sunday, April 22 (from 11am); and Settlers Tavern in Margaret River on Friday, April 27. The band will also appear at RTR-FM’s In The Pines fundraiser at Somerville Auditorium on Sunday, April 22 (on stage at 8pm).

FIGHT THE MASCHIN

Prepare yourself for a grungy dose of experimental music in an industrial setting at the 10th incarnation of the NoizeMaschin, featuring the genre defying music of Jiah, Chris Arnold, Stuart James, Henry Anderson, Jack Moriarty, I.n0jaQ and Cycle~440. It all goes down at Perth’s very own hackerspace, The Artifactory, this Thursday, April 19.

What do you hate about the music industry?

Opinions – just like this one.

Out of all the local folks you’ve played shows with, who’s been one of your favourites?

San Cisco and The Vasco Era. What other tunes are you digging at the moment?

Check out Carlton - Down by the Swanny by Funilingus on YouTube, they’re young mates of ours with a bucket of talent. Next level!

Sugarpuss play two massive shows this weekend, kicking off with the X-Press Reader’s Party on Friday, April 20, at the Leederville Hotel. Then they’ll be strutting their stuff at the KickstART Youth Festival at the Perth Cultural Centre on Saturday, April 21, from 5.05pm, alongside The Raging Lincolns, Jessica Morhall and The Cabarets.

JAZZ BROTHERS

Fremantle and charm goes without saying. So it’s easy to see why jazz aficionados John Bannister & The Charisma Brothers play every Sunday at Fremantle’s X-Ray Café. If you can’t make it Sundays, why not book to see them at Gypsy House in Fremantle on Saturday, April 21?

GET YOUR FIX

Do you like new music and free CDs? Well, get on down to Swan Basement this Friday, April 20, and get just that. The Fix are playing at 10pm and will have free copies of their CD Overexposure on hand.

Doors open at 8pm and The Vans will kick off at 9pm. Entry is $10.

FORMIDABLE TALENT

Fresh from an aclaimed vet at the Fairbridge Festival last weekend, 10-piece DIY aficionados Ensemble Formidable hit Clancy’s in Fremantle for a free show on Friday, April 20. Another Fairbridge veteran act Joe Black Trio will enchant audiences once again during an intimate live show at Ya Ya’s on Saturday April 21.

HOME SWEET HOME

Having recently returned from a massive international tour consisting of 30 shows in Holland, Germany, Switzerland and West Canada, roots chanteuse Toby is back and very happy to be home again playing to her Perth crowds once again. Catch the first of her series of welcome home shows at the Indi Bar this Saturday, April 21.

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Here at X-Press we love a bargain and always look forward to a big night out in Freo, which is why we’re offering our readers the opportunity to experience the ultimate cheap and cheerful evening out in WA’s Port City. Our Road Trip Freo competition will give four mates the chance to hit the streets of Freo with their pockets full of complimentary bar cards, and bellies full of tasty treats, making the most of Freo’s wide array of pubs, clubs and music venues.

Our lucky foursome will kick off their night in style at the X-Wray Café, indulging in heavenly food and a round of beverages on the house – the perfect way to warm up for a big night out. Next up the group will hit the Norfolk Hotel for another round of drinks and tasters from the Norfolk’s brand spanking new Autumn menu, which are sure to go down a treat!

With tummies full and thirsts piqued, our winners will then mosey on down to the mighty Newport for two rounds, while checking out live bands and DJs who are guaranteed to get the party started. Once fired up and ready for a boogie, it will be on to Metropolis Fremantle for a few more rounds and some serious action on the dancefloor.

To end this perfect evening, the winners will move onto iconic Freo music hub – the Fly

By Night – for an evening of rock and roll thanks to the X-Press Magazine presented Lanie Lane gig. Expect bright lights, balladry, loud guitars and heartfelt entertainment from the dynamic Lanie Lane and her band.

To be in the running to score this ultimate night out for you and three friends, email win@xpressmag.com.au telling us why you deserve to experience the best Freo has to offer.

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NORFOLK

FREMANTLE TLE OVAL

LANIE LANE AT FLY BY NIGHT

www.xpressmag.com.au

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MUSTANG BAR

Local Elvis-sonic electric boogaloo combo The Burger Kings will serve up three sets of delicious Presley-meets-Motown at The Mustang Bar this Saturday, April 21, from 7pm.

THE ELLINGTON

This week, young up-and-coming Jazz singer Liam Burrows (who shot to fame on Australia’s Got Talent) headlines two massive shows on Thursday, April 19, and Saturday, April 21. Also taking to the stage this week is Blue Monk Quartet on Wednesday, April 18, and John Mayer Trio playing the late show on Saturday, April Ap pril 21. Click over to ellingtonjazz.com.au elling gtonjjazz.com.au for the full show schedule.

BEAT NIGHTCLUB

Influenced by the melodic guitar-pop tones of The Kinks, The Beatles, The Smiths and The Move, energetic pop foursome The Reductors will take audiences on a journey back to the pre-digital era during the launch for their new single Down Under The Ground, this Friday, April 20. Support comes from lo-fi indie rock champions Community Chest and DJ Echo Kid.

THE SHED

Wednesday: $10 - home-made shepherd’s pie Thursday: $12 - traditional roast dinner Friday: $13.50 - marinated spare ribs Saturday: Satu Sa turd rday ay:: $14 $14 - si sirl sirloin rloi oin n steak stea st eakk wi with th o oni onion nion on rrin rings ings gs aand nd w wed wedges ed dge gess Sunday:: $12 - full breakfast or $10 - ultimate beef burger bu urger

TTHE BALMORAL

Th Balmoral on Monday nights is the place to get The your comedy fix and best of all it’s free. Come down yo and watch some of Perth’s best comedians perform an under the stars every Monday from 8pm. Tuesday night un is $14.90 steak night at the Balmoral. Wrap your mouth around a 250 gram graziers rump steak cooked to your aro liking, served with garnish, salad and chips. While you're lik enjoying the meal, get some friends together and join en the trivia quiz to win instant prizes. Call (08) 9355 4533 th to book your table. Wednesday nights are Blues, Beer and Burger nights at the Balmoral. Local blues and an roots artist Andrew Winton performs weekly from 7pm ro til 10pm with a special guest each week. While you’re there you can treat yourself to a delicious Wagyu beef th burger with a beer for only $19. bu

TTHE CAUSEWAY

G on down to The Causeway on Thursday nights Get aafter 9pm to make the most of $5 entry. Students rreceive free entry, $6.50 drink specials, half price p pizza and a free party bus to Clubba at close. Show yyour Causeway stamp at Clubba to receive VIP e entry. On Fridays and Saturdays it's Happy Hour aat The Causeway from 6-7pm, with free entry before 9pm. b

Get down to the Broken Hill on Tuesdays for Steak Night

38

X-Press X X-Pres X-P Pres resss – First First on the Fi h stree st street, reett, Wednesdays ree W dnessday Wednes Wed da s days

SPRINGS TAVERN

Located in Beechboro, Springs Tavern boasts a modern sports bar with a front and rear beer garden, an open-plan restaurant featuring private booths and a large drive through bottleshop. Want a quick and easy lunch for yourself or group? Come down to The Springs for a $15 weekday lunch special.

Purchase any beer or wine of the month to be in the running to win two tickets to a Western Force game and take advantage of three free bus service to and from the game.

THE PADDO

Tonight, Wednesday, April 18, at Paddo POW catch SkinFlint, The Date and Graphic Fiction Heroes.

Tunes kick off at 8pm and as always, the Paddo brings these three great local artists to you for free entry!

INDI BAR

Thursday, April 19, Calling All Cars play the Indi Bar. The Delirium tour has been selling out venues across the country and with Arts Martial in support we expect this show to do much the same; limited tickets are still available. Also, don’t miss your chance to catch guitar aficionados Vdelli for the second last show of their residency this Friday, April 20.

KALAMUNDA HOTEL

This Friday, April 20, from 7.30pm resident band New Vintage take the stage for another great night of classic rock and blues, then on Sunday, April 22, catch troubadour Christian Thompson in the beer garden from 2.30pm.

www.xpressmag.com.au

Players Bar

PLAYERS BAR

Rockin’ four-piece Three Corner Jack will play a selection of old-school covers this Friday, April 20, with retro DJs also spinning tunes in the Norma Jean Bar. Then on Tuesday, April 24, Players will also play host to Under Seige, a huge rock’n’roll event in celebration of the memory of local muso Gary Cornell who sadly passed away earlier this year.

Featuring the sounds of The Vans, Postcard Bandits, Die Human and Delusions of Grandeur, Sons of Saviour, Walker, Reapers Riddle and Ben Blend plus heaps heaps more, tickets to this unmissable local show are available now from Heatseeker.

HALE ROAD TAVERN

This week Hale Road Tavern hosts a great feast of dinner specials and entertainment! Get down this Thursday for their famous ‘Chase The Ace’ comp worth $1900 that will make the winners squeal! Arrive between 5.307.30pm for your chance to win. This Friday Chain Reaction will play all the classics and on Saturday there will be the ever entertaining Groove Karaoke. Be sure to leave room in your tummy for Tuesday’s BBQ ribs, chips and salad deal for just $12. Yum!

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OOOOH LA LLAMA Llama L la Bar 464 4 64 Hay St, Subiaco

MOJOS BAR

This Sunday, April 22, Axe Girl rock Mojos with support from Lucy Peach, The Crooked Cats, No Deadlines, Julz Danni, Sirens of Sound, Raging Lincolns and many more. There will be free giveaways from Freo clothing store Saffe Belle and punters will be in the running to win a free shopping spree just for turning up. Entry is $10 from midday to 10pm.

Mojos is also giving away double passes to this show, simply email mojos@coolperthnights.com with ‘Axed’ in the subject line.

TThe he iconic Llama Bar has undergone a complete ttransformation ra and is now fitted out in a plush FFrench re industrial style, with bespoke raw steel biffold old windows to open the venue to the street, a ccafe af style alfresco area on the footpath outside, elegant e le curved marble main bar, VIP lounge and a rrefurbished efu garden terrace.

Get down to the Llama on a Friday to make m a the most of lunch specials from noon ’til 3pm, 3 pm served up by chef Paul Zammit who creates new n ew specials every week based on the best local produce available. p ro

Metropolis Fremantle

METROPOLIS FREMANTLE

Frat House Fridays at Metro Freo is now Perth’s h’’s biggest Friday night out. Themed on American n frat parties, this student night is all about the e party and the red cups! Get yourself a beverage e in a red cup and you’ll continually be filled up p for only $5 if you’re drinking tap beer, Jim Beam m or vodka. Entry is free before 10pm and only $5 5 after. Death Disco blasts the best beats all night ht with many themed night plans for the year.

40

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

HYDE PARK HOTEL

LEEDERVILLE HOTEL

Monday: $17.50 parmigianas with 15 different types to choose from.

Tuesday: It’s Chewsday! $13 will get you a 250grm slab of beef or go large $18 with 400grm rump steak.

Wednesday: Better Half For Half – buy one main meal and your better half gets theirs for half price!

Thursday: Just Wing It – get a half kilo of wings for $10 or 1kg for $15 with your choice of naked, spicy or suicide sauce and $15 jugs.

Friday: Watch the sun go down from 3-7pm with live entertainment. Let the venue know you are coming with five or more of your friends and receive a complimentary platter and the first round is on the house.

There’s only one place in Perth you should be on a Wednesday night.

Famous for its electrifying atmosphere and cages, The Leederville Hotel is known for putting on one of the biggest and best mid-week parties in Australia With six different bars and three separate rooms they can create a vibe to suit everyone’s mood.

Head to The Leeder ville Hotel between 7.30pm and 8.30pm on Wednesdays and you will be welcomed with a free sausage sizzle and one free managers’ drink of the night! So get in early, avoid the line and let the LDV treat you (only while stocks last).

Lanie Lane

SNAGS AND SONS

Snags and Sons

www.xpressmag.com.au

Move over burger bars, pizza joints and purveyors of late night kebabs because Snags And Sons have just opened in Leederville and our mouths are watering already! Decked out to resemble a nostalgic butcher’s shop/deli, Snags And Sons is a casual eatery that takes its food seriously – offering dishes that explore exciting food flavours from home and overseas.

A variety of international snags with fresh perky salads and tasty side dishes – think venison, bratwurst and kransky – await those who seek out this shrine for sausages. Not a meat eater? Don’t fret because Snags And Sons has options for veggos too!

Expect to find great local brands with approved farming practices and free range and organic options; open for breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week.

C h e c k i t o u t fo r yo u r s e l f a t 7 4 9 Newcastle St or find out more on (08) 9228 3008 or snagsandsons.com.au.

To be in the running to score the ultimate night out for you and three friends, email win@xpressmag.com.au telling us why you deserve to experience the best Freo has to offer.

ROSEMOUNT HOTEL

This Friday, April 20, local heavy-hitters Vespers Descent play their final ever show with special guests Devour The Martyr, Empires Laid Waste and Meridian.

Doors open 8pm, $10 entry.

To win a double pass to this show email win@rosemounthotel.com.au with ‘Win’ in the subject line.

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Sures, May 18, Rosemount Hotel

Natasha Mousuff, May 18 & 19, The Ellington

MIKE STEWART 2 The Ellington GOSSLING JAY HOAD 2 Little Creatures 18 Mojos Loft 19 Mustang Bar 3 The Bird 20 Dunsborough DZ DEATHRAYS Tavern 3 Prince Of Wales 21 & 22 Settlers 4 Amplifier Tavern 22 Arena 5 Mojos 26 Gypsy Tapas Joondalup TOPNOVIL House Freo 27 Velvet Lounge LOU BARLOW 34 Villa Rocket Room 29 Indi Bar 22 Rosemount 5 Prince Of Wales Hotel 6 The Newport SHOOGLENIFTY PJ O’BRIEN RTRFM’S IN / THE 3 Albany Blues THE PINES CHIPOLATAS Club 22 Somerville 18 Fly By Night 4 Southwest Blues Auditorium Club Bunbury AMON 5 Hyde Park Hotel BURT AMARTH 6 Mt Helena Tavern BACHARACH 19 Capitol 8 Charles Hotel 23 Riverside Theatre 9 Mojos Bar BLUEJUICE / 12 Settlers Tavern LOON LAKE HUSKY APRIL 19 Settler’s Tavern AUGUST 4 The Bakery 20 Capitol RESIST THE BURNS RED / BLESSTHEFALL / THOUGHT CALLING ALL NORTHLANE / IN 4 The Rosemount LEAGUE 6 YMCA HQ CARS 25 Amplifier FU MANCHU / 19 Indi Bar 20 Prince Of Wales AN HORSE BLACK COBRA 25 Rosemount 21 Rosemount Hotel 5 Rosemount Hotel BLEEDING KNEES Hotel DEVILDRIVER / BIG SCARY CLUB DARKEST HOUR / / THE 25 Indi Bar SIX FEET UNDER SALVADORS WHITLEY 9 Capitol 26 Newport 20 Amplifier FRANK TURNER GALAPAGOOSE 26 The Bird & THE SLEEPING SNARSKI VS CLARK SOULS / WILLIAM SNARSKI 27 The Bakery ELLIOTT 20 The Velvet THE FUNKOARS WHITMORE / THE Lounge 27 Bar 120 SMITH STREET 21 Norfolk 28 Rosemount BAND Basement Hotel BLEEDING KNEES 9 Amplifier DEAD LETTER BEN SALTER / CLUB / DUNE CIRCUS RATS JOE MCKEE 10 Prince Of Wales 27 Amplifier 20 The Fly Trap 11 Metropolis 28 Mojos Bar 22 The Bird Fremantle POND / THE LAURELS 12 Capitol GANGA GIRI 28 The Bakery BOY & BEAR 21 Fly By Night THE RUBENS / 10 Albany 22 Redcliffe RUFUS Entertainment 24 Indi Bar 27 Villa Centre PAUA 11 Bunbury 27 Fly By Night LIAM HOODOO GURUS Entertainment BURROWS & Centre REDD KROSS / HIS QUARTET /THE FLESHTONES 12 Fremantle Arts 19& 22 The Ellington 28 Astor Theatre Centre 21 The Atrium 13 Mandurah Mandurah Performing Arts MAY STEVE POLTS THE MOUNTAIN 10 Fly Trap DEEZ NUTS / GOATS / CLAIRY BROWNE PHANTOMS CATHERINE 21 Amplifier TRAICOS & PHILIP & THE BANGIN’ RACKETTES 22 YMCA HQ EVERALL 1 The Bakery 11 Fly By Night

APRIL 18 – APRIL 24 SUPAFEST

(Chris Brown, Naughty By Nature, Big Sean, Ice Cube, Rick Ross, Trey Songz, Kelly Rowland, Lupe Fiasco)

42

Woe & Flutter, June 15-17

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 SKY’HIGH 12 Mojos Bar RALPH MCTELL 13 Fly By Night DANIEL CHAMPAGNE 16 Mojos Bar 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 / SURES 18 Rosemount Hotel THE GETAWAY PLAN / NEW EMPIRE 18 Amplifier THE MACCABEES 18 Capitol KAISER CHIEFS / DEEP SEA ARCADE / LOON LAKE 18 Metro City NATASHA MOUSUFF 18 & 19 The Ellington 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 HANK MARVIN QUARTET 25 & 26 The Ellington CATCALL 26 Amplifier BITTER END 26 The Den 27 YMCA HQ LIAM BURROWS 26 Friends Restaurant 27 Jazz Fremantle THE OCEAN 27 The Bakery

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.

Joe Mckee, April 20-21 & June 22-23

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 JUNE 4 & 5 The Ellington LIZ STRINGER THE JEZABELS / 1 Indi Bar LIGHTS 3 Redcliffe On 5 Metro City Murray SILVERSTEIN HARRY MANX 7 Villa 1 Fly By Night TINA ARENA REEF 8 Riverside Theatre 1 Metropolis MATT CORBY / Fremantle TIJUANA CARTEL ALPINE 1 Settlers Tavern 9 & 10 Astor 2 White Star Theatre 8 Divers LAURA 9 Hotel Kununurra 9 Rosemount 15 The Bakery Hotel ERIC BOGLE WITH 10 Mojos Bar JOHN MUNRO THE MISSION IN 2 Fly By Night MOTION JOSH KYLE 9 Amplifier 2 The Ellington 10 Newport SEAN COFFIN DEF FX 3 The Ellington 11 The Bakery KIMBERLEY BARNEY MCALL 27 The Ellington NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK / BACKSTREET BOYS 29 Burswood Dome BOB HIRST 30 & 31 The Ellington LIZ STRINGER 31 Fly By Night Club TIJUANA CARTEL 31 Prince Of Wales

Buried In Verona, June 24, YMCA HQ & Amplifier

FRENZAL RHOMB 14 Settlers Tavern 15 Prince Of Wales 16 Rosemount Hotel THE BLACK SEEDS 14 The Bakery TIM FREEDMAN 14, 15 & 16 The Ellington GASSOLINE INC 15 Rocket Room 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 TREVOR WATTS/ VERYAN WESTON 19 The Ellington GUY SEBASTIAN 19 His Majesty’s Theatre 20 Mandurah Performing Arts Centre CAMILLE O’SULLIVAN 21 Astor Theatre

Flight Of The Conchords, July 18 & 19, Challenge Stadium

360 / GOSSLING / HERMITUDE / BAM BAM 22 & 23 Villa 23 & 24 Astor Theatre CHARGE GROUP / JOE MCKEE 22 Mojos 23 Dadas BURIED IN VERONA/THE PLOT IN YOU/ SILENT SCREAMS 24 YMCA HQ (Day) 24 Amplifier (Night) KARNIVOOL 22 & 23 Mermaid Hotel Dampier 27 Prince Of Wales NADIA ACKERMAN 28 The Ellington

JULY CEREMONY 3 The Den 4 YMCA HQ THE BAMBOOS 6 The Bakery LADY GAGA 7 & 8 Burswood Dome FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS 18 & 19 Challenge Stadium MELISSA ETHERIDGE 20 Riverside Theatre

LADYHAWKE 24 The Bakery 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 THE ENGLISH BEAT 1 Astor Theatre DAMIEN LEITH 7 Mandurah Performing Arts Centre 8 Astor Theatre SUBHUMANS 12 Amplifier HANSON 22 Metropolis Fremantle

OCTOBER ROCK IT (The Black Keys and more TBA) 28 Joondalup Arena

GANGA GIRI

After a huge three month tour across Canada and the US, rhythmic didgeridoo virtuoso Ganga Giri and his world electronic fusion band returns to Western Australia to launch an exciting new visual projection show that accompanies their already energetic live experience. This live visual projection show has been produced in conjunction with Australian/Serbian VJ/artist Meltstation and features footage captured by Ganga Giri on his travels deep into the heart of Australia and around the world. Renowned for an electrifying and high energy live show Ganga Giri continues to develop new aspects of the live experience with this 90 minute live visual panorama. Catch Ganga Giri at The Fly

By Night on Saturday, April 21; Redcliffe On The Murray on Sunday, April 22; and the Indi Bar on Tuesday, April 24.

Ganga Giri

SICK OF IT ALL & AGNOSTIC FRONT

Sick Of It All

www.xpressmag.com.au

Two of the most influential bands in the history of hardcore music, New York’s Sick Of It All and Agnostic Front will be touring Australia together this May on the New York United Tour. Celebrating their 25th year as a band, Sick Of It All will be playing tunes from each and every one of their 9 studio albums with as much energy as the day they started. Likewise, Agnostic Front are promising live renditions of songs from their legendary hardcore releases United Blood and Victim in Pain. The iconic bands will share the stage at Amplifier on Friday, May 11. Tickets are available from Moshtix.

43

Fenton Wilde, Wednesday at Hale Road Tavern

WEDNESDAY 18.04 BALMORAL Nathan Gaunt Bar 120 Felix BLACK BETTY’S Blue Gene CLAREMONT HOTEL Open Mic Night ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Blue Monk Quartet FLY BY NIGHT CLUB Shooglenifty HALE ROAD TAVERN Fenton Wilde INDI BAR Steve Andrews Lucky Numbers Duo Danah Mitchell LOBBY LOUNGE (BURSWOOD) Courtney Murphy LUCKY SHAG Howie Morgan MOJOS BAR Fremantle Blues And Roots Club Jay Hoad Jordan McRobbie MUSTANG Millhouse PADDO SkinFlint The Date Graphic Fiction Heroes PADDY HANNANS 5 Shots ROSEMOUNT Seer Cya The Claudette McKelvie Band Heath Marshall Chris Matthews ROSIE O’GRADY’S (NORTHBRIDGE) David Fyffe SOUTH ST ALE HOUSE Greg Carter SWAN LOUNGE Lee West The Buttonettes lain Alex Adam THE MOON Wolves at the Door Mei Saraswati James Ireland

UNIVERSAL Strutt YA YA’S Mike G Bonnie Tessa Davies

THURSDAY 19.04 BAR ORIENT Shawne & Luc BELGIAN BEER CAFÉ Stu Harcourt BOAB TAVERN Damien Cripps BROOKLANDS TAVERN Celebrations Karaoke CAPITOL Amon Amarth COMO HOTEL The Other Guys DEVILLES PAD Rock‘n’Roll Karaoke ELEPHANT & WHEELBARROW Gun Shy Romeos ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Liam Burrows FUSE BAR Greg Carter HIGH WYCOMBE HOTEL Chris Murphy HYDE PARK HOTEL Raw Hyde Open Mic INDI BAR Calling All Cars Arts Martial JOLLY WOG MANDURAH Overload KULCHA Chris While Julie Matthews LUCKY SHAG JamesWilson MARKET CITY TAVERN Sally Hodgeson Trojan John Grave Forsaken MOJOS BAR Stunning In Red The Gypsie Howls The Prevues World-a-fuzzy MUSTANG BAR Jay Hoad

Cal Peck and The Tramps

MEXICAN STANDOFF: X-PRESS READER’S PARTY

THE NOVOCAINES, EMPERORS, CAL PECK & THE TRAMPS, SUGARPUSS

FRIDAY, APRIL 20 THE LEEDERVILLE HOTEL

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The Fix, Friday at Swan Basement NORFOLK BASEMENT Sam Perry Troy Division Joe Macc Troy Division OCEAN BEACH HOTEL Open Mic Night OXFORD HOTEL Johnny Taylor PADDY HANNANS Dr Bogus RIGBY’S Open Mic ROSEMOUNT New Erotic Burning Fiction Midnight Boulevard Blindspot ROSIE O’GRADY’S (FREMANTLE) Clayton Bolger ROSIE O’GRADY’S (NORTHBRIDE) Bill Chidgzey SOVEREIGN ARMS Fenton Wilde SWAN LOUNGE Astro Lix Ben Wilson THE BROOK Open Mic Night THE GATE Better Days UNIVERSAL Off The Record YA YA’S Between The Seconds Priority One One Armed Scissor Battle Of The Planets

FRIDAY 20.04 7th AVENUE Pop Candy AMPLIFIER Big Scary BAILEY BAR Mod Squad BAKERY SMRTS Craig McElhinny Pallas Athena Andrew Sinclair Ritual Band WaterTemple BALMORAL The Other Guys BEAT NIGHTCLUB The Reductors Community Chest Echo Kid BELMONT TAVERN Everlong Acoustic BENNYS Faces BLACK BETTYS Everlong BOAB TAVERN Zenburger BRASS MONKEY Adrian Wilson CAPTAIN STIRLING Bluebottles CARLISLE HOTEL Reload CHASE BAR James Wilson

Three Corner Jack, Friday at Players Bar

CLAREMONT HOTEL Nick Sheppard Aires Linares COMO HOTEL Tip Top Sound COMMERCIAL HOTEL The Ghost Hotel Polly Medlen Codie Sundstrom CRAFTSMAN Nicki Rose EAST 150 Trevor Jalla ELEPHANT & WHEELBARROW Darren Reid ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Victoria Newton With The Graham Wood Quartet Accumulated Gestures EMPIRE Halo FUSE BAR Groove Karaoke GLOUCESTER PARK Midnight Rambler EMPIRE Halo HIGH ROAD HOTEL Damien Cripps Band INDI BAR Vdelli KALAMUNDA HOTEL New Vintage KARDINYA TAVERN Passionworks LANGFORD TAVERN Just 4 Kix LAST DROP TAVERN Neil Adams LEGENDS BAR The Organ Grinders MERRIWA TAVERN Overload MIGHTY QUINN TAVERN Kontraband MOJOS BAR Bibby Morgan Bain Ricky Green Boston & Chevy Spoonful Of Sugar MOON & SIXPENCE Soul Corporation MT HENRY TAVERN Richard Roberts MUSTANG BAR Oz Big Band Cheeky Monkeys NEWPORT Party Rockers NORFOLK BASEMENT Husband FOAM Flower Drums The Ron Pollard Quintet OXFORD HOTEL Recliners PADDO Stu Harcourt PADDY HANNANS Gun Shy Romeos PARAMOUNT Flyte

PLAYERS BAR Three Corner Jack RAILWAY HOTEL The Freakz Of Nature Trooth Wisdom 2th RAVENWOOD HOTEL Ian Kenny ROCKET ROOM Chainsaw Hookers The Decline Silver Lizard The Blazin’ Entrails Leeches!

Wizard Sleeve ROSEMOUNT Vespers Descent Devour the Martyr Empires Laid Waste Meridian ROSEY O’GRADY’S (FREMANTLE) Spyce ROSEY O’GRADY’S (NORTHBRIDGE) Neil Colliss SAIL & ANCHOR Howie Morgan Duo SOUTH ST ALE HOUSE Robbie King Karaoke SWAN BASEMENT The Fix The Vans SWINGING PIG Dirty Scoundrels Greg Carter THE BOAT Deuce THE FLY TRAP Ben Salter Joe Mckee THE GATE Smoking Section THE PICKLED FIG Cathrine Summers Jazz THE SHED Kickstart TWO ROCKS TAVERN Lush UNIVERSAL Nightmoves VELVET LOUNGE Snarski Vs Snarski VICTORIA PARK HOTEL Ivan Ribic WANNEROO TAVERN Clayton Bolger WOODVALE TAVERN Dr Bogus YA YA’S Davey Craddock and The Spectacles Stereoflower David Craft

SATURDAY 21.04 AMPLIFIER Deez Nuts BAILEY BAR Losing Julia BALMORAL Retriofit BALLYS BAR Sophie Jane BAR 120 Flyte

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.

The Reductors, Friday at Beat Nightclub BEAT Runaways BELGIAN BEER CAFÉ Chris Murphy BLACK BETTY’S J Babies BOHEME BAR Carbon Taxi BURSWOOD (PRIZE DRAW STAGE) Hi-NRG CAPITOL Bluejuice CIVIC HOTEL Genocidal The Lungs Arbitrage Facegrinder CLAREMONT HOTEL The Zydecats COMO HOTEL Tip Top Sound CORNERSTONE ALEHOUSE Tip Top Sound ELEPHANT & WHEELBARROW Gun Shy Romeos ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Allira Wilson & Jamie Oehlers Quintet John Mayer Trio - Try tribute FAT SHANS Ben Salter The Morning Night Emily Barker Joel Barker FLY BY NIGHT CLUB Ganga Giri GRASS VALLEY TAVERN The Ghost Hotel Polly Medlen Mel Hall HIGH ROAD HOTEL Dr Bogus INDIAN OCEAN BREW CO The Other Guys INDI BAR Toby KARDINYA TAVERN Hot Suga LAKERS TAVERN Damien Cripps Band LEOPOLD HOTEL Steve Hepple LEISURE INN Parker Avenue LOBBY LOUNGE (BURSWOOD) Pop Candy MERRIWA TAVERN Celebrations Karaoke MOON & SIXPENCE Blaze M ON THE POINT Rhythm 22 MOJOS BAR The Justin Walshe Folk Machine Rachel & Henry Climb a Hill Mister’s Lucky Dip & Cass & Al MURPHY’S IRISH PUB Dizzy Miss Lizzy MUSTANG 10 Cent Billionaire The Burger Kings

Friday Friday TravisFriday Caudle Chainsaw Hookers, at Travis Caudle FlyBy ByNight Night Rocket Room Fly

NEWPORT Kizzy Gravity NORFOLK BASEMENT Snarski Vs Snarksi NORTHWOOD ALEHOUSE Krakatinnie Brothers PADDY HANNAN’S Decoy PARAMOUNT Felix RAILWAY HOTEL Die Gestalt The Delaines The PCM Lantana RAVENSWOOD HOTEL Rock A Fellas ROCKET ROOM Kickstart ROSEMOUNT Calling All Cars Arts Martial ROSIE O’GRADY’S (FREMANTLE) Flavor ROSIE O’GRADY’S (NORTHBRIDGE) Blue Gene SAIL & ANCHOR Kickstart SWAN BASEMENT Seasta Chani Pauly Wisdom 2th SWAN LOUNGE Rotaxus Idle Front Empty Pocket Alanna Eileen SWINGING PIG Greg Carter THE BOAT 11:11 THE GATE Dirty Scoundrels THE SHED Huge THE WHALE & ALE Chris Murphy & The Holly Rollers TWO ROCKS TAVERN Neil Colliss UNIVERSAL Soul Corporation WANNEROO TAVERN Monique O’Garr Blondie Tribute & Andrew Simpson Boy George Tribute WOODVALE TAVERN Courtney Murphy & Murphy’s Lore YA YA’S Empty Cup

SUNDAY 22.04 7TH AVENUE Good Karma BAILEY BAR Thomas Crane – Freddy Mercury Tribute BALLY’S BAR Greg Carter BALMORAL Cranky BROKEN HILL HOTEL Chris Murphy

www.xpressmag.com.au

BROOKLANDS TAVERN Greg Carter BURSWOOD (PRIZE DRAW STAGE) Plastic Max & the Token Gesture CLAREMONT HOTEL Sunday Driver COMO HOTEL David Fyffe ELEPHANT & WHEELBARROW Blue Hornet ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Jazz Voyces Liam Burrows HIGH WYCOMBE HOTEL Pop Candy HIGH RD Mike Nayar HYDE PARK HOTEL Simon Kelly Sophie Jane INDIAN OCEAN BREW CO Dove Retriofit INDI BAR Justin Walshe & The Folk Machine The Warning Birds Cass & Al KALAMUNDA HOTEL Christian Thompson LAKERS TAVERN Jamie Powers LAST DROP TAVERN Peter Ashton LEISURE INN Ivan Ribic MOJOS BAR Axe Girl Lucy Peach The Crooked Cats, No Deadlines Julz Danni Sirens of Sound Raging Lincolns MOON & SIXPENCE Gerard Maunick & Tina Simone MUSTANG BAR Peter Busher & The Lone Rangers NEWPORT Tim Nelson Our Man In Berlin Warning Birds The Espeys NORTHWOOD ALEHOUSE Double Trouble OCEAN VIEW TAVERN The Organ Grinders PADDY MAGUIRES Nicki Rose PINK DUCK Kevin Conway QUINDANNING INNE The Ghost Hotel Polly Medlen Alex Watt RAILWAY HOTEL Foo’s Gold Third Wind RAVENSWOOD HOTEL 100 Strangers ROCKET ROOM Justice For All

San Cisco, Sunday at Somerville Auditorium

ROSEMOUNT Lou Barlow Adam James SAIL & ANCHOR Shawne + Luc SOMERVILLE AUDITORIUM In The Pines Apricot Rail Benedict Moleta Band The Big Old Bears Boys Boys Boys Drowning Horse Frozen Ocean The Ghost Hotel Hang On St. Christopher The Leap Year The Love Junkies Kill Devil Hills Runner San Cisco SMRTS Sonpsilo Circus Split Seconds Suffer Sugar Army Sunshine Brothers Tusk SOVEREIGN ARMS Richard Roberts THE MOON Kucka Craig McElhinney THE SAINT The Howie Morgan Project Mike Nayar THE WILD FIG Cathrine Summers Jazz TWO ROCKS TAVERN Clayton Bolger SOUTH ST ALE HOUSE Blackhart + Strangelove SOVEREIGN ARMS Ivan Ribic SPRINGS TAVERN Adrian Wilson SWAN LOUNGE Billie Rogers Tom Fisher Jay Grafton Luke Kordyl SWINGING PIG Adam James UNIVERSAL Retriofit VICTORIA PARK HOTEL Neil Colliss

WOODVALE TAVERN Mia & Good Company Thomas Crane – Freddy Mercury Tribute

MONDAY 23.04 BRASS MONKEY The Organ Grinders ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Song Lounge LOBBY LOUNGE (BURSWOOD) Courtney Murphy MOJOS BAR Wide Open Mic Night MUSTANG BAR Marco & The Alley Cats THE DEEN Plastic Max & The Token Gesture

TUESDAY 24.04 ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Trent White INDI BAR Ganga Giri LOBBY LOUNGE (BURSWOOD) Chris Murphy LUCKY SHAG Leighton Keepa MERIDIAN ROOM (BURSWOOD) Billy & the Broken Lines MOJOS BAR The Raging Lincolns The Corner HYTE The Trigger Jackets MANTL PADDO Stu Harcourt PLAYERS BAR Under Seige The Vans Postcard Bandits Die Human Delusions of Grandeur Sons Of Saviour Walker Reapers Riddle Ben Blend PRINCE OF WALES Open Mic Night SETTLERS TAVERN Open Mic Night X-WRAY CAFE Open Piano Night

Vespers Descent

VESPERS DESCENT DEVOUR THE MARTYR EMPIRES LAID WASTE,MERIDIAN

FRIDAY,APRIL 20 ROSEMOUNT HOTEL

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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 ROLAND FANTOM G7 Professional 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 BASS PLAYER For “AUSSIE ROCK TRIBUTE”. Must be dedicated with experience. Vocal ability a plus. 0409 370 900.

BASS PLAYER Middle aged guy, v reliable, v exp muso, seeks working blues band with both a traditional & modern approach to style. Peter 0437 377 361.

BASS PLAYER NEEDED To join Metal band, TUSK. Must have good gear, own transport & be dedicated. Gigs booked. Influences, Lamb Of God, Meshuggah, Phycoptic & Whitechapel. Call Mitch 0431 345 750.

BASSIST SEEKS GUITARIST & DRUMMER Aged 20-32 to form death metal band. Influences: Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, Immolation, Gorguts, Nocturnus, Agressor, Metallica. 0419 043 293.

DRUMMER WANTED For original band. Influences include, Oasis, AC/DC, The Angels & The Smithereens. Call Brett 0405 578 625.

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

EXPERIENCED VOCALIST For original electronic & house music. seerstudios@iinet.net.au FEMALE SINGER WANTED For duo with male singer to perform caberet style shows. Professional attitude with good vocal versatility & the ability to entertain. Able to reherse once a week. For more details 0433234417 GREASE PRODUCTION SEEKS FEMALE SINGER to sing, act, dance the part of Sandy. If you got it, we want to see and hear it. 35 min Corporate show. Semi-prof only need apply with bio and audio sample. Able to rehearse once a week, perform 3 times a week. Please contact Antonio Corea 0433 234 417 or email bio to antonio@antoniosplace.tv

OPEN MIC COMPETITION !st prize $2000 cash. Starts Thursday April 26th. Visit marketcitytavern.com.au for details.

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.

WANTED: 50’s DANCE BAND FOR RESIDENCY S i m i l a r t o P e r t h 8 0 ’s B a n d ‘ Te d d y B e a r s ’.

Send Info to Soundzmusicper th@gmail.com or PO Box 307, Joondalup DC, 6919 PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT PHOTOGRAPHY Promo p h o to g ra p hy, s t u d i o, l i ve, l o c a t i o n .

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 Produc tion, mixing, recording and composition for your music.

Unique award winning skills to take songs from ideas to finished mixes or to fulfill the potential in existing ones. Located in Subiaco. $60 p/h. Andrew 0408 097 407 LAYER CAKE AUDIO Fully equipped, world-class, spacious recording facility with an internationally experienced and award winning engineer. From preproduc tion through to final produc t, 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 RECORDING MIXING MASTERING PRODUCING Fremantle location. Call Pete Kitchen Cooked Records. Ph 0407 363 764 / 9336 3764 REVOLVER SOUND STUDIO Ph 9272 7505. www. revolverstudio.com.au S O N G W R I T E R S ! - U N LO C K YO U R S O N G S ’ POTENTIAL +FREE BAND APPRAISALS. UK Producer, 40,000+ hours studio experience. 20 yrs in London with bands and songwriters. Kicking arrangements, great studio and the ability to really listen will give your material the edge you need. Call Jerry on 0405 653 338 or visit www.jerichomusic.com.au 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 ***GUITAR LESSONS*** The Guitar Specialist. Beg-adv, all styles and levels including bass. Cliff Lynton Guitar Institute. Mt Lawley 9342 3484 / www.clifflynton.com 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.

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.

INTERNATIONAL SONGWRITING COMPETITION 2012 Australian musicians led the field in the announcement of the finalists and semi-finalists in the 2011 International Songwriting Competition (ISC). This week Volume gives you the lowdown on this prestigious music contest.

Household names like rockers The Living End and singer/songwriter Shane Nicholson nabbed coveted spots with three songs each being entered into the final round of judging. Other Aussie names including Missy Higgins, Emma Louise and Children Collide followed with two nominations each, setting an incredible benchmark for Australian songwriters. The Australian monopoly continued with other finalists including Dallas Frasca, Jebediah, Dead Letter Circus, Oh Mercy and many more. This incredible effort by Australian artists also comes as the entries for the 2012 competition open to the public.

ISC founder and director Candace Avery says once again Australia had the biggest number of entries next to that of the US, taking out 14 per cent of the overall entries for the competition. “This year we received them from 111 countries. What’s really remarkable though, is that almost 20 per cent of finalists come from Australia,” she says.

“When you consider the population of Australia is 22 million compared to the US whose population is 311 million, the number of Australian entries is especially impressive.”

Since the inception of the ISC, Australian artists have been making their mark on the competition.

Avery says that there is something about the artistry and originality in Aussie songwriting that stands out.

“They are a little more left of centre, they seem to take more chances and their songs aren’t as formulaic,” she says.“Australian artists are sort of a well-kept secret that seems to be getting out. It’s really exciting to watch the huge success that Gotye – a previous ISC winner – is currently having in the US. Honestly it is unexpected because he is such an original and intelligent artist.

It restores my faith in American radio. Hopefully his success will shine the spotlight on other Aussie artists, 46

Previous ISC winner Gotye and fully let that secret out.”

Other past Australian ISC winners include Kate Miller-Heidke, Josh Pyke, Kasey Chambers and Sarah Blasko.

ISC has also recently launched another avenue for Australian artists to be involved – the Unsigned Only competition.

“The goal of Unsigned Only is to find an outstanding, talented performer a gem that needs to be discovered,” Avery says.“Unsigned Only is looking for the total package.”

To enter, artists must not be signed to a major record label. ISC’s 2012 competition judging panel features high-profile industry executives and iconic artists including Cyndi Lauper and Robert Smith, and the grand prize includes the opportunity to be mentored by a group of high profile industry professionals, including record label presidents and A&R representatives.

Entries for the 2012 ISC and Unsigned Only competitions are open now. For more information or to enter, visit songwritingcompetition.com and unsignedonly.com. Winners will be announced in July 2012.

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

www.xpressmag.com.au

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays