X-Press Magazine

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

MELTING IN THE SNOW

Following the breakup of local do-gooders Snowman, Joe McKee has emerged as a reputable solo artist. McKee is touring the country in support of his excellent debut solo album Burning Boy, which X-Press awarded a four star review to upon it’s release. He will officially launch the record at the Rosemount Hotel on Friday, August 24. The album was recorded in Perth with long time collaborator Dave Parkin and written over a three year period. He has recruited Melodie Nelson to support him in Perth. Tickets to the tour are available through OzTix.

Joe McKee

DESIRE BE, DESIRE GO

Nicki Minaj

PINK FRIDAY AFTER NEXT

She is a rapper that dresses crazy, raps crazy and generally does crazy shit. Nicki Minaj is heading back to Australia for the second time this year, and this time she is heading to the wild, wild west as part of her Pink Friday Reloaded Tour. Minaj and her myriad of personas will hit Burswood Dome on Tuesday, October 9. After her debut album Pink Friday conquered the world with hits like Superbass, Minaj has continued her success with sophomore album Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded. Supporting Minaj is a rapper from the infamous suburb of Compton, Tyga. Tickets go on sale on Friday, August 3 via Ticketek.

WAY OVER YONDER

Billy Bragg

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Billy Bragg’s relationship with the original alternative musician Woody Guthrie is deeply personal. This October and November,Bragg will play special two-part shows in Australia, the first part will celebrate Woody Guthrie and the second will explore Bragg’s own music. Bragg will play the Astor Theatre on Friday, November 2 as part of his Ain’t Nobody That Can Sing Like Me tour. Bragg’s relationship with Guthrie was cemented after Guthrie’s granddaughter Nora discovered some of Woody’s unrecorded lyrics and Bragg along with Wilco set about putting music to them. The result was the recently released Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions. Tickets via BOCS.

Missy Higgins

Comeback queen Missy Higgins is bringing both the razzle and the dazzle this December to Freo. After five years out of the music game, Higgins stormed back with the release of The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle. The talented singersongwriter will play the Fremantle Arts Centre on Saturday, December 8, with special guests still be announced. The comeback album has been recently released in the United States and saw her highest ever Stateside chart debut and the first time she has made the Top 100 of the Album Chart. Higgins also played The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and various gigs around the States. Tickets to the Perth show go on sale on Thursday, August 9 through Heatseeker.

THE TIME IS NOW

In the blog-accelerated music world we currently inhabit, the cycle of buzz turns so fast that bands caught up in it can find themselves in the paradoxical state of being brand-new and old hat at the same time. Case in point: Melbourneby-way-of-Perth quintet Split Seconds who are about to release their stunning debut album You’ll Turn Into Me (which garnered a five star review in last week’s X-Press) next Friday, August 10. After a big 2011, which saw them releasing a self-titled EP, taking three national tours and barnstorming the WAMi Awards, the boys are ready for the next chapter, and will be sharing the highs, lows and sordid tales of their debut album when they hit town to launch the new record on Saturday, August 25, at Amplifier, with young guns Stillwater Giants, Rainy Day Women and Warning Birds.

Split Seconds

Reactions/ Comp

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Flesh

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Music: Patrick Wolf

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Music: Serj Tankian

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Music: The Bride/ House Vs Hurricane

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Music: Dappled Cities/ Benedict Moleta

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Music: Icehouse

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Music: Opossom/ Versus The World/

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Music: Rai Thistlethwayte/ Futher

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New Noise

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Eye4 Cover: Portlandia

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Eye4 News/ Movies: Jackpot

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Eye4 Movies/ Music: Abraham Lincoln

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Eye4 TV: Portlandia

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Art Listings

Japandroids/ The Beautiful Girls Earth/ Jinja Safari

Vampire Hunter/ Toni Childs

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Lifestyle

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Salt: Cover Story: Girl Unit

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Salt: Cover Story: Girl Unit/ News/ Sun City/ Home Brew

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Salt: Benga/ Kasra

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Club Manual/ Rewind

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Scene: Live

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Scene: Live/ Pub Blurbs/ Pub Scene

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Local Scene

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Tour Trails

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Gig Guide

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Volume

Cover: Patrick Wolf plays the Fly By Night on Friday, September 14.

GOING VIRAL A simple snap entitled “The Best Review You Will Ever Read” brought a rush of excitement to the X-Press office yesterday.

A mobile phone snap of a review published in last week’s X-Press Magazine was seen by the whole internet!

Literally thousands upon thousands of people all over the world saw this review and reposted it here, there and everywhere. It had over 20 news articles on Google pointing readers to ‘news’ stories about the review and was picked up by American news websites including Gawker and The Chive. The Huffington Post even ran an article based entirely on the review with well over 200 comments published in the hours after.

The incorrect contributor’s name was a trending topic on Twitter, and our front desk’s inbox got flooded with emails from the UK asking if we could send them out hard copies of the magazine so readers far away could frame the review.

Some of the biggest news outlets in our land were after the story at the time we were going to print, and a meme had already begun to do the rounds. Not bad for a little old free magazine from Perth. Well done Chloe Papas!

Salt Cover: Girl Unit plays The Bakery on Saturday, August 4. 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 Callum Ponton, Stefan Caramia, Daniel Grant, Sammy Granville, Matt Jelonek, Denis Radacic Contributing Writers Henry Andersen, Ashleigh Whyte, Nina Bertok, Shaun Cowe, Derek Cromb, Chris Gibbs, Alfred Gorman, George Green, Alex Griffin, Chris Havercroft, Joshua Hayes, Brendan Holben, Coral Huckstep, Travis Johnson, Rezo Kezerashvili,Tara Lloyd, Adam Morris, Andrew Nelson, Chloe Papas, Daniel Parkinson, Tom Varian, Ben Watson, Jessica Willoughby For band gigs and launches - plugyourgig@xpressmag.com.au

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Cosmopolis

COSMOPOLIS

Eric Packer (Robert Pattison), a 28 year-old finance golden boy dreaming of living in a civilization ahead of this one, watches a dark shadow cast over the firmament of the Wall Street galaxy, of which he is the uncontested king. Get in now for your chance to win a double pass to see this captivating film.

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Sales and Marketing Manager Sue Blackwell - advertising@xpressmag.com.au Online Marketing Sue Blackwell - 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 Sue Blackwell - advertising@xpressmag.com.au Arts / Fashion / Lifestyle Alia Bannani - eye4@xpressmag.com.au Classifieds Linage Melissa Erpen - classifieds@xpressmag.com.au

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ABRAHAM LINCOLN VAMPIRE HUNTER

He freed the slaves and led the northern states through America’s Civil War. His legacy as the greatest president of the United States endures to this day. But Abraham Lincoln’s life as the world’s greatest hunter of the undead remained a secret – until now. Want to win tickets? Enter now as we have five doubles up for grabs.

Production Co-ordinator Ruth Tyndall

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Art Director Dwight O’Neil

Design + Production

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

Printing Rural Press Printing Mandurah

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Receptionist Melissa Erpen

STEP UP MIAMI HEAT

Get your entries in now for your chance to score tickets to see the next instalment of Step Up 4: Miami Heat, the worldwide smash franchise. The film tells the story of Emily who arrives in Miami with aspirations to become a professional dancer.

She sparks with Sean, the leader of a dance crew whose neighbourhood is threatened by Emily’s father’s development plans.

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Action-comedy Jackpot premiered internationally at the New York-based Tribeca Film Festival, where it screened in the ever popular Cinemania section and pleased not only the crowd, but also the critics. We have ten double passes up for grabs so get in quick for your chance to score one.

Off the back of launching their self-titled double album (the first Hip Hop album to debut at #1 in New Zealand since 2003) Home Brew are bringing the party to Australia. With support from Australia’s own Sky’High, Home Brew’s Tom Scott, Haz Beats, Lui Silk and their live band are set to play four dates throughout August, stopping at Perth’s Amplifier on Thursday, August 9. We have tickets to giveaway so get in now for your chance to win a double pass to what is sure to be a knockout show.

PARADISE CLUB MYKONOS

Are you or any of your friends planning a holiday to Mykonos in the month of August? If so, get in now because we have two double VIP passes up for grabs to the exclusive Paradise Club Mykonos!

The club was launched in May this year and is going great, with the northern summer now in full swing. The double pass will grant you access to the VIP area and includes a complementary drink on arrival.

Snakadaktal are happy to announce that they will be hitting the highways of Australia this August for their biggest national headline tour to date!

After taking out the Triple J Unearthed High competition in 2011 the school friends released their stellar self-titled debut EP which debuted at #26 on the ARIA charts. The guys check into Astor theatre on Saturday, August 4, and we have two doubles to be won. Enter now to be in the running.

TRICKY BUSINESS

Australian television drama Tricky Business focuses on a family that runs a debt collection business.

Jim and Claire are retired debt collectors who leave their business in the hands of their eldest daughter Kate, who also runs the business with her partner Rick, her younger sister Lily and family friend Chad. Kate receives an out of the blue proposal from Rick, leaving her to say no, and soon be caught up in a new romance with rival debt collector Matt. We have five DVDs of the first season up for the taking. Enter now to score yourself a copy.

MINISTRY OF SOUND SESSIONS NINE

Perth’s biggest mid-year party is back… Ministry of Sound Sessions! Shake off winter with the next highly anticipated instalment in Ministry’s iconic Sessions series – and join two of the biggest DJs in the country Tom Piper and Timmy Trumpet. The Ts unite to serve up the biggest jams and bangers which are rocking the globe! We have a double pass to their show at Villa on Saturday, August 25, plus a copy of the new MOS Sessions Nine up for grabs.

Enter now for your chance to win this awesome prize.

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Distribution

JO NESBO’S JACKPOT

SNAKADAKTAL

HOME BREW Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter

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

Deadlines EDITORIAL General: Friday 5pm,, Eye4 Arts: Thursday 10am, Comp’ Thing: Monday Noon,, Salt Clubs: Monday 5pm , Local Scene: Monday Noon,, Gig Guide: Monday 5pm ADVERTISING Cancellations: Monday 5pm, Ads to be set: Monday Noon Supplied Bookings / Copy: Tuesday 12 Noon, Classifieds: Monday 4pm Published by: Columbia Press Pty.Ltd. A.C.N. 066 570 803 Registered by Australia Post. Publication No PP600110.00006 Suite 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

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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Children Collide

CHILDREN COLLIDE

Children Collide’s third studio album Monument was released a mere three weeks ago. To support the release of the new record, the guys will take to the road; Get in now for your chance to win a double pass to their Amplifier show on either Friday, August 3, or Saturday, August 4!

The one and only Nicki Minaj has confirmed she is set to touch down at the Burswood Dome on Tuesday, October 9. We asked our Facebook fans whether they thought the news about the curvaceous singer’s impending arrival is awesome or awful…

Adam I’d rather have a tender, loving embrace with an enraged swarm of wasps than listen to anything by Ms Minaj (it’s awful that she’s coming here).

Russell Offensive news.

Alex Great news, how much do snipers cost?

Stephanie Awesome news, I was only telling friends I was waiting for this a while ago  Richo Will she get charged extra baggage for that caboose of hers?

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

A MOMENT IN TIME

Aussie hip hop crew TZU will do a lap of the country this spring to celebrate the release of their new album Millions Of Moments. The band announced this week that the record – their first since 2008’s Computer Love – will be out September 21. According to the press release, the concept album “follows the adventures of Persephone”. You’ll be able to hear their stories in live mode when they touch down in WA for three massive dates–onFriday,October5,atBar120;Saturday,October 6, at Amplifier; and Sunday, October 7, at the Prince Of Wales. Joining them on the tour will be futuristic R&B/ hip hop purveyors Sietta. Tickets are on sale now through Oztix.

ELECTRIC AVENUE Ed Sheeran

SHEERAN SHED

Mystery Jets

MYSTERY TO HIDE

London based Mystery Jets are waiting until the Olympics are over before coming to Australia in September. Hot on the heels of their fourth album Radlands, the band will play Capitol on Thursday, September 20. The recently released album saw the Londoners relocate to Austin, Texas and hook up with Dan Carey who has worked with Hot Chip and Franz Ferdinand. Supporting Mystery Jets at the Perth show is locally based Voltaire Twins.

Tickets go on sale Friday, August 3 through OzTix.

He’s a singer that looks like Rupert Grint but has a flow like a rapper, Ed Sheeran has announced he is coming back to Australia before he has even completed his current tour of the land down under. The man that combines pop, folk and hip hop is going to play Challenge Stadium on Saturday, February 23 2013. This is great news for those that missed out on tickets to his Riverside Theatre show which happens next Monday, August 6. After the release of his debut album + which featured the songs Lego House and The A Team, Sheeran stormed up the Australian charts.

The red-haired singer has helped create his own success by creating and selling independent EPs since the young age of 15. Tickets to next year’s gig goes on sale on Thursday, August 9 via Ticketmaster.

VAMPIRES ON THE AVENUE

One of Australia’s most loved and enduring characters, Richard Clapton is announcing himself to his fifth decade in the music industry.

New album Harlequin Nights will be released this Saturday and a national tour has been announced to support it. Clapton will play the Atrium Resort in Mandurah on Friday, September 14; and the Astor Theatre on Saturday, September 15. First single Dancing With The Vampires is a nod to party boys while other tracks on the album follow up with rock and folk and highlight Clapton at his peak.

VILLAGE PEOPLE

Zeke

OH HOW THE TABLES HAVE TURNED

West Australian Symphony Orchestra’s Principal Conductor Paul Daniel, 88 musicians and works from four diverse composers combine to create an exhilarating first concert in WASO’s inaugural new music festival, Latitude. The first concert, Horizons, will be held on Wednesday, August 15, and sees WASO perform music by Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mark-Anthony Turnage, James Ledger and Frank Zappa. Then on Saturday, August 18, a record-manipulating DJ will push the boundaries of orchestral musical at the second Latitude concert, Boundaries. Principal conductor Paul Daniel, turntablist Zeke, principal flute Andrew Nicholson and WASO will perform music by Jonny Greenwood and Gabriel Prokofiev and MarkAnthony Turnage. These two concerts of cutting edge music will make for truly unforgettable nights out. Tickets are available now through BOCS or by contacting WASO on 9326 0000.

KULCHAD INDIVIDUALS

Kulcha, WA’s premier purveyors of global ar ts, presents a new season of eclec tic performances. The new season gets off to a passionate start on Friday, August 3, as Melbournians Ruth Roshan launches her new album of Argentinean Tango with Tango Noir, and continues on Saturday, August 4, when perennially popular Flamenco Puro play an infectious show. The highlights of the lengthy program include Sydney band Azadoota’s show on Saturday, September 15, which promises native Assyrian singing coupled with driving grooves and energetic percussion.

Another sure-to-be popular show will be Indigenous performers The Bartlett Brothers poignant show on Saturday, September 8. If music ain’t your thang, Kulcha is also putting on a night of side splitting comedy on Friday, August 10, featuring the talents of Simon Palomares (Acropolis Now), Xavier Michelides and Emma Zammit. For full details on these shows – and many, many more – hit up kulcha.com.au or call (08) 9336 4544. www.xpressmag.com.au

Look ing for something big? Big V illage Records have announced a new compilation record and a national tour. The new album, Big Things Vol Two features some of Sydney’s finest MCs, DJs and producers like Tuka, Ellesquire, Daily Meds, True Vibenation, Loose Change and a heap of other artists. The album drops on August 10 and two of the rappers will come to Perth to celebrate its release. Tuka and Ellesquire will play Mojos in Fremantle on Friday, October 12; before heading to the Shape Bar on Saturday, October 13. Tickets are available at the door for the Mojos show and via Moshtix for the Shape Bar gig.

Remember the way rock‘n’roll used to taste?

Melbourne powerhouse quintet Electric Mary do and they’re set to bring their classic rock vibes to the Charles Hotel on Saturday, August 11. Pre-sale tickets are $29.50 from BOCS or tickets can be purchased through the Charles Hotel Bottle Shop for $25.

KEITH’S CHANGING IT UP

If you were keen to catch the world’s leading mentalist, brain hacker and hypnotist Keith Barry be aware that his show at the Octagon Theatre has now be rescheduled from it’s original date on Saturday, August 25, to one week earlier – it’s now onSaturday, August 18. Tickets for the Saturday, August 25, show will be valid for the rescheduled show date of Saturday, August 18, without the need to exchange. Current ticket holders who are unable to attend due to the change of show date may obtain a refund from the point of purchase or by contacting BOCS.

BEAUFORT BANDS UNITE!

Planning for this year’s Beaufort Street Festival is well underway and it’s now time for the next piece of the puzzle: YOU! Organisers are looking for bands and artists who’re keen to be the next big Beaufort thing! If you’re interested in playing a set, just head to beaufortstreetfestival.com.au from this Thursday, August 2, and submit your application. But be quick - applications close Saturday, August 11.

TAYLOR MADE TUNES

You’ve watched him from home on Australia’s Got Talent, now catch him live and in the flesh! That’s right, the one and only country superstar Jonny Taylor has got the month of August all wrapped up with no less than 14 massive shows across the state.

Catch him this Friday, August 3, at M On The Point in Mandurah; Sunday, August 5, at the Old Coast Road Brewery in Myalup; on Friday, August 10, at M On The Point; on Saturday, August 11, at Bootleg Brewery in Wilyabrup; Sunday, August 12, at Broadwater Bar in Busselton; Tuesday, August 14, at Murphy’s Irish Pub in Mandurah; Friday, August 17, at M On The Point; Saturday, August 18, at the Prince Of Wales; Sunday, August 19, at Redcliffe On The Murray in Pinjarra; Friday, Augiust 24, at M On The Point; Saturday, August 25, and Sunday, August 26, at Caves House Yallingup; Tuesday,August 26,at Murphy’s Irish Pub in Mandurah and Friday, August 31, at M On The Point.

Jimmy Edgar

DANCING DOLPHINS

Unless you’ve been trapped in a misty, mossshrouded terrarium for the past few weeks, you should be well aware by now of This Is Nowhere – the exciting new music event happening on Sunday, October 14, at the Somerville Auditorium, the Dolphin Theatre and surrounds on the campus of the University of Western Australia.

The fine folks from This Is Nowhere have just added yet more acts to their line-up. Prepare to dance your socks off to the beats of local and international party makers including Detroit’s Jimmy Edgar, London’s Ikonika and Slugabed, San Francisco’s Salva, Montreal’s D’Eon and our very own James Ireland, Rok Riley, Travis Doom, Jo Lettenmaier and {Move} Crew. They join the already announced awesomeness that is Tortoise, Xiu Xiu, Grails, Beach Fossils, The Bank Holidays, HTRK, Puro Instinct, New War, High Tea¸ Mayor Dadi and Chris Cobilis. Plus there’s the Inglorious Buskers: Rachael Dease, David Craft, Alex Griffin (Ermine Coat), Andrew Ewing, Peter Bibby and Amber Fresh (aka Rabbit Island). Tickets are on sale now through lifeisnoise.com, Heatseeker, Oztix, 78s, Mills Records, Planet and Star Surf!

Ikonika

MORE THAN A GAME

Legend of The Footy Show and man of much controversy, Sam Newman is coming to the Mullaloo Beach Hotel for A Cocktail Evening With Sam Newman on Wednesday, August 8.

For $35 per head (including one free drink on arrival between 6-7pm), you get to listen to tales from the AFL expert and share in his wisdom. Get your tickets by calling 9401 8411.

MIRROR MIRROR

One of the greats of Australian jazz, Jamie Oehlers is heading home from New York. The Jamie Oehlers Quartet is touring Australia to promote the release of Oehler’s latest release Smoke And Mirrors. The Ellington Jazz Club in Perth will host the band on Wednesday, August 22. The quartet has been together for a few years and it is recognised as one of the most dynamic, energetic and creative ensembles in Australia. Punters can be expect everything from hard swinging contemporary bop, to drum and bass grooves, sensitive ballads and everything in between. Tickets via ellingtonjazz.com.au.

DRAW SOMETHING

An additional West Australian date has been added to the upcoming Jonah Matranga’s Onelinedrawing Australian tour this September. The new date is set for Friday, September 14, at C5 in Metropolis Fremantle.

You’ll also be able to catch him at Amplifier’s The Academy on Wednesday, September 12.

Tickets to both shows will be available at the door.

The Growl

After almost five years, local label Paper Chain has closed its doors. Known for releasing music from some of Perth’s finest beatmakers and rhymers in Mathas, Ta-Ku, Naik, The Typhoons and more, founder Kit Pop says he will continue creating music.

It’s been a while since The Growl last played a big ol’ headlining show since they’ve been busy in Pond, Gunns and more extra-curricular activity. But that’s about to change when they headline the Fly By Night on Saturday, August 25.

Support comes from Usurper Of Modern Medicine, Cow Parade Cow, and Leure. Grab your tickets from the venue.

Just announced to represent WA at the annual Homebake festival in Sydney, Pond have pencilled in a brief Australian tour, and will return to the scene of their sold out Beard Wives Denim album launch, The Bakery on Saturday, September 15. We recommend pre-booking through nowbaking.com.

After scoring the coveted iTunes single of the week in the USA recently, former X-Press Magazine front cover stars Emperors are heading out on a brief national tour in September. Before they vdo that though, they’ll headline Amplifier on Saturday, September 1. Support comes from Trigger Jackets, Community Chest, and High Horse. Tickets from Heatseeker and Moshtix.

Fresh from a successful relocation to Berlin, Prita Grealy is coming home with her Postcards From Europe tour. WA is lucky enough to get a huge selection of dates, Grealy will play the Mundaring Hotel on Friday, August 31; Clancy’s Fish Pub in Fremantle on Saturday, September 1; Ellington Jazz Club in Perth on Thursday, September 13; the Indi Bar on Saturday, September 15; before finishing up at Settlers Tavern in Margaret River on Sunday, September 30.

Hard edged punk rockers Coveleski have signed with local label Gun Fever and are set to bring out their self-titled debut EP through the label in October.

Send all your local music news to localmusic@xpressmag.com.au to find yourself in our pages!

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overcoming the follies of the oft-rabid British press.

As it turns out, surviving is what Wolf does best. As a schoolboy, he spent a week in a coma after a freak coach accident. Throughout his teenage years, he was the victim of bullying. As Wolf explains, these trials only prepared him for the fickle, and at times vitriolic, nature of the beast they call the music industry.

“When I was 12 I fell out of a coach on a motorway in Belgium with one other choirboy, and everything changed from then on. I survived this moment, then I survived a period of bullying. But at the end of the day it’s not just survival instincts, you just have to toughen up,” Wolf muses. “If you want to do something original, or if you’re going to put yourself in place of ridicule from those people, then it’s going to Though a relative veteran of the music ahelp you later on in life. Then if you’re experiencing it all industry, Patrick Wolf is still a young throughout your 20s – trying to straddle some ground between the underground without compromising to man in most of the world’s eyes. 2012 the mainstream – you may as well be wearing a t-shirt ‘asking for it’. You have to realise you’re wearing marks the 10th anniversary of the UK saying that t-shirt and be proud of it. I have regrets, but they’re singer-songwriter’s recording career, the things most people wouldn’t think I would be and presents a resolute conclusion regretful for.”

It’s a reflective age for Wolf, one that will to a somewhat turbulent formative be articulated by a stripped-back acoustic tour and complementary full-length record. Though the epoch. LACHLAN KANONIUK talks to abombast of the full live band performance won’t Wolf ahead of his acoustic show at the necessarily be present, Wolf’s trademark charisma is sure to be in full force. “I’m sure there would be, by the Fly By Night on Friday, September 14. public’s perception, an element of histrionics on it in the way I sing. This whole thing is about this year being In many ways, Patrick Wolf is a survivor. the 10 year anniversary of the release of my first EP. At 28 years of age, Wolf has conquered Back then I used to have no money and I would just go the morbid construct that is the ’27 club’, all the while busking with an accordion on the bridges in London. I

PATRICK WOLF

Wolf At The Door

Patrick Wolf didn’t really have the idea that I would ever have a band, and I would just take whatever instruments I could carry to different places around England. Then I’d be invited to places overseas and I’d just bring a suitcase full of portable instruments. I guess this tour is quite cyclical, going back and readdressing the way I want to move forward in the future.”

As you would expect, the acoustic setting exacerbates some of the hidden aspects of the extensive Patrick Wolf back catalogue. It’s something that Wolf utilises without inhibition. “It’s really exposed the messages of the songs. Sometimes in production and packaging and with music videos, people are

distracted by all these layers and can’t really hear what I actually do. That’s fine, it’s just that people can sometimes only take one piece of information at a time.

Sometimes I’ve bombarded people with an extreme visual which sometimes contradicts the lyrical content of the song,” he reflects.“I’ve chosen to do that because I want to express the diversity of being a human being – you might feel one thing but look another way. For this [tour], I can literally recompose the song on the spot and focus on what I feel – whether it be something in the newspapers, a letter from a fan. I take requests from Twitter and Facebook and while we’re there. It’s about forgetting about the theatre of it, forgetting about rehearsals, and just becoming a vessel for the audience for two hours. It’s a bit like being possessed by past work and with what people want from you that night. Some messages really come to the forefront, and it’s just a time to forget about the rest of it.”

“It’s about forgetting about the theatre of it, forgetting about rehearsals, and just becoming a vessel for the audience for two hours.”

For an artist so accomplished, Wolf still projects an endearing self-deprecation – an attribute which he has managed to harness into a motivational asset. “I do have days where I have no motivation, but that doesn’t come from feeling like I haven’t achieved what I haven’t achieved, it comes from an overwhelming feeling that I haven’t achieved anything with my life and a crippling feeling that I’m sure everyone in the world feels no matter what they’re doing with their life. You have this driving ambition, and no matter how hard you flex that muscle of ambition, sometimes you just end up with disappointment,” he ponders. “I’m not talking about money, career or chart positions, I’m talking about artistically. That’s a wonderful feeling a well, because it gets you out of bed and into the world to keep on creating. I’m totally dissatisfied with everything in my life, but that’s something between me and my psychiatrist, I guess.”

As for his next album, Wolf reveals that it will be a revisionist retrospective of sorts, subverting the notion of the greatest hits package which often coincides with Wolf’s current career point. “It’s all recorded, I’ve got two days of vocals this weekend, then I’ve got mixing at the end of the month,” he explains.

“It’s basically all back catalogue. It came from doing these acoustic shows, when I sat at the piano and forgot about what it sounded like on record or with a band, and thought about how it should sound in 2012. So new lyrics would come up, some of them retrospective or things I was too scared to say back at the time. Some lyrics feel wrong, like Hard Times I’ve sort of rewritten as I feel the message is screwed up with that song, promoting aggression rather than resolution. So I’m readdressing and rewriting the back catalogue. I’m not really choosing the most obvious songs for the record.

I think it came from the notion that after 10 years you do a greatest hits – I don’t have any hits. It’s kind of an invalid format now anyway, you can choose 12 tracks from your favourite artist on iTunes. So I thought it was better to readdress the back catalogue as sort of a songbook.”

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SERJ TANKIAN Suicide Solution System Of A Down frontman Serj Tankian’s new solo album, Harakiri, is out now on Reprise Records. TRAVIS JOHNSON talks to him about music, politics, economics - the whole shebang.

For a man responsible for so many varied and successful endeavours - he’s not only a singer/ songwriter, but also an acclaimed producer, a published poet, and a respected and provocative political activist, Serj Tankian is surprisingly and refreshingly humble.

When asked about his new solo album, the boldly titled Harakiri, he is self-effacing to the point of being dismissive.“I think it’s a very straightup kind of record with some punk influences, some ‘80s influences, and more traditional rock playing,” he begins, and fair enough. But when he begins to elaborate, the complexity of the album becomes apparent. “However, there are a lot of different sounds and scapes that are layered in there. There’s three songs that I sketched out on the iPad, for example, that are kind of ethnoelectro, like Ching-Chime, Reality TV, and Deafening Silence. It just brings a different colour palette and

a different sensitivity to the music, having those elements. Like the way Occupied Tears starts, for example: a very brooding, kind of ‘80s goth kind of vibe with the vocals really low, and beats, and these beautiful soundscapes turning into a rock kind of song. It’s interesting. I like it when people pick up influences.”

And while the album is certainly an accomplished piece of musicianship, it’s on that thematic level that it becomes really interesting.

Dealing with such subjects as mass extinction, economic malfeasance, the tyranny of mass media and the hijacking of democracy, Harakiri sounds like nothing less than Tankian’s Grand Unified Field Theory on what’s wrong with the world.

“I never thought of it that way,” he laughs. “But I guess that could play into it. All of those things are interconnected. Ecological change forces political change. Lack of rainfall

Serj Tankian

There’s a lot of information out there, definitely more than ever before in the history of civilisation.

However, knowledge, true knowledge, is lost, and what we can do it about it is build awareness. Read!

Fucking read, mate!” creates migration. Migration creates antiimmigration, right wing policies. There’s many things that are interconnected: culturally, economically, ecologically, politically. So they all play into the same sphere of conversation, so the songs naturally kind of include all of that. Although there are songs that are personal, humorous, and all that; that’s my kind of exclusion clause with every record - that I’m not just a political artist, you know? But yeah, I like to tackle politics a little.”

“A little” is an understatement. Tankian’s work is underpinned by a set of strong political convictions, and driven by a sense of righteous outrage at what he sees as the coopting of the democratic process by threatening forces. A simple question about the subject of the song Uneducated Democracy elicits a short lecture in response.

“I think we are uninformed,” he states firmly. “There’s a lot of information out there, definitely more than ever before in the history of civilisation. However, knowledge, true knowledge, is lost, and what we can do it about it is build awareness. Read! Fucking read, mate! That’s what it comes down to. For example, and the American populace is being slowly but surely revved up for a possible war with Iran. However, if people in America were aware of the US foreign policy having to do with Iran as one country, and if they were aware that in the 1950s, with help of the CIA, we helped overthrow a democratically elected Iran and brought in a king, people might want to apologise to Iran before threatening to bomb them.

This is just simple history, you know? This is basic knowledge, and it’s only 60 years ago, for god’s sake.

But ask 10 Americans, and if one of them knows, I’d be fucking surprised.”

Still, Harakiri doesn’t come across as a grim polemical, thanks in large to the injection of a strong line of wry, albeit dark, humour throughout the record. “I think doses of humour are very important in terms of not coming across as preachy,” Tankian says. “And it helps understand the them better. Figure It Out is a great example because it’s a very political theme, but also ultra-simplified to make CEOs the target of all of our economic woes.

However, the issues are much more complicated than that. But making it a political satire and going after one villain makes it more fun, and it makes the song jump up and be a good time. It’s also part of my character; I don’t like to sit down and brood all day, or laugh all day, or do just one thing all day. your day is mixed with emotions, varied emotions, so why shouldn’t a record be?”

And, despite appearances, Tankian remains, at heart, an optimist, both personally and politically. “I do believe in the power of the person,” he says. “I don’t believe we’re stymied by systems; I believe we created those systems, and we can take ‘em down - it’s as simple as that. But it requires a monumental effort, and it requires an awareness of the interconnectivity of all of the things we originally spoke about. I think it’s doable, bro.”

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15

HOUSE VS HURRICANE Pearly Whites

It’s somewhat surprising that Crooked Teeth, Melbourne-based hardcore outfit House Vs Hurricane’s latest offering, was titled over a visit to Hooters! CHRIS DRIVER learns why from guitarist/vocalist Ryan McLerie ahead of the band’s shows at Prince Of Wales on Friday, August 10; Amplifier on Saturday, August 11; and YMCA HQ on Sunday, August 12.

Okay, so the Hooters thing is bit of media spin.

It would be far more ‘accurate’ to point out that the title actually comes from a lovely little homology between an alternative reading of the Death Cab For Cutie song title (discussed over dinner

at an unnamed New Jersey restaurant) and the musical dispositions of the most recent incarnation of House Vs Hurricane’s music, (recorded in said state and ringing with the kind of unrefined swagger it usually takes an incomplete set of pearly whites to really pull off).

Yet, in a weird way that setting has its own congruence with the record – a place to go and mend the wounds of a fresh break-up, not life-changing but utterly consistent, and packaged and streamlined in the most unpretentious way. And that’s exactly what the boys were going for, explains guitarist/vocalist Ryan McLerie.

“We’re not into the whole overproduction, mechanical, non-realistic sounding thing – it’s not us

Fragione was a strategic move. “Sometimes people don’t want to be around anymore or they don’t want to do a band anymore or just something’s not working. And things just have to change and progress.

Yet it was the line-up changes left the band forced to diversify, shedding the keyboards for a sound that straddles the rawer side of contemporary hardcore without compromising that silky production that costs you the market – an ability to roll with the punches and get on with it that has obviously served them well.

A few months after Dicker’s departure, there were five guys and a swag of new material on a plane aimed directly at one of the best heavy music studios on the Atlantic Coast. Having picked up Dan Casey, vocalist from Adelaide’s Louis Blanc, on heavy vocals duties it didn’t take long for boys to dust themselves off, find a new MO and rope in the talents of renowned producer Machine – a kind of ‘mad scientist at music”, according to McLerie.

House Vs Hurricane “He’s super-creative – sort of a creative genius,” explains McLerie. “He knows what needs to be and not really what we’re about,” he says.

And fair enough too. After all, it’s been done and he does it in peculiar ways. We wanted that – emotional for these lads. The last 18 months have someone who was going to tell us if things sucked and seen the band part ways with two rather integral ex- how to change them and adjust things, to scrap whole members in keyboardist Joey Fragione – who was asked songs. We wanted that extra opinion.” to leave the band on the back of burgeoning personal differences – and, far more amicably, core vocalist Chris Dicker. McLerie too has branched out, joining Melbourne stalwarts Antiskeptic on a more permanent basis alongside a continuing commitment to HVH. “At the end of the day, bands are just a group of people and everyone’s different,” says McLerie, at pains to quell any speculation that the expulsion of

The Bride

THE BRIDE Stripped Bare

Sydney hardcore outfit The Bride showcase their album President Rd at The Beat Nightclub on Friday, August 3; Civic Hotel on Saturday, August 4; and an all ages show at YMCA HQ on Sunday, August 5. TRAVIS JOHNSON talks to vocalist Kevin Schultz.

“We formed in ‘06, way back when, and since then have pretty much been touring as much as we can.

We’re a hardcore band from Western Sydney that are there to have fun. We try to draw influence from as many different bands as possible. There’s not one band in particular. We listen to punk, hardcore, metal, rap - everything. And then we try to mix it all together and form The Bride.”

That’s singer Kevin Schultz’s potted history of The Bride. He’s being self-effacing, of course; a combination of commitment to the roots of the hardcore genre and an enviable, and no doubt exhausting, work ethic has seen The Bride make an indelible mark on the Australian scene. They’ve certainly come a long way since their first release, the EP Synchronized Steps To The Sound Of Their Guns.

“Well, we were very young when we wrote Synchronized Steps,” Schultz laughs. “It’s very different.

We were a different band altogether - we’ve had a bunch of member changes and all that. We’ve just really grown up as a band, and now we’re writing music that we’re really happy with, and we sort of know a little bit more about our own sound and that sort of stuff.”

The result is President Rd, their latest album, released through We Are Unified/Warner Music. “It’s definitely a much more mature record, and it’s more hardcore punk based, as opposed to maybe a more metal sounding record, which is what Synchronized was.”

Schultz admits that signing to a label for the first time has given them a significant leg up, while at the same time allowing The Bride to maintain their artistic independence. “They let us do what we want,” he says. “And I think they trust our judgement with a lot of things. That’s part of why we signed with Unified, because we need to work with people who are going to let us do our own thing, and not try to change us or mould us into something we’re not. We’re still very much a DIY band - we book our own tours and stuff like that. We have the full support of Unified, which is fantastic, and obviously they’re gonna help with the second album, but with President Rd, we did that off our own bat and then got signed.

So not really too much has changed. We do have the support from them when we need it, and they help us out with certain things, like getting interviews and stuff like that, but other than that we’re still our own band, and we like it that way.”

But despite the promise of wider horizons in the future, Schultz still feels an intense loyalty to the local scene that nurtured the band. “The Sydney hardcore scene is great, and there are a lot of talented bands coming through in Sydney, which is fantastic.

The Sydney scene is probably one of the strongest scenes in Australia.”

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17

DAPPLED CITIES Air Force One

The self-proclaimed “middle-aged statesmen” of Sydney indie-rock, Dappled Cities are returning to the scene with a new album, Lake Air. In the lead-up to the release this Friday, August 3, JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD spoke with vocalist and guitarist Dave Rennick about a new, danceinfluenced sound, recording in St Peters and the live music scene that made Dapples what it is today.

As guitarist/vocalist Dave Rennick attests, Dappled Cities had a very particular vision when crafting the much-anticipated followup to their critically acclaimed 2009 release Zounds.

“We knew what kind of record we didn’t want to make,” he begins. “We didn’t want to make something that was sparse with epic soundscapes.

We didn’t want to labour or stew over a particular sound. Basically we didn’t want to make another record like Zounds.”

Having spent most of their time outside of Australia over their epic 10-year career recording in the US and UK and globetrotting on tour; this time around the quintet planted themselves firmly in the inner western suburbs of Sydney to lay down their new album at a local studio.“We came back to Sydney to record the album because we wanted to be surrounded by our creature comforts – couches, girlfriends, ABC TV,” Rennick says. “The album was recorded in St Peters, which is a lovely suburb of Sydney, although it didn’t have as much influence on the album as other places we’ve travelled to like London and Paris. If the album sounded like St Peters it would sound like a Limp Bizkit album.”

Lake Air sees the five-piece using minimal orchestration and fewer instruments to form an impressive mélange of danceable indie songs that breathe easier, giving more clarity to the lyrics. “We wanted to make something small and tight, and then bring in a disco beat every now and again.

It’s not an entirely new direction, if anything it’s just more fun,” Rennick says, adding that he and his bandmates aren’t in the least bit worried the

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Benedict Moleta

BENEDICT MOLETA Singled Out Dappled Cities

new sound will alienate the fans they picked up following the release of Zounds: “How can anyone not like something that’s funner? Unless you’re depressed…”

The new record possesses a quality that is quite remarkable for a bunch of schoolmates who have been playing the local Sydney scene for more than 15 years. “I feel like we came on board just as superclubs were going out of fashion, but in recent years there’s been a back flip with more and more venues shutting down,” he says when questioned about the changing face of the Australian music landscape. “That being said, I think the music coming out of Australia now still sounds as good as ever.”

As Rennick attests, it’s a scene Dappled Cities hope to be part of for many years to come.

“We don’t really have an issue with plodding along.

We all have patches where we’re definitely more reflective in a not so positive way, but we’re about to release a new album we’re really proud of so our endorphins couldn’t be any higher,” he concludes.

“We will definitely be around for another 10 years to come – 10 years is nothing, it’s a drop in the ocean!”

Barely 10 months after the release of his 2011 volume White Marble Heyday, local mainstay Benedict Moleta is gifting music lovers with another release in his seventh album Singleton. JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD caught up with the prolific singer-songwriter ahead of the launch of Singleton on Sunday, August 12, at The Bird.

Benedict Moleta is a musician who is never content to sit still.

Moleta’s phenomenal voice has guided the way through a prolific catalogue filled with songs of satire, heartache and novelty, manifested in six critically acclaimed albums.

The talented troubadour’s latest offering Singleton comes less than a year after his 2011 volume White Marble Heyday. As Moleta attests, this quick turnaround was due, in part, to a more minimalist instrumental approach.“Most of the songs on the album were written in a short period of time over the summer of 2010/2011. Most of them are quite short, and as they were accumulating it didn’t seem like any of them suited a full band. Because of this I thought they’d work well with just one other guitarist, and hopefully some vocal harmonies,”he explains.“For a couple of songs on the last

album I tried a new way of recording my voice and guitar which worked well; using just one single microphone, and setting it up at a bit of a distance, so that you’re not singing directly into it. I liked the balanced sound that came out of this microphone setup, so we used it throughout the new album.”

Despite aiming for a simplistic sound, Moleta enlisted the help of a few other prominent local musicians to help flesh out his tunes.“I feel lucky to keep finding people who want to play the songs with me. I’ve known Andrew Ewing, Bill Darby and Scott Tomlinson in different ways over the years, so I got in touch and asked if they’d be keen to try working on some songs together.

I love the way Andrew plays guitar. Bill’s done a lot of different things over the years and has a very thoughtful approach to arrangements, and I’ve always been a fan of Scott Tomlinson’s songwriting,” he says. “Andrew and I have developed a really nice playing rapport, and he’s working on the songs for the next album with me now.

Bill developed some great guitar lines and does some nice harmony singing, and Scott transformed one of the songs with some beautiful ebow guitar playing, as well as singing harmonies with me.

“I didn’t know Miranda Pollard at all, and didn’t follow her work in New Rules For Boats. But I heard some of her solo material and thought she was a great singer and songwriter. She actually only rehearsed the songs a couple of times before the recording session, but I think we’ve got something exciting going on. We’ve done a few shows as a duo now, and she’s going to work on the next album with me.”

Over 12 songs, Moleta showcases his wild imagination, vast vocal range and incredible mastering of songwriting.“A lot of my songs are about things I’ve done with my friends over the years, or about people who have been important to me at different times,”he explains.“But not everything’s autobiographical – some of these songs are about people I’d like to meet but haven’t had the chance to. Like Nadine Garner – I’ve written two songs about her now.”

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

ICEHOUSE

Great Southern Band

“I was stunned then and I’m still, to some degree, completely stunned as to why and how people have reacted to it.”

Iconic Australian band Icehouse have just reissued two of their classic albums in Primitive Man and Man Of Colours, and they’ll be playing selections from both at the Astor Theatre on Friday, August 10; and the Strike A Chord Ball on Saturday, August 11. Main man Iva Davies talks to MATTHEW HOGAN. Last seen in Perth in February, Icehouse leader Iva Davies says they’ll be playing a different show this time around.

“This will be a new show because we’re introducing new songs from the two albums that we’re putting out as anniversary versions; Primitive Man which is 30 years old and Man Of Colours which is 25 years old,” Davies offers. “And today, I think, is the anniversary of those two albums, so that’s the show that we’ll be doing at the Astor.”

1982’s Primitive Man was the band’s second album and first as Icehouse following 1980’s Icehouse, which was credited to Flowers. It came at a time when Davies was still admittedly unsure about how to go about writing songs. “We just came back from our first international tour, and I brought back with me some useful technology,” Davies recalls.

“One of the machines that I brought back from America was a thing called the Linn drum, which was a groundbreaking drum machine, the first one to use digital samples or real drums. The other thing was the first really affordable home eight track tape recorder. With that I could build an entire recording and this was new territory for me; I struggled using new technology before - that was how I made my first attempts at writing songs. This was stuff that I could set up at a bedroom and be really self-contained.”

Looking to put a glossy sheen on Davies’ recordings, his record company sent him to LA to work with super-producer Keith Forsey, who was holed at Italo disco king Giorgio Moroder’s mansion in the Hollywood hills. “At the time when I was in America finishing off the album, the record company came to me and said, ‘We’re not completely satisfied that we’ve got a single out of this collection of songs so maybe you should go back and write some more’,” says Davies. “Of course, that was a fairly daunting process for me, so Keith Forsey invited me up to the house because in the house there was a full 24 track recording studio, and it was in that house in fact I

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wrote Hey Little Girl. So that was not one of the original songs that I put together in that collection – that was a bit of an afterthought.”

Reflecting on the success of Primitive Man, Davies still can’t believe the ongoing poularity of Great Southern Land, or even the fact that he had the audacity to write something of a new national anthem. “I’m actually quite mystified why, for a starter, we would take on such a heavyweight subject because I’ve always been fairly conservative with songwriting and certainly stayed away from over-political statements – on the other side of the coin to Midnight Oil,” he offers. “So for me to take on writing a song about Australia, when I knew it was a very dangerous thing to do. It was dangerous because I knew if I did it badly then it would have been an eternal embarrassment to me. So I knew it was going to be both tricky and dangerous, so I’m actually quite amazed that I attempted to do that.

But I certainly didn’t think at the time that it would be received in such a way or the fact that we would still be talking about it 30 years later. People reacted to it immediately. I was stunned then and I’m still, to some degree, completely stunned as to why and how people have reacted to it.”

Fast forward five years later to 1987 and Icehouse was just about to release their most successful album: Man Of Colours. The epic lead single Crazy had hit all over it from day one, according to Davies. “It was a song that I had a great deal of faith in right from the beginning,” he says. “There’s often times where I’ve been quite wrong; I’ve fallen in love with songs and gone to managers saying that this is going to be a hit, and I’ve been completely wrong about it. The reverse has happened as well where songs come completely out of the blue. To me, one song that I didn’t pick at all was Electric Blue, but John Oates knew even before it was finished that it would be a hit. But Crazy, I had a lot of belief in which is why it was the first single. In actual fact I still believe to this

Icehouse day that it was the hard work that Crazy did getting up the US charts that really made it possible for Electric Blue to come in over it and follow it up. It benefitted from the success of Crazy because I think it was just a tenacious song.”

Davies befriended John Oates from blue eyed soul legends Hall & Oates to help him craft Electric Blue, the band’s only Australian #1 hit. “Icehouse was touring Primitive Man and I had just arrived in the Adelaide airport, we were about to play there that night, and this man came over to me with a copy of Primitive Man in his hand and introduced himself and said ‘Hi I’m John Oates and we played in the theatre you’re going to play in tonight. We’re just about to leave.

I love your album and congratulations’,” recalls Davies.

“And he shook my hand and off he went. I was like ‘wow – that’s amazing’. I though that it was a one-off

but many years later we were touring America and I was in a hotel and the phone the rang and there was John Oates, and was obviously aware that we were in America. He tracked me down and the first thing he said was ‘We have to write songs together’. In actual fact when we finished the tour and came back to Australia, he packed up his gear and came to Australia especially just to write songs, and the rest of it is... you know the story.”

It wasn’t the only the only song the pair did together. “We made some other attempts, which were fairly forgettable, which will never be released thankfully,” says Davies. “But Electric Blue, he was passionate about it. He said to me, in fact he made me promise before he left, ‘You make sure you record this and you put it out as a single because if you don’t Hall & Oates will and it will be hit’.”

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OPOSSUM Marsupial Music

Speaking over the phone from Auckland, Kody Nielson has an interesting conversational style. He is friendly but vague and almost comically laid-back. His Opossum project, however, has a sound that might just about be the polar opposite – tight, focussed and brimming with excitable energy.

Nielson chats to HENRY ANDERSEN ahead of the band’s show with White Arrows and Jinja Safari at The Bakery on Wednesday, August 8.

Opossum

Opossums don’t come from New Zealand.

Technically, the type of possums that you get in Australia and New Zealand are just ‘possums’ whereas opossums are native to America. Genetically, the two marsupial species aren’t even all that similar. It seems James Cook’s botanist, Sir Joseph Banks, called the Australian and New Zealand species possums simply because they looked kind of similar to the American opossum. Now you know. X-Press asks Kody Nielson, former front-man of New Zealand dada-punks The Mint Chicks, about why he settled on Opossum as the name for his most-recent project. “It’s just a better sounding word I think,” laughs Nielson.“You couldn’t really just call a band ‘Possum’. That would be a bit weird I think.”

When The Mint Chicks split up in 2010 each of the members moved onto separate projects. Nielson worked as a producer for a while and as a drummer with his brother’s project Unknown Mortal Orchestra.The first whispers of Opossum started to surface on the internet earlier this year and it was immediately clear that the sound was a huge departure from Nielson’s work with The Mint Chicks. Where that band’s sound had been a mix of punk rock-energy and art-school absurdity, Opossum is a decidedly more melodic and spacious affair. Tight Motown drums, psychedelic harmonies and classic pop melodies all feature in abundance, with truly excellent results.

“I was listening to a lot of that music from the ‘60s like The Beach Boys and old Motown,” says Nielson, “I’m always trying to make music that blends together like that. Back then the musicianship was of a really high standard. It’s like they knew jazz but they were making rock’n’roll, almost like they are simplifying something in their heads, you know?”

The debut album from Opossum, Electric Hawaii, was made almost exclusively by Nielson in his room, recording all the parts and building the tracks up layer by layer. “Most songs I start on piano and then arrange for whatever instrument I feel like,” explain Nielson. “I try to work differently, to get different results.

Sometimes they might start with a beat or with a melody. I try to stay a bit open in terms of how I write, I guess.”

In bringing the songs into a live context, Nielson enlisted the help of former Mint Chicks bassist Michael Logie and Christchurch pop-star Bic Runga.

“They have a really similar taste in music,” says Nielson.

“They get where I’m coming from so it’s not hard for them to figure out what’s happening.”

In The Mint Chicks, Nielson had a heady reputation for extreme stage antics including climbing scaffolding and even attacking a stage with a chainsaw.

I ask him whether, with the Opossum project, he ever misses that reckless punk energy; “Nah,” he laughs, “in The Mint Chicks I was just starved for something to do live. I used to wander round and try to keep myself entertained. I spent all my energy climbing on things or swinging from things. It was fun, but for me at the moment, it’s really fun to just focus on an instrument.”

JAPANDROIDS

Versus The World

VERSUS THE WORLD

Flippin The Bird Consisting of dudes from The Ataris and Lagwagon among others, Santa Barbara, California, punk band Versus The World are releasing their second full-length this week. BEN WATSON spoke to guitarist Chris Flippin about the record, which is called Drink. Sing. Live. Love. and is out in Australia through 3Wise Records.

It’s been seven years since the last Versus The World album, and the band, which was started by exAtaris bass player Mike Davenport, has undergone a few changes in that time; not the least of these has been the replacement of the band’s guitarist with Chris Flippin from Lagwagon.

Flippin is a pretty chilled kind of guy.

Although he gives X-Press a few tongue-in-cheek lines about the ‘explosive, dynamic album’ that fans will want to buy, he is pretty well down to earth and full of humour about the record, which he recorded with a bunch of mates from Santa Barbara, a relatively small town south of LA. “Some songs to drink to,” he laughs when asked about what fans can expect from the record.“It’s got a bunch of songs on it.”

Flippin’s deadpan shouldn’t be interpreted

as a flippant response necessarily, he’s just avoiding all the bullshit that often comes with the release of a new record. He started playing with Versus The World during some of the significant downtime he gets from Lagwagon, which is a band whose members have fingers in many different pies.

“The sound’s changed quite a bit ‘cause me and the drummer are new,” Flippin explains. “I have a feeling that I have a little more of a metal influence than the previous guitar player ‘cause I don’t really remember any solos on the first album.

“We got some guitar solos on this one and a little bit heavier guitar. So, I think the sound’s changed.

Hopefully for the better, and that it hasn’t changed too much where you lose the original fans that these guys got.”

That would appear to be an important thing indeed, as Flippin reveals that Versus The World have attracted a fanbase of their own, mostly quite separate from their Lagwagon following.“I don’t think many of them know,” he explains of the Lagwagon fans. “We try to blast the page, but [the Versus The World fans] seem to be new fans or fans that already know the band. We did a European tour and there were a couple of Lagwagon fans - and they liked it! It’s usually a small percentage but the feedback has been positive.”

One gets the sense from talking to Flippin, that this suits him just fine. As much as he is keen to get the word out, one of the cool things about Versus The World is the fact that they are a bunch of guys – mostly very experienced in punk rock – who hang out together and write music.

“We just started getting together with people writing riffs,” Flippin explains. “We just started jamming. ‘Cause everyone lives in the same town.

I wasn’t doing much, so I had a lot of downtime and started jammin’ with some friends here in town. We started getting all these songs and decided we should probably make a record. It wasn’t like we sat down and went ‘we need to do it this way!’

“I live quite close to the singer, and the drummer lives right around the corner from me, and the bassist lives, I don’t know, two miles away. So everyone lives real close so we were able to practice and jam a lot.”

THE BEAUTIFUL GIRLS

Celebrating Celebrity

In 2009 Japandroids thought their time together was coming to an end, but three years and two critically acclaimed albums later, the Canadian rock duo are making a tremendous mark on the global music scene. Earlier this month, JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD chatted with drummer David Prowse about the trials and tribulations of crafting their recently released The Beautiful Girls are marking their sophomore LP Celebration Rock.

10 year anniversary with a finale in A lot of bands like to downplay their ambition, Prowse says the duo struggled to immediately capitalise insisting that they never got into music to make on their early success.“The [debut] record was picked up the form of a massive national tour. it big, they only wanted to play some tunes and long after we thought it would never be picked up and CORAL HUCKSTEP speaks to the have some good times, man. But raucous fuzz- we hadn’t started working on any new songs because rock two-piece Japandroids are more than willing we thought the band was coming to an end,” Prowse band’s frontman Mat McHugh about to admit the falseness of this sentiment. explains.“After a year and a half of touring Post Nothing the highlights and lowlights of the One look at Japandroids’ back story – we didn’t have any new material. Coupled with the fact where they nearly broke up after years of obscurity, that we knew there were expectations on us now, we past decade. The Beautiful Girls stop decided to carry on provisionally when renowned were in a strange spot. Lots of people were saying to us independent label Unfamiliar Records took interest ‘if you can have the new record done by this date you can at Prince Of Wales on Wednesday, in their debut, and ended up riding a wave of play such-and-such festival or you can go on tour to such- August 15; Settlers Tavern on blogosphere praise to get the outside attention they and-such place’ – in my mind, that was just so destructive Thursday, August 16; and the Fly had always craved – and it all makes sense. The duo to the process. (comprised of guitarist Brian King and drummer “We basically spent the whole of 2011 By Night on Friday, August 17 and David Prowse) has seized their golden opportunity working on the album – and it’s only an eight song with a death grip and refuse to let go, come whatever album. I don’t know if there’s a slower way to make an Saturday, August 18.

Happy Endings

may.

album.”

“We’re very aware that there a lot of bands who are a lot more talented than us who haven’t been given the same opportunities as us,” begins Prowse.“Getting to play in a rock‘n’roll band that gets to tour the world is the best job you could possibly ask for. I don’t think it’ll ever stop being surreal.”

As Prowse explains, for Japandroids’ second album their intention was to not change the formula that worked so well on their 2009 debut Post Nothing. King and Prowse recorded in the same place with the same producer and with the same idea of an eight-song record. “We were confident we could improve upon Post Nothing without make a grand departure from what we did before,” Prowse explains.

“The only real difference this time around was that there were no outside expectations when we were working on the first album – the only thing pushing us was ourselves. But having to make an album as a ‘professional band’ means you’re aware there are fans of your band and there are some pretty big publications that are going to be reviewing the new album. It’s really hard to get back to that place where you’re only making music for yourself.”

Despite being very aware that the buzz surrounding their every move would only last so long,

In hindsight, Prowse says he’s glad they didn’t rush the process. “There are a lot of bands that have made one album I love and for whatever reason their second one doesn’t grab me in that same way. I think that rush to get out a second album has such a huge potential to backfire. Most of the time bands that take more time produce better albums,”he concludes.“At the end of the day all you can do is make an album you are proud of. I’m glad we took our time.”

20

Japandroids

“I played the entire gig wearing a snow jacket and this furry hood over my head with the microphone going into the hood. I played backwards to the crowd with my hood on and you just couldn’t see me. I didn’t speak all night... It was kind of my way of pretending I wasn’t actually there,” Mat McHugh says of the weirdest gig he’s played as frontman of The Beautiful Girls.

There’s been a fair few of them considering the band have spent much of the past decade on the road. Now they’re commencing their last tour. X-Press caught up with McHugh while he was driving to meet his bandmates Paulie Bromley and Brice Braybrooke on the last day of the band’s rehearsals. “I’ve always hated rehearsing,” McHugh says.“It’s a necessity of course but it’s just painful, you know, playing each song 500 times.”

McHugh admits it’s been an issue remembering each song from their extensive back catalogue but they want each of their 26 gigs around Australia to be a reminder of the band’s history.Their set will be divided into two parts with a mellow acoustic first half, an electric dub/reggae second half, and a dub DJ playing the intermission. “We’ll try and encompass old and rare songs. We’re just trying to give a full picture of what the band has done,” McHugh says. “We’re just celebrating 10 years, basically!”

The Beautiful Girls McHugh says there have been many highlights along the way. Pulling their first big festival crowd at Falls Festival was especially moving. “That festival holds a big place in my heart,” McHugh says.

There has also been growth: “When we first started we were just absolutely terrible, we didn’t even know what we were doing! We’d have nine terrible gigs to one good one. It’s been a constant thing of trying to improve.”

McHugh says he’s also resisted being bracketed into certain musical categories:“I have songs that are reactions to people’s perceptions of me and the band, where we just sort of turned left. I’m proud of that.”

There have been lowlights too, and not just when McHugh tried to hide from the audience in a snow jacket. There was the time when a bottle hit the stage and showered the band with glass.“It’s not a good feeling when you’ve tried to give something to people and you get hit in the head with something,” McHugh says.

Then there was adjusting to the constant touring. “It kind of freaked me out,” the free-spirited McHugh says.“You’d be in January and you were already making plans for November. It’s pretty crazy because your whole life gets mapped out... It just takes you out of the existing present, which is not a healthy thing.”

McHugh says the move to end The Beautiful Girls is more about retiring the band name than splitting.

“We’ll all play together in some way. It’s a very fluid situation,” McHugh says. And their secret to longevity?

“No-one in this band has ever approached it like a rock star — the main thing we care about is playing music.”

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

RAI THISTLETHWAYTE All That Jazz

It’s not unusual for band members to pursue their own solo projects, outside of what could be termed their day job, in order to explore genres and Rai Thistlethwayte, of Thirsty Merc styles that aren’t necessarily a good fit for their more known group work. For Thistlethwayte, doing a fame, plays solo at Friends Restaurant well jazz-influenced tour seemed almost inevitable. on Thursday, August 2; Charles Hotel on “Jazz has been a part of my life since my teens.” he explains.“I discovered blues, which was Friday, August 3; Joondalup’s The Blvd early a foray into jazz, and then later in my teens I got a lot on Saturday, August 4; and the Indi Bar more into it, and ended up studying jazz. It informed a on Sunday, August 5.TRAVIS JOHNSON lot of what I’ve done along the way.You might not hear it much in Thirsty Merc, but it’s actually been a bit of a has a chat. knowledge base in terms of music for me, even when doing song writing in a more pop sort of world, I guess.

“Well, it’s somewhere between soul and jazz and Because of the stripped-back nature of playing solo, pop,” says Rai Thistlethwayte, describing his solo I’ve been able to put a lot more of that back in there.” venture. “That’s probably a good kind of starting For Thistlethwayte, the joy of jazz comes point, in terms of idiom. There is a definite jazz from both the primal appeal of the underlying influence in these shows.” structures, and the heady, risky flights of inspired improvisation.

“It’s the rhythm of it,” he says. “And the spontaneity of the improvised side of it. There’s a certain type of groove that goes on with anything in jazz, and a type of energy - people who are really taking risks in terms of improvising something. Improvisation is something that I’m always excited by when I see someone doing it on stage, and you think that this person is flying by the seat of their pants a little bit.

I like it in theatre, I like it when you see it in TV and film - certain actors are able to do it very well, certain musicians are able to do it very well, and comedians are great at it. That energy in a live performance is actually great, and it’s something that I aspire to do.

I’m actually able to infuse more of that in a solo show, because you’ve got less factors that can lead to a train wreck - you have less people on stage, I guess.”

But he assures us that his set will still be grounded in the familiar, albeit tinged with the experimental. “I’m playing songs still, so I’m singing and I’m playing songs that people might know. It’s grabbing that, and sometimes changing keys, or stretching endings out, or deciding to do things slower or faster than normal, changing the order of how things happen, deciding I don’t want to even sing on this, or that I want to do something a capella, throwing out a loop pedal and having a back loop there - these are all things you can choose to do or not to do. It’s a hard balance to strike, but I think it’s all about experience, and seeing how audiences respond Rai Thistlethwayte to it.”

Further Earth

FURTHER EARTHHead Games

From a melody hummed in the Swiss Alps, to a record made in Perth, the release of local rockers Further Earth’s World Inside My Head is a record of global trekking proportions. The band is set to launch it at the Rosemount on Saturday, August 4. AARON CORLETT spoke to guitarist Chris Winterburn about their new CD. After releasing their debut EP, Kingdom last year with ARIA nominated producer Forrester Savell, Further Earth have wasted no time in releasing new material.

The new CD steers closer to rock and alternative influences. Winterburn says lead singer Ryan Carson was the main contributor for the new direction. “When we first began we were into a lot of progressive rock stuff like local bands Karnivool and Porcupine Tree from overseas, things like that, we were into the more technical side of things. [Carson] is a lot more into rocky kind of stuff like, he really loves Placebo and his favourite band is Silverchair and then Nirvana and that kind of grunge stuff as well,” Winterburn says.

Winterburn says Carson originally wrote the track World Inside My Head while he was overseas on holiday.“He was in the Swiss Alps, walking around, he had all these beautiful landscapes around him and it was really inspirational,” says Winterburn. “It just popped into his head, he started singing along.

When he got back from holiday he showed me the melody and we sat down on acoustic, nutted out some chords to the verse which was his melody and we came up with some chords for the chorus and put that together.”

The way World Inside My Head was written was different from the way the band usually writes however. “I did the music first for that one and then we worked the melodies for that one after so that was more our standard way of how we write songs I

suppose.”

For the new CD, the band worked with Canadian producer Alan Brey. “We jumped into the studio with him and he was just such a nice, friendly kind of dude. He just didn’t mind spending a bit of time chilling out rather than trying to push out take after take, he is more of a producer where he goes for a vibe in the room,”Winterburn says.

Winterburn admits this approach worked well for the band as it allowed them to naturally let the ideas flow.“It was more like chilling out with friends in the studio, letting the ideas flow as they come rather than forcing them and this time it was a more natural sounding recording.”

The band is looking forward to playing their new songs at their Rosemount launch this weekend. “I can’t wait for people to listen to the new stuff and then be able to watch it live afterwards, it will be good to gauge the response to it,”Winterburn says.

The band also has another EP recorded and waiting to be released either later this year or early next year and has plans to release an album in the future. “We want to keep putting out as much music as we can and then we will start writing an album so I think that is beginning now, we will sit down and write down a whole bunch of songs and hopefully go somewhere and record an album and get that out next year.”

JINJA SAFARI Animal Magnetism

Hitting the road with White Arrows and Opossom throughout August, Sydney’s Jinja Safari play The Bakery on Wednesday, August 8. Jinja Safari talk to TEGAN BUTLER about current LP Locked By Land (out now through Dew Process) ahead of the tour.

When long-time friends Marcus Azon and Cameron ‘Pepa’ Knight started making music together as Jinja Safari in 2010, they named their then two-piece after the tribal nuances and mythical themes that became the soul of their instant crowd-pleasers such as Peter Pan and Mermaids.

It was also somewhat of an ode to cofrontman Marcus’s missionary grandmother, who had been stationed in the East African town of Jinja in Uganda, since his childhood. From what started as the soundtrack of this unknown far-away land formulated within the realms of Azon’s runaway imagination, Jinja Safari have taken their unique brand of Afro-pop/ jungle rock to new heights thanks to some serious expeditions abroad. It has led them to grow in leaps and bounds as a debut album and national tour wait patiently in the wings.

For Azon, Pepa and their bandmates Joe Citizen (bass/vocals), Alister Roach (percussion) and Jacob Borg (drums), their reputation of a wild live show and ability to sell-out venues across Australia has resulted in a case of namesake mirroring reality, having headed out on their own whirlwind safari late last year. Taking to stages in New York and London on the band’s first international tour, the experience cemented the notion that your first time, is one you never forget.

“It was just so incredible”, Azon fondly recalls. “It’s very lovely to go back to those early days where you have to really work for the attention of every audience member, because sometimes things get taken a bit out of perspective at our shows. Like currently, on our last Australian tour when it was sold out for the majority, there were just so many people hyped up and I think they kind of forgot what it was all about – but maybe that is what it’s all about, just the mayhem and the fun and the nonsense”, he contemplates. “But going into the overseas shows, where they are a lot smaller and we’re supporting other bands, it’s like we had to focus a bit more on the musicality of our approach, and we all tried to step it up in the vocal department and work on really hitting what we needed to hit.” www.xpressmag.com.au

“I just watched Paul Simon’s documentary, Under African Skies, and when people ask you what it means to be in an Afro-beat band, I feel like we’ve had nothing to say about that.”

Playing to bustling, energetic crowds is something party bands like Jinja Safari could easily become accustomed to. But in the face of adversity and with a larger, more beady international eye cast upon them, the band found it better to stick with what works.“We kind of just had to give it everything every time, like it was our last show,” he says.“So much of our music only works on vibe. If there’s fighting in the band over something stupid that happened on tour, or there’s just people in the crowd that aren’t getting into it, then you kind of respond off each other. Because we’re still a young band, you kind of need to give it everything and leave all your band shit at the door, and leave all your preconceptions of who you think you are the door before you get on stage.”

It was an approach that paid off for the band by the time the UK leg of the tour rolled around.

Surprised by a warm turnout at a local dive bar just days after a revered set from industry keynotes at Brighton’s Great Escape festival, Azon remembers feeling stunned at the reception of the crowd.“When we got to London, we were supporting another band in Camden, there were a tonne of people that came out to see us, it was just incredible,” he exclaims.“They all knew the lyrics to the songs and they were singing along and the whole place was like, old-school jivin’!

We were just feeling fantastic – we were on the other side of the world and there were people singing songs that I had written in my bedroom a year-and-

Jinja Safari a-half earlier. So for a first young band experience overseas, that’s as good as it can get – that kind of surreal experience.”

It’s not the only surreal experience Azon encountered while in a foreign land over the last six months. The opportunity to tour the northern hemisphere, also meant the chance to test out new material that was inspired by lead songwriter, Azon and production mastermind, Pepa’s independent ventures abroad late last year. Both journeys of self-discovery, what resulted was a wealth of new found ideas on the identity of the band that has also helped shape the sound of the forthcoming album and the likes of their latest single, Toothless Grin.

“In October last year, I went to Uganda and Pepa went to India, and we came back with just a whole bunch of samples. We had these stereo wave recorders we got from the music store, and we just recorded as many samples as possible. One in particular, was just these kids near the border of Sudan, playing a bunch of drums and bells and what not, and I sampled a bunch of that. It was a really interesting way of working – finding a way to put a

melody and vocal line over the top [of the samples] and then adding some guitar. It just adds another element of something a bit more real,” Azon says.

“I just watched Paul Simon’s documentary, Under African Skies, and when people ask you what it means to be in an Afro-beat band, I feel like we’ve had nothing to say about that”, Azon says. “When you compare it to Paul Simon’s Graceland project and what he was doing, there was so much political turmoil that inspired the whole project and all we’ve had is this over-privileged, white Australian indie band trying to replicate an East African sound with very token East African rhythms and melodies. So to actually have been there, in a third world country and have heard some of the stories of these kids and their parents, particularly where war has been going for 20 years and the horrors that have happened there, are just beyond what we could perceive here in Australia. To bring that back to music; to have some of those things in our tracks gives us the sort of weight you need in Afro-beat for it to make a bit more sense, as opposed to just cutesy drums and forest rock.”

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DAPPLED CITIES Lake Air

FANFARLO Rooms Filled With Light

Inertia/Hub

Canvasback Music/Warner Music

On their new LP Lake Air Sydney-based indie rockers Dappled Cities have ditched the quirky art-rock elements that won them the initial hype, instead jumping headfirst into the indie-dance pool they dipped their toes into with The Price from 2009’s Zounds.

Dappled Cities recruited young-gun US producer Jarrad Kritzstein to produce Lake Air and he justly brings the band’s best attributes to the foreground resulting in a tight and concise album.

There’s plenty to love about songs as lightly brooding and likably grabby as these.

The warm, sweet hues of opener Run With The Wind offer a slow introduction into an album worthy of blasting on any highway in the world. The gearshifts are almost audible as the band adjusts speed, building dance-party rhythms from layers of thunking bass and slithering guitar.

Recently released single Born At The Right Time is an infectious onslaught of plunking pianos, doubled-up drums and messy vocals. It goes down much like a dose of one’s favorite cough syrup – a little harsh, but actually quite delicious.

It is this edginess which puts a spring, even a swagger, in the step of songs that could otherwise slip into indie-rock alienation. To some it may seem cloying and trite, but persevere: underneath Lake Air’s warm burr lies a clutch of songs that deserve to be held close and tight.

On Rooms Filled With Light, Fanfarlo fit pretty comfortably amongst that care-free, immediately likeable wing of indie music (think Arcade Fire, Architecture In Helsinki, Dirty Projectors) which, for most of the album, puts them in pretty good stead. They sit amongst good company too – having shared producers with the likes of The National, Bombay Bicycle Club, and Interpol.

Like Arcade Fire, Fanfarlo have a way of taking simple songs and embellishing them with perfectly-placed flourishes of eclectic instruments. Take the album’s excellent opener, Replicate, which knits gorgeous violin and clarinet lines around a low end pulse.

The problems with this album don’t really emerge until the second half. At that stage (about six or seven potential indie albums deep) it starts to become apparent that something about the album is just a little too ‘safe’. The arrangements are pleasant but never especially surprising. When singer Simon Balthazar exclaims, ‘Come another century full of dust!’ on A Flood it doesn’t sound like he believes it.

It’s not that Rooms Filled With Light is unsatisfying, far from it. It’s just that the particular strain of indie which Fanfarlo dwell amongst is experiencing an undeniable golden age as of late and I’m hard pressed to think what Rooms Filled With Light can offer over similar but more convincing recent releases from Dirty Projectors, Arcade Fire, Beirut and Deerhunter.

_JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD

_HENRY ANDERSEN

RICHARD HAWLEY Standing At The Sky’s Edge

THE CRIBS In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull

Parlophone/EMI

Wichita Recordings/Liberator

“Come on, I’ll be a no-one,” The Cribs frontman Ryan Jarman shouts before the song Come On Be A No-One melts into two and a half minutes of wonderful, thrashing rock. It happens to be one of the best on the album, and is a reminder of one of the band’s most memorable tracks, Men’s Needs.

The Cribs’ fifth album is a continuation of their brand of lively indie rock. Fused with low-fi punk and a lyrical exploration of the everyday, this 14 track album is genuinely exciting.

The band’s shoulder-shrugging disillusionment with life permeates throughout the album but the frenetic guitar solos help to balance the pessimism. The Jarman brothers’ strong Yorkshire accents cut through the noise, reminding us they’re a thoroughly British band. The locality of their lyrics, such as Chi-Town’s “Meet me down in Chi-Town, In Logan Square underground, you know the one” also adds charm.

The Cribs make pointless statements at times – “It seems she thinks all leaves are butterflies now” – although this can seem poetically vacant: “I was trying so hard to enjoy everything that I ended up enjoying nothing”.

Producers Dave Fridmann and Steve Albini have lent a ‘90s rock feel to the album and there is something very youthful in its mix of angst, questioning, and sporadic energy. After eight years, The Cribs have proved they can still deliver original and fresh material. _CORAL HUCKSTEP

DELTA SPIRIT Delta Spirit Rounder Records/Dew Process

Meeting somewhere between the genres of soul and indie rock, San Diego band Delta Spirit has experimented with genres on their third album.

For this new record Delta Spirit employed the talents of producer Chris Coady, who has worked with some of indie biggest names including the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV On The Radio and Beach House. As such, the guitar work is reminiscent of all these bands.

The tracks have an interesting layered approach, different guitar textures are placed on a backdrop of driving drums, running bass lines and synthesisers. Money Saves represents the guitar textures well; soft guitar lines and grungier guitars take turns to dominate the track.

Vocalist Matthew Vasquez delivery is soulful but he is not afraid of releasing like a hard rocker, while the hiring of new guitarist, Will McLaren has given the band the licence to cover new guitar textures.

The album has a good steady pace and even when tracks like Home and Time Bomb slow the album down, it remains interesting. Likewise, Vasquez sings with good intensity and seriousness on tracks Idaho and Tear It Up. Closing track, Yamaha has a heavenly feel as an organ that sounds like it belongs at a church dominates proceedings.

Those expecting the soulful, folk-tinged approach of previous records will likely be disappointed, but indie rock lovers should be pleased by this release. _AARON CORLETT 22

Being friends with Jarvis Cocker lead to Richard Hawley having a brief stint as a member of Pulp, and while The Arctic Monkeys are long time collaborators, his Britpop roots were already established as the front man of Longpigs. Regardless of that notoriety his most formidable work has come from his seven album strong solo career.

His latest effort Standing At The Sky’s Edge again references his hometown of Sheffield in its title with Hawley tipping his hat to one of the town’s most crime ravaged suburbs. To coincide with the darker location, Hawley has delivered an album that relies on more volume and texture than previous works.

Down In The Woods is so frenetic and distorted that would have you questioning if this is indeed the same Richard Hawley who crooned his way into your heart over the years. Transmission returns to normal with the more sensual and smooth Seek It, but it is the psychedelic rock of Leave Your Body Behind You that best captures the sound of Standing At The Sky’s Edge.

Hawley has taken the risk of making an album that is totally out of character. Standing At The Sky’s Edge is a fine rock record even if it does leave you longing for his string soaked moments. _CHRIS HAVERCROFT

JOHN MAYER Born And Raised Columbia Records/Sony

In the past couple of years,John Mayer has been known for his cringeworthy interviews, tales of sexual conquests and general douchiness rather than his music. After a two year break following the inevitable backlash, Mayer returns with his fifth studio album Born And Raised.

It seems that Mayer has been chomping on a steady diet of the Travelling Wilburys, Neil Young and other country superstars. The opening track Queen of California is a lush, sprawling, guitar-heavy track that sounds like it could be found on an easy-listening AM radio station – but unfortunately doesn’t set the tone for the rest of the album.

“I’m a good man with a good heart/Had a tough time, had a rough start,” warbles Mayer on Shadow Days, a return to his pop roots and an almost four minute plea for forgiveness, assuring us his “shadow days are over now”. This sentiment follows through for almost the entire album, in which Mayer seems to confuse ‘earnest songwriting’ with plain old begging people to like him again. A ridiculous number of songs seem to be exclusively about how much he’s changed, how he’s sorry for his past wrongs… but it comes off less as a raw, honest album and more of a whiny, clingy ex-boyfriend.

Mayer is at his best when he sticks to singing songs about girls. Something Like Olivia and A Face To Call Home are sweet, simple tracks that should garner Mayer enough airtime to get back in the public’s good books.

But it’s especially depressing listening to tracks Queen Of California and the reprise of Born And Raised – they show the direction that the album should have gone in, and gives a fleeting glimpse of the great album that could have been. _TARA LLOYD X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

SPACEGHOSTPURRP Mysterious Phonk: The Chronicles of SpaceGhostPurrp 4AD/Remote Control

The last couple of years have seen an emergence of a DIY culture in hip-hop, with Los Angeles’ thuggish-rap trendsetters Odd Future as its epicenter. On the other side of the country and the aesthetic spectrum, there’s the A$AP Crew, based in New York, with their glittery and boastful beats. But head down south to Miami and you’ll find the relatively unknown (though certainly on the rise) Raider Klan, led by 21-year-old rapper SpaceGhostPurrp.

Mysterious Phonk: The Chronicles Of SpaceGhostPurrp is the first studio album for the South Florida rapper and, unsurprisingly, he’s stuffed it full of sinister beats and slurred, sniping lyrics.

Most of this record consists of cleaned-up versions of earlier mixtape tracks. Where tunes like Grind On Me and Been Fweago were often dank and dubbedout, here they sound like they have been run through a wash-and-rinse cycle, revealing the hard-angled lyrics and off-kilter noises beneath. This approach works well, not only because it rightly puts the focus back on SpaceGhostPurrp’s strengths – namely brutal hooks and skulking ambience – but also because his immense trackmaster talents can’t help but shine through anyway, particularly on album standouts Tha Black God and Osiris Of The East.

This first official release is a soul searcher and may require more patience than your everyday debut.

Still, the chilly, complicated performer perfects futuristic bleak-beat hip-hop beats, and rewards the listener with every tripped-out return.

SpaceGhostPurrp is living proof of that rarest of rap phenomena: a hyped upstart who really does represent a promising new phase in the genre’s evolution.

TAME IMPALA – Elephant (Modular) New Tame Impala has been well worth the wait. With the second taste of Lonerism just released in the form of first single Elephant, this is what we know: Tame Impala is a much heavier beast in 2012. There are nods to Deep Purple and Black Mountain on this fuzzy stomper, much like Apocalypse Dream, there’s synths everywhere and some splendid dips and dives everywhere. Tame Impala is back with their best work yet, and it sounds like Lonerism will be one of the best albums of the year.

ALABAMA SHAKES – Hang Loose (Rough Trade) By now it seems that everyone on the planet has fallen in love with Alabama Shakes via their first single Hold On and follow-up Hang Loose is set to continue the affair.

This glorious tune not only shakes, but also rattles, rolls and does everything else to ears and body that the most rambunctious soul, rock and roots music can. Bonafide proof that sometimes the buzz is definitely earned.

THE DOMNICKS - Cool Runnings / I Wonder What You’re Doin’ Now (Citadel Records) Local supergroup The DomNicks have dropped a new 7’’ double A-side and it features some cruisy tunes. Former Clash man Nick Sheppard sings like Roger Daltrey on Cool Runnings, which is good time jam designed to get you singing along. Everything Dom Mariani turns to pop gold, and his never-ending search for the perfect hook continues on I Wonder What You’re Doin’ Now. Do yourself a favour and get your needle stuck into this. _MATTHEW HOGAN & JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD

BIG EASY EXPRESS _JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD

ULTRAVOX Brilliant EMI

When the ‘classic’ line-up of Ultravox reformed in 2008 for a nostalgia trip, (and despite their original protesting) it was likely to only be a matter of time before an album of new material would surface. It may be 16 years between albums, but that matters little to Ultravox who have clearly never stepped out of their ‘80s cocoon.

Singer/guitarist Midge Ure hasn’t lost his passion for echo and repeatedly drenches his vocals to sound as if he is singing from the bottom of a large canyon. This is to the detriment of the excessively stadium rock approach of opener Live, but works in the bands favour more often than not.

Like the box of Quality Street on your grandmothers table at Christmas, the title track is ludicrously hard to ignore.The snails paced Remembering shows more restraint than the quartet are known for, to find them at their most haunting.

Even though Ultravox were one of Britain’s most successful acts of the New Romantic era, many would have been sniggering at the thought of an album from the collective who are closer to the retirement home than most.

Brilliant may not live up to its title, but it is far more solid than expected.

S2BN Films/Rocket Distribution

A clever director can do quite a bit with little more than a handful of serviceable subjects, a vehicle and an open road. Director Emmett Malloy used these key ingredients to inform his 2010 film, Under Great White Northern Lights, which captured the White Stripes’ 2007 journey across Canada. Now he’s at it again with Big Easy Express.

In April 2011, folk rockers Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros from Los Angeles, Nashville’s Old Crow Medicine Show and British nu-folk superstars Mumford & Sons set off on an eight-day, six-city tour aboard a vintage train, journeying from Oakland to New Orleans on what they dubbed the Railroad Revival Tour.

Most of the concerts on the whistle-stop journey were smallish affairs, with several set at outdoor venues in proximity to train stations. In between, the band members, family and friends jammed and partied their way across country, developing an unstoppable musical momentum that culminated in a packed show in New Orleans.

Accessible to neophytes yet geared to fans, Malloy offers up a good balance of behind-the-scenes and performance footage, and although the former is admittedly handled quite well, there’s little doubt that it’s the latter that ultimately sets Big Easy Express apart from its run-of-the-mill concert-movie brethren. _JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD

_CHRIS HAVERCROFT

HAYDEN CALNIN City Independent

You know when some youngsters are so talented it almost seems unfair?

Progressive folk singer/ songwriter/producer Hayden Calnin falls squarely into that category. The 22-year-old Melbourne lad has just released his EP City and it promises good things.

Overall, the five-track EP sounds like Fleet Foxes meets Bon Iver crossed with Kwes. Calnin’s deep voice is reminiscent of Matt Corby or James Blake but he does a good job of using effects to distort it.

The first track For My Help is the most memorable. The lashings of echo added to Calnin’s chorus conjure a tortured effect, which is especially poignant as he pleads “Ask for my help”.

Next up is Shutters, an extremely chilled, atmospheric track with an ethereal quality that makes its time of four minutes seem way too short.

Summer is lackluster in comparison. Despite the addition of a choir, the looping lyrics “Don’t you worry now, it’s all about to change” gets too repetitive.

The last two tracks, Winter and Winter II are best played in unison. The shortest on the EP, they’re both beautiful and sad. Winter is melancholic and slower, with the lyrics “I’m dead, I’m dead, but I’m still breathing” carrying over to Winter II, where extra beats and a return of the choir uplift the track. _CORAL HUCKSTEP www.xpressmag.com.au

XIU XIU Fabulous Muscles Xiu Xiu frontman Jamie Stewart had been hard at work redefining the concept of “challenging” music since the release of their 2002 debut Knife Play, but it wasn’t until 2004 saw the release of Fabulous Muscles that he crafted an album as accessible as it was unconventionally affecting.

None of these songs actually sound like real pop music – they’re angular, structurally choppy, and filled with tons of strange lo-fi details, and that’s not even mentioning the wacked out lyrics (“Cremate me before you cum on my lips / Honey boy, place my ashes in a vase beneath your workout bench,”Stewart sings on the titular track). Yet, Fabulous Muscles is probably the only Xiu Xiu record you can listen to from beginning to end without feeling emotionally overloaded.

From the disarmingly catchy single I Luv the Valley OH! to the unrelenting Crank Heart, there are many notable high points to Fabulous Muscles, however it is the record’s overwhelming consistency is what cements its place as Xiu Xiu’s finest.

Odd, grotesque and yet catchier than anything they’ve ever made, Fabulous Muscles is a great place for Xiu Xiu newcomers to start, and definitely worth a re-visit ahead of their performance at local boutique event This Is Nowhere in October. _JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD 23

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THE RIGHT MOVES

Perth will be transformed into one big dance floor when the MoveMe dance festival hits town during August and September. From Aug 28-Sep 2, a feast of performances, forums, showings and workshops will take place in and around Perth, encouraging punters to get in touch with their groovier side. The climax of the festival will be the Australian Dance Awards on Saturday, September 1, at the Heath Ledger Theatre at the State Theatre Centre. A host of talented performers will celebrate the art of dance in a range of venues around Perth. For full details about the festival, visit moveme.org.au.

LOCAL CROPS

In a bid to connect creative individuals with organisations and other like minded people, the awesome team at OnWilliam has just launched Creative Crops, a networking website designed specifically for WA’s creative community. A database and directory for people who work in art, film, music, fashion and everything in between, Creative Crops also features sections for jobs, grants and other opportunities; making it a must-visit for anyone based in Perth with creative tendencies. Check it out at creativecrops.com.au.

Pop Up Gallery

ART ATTACK POP UP CULTURE

An empty shop space is set to be transformed into a glorious temporary gallery during the depths of winter. A disused site at 192 William Street next to the State Theatre Centre in Northbridge will be filled with a rotating cast of works from local galleries including OK Gallery, Kurb, Outre Gallery and Turner Galleries, with more to be announced. The opening night on Friday, August 10, will feature a soiree of wine and cheeses as Harry’s Shiraz Cabaret plays. Then next Friday, August 17, the space will play host to a pop-up bar as Streetside Speakeasy takes over, a Harlem 1920s themed night complete with authentic early blues sounds, Charleston dancers and an elegant dress code. The whole event comes to a close on Friday, August 31.

ALWAYS TAKE THE WEATHER WITH YOU

Sam Simmons

From the man who took part in a 24 hour radio marathon and had a goat tattooed on his posterior comes a uniquely chaotic comedy performance. Checking into Perth on his About The Weather tour, Sam Simmons will take centre stage at the Astor Theatre on Friday, November 23. Nominated for best show at both the Melbourne Comedy Festival 2011 and Edinburgh Fringe 2011, Simmons is known for his absurd, innovative and adventurous style. Tickets via liveattheastor.com.au.

Want to become the next Picasso? The Art Gallery of Western Australia is running art workshops and lectures as part of their latest exhibition, Picasso to Warhol: Fourteen Modern Masters during August and September.

Combine your visit to the gallery with a lecture every Sunday starting on Sunday, August 5, running ’til Sunday, September 2. Each lecture focuses on a different, unique aspect of art including Pop Art all the way to Cubism. Get even more hands on at one of the Workshops at the Central Institute of Technology every Saturday running from Saturday, July 28, ’til Saturday, August 1. Bookings via Ticketek.

CLOTHES FOR A CAUSE

If your wardrobe is choc-a-block with clothes you never wear then Breast Cancer Care WA is only too happy to help you clear away the clutter. On Sunday, November 11, Breast Cancer Care WA will stage a massive vintage fundraising sale, but before they can do so, they need donations of pre-loved, good quality clothing and accessories from women in the community. Items can be dropped off to 1034 Wellington Street in West Perth. For more information visit breastcancer.org.au.

Football Fever Directed by Magnus Martens Starring Kyrre Hellum, Henril Mestad, Mads Ousdal, Arthur Berning, Andreas Cappelen Every modern crime movie trope is cheerfully thrown into the mix in this bloodily violent and blackly hilarious Norwegian film that reminds us of a not too distant time when thrillers were fun.

Based on a story from acclaimed crime novelist Jo Nesbo - the sleek caper film Headhunters was based on one of his works, and no lesser talent than Martin Scorsese will soon be adapting his novel The Snowman - the film opens with a massacre in a porn store, with the unlucky Oscar (Kyrre Hellum) being the only survivor, found by the police under a dead stripper and clutching a shotgun. The story unfolds in a series of narrated flashbacks, as Oscar tells his tale of woe to detective Solor (Henrik Mestad).

A supervisor at a Christmas tree factory that employs ex-cons, Oscar makes the mistake of getting involved in a football betting scheme with three of his workmates, an error complicated by them actually winning an impressive windfall.

It isn’t long before greed and mistrust rear their ugly heads and the bodies begin to stack up, with hapless innocent Oscar caught in the middle.

Or is he? The DNA of a dozen films is present in Jackpot, with early Tarantino and Guy Ritchie being the most obvious candidates for paternity, but director and screenwriter Magnus 26

Martens also borrows a lot, structurally and thematically, from The Usual Suspects, with Oscar in the Keyser Soze role. As an audience, we’re never sure how reliable his testimony is, but that’s a detail of the film rather than the main point - the story moves along at a brisk pace and the colourful cast of characters are engaging enough, so it’s best just to go with the flow rather than try to outthink the twisty narrative.

Indeed, Jackpot is more a comedy of errors than a crime thriller, with each of the desperate but not too bright characters pursuing their own wrongheaded agenda. Psychotic Billy (Arthur Berning) simply wants all the money and is willing to kill to get it, while ageing crim Thor (Mads Ousdel, perhaps the highlight of the excellent cast) has old debts he needs to pay off, and amiable alcoholic Treschow (Andreas Cappelen) simply wants to stay sozzled. The joy of the film is watching how these moronic miscreants fail to cope as the situation escalates and the odds of any of them walking away with their winnings seems more and more unlikely.

Truthfully, there’s nothing here you haven’t seen before, at least in terms of plot. But Jackpot wins largely because of the charm of its cast and the energy of its pacing. It feels like one of the plethora of hip, fast-talking crime films we got in the wake of Pulp Fiction, but one of the better ones - a Things To Do In Denver When You’re Dead rather than a Love And A .45. If you find yourself with an itch for the sort of thing Quentin used to do before he started his journey into ever more self-indulgent genre exercises, Jackpot will scratch it. _TRAVIS JOHNSON

WILD LAUGHS

Back to slap a smile on your dial, the Wild West Comedy Festival returns this August, bringing with it some of the biggest names in Australian comedy. Running from Aug 22-Sep 2, WWCF’s 2012 celebrations will take over multiple venues across Northbridge, with shows from the likes of Paul McDermott, Joel Salom, Gavin Baskerville, Joel Ozborn, Tim Ferguson, Luke Heggie, Helchild, Matthew Hale, Sam McCool, Ryan Schulz and the Nelson Twins. Find out exactly what’s on and when at wildwestcomedy.com.au.

Magnus Martens

Jackpot

JACKPOT

Tim Ferguson is Perth bound for the Wild West Comedy Festival

MAGNUS MARTENS Hitting The Jackpot

While the name of novelist Jo Nesbo may not ring any bells right now, that will, in all likelihood, change in the near future, with a number of high profile adaptations of the Norwegian crime writer’s work in various stages of preproduction. But according to director Magnus Martens, helmer of the comedy thriller Jackpot, having Nesbo’s name attached didn’t do the production team too many favours.

“Jo is really popular in Norway and in England,” Martens explains. “And he’s picking up in every country. For us, it didn’t really help that much having Jo’s name on the film, even though everybody knows who he is, because it’s not based on anything that he had written before. The name itself didn’t really help us.”

What did help was Nesbo’s gift for creating striking characters and twisted, almost surreal scenarios, which appealed to the director immediately.

“What I found attractive was the very simple premise of the whole film,” Martens says. “With a premise like that, it could go so many ways: it could be really, really hilarious, or it could be really, really harsh and violent. I got involved with this because they have been trying to get the rights to Jo Nesbo’s books forever. He gave my producer the rights to this story. Jo wrote it - he wanted this to be a film, not a book or anything. I got involved in it because, at the same time, I had written a crime comedy that I gave to this producer. So now we

had a choice between doing a story by me or Jo, so we picked Jo.” Still, the biggest challenge of the filmmaking process was hitting the precise point between laughter and tension.

“I can tell you, it was really fucking hard!” Martnes laughs. “Because it’s all about trying to find that almost impossible balance between violence and comedy and a thriller kind of thing, where you don’t know what’s going to happen around the next corner. So, basically, it was a case of working really hard on the script, the plot itself, with the twists and turns and everything. At the same time, I wanted it to be funny, and I knew that the comedy had to come out of the characters. Everything was based on their wrong decisions and how they dealt with the problems and issues that evolved.”

Martens found the solution by situating the comedy not in the story as written, but in the performances of his actors.

“The script itself was kind of boring in a way, on purpose. I didn’t put a lot of comedy in the script itself, but I did a lot of improv sessions with the main cast before I did the last draft of the script, in order to find the characters, to find the way they were talking, to find the way they were reacting to each other and as a group. I filmed all the sessions and analysed them afterwards, and whatever I liked and found funny and good, I put it in the script, in the last revision. In order to find that delicate balance I needed to treat the story as a thriller, in a way, and let the comedy come out of the characters.” _TRAVIS JOHNSON X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

SETH GRAHAME-SMITH High Stakes Historical Horror

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER The Real Power Of Truth

Directed by Timur Bekmambetov Starring Benjamin Walker, Rufus Sewell, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Dominic Cooper Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. The name says it all, doesn’t it? One doesn’t buy a ticket to such a film and expect a gripping, historically accurate depiction of one of history’s most known figures. What you read, is what you get; Abraham Lincoln hunting down and slaying a whole bunch of vampires. Some people wouldn’t even consider going to such a schlock fest. But for the right audience, Abe Lincoln could be the most fun they have at the cinemas in a while, and certainly give them a cult-tastic, genre flick to accompany their bong for many years to come.

The film is based on a best selling mash up novel by Seth Grahame-Smith, of a biography of 16th US President Abraham Lincoln and the life of a vengeful vampire slayer. Director Timur Bekmambetov and producer Tim Burton enlisted Seth to adapt and pen the screenplay himself, a smart move as to make a neat film narrative work, he had to drift much more away from a real biography and even further into an imagined life.

Forget what you may know about Abraham Lincoln and let me fill you in on his real life. It’s 1818 in frontier America, and Abraham Lincoln is just nine years old and living and working with his parents on a plantation in Indiana. The owner of the plantation is a hilariously pimp looking villain called Jack Barts (Marton Csokas), who exploits his workers and beats

his slaves. As a child, Abe intervenes on one of Bart’s workers whipping a young African American boy, William Johnson, a name taken straight out of history. Because of this, Abe’s family is fired from the plantation and later that night a young Lincoln sees the evil Barts enter his house and seemingly poison his mother Nancy. Shortly after she dies of a fever and Abraham is left with anger in his heart.

Cut to nine years later and an angry Lincoln catches up with Barts on a foggy night and shoots him dead in the eye. But Barts is of course a vampire, who stands back up and attacks a shocked Abraham. Before he can kill Lincoln however, Henry Sturgess (Dominic Cooper) steps in and rescues him.

Sturgess reveals to Abraham the unseen world of vampires, who exist and thrive in this young United States. With slaves plentiful, the vampires have a constant and easy source of food and Henry explains he can help train him to kill them all. After honing his skills with a silver laden axe, Lincoln travels to Springfield where he befriends shopkeeper Joshua Speed (Jimmi Simpson), and meets Mary Todd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Lincoln develops romantic feelings for Mary to whom, of course, he eventually marries.

The movie delves further into his life, weaving his will to abolish slavery into his plan to help starve vampires of African slaves and of course the ensuing civil war that grips America has President Lincoln fighting a seemingly unstoppable Confederate army of vampires.

Think Troma films or Roger Corman flicks, such as Death Race 2000, and if those two things hit a sweet spot for you at all, you might just enjoy this more than you think. _TOM VARIAN

Seth Grahame-Smith Seth Grahame-Smith is the mash-up meister behind Pride And Prejudice And Zombies and the surprise bestseller Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Gleefully inane, the latter is undoubtedly a forerunner for ‘daftest idea ever’, making it ideal source material for a big budget Hollywood action movie. Directed by Timur Bekmambetov (Night Watch, Wanted) from a script

by Grahame-Smith, produced by Tim Burton, and starring Benjamin Walker (Flags Of Our Fathers) as an axe-swinging, demon-hunting Honest Abe, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter the movie at the very least has forthrightness in its favour: Lincoln, as the film’s troubled protagonist, does indeed slay befanged paranormal nasties.

Grahame-Smith says the idea to reimagine America’s noblest president as a pulp vigilante struck whilst visiting bookstores on the publicity tour for Pride And Prejudice And Zombies in 2009 – the bicentenary of Lincoln’s birth. In the window of one shop was a display for a new Lincoln biography. The window adjacent was bedecked with promotional materials for Breaking Dawn, the final novel in the Twilight Saga. “It was one of those Reese’s peanut butter cups moments,” he says, referring to a confection not commonplace in Australia which combines peanut butter with chocolate. “You got your peanut butter, you got your chocolate and just… voila! Sometimes these things are handed to you.”

Grahame-Smith says that Lincoln is an underappreciated figure in American history, despite his massive legacy and the extent to which his iconography remains a part of the culture.“In the States we grew up with a very superficial understanding of Lincoln,” he explains. “He’s on our currency. Great. Top

hat, beard, freed the slaves.We understand these things.

But that’s just superficial.”

As Grahame-Smith attests, the more one delves into Lincoln’s biography, the more remarkable the man and his achievements seem. Born in a oneroom Kentucky log cabin, his landowner parents lost the sum of their considerable acreage in court disputes due to faulty property titles. After relocating to Perry County, Indiana – partly, Lincoln later explained, to distance the family from the spread of slavery – Lincoln’s mother succumbed to illness and died when young Abe was just nine years old. “The more you read about Lincoln, the more fascinated you become with just how fraught with tragedy his life was and what he had to overcome,” he says. “It’s this falling in love with the actual story that’s the beginning of what this film is. And then we take those ideals and those speeches and those moments that we love and we put them in this crazy context.”

With the story of Lincoln coming bound with so many sensitive issues – not least, the very human evil of slavery – such a knowingly exploitative revisionist take on his story might seem somewhat in bad taste. Thankfully, Grahame-Smith and Walker were themselves all-too aware of this. “Slavery is a very real and very American evil,” Grahame-Smith acknowledges, “and it’s a human evil. I never wanted the book or the film to take any responsibility off the humans for being the perpetrators of slavery. But, let’s face it: the vampires represent that evil – that evil of being a slave trader, a slave owner.” _GERARD ELSON

Toni Childs

TONI CHILDS Captain Planet

Toni Childs brings her Because You’re Beautiful tour to WA for five special shows, including an evening at the Fly By Night on Thursday, August 16. See Tour Trails for the full list of dates. Tickets are available from the respective venues.

Having spent years intimately opening herself up to listeners to cultivate her career, it came as no surprise when Californian singer/songwriter Toni Childs called upon her devoted fanbase to help fund an unconventional music project.

Over a few short months, fans in more than 50 countries raised more than $170,000 towards the funding of her upcoming fifth record Citizens Of The Planet.

Childs is no slouch when it comes to giving back to the fans that have supported her. This month sees the three-time Grammy nominated artist embarking upon a 26-date winter tour to say thank you to fans for supporting a music project that is yet to be released.“This is a fan funded album so I think it’s only fair to give people a little peak into what’s coming,” she says.

In a recent five month stint Childs wrote and recorded Citizens Of The Planet, and she predicts the album will hit shelves in early 2013. “Essentially it’s done. Right now we’re getting ready to mix it, but once it’s mixed it’ll be ready to put out,” she says of the new record.“As a citizen of this planet I feel we need to have a talk. We need to celebrate who we are. I believe in us www.xpressmag.com.au

and I believe in the power of the individual.”

Childs has assembled a team of visual artists and audio engineers to help fulfill her grand vision, which incorporates crowd funding as a key capital raising device.“This whole project was borne out of my wanting to have an intimate connection with human people… I am so proud to say that this album was funded by citizens of the planet,” she explains.

To help the audience be part of the experience of the new album, Childs says there will be different technological aspects on stage, many of which were devised by her new husband, NSW-based artist, musician and documentary filmmaker Mik Lavage.“It’s like TED talks meets music – it’s all about having this big conversation. It’s a giant multimedia collaboration, we’re talking about things like a huge graphic floor created in collaboration with motion graphic artists,” she says of the Citizens Of The Planet live experience.“On stage there’s always this third wall between me and the people in the audience... I just need to break that. It’s so satisfying when I do.”

Having sustained a long touring career based on a back catalogue of hits, including Don’t Walk Away and Many Rivers To Cross, Childs says this aspect of interaction with her audience has long been a staple of her live shows. “Because You’re Beautiful came about because I started to see women in the audience who were disconnected from themselves. I realised reaching out to these women was the reason I was making music. I wanted to address something and through that I was addressing women directly,” she concludes.

“I love to connect in a real way in everything I do.” _JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

PORTLANDIA Put A Bird On It Following an airing on ABC2, US cult comedy sketch show Portlandia is released today on DVD through Umbrella Entertainment.

If there’s one thing Fred Armisen knows, it’s sketch comedy. Currently he is the longest running active cast member on the legendary live-to-air sketch show Saturday Night Live, and if that wasn’t enough, he spends SNL’s offseason writing and filming Portlandia with Carrie Brownstein.

Brownstein became known to the public eye in raucous riot grrrl band SleaterKinney, and now Wild Flag, and the independent music scene is something Armisen has long been a part of as well. He played drums in hardcore band Trenchmount throughout the ‘90s. “I lived in Chicago for a little while, and when I did I worked at a nightclub there called Lounge Acts, which a lot of bands came through there, and that’s how I got to know Jeff [ Tweedy] from Wilco, who back then was in Uncle Tupelo. And also I’ve always loved that world.”

Armisen opened for a Jeff Tweedy solo tour, footage from which appeared in their acclaimed Wilco documentary I Am Trying To Break Your Heart in 2002. Once Armisen went to NBC later that year, he continued his love for music that was unlikely to appear on Saturday Night Live. “Carrie and I had some mutual friends, and I know Janet [Weiss] from Sleater-Kinney, so I invited the band to come see an SNL taping,” Armisen recalls. “They couldn’t come to that show because they had a show but they came to the after party. I was a huge Sleater-Kinney fan, so I was star struck and psyched; and then we just became friends right away.”

After toying with the idea of starting a musical project together, Brownstein and Armisen decided to write some sketches and post them online under the name ‘Thunderant’.

“We just thought, ‘well we gotta do something, so let’s make some videos’,” the softly-spoken Armisen remembers. “For me it was fun because it was low stakes. There was no reason to do it. They didn’t even need to have a point. They didn’t even need to be well done - it was like, ‘let’s just do this’. In the same approach that one would have if they were jamming with someone.

Like ‘let’s just make these videos’, and then we found that we liked doing it, and we liked the results.”

It turns out that they weren’t the only ones. “I was coming to a place where my manager was like ‘what do you want to do?’. So I was like ‘I wanna do this, I love doing Thunderant’,” says Armisen, who likes to re-enact previous conversations in current conversations. “He helped us get it together as a presentation for a pilot. First we went to Broadway Video, which is [SNL creator] Lorne Michaels’ company, and this guy he was like ‘yeah this sounds great, let’s do it’.

I knew IFC was looking for a comedy show, so we

www.xpressmag.com.au

Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armison star in Portlandia just went to IFC - that’s who does it here in the States - and IFC said ‘great, make a pilot’. So every step of the way I thought ‘well we’ll see’. But then it turned out to be a show and we had enough to have episodes, and more and more sketches.

Then we got a director, this guy named Jonathan Krisel, who’s brilliant. He helped shape it into the form that it’s in - the vision of what it is.”

Not all of the early Thunderant sketches were filmed in Portland, but it wasn’t too long before Armisen, who lives in New York where SNL is filmed, fell in love with the home of the Trail Blazers. “It’s probably easier for me to go to Portland than for Carrie to come to New York,” Armisen says. “New York has been videoed enough, you know? Portland felt a little like ‘wow, what’s this place?’. Not to treat to Portland like a place... I didn’t mean to make it sound like they’d never been filmed before! It’s just like it felt newer to me. And also it’s a little less video-ready. People are little bit more open. Everything about it was nice...”

After asking about where the hipsters hang out in Perthlandia, Armisen tells X-Press that he always finds himself gravitating towards the arty areas in every city he visits. “My whole world is cities like that, and those parts of them,” he says. “Even though when you’re in them you kinda complain and go ‘oh I can’t believe it’s getting gentrified’. In reality it’s where we all end up and

what we all truly like, I think.”

Armisen is currently working on the third season of Portlandia, and wasn’t willing to give much away, and is gearing up to return to Saturday Night Live for his 11th season. Best known for his impression of US president Barack Obama on SNL, Armisen says the finale of last season was bittersweet as it spelt the end of the tenure of both Kristen Wiig and Andy Samberg. “It’s a mix of sadness and happiness when someone leaves,” he says. “Because the one thing that remains is that in a way no one ever really leaves SNL; they always come back and they’re around and we’re all friends. So it’s never the kind of heartbreak where ‘we’ll never see you again’. Amy Poehler left years ago

and she’s at the show and we see her all the time, and the same goes for Maya Rudolph, and Rachel Dratch, and Tina Fey, everyone, Jimmy Fallon. They stay in the family. There’s a little bit of sadness, ‘oh we don’t get to do some of these sketches anymore’.

But mostly, it’s a happy ‘good for you, like you’re always going to do great’. So it’s a mix of all those things, if that makes any sense. I don’t if it’s almost the equivalent of, well I don’t have any kids or anything, but when someone graduates. You know what I mean? It’s like ‘we’re still together but you’re going into a new phase’. There’s emotion attached to it, but for the part it’s good emotion.” _MATTHEW HOGAN

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VISUAL ARTS Lunar Soil: Paper Mountain, Northbridge An exhibition of work by Chloe Spiers-Atherden, Lunar Soil is an exploration of perception and the way it is coloured, shaped and finely textured through the lens of personal mythology. Worldviews everywhere intersect, interbreed and are ultimately cultivated and renewed through human imagination, allowing us to perceive meaning on both the individual and cosmic scale. Lunar Soil is a small collection of inky symbols reflecting some of the stories, environments, creatures and ideas experienced in just one among an infinite array of evolving mythologies. Runs Aug 1-6.

To Breathe (What Is It To Live A Life?): Spectrum Project Space, ECU, Mt Lawley How do we, as human beings, relate to our environment? Renowned Australian artist Paul Uhlmann contemplates this question through his new exhibition, To Breathe (What Is It To Live A Life?). Comparing canvas paintings with traditional techniques such as camera obscura and black mirrors, the exhibition takes visitors through the evolution of artistic techniques and shows how, even as techniques change, nature and our complex relation to it still remains a key focus. Runs ’til Aug 17.

ANZANG: WA Museum, Northbridge The ANZANG Nature Photography exhibition celebrates the depth and diversity of nature in Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and New Guinea through the eyes of a photographer. The exhibition includes images from both professional and amateur photographers in a number of categories including animal behaviour, animal portraits, threatened species, botanical, underwater, and wilderness. Runs ’til Aug 19.

Light Locker Art Space: Grand Lane, Perth Located within Grand Lane off Murray Street Mall and viewable from Barrack Street, the Light Locker Art Space can be accessed 24/7 but is best viewed at sundown when the lights turn on. Since launching in June 2011, the space has supported and commissioned new works from 21 young artists, with many more to come! This exhibition is the fourth in a year-long program of peer curation, resulting in an organic approach to mapping out artist networks and commonalities. For this latest exhibition, Joe Matthiessen, Dale Buckley, Kenya Bedford Armstrong, Stephen Genovese and Lyle Branson created new 2D and 3D artworks. Runs ’til Aug 31.

City H20 12 by Brendon Darby City H20 12: Linton & Kay Fine Art, Subiaco Brendon Darby’s latest solo exhibition H20 12 presented the artist with a quandary. The inspiration for the show came from an incredibly rainy night in Sydney last year. He was sitting in a car in the CBD waiting for a lift to the airport when torrential rain transformed the view through the windscreen into a magnificent abstract image. Later that year he decided to base his next show on that experience, and thus needed a city with traffic and lights and of course, torrential rain. Perth in summer doesn’t get much rain, so the artist travelled to Singapore in search of downpours but alas the sky didn’t open, so Darby returned to Perth and created a low pressure system in his van. Runs ’til Aug 19.

32 Strokes Of Kung Fu: Greenhill Galleries, Claremont It’s been six years since Zhong Chen’s last Perth exhibition and in the years since then, both change and continuity are evident in his paintings – whilst his brushwork has evolved to bold, expressive movements (a progression from his popular pixelated images), his work continues to explore historical and contemporary cultural identity as well as Chen’s own transcultural psyche and feelings of belonging. Runs Aug 9-25.

Spatial Drawing: Venn Gallery, Perth Spatial Drawing investigates contemporary approaches to drawing and features three emerging Western Australian artists: Benjamin Forster, Tom Freeman and Clare Peake. Drawing underpins diverse and complex approaches to art making for each of these multi-disciplinary artists, whose practices also comprise of sculpture, video and installation. Spatial Drawing will see each artist explore drawing further through the creation of physical formations and sculptural works that discuss notions of how we engage with space. Runs ’til Aug 31.

Picasso To Warhol: 14 Modern Masters: Art Gallery Of WA, Northbridge Picasso to Warhol: Fourteen Modern Masters is the exciting launch exhibition of the Australian exclusive partnership between AGWA and MoMA. Featuring over 120 works by fourteen of modern art’s most iconic artists including Matisse, Picasso, Pollock and Warhol, this exhibition presents a world-class introduction to the figures who redefined the very idea of art.

Runs ’til Dec 3.

Sophie Macpherson, still from video Deep Dancing, courtesy and (c) the artist.

The Irregular Correct: New Art From Glasgow: Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle Presenting a selection of what’s happening right now in contemporary Glaswegian art, The Irregular Correct: New Art From Glasgow features work by ten significant artists working across painting, sculpture, installation, live performance video and more. From a gritty port town, Glasgow has evolved into an internationally renowned artistic hotspot and a major influence on British and European art. Dipping into the richness of European art history and with a connection to popular culture and Glasgow’s incredible musical scene (think Belle & Sebastian, Mogwai and Franz Ferdinand), the work in this exhibition resonates with varied and layered content. Runs ’til Sep 16.

THEATRE/DANCE Signs Of Life: Heath Ledger Theatre, State Theatre Centre, Northbridge The Dirt Music story continues… Alone in her farmhouse on the riverbank one night, Georgie Jutland hears noises out on the highway – car doors, voices, weeping. She’s recently widowed and a little spooked. It’s not just her – the entire world feels wrong, as if the land beneath her feet is dying. It hasn’t rained for years. The river has dried up and the olive grove is beginning to wither around her.

Signs of Life is a story about people with uncertain futures navigating with only shreds of the past to guide them. It’s about the mutual incomprehension between white and black – the anxiously safe and the pragmatic dispossessed – in country where nobody is really sure they belong anymore, and where everyone’s fate seems to have been determined by those who came before. Runs ’til Aug 18. Bookings via BOCS. 30

Breaking Out: The Dolphin Theatre, UWA, Nedlands Breaking Out is a selection of compelling new works devised and choreographed by the graduating dance students of WAAPA with their peers and involving equally imaginative use of music, mostly original scores written, performed and recorded by WAAPA’s Composition and Music Technology students. Runs Aug 21-25. Bookings via Waapa.ecu.edu.au.

Book Of Death (A Story Of Life): Blue Room Theatre, Northbridge The latest theatrical work by Renegade Productions, The Book Of Death (A Story Of Life), is a scintillating show about finding hope while facing the certainty of death. Produced by Renegade Productions – the acclaimed creators of Laryngectomy and Luminaire – this new show weaves together image-based performance, original live music, and the simple tale of a couple caught in a loveless relationship to create a cloth that is at once experimental and intimate, vulgar and beautiful. Runs ’til Aug 25. Bookings via blueroom.org.au.

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

FASHION TALKS Doris’ Day

The custodian of some of the most amazing sartorial treasures known to man, Charlotte Smith is the proud owner of the Darnell Collection, Australia’s largest collection of vintage clothing and accessories, which she inherited from her American godmother Doris Darnell back in 2004.

Though Smith is now an expert on all things fashion history, she admits that prior to inheriting the collection she barely even understood what vintage fashion was.

“I didn’t even know what vintage was, I thought it was a term related to wine and the last thing

Charlotte Smith

www.xpressmag.com.au

I ever thought about was wearing someone else’s clothes,” she chuckles when questioned about her “I’m not interested love affair with vintage. “Vintage was not something I at all in hems and considered fashionable. I loved new clothes but when I started looking at these dresses and realising the quality zips, I can’t even put and the uniqueness of them, that’s when I really started a button on a dress to get interested in many of the dresses that came from Doris’ collection.” but suddenly the During her life, Smith’s godmother collected all manner of couture and ready-to-wear items, from collection triggered hats to shoes, jewellery and garments; plus the stories my passion for fashion, that came along with each piece.

“Doris began collecting probably about 80 it was the social history years ago, it was something like 1937,” Smith begins of her beloved godmother came to accumulate such an behind it.” incredible collection. “She loved dressing up so people would give her pieces of clothing that belonged to their grandmother or their aunt or their mother and Doris would wear it and then she would get a little story then when people would ask her about the garments about the piece from the person who gave it to her and she was wearing, she said ‘this belonged to my friend Jennifer so and so’ and so people started giving her things because they loved seeing her wearing them.”

Unlike most collectors, Smith never paid for anything in her collection, relying on gifts and donations from friends, family and strangers.

“She was a Quaker and Quakers are not meant to collect and they’re not meant to covet fashion, and clothing is meant to cover your back and that’s about it, it’s meant to be practical but Doris said she wasn’t collecting because it was fashionable, she was collecting it because it made her feel good, it was something that was treasured by somebody else and she wanted to continue the stories of the people who wore the garments. It sort of started very innocently.”

What started as something quite innocent quickly turned into a whopping slice of fashion history, with over 7000 pieces and stories in Doris’ collection, half of which Smith now takes care of.

“I had no idea what to do with it,” Smith says of the moment when 70 trunks containing 3,500 pieces of vintage arrived on her doorstep.“I had a shop at the time - an antique shop - so I was sort of into old things but I was told the collection was not coming home so I had to unpack it and got to know it outside of home.

“I didn’t really know what I was getting into until I got the second shipment which was all these fashion catalogues and my godmother’s notes of stories which were told to her when something was handed over, big files of personal letters people had sent to her when they were sending her things. I’m not interested at all in hems and zips, I can’t even put a button on a dress but suddenly the collection triggered my passion for fashion, it was the social history behind it, what was going on in that decade or that era or that century when a woman was wearing one of these dresses.”

When asked about her favourite stories that accompany pieces in the collection, Smith admits 1960s Andres Courreges mini dress it’s too hard to choose just one, but she’s particularly

Illustration of Chanel outfit from the Darnell Collection by Grant Cowan enamored by the tale of Peggy Quigg, a fashionable lass married to a wealthy doctor in Indiana.

“He hired a buyer to dress his wife in the latest fashions and the buyer would travel all over the world buying the latest looks and they lived in a beautiful house, and every night from the ’50s to the ’70s they would dress for dinner and that meant black tie so even if they were dining on their own they would dress up.They had a circular staircase and every evening Peggy Quigg would come down the stairs dressed in some beautiful outfit and her husband would wait for her at the bottom and then take her off into the dining room where they would be waited on.”

Anyone interested in learning more about Charlotte Smith, the Darnell Collection and even Peggy Quigg, can do so this Friday, August 3, at the Fremantle Arts Centre thanks to Fashion Talks. Smith will be joined in conversation by Meri Fatin; tickets are on sale now via fac.org.au. _EMMA BERGMEIER

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

B E A T S ,

S A Y

B A S S

&

B U Z Z I N G

E L E C T R O N I C A

W U T ?

It was the track that smashed open doors all around the world for UK bass producer GIRL UNIT – but according to the man behind the moniker, Philip Gamble, it’s time to move on from the 2010 hit single Wut. In fact, the DJ/ producer tells BIRDIE he has made a conscious effort to do so on his latest record, Club Rez. “Yeah, I’ve slowed things down a bit tempowise,” he reveals. “I’ve also experimented with new kinds of equipment. I’ve been on the hunt for the last year or so for a few lesser-known bits of analogue equipment in order just to find some unique sounds, particularly with regards to drum machines. I’ve also dabbled a little in tape recording and processing tracks to have a much more raw sound. It’s definitely been a change from hyper digital tracks like Wut.” But what exactly was it about Gamble’s breakthrough track a couple of years ago? What was it about Wut that captured so many bass fans’ attention upon its release? Well, according to Gamble, it all comes down to ‘gut instinct’ when it comes to success.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 34

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PIT STOP

Burswood will be the place to party this month as it welcomes dance pop legend Pitbull on Thursday, August 23. But the fun doesn’t end in the Dome. After the show, it’s the after party at Eve Nightclub with Pitbull’s official DJ DJ Chino hitting the decks. Friday, August 24, DJ Havana Brown takes time off her Planet Pit World Tour to work her magic at Eve. And if you can’t wait that long for your superstar DJ fix, then head to Eve on Friday, August 17, to catch the former resident of the Playboy Club in Macau, DJ Bliss.

DUBSTEP ON UP

Girl Unit “I’m still not sure exactly why it was, really, but I just really wanted to make something really grandiose and dramatic at the time, which as far as themes go, I never thought would wash over so well with people. But I’m glad they’re able to indulge in that with me. I’ve basically just tried not to consider replicating it [Wut], and focus instead on improving the overall feel of my tracks. I think the one thing its success has really taught me is that the most natural ideas are the best ones. I wrote that track all in one go and, while I made a few changes with the tempo and general structure of it, it felt very natural.

So, nowadays, I try not to force anything if it’s just not working out.”

Having said that, Gamble does admit hitting “a brick wall” in terms of inspiration following the success of Wut... However, seeking out a new way to work with new tools helped a lot in that department.

“From the point at which I’d finished the track Club Rez which was the first one I’d written, it started to come back quite naturally,” Gamble explains. “I definitely hit a brick wall after Wut as that release and IRL were both written before I was really that well-known or was doing DJ shows. So Club Rez felt like the first record I’ve made with the awareness that people were going to hear it. A lot of the track are the result of my seeking out a new way to work with new tools and staying with the mentality that I wanted to approach this record like it was a new project altogether.”

Club Rez, according to Gamble, is a much wider blend of sounds and an overall step up in quality compared to his previous releases.

“I think the overall feel of it is much richer due to much of the drums and synths all coming from hardware,” he offers. “And many of the tracks being processed through analogue FX units, too. I definitely feel proud of it as a step up in terms of the overall quality of sound from my previous releases.

I have a few things also set for the upcoming NS All Stars Vol 2 compilation that you’ll no doubt hear. There will be definitely a couple of more EPs coming out – right now I’m just making as much as possible and I will leave the decisions on format and tracklisting until later.”

Gamble’s current tour being the producer’s first, he reckons it’s also quite the milestone for someone who never expected to end up on the other side of the world.

“Yes it’s my first time both visiting and performing,” he enthuses. “It’s the furthest DJing has taken me so far and I’ve heard great things from other DJs who have already made the journey, like Ben UFO, Ikonika, Kingdom... My sets have definitely become a lot more diverse it he last year or so. I find myself switching up tempos more frequently and embracing more functional tracks that as bridges between tracks of disparate styles. I’ll be playing some new stuff from the label [Night Slugs], as well as a bunch of my favourite 12”s and some more tender moments if I can squeeze them in, as I am a big R&B head!”

» GIRL UNIT » CLUB REZ » SATURDAY, AUGUST 4 @ THE BAKERY

SUN CITY

GOTTA HAVE SOUL

Drumsound & Bassline Smith

D’N’B TRIPLE HEADER

Head along to Villa on Saturday, September 8, for a massive night of drum’n’bass with not one, but three international headliners. We wouldn’t wanna know where d’n’b would be without Drumsound & Bassline Smith, the Technique Recordings tastemakers have been dropping killer joints for over a decade and they remian masters of the game. RAM Recordings own Hamilton is heading along as is Virus Recordings producers Optiv & BTK. Locals Rregula, Voltron, and Invictus, along with MCs Xsessiv, Stylee, and Bear round out the line-up. First release tickets are on sale from Moshtix until August 17 for $30 plus BF.

Perth’s finest underground DJs return to the home of underground house, Geisha Bar, this Saturday, August 4, for Soul Project presents US House Tribute. The August edition of the monthly club night features an all-star array of dazzling locals, including Ben Jam of the Brain Kat label, Sean Morrison, Cee, JamesA, Todd Perry making his Soul Project debut.

Photographer Paolo Butto will be on hand to provide visuals for this big night in Northbridge!

Doors open at 11pm, and it’s free entry before half midnight.

SUMMADAYZE AT SUBI

The rumours are true, Summadayze is moving to a new venue or two. This year it took place on the picturesque South Perth foreshore, and come Sunday, January 6, 2013, Subiaco will feel the earth move under their feet to the sound of the beat.

Subiaco Council has approved the massive dance festival’s application to take place in the 43,500 capacity Patersons Stadium (formerly known as Subiaco Oval) and the adjoining Kitchener Park.

As soon as we know who’ll be appearing at Summadayze 2013 we’ll let you know.

DRINK UP

Local electro-pop duo Sun City have made impressive progress since uploading their first tracks to Triple J Unearthed 18 months ago. Now one of Perth’s most promising upcoming acts, they’re launching their latest EP, Set Alight, next weekend. JOSHUA HAYES chats with Tobias John.

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Ben Jam

HOME BREW

SETTING IT OFF

Sun City’s resume doesn’t read like that of a band that emerged in January 2011. They’ve performed at Parklife, Stereosonic, Summadayze and Sets On The Beach, supported The Aston Shuffle and had one of their tracks, Zoetrope, featured on national ads for MasterChef.

So what has made Sun City so successful, so quickly? “I’d like to know the answer just as much as you would,” John says, laughing. “I’m sure a lot of it is being in the right place at the right time, as clichéd as that sounds. But, further to that, as far as I know there isn’t a great deal of bands in Perth that are doing the exact same thing that we’re doing.”

One reason why Sun City stands out may be the classical music background shared by John and his band mate, Daniel Mackey. The pair have known each other since high school, where they both had music scholarships. They stayed in touch after graduating, continuing to play music together, before forming Sun City. Their high energy show – which has the pair playing up to 10 instruments live – soon earned them an invitation to open the Parklife main stage.

Sun City will be returning to Parklife again this year, but not before launching Set Alight at Villa shortly. The EP was released digitally last week. John describes Set Alight as an evolution from Sun City’s self-titled debut EP – which, he notes, was recorded under time constraints so it would be available in time for their first Parklife appearance. “[On] this record we’ve really had a lot of time to think about our sound and develop our sound and decide on the direction,” he says.

However, this did prove to be a challenge for the group. After playing so many dance music

Head to Shape Bar this Friday, August 3, for Dubstep Invasion. Celebrating the release of Dubstep Invasion 3 through Onelove Recordings, Sydney dubstep duo Glovecats return to the mix disc one, while local do-gooder Phetsta mixes disc two. They’ll both be at Shape on Friday along with Gran Calavera, Killafoe, and JS. Tickets $15 on the door from 10pm.

Fresh from the success of their self titled debut album, which hit the top of the New Zealand charts in its first week, Auckland hip hop trio Home Brew are on their way to Perth for the first time. JOSHUA HAYES speaks with the group’s producer Harry Huavi, aka Haz Beats.

Sun City festivals, they found that it was starting to influence their live shows. “We definitely come from a more traditional music, band based background,” John says. “We have played in school orchestras and we’ve played in bands – we played in a punk rock band when we were in the 10th grade… For us it’s really important to play as many instruments as we can on the record, as opposed to producing fairly generic dance music.

“We’ve got a lot riding on how receptive Australia is to this new album; I guess we’ll just play it by ear and see what happens,” he adds. “If it goes well, we’d love to play a few more festivals and really get it out there and hopefully keep developing our live show, and share the experience with as many people as we can.”

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SUN CITY SET ALIGHT [ITUNES] OUT NOW FRIDAY, AUGUST 10 @ VILLA

Despite debuting at #1 – making them the first New Zealand hip hop act to do so since Scribe in 2003 – Home Brew are taking success in their stride. “When we got #1 I was kind of stoked but then, at the same time, it was just a number to me.

It don’t really change anything,” Huavi says.

The group – Huavi is joined by rappers Tom Scott and Lui Silk – first emerged with a series of free EPs between 2007 and 2009 which earned them a loyal fan base. “Me and Tom met on an internet dating site; I forgot which one, I think it was New Zealand Matchmaking or something like that,” Huavi says in a serious tone, as mates laugh in the background.

They rhyme about life on the dole, drug and alcohol abuse, politics, religion, broken homes and broken relationships but doing so in a soulful and intelligent way aided by Huavi’s melodic production. “I guess it’s just the honesty in the lyrics,” Huavi says when asked about what has made so many people connect with their music. “Everyone can relate to what Tom’s saying.

Everyone’s been through a break up and shit like that. It was just real; to me it was real.”

At the same time, they aren’t strangers to controversy, having gained attention for their tongue-in-cheek YouTube videos, including one that explains how to avoid booze buses, which drew media coverage and criticism from the NZ police.

Their 21 song debut is split across two discs – a ‘light’ and a ‘dark’ side – and is the product of three years’ work. However, they hadn’t set out to make a double album. “I dunno, we

Home Brew wrote heaps of songs and we liked all our songs, and it just came down to it; we just had to make a double album,” Huavi says.

They celebrated the album release in May with a 48 hour launch party in an old Auckland brothel, drawing over 600 fans. “I think that’s what really caught on [with fans]; ‘oh, it’s at a brothel, let’s go’,” Huavi laughs. “I didn’t last the whole 48 hours. I lasted for, like, 46. I was, like, zombied out.”

Now they’re bringing their music to our side of the pond, kicking off a four date Australian tour with a show at Amplifier, bringing with them a live band (including the New Zealand Triangle Symphony Orchestra, Huavi deadpans).

After their Australian tour they’ll be returning to New Zealand to keep doing what they’ve spent the last three years doing; making music. “We haven’t changed; we’re still making music every day. It’s still the same. Just more hoes and more strippers and more cocaine and more people talking to me over the phone from Australia,” Huavi says,laughing.

» » » »

HOME BREW HOME BREW [FREQUENCY/UNIVERSAL] OUT NOW THURSDAY, AUGUST 9 @ AMPLIFIER X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

BENGA BREAKING NEW GROUND

KASRA

THINKING DEEP

London producer and DJ Beni Adejumo, aka Benga, is readying a new album and preparing to travel to Australia as part of the Parklife tour. He chats with JOSHUA HAYES about his upcoming album Chapter 2, his live show and moving beyond dubstep.

Adejumo may be one of the pioneering figures of dubstep, but he’s always been dedicated to doing his own thing. “A lot of dance music acts inspire me because I try to move away from what everybody else is doing. So, in that aspect, the Skrillexs of this world inspire me, just to move away,” he says, laughing.

Adejumo recently said he had quit dubstep in a light-hearted interview with NME. The comment went viral on the internet, prompting discussion about whether he was serious or taking the piss. “When we first did that interview, it kind of came across as joking, but I did mean what I said.

I did mean to say that I’ve quit dubstep,” Adejumo says. “I didn’t mean to shock people as hard as I did but it was definitely time for me to start announcing that I just make Benga music.”

And when it comes to making Benga music, he’s been busier than ever lately, wrapping up his new solo album and making plans for another Magnetic Man album in the new year. But in the meantime, he’s taking well-earned breaks wherever he can. “I’ve written a lot of music in the last couple of months, and I’m still trying to add to the Magnetic Man catalogue, but, while I’m doing that, I also want to take a break from it all, so I’m watching Entourage,” Adejumo says, laughing.

Incidentally, he’s just started season five, which finds Vinnie Chase and company reeling from the commercial and critical flop of their all-or-nothing project, Medellin. Taking risks is something that resonates with Adejumo. “As an artist, especially as an artist in my field, a lot of things you can do are gambles,” he says. “I mean, you know that if you cross this barrier or you do this, you could risk your fan base not liking it.

But there all risks that I’m willing to take; always.

Always. “[As I progress] in my career, and make

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Benga better music and better songs and keep my life interesting, I take risks, and I certainly have done with this album.”

Adejumo has changed his show to be more live, mixing snippets of his own tracks on the fly with Ableton. He says it makes for a more engaging performance, although there is a downside – he’s not able to crowd surf. “I don’t think, since I’ve done [my] live [sets], I’ve crowd surfed once,” he says. “There’s so much, for me, going on… so I don’t really have time to have my crowd surfing moments.

“I have actually spent a lot of time in the studio producing this album, and I’m not scared or anything, I’m not worried, I never regret anything I do,” he says. “Whether or not you like the singles from my album, I think that you’ll be surprised at what I’ve done on my album. For me, I think it compares with nothing else that’s out there at the moment. It’s Benga music, so hopefully I’ve done my fans proud and all the new people that are now entering my music, welcome.”

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SUN CITY SET ALIGHT [ITUNES] OUT NOW FRIDAY, AUGUST 10 @ VILLA

UK drum’n’bass DJ Kasra is well known for creating Critical Music, one of the most well respected underground dance music labels in the UK. Releasing some of the freshest beats around from the likes of Break, Rockwell, Cyantific, S.P.Y, Calibre and more, MIKI MCLAY chats with Kasra Mowlavi about Critical ahead of imprint’s 10 year anniversary.

One might initially presume that to name a label Critical Music would be a somewhat presumptuous decision but those with an ear to the underground within drum’n’bass would today unanimously agree that DJ and label owner Kasra Mowlavi has achieved something truly singular with his record label, due to turn 10 this year.

As a DJ and not a producer, Mowlavi’s beginnings as a label owner were a little unconventional. He says it was a challenge establishing the imprint during its humble beginnings.“Yeah, it was at first, it was pretty hard,” he concedes. “All the labels that were around already were already established or ran by artists themselves, so if you’re an artist, why would you give music to someone you’ve never heard of? It was a long process, spending time with the artists and explaining what I was trying to do with the label and establishing trust. Showing them that sometimes, it’s better if you’re not a producer, so you can concentrate more on running a label… a long process, but rewarding.”

Critical has since blossomed into one of the genre’s most forward-thinking and successful outlets, playing host to releases from the likes of Marcus Intalex, Calibre, Breakage, Spectrasoul, Enei and plenty more. These days, however, Mowlavi’s approach to the label is a little more anarchistic – a reflection of a scene that is beginning to diversify and is becoming more open-minded when it comes to exploring new territory and taking risks.“I think more and more these days, the idea of tempo is becoming increasingly

Kasra irrelevant - you can play more and more in a DJ set now,” he says, speaking of genre diversity.

“One of the popular aspects of dubstep, for example, has been that you can go and watch a DJ play techno and house, dubstep, drum’n’bass - that’s interesting and fun. And that’s rubbed off on everyone.

More people are just making what they feel like making. It’s a label - you release what you think is good music. Real labels don’t care about the commercial aspect of things - obviously you need to survive as an entity, but if it’s good, I don’t care what it is, I’m going to put it out.”

Given Critical Music’s upcoming 10th birthday, it seems more than fitting that the crew behind the imprint are ready and raring to throw some serious parties to celebrate and the upcoming Australian tour alongside label-mate Sabre is one of a few planned. Representing the extensive legacy of Critical is a challenge not to be sniffed at and when pressed for some of the label’s achievements over the past 10 years, Mowlavi has a lot to pick from but he is surprisingly laidback and humble about it. “I’d say mainly a lot of the things we’ve done with Fabric - doing the residency there, the Fabric CD as well, that was really great, a real honour to do that,” he says.“The music that’s out as well - the cross section of what I think is really good drum’n’bass - from Spectrasoul to Enei and breaks. I’m really proud of the catalogue, all of it, really.”

» KASRA » WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8 @ SHAPE

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AMPLIFIER

WEDNESDAY 01/08 Blvd Tavern – Dub Step Captain Stirling – Fiveo Clancy’s (Applecross) – Upbeat – DJ Andy Connections – DJs Joby /JJ /Rueben Eurobar – Wild Wednesdays - DJ iPod/ Ben Pettit Flying Scotsman – UniQue DJs/ DJ Bones/ DJ Moflow Flying Scotsman (Defectors) – Beaufort Bop ft DJ Anton Maz Gold Bar–DJ Adroc Hipe Club – DJ Roger Smart Leederville Hotel – We Love Wednesdays ft DJ Slick Metro Freo - Rapture Mustang – DJ Giles Newport – Newport Wednesdays ft DJ Phat Sovereign Arms – Lokie Shaw The Deen - DJ Zelimer/ DJ Viper/ DJ Benny/ T– Zone 1 The Queens – Wriggle on YaYa’s – DJ Paul Burgess

THURSDAY 02/08 Clancy’s (Canning Bridge) - DJ Wrighteous Claremont Hotel- DJ Double Dee/ Jimmy Thorne/ Matt Club Marakesh – DJ Simon Cottesloe Hotel – DJ Shots/ DJ Andy M Empire Bar – Halo/ DJ Bojan/ DJ Ben Sebastian Eve – DJ Tony Allen 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 Newport – Rubadub Paramount – DJ Johnny Boi/ DJ Jordan Players Bar – MASH 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 – Roger Smart The Deen – DJ Flex/ DJ Nano/ DJ Surge/ DJ Don Migi

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THE LICK

The East End Bar - The Prestige ft Fiveo The Queens – Kapitol The Whale & Ale – Josh Tilley The Whistling Kite - DJ Gareth Tiger Lils – Paul Malone/ Adam Kelly Velvet Lounge – Descent Woodvale Tavern – DJ Melvin

FRIDAY 03/08 Ambar – Jungle Shakedown ft Frantik/ Rufkut/ Sempy/ Devo/ Menis/ Ekko/ Sidetrack Amplifier – Cowboys & Indie Kids Bar 459 - DJ Smurf Boheme Bar - DJ Majiika Boulevard Tavern – DJ Andyy Broken Hill Hotel – DJ Nick Alexander Brooklands Tavern - DJ Misschief Mel Capitol – Retro Mash Capitol (Upstairs) – I Love ‘90s Carine Tavern – Greg Packer/ MC Assassin Clancy’s (Canning Bridge) - DJ Boogie Claremont Hotel – DJ Pasha/ Jon Ee Club Bayview – Amnesia ft Fendi/ Axon/ Fellis Como Hotel – DJ Gazz Eastern Hotel – DJ Munch Empire Bar – Josh Tilly Eve – DJ Don Migi/ DJ Danny Boi/ DJ LStreet Flawless – DJ Ryan Flying Scotsman – DJs Jo19/ Rok

SHAPE

Riley/ Armee Flying Scotsman (Defectors) Back To Mono DJs Geisha – Next Hype ft international guest Ginger Nightclub – Rondevoo Fridayz Gosnells Club – DJ Now Hipe Club - DJ E-Funk Honey Lounge – DJ Curlee/ Drew Green Lakers Tavern – Fresh Fridays - DJ Dooey Left Bank – DJ Frankie Button Library – Dorcia Little Creatures Loft – Marine Beats Llama Bar – DJ Reuben/ DJ Morris 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 – Sugar Queens Tav – DJ Rueben Rocket Room – DJ Franky J Sail & Anchor - Balcony Beatz/ DJ J-MAC Shape - Phetsa & Glovecats Sovereign Arms – Dylan

Chet Faker

FRAT HOUSE FRIDAYS

METRO FREO

Hammond The Avenue – JMC The Carine – Mind Electric/ Little Nicky/ Az-T The Causeway – 4by4 DJs The East End Bar – Az-T 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 – Abstar Windsor – DJ Riki and Ray Victoria Park Hotel – DJ Giles Villa – Zombie Crawl

SATURDAY 04/08 Ambar – Japan 4 ft Vengeance Amplifier – Pure Pop ft Eddie Electric Bakery – Girl Unit Basement On Broadway – DJ Ricky Boheme Bar – Carte Blanche DJs Broken Hill Tavern – DJ Roger Smart/ Matt Richards/ Ben Dallin Capitol – Death Disco DJs Capitol (Upstairs) – Cream Of The ‘80s ft DJ Ryan Clancy’s (Canning Bridge) - DJ Dood Claremont Hotel – Fiveo/ Jon Ee Club Bay View – Fiveo Empire Bar – DJ James Ess Eurobar – Roger Smart/ DJ Raci Eve – Red Hot Bikini Babe Comp ft Eve DJs 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 Honey Lounge – DJ Saxon/ Sardi 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/DJ Brett Costello Metro Freo – DTuck/ Darren Briais/ DJ Wazz Mint Nightclub – Pop Life ft DJ Aaron/ AJ Mojos – Chet Faker Mullaloo Beach Hotel – DJ Danny Mustang – Rockabilly DJ/ DJ James MacArthur Niche – Frankie Button/ Cee/ Jonny

Vengeance Zimber Norma Jeans – DJ Darren Oxford Hotel – DJ Sequeria Paramount- DJ Cornflake / DJ Jordan/ DJ Johnny Boi Players Bar – Embrace Queens Tav - Gareth Richardson Rocket Room – Delicious (Ladies Only) ft DJ Franky J 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 Cornerstone – Jordan Scott The Craftsman – Tammy Stevens The Deen - DJ Birdie/ DJ JJ/ DJ Tony Allen The East End Bar - Fiveo The Generous Squire – On Tap ft James Nutley The Saint – DJ Anaru The Shed –DJ Tony Dee The Wembley – Az-T The Whistling Kite - DJ Craig The Vic – DJ Kristian Tiger Lil’s – DJ Bojan/ DJ Ben Sebastian Victoria Park Hotel – DJ Melvin Windsor – DJ Ray Woodvale Tavern – DJ Real McCoy

Euro Bar – DJ Flex Eve – DJ LStreet/ Angry Buda Flying Scotsman – Nathan J/ Nizbet/ Pasha/ Chris Flying Scotsman (Defectors) – Eclectic Picnic Mint - Chris McPhee Mustang – DJ Rockin Rhys Paramount – Glo/ DJ Slick/ DJ Benny C/ DJ Matty S Players Bar – Electro House Battle Rocket Room – Coyote Ugly Sovereign Arms – Josh Tilley The Avenue – Az-T The Causeway – Lukas Wimmler The Cott – Cott Sessions The Kiosk – DJ Cinder The Saint - DJ Anaru The Shed – DJ Tony Dee

MONDAY 06/08 Bar Orient - DJ White Label Broken Hill Tavern - DJ Mario Tavelli The Deen – Plastic Max/ The Token Gesture The Paddo – DJ John Paul The Shed – DJ Andyy

TUESDAY 07/08

Bar Orient - DJ Lyndon Eastern Hotel – Jon Edwards High Road Hotel – DJ Matty J High Wycombe – DJ Ricky Captain Stirling – DJ Jay Hipe Club – DJ Roger Smart Claremont Hotel – DJ Double Dee Players Bar (Norma Jeans Bar) – Clink – DJ Tony Allen Empire Bar – CB3/ DJ Riki/ DJ Vicktor Stevie M Victoria Park Hotel – DJ Melvin

SUNDAY 05/08

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

SUGAR SUNDAYS

EAST END

NEWPORT

FLAWLESS

IN THE THIS WEEK: Zombie Crawl Friday, August 3 @ Villa Chet Faker Friday, August 3 @ The Bakery Jungle Shakedown ft Frantik/ Rufkut/ Sempy/ Devo/ Menis/ Ekko/ Sidetrack Friday, August 3 @ Ambar Next Hype ft Jon Convex Friday, August 3 @ Geisha Phetsa & Glovecats Friday, August 3 @ Shape Japan 4 ft Vengeance Saturday, August 4 @ Ambar Chet Faker Saturday, August 4 @ Mojos

eSQue/ Informant/ KeyMist/ Laurence Elliot Friday, August 10 @ Ambar

Friday, August 24 @ Eve Nightclub

Sun City EP launch Friday, August 10 @ Villa

The Pharcyde/ Computer Jay/ DJ Vickone Saturday, August 25 @ Capitol

Z-Trip Saturday, August 11 @ The Bakery

Sessions 9 Tour ft Tom Piper & Timmy Trumpet Saturday, August 25 @ Villa

Jon Wayne/ Mono/Poly Saturday, August 11 @ Mojos

Liquid Stranger Friday, August 31 @ Shape

Mental Powers/ Holy Balm Saturday, August 11 @ PICA Bar

Urthboy Saturday, September 8 @ The Rosemount Hotel

Jungle Fever ft Kenny Ken/ SS/ Skibadee Saturday, August 11 @ Villa Force Majeure ft J-Trick & Kraymer Friday, August 17 @ Ambar

Drumsound & Baseline Smith & more Saturday, September 8 @ Villa Roger Shah Friday, September 14 @ Shape

Girl Unit DJ Bliss Saturday, August 4 @ The Bakery Friday, August 17 @ Eve Nightclub The Potbelleez DJs Saturday, August 18 @ Villa

Krayzie Bone/ Wish Bone (Bone Thugs N Harmony) Saturday, September 15 @ Metro City

Kasra & Sabre Wednesday, August 8 @ Shape

Octave One Saturday, September 22 @ Venue TBC

COMING UP

Home Brew Thursday, August 9 @ Amplifier

DJ Chino (Pitbull’s Official DJ) Thursday, August 23 @ Eve Nightclub

White Trance Party Anthems Australia’s Biggest Silent Disco Friday, August 24 @ Villa ft Eve DJ Team/ Moosh DJs/ DJ Reuben/ Bass Republic/ Too Fresh JumpClimb DJs/ DJ Samuel Friday, August 24 @ Ambar Spencer/ DJ Makka Friday, August 10 @ Eve Nightclub DJ Havana Brown

High Wolf Thursday, September 27 @ PICA Bar Ferry Corsten/ Shogun Sunday, September 30 @ Villa Parklife ft Chairlift/ Modestep/ The Presets/

Fresh Produce ft Klean Kicks/

Nero (live)/ Passion Pit/ Plan B/ Justice (DJ set)/ Robyn/ Benga (live)/ Rusko/ Wiley/ Labrinth/ DJ Fresh (live)/ Flume/ Alison Wonderland/ Lee Foss/ Jack Beats (live) and more Monday, October 1 @ Wellington Square Seth Sentry Saturday, October 6 @ The Rosemount Hotel Seth Sentry Sunday, October 7 @ The Norfolk Hotel This Is Nowhere ft dance lineup TBC Sunday, October 14 @ Dolphin Theatre & Lawrence Jackson Court, UWA Stereosonic ft Tiësto/ Avicii/ Calvin Harris/ Example/ Carl Cox/ Major Lazer/ Laidback Luke/ Martin Solveig/ Dash Berlin/ Markus Schulz/ Diplo/ Sander van Doorn/ Infected Mushroom/ Chuckie/ Flux Pavilion/ Mr Oizo/ Porter Robinson/ Loco Dice/ Bassnectar/ JFK MSTRKRFT/ Excision/ Adam Beyer/ Aly & Fila/ Caspa/ Datsik/ Joris Voorn/ Bingo Players/ Tommy Trash/ Simon Patterson/ Gesaffelstein/ Ørjan Nilsen/ Dillon Francis/ Foreign Beggars/ Zedd/ Brodinski/ Krewella/ Nina Kraviz/ Van She/ Alvin Risk/ Destructo/ MaRLo/ Treasure Fingers/ Bart B More and more Sunday, November 25 @ Claremont Showground (TBC) Sets On The Beach ft lineup TBC Sunday, December 2 @ Scarborough Beach Amphitheatre Sets On The Beach ft lineup TBC Sunday, January 13 @ Scarborough Beach Amphitheatre

Girl Unit

GIRL UNIT

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4 @ THE BAKERY

www.xpressmag.com.au

Big Day Out ft The Bloody Beetroots/ Crystal Castles/ Kaskade/ Pretty Lights/ Nicky Romero/ Morgan Page/ Sampology and more Monday, January 28 @ Claremont Showground Sets On The Beach ft lineup TBC Sunday, March 24 @ Scarborough Beach Amphitheatre

Yuksek (photo by Dan Grant)

SPEAK UP SPEAKEASY (Feat. Yuksek/Clubfeet/Paper Planes/Metric DJs) Villa Friday, July 27, 2012 The impressive combination of Melbourne dwellers Clubfeet and French DJ Yuksek performing live drew the indie crowds in droves to Villa’s monthly Speakeasy night.Punters could barely move without bumping into a top-knotted hipster in skinny jeans.

The Metric DJs kicked things off with a set that encouraged a few brave souls onto the dancefloor, but stuck to remixes of fairly generic pop songs. A few of the choices seemed to be a little too commercial for the Speakeasy crowd - a remix of Adele’s Rolling In The Deep, for starters - but it adequately filled the time it took for Clubfeet to take to the stage.

It seems that Clubfeet have had a fairly fast ascent to fame, but they do quite nicely pick up where bands like Cut Copy and Red Riders have left off. The five-piece kicked things off with a trance-electro-pop number that paid a little too much homage to groups like Hot Chip, but any similarities could be forgiven by the fact that Clubfeet put on a seriously good live show.

Inspiring a lot of males with dubious dance moves on to the floor, it’s easy to see why they’ve enjoyed so much Triple J airtime - their songs are ridiculously catchy, easy to dance to and just good, fun music.

Their third track IntoThe Night was a particular standout; a smooth, more clubby hit that captivated the easily distracted crowd. The track laid the groundwork for a much more beats-driven set than their first three numbers would have suggested, switching to a sleeker, more chilled out playlist. Swapping instruments amongst the band halfway through the set led to, again,

a slightly different sound. Although they are a band still fairly new in the scene, and perhaps haven’t locked onto one particular sound, it was still a little disarming to go from indie pop, to electro, to theatrical, almost Museish numbers. While the slightly schizophrenic setlist seemed to work for the Villa crowd, it might be a bit more confusing for the average punter.

Paper Planes kept the crowds entertained during the half-hour delay before Yuksek’s much anticipated set.

After keeping the crowd on their toes (or tottering on their high heels) Yuksek set off to an explosive start with a drummer and keyboardist joining him onstage. It was during songs like The Time Is Now and Always On The Run that the live band seemed to make the most impact - the drummer in particular made the tracks really come alive and translate well to a live setting. The dancefloor was absolutely packed by the end of the second song, with girls upon shoulders and the crowd crammed into any available area to get a better glimpse.

And an impressive glimpse it would have been - the lighting and general stage set-up for this show made for a particularly awesome effect. It showed just how much effort Yuksek puts into his live shows, and made for a particularly special edition of Speakeasy.

Despite the addition of a live band,Yuksek still appeased to his loyal supporters with more electro-driven tracks like On The Edge Of Time, an almost ethereal dance track that echoed New Order and Kraftwerk.

And if that wasn’t enough excitement, the Metric DJs were back to provide a soundtrack into the early hours of the morning. Hopefully Speakeasy can continue to provide such awesome acts - it’s definitely a night to check out if you’re into the dance scene.

» TARA LLOYD

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

THE TEA PARTY Metro City Thursday, July 26, 2012 It’s been an amazing year for reunions with not only the unexpected return of The Stone Roses but also legendary Canadian band The Tea Party, who after 15 years and six albums split in 2005 under acrimonious circumstances.

While Jeff Martin continued on as a solo troubadour, working on a few side projects, mixing Tea Party songs into his sets, he never reclaimed his former band’s glory. They always retained a certain mystique, attracting a devoted following, due mostly to dark and brooding frontman Martin’s shamanistic persona, and their powerful live performances; and tonight their dedicated minions turned up in force to witness their triumphant return.

With real rock stars in short supply, the time is right for the return of The Tea Party - and the boys are back to reclaim their name from those extreme, rightwing fascists in the US. Taking the stage to a huge roar, they kicked off with The River, from their debut Splendor Solis, merging mid-song into a refrain from Tool’s Sober, before bringing the song storming home. An act that has always copped obvious comparisons to The Doors, Led Zeppelin and The Clash, The Tea Party’s music is infused with their influences, yet maintains a unique, timeless sound – a heady brew of rock, blues and eastern influences – spearheaded by Martin’s booming baritone and virtuoso playing of myriad exotic stringed instruments.

More hollers of approval greeted the scorching guitar riff of The Bazaar from their defining ‘95 album The Edges Of Twilight, and fan favourite, the explosive and brilliant Psychopomp. After some mixed performances in recent years, it was evident Martin’s voice was as strong as ever, and the band were fighting fit, packing as much punch as ever. Stuart Chatwood on bass, keyboards and harmonium, with his slicked

The Tea Party (Photo: Denis Radacic back hair and glasses, kept it locked down tight, alongside drumming powerhouse Jeff Burrows, who was relentless behind his giant kit.

Correspondences was another welcome inclusion – the soaring solo reminding us what an amazing guitarist Martin still is. There’s no denying his commanding presence and sheer magnetism – strutting the stage, striking classic rock star poses in his black leather and throwing back his mane of hair - he appeared to be having a ball, rocking a packed Metro’s with his two buddies just like the old days. Messenger segued into a touching tribute of Jeff Buckley’s Last Goodbye, and Fire In The Head was absolutely epic, in the truest sense of the word – Chatwood providing the divebombing bassline and backing vocals, proving that the combined power of the band is much greater than the sum of its parts.

Martin introduced beautiful acoustic number Shadows On The Mountainside with a story about drinking mushroom tea in the Rockies, “I was fucking Jim Morrison for two days!”. Then it was the bluesy, 12-string slide of Sun’s Going Down, before breaking out the violin bow for their opus, Save Me, which led into an interlude of Led Zep’s Kashmir, and Heaven Coming Down was blended with All Along The Watchtower. Martin, the original mash up artist, again demonstrating his fondness for blending covers seamlessly mid-song.

After a blistering finale of Temptation they left the stage, only to return with the jovial acoustic instrumental Winter Solstice, before unleashing their signature tune, Sister Awake, including a brief diversion into Paint It Black before an explosive climax. Jeff bid us goodnight, simply stating, “We are The Tea Party, and we’re back.” And that my friends, is how you rock. _ALFRED GORMAN

THE SMASHING PUMPKINS Sugar Army

Challenge Stadium Thursday, July 26, 2012 Billy Corgan came to Perth to kick off the Oceania tour, and he wasn’t about to give you a greatest hits set. Not tonight, Bucko.

A band on a comeback trail of their own, Sugar Army won the support slot for tonight’s show and they weren’t about to let this opportunity pass them by. The five-piece showed off songs old and new and they played as if their lives depended on it. New songs such as Will You Follow and Hooks For Hands sounded incredible. Both of these songs are hits and they should be played on radio stations that are bring Seattle back to Perth, or something. A rejuvenated reading of Now You’re Old Enough I Think That You Should Know was perhaps its best rendition yet. Sugar Army has always been a bit too talented to be another local indie band, hopefully Summertime Heavy takes them to that next level and gets them back on those main stages Australia-wide.

Karnivool (Photo: Courtney McAllister)

KARNIVOOL Sleepmakeswaves/Redcoats The Rosemount Hotel Sunday, July 30, 2012 Experienced punters know that, as an axiom, the last gig of a tour is frequently the best, and so expectations were high for the last show of a soldout three night stint at The Rosemount Hotel for local rockers Karnivool.

The place was packed out from early on – a little surprising, considering that proceedings were scheduled to start at 6.30pm, a notably early kicking off point for a big-name act like Karnivool.

Sydney four piece sleepmakewaves opened with a solid instrumental set. From the getgo, their accomplished musicianship was readily apparent, and they crafted an epic, thunderously heavy soundscape, built on a foundation of rolling drums that could be felt through the floor. It was the soundtrack to the greatest movie you’ve never seen.

Redcoats mounted the stage next, and were the standout of the night. Hailing from Melbourne, they channel an infectious ‘70s rock groove. Lead singer Emilio Mercuri works the mike like a genuine rock star, and the rest of the band all but worship their instruments onstage. They love themselves, but not in a mean or overly narcissistic

sense; they’re in love with themselves as a group, and what they can accomplish as a band - as every good rock band should be.

By the time Karnivool got onstage – a good 20 minutes late, but nobody seemed to mind – the place was full. There’s something to be said for home ground advantage, after all. A rapturous roar greeted the band as they took to the stage and launched into a solid, hard rocking set. After 15 years, Karnivool have refined themselves into a tight, tempestuous, live presence. You don’t get dropped notes and apologetic half smiles with these guys; you get a nonstop barrage of hard alternative rock. Ian Kenny remains an engaging frontman, energetic and committed, and the rest of the group are no slouches, either.

And yet,after the quality of the two support acts, there’s a tinge of disappointment. Karnivool are good, there’s no doubt about that, but they rarely venture outside of the stylistic parameters they set for themselves long ago. With the ‘Vool, you get what you’re given, and if you’re not on board with that, too bad. Some new tracks from their upcoming album got an airing, which is all to the good, but they’re new as in young, not new as in different.

Still, there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with giving the crowd what they want, and it was obvious that the assembled fandom got exactly what they wanted. Karnivool remain a beloved fixture in Perth’s music culture, and that’s not going to change any time soon. _TRAVIS JOHNSON

You’ve got to hand it to Billy Corgan and his hired guns known as The Smashing Pumpkins.

They’ve just released a new album, and guess what?

They’re going to play it from start to finish because tonight, tonight is the first night of the world tour in celebration of the album. Most bands of their stature wouldn’t do that, so it’s just too bad that the new album isn’t very good. The sound on much of Oceania, and in tonight’s set, is reminiscent of the rockier songs on Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie, and each of the players on stage were absolute guns as most of the time they’re all working double time to help create the band’s massive wall of sound. But their new songs like Quasar and Panopticon aren’t any good. What is good is the band’s love of gigantic spheres and ‘mapping technology’. It was a far cry from their last show in Perth when they played in a big ol’ lecture theatre in the city because when they did finally make it to the end of the album, they played their most well known songs(Bullet With Butterfly Wings, Disarm, Tonight Tonight, Today), along with a Bowie cover for good measure. _MATTHEW HOGAN

HIDDEN TREASURES Kim Salmon/Tim Gordon/Gunns FTI Saturday, July 27, 2012 Gunns are mining the history of guitar pop in a fashion that’s less reverent than it is referential; there’s one tune that sounds like Ride by the Vines, there’s one that has the Spector beat, one with the motorik, and one that talks about sunshine a lot. Of course, tropes aren’t intrinsically problematic – take, for example, Ty Segall and Thee Oh Sees, who are making a living out of reheating Nuggets until the flavours bleed. What sets those gruppes apart is how they bring a sense of gleeful insanity to their source material, the joy of unpacking the past and reshaping it in your own image. I guess the nonchalance in most of Gunns’ songwriting would be alright if they had some level of charisma or conviction going on, but it’s not scanning for me.They’re good, but they are playing a very low stakes game.

For me, Tim Gordon embodies everything bad about Jeff Buckley (i.e. everything), but I get the strong sensation that what I see wrong with Buckley (and ergo Gordon) would be precisely the base of their appeal. In any case, this is not an argument I’m going to win here. That said, his band were impossibly dexterous in fitting a canvas wide enough to plausibly contain and render dynamic Gordon’s blank swell – apparently the drummer was just a fill-in for the night, but he’s definitely a keeper.

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Backing returning hero Kim Salmon up for the night were Pete Stone from The Trophy Wives on bass and Todd Pickett from The Kill Devil Hills on drums, who were fierce; in particular, Stone’s bass sounded like a three metre thick chainsaw that ran on a mixture of good times and hate. They opened with Dropout (a tune he and James Baker gave to the Beasts Of Bourbon three decades ago), which made Salmon’s intentions clear from the outset; yep, he’s as loud as he ever was, and determined to be as youthful.

He’s got a deep back catalogue, and the trio was more than up to the task of exploring it, confining the set mostly to the hits. The eternally mindblowing Last Night was requested by the audience and duly delivered, as Salmon and co. tore through it in a fashion that stripped paint off the original recording. The band meandered at points, choosing a few less-well regarded numbers, but the Surrealists’ classic Desensitised was a mind-boggling highlight, purring with sinewy menace, as was Frantic Romantic.

As one might expect, the room was mostly packed with people who would have been alive to experience The Scientists/Mannikins/Cheap Nasties/ Surrealists at the time, but that certainly didn’t mean the energy levels in the room dimmed at any point; I haven’t seen that many ecstatic, drunk, excited middleaged dudes since my aunt got married. To the guy who smelt like vomit as he whispered in my ear asking where the facilities were – I hope you found them. Isn’t that what rock and roll is all about? _ALEX GRIFFIN X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

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Tame Impala

SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS Belongil Fields, Byron Bay Friday, July 27, ‘til Sunday, July 29, 2012

Tent, Melbourne beat-maker Chet Faker and his band enticed fans with his chilled out, acousticelectronica and soulful vocals, which saw the solid “Splendour In The Mud” is how Melbourne straight- crowd sway and head-bop to Solo Sunrise and I’m talking rapper 360 accurately put it. Dead set. Byron Into You off his debut EP Thinking In Textures. Sydney Bay officially sold out of gumboots last Saturday DJ and producer Flume bought some instrumental morning after punters who chose not to wear hip hop to the Mix Up Tent and he looked happy wellies for the first day of the 12th annual Splendour behind the decks, revving up the growing crowd.

In The Grass desperately scrambled to snatch up a Bertie Blackman’s new tunes didn’t go last minute pair of “fishermen” or “butcher” boots as down as well as the indie pop songstress’s raw, gritty some folk drunkenly described them. But, who knew and synthy tracks from her 2009 record Secrets And it would hail randomly for half an hour last Friday Lies, particularly the familiar Heart. But, if you wanted afternoon while Sydney DJ Alison Wonderland to rock out a bit more, Spiderbait were owning the smashed out Jay Z & Kanye West’s Niggas In Paris in main stage, putting on a mental show filled with the Mix Up tent and DZ Deathrays delighted early all their classic hits including Buy Me A Pony, Fucken punters on the main stage.

Awesome and the epic Black Betty which induced Melbourne rockers and Unearthed communal limb-thrashing as the smell of weed winners Kingswood kicked off Friday with a permeated the growingly chilly evening. Fans of The superb set which saw Triple J’s Lindsay ‘The White Stripes were treated during Jack White’s set Doctor’ McDougall join them on stage and heads which saw Seven Nation Army go off but not before bop during their current hits Medusa and Yeah he enlightened the audience with tunes from his Go Die. Meanwhile, over in the GW McLennan fresh solo record Blunderbuss.

Saturday saw comedian Wil Anderson interview The Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan in the Forum Tent with Corgan touching on the evolvement of technology in the music industry, his interest in wrestling and how his arrogance has slowly disappeared over the years.

Southampton trio Band Of Skulls drew a big crowd, powering through their catchy rock’n’roll tunes from recently released sophomore record Sweet Sour. Russell Marsden’s (vocalist/ guitarist) epic voice could be heard roughly 300 metres away at Totally Delicious Pizza (big snaps to them for providing a brilliant feast!). There were sound clashes later in the night as 360 drew the biggest crowd besides Bloc Party and Lana Del Rey for the day, with the crowd singing along from the moment the melody for Killer pumped through the speakers and Miike Snow trying to sonically compete with Silvia.

Lana Del Rey had punters in the palm of her hand, wearing what appeared to resemble a wedding dress and taking a break mid-set to have a cigarette. But, the loved songstress can sing – Born To Die and the popular Video Games went off... well as much as they could with three violinists and Del Ray’s droning, soulful vocals floating out into the Govindas’ smelling air.

Ball Park Music, Django Django and Fun. got fans psyched up early on Sunday. There’s no doubt frontman of Fun. Nate Reuss can put on a show and fans loved it, singing and screaming along to popular tracks We Are Young and Some Nights. Canadian indie rockers Metric endured a few sound issues which disrupted their unusual set, leaving some fans feeling a little unsatisfied as the four-piece finished with Stadium Love. But, front-woman Emily Haines is mesmerising to watch and that was enough for most. The Kooks drew a massive crowd on the main stage, mixing up their rocking set with tracks from Inside In / Inside Out and last year’s Junk Of The Heart.

But, it was The Smashing Pumpkins which made for an epic conclusion to three days of mayhem. Frontman Billy Corgan is a total boss.

Beginning with a Kiss cover of Black Diamond, the alternative rockers powered through Bullet With Butterfly Wings, the title track off their recently released record Oceania, the popular Disarm, 1979 and Rhinoceros.

Aside from the mud and occasional toilet queue, Splendour In The Grass 2012 was just that – splendid. Some folk even got married; that’s how grand it was. _ANNABEL MACLEAN

MUSTANG BAR

The Mustang Bar is home to original live music every Thursday night! This Thursday, August 2, Blazin’ Entrails, The Shakeys, and Branston Tramps will tear up the stage before DJ James MacArthur takes over to spin the decks ‘til late.

CHRISTMAS CHEER The Paddo Saturday, July 28, 2012

INDI BAR

It’s ladies night this Wednesday, August 1, with cheap champagne and tunes from some of Perth’s finest ladies – Edie Green, Nicola Milan and Waiting for Bliss.

On Sunday, August 5, catch a very intimate and special solo performance from Thirsty Merc frontman Rai Thistlewayte. Tickets available from Ticketmaster.

Anyone who wandered past The Paddo last weekend would have witnessed a sea of red, white and green; as punters flocked to the Mt Hawthorn venue to ring in Xmas in July. Cheeky Monkeys took to the stage to raise some festive cheer, while Santa greeted guests and dished out gifts.

YA YA’S

Photographs by Dan Grant

Roshima & Ricky

This Wednesday, August 1, is Community Stereo, a monthly night ran by DJ Paul Burgess, consisting of retro classics, northern soul and danceable Indie. First four to mention Community Stereo over the bar receive a cocktail! Fat Free Fridays is back and is bringing you three local perth bands for FREE! First four to walk through on Friday, August 3, and mention Fat Free Fridays receive a Pint of Coopers!

AMPLIFIER

Children Collide’s third studio album Monument was released a few months ago. To support the release of the new record, the guys will take to the road checking into Amps this Friday, August 3, and Saturday, August 4.

Tickets from oztix.com.au or head to our ‘WIN’ page to win a double pass!

Darren, Aishia & Shona

MULLALOO BEACH HOTEL

Kerryn & Matt

Chad, Sam, Dave & Carly

The Mullaloo Beach Hotel is heating up for the summer with live music, DJs and special guests. Get down to this great northern coastal venue this Friday, August 3, for cheap drinks during happy hour from 6pm ‘til 7pm then stick around for some fantastic live entertainment as Easy Operator spin on all your favourite songs. What a way to kick off your weekend!

MOJO’S BAR

Thursday,August 2,sees Matt Gresham playing his trusty guitar and singing with hits incredibly beautiful voice.

Friday, August 3, catch Fisherman Style and Saturday, August 4, Chet Faker hits the stage with support from Leure, Shy Panther and DJ Audageous. Mojo’s is giving away double passes to this show, simply email mojos@ coolperthnights.com with “Chet me” in the subject line.

PADDO Shaun, Michelle, John & Rob 40

Melanie, Caitlin, Lisa & Steph

Tonight, Wednesday August 1, Paddo POW features live artists Dove, James Rogers and James Hall. The night kicks off at 8pm and as always entry is free.

Bloc Party

At The Drive-In (Photos: Stephen Booth)

HYDE PARK HOTEL

Head down to student/indie night THursty this Thursday, August 2, and catch local cover band LIXY. The night kicks off at 8pm and as usual entry is free.

On Friday, August3, Jamie Powers will help get you in the mood for the weekend with a kicking afternoon set, and from 9pm The Sensitive Drunks, Adem Ks Community Chest, Sean Pollard and Adam Livingston perform live on stage. Saturday, August 4, features Wizard Sleeve, Atticus Fitch, The Shallows, The Shakeys.

ROSEMOUNT HOTEL

The Rosemount Hotel hosts a rare afternoon show this Saturday, August 4. Catch Cavefire Cinema, Foam, Wash, Second Winter and One Armed Scissor from 1pm for only $5 entry. To win a double pass to this show email win@rosemounthotel.com.au with ‘Win’ in the subject line.

RAILWAY HOTEL

This Friday, August 3, catch P Is For Pumpernickel, Astro Lix, Under The Covers and In Orbit. Saturday, August 4, you’ll find Something Humble, Empty Pocket, When Summer Ends and The Littlest Fox. Sunday, August 5, catch Melbourne rockers Empra with special guests Hailmary and Nevsky Prospekt.

COURT HOTEL

The Court Hotels Super Sexy Saturdays are one big club night every Saturday night. Get yourself on the door list with free entry this Saturday, August 4, by emailing win@xpressmag.com.au with ‘I’m Super Sexy’ in the subject line.

EAST END BAR

We can get you on the door list to The Prestige, a night of house, funk and electro, this Thursday, August 2, after 10pm by simply emailing win@xpressmag.com.au with‘Prestige’in the subject line.

SAIL & ANCHOR

With $7 Dry Dock pints all week plus $15 lunch specials from Monday to Friday, the Sail & Anchor is where it’s at!

NEWPORT HOTEL

To celebrate the Newport’s refurb, the generous folks are giving away an ultimate function pack to one lucky reader and their friends, with the winner getting to choose from one of the snazzy new rooms in which to host a three hour event, with a $300 bar tab, security hire and VIP drink deals all night. To go into the draw to win this fantastic package email zoe@thenewport.com with ‘ultimate function’ in the subject line.

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

HYTE The Right Progression Progressive rockers Hyte are gearing up to launch their debut, self-titled EP this Friday, August 3, at The Rosemount Hotel with support from The Devil Rides Out, Sure Fire Midnights and Between Oceans. Ahead of the gig, guitarist/vocalist Grant Touchell chatted with AARON CORLETT.

Hyte

THE SENSITIVE DRUNKS Glass Half Full

New kids on the block The Sensitive Drunks have only a handful of gigs under their belt, but the names involved in the outfit have been in and around Perth music for over a decade.

CHRIS HAVERCROFT spoke to the face of the band Sebastian Guazzelli – a man who doesn’t do things by halves - before the launch of their debut album Hill And Hay at the Hyde Park Hotel, this Friday, August 3.

Most people start a band in their 20s and get into band promotion later in life. Sebastian Guazzelli did it the other way around.

After forming in 2007, prog-rock trio Hyte felt like the time was ready to get some of their material into the open.

“Having played for a few years shaping our sound, writing tunes and gigging we got the right group of songs to make a solid recording. It all came from wanting to jam and get our buzz on,” Touchell says. “We love playing live and letting loose but opening things up with recording and writing is always tantalising.”

As Touchell attests, the experience of recording their first EP with renowned local producer Rob Grant at Poon’s Head Studio was a real learning curve. “We gained a lot of experience, and have shaped a new perspective on the recording process. We’ve surpassed ourselves in ways but also seen flaws looking back,” he says. “Rob is a kooky guy, so we all naturally got it flowing. First we Guazzelli is the brains behind Veeline Records which spawned The Panics and released the compilation Signals that has become part of Perth indie folklore, and were instrumental in the inaugural all day free entry event Hail! Hail! Hail!. A man with that type of history has plenty of stories to tell.

“We had an office upstairs at the Grosvenor from which we ran Veeline Records,” clarifies Guazzelli of those heady years.“We used to have drinks up there and one afternoon a young Katy Steele dropped off a CD. We hosted her first live gig the week before. When she left I flung it off the second storey below. Apparently she picked it up on the way out. So the story goes.”

There were some successes to come out of the release of Signals though as rumours are that Quietly Suburban singed the Tucker B’s on the strength of their track on that release.

With rumour having it that they flipped a coin between them and The Panics to see who they would sign.

With egos between some of the bands at the time rearing their head, and Guazzelli taking a lot of if on board internally, his mental health took a severe blow. “I had a meltdown and spent six weeks in Bentley Hospital as a mental patient. I had the gown that half covers your arse. After that I was diagnosed with alcoholism, ADD, depression, and bounced around from doctor to doctor. During this time I would always keep an ear out for when the Veeline bands were playing. I’d always get dressed to go but would never. I guess I was too embarrassed – I felt like I had let them down.”

From a very young age Guazzelli was

did the live rhythm tracks and then delved into experimentation with guitar tones and other juicy goods.”

Touchell describes the Hyte sound as an “antipasto of rock, with a range of seasoned samples” and says he is excited to release their new material to local music lovers. “We are really stoked to be getting our music out there. It’s always fun seeing something come to life.”

Fans can expect to hear the EP in full, plus some extras at their EP launch at The Rosemount Hotel this Friday. “[Expect] some fresh tasty tracks and juicy groove jams throughout the set plus some new merch and a killer line-up,” Touchell says, adding that the band are keen to head back into the recording studio later this year to record some new tracks, when time permits of course: “We’ve got a lot of shows coming up first though.”

The Sensitive Drunks always writing lyrics and verse after verse that he would put onto tape. It is the result of all these years old musical sketches that make up the majority of the songs on Hill And Hay. It was all the years of having his manic depression undiagnosed that lead to such a delay in these songs seeing the light of day… until now.

“The reason why I finally got a band together is I found the right medication which released me from my paranoia. Once this happened and I felt ‘normal’ - things just clicked into place. I had been wanting to record an album my entire life, so when I was actually capable of doing it, I threw a band together. We hardly rehearsed and we found ourselves in the studio. The tracks for the album were finished within weeks. The album is definitely manic and a reflection of my state of mind.”

LET THE FESTIVITIES BEGIN

This Friday, August 3, will see the first heat of AmpFest 2012 happening at St Oswald’s Church in Swanbourne from 7pm. Competing for a place in the AmpFest Final Showcase will be Bears And Dolls, Nosey Parker, Avie Brown, Jessica Morhall and Lillium Stargazer who’ll each showcase their wares in a massive night of live music.

RAI OF SUNSHINE

Seams

PUT A LYREBIRD ON IT

You know the story: Seams wrote a song, they recorded it, and now they want to share it with the world. They also want to have a party in the process. Join them in releasing new single Lyrebird into the wild this Sunday, August 5, at The Bird from 6pm. Support comes from MmHmMm, kučka and DJ Musako.

EASY LIKE SUNDAY EVENING

Forget about Monday morning and have your mind blown on a Sunday at Geisha Bar. This Sunday, August 5, feel your brains drip from your earholes as the weirdness of Crooks, Frozen Ocean and I Of Ra combine for a night of good vibes and epic tunes.

GOOEY ON THE INSIDE

Five of Perth’s heaviest outfits are banding together to Mosh For A Cure this Saturday, August 4, at the Swan Basement. Pyromesh, Empires Laid Waste, Storm The Shores, Blunt Force Trauma and We Run With Wolves are hoping to raise much needed funds for the WA Cancer Council. There will be a door prize, raffles and a silent auction, as well as a bunch of merch available on the night. All proceeds will go to this worthy cause., so harden up and head out to show your support. www.xpressmag.com.au

Three of WA’s best have been plucked from the masses to support Thirsty Merc frontman Rai Thistlewayte during his intimate solo show this week.

Kevin Curran (of Hail Mary fame) will kick things off at the Charles Hotel on Friday, August 3, then Nymph Honey’s Rob Walker will open proceedings at The Boulevard Tavern, on Saturday, August 4. Damien Cripps will play a solo set early in the evening at the Indi Bar on Sunday, August 5.Tickets are available from the respective venues and Ticketmaster.

WINTER WONDERLAND

The folks at The Rosemount Hotel understand how hard it is to get motivated to go out and catch some live tunes on a freezing winter’s eve, so they’re putting on an arvo of tunes this Saturday, August 4. Roll out of bed and catch Cavefire Cinema, Foam, Wash, Second Winter and One Armed Scissors from 1pm.

TRAIL BLAZERS

This week sees Blazin’ Entrails suit up twice to bring local music lovers two very different performances. They’ll be tearing up the Mustang Bar on Thursday, August 2, with Branston Tramps and The Shakeys for a full tilt rock’n’roll set, before hitting the Hyde Park Hotel on Saturday, August 4, for an intimate acoustic set spanning their entire back catalog and a few surprise covers thrown in for good measure.

BE KIND REWIND

Electro pop wunderkids kučka will be launching their video for Rewind this Friday, August 3, upstairs at Paper Mountain. Support comes from Ben Witt (The Chemist) and Wa$abi Pea$ and superstar DJs Jo Lettenmaier, Andrew Sinclair and Labradude. Entry is $10 and apparently there’ll be free booze (while it lasts) so it’s best to get there bang on 8pm.

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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.

Children Collide, August 2, Prince Of Wales & August 3-4 Amplifier Bar

THIS WEEK

12 Perth Concert Hall NASUM / DYSCARNATE

MARK GARDENER 15 Amplifier Bar / JAE LAFFER (THE TRANSIT 15 YMCA HQ PANICS) 16 Amplifier Bar 1 Fly By Night

THE BEAUTIFUL GIRLS 15 Prince Of Wales 16 Settlers Tavern 17 & 18 Fly By Night TONI CHILDS 15 Bunbury Regional 2 Bunbury Entertainment Centre Entertainment 16 Fly By Night Club 17 Goldfields Arts Centre Centre Kalgoorlie 18 Esperance Civic Centre CHILDREN 19 Albany Entertainment COLLIDE / DUNE Centre RATS / BAD STONEFIELD 16 Newport DREEMS OWL EYES 2 Prince Of Wales Artbar 3 & 4 Amplifier Bar 16 HUNTING GROUNDS 16 Prince Of Wales 17 Amplifier RAI HOODS THISTLETHWAYTE HILLTOP Challenge Stadium 2 Friends Restaurant 17 OWL EYES / STONEFIELD 3 Charles Hotel 17 Settlers Tavern 4 The Blvd Joondalup 18 Studio 146 Albany 5 Indi Bar NORTH WEST FESTIVAL (Hilltop Hoods, The Living End, The Cat EMPRA Empire, Regurgitator, 3 Rocket Room Dead Letter Circus, and 4 Prince Of Wales more) 18 Port Hedland Turf Club RUFUS CHET FAKER 18 Amplifier 3 The Bakery 19 Newport Hotel 4 Mojos Bar GEORGE GARZONE 18 & 19 The Ellington KENNY ROGERS / GLEN BAND OF CAMPBELL FREQUENCIES 21 Riverside Theatre 3 Prince Of Wales ADAM PAGE 21 The Ellington 4 Qunidanning 23 Albany Entertainment Tavern Centre 5 Mojos Bar BURNING LOVE 22 The Den SNAKADAKTAL HERMAN’S HERMITS 22 Friends Restaurant 4 Astor Theatre PASSENGER / THE FALLS 22 Rosemount Hotel THE BRIDE PITBULL / TAIO CRUZ 4 C5 Metropolis / HAVANA BROWN / TIMOMATIC Fremantle 23 Burswood Dome 5 YMCA HQ DANIEL GASSIN 23 The Ellington ED SHEERAN ALPINE 23 Newport Hotel 6 Riverside Theatre 24 Prince Of Wales 25 The Bakery JOE MCKEE TIM BARRY / JOSH SMALL 24 Rosemount Hotel BONNIWELLS 8 The Den JINJA SAFARI / OPOSSOM 24 Velvet Lounge 25 Dada Records / WHITE ARROWS 26 Mojos Bar 8 The Bakery BAND OF FREQUENCIES HETTY KATE 25 The Ellington 8 Indi Bar THE PHARCYDE 10 Settlers Tavern 11 White Star Hotel Albany 25 Capitol 12 Clancy’s Dunsborough SPLIT SECONDS 25 Amplifier BELL BIV DEVOE / PSEUDO ECHO GINUWINE 25 Charles Hotel 9 Astor Theatre THE LAURELS BOB BARRETT 25 Mojos Bar 9 The Ellington MARIA MINERVA EVEN 26 Maylands Yacht Club 9 Prince Of Wales PER PURPOSE / RITES 10 Rosemount Hotel WILD 11 Mojos Bar 27 Galleria East Perth 12 Indi Bar TERRIBLE TRUTHS / PER ICEHOUSE PURPOSE 10 Astor Theatre 28 Dada Records 11 Strike A Chord Ball PENNYWISE / THE Burswood HOUSE VS HURRICANE / MENZINGERS / SHARKS CONFESSION / IN HEARTS 29 Metropolis Fremantle SLASH FEAT. MYLES WAKE KENNEDY & THE 10 Prince Of Wales CONSPIRATORS 11 Amplifier 30 Metro City 12 YMCA HQ ILLY KATE MILLER-HEIDKE / 31 Metropolis Fremantle THE BEARDS TIM HART 11 Astor Theatre 31 The Ellington HOLY BALM THE SMITH STREET BAND 11 PICA Bar JONWAYNE / MONO/POLY 31 Rosemount Hotel PSYCROPTIC 11 Mojos Bar 31 Amplifier Bar TOMMY EMMANUEL

DENI HINES / MONIQUE MONTEZ

AUGUST

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The Beautiful Girls, August 15-18

Pennywise, August 29, Metropolis Fremantle

EMMYLOU HARRIS 6 Perth Concert Hall TIM HART JOE BONAMASSA JOSH PYKE 1 Newport Hotel 1 Perth Concert Hall ILLY PARKLIFE (The Presets, 8 Artbar 1 Capitol Nero, Passion Pit, Plan CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE THE ENGLISH BEAT B, Rusko, Tame Impala, BAND 1 Astor Theatre Chiddy Bang, Robyn, and 8 Fly By Night PSYCROPTIC more) GEORGE MICHAEL 1 Eliot Street Bar Bunbury 1 Wellington Square 10 Perth Arena 2 Newport Hotel NEKROMANTIX HOWARD JONES ELTON JOHN 2 Rosemount Hotel 5 Astor Theatre DEFEATER / BLACKLISTED 12 Perth Arena JOSE FELICIANO 3 Amplifier SIGUR ROS 5 Regal Theatre 4 YMCA HQ 13 Belvoir Amphitheatre THE BEACH BOYS MARTIKA NICKELBACK / JACKSON 6 Burswood Dome 4 Metropolis Fremantle FIREBIRD MILLIONS OH MERCY 7 Amplifier 4 Settlers Tavern 17 Perth Arena DAMIEN LEITH 5 Norfolk Basement STEREOSONIC (Tiësto, 7 Mandurah Performing 6 The Bakery Avicii, Calvin Harris, Arts Centre SETH SENTRY Example, Carl Cox, Major 8 Astor Theatre 4 Studio 146 Albany Lazer, and more) THE MEDICS 5 Prince Of Wales 8 Amplifier 25 Claremont 6 Rosemount Hotel URTHBOY 7 Norfolk Hotel Showgrounds 8 Rosemount Hotel KELLY CLARKSON / THE ROTTOFEST (Millions and FRAY more) 5 Challenge Stadium 8 & 9 Rottnest Island HYPERFEST (line-up TBA) JUSTINE CLARKE SUBHUMANS 7 Midland Oval 12 Amplifier THE AMITY AFFLICTION 1 Astor Theatre JONAH MATRANGA SIMPLE MINDS / DEVO / / THE GHOST INSIDE / 12 Amplifier THE CHURCH / MODELS ARCHITECTS AMERICA 7 & 8 Metropolis Fremantle 4 Kings Park & Botanical 12 Perth Concert Hall CANNIBAL CORPSE / Garden PATRICK WOLF DISENTOMB / ENTRAILS KASEY CHAMBERS/ 14 Fly By Night ERADICATED SHANE NICHOLSON KATCHAFIRE 9 Capitol 14 Astor Theatre 5 Albany Entertainment NICKI MINAJ / TYGA 15 Settlers Tavern 9 Burswood Dome Centre 16 Prince Of Wales STEEL PANTHER 6 Civic Centre Esperance EARTH / MARGINS 11 Metro City 7 Goldfields Arts Centre 15 Rosemount Hotel PAUL CAPSIS 8 Mundaring Weir Hotel JASON BONHAM’S LED 11 Artbar MISSY HIGGINS ZEPPELIN EXPERIENCE MUMFORD & SONS / 15 Challenge Stadium EDWARD SHARPE & THE 8 Fremantle Arts Centre RUFUS WAINWRIGHT MAGNETIC ZEROS / WILLY REGINA SPEKTOR 19 Riverside Theatre MASON 19 Belvoir Amphitheatre WHEATUS 12 & 13 Belvoir 20 Metropolis Fremantle Amphitheatre MYSTERY JETS THIS IS NOWHERE (line20 Capitol up TBA) FEAR FACTORY 14 Somerville Auditorium SOUTHBOUND (The 20 Capitol Flaming Lips, SBTRKT, COUNT BASIE GIAN SLATER ORCHESTRA Best Coast, Beach House, 21 & 22 The Ellington 14 Perth Concert Hall Boy & Bear, Coolio, HANSON EVERCLEAR The Vaccines, Bombay 22 Metropolis Fremantle 14 Capitol Bicycle Club, First Aid Kit, THIS IS NOWHERE GYROSCOPE (Tortoise, Xiu Xiu, Grails, Hilltop Hoods, Hot Chip, 22 Rosemount Hotel Beach Fossils, The Bank Maximo Park, Millions, XAIVER RUDD Totally Enormous Extinct 25 Goldfields Arts Centre Holidays, HTRK, Puro Instinct, High Tea, New Kalgoorlie Dinosaurs, and more 26 Esperance Civic Centre War and more) TBA) 28 Albany Entertainment 14 Somerville Auditorium 4 & 5 Sir Stewart Bovell and surrounds Centre Park Busselton 29 Fremantle Arts Centre KARISE EDEN SANDI THOM 30 Caves House Yallingup 16 & 17 St Joseph’s Church Subiaco 10 Fly By Night HIGH WOLF TODD MCKENNEY NIGHTWISH 27 PICA Bar 18 & 19 Astor Theatre 20 Metropolis Fremantle TIM ROGERS CLARE BOWDITCH 27 Clancy’s Dunsborough 20 Astor Theatre WEEZER 28 Fly By Night Club 23 Perth Arena PAUL HEATON 29 Rosemount Hotel BIG DAY OUT (Red 21 Fly By Night JULIA STONE BASTARDFEST(Astriaal, Hot Chili Peppers, The 28 Astor Theatre Fuck I’m Dead, Killers, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, STEPHEN MALKMUS & Desecrator, and more) Vampire Weekend, Band THE JICKS 27 Civic Hotel Of Horses, Kaskade, 28 Rosemount Hotel THE LIGHTHOUSE TRIO Animal Collective, AARON GOLDBERG 27 & 28 The Ellington 28 & 29 The Ellington Against Me!, 360, Foals, SUNN O))) / PELICAN KATIE NOONAN & KARIN 28 Capitol B.O.B, Sleigh Bells, Jeff ROCK IT (The Black Keys, The Brotherhood, Off!, SCHAUPP John Butler Trio, Birds Of 28 Winthrop Hall UWA Grinspoon, Jagwar Ma, 29 Mandurah Performing Tokyo, The Panics Lanie Delta Spirit, Everytime I Lane, Last Dinosaurs, Arts Centre Die, House Vs Hurricane, Royal Headache, SIX60 Graveyard Train, Brothers Alabama Shakes, and 29 Metro City Grim, The Toot Toot more) SHIHAD Toots, and more) 28 Amplifier 28 Claremont 28 Joondalup Arena 30 Mojos Bar Showgrounds WAVE ROCK WEEKENDER (Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, Tim Rogers, Shihad, HOT CHELLE RAE / CHER and more TBA) LLOYD ED SHEERAN 29 - 30 Wave Rock Caravan 1 Challenge Stadium 23 Challenge Stadium Park BILLY BRAGG RUSSIAN CIRCLES / 2 Astor Theatre EAGLE TWIN AT THE GATES 30 The Bakery 3 Capitol ONE DIRECTION FEAR FACTORY THE LIVING END 1-7 Rosemount Hotel 28 & 29 Perth Arena 30 Capitol

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

DECEMBER

JANUARY 2013

NOVEMBER

FEBRUARY

SEPTEMBER

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

www.xpressmag.com.au

43

Nicola Milan, Wednesday at Indi Bar

WEDNESDAY 01.08 AMPLIFIER The Academy BALMORAL Pat Nicholson BAR 120 Felix BRASS MONKEY Sugar Blue Burlesque CLANCY’S CANNING BRIDGE Kirsty Hulka Dillip Parekh CLANCY’S FREMANTLE Chet Leonard’s Bingotheque CLAREMONT HOTEL Open Mic Night ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB A Saucy Little Secret The Collaboratory GREENWOOD Stella Donnelly HALE ROAD TAVERN Fenton Wilde INDI BAR Ladies Night Eddie Green Nicola Milan Waiting For Bliss Reid & Nicki LUCKY SHAG Ben Merito MOJOS BAR Calectasia Mr & Sunbird Jesse Woodward MUSTANG Dakota PADDO Dove James Rogers James Hall PADDY HANNANS 5 Shots ROSEMOUNT The Decline Silver Lizard FAIM Latch Key Kids Leeches

The Shakeys, Thursday at Mustang Bar

ROSIE O’GRADY’S (NORTHBRIDGE) David Fyffe THE BROWN FOX Courtney Murphy THE MOON Sarah Pellicano Ellen Oosterbaan Jessica Morhall UNIVERSAL Strutt YAYA’S Paul Burgess

THURSDAY 02.08 BELGIAN BEER CAFÉ Chasing Calee BLVD TAVERN Grass Roots Tom Donkins Luke O’Connel BRASS MONKEY Rhythm Bound Karaoke BROOKLANDS TAVERN Celebrations Karaoke COMO HOTEL Courtney Murphy DEVILLES PAD Rock ‘N’ Roll Karaoke ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB A Saucy Little Secret Scott Tinkler HIGH WYCOMBE HOTEL Chris Murphy HYDE PARK HOTEL Lixy INDI BAR Bex’s Open Mic Night LOBBY LOUNGE (BURSWOOD) John Sandosham LUCKY SHAG James Wilson MARKET CITY TAVERN Hiatus Emily Roger Gomez Chrispy Nylon Retro Delux MOJOS BAR Matt Gresham

Sam Perry

SAM PERRY

JAMES IRELAND MEI SARASWATI JANE AZZOPARDI

THURSDAY, AUGUST 2

THE BIRD

44

Jordan McRobbie MUSTANG BAR The Blazin’ Entrails The Shakeys Branston Tramps NORFOLK BASEMENT The Aunts The Justin Walshe Folk Machine Spoonful Of Sugar OCEAN BEACH HOTEL Open Mic Night OXFORD HOTEL Johnny Taylor PADDY HANNANS Dr Bogus ROSEMOUNT The Witches Underground Hound The Cold Acre Colliders ROSIE O’GRADY’S (FREMANTLE) Clayton Bolger ROSIE O’GRADY’S (NORTHBRIDGE) Neil Colliss SOVEREIGN ARMS David Fyffe THE BIRD Sam Perry James Ireland Mei Saraswati Jane Azzopardi THE BOAT Jen De Ness THE BROOK Open Mic Night THE GATE One Trick Phonies THE SHED The Healy’s UNIVERSAL Off The Record WOODVALE Two Plus One YA YA’S Sean Pollard Jesse Woodward Todd Picket David & Nathalie

FRIDAY 03.08 7th AVENUE Midnight Rambler AMPLIFIER Children Collide BAILEY BAR Mod Squad BALLYS BAR The Mojos BALMORAL The Mojo’s BEAT NIGHTCLUB The Bride Anchored Aveira Skies BELMONT TAVERN James Wilson BENNYS Faces BENTLEY HOTEL Ezereve BLACK BETTYS Everlong BRASS MONKEY Stuart McKay BROKEN HILL HOTEL Nat Ripepi CAPTAIN STIRLING Bluebottles CARLISLE HOTEL Reload CHASE BAR Gotham City CIVIC HOTEL (THE DEN)

Sean Pollard, Thursday at Ya Ya’s

Nevada Pilot New Mono The Reductors Those Wretched Horses CLANCY’S CITY BEACH Belleville Gypsy Jazz CLANCY’S DUNSBOROUGH New Soundland CLANCY’S FREMANTLE Sugarchild The Whistling Dogs COMO HOTEL Christian Thompson CORNERSTONE Nicki Rose CRAFTSMAN Blaze EAST 150 Adam James EASTERN HOTEL Matt Milford ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB A Saucy Little Secret Jamie Oehlers’ Blowfish With Allira Wilson Ben Falle EMPIRE Karin Page Duo FUSE BAR Groove Karaoke GREENWOOD Cargo Beat HERDSMAN Shawne & Luc HIGH ROAD HOTEL Clayton Bolger Damien Cripps Band HYDE PARK HOTEL The Sensitive Drunks Adem Ks Community Chest Sean Pollard Adam Livingston INDI BAR Vdelli INDIAN OCEAN BREW Ben Merito KALAMUNDA HOTEL New Vintage LANGFORD ALEHOUSE Gaffa LOBBY LOUNGE (BURSWOOD) Pop Candy LYNWOOD ARMS Mustangs M ON THE POINT Johnny Taylor MARKET CITY TAVERN Matt Burke Ebonnie MOJOS BAR Firehouse Sound Simmo T EarthLink Sound Drummie Kritical MOON & SIXPENCE Soul Corporation MULLALOO BEACH HOTEL Easy Operator MUSTANG BAR Oz Big Band Cheeky Monkeys NEWPORT Party Rockers NORFOLK BASEMENT The Joe Black Trio Charlie McGee Mitch Becker Trio OXFORD HOTEL

Recliners PADDO Simon Kelly PADDY HANNANS Gun Shy Romeos PARAMOUNT Flyte PINK DUCK Chris Murphy PRINCESS ROAD TAVERN Free Radicals PRINCIPAL Dove RAILWAY HOTEL P Is For Pumpernickel Astro Lix Under The Covers In Orbit ROCKET ROOM Empra Hailmary Mantl Bad Shannon ROSE & CROWN Tod Woodward ROSEMOUNT Hyte The Devil Rides Out The Sure Fire Midnights Between Oceans ROSEY O’GRADY’S (FREMANTLE) Spyce ROSEY O’GRADY’S (NORTHBRIDGE) Neil Colliss SAIL & ANCHOR Switchback SOUTH ST ALE HOUSE Robbie King Karaoke SPRINGS TAVERN Greg Carter Karaoke SWAN LOUNGE Latch Key Kids Mat Cammarano Emily J SWINGING PIG Tandem Greg Carter THE BIRD Will Stoker & The Embers Dianas Vincent Gallows THE BOAT The Organ Grinders THE BROOK Chris Gibbs THE GATE Smoking Section THE SAINT Emmanuel THE SHED Kickstart UNIVERSAL Nightmoves THE VIC Jen De Ness VICTORIA PARK HOTEL Ivan Ribic WANNEROO TAVERN Clayton Bolger X-WRAY CAFÉ The Whistling Dogs Mel Hall YA YA’S Spilt Cities Kill Tell Angst Dead Owls

SATURDAY 04.08 ADMIRAL Sugarfield AMPLIFIER

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.

Easy Operator, Friday at Mullaloo Beach Hotel Children Collide BALLYS BAR Dove BALMORAL Retriofit BAILEY BAR Courtney Murphy & Murphy’s Lore BAR 120 Flyte BLVD TAVERN Rai Thistlewayte BEAT NIGHTCLUB Runaways BELGIAN BEER CAFÉ Christian Thompson BLACK BETTY’S J Babies BURSWOOD (PRIZE DRAW STAGE) Hi-NRG CIVIC HOTEL Tusk Severtone Into The Sea Forstora CIVIC HOTEL (THE DEN) The Bride Anchored Vanity Dyatlov Winterfold CLANCY’S CANNING BRIDGE Mister duo CLANCY’S CITY BEACH Jonny Nandez Hammond Explosion CLANCY’S DUNSBOROUGH Odette Mercy & Her Soul Atomics CLANCY’S FREMANTLE Freo Funk Club CLAREMONT HOTEL The Zydecats COMO HOTEL Ezereve EASTERN HOTEL John Talati ELEPHANT & WHEELBARROW Timeout ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB A Saucy Little Secret Penny King Quintet Jana Chanelle & The Prescription GREENWOOD Local Heroes HIGH ROAD HOTEL Dr Bogus HYDE PARK HOTEL Atticus Finch INDIAN OCEAN BREW CO The Mojos INDI BAR Zarm LAKERS The Organ Grinders LANGFORD ALEHOUSE Die Hard Karaoke LEOPOLD HOTEL Steve Hepple LOBBY LOUNGE (BURSWOOD) John & Shaun Sandosham

MOON & SIXPENCE Blaze M ON THE POINT Rhythm 22 MOJOS BAR Chet Faker Leure Shy Panther MUSTANG The Continentals Milhouse NEWPORT Kizzy Gravity NORFOLK BASEMENT EightoEight Whoa!gan Knofi PADDY HANNAN’S Decoy PARAMOUNT The Damien Cripps Band QUARIE BAR Electrophobia RAILWAY HOTEL Something Humble Empty Pocket When Summer Ends The Littlest Fox ROCKET ROOM Kickstart ROSEMOUNT (ARVO) Cavefire Cinema FOAM Wash Second Winter One Armed Scissor ROSEMOUNT (EVE) Further Earth The Love Junkies Frighteners Japanese Tongue Sisters ROSIE O’GRADY’S (FREMANTLE) Flavor ROSIE O’GRADY’S (NORTHBRIDGE) Blue Gene SAIL & ANCHOR Kickstart SOUTH ST ALEHOUSE Shawne & Luc SWAN BASEMENT Pyromesh Empires Laid Waste Storm The Shores Blunt Force Trauma From Isolation SWAN LOUNGE 12 Bars Past Goodnight TJ O’Donovan Curtis McEntree Acrossfall SWINGING PIG Cargo Beat Greg Carter THE BIRD Greyjoy Mulder PUCK THE BOAT 11:11 THE GATE Dirty Scoundrels THE SHED Huge THE VIC James Wilson UNIVERSAL Soul Corporation VERNON ARMS TAVERN Neil Adams WANNEROO TAVERN Greg Carter

www.xpressmag.com.au

Friday Friday Frighteners, Saturday at Travis Caudle Travis Caudle Rosemount Hotel FlyBy ByNight Night Fly WOODVALE TAVERN Chris Murphy & The Holy Rollers YAYA’S Loads The Stanleys

SUNDAY 05.08 7TH AVENUE Reckless Kelly BALLY’S BAR Greg Carter BALMORAL The Blackbirds BLVD TAVERN Solo Slam Sesh Annabell Dave Wallace Evan Webb David Lazarus Scott Ruthberg Hart Midnight Escapade BROKEN HILL HOTEL The Organ Grinders CAPTAIN STIRLING Christian Parkinson CARINE Wesley Goodlet Jamboree Scouts CHASE BAR James Wilson CLANCY’S FREMANTLE The Zydecats CLAREMONT HOTEL Sunday Driver COMO HOTEL Pat Nicholson EAST 150 BAR Jamie Powers ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Abbey-Foster-Falle EMPIRE CB3 HIGH ROAD HOTEL Nat Ripepi HIGH WYCOMBE HOTEL Matt Milford INDIAN OCEAN BREW CO Retriofit INDI BAR Rai Thistlewayte KALAMUNDA HOTEL Alitia Martin LAKERS TAVERN Jamie Powers LAST DROP TAVERN Kristen Kingwell M ON THE POINT Electrophobia MOJOS BAR (ARVO) Peter Bibby Jenny 5 Watt Aslett Shiny Joe’s Ringham’s Ask Jefferson MOJOS BAR (EVE) Band Of Frequencies Dilip & The Davs MUSTANG BAR Peter Busher & The Lone Rangers NEWPORT Tim Nelson Ashoka Neutral Native Epsilon PEEL ALE HOUSE John Shaw PIG & WHISTLE Acoustic Nights PINK DUCK Kevin Conway

Like Junk, Tuesday at Ya Ya’s

RAILWAY HOTEL Empra Hailmary Nevsky Prospekt ROSE & CROWN Christian Thompson ROSEY O’GRADY’S (NORTHBRIDGE) Jonathan Dempsey SAIL & ANCHOR Shawne & Luc SOUTH ST ALE HOUSE Anthony Nieves SOVEREIGN ARMS Ivan Ribic SPRINGS TAVERN James Morley SWAN BASEMENT Chronicle Legacy Of Supremacy One Armed Scissor Astro Pig Potent Remidies The Branson Tramps Misty Mountain Cavefire Cinema Benny Mayhem Second Winter SWAN LOUNGE Benny Mayhem The Bransontramps Potent Remedies One Armed Scissor Wrongtown SWINGING PIG Sophie Jane Adam James THE BIRD Seams MmHmMm Kucka THE GATE The Mojos Chris Gibbs Trio THE SAINT The Bluebottles THE SHED The Healy’s Blue Hornet TWO ROCKS TAVERN Neil Adams UNIVERSAL Retriofit VICTORIA PARK HOTEL

Neil Colliss WOODVALE TAVERN Good Karma

MONDAY 06.08 BRASS MONKEY James Wilson ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Hale School Jazz 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 07.08 ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Howard Levy LOBBY LOUNGE (BURSWOOD) John Sandosham LUCKY SHAG Christian Thompson MERRIWA TAVERN Celebrations Karaoke MOJOS BAR Brooklee Rose Cat Cat Cat Morgan Bain The Daniel Firkin Trio PADDO Simon Kelly PRINCE OF WALES Open Mic Night SETTLERS TAVERN Open Mic Night THE BIRD Fat Shans Open Mic Night TWO ROCKS TAVERN Jump For Joy Karaoke YA YA’S Like Junk Meth Leopard Badger & The Fox Late Night Satay

Hyte

HYTE

THE DEVIL RIDES OUT THE SURE FIRE MIDNIGHTS BETWEEN OCEANS

FRIDAY, AUGUST 3

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

MUSOS WANTED BASS PLAYER WANTED To join in electric Blues band. Needs to be reliable, love the Blues/Rock and have fun. Ring Wes 0405 455 133.

DRUMMER WANTED 40+ To complete newly formed cover band 70s-00s. We’re exp musos & we’re looking for someone who’s versitile & has a good work ethic. Ph 0430 695 287.

GUITARIST/ BACK UP VOCALIST WANTED For Alt Rock band Hostile Little Face.

Currently gigging. Must have own gear, love the tunes, live experience preferred.

Dedicated applicants only. Mitch 0439 679 947.

METAL BAND SEEKS NEW BASSIST Influences include Sepultura, Slayer, Fear Factory, Chimaira, Machine Head, Hatebreed & more. Send tx to 0422 442 368. Must be dedicated.

OPEN MIC NIGHT every Thursday night at Indi Bar. Just call Tash on 0458 095 364.

OPEN MIC NIGHT Every Tuesday night at the Craigie Tavern 8-11pm. Call Corey for bookings 0431 448 235 SINGER WANTED For new Perth based stoner Rock/Metal band. Influences BLS, Machine Head, Down. Link www.myspace. com/project61XX19. Ph 0412 417 301.

VOCALIST WANTED For Alt Rock covers band. Playing AIC, STP, PJ, QOTSA, Sound Garden, Audio Slave & Tea Party. Gigs waiting.

Interested parties please call Jarrod on 0424 448 289 for auditions.

PHOTOGRAPHY P R O J E C T P H OT O G R A P H Y P r o m o photography, studio, live, location.

Mike Wylie 0417 975 964 w w w. p ro j e c t p h o to g ra p hy. co m When its time to ice the cake...

PRODUCTION SERVICES * LIGHTING * AUDIO* STAGING * www. nightstarlightingaudio.com.au www. nightstarlightingaudio.com.au www. instandt.com.au www.instandt.com.au 9381 2363/ 9444 6651 CD & DVD MANUFACTURE Check out our latest CD & DVD specials online at www. procopy.com.au 9375 3902 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 Vox P.A’s and Funktion-One concert systems. Beat any quote. 9307 8594/ mob 0404 410 020. perthconcertsound.com.au.

PA HIRE, PRO SYSTEM, FULL FOLD BACK Experienced operator. Optional light show.

Fidelity sound on 0404 331 320.

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

G O L D D U S TCO N S T R U C T I O N . CO M Production, mixing, recording and composition for your music. Unique award winning skills to take songs from ideas to finished mixes or to fulfill the potential in existing ones. Located in Subiaco. $60 p/h. Andrew 0408 097 407 ORACLE SOUND RECORDING STUDIO Multitrack Studio In Osbourne Park Specialising In Punk, Metal and Hardcore.

Tracking, Mixing and Song Writing available. Matt 0420 308 935 or Jay 0410 383 630. www.oraclesound.com.au 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 SONGWRITERS! - UNLOCK YOUR SONGS’ POTENTIAL +FREE BAND APPRAISALS. UK Producer, 40,000+ hours studio experience. 20 yrs in London with bands and songwriters. Kicking arrangements, great studio and the ability to really listen will give your material the edge you need.

Call Jerry on 0405 653 338 or visit www. jerichomusic.com.au REHEARSAL STUDIOS AAA VHS REHEARSAL ROOMS Great facilities, great vibe & great price!!! Unit 5 /16 Peel Road, O’Connor. Phone 9418 5815 or 0413 732 885

BIGBEAT SOUND STUDIO Clean rooms, all new PA systems, air-con and good parking . Willetton Ph: 0425 698 117.

PLATINUM SOUND ROOMS Professional rehearsal rooms, airconditioned, quality PAs mob 0418 944 722 TUITION AAA CLEAVER ACADEMY OF VOICE Voice training for singers that really works.

All techniques including speech level.

Phone 9272 4497 mb 0417 928 998. ***GUITAR LESSONS*** The Guitar Specialist. Beg-adv, all styles and levels including bass. Cliff Lynton Guitar Institute.

Mt Lawley 9342 3484 / www.clifflynton.com BASS LESSONS Rock, funk & jazz. Tony Gibbs 9470 6131 DRUM LESSONS All styles, WAAPA prep.

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

GUITAR LESSONS For beginner students.

Learn how to start from the beginning, play your favourite songs, chords, solos and more. 6 years teaching experience. Guitars and Amps available for hire. Lessons in Duncraig, call Luke on 0400021560.

GUITARIST/VOCALIST SINCE 1980 Beginners-Intermediate. Results fast.

Visiting all suburbs. $40p/h. kinetikindred. com Ph: 0431 074 047.

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.

DJ FACTORY

Kosmic’s Chris Head with Dethtone winner Steve Dillon

DETHTONE GUITAR COMP

Kosmic Sound’s Dethtone Guitar comp ran for three weeks in X-Press and it got a huge response from our readers! We received thousands of entries to win an awesome Dethtone CL15M Electric Guitar Pack valued at $499. But in the end there can only be one lucky winner – and this time it was Steve ‘The Chillin’ Villian’ Dillon who will be rockin’ out on his brand new Dethtone! Congrats Steve – and thanks to our friends at Kosmic.

RHYTHMSONG 2012

Does four days spent singing, listening, performing and interacting with others sound like your cup of tea? This year’s RhythmSong music camp takes place at the Grass Roots Holiday Haven (79 Hughes Rd, Jarrahdale) on Thursday, August 23 ‘til Sunday, August 26. Key tutors will include Diana Clark, Eva Popov, Steve Richter, Marie O’Dwyer, Bec Bradley and guest artist Cathie Travers. See gyangodfrey.com for more detailed info about tutors and the workshops on offer.

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The fine folks at the DJ Factory in James Street, Northbridge are making the future of digital DJing readily accessible and it can be in your hands, button pushing with your very own magical music making fingertips for a very reasonable amount of cash money! For July and August only The DJ Factory will have a few sneaky special prices to get you all enticed. You can pick up the Traktor Kontrol S4 for just $899, the Maschine for just $449 and Maschine Mikro for just $299. They’ve also got the brand new Traktor Kontrol F1 hardware controller on special for just $280. There’s also new pricing for the latest Traktor Scratch A10 and A6 systems. Pick up the Traktor Scratch A10 for just $590 and the Traktor Scratch A6 for just $375.

Plus, if you already own Traktor 2 or purchase any Traktor DJ hardware you can get a free upgrade to the latest and greatest DJ software Traktor Pro 2.5! For full specs and details drop them a line at info@thedjfactory.com.au or call (08) 9228 1911.

For videos and tutorials on all Native Instruments gear click on over to native-instruments.com

ERNIE BALL SLINKY COBALT ELECTRIC GUITAR STRINGS

Engineered to maximize output and clarity, Ernie Ball Cobalt Slinky Guitar Strings are the latest innovation in string technology. Seeking to provide guitarists and bassists with a new voice, Cobalt strings provide an extended dynamic range, incredible harmonic response, increased low end, and crisp, clear highs.

Cobalt provides a stronger magnetic relationship between pickups and strings than any other alloy previously available. Cobalt Slinkys are also soft and silky to the touch, making string bending a breeze.

The Cobalt Series is clearly an improvement on its classic nickel-wound counterpart giving the player increased sustain, clarity and output. In addition, they resist sweat and moisture better and have unmatched flexibility when compared to other nickel wound strings. Some players may baulk at the $22.95 price tag for electric strings. At the end of the day though, how much is great tone worth? Mega Music are retailing the new Ernie Ball Cobalt Strings for just $13.50 as part of the store’s ‘cheaper than online’ string promotion. The new string series is available in each of the standard Slinky gauges.

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

www.xpressmag.com.au

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays