X-Press Magazine #1305

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

MONSTER MASH

Lady Gaga

CITY FOLK

Canada’s City And Colour will be their own headline show in addition to their appearance on the Groovin The Moo in Bunbury on Saturday, May 19. Lead by soulful frontman Dallas Green, they had a hugely successful Australian tour last year including a sold out date at the Astor Theatre. The former Alexisonfire guitarist/vocalist will showcase his acoustic/alternative/mellow rock side once again for fans at the Fremantle Arts Centre on Sunday, May 20. Grab your tickets from Heatseeker and the venue as soon as they go on sale on Thursday, February 23, as this is sure to sell out!

So Madonna is rumoured to be touring Australia next year... Who cares! Get with the now! Mother Monster is coming to a town near us! The global pop phenomenon that is Lady Gaga is set to finally return to Australia with her latest album Born This Way in tow.

Not only will she be infecting those ‘little monster’ brains with her latest collection of anthems but she’ll also be performing some of her hits from previous albums with the word ‘fame’ in them. No need to list any of the hits; you already know them and will no doubt be unleashing your inner monsters when she starts touring Australia. That is if you’re quick enough to snag a ticket. Ms Gaga is bringing The Born This Way Ball to the Burswood Dome on Saturday, July 7, and if her teaser tweets are anything to go by, no expense will be spared. Tickets will go on sale February 17 and you can grab your golden ticket at livenation.com or Ticketmaster.

City And Colour

Lanie Lane Andrew W.K.

BIG BANG THEORY

“Bang Bang Bangity Bang”. You can’t mess up the lyrics on this one people, which is why singing along with Lanie Lane to her huge new hit Bang Bang will be all the more sweet when she hits town this May. The Bangity Bang Tour is taking Lane and her versatile band around the country to showcase To The Horses which has reached #12 on the ARIA album chart. Lane is going to be gracing us with her presence at the Fly By Night on Saturday, May 12 (tickets from the venue); and then at Amplifier Bar in Perth on Sunday, May 13 (tickets from Moshtix).

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News

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Reactions/Comp

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Flesh

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Music: My Morning Jacket

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Music: Marilyn Manson

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Music: Men/ Dan Mangan

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Music: I Am Giant/ Cornershop

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Music: Suitcase Royale/ Van Walker

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New Noise

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Eye4 Cover: The Fear

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Eye4 News/ Music/ Movies: Shame/ The Vow

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Eye4 Movies: Tabloid/ The Grey

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Eye4 Art Stories/ Eye2Eye

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Eye4 Arts List

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Salt Cover: The Cuban Brothers

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Salt: Cover Story/ News

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Salt: Designer Drugs/ Greg Wilson

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Salt: Cut Chemist/ Concord Dawn

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Salt: Rewind: ill.Gates

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Club Manual/ Scenery

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Scene: Live

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Scene: Pub Blurbs/ Pub Scene

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Scene: Local Scene

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Tour Trails

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Gig Guide

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Volume

Cover: My Morning Jacket play West Coast Blues ‘N’ Roots Festival 2012 on Sunday, April 1, at Fremantle Park Salt Cover: The Cuban Brothers play The Bakery on Saturday, February 25 www.xpressmag.com.au

PARTY HARD

After pulling double duty at the Big Day Out last year, Andrew W.K. is bringing his One-Man-Party Tour to WA in May. In addition to his slot at Groovin The Moo, W.K. will headline The Bakery on Thursday, May 17.

Famous for his bloody nose and white clothes, the high-energy rock’n’roller is working on a follow up to his double album Close Calls With Brick Walls / Mother Of Mankind, as well as keeping busy with his popular TV show Destroy Build Destroy. Grab your tickets from nowbaking.com.au and Oztix.

Boy & Bear

BOYS AND THEIR TOYS

To say Boy & Bear have had a big year would be the understatement of the century. The Sydney five-peice won five ARIA Awards late last year including album of the year, and ranked #4 in the Triple J Hottest 100 for Feeding Line. Now they’re revisiting their debut single Mexican Mavis and heading out on a victory lap of this big brown land. They will be playing three WA gigs starting at the Albany Entertainment Centre on Thursday, May 10; followed by Bunbury Entertainment Centre on Friday, May 11; and then up to the Fremantle Arts Centre on Saturday, May 12. Tickets can be purchased from each of the venues directly from Monday, February 27.

RETURN TO THE PLANET As an impressionable youth, I recall an image spray painted on the wall of a car park in Mount Lawley. I remember that among planets and other assorted junk was a bodacious babe with her nipples showing through a see-through white singlet. I knew from that point on that Planet Video and Mount Lawley were worlds away from Tuart Hill and Video Ezy. For almost two decades I’ve have frequented Planet Video on a frequent basis. Now it’s future is uncertain, and the social media universe is aghast at the thought that the iconic blue corner building is going to be evacuated after 22 years.

While I have no doubt that City Of Vincent make a pretty penny on everything to do with Beaufort Street and make it hard for local shopkeepers, every other DVD rental shop and record shop in the country has been forced to downsize in the last decade - well the lucky ones that remain open have anyway. While you were posting your call to arms to save the shop, were you downloading a movie? Or some music?

Or even a book? It doesn’t matter whether you did it illegally or not...

Planet Video is spread across not one, but four buildings of prime Mt Lawley real estate, and they’ve just opened up a coffee shop. They were an iconic part of Mount Lawley when they operated out of one building, so what difference does it make if they close up half of it? Contrary to popular Urban Spoon belief, I think their coffees taste good and the service is fine.

Unlike everything else they stock, you can’t download coffee, so perhaps it’s time you showed your support the caffeinated way... but make sure you get there before 3.30pm. _MATTHEW HOGAN 7

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.

Publisher/Manager Joe Cipriani

Editorial

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FLICKERFEST

Music Editor Matthew Hogan

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Celebrating 21 years of short film excellence Flickerfest, Australia’s leading short film festival, will be presenting another award winning program of the best of Australia’s and the worlds short films.

Thanks to our lovely friends at Luna Cinemas, we have 10 double passes up for grabs to attend the film fest at Camelot Outdoor Cinema or Movies in the Vineyard.

Dance Editor Annabel Maclean

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Arts & Fashion Editor Emma Bergmeier

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Staff Writer Jennifer Peterson-Ward

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

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KILLER ELITE

Inspired by true events, Killer Elite is an action thriller, which follows Danny (Jason Statham), one of the world’s most skillaed special-ops agents.

Lured out of self-imposed exile Danny must execute a near-impossible feat of retribution. We have 10 double passes up for grabs so enter now to be in the running to snag one.

THE PERFECT PLAN

Without the security of the job he wants or the future he dreamed of, Paul Dynan (Kevin Zegers), facing mounting debts, medical bills for his mother and foreclosure on their home, plans the perfect crime to help his struggling family - extort a fortune from three wealthy men.

The plan: to abduct their socialite children and collect a healthy ransom of $3 million dollars. We are giving our lovely readers the chance to win a copy of this newly released DVD so get in now to be in the running.

Sales and Marketing Manager Paul Morgan

MOVIES BY BURSWOOD XPRESS READERS NIGHT

We love Movies By Burswood here at X-Press and what better way to spend a balmy summer’s night than with the X-Press team watching a movie under the stars. We have a stack of double passes to giveaway to the Movies By Burswood X-Press movie night on Thursday, February 23, screening the hilarious comedy Our Idiot Brother starring Paul Rudd.

Killer Elite

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

Our Idiot Brother

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Music Services / Local Music Des Richardson

Entertainment Venues / Live Promoters Luke Andrioff

Agency / Movies / Education Paul Morgan

Arts / Fashion / Lifestyle / Salt/ Corporate Aaron Nathan

Classifieds Linage / Entertainment Services Coordinator Melissa Erpen classifieds@xpressmag.com.au

Production

The Grey

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Production Co-ordinator Bryony Crowe

THE GREY

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Art Director Dwight O’Neil

My Week With Marilyn

Design + Production

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Printing Rural Press Printing Mandurah

Administration

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Receptionist Melissa Erpen

MY WEEK WITH MARILYN

Want to win a double pass to one of the most talked about films the year? Then get in now because we have a bunch of in season passes to My Week With Marylin up for grabs.

Academy Award nominee Liam Neeson will reunite with his The A-Team director Joe Carnahan, swapping eye-popping action for more grounded drama in the suspenseful man versus nature thriller, The Grey. The film tells of a group of oil-rig workers who find themselves stranded on the freezing Alaskan tundra after their plane home crashes. We have 10 double passes to give away to see this gripping film so get in now for your chance to win.

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

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Distribution Distribution

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

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

ADVERTISING Cancellations - Monday 5pm, 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

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We posted a link to the video clip for Hit City’s atrocious cover of Run To Paradise, featuring original vocalist Mark Gable, on Facebook. Here’s what our fans had to say about the ‘song’…

TALK IS CHEAP

Josh My ears are bleeding

Laneway has come and gone, and once again proved to be one of the more palatable festivals (no shirtless guys, YAY!). However, if you’re within 30 metres of the stage, you’re presumably interested in seeing and hearing the artist performing at that time; I believe that’s a reasonable assumption.

Whilst it’s okay to have a chat with your mates during songs being performed by louder acts (Horrors, M83), the amount of chatter during the performance given by Feist was intolerable.

Feist is one of the most talented performers around and do those people who insisted on talking during her set truly believe that their conversation is so important and/or riveting that it could compete with her songs or that it couldn’t wait until after she had left the stage?

Either that or if you’d rather have a talk than listen to a genius, move away from the stage and let the true music fans enjoy the music, and not have to suffer through your inane chatter.

Paul “When summer comes up – like these double Ds” – lyric of the year!

Terry Shittiest cover since Hillary Duff did My Generation Jarroyd Fuck that was horrible Joe Bogan culture should not be encouraged or celebrated Sarah This is one time I would advocate the use of autotune

Dear X-Press,

Angela C Via Fax

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

GOZZY GOZZY GOZZY

The Gozzy Rock Festival is celebrating its 25th year and what better way to do so than with Abbe May recruited into the headlining spot? May’s most recent album, Design Desire, has also recently become a contender for the Australian Music Prize for best Australian album of the year. Joining her are 44th Sunset, Blazin’ Entrails, Stillwater Giants, Gombo, Paltiva, Stop Motion and The Takeover. Not only this but eight Gozzy Rock finalists will also be battling it out to win the crown of Gozzy Rock world champion.

The festival will be held at Pioneer Park Amphitheatre in Gosnells on Saturday, February 25, from 11am. The event is free and all ages are welcome.

ON THE MEND Ginuwine

DIG A PONY

If you’re after an R&B tour that will just about guarantee you getting some play, the Bell Biv Devoe and Ginuwine double header at the Astor Theatre on Thursday, May 24, is just the ticket. Bell Biv DeVoe are the three other guys from New Edition along with Bobby Brown who formed their own band to create such hits as Do Me! And who is Ginuwine? Does the word Pony mean anything to you? Tickets from BOC on Thursday, February 21, or earlier for Frontier touring members.

SETS A GO-GO

Not often would you put The Clash and The Pogues in the same genre or even sentence for that matter, but you do when you’re talking about The Go Set. These five Melbournian blokes are fresh off a string of constant touring (think Japan, Europe and NZ people) and straight into their own national tour. A little bit o’ punk, rock and folk makes for a nice mixed bag of socially prevalent songs on their new self titled LP which will be released in March. See them at Clancy’s in Fremantle on Thursday, March 15; the Indi Bar on Friday, March 16; and then at the Nukara Festival in Geraldton on Saturday, March 17.

BLOODY TOURISTS

After many years of making tunes with The Sure Thing, Mick Thomas has just released his first true solo album, Last Of the Tourists. Thomas recruited long-time friend Darren Hanlon to produce, Shelley Short and Mark Wallace lent their skills. Thomas rolls into Perth with Shelley Short in support on Thursday, March 15, at Friends; Friday, March 16, at the Norfolk Tavern; the Nukara Music Festivals on Saturday, March 17; and the Oxford Hotel on Sunday, March 18. See each venue for ticket details.

WASTING AWAY

Having recently spent some time in studio with internationally renowned producer Marko Seider (who has worked with likes of Beyonce’, Drake and Busta Rhymes), east coast metalhead-turned-hip hopper J.Waste is ready to make his mark on the Australian music scene. Soon to be heading off to the USA for more recording time, the rhyme machine is going to be sexing up Oh Snap at Villa on Thursday, March 1, with a set of beats to get the girls off those big red couches and moving on the dance floor.

Tickets are on the door and it all kicks off at 8pm.

NATIONAL LAMPOON’S DZ Deathrays

DEATHRAYS OF SUNSHINE

One of the outstanding bands at a very outstanding St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival over the weekend, DZ Deathrays have taken the world by storm so far in 2012, with seemingly weekly appearances in NME. It all comes to head on April 6 when the garage rockers release their debut album Bloodstreams.

The two-piece hit the road for their biggest Australian tour to date with shows at the Prince Of Wales on Thursday, May 3; Amplifier on Friday, May 4; and Mojos on Saturday, May 5. Tickets from Oztix, Moshtix, and Heatseeker.

Melbourne duo Big Scary will be taking their unique blend of indie pop to all corners of the country this April, in support of their critically acclaimed debut LP Vacation, which debuted in the top 30 on the ARIA charts and top 20 on iTunes, and also received a much-lauded nomination for Triple J’s Album Of The Year. Catch the genre-defying duo at Amplifier on Friday, April 20. For further information and tickets click on over to bigscary.net.

Famous for singing about buses and trains in the Aussie pop duo Bachelor Girl, Tania Doko is fresh back from a string of songwriting sessions and recordings in her ‘second music home’ Stockholm to perform a one-off gig in WA. Backed up by friend and Perth native, Janine Maunder, Doko will be playing the Bamboo Bar (behind Luxe Bar) on Friday, March 16. Tickets are $30 plus BF and can be purchased from luxebar.com/bamboo. Be sure to get in on these tickets as Doko is set to explode on our music scene once again after reuniting with other half of the Bachelor Girl duo, James Roche, for a ‘best of’ album, due later this year.

CANCEL IT

A state-wide epidemic that’s sweeping out concerts left right and centre - cancelling gigs is quickly becoming all the rage. After coming down with a bad case of “conflicting schedules” The Who frontman Roger Daltrey has axed all his Australian dates, including his recently announced show at Riverside Theatre on Thursday, April 19. This comes hot on the heels of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill scrapping their Burswood Dome show on Wednesday, March14; and Lenny Kravitz, The Cranberries and Wolfmother taking their plans for a Perth show back to the drawing board after not selling enough tickets to their Wednesday, March 28, date at the WA Athletics Stadium. Want your money back? Go back to where the tickets came from!

CAMPFIRE SONGS

It seems all too idyllic to think that the Nukara Music Festival was once just an idea being passed around a campfire. But that’s exactly how it happened and this year on Saturday, March 17, it will boast one of the best line-ups ever. The Go Set, Mick Thomas, Blind Lemon, Minnie Marks and The Fancy Brothers will liven up the Chapman Valley with an eclectic mix of folk, blues, Celtic, bluegrass and rock. Only 600 tickets will be sold and for $75 not only will you be treated to these fantastic artists but you’ll get a homespun meal as well! Grab a ticket from the Geraldton CD Centre or give them a call on (08) 9921 4821.

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They’ve had a pretty eventful career thus far since coming together as something of a local supergroup, and now The Ghost Hotel are almost ready to drop their debut album Maiden Hill through local label Walking Horse Music. It launches on Saturday, March 10, with star-studded support coming from Ruby Boots, The Chevelles, Sean Pollard of Split Seconds, and a rare appearance of Flanders frontman Luke Bostelman. Bleach your bowling whites and grab your $10 presales from Heatseeker and the usual outlets.

One of the best bands in recent Perth history, The Kill Devil Hills launch their new single The Week In Pictures / The Bends this Saturday, February 18, at Amplifier. Support comes from The Long Lost Brothers starring Matt Rudus (Tucker Bs) and Andrew Ryan (Adam Said Galore, Fall Electric, everyone), and Major Dadi.

Pond are back and if our gushing review in this week’s New Noise is anything to go by, they’ll be taking on the world in a big way in 2012. Before they head out on a five week tour of the USA and Canada to launch Beard Wives Denim, they play a bunch of ‘Fun-

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NOT A QUARRY IN THE WORLD

With spectacular cavernous monolith walls framing the main stage and shimmering city skyline in the background, the open-air surrounds of the beautiful Quarry Amphitheatre in City Beach has made for a picture perfect setting for some of this summer’s best live concerts (Beth Orton, Tim Rogers, The Whitlams etc). Now nearing the end of it’s fifth season, Live At The Quarry is set to charm local audiences one final time with Diesel (aka singer-songwriter Mark Lizotte) hitting the stage on Sunday, March 18. With two shows already sold out on Friday, March 16, and Saturday, March 17, this will be your last chance to catch the legendary Australian guitarist and veteran of hits like Cry In Shame and Tip Of My Tongue, at one of WA’s finest music venues. Head to Ticketek to secure your seat today.

MORE WATER WAITER PLEASE

In light of their sell out tours around Australia, Danish pop tarts Aqua have not only announced some extra shows for some of the major cities but they have added some homegrown beauties for support.

Sydney electro-pop Radio Ink will be joining them as will WA’s very own party band Boys Boys Boys! and DJ D-Tuck, who are both fresh from spending quality time with the Vengaboys. Their Sunday, March 18, show at Metropolis Fremantle has sold out, which is why they’ve added a second on Tuesday, March 20.

Tickets from Oztix and Heatseeker.

The Maccabees

BORN TO BE WILD

SURF AND TURF

In order to raise some funds and awareness for SurfAid International, a mini-festival designed to celebrate all things music, beach and summer will be hosted at the North Fremantle Bowling Club this Saturday, February 18. The line-up includes The Morning Night, The Cross Eyed Cats, Tim Gordon, John Martyr, DJ Matty B, The David Craft Trio as well as The Jeff Herald Jazz Combo and the Fremantle Ukulele Collective. It’s a $10 entry fee and kids under 16 are free. Up for auction on the evening will be a guitar signed by Nick Cave and Grinderman.

Diesel

Chain

NEVER BREAK THE CHAIN

A legendary Australian blues band responsible for such classics as Black ‘N’ Blue and I Remember When I Was Young, Chain are still going strong and are set to embark on a brief West Australian tour at the end of the month. Founders Phil Manning and Matt Taylor will be joined by Barry Harvey and Dirk Dubois as Chain at the Charles Hotel on Tuesday, February 28, for Perth Blues Club; Albany Blues Club on Thursday, March 1; Southwest Blues Club at Bunbury’s Burlington Hotel on Friday, March 2; and St. Helena Tavern on Sunday, March 4.

raising’ shows to help them eat right on said tour. See them this Thursday, February 16, at their spiritual home of the Norfolk Basement with Sonpsilo Circus and Tusk; Saturday, February 25, at The Bird with Jonsez and Sonpsilo Circus; and again at the Nork with The Silents and Bastian’s Happy Flight on Friday, March 2.

Perth prog metal masters Voyager conquered 2011 and they’re set to continue their reign well into 2012. First stop: filming a video clip starring your good self. On Friday, March 2, the lads will be filming a clip to Seize The Day at Perth’s very own answer to Industrial Light & Magic - Amplifier Bar. Simply head along to the show, that also features Empires Laid Waste, Law Of Attraction and Dead Set Radio, and whip out your camera when the band plays Seize The Day. Oh, did we tell you you’re doing the filming?

Not content to release one album at a time, international trumpeteer and vocalist Adam Hall will launch two CDs at Freo Arts Centre on Friday, March 2.

When It’s Party Down South and It’s You It’s Me are the releases and they were recorded in Singapore with a swag of WA stars like Ben Franz, Len Whittle,Tim Forster and bunch more. Grab your tickets from Heatseeker.

Before they head off on their Ming Dynasty tour of Japan, power pop sensations The Stanleys

After years on the block developing furious, jerky pop on 2007’s Colour It In and expansive Arcade Fire-esque indie on 2009’s Wall Of Arms, Brighton’s The Maccabees have found a much bigger voice on recently released LP Given To The Wild. Riding high in the album charts, The Maccabees will perform the new tunes to fans new and old at Groovin’ The Moo on Saturday, May 19; as well as a newly announced sideshow at Capitol on Friday, May 18. Make sure you don’t miss out by picking up tickets from Moshtix from Tuesday, February 21.

The Ghost Hotel play three unplugged shows around P-town. See them this week alongside Leon Ewing at the Murray Street Mall this Sunday, February 19, at 2pm; at the Save Live Australian Music Day show at The Paddo on Thursday, January 23, with Julius Lutero and Ali Towers; and again at The Paddo on Wednesday, February 23, with Helen Shanahan and Elk Bell.

With their forthcoming debut album’s title revealed as A History Of Houses, folk rock heavyweight champs The Siren Tower kick off 2012 with a new single entitled All Things Will Change. It’s launched

at the Rosemount Hotel on Saturday, March 3, with support from Arts Martial, The Floors and wild beasts Hoot & Howl.

Unofficial Fremantle mayor John Butler has added another date to his large Australian solo tour. After selling out his show at Freo Arts Centre on Saturday, March 17, he now steps into the Astor Theatre on Thursday, March 29, for a Tin Shed show with Felicity Groom in support. Tickets go on sale tomorrow from Bocs.

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Odds are Koster didn’t take to his acoustic guitar to lament for his aching teeth, yet it’s still worth wondering where Koster sees his band in a genre that was born out of pain: the blues.

With six full-length studio albums, countless EPs and live albums to their name, My Morning Jacket’s eclectic blend of psych and southern rock will be put on display at the West Coast Blues ‘N’ Roots festival.

And while it might be hard to hear the blues in their rapturous, blissful haze, Koster insists if you dig deep enough, it’s there. And it’s there for all musicians.

“Maybe not in the traditional sense of the word,” he says, when asked if the band considers themselves bluesmen at heart. “But if you really think about it, in modern music, the blues has been an influence on almost everything.You can hear the blues My Morning Jacket in tango, mambo, country, rock’n’roll, soul, it’s really all over the place. The blues is like air and water for a musician as far as I can tell.”

Koster is certainly in a place where he can make that assertion. My Morning Jacket is the kind of band that’ve walked the long road and have always managed to stay focused on the ideals which brought them together as a band in the first Heading over to WA for West Coast Blues ‘N’ Roots on Sunday, April 1, My place.

Their continued efforts to maintain their Morning Jacket are still reeling in the glory of their sixth album Circuital. unique position in the world of rock’n’roll can be heard on Circuital, their latest full-length. It’s their JOSHUA KLOKE speaks to Bo Koster. most cohesive record to date; still, My Morning Bo Koster knows a thing or two about pain. Sure, “I went to the dentist today,” says Koster, Jacket have always thrived on being a live band first as the keyboardist for My Morning Jacket, he likely reached on the phone from his Louisville home. “The and foremost.

From their legendary four hour sets at endures some lengths of physical torture after one side of my mouth is just beginning to become Bonnaroo to their continued tours throughout the one of their all-encompassing live sets. But today, un-numb, right as this interview is starting.” he’s encountered some pain of a different variety.

The pain in his mouth eventually subsides. world, My Morning Jacket is a relentless live act. It’s

MY MORNING JACKET Circuit City

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been over six months since the release of Circuital, and Koster is keen to offer insight on how the songs have evolved live.

“It’s funny, it seems like the songs always morph the more you play them and get comfortable with them,” he says optimistically. “They tend to just change organically; they never stay the same. In a lot of ways they’re just vehicles. Every song has chords, structures, melodies, words but they’re always open to interpretation as you can tell whenever anybody covers anybody else.

“You can hear the blues in tango, mambo, country, rock’n’roll, soul, it’s really all over the place. The blues is like air and water for a musician as far as I can tell.”

“We don’t really talk about what direction we’re going as a band. We never have those conversations. For the most part, we follow whatever path is turning us on at the moment. Jim’s the main songwriter in the band, and we’re happy to get on his boat and follow whatever trip he’s on.

And he’s not the kind of person that’s going to look back and say ‘let’s write a song like It Still Moves, or let’s a write a song that sounds like anything else’. He always says, ‘The songs that come out are the songs that come out’. He has control, but he still just follows his own inspiration. In a lot of ways, having those kinds of conversations about what kind of band we are, or where we’re going as a band don’t really help the creative process. You have to stay in the moment.”

Though Koster acknowledges the importance of staying in a moment, he can’t help but look back on a series of moments which certainly shaped My Morning Jacket, especially as a live band.

In 2006, the band were asked to open for legendary live act Pearl Jam. And if My Morning Jacket is any good at all now, Koster admits that Seattle’s favourite sons certainly deserve some credit.

“That was a really great experience for us.

To get to play with a band that has such integrity and such soul and such care about what they do, from a business level to an activist level to an artistic level to a personal level. It was an inspiration for us to know we could have something like that. To know that we could do what we do, not compromise anything as a band and be successful at it. We got the idea to get involved in a lot of different things after watching them. They were the ones that inspired us to give a dollar of every ticket from every show we play to a local charity. Ed (Vedder) used to come out and sing with us, before the place was full.

“He’d take time out of his day. And it’s a long day, for a guy like him. But he made time to sing with us to get people to come out and see us. It’s that kind of care and attention really rubbed off on us. It’s something we’ve tried to do since we started having the chance to take bands out with us.”

Bluesmen in the purist sense of the word they might not be, but My Morning Jacket certainly know how to overcome sorrow: by challenging themselves. Every record is a step in the evolution of the band. Just as the blues were first used to comfort those in times of trouble, the music of My Morning Jacket brings not only their fans joy, but the band as well.

“I think it’s important as a band to do things out of love, inspiration and pure joy rather than out of fear. And sometimes the fear can thwart you and halt you in your tracks. It’s a fine line. But I don’t know any authors, artists, filmmakers that don’t have works that weren’t challenging. They were always taking chances and not doing things that had already been done. And I hope we’re the same way.

We can’t be afraid to fall down and make a mistake.”

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

www.xpressmag.com.au

13

MARILYN MANSON

Cut The Mustard

Marilyn Manson

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A name synonymous with a brand of insidious, anger-fueled glam metal, Marilyn Manson’s musical output also acted as a means to incite the deconstruction of such pillars of modern American society as Christianity, conformity and an obsession with violence. JOSHUA KLOKE speaks to the man born Brian Warner ahead of his set at Soundwave on Monday, March 5; and headline show at Metro City on Tuesday, March 6.

His tours in the late 1990s and early 2000s were explosive affairs, continually picketed and resisted by conservative political and religious groups, culminating in the blame he was served for his supposed role in the Columbine tragedy of 1999.

Marilyn Manson’s dedication to blatantly shocking and essentially pissing off his detractors essentially contributed to his success in terms of record sales.

Yet the age in which Manson possessed the ability to shock based on live performances, stage costumes and lyrical content has long passed. The internet soon rose to widespread popularity after the Columbine shootings and eventually, Manson’s outlandish approach was replaced by millions of citizens willing to say or do anything for 15 minutes of fame.

The society that once vilified Manson has become desensitised. And a decade after his peak in popularity, bringing up his name in conversation might have you hearing cries of “Who?” Now with Born Villain, his implicitly-titled eighth full-length on the way (and first not on major label imprint Interscope). Manson finds himself at a crossroads: is his shock-filled approach still relevant in this day in age?

And if not, what’s to become of Marilyn Manson?

“A lot of times, a large portion of people, especially in America, aren’t interested in finding something deeper. Sure, sometimes I like the jingle on the commercial. But at the end of the day, when you go to sleep,you’re locked in a moment when you remember

certain images, songs, smells and sounds that stay with you forever,” says the remarkably chatty Manson reached on the phone for an in-depth conversation from his Los Angeles home, which doubles as a studio where he laid much of the groundwork for Born Villain.

“And that’s what allows me to have an attitude where I can objectify the fact that people treat what I made as a product, but not get mad and take it personally. I can treat it not as a product, but as something that comes from me. I can still be happy about making it.

And I also know how to adapt to what I believe is a great new environment. A lot of people have never heard my music; I would never walk into a room or a situation and have the arrogance or actually, ignorance to assume that they know what I’ve done before. I want to play them (Born Villain) just as they would my first record, and have them like it for the same reason.”

As the oft-reclusive Manson speaks, he begins to shed the thick exterior he presented in the past. He soon speaks openly regarding not only his fears about his place in the world, but how he would soon overcome them.

“I was struggling very hard to figure out where I would fit in this changing world. For someone that’s against everything and then suddenly, they’re a part of everything. And in that Warhol, Salvador Dali sense, I was just trying to make it out alive.”

What Manson chose to do was get back to basics, in a way only he could. “For me, I can’t say it was simple but it was important to go back and give myself no other options,” continues the 43-year-old.

“Limitations are a very strong thing for artists to have. I moved into a place and started painting, and only gave myself one colour: black, with white paper.

We started making this record, and made it with the limitations of immediacy and urgency. It wasn’t so much improvisation as it was figuring out that when you only have a pencil and a guitar or a drumstick it’s almost reinventing the wheel.“ Manson’s records have always been rather easy to compartmentalise; but to actually question the man behind the madness, he reveals slowly himself as deceitfully self-aware. In 2012, Manson sees himself less as crusader of a cause and more of an artist who has finally gotten back in touch with what pushed him to start creating music under the Marilyn Manson & The Spooky Kids moniker over 20 years ago.

“I wanted to make it something that, over the past few albums, it didn’t start to become less passionate, but less fun for me. And art was always the thing that brought some fulfillment to me. And it had started to slip away.”

With Born Villain, Manson has regained control of what he lost. He took his time, refused to rush the process and allowed his newfound creativity to take him wherever it could. The making of Born Villain, jointly released on Manson’s own Hell, ETC. Records and Cooking Vinyl Records, was also an opportunity for him to look back on his time spent as a puppet for a major label.

Amidst the changes to his career, it’s still refreshing to know that he never lost the ability to paint a vivid picture of the situation with trademark Manson wit.

“Here’s a profane reference, or metaphor: If you are having oral sex with a woman and you’re thinking to yourself, ‘Wow, this is wonderful!’ and you just want to keep doing it. But then you think to yourself,’Wait, people have also told me that mustard is great’, so you put mustard on it just to change it, and keep going. These labels, they love something but then they want to try something different because everyone’s telling them something else to do. They get afraid of just loving something just because. It’s not the artist, they think, it’s the formula. But people identify with stuff that really hits them.”

It’s Manson’s hope that Born Villain will indeed hit fans, without the mustard. While he’s ready to acknowledge his past, he’s more content to move forward. Shocking those around him is not a concern for him, and he doubts it ever was.

Turns out Manson, with his continued fight to be honest, may be more relevant now than ever.“Whatever I’ve done, it’s certainly led us to this conversation. I’ve always said that I can’t possibly be shocking. And believe it or not, I said that when I started out. What you can be is confusing, and interesting. It’s a form of communication. And all that added to the determination of making this record. I think this will be considered the best Marilyn Manson record. ”

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

www.xpressmag.com.au

15

DAN MANGAN Fortune & Fame

He is gaining a reputation as one of the hardest working Canadians in the biz, but one feels that Dan Mangan doesn’t consider what he does as work. CHRIS HAVERCROFT spoke to folk singer Mangan about pushing the boundaries on his new album Oh Fortune. Mangan plays The Fly Trap on Wednesday, February 29.

Dan Mangan Mangan was your run of the mill singer-songwriter with a penchant for folk (although a pretty successful one), but with his third album Oh Fortune he has turned things on their head. The latest recording is more textured than his previous efforts and finds Mangan pushing the boundaries more than ever before. It is a good result for an artist who could have sat on his hands and tried to copy the template of success of his album Nice, Nice, Very Nice.

“I think there are a number of variables,” considers Mangan of the dramatic change in sound.

“First of all the songs on the previous record had been composed on the road when I was touring on my own and by the time I had got to the studio and invited musicians, the songs had all pretty much been formed.

“Then Nice, Nice, Very Nice went far beyond anyone’s expectations and it opened up numerous doors for us,” Mangan continues. “So, I think that the

16

process of touring with a band first had a big impact.

When we were working out these new songs it was a far more collaborative experience with the band.

I think it was also too that I have been growing and experiencing all these things happening and have matured a bit as a person and continued to refine exactly what type of record that I want to put out.”

The band that Mangan speaks of consists of members from the Vancouver experimental and free jazz community who approach music in a different way to that which Mangan had traditionally known.

The notion of improvisation has bought a whole new dynamic to the live show and was always likely to shape the next record.

“I have always wanted to surround myself with people that I can learn from and who can inspire me. I just find more and more that people who had come from this other school – I came up growing these chords and lyrics and folk songs – and all of a sudden I was finding this band taking on a sound that was no longer singer songwriter and part of the realm that I come from, so I was very excited by that. This whole record is really indicative of that change and it is still

changing although I am not sure where it will go from here.”

When Mangan started writing songs all he wanted to do was to play shows. In the time since his goals have changed as he has toured all over the world and exposed himself to a wider audience. With each new level of success and with each new challenge, Mangan has a drive to rise to the occasion and not to rest on his laurels. The aim for Mangan is to never feel too comfortable or entitled as he sees this as a sure way to start slacking off and losing people’s attention.

“The last record had a song called Robots and people really responded to that song. It is kind of a silly, jubilant kind of kitchy pop song. Having that mild success did create a level of expectation on the next record, but for me it was the notion that I now had people’s attention so what do I want to do with that.

I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I just tried to do the same song again and it wasn’t as good. For me it is really important to stretch my creative muscles and do something outside of my comfort zone. I think that is integral to growing as an artist.”

MEN

MEN

Are We Not Men? Fronted by JD Samson of Le Tigre fame, Brooklyn-based band/performance art collective MEN celebrate the struggle and freedom in defying easy classification. JENNIFER PETERSONWARD sat down with Samson ahead of their performance on Saturday,February 25, at the Perth Festival Gardens.

“To be honest I am worried that [my music] alienates some listeners,” begins JD Samson, an admission which may surprise fans familiar with the colourful career of the queer activist and dance-punk icon.

Playing with standard perceptions of life and standard definitions of musical genre, performance, and presentation has been a core part of Samson’s artistic career throughout her work with Peaches, Dykes Can Dance, and most notably with post-punk trio Le Tigre.

Yet Samson attests that her new musical project MEN has forced her to re-evaluate how her songs are married to politics and thoughtful provocation.

“The whole idea with [debut record] Talk About Body is that we were juxtaposing political ideas and ‘not so happy’ tones with commercial sounds. I wanted to build that juxtaposition up to make the inherent qualities of the genre play off each other.

However, after listening to the record in its entirety, we realised that we talk about a couple of things pretty regularly on it – the body, and also sex and gender expression and identity,” Samson says.

“We’re writing a new record at the moment and we’re trying to be a little more all encompassing, particularly with the lyrics. We’re trying to be general and specific at the same time, if that makes sense.To me, MEN is first and foremost concerned with creating music that is danceable.That’s the aim,”Samson continues.“It’s so difficult to find that balance between not watering yourself down but also not pushing your messages and ideas out onto an unwilling audience.We’re going to be more conscious of that this time around.”

Despite her wish for MEN’s music to be appreciated outside of LGBT circles, Samson says the outfit feel “honoured” to have been embraced by this community.

“We’re pretty lucky to have support from such a niche audience. We’re interested in change so to have such positive feedback helps us realise we’re doing the right thing. I think we’re part of a bunch of different music scenes in a way because of our sound and also our lyrics and content and also just being part of the queer scene – we are happy to be part of all those different things,” she says.

MEN are also known for their live shows in which music, costume and multimedia work together to create an unbridled vibrant spectacle.

“Our energy is high and we really give it our all,” Samson concludes. “It’s important to have a stage persona and give something to the audience that’s more than playing an instrument. We’ve tried to make performance art and I think the costumes and backdrops are a huge part of that. We’re interested in taking a more ‘4D approach’ with our visuals. We care a lot about what’s going on onstage and what it looks like from our audience’s perspective, we’re certainly not going to play looking at our feet.”

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

www.xpressmag.com.au

17

I Am Giant

I AM GIANT Truth Hurts

London-based alt-rockers I Am Giant managed to make it big even before the release of their debut album at the end of last year, and are set to climb even higher in 2012. They speak to CHLOE PAPAS ahead of their show at Amplifier on Friday, February 17.

I Am Giant achieved a chart-topping single, a top four Rage video clip for 2011, and a sponsorship deal with Quiksilver in Europe last year, which allowed them to feature Kelly Slater in their Neon Sunrise video clip – and this is just their first album.

I Am Giant recorded their debut full-length with renowned Aussie producer Forrester Savell, yet another achievement for the up and coming band.

Drummer Shelton Woolwright explains that though the band’s bassist, Paul Matthews, has previously

worked as a producer for a number of New Zealand bands, I Am Giant chose not to produce themselves to get a positive outside perspective. When the band were looking for producers to work with, Savell was at the top of their list.

“He doesn’t just work with anyone, he’s quite picky. So he came back to us and gave us the thumbs up and we had a chat, and he’s this really cool, calm, collected character and we were like, let’s do this record together.”

Woolwright and bassist Paul Matthews hail from New Zealand, but are based in London with the rest of their band. Woolwright explains that breaking into the UK scene isn’t quite like doing so down under.

“It’s definitely a lot different, that’s why it’s been so hard to set up the release up there. You have to really, really stand out. In London there’s just so many bands that it’s ridiculous, and a lot of it’s almost like… this is going to sound horrible but it’s kind of fashionbased, trend based, so if you look really good you’re going to get these [gig] spots.You’re competing with so many people it’s just ridiculous.”

I Am Giant’s debut album is called The Horrifying Truth, and when asked why, Woolwright again mentions the hardships associated with taking your music to the other side of the world. “We moved over there and it was like fuck – running out of money, sleeping on couches, and learning a different industry,” he moans. “So The Horrifying Truth was just this realisation that it’s a big world out there and you’ve really got to work your ass off to get what you want. It was just those shocks along the way, getting knocked back and it’s like fuck, this is a big world.”

I Am Giant’s producer, Forrester Savell, has worked with the likes of Karnivool and Dead Letter Circus, so it’s no surprise that I Am Giant have toured with both of those bands, supporting them on various Aussie tours.When asked if he’d like to share any touring stories, Woolworth jumped at the chance to rat out Dead Letter Circus.

“On the last date of our tour, we were like, we’ve got to do something to these guys while they’re on stage,” he says. So we went and bought all this silly string, and we were like, we’ll nail them with it while

they’re on stage. So obviously we opened up the show, and we’re playing and I saw Tom and everyone slowly come out, and they were lining up at the front of the stage, with the punters, and they all had weird smirks on their faces. And then suddenly they just busted out our own silly string, the fucking bastards! We need to get them back next time!”

Cornershop

CORNER SHOP

Groove Is In The Heart Genre-hopping British indie rock outfit Cornershop, still best known for poppy earworm Brimful Of Asha, play their album Cornershop And The Double “O” Groove at the Perth Festival Gardens on Sunday, February 19. Frontman Tjinder Singh talks to TRAVIS JOHNSON about cultural cross-pollination.

In retrospect, it seems that genre-mashing was always going to play a large part in Tjinder Singh’s musical career, seeing has how he was introduced to the concept in the most direct and accidental of ways in his childhood.

As he explains it, “I used to listen to a lot of Punjab folk music, as well as a lot of Sikh devotional music. I used to go to a Sikh temple in this converted snooker hall, and half the hall was taken up by the Sikh denomination, and the back of the hall belonged to a black Christian denomination, and so in the middle you could hear a mixture of the two musics as you walked in.”

Perhaps it’s a long bow to draw, but you can clearly see the impetus to mix together very disparate musical traditions, from simple rock/hip hop crossovers to more far-reaching expeditions into Punjabi folk music. These explorations have culminated in the album Cornershop And The Double “O” Groove, a collaboration with the relatively unknown female vocalist Bubbley Khaur.

“I’d met her very briefly many years ago,” Singh recalls. “I was introduced to someone who could sing in Punjabi by a friend of mine, and we met up to see if it would work, and we’d listen to different records and cassettes and have large discussions and got on with recording the first couple of tracks, which was in 2004. And then we slowly got around to putting the album together.”

“Slowly” is certainly the operative word, with the album taking some six years from inception to release.“I suppose part of it was that she would be very busy, because she lives a more traditional sort of life, and if she wasn’t busy then I was busy, either recording another album or doing other things at the same time, so it just carried on and on.”

Singh also admits to a certain feeling that the album, if released any earlier, would have had a somewhat more difficult time finding an audience. As he explains, “I don’t think the music was connected to any time when we could have released it and gotten people listening to it. I think the last decade that started the century off, people weren’t really interested in guitar bands, and now music has undergone an evolution into more wide-ranging things, and we’re sort of back to what the ‘90s was in terms of people listening to a wider range of things.”

Clearly, the timing was right, and Singh is very pleased with the reaction to the album. “It’s been pretty good,” he says.“Especially with the Asian community it’s been very good, because we’ve never pandered to the Asian community. But part of it fits better in the Asian community, and it’s done very well.

The word of mouth on it is still pretty good, and the youth have also got into it and seen it for something different.”

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

VAN WALKER Walk This Way

The Suitcase Royale

THE SUITCASE ROYALE

Matched Luggage

Highly accliamed Victorian folksman Van Walker has just issued a compilation of his best songs so far titled Underneath The Radar. CHRIS THOMAS speaks to Walker ahead of his shows at Settlers Tavern on Thursday, February 23; Indi Bar on Friday, February 24; and The Fly Trap on Saturday, February 26.

Let’s get one thing clear from the outset – Van Walker’s latest release Underneath The Radar (and song of the same name) has absolutely nothing to do with the 1988 Underworld tune played ad nauseum on commercial radio.

But it’s a fitting retrospective of his prolific output over the past few years; a cherrypicked selection of tracks from five of his solo albums released between 2008 and 2010.

Dubbed Australia’s best-kept roots secret and similar to Bob Dylan in his vocal style, Van Walker is heading west at the end of February off the back of this latest release.

“Underneath The Radar has a few songs off each album to give people an overall idea of

what I do but it had to work as an album in itself,” he says. “We wanted to put together a more compact sort of retrospective to push my material further outside of Australia.”

Van Walker is nothing if not prolific – the Melbourne-based former Tasmanian has actually managed to release nine full-length albums in five years, in stark contrast to those who struggle for years to make just one.

“I’m just always writing new songs; you’re always trying to write daily and come up with something new,” he says. “I actually haven’t done a lot of touring so I’ve had more time. I’ve never really understood how it can take people so long to make an album. I don’t consider writing working, so I write a lot for fun. The thing is, if a musician has the material, making an album doesn’t need to take a great deal of time.”

After mentioning he is sometimes compared to Oscar Wilde and Dylan himself, Van Walker lets out a hearty laugh. “It’s just people trying to illustrate me,” he says, modestly. “People are always going to say those things.”

Even when not writing songs, Van Walker is still writing, as evidenced by the Rambles section on his website. It’s a collection of his creative musings, scribbled down when on tour. This leads to a confession he once tried writing a novel in his early 20s. “But I don’t think it’s the right sort of

Van Walker writing for me,” he admits.“The way I write is through songs. I’ve had more practice and success at that. I’ve always wished I could write a novel but songs seem to have a wider reach. It’s a whole different feel. I’m very impressed with people who can write books.”

As for the future, Van Walker has a fairly laidback outlook. “I’d like to keep doing what I do – writing, recording music and making it better. I don’t really have a major plan; I just kind of work day-today.”

Melbourne-based three-piece The Suitcase Royale bring their off-kilter and theatrical brand of musical comedy to the Festival Gardens on Thursday, February 16, as part of the Perth International Arts Festival.

Drummer Joseph O’Farrell talks to TRAVIS JOHNSON. Sometimes, a signature style doesn’t develop out of artistic exploration, but from more practical considerations.

The Suitcase Royale’s penchant for building instruments out of any old thing that happens to be lying around, for example, comes at least partly from a desire to avoid the exorbitant shipping fees that can accompany international touring.

As Joseph O’Farrell explains, “It mostly happened when we started to tour the UK a lot, and it was too expensive to keep on hiring double basses, so Glen learned how to make one from scratch. He built one out of an old trunk, and that lives over in the UK now so we don’t have to pay for excess baggage.

He’s also made ukuleles out of cigar boxes.”

It’s typical for an act that started out so young that they never really had the chance to fall into the comfortable groove of old habits and easy repetition, instead following a path of experimentation and discovery right out of the gate, having first collaborated at Deakin University.

“Glen (Walton) and Miles (O’Neil) came into class and asked if anyone played drums,” O’Farrell explains. “And I put up my hand. We started playing music together and making theatre. Our first show won best show at the Melbourne Fringe Festival, and we toured that across North America in our first year out of uni. We toured for about three months, playing music and doing shows and almost getting killed, and from then on the rest was history, really.

We’ve been playing shows and making music ever since.”

It’s the sort of early success story that can be mistaken for sheer luck by the ignorant, while those in the know realise that such a quick rise can only be driven be hard work and commitment, coupled with a determination not to be constrained by genre or form. While the three are certainly musicians - O’Farrell cites Paul Kelly as an influence, as well as “anything with a bit of banjo” - they see their primary role as storytellers.

“We’re always trying to tell stories in the most interesting way possible, so we always think, ‘What would be the coolest and most interesting thing to see on stage?’. And also, what do we want to see on stage that not necessarily anyone else does. It’s such a great advantage to be able to play music to assist in telling stories on stage, but also kind of inventing stuff from junk and putting a whole heap of junk onstage is fun as well. So we try to find the best, most effective way to tell a story that can also keep things interesting for us, because we’re always on the road.

And we’re also thinking of the audience - how can the audience have the most fun that they can have?

That’s what inspires us the most - to create an event that the audience can be a part of as much as us.”

www.xpressmag.com.au

19

POND Beard, Wives, Denim

GOLDFRAPP The Singles

Spinning Top Music / Modular

Mute / EMI

Over the course of 12 absorbing tracks, local psychfunksters Pond pummel with the poise of a late-night funk infomercial—journeying through Motown soul and trippy texture in equal portions.

The ghosts of Sly and Curtis Mayfield are heard in the slinky grooves, and Electric Ladyland and Maggot Brain sound to have played a part in shaping Pond’s stoney decadence. It’s just that ability to emulate the sound of its heroes that makes Beard, Wives, Denim a fun, diverting trip through the pleasures of a wildly excessive genre.

At a compact 54 minutes, Beard, Wives, Denim is over before it gets irritating, leaving you with an impression of fuzzed-out fronted by a gale-force falsetto. The latter belongs to Pond’s primary weapon, Nick Allbrook, who treats every track as an invitation to swing, vocally at least, from the chandeliers. The rest of his motley crew play effortlessly, at times laying it down all mellow and sexy (Elegant Design) and in others funking it up with acidity (Fantastic Explosions Of Time).

The production is bright, loud and impressive, and brings each track into sharp relief, even with all the heavy talent on hand. The overall feel is like a huge, slap-happy family reunion with different musicians in friendly competition to see who can be the funkiest. Weird, wild, wonderful stuff.

In what seems like no time at all electronic English duo Goldrapp have five albums under their belt and are well worthy of a singles collection even if it has come about as a way to fulfil a contractual obligation. Alison Goldfrapp offers her name and her voice to the group, and although she often finds the recording process somewhat confronting and difficult, the results speak for themselves.

The Singles kicks off with the outfit’s biggest hit Ooh La La, a song that captures Goldfrapp’s subtle hooks and warm beats during their period where Alison Goldfrapp’s outfits were as enchanting as the songs. Strict Machine has been a staple for late night Rage viewers and is as danceable here even without the film clip in tow. It’s not all late nights and bright lights though as Lovely Head could have been a James Bond theme and A&E brings in acoustic guitar and puts away the driving beats for a more restrained effort.

As is the way with singles collections, there are two new tunes for the completest. The most recognisable Goldfrapp moments have come from a time when they were writing club hits, but new additions Yellow Halo and Melancholy Sky are gorgeous slices of dream pop that hint that the best may yet be to come.

The Singles show Goldfrapp to be much more than a pretty face.

_JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD

_CHRIS HAVERCROFT

EMELI SANDÉ Our Version Of Events

RODRIGO Y GABRIELA AND C.U.B.A. Area 52

Virgin Records

Warner Music / Ruby Works

You may have fallen in love with UK Scottish soul singersongwriter Emeli Sandé when she appeared on UK rapper Professor Green’s track Read All About It (which hit the #1 spot on the UK Singles Chart) but now Our Version Of Events has dropped. It’s the debut record from the 24 year-old suave-haired lass who has also recently taken out the Brit Awards 2012 Critics Choice Award.

Having worked with the likes of Tinie Tempah and Wiley, Our Version Of Events reveals Sandé for who she is as a successful solo artist. She’s sassy, oozes charisma and has a powerfully sexy voice but, having said that – the songs on this record intertwine into one long soul ballad. There are lots of sombre, slow piano lullabies and euphoric choruses but there’s just not enough spine – underscoring beats – to change up the pace a bit and keep one’s ears pricked.

Heaven is probably the only track which kicks off with a brilliant drum pattern and trumpet, adding flavour to Sandé’s vocal-heavy record. Mountains sees Sandé deliver an intimate yet powerful number but the highlight of the record goes to Maybe, a roaring and purring tale of a past relationship written inner monologue style. Breaking The Law is a whinge and bizarrely, Next To Me is comparable to Just Around The River Bend in Pocahontas. Lifetime is cute and sappy – “dreaming only lasts until you wake up and you find you’re not asleep… but you, you last a lifetime.”

A charming aphrodisiac for soul lovers but, if you don’t like Leona Lewis then don’t do it to yourself.

Mexican guitar duo Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero are one of those few Latino acts to have made the crossover into English language markets, due largely to their impressive covers of heavy metal standards, and the fact that they cut their professional teeth in Dublin (of all places).With the level of success they’ve had comes the freedom to control the artistic direction of their music, and according to rhythm/percussion player Quintero, their fifth studio release Area 52 is a musical project rather than a marketing strategy.

Rodrigo y Gabriela has up to this point been just the pair, Sanchez’ dazzling lead and Quintero’s heavy percussive style, but Area 52 introduces a 13 piece Cuban orchestra (C.U.B.A), and it’s a game changer. It’s an over-the-top reworking of nine originals from their back catalogue. It sounds great. Fans will barely recognise Diablo Rojo as percussion, piano and flute turn the tune into a technicolour dream sequence of sound, a piano weaves magic below the surface through the reworked 11:11 before you’re hit with a wailing lap-steel guitar. Cool huh?

Rod and Gab’s crossover potential is impressive, Area 52 will appeal to fans of the band, as well as fans of Latin music, Cuban music, and guitar. It’s a record packed with talent, talented guests, Cuban flavours and good times.

_DANIEL PARKINSON _ANNABEL MACLEAN

20

EMILY WEST I Hate You, I Love You

MARK LANEGAN BAND Blues Funeral

Independent

4AD / Remote Control

Get out your winged eyeliner, jaunty cowboy boots and slap that double bass - as soon as Nashvillian songstress Emily West launches merrily into opening track Boys In The Morning, it’s hard not to tap your toes and shake your shoulders.

West carves out her place by showcasing her distinctive personality and her strong voice brings a touch of Duffy to Dangers Of Love, sexes things right up in I Hate You, I Love You and pares things back beautifully in My Story.

I Hate You, I Love You breaks tradition with most, if not all, recent albums from female country artists in that it does not have a single done-me-wrong breakup song. It’s a refreshing change that helps maintain the upbeat, forward-looking perspective of West whose idea of sassiness is fearlessness about breaking out, exploring life, and figuring out who you are. Best of all, West sings from the perspective of a young girl whose ideas about love aren’t cued by the fairy tale language and good/evil world of Taylor Swift songs, but by more complex real life examples based on personal experiences, which makes her album more relatable and down-to-earth.

Though the overly smooth production doesn’t always play to West’s strengths, this wonderful little record should prove listenable for fans of Lanie Lane and Paloma Faith.

Former thin guy from The Screaming Trees, Mark Lanegan has laid his hand on many a band including The Twilight Singers, Queens Of The Stone Age and The Gutter Twins but it is his solo album Bubblegum that will always be seen as his high watermark. Fans patiently waiting for another album to rival that have been excited about the prospect of the first Mark Lanegan Band album since 2004 in Blues Funeral.

Lanegan is one of the rare vocalists who went mining for oil and came up with gravel but has managed to be all the richer for it. His baritone is right at home on the menacing The Gravediggers Song where fuzzed guitars and lumbering drums make this funeral march a welcoming procession.

While there may be some high points, Lanegan undoes any of his good work with too frequent experiments with drum machines.

Europop tunes like Ode To Sad Disco do nothing but suggest that Lanegan walked into the wrong nightclub on the way to the studio. Harborview Hospital is just short of embarrassing and Tiny Grain Of Truth is dull at best.

The press release for Blues Funeral suggests that Lanegan “has two dogs”. Well, after this effort now he has three!

_LINDSAY WEIR

_CHRIS HAVERCROFT X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

AIR Le Voyage Dans La Lune Astralwerks / EMI

Le Voyage Dans La Lune, which translates to A Trip To The Moon, is the seventh studio album by French duo Air. While the talented twosome have always drawn inspiration from famous film scores, Le Voyage Dans La Lune truly feels like an Air film soundtrack, albeit to a film that doesn’t exist.

Inspired by the famous French silent film from 1902 by the same name, Le Voyage Dans La Lune has a much more sinister tone than previous work by Air, foregoing a poppy single that previous releases have had at least one of. It starts to gather lots of momentum by fourth track Parade, but with lots of short songs bridging tracks, you really feel like Le Voyage Dans La Lune must be heard in its entirety if it’s to be heard at all.

Like a soundtrack, Le Voyage Dans La Lune has a beautiful, consistent theme throughout, with reprised melodies, ebbs and flows. The influences of film composer Ennio Morricone, and the famous Blade Runner score by Vangelis have never been more obvious or welcome. Last track Lava sounds the most like an older Air track, with a confident and surging bass-line.

A new high water mark for the lads and a record that will spin many times in my living room.

_TOM VARIAN

GLEN CAMPBELL Meet Glen Campbell Capitol / EMI

First released in 2008, Meet Glen Campbell is an album that finds Campbell interpreting contemporary tunes that even the most ambitious of fans wouldn’t have considered for his arsenal. It would be fair to expect that this was a project that was meant to mirror the success of the Johnny Cash American Recordings, but with Campbell’s well documented ailment putting a premature end to his recording career it was not to be. Even so that hasn’t stopped the album from being re-issued with some tidy little additions.

Campbell tackles the most obvious of his choices with ease as his rock solid voice is made for the Tom Petty and John Lennon classics. It is when Campbell is steered towards artists like The Velvet Underground, The Foo Fighters and Paul Westerberg that he delivers on his reputation for reinterpreting great songwriters.

There are few with as large a catalogue as Campbell, but most are happy to dine out on his few most famous tunes. The bonus material for Meet Glen Campbell are remixes of Gentle On My Mind and Galveston as well as AOL Sessions of Witchita Lineman and Rhinestone Cowboy. You can never have too many versions of any of those.

Meet Glen Campbell may not be the perfect introduction, but making Campbell’s acquaintance at any time is worth the effort.

_CHRIS HAVERCROFT

PEPE DELUXE Queen Of The Wave Catskills

Queen Of The Wave is an album made up not so much of songs, but of moments.

Hundreds of them. Each carefully dissected from music’s rich history and reassembled into some joyously absurd dada collage. There are stabs of Bondtheme strings, shred guitar solos and big-beat drops – moments which, in their own context, are clichés but on the album are ingenious musical shifts.

The album channels more musical styles in its 48 minutes than most people have in their entire record collection (read ‘iTunes library’), from Ennio Morricone to the Go! Team, Simon and Garfunkel to Nightwish, Bach to the Prodigy (to name just a few) all composed and performed with dizzying bravado and skill. All this on what is, ostensibly, a pop album.

As if this weren’t enough, Queen of the Wave is also a concept album, based on a sci-fi novel about the fall of Atlantis. It also features history’s only composition for the world’s largest instrument, The Great Stalacpipe Organ – a 1956 instrument build by literally tuning stalactites in a cave. (Google it.)

The advent of recorded music means that we now live in a world where just about all of music’s history is present simultaneously. Queen of the Wave funnels that history into an album that is both retrospective in its aesthetic and perfectly modern in its result.

_HENRY ANDERSEN www.xpressmag.com.au

M.I.A. – Bad Girls (Interscope) Catchy? Yes. Challenging? Maybe. New? Not exactly. The first version of Bad Girls appeared over a year ago on M.I.A.’s free mixtape Vicki Leekz. The new release of This swaggering, spitting, instantly infectious tune lets M.I.A show off real skills – solid, reliable beats with a woozy, almost whimsical layering of synths and keyboards. Bad Girls smacks of a comeback, and it’s a great one.

JACK WHITE – Machine Gun Silhouette (Third Man/ XL Recordings) Jack White is back – and this time it isn’t with Alicia Keys, The Raconteurs or Insane Clown Posse. With the White Stripes officially in the rear-view, White proved he was ready to make the breakthrough under his own name when he released new single Love Interruption last week. While that subtle, insistent tune was like a gentle easing through the door, rather than a drum-roll Ta-Da return, the single’s B-Side Machine Gun Silhouette feels like a proper comeback. Both more deeply melodic and somehow more resigned and melancholy than the previous singles he has released under his various monikers, this single may just be one of his best.

EARL SWEATSHIRT – Home (Independent) After over a year of “Free Earl” chants and exhaustive speculations, OFWGKTA’s Earl Sweatshirt has returned and he’s released a new song for the occasion. Home features Earl doing cartwheels over a shimmering hi-hat and some warm synth strokes put together by Stones Throw hero James Pants. For all his time away from the mic, Earl is in great shape and is still cursing to boot (take that reform school!). Thoughtful rap that deserves mainstream attention.

THE DARKNESS – Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us (Independent) Best-known for believing in a thing called love, British rawk revivalists The Darkness parted ways in 2006, but they’re back together and back to their old, guitarheavy hijinks on new single Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us. Rubbing out the line between novelty and earnestness, this tune serves as a reminder that music doesn’t have to be ironic to have a sense of humour.

GABRIELLA CILMI – Vicious Love (Warner Music) Gabriella Cilmi rose to fame in 2008 with her inescapable hit Sweet About Me, but struggled to replicate that success with the imaginatively titled follow-up Ten in 2010. While Cilmi’s voice is still beguiling and unique, new single Vicious Love is a tune for people who think leaving the washing-up until the morning is living dangerously. Just awful.

BY THE NUMB3RS THE BIGGEST HITS OF WHITNEY HOUSTON’S CAREER 1. I Will Always Love You (12,000,000 copies sold) 2. The Greatest Love Of All 3. How Will I Know 4. All The Man That I Need 5. I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) 6. Where Do Broken Hearts Go? 7. Didn’t We Almost Have It All? 8. Saving All My Love For You 9. I’m Your Baby Tonight 10. So Emotional

MEAT LOAF Bat Out Of Hell Once upon a time, when some of us weren’t born, many were in their longhaired glory days, and the tragic 2011 Grand Final had never occurred, Meat Loaf was a fucking rockstar.

Released in 1977, Bat Out of Hell, Meat Loaf’s second full-length, is the fifth best-selling album of all time.

The wistful Two out of Three Ain’t Bad was the single most-loved by the audience in the ‘70s, but this hack thinks they may have been too drug-addled to make such a decision. Paradise By The Dashboard Light is one of the best songs (and duets) of all time, with a cheeky climactic narrative, complete structural insanity, and equal parts funk and rock that just can’t be found anywhere else.

So what are the key ingredients to making Meat Loaf amazing, you may ask? Well, Google says mince and breadcrumbs. But we say Bat Out Of Hell - a bombastic, fantastic, rock opera spectacular. _CHLOE PAPAS 21

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

www.xpressmag.com.au

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A Happy Event (Un Heureux Événement) features at the Alliance Français French Film Festival

FRENCH FILM

Fans of French film will flock to Cinema Paradiso come Wednesday, March 21, when the Alliance Français French Film Festival returns for its 23rd year with a bumper selection of the latest cinematic offerings from the land of croissants and champagne.

Running from March 21-April 9, the festival boasts screenings of film such as A Happy Event, Presumed Guilty, The Art Of Love and Omar Killed Me, among many others.To find out exactly what’s showing and when hit up lunapalace.com.au.

BEST OF THE FEST

A celebration of comedy, film, music and more on picturesque Rottnest Island, Rottofest returns in 2012 for a weekend of sunshine and good times in September. In the lead up to the weekend event, organisers are calling on filmmakers to submit short flicks up to 15 minutes in length to be in the running to win a share of up to $3000 in cash and prizes. There are prizes on offer for Funniest Short Film, Funniest Sketch and People’s Choice Awards, and entries close on July 20, so there’s still plenty of time to put together a short film or sketch. Find out more at Rottofest.com.au.

REV HEADS

Whether you dig making short films, narrative features, documentaries, animations or experimental cinema, the folks at Revelation Perth International Film Festival want to hear from you! Set to invade Astor Theatre from July 5-15, Revelation Perth International Film Festival is a great platform for emerging filmmakers to share their work with critics and punters alike, and organisers of the festival are currently seeking submissions from interested locals. If you’ve got a short or long film up your sleeve, don’t delay, hit up revelationfilmfest.org before entries close on Saturday, March 31.

ALL MALE FAIRYTALE

An all-male ballet company that has audiences in stitches every time they take centre stage, Les Ballets Eloelle will return to Western Australia in late March with their brand spanking new production – Men In Pink Tights. Hilarious, spectacular and downright entertaining,Men In Pink Tights promises to appeal to audiences old and young, parodying classic and contemporary ballet. Les Ballets Eloelle will take to the stage at the Regal Theatre on Friday, March 23, and Saturday, March 24. Bookings can be made via Ticketek.

Baro Banda

BARO BANDA

Gypsies In The Garden Baro Banda perform at the Perth Festival Gardens on Tuesday, February 28, as part of the Perth International Arts Festival. Tickets can be purchased by visiting perthfestival.com.au or bocsticketing.com.au.

Fremantle Chilli Festival

FEELING HOT HOT HOT

If you’re the kind of person who likes to feel the inside of your mouth sizzle and burn when you eat then you’ll be pleased to hear about the return of the Fremantle Chilli Festival. Set to take over the Freo Esplanade on Saturday, March 10, and Sunday, March 11, the Fremantle Chilli Festival is one for lovers of the spicier things in life, with super hot plants, pickles, cheese, chocolate, wine, beer and more! There will be cooking demonstrations, free tastings and plenty of spicy fun for the whole family to enjoy.

Entry is $15, kids under 16 get in free when accompanied by an adult.

Perth is a wonderful place to be at the moment.

The city is alive with everything from the sublime and beautiful, to the down right outrageous and sometimes absurd.We are awash with culture from across the world – every single one of which is offering something worth taking in.

Existing in the middle of this cultural melting pot is Baro Banda – a five piece high energy gypsy band with members from across the globe. Baro Banda represent everything that is fabulous about the festival: they’re lively and entertaining street artists, who aim to have people out of their seats and dancing. With their eclectic take on underground gypsy roots music, this is a band who live and breath the festival atmosphere.

Australian band member/guitarist and vocalist Murat Yucel describes Baro Banda’s music as both energetic and eclectic. The band’s traditional Turkish gypsy roots form the basis for a unique mixture of varied styles, all of which carry the same organic energy. “Because the songs are traditional, everyone expects the traditional songs,

The Naked Truth Directed by Steve McQueen Starring Michael Fassbender,Carey Mulligan,Nicole Beharie Michael Fassbender’s pretty much the most interesting actor currently working, as the quality of the filmmakers keen to work with him can attest to. Over the past few years he’s worked with Quentin Tarantino, Matthew Vaughn, David Cronenberg, Steven Soderbergh and Ridley Scott, but it’s artist and director Steve McQueen who knows best how to utilise his magnetism and fearlessness, as demonstrated first in the confronting Hunger, and now in Shame.

Fassbender is Brandon Sullivan, a successful, handsome, New Yorker who spends every waking moment in pursuit of sex, be it with casual hookups, paid professionals, or simple selfpleasuring. McQueen frames Brandon’s addiction as just that, eschewing any cheap humour - this is clearly a man on the down slope. His spiral towards self destruction is only hastened by the sudden arrival of his sister, Sissy (Carey Mulligan), and it soon becomes clear that some unidentified trauma looms large in the pair’s shared childhood.

McQueen’s film focuses much more on character than plot, so anyone expecting resolution from this elliptical portrait is out of luck. But then, the real joy - if such a word can be used in this context is in the way McQueen and Fassbender elide away the character’s protective layers, uncovering a deep well of pain within. Fassbender’s performance is 24

both deliberate and raw, an immeasurably brave portrayal of man literally trying - and failing - to fuck the pain away.

It almost goes without saying that there’s plenty of flesh on display, but McQueen’s astute camerawork imbues the piece with such a callous and grimy texture that no titillation can be gleaned from the viewing. Sex here is a dirty, desperate, humiliating experience, a cross to bear rather than a state of grace. Brandon is a junkie looking for a fix, and every time the high is less satisfying, the respite from the jones shorter, the downward spiral tighter.

The sense of inevitable, ever-encroaching doom is almost unbearable. From the outset, it’s clear that a happy ending - pun intended - does not lie in Brandon’s future. A tentative, nascent relationship with Samantha (Nicole Beharie), a co-worker, seems to offer some thin hope of redemption, but that is soon dashed - this is a man who cannot allow any real emotional connection in his life, who has retreated into the sensual to get away from his own psychological pain. The very idea of a normal, functional relationship is abhorrent to him, and watching Brandon plunge back into the fleshpots of New York after failing to connect with Samantha is the very definition of heartbreaking.

Shame is by no means an enjoyable film in the strictest sense of the word, but it is an immensely rewarding one. Intellectually rigorous, emotionally uncompromising, and unforgiving in its implications and conclusions, it demonstrates that the searing Hunger was no fluke, and that Steve McQueen is without a doubt a filmmaker of the highest calibre. Recommended. _TRAVIS JOHNSON

_LEAH BLANKENDAAL

The Vow

Shame

SHAME

but often we change to something else – to reggae or to jazz, it’s not like straight form,” says Yucel.“It’s a very open style... it’s very improv, very traditional, and lots of contemporary, and we actually mix it in a musical way. And it has a drum ‘n’ bass feel to it. It’s really hard to put it into [words] how we feel about it.”

Born from a festival stage in 2006, it is unsurprising that Baro Banda take to this culture so well. “When we started we were playing on a street stage in an opening... like a cross roads of people traffic in the heart of the entertainment district of Istanbul,” says Yucel. “We started playing there every night without rehearsal, and it was like a festival every night!”

Since then, Baro Banda have made the festival circuit their permanent home, performing on stages across the world. Their current Australian tour, elekTRoman, will see the band perform to audiences across the country, including Albany’s Great Southern Festival, and as a part of the Karavan! International Gypsy Music Festival, which hits Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, in addition to their stop over in Perth.

It is a reasonable assumption that a Baro Banda performance is far from the sit down experience of a conventional concert. Audiences for Baro Banda will be experiencing the beating, dancing heart of the festival, alive with rhythm and music. “It is very energetic – even the slow sections are funky and danceable, which is normal for traditional gypsy music.”says Yucel.“A lot of dancing and having a good time – that’s what [the audience] can expect, and that’s what we expect also!”

THE VOW

Forget Me Not Directed by Michael Sucsy Starring Channing Tatum, Rachel McAdams, Sam Neill A romantic drama released near Valentine’s Day generally means that audiences are in for some seriously mushy stuff. Add to this a storyline which is kind of like 50 First Dates - but without the laughs - and you’ll have a movie that thousands upon thousands of unsuspecting boyfriends will be dragged along to see.

The story is romantic goop of the best kind; Leo (Channing Tatum) and Paige (Rachel McAdams) are a happily newlywed couple of bohemian Chicagoans, who have an idyllic lifestyle together.

Their ridiculously cutesy lifestyle (told in flashbacks) is enough to make any partner feel inadequate there’s ‘move in’ spelled out in blueberries on a stack of pancakes, first dates to Cafe Mnemonic (which means, I kid you not, ‘any learning technique to help aid memory’), and a renegade wedding in an art museum. However, this all falls to pieces when the couple is involved in a car accident that leaves Paige with a case of severe memory loss, meaning she can’t remember the last five years of her life.

Instead of the bohemian, vegetarian, art student and happily married lady he remembers, Leo suddenly has a wife who not only doesn’t recognise him and still thinks that she’s a law student, living back with her estranged parents (Sam Neill and Jessica Lange), and in love with her ex-fiance, Jeremy (Scott Speedman).

What follows is incredibly frustrating for the viewer. Frustrating, because Leo does some spectacularly dumb things, like throwing a surprise party for Paige the night that she gets back from hospital. Frustrating, because he acts like her memory really could come back in a day or two. Frustrating, because you actually want Paige’s memory to come back and for her to stop acting like a blueberry martinidrinking, preppy, shrieking sorority girl.

Adding to the annoyance is the fact that the rest of the cast are woefully one-dimensional.

Paige and Leo’s group of best friends, in particular, are never properly introduced, and their stories are never developed. They could be played by any old hipster dredged up from the local coffee shop. Although Paige’s family have a slightly more interesting storyline, the characters aren’t given enough depth so that we actually feel anything when their various plot twists are revealed. Even the fact that former Packed To The Rafters star Jessica McNamee scored a role as Paige’s sister doesn’t incite any interest (except, perhaps, wishing she had held out for a more interesting film to appear in).

And then it comes back to the leads themselves. It seems McAdams has a shtick for playing ‘damsel in distress’ leading roles in romantic dramas, and although she’s a likable actress, in this movie she just falls flat. That could be due to the fact that Channing Tatum has about as much personality as a cardboard box and only really shows any signs of ‘acting’ in scenes that require him to be shirtless. But, to be fair, it could be the only movie where the lead actors having no chemistry together actually works with the story; watching them try to pick up the pieces of their relationship really does feel like watching two strangers trying to interact with each other. _TARA LLOYD X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

Tabloid

TABLOID Crimes and Misdemeanours Directed by Errol Morris Starring Joyce McKinney Truth is stranger than fiction, the old adage goes, and it’s an axiom that has guided Errol Morris to make some of the most interesting and provocative documentaries of the last 30-odd years, from his early, acclaimed Gates If Heaven to the Academy Award winning Fog Of War. It’s fitting, then, that the subject of his latest feature film is the very nature of truth itself, as told through a narrative lens that encompasses unrequited love, conspiracy, kidnapping, yellow journalism, and dog cloning.

Welcome to the weird world of Joyce McKinney.

In 1977, former beauty queen McKinney travelled from the United States to the United Kingdom in pursuit of true love, which in this case took the form of Mormon missionary Kirk Anderson. Anderson has a distinctly different take on events, claiming that McKinney kidnapped, imprisoned, and raped him.

It’s that mutable space between those divergent accounts of the events that Morris focuses on, as he interviews various figures involved to tease out a kind of panoramic view of an unknowable central truth.

Given that Anderson declined understandably - to be a part of the film, Morris’s key subject is McKinney herself, and what a subject she is. Far from fleeing the spotlight as one might expect from someone accused of what are, when you get down past the sleazy glamour, some pretty despicable crimes, McKinney luxuriates in the attention. Eccentric, engaging, and completely convinced of the rightness of her cause and her actions - a conviction that, despite the absence of authorial narration, Morris clearly doesn’t share - she is an endlessly fascinating interview subject.

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The Grey The whole affair plays out like a particularly delirious daytime soap opera storyline, with the viewer having to occasionally remind themselves that this is, in fact, an account of real events. Interviews with a couple of the journalists who covered the case lend the proceedings a frisson of incredulous cynicism, but still the story verges on the surreal. Once again, Morris demonstrates his fascination with the outer edges of human experience; the strange, contradictory, and downright bizarre extremes of human behaviour that counterweight the sedate midrange of contemporary life. It’s by examining these outliers that Morris forces his audience to measure their own foibles and assumptions, and in doing so recognise the commonalities. For all her outrageousness, McKinney’s steadfast refusal to deviate from her version of events is not so unusual, and the essentially unknowable truth of exactly what transpired back in ‘77 is no different to the facts of any conflict or divergence of opinion. Truth, Morris is saying, is a mediated space, not an absolute.

Morris has once again delivered up an arresting portrait of eccentricity. Even if his subtextual meditations on truth and perception are occasionally muddied by the scandalous story he uses to frame them, Tabloid is so entertaining that it doesn’t matter.

Tabloid screens during the Lotterywest Festival Films season at Somerville from Feb 20-25.

Bookings via perthfestival.com.au. _TRAVIS JOHNSON

THE GREY

Many Shades Of Black Directed by Joe Carnahan Starring Liam Neeson, Dermot Mulroney and Frank Grillo The Grey feels like it’s loosely, very loosely, based on a true story. A group of men working on an oil rig out in the frozen vastness of Alaska crash their light aircraft while returning home. While stuck in the remote white, a pack of wolves and the weather intend to take their lives. But the pack of wolves is where this story takes a large turn towards Hollywood, with villainous wolves that kill and hunt like the evil animals from a Disney film.

In fact The Grey is based on a fictional short story, adapted for the screen by the original author, Ian MacKenzie Jeffers, and director Joe Carnahan. The Grey centres on lead star Liam Neeson and his gravelly voice, who plays John Ottway. Working on an Alaskan oil drilling rig, Ottway’s role is to hunt and kill any wolves that stray too close to the base of operations.

On the last day, before the men fly out, Ottway writes a letter to his wife (Anne Openshaw) and steps outside with his rifle in his hand. Kneeling he puts the end of the rifle in his mouth, intending to end his life. As he closes his eyes he hears the howl of a far away wolf, which causes him to stop his attempted suicide.

Buddy, if a howling wolf was all that stopped you, maybe you weren’t really going to do it.

While flying home a blizzard strikes the plane, crashing it in the middle of nowhere. Waking up alive, Ottway crawls the wreckage to look for survivors, finding six others. The men seek shelter in the wreckage of the plane but when someone on watch is silently and brutally picked off by wolves, the men decide their position on the open plains is too vulnerable so they gather supplies and hike to a tree line they can see in the distance.

First of all I’m a self-confessed survival genre junkie. Reading, The Hatchet series as a teenager put me on a path of obsession with collecting all the Les Stroud and Ray Mears material I could find. I don’t know why, but I love the stuff. Meeting Les Hiddins, aka the Bush Tucker Man would be like meeting John Lennon to me.

And while I didn’t go in to this expecting a true survival story, I was hoping for something partially believable. But really this film is less about survival, and more about Liam Neeson narrating some halfassed, dull philosophies.

The Grey has some merits, namely quite lovely shots of a frozen wasteland and deciduous forest but then it polarises those shots with some truly terrible pick-up scenes clearly shot in a studio.

Sure, the wolves picking off the men one by one is entertaining, as you learn to hate them all and can’t wait to see their faces get bitten off, but the way they show the wolves as such cunning, fearless and evil creatures is a step too far. _TOM VARIAN

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THE FEAR

Fear & Loathing The Fear is on display at Linton & Kay Contemporary at 123 Hay Street in Subiaco from Saturday, February 18, ’til Friday, March 2.

For gallery opening hours hit up lintonandkay. com.au.

Whether we like it or not, turning 30 is a pretty big moment in most of our lives –forcing us to reflect on what we have or have not achieved, a notion which both intrigues and frustrates local artist Andy Quilty.

“When I was younger, 30 seemed like the age by which I would have made something of myself or otherwise be destined for mediocrity and possibly failure,” Quilty explains of how it felt recently reaching the big 3-0.

“I always wanted to grow up to be a successful artist. I also imagined by this time that I would have settled down, married, bought a house and maybe had a few kids. My family breeds prolifically, I have four sisters, two brothers and 11 nieces and nephews, so sometimes I feel like I might be letting the team down! I also wanted to travel and see the world. My goals weren’t all that unique or far reaching, and this is perhaps why I am now questioning many of the choices I have made.”

Though he may not be married with children, Quilty hasn’t been sitting around twiddling his thumbs for the past 30 years, travelling the globe in search of adventure while developing an intricate artistic practice utilising the humble biro pen; a technique which is on display in The Fear, Quilty’s forthcoming debut solo exhibition. “ The Fear i s a s l a n g t e r m I w a s introduced to by a friend, it refers to the sense of anxiety, depression and regret felt after a big night bingeing on alcohol or drugs. This hangover is a state in which I find myself questioning the choices I’ve made both the evening before and in the wider context of my life to that point.

Feelings of guilt and angst - have I been wasting the time I have been gifted on this earth? I have developed an intense fear of death in the last few years, and am now rushing to achieve some lasting impression, my art is the path to making something of myself.”

Fe a t u r i n g 1 9 p i e c e s t h a t w e r e painstakingly created over six months of intense

Walk In Dirt

Andy Quilty

work, The Fear is a physical manifestation of Quilty’s anxiety that he hasn’t become the person he once intended himself to be.

“The work examines the anxiety and regret we all feel as a result of wanting for a better and more meaningful existence. It deals with the naivety and hopeful dreaming of our youth, the cruel reality of working life that creeps up on us, and the possibility of intense regret that may occur when we reach our end. The portraits in the show are friends of mine I have grown up with, we all shared many of the same aspirations in our youth, but now upon reaching 30 and in one case 40, most of us have found ourselves single, living in rentals and with little satisfaction in our working lives.

“I hope the viewer feels some kind of connection to the work whether that be a positive or negative response, anything but indifference. I have tried to be as honest with the work as possible, it doesn’t have to be pretty and the viewer certainly doesn’t have to like or feel good about what they see, but if it can draw their interest on some level then I will be content.” _EMMA BERGMEIER

WALK IN DIRT Gender Bender

Walk In Dirt is on at The Blue Room Theatre from Tuesday, February 14, to Sunday, February 19.

Bookings can be made through pica.org.au and fringeworld.com.au What do a prostitute, a dying man and a homeless woman all have in common? According to Stephen House they all have a message about what it is to be human. Oh… and he will be playing all three of them in his solo show Walk In Dirt as part of the Fringe World Festival.

Back in 2000, House was commissioned to write a monologue about what it’s like to be in his body. For inspiration he went to Australia’s capital of debauchery – King’s Cross, Sydney, or as he calls it, ‘The Cross’. His experiences from that one night have followed him for 12 years now, and Walk In Dirt has toured on-and-off nationally and internationally since its debut. The performance is known for polarizing audiences and containing challenging subject material, although most critics have given unanimous praise for its original form. House plays seven characters onstage, slipping in and out of costumes in front of audiences while spouting rhyming verse.

“I suppose it is an experimental, risky piece,” says House of the show. “A lot of my work strays into territory that we don’t often go into. It does slip into the urban underworld, those worlds that are a little more off limits to the mainstream.”

One of these worlds contains a transvestite showgirl named Sugar and audiences should prepare to be wowed by her feast-for-the-eyes costume. In fact, the original costuming and soundscape seem reason enough to see the show – the former of which was designed by an early audience member who came up to the thespian after his performance and said: ‘I love your show - it’s amazing. I hate your costumes. Let me make you a range’.

Walk In Dirt explores masculinity in a time when gender roles are in a state of continual flux and evolution. “Men’s roles were once very defined and I remember thinking when I was writing the piece, I think that definition of what a man’s role is in the world today is a lot more blurry… and I think that’s still valid.”

The performance merges elements of theatre, poetry and cabaret resulting in an experience that is playful, confronting and unusual. After the protagonist encounters a night’s worth of strange, underworld creatures he finally comes to meet himself - literally. And it leaves him with the ultimate question: what does it mean to be a man? It is a show that has been described as a touching observation of human kind and a performance that has garnered a wide range of responses – some laugh, others cry.

When asked of his thoughts of the play opening on Valentine’s Day, House agrees that perhaps it is due to his long-standing romance with the piece. “Well maybe it is that’s a very good metaphor! I have had a long romance with it, and I’m really looking forward to continuing the relationship with it.” _KATE ENRIGHT

GARDEN GOODNESS The much loved Perth International Arts Festival has kicked off proceedings for another year, and this time round PIAF is offering Perth a brand new venue to explore. The Festival Gardens, located in the Perth Cultural Centre, will play host to some brilliant musical performances right through until March.

On Friday night Little Roy performed at the Festival Gardens for a highly enthused crowd who were keen to check out the new and improved venue.

To find out what’s coming up hit perthfestival.com.au.

Photographs by Matt Jelonek

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Marie & Alec

Ben & Kate

Mark & Kristyn

Brett, Emma & Nick

Neil & Bon

Libby & Richard

Rochelle, David & Erin X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

VISUAL ARTS My Mamiya & Me: Feast Your Eyes Gallery, Fremantle Photographer Katherine Perry along with her Mamiya, recently explored the country capturing slight glimpses that seem to go unnoticed by the human eye. The Mamiya takes medium format photographs, which when exposed show the natural and raw image in its true form. Perry’s keen eye and creative expression is explored throughout the exhibition, which will take you on a colourful sweet journey. Runs Feb 17-Mar 1.

New York Stories: An Empire State Of Mind: Spectrum Project Space, Mt Lawley New York is imagined as a city of energy, a city of dreams, a city of hope. Photographer Panizza Allmark works with the classic technique of street photography to explore these ideas and engage with this vibrant city. Her powerful images convey the liberation and optimism in the year of Obama’s inauguration, as well as the despair of the global financial crisis and the aftermath of 9/11. Runs Feb 15-Mar 2.

Lluis Fuzzhound: Hole In The Wall Gallery, Fremantle Born in Spain in 1977, Fuzzhound moved to Melbourne with his family when he was one year old, and has since spent his life traveling back and forth between the two.

Growing up in Melbourne, he developed a love of art at a young age, being particularly drawn to cartoons, which he watched whilst eating Coco Pops in front of the TV after school everyday. In his upcoming solo show at Hole In The Wall, Fuzzhound will showcase all new, one off pieces, with a limited edition Hole In The Wall t-shirt designed by Fuzzhound available from the gallery while stocks last. Runs ’til Mar 3.

The Unknown By The More Unknown: OK Gallery, Northbridge In his first solo exhibition, The Unknown By The More Unknown, David Egan presents a charismatic constellation of paintings and objects examining pop culture mysteries and vernacular theories - in which

We Must Cultivate Our Garden by Nathan Coley We Must Cultivate Our Garden: Art Gallery of WA, Northbridge Scottish artist Nathan Coley is bringing his sculpture We Must Cultivate Our Garden to Perth, the Australian debut of this internationally acclaimed artwork. Nathan Coley is an eminent artist and Turner Prize nominee, whose practice is based on the exploration of public space and the social aspects of our built environment.

The ten metre long sculpture is made from fairground lights, suspended on a temporary scaffolding structure; creating an intriguing juxtaposition between the profound text and dingy travelling fairground aesthetic. On display from Feb 24-Mar 26. established methods of knowing are hijacked and subverted by the incurably curious - investigating the infinite potential of interpretation and understanding in cultural communication. Runs from Feb 15-Mar 18.

Boom: The Oats Factory, Carlisle Western Australia has been in the grip of a resources boom since 2006. But, what does this mean for the people who live here? What is our individual or collective experience? Utilising sculpture, painting, jewellery and film; eleven artists explore the phenomena of ‘boom times’. This exhibition showcases a diverse and vibrant group of artists who have collaborated on various projects and exhibitions for over ten years. Features work by Jill Ansell, Clare Bestow, Vanessa Bradley, Louise Carre, Beba Hall, Georgina Moss, Diana Papenfus, Geraldine Pillinger, Sandra Perry, Gail Putz and Tineke Van der Eecken. Runs Feb 25-Mar 18.

Life/Life by Choi Jeong Hwa Life/Life: Gallery Central, Northbridge Internationally renowned South Korean contemporary artist Choi Jeong Hwa creates art that celebrates the peculiar beauty of synthetic materials and everyday objects while provoking reflections upon both consumption and harmony in our modern lives. Choi’s ephemeral installation of more than 10,000 balloons at Gallery Central is a complement to his Perth International Arts Festival commissioned public installations. His carnival of colour and plastic mimics and honours the beauty in nature as well as the processes of decay that are part of being alive. Runs Feb 10-Mar 10.

Year 12 Perspectives: Art Gallery Of WA, Northbridge An annual survey of work by WA’s top Visual Arts students, Year 12 Perspectives promises to deliver works of technical excellence and emotional complexity.Works depict relationships between self and the wider community, amongst family members and explores the relationship one has with one’s self. Fifty-one artists challenge us to reflect, also explores and understand the world in which they inhabit and provide us with an opportunity to connect to the experiences of the young people of Western Australia. Exhibition runs ’til Apr 9. collection of adversaries - everything from hostile appliances to giant jellyfish to a face in the mirror 3’s Company, 2’s A Party: The Treasury Cabaret, with a plan of its own. Are these manifestations of an untethered mind or something more sinister?

Perth Fresh from the 2011 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Season runs Feb 18-26. Bookings via perthfestival.

Quin (a fiery long legged beauty) and Helen com.au. (a former Miss Show Girl) mix up a cocktail of theatre, dance and comedy to bring you this Driving Into Walls: Studio Underground, quirky, clever and witty show. Set to classic hits Northbridge from the sixties to the noughties these classy Pashing, fighting, laughing, dancing and gals showcase their slick moves while attempting confessing ... drawn from over 500 starkly honest to tolerate one another long enough to share and highly confidential interviews with Western the stage and the spot light. Runs Feb 15-17. Australian teens, this intimate and confronting Bookings via fringeworld.com.au. play draws back the curtain on what it means to be young in our modern, media-driven society.

Raoul: Regal Theatre, Subiaco James Thiérrée sweeps you into a fantasy world Five teenagers walk an emotional tightrope of of shape-shifting illusion, slapstick humour, online and offline relationships, colliding with one startling beauty and melancholic whimsy that another and driving into the walls built around leaves you asking, ‘how did he do that?’. Raoul them. This daring, immersive production gives returns to a home upended, and quite possibly you a raw and voyeuristic view of their deepest possessed. To keep domestic life from unravelling secrets, rages, anxieties and hopes. Season runs completely, he goes toe-to-toe with a surreal Feb 25-29. Bookings via perthfestival.com.au.

THEATRE/DANCE

Frankettes by Anne Cobai Mini Art Mart: Ruck Rover General Store, Mt Lawley Frankenstein’s ultimate pop group, Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong and skull-loving tattooed vixens are sharing wall space this month at Ruck Rover’s Beaufort Street store in Mt Lawley.The store, which is hosting Mini Art Mart exhibitions featuring different local artists each month, is presenting the bold and colourful work of Perth artist Anne Cobai in February. Anne’s unique style, which draws upon a vast array of influences, including contemporary music, tattoo culture, vintage pin-ups, iconography and Renaissance art, will be on display until the end of this month. Runs ’til Feb 29. www.xpressmag.com.au

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

THE BROTHERS A SEXY, SLEEZY GOODTIME. The Cuban Brothers Brrothe are about to hit our shores and if anyone remembers their show ow Breakfest 2010 then you will be aware, good times are in order. A wild show att Breakfe est 20 comedy, cabaret, musical theatre, rapping, soul and sex, expect to get combining come et physical. physica al. JOE JO CASSIDY catches up with head honcho Miguel Mantovani.

Miguel Migu uel Mantovani, Mant also known as Mike Keat, from The Cuban Brothers begins this interview by pulling out hiss best Australian accent, demonstrating his impressive skills at playing fun and cheeky characters.

Mikke Keat h Mike has been around the funk scene for over 14 years DJing, MCing and beat-boxing under his alterego ‘Miguel’, a dark ex-mobster ex and one of Cuba’s most notorious club owners and performers who’s been involved in many of th the he seedi seedier aspects of Cuban culture.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 38

www.xpressmag.com.au

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FRAT IN THE BIG HOUSE Miguel is the head honcho of The Cuban Brothers - two English guys with a Japanese addition that take to the stage as an all rockin’, all soul, Cuban funk group.Their live shows are off the hook as they mix sleazy Cuban beats with some truly amazing break-dancing to create a really happening vibe.It’s hard to exactly describe the style of The Cuban Brothers - think the Mighty Boosh to a hip hop and disco soundtrack and throw in killer choreography by some truly talented dancers - then you might have some idea.

“The Cuban show life is always very physical, we’re all dancers, we come from that kind of background of being B-boys and being street dancers,” Keat begins.

And while the shows are set to a plan, he says there is room for a bit of freestyle fun. “All our shows have that sorta vibe where you don’t know, we try to keep it improve style,” he says. “We’ve been on the road for 10 years internationally… you always try to flip it every time to keep it vibin’.” And while it might begin to sound intoxicating, it works to huge success. “It’s always a mixture of dance, music, comedy, but in a good way, it’s just a good mixture.”

Joined by his ‘brother’ Archerio Mantovani (Archie Easton) and his ‘Japanese love child’ Kengo San (Kengo Oshima), the trio entertain their audiences with classic tracks and synchronised dance moves with breakdancing, B-boys moves and crunk. Keat admits that there is a bit of a similarity between himself and his alter ego when it comes to performance.“Doing the show for over 10 years, you know there is sort of a bit of art imitating life, I started to wear Miguel’s costumes for real,” he says.

The lads have been together for over 12 years and they’re about to release their first album in May. The record has been brought together by a band hand-picked by Keat that they’ve been with for the past eight years since they toured as part of the 2006 Good Vibrations Festival with James Brown – who invited them to hang out after watching one of the trio’s shows.

“It’s a really fun way to make a living,” Keat continues. “[An Australian promoter once said to us ‘oh mate, I can’t believe your job - you get up, have a few drinks, put your wig on, rock up at a venue, start asking ‘round, acting like a bunch a jerks and you get paid for this!’. It was funny and very poignant - you’re right, this is the most ridiculous job in the world.”

Their shows might be ridiculous but they’re a lot of fun. Keat met his ‘right-hand man’ Archie at a B-boy battle 14 years ago and he said Archie “wiped the floor with me,” and described it as a case of “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” And they’ve had a great creative chemistry ever since, both on and off stage.The third member of the trio, Kenjo was a student of Keat’s in Edinburgh while he was teaching B-boying to underprivileged kids, before Kenjo was pulled in to help teach the class too.“We have a healthy respect and a good relationship, which, from

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That’s right guys; Frat House Fridays are kicking off at Metro Freo. With the tagline “Never Grow Up, Come Get Messy”, this massive student night is about to blow up. There will be $5 re cup refills of your choice of vodka, Jim Beam or tap bear and $6 vodka and Mothers (Oh My!). Death Disco DJs will be behind the decks playing indie beats, electro, commercial dance hits, old school punk and even a bit of those ‘80s and ‘90s hits which everybody digs. Shorts and casual attire welcome. Get on down to the launch party on Friday, February 24, at Metro Freo, from 9pm.

James Lavelle

HUNTER S. THOMPSON OF DJS

The Cuban Brothers what I hear [in the music industry] it’s rare.”

Keat has also been venturing into the film and television realm, having filmed a story a couple of years back about an English radio DJ’s road trip across Australia to return a bottle of Jack Daniels to Bon Scott’s grave.

“The country’s amazing man,” he says. “Australia’s just ill, it’s amazing, I had such a good time shootin’ that thing, I got to go to a few places you wouldn’t get to go to, but we went and done gigs there ‘cause you’re seeing some crazy outback.” And donning their cheesy costumes went down a treat too.“We’re performing in these places with the hardest of miners, we were in there with leopard skin leotards.”

The project was originally touted as a feature film but with all the footage it worked better as a five-part series and will hopefully air in Australia around September.

Mike is also working on a show where the trio will appear with an Olympic star to help out disadvantaged children, a real community vibe that you feel flows through all of The Cuban Brothers’ work.

They’ve got some pretty big fans and have been flown around the world to entertain at private parties for the likes of Elton John and are hailed for their ‘get up and dance’ attitude to performance. Punters can expect to hear fresh tracks from their new record and witness some exceptionally skillful dance moves filled with high energy and party mayhem, all with a gigantic sprinkle of Cuban flavour.

» THE CUBAN BROTHERS » SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25 @ THE BAKERY

Well that’s how 32-year-old DJ and one half of UNKLE James Lavelle has previously been described. He’s worked with Gilles Peterson on That’s How It Is, established the label MoWax and has a brand new independent set up called Surrender-All which combines music, fashion and art. Lavelle was a resident DJ at Fabric in London for five years and was obsessed with the likes of Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa when he was growing up in Oxford. If you don’t know who he is or didn’t catch UNKLE at Groovin’ The Moo last year, you need to check this out. It’s all happening on Friday, March 9, at Ambar. Presale tickets are now on sale through Moshtix. Do it.

TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE

Apparently The Funkoars are bringing Law & Order’s Vincent D’Onofrio along for the ride when they hit town as part of a national tour due to smash The Rosemount Hotel on Saturday, April 28.

After releasing The Quickening to critical acclaim, the Adelaide hip hoppers are bringing an almighty show west. Stay tuned for the brand new single and music video due to be released in March (apparently D’Onofrio is in it). Random. Ticketing deets to come.

OH THE HORROR

Ballarat’s mashup maestros Yacht Club DJs are about to dish out a deadly dose of horror when they hit the road for their They Mostly Come At Night…Mostly tour in March and April. If you’ve never seen Guy Chappell-Lawrence and Gareth Harrison get on stage and take it to the next level with their chaotic live show, you shall need to get on down to this. Having played Meredith Music Festival, Splendour In The Grass, Parklife, Falls Festival, Groovin’ The Moo and Field Day, these guys are all about the party. First stop to kick off the tour is Perth – it’s all happening on Sunday, March 25, at a venue yet to be announced.

Prepare to be shocked!

Araab Muzik

ELECTRONIC DREAMS

He hails from Providence, Rhode Island, in America and will be bringing his MPC skills and rhythmic touches to town super soon. His name is Araab Muzik and he is making his debut tour at The Bakery on Sunday, February 26. Influenced by Dr. Dre, Swizz Beats, Alchemist, Pete Rock and Hi Tek, Araab Muzik is up there as a respected producer and trend-setting live act. Hit up nowbaking.com. au for ticketing deets. Kit Pop and Zeke on support duties. Check out his MPC skills on the YouTubez!

THE FUTURE OF FUTURE

Keen to DJ at Future Music Festival? If so, then The Future Of Future is for you. Send a five minute mixtape or Soundcloud link to thefutureoffuture@jumpclimb.com showing your unique DJ skills no later than this Sunday, February 19, at 6pm.Your mix must contain at least one artist playing at Future 2012. Eight contestants will then be chosen to compete at Capitol on Saturday, February 25 and given 15 minutes each to impress the hand-selected judges. The top two selected will then battle it off and the winner then plays Future 2012 Perth. Death Disco DJs will be headlining the party from 11pm. For all the details, head to electonic.jumpclimb.com or mellenevents.com.

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

GREG WILSON UNDERGROUND LEGEND

DESIGNER DRUGS

LEGAL UNCUT DOPE Amidst doomsday theories and piracy witch hunts, one group is embracing the chaos. “We actually just finished a track for our second album called Apocalypse Now,” Michael Vincent Patrick, one-half of aptly-named New York duo Designer Drugs tells ANDREW HICKEY.

Greg Wilson began DJing before it was DJing in 1975 and is regarded as one of the most important figures on the UK dance scene. He enjoyed hugely popular residencies in the early ‘80s and was a pioneer of mixing in the UK. In 1983, he became the first ‘dance music’ DJ hired for a regular weekly session at Manchester’s now legendary Hacienda club. BEN SWAN gets the lowdown.

Having retired from DJing at the end of 1983, Wilson returned to the decks two decades later causing a stir with his lauded appearances at renowned nights including Fabric, Ministry Of Sound and the Sub Club.

Before he knew it, he was back in the game again as an in demand touring artist.

In 2005, he released Credit To The Edit, a compilation of re-edits spanning his entire career, some even original tape edits from decades earlier, which thrust him firmly back into the spotlight.

He was recently nominated by DJ Magazine for outstanding contribution, and also named amongst their top 20 remixers of all-time. At the moment, he’s having a bit of a break. “[I’m] taking a bit of time off DJing and laying low having only played just the one gig in Manchester since the New Year before I head down under for the fourth time,” he says. “So I know I’ll see lots of familiar faces from my previous tours, along

with, hopefully, many new ones.” He’ll be spinning and editing “grooved based music that covers the last 40 years and sometimes longer, with a special emphasis on stuff I played my first time around.”

Wilson’s new edit/remix commissions are coming thick and fast and he’s said before he likes to try and meld the past and present. “It’s always about a balance between old and new for me and once I find that balance I know I’m on solid ground,” he says.“I have a unique perspective, given I wasn’t a DJ by the time the whole acid house thing exploded in the UK in the late ‘80s, so I was able to observe, from an unusual vantage point, DJ culture going overground and affecting the mainstream in the way it did. I come from a time before the ‘superstar DJ’, when respect, not hero worship, was what gave you satisfaction.

“So it was fascinating to see so many DJs begin to believe their own myth and put themselves

Greg Wilson above the music, straying from the righteous path to follow the dollar… but that was never what it was about for me and the DJs of my generation - nobody was getting rich from being a club DJ in the ’70s.

One of Wilson’s current strengths in new technology is his Soundcloud account which is a gold mine of edits, recorded DJ sets and more – with everything posted given an accompanying story about its origins.“Including a back story for some of the tracks I edit hopefully puts some meat on the bones, providing others, especially those too young to remember these recordings first time around, with some context.”

» GREG WILSON » SETS ON THE BEACH » SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19 @ SCARBOROUGH BEACH AMPHITHEATRE

Designer Drugs “It’s fucking 2012, shit’s going down,” Patrick says with emphasis. Proud to be crafting the “soundtrack for the apocalypse,” Patrick reveals that much of what can be heard on their certifiably insane 2011 debut album Hardcore/Softcore came from a special place. “We’ve seen a lot of bad, dark, crazy, gangster shit and I think that came out a bit in the music.”

Putting their demented spin on electronic music, you would think that the tag team would need to be in a certain headspace. Crafting anthems like Drop Down and Into The Light apparently comes naturally to Patrick and Theodore Paul Nelson, his partner-in-crime.

“We just sit down and write and the music really comes subconsciously,” he reveals, rather matter-of-factly. “We don’t force music or work really in any direction we just do it then turn it into a production.”

From their production work to their on-stage presentation, Patrick and Nelson pride themselves on being genuine.“A lot of dance music is formulated and lacks any unique characteristics,” Patrick says. Much of their authenticity could stem from the natural chemistry the two have forged since their formative days.“We met back in high school through mutual friends and we went to the same raves and shit. The chemistry in the studio is definitely interesting.”

Another interesting element to this musical molotov is Nelson’s back story – he’s leading a double life as a musician and medical student. “We don’t even work together that much,” Patrick says of their relationship. “If I start a song I just finish it. If he starts a song he ends up sending it to me to produce, arrange and mix.” Even with the distance between the duo, the sound of Designer Drugs doesn’t appear to have suffered. “If we have the opportunity to work together we just bang through the whole song together and that’s definitely our favourite way to work but with our super busy schedules it’s just impossible to make happen.”

Like many of their counterparts, Patrick and Nelson originally built their rep through tireless remixing. Despite the stigma of jumping to the ‘debut album’ they weren’t phased. “We just did our thing,” Patrick chuckles. “Maybe we should have felt more pressured but I think we were a bit in a daze from the brain damage touring had on us.”

The touring won’t stop as Designer Drugs make their return to our shores. You can already picture Aussie customs gearing up at the sight of the last sentence. “I’m stoked to come back to Australia,” Patrick says excitedly. “I have many tight friends there with labels like Vamp and Ministry Of Sound and the last time I was there I went skating a lot and actually rolled my ankle. Fucking limped onto the plane with a huge swollen black and blue ankle. I almost took a fucking wheelchair at the airport.”

» DESIGNER DRUGS » FRIDAY, FERBRUARY 24 @ AMBAR www.xpressmag.com.au

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CUT CHEMIST WALKING TIGHTROPES

One of hip hop’s most respected DJs for his work with Jurassic 5 and his acclaimed turntablism sets with long-time collaborator DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist, aka Lucas Macfadden, is coming to town as part of the Perth International Arts Festival. Macfadden chats with JOSHUA HAYES. On Macfadden’s most recent release, last year’s live DJ mix Sound Of The Police, he presents the West African, Ethiopian and Latin sounds that have inspired him in a context that a hip hop audience would appreciate – looping the source material like samples.

What makes the mix stand out, though, is that it was recorded using one turntable connected to a pedal to loop parts of one record while transitioning to, or cutting up, another. “It was a way to set myself apart from other DJs. I wanted to come up with something different in a world where everybody is becoming a DJ,” Macfadden explains.

“It’s kind of a reaction to going into everybody’s homes and seeing two turntables in the living room or dining room, and I thought ‘well, I’m slowly becoming part of a bigger world of DJs where everybody is one and what makes me so special?’, and so I thought, well, I’m going to do something with one turntable.”

His Sound Of The Police routine will make up part of his upcoming set at PIAF. Madfadden has

described the performance as like walking a sonic tightrope. Using original vinyl pressings from the ‘70s to layer loops upon loops with a setup prone to feedback means the slightest glitch could throw out the entire routine.

“It’s live and people are there to witness it fail or succeed,” he says.“I like those kinds of challenges.

I think me as an audience viewer, I would appreciate that, because it lets you know that it’s real and it’s not computer [controlled] and safe, which is pretty much every performance you see.”

Macfadden’s stage show will consist of two separate stations – in addition to the single turntable and loop pedal; he’ll also have a four turntable setup for an audiovisual performance. The audiovisual component will include the debut of his video clip for Outro Revisited, the lead single from his upcoming second solo album.

“I always think that I’m more than halfway, but I always tend to be safe and say ‘halfway’. I’ve been

Cut Chemist saying ‘halfway’ for about two years,” he says of the new album – a follow up to 2006’s The Audience Is Listening – which he hopes to release by spring.

He describes the album as “really different” from The Audience Is Listening, with a heavy French new wave influence. Macfadden is currently working on a new wave reissue compilation, on his label A Stable Sound, to coincide with the release of his own album.

“It’s very different, very psychedelic and electro, really out of control, wild,” he says of the genre.“I just got really influenced by it. I really like early hip hop, drum machine hip hop; this was similar but a lot more rock-sounding… It seemed to be that perfect hybrid of music for me.”

» CUT CHEMIST » THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23 @ FESTIVAL GARDENS

Concord Dawn

CONCORD DAWN UPRISING

Concord Dawn, a DJ who may or may not be named after a lesser-known planet from Star Wars, is about to tour his fifth record The Enemy Within. The man behind the beats, Matt Harvey, chats with CHLOE PAPAS about drum’n’bass, going solo and their new record.

Hailing from across the ditch, New Zealand based Concord Dawn have been active since 1999 as DJs and producers in both a solo and duo capacity. With five full-length albums - one of which (Chaos By Design), went gold in New Zealand - and a bunch of awards and nominations under their belts, they’ve not done too shabbily at all.

The original ‘other half’ of Concord Dawn, Evan Short, and Harvey performed and produced together for over a decade, but had been performing separately (both under the Concord Dawn name) for a few years prior to their split in 2009, simply due to location restrictions – Harvey was based in Vienna, Short was based in New Zealand. Harvey explains that the split itself was natural and amicable, with no real drama involved.“Evan just wasn’t into it anymore basically: the touring, the music and everything,” he says. “It was a split without a hint of acrimony though and I was the best man at his wedding six months after he split. I was already living in Vienna at that point - I have been there six years now but now I’m having to fly around twice as much before!”

Drum’n’bass has flooded the mainstream market on a pretty huge level over the past few years, reaching heights in the charts that many in the music world never really expected. Harvey explains that the rise of the genre has reflected in Concord Dawn’s popularity,but that producers don’t always get attention for the right reasons. “It’s great to see it opening up in new territories,” he says. “I went to China last year and am out in India at the moment which are some places I thought I would never make it to 10 years ago! [But] music is about marketing as much as anything else these days and to stick your head out from the masses of music being released you need a good PR team and all that entails.”

So who does Harvey think deserves to reap the rewards of fame? “I’d like to see me get more popularity and recognition!,” he says, laughing. “No, seriously, I think Dose and Prolix are both deserving of a blow up in 2012 as well as No Money, Hybris and Rido from Czech.”

Concord Dawn have always toured hard and fast, fitting in a crazy number of dates in a short amount of time, and hitting as many countries as possible.

Harvey rattles off a recent touring event and it isn’t quite the rock star story that X-Press expected.“I got stuck in a lift in Mumbai yesterday on the way to an interview and started the interview in there whilst getting swarmed by mosquitoes with the aircon and lights off,” he says.

“That was pretty spesh!”

Harvey claims that he would be a B grade comedian if he wasn’t involved in music but we reckon he should hang on to the headphones for a while longer.

Concord Dawn’s sixth full-length album is due out towards the end of the year and Harvey says “it will be more of the same but different”. “There’s 12 things done already for [the new album] but some I will probably [put] out as 12”s before the LPs release. The first vocal tune is done, with Thomas Oliver, and two others are sitting with the vocalists getting longed out… there will be no dubstep on it. If there is, anyone who reads this is allowed to punch me in the balls for free.”

» CONCORD DAWN » SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25 @ VILLA 32

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

BEASTLY BASS ILL.GATES/ Mr. Starks/ Harvey Fresh The Rosemount Hotel Saturday, February 11, 2012 It was always going to be a big ask to catch all the awesome artists that were kickin’ around Perth over the weekend, but if you had your dancing shoes firmly on then you might just have caught ill.

Gates doing his thing at The Rosemount. Put on by fresh promoters Broken Technology, punters were met with a delicious aural feast by the legendary DJ, producer and educator known as The Phat Conductor.

Ill.Gates is a pretty dynamic performer and has been crafting his skills since he decided that interning at a wedding magazine as a graphic designer just wasn’t going to cut it when it came to his life ambitions. Having DJ’d since he was 13, the San-Francisco based artist has worked with some massive names – including Datsik, Bassnectar, Melbourne based Opiuo and Ana Sia. He appeared at Burning Man in Nevada last year and Shambala Festival too. There are no excuses for not getting on The Phat Conductor’s beat train.

Local lad Harvey Fresh, who’s been partying up a storm across town and who can be regularly heard at the Velvet Lounge, warmed up the night. Although the crowd had yet to show itself fully, Fresh banged out a sweet mix of hip hop and dance numbers that eased the dancefloor into a calm submission. His eclectic mix of beats and heavy bass got the head bopping and certainly brought a smile to the crowd.

Mr. Starks brought the house into a cool state of affairs with his LA beats and relaxed swagger as the crowd slowly increased in size. The calm beats could heal even the most broken soul and reinvigorate them to take on the dancefloor for the headliner of the night.

As ill.Gates took the stage, the dub devotees had emerged and were up front to witness the electronic goodness. It started off a little soft as the dancefloor slowly came to life and he played his slower, less bass-y numbers. He looked calm and collected, bopping his head in time as his thick dreads followed and his hat stayed firmly in place.

As the set progressed, the venue began to shake and the beats dropped were heavier, more intense and little on the trippy side. He busted out a few of his collaborative efforts, remixes as well as some hard wobbles from his lll.Methodology

www.xpressmag.com.au

ill.Gates (photo by Matt Jelonek) masterpiece. He lifted each track up and the dropped the bass to the delight of the hardcore fans at the front.

It was a great set, the sound system handled the noise nicely and technically, he was brilliant. Considering how much of a big shot ill.Gates is, it was surprising to see such a small crowd turn out to watch the master of the decks do his thing but, for those that did brave the fear of exhaustion, it was a tripped out, glitchy, bassheavy event that pleased all ill.Gates signature sound lovers. _JOE CASSIDY

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METRO CITY

WEDNESDAY 15/02 Amplifier – Fluxx Beat Bar (Bar Open) – DJ Antrax Captain Stirling – Fiveo Clancy’s (Applecross) – Upbeat – DJ Andy Connections – DJs Joby /JJ / Rueben Double Lucky – Last Wednesday Eurobar – Wild Wednesdays - DJ iPod/ Ben Pettit Eve – DJ Don Migi/ Skooby Gold Bar–DJ Adroc Hipe Club – DJ Roger Smart Leederville Hotel – We Love Wednesdays ft DJ Slick Metro Freo – Summer Sessions Vol 1 ft DJ Travis LeBurn Mustang – DJ Giles Norma Jeans – DJ Mischief Sovereign Arms – Lokie Shaw The Deen - DJ Zelimer/ DJ Viper/ DJ Benny/ T– Zone 1 The Rosemount - Cowboys & Indie Kids DJs The Queens – Wriggle on

THURSDAY 16/02 Clancy’s (Canning Bridge) - DJ Wrighteous Claremont Hotel – DJ Double Dee/ DJ Matt/ DJ Millie Club Marakesh – DJ Simon Cottesloe Hotel – DJ Shots/ DJ Andy M Eve – DJ Tony Allen Leopold Hotel – DJ Riki/ Roger Smart 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 – Bass Culture South St – DJ Castasia/ Dpad Swinging Pig – DJ Simon The Avenue – G Martin

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NEWPORT

The Craftsman – Roger Smart The Deen – DJ Flex/ DJ Nano/ DJ Surge/ DJ Don Migi The East End Bar - The Prestige The Queens – Kapitol The Rosemount - DJ Qbert & Reeps One The Whale & Ale – Josh Tilley The Whistling Kite - DJ Gareth Woodvale Tavern – DJ Melvin

Geisha - Soul Project ft James A Ginger Nightclub – Rondevoo Fridayz Gosnells Club – DJ Now Hipe Club - DJ E-Funk Lakers Tavern – Fresh Fridays DJ Dooey Left Bank – DJ Frankie Button Library – Sneaky Little Creatures Loft – Marine Beats Llama Bar – DJ Reuben/ DJ Morris FRIDAY 17/02 Malt Super Club - Fiveo Ambar - Ado & Modek Merriwa Tavern – DJ Real Amplifier – Cowboys & Indie McCoy Kids Metro City (Solace Bar) – DJ Bar 459 - DJ Smurf Slick Beat Nightclub - Play Metro Freo – Big House Boheme Bar - DJ Majiika Fridays ft DJ DTuck/ Ben Bolt Bar (Maylands Peninsular Renna Tavern) – DJ Armee Mint Nightclub – Club Retro ft Boulevard Tavern – DJ Andyy Chris McPhee Broken Hill Hotel – DJ Nick Mullaloo Beach Hotel - DJ Alexander John Paul Brooklands Tavern - DJ Jayden Mustang – Swing DJ/ DJ Capitol – Retro Mash James MacArthur Carine Tavern – Greg Packer/ Paddy Hannans – Crazy Craig MC Assassin Paramount - DJ Johnny Boi/ DJ Clancy’s (Canning Bridge) - DJ Jordan Boogie Queens Tav – DJ Rueben Claremont Hotel – DJ Nick Sail & Anchor - Balcony Beatz/ Sheppard/ DJ Max DJ J-MAC Club Bayview - Infexious ft Ben Shape – Ronski Speed Stevens/ Nomad Sovereign Arms – Aiden Wallis Como Hotel – DJ Gazz The Avenue – JMC Eve – DJ Don Migi/ DJ Danny The Bakery - Balam Acab Boi The Carine – Lokie Shaw/ Az-T Flawless – DJ Zelimir The Causeway – Bass Republic

Balam Acab

CAUSEWAY BAR

The Craftsman – DJ Abstar The Eastern – DJ Midfield The Generous Squire - DJ Anaru The Queens – DJ Rueben The Saint - DJ Jordan The Shed – DJ Glenn 20 The Whale & Ale – Josh Tiley Tiger Lils – Paul Malone/ Adam Kelly The Vic - DJ Giles The Wembley Hotel – Funky Bottoms/ Jon Ee Windsor – DJ Riki and Ray Victoria Park Hotel – DJ Giles YaYa’s – Junk ft DJ Whoa

SATURDAY 18/02 Ambar – Japan 4 ft Datadex Amplifier - Pure Pop ft Eddie Electric Attic – Attic (indie, electro, dance, rock & cool retro) Basement On Broadway – DJ Ricky Boheme Bar – Carte Blanche DJs Broken Hill Tavern – DJ Nick Alexander/ James Wilson Capitol – Death Disco DJs Capitol (Upstairs) – Cream Of The ‘80s Clancy’s (Canning Bridge) DJ Dood Claremont Hotel – DJ Tone Def Club Bay View – VIP Saturdays ft DJ Ryan Eurobar – Roger Smart/ DJ Raci Eve Nightclub – DJ Don Migi/ DJ Stevie M Flawless - Stache Saturdays ft DJ Zelimir/ DJ Minna High Road Hotel – DJ Simon High Wycombe – DJ Matt Hipe Club – DJ E-Funk Library – MKT ft DJ Riki/ DJ Richie G/ DJ Vicktor Little Creatures Loft – Marine Beats Liquid Nightclub - DJ Klar55/ DJ Stevie M Llama Bar – DJ Reuben/ DJ Melvin Malt Super Club – Fiveo Metro City (R&B Lounge) - DJ Slick/ DJ Ruthless/ DJ Soso

AC Slater Metro City - DJ Stevie M/ DJ Matty S/ DJ Ruthless/ DJ Makka Metro Freo – DTuck/ Darren Briais/ Wazz Mint Nightclub – Pop Life ft DJ Aaron/ AJ Mullaloo Beach Hotel – DJ Danny Mustang – Rockabilly DJ/ DJ James MacArthur Niche – Frankie Button/ Cee/ Jonny Zimber Norma Jeans – DJ Darren Oxford Hotel – DJ Sequeria Paramount- DJ Cornflake / DJ Jordan/ DJ Johnny Boi Queens Tav - Gareth Richardson Rocket Room – DJ Brett Rowe South St Ale House – DJ Jay Sovereign Arms – Rockwell The Avenue – Jon Ee The Brighton (Upstairs) – Micah/ Kill Dyl/ eSQue The Boheme – DJ Sneakee The Causeway – Sun City The Cornerstone – Aiden Wallis The Deen - DJ Birdie/ DJ JJ/ DJ Tony Allen The Generous Squire – On Tap The Grey Door (Upstairs at The Claremont Hotel) - RTRfm’s Saturday Night Divas ft The Foxman/ Super J/ General Justice/ Microgroove/ Mama Cass/ Claude Mono/ Spud Murphy The Rosemount - Mampi Swift/ MC IC3 The Saint – DJ Anaru The Shed –DJ Glenn 20 The Wembley – KIKER

Greg Wilson The Whistling Kite - DJ Craig The Vic – DJ Kristian Tiger Lil’s – DJ Bojan/ DJ Ben Sebastian Victoria Park Hotel – DJ Melvin Villa - AC Slater (guest only show) Windsor – DJ Ray Woodvale Tavern – DJ Real McCoy Yaya’s – Saturday Social ft The Kings Of Cheese DJs

SUNDAY 19/02 Broken Hill Tavern - Sophie Jane Captain Stirling – DJ Jay Claremont Hotel – DJ Double Dee Clink – DJ Tony Allen Euro Bar – DJ Flex Eve Nightclub – DJ Birdie Mint - Chris McPhee Mullaloo Beach Hotel – Timmy Trumpet Mustang – DJ Rockin Rhys Scarborough Beach Amphitheatre - Sets On The Beach Vol 6 ft Soul II Soul (Sound System)/ Greg Wilson/ Flight Facilities/ Nina Las Vegas/ The Glimmers The Avenue – Az-T The Cott – Cott Sessions The Kiosk – DJ Cinder

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

AMPLIFIER

LEEDERVILLE

MONDAY 20/02 Bar Orient - DJ White Label Broken Hill Tavern - DJ Mario Tavelli Eastern Hotel – Adam Morris The Deen – Plastic Max/ The Token Gesture The Paddo – DJ John Paul The Shed – DJ Andyy

TUESDAY 21/02 Bar Orient - DJ Lyndon Eastern Hotel – Jon Edwards Nina Las Vegas High Road Hotel – DJ Matty J High Wycombe – DJ Ricky The Saint - DJ Anaru Hipe Club – DJ Roger Smart The Shed – DJ Andyy The Velvet Lounge - West Coast Metro City - The Game Bootie ft Angry Buda/ Defanutley/ The Bird - SMRTS Guy Davy The Cott (Upstairs) –Maxwell/ The Wembley – DJ Jus Haus?/ Damian John Funkybottoms/ Boogie/ Victoria Park Hotel – DJ Melvin Dekoyfox

IN THE THIS WEEK DJ Qbert & Reeps One Thursday, February 16 @ The Rosemount Balam Acab Friday, February 17 @ The Bakery Soul Project ft James A Friday, February 17 @ Geisha Ado & Modek Friday, February 17 @ Ambar

SETS ON THE BEACH VOL 6

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19

@ SCARBOROUGH BEACH AMPHITHEATRE

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Lee Burridge/ Jamie Stevens Friday, February 24 @ Shape (upstairs) Hedflux Friday, February 24 @ Geisha Boom Box Old Skool Boat Party ft Dair vs Frantix/ Dvise vs Deflo/ Sempy vs Conxept/ Mental vs NVS/ Terrance & Phillip/ MC Xssesiv/ Assassin/ Stylee Friday, February 24 @ Departs Barrack Street Jetty

Fresh Produce ft Lemon Lime N Love Town/ Lady L/ Carla/ Kat Gray/ Lizness Friday, March 2 @ Ambar Funk Club ft Charlie Bucket Friday, March 2 @ Deville’s Pad Mask2012 ft Benny C/ Double Dee Saturday, March 3 @ The Empyrean

Full Frequency ft Micah/ Ben Mac/ Massiv Trav/ Dart/ Sardi/ Declan/ Ben M/ Rok Riley/ James A/ Miranda Menzies/ JoLettenmaier/ FTW/ Bezwun & JS/ Ari Sistym/ Puff/ Ru-Kusa Friday, March 23 @ Shape Jungle Fever ft Aphrodite Friday, March 23 @ Villa Yelawolf Tuesday, March 27 @ Capitol

Hermitude Hudson Mohawke/ Rustie/ Friday, March 30 @ Mojos Force Majeure ft Designer Drugs Rok Riley/ Ben Taaffe/ Move and more Diafrix & Joelistics Friday, February 24 @ Ambar RTRfm’s Saturday Night Divas ft Saturday, March 3 @ The Bakery Friday, March 30 @ Bar 120 The Foxman/ Super J/ General Frat House Fridays ft Death Justice/ Microgroove/ Mama Future Music Festival ft Diafrix & Joelistics Disco DJs Cass/ Claude Mono/ Spud Friday, February 24 @ Metro Freo Swedish House Mafia/ Fatboy Saturday, March 31 @ Hyde Park Hotel Murphy Slim/ Tinie Tempah/ Paul van Saturday, February 18 @ The Grey Dyk/ Chase & Status/ Skrillex/ Hermitude Higher Fyah The Reggae Door (Upstairs at The Claremont Aphex Twin/ Die Antwoord/ Saturday, March 31 @ Amplifier Club ft General Justice/ The Hotel) Gareth Emery/ James Empressions/ Mumma Trees/ Sista Che/ DJ Gridlox/ KevzBlaq Murphy & Pat Mahoney (LCD Diafrix & Joelistics Japan 4 ft Datadex Soundsystem/ DFA)/ Sven Sunday, April 1 @ Norfolk Basement Friday, February 24 @ Bar Orient Saturday, February 18 @ Ambar Vath/ Alex Metric/ Azari & III/ Horse Meat Disco/ / Frank Van She Tech Danny Daze Mampi Swift/ MC IC3 Ocean/ The Stafford Brothers/ Saturday, April 7 @ The Aviary Saturday, February 25 @ Geisha Saturday, February 18 @ The Friendly Fires/ Knife Party/ Rosemount Hotel Professor Green/ Dubfire/ The Herd/ Thundamentals The Cuban Brothers Flux Pavilion/ Orjan Nilsen/ Saturday, April 14 @ The Rosemount Saturday, February 25 @ The Sets On The Beach Vol 6 ft Soul Porter Robinson/ Ruby Rose/ II Soul (Sound System)/ Greg Bakery Wilson/ Flight Facilities/ Nina tyDi/ Kill The Noise/ Timmy Supafest ft P.Diddy/ Ice Cube/ Rick Las Vegas/ The Glimmers Trumpet and more Ross/ Trey Songz/ Kelly Rowland/ Heat! ft Dieselboy/ Concord Sunday, February 19 @ Sunday, March 4 @ Arena Lupe Fiasco and more TBC Dawn Scarborough Beach Amphitheatre Saturday, February 25 @ Villa Joondalup Sunday, April 22 @ Arena Joondalup AC Slater (guest only show) Saturday, February 18 @ Villa

West Coast Bootie ft Angry Buda/ Defanutley/ Guy Davy Sunday, February 19 @ The Velvet Lounge

Flight Facilities

METRO FREO

The Future Of Future ft Death Disco DJs Saturday, February 25 @ Capitol

Mickey Avalon Friday, March 9 @ Villa

James Lavelle Friday, March 9 @ Ambar Araab Muzik The Game Tuesday, February 21 @ Metro City Sunday, February 26 @ The Bakery DJ Krush 20th Anniversary World Tour MC Oddisee/ Kitpop (Live)/ SMRTS Saturday, March 10 @ Villa Klean Kicks Tuesday, February 21 @ The Bird Friday, March 2 @ The Manor 360 Friday, March 16 @ The Outlook Festival Launch COMING UP Rosemount Hotel Party ft Kryptic Minds/ Spectrasoul/ Icicle/ Ulterior Cut Chemist KRS-One Thursday, February 23 @ Festival Motive/ Zanetic Friday, March 23 @ Metro City Friday, March 2 @ Shape Gardens

Creamfields ft David Guetta/ Above & Beyond/ Dirty South/ Alesso/ Excision/ W&W/ Giuseppe Ottaviani (live)/ Congorock/ Vitalic/ Sied van Riel/ Tritonal/ Downlink/ ShockOne/ MaRLo/ Bombs Away/ MC Stretch Saturday, May 5 @ Supreme Court Gardens Groovin’ The Moo ft 360/ Hilltop Hoods/ Adrian Lux/ Beni/ Digitalism/ Hermitude/ Muscles/ Purple Sneaker DJs/ Wavves Saturday, May 19 @ Hay Park, Bunbury

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

The Horrors

ST JEROME’S LANEWAY FESTIVAL Saturday, February 11, 2012 Perth Cultural Centre While there were no bone fide superstars or big name drawcards on the line-up (organisers surely blew that card with Florence + The Machine, Mumford & Sons and The XX in 2010), an afternoon of consistently fine sets from moderately known local and international artists helped this year’s local incarnation of the St Jerome’s Laneway Festival to be one of the most enjoyable yet.

For some unfathomable reason, organisers put some of the better bands on early in the day, yet although it would seem an injustice to have Yuck playing the first set of the day, the bright weather did suit their indie pop smarts. The front row of the band may be petit but drummer Jonny Rogoff has the best afro outside of hip-hop, and with chiming guitar and a solid if-unspectacular-rhythm section they are a far from timid experience. Top class songwriting that harks back to early Teenage Fanclub with a hint of Sonic Youth makes up for the fact they are not the best musicians in the world,

but are exactly the type that inspire people to run home and form their own bands (for better or for worse). Songs like Get Away and The Wall made this a cracking and standout set.

As a relatively new outfit that success found before they went hunting for it, Cults had the task of bringing their delicious bedroom recordings to life in the festival setting. Any apprehensions about whether or not the Brooklyn-based duo could turn their amiable recordings into a successful live set were hastily put to rest, as they exuberantly bought a slew of their much-loved sugar-powdered pop tunes, Go Outside and You Know What I Mean, to life. The charming duo has pulled a full band into the equation with the only criteria for admission appearing to be the cultivation of a mass of long black hair. Vocalist Madeline Follin clung to her dress like a security blanket as she shimmied from side to side when delivering the ‘60s-tinged melodies. It was up to her partner-in-rhyme Brian Oblivion to lead the band, taking on the role of musical director whether behind keyboard or guitar. Cults excelled at cutsie pop with handclaps and glockenspiel thrown in for good measure.

Girls (Photos: Emma Bergmeier)

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Chairlift were another that had the task of putting their bedroom chic into the live setting and the expanded line up served them well. Frontwoman Caroline Polachek stood not much taller than her keyboard and although having to bail out of a semiwindmill rock move, was a more than competent front person. There were plenty of bands pushing a similar genre to Chairlift and although they may not have stood up to some of the heavyweights, a large following through their appearance on an iPod ad and stellar new single Amanaemonesia had a sizeable crowd singing and dancing along.

Local Path To Laneway winners Cow Parade Cow almost proved they deserved their midafternoon billing – their songs are so catchy and, even beneath their more experimental contours, the band sticks close to the Kinks-via-Wes-Anderson guitar-pop it does best – however shaky girl-boy vocals and a few stretches of almost unlistenable harmonising caused their set to fall rather flat. Disappointing.

By embracing immediacy and toning down the navel-gazing, ‘80s-indebted hipster George Lewis Jr (aka Twin Shadow) pulled off a neat trick during his live performance as he trotted out summery, new wave numbers from his much-hyped 2010 debut Forget with a harder, rockier tinge. It was much less ambitious than his recorded work, but more impactful, with songs like Castles In The Snow and Forget coming across throbbing yet elegiac.

The nu-folk of British Songsters Laura Marling drew the crowd in to the more sizeable Museum Stage area. With three albums to her name in almost as many years, the wee blonde lass with the large voice charmed her way through a set that was never going to be long enough. Known mostly as a solo troubadour, Marling gave her songs full arrangements with a band that had double bass and keys into the mix. Radio staples were prevalent with highlights being I Speak Because I Can and Sophia the latter announcing Marling as quite the talent.

Former member of the Children Of God cult Christopher Owens was sporting a bob with ugly green regrowth and a soccer strip when he fronted his melody heavy quintet Girls. Honey Bunny was a hit of pure sugar from a band that delivered a ripping set from the first chord. Owens’collection of Rickenbackers ensured that clean guitar sounds were present around meandering riffs as the Californians gave us chunks of last year’s Father, Son, Holy Ghost. Girls also delved into their debut for rousing renditions of foot stompers Laura and Lust For Life to deliver clever pop from start to finish.

Some bands are not your usual configuration, yet just have a way of making things work. The notion of a choir boy with harp backed with electronica support may not be the road most travelled, but Active Child aren’t average in any sense

M83

of the word. With his long face and illuminating red hair, frontman Pat Grossi looks like he should be a leading man in the latest American sitcom. It is when he opens his mouth that a different spell is cast as he leads his band mates through a set that sounds like Bronski Beat on downers. Grossi moved to the keyboards to beef up the sound with crowd favourites like Hanging On, but it is when he unleashed his vibrato from behind the harp on tunes like You Are All I See that Active Child were at their most exceptional.

With its emphasis on waves of synths that build to theatrical crescendos, French synth-popsters M83 expertly balanced the airy and the dense, making for a fantastically fun set of great pop music with its big heart in the right place. Despite front-loading the set, they kept plenty in reserve, with new single Reunion winning the prize for most joyous sing-a-long, at least until Midnight City kicked off second from the end and sent the crowd into a frenzy.

Meanwhile, US singer EMA (aka Erika M. Anderson) showcased her unique sound (a mix of country, goth, electro pop, post-punk and grunge) to a significantly smaller, although no less enthusiastic, crowd in the Spiegeltent. More than proving she has a huge talent for drama – when to build, when to break, when to whisper or howl or yell, when to camp a while in a looping melody and when to move on – her 45-minute set veered between catchy and patchy, but there was a definite talent hidden underneath the orchestrated mess and it was an absolute shame than only a handful of local punters were on hand to witness her controlled desolation.

A parallel to much of the “buried clean, bright, familiar melodies under sheaves of noise” indie rock purported by various other bands on the line-up, Georgian chillwave purveyors Washed Out recreated the synthesized funk and pop of the early ‘80s and hide it beneath layers of obfuscation. For the most part, the band concentrated on producing lithe, percussion-heavy grooves, finding a funky core in songs such as Echoes and Far Away that’s easy to miss on record. Although choosing to omit their best known tune, Feel It All Around (better known as the theme song to hipster sketch show Portlandia), was a gamble, the fact that the large audience hung around until the very end more than proved their popularity regardless.

Although worst case scenario reports from the daily’s prompted whispers regarding a possible cancellation of next year’s Perth leg, this year’s sold out success proved that it’s now an essential, recurring destination on the calendar. Viva Laneway! _CHRIS HAVERCROFT & JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD

Austra

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THE BRASS MONKEY Kizzy

PADDO

Tonight, Wednesday, February 15, Paddo POW is set to feature an evening of beguiling acoustic tunes courtesy of local singer-songwriters Kizzy, Tim Montgomery and Dove. Proceedings kick off at 8pm and, as always, entry is 100 per cent free!

NEWPORT HOTEL

Surf-lovin’singer-songwriter Donavon Frankenreiter, is set to charm local fans with a selection of his much-loved tunes during a special free live show on Saturday, February 18, from 4pm.

THE PRINCIPAL

Situated on Cale Street in the heart of Midland and with a menu featuring some of Australia’s best craft beer, Swan Valley wines, cocktails, live music and great food, The Principle is the perfect place to kick back and enjoy a couple drinks, catch up with friends, or dine with that special someone.

THE SAIL & ANCHOR

For the month of February,The Sail & Anchor is tipping its hat to our brothers across the Tasman and playing host to Hew Brew, a New Zealand beer fest featuring 63 kegs of NZ craft beer goodness and NZ food specials all month.

MOJO’S BAR

Thursday, February 16, The Sunshine Brothers play Mojo’s Bar and are set to surge their big dub sound throughout North Freo! Expect awesome special guests. Entry will be $15.

Friday, February 17, It’s finally time to release the first single from the Call Collector album.

Timothy Nelson, 44th Sunset, and Sophia Smilovitis will be supporting. Entry is $12 from 8pm. Saturday, February 18, The Long Strides launch their new album Lion Pride at Mojos Bar. Support comes from Hurricane Fighter Plane, The Vincent Gallows & Ellie Schowen. Entry on the night will be $10. This weeks double pass giveaway is to the Sunshine Brothers gig, simply email “is green is good” in the subject line to mojos@coolperthnights.com.

Attic is a new inner city late night option for those who are after friendly vibes, cool music and good times.

The Attic credo is simple – good DJs playing great music with a cool retro slant all in a comfortable and friendly space with a huge balcony overlooking the city. Situated upstairs at The Brass Monkey, the Attic is aimed at the late night bar purveyor who wants a party without the hassles every Saturday eve.

DEVILLE’S PAD

Get down to Deville’s Pad this Friday, February 17, for the special Fringe Festival event No Shame during which Perth’s most outrageous Burlesque Bombshells – Divas of Drag, Carnie Kooks and Vibrant Vaudevillians – will unleash their inhibitions and immerse themselves in the depths of silly. Plus, word on the street is that supremely talented instrumental outfit Johnny Nandez Hammond Explosion will be making a late night appearance. Doors open 5pm for dinner and cocktails. Entry is $10 after 8pm.

METROPOLIS FREMANTLE

Featuring Death Disco DJs and heaps of special guests throughout the night, massive student night Frat House Fridays at Metros Freo is set to be the perfect party to end your week. Make sure you head down on Friday, February 24 to enjoy seriously cheap drinks and entry. Get ready to get messy!

INDI BAR

This Saturday, February 18, sun kissed singersongwriter Donavon Frankenreiter will plays a free show early in the evening, followed by reggaelovin’ roots outfit Dilip ‘n The Davs. Then on Sunday, February 19, rollickin’ rockers The Seals continue their February residency with what is sure to be another fine show.

THE ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB

Those smooth cats down at The Ellington Jazz Club are set to present two album launches this week. First, Sydney-based chanteuse Lucie Thorne will take to the stage on Thursday, February 16, to launch her new album Bonfires In The Silver City, and then much-loved local troubadour Andrew Winton will showcase tunes from his highly anticipated new release Happy on Saturday, February 18. Plus, Paris-based singer-songwriter Rachel Claudio will showcase her phenomenal vocal and songwriting talents at two electrifying late shows on Friday, February 17, and Saturday, February 18.

FRIDAY NIGHT FUN Beat Nightclub Friday, February 10, 2012 Punters rang in the weekend in style at Beat on Friday evening with live music and DJs behind the decks.

Get down to Beat this Friday, February 17, to catch Hostile Little Face with support from Dead Set Radio, Shouting At Camels and iChora.

Tima & Di

Photographs by Matt Jelonek

Sarah & Andrew

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Brooke & Taneal

Courtney & Simon

Tallulah & Cameron

Clare & Jasmine

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

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FRISBEE FOREVER

A collaboration between Cameron George and Steve Aaron from Usurper Of Modern Medicine, AIR MUTANDE uses the acceleration and orientation of a Frisbee to create melodies, change pitch and modulate various features of their electronic jams. Check out the fruits of their endeavours on Saturday, February 18, at the Fringe World Treasure Chest from 10.15pm.

LIKE A PRAYER Boom! Bap! Pow!

SOULFUL SYMPHONY

RTRFM’s Soulsides presents a night of slick grooves this Saturday, February 18 at the Grey Door and upstairs at the Claremont Hotel, featuring four of the finest females voices in local funk and soul. On the bill catch Odette Mercy & Her Soul Atomics, Grace Barbe & Afro Kreol, Boom! Bap! Pow! and Randa Khamis doing a special solo set! Plus, on the wheels of steel are The Foxman, Super J, General Justice, Microgroove, Mama Cass, Claude Mono and Spud Murphy. Presales are only $10 for RTRFM subscribers and $15 for the general public – they’ll be more expensive on the door on the night though, so grab yours now from rtrfm.com.au.

THE KILLER INSIDE ME

After 18 months filled with tour supports, countless rocking local shows and a sold out launch for debut single The Irrepressible, Serial Killer Smile are gearing up to launch their debut EP, The Elephant in the Room on Friday, February 17, at The Rosemount Hotel.With gracious support from staunch allies Further Earth, Copious and newcomers This Other Eden this show is one you will not want to miss.

HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN

Bon Scott will never be forgotten here in his hometown Perth and AC/ DC tribute band Hells Bells will make sure of that with their Salute To Bon tribute show at the famous venue for all things AC/DC, the Leopold Hotel, on Saturday, February 18, in order to mark the anniversary of his untimely death. Original local rock outfits The Surefire Midnights and The Corner will lend a hand with a cover or two of classic Bon favourites amongst their repertoire of AC/DC influenced pub punk/rock songs. Pre-sale tickets are available from the venue for $20 or online from Heatseeker, or you can take a chance at the door for $30.

THE SEALS

FOR FOLKS SAKE

Civilised scenes and murky lyrics mingle for a line-up that shows how folk works for musicians of all ages this Thursday, February 16, at The Bakery.

Featuring the rollicking hoedown of The Seals, the electro-country warblings of Stoney Joe, the silky harmonies of Simone And Girlfunkle and the pastoral whimsy of Freo’s favourite troubadour Justin Walshe, this is sure to be one folkin’ fantastic show for fans of the genre.

HAPPY CHAPPY

Local troubadour Andrew Winton is returning to his hometown of Perth to officially launch his new album, Happy, after a wildly successful three month national tour playing over 70 shows. Don’t miss your chance to join the festivities at the launch for Happy on Saturday, February 18, at The Ellington Jazz Club. Tickets are selling fast, so if you don’t manage to secure a spot, Winton will also be showcasing his tunes at a special Sunday afternoon show the following day at the Camelot Theatre in Mosman Park from 2.30pm. Click over to andrewwinton.com to purchase your tickets.

BIG IS BEAUTIFUL

Fat Friday’s at Fat Shan Records kicks off in 2012 with a wicked line-up including local indie rock aficionados Lacey, disco dilettantes Bastian’s Happy Flight and sadcore heartbreakers Lanark. Tickets are $10 on the door from 8pm.

ARTS AND CRAFTS

David Bowie and Queen. Aerosmith and Run DMC. Jay-Z and Kanye.

Music has always been a bit better when great minds come together. On the local front, the Cut & Paste Collaborations Series will see the first live instalment of a music and visual project with collaborations between some of WA’s most forward thinking artists. Debuting at The Bakery this Saturday, February 18, the event will feature a stellar line-up of local musicians including Abbe May, Felicity Groom, Rachael Dease, Naik, Mathas and Hayley Beth. Snatch tickets through fringeworld.com.au or risk it for $30 on the door. Come down and be part of local history in the making!

LITTLE ROY

Seven Weapons The Indi Bar Sunday, February 12, 2012 The Indi Bar isn’t your average live venue – or rather, isn’t your average 2012 live venue – it’s not pretentious or overpriced, The Seals and you don’t have to be (Photo: Daniel Grant) wearing thick-rimmed glasses to get in. The Indi is a classic venue of old, complete with beer stains, Bourbon posters and a healthy customer base of tradies, middle-aged folk and a few young’uns sucking up the serenity and sensational food. The Seals are taking over the Indi every Sunday in February, bringing their bluegrass tunes to a crowd that couldn’t possibly be more diverse.

The gorgeous Seven Weapons, a Perth-based songstress with a killer voice, who graced the stage prior to the main event, was barely rattled by the lacking crowd who didn’t quite suit her genre. She held herself confidently through out the set, engaging in some crowd banter and pulling out some lyrically beautiful, well-structured tunes, settling a mellow vibe over the room.

Bewildered hipsters brushed past beer-bellied bikers just prior to the ascent of The Seals to the stage, and then the mellow died. Or, it lasted approximately three seconds before the ruckus that is The Seals stormed the stage, launching straight into a toe-tapping hand-clapping set of country, folk, blues and roots.

Experiencing a Seals live set is akin to attending a hoedown in the deep south of the US – maybe because many of the tunes they play originate there.The six-piece performed an awesome version of Old Crow Medicine Show’s Wagon Wheel, plus a bunch of other dirty bluegrass and country covers, a cracking countrified rendition of MGMT’s Kids, and all of the tunes from their self-titled EP. Despite a few temporarily missing and replaced band members, each song was tight in that beautifully messy folk way that only comes about when six instruments fuse together to cause stylistic mayhem, and musical domination. From the banjo, mandolin, violin, and harmonica to all the usual instrumental suspects, and some massive four part harmonies, The Seals give everything a crack and manage to come up trumps every time.

Banjo aficionado Tom Gourlay’s tongue-in-cheek, deadpan dedicated poetry readings of Whitney Houston’s hit singles went down a treat with the predominantly middle-aged male crowd, who occasionally yelled out ACDC lyrics between tunes, and all in all a merry time was had.

The Seals don’t write tunes about achy breaky hearts or frolicking through the wildflowers, but rather ponder how to sell your shoes to get high, and even their love songs tend to have a line or two that suggests The Seals don’t want to be too lyrically serious with their tunes.

No matter whether your preferred genre is country and folk or hardcore Christian death-metal, it doesn’t matter. You will love this band, and need them in your life. The Seals deserve your support, love, and a spot on your playlist, because they bring the ruckus. _CHLOE PAPAS 40

Local hardrockers Hailmary cap off their WA tour in support of their single Reminiscence with a show this Saturday, February 18, at the Indi Bar in Scarborough.They will be joined by rock trio Gombo and a debut show from Blue Orbit. Entry is $10, doors open at 8pm.

The Perth Festival Gardens Friday, February 10, 2012 Friday night’s musical performance at The Perth Festival Gardens was something of a weird night, but what can you expect from a show whose focus is a number of Nirvana covers by a sixtyish reggae veteran? At the end of the day, it was good-weird, not bad-weird, and despite a few hiccups here and there, the night was carried by Little Roy and company’s infectious enthusiasm and joy.

Which is a good thing, as the very concept has a whiff of novelty act about it, but that’s leavened by the central conceit of having Nirvana’s tunes, dealing as they do with themes that can be fairly - if broadly - categorised as affluent First World malaise, reinterpreted via a musical genre that often handles themes of actual struggle and oppression, albeit in an ultimately humanistic and uplifting manner. Or, to put it more simply, there’s something about a broadly grinning old Jamaican guy singing Come As You Are that just works.

The crowd - mostly white, mostly old enough to have bought Nevermind in high school - certainly thought so, swaying and bopping to the music, although their appreciation faltered somewhat when Roy interspersed the Nirvana tracks with some of his own offerings. It’s clear that most of the folks present were only familiar with Roy due to the Battle For Seattle project and had little grasp of the man’s prominence in the reggae field, but that’s probably only to be expected. And yes, the faint smell of marijuana was detectable in the crowd, something that the somewhat overzealous security wasted no time in cracking down on, which is a bit ludicrous; complaining about weed at a reggae gig is like complaining about sunshine at the beach.

Complaining about the length of the show, on the other hand, is perfectly acceptable. The advertised wrap time was 10pm, but the performance was done and dusted by 9.15pm, which was a bit raw.

Having said that, it’s doubtful the act could have been stretched further, and without a support act padding out the running time, this was about as much as we were going to get. Little Roy almost managed to go out on a high note, with his impressive mane of dreadlocks flying free during a killer rendition of Lithium, but sadly stumbled at the last hurdle by returning to the stage for an awkward and ill-judged encore that consisted entirely of a couple of verses of Bob Marley’s One Love. Given the quality on display beforehand, it was a letdown – both predictable and superfluous.

Which is a damn shame, because up until that point it had been a great gig. Still, a moment of failure doesn’t cancel a night of triumph, and that’s what this was. In reinterpreting Cobain and co’s work through his own cultural milieu, Little Roy has managed to make Nirvana fresh again, and in a joyous and playful way that’s better than any given handful of dour worshippers that have been inspired by the Seattle Sound over the years. That’s something to be thankful for. _TRAVIS JOHNSON X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

www.xpressmag.com.au

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Clairy Browne & The Bangin’ Rackettes, February 15, Perth Festival Gardens

Josh Pyke, February 16-18

1814, House Of Shem, Three Houses Down, Sonz Of 20 Perth Festival CLAIRY Zion) Gardens BROWNE & 4 Redhill Auditorium THE BANGIN’ SOUNDWAVE TALL POPPIES (System Of A Down, RACKETTES 20 The Bird Slipknot, Limp 15 Perth Festival Bizkit, Marilyn Gardens Manson, A Day FEBRUARY To Remember, CARNIVAL OF LA DISPUTE Machine Head, SOULS 15 Amplifier Lamb Of God, 21 & 22 Perth Festival 16 YMCA HQ Trivium, Alter Gardens Bridge, Lost LUCIE THORNE AUSTRALIAN Prophets and more) CHAMBER 15 Mojos Bar 5 Claremont ORCHESTRA 16 The Ellington Showground 22 Perth Concert Hall 17 Nannup Hotel JESSIE J / IL DIVO 18 Sea Garden Café PROFESSOR GREEN 23 Kings Park MARCH 5 Challenge Stadium STONEFIELD J.WASTE OKA / DECLAN THE SUITCASE 23 Rosemount Hotel 1 Villa Nightclub KELLY 24 Prince Of Wales ROYALE BOBBY ALU 5 White Star Hotel VAN WALKER 16 Perth Festival 1 Mojo’s Bar Albany 23 Settlers Tavern Gardens 2 Prince Of Wales 7 Indi Bar 24 Indi Bar 3 Settlers Tavern 8 Mojos Bar 26 Fly By Night (Fly CHAIN 9 Prince Of Wales RONAN Trap) 1 Albany Blues Club 10 Settlers Tavern KEATING THE STANLEYS 2 Burlington Hotel 11 Mojos Bar 16 Kings Park 23 & 29 The Paddo 4 Saint Helena Tavern ADAM COHEN / OLIVIA NEWTONTHE MAGNETS GOSSLING JOHN/ JON 1 Perth Festival JOSH PYKE 6 Fly By Night ENGLISH Gardens 16 Prince Of Wales MARILYN MANSON 24 Burswood Theatre GOSSLING 17 Settlers Tavern 6 Metro City BONNIE PRINCE 1 The Bird WILD FLAG BILLY FEAT. THE 6 Fly By Night BALAM ACAB CAIRO GANG 7 The Bakery STICKY FINGERS 17 The Bakery BLACK LIPS 24 Perth Festival 1 Indi Bar 8 The Bakery Gardens 2 Ya Ya’s ST. VINCENT 25 & 26 Jewel Cave, 3 Settlers Tavern I AM GIANT 8 The Rosemount Margaret River STEVIE WONDER 17 Amplifier DIRTY THREE THE PLATTERS FEAT. 2 Sandalford Estate 9 Astor Theatre MONROE POWELL STAFF BENDA BILILI JEZ LOWE KERSER 24 Fly By Night 2 Perth Festival 17 Kulcha Club 9 Civic Hotel COERCE Gardens BONOBO 23 Prince Of Wales PENGUIN CAFÉ 9 Capitol DEATH CAB 24 Rosemount Hotel 3 Perth Festival THE BEARDS MATT CORBY Gardens FOR CUTIE 9 Settlers Tavern TAYLOR SWIFT / HOT 17 & 18 Perth Festival 24 Amplifier 10 Fly By Night JOHN WILLIAMSON CHELLE RAE Gardens 11 Indi Bar 24 Swan Yacht Club 2 Burswood Dome SWEET SAN CISCO NANNUP MUSIC RACHEL 10 Regal Theatre 24 & 26 Fremantle FESTIVAL (Lanie CLAUDIO NANO STERN Arts Centre Lane, Mojo Juju, Lou 17 & 18 Ellington Jazz JONATHAN BUTLER Bennett, Adalita, 13 Burswood Theatre Club CHARLES BRADLEY 25 Riverside Theatre Oka, Sietta, Swamp 14 The Bakery MEN Thing, Gossling, Tinpan Orange, Albert MICK THOMAS / 25 Perth Festival ICEHOUSE / SHELLEY SHORT Wiggan Band and WASHINGTON Gardens 15 Friends Restaurant more) RYAN ADAMS/ / JOSH PYKE 16 Norfolk Hotel 2 - 5 Nannup JASON ISBELL / CLARE 17 Oxford Hotel 25 Perth Concert Hall BON IVER/ SALLY BOWDITCH THE GO SET SELTMAN ERYKAH BADU 18 Kings Park 15 Clancy’s 3 Red Hill Auditorium / FAT FREDDYS Fremantle FUTURE MUSIC DROP / MAYER 16 Indi Bar FESTIVAL (Fatboy HAWTHORNE DONAVON Slim, Tinie Tempah, DIESEL FRANKENREITER 25 Belvoir Paul van Dyk, The 16, 17 & 18 Quarry 17 The Aviary / Indi Bar Amphitheatre Wombats, Chase & Amphitheatre HETTY KATE 18 Newport Hotel / Status, Skrillex, Jessie 360 Mullaloo Beach Hotel / 25 The Ellington J, The Rapture, Aphex 15 & 16 Rosemount Cottesloe Beach Hotel SLOW CLUB Twin, Die Antwoord 26 Perth Festival Hotel 19 Whistling Kite and more) Gardens TANIA DOKO Secret Harbour ENNIO MORRICONE 4 Arena Joondalup 16 Bamboo Bar Sandalford Winery UNEARTH/ IN THIS TENORS UNLIMITED CORNERSHOP 26 MOMENT/ KITTIE/ Swan Valley 16 Octagon Theatre 19 Perth Festival PUGSLEY BUZZARD HEAVEN SHALL BELINDA CARLISLE Gardens BURN 26 The Ellington 16 Mandurah 4 Amplifi er SWAY MACHINERY Performing Arts PACIFIC VIBES THE STANLEYS 27 Perth Festival Centre (Rebel Soul Jahz, 19 Murray Street Mall Gardens 17 Astor Theatre

FEB 15 – FEB 21

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CASS MCCOMBS

BARO BANDA 28 Perth Festival Gardens CHAIN 28 Charles Hotel ERIC BIBB 28 Wignall’s Winery ROXETTE 28 & 29 Challenge Stadium EDDIE PAMIERI 29 Perth Festival Gardens DAN MANGAN 29 Fly By Night (Fly Trap) BOBBY ALU 29 Indi Bar

Death Cab For Cutie, February 17 & 18, Perth Festival Gardens NUKARA NUSIC FESTIVAL (The Go Set, Mick Thomas, Blind Lemon, Minnie Marks, The Fancy Brothers) 17 Chapman Valley SEEKAE 17 The Bakery 18 Mojos Bar JOHN BUTLER 17 Fremantle Arts Centre 19 Goldfields Arts Centre Kalgoorlie 21 Mandurah Arts Centre 22 Clancy’s Fish Pub Dunsborough 23 Albany Entertainment Centre 25 Queens Park Theatre Geraldton 26 Carnarvon Civic Centre 29 Astor Theatre 30 & 31 Sun Pictures Broome AQUA / RADIO INK 18 & 20 Metropolis Fremantle BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB 18 Astor Theatre BORIS 20 The Bakery HETTY KATE 24 The Ellington DANIEL O’DONNELL 24 Riverside Theatre BRIAN SETZER’S ROCKABILLY RIOT 24 Fremantle Arts Centre DURAN DURAN 24 Sandalford Estate Swan Valley DARYL BRAITHWAITE 24 Bunbury Entertainment Centre NICK LOWE 26 Astor Theatre THE NECKS 26 The Bakery FRANKIE VALLI & THE FOUR SEASONS 27 Kings Park PIERRE BENSUSAN 27 The Ellington YELAWOLF 27 Capitol LENNY KRAVITZ / THE CRANBERRIES / WOLFMOTHER 28 Athletics Stadium Mount Claremont ADAM ANT 28 Metro City CHE-FU 28 Burlington Hotel Bunbury 29 Settlers Tavern 30 Metro Freo GRACE KNIGHT 29 Fremantle Arts Centre 30 The Ellington DIAFRIX/ JOELISTICS 29 Prince Of Wales 30 Bar 120 31 Hyde Park Hotel WOODEN SHJIPS 30 The Bakery

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

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

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

An Horse, April 25, Rosemount Hotel

The Beards, March 9-11 SNAKADAKTAL 30 Villa CHILDREN COLLIDE 30 Capitol 31 Players Bar GEORGE MICHAEL 31 Sandalford Estate Swan Valley HERMITUDE 31 Amplifier EDDI READER QUARTET 31 Fly By Night PETULA CLARK 31 Mundaring Weir Hotel HOLLY THROSBY 31 Norfolk Basement DEEP SEA ARCADE 30 Capitol 31 Players Bar

YES 5 Riverside Theatre DEAD MEADOW / PINK MOUNTAINTOPS 7 The Bakery BALL PARK MUSIC 7 Amplifier 8 Newport Hotel STRAWBERRY JAM MUSIC FESTIVAL (P.O.D., Hawk Nelson, Mike Mains & The Branches and more TBA) 8 Albany SUBLIME WITH ROME / MATT McHUGH 11 Metropolis Fremantle SETH LAKEMAN/ APRIL CARUS THOMPSON DIAFRIX/ JOELISTICS 12 Clancy’s Fish Pub 1 Norfolk Basement Fremantle DEEP SEA ARCADE 13 Hyde Park Hotel 1 Mojos Bar PASSENGER PETULA CLARK 13 Fly By Night Club 1 Albany FAIRBRIDGE Entertainment FESTIVAL OF Centre WORLD & FOLK CHILDREN COLLIDE MUSIC (Paul Brady, 1 Mojos Bar Seth Lakeman, WEST COAST My Friend The BLUES ‘N’ ROOTS Chocolate Cake, (Crosby, Stills & Chipolatas, Chris Nash, The Pogues, While, Julie The Specials, My Matthews, Kavisha, Morning Jacket, Tjupurru, Stiff Gins, Buddy Guy, Keb The Woohoo Revue Mo, Steve Earle, and more TBC) Trombone Shorty 13 - 15 Fairbridge & Orleans Avenue, Husky, John Fogerty Village Pinjarra THE HERD and more TBA) 14 Rosemount Hotel 1 Fremantle Park SEAL XAVIER RUDD 5 Astor Theatre 14 Sandalford Estate

JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE 14 Fly By Night 15 Rosemount Hotel AMON AMARTH 19 Capitol ROGER DALTREY (CANCELLED) 19 Riverside Theatre BIG SCARY 20 Amplifier LIAM BURROWS 21 The Atrium Mandurah 22 The Ellington SUPAFEST (P. Diddy, Ice Cube, Rick Ross, Trey Songz, Kelly Rowland, Lupe Fiasco and more TBA) 22 Arena Joondalup LOU BARLOW 22 Rosemount Hotel BURT BACHARACH 23 Riverside Theatre AUGUST BURNS RED 25 Amplifier AN HORSE 25 Rosemount Hotel THE FUNKOARS 27 Bar 120 28 The Rosemount THE HOODOO GURUS 28 Astor Theatre

MAY THE MOUNTAIN GOATS 1 The Bakery MIKE STEWART 2 The Ellington DZ DEATH RAYS 3 Prince of Wales 4 Amplifier 5 Mojos

Wavves, May 19, Groovin’ The Moo

BOY & BEAR 10 Albany Entertainment Centre 11 Bunbury Entertainment Centre 12 Fremantle Arts Centre SICK OF IT ALL / AGNOSTIC FRONT 11 Amplifier KRISTIN BERADI 11 & 12 The Ellington LANIE LANE 12 Fly By Night Club 13 Amplifier DAVID CAMPBELL 16 Mandurah Performing Arts Centre 17 Queens Park Theatre Geraldton 18 Perth Concert 19 Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre ANDREW W.K. 17 The Bakery FLORENCE + THE MACHINE/ BLOOD ORANGE 17 Burswood Dome THE MACCABEES 18 Capitol GROOVIN THE MOO (360, Andrew W.K One-Man-Party Tour, City and Colour, Digitalism, The Getaway Plan, Hilltop Hoods, Kaiser Chiefs, The Maccabees, Public Enemy, Wavves and more TBA) 19 Hay Park Bunbury

CITY AND COLOUR 20 Fremantle Arts Centre GINUWINE / BELL BIV DEVOE 24 Astor Theatre LIAM BURROWS 26 Friend’s Restaurant 27 Jazz Fremantle BARNEY MCALL 27 The Ellington NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK / BACKSTREET BOYS 29 Burswood Dome BOB HIRST 30 & 31 The Ellington

JUNE JOSH KYLE 2 The Ellington THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT 2 Prince Of Wales 3 Metro City TINA ARENA 8 Riverside Theatre GUY SEBASTIAN 19 His Majesty’s Theatre 20 Mandurah Performing Arts Centre NADIA ACKERMAN 28 The Ellington

JULY LADY GAGA 7 Burswood Dome MELISSA ETHERIDGE 20 Riverside Theatre

BALAM ACAB

Balam Acab

The music of Balam Acab (also known as the Pennsylvanian singer and producer Alec Koone) is lush, unearthly and electronic; his creepily beautiful song See Birds was even used in a mascara commercial featuring Beyoncé. Early last year he released his debut album, Wander/Wonder, an album which evinced an engagement with dubstep and UK bass music while also bearing traces of modern R&B. While Koone’s music has an undeniable bedroom quality, the youthful producer is ready to take his thoughtful sounds to the live stage and will be showcasing his wares this Friday, February 17, at The Bakery. Tickets are available from lifeisnoise.com.

DONOVAN FRANKENREITER

Touring the world on rips and riffs, Hawaiian surfermusician Donavon Frankenreiter has recently landed on local shores and he’s got more dates than a Victoria’s Secret model on Valentine’s day! With guitar and surfboard at the ready, Donavon and his gifted band are set to charm local audiences with his summery, acoustic tunes on Friday, February 17, at The Aviary from 4.30pm and then the Indi Bar from 6.30pm. Then on Saturday, February 18, you can catch him at the Mullaloo Beach Hotel from 1.45pm; the Newport Hotel from 4pm and the Cottesloe Beach Hotel from 6pm. Plus, he’ll be playing the Whistling Kite in Secret Harbour from 4pm.

www.xpressmag.com.au

Donovan Frankenreiter

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Simone And Girlfunkle, Thursday at The Bakery

WEDNESDAY 15.02 AMPLIFIER La Dispute Vanity The Love Junkies BALMORAL Nathan Gaunt BALLY’S BAR Greg Carter Karaoke BAR 120 Felix BLACK BETTY’S Everlong CLAREMONT HOTEL Open Mic Night ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Jamie Oehlers’ Blowfish HALE ROAD TAVERN Fenton Wilde INDI BAR Pugsley Buzzard LOBBY LOUNGE (BURSWOOD) Courtney Murphy LUCKY SHAG Howie Morgan METRO FREO The Other Guys MOJOS BAR Justin Walshe Folk Machine Lucie Thorne MUSTANG Party Rockers PERTH FESTIVAL GARDENS Clairy Browne And The Bangin’ Rackettes PADDO Dove Tim Montgomery Kizzy ROSIE O’GRADY’S (NORTHBRIDGE) David Fyffe ROSEMOUNT The Decline Grim Fandango FAIM Scalphunter Real Monsters SOUTH ST ALE HOUSE Christian Thompson THE GATE Dirty Scoundrels THE MOON Nick Allbrook Rabbit Island Pete Bibby UNIVERSAL Strutt

THURSDAY 16.02 BELGIAN BEER CAFÉ Bernadine Grigson

BOAB TAVERN Damien Cripps BROOKLANDS TAVERN Celebrations Karaoke COMO HOTEL The Other Guys DEVILLE’S PAD Jon Madd’s Karaoke ELEPHANT & WHEELBARROW Gun Shy Romeos ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Lucie Thorne FUSE BAR Howie Morgan HIGH WYCOMBE HOTEL Chris Murphy HYDE PARK HOTEL Open Mic INDI BAR Bex’s Open Mic Night KINGS PARK Ronan Keating LUCKY SHAG James Wilson MARKET CITY TAVERN Nathan Mayer TJ & Guest High Grass Dogs MERRIWA TAVERN Overload MOJOS BAR The Sunshine Brothers MOON & SIXPENCE Bob & Clem MURDOCH UNIVERSITY TAVERN The Brow Horn Orchestra MUSTANG BAR Our Man In Berlin NORFOLK HOTEL Pond Sonpsilo Circus Tusk OCEAN BEACH HOTEL Open Mic Night OXFORD HOTEL Jonny Taylor PADDY HANNANS Dr Bogus PERTH FESTIVAL GARDENS The Suitcase Royale PRINCE OF WALES Josh Pyke ROSIE O’GRADY’S (NORTHBRIDGE) Fenton Wilde ROSIE O’GRADY’S (FREMANTLE) Clayton Bolger

Serial Killer Smile

SERIAL KILLER SMILE FURTHER EARTH COPIOUS THIS OTHER EDEN FRIDAY,JANUARY 17 THE ROSEMOUNT HOTEL

44

Pond, Thursday at Norfolk Hotel SOVEREIGN ARMS David Fyffe THE BAKERY The Seals Stoney Joe Simone And Girlfunkle Justin Walshe THE BOAT Nicola Milan Duo THE BROOKE Open Mic Night THE GATE Better Days THE SHED Jincs The Black Penny Project Raymond Rae Tanielu UNIVERSAL BAR Off The Record YA YA’S Coronal Sky Blindspot Wrongtown Dylan McCoy YMCA HQ La Dispute Only Hope Statues

FRIDAY 17.02 7th AVENUE Undercover Acoustic AMPLIFIER I Am Giant BAILEY BAR Modsquad BALLY’S BAR Jamie Powers BALMORAL The Other Guys BAR ORIENT Crown Jewels BASSENDEAN HOTEL Overload BEAT NIGHTCLUB Hostile Little Face Dead Set Radio Shouting At Camels iChora BELGIAN BEER CAFÉ Feisty Burlesque BELMONT TAVERN Everlong Acoustic BENNY’S Faces BENTLEY HOTEL Sophie Jane BLACK BETTYS J Babies BOHEME BAR Soul Corporation BRASS MONKEY Adrian Wilson CAPTAIN STIRLING Bluebottles CARLISLE HOTEL Reload CHASE BAR James Wilson CIVIC HOTEL & THE DEN Reapers Riddle Our Fallen Legacy It All Ends Here Nightmare Effect Paltiva The Fall Of Man Gloria Ironbox Milkshake Strategy Gates Of Perdition CLAREMONT HOTEL Nick Sheppard Aires Linares COMO HOTEL Tip Top CRAFTSMAN 5th Avenue

Hostile Little Face, Friday at Beat Nightclub

DEVILLES Divas Of Drag Carnie Kooks Johnny Nandez Hammond Explosion ELEPHANT & WHEELBARROW Blue Hornet ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Melody Whittle Rachel Claudio FUSE BAR Groove Karaoke GLOUCESTER PARK Midnight Rambler GREENWOOD Pretty Fly HARBOUR TERRACE Neil Colliss HERDSMAN LAKE TAVERN Acoustic Nights HYDE PARK HOTEL Karin Page Duo Nathan Gaunt INDI BAR Donovan Frankenreiter Dilip ‘N The Davs K1 Chris Murphy KINGSLEY TAVERN Carbon Taxi KULCHA Jez Lowe LEFT BANK Frankie Button MERRIWA TAVERN Spritzer MIGHTY QUINN TAVERN Kontraband MOJOS BAR Call Collector Timothy Nelson 44th Sunset Sophia Smilovitis MUSTANG Adam Hall & The Velvet Playboys Cheeky Monkeys NEWPORT Party Rockers NORFOLK HOTEL Blackmilk Mulder The Flower Drums OSBORNE PARK HOTEL Howie Morgan Duo OXFORD HOTEL Recliners PADDO Stu Harcourt PADDY HANNANS Gun Shy Romeos PARAMOUNT Flyte PEEL ALEHOUSE Next Generation Karaoke PERTH FESTIVAL GARDENS Death Cab For Cutie PRINCIPAL Switchback RAILWAY HOTEL Sabata Sound Ras Movement Sound RAVENSWOOD HOTEL Ian Kenny ROCKET ROOM Diamond Eye Stone Circle Amber Down ROSE & CROWN Stella Donnelly

ROSEMOUNT Serial Killer Smile Further Earth Copius This Other Eden ROSIE O’GRADY’S (FREMANTLE) Spyce SAIL & ANCHOR Howie Morgan SETTLERS TAVERN Josh Pyke SOUTH ST ALE HOUSE Robbie King Karaoke SPRINGS TAVERN Dirty Scoundrels SUBIACO HOTEL Empire SWINGING PIG Better Days Greg Carter THE BAKERY Balam Acab Diger Rokwell Andrew Sinclair Clunk Declan Lowaski Jo Lettenmaier THE BOAT 11:11 THE FLY TRAP Rebecca Daniels THE GATE James Wilson Smoking Section THE SHED Kickstart THE VIC Jack & Jill UNIVERSAL Retriofit VELVET LOUNGE The Painted Bird Kate Gilbertson Mel Hall Sea VICTORIA PARK HOTEL Ivan Ribic WANNEROO TAVERN Clayton Bolger WOODVALE TAVERN Dr Bogus YA YA’S Lacey Bastians Happy Flight Lanark SATURDAY 18.02 AMPLIFIER The Kill Devil Hills BALMORAL Bluebottles BAILEY BAR Daren Reid & The Soul City Groove BALLY’S BAR Christian Thompson BAR 120 Flyte BELGIAN BEER CAFÉ Chris Murphy BLACK BETTY’S Redstar BOAB TAVERN Mac Melrose BURSWOOD CASINO Murphy’s Lore CAFÉ 58 The Aces CAPTAIN STIRLING Howie Morgan Duo CHARLES HOTEL Psychonaut Human Exhibition Project Memoria Misery Dilation

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.

Hells Bells, Saturday at Leopold Hotel CIVIC HOTEL (THE DEN) The Vaginors Suffers Bamodi Taco Leg Happy Families Eris CLAREMONT HOTEL Odette Mercy & Her Soul Atomics Grace Barbe & Afro Kreol Boom! Bap! Pow! Randa Khamis The Foxman Super J General Justice Microgroove Mama Cass Claude Mono Spud Murphy The Zydecats COMO HOTEL Tip Top DEVILLE’S PAD Johnny Nandez Hammond Explosion ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Andrew Winton Rachel Claudio GLENGARRY TAVERN Bonfire GREENWOOD HOTEL Local Heroes HACKERSLEY WINERY Toby HIGH ROAD HOTEL The Damien Cripps Band HYDE PARK HOTEL Minky G & The Effects Arons Crusade Spoonful Of Sugar The Lazy Siren INDI BAR Hail Mary Gombo Blue Orbit INDIAN OCEAN BREWING COMPANY The Other Guys KINGS PARK Icehouse Washington Josh Pyke Clare Bowditch LEISURE INN Rock A Fellas LEOPOLD HOTEL Hells Bells The Surefire Midnights The Corner LOBBY LOUNGE John Sandosham Duo M ON THE POINT Rhythm 22 MERRIWA TAVERN Celebrations Karaoke METRO FREO Hi-NRG MIGHTY QUINN TAVERN Kontraband MOON & SIXPENCE Blaze

MOJOS BAR The Long Strides Hurricane Fighter Plane The Vincent Gallows Ellie Schowen MULLALOO BEACH HOTEL Donovan Frankenreiter MUSTANG The Continentals 10 Cent Billionaire NEWPORT Donovan Frankenreiter Gravity NORFOLK HOTEL The Spitfires Wash Foam Second Winter NORTHWOOD ALE HOUSE Little Sister OCEAN ONE BAR Julius Lutero OSBORNE PARK HOTEL Nathan Gaunt PADDY HANNANS Decoy PARAMOUNT Felix PERTH FESTIVAL GARDENS Death Cab For Cutie QUARIE BAR Electrophobia RAILWAY HOTEL Agenda XXII Stone Bleeder Pockkets Of Resistance BORC RANGES INN MIDLAND Overload RAVENSWOOD HOTEL Gee WizROCKET ROOM Kickstart ROSEMOUNT Mampi Swift MC IC3 Invictus Shoptix Access Fusion MC Pugz MC Losd ROSIE O’GRADY’S (NORTHBRIDGE) Blue Gene ROSIE O’GRADY’S (FREMANTLE) Flavor SAIL & ANCHOR Sophie Jane And The Chilly Bin Boys SPRINGS TAVERN Adam James STEVE’S BAR Stu Harcourt SUBIACO HOTEL Off The Record SWAN BASEMENT The Jephasuns Neutral Native Mudfly Nymph Honey SWINGING PIG Greg Carter THE BAKERY Abbe May Felicity Groom Rachael Dease Naik Mathas Hayley BethThe Weapon Is Sound

www.xpressmag.com.au

Friday Andrew Winton, Saturday at Friday Travis Caudle The Ellington & Sunday at Travis Caudle FlyBy By Night Camelot Theatre Fly Night Empty Cup Diger Rokwell Timothy Nelson Andrew Ryan Sibalance Patrick Mclaughlin THE BOAT Deuce THE FLY TRAP Rockit THE GATE Dirty Scoundrels THE SAINT Bluebottles THE SHED Huge THE VIC James Wilson THE WHALE & ALE Renegade UNIVERSAL Soul Corporation WANNEROO TAVERN Greg Carter WOODVALE TAVERN Modsquad X-WRAY CAFE The Whistling Dogs Marie O’Dwyer YA YA’S Dublin Jazz Aunts One Tiger Down Morgan Bain Daniel Champagne

SUNDAY 19.02 7TH AVENUE Reckless Kelly 150 RIVERSIDE EAST (ASCOT QUAYS) Adrian Wilson BALLY’S BAR Greg Carter BALMORAL Cranky BROKEN HILL HOTEL Chris Murphy BROOKLANDS TAVERN Greg Carter CAMELOT THEATRE Andrew Winton CAPTAIN STIRLING Scott Nelson CARINE Electrophobia CLAREMONT HOTEL Sunday Driver COMO HOTEL David Fyffe EASTERN HOTEL Mike De Velta ELEPHANT & WHEELBARROW Daren Reid & The Soul City Groove ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Masina Mille FERAL BREWING Luke O’Connell FREMANTLE ARTS CENTRE WASO GREENWOOD Chris Gibbs Duo HIGH ROAD HOTEL Mike Nayar HIGH WYCOMBE HOTEL The Organ Grinders HYDE PARK HOTEL Nicola Milan Daniel Champagne Natalie Rae INDI BAR The Seals Daniel Champagne The Joe Black Trio

The Sunshine Brothers, Thursday at Mojos Bar

INDIAN OCEAN BREWING CO Retriofit Dove K1 BAR Damien Cripps KALAMUNDA HOTEL Alitia Martin LAKERS TAVERN Jamie Powers LAST DROP WARNBRO Brett Hardwick LEISURE INN Steve Hepple LOBBY LONGE (BURSWOOD) Courtney Murphy M ON THE POINT Bluebottles MOJOS BAR Mama Fuzz Dead Owls Puck Lanark MUELLER PARK The Healys MUSTANG Peter Busher And The Lone Rangers NEWPORT Tom Nelson Bonfire PERTH FESTIVAL GARDENS Cornershop PINK DUCK LOUNGE BAR Neil Colliss PRINCIPAL Sophie Jane QUARIE BAR Bernadine Grigson QUEENS TAVERN Grace Barbe Band RAILWAY HOTEL Zarm Dilip ‘N The Davs Latch Key Kids The Weapon Is Sound RAVENSWOOD HOTEL Toxic Rhythm ROSE & CROWN Christian Thompson SAIL & ANCHOR Shawne & Luc SOUTH ST ALEHOUSE Sean Scott SOVEREIGN ARMS Ivan Ribic SPRINGS TAVERN Adam James SWINGING PIG Christian Thompson THE GATE Better Days Chris Gibbs Trio

THE SAINT Threeplay THE SHED The Healy’s Blue Hornet UNIVERSAL Retriofit VICTORIA PARK HOTEL Paul Foster WANNEROO TAVERN Kevin Conway WHISTLING KITE James Wilson WOODVALE TAVERN Good Karma

MONDAY 20.02 ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Song Lounge LOBBY LOUNGE (BURSWOOD) Courtney Murphy MOJOS BAR Open Mic Night MUSTANG BAR Marco & The Alley Cats PERTH FESTIVAL GARDENS Cass McCombs THE BIRD Tall Poppies THE DEEN Plastic Max And The Token Gesture

TUESDAY 21.02 CHARLES HOTEL Perth Blues Club Daniel Champagne Moonshine Sugar Pugsley Buzzard Trio EASTERN HOTEL Groove Karaoke ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Jazz For Justice Fundraiser LUCKY SHAG Nathan Gaunt MOJOS BAR Rich Widow Calectasia Sulu Three Hands One Hoof PADDO Stu Harcourt PRINCE OF WALES Open Mic Night SETTLERS TAVERN Open Mic Night X-WRAY CAFE Open Piano Night

Hailmary

HAILMARY GOMBO BLUE ORBIT

SATURDAY, JANUARY 18

INDI BAR

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

HAIR, HEALTH & HAPPINESS

DOTTIE’S, BRAIDS & DREADS. Specialise in Dreads/Ext/Maint, Weaves, Braids, Cornrows etc. Working 7 days & some evenings. For app call 0414 082 993.

MENS WAXING/CLIPPING Itís a guy thing! Hair removal for men, private, qualified, experienced. Ph Athletes Effigy 9384 2950 MUSOS WANTED

“OB” MIC NIGHT Ocean Beach Hotel.

Thursdays. Interested open-mic artists contact Jysae on obhmicnight@ gmail.com or 0429 779 744 ANY MUSICIANS want to perform original tunes? Kinda Buckley/Cornell 3/4 time sigs, some jazz & blues. Ph: 0415 252 323.

BASS PLAYER WANTED For the Seraphyn Project. Must have all that.

Those who think they have, call Tony 0414 409 949.

DRUMMER & BASS PLAYER WANTED For Top 40/JJJ coverband. Ph: 9272 4144. After hrs 0431 448 235.

DRUMMER WANTED For 90’s grunge/ alt Rock band. Inf. AIC, STP, Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam etc. All ages welcome. Call Jarrod 0424 448 289.

DRUMMER WANTED For large production Aussie Rock Tribute.

Dedication + experience a must. Ph: 0409 370 900.

MEGADETH COVERBAND Drummer, lead guitarist. 28-40. Gear, transport and employed. Know you have the ability to play any of the Megadeth catalogue. Call or txt 0414 063 600. E: megahurtz@live.com.au MUSICIANS WANTED BY MANAGER to form all female punk/top 40 covers band. Lead guitar, drums, bass guitar, vocals. Guaranteed work waiting.Tony 0411118304 OPEN MIC NIGHT every Thursday night at Indi Bar. Just call Bex on 0404 917 632 WANTED BASS PLAYER, DRUMMER & LEAD GUITARIST 45+ To form new cover band with a difference. I’m looking for people who are motivated, dependable, will contribute and have some follow through and think outside the box. I play a wide genre of covers from pop/rock/indie rock/

alternative/ MOR 70’s- 00’s including a lot of well known songs that are not usually covered. In the end I’m looking for people who make things happen instead of waiting for things to happen, have some versatility in their musicianship and still have passion for playing good music playing it well & will make time in their lives to do it. I’m NOR. 0404 189 656.

WANTED TRUMPET & TROMBONE PLAYERS FOR BIG BAND Must be enthusiastic & Competent. Ph: 0451 458 533.

PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT PHOTOGRAPHY Promo photography, studio, live, location.

Mike Wylie 0417 975 964 www projectphotography.com When its time to ice the cake...

PRODUCTION SERVICES CD & DVD MANUFACTURE Check out our latest CD & DVD specials online at www.procopy.com.au 9375 3902 MATRIX PRODUCTIONS AUSTRALIA Lighting, staging, sound systems, smoke machines, night club FX, intelligent lighting, strobes & mirror balls, crowd barriers, video projectors.

9371 1551 PA HIRE FX Lights club to concert size. Pro Equipment www. perthconcertsound.com.au.. Ph 9307 8594 / mob 0404 410 020 / 9309 6219 RECORDING STUDIOS

A L A N D AW S O N ’s W I T Z E N D 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

CVP Digital, Protools, Recording and Mastering. Productive environment, songwriters welcome. Session musos available.

Ph 9349 9365, Yokine area. www. clearviewproductions.com.au GOLDDUSTCONSTRUCTION.COM Production, mixing, recording and composition for your music. Unique award winning skills to take songs from ideas to finished mixes or to fulfill the potential in existing ones.

Located in Subiaco. $60 p/h. Andrew 0408 097 407 POONS HEAD MASTERING Analog mastering at its best. Clients include Mink Mussel Creek, Jeff Martin, The Panics, Pond + The Floors. World class facility. World class results. www. poonshead.com 9339 47 91 RECORDING MIXING MASTERING PRODUCING Fremantle location.

Call Pete Kitchen Cooked Records.

Ph 0407 363 764 / 9336 3764 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

TRAKTOR KONTROL S2 Zee crazy Germans from the Native Instruments team are at it again with their latest release of digital DJ controllers Traktor Kontrol S2. Showing the rest of the world just how good digital DJing can really get with a little bit of creativity and a whole lot of awesome technology, N.I has developed a two channel version of their original controller Traktor Kontrol S4. But don’t be fooled with thinking that size matters, as this little baby comes packed full of features (including the full Traktor Pro 2.5 software) and has all the high quality technology we have come to expect from N.I. The Traktor Kontrol S2 controller is basically two decks and a mixer, used in conjunction with your computer to allow DJing of all your digital music. The software that comes with the S2 allows you to do much more than just cue up tunes though, it’s forward thinking that has developed the Traktor Pro 2.5 software which includes the most digital DJ features available on the market including 30+ effects, four sample decks per channel, looping, hot cues, Tru Wave technology and an advanced sync engine making your DJ options expand into the world of live performance. The S2 controller’s hardware uses Native Instruments renowned audio interfaces for DJs giving a club quality sound output.

APPRECIATE MUSIC THE LOWDOWN: Catering to beginners and advanced students alike, Appreciate Music run four different courses with a practical and relevant approach to developing music theory, harmony and composition skills. Each of the courses runs over 10 weeks and class numbers are limited to ensure facilitators are able to address the needs of individual participants.

THE DIFFERENCE: Theory is often a neglected component of music yet it is essential to success.

Appreciate Music’s harmony and composition classes not only teach students how to understand and appreciate the function of chord progressions, but also give students the opportunity to write their own piece, have it performed by professional musicians, and take away a recording to share with friends and family.

LOCATION: St George’s College, Mounts Bay Road, Crawley WEBSITE: appreciatemusic.com.au CONTACT: 0400 120 375 46

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.

P L AT I N U M S O U N D R O O M S Professional rehearsal rooms, airconditioned, quality PAs mob 0418 944 722 ROCK FORCE PRODUCTIONS For more information please visit www.rockforceproductions.com 0409 102 246.

STREAM STUDIOS The place to rehearse in Perth.. Phone: 0403 152 009 www.streamrehearsal.com.au TUITION ***GUITAR LESSONS*** JAN/FEB ENROLMENTS NOW. Beg-adv, all styles and all levels including bass. Cliff Lynton Guitar Institute. Mt Lawley 9342 3484 / www.clifflynton.com BASS LESSONS Rock, funk & jazz.

Tony Gibbs 9470 6131 VOICE COACH/ SINGING TEACHER All levels, all styles. This is the year to Find Your True Voice. Ph: 0407 260 762 or 9407 9078.

The jog dials and knobs all feel quality and tight in the mix and the hardware design reflects the layout of the software for ease of use of all the extra software features. And it’s all in a super compact size that is able to fit in your backpack!

Available at The DJ Factory, 1/ 222 James St Northbridge, 08 92281911.

Traktor Kontrol S2

SOUND ADVICE

THE LOWDOWN: Established over 30 years ago, Sound Advice are one of the few audio/visual stores in WA still catering for stereo and hi-fi enthusiasts, with an extensive selection of stereo speakers, integrated amplifiers, CD players, turntables, headphones and more. They are also home theatre specialists, offering a complete range of audio/visual solutions.

THE DIFFERENCE: As music moves toward the digital age, Sound Advice have a number of products aimed specifically towards those who require convenience, ease-of-use and portability. From iPod/iPhone docking stations to Bluetooth streaming units and even highend, high-performance music servers with network integration, the showroom floor has all these and more on demonstration. The team at Sound Advice offer expert after-sales service which is extremely important nowadays as audio/visual products can often be unnecessarily complicated. Whether you are simply upgrading your CD player, or are looking for expert advice on a complete home theatre design for your new home, the friendly folks at Sound Advice can help you select the right product for the right application.

LOCATION: 431 Murray Street. Perth, 6000 WEBSITE: soundadvice.net.au CONTACT: sales@soundadvice.net.au or (08) 9321 5553 X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

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www.xpressmag.com.au

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