Issue 1418

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

TOUCH SENSITIVE

WHAT’S ON - APRIL

ROOSTER POLICE

EDITION

DAN SULTAN

BRODY DALLE

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NEWSDESK

LOCAL NEWS

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GLOBAL NEWS

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

FINE AND DANDY

SOUL POWER The award-winning, and thoroughly heart-warming, documentary, Gardening With Soul is set to hit selected cinemas on Thursday, May 29. The film follows the life of Sister Loyola Galvin, the 90-year-old main gardener at the Home of Compassion and the infectious optimism she has provided for her community. It’s a tale about compassion, faith and compost. The film took home the place of best documentary last year at the New Zealand Film Awards and has been widely applauded for its heart-warming execution. If you’d like more information, visit gardeningwithsoul.squarespace.com.

Gardening with Soul

Dandy Warhols fans will be pleased to hear the iconic American rock act has announced additional shows for their Australian tour. For Perth fans, this will mean an additional show at the Astor Theatre on Thursday, August 21, before their show on Friday, already announced. Be quick to snap up some tickets if you’re planning to go, however, as a whole spate of shows have already sold out. For tickets and more information, visit metropolistouring.com.

Dandy Warhols | Pic: Ray Gordon

GO RICKI AND DERULO Joining R&B superstar, Jason Derulo, on his Tattoos Australian tour, and providing yet another reason for fans to buy tickets, will be pop diva, Ricki-Lee. The tour is in support of Derulo’s gold-selling third studio album, Tattoos. It’s Derulo’s first album, since his miraculous recovery from a broken neck in 2012, and proof that the music and dance sensation is just as high-octane as ever. For Ricki-Lee, it will be a chance to show off her brand new single, All We Need Is Love. The Perth leg of the tour will feature a performance at the Perth Arena on Saturday, May 10. Tickets are available from Ticketek.com.au.

Ricki Lee

ROLLING STONES ANNOUNCE NEW DATES, EXTRA SHOWS!

LIVING THE GOOD LIFE Following the success of underage Future Music Festival spinoff, Good Life, Metropolis Fremantle has been set as the staging ground for the official Good Life After Party. Featuring entertainment from a cavalcade of DJs, including Melbourne-based Rojdar, and local boys, Marto, DTuck and DJ Madzz, as well as carnival entertainment, the night will be a drug, smoke and alcohol-free way for the young ones to enjoy some tunes and a fun night out. The event will begin at 6pm on Friday, May 23. First release tickets have already sold out, so make sure you head straight to Oztix.com.au to pick up some second release tickets.

Drone metal pioneers, Earth, are back and badder than ever. Since reforming in 2005, under the guidance of Dylan Carson, the band has shown no sign of slowing, with their eighth studio album currently in the pipes. Touring across the country, the band’s brooding, minimalistic compositions, so influential in the worlds of doom and post rock, are set to entertain fans at the Rosemount Hotel on Wednesday, June 18. Playing with Margins and Original Past Life, tickets are $43.90 (plus booking fee) and are available through Oztix.com.au.

Rojdar

Earth

BACK TO EARTH

GOLDEN ELECTRIC Janelle Monae and Kimbra are bringing The Golden Electric Tour down under. Following a fortuitous meeting at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2013, the two struck up a firm friendship, resulting in the artistic collaboration that is heading our way in May. Monae and Kimbra play Perth’s Challenge Stadium on Friday, May 16; Sydney’s Hordern Pavillion on Monday, May 19; the Brisbane Convention Centre on Wednesday, May 21; Auckland’s Vector Arena on Saturday, May 24; and The Plenary in Melbourne on Monday, May 26.

For full info and tickets, hit up Livenation. com.au.

The Rolling Stones have officially announced their new Australian and New Zealand touring schedule, including extra dates in Perth and the Hunter Valley.

Originally set to play down under in March-April, the Stones understandably cancelled their dates on the eve of their Perth show following the tragic death of lead singer, Mick Jagger’s long time partner, L’Wren Scott.

Since then, fans have eagerly awaited news of the rescheduled shows.

The Rolling Stones will now play Perth Arena on Wednesday, October 29, and Saturday, November 1 (new show). Presale tickets for the new shows will be available from frontiertouring.com/ rollingstones from noon AEST on Tuesday, April 29.

Those lucky enough to already have tickets need take no action, although those unable to attend the new shows can secure a refund from their original point of sale. A full FAQ on the rescheduled shows can be found at the Frontier Touring Facebook page.

Monae & Kimbra, at last

HARD-ONS RISE AGAIN SWEEPING INTO BROOME

GET THE HELL TO PERTH

Australian rock icon, Paul Kelly, has been announced as the headline act for Broome’s Cable Sounds event at the Cable Beach Amphitheatre on Sunday, August 10. Supporting the ARIA Hall of Fame winner will be Broome blues musician, Stephen Pigram, with band, and opening act, Naomi Pigram. The event kicks off the Broome Cup Carnival, which holds a host of great events, including Ladies Day and the Broome Cup. It’s a must-see event for all locals, so make sure you pick up some tickets from Ticketmaster.com.au.

Arizonan rockers, The Supersuckers, are on their way to Australia to celebrate the release of their latest studio album, Get The Hell. Known for their tireless efforts promoting the cause of righteous music – as well as the West Memphis Three and several other humanitarian causes – the group are a must-see event for all fans of the classic rock ethos of good times and good tunes. The band can be caught at the Astor Theatre on Wednesday, June 25.

Tickets from Showticketing.com.au.

The many fans of New Zealand music here in Perth should mark Friday, June 27, in their diaries for Kiwi Sounds. Lining up will be Katchafire, Salmonella Dub Sound System, David Dallas and Concord Dawn, spawning kiwi fruits at Metro City. Tickets are $69 (plus booking fee) from Ticketbooth.com.au.

It looked like we were gonna miss out, but now immortal Australian punk act, The Hard-Ons, have announced that their 30th anniversary tour will encompass Western Australia. Peter Black, Ray Anh, Keish de Silva and Murray Ruse will be playing Bunbury’s The Prince Of Wales on Friday, May 30; The Augusta-Margaret River Football Club on Saturday, May 31; The Railway Hotel on Sunday, June 1; and Astor Rocks at the Astor Theatre, along with Meat Puppets, Axe Girl, The Love Junkies, The Shakeys and more, on Monday, June 2. Tickets from Showticketing.com.au.

Paul Kelly

The Supersuckers

Katchafire

The Hard-Ons

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KIWI ARE THE CHAMPIONS

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WIN

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EDITORIAL - 9213 2888 MANAGING EDITOR Bob Gordon: editor@xpressmag.com.au FEATURES & DANCE MUSIC EDITOR Merran Reed: featuresed@xpressmag.com.au LOCAL MUSIC & ARTS EDITOR Travis Johnson: localmusicarts@xpressmag.com.au GIG & EVENT GUIDES CO-ORDINATOR guide@xpressmag.com.au COMPETITIONS win@xpressmag.com.au For band gigs and launches - plugyourgig@xpressmag.com.au PHOTOGRAPHY Rachael Barrett, Guang-Hui Chuan, Daniel Craig, Brandon D’Silva, Max Fairclough, Daniel Grant, Sammy Granville, Matt Jelonek, Emma Mackenzie, Callum Ponton, Denis Radacic, Bohdan Warchomij, Michael Wylie CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Leah Blankendaal, Nina Bertok, Aaron Bryans, Joe Cassidy, Hayley Davis, Chris Gibbs, Alfred Gorman, Shaun Cowe, Predrag Delibasich, Jayde Ferguson, George Green, Alex Griffin, James Hanlon, Chris Havercroft, Joshua Hayes, Brendan Holben, Coral Huckstep, Ellie Hutchinson, Tom Kitson, Charlie Lewis, Daisy Lythe, Troy Mutton, Andrew Nelson, David O’Connell, Shane Pinnegar, Jessica Willoughby, Clayton Lin

WIN: ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE Set against the romantic desolation of Detroit and Tangiers, an underground musician, Adam (Tom Hiddleston), deeply depressed by the direction of human activities, reunites with his resilient and enigmatic lover, Eve (Tilda Swinton). Their love story has already endured several centuries at least, but their debauched idyll is soon disrupted by her wild and uncontrollable younger sister, Ava (Mia Wasikowska). Can these wise but fragile outsiders continue to survive as the modern world collapses around them? Email win@xpressmag.com.au to win a double pass and find out what happens.

JUNCTION RECORDS It’s Record Store Day this Saturday April 19! And to help celebrate, Junction Records in Fremantle are giving one lucky X-Press reader a $30 Vinyl Voucher. This is a voucher to be spent on exclusively on records in the store on the day. If you’re interested, and will be in Freo on Record Store Day, send your entry to win@ xpressmag.com.au and let us know what your favourite record of all time is!

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FREE ENTRY: THE POLKA DOT VINTAGE MARKET Claremont Showgrounds will come alive with vintage and retro clothing, accessories, homewares and more, Saturday, April 26 - 27. There’s also a vinyl record fair, so you don’t want to miss this. Email win@xpressmag. com.au to win a pass.

ADMIN / ACCOUNTS - 9213 2888 Lillian Buckley accounts@xpressmag.com.au EDITORIAL DEADLINES General: Friday 5pm, Eye4 Arts: Thursday 10am, WIN: Friday 5pm, Salt Clubs: Monday 5pm , Local Scene: Monday Noon, Gig Guide: Monday 5pm

SEE THE INVISIBLE WOMAN ON THE BIG SCREEN Written by Abi Morgan (The Iron Lady, The Hour) The Invisible Woman is an adaptation of award-winning biographer Claire Tomalin’s superbly researched account of the relationship between Nelly Ternan and writer Charles Dickens. The true story tells the secret love affair between Dickens (Ralph Fiennes) and the young theatre actress Nelly Ternan (Felicity Jones). Ternan’s story is one of someone who almost wasn’t there, as her name, dates, family and experiences were nearly erased from the record for good. This exceptionally realised film is directed by Ralph Fiennes and co-stars Kirstin Scott Thomas (The English Patient) and Tom Hollander (Gosford Park). Email win@xpressmag.com.au to win a double pass.

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

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FILM: CHINESE PUZZLE First it was Barcelona for The Spanish Apartment, then London and St-Petersburg for Russian Dolls, and now eight years later, Cédric Klapisch this time will take his characters to New York City and Paris. The story centers on a 40-year-old father of two who still finds life very complicated. When the mother of his children moves to New York, he can’t bear them growing up far away from him and in turn follows them to the Big Apple. This third opus will give Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou, Cécile de France, Kelly Reilly, the cast whose adventures marked an entire generation, the chance to meet again. Email win@xpressmag.com.au to win a double pass.

WIN A DVD OF THE RAILWAY MAN Eric Lomax (Colin Firth) was one of thousands of Allied prisoners of war forced to work on the construction of the Thai/Burma railway during WW2. His experiences, after the secret radio he built to bring news and hope to his colleagues was discovered, left him traumatised and shut off from the world. Years later, he met Patti, a beautiful woman, on a train and fell in love. Patti was determined to rid Eric of his demons. Discovering that the young Japanese officer who haunted her husband was still alive, she faced a terrible decision. Should Eric be given a chance to confront his tormentor? Would she stand by him, whatever he did? Email win@ xpressmag.com.au to grab a DVD.

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FLESH

NEWS - INTERVIEWS - REVIEWS - CONTENTS

James Williamson with Iggy Pop, circa 1975 Pic: Suzan Carson

JAMES WILLIAMSON Lick It Up With The Stooges taking the year off (or more since the sad passing of Scott Asheton last month), guitarist James Williamson tells SHANE PINNEGAR it’s given him the chance to revisit some of the songs that the band never got the chance to record before they broke up in 1974.

KILLSWITCH ENGAGE Massachusetts-based metalcore giants Killswitch Engage will be returning to Perth off the back of their latest opus, Disarm The Descent. Lead guitarist, Adam Dutkiewicz, talks to JESSICA WILLOUGHBY ahead of their show tonight, Wednesday, April 16, at Metro City, supported by heavy supergroup Kill Devil Hill.

Killswitch Engage are an outfit that is known for pushing the boundaries of forward thinking when it comes to metal.

So it was a huge surprise when they decided to reunite with founding vocalist, Jesse Leach, after a decade apart. Spending the last few years with frontman Howard Jones at the helm, Australia got their first taste of Leach back behind the microphone at Soundwave last year. On this tour, however, fans will get a more in-depth look at the vocalist that helped to create the original intensity of the Killswitch crew all those years ago. “We actually tried out a pretty long list of people,” lead stringsman Adam Dutkiewicz says. “We didn’t just let him back in, he had to work for it.

“Of course, it makes sense to have him back in the band – he had a leg-up there. But we had to make sure that whatever guy we hired could recreate Howard’s intensity and bring their own style to it. We never wanted somebody to just sound like someone else. We wanted someone with their own vision and their own passion. He (Leach) did a great job with all of it. He got the gig and here we are.”

Leach made his re-debut with the Massachusetts-based five-piece in 2012, just in time to work with the band on their latest opus, Disarm The Descent. Touted by critics as one of their most aggressive albums to date, Killswitch Engage must have been doing something right – with the track In Due Time achieving the band’s second Grammy nomination in a career spanning 15 years. “We wanted to make it a more exciting sounding record,”

Dutkiewicz says. “The last album was a more singer/ songwriter type of thing. We wanted to come back and bring some more aggression to it. Put a little bit more teeth on it, you know?

“It’s always really cool be recognised for something as important as this. But, at the end of the day, all of that doesn’t really matter as much as the support from our fans. All I really cared about, to be honest, was making a record that people really liked.

We’ve been fortunate enough to tour on this album for this long and fans seem to be enjoying it and welcoming it with open arms. We’re pretty stoked.”

Taking up the producing duties for this release, Dutkiewicz opened his own up Zing Studios for the band to lay down their work. This chilled vibe helped Killswitch Engage to bring Leach back to their level.

“It wasn’t so much the old days, it felt more so like we had this excited little guy in the band,” he explains. “He (Leach) hasn’t been touring or doing it as his main gig for quite some time. So he was just so excited. It was great to see someone in the band with that freshness and new perspective. Now he’s back on the road for the first time in many years. He’s excited to be everywhere at all times.

“The whole process was very mellow. We spend more than half the year together, so we just have fun hanging out. We pretty much recorded most of it in my house, so it was a very relaxed pace. When you have that atmosphere and you’re comfortable, you can get great results. It’s an important thing to have when making records, that comfort.”

With a full album, Re-Licked, coming later this year featuring different singers on rare Stooges tracks, James Williamson is excited to be releasing Open Up & Bleed/Gimme Some Skin as a vinyl single featuring Texan blues singer, Carolyn Wonderland, for Record Store Day, this Saturday, April 19.

Williamson said that he and Stooges singer, Iggy Pop, considered recording the material, much of which has only been available on average quality bootlegs and pirated demos, as an official Stooges album, but opted to go against the weight of expectation upon the band.

“Originally, before we did the last album, Ready To Die,” he summarises, “We discussed it and considered it carefully. Because the fans wanted us to do that. On the other hand the obvious comparison between the young Stooges and the old Stooges would have been there. So it just didn’t seem like a good idea.

We figured, ‘let’s just do new material with The Stooges’.

“But,” he goes on, “I still wanted to do it; it’s always been on my bucket list. So I came up with this concept of putting different singers on it, and I think it avoids all that. It’s a fresh look at the songs, and the singers are people who are really into the band, they are fans, if you will. Really, I think it’s turning out to be quite an enjoyable listen, and I think more than anything else it’s more of a tribute to the songwriting of Iggy and myself, than it is an attempt to redo those songs.”

Wonderland lends both songs a hitherto unheard depth with her amazing, soulful voice, making the new tracks sound particularly vibrant and – perhaps surprisingly – very now.

“Oh yeah,” Williamson agrees. “You know, she’s actually one of the reasons that I continued to pursue this into a full album. Open Up And Bleed has always been one of my favourites, but I needed to find a female vocalist who I thought could really belt the song out, like a Janis Joplin or something.

I looked, and I looked and I finally found Carolyn and tracked her down. She was so cool about it. So I went down to Austin and bang, that girl can sing.

I was in there for half a day, four takes, done! It’s just amazing.

“So I continued on with the record. I found Lisa Kekuala is the same way - she just completely nails I Gotta Right. The whole stable of singers (which includes some luminaries as The Dead Kennedy’s Jello Biafra, Mark Lanegan and more to be announced) has turned out to be just this incredible group of people that are into the music and really, really, really putting down tracks.”

Iggy, the only other surviving member of the original Stooges after drummer Scott Asheton’s death of a heart attack last month, is unlikely to make an appearance – though Williamson said he’s invited his old sparring partner and bandmate along.

“I’ve offered him kind of an open invitation,” he says, “if there are any of them that he does want to sing on, he’s welcome to do it. Frankly, I doubt that he will. He’s kind of taken this time off and taking it easy and stuff. This is my project really, more than his, so it’s not something he’s likely to do. You never know, because it’s a fun project and there’s still plenty of time before Re-Licked is released (late in 2014).”

SIMPLY BLISS Sydney hip hop juggernauts, Bliss N Eso will be playing two WA shows as part of their biggest ever tour, celebrating the platinum-selling success of their Circus In The Sky album. Starting off with a show at Signal Park in Busselton on Friday, May 2, the trio will be heading up to Perth on Saturday, May 3, to play Wellington Square. Both shows are all ages, so fans, young and old, have a chance to see the state-of-theart show the band will be putting together.

The Rosemount Hotel is set to begin hosting the Golden Days vintage market on the last Sunday of each month. The markets will be a treasure trove of vintage clothes, jewellery, furniture and bric-a-brac for enterprising shoppers to dig through – and if you’re that rare breed of people with a disposable income and children, there will be plenty of kids’ activities and food to keep the little ones happy. The first markets begin at the end of this month, on Sunday, April 27, and continue from then on. Perusing starts bright and early at 9am, so head on down!

Bliss N Eso

Golden Days

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News Win Flesh Music Brody Dalle, Dan Sultan Ziggy Marley New Noise Eye4 Cover: Elephents The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Only Lovers Left Alive, Hachiko Chinese Puzzle, The Invisible Woman Best In The West, A Chocolate Loving’ Life Arts Listings Salt Cover: The Martinez Brothers News, Take 5 Nightwave, Bitter Belief, Touch Sensitive Club Manual Rewind: Elizabeth Rose Scene Live: Blues ‘N’ Roots Local Scene: Black Stone From The Sun Tour Trails Tour Tale - The Acacia Strain Gig Guide Volume Record Store Day

FRONT COVER: In The Pines, Sunday, April 20 @ UWA Somerville Auditorium. Pic by Dan Grant. Furry Friends courtesy of Bluebird Vintage.

SALT COVER: The Martinez Brothers, Sunday,

April 27 @ The Causeway

GOLDEN OLDIE

FOOT IN MOUTH

BOOTS ARE MADE FOR TOURING

That floppy-haired dachshund-faced comedian, Paul Foot, is leaving the land of tea and biscuits and heading to Perth as part of his Words tour for the Perth International Comedy Festival. Applauded for his subversive and surreal comedic style, Foot will be capitalising on the riotous success of last year’s Kenny Lark Is Dead tour. The show will feature three dates at the Thatchers Cider House (Mt Lawley Bowling Club) from Thursday, May 1, to Sunday, May 4. Tickets start at $29.50 (plus booking fee) and are available through perthcomedyfest.com.au.

Country fans will be happy to hear that local songstress, Ruby Boots, has released a new selftitled EP and is about to embark on a national tour.

For those of us on the West Coast, there will be a few chances to see her; kicking off on Wednesday, May 21, the songstress will support The Waifs at the Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre, before heading to the Kimberley Moon Festival on Saturday, May 24; the Hundred Club in Collie on Sunday, June 1, and finally, the Astor Lounge for her WA EP launch on Saturday, June 7.

Dance pop sensation, Samantha Jade, will be doing a special in-store performance and signing at The Great Space at Lakeside Joondalup on Saturday, April 26. Supporting her latest single, Up!, which Jade says likens to the infectious spirit of her triple-platinum debut single, What You’ve Done To Me, it’s a single that’s been carefully crafted with the help of some big names. Co-written and produced by Zac Poor and Mario Marchetti, it’s a single tailored to play to Jade’s strengths as a fun and energetic performer. If you’d like to grab a copy and get it signed, make sure you head on down.

Paul Foot

Ruby Boots

Samantha Jade

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UP AND AWAY

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MUSIC

VIEWS

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INTERVIEWS

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STORIES

BRODY DALLE The Hard Cell Brody Dalle releases her debut solo LP, Diploid Love, on Friday, April 25. SHANE PINNEGAR reports.

Sitting down while she was in Perth with husband Josh Homme during the Queens Of The Stone Age/ Nine Inch Nails tour, Brody Dalle cuts a striking figure, even sans make up.

More normally seen in glossy, high exposure shots for her previous bands The Distillers, Spinnerette and for her new solo album, Diploid Love, she wears a casual unzipped sweater, has her blonde hair tied back, and a few freckles dance playfully across her pale nose and cheeks as she smiles wearily.

She’s warm and friendly, though guarded to start with, but opens up quickly as she relaxes into a conversation about her life and music, offering up personal information about her former drug problems and family issues that you get the distinct impression she may not have answered if questioned about.

Diploid Love is a more pop record than her earlier affairs – dark pop, for sure, and still with a strongly beating rock’n’roll heart and a punkish sneer, but it definitely has a sheen of pop over the top.

“Pop over the top,” Dalle smiles, her prettiness more evident when she’s relaxed and not trying to hide the tiredness in her eyes. “It’s so weird.

I don’t know. I made it under the radar. No one was looking. I just did my thing.”

Diploid Love is hardly a star-studded affair, but Shirley Manson from Garbage contributes some backing vocals, and The Strokes’ Nick Valensi, Michael Shuman from QOTSA and Warpaint’s Emily Kokal are all on there somewhere. Dalle says, though, that the core music was all her, producer Alain Johannes and Haydn Scott.

“Yeah, it’s me and Al. And if it’s not electronic drums, it’s Haydn Scott, who’s an Aussie actually. He played over a lot of electronic drums.”

Recorded at the Hommes’ home studio with Dalle assisting Johannes in producing, some tracks seem so densely layered they bring to mind Phil Spector’s Wall Of Sound production style, but she says that happened by accident rather than design.

“It wasn’t deliberate - it wasn’t anything other than time management,” she says with a half hearted, weary laugh. “I have two kids, so I didn’t have the time to do anything but make my record incrementally. If there’s layers, it’s because I’ve been listening to it over and over again, and I’m like, ‘it needs this’. I would go back in and would put that on it.

“Yeah, time, time is scarce for me... time to do anything!”

Dalle makes no attempt to disguise how crazy it is trying to tour, be in a good shape to perform, and have two kids, a husband, a new album and a promo schedule to worry about.

“It’s fucking exhausting!” she says, sounding almost exasperated at the reminder. For a moment

BRODY DALLE - PIC: CHAPMAN BAEHLER

she looks like a little girl, a little lost, but a wave of determination crosses her face and she holds herself together. “I locked myself in the bathroom on the plane and then just cried. It’s really hard. I’ve never done this before where I’ve had… and I have two kids.

I have a two-and-a-half-year-old and an eight-year-old and my husband’s working and I’m working. It’s like...

I want … they come first, always, and so today, we’ve got to get up at six in the morning, and breakfast, and do kid shit all day for as long as I, we, can do it and then we go to soundcheck and we have to play the show. And then I’m amped and wired and I want to stay up and hang out…

“Some nights, I drag myself to bed at fucking 8pm, and then other nights, I want to just feel like me and hang out a little bit and have that space and that time. But, our whole year is like this, basically. When Queens aren’t on tour, then I’m playing. We’re touring all August together with our kids. It’s the summer holidays in America, they’ve got three months off.”

There’s no avoiding the truth: Dalle sounds tired just talking about it.

“I’m really excited,” she affirms, the weariness showing in her voice. “I’m really lucky I get to do this, but it’s not a cake walk.”

“I don’t have time to put into other people to have them come in. I don’t have time to show them parts to play. I just don’t have the time. So I made the record in my own time, on my own terms and that’s how it happened. It’s like, ‘well, you might as well call it your own name, you know?’”

Being a solo artist now, the buck stops with Dalle, and she’s enjoying the creative freedom that offers.

“Fuck yeah!” she exclaims. “Yeah. The possibilities are endless. I’m so excited that I accidentally… like, it’s the same thing, it’s time management. I don’t have time to put into other people to have them come in. I don’t have time to show them parts to play. I just don’t have the time. So I made the record in my own time, on my own terms and that’s how it happened. It’s like, ‘well, you might as well call it your own name, you know?’

“I didn’t really have any other direction to

DAN SULTAN Time To Time Dan Sultan has just released his third album, Blackbird. DAN WATT checks in with him.

After flirting with success and widespread appeal for over a decade, Australian rock singer and guitarist Dan Sultan has arrived.

His latest album, Blackbird, is slickly produced yet energetic, sexy and fun with the execution seemingly effortless. This album screams accessibility while still remaining deeply credible and creative.

To a casual observer this may seem obvious when you combine Sultan’s movie-star goodlooks, James Dean-like swagger and blues drenched rock’n’roll vocals. However, belying this strut is over 14 years of hard-gigging that began proper in 2000 at an open mic night in Williamstown, a performance that led to a friendship with fellow guitarist and songwriter Scott Wilson – a union that led to Sultan’s debut album, Homemade Biscuits (2006).

Blackbird is Sultan’s third album, a tantalising, energetic and fun release, with three songs seemingly representing the aforementioned adjectives: The Same Man, Under Your Skin, Waiting On The End Of The Phone.

Your correspondent caught up with Sultan in person to discuss Blackbird and also the sticky subject of his Aboriginality being continually brought up in the media (the irony of this subject’s inclusion in this story is addressed).

Sultan opens the conversation by addressing the key textures of his new album. “I think fun is the big one, energetic as well. It feels like the most energetic record that I have made. Every record that you have made feels like practice for the one you are about to make or the one that you are making at the time – you’re all ways wanting to go further with stuff.”

Debut single from the album, The Same Man, is a rollicking and rolling tune that pairs 8

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go in. It’s like a natural progression, I guess.”

Once a punk rocker, always a punk rocker though, and any hint that she may have been concerned what Distillers or Spinerette or Queens fans may think about her solo, poppier direction is met with a brick wall.

“I don’t really care. That’s not what I do…

I don’t sit around making music for other people.

That would be an impossibility - you couldn’t satisfy everybody. Someone would always have a complaint or not like this or not like that. And with The Distillers, I never thought about it. With Spinnerette, I realised there was a whole peanut gallery out there and they had something to say about it. I’d never read any press or read anything before that and I decided after that, I was not going to again, because hey, I get to do this, and I get to make records and I’m going to keep on doing it whether people like it or not. I’m lucky, you know?”

That’s the way rock’n’roll should be created by real people doing real things for themselves.

If anyone else likes it, I suggest, that’s a bonus.

“That’s a bonus,” she laughs, “it is!”

Read the extended version of this interview at xpressmag.com.au. confessional lyrics with the inexorable bravado of the music. A particularly memorable aspect of the song is a hummed pre-chorus that may remind some of a Navajo chant.

“When I first started the song it was just the chant and it was a lot slower, and sounded a bit Chinese. I was in a writing session and I decided to speed it up a bit and the song took shape from there.

“The song’s meaning is that ‘this relationship is finished because you’ve changed’; I the protagonist - haven’t changed but maybe that’s the problem. Maybe ‘he’ needed to pull his head in,” explains Sultan.

So is this ‘he’, the protagonist, Sultan?

“From time to time,” is Sultan’s casual and slightly comedic dismissal for this question. “But with the banjo and the chanting it is pretty fun as well on the ears but it has heavy content,” concludes Sultan on The Same Man. As established above, Blackbird is a sassy release and a very different creature from Sultan’s album of 2010, the double ARIA Award-winning Get Out While You Can. The album also won him Male Artist Of The Year and Best Single Release Of The Year for Letter at the Deadly Awards – an annual awards ceremony that celebrates musicians of an Aboriginal heritage.

Sultan’s mother was Aboriginal and his father Irish and he has always embraced his ethnicity, especially that to Australia’s first people, however, during this interview he takes issue with his Aboriginality being brought-up.

“Over the last few years I have been wanting to avoid this,” Sultan softly dismisses of the subject. He now elaborates on not wanting to discuss his Aboriginal heritage. “Just because I find, I’ll tell you why, I just won’t say ‘no’, I don’t want to be a dickhead about it. Archie Roach said it best in an interview a few years ago when he said, ‘No one asks Paul Kelly about where he’s from?’” states Sultan with plain yet slightly bored tone – bored with the subject matter.

“But not one to hate the player, instead the game, Sultan mollifies by saying, “I know it’s coming from a place that is genuine but at the same time as Aboriginal artists, we find it hard to just be allowed to be artists.”

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For more album reviews head to xpressmag.com.au

3.5

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OUT OF 5

OUT OF 5

PIXIES

BRODY DALLE Diploid Love Caroline

Indie Cindy Pixiesmusic/[PIAS].

Diploid Love may be Brody Dalle’s debut solo album, but she is anything but a novice when it comes to this music caper. Signed at 15 in Australia, Dalle eventually moved to LA to front the punk rock dynamos, The Distillers. Along the way she married Josh Homme to become rock’n’roll royalty.

When punks grow up and have children they may lose the desire to punch everyone in the face, but they still have plenty to say and things to question. Dalle still has the fire in the belly as Diploid Love habitates the space between The Ramones and The Ronettes.

Underworld is a fast-paced rocker that Dalle has been kicking around since her Distiller days. The large-lunged vocalist carries the tune about reincarnation with able help from the horns of El Mariachi Bronx.

Dalle is clearly pushing the boundaries of what she knows on this album. Carry On has more in common with the strobe lights of clubs than it does with a pogoing pit and I Don’t Need Your Love is a slow and meandering tale that doesn’t really go anywhere.

Diploid Love is a bit of a mixed bag, but there is enough quality to draw you back for repeated listens. Dalle is keen to go back to the studio for her next record. Let’s hope she finds plenty to be angry about between now and then.

At first glance, the first full-length release in 23 years from alt-rock legends Pixies is as welcome as it is peculiar.

It’s welcome because, well, it’s the damn Pixies.

It’s peculiar because all of this material was previously released in EP form, and iconic founding bassist Kim Deal is no longer around – and it’s the second of these points that influences the outcome most.

What Goes Boom is a heavy start that announces the band’s return in no uncertain terms, while Magdalena 318 and Silver Snail allow Black Francis to show the light and dark sides of his songwriting. Unfortunately, for each decent track there are three or four stinkers, with the ridiculous Snakes and flaccid Andro Queen being the worst offenders.

The lack of those beautifully simple Deal basslines like on Gigantic or Debaser is a devastating loss, although it could be argued it’s unfair to compare this release to music made in the early ’90s, and the album is being released to support Record Store Day after all.

Almost everyone will want Indie Cindy to be a killer, but some bands like The Clash and The Replacements were never the same after dropping original members, and unfortunately the same rule applies here. Pixies are back with a whimper, not a bang.

PAUL MCBRIDE

CHRIS HAVERCROFT

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OUT OF 5

CHARLES JENKINS AND THE ZHIVAGOS

DAN SULTAN Blackbird Liberation Records

ZIGGY MARLEY Better, Stronger, Rasta With this month marking the 35th anniversary of Bob Marley’s one and only Australian tour, it’s a sweet coincidence that MUMMA TREES caught up with The King of Reggae’s eldest son, Ziggy Marley, ahead of the release this week of his new album, Fly Rasta.

2014 has already been a huge year for Ziggy Marley.

His last album, Ziggy Marley In Concert, secured his sixth Grammy Award win, ahead of other reggae category nominations from Snoop Lion, Beres Hammond, Sizzla and Sly & Robbie & The Jam Masters.

Typically, he is humble about the recent award.

“It feel good and we appreciate it but I don’t think ‘bout it a lot,” Marley says. “It is only a small pool of the music, it is not everyone, so it’s only a few people get nominated. There is so much more, and it’s all up to somebody’s own opinion, so I take it with a grain of salt, you know?”

Having always pushed the boundaries beyond the traditional Jamaican reggae sound, his fifth studio LP, Fly Rasta, has many other genre influences. A truly eclectic mix of musicians have been enlisted - drummers include Motown’s legendary James Gadson (Martha Reeves) and Brian MacLeod (Sheryl Crowe); guitarists Takeshi Akimoto (Taj Mahal) and Ian ‘Breezy’ Coleman (Burning Spear); bassists Abraham Laboriel (Paul Simon), Pablo Stennett (Willie Nelson) and Dave Wilder (Norah Jones); and keyboardists Zac Rae (Lana Del Ray), Mike Hyde (Burning Spear) and Brian Lebarton (Beck). And they are just the tip of the iceberg...

“These are musicians I have known throughout my years. I have worked with some of them before on different projects. You know, when I am making a record I say get me the best musicians out there, and I know some a ‘dem, so I ask specifically for Brian Macleod or Abraham Laboriel, these guys are just great musicians who bring something to the table very special, you know?”

T h e l e g e n d a r y J a m a i c a n re g g ae / rocksteady toaster U-Roy has also been enlisted and features on the title track.

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Rock has reached an interesting, albeit dark, phase.

Every band now needs to drop the songs about sex, drugs and rock’n’roll and instead talk about the other side of that coin: the loneliness, the longing and the silence after the songs.

Enter Dan Sultan and his new album, Blackbird, recorded in Nashville. Striking off with “U-Roy is someone I look up to. These Make Me Slip, the grip the electric guitar immediately are the fathers of our music, so you know I have the catches you in is tight, powerful and enjoyable, and same love and honour as I have for my father. And I while the follow-on, Can’t Blame Me, also keeps up have always wanted to work with great legends like this enjoyable sound, it isn’t until the first single, U-Roy.” Under Your Skin, and High Street Riot that it feels Spirituality is a theme Marley has explored like Sultan has dropped the rock persona and finally in his music in the past. His 2006 hit, Love Is My begun to speak with sincerity.

Religion, held a very universal message, whereas The album continues to grow from here, Fly Rasta, is exclusively a celebration of Rastafari. spreading out of the straight-up rock in favour of more This song refers to separation of oneself, as per the soulful and acoustic songs. Ain’t Thinking About You biblical vow of the Nazarite, which has been adopted showcases the skill that went into the album; when so many others would let the horns in the track run loose into Rastafari.

“When I first started my spiritual journey, it like barking dogs, here they are kept under control, begin with Rastafari. We are different from everyday adding just the right touch of soul without drowning people, we carry ourselves inna more disciplined way. out everything else. The album’s finale, Gullible Few, It is where Love Is My Religion started. I have to pay has Sultan alone on the piano, bearing a depth that homage to the seed that was planted that bring the just didn’t seem possible at the start of the album.

Beautiful, deep, and completely Dan Sultan, fruit of Love Is My Religion.”

There is a strong history of the Marley Blackbird is a wonderful listen. siblings musical collaboration and support, and this DANIEL PRIOR album is no exception, with back up vocals throughout provided by sisters Cedella and Sharon Marley. It’s been some time since they recorded together as a OUT OF 5 unit, and as Marley says it “added such a great vibe to the record, it was like the finishing touch.”

The Marleys are a tight-knit family, and this musical teamwork has been going on between them since the inception of the Melody Makers, Marley, at the age of 10, joined with Cedella, Sharon FUTURE ISLANDS and Stephen Marley. Their first recording in 1979 was Children Playing In The Street, a song written Singles

by Bob especially for his children, and all royalties 4AD were donated to the United Nations during the International Year Of The Child. Charity work that For Baltimore’s Future Islands, their crossover focuses on assisting children is a theme which has moment was a YouTube clip of a live performance on Letterman. The song Seasons (Waiting On You) continued to run throughout Marley’s life.

“Always involved with stuff like that, we certainly has its pop smarts, but the most divisive have a charity where we support schools in Jamaica, factor of the band – Samuel T. Herring’s throaty, educating kids. I believe children are the most melodramatic vocals – have more of a chance to win important... asset, if that what you want to call it, people over when visually matched with their oddball that we have in this world today for a better future.” maker in a live setting.

Singles sounds like an effort to make the Given that Ziggy was named after the Jamaican slang term for a small spliff, it should quintessential Future Islands album. Its title suggests come as no surprise that one of his numerous other that it’s modelled on a best-of compilation, and it non-musical projects is the promotion of roasted is dutifully filled with immediate songs that benefit hemp seeds which he says is “extremely nutritious” from tight song structures and a polished production, through his Ziggy Marley Organics range, and he has achieved successfully without losing the essence of the band. The refined musical templates are met with produced a comic book, Marijuanaman.

His commitment to offsetting the carbon less extreme vocals from Herring, so much so that the death-metal rattle late in the album on Fall From footprint of his upcoming world tour by partnering Grace takes you by surprise. with several environmental organisations is reflected One of the key songs from the trio’s in Marley’s opening track on this new album. Don’t previous album (2011’s On The Water) was called Wanna Live On Mars certainly seems like a love song Balance and this is exactly where that album trumps to the planet... or is it? their latest; the slow-builds and shifting dynamics “When I was writing these songs I kinda made it a more immersive, harmonised experience. said to myself I don’t wanna tell people what the Even so, Singles is a lush, forceful collection that’s songs are about specifically, because I want it to brimming with a newfound confidence and optimism. mean whatever it means to you. Songs have their own life. Its art, so you decide what it is.”

CHRIS GIRDLER

3.5

Too Much Water In The Boat Silver Stamp Records

That Charles Jenkins is in possession of a dry sense of humour is evidenced by giving the surf instrumental that opens his new album the title The Prime Minister Is Missing; that Charles Jenkins still possesses the razor sharp songwriting skills he’s exhibited for the past 30 years is borne out by the remainder of Too Much Water In The Boat.

The album thrives on an aquatic theme: rivers, inland seas, islands, boats, even (at a pinch) the Snowy Mountain hydro-electric scheme. On a musical level, there’s much to enjoy and celebrate on the album: The Whale Song is dirty rock’n’roll washed through with a wry pop sensibility, 7 Creeks (The Crossdresser Steve Hart) is Anglo-Celtic folk transplanted into the modern age (and who knows with what level of historical accuracy) and Sweet Mildura pays tribute to the city in which Jenkins grew up.

Off the Tip Of The Peloponnese is the sort of pop rock track that, in an ideal world free of specious commercial imperatives, would be top of the charts; The Barrel Song is acoustic whimsy and a lesson for any aspiring songwriter. Christmas Island is haunting; a well-judged reminder of the oppressive conditions of that remote location to which this country has banished its moral responsibility. If Across The Inland Sea isn’t one of the best songs released this year, then someone has got it wrong.

PATRICK EMERY

4.5 OUT OF 5

MAC DEMARCO Salad Days Spunk At the tender age of 23, DeMarco has all the cheek and spark of a young Malkmus and his second album, Salad Days, suggests that he may, too, have the chops.

Salad Days is a record that sounds considerably better than it should. DeMarco admits to using a guitar that he purchased for $30 when he was 16, using effects pedals that he doubts any other ‘serious musician’ would use and plays all of the instruments on the album whilst recording it at his home studio, Jizz Jazz Studios.

There is the off-kilter pop that has come to be expected of DeMarco with the laconic sounding Treat Her Better and wandering bass treat of Blue Boy. Let My Baby Stay sounds like a stifled version of M Ward and Passing Out The Pieces has overdriven organs and a smart melody to show that DeMarco is a maestro of the genre.

The relentless work ethic of DeMarco means that we won’t have too long to wax lyrical about Salad Days before he drops his next amount of skewed brilliance at us. This is one that is well deserving of its heavy rotation doing the upcoming cardigan days of winter.

CHRIS HAVERCROFT

A R T S & C U LT U R E

Elephents is the first play from the new drama company, The Last Great Hunt. We spoke to director Kathryn Osborne about collaboration, creation, collectives and other such matters of import.

A graduate of Edith Cowan University’s Contemporary Performance course, Kathryn Osborne has been working in theatre since 2008, with her biggest success thus far being Minnie And Mona Play Dead, which won Best New WA Work at Fringe World 2013 before going on to an acclaimed run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Her newest directorial effort, Elephents, looks set to make just as big a splash.

“Elephents is based on the concept of ‘the elephant in the room,’” she explains. “And the desire of the artist to explore why people aren’t honest to each other about things that are glaringly obvious. That’s the core concept and we set out to explore why people sometimes don’t tell the whole truth and what sort of elephants we

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have not only in our personal lives and our relationships but also in our political lives and in the world right now that we choose not to speak about.”

The play also contains a lot of singing. “We came up with the idea that the characters in our play could only sing about these issues rather than just talk about them, so all the characters in our play are singing to express their elephants and their struggle with their elephants while they continue to not discuss those things with each other in the play. And the play takes place at the end of the world as well, so the biggest elephant in the room is that the world is ending and they don’t want to talk about it - they just want to talk about the usual things that people want to talk about.”

Elephents is also the first official production from The Last Great Hunt, which Osborne describes as a collaborative theatre company that resulted from a number of smaller troupes coming together in order to facilitate doing larger, more ambitious works.

“We’d all been collaborating all the time and we were all working on different small projects under different company names and we all

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EVENTS

thought that it would be fun and a great idea to join together and form a larger collection of artists that wanted to continue working together. We spent last year setting all that up and now We’re The Last Great Hunt, which is really exciting.”

The Last Great Hunt pride themselves on being a highly collaborative group. Thus, while Osborne is credited as director and Jeffrey Jay Fowler is named as the sole author, Elephents is in fact the child of many parents. “Jeffrey Jay Fowler is the writer, but his collaborators are the performers and myself, the director. We all create the show together and then Jeffrey writes the work from improvisations and discussions and gets the final ownership of the script, but the ownership is spread throughout the company. It is based on an original concept that he brought to the group, though.”

TRAVIS JOHNSON

Elephents runs at The Blue Room Theatre from April 29 - May 18.

For tickets and session times, head to blueroom.org.au.

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IRIS AWARD FINALISTS ANNOUNCED

FILM

Finalists for the 2014 Iris Award, which recognises excellence in photographic portraiture, include Todd Anderson-Kunert, Sarah Barker, Chris Bowes, Ailsa Bowyer, Alicja Brodowicz, Ariel Cameron, Olga Cironis, Stephen Dupont, Odette England, Anna Eroshenko, Cameron Etchells, Jane Finlay, Matthew GoddardJones, Kate Golding, Alana Hall, Yvette Hamilton, Paris Hawken, Bronek Kozka, Alexander McMillan, Martine Perret, James Reddicliffe, Julia Schauenburg, Vivian Cooper Smith, Talhy Stotzer, Carine Thevenau, Tobias Titz, Rhiannon Tully, Eefje van Dijk, James Whineray, Alex Wolman and Jennifer Wright. The Iris exhibition runs at Perth Centre For Photography from May 9 June 9, with the winners announced on opening night.

For further info, go to pcp.org.au.

Werewolf Priest! The Lamentable Ballad Of Father Hank Grimby

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2

WEREWOLVES OF BLUE ROOM

Not Exactly Marvellous

Werewolf Priest! The Lamentable Ballad Of Father Hank Grimby is a new play combining horror, comedy and music in one galloping, gruesome melodrama.

Written and directed Levon J. Polinelli, it’s described as the love child of Sweeney Todd and The Wolfman, which sounds pretty good to us. It runs at The Blue Room Theatre from May 22 - June 7. Go to bluroom. org.au for info and tickets.

Directed by Marc Webb Starring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane Dehaan

HATCHED HOVES INTO VIEW Hatched: National Graduate Show, the annual showcase of the best works from Australia’s top art school graduates, is returning for its 23rd year.

Encompassing an incredible range of forms, styles and materials, Hatched is a striking look at the bleeding edge of Australian art from its youngest, boldest practitioners. The exhibition runs at PICA from May 6 - June 29, kicking off with a free opening night party. For full details, go to pica.org.au.

MANLY MEN Opening at Kurb Gallery on April 19 and running until April 25, The Men is the first solo exhibition by photographer Laura Mitchell. A study of the male ego as seen through the lens of classical mythology, the exhibition combines contemporary notions of beauty with ancient signifiers of power, grace and masculinity. Head to the Kurb Gallery facebook page for more details.

Cosi

LET’S GET COSI

Phoenix Theatre is mounting a production of the popular Australian play, Cosi, by Louis Nowra, this May. The play follows the misadventures of a young uni graduate, Lewis, who gets a job teaching drama to the inmates of the local psychiatric hospital but finds himself in over his head when they demand to put on a production of the opera, Cosi Fan Tutti. Famously made into a 1996 film that starred Toni Collette, Rachel Griffiths, Ben Mendelsohn and Jacki Weaver, this a warm, touching and very human story. It runs May 8 - 17. Tickets are available through TAZTix.com.au.

We’re living in a golden age of geek culture these days and it’s become easy to forget how dire things like superhero cinema were back in the ‘90s, before the first X-Men flick came along and the powers that be realised there was a lot of money in spandex.

Luckily for us, every so often we get a film like The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (pointlessly subtitled The Rise Of Electro) to remind us of those dire days when Joel Schumachers walked the earth.

Fo l l owi ng o n fro m 2011’s l a rg e l y unimpressive reboot, the film sees Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man go up against Electro (Jamie Foxx essentially playing Jim Carrey’s Riddler), an electrical engineer who gets electrical powers in an electrical accident. In the background we also get Harry Osborne (Dane Dehaan, actually quite good), who we are rather awkwardly told is an old friend of Peter Parker, Spidey’s workaday alter ego, starting to walk the dark path in a quest to cure himself of the fatal genetic disorder bequeathed him by his father (one scene wonder Chris Cooper). Will Harry wind up green and cackling? You betcha. Will this have a deleterious effect on the wellbeing of Spidey’s love interest, Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone)? You betcha...

It’s a weirdly overpacked film, with a total of three supervillains (Electro, Dehaan’s Green Goblin

and Paul Giamatti’s Rhino) and numerous distracting subplots (Gwen’s moving to England! Aunt May wants to be a nurse!) but also one where not much actually happens; shorn of pointless incident, the two-and-ahalf hour behemoth could have been done and dusted in 90 minutes flat.

The film’s chief problem is tonal: it can’t decide whether to be fun or serious and so it tries - and fails - to be both, flipping from goofy but enjoyable action to maudlin histrionics. The result is film that is schlocky enough to be annoying without spilling over into full-on camp. In that sense, it may actually be a worse film than Batman And Robin, which at least embraced the essential silliness of the whole superhero genre. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 seems kind of ashamed of its pulp roots, which is a fatal flaw.

There are some impressive action and effects sequences, but that’s par for the course these days. Garfield, to his credit, makes for a good Spider-Man, trotting out a fine line of cheesy patter while bouncing around the screen in an appropriately acrobatic matter. On the other hand, he’s a terrible Peter Parker, although that’s down to the script, which gives our hero no core identity for Garfield to latch onto - something no amount of spectacle can compensate for. By any measure, The Amazing SpiderMan 2 is a dud.

TRAVIS JOHNSON

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Hachiko - Photo by Jarrad Seng

HACHIKO Jessica Harlond-Kenny With the Spare Parts Puppet Theatre’s production of Hachiko playing over the Easter school holidays, we thought we would catch up with one of the puppeteers, Jessica Harlond-Kenny. We chat about her career, the magic of puppets and an extraordinary tale of one dog’s loyalty.

Having studied performing arts at ECU, Jessica became involved with Spare Parts as part of their First Hand project. Her love of puppets was fostered by both her training and her family. “My mum and sister were both artists, and puppeteers (especially Spare Parts) will create their work from a visual landscape.

And I think that’s why it’s so entertaining for children, because it’s not just talking heads. It’s this beautiful landscape on stage, and when you appreciate art (or come from art) you have a strong connection to puppetry.”

As for what makes puppets special? “I don’t think there will be any person in the world would answer no when you ask, ‘have you pretended something was what it wasn’t was?’ Nobody hasn’t.

Even as a kid, you’ll pick up a cardboard box and turn it into a truck, a phone or whatever. As soon as an 12

actor is on stage there is an ego that can get in the way. And people will sit there and say ‘she doesn’t mean that’ or something. But as soon as there’s this messenger, you don’t shoot the messenger. You’re able to connect with this puppet as there is this innocence about it. You don’t put any ego on it, so you just allow it. So I think that’s why puppetry is so beautiful.”

The tale of Hachiko follows a strong tradition of loyal dog stories. “Well, dogs have been around for thousands of years. And there are lots of tales about their loyalty. Hachiko is another from Japan about a dog and a professor that become beautiful friends in just two years. And after two years the professor dies and Hachiko, his loyalty never wavering, would go to the train station every single day to wait for the professor. For 10 years he waited for him until some people say he died of a broken heart.

“So it’s another beautiful story of loyalty. I think these are important stories for kids, as kids are smart. These things happen to kids as well. Kids lose parents and friends and family and dogs as well. At some point everyone experiences loss. And I think this work really helps to remember how something really touched your life even though it is gone. They need to look at it so they can heal.”

Told through a mix of hand puppetry, 2D puppets and object play, Hachiko presents a heart warming tale of friendship, loss and loyalty.

Entertaining and a good discussion point for children on dealing with loss, all done in a tender and nonconfrontational manner. “It’s an important subject, and one that needs to be focussed on gently with love.”

DAVID O’CONNELL

ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE A Draining Experience Directed by Jim Jarmusch Starring Tom Hiddleston, Tilda Swinton, Anton Yelich, Mia Wasikowska, John Hurt When cult auteur Jim Jarmusch tackles an established genre, it’s generally considered to be an event worth getting excited about – consider his meditative takes on the Western (Dead Man) and the hitman subset of crime drama (Ghost Dog: Way Of The Samurai).

Now he’s applied his achingly hip sensibilities to the vampire film and… well, perhaps he should have made another Western.

The vampire Adam (Tom Hiddleston), a musician, has grown weary of the world and withdrawn to a cluttered Detroit apartment, relying on his human servant, Ian (Anton Yelchin) to bring him vintage guitars and news of the outside world. He’s melancholy to the point of suicide, so his equally fabulous vampire wife, Eve (Tilda Swinton) journeys from Tangiers to try and snap him out of his funk. However, the arrival of Eve’s irresponsible “sister,” Ava (Mia Wasikowska) threatens to disrupt their rarefied existence.

Even the most ardent fan has to admit that Jarmusch’s past work has always been somewhat pretentious, but with Only Lovers Left Alive he’s tipped over into full-on hipster misanthropy. Adam ascribes his anhedonia to the exhausting attention of “zombies” - the term he’s coined for everyday mortals who can never be as enlightened, as artistic, as insightful, or simply as drop-dead-cool as Adam and his small coterie of undead. Jarmusch’s vampires are perfect beings -

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incredibly intelligent and refined, exquisitely beautiful and just so much more than we regular schlubs. Can you blame them - despite her protests that Adam needs to lighten up, Eve’s base attitudes are identical - for despising us?

It should be hoped that Jarmusch doesn’t share his characters’ views because, if he does, this is the work of an artist who despises his fan base and having to toil in a world populated by people he considers to be beneath him. Of course, there’s an audience for this kind of thing. Thematically, Only Lovers is the barbaric yawp of the jaded scenester, and Lord knows there’s enough of them around - or, at least, the kind of people who aspire to be so jaded. Hell, with this cast, this director and this air of detached, post-ironic cool this might as well be The Movie That Tumblr made.

There are elements to admire here. It’s a stunningly beautiful film with a captivating aesthetic of decaying grandeur, and while their characters are appalling, Huddleston and Swinton remain hugely talented, incredibly captivating performers. Still, there’s nothing under the hood. You could just about argue that Jarmusch is lampooning Adam and Eve’s narcissistic detachment, but in the final analysis he makes their (un)lifestyle too attractive to effectively pull the piss out of it. All the elements are in place for this to be a tidy little indie earner (Shirtless Vampire Loki alone should account for 60 per cent of the box office take) but, when all’s said and done, Only Lovers Left Alive is just aspirational porn for solipsists.

TRAVIS JOHNSON

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THE INVISIBLE WOMAN Great Expectations And Minor Disappointments Director Ralph Fiennes Starring Ralph Fiennes, Felicity Jones In 1860 renowned author, Charles Dickens took the extraordinary step of burning the entirety of his personal correspondence. In one day the history of one of the first celebrities of modernity was consigned to the flames, leaving him as a mystery. Two years before that he had publicly separated from his wife, and earlier than that rumours abounded about Mr Dickens and a young actress, but now all is speculation.

The Invisible Woman is the fruit of such speculation.

Based on the biographical work of Claire Tomalin’s similarly titled book, The Invisible Woman tells of Dickens’ (Ralph Fiennes) affair with the young actress Ellen ‘Nelly’ Ternan (Felicity Jones).

Set against the backdrop of strict Victorian society and the dawn of the modern age, this film is a examination of the differing avenues of power based on a person’s gender as much as it is a love story.

Fiennes does a marvellous job of bringing the period to life, both as the director and in his portrayal of Dickens. As the author he brings a vibrancy to the role, allowing us to see a side of the man that could captivate not only readers, but a

theatre full of people with the power of his words.

Yet he also manages to capture the gravitas and propriety of a Victorian era gentleman. As a director he beautifully realises a world of lavishly furnished parlours and drawing rooms, subtly lit but full of shadows. A world in which we feel enclosed and even claustrophobic as the camera is held close to the actors’ faces.

Ultimately there is something about this movie that alienates its audience. Perhaps this is being held at arms length by the Victorian mores that never allow it to develop into the passionate love affair that a modern audiences might be more familiar with. Perhaps it is the calculating nature of the affair, set up in part by Ellen’s mother to provide for her daughter’s future. Perhaps it is the extraordinary performance by Joanna Scanlan that grants Mrs Dickens such sympathy. What ever the case, without that emotional involvement the 110 minute run time feels much longer than it is.

This is an interesting piece rather than an enjoyable one. Full of period detail and lavishly shot it may be, but the rigidness of the characters never invites you to fully engage with them.

DAVID O’CONNELL

FILM

CHINESE PUZZLE New York State Of Mind Directed by Cedric Klapisch Starring Romain Duris, Audrey Tatou, Cecile De France, Kelly Reilly Almost a decade after we last saw him in Russian Dolls, we revisit the misadventures of the hapless-in-love writer, Xavier Rousseau (Romain Duris) thanks to writer/director, Cedric Klapisch. Anyone who missed Russian Dolls or its predecessor, 2002’s The Spanish Apartment, needn’t worry, though; this instalment is self-contained enough for newcomers to plug into it with relative ease.

When Xavier’s partner Wendy (Kelly Reilly) leaves him for a new life in New York City, she takes their two children with her, so Xavier dutifully follows, wanting to remain a part of his kids’ lives. At first he bunks in with his old friend, Isabelle (Cecile de France) and her partner, Ju (Sandrine Holt), who are having a baby thanks to Xavier’s sperm donation, but soon he’s grappling with the realities of the immigrant experience: finding an apartment, getting an off-the-books job, and fending off the attentions of Immigration Services, while at the same time juggling shared custody with Wendy. Add in a Green Card marriage and the return of his old girlfriend, Martine (Audrey Tatou) and what you have is a story that’s busy to the point of chaos.

Almost too busy. Sure, Xavier is constantly complaining how complicated his life is, but in

reflecting this the screenplay picks up so many threads and discards them that it can be frustrating: Xavier’s friendship with another single father lasts for one scene, while his job as a bike courier seems to promise to go further, but barely impacts on the main plot thrust.

Still, this is a charming, amiable romantic comedy, coupling a pleasingly cosmopolitan, multicultural view of New York life with a very European attitude to sex and relationships, as well as the careful deployment of farce and slapstick.

Duris is a likeable lead, confused and troubled by the predicaments he finds himself in, but never reduced to an utterly useless manchild as so many American romcom protagonists are. Some of the other characters do come across as a bit one-note - we don’t spend much time with Wendy before she’s whisking the kids away to the Big Apple, while Martine is a couple of quirks and a Shins song away from being a middle-aged Manic Pixie Dream Girl - but this is Xavier’s story, not theirs, and so we see them largely through his eyes.

That conceit also takes us on the odd flight of fancy, as Xavier imagines discussing his problems with various noted philosophers or shorthands some of his complicated relationship history with the odd cinematic flourish. The film never shies away from acknowledging that it is an artificial narrative construct. Xavier’s Paris-based book editor even functions as a kind of Greek chorus, asserting that happiness is not conducive to good drama.

Klapisch, who has admitted in interviews that these films are at least partially autobiographical, apparently disagrees. Chinese Puzzle is a sunny, messy ultimately optimistic piece that should leave audiences with a smile.

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TASTE OF PERTH

THEATRE/DANCE/ PERFORMANCE Hachiko: Spare Parts Puppet Theatre The incredibly moving tale of an unbelievably loyal dog, based on a true story. It runs until April 26. Go to sppt.ans.au for bookings.

Best In The West From May 2 – 4, Langley Park is set to host three days of food-lovers’ heaven as the latest and greatest of Perth’s restaurant scene come together for the inaugural Taste Of Perth festival.

Imagine being able to design your own menu comprised of how ever many dishes you’d like from the city’s most popular eateries – you might choose to start with a selection of fresh-from-thesea sashimi from Nobu, then chow down on a hearty hunk of kangaroo from Greenhouse before satisfying your sweet tooth with a pannacotta with roasted cocoa and walnut crumble from Lalla Rookh.

This imagination will become reality at the inaugural Taste Of Perth festival, the food finale of the City of Perth’s month-long food celebration, Eat Drink Perth.

Organised by the folks at Brand Events (they own and operate the much-loved Margaret River Gourmet Escape), Taste Of Perth is also the latest addition to the global Taste Festival line-up – a worldwide sensation, the festivals are held in 18 cities around the world all well known for their premium food and wine offerings, including London, Cape Town, Milan, Dubai and Toronto, as well as, of course, Melbourne and Sydney.

Visitors to the Perth incarnation next month can look forward to sampling tasty treats prepared by a selection of the city’s most innovative eateries, each of whom will rustle-up short menus of their key dishes.

From creations from the fine dining end of the spectrum – such as renowned inner-city establishment Print Hall’s Linley Valley pork cheek with beluga lentils, smoked lardo and date – to more unusual offerings – dare to try the fried crickets with a side of mezcal (tequila’s big brother) from hip Mexican joint el Pùblico – it’s degustation dining, but not as you’ve ever experienced before.

Elsewhere you’ll find live cooking demonstrations, interactive cooking classes, expert wine tastings, master classes and plenty of live entertainment. There will even be a special beer hall at Langley Plaza where aficionados in all things brew can bring their crew and indulge in local and imported beers and ciders.

The buzz generating around the event goes beyond the lips of local foodies too –there’s also a palpable sense of excitement about the new

Fights And Flights: State Theatre Centre A stunning mixture of dance, theatre and kung fu from Steps Youth Dance Company. 65 performers, ranging in age from seven to 30, work together to celebrate the challenges and victories of life. It runs from May 10 - 11. For tickets and session times, go to ticketek.com.au.

Uncle Jack: The Blue Room Theatre An autobiographical work that sees a young man sent to work the land with his uncle, a war veteran, this coming of age tale features extracts from the real wartime journal of William Lonnie. It runs from April 22 - May 10. Go to blueroom.org.au for tickets and info.

Husk by Angela McHarrie, from Of Spears And Pruning Hooks II

VISUAL ARTS The Refusal Of Time: PICA This video and sculpture installation by William Kentridge sits at the crossroads of industrialisation and colonialism, combining theatre, drawing, music, film, dance and animation. Presented by PICA, Perth International Arts Festival and the Art Gallery Of Western Australia, it’s on display until April 27. Go to perthfestival.com.au for details.

event in kitchens across the city.

“Taste Of Perth is something fresh and exciting for Perth people and a chance to work alongside some great chefs,” el Pùblico’s Head Chef Sam Ward says. “We felt like it was a great opportunity to showcase what we do at el Pùblico to a broader audience.”

“It’s exciting for us to get out and spread the flavour of what we do at Print Hall to the broader public,” Print Hall’s Executive Chef Shane Watson agrees. “It’s also nice for the chefs to see daylight every once in a while…”

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit tasteofperth.com.au.

JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD

Shane Hills

KOKO BLACK A Chocolate Lovin’ Life Leading chocolatier Koko Black will launch its largest Australian salon at 140 Perth in late March, just in time for Easter.

Easter – it’s that time of year when chocolate gets the better of us. As a child, you’ll remember there’s nothing more satisfying than biting the ears off a rabbit – followed, of course, by as many bright foil covered eggs as you can fit in your mouth.

But as an adult, it’s the pursuit of quality, rather than quantity, which motivates that sugar rush.

This Easter, chocolate lovers of Perth will be able to indulge in something really special – and certainly beyond the everyday blocks that line the supermarket shelves – with a new Koko Black salon set to feed the sweet tooth of the inner-city fold.

Renowned for selling sophisticated selections of thoughtful, handmade creations crafted from quality blended chocolate, Koko Black has already won over hoards of chocolate fans on the west coast thanks to its existing Claremont salon. But the opening of the new Perth salon in the inner-city 140 precinct is about to showcase their confectionary creations to a whole new group of cocoa aficionados.

Koko Black’s second WA space is set to be its biggest in Australia, stretching across 200sqm on the corner of William Street and Mitchell Lane, and will boast a dramatic design by Melbourne-based architecture and design company Russell and George.

As Koko Black founder and managing director Shane Hills attests, the chocolatier’s ethos and strength is a natural result of the combination of things they love doing.

“In a very considered way we bring together 14

a passion for our product and service, striving to create an experience beyond the everyday, to really treat the imagination of our customers,” he says. “It’s very simple but rare in chocolate and confectionery.”

Mr Hills said the impetus behind opening the new salon was the realisation that although Perth had developed “incredibly” in recent years, the central business district was still underserviced for quality food. “[We] are very excited about the launch and what it will bring to the city,” he said. “We offer a quality non-alcohol environment, which is perfect for post-dinner enjoyment and to try our extensive lounge dessert menu. It is still Koko Black but like nothing we have done before.”

Though Mr Hills was tight lipped regarding any new chocolates available exclusively to customers at the 140 salon, if the selection of local-inspired delights available at the Claremont store are anything to go by – they include a malt caramel using Little Creatures stout and a ‘truffle truffle’ using the fungal variety from The Wine and Truffle Co in Manjimup – sugar-addicts are in for a treat.

As for Mr Hills’ own picks from Koko Black’s extensive menu? “You must try our hot chocolate! It is made using a double brewing technique that takes one and a half hours. It is a dark chocolate blend that requires no added sugar and is super velvety and round,” he says. “My other favourite at the moment is our salted caramel pralines in dark and milk. The recipe has added cocoa butter, a technique going right back in time. The result is an intense caramel flavour that lingers, and lingers.”

Feast your eyes on the new store at 140 from late March – it’ll be open from daytime until late into the evening – and then, by all means, eat your way into a chocolate stupor in the name of Easter.

JEN NIFER PETERSON-WARD

Ukiyo-E - Japanese Prints Of The Floating World: Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery An exhibition of Japanese woodblock prints from the collection of Ronald and Catherine Berndt. It runs until June 28. Head over to lwgallery.uwa.edu.au for details.

Year 12 Perspectives: The Art Gallery Of Western Australia This annual exhibition of the best work that our graduating Year 12 arts students have to offer runs until May 5. Go to artgallery.wa.gov.au for further information.

Drive Through The City’s Edge: Perth Centre For Photography Consuelo Cavaniglia’s new collection references the narrative and formal conventions of film noir. It runs until May 5. Go to pcp.org.au for more.

Twelve Angry Men: Melville Theatre Directed by Vanessa Jensen and adapted from the original Reginald Rose teleplay by Sherman Sergel, the timeless locked-room legal thriller comes to the Melville theatre from May 2 - 17. Go to meltheco.org.au for info and tickets.

As You Like It: State Theatre Centre Shakespeare’s beloved romantic comedy comes to the stage once more courtesy of Black Swan State Theatre Company. Directed by Roger Hodgman and starring Jovana Miletic and James Sweeney, it runs from May 17 - June 1. Visit bsstc.com.au for more.

Patyegarang: State Theatre Centre This new production from Bangarra Dance Theatre tells the story of the eponymous Aboriginal woman who taught her language to Lieutenant William Dawes of the Colonial Fleet. It runs from July 30 - August 2 for five performances only. Tickets are available via Ticketek.

MUSIC Hugh Laurie: Perth Concert Hall Performing April 26 - 27. Tickets via Ticketek.com.au.

FESTIVALS

Floating Bits: Linton & Kay Galleries This new exhibition by twin brother photographers Ian and Erick Regnard is a series of stunning black and white underwater images that contrasts the need for solitude with the feeling of lurking otherness. It runs until April 23. Go to lintonandkay.com.au for further information.

Fremantle Street Arts Festival From April 19 - 21, the streets of the port city will be overrun by some of the world’s best al fresco performers, including comedians, acrobats, puppeteers, circus folk, musicians and the just plain baffling. Go to fremantle.wa.gov.au for full details.

Business As Usual: PS Art Space Perth artist Sebastian Befumo’s first solo exhibition sees him exploring how architecture, construction and urban development affect our cultural landscape.

Featuring large scale sculptures accompanied by video work, it runs until April 26. Go to psas.com.au for more.

Perth International Comedy Festival Our annual explosion of stand up excellence runs from May 1 - 18 and features performances from Julian Clary, Bob Saget, Chris Franklin, Michael Workman, Eddie Ifft, Felicity Ward, Hannah Gadsby, Jim Jefferies, Lawrence Leung, Mike Epps, Sami Shah, Stephen K. Amos and more. Go to perthcomedyfest.com.au for full details.

Dinosaur Discovery - Lost Creatures Of The Cretaceous: WA Museum Combining life-size moving models and 3D augmented reality technology, this world-class exhibition brings the unfathomably distant past to life. There will also be fossils and specimens on display, interactive activities and more. It runs until August 3. Go to museum.wa.gov.au for more information.

Of Spears And Pruning Hooks II: Spectrum Project Space Run in collaboration with the WA Police and Bright Blue - Police Commissioner’s Fund For Sick Kids, this biennial exhibition sees Perth artists creating works from weapons collected by the cops. It runs from May 2 - 16. Head for ecu.edu.au for more information.

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Perth International Jazz Festival Over 30 jazz performances over 12 venues across the city will be happening from May 9 - May 11.

Key acts include Kate Ceberano, Greg Osby, Peter Bernstein, Kristin Beradi and Rai Thistlethwayte.

Perthjazzfestival.com.au has all the info.

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

localmusicarts@xpressmag.com.au For more Art Stories head to

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THE MARTINEZ

BROTHERS

C I R C O C A R N E VA L E Arguably dance music’s busiest siblings, The Martinez Brothers will be bringing some Circo Loco flavour to Carnevale, Sunday, April 27 at The Causeway. TROY MUTTON talks hip hop, the Bronx and fashion, all part of a massive 18-months for the duo.

When you cast a glance over The Martinez Brothers’ already impressive CV, it’s hard to believe brothers Christian and Steve both still clock in under the age of 25, having released their debut single whilst in their mid-teens.

From their first release in 2006 with influential deep/ tech-house label Objektivity, to becoming residents at Ibiza’s infamous Circo Loco in 2011 and last year working with iconic fashion label Givenchy, it’s been a steady and deserved rise from two of the hardest working people you’re likely to come across in the global dance music community.

Their involvement can be traced way back to their own dad – “Yes our dad introduced us to house, he was an NYC club kid back in the day, going to Paradise Garage and all that, so he was very cool about sharing his love of music with us, it definitely was an influence.

“He also introduced us to [house legend] Timmy Regisford and [garage duo] MAW’s sets. Big influences early on in our career.”

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With such a strong pedigree, it’s no wonder The Martinez Brothers are now Ibiza mainstays, first getting involved at Circo Loco At DC10 in 2010, a globally-loved party responsible for bringing some of the world’s best known DJs to the scene.

The following year they became residents at the club night, an invaluable tool in furthering their career and skills in the DJ booth, especially given the night’s propensity for not telling artists what time they’ll be playing until they arrive. “Yeah Circo Loco has been an unbelievable experience.

We live half of the year on the Island. Everything is chill there.

We didn’t even party that much when we were out there.

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Continued from cover.

“So the whole ambiguity around the set time fits in with the spirit of the island. Easy going. It’s one of our top places to play in the world (if not the top). We always dreamed about playing there and this will be our third season there. We’re truly blessed.”

It’s all led up to a remarkably busy 18-months or so for the twosome, who when they’re not relaxing in Spain’s hedonistic paradise, are hanging out with globally adored musicians, producers and fashion houses.

“In terms of highlights we would have to say that our collaboration with Givenchy has definitely been one of the highlights of our career so far. We produced the music for the first two spring collection catwalk shows in Paris and it was an experience working with Riccardo Tisci.

“It really pushed us in the studio, too, not only because we’re working on those tight fashion deadlines but we had to do something other than 4/4.

It was a new way of working for us and we loved it.”

Earlier this year also saw the launch of the brothers’ new project with producer Seth Troxler, Tuskegee – a label focusing on producers who come from an ethnic background.

“We launched our Tuskegee brand with a party at BPM Festival in January with Seth Troxler.

So excited to be working with Seth. We have huge respect for him and his musical knowledge and we share a lot of the same cultural references. We have amazing chemistry when we play with him. We’ve also done it a few times at Space in Miami. Eight-plus hour

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sets. We could go forever vibing off of one another.

And then there are little things like hanging out with legendary guitarists. “Meeting Nile Rodgers and working with him in the studio [was incredibe].

He pulled a Chic multi-track out for the session and we added new parts to that. He’s such a humble dude even though he’s a legend.”

Not content with all of the above, Christian and Steve are also working hard on their own imprint, Cuttin Headz, which will give them a chance to bring some focus back to their native NYC. “The first release is going to come out early summer and it will be our EP. We’re definitely open to trying different styles.

“The second release is by the artist Destination Void who are namely DJ Spider, Brendon Moeller and Phil Moffa. All three of these dudes are making stuff happen on the NYC production map.

That release will be techno with us doing a house remix. We’re also planning to put out music by our boy Jesse Calosso who’s making some ill shit, as well as Filsonik” It’s also a chance for the brothers to get back to their hip hop roots, something that’s always run thick in their blood. “So far as hip hop roots are concerned, yes we’ve been working on a bunch of music and we’re in fact working with Bodgea Bamz here in NYC who’s become quite popular.

“We’ve been open to trying out new things this year. For example we did our first hip hop mixtape called Warhol*Basquiat, which came out a few months ago. We’d always wanted to do it and it took a while but we finally put it out there.”

WITH JO LETTENMAIER!

Various Artists Hardcore Traxx: Dance Mania Records 19861997 Strut

Roland Young Hearsay I-Land Palto Flats

Aïcha Tachinwite Awesome Tapes from Africa

Alice Coltrane Turiyasangit Divine Songs Avatar Book Institute

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PRAISE THE LORDE FOR SAFIA

LAUNCHING SHAPES

Canberra based band Safia swung through Perth last week, supporting Elizabeth Rose at Amplifier but the band will be back again in June as part of their national tour. The group is still bouncing off the exciting announcement that they will support young prodigy Lorde on her forthcoming Australian tour.

And in no small feat the band will look to play 10 stops through June that’ll include all major cities with additional stops in Bathurst, Byron Bay and Mackay.

Safia will be playing Friday, June 20 at Mojos. Go to oztix.com.au to buy tickets.

Throwing Shapes, a electronic dance act, are putting on a chill show at The Odd Fellow in Fremantle, Saturday, April 19. The lads say you can expect a mix of live drum ‘n’ bass, electro rock, house, trip hop and electro hop. There will be Throwing Shapes CDs and tee-shirts available, plus the chance to win a free Shapes merchandise pack.

Throwing Shapes

Safia

FOLLOW THE RAINBOW

SUMMERTIME SADNESS WON’T BE A BUMMERTIME

Rainbow Chan, an electronic music producer of Sydney, dropped her new video clip for single Fruit and it’s just the best. Set in the produce section of a supermarket, it’s a three and a half minute love story that’ll restore your faith and hope in humanity. Rainbow Chan, who is classically trained in saxophone, piano and choral music, creates an eclectic mix of electronic and acoustic textures. Experimentation is interlaced with the otherworldly charm of her voice. Sweet, dark and glitchy, it’s forward-thinking pop embedded in the nostalgic imagination. Check out the video on her Facebook page at facebook.com/rainbowchanmusic.

Remix master Cedric Gervais, who took out a Grammy Award last week for Best Remixed Recording, is bringing his winning tour - Summertime Sadness - to Capitol, Thursday, April 24. The Summertime Sadness tour derives from his Lana Del Ray remix which has been continuously heard around the globe at festivals, clubs and on radio stations, making it a worldwide hit. Gervais’ signature sound will be showcased across Australia and New Zealand at some of the premier clubs in the region. Head to amplifiercapitol.com.au to get a ticket.

Rainbow Chan

Cedric Gervais

BITTER BELIEF It Gets Better

Jo Lettenmaier shares her top five record reissues

Vangelis Katsoulis The Sleeping Beauties: A Collection Of Early And Unreleased Works Into The Light

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Into The Light is a newish label started by one of my favourite tastemakers, Tako Reyenga of Redlight Records with Ilias Pitsios of Echovolt Records. One of the standouts from their first release Into The Light: A Journey Into Greek Electronic Music, Classics & Rarities (1978-1991), was Vangelis Katsoulis’s amazing futuristic synth driven piece Improvisation. The Sleeping Beauties is a collection of the producer’s early and unreleased work mostly from the late 1980s with fierce percussion and stunning textures.

Dance Mania started in1985 and is known and respected for shaping Chicago’s dance music and club scene - it’s raw, jacking and fast with vocal loops and claps for days.

Strut have put together the first extensive compilation for the label and has early releases like Hercules – 7 Ways (Club) and The House Master Boyz And The Rude Boy Of House – House Nation and ‘90s gems from producers like DJ Funk who still tours now, fierce as ever.

Classically trained jazz clarinetist, Roland Young is maybe best known for his spiritual jazz record Isophonic Boogie Woogie, but label Palto Flats has shown a different perspective. Hearsay I- Land is the entirety of his 1984 four song 12” I-Land as well as most of his 1987 LP Hearsay Evidence, both originally released on Young’s own FlowChart Records. 808 boogie synth and soulfulness!

Blog turned label, Awesome Tapes from Africa run by Brian Shimkovitz, has had a great run of releases in the last year, from Hailu Mergia to Penny Penny. Moving to Souss Morocco for his latest release, Aïcha Tachinwite’s voice is enchanting and intense, with instrumentals blending classic drum machines and with Afro toned guitars.

This ‘lost’ Alice Coltrane album was previously only available on tape as she released the ‘songs of worship’ to her followers after she retreated from secular life in 1983 and founded an ashram in the Santa Monica mountains. A lot of people thought she’d retired from music, but it was just redirection to pure devotional music. Divine Songs is so, so powerful and beautiful with touches of easternstyle gospel vocals, string sections and synth lines.

Depression and anxiety remain a pervasive issue in Australia, especially among young people, who are at high risk for suicide, which is the biggest killer among 10 to 24-year-olds. In our fair country there are more people who die through suicide than road accidents, skin cancer or homicide. There are plenty of organisations trying to lower the trends, though. Beyond Blue and hip hop artist Bitter Belief are among them. MERRAN REED spoke to Aaron D’Vaz ahead of his gig at a Beyond Blue fundraiser at Mojos, Sunday, April 20.

A few weeks ago D’Vaz aka Bitter Belief came across a photo in his Facebook newsfeed, it read, “2.6 million Australians experienced anxiety in the last 12 months.” The day before he had to call in sick to work and was told citing anxiety as the reason was not a good enough. “I realised that due to people’s lack of awareness on the issue they don’t understand the possible severity of such a condition,” he said.

“I did my post and the amount of support and encouragement it received was impossible to ignore.” Sunday’s event was born out of that.

D’Vaz says as soon as he posted about the show his inbox was flooded with people who wanted to be involved. “I was blown away and it was the driving force behind deciding to do the show,” he said. I chose the people I did because they are talented friends who I know have had direct and indirect contact with the issues we’re trying to help resolve with this show. The people on the bill are some of my favourite artists in Perth and I know they will be just as passionate and dedicated to this as I am. And I thank them for that.”

Starting difficult conversations through music and hip-hop in particular, isn’t a new idea, but in recent years mental illness has been brought to the surface in the Australian hip hop community thanks to artists such as 360 who has written

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extensively about suicide and depression. D’Vaz says music provides a way to discuss issues that in the past were silent. “I have highs and lows, and in the low times I have definitely noticed that writing about an issue can help to release or let go of those feelings,” he says. “People may notice they feel a lot better after talking about something with loved ones. Imagine if you could take all the time you needed to articulate that conversation perfectly - a conversation with yourself that you later get to convey to a lot of people who may relate. You realise how human you really are.”

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TOUCH SENSITIVE Maverick As the bassist for Van She for over a decade and now the synthesizer-loving electronic producer known as Touch Sensitive, Michael Di Francesco has forged a unique career path.

He spoke with TOM KITSON on being mostly unaffected by fame and shopping in his own record collection ahead of his set at The Aviary’s Rooftop Sessions on Sunday, April 20 with Sam Perry, Philly Blunt and Troy Division.

Taking this interview as he attempts to complete a four year overdue tax return, Di Francesco is not your typical contemporary musician. Not feeling the pressure to release tracks as often as possible has helped him focus on doing it just for the love of music, which is perhaps one of the reasons for his longevity and versatility in the business.

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“I’d been doing electronic stuff at home and with Van She lead singer Nick Routledge for a while, that [music] wasn’t suited for the band,” he said. “I knew the guys at Future Classic and we were talking about doing some new jams, so Anna Lunoe and I were able to put out Real Talk.”

A solo career was never a goal for Di Francesco, despite dabbling in electronic sounds for years and being well connected with guys like Future Classic, who put out Touch Sensitive’s best known tune Pizza Guy. “The fallout from Pizza Guy was a bit unexpected but it hasn’t changed my life - I’m still wearing the same shoes,” he said. “I used mostly computer and software based sounds on that record, but I felt bad because I had all this beautiful, old gear just sitting there.

“I tend to use those software based elements because when I walk into the studio, I instantly know that I prefer working at home as that’s where I’m most comfortable.”

An impulsive and expansive record collector, he has a solid plan in place to ensure he can never lose songs on forgotten hard drives or USBs. “I always buy vinyl instead of mp3 singles, because otherwise I’ll just lose the track and forget I had it,” he says. “That means if I forget I bought the song, I can go record shopping through my own collection and be able to rediscover it later.”

Coming through on his music are distinct disco and house influences inspired by the genre’s different incarnations from the ‘80s to the early ‘00s,

particularly prominent on his latest work, Slowments.

“I really like Change, Paul Johnson and Italo-Disco,” he says. “I’m also a fan of the late ‘90s and early ‘00s house, and jazz fusion as well.”

As he turns his attention to performing at Rooftop Sessions in Perth on Easter Sunday, he explains his method behind his aim of putting together a timeless and notable mix.

“Making the mix for the Solé Fixtape series for example, I didn’t want to do only new or old songs because that dates it straight away,” he said. “If you can make it ambiguous as to when the mix was made, that’s the key.”

NIGHTWAVE Glaswegian Looking back, Maya Medvesek’s decision to pack her bags and move from Slovenia to London was a masterstroke. Having stayed put for about a decade, she eventually moved to Glasgow where she is now based – and rather enjoying meeting like-minded and creative folk. The city is also more affordable, and Glaswegians know how to party – despite the weather being a little gloomy at times. RK talks to Medvesek aka Nightwave ahead of the Why Make Sense festival at Port Beach Sand Tracks, Thursday, April 24.

Musically, influence trickled down from her father who was a musician – but it was going to gigs as a child – as well as touring with the family – where she had the most fun. “I’ve always been surrounded by music,” chimes the upbeat Medvesek. “I learnt music theory and flute as a kid and later on, as a teenager, got into techno. That was it really. I never thought I could actually do it professionally and did lots of other jobs in my life, from acting and working in the beauty industry, to doing a degree in alternative medicine. But I think the universe rewards those who follow their hearts and dreams, so I believe I’ve been very lucky.”

Recently back home to Glasgow from a tour, she is relaxing with a large coffee, reflecting on the weeks gone. “It has been a busy period,” she said. “I’ve just released a new record so I’m doing lots of promo work, whilst trying to recover from the launch party we had a few days ago. We had Artwork from Magnetic Man playing and it a very nice celebration indeed.”

And while the recently released Hit It EP had been in the making for a long time, her label Heka Trax is keeping her similarly busy on more of an ongoing basis since she established it last year. “I got tired of sitting on so much material for so long; having my own label gives me total freedom - but it does require a lot more work as well. I’m pleased with the response to the EP and it’s a real honour to be working with DJ Deeon. I also look forward to moving onto the next project and releasing newer material, which is different to the last few records.”

Yet on the question of an album, she admits she might do something but not until she knows she can release something truly special. “I may just do one in my life, who knows.” For now though, Medvesek is doing a few remixes, which she considers far less stressful.

She describes her music as ‘electronic’ – a truism, surely. But she qualifies: “I never think in terms of genres. I build my own stuff around bpm and I guess I go wherever my mood takes me on the day. I love high energy stuff and for the last few years I’ve been playing around with a more grime-y and rave-y sound, but I also make 4/4 tracks and I love more experimental ambient music as well. When it comes to DJing it has to be fun, energetic and positive – it should bring everyone together. It’s what got me into this music and I still get the same buzz out of it that I did 15 years ago.”

Medvesek shares a few words on her return trip to Australia – her third in fact – but the first as part of a DJ tour. Understandably, she is super excited. “I know Aussies like to party so I’ll do my best to bring some Glasgow and London energy and have a good old rave.”

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B E AT S

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WED 16/04 AMPLIFIER The Academy Vanity Idle eyes Agitated Health legend THE BAKERY Fresh Faced Follies ft.

Sugar Blue Burlesque THE BEAT (DOWNSTAIRS) Street THE BIRD TW!ST Dance Party ft.

DJ Wrighteous Seventh Son BRASS MONKEY DJ Vicktor CAPITOL Harlem Wednesdays Vs Majesty Genga Peter Payne J.YES Philly Blunt Lenox Ave: Pussymittens BMB Benny P XowlX CAPTAIN STIRLING Lokie Shaw CLUB RED SEA Cheekster CONSERVATORY ROOFTOP BAR Horseplay THE DEEN Manic Mondays GOLD BAR Famous Arabian Nights ft.

Munich

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Slick Ben Renna THE GOOD SHEPHERD Thinkfar GROOVE BAR (CROWN) 5 Shots HIP-E CLUB Roger Smart LAKERS TAVERN Grizzly LLAMA BAR Akuna Club Long Weekend ft.

Moonclad Kid Tina Says Oakover Austy LUCKY SHAG Howie Morgan METRO FREO Next Gen MUSTANG BAR Frenzy DJ Giles NEWPORT HOTEL Full Moon Party ft.

SlumberJack B-Boy Battle SOVEREIGN ARMS FIVE0 VILLA NIGHTCLUB JURASSIC ft.

Buried In Verona VILLAGE BAR Village People Wednesdays THURS 17/04 AMBAR Roller Easter After Party Miss Demeanour Mo’Fly

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INTERVIEWS

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REVIEWS

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EVENTS

AMPLIFIER

METROPOLIS FREMANTLE

THE SHED

BAM BAM

NEWS

Jazza, Gracie, Roller legends THE BAYSWATER Mario Zuli THE BIRD Beat Lounge 18 BRASS MONKEY Karaoke THE BRIGHTON DJ Peta THE CAUSEWAY Xport Thursdays THE CARINE J!mmy Beats THE CLAREMONT HOTEL Institution Thursdays ft.

DJ Pup B-Fix CLUB RED SEA Thursday Night Revolution CONNECTIONS Bingay THE COMO BIG A THE CRAFTSMAN Jaw$h THE DEEN Chase The Sun Thursdays DJ Don Migi Nano Surge DJ Flex FLYRITE GOUGE AWAY: A Pixies Tribute Mezzanine Pat Chow Lionizer High Horse Children Gun Fever Djs GEISHA BAR Habitat ft.

Doctor Dru Darren J DeVante THE GEORGE Neil Viney GOLD BAR OG Thursdays LEISURE INN DJ Peta LOST SOCIETY The Collective LUKCY SHAG James Wilson METRO FREO Sick Individuals Mel Bee Jump The Gun Bart D

Scotty Scotty Knows Miller Bart D MUSTANG BAR Good Friday Eve Party Kickstart DJ James MacArthur NORTHSHORE TAVERN Chalk & Cheese Easter Party DJ QC & KritiKool Two Plus One PARKER EASTER BOUNCE ft Kid Kenobi THE QUEENS Jon Ee DJ Reuben ROSEMOUNT HOTEL Roller ft.

VLTRN Eyesdown vs Cathedral Dart Devo Blend Kent b2b Motown THE SAINT Dylan Carter THE SHED Crush VILLA NIGHTCLUB SPEAKEASY + MONDO Easter Thursday Party ft.

Cosmos Midnight WHALE & ALE Danny B FRI 18/04 Good Friday SAT 19/04 AMPLIFIER Bam Bam Savo Pure Pop ft.

Eddie Electric AMBAR Japan 4 ft.

Bezwun DNGRFLD Tee EL Philly Blunt, Micah THE AVIARY Zel Troy Division Hykus ASTOR LOUNGE Rooster Police Album Launch Rooster Police DJKL

AVENUE Lokie Shaw THE BALMORAL Back To The 80’s THE BAKERY CRAP MUSIC Rave Party ft.

Tomas Ford BAR ORIENT The Reggae Club DJ Veeness DJ Don DJ K.S. Mumma Trees BEAT NIGHTCLUB (UPSTAIRS) CANVAS THE BIRD Deep Doogs Basic Mind Hugo Gerani Jack Doepel Leighton Head Modesty Blaze THE BOHEME Tastes Like Chicken BRASS MONKEY DJ Peta & Grizzly THE BRIGHTON DJ Miss Chief CAPITOL Death Disco CAPITOL (UPSTAIRS) Cream of the 80’s ft.

DJ Roger Smart THE COMO Moe-Hee Toe CORNERSTONE Mario Zuij THE DEEN Saturdays EAST END BAR Home FLAWLESS LQ Saturdays FLYRITE Father HIPHOPTRAPJERSEY PurpleNote4APurpleDrank GEISHA BAR Alex Niggemann Saul Bliss Nathan Francis Atif THE GENEROUS SQUIRE Jay Lee Lloyd GOLD BAR Pure Gold THE GOOD SHEPHERD Chocolate Jesus THE GRAND Jinx Project GROOVE BAR (CROWN)

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Hero DJs HIP-E CLUB DJ E-Funk LIBRARY MKT LOST SOCIETY Chalk LUCKY SHAG BAR DJ Richie G METRO FREO Metropolis Saturdays ft.

Darren Tucker Dr Wazz Ben C DJ Shane METRO FREO (C5) I Love 80s and 90s ft.

DR Wazz DJ Shane MUSTANG BAR DJ Holly Doll DJ James MacArthur NEWPORT HOTEL Gravity DJ Tahli Jade NORTHSHORE TAVERN Local Heroes ft.

Two Plus One THE ODD FELLOW Throwing Shapes K-Town Wisdom2th Special Guest MC PARKER Parker Saturdays ft.

Simon Paiker ACEBASIK, Mind Electric Paul Scott PARAMOUNT Saturday Nights ft.

Felix THE QUEENS Philly Blunt Jon Ee Kenny L THE SAINT Crackers THE SHED Huge DJ Andyy SOVEREIGN ARMS Jinx Project VILLA NIGHTCLUB MOS: Melbourne Bounce Sessions ft.

J-Tric SCNDL Axen Kastel Lukas Wimmler YAYA’S Arcadia

DOCTOR DRU

SUN 20/04 AMBAR GET FUNGLED ft. Young Marco Ben Taaffe Om Fom Reece Walker Beecroft Sux Lightsteed No Mad Eddie Flex Armin Van Goff THE AVIARY AVIARY ROOFTOP SESSIONS Sam Perry Philly Blunt Troy Division CLAREMONT HOTEL Sunday Driver FLYRITE DAY-WOO 4 x 4 Dance Party HIP-E CLUB Easter Sunday LUCKY SHAG BAR Sunday Session MULLALOO BEACH HOTEL Sunday Sesh DJ Slick MUSTANG BAR DJ James McArthur DJ Holly Doll NORTHSHORE TAVERN Pieter T & Deach PARKER NAVI GeRmAn CompleXBros Blayze Slickenside THE QUEENS Jay Lee Lloyd & Sam Spencer

THE ROSEMOUNT (BEER GARDEN) The Get Down SHAPE BAR OziSerbs Easter Party ft. ŽURKA VILLA NIGHTCLUB DELTA EAVY Doors 9pm Lost Tempo, Terrance & Phillip, Spillage Xsessiv Stylee MON 21/04 BRASS MONKEY Monkey Madness THE DEEN Manic Mondays THE ROSEMOUNT HOTEL Bex & Turin’s Wide Open Mic THE SAINT Jon Ee Az-T Mind Electric THE SHED The Healy’s YAYA’S Big Tommo’s Open Mic TUES 22/04 THE BIRD The Bird’s Open Mic Night BRASS MONKEY Acoustic Open Mic Night MUSTANG BAR Danza Loca Salsa Nightxx

Deadline Monday 5pm. The Club Manual is a service to advertisers listing all DJs & Dance Music. All inclusions are at the discretion of X-Press. Email guide@xpressmag.com.au

DELICIOUS @ ROCKET ROOM

CAPITOL

MY PLACE

THIS WEEK EASTER BOUNCE ft. Kid Kenobi 17 Parker COSMO’S MIDNIGHT 17 Villa DOCTOR DRU 17 Geisha ROLLER EASTER AFTER PARTY W/ MISS DEMEANOUR, MO’FLY 17 Ambar MINISTRY OF SOUND: MELBOURNE BOUNCE SESSIONS ft. SCNDL & J-TRICK 19 Villa Nightclub

YOUNG MARCO

ZEL, TROY DIVISION & HYKUS 19 The Aviary

YOUNG MARCO

BAM BAM & SAVO 19 Amplifier JAPAN 4 W/ BEZWUN, DNGRFLD, TEE EL, PHILLY BLUNT, MICAH 19 Ambar FATHER 19 Flyrite DELTA HEAVY 20 Villa PIETER T & DEACH 20 The Northshore Tavern TOUCH SENSITIVE 20 Aviary Rooftop Sessions DEEP DOOG W/ BASIC MIND, HUGO GERANI & MODESTY BLAZE 20 The Bird CEDRIC GERVAIS 20 Ambar GET FUNGLED W/ YOUNG MARCO 20 Ambar DAY-WOO 20 Flyrite APRIL NiCe7 24 Geisha SABLE 24 Metropolis, Fremantle TED DANSON WITH WOLVES 24 Flyrite LIMELITE 7TH BIRTHDAY ft.

Cedric Gervais, John Dahlback, Sebastien Leger 24 Capitol & Amplifier WHY MAKE SENSE ft. Rustie, T.Williams, New York Transit Authority & Nightwave 24 Port Beach Sand Tracks

GET FUNGLED W/ YOUNG MARCO SUNDAY, APRIL 20 @ AMBAR FAR TOO LOUD 25 Ambar WILD FOR THE NIGHT ft.

Ashton Shuffle 25 Parker THE ASTON SHUFFLE (DJ set) 25 Parker JAPAN 4: MAJESTY TAKEOVER 26 Ambar MR. CARMACK 26 Shape Bar HIGH TIDE ft. Shockone, Nu:Logic, Dimension & more 26 Port Beach Sand Tracks VILLA’S 5TH BIRTHDAY ft.

Krafty Kuts 26 Villa Nightclub HARDSTRAYLIA ft. RL Grime, Destructo, Oliver, Motez 27 Port Beach Sand Tracks THE CARNEVALE ft. The Martinez Brothers 27 The Causeway LORDE 29 Challenge Stadium (all ages) MAY OSCAR KEY SUNG 1 The Bird DJ PREMIER & PETE ROCK 1 Capitol MONARCH LAUNCH NIGHT 2 Ambar

BLISS N ESO, HORRORSHOW, SETH SENTRY 2 Signal Park, Busselton 3 Wellington Square HUXLEY 3 Geisha ARMADA NIGHT ft. Andrew Rayel, Jorn Van Deynhoven & Marlo 3 Metro City FRED V + GRAFIX 3 Villa Nightclub CITIZEN KAY WITH TKAY MAIDZA 3 Amplifier 4 Newport Hotel, Fremantle THUNDAMENTALS 8 Flyrite THE PRESETS, WORDLIFE, DJ BENI 8 Capitol VANCE JOY & GOSSLING 8 The Bakery YAYO : HOUZ OF WATERMELONS 9 Ambar

FRESH PRODUCE ft.

Jay Francisco, Nate Whiskey, Dean Tracey, Butcherskank, BannGr 16 Ambar JUNGLE FEVER FT NICKY BLACKMARKET + MC FATMAN D 17 Villa Nightclub ALISON WONDERLAND 23 Secret Location L-FRESH THE LION 24 Mojos LAURYN HILL 24 Fremantle Arts Centre ELLIE GOULDING 28 Challenge Stadium RÜFÜS 30 Players Bar 31 Fremantle Arts Centre JUNE

HOLY FUCK 8 The Rosemount 9 The Odd Fellow

THE PRESETS (with the Australian Chamber Orchestra) 4 Concert Hall

DISCLOSURE 9 Metro City 10 Groovin’ The Moo, Hay Park, Bunbury

SCHOOLBOY Q 5 Villa Nightclub

GROOVIN THE MOO ft.

Disclosure, Dizzee Rascal, Holy Fuck, Illy & more 10 Hay Park, Bunbury

AUGUST THE ASTON SHUFFLE 23 Amplifier

Elizabeth Rose - Photo by Max Fairclough

ELIZABETH ROSE Fishing/Safia Amplifier Bar Friday, April 1 Ingredients for good times: A good beat, plenty of space, a nearby bar. Mix, fling and add lime to taste. On Friday night, Elizabeth Rose and company delivered the goods and kept the crowd dancing all night. Fishing was first to cast a line out into the dark and uncertain sea, hoping to hook the audiences, though only a few took the bait, while the rest decided to hang back and calmly enjoy the act. The duo got straight into the set laying down the heavy bass beats that literally rocked the entire room. I could feel the bass through my whole body.

Fishing’s set was a mix of loops and samples amorphously fused, with layers indistinguishable from each other. The set was okay for the first couple of minutes or so and then it got tedious real fast. Before reeling the catch back to shore, they finished with some hip-hop, which would have been serviceable, had the vocals not been so muddled by the feedback of their instruments.

Safia was up next, with a relatively long,

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but not boring set. This was the point where the revellers, mostly guys and girls who looked like they just hit 18, started to pay attention to the stage. They were very pop. In an ‘80s kind of way. Safia started off with a slow, predominantly synth beat and then halfway through the set switched into a frenetic dance set. The lead vocalist had a voice that could melt the hearts of teenage girls, ranging from deep to falsetto. Near the end, they laid down a cover of James Vincent McMorrow’s Cavalier, which was pretty damn awesome, and then wrapped up with a more mellow and quiet beat.

With the crowd significantly amped by the previous act, Elizabeth Rose took the baton with aplomb. From the get go, this was a show with plenty of flair. Her songs had an upbeat vibe, and there was plenty of sound layers, percussions, echoes and snares, which fused together into one beat, yet remained distinguishable from one another.

There was an overworked man on the synth who was responsible for the audience’s aural experience, while Rose moved across the stage, gyrating a little.

Sometimes she smiled while singing. After warming up the crowd with some synth-pop, she then played some from her new EP. Before drifting into some R&B, she gave a nod to Beyonce and Destiny’s Child, and revellers rapturously applauded. Then she played Sensibility, one of the tracks from said EP- it was a catchy, upbeat, electric and dance-worthy material.

CLAYTON LIN

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WHAT’S ON EASTER TO ANZAC

MARKETS MAYHEM FAMILY FUN This Easter long weekend on Thursday, April 17, head down to the idyllic surrounds of Dunsborough, as it hosts two of Perth’s premiere acts. As part of their Family Feud tour, The Brow (formerly Brow Horn Orchestra) and Ensemble Formidable will be entertaining locals in the Red Room section of Clancy’s Fish Pub. Presale tickets are available through Clancysfishpub.com.au. Doors open 8pm.

The Brow

SOME EASTER CHET

STREET ART This Good Friday, April 18, Sax On Legz will be performing an amazing live set from 10pm at the Eve Nightclub, alongside a host of other DJs. Tickets are $10 at the door. Or, if Sunday’s your fun day, head on down to check out some of Perth’s most popular DJs, including Don Migi, Francesco, Johnny Boi and S-Man. Tickets are $20 at the door.

The Street Arts Festival returns on Saturday-Sunday, May 3-4, for two days full of arts markets, buskers, exhibitions and performances at the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre. With free art activities, including printmaking, origami, woodturning, pottery wheel, felt making and much more, as well as the Common Threads Wearable Art Showcase, there’s plenty to do for people of all ages. Tickets on sale at Manpac.com.au.

Sax On Legz

Wearable Art Showcase

EASTER WEEKEND SAX

FLOWERS FOR THE STONES

CHOCOLATE BUNNIES

Every Sunday from 9am-4pm at the Eastern Foreshore, Mandurah, the Mandjar Markets will be offering a variety of fruits, vegetables, baked goods, ice cream, and just about any type of food you can think of, alongside kids activities and live music.

Make sure you head down for a fun-filled day for the whole family. More information is available from Mandjarmarkets.com.au.

Markets

ROLL DOWN TO ROSEMOUNT

If you’re on the lookout for a good fish meal this Easter Weekend, on Sunday, April 20, ska party band, Special Brew will be hosting a free show from 5pm at Clancy’s Fish Pub, Fremantle. And for those who want to dance the night away, DJ Chet Leonard will be kicking it until late. Make sure you head down for egg-citing times this Easter.

Fremantle Rolling Stones lovers, The Dead Flowers, are bringing the classic Stones tunes to the Augusta Margaret River Football Club on Saturday, April 19.

The group features members of Perth bands, Tom Fisher & The Layabouts, Datura and The Domnicks, and is guaranteed to be a night worth remembering.

Tickets are $10 at the door, so head down to get some satisfaction.

Looking for somewhere to spend your Easter? The Shed is holding a Playboy Party featuring tribute act, Hugh Hefner & His Bunnies, on Thursday, April 17. Looking to Saturday, The Shed will be hosting a Charlie And The Chocolate Factory Meets Alice In Wonderland party, before hosting a three-course lunch for $25 on Easter Sunday.

This Thursday, April 17, the Rosemount Hotel will be hosting Easter Roller. Featuring some of Perth’s eminent drum and bass acts, including Eyesdown and Cathederal, as well as much-acclaimed newcomers, VLTRN, it’s a night not to be missed. Entry is free, so bring your dancing shoes and party with the Roller crew, Dart, Devo, Blend and Kent as they bring the party home.

Chet

Rolling Stones

Charlie And The Chocolate Factory

VLTRN

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A preview of everything happening in the Perth scene this April! advertise: advertising@xpressmag.com.au

MUSIC IS CRAP Hitting The Bakery this Easter Saturday, April 19, Tomás Ford brings his Crap Music Rave Party back for one night only from 8pm. It’s a fundraiser for his May tour, where he’ll hit the UK and Ireland. Unlike your average DJ, Tomas will be taking requests all night requests must be of the bad music variety only. These parties packed out last year in Perth and sold out at this year’s Adelaide Fringe, so get your tickets quick from nowbaking.com.au.

BEYOND EASTER This Easter Sunday, April 20, Mojos Bar will be hosting the Beyond Blue fundraiser. Featuring the likes of Bitter Belief, Complete, Smiley, Sarah Pellicano and Paulie P, fans are encouraged to come down to help raise funds and awareness of depression, anxiety and mental health. The bar will be partying until 2am for the cause, and at only $10 (plus booking fee), being a good person has never been so cheap. Tickets available through Oztix.com.au.

Bitter Belief

CONCERT FOR STORM Storm Thomas is a young girl who has been diagnosed with eosinophilic esophagitius, a condition in which the body thinks that food is a parasite. It’s a rare condition and therefore difficult to treat or provide some relief. Money is being raised for Storm and her family to attend a special clinic held in Colorado that provides information on how to manage it, access to clinical trials and emotional support that is very difficult to source in Australia due to the rareness of the condition.

A fundraising gig, Concert For Storm, is being held at the North Fremantle Bowling Club on Sunday, April 27, from 1.30-8.30pm. Performing will be The Midfield legends, an all-star line-up featuring Greg Dear (Holy Rollers, The Beautiful Losers), Kevin Smith (The Seven Storey Jumpers), Richard Lane (The Stems, The Rosebuds), Jill Birt & Alsy Macdonald (The Triffids), Martyn Casey (The Triffids, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Grinderman), Shaun Corlson (Salvage Diver, No Flowers No Wedding Dress), All The Hoffmenns, The Morning Night and Museum Wednesdays, plus DJs Caitlin and Tim Keady.

Tickets on the door are $15 or if you donate to mycause.com.au/page/66381 and leave your name will be put on the door. Kids under 15 get in free.

Tomás Ford - Pic: Dan Grant

MAKE IT TO SHAKE IT!

Head down to The Wembley Hotel his Thursday, April 17, for the Saints & Sinners Night and let out your inner devil. Dress up naughty or nice and dance the night away with drink specials and DJs from 5pm.

There’s a free bus to Club Bayview for those that want to move the party later on, too.

The Malya Yurturringu: Be A Star Film Festival will be holding a special fundraiser gig at the Fremantle Arts Centre on Thursday, April 24, to support this year’s festival, held in the Western Desert. The fundraiser will see Perth reggae royalty, Grace Barbé spin her Caribbean grooves in support of an organisation that does excellent work engaging children from six communities over the school holidays, providing invaluable artistic outlets. Alongside the Creole queen will be songstress, Felicity Groom, and indigenous soul tribute act, The Merindas. There will also be Martu artwork on display, as well as movies and activities for kids. Tickets are available from Oztix.com.au.

Last year’s SHAKE IT! WA Groove Music Showcase drew over 900 people to Salt On The Beach in North Fremantle. It was good news then and it’s good news now because it’s the folks at The Funk Club are bringing it back for Anzac Day, Friday, April 25.

It’s a lively, local line-up with Amani Consort, Beleza, Cosmic Drama, Fdel Live, Freqshow, Grace Barbe, Juice (featuring Strangelove), Alex Ford, Bax Davis, Creed, Junkadelic (featuring Randa K), Ladywood, Mambo Chic, Marksman, Seasta Chani, Setvice, Special Brew, Sunshine Brothers, The Brow, Ziggy & The Next Generation, Charlie Bucket, Donald Krunk, Foxman, Holly Doll, Joe Revell, Kid Tsunami, Klean Kicks, Micah, NDorse, Paul Gamblin, Raaghe, Silence, Soul Purpose DJs, Tom Drummond and Veenus.

That’s loads of groove-based music, plus street and circus performances to boot. Tickets are $25 (plus booking fee) from funkclub.com.au, Salt on the Beach, Heatseeker.com.au, Mills, Planet Video, 78 Records and the Prince of Wales.

Kate Moss Bunny Suit

The Merindas - Pic: Matsu Photography

Amani Consort, SHAKE IT!

The Morning Night, Concert For Storm

TRYING TO BE A STAR

DEVILISH FUN

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ROOSTER POLICE Cheeky Tuneage Rooster Police, AKA the multi-purpose Matt Cheetham, launches a long-awaited debut LP this Saturday, April 19, at the Astor Lounge with support from DJ KL. BOB GORDON has a chat.

DEATH ANGEL Blossom Buddies The Dream Calls For Blood, the seventh album from Californian thrash metal titans, Death Angel, sees the band laying out their modus operandi for the world to hear. JESSICA WILLOUGHBY chats with guitarist, Rob Cavestany, ahead of their co-headlining show with Kreator this Easter Sunday, April 20, at Capitol.

Death Angel, it would appear, are these days in a better place.

“Not to discount the last time we were there, which was fucking amazing, but our performance then doesn’t even compare to what we are now,” Death Angel guitarist Rob Cavestany says of their Perth live debut in 2009. “We were a wounded animal then, but we are in such top form now.”

If anyone attended the last Perth show of this longstanding Californian thrash outfit, it was a bit of a debacle. Sure the ‘good time’ vibes and relentless attitude that Death Angel are known for was still in play, but with then-vocalist John Bush’s (Anthrax) voice destroyed at the end of the tour and the rest of the band having to step-up to fill the void – it certainly wasn’t what fans were expecting. Cavestany totally recognises the low points of the Perth show five years ago. But instead of letting it get him down, he’s used the experience to push him and the rest of the band to be the absolute best they can be.

Now with frontman, Mark Osegueda, back and centre-stage, that isn’t the only change within the

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Death Angel ranks. With the addition of drummer Will Carroll and bassist Damian Sisson in 2009, the band embarked on the longest tour in their history. Spending a total of three years on the road off the back of their previous effort, Relentless Retribution (2010), the fivepiece knew this was a make-or-break period for Death Angel. But they survived and now have a new album as a testament to this harrowing adventure.

“We knew what we were getting ourselves into,” Cavestany says. “We’ve been in this game for a long time. The whole thing was just an incredibly intense experience. I’m glad we got this album out of it and the band is what it is right now. But no, we can’t repeat that chapter like that and spend another three years on the road again.

“Not because I don’t love playing shows and touring. There should be no question that we like doing that, looking at our track record. It’s just that it was incredibly long and taxing. We had to do it then because we wanted to get this line-up as tight as possible. We wanted to compress in three years what would take a band 10 years to do. We were either going to implode and kill each other or totally blossom into what we needed to be. And that’s what happened, thank god.

We’re a blossomed flower now and it’s fucking great.”

Due to the time constraints of the constant touring schedule, the band were forced to write their current opus on the road. This is a huge change for the Death Angel camp, who have always opted to use their downtime to put pen to paper. Cavestany points to this change not only adding intensity to touring life, but also a sense of sincerity.

“It was really emotional,” he says. “I’m just glad we were able to translate that to the recordings.

That’s a cool thing about working with Jason (Suecof, producer) and the same team as Relentless Retribution at the same studio. Recording is a weird monster, all on its own. To me, it’s really important when making an album to get the feeling into it. In order to do this, you’ve just got to get comfortable enough to let it all out in front of everybody in the studio. That was key to this album – the takes we recorded were unique.”

You’ve been chipping away at Rooster Police for some years, why’s it taken this long to release an album?

Releasing a ‘solo’ album is a complete and utter pain in the arse. In a band it’s so much easier, there is always someone available to do stuff, people to share things with, and everyone has a turn at being the mouth. With a solo thing you have to be the mouth, as there are no other mouths. And being the mouth isn’t really something I am very good at. I am an utterly terrible musical salesman of my own wares.

Delay time-wise? I think that was also due to a few years there where I was busy playing with Downsyde and Drapht, touring and the like and doing lots of Sunshine Brothers shows, some theatre company music stuff I worked on, and having fun. So I was always quite busy musically and would come home and do a bit on a track and that kinda thing in between, or write stuff when away with one of the bands.

You’ve always played in diverse bands, or been involved in bands simultaneously that have all been different. Did you have something in mind, musically, that you wanted to evoke as Rooster Police?

I think I have been lucky to play all sorts of styles of music.

It’s seems crazy to me to cut yourself off musically from something, or try not to understand it or make it and try get inside it when you have the opportunity.

Why wouldn’t you? But that’s just me. To some people it’s crazy to do that, and maybe they are right.

I also reckon it’s come a bit from the Circus Murders, a band I was in a while back, where we didn’t care about that stuff. Sticking hard to one style is to me it’s a bit like eating the same sandwich every day. For me music is music, whatever genre. I do not care in the slightest what genre it is if I’m enjoying it and I guess in the end you will inherently put your own spin on it. The only thing I keep away from is hard core opera, mimes and poetry recitals.

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Rooster Police, aka Matt ‘Cheeky’ Cheetham

Last anyone saw Rooster Police I guess would have been at Wave Rock in 2008. How are you presenting it live now?

The launch will have Hi-Hat on the kit and digital percussion and Jon Fernandes from Odette Mercy - and a heap of other acts - on keys/bass and synths. I owe ‘em one! We have been jamming this week. It is quite chaotic; to replicate the album with a band is quite difficult. I have stripped it back a lot and tried to get to the core a bit. We are playing nearly all of it live, bar some bleeps and effects, so there is a lot of instrument swapping going on and way too much gear on stage.

What are your plans/hopes for the album and the year ahead?

It’s out! I don’t care what happens. I honestly couldn’t care if no one hears it. If they do, it’s a nice bonus. I know I’ve done it and it’s finally finished, so I’m happy. I have good memories of making the older tracks, and have enjoyed making new ones, so it’s all good.

I guess a show here or there if anyone cares to hear it and maybe I’ll go back to my studio for another one if I feel like it. Why not, what else am I going to do with my time? Who knows, maybe I’ll find another sandwich to try.

For an extended version of this interview, hit up xpressmag.com.au.

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YO U R G U I D E TO W H AT ’ S O N T H I S A P R I L

(l-r) Caitlin Moloney (Dianas), Pinto Murray, Steven Knoth (Scalphunter), Alex Archer (Kill Devil Hills), Jamie Turner (The High Learys), Todd Pickett (KDH), Jenny Aslett (Gunns), Charlie Murray - Pic: Dan Grant

IN THE PINES #dogsplayingpokerwithdrawcards RTRFM’s annual autumnal music festival, In The Pines, takes place this Sunday, April 20, with 20 of Perth’s greatest performing at UWA’s Somerville Auditorium. BOB GORDON reports.

A little bit of animal imagery goes a long way.

From out of the woods on the RTRFM In The Pines poster peered a deer, a fox and an owl. The idea of shooting a cover shot featuring a deer, a fox and an owl led to an invitation to a couple of band members and then to some dogs.

And if the dogs were going to be around a table with everyone then they might as well play some poker.

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And so we have our homage to US artist, C.M. Coolidge’s Dogs Playing Poker series of iconic paintings. One icon deserves another, and RTRFM and In The Pines are certainly iconic in Perth culture.

Recently appointed RTRFM Music Director, Adam Christou, is new to Perth. Previous a publicist for Remote Control Records in Melbourne, he nonetheless was well au fait with the Perth community station.

“Absolutely,” he affirms, “RTRFM has an amazing nationwide reputation in the music industry.

I’ve always seen it as a leader of the independent/ community broadcasting sector myself, so I jumped at the chance to be able to come over and work here.

“Having been a prior volunteer and broadcaster at Triple R, I was pretty aware of the station through that avenue as quite a lot of Triple R’s staff - including its current and previous station managers - have come from RTRFM over the years.

My old job interacted with RTRFM quite a bit as well.”

Christou hasn’t been to an In The Pines before but finds himself very quickly in the middle of helping to organise one. He understands first-hand the importance the event has for RTRFM not only for fundraising but also in terms of the station’s culture and ethos.

“In The Pines is our biggest fundraising event outside of Radiothon,” he notes. “It fundraises quite a large chunk of our annual revenue and it’s pretty integral in keeping us going each year.

“The importance of the event in a cultural sense is that it’s the station’s big love letter to local music. There’s no other station I can think of in the community broadcasting sector that puts on such a big festival every year - and so many other local music events and festivals on top of it - and has managed to make it such a long-running tradition. It really feeds into RTR’s role as one of the biggest supporters of WA and Australian music in the country and it’s great to see all the station’s staff, broadcasters and volunteers get together and put so much energy and effort into putting it all together.

“In many ways, the festival is the heart and soul of the station and reminds everyone why we’re here doing what we do.”

Christou says he’s especially looking forward to seeing Mudlark, Dianas and Rabbit Island perform, though there’ll be much to take in and learn of across the board.

“Those ones I’m looking forward to the most. Rabbit Island has a full band playing with her and I’m really excited to see how it turns out.

“I’m pretty excited for Bill Darby’s set, I know he’s a bit of an icon of the Perth music scene, so I’m looking forward to seeing what he’ll be like on the day. Likewise, I’m stoked to see some of the more heavier bands in action - like Scalphunter - so it should be pretty fun.”

While he’s always been a music buff, moving into a job role at the core of a city’s music scene is an education in itself. Let alone the impact of shifting one’s life across the other side of the country.

“When I first moved here for the job I think I underestimated how much of an energy-drain moving to a new city could be,” Christou explains. “Slowly unpacking my entire life and re-piecing it together has been an interesting experience, but I’ve been here three months now and I think it’s time I start really throwing myself into the various scenes here.

“Perth’s a pretty dynamic and exciting city, the music scene here is a very different beast to the East Coast and it’s great to see a variety of genres and styles of music being championed here that are harder to find in Melbourne or Sydney. There’s a very exciting post-rock scene here, as well as a strong experimental music scene. There’s also a very vibrant electronic music community and DJ scene here that is bringing out incredible touring acts and putting on some of the

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RTRFM Music Director, Adam Christou

best dance parties in the country.

“I’ve started scanning every gig guide and press release that comes through for tour dates and shows; I’ve made a promise to myself to make a solid effort to get down to three-to-four shows a week if I can. At the moment I haven’t quite lived up to that goal yet, but I think it’s time to really kick it into gear as this is the sort of role that demands that level of dedication to the local scene.”

PLAYING TIMES 11am DOORS OPEN 11.40am Welcome to Country 12pm Golden String 12.30pm Moana 1pm Pat Chow 1.30pm Mudlark 2pm LEECHES! 2.30pm Mt. Mountain 3pm Bill Darby 3.30pm Antelope 4pm The Community Chest

4.30pm 5pm 5.30pm 6pm 6.30pm 7pm 7.30pm

Flower Drums Runner Dianas Rabbit Island The High Learys Scalphunter The Morning Night 8pm The Floors 8.30pm Gunns 9pm DM3 9.30pm The Kill Devil Hills 10pm CLOSE

Thanks to Bluebird Vintage in Wembley for the loan of Greg Deer and Noosha Fox. Find ‘em on Facebook!

LOCAL NEWS

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INTERVIEWS

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REVIEWS

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Q & A

The Dave Matthews Band

Jake Bugg

John Mayer

WEST COAST BLUES ‘N’ ROOTS It was a smaller event than 2013’s two day monster, but a no less well curated one, with a diverse array of elder statesmen and young guns on hand to conduct the crowd in a laid back, chilled out celebration of sound.

After some slide guitar wizardry from the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, our own Dave Hole, Russell Morris took the main stage crowd on a blues-soaked history lesson with songs from his recent Sharkmouth and new Van Diemen’s Land albums, singing about Aussie characters and conditions that reflect on the quintessential meaning of what it is to be us. He’s obviously loving the well deserved career resurgence, treating the crowd like we were old mates sitting around his back yard having a bash as he recounted tales of mates in remote areas (The Birdsville Track), ‘30’s gangsters (Sharkmouth), or having ‘acid and mushroom’ and Stones Green Ginger Wine flashbacks to lead into his ‘60s psych hits The Real Thing and Hush. As he finished with a hit from the ‘70s – Sweet Sweet Love – he and his band were on fire in the midday sun and set the bar pretty damn high from the get go.

Jake Bugg is something of the youngman-of-the-moment, portraying excellent musical tastes - check the latest Rolling Stone for a look at his record collection - and a unique and individual way of channelling those influences into his own tunes.

With a lot of heritage acts on the bill, he was the hot ticket item for much of the younger contingent and when he took to the stage of the Big Top it was more than tickets that were hot. While the Big Top provided shade, the packed tent also created humidity among the heaving throng, not that it lessened the audience reaction to the 20 year-old Nottinghamer, who tore through his Shangri La album. Highlights

included Kentucky and There’s A Beast And We All Feel It, but it was he leaned into the hits such as Messed Up Kids and What Doesn’t Kill You, the love affair was guaranteed. With songs influenced by The Great British Songbook and by being very now to boot, Bugg won over fans old and new, in both senses of that phrase.

Morcheeba highlighted the diversity of the Festival with an excellent, chilled out set of smooth and light jazz-funk by way of late ‘90s trip-hop. Part Of The Process and Down By The Sea helped people get their dance on, while the pure pop of Shoulder Holster got a huge round of applause, the mellow grooves perfectly complementing the lazy Sunday arvo vibe.

Gary Clark, Jr. is another wildly talented artist who refuses to be pigeonholed. Rock, blues, funk and soul are all part of his oeuvre, and there’s a Hendrix flair to his guitar playing. The man’s singing and playing were full of heart and passion, his face in turn screwed up in concentration, singing the notes of his solo, or just transcendent at the wondrous and ethereal power of the music. Playing much of his excellent latest album, Black & Blu, it was a great afternoon of fiery blues rock.

Steve Earle And The Dukes put the blues back into blues ‘n’ roots with a somber, seriously moving set. Earle is a man who has walked many a mile of bad road and his work reflects that. However, the often depressingly dark subject matter is leavened by his dry, self-deprecating humour and his earnest desire to communicate, and his many fans who packed into the sweltering Big Top hung on his every word.

It’s hard to reconcile the young, fragile Matt Corby that graced Australian Idol those years ago with the centred and commanding bloke that plays onstage these days. Like Jake Bugg - but from a different angle - he appeals to young and old and

his set on the Park Stage did just that on this day.

The heat was beginning to subside and Corby’s music brought with it a cool change, whether it was the consuming Brother or the emotive lilt of Song For Interlude. Amongst the whispers and explosions, a cover of Eric Clapton’s After Midnight was both a sage choice and a nice touch.

The Doobie Brothers were clearly a crowd favourite, drawing huge cheers of appreciation from the second they launched their set of good time old school boogie with the classic Jesus Is Just Alright.

Lead singer Tom Johnston had the punters in the palm of his hand and his led the band through a hit-heavy suite of songs, incorporating Long Train Runnin’, What A Fool Believes and more. A couple of famous faces at side of stage (hi Elvis!) reinforced the fact that this band is flat-out beloved.

Elvis Costello And The Impostors wasted no time, hitting the ground running with a hit-packed set that was the highlight of the day for many. From Pump It Up to Oliver’s Army, Watching The Detectives to Every Day I Write The Book, they couldn’t put a foot wrong. On a low note, what should have been a moving tribute to a recently passed songwriter friend was blunted by the sound bleeding from Boy And Bear’s set on the other stage. All we heard was ‘Jesse’ someone, who we later discovered was Jesse Winchester. Midnite Bus and Payday are cool additions to the set, before (I Don’t Want To) Go To Chelsea, Hank Williams’ Why Don’t You Love Me Like You Used To and the always excellent (What’s So Funny Bout) Peace Love And Understanding finished the set on a high note. On a day full of great music, The Imposters pretty much took the prize.

It was John Mayer’s second appearance at West Coast Blues N’ Roots, the last being in 2007 when he attended with then-partner Jessica Simpson and much of the focus on him seemed to be for that reason alone. Famous girlfriends aside - and the fact that Katy Perry stayed in the US - Mayer showcased why he is so highly considered as a musician. His guitar work was ranged from complex trills to minimal beauty and his voice has a quality that is indeed

enamouring. A lot of his material is pretty middle-ofthe-road though, so there were a few beige spots in his set. However when his best known songs (Queen Of California, Your Body Is A Wonderland, Waiting On The World To Change) were aired, he melted hearts.

The magnificent Erykah Badu delivered what was easily the most experimental set of the day, leaping from genre to genre with effortless grace and aplomb. A majestic, almost ethereal figure swathed in white, she was nevertheless a warm and gracious host, teasing her sister for buying a Doobie Brothers album at age five and dedicating her incredible rendition of Liberation to Andre Benjamin.

Michael Franti And Spearhead wrapped things up in the Big Top, the former Disposable Hero exhorting the crowd to put their hands in the air as they tore through an epic 90-minute set. The highlights here were plenty, but it’s hard to go past their thundering cover of INXS’s Don’t Change, for which they recruited some help from the crowd.

This was the first Dave Matthews Band show in WA and he has only toured Australia once before in 2011 - it appears there is a reason for this. While his popularity exceeds that of the likes of U2 in many parts of the US, he mainly seems to be an American phenomenon - and in Australia he is best known for being famous in America. From the moment he and his extensive band kicked off with Ants Marching, the polish on the performance was impressive from the get-go, however Matthews himself isn’t that engaging as a performer and by the time he stated that following a visit to Rottnest he found the quokkas to “be as dumb as chickens,” and alluding to how many people had walked away, it seemed to only increase that very scenario. Even so, the faithful were thrilled by the likes of Crash Into Me, Grey Street and The Space Between and would no doubt return in a heartbeat if Dave Matthews hit Perth again on a headline tour.

Matt Corby

Elvis Costello

The Doobie Brothers

Fremantle Park Sunday, April 13. 2015

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BOB GORDON, TRAVIS JOHNSON AND SHANE PINNEGAR Photos by Rachael Barrett

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LOCAL NEWS

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INTERVIEWS

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LIVE REVIEWS

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Q & A

Roku Music - Photo by Daniel Grant

ROKU MUSIC Usurpers Of Modern Medicine/SMRTS /Mudlark The Bird Saturday, April 12, 2014 The Bird was quietly buzzing on Saturday night for the entrancing Roku Music. Hailing from Brisbane and hitting Perth for the west coast leg of their national tour, Roku Music have a sweet complexity and a real humanity that is sometimes lacking in the intensely atmospheric shoegaze genre.

Perth’s own Mudlark opened the night with their own musical storytelling. Mudlark cleverly construct winding pathways of sound through dark and sometimes cacophonous regions only to bring almost palpable relief to the listener with moments of beautiful melodiousness.

SMRTS were up next. These cats are visions of coolness and got straight to it, building an ominous, almost western noir style atmosphere.

There was a fearsome edge to this music, a tenseness that seemed to be ever present as these extremely skilled musicians wound through their set list. At almost every strumming of the guitars was unleashed a feeling that the evil had triumphed, and all good could do was trundle off into the sunset. If there could be one criticism, it would be that the two drummers seemed to have trouble playing in

time with each other which was sinfully jarring for such a great sound.

The act of the night were up next to weave their magic and Roku Music filled the stage with their massive presence. There is such a warm and embracing feeling to this music, a sense of nostalgia constructed through soft analogue effects, perfectly placed vocals and crystalline riffs. The harmonies between the two female vocalists were so beautiful and deeply calming, it was almost as if The Bird had temporarily become a temple. When they did make use of harmonic dissonance, it was as a base from which something soothing could be born. The droning progressions were almost mind altering.

The Usurpers Of Modern Medicine closed the night off with their modest psychedelia. There is something almost subversive about this music, a sweet meandering that hides a complex and dark interior.

This is an aspect of Perth’s music scene which probably goes somewhat unnoticed by a vast majority of punters, but it’s beneath the bizarre pressure that such atmospheric and moody music creates that diamonds are formed. The arrival of Roku Music was like a light shining into some of the great talent in our city and, clearly, in our country.

While they were gazing at their shoes, they were playing straight into my heart.= JAMES HANLON

THE BEAT NIGHTCLUB This Saturday, April 19, ahead of their national tour supporting Skid Row and Ugly Kid Joe, Melbourne hard rockers Dead City Ruins are back in WA to play with their mates Scalphunter and Hailmary. Doors open at 9pm, entry is $10.

Dead City Ruins

ROCKET ROOM Feed your heavy music cravings at the Rocket Room on Thursday, April 17. Join a veritable smorgasbord of Perth’s finest: Pyromesh, Dawn Of Leviathan, Tusk and Arkarion, and make your way into Good Friday by being bad in the best way.

NORTHSHORE TAVERN

INDI BAR This Saturday, April 19, Nathan Gaunt brings his amazing vocals and truly individual roots/blues vibes to the Indi Bar. Doors open at 8pm and entry is only $10.

Nathan Gaunt

ROSEMOUNT HOTEL Saturday, April 19, Twelve Foot Ninja bring the Trollburger Tour to town with special guests The Algorithm (France) & I, Said The Sparrow. Tickets are $28.60 through oztix.com.au or more at the door on the night from 8pm.

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Check out The Northshore’s Easter Party this Friday, April 18, with top Perth DJs Kritcool and QC spinning the tunes till late. Look out for the boys also coming up at the opening Chalk N Cheese DJ night on Anzac Day, Friday, April 25, featuring E.M.B.T, Hykus, Pierce Ericson, Liquid Culture and, finishing off the night, Kritikool.

MOJOS Sunday, April 20, SBX and Beyond Blue Present a Beyond Blue fundraising event featuring Bitter Belief, Complete, Smiley, Sarah Pellicano, and Paulie P, hosted by Adam Crook. So many people in Australia suffer from depression, anxiety and other mental health issues every day. This event is for a great cause and it would be great to see you all come down and show your support.

Tickets are $10 plus booking fee through oztix. com.au, more at the door on the night from 7pm.

Put the word to the herd about upcoming album, EP, single or video releases by dropping us a line at plugyourgig@xpressmag.com.au

A QUICKIE WITH... BLACK STONE FROM THE SUN Two piece rock outfit Black Stone From The Sun have been frequent flyers in the local music scene over the past 12 months, racking up a truly impressive number of live shows to increasingly good reports.

This Saturday, April 19, sees the launch of their debut EP at Mojos, with support from Puck, Apache, Aborted Tortoise and Graphic Characters. We caught up with the gestalt entity that is guitarist Sean Mackay and drummer Jack Nelson.

How did Black Stone From The Sun com into being?

We met in high school sometime in 2006 but it wasn’t until mid 2012 that we decided to put some time aside and make some music together that we actually like.

What’s your sound? Who are you influences?

Garage/grunge rock. Nirvana, Red Hot

Chilli Peppers, The Love Junkies.

How did the process of recording the EP go?

We recorded in a warehouse with producer Josh Amphlett. It was a very smooth process. We recorded seven songs in two days.

What would you say is the standout track?

I guess Sun Bleached Blues, people seem to like that one.

What’s on the horizon for you guys?

We’re currently demoing songs for our next EP which we’re hoping to record sometime this year.

ALL PRAISE THE PIXIES

Taking a break from hunkering down in the studio to polish their upcoming EP, Kat Wilson are hitting YaYa’s this Thursday, April 17, heading a list of impressive local talent that includes Indigo and Nicky Sandover. Doors open at 7.30pm, entry is $10

Has it really been a whole quarter of a century? 25 years ago, Pixies released Doolittle, which went on to influence the sound of pretty much every guitar band in the ‘90s for good or ill. The good folks at Gun Fever thought that was an anniversary worth commemorating, so they’ve thrown together Gouge Away - A Pixies Tribute at Flyrite this Thursday, April 17. Fanging out Pixies covers and Pixies-inspired original tunes will be Mezzanine, Pat Chow, Lionizer, High Horse and Children, with the Gun Fever DJs working the decks in between sets. Doors open at 8pm, entry is $10.

Kat Wilson

Mezzanine

CATCH SOME KAT

ORBITAL NOISE Two piece progressive rock outfit, In Orbit, launch their EP, Innerspace, at The Rosemount Hotel tonight, Wednesday, April 16. Support comes from Bay Sickly, Mind Canary and Tuxedo Pig. It also marks the final gig of drummer Tarik, so be sure to get down and give him a good send off. Doors open at 8pm.

A FORMIDABLE ONSLAUGHT Ensemble Formidable and Brow are taking advantage of the Easter weekend by going for a quick loop around some country venues. The Family Feud Tour takes in Clancy’s Fish Pub, Dunsborough on Thursday, April 17; Denmark Art Markets on the afternoon of Saturday, April 19; Albany’s White Star Hotel on the evening of Saturday, April 19; and Denmark Scout Hall for the Masked Ball on Sunday, April 20.

Ensemble Formidable

COP A LOAD OF CATBRUSH Swampy-sounding punk rock triumvirate Catbrush have finally put the finishing touches on their eponymous debut EP and are ready to unleash it on a waiting world at Mojos this Thursday, April 17. A veritable army of top notch local talent have come together to mark this momentous occasion, including Foam, Doctor Octopus, Hideous Sun Demon, Shit Narnia, Laurel Fixation, Black Swan and Fabian Rojas.

Entry is $10, doors open at 6pm.

Indie rock outfit Odlaw release their latest single, Cabins, at The Beat Nightclub this Thursday, April 17, with support from Sail On! Sail On!, Oakland, The Shops and Dan Cribb. Doors open at 8pm, entry is $10.

Catbrush

Odlaw

CABIN FEVER

LO C A L & L AUN C H I N G 16/04 17/04 17/04 18/04 19/04 19/04 25/04 25/04 26/04 26/04 04/05 08/05 31/05

In Orbit Innerspace EP Launch @The Rosemount Catbrush Self Titled EP Launch @ Mojos Odlaw Cabins Single Launch @ The Beat Nightclub James Atles Self Titled EP Launch @ The Swan Lounge Black Stone From The Sun Self Titled EP Launch @ Mojos Throwing Shapes Self Titled EP Launch @ The Odd Fellow Moana A Mouthful Of Birds EP Launch @ Mojos Thee Gold Blooms Alana Single Launch @ The Bird The Autumn Isles Waking Dreams Single Launch @ the Odd Fellow Sleepfreak Sleazebag Video Launch @ The Bakery Tashi Gratitude EP Launch @ Hyde Park Botanical Gardens Morgan Bain What You Believe EP Launch @ Indi Bar Ruby Boots Self Titled EP Launch @ The Astor Lounge WWW. XP RE SS MAG.COM. AU

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TOUR TRAILS

HUNX & HIS PUNX APRIL 24

THIS WEEK

KILLSWITCH ENGAGE & KILL DEVIL HILL 16 Metro City BURIED IN VERONA 16 Villa 17 Prince Of Wales, Bunbury 18 YMCA HQ GYROSCOPE 17 Prince Of Wales, Bunbury JOSH PYKE 17 The White Star Hotel, Albany 19 Dunsborough Tavern BAM BAM 19 Amplifier Bar RECORD STORE DAY AUSTRALIA 19 Record Stores Everywhere TWELVE FOOT NINJA 19 Rosemount Hotel 20 Players Bar KREATOR & DEATH ANGEL 20 Amplifier Bar IN THE PINES ft. Antelope, Bill Darby, The Community Chest, Dianas, DM3, The Floors, Flower Drums, Golden String, Gunns, The High Learys, The Kill Devil Hills, LEECHES!, Moana, The Morning Night, Mt. Mountain, Mudlark, Pat Chow, Rabbit Island, Runner, Scalphunter 20 UWA Somerville Auditorium APRIL THE ACACIA STRAIN 23 YMCA HQ 24 Amplifier Bar ELEANOR MCEVOY 23 Rosie O’Grady’s SKID ROW & UGLY KID JOE 23 Metropolis Fremantle HUNX & HIS PUNX /SHANNON & THE CLAMS 24 Rosemount Hotel MALYA YUTURRINGU: BE A STAR FUNDRAISER ft. Grace Barbe, Felicity Groom, The Merinda’s 24 Fremantle Arts Centre JEFF BECK 24 Perth Concert Hall WENDY MATTHEWS 24 Clancys Dunsborough TED DANSON WITH WOLVES/ CERES 24 Flyrite 25 Prince Of Wales, Bunbury 26 Railway Hotel ADRIAN EDMONDSON & THE BAD SHEPHERDS 24 The Odd Fellow 26 Rosemount Hotel FAIRBRIDGE FESTIVAL 2014 25 - 27 Fairbridge Village BALL PARK MUSIC 24 Astor Theatre 25 Studio 146, Albany 26 Prince Of Wales, Bunbury 27 Newport Hotel

ORIGIN, MAY 6 30

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TOURS LIVE

TED DANSON WITH WOLVES, APRIL 24

ENDLESS HEIGHTS 25 Rocket Room SHAKE IT! SHOWCASE 2014 25 Salt On The Beach MICHAEL BUBLE 26 & 27 Perth Arena AARON NEVILLE, DR JOHN & THE NITETRIPPERS 26 Riverside Theatre HUGH LAURIE & THE COPPER BOTTOM BAND 26 Perth Concert Hall CLIENT LIASION 26 Amplifier Bar ROBYN HITCHCOCK & STEVE KILBEY 26 Fly By Night THE SONGBIRDS 27 The Ellington Jazz Club TAME IMPALA 27 Hotel Rottnest JUSTICE CREW 27 Crown Theatre LORDE 29 Challenge Stadium BOY & BEAR 30 Divers Tavern, Broome MAY DJ PREMIER X PETE ROCK 1 Capitol RUSSIAN CIRCLES 2 Rosemount Hotel JAMES REYNE 2 Charles Hotel MKTO 2 Crown Theatre BLISS N ESSO 2 Signal Park, Busselton 3 Wellington Square ARMADA NIGHT ft. Andrew Rayel, Jorn Van Deynhoven & Mario 3 Metro City CITIZEN KAY 3 Amplifier Bar 4 Newport Hotel LEE KERNAGHAN 6 Princess Royal Theatre, Albany 9 Crown Theatre ORIGIN 6 Amplifier Bar GIDEON 7 Amplifier Bar 8 YMCA HQ ELLA HOOPER 8 Artbar VANCE JOY & GOSSLING 8 The Bakery KARNIVOOL 8 Metropolis Fremantle THE PRESETS 8 Capitol 5 SECONDS OF SUMMER 8 Riverside Theatre THUNDAMENTALS 8 Flyrite 9 Mojos Bar MISERY SIGNALS 8 Amplifier Bar 9 YMCA HQ HOLY FUCK 8 Rosemount Hotel 9 The Odd Fellow DISCLOSURE & WAVE RACER 9 Metro City THE JEZABELS 9 Astor Theatre THE JUNGLE GIANTS 9 Rosemount Hotel JASON DERULO 10 Perth Arena

PAUL WOSSEN 10 YaYa’s 11 Mojos Bar GROOVIN THE MOO Andy Bull, Architecture In Helsinki, Disclosure, Holy Fuck, The Jezabels, The Jungle Giants, Karnivool, Kingswood, The Kite String Tangle, Loon Lake, The Naked And Famous, Parkway Drive, The Presets, Peking Duk, Robert Delong, Thundamentals, Vance Joy, Violent Soho, Wave Racer, What So Not & more 10 Hay Park, Bunbury THE NAKED & FAMOUS 11 Astor Theatre ARCTIC MONKEYS 13 Perth Arena JONNY CRAIG 14 Amplifier Bar 15 YMCA HQ KIMBRA & JANELLE MONAE 16 Challenge Stadium KING PARROT 16 Amplifier Bar PETULA CLARK 17 Perth Concert Hall SEPTICFLESH & FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE 18 Amplifier Bar HITS & PITS 3 Strung Out, Face To Face, Unwritten Law, Implants 18 Capitol & Amplifier Bar JAMES VINCENT McMORROW 21 Astor Theatre THE WAIFS 21 Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre 22 Astor Theatre 24 Kimberley Moon Experience, Kununurra 25 Fly By Night Club DANIEL CHAMPAGNE 21 Mojos Bar 22 Four5Nine Bar DZ DEATHRAYS 22 Prince Of Wales, Bunbury 23 Indi Bar 24 Amplifier Bar 25 Newport Hotel WAGONS 23 Fly By Night FUNKOARS 23 Capitol 24 Studio 146, Albany THE ENGLISH BEAT 23 Rosemount Hotel MANGO GROOVE 23 Metro City 2014 AIRNORTH KIMBERLEY MOON EXPERIENCE Eskimo Joe, The Waifs, John Williamson, 42 Decibel 24 Jim Hughes Amphitheatre, Kununurra MS. LAURYN HILL 24 Fremantle Arts Centre GARY NUMAN 25 Astor Theatre ELLIE GOULDING &

LORDE, APRIL 29

KANYE WEST, SEPTEMBER 5

BROODS 28 Challenge Stadium LARRY CARLTON 28 Astor Theatre RÜFÜS 30 Players Bar, Mandurah 31 Fremantle Arts Centre WE ARE SCIENTISTS 31 Amplifier Bar THE BEARDS 29 The White Star Hotel. Albany 31 Prince Of Wales, Bunbury THE HARD-ONS 30 Prince Of Wales, Bunbury 31 Margaret River Football Club, Margaret River JUNE THE HARD-ONS 1 Railway Hotel THE BEARDS 1 Astor Theatre DARREN MIDDLETON 1 Mojos Bar, Fremantle MEAT PUPPETS 2 Astor Theatre PROPAGANDHI 3 Amplifier Bar KIM CHURCHILL 4 Indi Bar IN HEARTS WAKE 4 YMCA HQ 5 Amplifier Bar YO GABBA GABBA! LIVE! 7 Riverside Theatre FRENTE 7 Astor Theatre LA DISPUTE 7 Rosemount Hotel 8 YMCA HQ DEAD LETTER CIRCUS 4 Pier Hotel, Esperance 5 The White Star Hotel, Albany 6 Settlers Tavern, Margaret River 7 Prince Of Wales, Bunbury 8 Rosemount Hotel CARCASS 12 Capitol JAMES BLUNT 12 Crown Theatre 13 Riverside Theatre DUNE RATS 12 Mojos Bar 13 Amplifier Bar RON POPE 13 Astor Lounge EARTH 18 Rosemount Hotel BASTILLE 18 Challenge Stadium THE PAPER KITES 19 Artbar 20 Prince of Wales, Bunbury LITTLE BASTARD 21 Mojos Bar GRAVEYARD TRAIN 21 Rosemount Hotel 22 Mojos Bar FINNTROLL 22 Amplifier Bar MONDO ROCK 22 Regal Theatre SASKWATCH 27 Settlers Tavern, Margaret River 28 Amplifier Bar 29 Mojos Bar KEITH URBAN 29 Perth Arena

JULY

THE CRIMSON PROJEKCT 2 Fly By Night VIOLENT SOHO & SMITH STREET BAND 3 The Bakery THE AUDREYS 4 Fly By Night SOMETHING FOR KATE 4 Astor Theatre HIGH ON FIRE 18 Rosemount Hotel THE WHITE ALBUM CONCERT TOUR ft. Chris Cheney, Phil Jameson, Josh Pyke & Tim Rogers 26 Riverside Theatre PELICAN 27 Rosemount Hotel THE ANGELS 31 Newport Hotel AUGUST THE ANGELS 1 Wintersun Hotel, Geraldton DAN SULTAN 1 Settlers Tavern, Margaret River 2 Astor Theatre THE ANGELS ft.

DAVE GLEESON 2 Charles Hotel 3 The Ravenswood Hotel ROY ORBISON & DEL SHANNON TRIBUTE 7 Albany Entertainment Centre 9 Crown Theatre HANSON 15 Metropolis Fremantle TINA ARENA 15 Crown Theatre LADY GAGA 20 Perth Arena THE DANDY WARHOLS 21 Astor Theatre 22 Astor Theatre NORTHWEST PILBARA WEEKENDER 22 – 24 Port Hedland Turf Club THE ASTON SHUFFLE 23 Amplifier Bar SEPTEMBER KANYE WEST 5 Perth Arena MARINA PRIOR 5 Albany Entertainment Centre 6 Astor Theatre 7 Mandurah Performing Arts Centre ROBBIE WILLIAMS 11 Perth Arena BIFFY CLYRO 12 Metro City ANDREA BOCELLI 24 Perth Arena OCTOBER JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE 8 Perth Arena NOVEMBER KATY PERRY 7 & 8 Perth Arena

THE NAKED & FAMOUS, MAY 11

TO U R TA L E S

THE ACACIA STRAIN As Above, So Below Massachusetts deathcore outfit The Acacia Strain have been a few big changes over the last 12 months. JESSICA WILLOUGHBY chats to bassist, Jack Strong, ahead of their Australian tour, kicking off with two Perth shows – at YMCA HQ (all-ages) in Leederville on Wednesday, April 23, and Amplifier on Thursday, April 24.

So what happens when a band parts ways with their main songwriter after 12 years? They are reborn – as is the story with The Acacia Strain.

Last year, the US deathcore outfit said goodbye to Daniel ‘DL’ Laskiewicz – the guitarist that helped to shape and establish the sound this five-piece are known for. Although a decision that suited both parties, as Laskiewicz hasn’t been on the road with the band since 2008 due to family and life commitments, it was a change that sent ripples through not only their fanbase – but the deathcore community.

To fill his shoes, the band moved to bring in not one, but two, guitarists – Devin Shidaker (exOceano) and Richard Gomez (ex-Molotov Solution).

Bassist, Jack Strong, couldn’t be happier with the new additions.

“They fit in quite nicely,” he says. “They’re both incredible guitar players. On top of that, they are great guys – they are easy-going. They work quite well with the rest of us. We’re just lucky it worked out. If one has a cool idea for a rhythm part, the other will automatically have a great idea for a lead part. They work really well together, as well as with the rest of the band. So I’m really excited about that – I really don’t think it could have worked out any better.”

Their latest effort, the Above/Below EP (2013), was the first time the band had actually sat down in the same room to write an album since their

2002 debut, …And Life Is Very Long. Now bunkered down in the studio to write their seventh full-length, Strong points to The Acacia Strain feeling ‘whole’ again. “It’s nice actually because we all get to sit in a room together and think of ideas and work them out until they are a complete song,” Strong says of the experience. “It’s a different process from what we are used to. It’s been refreshing. Maybe that will add a different feel to this album, too. It’s definitely a different thing for the band, but it was a neat experience and a really productive process.

“We are on good terms with Daniel for sure. He hasn’t been touring with us since 2008.

But there’s no animosity towards it. He has a family.

He stays home and takes care of them and works.

Touring life for him wasn’t really conducive to the life that he had. It wasn’t a bad thing. It was what it was.”

“We are on good terms with Daniel (Laskiewicz, ex-guitarist) for sure. He hasn’t been touring with us since 2008.

But there’s no animosity towards it.

He has a family. He stays home and takes care of them and works. Touring life for him wasn’t really conducive to the life that he had. It wasn’t a bad thing. It was what it was.”

Recording with Will Putney on production duties, Strong points to the band still retaining The Acacia Strain sound. “This record will be very different. It’s still going to be the same old band. But it’s respectful of the sound that we had prior to this and opens up the future a bit more for us. While this does still sound like the band, it’s a little different – but in the best way possible. I hope people agree with me or at least tell me it’s not terrible.

“I think it’s a little different from our EP. The Above/Below thing was a good little appetiser and a preview of having these two new guys writing with us. I wouldn’t say it’s an extension of that. It was like that was a sampler and now we get to do what we’re really capable of now. Especially spending more time and having more opportunities to write and play together. We built upon that.

“Even though it’s been a short amount of time, maybe we’ve come out with something that’s a bit more advanced or mature than what we did when the new members were brand new.”

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GIG GUIDE

HEALTH LEGEND/AMPLIFIER BAR/ WEDNESDAY 16 WEDNESDAY 16/04 AMPLIFIER BAR Academy ft.

Vanity Idle Eyes Agitated Health Legend THE BAKERY Fresh Faced Follies ft.

Sugar Blue Burlesque BEAT NIGHTCLUB (DOWNSTAIRS) Street THE BIRD Twist w/ Wrighteous BRASS MONKEY Sugar Blue Burlesque THE CARINE Open Mic Night Shaun Street CLANCYS CANNING Songwriter’s Night Ben Merito CLANCY’S FREMANTLE Chet Leonard’s Bingoteque ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Fat Sparrow Night Cap Sessions THE GREENWOOD Keira Jane GROOVE BAR (CROWN) 5 Shots INDI BAR Darren Guthrie Trojan John JURASSIC Buried In Verona LANEWAY LOUNGE Fiona Lawe Davies 3 LOBBY LOUNGE (CROWN) Decoy Duo THE LUCKY SHAG Howie Morgan METRO CITY Killswitch Engage Kill Devil Hill MOJOS BAR Old Blood Filthy Apes Elli Schoen THE MOON CAFE Going Solo ft.

D-Jeong + Leure MUSTANG BAR Frenzy with DJ Giles OCEAN ONE BAR Brazil Night ft.

Xoxote THE PADDO Dove Stu Nugent The Suntones

THURSDAY 17/04 THE ALBION Nicola Milan ASTOR THEATRE Position Vacant: Apply Within Julian Clary THE BALMORAL Superseeds BAR ORIENT Open Mic Night BEAT NIGHTCLUB (UPSTAIRS) Odlaw Dan Cribb The Shops Oakland Sail On Sail On BELGIAN BEER CAFÉ Mike Nayar THE BELMONT Electrophobia BEST DROP TAVERN Tandem THE BIRD Beat Lounge 18

KING’S JUSTICE

KING’S JUSTICE MINKY G BAREBONES THURSDAY, APRIL 17 THE CUSHDY CELLAR

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JAMES ATLES/SWAN BASEMENT/ THURSDAY 17

459 ROSEMOUNT HOTEL Paper Walls Welcome The Wildfore Kites Santa Muerte This Other Eden ROSEMOUNT HOTEL In Orbit Bay Sickly Mind Canary Tuxedo Pig ROSIE O’GRADYS NORTHBRIDGE Laugh Resort SETTLERS TAVERN Open Mic Night ft.

Claire Warnock THE SWINGING PIG Open Mic Night Greg Carter UNIVERSAL BAR Retrofit VILLA Buried In Verona Fit For A King Feed Her To The Sharks Ocean Grove VILLAGE BAR Village People Open Mic YAYA’S Fresh Jams Amberdown Delay Delay Howling Bones Dan Peters Foundation Kid Tsunami Kaotik Pawel

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BRASS MONKEY Rhythm Bound Karaoke BRIGHTON Ricky Green BROOKLANDS TAVERN Celebrations Karaoke THE CARINE Frenzy THE CAUSEWAY BAR Xport Thursdays CHASE BAR & BISTRO James Wilson CITRO BAR Sophie Jane CIVIC HOTEL One Of None DFC Face Grinder To Hell With Honour CLANCY’S DUNSBOROUGH Ensemble Formidable The Brow Horn Orchestra COMO HOTEL Penny King Trio THE CRUISING YACHT CLUB Brenton Fosdike THE CUSHDY CELLAR King’s Justice Minky G Barebones THE CURRAMBINE BAR + BISTRO Grant Hart THE DEEN Howie Morgan Project DEVILLES PAD Rock’N’Roll Karaoke DUNSBOROUGH TAVERN Open Mic Night Kris Buckle ELLIOT ST BAR BUNBURY Buried In Verona ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Country Rhythm & Soul Howie Morgan Lucky Oceans Night Cap Sessions EMPIRE BAR Jonny Dempsey FREMANTLE ARTS CENTRE Street Arts Festival Opening Night THE GATE Choppa GOSNELLS HOTEL Elemental GRAND CENTRAL PARK Justin Cortorillo THE GREENWOOD Anthony Buttaccio GROOVE BAR (CROWN) Hi-NRG THE HERDSMAN Shades of Indigo HYDE PARK HOTEL (COURTYARD) Acoustic Aly INDI BAR Open Mic Night JOONDALUP RESORT Gary Fowlie KALAMUNDA HOTEL The Black Fridays LANEWAY LOUNGE Why Georgia?

LOBBY LOUNGE (CROWN) Keira Jane Duo LUCKY SHAG James Wilson M ON THE POINT Matt & Alex MARKET CITY TAV Ryoji Paradox Della Huang Soul Jana Fischer Tender Fiddle Gabby

IN ORBIT/ROSEMOUNT HOTEL/ WEDNESDAY 16 MOJOS BAR Catbrush Foam Doctopus Hideous Sun Demon Shit Narnia Laurel Fixation Black Swan Fabian Rojas MUSTANG BAR Good Friday Eve Party Kickstart Swing DJ DJ James McArthur NORTHSHORE TAVERN Easter Party DJ QC & Kritikool Two Plus One OCEAN ONE BAR Turin’s Open Mic Night PEEL ALE HOUSE Open Mic Danny Bau PORT KENNEDY TAVERN Tripwire PRINCE OF WALES HOTEL Gyroscope THE PRINCIPAL Adam James Duo QUARRIE BAR & BISTRO Back2Back ROCKET ROOM Easter Onslaught Pyromesh Dawn Of Leviathan Tusk Arkarion 459 ROSEMOUNT HOTEL Three Hands One Hoof Edie Green ROSEMOUNT HOTEL Easter Roller Eyesdown Cathedral VLTRN Dart Devo Blend Kent b2b Motown SETTLERS TAVERN Simon Kelly & The Big Bamboo THE SHED Crush SWALLOW BAR Shotdown From Sugartown SWAN HOTEL Aaron Gwynaire Gabbi Fusco Simon Beaton Calectasia Mind Canary James Atles UNIVERSAL BAR Off The Record VERNON ARMS TAVERN Kevin Curran THE VIC Nathan Gaunt WHITE STAR HOTEL Josh Pyke Kris Nelson Meg Porter WINTERSUN HOTEL Shane Dickson WONGAN HILLS Hotel Jetpack YAYA’S Kat Wilson Indigo Nicky Sandover

FRIDAY 18/04 GOOD FRIDAY LOBBY LOUNGE (CROWN) Why Georgia?

X-WRAY CAFÉ The Dice Band YMCA HQ Buried in Verona SATURDAY 19/04 7TH AVENUE Karaoke AMPLIFIER BAR Bam Bam Ft. Savo ASTOR LOUNGE Rooster Police DJKL THE BAKERY Crap Music Rave Party THE BALMORAL Third Gear BAR ORIENT The Reggae Club Mumma Trees DJ Veeness BEAT NIGHTCLUB (DOWNSTAIRS) Dead City Ruins Scalphunter Hailmary BEAT NIGHTCLUB (UPSTAIRS) Canvas THE BIRD Record Store Day ft.

Ben Taaffe Maria Mendes Tom Lettenmaier Jack Doepel BOAB TAVERN James Wilson BROOKLANDS TAVERN Siren & Assassin THE CARINE Craig Ballantyne CIVIC BACKROOM Grotesque Maximum Perversion Sanzu Facegrinder 9ft Super Soldier CLANCYS CANNING Justin Burford CLANCYS FREMANTLE Huge Magnet Special Guests THE CLAREMONT HOTEL Antics Anna O Oh Velveteen CRAFTSMAN 5th Avenue DENMARK ART MARKETS Ensemble Formidable The Brow DEVILLES PAD Black Magic Disco DUNSBOROUGH TAVERN Josh Pyke Dallas Royal Kris Buckle ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Penny King Quintet Beyonce Tribute ft.

Bindhu Holavanahalli Alcatraz ELMAR’S IN THE VALLEY Dove FLY BY NIGHT Amateur Pole Queen FREMANTLE ARTS CENTRE The Smile Of The Shipwrecked Fallen Thoughts

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

GROTESQUE/THE CIVIC HOTEL BACK ROOM/SATURDAY 19 THE GATE Ade Payne GOSNELLS HOTEL Almost Famous GREENWOOD Pretty Fly GROOVE BAR (CROWN) Proof HOTEL ROTTNEST Morgan Bain HYDE PARK HOTEL Arterglo INDIAN OCEAN BREW CO. Electrophobia INDI BAR Nathan Gaunt KALAMUNDA HOTEL Celebrations Karaoke LAKERS TAVERN Celebrations Karaoke LANEWAY LOUNGE Dean Anderson Howie Morgan Project LUCKY SHAG DJ Richie G M ON THE POINT Rhythm 22 MERRIWA TAVERN Celebrations Karaoke MUSTANG BAR Continentals Milhouse DJ Holly Doll DJ James McArthur MOJOS BAR Black Stone From The Sun PUCK Apache Aborted Tortoise Graphic Characters NORTHSHORE TAVERN Local Heroes NEWPORT HOTEL Gravity Tahli Jade OCEAN ONE BAR Desert Bells THE ODD FELLOW Throwing Shapes K-Town Wisdom2th THE PADDO Cheeky Monkeys PADDY MAGUIRES Too Easy PARAMOUNT NIGHTCLUB Felix PORT KENNEDY TAVERN Stu Mckay QUARRIE BAR & BISTRO Eugene RAILWAY HOTEL Teachings in Dub The KBI Sound System ROCKINGHAM HOTEL West Coast Blues Club Jam Night Resonator ROSEMOUNT HOTEL Twelve Foot Ninja The Algorithm I, Said The Sparrow ROSIE O’GRADY’S FREMANTLE Flava SAIL & ANCHOR The Gypsy Minions SETTLERS TAVERN Qynn THE SHED Huge DJ Andyy SOUTH ST ALE HOUSE Robbie King & Friends SPRINGS TAVERN Jonny Dempsey

LIMPIN’ DAVE FOLEY & THE STRAIGHT LEGGED FREAKS/YAYA’S/SUNDAY 20

THE SWINGING PIG Frenzy SWALLOW BAR DJ Peas SWAN HOTEL Shola Lee Tristram Corbett Potato Dice Jeremiah Salt UNIVERSAL Soul Corporation WHITE STAR HOTEL Ensemble Formidable The Brow YAYA’S White Avenue Single Launch Digital Order Custom Royal The Right Way Up ARCADIA @ YA-YA’S DJ Cookie SUNDAY 20/04 THE AVIARY Reilly Craig THE BALMORAL Superseeds THE BELMONT TAVERN Justin Cortorillo BEAUMARIS SPORTS ASSOC. Acoustic Royale THE BRIGHTON Jasmin Atkins BROKEN HILL HOTEL Kizzy THE BROOK Kevin Curran BROOKLANDS TAVERN Gerry Azor CAPTAIN STIRLING Open Mic Night Josh Terlick CAPITOL KREATOR Death Angel THE CARINE Mike Nayar THE CAUSEWAY Acoustic Sunday CHASE BAR & BISTRO Light Street CIVIC HOTEL Acousticone CLANCYS CITY BEACH Sunday Brekky Sesh The Limelights Jazz Trio Salt Shaker Sundays DJ Boogie & The Salt Shaker Selectors CLANCYS DUNSBOROUGH DJ Chet Leonard CLANCYS FREMANTLE The Zydecats COMO HOTEL Ansell & Fretall COURT HOTEL Gunshy Romeos CRUISING YACHT CLUB Guy Tucker DENMARK SCOUT HALL Ensemble Formidable The Brow DUNSBOROUGH TAVERN Kris Buckle FLINDERZ HILLARYS Rosamel Burgos FLY BY NIGHT Buskers Cabaret FREMANTLE ARTS CENTRE The Smile Of The Shipwrecked Fallen Thoughts THE GATE Choppa Duo GOSNELLS HOTEL Frank G

GROOVE BAR (CROWN) Peace Love HOTEL ROTTNEST DJ Eugene HYDE PARK HOTEL (COURTYARD) Jonny Dempsey INDIAN OCEAN BREW CO Retriofit INDI BAR Sunday Poolside Acoustic Session Rick Steele Andrew Winton KALAMUNDA HOTEL Sophie Jane And The Chilly Bin Boys LAKERS TAVERN Wesley Goodlet Jamboree Scouts THE LAST DROP TAVERN Barry Gee LOBBY LOUNGE (CROWN) Thierryno LUCKY SHAG Sunday Session Christian Thompson MOJOS BAR Bitter Belief Complete Smiley Sarah Pellicano Paulie P Adam Crook MOON CAFÉ Paul Andrew’s Quintet M ON THE POINT Nathan Gaunt MUSTANG BAR Triple Shots DJ Holly Doll Blue Gene DJ James McArthur MUST WINEBAR Why Georgia?

NORTHSHORE TAVERN Pieter T & Deach OCEAN ONE BAR Tahnee DJ G-Martin PADDY MALONE’S Gary Fowlie PARKERVILLE TAVERN Indigo Duck PLAYERS BAR Twelve Foot Ninja The Algorithm Serial Killer Smile PORT KENNEDY TAVERN Ade Payne QUARIE BAR + BISTRO The Gypsy Minions THE ROSE & CROWN HOTEL Jamie Powers ROSEMOUNT HOTEL The Get Down Charlie Bucket Klean Kicks Nick Sheppard ROYAL PALMS RESORT Adam James THE SAINT Howie Morgan Project SAIL AND ANCHOR (UPSTAIRS) Childs Play SEAVIEW TAVERN Jeanie Proude SETTLERS TAVERN Lightning Jack THE SHED The Healys Blue Hornet SWANBROOK WINERY Astrid Ripepi AJ Wigwams Timothy Nelson

MAD RABBIT/MOJOS BAR/ TUESDAY 22

SWINGING PIG Siren & Assassin Aiden Varro UNIVERSAL Off the Record UWA (SOMERVILLE AUDITORIUM) IN THE PINES Antelope Bill Darby The Community Chest Dianas DM3 The Floors Flower Drums Golden String Gunns The High Learys The Kill Devil Hills LEECHES! Moana The Morning Night Mt. Mountain Mudlark Pat Chow Rabbit Island Runner Scalphunter VERNON ARMS TAVERN Stu Mckay WANNEROO TAVERN Matt Williams WHISTLING KITE James Wilson THE WINDSOR Troy Nababan YAYA’S Clive’s Extra Large Birthday Bash Limpin’ Dave Foley & The Straight Legged Freaks Paradise Motor Inn MONDAY 21/04 BRASS MONKEY Wire Birds THE BRIGHTON Steve Spouse John Read CLANCYS FREMANTLE Quiz Night ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Song Lounge Daisy Clover David Lazarus Leah Emily Grant Tourist FREMANTLE ARTS CENTRE The Smile of the Shipwrecked Fallen Thoughts MERIDIAN ROOM (CROWN) James Wilson

MOJOS BAR Wide Open Mic MUSTANG BAR Triple Shots ROSEMOUNT HOTEL Quiz Meisters YA-YA’S Big Tommo’s Open Mic Variety Night TUESDAY 22/04 BRASS MONKEY Open Mic Night Shaun Street THE CAUSEWAY Jack Young THE CHARLES HOTEL Perth Blues Club Anzac Show Rick Steele Legacy Show Band Sue Bluck The Rippin’ Horns David Millroy CLANCYS FREMANTLE Quiz Night ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Daniel Susnjar CD release Su Su Nje FLY BY NIGHT Dr, Sketchy’s Anti Art School GROOVE BAR (CROWN) Jack & Jill LOBBY LOUNGE (CROWN) Hans Fiance LUCKY SHAG Leighton Keepa MERRIWA TAVERN Celebrations Karaoke MOJOS BAR Mad Rabbit Lumpy Dog Necter Sprawl Piano Donkey MUSTANG BAR Danza Loca Salsa Night OCEAN ONE BAR OVERGROWTH Open Mic Night ROSEMOUNT HOTEL Bex ‘n’ Turin’s Open Mic Night SWINGING PIG Siren Song Enterprises YAYA’S House Arrest Trip Hazard & The Rude Boys Black Stone from the Sun Dischordians Choking Stanley Yiannos McStavros

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PYROMESH

PYROMESH

DAWN OF LEVIATHAN TUSK ARKARION THURSDAY, APRIL 17 THE ROCKET ROOM

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RECORD STORE DAY The Vinyl Countdown This Saturday, April 19, is Record Store Day, that annual celebration of independent purveyors of great music.

It’s the one day of the year when it’s absolutely mandatory to get down to your local music shack and partake of some great live music, sweet sales prices and limited edition one-day-only releases. We put the question to some of Perth’s most iconic music retailers to find out what they’ve got planned.

NOISE POLLUTION RECORDS Answered by Maurice Flavel How big is your personal record collection?

Prefer not to say.

What’s the first record you ever bought, and why?

Black Sabbath’s Master Of Reality. I heard it when I was a kid living in a country town where my parents owned a post office and one of the workers left her collection at our house, so I went through her collection and saw the purple and black cover, put it on the record player and I was hooked.

What’s the shining gem in your collection, and why?

The Gutterville Splendour Six self titled LP, because of its significance to Perth and all of the bands that have blossomed from: The Drones, Kill Devil Hills, Rui Pereira, Warren Hall and myself. We are all still playing now and I wrote all the songs.

What are you guys doing for Record Store Day? Smiling.

What’s the standout exclusive Record Store Day release this year?

Beck’s Morning Phase and my $5 and $2 specials.

PLANET MUSIC Answered by Kat How big is your personal record collection?

2000+ and forever expanding.

What’s the first record you ever bought, and why?

Fleetwood Mac, Rumours. Got to start with the classics.

What’s the shining gem in your collection, and why?

Carson McCullers, Readings. Because it’s Carson McCullers, Readings.

What are you guys doing for Record Store Day? Selling great records, just like every other day! The shelves with be especially packed and it will be more fun to buy records because of the RSD releases of course. Plus all the rest of the vinyl will be 10 per cent off.

What’s the standout exclusive Record Store Day release this year?

The Pixies. You never know who’s going to come out of the woodwork for an RSD release.

DANCE TO A DIFFERENT BEAT

BIGSOUND OPEN FOR BUSINESS Applications and early bird registration is now open for BIGSOUND 2014, widely considered one of the world’s premier music industry conferences. Held in Brisbane from September 10 -12, the event is regularly attended by industry luminaries, with the 2013 conference drawing Nick Cave, Billy Bragg and Amanda Palmer as speakers. For full info, go to qmusic.com.au Nick Cave

African Music Circles is about to commence their second teaching term of the year. If you have an urge to learn something about traditional West African music, their upcoming drumming and dance course is just the ticket. Instructor Moses teaches an immersive 12 week course that encompasses traditional music structure, theory and practice. Classes are held at Subiaco Earthwise, with the next term running from April 29 until July 8. For full information on classes and pricing, go to africanmusiccircles.com.au.

African Music Circles

PURSUE THE PILBARA WAM is looking to launch a new regional touring initiative focusing on the Pilbara and are keen for bands and solo acts to throw their hat into the ring.

If you feel your act would shine in the far north, drop a line to hello@wam.org.au with PILBARA TOURING CIRCUIT in the subject line and the following information: act name, genre, contact details and band details.

To Advertise In Classfieds Call 9213 2888 Or Email musicservices@xpressmag.com.au

DANCE CLASSES

PRODUCTION SERVICES

BELLYDANCE CENTRAL STUDIO CLASSES Free class Fri 25 April special beg. Term 1 starts Mon 28th April. For brochure, info and free class invite email dance@bellydancecentral.com.au. Mob: 0409 511 125. www.bellydancecentral.com.au

CD & DVD MANUFACTURE Check out our latest CD & DVD specials online at www.procopy.com.au 9375 3902 DISK BANK Perth’s premier CD & DVD manufacturer, with options for all budgets. (08) 9388 0800. www.diskbank.com.au/specials.

MATRIX PRODUCTIONS AUSTRALIA Lighting, staging, sound systems, smoke machines, night club FX, intelligent lighting, strobes & mirror balls, crowd barriers, video projectors. 9371 1551

EMPLOYMENT & TRAINING Do you know what a roadie is? Have you got any background in AUDIO, LIGHTING or BACKLINE? Are you looking for CASUAL work in the entertainment industry?

If that sounds like you contact Events Personnel Aust.

On 08 9361 5005.

FOR SALE HEADPHONES all brands & styles. 23 Harrogate Street, West Leederville. Contact Headphonic 08 93886333 headphones.com.au MUSOS WANTED BASS PLAYER WANTED to join 4 piece orig band Est since 2000, alternate/commercial rock music. Must have good gear & a love for music, EP recorded and ready.

Email david.saunders1@iinet.net.au or call 0410 723 738 OPEN MIC NIGHT every Thursday night at Indi Bar. Text Josh on 0430 313 577 for a spot.

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RECORDING STUDIOS ALAN DAWSON’s WITZEND RECORDING STUDIO Prof quality albums or demos, large live room, experienced engineer, analog to digital transfers, mastering..Alan 0407 989 128 or Jeremy 0430638178 www.witzendstudios.com ANALOG MASTERING VINTAGE TAPE, TUBES & TRANSFORMERS with the latest state of the art digital converters. Clients include: Melody’s Echo Chamber, Pond, Gossling, Knife Party, Felicity Groom, The Floors, Jeff Martin & The Panics. World class facility, World class results. Www. poonshead.com. 9339 4791 ANDY’S STUDIO International multi award winning songwriter / producer. No band required. Broadcast quality.

NEWS

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MUSIC GEAR & TECHNOLOGY

JUNCTION RECORDS

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CLASSIFIEDS

UNKNOWN TREASURES

Answered by Stu Loasby

Answered by Sarah Stanley

How big is your personal record collection?

At least 300 I can say I’m proud of. As a vinyl collector it’s important to be selective about your purchases. That said, there’s a fair amount of questionable items in my collection too.

How big is your personal record collection?

Not too big actually! It used to be a lot bigger before I started Unknown Treasures, now I tend to be more picky in what I keep as I would rather the records go in the shop. So my collection is more quality over quantity these days.

What’s the first record you ever bought, and why?

Ian Moss – Matchbook. Tucker’s Daughter and Telephone Booth were everywhere in 1989 and Mossy was my guitar hero as a 12 year old. I’d saved enough pocket money to buy it from Archie Martin’s in Maddington and would rush home from school to play it.

What’s the shining gem in your collection, and why?

It’s a battle between original UK mono pressings of Revolver and Pet Sounds. They both look, sound and smell as pretty as the day they were pressed.

What are you guys doing for Record Store Day? Buy two get one free on selected vinyl, 10 per cent off new vinyl 20 per cent off second hand vinyl, every purchase goes in to the draw for a $50 gift voucher.

What’s the standout exclusive Record Store Day release this year?

Warner’s have issued their excellent Festival label Boogie series on double 180gram vinyl, which we are big fans of here. Plus David Bowie’s 40 th anniversary edition of Rock’n’Roll Suicide.

What’s the first record you ever bought, and why?

The first records I ever got were passed on to me from my parents and grandparents, so I enjoyed a lot of oldies before I went out and bought anything myself. Of memory the first one I can remember using my own money for was Pixies Doolittle from 78 Records when I was in high school!

What’s the shining gem in your collection, and why?

Ah, how can I pick just one? The most pretty is my Yeah Yeah Yeah’s - Fever To Tell picture disc. The artwork is amazing and the album itself is a personal favourite. I like to collect The Cure as well, so they take up a fair whack of my shelf!

What are you guys doing for Record Store Day? Unknown Treasures are having an instore party for Record Store Day this year. We will have 15 per cent off all second hand stock, discounts on new LP, and $5 bargains. We will be playing our favourite LPs all day, special releases, loads of other stock for you to have a dig through, yummy treats to share and a raffle! We love RSD, it’s a chance for us to give something back to our customers and say thank you!

What’s the standout exclusive Record Store Day release this year?

I would love to get my mitts on a copy of the LCD Sound System The Long Goodbye box set. It’s the recording of their final show at Madison Square Garden, New York. A must have!

Junction Records

Unknown Treasures

APRA SONG OF THE YEAR SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED APRA AMCOS have announced the 20 contenders for the prestigious APRA Song Of The Year Award. The peer-voted award will be announced at the 2014 APRA Music Awards at Brisbane City Hall on Monday, June 23, and has attracted an eclectic and talented range of competitors: A Moat You Can Stand In by The Drones, Alive by Empire Of The Sun, Avenger by The Bamboos, Battleships by Bernard Fanning, Bayini by Gurrumul Yunupingu, Covered In Chrome by Violent Soho, Drop The Game by Flume and Chet Faker, God Fearing by Sarah Blasko And The Slavey Folklore Quartet, Harlequin Dream by Boy And Bear, Is This How You Feel by The Preatures, Jubilee Street by Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, Lanterns by Birds Of Tokyo, Only One by The John Butler Trio, Resolution by Matt Corby, Rip Tide by Vance Joy, Southern Sun by Boy And Bear, Steal The Light by The Cat Empire, Under Your Skin by Dan Sultan, We Are by Karnivool and We No Who U R by Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds. That’s a remarkably strong showing from WA talent. For further info, go to apra-amcos.com.au.

Karnivool

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Leederville $80 p/h. 0408 097 407 LONEWOLF PRODUCTIONS FREMANTLE Custom designed equipment for cutting edge recording. 24 track tape. Premium digital conversion and mixing. FB. Jay Sonics 0423 445 154 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 - BANDS! Great Productions! London Producer, awesome studio. Call Jerry on 0405 653 338 www.jerichomusic.com.au STUDIO ZED Digital Mastering, Demo’s, albums, Live tracking sessions special from $250 p/day. Studiozed.net. au Ph: 9207 2072

REHEARSAL STUDIOS AAA VHS REHEARSAL ROOMS Great facilities, great vibe & great price!!! Unit 5 /16 Peel Road, O’Connor. Phone 9418 5815 or 0413 732 885 BIGBEAT SOUND STUDIO Clean rooms, all new PA systems, air-con and good parking . Willetton Ph: 0425 698 117.

PLATINUM SOUND ROOMS Professional rehearsal rooms, airconditioned, quality PAs mob 0418 944 722 STREAM STUDIO’S 89 Stirling St, Perth. Mobile: 0403 152 009 info@streamrehearsal.com.au TUITION ***GUITAR LESSONS*** The Guitar Institute. Online bookings. Beg to prof, all styles. Catering to WAAPA and AMEB standards. All tutors have WWC clearance.

Cliff Lynton Guitar Institute. Mt Lawley 9342 3484 / www.clifflynton.com BASS GUITAR LESSONS AVAILABLE by WAAPA tutor.

A practicle approach to learning. .All styles.Years of experience. Tony Gibbs 9470 6131 ELECTRONIC MUSIC PRODUCTION LESSONS For those who may need help making a start and finding their way around Ableton Live. $50 per hr and may come to you.

Ph; Danny 0408 909 928 EXPERIENCED SINGING TEACHER available for all voice types. Proven results. Welcoming, relaxed environment.

0432 952 194 PERFORMANCE WORKSHOP FOR SINGERS Learn stage craft, mic technique and how to engage your audience.

Beginners welcome. www.singerssecret.com WWW. XP RE SS MAG.COM. AU

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