C l a i m Yo u t h A ll owa n c e o r Au s tu d y o n l i n e a t
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BIG DAY OUT
ORCHESTRATING AFROBEAT 9 10 13 14 16 18 19 20 21 22 24
News Reactions/Comp Thing Flesh Music: Mastodon/Rise Against Big Day Out Map + Playing Times Music: Passion Pit Music: Sasha Music: The Decemberists Music: Dizzee Rascal Music: The Horrors New Noise
Hailing from Brooklyn, the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra is an 11-piece outfit that traverses the genres of soul, funk and Latin. Known for their high energy live shows, the Orchestra has been playing together since 1998, and in that time, has cemented themselves a reputation for high energy music that gets dance floors pumping. On Monday, March 1, Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra will take to the stage of the Railway Hotel’s beergarden for Global Warming Hits Fremantle, a celebration of music on the Labour Day Holiday. Also on the bill are Tijuana Cartel, Sunshine Brothers, and Grace Barbe. Tickets are on sale now from Heatseeker, Mills, Planet and Star Surf.
What’s The Story?
Once again we find ourselves on the eve of Australia’s largest touring festival, the annual Big Day Out, and the excitement is palpable. Bringing in music fans, outdoor types and general party-goers from all walks of life; the Big Day Out is a summer institution Australia-wide – not to mention at its spiritual home of Claremont Showgrounds here in WA. So before you hit the grassy knolls and see all of your favourite bands, have a flick through this here Big Day Out issue of X-Press, and get yourself all amped up for the biggest day of the year. Have fun!
eye4
eye4 Cover: Contained eye4 News/ eye2eye eye4 Music: These New Puritans eye4 Movies: The Road eye4 Movies: Leaving/ eye4 Arts: Fuppet 32 eye4 Arts: Contained/ Happy As Larry 33 eye4 Arts Listings 34 eye4 Lifestyle 27 28 29 30 31
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Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra
BLOODY MASSIVE
Triphoppers will head in droves to Kings Park & Botanic Gardens on Friday, March 12, when the UK’s Massive Attack will take to the stage to share their soulful melodies and hazy beats with Perth fans. Hot on the heels of the release of their fifth studio album, Heligoland, on Friday, February 5, Massive Attack’s founding members will tour Australia in search of sonic perfection this March. Tickets for Massive Attack’s Perth show are available for pre-sale ’til Thursday, February 4, and those who purchase tickets before this date will be the first in the world to receive their copy of Heligoland. Bookings can be made through massiveattack.com.au or through Ticketmaster.
Salt The Rocky Horror Picture Show
37 Salt cover: Peaches 38 Salt News + Views 40 Salt Music: Peaches/Norman Jay/ 4 Strings 42 Salted: DJ Yoda/Salt Test Pad 44 Salt Club Manual 46 Live reviews: Camera Obscura/ Raggamuffin 48 Rock X-Tras 50 Tour Trails: Calvin Harris 51 Tour Trails 52 Gig Guide 54 Classifieds
ROCKY ON
Make your way to Movies By Burswood on Friday, February 19, for a midnight screening of cult classic, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Film fans planning to head along to this special 35th Anniversary screening are encouraged to dress up as their favourite Rocky Horror character, and prepare for a night of reckless abandon. Gates open at 11pm, bar closes at 12am. All funds raised from this screening will be donated to the Perth Inner City Youth Service.
I SCREAM, YOU SCREAM
X-Press Cover: Mastadon play at The Big Day Out on Sunday, January 31 at the Claremont Showgrounds. Salt Cover: Peaches plays at The Big Day Out on Sunday, January 31 at the Claremont Showgrounds; and Monday, February 1 at the Astor, Mt Lawley. Tickets to the Astor show on sale now through www.bocsticketing.com.au or on 94841133
Massive Attack
Australian rockers The Screaming Jets will hit the road in March in support of their most recent musical offering, Do Ya. These masters of Aussie rock will play four shows while in WA, kicking off at Margaret River’s Settlers Tavern on Thursday, March 18. The lads will then head up to Perth for gigs at The Civic Hotel on Friday, March 19; The Railway Hotel on Saturday, March 20; and at the High Road Hotel on Sunday, March 21. Tickets are on sale now from Heatseeker.
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GRAND FINAL WOLVES AT THE DOOR THE VEESCARS HAYLEY BETH MINUTE 36 GOODNIGHT TIGER
$8 ENTRY IN THE MAIN ROOM FROM 8PM
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with the spitfires, applebite beggars on acid + the smiling assassins $8 entry 8pm start
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6student SHFLDO)LOWHU night dj shannon fox free in the beer garden live inside The Love Junkies, Milknurse, The Strobes and Gloria from 8pm
MON badabingo TUES quizmeisters THUR karaoke rosemounthotel.com.au cnr angove and fitzgerald st, north perth www.xpressmag.com.au
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Got a Reaction? Email: editor@xpressmag.com.au
HOW MUCH CAN A KOALA BARE?
MELLOW YELLOW
Yours Faithfully, Raymond Woeks
Dear Editor, When people must killa kangy could they please make a neat job of it and give it their best shot. A week or so back I was appalled to hear of a baby Joey whose ears were amputated. How’s this poor creature of habit going to look in a monastery garden, My Kettleby, for its serial breakfast? And just who does the perpetrator of the dastardly deed think he is? Chopper Reid or Vincent Van Gogh the third on some starry, starry night? Perhaps the culprit should be inflicted with a similar penalty on the basis of an ear for an ear, and therefore no ear for music. Occasionally some other imbeciles having holidays at Rottnest see fit to employ numbers of poor quokkas as cricket balls. I would give them cricket balls of a type they could hardly imagine! Whether an individual is more inclined to believe in the ongoing process of evolution or the closed processions of a God, it is obvious that we are all related Listen up guys, little furry creatures are our true and trusty friends, here to serve the supreme purpose of nature. No whacking furries, sure is my motto.
P.S. Please ask the bloke upstairs if I can have my rib back. It’s probably too late now, but I think Abi Rose should change her name to ‘Abbey Rhodes’ before releasing her EP or heading off to Pommiland. ‘What’s in a name?’ you ask? A good name is worth millions and determines how far your train will take you. Tell Abi Rose I said to beep herself on the right track.
GOOD ONYA! Dear X-Press,
Editorial
9213 2888
Managing Editor
JulianTompkin [from 8/2/10]
Dear X-Press,
Local Music Editor
A few weeks ago a mountain of Yellow Pages appeared at the letterbox out the front of the block of flats I live in. Since then, only one or two residents have bothered to take their designated copy into their flats, which leaves me wondering why Yellow Pages even bother – surely looking up businesses on the web is much more environmentally sustainable than printing hundreds of thousands of copies of their directory? I get that some older citizens aren’t net savvy and therefore rely on the Yellow Pages to tell them where to get their dog’s coat shampooed but it seems the majority of Australia’s population does not need a copy of the Yellow Pages because all that information and more, is available on the net. Wake up people, it’s 2010 – stop wasting paper! Perhaps Yellow Pages should implement a system whereby they ask residents whether or not they want a copy, before dumping masses of their yellow offerings in and around mail boxes.
Dance Editor
Mike Wafer
I t was great to hear that the Australia Day festivities on the Perth foreshore this year were less violent than usual and that fewer arrests were made. While there are still many great things about Australia Day and lots to celebrate, it seems to have increasingly become a focus for the uglier side of our country – binge drinking, antisocial behaviour, yobo-ism and over-the-top nationalism etc. Hopefully this year can be a turning point, and we can all start to take a more Net Nanny laid-back, less violent, inclusive and, dare-I- North Perth say-it, appropriately Australian, approach to the day in the future.
Danielle Marsland
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RZA
Muse
BIG DAY OUT
Get ready guys ’cause we have a wicked prize pack coming up! Sold out since November last year Big Day Out is sure to live up to its name this year with a wicked line up featuring Muse, Powderfinger, Lilly Allen and The Temper Trap just to name a few! Tickets are going to be hard to get, but for 10 lucky people, we have a Big Day Out ticket up for grabs. To get your hands on one of these hot little tickets let us know in 100 words or less why you deserve a chance to get some BDO action. First prize draw also receives a CD prize pack including Jet, Dizzee Rascal and The Temper Trap. Get in quick!
THU JAN 28 8PM
KING BROWN RECORDS PRESENTS
DIVERSE, COMPLETE, VERDIKT, SMILEY AND WOLVERINE MON FEB 1 8PM
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WIDE OPEN MIC JUSTIN WALSHE 0408 755 233
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THE ROAD
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Ace Frehley comes to Perth, to kick off his Australian tour. We have a double pass to catch him live on Monday, February 1, at Metropolis Fremantle.
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Deadlines EDITORIAL
HAPPY HERB SHOP
The Happy Herb Shop offers age-old herbal remedies, powerful health-boosting super foods, and safe legal alternatives to recreational drugs. Happy High Herbs promote herbs that bring happiness, bring wellness and fulfilment. The Happy Herb Shop is located at Shop 6/20 Elder Place in Fremantle; to receive $100 of Happy Herb Shop product tell us in 100 words or less let us know how The Happy Herb Shop has enhanced you happiness, health, horniness, or party and festival experience. Get you entries in before Tuesday, February 2, for your chance at this wicked prize pack!
Frances Tuohey
The RZA, while best known as the founder, producer, and mastermind behind the Wu-Tang Clan, has built one of the most diverse and successful careers of any contemporary cultural figure - as a musician, as a composer of film scores, as a producer, as an actor, as a businessman, as a player and advocate of chess, and as the author of The Wu-Tang Manual and the forthcoming The Tao of Wu. We have two double passes to catch RZA at Villa on Wednesday, February 10.
ACE FREHLEY Lily Allen
Classifieds Linage
Production
The Road, directed by John Hillcoat is a postapocalyptic tale describing a journey taken by a father and his young son over a period of several months across a landscape blasted years before by an unnamed cataclysm that destroyed civilization and, seemingly, most life on earth. The Road stars Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce and Robert Duvall and we have five in season passes plus five copies of the soundtrack to give away!
Powderfinger
Ashley Birkin
General Arts Comp’ Thing Clubber’s Guide X-tras Gig Guide
Friday 5pm Monday 10am Monday Noon Monday 5pm Monday Noon Monday 5pm
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The Happy Herb Shop in Fremantle
FRI JAN 29 8PM
DILIP & THE DAVS BLOW, EVA MCGOWAN BAND AND NUGGET
TUES FEB 2 8PM
A BEGGARS SECOND, ECHOES OF DJANGO, SETH LOWE AND MITCH BECKER
Advertisers and/or their agents by lodging an advertisment shall indemnify the publisher, and its agents, against all liability claims or proceedings whatsoever arising from the publication. Advertisers and/or their representatives indemnify the publisher in relation to defamation,slander,breach of copyright, infringement of trademarks of name of publication titles,unfair competition or trade practices, royalties or violation of rights or privacy and warrant that the material complies with revelant laws and regulations and that its publication will not give rise to any rights against or liabilities in the publisher, its servants or agents. Any material supplied to X-Press is at the contributor’s risk.
SAT JAN 30 8PM
THE KILL DEVIL HILLS THE FAGS, THE LOVE JUNKIES + THE MOONLIGHT WRANGLERS
SUN JAN 31 6PM
7KH %LJ 'D\ ,Q ZLWK
THE VEESCARS
THE MORNING NIGHT AND THE JOE KINGS WED FEB 3 8PM
)UHR %OXHV 5RRWV &OXE
MARTINE LOCKE EVA MCGOWAN BAND AND KIM MACDONALD
COMING SOON FREMANTLE RECORDS FEB 4 / FISHY STYLE BOB MARLEY BIRTHDAY / FEB 5 / THE STABS (VIC) FEB 6 / PRIORITY ONE EP LAUNCH FEB 11 / HUSSLE HUSSLE FEB 12 / AFRODISIA FEB 13 / DOME SUNSET FEB 14 / ATLAS MOUNTAINS FEB 18 / HUSSY HICKS FEB 19 / SETH SENTRY FEB 21
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Ross Wilson
READY FOR ROSS
Af ter 45 years in the music business, and more recently, two sold out solo career retrospective concerts, Ross Wilson kicks off a national tour this February. The show will include all the Daddy Cool and Mondo Rock favourites, as well as his solo classics, and works written for other singers, such as John Farham and Jimmy Barnes. Wilson plays on Thursday, February 4 at The Old Bailey Tavern; Friday February 5, at The Civic Hotel, Saturday February 6 at The Railway Hotel. Doors open 8pm at each venue, tickets through www.heatseeker.com.au or the venue. Wilson also plays on Sunday, February 8 on the Busselton Foreshore for the Be Active Busselton Jetty Swim. Free from 1pm.
HANDS ON
John Butler Trio Wolves At The Door
BANDING TOGETHER
The devastation in Haiti has affected us all - a group of local bands and artists are coming together in a performance to raise funds for the Haiti Earthquake Appeal. Do your bit and head along to the Railway Hotel on Saturday, February 13, to catch The Brow Horn Orchestra, Miche Suite, Mo Wilson Duo, Control-Control, Wolves At The Door and DJ Smilow. There’ll also be an array of visual treats to enjoy, with the girls from Sugar Blue Burlesque performing, as well as delicious food from Fremantle’s own tapas extraordinaire Stefan. Entry is $10, doors open 7pm.
GET PLANTING
Applications are now open for artists and art workers to receive a wide range of funding as part of The Seed Arts Grant Fund. Established by local legend John Butler and his wife Danielle Caruana, and previously known as The JB Seed, the funding initiative has been re-branded in its sixth year to reflect the fact that a wide range of movers and shakers in the Australian music community are now contributing to the fund, and in doing so, have made the fund their own. A new website has been created to reflect the re-launch of the initiative at www.theseedfund. org which includes information about funding categories and opportunities such Art For The Public (for visual artists), The Management Workshop Initiative (for managers) and The Seed And Skinnyfish Indigenous Community Initiative (for performers in indigenous communities). Applications close March 15.
THE NIGHT BEFORE
RETRO ROOF RAISERS
Kicking off at the Capitol this week is a brand new night guaranteed to keep you burning up the floor ’til the wee hours. Capitol Fridays Retro Mash will feature some of the best music from the ’80s, ’90s and beyond, with ‘80s sensations Oats Supply playing all the hits you love. DJ Matty J keeps the party going with 100 per cent pop power. The action starts this Friday, January 29. Free entry before 11pm; $10 thereafter.
KEEP GIVING
Warm up for the Big Day Out, or quell your ticketless angst, with a fine lineup of local talent at the Rosemount for The Big Night Before on Saturday, Januar y 30. H a r l e q u i n League, The Chemist, Will Stoker And The Embers, Emperors and solo artist Tree will all be on hand to whet your festival appetite. Tickets $10 on the door.
Will Stoker And The Embers
RADIO RENEWAL
On Monday, February 1, community radio station RTRFM launches its 2010 program schedule, and it’s a cracker! There’s an all new show called All Things Queer, on Mondays at 10pm, focusing on diversity in sexuality and gender. The program will feature interviews, stories and music from a queer perspective. Popular weekend afternoon program Saturday Rewind has been revamped as Replay. Tune in each Saturday from 4pm to hear some interviews out of archives and the highlights of the past week on RTRFM. There’s also been a few changes to show times: look out for the new flyers hitting the streets soon that outline when all your favourite programs are on. Adam Harvey www.xpressmag.com.au
If you’re looking for some fun in the sun that’s a bit out of the ordinary this summer, then Handball West’s beach handball competition may be for you. Held at Scarborough Beach on Saturday, January 30, teams of four will battle it out in a free event at the Scarborough Beach Amphitheatre from 8:30am. Beach handball is a unique sport which mixes elements of basketball and soccer. A six meter line is drawn around soccer-like goals, with competitors required to throw the ball past a goalkeeper. Some contact is allowed and referees can award points for extra creative goals. The competition will be the last before Handball West sends its state team to Adelaide for the National Championships on February 7 and 8. Anyone interested in playing beach handball can contact r.petersen@ handballwest.org.au. More information at www.handballwest.org.au.
One month on from the bushfires that devastated the Toodyay community, the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank’s Toodyay Bushfire Appeal has raised $300,000 to help locals affected by the blaze. The appeal was tipped over the $300,000 mark thanks to a $10,000 donation from Edith Cowan University. An extra $1,300 was also raised by members of the crowd at this year’s Hopman Cup. The Perth music community are also busy helping the cause with a bushfire benefit to be played at The Civic Hotel in Inglewood on Saturday, February 6. The gig will include performances from rockers Baby Jane, Blackwater Station, Gasoline Inc and The Bronze. The Hope From Ashes benefit concert, featuring a huge line up of quality acts, is also taking place at Toodyay Town Oval on Saturday, January 30. Adam Harvey, Angry Anderson and friends, Matt Taylor and band, The Novocaines, Rick Steele and Suze DeMarchi (of Baby Animals fame) are but some of the artists who will appear at this mammoth benefit concert. Tickets for Hope From Ashes are available at city, metro and Wheatbelt Bendigo Bank Branches, www.moshtix. com.au or at the gate. Adults $35, children 4-15 $10, concession $28, family $85 (two adults and two kids) and under 4 years-old free. Gates open 11am. More information at www.hopefromashes.com.au. 13
MASTODON Skye’s The Limit
To release a concept album that concerns itself with telling the tale of a paraplegic boy who learns astral travel and engages in a telepathic journey into space, burns off his metaphorical umbilical cord by flying too close to the sun,is sucked into a wormhole and transported to Rasputin’s body, well, it takes balls. No one, however, will ever accuse Mastodon for not possessing the necessary cajones to tackle such a complicated theme and lash it to some of the most bone jarringly-kickarse prog-metal in existence, as they achieve on last year’s opus Crack The Skye. But that’s what Mastodon do – in their 10-plus years together, they’ve taken traditional metal and fucked around with it to the point that it barely resembles what people normally associate with the term. In turn, this has seen them embraced by a wider audience than most metal bands – hell, even skinny, whiney little cardigan-wearing indie-kids have taken them on board as the metal band du jour. While pacing backstage while on their recent US tour, prior to heading our way for Big Day Out, axeman Bill Kelliher is adamant, however, that being on talk shows like the Late Show with David Letterman or Late Night with Jimmy Fallon doesn’t mean the band will change tack.
By JAYMZ CLEMENTS Bill, you’re in the middle of touring Crack The Skye, how’s the feeling in the band now –the album’s been out for a while now – are you guys still enjoying it and each other? Yeah, this is the biggest co-headlining US tour we’ve ever done, and we’re lucky enough to be able to afford a bus to ourselves.
It’s just nicer – quieter, a bit more space. We’re enjoying it immensely. Man, I’ve noticed that part of the tour has also seen you guys on a couple of, gulp, talkshows!? I never thought we’d see Mastodon on a talkshow… I know – it’s strange. We did Jimmy Fallon, but we had to be there at like nine in the morning, which is not rock’n’roll… nobody wants to scream and sing and thrash around at 9am. Doing David Letterman though – I mean, he’s an icon. We were so nervous, because it’s like four million people watching at any given time… and Conan was cool. But it’s just nice to be recognised to be able to do stuff like that as a crossover, because we’re not a band that are a pop band or even on the radio… so to be on a television show, it must mean that somebody cares. Someone is saying ‘hey, there’s a demographic for this band, and people obviously want to see them… get them on the show’. So, I guess it makes us feel good in that regard.
going to continue to write because that’s all we can do’. When Brent got fully better, he’d been spending a lot of time lying low and playing acoustic guitar and just recovering… and I think that’s where the deep riffs and emotions came from for Crack The Skye. I think it brought us all together closer as band; you know – like ‘we’re all in this together, let’s try not to get hurt anymore; this is our life’.
It’s strange to see that you progress from the brutal, gritty metal band of Remission to a band that can play Letterman… It’s been a crazy journey, that’s for sure. It’s been an organically grown, one-step-at-a-time thing as well… there’s been no big jump in the graph, it’s been a slow climb to where we are today and I think people understand that. No one goes around saying ‘oh, Mastodon, they got everything fucking handed to them on a silver platter’, it’s taken a lot of work, it’s taken 10 years of our lives to get where we are. It’s a slow road, but it’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock’n’roll.
Well, the step musically from Blood Mountain (2006) to Crack The Skye was certainly noticeable – how does that transition happen? We had more time to focus on it – we had no deadline – so we said ‘we’re going to take our time and write the record we’ve always wanted to write’. We’re not going to have a record company tell us ‘oh, you’ve got two months off tour and you have to write and record a record in that two months’ – it’s like ‘fuck that, no. We’re going to take our time and do it the right way’. We started recording songs and rearranging them in all different sorts of ways, trying to think of the craziest shit we could imagine, in whatever order With a bit of retrospect, do you think having we wanted and then cut out the fat – just like we Brent laid up (singer/guitarist Brent Hinds always do, but even more under a microscope. suffered severe head injuries and brain haemorrhaging after an altercation after the How do you tie and link the thematics and MTV VMAs in 2007), the mystery about what concepts when you’re piecing it all together would happen to him and the indecision – especially considering the complicated that must’ve surrounded the band, did that concepts behind Crack The Skye? help solidify the idea of Mastodon, or your It just seems to happen like that. It’s commitment to it? It seems that since then mostly Brann as the genius behind the lyrics; he’s you’ve not taken a step back at all… very into story-telling through the lyrics. I think We didn’t really know what to do when we’re getting better at doing it on each record. he got banged up… we were just like ‘hey, we’re The whole concept Brann came up with and sent it
Mastodon out to us, like the composition of every song, every lyric and idea – like a rough outline for it – and I was completely blown away by it, like ‘wow, that’s a great idea’. Because he’d gone to Russia and it really struck him as something we could work with in Mastodon with lyrics and visuals. Because it’s all creepy, weird un-explained shit, and we’re all about mythical beings, creatures and strange forces… and heavy music tying in, so it fit.
The idea that Mastodon reach beyond that typical metal audience – which has confused me a bit since Leviathan… it’s very strange I think there’s just an honesty to it, and you can see our roots – we were them on our chest or sleeves or whatever. A lot of stuff is wrapped up in there – there’s proggy stuff, heavy stuff, singing, screaming, pretty moments, fury, angst – real feelings going on. I guess people respond to that. You’re back out here for Big Day Out – a tour where you guys will finally gets some days off – how’s coming back to Australia strike your fancy? Honestly, I really fancy Australia; it’s a really cool place, man. I feel more at home there than, I do in, like, the UK – not to put down the UK and the Brits or anything – but I can relate to people there, people are cool in general. I really enjoyed it last time, I didn’t really get a chance to see enough last time and it’s really beautiful – so with these extra days we’ll get out and see a bit more. It’s pretty damn cool – I’m looking forward to those Big Day Out shows and those days off as well – can’t wait to hit a beach or two.
RISE AGAINST For The Fans This is one for the fans: On the first of December 2009 Chicago melodic-hardcore band Rise Against released a second film clip for their song Saviour. DAN WATTS reports.
R i s e A g a i n s t vo c a l i s t a n d g u i t a r i s t Tim McIlrath is happy to explain the motivation for the bizarre move for releasing two film clips for the same song, saying, “when we looked back at the storyline stuff (footage) and then the live stuff of us just going nuts with our instruments, we realised there was enough footage for and that we wanted to do two clips,” he reasons. Saviour is the third single from 2008’s Appeal To Reason. The first film-clip and the original idea for the song was
directed and produced by Kevin Kerslake who had previously done a Rise Against clip for Re-Education Through Labour – the first single from Appeal To Reason. That clip consisted of actors in animal suits in similar urban situations to that of homeless people, interspersed with cuts of the band playing a carpark at night with the same ‘animals’ moshing. McIlrath explains why the band went with a duplicate, noting, “That carpark footage seemed to, for the first time, capture the live energy of our live performance. I mean,” he qualifies, “getting up in front two or three thousand people is totally different to looking into a bunch of cameras.” He then explains the difference in Saviour’s case, “We’d been stuck in this trailer for like five hours and once we got the opportunity to get out there and fuck some shit up it really felt like there was no camera!” This galvanisation and channelling of raw emotion is the touchstone of Rise Against’s appeal and one of the reasons
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t h e y h ave b e co m e o n e o f t h e wo r l d ’s most successful modern punk bands with Appeal To Reason going multi-platinum on record sales in the ‘States and achieving ‘gold’ status in other countries, including Australia. McIlrath talks about what it’s like having such success but remaining true to the punk ethos of the Chicago scene they sprung from, saying, “It’s an amazing thing to be able to tap into such a large audience. I’m a child of music and it has helped me through so many things to be able to give back by inspiring young people to stand up and say ‘yeah I have a voice too’ is an amazing thing.” McIlrath then explains how he gauges the band’s success, especially in the face of such an uncompromising punk ethos, noting, “It’s hard to have perspective because we’re in the eye of the hurricane. You know you can think, ‘why me, why us?’” McIlrath’s voice hovers, before he goes on to explain why Rise Against success has lead to him feeling what he describes as ‘survivor guilt’. “ We have seen so many bands, good bands that we grew up around us in the Chicago punk scene, that have fallen. But we’ve realised that it’s not so much about us, as it’s about the fans who have elected us represent their music and their ideas.” It sounds like pretty self righteous stuff, but when asked about what he means by Rise Against representing the fan’s ideas McIlrath replies, explaining how fans drop into the band’s website to tell McIlrath and other members Joe Principe, Brandon Barnes and Zach Blair about the fans’ activism. The passion in McIlrath’s voice heightens as he sets out what’s been happening, “Fans contact us on website to tell us about their different community projects and their political activism all the time – I mean it might sound like crap, but just while we’ve been having this conversation there’s probably been five or six new posts,” smiles McIlrath. He also explains that the original inspiration point for him writing a song is often lifted or enhanced by those same fans interpretations. “It’s amazing to see the different things what they get out of them. You set out to write songs about how you feel about something but then it gets this totally different but really amazing reaction from someone else!”
There are many out there in the broader music community that are critical of Rise Against’s deeply political stance, with the band being vocal advocates for PETA (global animal protection) and in particular their very public support for President Obama in his 2008 presidential election campaign. McIlrath, in his typically emotionally philanthropic way, explains the haters, noting that, “I think that it is important to have critics. I think it’s important to keep people’s feet to the fire and asking the hard questions. We exist to be challenged.” He pauses and good-naturedly mutters something to himself, potentially to muster his next response to criticism of the band’s political bent. “People who call us out on something are just as important as people like us who are taking a stance. We screw things up, we overlook things and we learn from that,” he points out. “I mean you gotta remember there’s probably more people out there who dislike your band than like your band. A certain type of person identifies with Rise Against and my focus is on them; I’m not miffed when some says ‘hey, I don’t like Rise Against’.” McIlrath then succinctly – and with a touch of poetic grandeur – captures exactly what he is trying to say, pointing out that, “I feel like when we walk out on stage in front of 3,000 kids that identify with what’s going on, that its like a private party that everyone was invited to.” As for Rise Against putting their support publicly behind President Obama in his 2008 election campaign, McIlrath is now pressed on the fact that, while removing some troops from Iraq, Obama is actually sending more soldiers to Afghanistan. For the first time a tinge of flatness enters the Rise Against frontman’s voice, “It (the situation in Afghanistan) was especially disappointing for me because I’m am so anti-war. We hoped an official like this would make some serious changes but we, as Americans, are partly to blame for putting so much faith in this one person and government. I think a lot Americans have backed off putting pressure on government officials because they feel ‘I did my part I voted whatever’.” Well Aussie comrades, when Rise Against bring their next ‘private party’ their will be an opportunity for us to scream back the messages at Rise Against and let them know we’re still one group who hasn’t given up the fight. Hittin’ the town since 1985
BIG DAY OUT Are You Local? So you’re going to the Big Day Out to see your favourite bands from all over the world, but some of the best bands on the bill are ones from our very own town. Here’s a quick rundown of the local contingent… EMPERORS
Featuring members of Perth bands as varied as Kill Teen Angst and Genghis; Emperors have made a big splash in a short time, most recently taking out Triple J’s Unearthed competition. Plenty of indie and plenty of rock make Emperors a potent combo, as seen by their Dave Parkin-produced single Favourite Colours, which is already proving to be radio fodder nation-wide. Emperors perform from 11-11.40am on the Hot Produce Stage
KARNIVOOL
What can you say about ’vool that hasn’t already been said? With their most recently album going gold, and the band selling out tours faster than they can book ’em, Karnivool’s successes speak for themselves. And even if they don’t, any member of the band’s loyal-as-fuck fanbase will gladly fill you in. Expect big big things from this monster rock act. Karnivool perform from 12.30-1.15pm on the Orange Stage
ARTS MARTIAL
The Novocaines
Before they’d even played 10 shows, Arts Martial had won the Next Big Thing competition, been invited to play festivals such as In The Pines and, of course, the Big Day Out, so to say they’re up-and-coming would be an understatement. With their debut EP set to be launched at Amplifier Bar on Saturday, February 20, the Big Day Out will be your perfect introduction to this very promising new rock band. Arts Martial perform from 1-1.40pm on the Hot Produce Stage
ABBE MAY AND THE ROCKIN’ PNEUMONIA
The little lady with the huge voice, Abbe May is fast becoming known as one of the country’s most outstanding vocalists – and with a band as shit-hot as The Rockin’ Pneumonia behind her, the package is well and truly complete. Having toured and recorded almost relentlessly since forming, Abbe May And The Rockin’ Pneumonia are absolutely dynamite on stage, and are not to be missed. Abbe May And The Rockin’ Pneumonia perform from 5-5.45pm on the Hot Produce Stage
Tame Impala
Emperors
Arts Martial
THE CHEVELLES
The Chevelles are Perth rock royalty. One of Australia’s most internationally successful independent bands, noted by many rock historians as the country’s premier power-pop band; The Chevelles still sound and look as good now as they did back when they formed. In fact, they go even harder now than they did then. A truly classic Perth band that should be seen by all. The Chevelles perform from 7.45-8.30pm on the Hot Produce Stage
HUMAN EXTINCTION PROJECT
Featuring rock photographer extraordinaire, Denis Radacic, Human Extinction Project will bring some much-wanted heaviness to the local lineup of this year’s Big Day Out. Blending several different styles into one brutal ball of energy, Human Extinction Project are full-throttle from start to finish – and with an album due this year, they’ll have plenty of new tricks up their sleeve. Human Extinction Project perform from 11.45am-12.30pm on the Converse Essential Stage
THE NOVOCAINES
Starting off in the country may have been a slow burn for The Novocaines, but they’ve absolutely stormed the city this past five years, becoming one of the most recognisable names in homegrown rock. Slick, energetic and tighter than a Christian’s clacker, The Novocaines are a rock tour de force that make it look so easy. The Novocaines perform from 1-1.45pm on the Converse Essential Stage
TAME IMPALA
If you haven’t seen Tame Impala’s name around Perth much this year, that would be because the boys have been busy touring their arses off, building a monster-sized following along the way. One of the best Perth bands of the last decade bar none, Tame Impala have become a deserved national success. As soon as you see them perform, you will understand exactly why that is. Tame Impala perform from 2.15-3pm on the Converse Essential Stage
ESKIMO JOE
They might be the biggest band in the country, but Eskimo Joe are as proudly WA-made as they come. As phenomenally successful as they are phenomenally talented, Eskimo Joe are a true music success story, and one of the hottest tickets on this year’s Big Day Out. Eskimo Joe perform from 2.50-3.40pm on the Blue Stage
SUGAR ARMY
Sugar Army’s rise has been meteoric. With one of the most outstanding debut albums in WA music history, this unassuming bunch of chaps became kings of the Australian airwaves and stages in 2009, with more tours under their belt than a Vietnam veteran. Sugar Army perform from 11-11.45am on the Orange Stage www.xpressmag.com.au
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By now, you’ve probably been to a few Big Day Outs over the years, but in case this is your first (or you’re a slow learner) here are a few pointers to help make your day memorable for all the right reasons. First off, don’t forget to slip, slop, slap. Sure, that tan might look nice, but if you’ve seen those ads on T V about how melanomas grow and multiply like a Mogwai under a sprinkler, you’d know that it’s better to play it safe and pasty. Secondly, don’t take drugs, weapons or any other kind of illegal stuff
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to the event. Aside from the fact that you could end up getting arrested for breaking the law, a kilo of weed and a machete are just going to be a pain in the arse to lug around all day. Unopened water bottles = good, unopened whiskey bottles = bad. Common sense stuff. Thirdly, make sure you have plenty
of cash on you. There are facilities on site, but it’s a far smarter bet to have everything you need on hand for the day’s food and beverages, merchandise and stalls. Fourth up – and this one should go without saying – don’t be a fuckhead. Everyone going to the Big Day Out wants to have a rad time, so be sure to respect
your fellow patrons as well as yourself. Good vibes always add up to a good day. And a good day out is exactly what the Big Day Out is designed to be. Last but not least, have fun. See some great bands, meet some great people, and enjoy yourself responsibly and respectfully.
Hittin’ the town since 1985
presents
BASEM ARMA ENT JA ND V XX AN HEL DEN G SALT-NOSSIP FRIEND-PEPA LY FIR BU
E ON SAL! NOW
ES STA RH YMES Z-TRIP NAUG K I D HTY BY CU NATURDI E P LU M GYM CHASE CLASS HERP DJS O & STAT US LIVES E DAVE S CRAZE EAMA N C ART VS HUCKIE SCIENC BASS K E SPIND LEPH SAM O ERELLA KILLAQBERNIK UEENZ Ho sted by
SLIMK
ID3
PLUS THESE LOCAL ACTS
DJs, Fdel (live), Hickey, Kit Pop, Mama Says Yes!, Marty McFly, Micah, Agent 86, Bad Weather, Ben Mac, Charlie Bucket, Death DiscoRekab, Samrai, Shazam, Signal Drivers, Steve Lind, Tenzin, Tim & Jean, m, Kingdo Soul the & Randa Mickey Juice, Mind Electric, Minx, Total Knowledge, Wax Motif
CLAREMONT SHOWGROUND SUNDAY 14 FEBRUARY For tickets and all details go to gvf.com.au
Moshtix Outlets: ALBANY: Wakes Music Centre; BENTLEY: The Spot @ Curtin; BICTON: Jumbo Entertainment; BROOME: Chunes of Broome; COMO: Galaxy Entertainment; DUNSBOROUGH: Evolution Surf; FREMANTLE: Mills Records; JOONDALUP: Idols & Icons; MORLEY: Trax Morley; MT LAWLEY: Planet; MUNDARING:Groove Music; NORTHBRIDGE: Red Stripe Clothing; PERTH CBD: Dirt Cheap CD's; SUBIACO: Rockeby Records; WEST PERTH: Dirt Cheap CD's West Perth. Retail Outlets: CAROUSEL: Live Clothing; CLAREMONT: Live Clothing; GARDEN CITY: Live Clothing; JOONDALUP: Live Clothing; KARRINYUP: Live Clothing; MORLEY: Live Clothing; PERTH: Live Clothing; PERTH: 78 Records; ROCKINGHAM: Live Clothing; WHITFORDS: Live Clothing 18+ only. Valid I.D. must be shown to gain entry. Public Transport to and from the event is highly recommended.
gvf.com.au www.xpressmag.com.au
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PASSION PIT Pit Perfect
Massachusetts electronic pop act Passion Pit play the Big Day Out at Claremont Showgrounds on Sunday, January 31. MITCH ALEXANDER speaks to frontman Michael Angelakos about music snobs and the curse of music blogs. An interview with Michael Angelakos is not unlike your first experience listening to a Passion Pit song. As the band’s architect and primary songwriter, this should come as little surprise. There are smiles, plenty of giggles and just a hint of self-aware modesty. Angelakos flitters through conversation topics – alternating between chuckling jocularity and sterness – in much the way that Little Secrets (the recent single from debut album Manners) can confront the listener with outrageously extravagant keyboards while espousing the joy of in-jokes and BFF secrets. But unlike your first experience hearing a Passion Pit song, I don’t expect you to read some waffling over-analysis from inanimate blog writer #44638 about how much better the interview was a few months ago, when no one knew about it. This article has now already taken a slightly vengeful turn and may be heading for blog-trashing territory, but I swear Michael (or Mikey as I clumsily called him within the first few seconds) broached the topic first. I was only happy to buy the bag of pellets and feed the wildlife. “It wasn’t like ‘let’s redo it or re-record it in any way, shape or form’,â€? Angelakos explains of Sleepyhead, the breakthrough song from Passion Pit’s 2008 EP that made it onto Manners. “There were a few little things that were wrong with it that we tweaked. But the funniest part is when you go online and people write ‘I like the earlier version better than the album version’. There’s very little difference – it’s the music snobs‌ and you realise how little people know, they just like to criticise.â€? At this point your reviewer became very quiet, aware that he has also been guilty of this misdeed on occasion. Okay, you’ve got me, that’s pretty much my modus operandi, but I draw the line at committing Angelakos’ other pet peeve, which is mourning the current state of music and pining for ‘the good old days’. You know - a time when the pursuit of musical nirvana was a noble profession, and everyone was nice to each other and record companies lived in fairy floss houses and elves made CDs from the eyelashes of dinosaurs. What both
Michael and I remark is that it is one thing to be nostalgic for the golden age, but the whole ‘music is dead’ argument wears thin after a decade or more. If music indeed died 10 or 20 years ago, it’s showing incredible resilience with its decomposition. “Everyone’s always like ‘oh this is the end of music, this is the worst era of music’‌ everyone says that every year,â€? Michael observes. “In the ’90s they were saying that! It’s just pop music, it’s the same shit that you were listening to three years ago or 10 years ago, it’s just pop! And we come, obviously, with a wave of bands – that’s how it works. One war movie does really well and then all of sudden there’s five war movies in theatres everywhere. I don’t necessarily think we sound like Hot Chip or MGMT, but I certainly think we came up that same way, so that’s comparable. “But ‘synth pop’ and everyone doing things on their computers and vocal correction and all other things that are ‘ruining music’, it’s just changing it. I just think people need to stop reading each other’s blogs. I guess that’s just the way music is; people treat them [bands] like t-shirts. They wear them, and when they get tired of them, they throw them away.â€? Aware that such conversations about internet rage can change from congenial to congenital in a few skint lines, we shift focus to something that both of us have just as little control over, and has served as an obligatory time-filler for centuries, spanning cultures, creeds and ages: how about that weather? “We’re currently in Seattle, Washington, it’s actually horrendously cold right now but I think we’ll thaw at some point,â€? he says with optimism. So will Passion Pit incorporate some group huddling or running around a room to facilitate the thawing process to ensure Angelakos can reach the high notes – at earlier stages in the band a wavering screech, now a more subdued disco falsetto – and put on a good show? “Passion Pit does many things that are unspeakable, so I’ll leave it at that,â€? he says with a sly chuckle. As a point of comparison, I complain to Michael about the currently-soaring
Passion Pit
temperature in Australia. “You bastard, I would die for that right now,� he says. “I’m used to the cold, but it’s really that dank cold that kills me. Especially when you’re on tour, you just get sick easily. We’re somehow circumventing the illnesses; we got the illnesses out of our systems before we
went back on tour. We’ve been looking forward to Australia, I think I’m just going to continually ingest some form of zinc for however many weeks until we get there, to fight off all the bad things. It seems like the stars have aligned, we’re very excited to go over to your neck of the woods.�
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St John Ambulance is here to help, not dob you in. 18
Big 3 3 3under 33the 3 3 Day Out is a MA15+ Event. No Person age of 315 will be admitted 3 3 3
REMEMBER, THERE IS NO SAFE LEVEL OF DRUG USE 3 3
Hittin’ the town since 1985
SASHA
Highly Involved
While the contemporary dance world is a fickle landscape constantly shifting with prevailing trends, Big Day Out artist Alexander Coe, aka Sasha, has remained a staple presence in the refracting milieu since his beginnings playing illegal parties around Manchester in the early 90s. CHRIS HONNERY reports. Renowned for his collaborations with John Digweed and his role mentoring BT, Sasha has been able to remain relevant not only because of his technical acumen but also for his proclivity to experiment and take risks. H av i n g e s t a b l i s h e d h i m s e l f a s a club favourite – dare I say, ‘superstar DJ’ - through the ’90s, Sasha’s versatility was evidenced on his debut studio album Airdrawndagger in 2002, a landmark release that polarized fans with its atmospheric and often ambient mood. “It wasn’t really meant to be a club record,” Coe affirms, ostensibly reticent to discuss the release. “The record that was my benchmark at that time was Leftfield’s Leftism, I wanted to have that depth and longevity to it. There are a few club tracks on there - such as the James Holden collaboration - and a couple of broken-beat tracks, but it wasn’t really meant to be a club release.” Some fans may have despaired at the lack of obvious floorfillers on the LP, but more discerning listeners would have seen the album as a continuation of Sasha’s love of ethereal soundscapes. “I always gravitate to the atmospheric sounds even in my DJ sets,” he comments. “Most of my favourite records are like that, they capture you. The Burial record for example was one of those albums where you’re transported to another place.” Sasha has focused on remixing in the years following Airdrawndagger with his Involver compilations, which evolved as a reaction against the increasingly hackneyed prototype of the mix CD. “I signed a deal to do three mix compilations with Global Underground, and I did the Fundacion one and it just wasn’t a satisfying project for me,” he reflects. “The next time I approached the mix compilation I thought I had to do something different. We started off with a few re-edits and remixes and I thought, ‘why don’t we remix the whole record’, so it sort of came from there.” The result was Involver, followed recently by Invol2ver, which included reworks of Ladytron and M83 and was an almost song-based dance compilation. “That was the concept behind the Involver records,” Coe states. “The first one was more electronic but actually has a more eclectic sound. The second one has a much more coherent sound to it I think. I’m always surprised with the direction I end up taking. Sometimes I know exactly what I’m going to do but other times it’s a case of throwing sounds together and seeing what works. With the Ladytron mix off the last Involver record, I was convinced we were going to do a huge sounding mix to it, and it ended up being very minimal and weird – I didn’t expect it to go off in that direction to be honest.” While enthusiastic about the Involver series, Coe is non-committal in regards to the prospect of Involver 3. “They’re great projects to do and I’ve got a whole list of songs right now that I want to remix but I’m not sure. I’m going to go into the studio after Big Day Out in February so we’ll see.” Another Involver compilation does seem a more likely prospect than another studio album, with Coe looking back on the recording of Airdrawndagger as a harrowing experience. “I don’t know if I want to put myself through that process again,” he admits. “It’s a tough process and the emotional involvement is really draining. That record was received so differently, some people went crazy over it and a lot of people were like ‘what the fuck is this’ so it’s hard. It’s the time as well. With Airdrawndagger we were in the studio for nine months with no DJing, while I can do the remixes when I’m on the road.”
www.xpressmag.com.au
Having just completed a rework of Kasabian – “it almost sounds like the first cut off Involver 3” – Sasha is gearing up to join the Big Day Out circuit, where he will be premiering a new festival show. “ They came to us with a proper budget and we put it back into production,” he says. “I’m working with these guys from Montreal who do lighting installations for things like Cirque Du Soleil. Big Day Out will be the first time I’ve used it so it’s pretty exciting.”
Sasha
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THE DECEMBERISTS Pitch Perfect The exciting thing from a journalist’s perspective when interviewing John Moen, drummer with Oregon’s baroque pop/progressive rock darlings, The Decemberists, is that there are so many introductions to choose from. MIKE GEE elaborates, ahead of The Decemberists’ show at Big Day Out.
The Decemberists
Moen, you see, is one of those rarities: a man who has plied his trade principally by staying in one town for the last 23 years or so and working the local scene. That has taken him around the US and overseas with an impressive line up of bands and performers including Stephen Malkmus (of Pavement) and The Jicks, The Minus 5, Dharma Bums, Cavemanish Boys, Guided By Voices’ leader Robert Pollard’s latest band, Boston Spaceships, and Elliott Smith. Moen also records solo as the Perhapst, most recently with former Dharma
Bums bandmate Eric Lovre engineering. A self-titled album recorded in Malkmus’ house in Portland and Lovre’s basement studio in Salem, Oregon, was released in late 2008. Live he and Lovre are joined by The Decemberists’ Chris Funk and Jonathan Drews (Sunset Valley). The music is dreamy, sparkling, slightly Beatlesque pop. Moen is said to have ‘perfect pitch’ which raises one of several laughs during the interview with this affable 41-year-old. “You’d better ask anybody I play with about that,” he says. “I did read it and thought ‘who said that?’. I don’t think I’m
qualified to comment on whether I do or don’t. I don’t think I do though,” he says. A multi-instrumentalist - he also plays banjo, keyboards and the melodica - Moen got the gig with The Decemberists literally through word of mouth. “I’d been with Stephen [Malkmus] and The Jicks about six years and we were at a point where Stephen hadn’t decided on what was happening next so I was at a loose end. As a professional musician you need to keep working and a friend told me that he knew somebody who needed a drummer. He gave me their phone number. I called, auditioned, and got the job. I knew nothing about the band but that didn’t matter. As a musician, I think it’s important to be able to adapt to situations and I like new challenges.” The Decemberists’ most recent release, the extraordinary Hazards Of Love, a concept album that takes at its core an album from the British folk revival of the 1960s and both electrifies that sound while staying true to its intellec tual and - at times - musical roots, is a fabulous work that exceeds the band’s own earlier folk rock gem, The Crane Wife (2006). Band leader Colin Meloy’s grand vision crosses genres in a daring conceptual sweep that goes as far as embracing heavy metal thunder and even a touch of Jethro Tull-sounding English late 1960s prog. It tells the story of Margaret; her shape-shifting lover, William; his forest queen mother; and a cold-blooded rake, who recounts how he came to be living so easy and free in The Rake’s Song. Guests include Robyn Hitchcock, Rebecca Gates ( The Spinanes), Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Becky Stark (Lavender Diamond) and Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond). It’s a fair way from Malmus’ Jicks and their long winding guitar jams. “Yeah, we certainly don’t do a lot of that. I have a broad record collection though the Comedy Lounge presents
and Stephen also introduced me to a lot of music including, oddly enough, some from the British folk revival,” Moen says. “So I kind of got Colin’s ideas when he presented them to the band. I’m pretty adaptable. Colin comes up with the songs but I can always contribute, make suggestions, which may or may not be used. It’s a good working environment and he’s a pretty amazing musician. Certainly, doing a concept album, as you say, isn’t a first, but I think what we’ve done is quite original. Yes, we probably took a chance but I found it exciting, something t o t a l l y d i f fe r e n t t o a ny t h i n g I ’d d o n e before.” It is also part of a movement in the US and Canada to make challenging intelligent music that takes from several decades before and reinvents. Godspeed You! Black Emperor and all its offshoots (including Do Say Make Think), Fleet Foxes, Arcade Fire, Death Cab For Cutie, The Shins, Rufus Wainwright, Explosions In The Sky, and Sufjan Stevens to name just a few have all made music that succeeds and is all the better for it’s ability to draw on a vast wealth of influences and styles. In a way the classicism of rock, pop, folk, country and blues without pomp excess. Hazards Of Love has steel guitar and it has metal chords, it has strings and it has large atmospheres and gentle rippling streams. It is brave. But music needs people to be brave these days. “I like having my musical horizons broadened,” Moen says. “Hopefully, other people will find that exciting well.” The H a z a rd s O f Love t o p p e d a t 1 4 o n t h e Billboard 200, the best performing of all the band’s albums, so it seems likely that an audience for smart music with something to say is growing (well, maybe it is).
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the REGAL Theatre 8.00pm Sat Feb 20 www.englishirishscottish.com.au
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Hittin’ the town since 1985
DIZZEE RASCAL
No-One Puts Dizzee In The Corner LondonsongwriterandproducerDizzeeRascalisarenaissance man. His journey from the gritty housing projects to the heights of chart success is the stuff of music myth, and the 24 year old brings far more substance to conversation than his street-smart persona suggests. JAKE STONE gets the low down on Dizzee ahead of his set at Big Day Out.
An RBT could be on any corner. Every police vehicle is a booze bus.
Were you noticing that things were changing around you, in terms of the charts and popular culture? I watch the music channels and party. I see what people are dancing to, especially house music. As a kid I wasn’t into house music at all - I liked UK garage. But now that I’m older, I like it. And your lifestyle has changed. The violence in some of that music mustn’t be appealing to you anymore? Most definitely. I just want to make Dizzee Rascal people dance and feel good. In order to make Boy In Da Corner, you have to be in a certain place. And 2009’s Tongue ‘N Cheek saw Dizzee embrace that was being said, but it was powerful, well it’s not a good place. The reason why it crossed dance music to the tune of three UK #1 produced, and sounded massive. Before that, over is that it was the best indicator of what it was singles, and a massive year of international I liked Iron Maiden and Guns ‘N Roses and like to grow up in London at that time. It was the Metallica. I liked all the big bands, anyway. touring. voice of a generation, and that’s cool, but now I’m enjoying traveling the world and having fun. I’ll What was the first thing that made you think You’ve always used exciting producers, but always be able to make a violent track, that’s in me, people like Armand Van Helden and Calvin but I’m enjoying putting smiles on people’s faces. that music was for you? The necessity to do it. Before I was Harris are radically different to previous making my own stuff, when I was 13 or 14, I efforts. Why did you decide to work with And maybe it’s not healthy for you to try to them? played in a school band. recapture that feeling? Perhaps you aren’t that That music has always been around, guy after all? You said you’d felt kinship with Kurt Cobain, and I’ve always listened to Armand Van Helden Exactly. The thing about Boy In Da which is an odd reference for a kid from Bow, records. He’s an underground artist too; he’s just Corner is that there is a lot of vulnerability there. I worked his way up. He’s actually quite hip hop. understood what was going on, and it was shit. But London. I was into that before I was into hip I just wanted that massive sound, a big thing I made good out of it. I made music out of it. That sense of humor that was always there, it’s come hop. I don’t think I understood everything sonically.
out in this album. We see more of that in songs like Bonkers. That song is about fame, and thinking ‘what the fuck is going on?’ Sometimes it’s all so ridiculous, I just want to go back to sleep. Sometimes you go out and strangers come up to you. You can’t turn it off. People want to impress you, or the opposite. People really open up, and do mad shit in front of you. They don’t think of you as normal, no matter how normal you think you are being. Does it change the way you think of people as a species? I like this interview, man; you’re breaking it down like an anthropologist. You get to see people in a different light, doing mad shit. And I get to travel the world too. But I wonder if I get to know what people are really like, because they don’t react to me as a real guy. Are you still the guy who will punch you in the face if you talk shit? I hope it don’t get to that stage. You can say what you want behind my back, but if you’re face to face with me, you’re going to act right, I promise. It’s all about love, though. Love for your family, love for your girlfriend, love for what you do. Hate just drives things backward.
05.02.10 www.xpressmag.com.au
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THE HORRORS Save Faris
live stint to their collection book. Perhaps some more like the deadpan Splendour-related pearler Faris kindly shares with me. “I remember we were renting this beach house – a beach clubhouse – with these plastic tropical ornaments in Byron Bay,” he intones. “I had a parrot on my shoulder and we went into this hut and had a quiet cocktail. That sort of stuff you tend to remember.” The normally skinny, black-clad, eyeliner-wearing Horrors living it up calypso/ pirate-style. Gold. I can only hope Faris and co are able to match this one. They hope so too. But back to the music side of things. Produced by Portishead main-man and Horrors champion Geoff Barrow, Primary Colours captures the band growing up as well as being a drastically different proposition to Strange House’s neo-freakbeat / swamp rock sonic template and B-grade movie lyrical themes. A prime example of the band’s newfound confidence in tackling various musical styles, the album’s opening track Mirror’s Image features a serene synth intro before erupting into a metronomic post-punk assault reminiscent of This Nation’s Saving Grace-era Fall. Recalling
The Horrors
Former freak-rock revivalists The Horrors are bringing their ace new material to Australian stages for the Big Day Out.Singer Faris Badwan notes DENIS SEMCHENKO is excited – which is true.
here for the Big Day Out. “We did a European tour about three weeks ago and it rained every single day,” he moans, “but we played some pretty cool places, so it wasn’t so bad after all.” So (token question) are The Horrors excited about playing the BDO? Faris’ response is a classic droll counter-query: “Are you excited?” I am indeed. “Good. We are definitely excited, yeah,” he eases up. Having played their first Australian Sounding like he’s got a head cold during shows – including an appearance at Splendour the interview, Faris appears to be voicing In The Grass – back in 2007, the five-piece are the pallid collective’s wish to soak up more than guaranteed to add a number of some Antipodean sun when they arrive colourful anecdotes during their upcoming
“I REMEMBER WE WERE RENTING THIS BEACH HOUSE – A BEACH CLUBHOUSE – WITH THESE PLASTIC TROPICAL ORNAMENTS IN BYRON BAY. I HAD A PARROT ON MY SHOULDER AND WE WENT INTO THIS HUT AND HAD A QUIET COCKTAIL. THAT SORT OF STUFF YOU TEND TO REMEMBER.”
being taken by surprise when I first listened to the track over six months ago, I wonder whether anything or anyone in particular prompted the radical change in The Horrors’ sound. “I think it’s a development in our sound, really – I mean, with the first album, we were bringing our influences together for the first time, but on the second album we’ve approached things in a different way,” Faris claims. “We’ve used different pedals, different sounds… there’s more strength when we’re playing and writing together these days.” The work of a different band to that of Sheena, Primary Colours’ epic closing double – the brooding, ’80s Damned-recalling title track and the towering, krautrock-tinged leadoff single Sea Within A Sea – is The Horrors’ finest music to date. Faris, however, remains oblique when queried about the artists he and his bandmates were listening to before and during the recording of the album. “We basically met because we were music fans collecting records and DJing – that’s what inspired us to start writing in the first place, and a lot of the bands we were listening to at the time influenced the last album, but we got into lots more interesting bands before recording this one” he says. “Also, when we are recording, the drink is very important, as well as listening to all sorts of different songs.” Bottoms up to that. Despite Geoff Barrow’s credentials as the man who had helmed Portishead’s trio of albums and trademark murky, ever-so-slightly-sinister sonic approach, there’s nothing remotely trip hop on Primary Colours – but plenty of neo-shoegaze swirl and pristine sheen to the tracks, which clearly demonstrate The Horrors’ new, confident songwriting approach. “First of all, Geoff was great for us to work with because he didn’t try and put his stamp on everything,” Faris states. “We felt he was never really trying to change us – instead, he was really conflict-free and he was letting us experiment. It was great fun capturing what we’ve captured so far and we enjoyed the whole process; for us, it was something we weren’t told to do before – to take a step back and write and… enjoy, and that’s why the new album sounds like that.”
MUCHAS GRACIAS PERTH F OR A SOLD OUT SHOW, BUT REMEMBER…
WA POLICE AND EVENT SECURITY ARE TARGETING Juveniles who produce false ID to enter a licensed area Juveniles who produce fraudulent ID to enter a licensed area Anyone supplying alcohol to a juvenile Jumping a fence into a licensed area Street Drinking is an offence and you will receive an on the spot fine, a move on notice and will be denied entry to the event DO YOU WANT TO RISK A $2000 F INE? DO YOU WANT TO JEOPARDISE F UTURE JOB OR TRAVEL OPPORTUNITIES? BRING THE CORRECT F ORM OF ID IF YOU INTEND TO GAIN ENTRY INTO THE LICENSED AREAS Current Australian Drivers License Current Passport Western Australian Proof of Age Card There are no other forms of ID accepted under the Western Australian Liquor Control Act accepted as ID to gain entry into Licensed Areas Be organised and bring the right form of ID as refusal of entry is not meant to offend you!!
Big Day Out is a MA15+ Event. No Person under the age of 15 will be admitted
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Hittin’ the town since 1985
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SIBALANCE BEN ELLIOTT REKAB YLEM MISSILE PROXIMITY EFFECT VISHNU WITH MC PROPHECY AN RTRFM EVENT
BASS CHECK
THE CAVE SINGERS Welcome Joy Matador Remote Control
BON JOVI The Circle Island Universal There is some sort of irony that for decades Bon Jovi would have had to have been beating women off with a stick and yet these days his public are served up music so flaccid it would take a transfusion to bring any life to it. The Circle is the sound of four deluded blokes standing around harping on, despite their best days being well behind them. Tragic! _CHRIS HAVERCROFT
When punk rockers Pretty Girls Make Graves disbanded, Derek Fedesco joined up with fellow Seattle residents and took an almighty change in direction to reinvent himself as a folk rocker. The second album from his band The Cave Singers carries on where the debut left off, it’s just a hell of a lot slicker. Summer Windows has crisply picked guitars that wind around your head as Peter Quirk’s American drawl locks it in your cortex. Drums join the equation as a simple shuffle pushes Leap along like a light locomotive. These tunes are predominantly a sit-down affair as gentle guitars and earthy vocals are the order of the day. These roots rockers kneel proudly at the altar of Dylan throughout without becoming some kind of pastiche. Slight variations in sound come during the more pop flavoured I Don’t Mind and the ever so slightly more muscular At The Cut. Two albums in and The Cave Singers are still every bit the ‘one trick pony’. Lucky for them it isn’t a bad trick. _CHRIS HAVERCROFT
ANGELIQUE KIDJO Oyo Razor & Tie Shock Few voices are as beautiful and evocative as Benin’s Angelique Kidjo, and Oyo – a collection of covers from all parts of the globe, complete with guest vocalists - is another charmingly silky record to add to her collection. From African rhythms, to brass-laden Motown, to sweet-and-sultry love songs; Oyo shows how versatile a performer Kidjo really is, and teams her up with equally-talented names such as John Legend and Dianne Reeves. Kidjo’s deep West African influences permeate almost all of the covers she presents here, adding a nice splash of variety to songs you may already know, as well as maintaining a uniquely ‘Angelique Kidjo’ sound. Aretha Franklin and Curtis Mayfield wouldn’t be the easiest artists in the world to cover well, but Kidjo swims through Baby, I Love You and Move On Up like they were child’s play. The lesser-known songs, often sung in Kidjo’s native tongue, are the real highlights here though, and – as is the case with Kidjo’s records – Oyo is as much a music education as it is recreation. Wonderful stuff, as always, from one of the world’s most impressive vocalists. _MIKE WAFER
EELS End Times Vagrant Shock Performing under the moniker Eels, Mark Oliver Everett had a modicum of success in the mid’90s without kicking on into the big league. Since that time, Eels records have surfaced on a regular basis but appear to be preaching to the converted. Everett hasn’t looked to jump straight back onto mainstream radio with his latest album End Times. The album is a decidedly lo-fi affair, with parts being recorded on a four-track recorder. Eels are at their best when dealing with morose subject matter and with Everett’s divorce being the main inspiration there is plenty of fuel for the fire. There is plenty of room for more pessimism as Everett confronts his inevitable aging. A Line In The Dirt is textbook Eels. It’s hard not to connect to the sombre piano ballad with Everett’s croaky voice dripping with ache as his relationship falls around him. Eels have never minded mixing it up a bit and Gone Man has prominent shakers with fuzzed out guitar, while Nowadays returns to more familiar territory of an acoustic guitar lament. On the whole, End Times is about as scruffy as Everett’s ever expanding beard and as oddly attractive. _CHRIS HAVERCROFT
ONE THOUSAND YEARS Chateau De La Spaceman Independent
BASIA BULAT Heart Of My Own Rough Trade Remote Control
BAR OPEN SAT. 27 FEB (10PM-LATE) $10/$15 FROM RTRFM.COM.AU - MORE ON THE DOOR ON THE NIGHT. 18+ EVENT ID REQUIRED
Perhaps it’s that icy, mountainous and dramatic landscape, but for some reason Canada seems to be rather good at pumping out evocative, lavish and cinematic folk-pop. If Rufus Wainwright, Patrick Watson and Feist float your boat you may want to check out Basia Bulat. Bulat wrote Heart Of My Own, her second release on the prestigious Rough Trade label, whilst travelling through the Canadian prairies, the Nevada desert and the Smoky Mountains. It’s a cliché, but you can certainly feel some of the spacious, desolate vibe of these locales in Bulat’s writing. Final track If It Rains is an a acapella spiritual which is simply backed by the sound of Bulat’s shoes stamping on the floor boards of what sounds like a cavernous hall. It sounds wanky – but it works. Run is an album highlight. A breezy folk number pushed along by sleigh bells and autoharp, the track culminates with a huge children’s choir as Bulat delivers her uplifting vocal. Accomplished widescreen songwriting. _DAVID CRADDOCK
In spite of their going for a cool epic-rock angle, One Thousand Years aren’t quite bringing enough originality to the mix at this stage of the game, although Chateau De La Spaceman certainly spells out a lot of potential. Hitting the ’70s pretty hard – from the sci-fi glam of Bowie, to the powerhouse six-string assault of The Nuge, through to a touch of Skynyrd’s southern-rock – Chateau De La Spaceman is sourcing some awesome music, and the band have the chops to play it all convincingly… they just don’t manage to do so without merely sounding generic. That kind of stuff irons itself out as a band progresses and evolves, and this one has a fantastic starting point from which to grow minus a couple of glitches (track listing’s all fucked up, and the token slow song shouldn’t have even been recorded). A better, or at least less obvious, vocal delivery would be the first step One Thousand Years could take in improving their chances of success, as almost everything else is falling into place. The abundant use of cliché, however, still continues to hold them back. They’re getting there, though. _MIKE WAFER
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Hittin’ the town since 1985
Ben Harper and the ’Stones which floats along on a croon-y vocal melody reminiscent of Hendrix’s The Wind Cries Mary. The synths in the middle-eight feel a bit out of place but it’d be a great pub rocker live. Into The Light starts with an absolutely THE JOE KINGS gorgeous Gasoline Alley-esque acoustic intro Self-Titled as vocalist Jack Stirling embarks on almost Session Records six minutes of smooth, soulful vocals. With a MGM restrained, roomy solo from Phill Leggett this track is a highlight of the EP purely because the You can tell from their debut EP that local duo band resists the temptation to squeeze in all The Joe Kings have spent a hell of a lot of time of their favourite tricks and fastest licks, which listening to, and playing, the blues. Every spare tends to happen a bit on Gamblin Line. second of this release is filled in with a crunchy With Stirling’s classic voice and lick, soaring bend or squealing dive bomb. Leggett’s blistering chops already sorted, The The duo’s influences are clear all over Joe Kings can now pull back on their next the EP, but that’s the wonderfully liberating release and let their incredible natural talent thing about the genre, it’s built on borrowing, shine. adapting and paying homage to the legends of Pull back chaps! There’ll be plenty of the past whilst shaping a sound of your own. recording time to come. Opening track Calls In The Night has a chugging acoustic drive somewhere between _DAVID CRADOCK
ROGUE TRADERS Love Is A War
Fremantle Arts Centre’s
HOODOO GURUS Crackin’ Up
If we’re being honest, the only drawcard Rogue Traders had was soap-star-cum-vocalist Natalie Bassingthwaite… the band’s throwaway pop music having little for anyone outside of ‘celeb’ spotters and tween-age girls. So what are they like without her? Just as shit, musically, but it has to be said that new vocalist Mindi Jackson is a far superior singer to her predecessor. It also has to be said that this song (and its ‘re-created portion’ of Magazine’s Shot By Both Sides) is a monumental waste of her talent, your money, and pretty much everything else one could invest. Pop music doesn’t have to be shit, but as long as bands like this keep making shit pop music, people will continue to think that the two are synonymous.
What could you possibly tell an Australian readership about Hoodoo Gurus that would be even remotely informative? Probably fuck all… so let’s assume you all know who this band is, and what they have done. Now we’re up to speed, Crackin’ Up is the most rockin’ and passionate single Hoodoo Gurus have released in a helluva long time, if not ever. Yep, it’s a cracker… and a nice little slice of proof that pop music can, and should be, more than the lowest form of music. ’Cause when it’s like this, it’s one of the best. _MIKE WAFER
_MIKE WAFER
MUTANT CHRONICLES Magna Pacific There’s no accounting for how some movies are received. Sometimes a distributor will buy a film from the producer, decide they don’t have the money to market it (or that they money they put into marketing it probably won’t be returned) and cut their losses, dumping it in the minimum number of theatres needed to satisfy a contract and forgetting about it. That’s the only possible explanation for why Mutant Chronicles flopped so utterly in the US and showed up in Australia with no fanfare whatsoever on DVD despite being based on a successful video game and starring several big names. It’s the far future and the Earth is mired in a war for resources fought constantly between a handful of 1984-style megacorporations that control everything. But the fighting destabilises a huge disc somewhere in
the desert, and when it opens, mutant creatures with spears for arms crawl out, attacking people on a global scale and prompting a mass exodus of humanity to outer-space colonies. A religious order’s kept the secret of the coming mutant outbreak for centuries, and Brother Samuel (Hellboy’s Ron Perlman) knows very well the prophecy says one of them must remain on Earth to assemble a cadre of holy warriors to defeat the mutant menace. So he stays behind, putting together a team of killer-by-numbers heroes of every stripe to lead into battle, and for a movie of this genre they’re surprisingly fleshed out. Is the movie brilliant? Absolutely not, but it has some great flourishes of action, visuals, characterisation and mood, and it doesn’t pull punches when it comes to language, bloodshed or violence. Newbie feature director Simon Hunter uses a tiny budget ($22m) to great effect with lots of Lord Of The Rings-inspired miniatures made to look expansive and massive thanks to the camera wheeling and flying through them. From the First World War trench battle style of the introductory coda, to the extreme sci-fi of the rusty alien stronghold in the climax, he knows he’s making a silly popcorn movie, and he uses his camera and special effects to bolster it rather than use the script to wink knowingly at the audience. _DREW TURNEY
Sundays 2pm October - March bar open s fac.org.au
The Justin Walshe Folk Machine plus Divcraft Sunday 7 February
Seamie O’Dowd (IRE) Aminah Hughes Craig Sinclair Sunday 14 February
David Ross MacDonald (VIC) Sunday 21 February
Felicity Groom Sunday 28 February
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25
EMIRATES PRESENTS
Performing 80’s Hits …
I’m So Excited Jump (For My Love) Slow Hand He’s So Shy Automatic Neutron Dance Fire ... and many more
Sat 27 February Kings Park & Botanic Garden
The with the
Pointer Sisters
West Australian Symphony Orchestra BOOK NOW
WASO: 9326 0000 Groups 10+: 9326 0075 136 100 Licensed Event: No BYO Alcohol / Glass. Minors (under 18’s) must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. 26
waso.com.au Hittin’ the town since 1985
Gates Open 6.30pm. Film starts 8:00pm thru to 17 April 2010
www.moviesbyburswood.com
January
TUES 2
A SERIOUS MAN (M)
THUR 28 WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE (PG)
WED 3
THE INFORMANT (M)
FRI 29
SHERLOCK HOLMES (M)
THU 4
AWAY WE GO (MA)
FRI 29
MIDNIGHT SCREENING ZOMBIELAND (MA)
FRI 5
SAT 30
AVATAR (M)
FRI 5
DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE MORGANS (PG) MIDNIGHT SCREENING AVATAR (M)
SUN 31
MOON (M)
February MON 1 www.xpressmag.com.au
ZOMBIELAND (MA)
SAT 6
OLD DOGS (PG)
SUN 7
NOWHERE BOY (M) 27
NAIL TALE
Australian cosmetics company Kit has designed a new range of limited edition summer nail polishes that will only be available for purchase online during February. Each shade will be available for just one week only, kicking off with the mint green Poolside Party shade from Monday, February 1, ’til Sunday, February 7. Each week in February a new shade will be revealed, head to kitcosmetics.com to stay up to date.
The Polyphonic Spree
BINGO SPREE
Southern Comfort will bring the party atmosphere of a New Orleans Carnivale to Perth later this year for the spectacular Soco Carnivale Tour. Stopping off in Perth on Friday, February 26, at the Fremantle Arts Centre, the Carnivale will feature performances from the uniformed collective known as The Polyphonic Spree, and The New Orleans Bingo! Show. The evening is set to be a night of fancy dress, superb music and weird and wacky experiences. Tickets are on sale now from Heatseeker.
Harry Connick Junior
DEAD SET
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is inviting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to get on stage and give stand-up a burl in Deadly Funny. During January, February and March, comedians will head out to ATSI communities to hold free workshops to show would-be comedians the ropes, with heats then held to determine who will go through to the Grand Final in Melbourne on Saturday, April 10. To register your interest in taking part in Deadly Funny head online to deadlyfunny. com.au or call Jason Tamiru on (03) 9245 3700. Workshops will be held in Perth at Yirra Yaakin on Murray Street on Saturday, February 13; Saturday, February 20; Saturday, February 27; and Saturday, March 6, from 10.30am ’til 1.30pm. The WA final will be held at the Charles Hotel’s comedy lounge on Thursday, March 11.
ICONNICK
Musical crooner Harry Connick Junior may only be 43 years old, but he has somehow managed to release 25 albums thus far, with more than 25 million copies sold worldwide; quite a feat indeed! In addition to his fantastic sales record, Connick Junior has three Grammys and an Emmy to his name, proving that he has and always will be a top notch performer. This March, Connick Junior will pack his bags and head south for an Australian tour, bringing an orchestra along for the ride. Fans can catch Connick and his orchestra performing on Saturday, March 27, at the beautiful Kings Park and Botanic Gardens. Tickets go on sale this Friday, January 29, from Ticketmaster.
I SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM
Poolside Party by Kit
For many Australians a trip to the movies isn’t complete without the ice-cold crunch of a Choc Top, which is why Event Cinemas are offering one lucky movie goer the chance to win a year’s worth of ice cream. The big wigs at Event invite cinema goers to create their very own Choc Top, complete with flavours, toppings and ripples, at mychoctop.com. Just by entering, punters go into the draw to win a year’s worth of ice cream, which is sure to put a smile on the faces of children and adults alike. Entries close on Monday, April 5, 2010.
GRIN AND BARE IT Edith Cowan University’s Contemporary Fashion class of 2009 welcomed industry representatives, plus friends and family, to Bare on Saturday, January 23. Combining a runway show with an exhibition, Bare showcased the students’ graduating collections, demonstrating the skills they’ve mastered while studying. Congratulations to all the students, in particular Grace Macri who won the X-Press Fashion Graduate Award.
Design by Stephanie Rehnelt
Photographs by Songy Knox of StyleDiscovery. com.au
Design by Grace Macri
Design by Alysia Harvey
Design by Meghan Hosie
Design by Jessica Carlucci
BEAUTIFUL IN BLUE Theatre lovers flocked to the Playhouse Theatre on Saturday, January 23, to meet the McCrae sisters, the stars of The Sapphires. Set in 1969, The Sapphires follows the McCrae sisters as they travel from country Victoria to Vietnam to entertain the troops. Season runs ’til Tuesday, February 2, and bookings can be made through BOCS. Photographs by David Chong
Carmen & Stef
Joey & Anton 28
Diane, Madeline, Georgette
Michelle & Em
Chris & Ralene Hittin’ the town since 1985
THESE NEW PURITANS Bassooning Around Hotly tipped genre-bending UK act These New Puritans released their second album Hidden this month. It’s hard to work out whether genre bending, but generally art-rocking, UK band These New Puritans are slightly pretentious gits or a phenomenally talented outfit on their way to being ‘the’ act of 2010. The band’s second album, Hidden, begins with a rather serious, almost funereal, two minute arrangement for bassoon and other woodwind instruments. As the last elegant puff of reeds blows out, seven-minute tribal dance-hall epic We Want War smacks you around the ears like a kettle-drum wielding cavalry of post-punk cannibals chasing a grimy English hip hop posse. Listen closely to the album and you will also hear the sound of a melon with crackers attached to it being smashed to replicate a crushed human scull. No seriously. “A lot of bands do lo-fi and I think that’s too easy. I wanted to make something that was really high definition and quality sounding,” softly spoken frontman and songwriter Jack Barnett drawls down the line from the UK.“But at the same time I wanted it to have the pumping sound of hip hop or some kind of hyper-compressed pop.” Barnett’s grand sonic ambition has certainly been realised on Hidden. The young band melds post-punk, hip hop, dancehall, grime, tribal rhythms and commercial pop with such sheer ambition, pomp and lofty idealism that you can’t help but stand for a haughty ‘bravo’ as the disc stops spinning. Regardless of how pretentious their instrumentation and manifesto sounds on paper, the confident execution of These New Puritans’ gloriously pastiched sound leads you to think that they belong in the ‘it’ rather than ‘git’ tray. “They were just there because they were the only way I could imagine the music that I was writing,” Barnett says of the thirteen-piece brass and woodwind ensemble, six foot Japanese Taiko drums and other lavish embellishments on Hidden. “It’s not like they were an after thought, which is often the case. In terms of the way these things are usually recorded, they’re almost always the last thing that’s done, so people kind of graft the orchestral instrumentation on top of songs already. But for us it was one of the first things to be recorded, technically and artistically I couldn’t have done it any other way.” Although the dystopic, avant-garde racket made by These New Puritans may lead you to believe that they grew up fifty years ago in the basement of the Berliner Ensemble, the band are in fact four twenty year olds from Southend-OnSea, a seaside area about an hour and a half east of London. This locale has also produced fellow art rockers The Horrors. Barnett and his band mates were thrust from the seaside into the limelight when Dior Homme designer, and general tastemaker, Hedi Slimane asked them to score some music for his 2007 runway show. “I’m not sick of it, I think it was useful and it was just a good creative experience at the time,” Barnett says of his band often being mentioned in the same sentence as the enigmatic French designer. “It stretched us. We did a twenty-minute song and we would never have done anything like that. It makes people think we’re some kind of fashion band sometimes, which makes you think that there’s no substance to our music. That is particularly ridiculous because I’m the least fashionable person in the world. I don’t think you can make that mistake with this album.” The time and toil put into creating Hidden certainly makes accusing These New Puritans of being a bandwagon jumping haircut band rather hard. In order to score the eerie and intricate orchestral and woodwind parts that underpin the release, Barnett, a musician without any previous classical training, taught himself musical notation from scratch. “A couple of years ago I tried to learn the cello but I didn’t learn any notation I was just kind of playing it by ear,” he explains. “They’d play me a song and I’d try and play it back…so I had to learn it for this album. It was a combination of notation and sequencing. [I learnt] just from books and trial and error. I’d say the time in my life where I’ve learnt the most is doing the arranging for this. It was really ridiculously hard work but hopefully it’s worth it.” As well as eschewing the standard indie rock palette of guitar, drums and bass, Barnett says he is interested in continuing to explore the boundaries of non-traditional song structures in the future. With verse, chorus, verse structures few and far and between on Hidden, a tribal, almost primal, musical rhythm certainly pervades Barnett’s writing. “I think so many people are doing guitar music that I don’t really know what I could add to that,” he suggests. “So I can add something more worthwhile with the kind of music we’re doing. We’ve never really been much of a guitar band…I can’t really write songs in a verse chorus style. I don’t know why, I’ve always been rubbish at it. I think I probably won’t try it again. There are so many different things you can do with music structures that aren’t verse, chorus, verse. If you’re not trying to purely make as much money as possible with chart music then I don’t know why people don’t try different structures. I really like convoluted structures.”
These New Puritans
We deliver 28 Oct 2009 Transforming Trade Training wins Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Developing the Economy category.
19 Nov 2009 20 year-old Blake McCarthy named Australian Apprentice of the Year.
25 Nov 2009 Swan TAFE becomes Polytechnic West, heralding the start of an exciting new page in the delivery of vocational education and training in Western Australia.
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Whatever direction you have set your future to take, make sure your first step brings you to Polytechnic West. A world of exciting possibilities awaits. GOVERNMENT OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA
_DAVID CRADDOCK www.xpressmag.com.au
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ETHAN
HAWKE
WILLEM
CLAUDIA
DAFOE
KARVAN
ISABEL
LUCAS
AND
SAM
NEILL
ONLY AT THE MOVIES
Strong horror violence, Blood and gore
FEBRUARY 4
THE ROAD Long And Winding
The Road I imagine I’ve put a few people off Directed by John Hillcoat Starring Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, seeing the film – that’s not my intention. In fact, I’d recommend the film to anyone that loves a good Robert Duvall, Guy Pearce movie. Having said that, it’s not something for the We know not to drink cola after brushing our occasional cinemagoer. It’s a film for those who teeth. It leaves an unwelcome taste and almost a can appreciate the art in its purest form – without burning sensation in the mouth. The toothpaste having to walk out beaming from ear to ear, and is so overpowering you can’t enjoy the beverage. without having to sit through something that feels It’s not a terrible taste - in fact, some may see it as familiar. The performances (Mortensen and a refreshing taste; not to mention, a reminder that they’ve just done something good for themselves. Smit-McPhee are amazing; the latter especially But it definitely isn’t a taste you’d like to acquaint affecting) are award-worthy, the production values yourself with very often - it’s way too strong for are top-notch (Hillcoat has done an amazing job of creating a post-apocalyptic landscape without anyone’s liking. going to over-the-top), and the direction is John Hillcoat’s The Road, based on the appreciably raw and well-thought. rather gloomy Cormack McCarthy (No Country For The major complaint for fans of the Old Men) novel of the same name, leaves a similar book is the difficulty in relating to the characters; taste in your mouth. Though refreshingly different, well not entirely, but for the most part. For some and quite a stellar production, you’ll definitely need reason, the characters just don’t play as real here a tall glass of water afterwards. as they did in McCormack’s novel. That’s saying To say the film is depressing is an that Peter Jackson’s film version of The Lovely Bones understatement. This thing is so downright also suffered from, playing too much like scienceaffecting, it’ll have Riggs doing double time as he fiction, and not enough like a story from ‘our world’ lowers forlorn fellows from rooftops. – though this isn’t anywhere near as disappointing There’s not a smile to be had here. Nor a as that adaptation. For the most part, Joe Penhall’s laugh. Nor anything very uplifting. Heck, even the screenplay works here. ending is – mostly - a downer. The story here is as It’s like this - if you go to the movies to severe as pancreatic cancer; the world has gone be not only entertained but to have a good time... to shit, there’s nothing much left. Heck, there’s no You might be better off buying a ticket for Sherlock one much left – and those that are still out there Holmes. This isn’t so more a film to enjoy as it is to are living off the flesh of their fallen comrades. A admire. So depending on which side of the fence father (Viggo Mortensen) and son (Australia’s Kodi you’re sitting on, you’re either going to appreciate Smit-McPhee) hit the bleak Road, trekking across the view from The Road or you’re not. a barren landscape, in search of food and shelter. _ CLINT MORRIS Essentially, they’re just out to survive.
e r m um e ss ions Stage
PRESENTS
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L I V E AT M O V I E S B Y B U R S W O O D GET SOME LIVE MUSIC INTO YOU EVERY FRIDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT BEFORE THE MOVIE
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ROBBIE JALAPENO
CHARIOTS OF REVOLUTION TROPFEST BEST OF THE NET NICK SHORTS FAMILY NIGHT OVER THE FENCE COMEDY BOHEMIAN SHORTS ZOMBIELAND MAKING MOVIES ROADSHOW WASA-PEOPLE’S CHOICE ANIMATED SHORTS
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Sherlock Holmes (M) Friday, 5th February
Saturday, 6th February
Followed by
Followed by
WILL STOKER Did You Hear About The Morgans? (PG)
NICK LANDSBERG Old Dogs (PG)
GATES OPEN AT 6:30PM / BAND STARTS 7PM / FILM STARTS 8PM MOVIES BY BURSWOOD DONATES 100% OF ITS PROFITS TO CHARITIES Bookings and info at www.moviesbyburswood.com or phone 0403 560 684 30
TICKETS FROM $5 BOOK YOURS: 9430 6700 OR WWW.FTI.ASN.AU Hittin’ the town since 1985
FUPPET Hands On
LEAVING Desperate Housewife
Fuppet kicks off on Thursday, January 28, at 7.30pm at Lazy Susan’s Comedy Den (upstairs at The Brisbane Hotel). Bookings can be made at lazysusans.com.au.
Damon Lockwood, creator of Fuppet
audience. To be able to play around with scale, perspective and story telling is where we really want the risk to happen in this show.” So aside from Mr Arsehole and a swearing puppet pig, what other puppets does Lockwood have up his sleeve? “All and ever y form of puppet imaginable. We have some very beautiful crafted puppets in your traditional Muppet style, I guess, then right through to old hand puppets, finger puppets, something that looks like a carpet snake, a plastic goose, you name it, we’re going to try and throw it in there. We’ll be implementing a bit of object theatre as well – an eggbeater, a stapler, a Commodore 64, you know, bring it all the hell on. What could possibly go wrong?” Joining Lockwood on stage at the first ever Fuppet will be a slew of talented Perth comedians including Andrea Gibbs, Jimmy James Eaton, Tim Watts, Shane Adamczak and Ben Russell. “The thing that Chicago brought home to me very strongly is that the core group of Hoo-Haa players have been working and performing together for over seven years now! And that is experience and confidence in each other that you just can’t fake. So, like always with these great entertainers, they’ll be daring, risky, share great story telling, obtuseness and true ridiculousness. It is always a great pleasure to perform with them. I’m hoping Ben will take his shirt off as well.” _EMMA BERGMEIER
Leaving
Directed by Catherine Corsini Kristin follows her heart and leaves Samuel. The Starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Sergi Lopez, children, hopelessly in the middle, take sides and Yvan Attalas Samuel, predictably, becomes embittered. With money and community influence on his side he Sometimes, it seems, having ‘everything’ is not makes it virtually impossible for Suzanne and nearly enough. Certainly not when the existence Ivan to earn any income, freezing accounts and leaves one feeling a little shallow, as it does to limiting work opportunities, eventually placing Suzanne (Kristin Scott Thomas) who lives in the them on the wrong side of the law. Suzanne, South of France with her physician husband ultimately, is pushed towards an extreme course Samuel (Yvan Attalas) and two teenage children, of action. Marion and David. Leaving is a tragic yet mostly romantic Samuel is well to do and powerful in tale. Events sometimes seem to unfurl a little too his community. He is attentive but dominant, quickly, but the performances are powerful and presiding over his family very much as the convincing, notably Kristin Scott Thomas, last patriarch. Suzanne has been dutiful as his seen as the austere Aunt Mimi in Nowhere Boy, wife, but with the children becoming more independent, she is soon to return to work as a reveling in range from boredom to abandon as physiotherapist, to which Samuel organises for the increasingly liberated Suzanne. It’s also an old tale, destined to play a consulting room to be built in their backyard. A Spanish builder named Ivan (Sergi itself out in movies as long as it will in real life. If idle is not necessarily idyllic to you, best Lopez) is hired, whom Suzanne immediately finds an affinity with, if only innocently at first. check out this French version of what desperate When Ivan is injured in a car accident caused by housewives are driven to. Suzanne, he is unable to catch a flight to Spain _ BOB GORDON to see his daughter for the first time in a year. Suzanne insists on driving him over from France and while the romance is not consummated Leaving screens at UWA’s Somer ville until their return, it is the time spent together Auditorium from Monday-Sunday, February 1-7, and at Joondalup Pines from Mondaythat sees them fall in love. Though Ivan has a criminal record Sunday, February 8-14, as part of the and little in the way of job prospects or money, Lotterywest Festival Films Season.
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While over in Chicago last year for the Improv Olympics, Perth playwright/comedian Damon Lockwood had two comedy related epiphanies: firstly, that his Big Hoo-Haa brethren are worldclass performers, and secondly, that swearing puppets are about as funny as they come. In a moment of genius, Lockwood hatched a plan to combine these two epiphanies in the form of a new comedy show, Fuppet. “The idea came from trying to create a really new and innovative show that would thrill an audience and challenge the players, which we’ve been achieving so far in rehearsals,” shares Lockwood.“To be able to try and bring to life the multitude of toys (that I think are getting busy with each other and reproducing) that litter my house is a lot of fun, though. The times when I catch myself trying to bring the salt and pepper shakers to life is when I feel I might have gone a bit too far…” Fuppet will be broken up into two brackets; the first will feature short improvisation games with a puppetry hook, including a special appearance by a puppet known as Mr Arsehole; followed by a forty minute improvised play, inspired by a one word suggestion from the crowd. Lockwood reveals that he’s rather excited about the boundaries he can potentially push while sporting a puppet on his arm. “It’s not so much what they say or do (although, let’s face it, a hand puppet pig swearing its head off is funny), but more the opportunity to manipulate the form and style of puppetry is what we are hoping will thrill the
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CONTAINED Objectified times, working on community arts projects as a theatre and costume designer. It is a unique place within the Australian landscape, totally unlike anything you might imagine. I love the Malay and Chinese culture which is so prevalent - the temples, the ceremonies, and the food. The flora and fauna are unique - there are many endemic species there: unique owls, crabs, birds, fish, coral, even a freshwater mangrove which is unique in the world.” Inspired by the culture and landscape around her, Williams first hatched the idea for Contained while exploring one of Christmas Island’s beaches. “Strolling along the beach is where I found a clear plastic tube, with the ends Kampong by Cecile Williams sealed watertight. I could see that there was (Photo: Nic Duncan) paper inside and when I removed the ends and discovered the rolled up piece of paper, it revealed Arabic writing and a beautiful sketch of a fish. I took it to the local mosque and the Imam, and he translated the writing, to tell that it was a wish for good luck from an Indonesian fisherman, for his safe passage at sea. “Greta Beach on Christmas Island is a treasure trove of rubbish. Continually washed onto its shores by the tides, the flow of flotsam and jetsam includes all manner of plastic, wooden and other materials. There are hats, toothbrushes, thongs, toys, wooden poles, parts Contained of boats; each day the tide changes the palette (Photo: Nic Duncan) of possibilities. “The poignant point is that Greta Contained will be on display at the Central Beach is also an important nesting place for TAFE Art Gallery on the corner of Aberdeen turtles and there is often so much matted and and Beaufort Streets in Northbridge from piled up rubbish, that the turtles have trouble Saturday, February 6, ’til Saturday, March finding sand in which to lay their eggs. It is almost 6. Gallery is open from 10am ’til 4.45pm unimaginable to think of the amount rubbish Monday to Friday, and from 12pm ’til 4.45pm which must be floating around in our seas. The on Saturdays. scale of this pollution must be enormous!” The raw materials that make up As a child growing up on a farm in WA’s south Contained were collected by Williams on Greta west, Cecile Williams would collect objects Beach, transformed by her into sculptural such as bones and sticks, and fashion them into miniatures that celebrate the cultural diversity artworks. Now an adult, Williams is still intrigued on Christmas Island. by the artistic possibilities of found objects, “My desire is to convey the stories a concept she explores in Contained, a visual which I have been privy to from my time on arts exhibition on display as part of the Perth Christmas Island. From thousands of individually International Arts Festival. selected pieces of collected ‘junk’ I filter down Contained is Williams’ first solo the number of actual pieces I want to use. I don’t exhibition since 2001, and much like her early want to inundate the viewer as Greta Beach is artistic explorations as a child, it deals with found inundated. Their viewing experience should be objects discovered on the beaches of Christmas clear and calm.” Island. “I have been to Christmas Island five _EMMA BERGMEIER
HAPPY AS LARRY Nine Lives
Happy As Larry is showing as part of the Perth International Arts Festival from Saturday, February 13, ’til Monday, February 15, at the Playhouse Theatre. Bookings through BOCS Ticketing. Happy As Larry is a show about happiness, unhappiness and everything in between. Choreographed by rising star in world dance, Shaun Parker, the world premiere season of this new dance theatre work is sure to ignite the senses and asks the question, do we know how to be happy anymore? The piece is performed by an ensemble of nine remarkable dancers, each with their own distinctive personality, who go on a journey and explore the elusiveness and possibility of this all important emotion. Parker says the impetus for the creation of his new work came from his own thoughts on happiness and was developed for the Enneagram models, a psychological system that maps out nine personality types. “I had become startlingly aware that people around me were perplexed by the elusive nature of happiness and its possibilities. This quandary also seemed to generate extremes. Was it an unhealthy preoccupation, or alternatively was happiness completely forgotten? For some, perhaps all connection with happiness was seemingly lost or had become distorted,” Parker shares. “The central theme is very much about human happiness. I am really interested in the quest for happiness and how the modern world has perhaps altered this quest for achievement and success. “As in all my works, the performers, composers, designers, dramaturg and creative producer are fundamental to the creation of the final production, their creative minds driving the vision alongside my own.” Parker says his choreographic process drew on a variety of different styles, combining classical ballet with breakdance and urban street styles, his interest being in the collision of these forms and how they translate on stage. He also worked with each individual character on stage, inhabiting a different movement and choreographic language which they use in the search for contentment. “I worked very collaboratively with
Happy As Larry the dancers. We worked for weeks creating ideas together and then I shaped and crafted the choreography from this. The show is highly physical and the dancers seem to love it!” Parker says. Setting a backdrop for the show is an original electro-acoustic score cocomposed by Nick Wales and Bree van Reyk, two brilliantly talented musicians who have created a visceral response to each scene as well as the overall journey in the work. It is integral to the piece and uses violin, piano, vibraphone, and electronica in a gutwrenchingly beautiful way. Combined with a remarkable set design, all of these elements co-exist within Parker’s theatrical world of happiness. “All of us question happiness constantly. We search for it, we attain it, we lose touch with it. Sometimes it is fleeting, and sometimes it is enduring. I am sure Perth audiences will respond to the humour and the physicality - the dancers are absolutely incredible,” he says. “And Perth audiences will also be very happy to see local dancer Joshua Mu in the cast. He is truly amazing. After one of his solos in the Sydney Festival I heard a woman behind me whisper, perhaps without even realising it, she said ‘That was awesome!’.” _TANYA MACNAUGHTON
RUN AWAY WITH ME Postcards from Pigeonhole
All garments and accessories from Pigeonhole (Shafto Lane, London Court, Bon Marche Arcade) Photography by Christine Lim Styling by Hannah McGrath www.pigeonhole.com.au 32
Hittin’ the town since 1985
VISUAL ARTS Robert Juniper: New Works, Greenhill Galleries, 6 Gugeri Steet, Claremont. Robert Juniper is a prolific painter, sculptor and printmaker, best known for his evocative depictions of the West Australian landscape. He has an affinity with the land, and as a boy spent much time in the country, whilst his father worked on the C.Y. O’Connor pipeline in Western Australia. Juniper continually revises his artistic approach, and has recently been creating works that juxtapose the use of flat non-reflective paint surfaces with gold and silver leaf and glistening mineral sands. Exhibition runs ’til Wednesday, February 10.
Outpourings, Elements Art Gallery, 131A Waratah Avenue, Dalkeith. Caroline Christie will launch her unique book and art exhibition at Elements Art Gallery in February, chronicling her extraordinary art practice. Entitled Outpourings, the book describes Christie’s painting process, the simple act of allowing paint to be intuitively applied. Her often large scale canvasses speak of intimate moments and ‘being present’ articulated via a sea of merging, swirling pigment which culminates in a visual flood of colour and texture. Exhibition opens on Saturday, February 13, at 6.30pm, and runs ’til Sunday, February 28.
Los Adornos de Venus, Heathcote Museum and Gallery, Duncraig Road, Applecross. WA artists Paula Cristoffanini and Rizzy challenge notions of femininity in their latest exhibition, Los Adornos de Venus, meaning ‘the adornments of Venus’. This is the first major exhibition for both artists, who chose to work with each other as they saw strong links to each other in their works. Paula Cristoffanini, a Margaret River artist who was born and raised in Chile, presents work concerned with conventional notions of femininity and the role of garments, accessories and adornments as masks or disguises. Rizzy’s work explores the essence of femininity, touching on notions of purity, softness and society’s expectations of women, examined using materials that reference the female experience Exhibition opens on Friday, January 29, and runs ’til Sunday, March 7. Show Stoppers, Museum Of Performing Arts, DownStairs at the Maj, Hay Street, Perth. Make your way to Show Stoppers to be surrounded by fascinating artifacts taken from the overflowing shelves of His Majesty’s Theatre’s backstage storerooms.Take a look at silk programmes from Dame Nellie Melba’s gala performances at Covent Garden; see His Majesty’s very own collection of Beatles photos; view 19th ventury costume design; study the painted portraits of Neville Teede and Dame Maggie Smith; read a note from Richard Brinsley Sheridan (entangled in Vivien Leigh’s feather boa), inspect movie posters not sighted since 1933 and peruse a collection of marionettes from Nutshell Puppet Theatre in 1973. Exhibition runs ’til Thursday, April 1, admission by gold coin donation.
Alice McCullagh Painting face 2009 digital print 82 x 64cm Shenton College
Year 12 Perspectives, Art Gallery Of Western Australia, Perth Cultural Centre, Perth. Year 12 Perspectives 2009 is a dynamic showcase of the energy, expression and talent of Western Australia’s finest young art students. Now in its eighteenth year, it gives access to the thoughts and feelings of the next generation of artists. As fresh as ever, it continues to inspire visitors and remains a popular component of the Gallery’s annual calendar. This year 71 works by 68 students have been selected from across Western Australia. The paintings, drawings, sculptures and photographs explore a range of subjects and themes important to young people today. Exhibition opens on Saturday, February 20, and runs ’til Monday, May 31.
PERFORMANCE
Give Way, Mixtape Gallery, 454 William Street, Northbridge. Mixtape Gallery invites art fans to make their way into Northbridge this Friday to discover the work of seven talented Australian artists. Featuring five artists from Perth, Give Way is a celebration of contemporary creation, showcasing the work of Paul Ikin, Kate-Anna Williams, Daevid Anderson, Sam Knest, Sean Morris, Natasha Sim and Kareena Zerefos. Exhibition opens on Friday, January 29, at 7pm, and runs ’til Sunday, February 21.
Side By Side By Sondheim, Subiaco Arts Centre, Hammersley Road, Subiaco. The first WhipLash Theatre production for 2010 celebrates the work of famous composerlyricist Stephen Sondheim in his 80th birthday year. Side By Side By Sondheim is a musical revue that will feature six performers, two grand pianos and a dazzling array of songs from classic musicals such as West Side Story, Gypsy, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, Company, Follies, Pacific Overtures and A Little Night Music. Directed by Gregory Jones with Musical Direction by Tim Cunniffe, Side By Side By Sondheim’s cast includes Gillian Binks, Casey Edwards, Sherry Anne-Hayes, Tim How, Simon Loughton and Ross Bryant as the Narrator. Season opens on Thursday, February 4, and runs ’til Saturday, February 13. Bookings can be made through BOCS.
to Perth, showcasing his comedic wit and charm, mastery of prestidigitation and hilarious hypnotic skits while unleashing the creative abilities of his on stage guests subconscious minds equaling 90 minutes of amazing and hysterical skits. The show will also feature the talents of Mr Jimmy James Eaton. Performance takes place on Saturday, February 13, at 7.30pm. Bookings can be made through Ticketek.
Hypnolarious, The Regal Theatre, 474 Hay Street, Subiaco. Due to popular demand, PiP the comic illusionist will bring a Las Vegas style show
Money for Artists and Artsworkers All Applicants and Art Forms February Funding Round The Department of Culture and the Arts is inviting grant applications from individuals, groups and organisations for activity in all art forms (excluding television, film & radio) in the following categories: • All applicants and Art Forms Development, Distribution & Marketing • Publishing Assistance Program • Young People and the Arts Development, Distribution & Marketing • Young People and the Arts International Scholarship Applications close 26 February, 2010. Please check our website for more details www.dca.wa.gov.au
or call us on 9224 7310 or 1800 199 090 (toll free).
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OUT OF THIS WORLD
The good folks at Planet Clothing love a bargain, and know you do too, so they’re offering up to 50 per cent off their fabulous stock for 10 days, kicking off proceedings on Friday, January 29. Head in to Planet on the corner of Beaufort Street and Walcott Street in Mount Lawley, to discover designs by Route 66, Bettie Page, Friends of Couture, Insight, One Teaspoon, Style Stalker, Blood Is The New Black, Malmo, Nique, Extinct, Palma, Sumakhi, 2K Tees, Upper Playground, and many more. Planet is open from 10am ’til 11pm from Sundays to Thursdays, 10am ’til midnight on Fridays, and 9am ’til midnight on Saturdays.
HEAD FIRST
Brisbane based designer Paula Walden invites daring women to take their outfits to the next level with one of her stunning headpieces, sure to improve almost any ensemble. Transcending the boundaries between art and fashion, Walden’s designs are sleek and sophisticated with a high fashion edge, redefining the term ‘costume jewellery’. Though Walden’s designs are yet to be stocked in Perth, fans of her work can get their hands on her creations by heading to paulawalden.com.
Planet Clothing
SKIN DEEP
There is nothing fashionable about a streaky fake tan – they transform natural complexions in to shiny orange abominations and leave brown streaks on freshly laundered clothes. Instead of trying to change your complexion this summer, why not save yourself the hassle and embrace the skin you’re in? There are hundreds of products on the market that can add luster to natural skin tones; adding complementary colours without leaving the wearer looking like a rotisserie chicken. One such product is Benefit’s Coralista, a soft shimmer blush that leaves skin looking radiant and sun kissed. Coralista is available online at benefitcosmetics.com or in person at the Benefit counter in Myer Perth. Instead of reaching for the bottle of fake tan next time you’re getting ready for a big event, opt for a blush or bronzer instead, guaranteed to add colour without leaving the skin looking shiny and fake.
Benefit’s Coralista powder
Designs by Paula Walden
The Lady Is A Vamp body shaping corsolette by Kiss Me Quick
SEALED WITH A KISS
For women who aspire to be burlesque beauties or vintage vixens, Kiss Me Quick is a one-stop-shop for amazing undergarments, stocking lingerie too good to be covered up by clothes. Originally from Sydney but now based in Perth, Kiss Me Quick’s designs are theatrical and flattering, offering up pasties, corsets, girdles, knickers, bras and garters. For those who want to spoil or seduce their partner this Valentine’s Day, Kiss Me Quick is the perfect shopping destination, located online at kissmequick.net.au. _EMMA BERGMEIER 34
More Than A Date shaping girdle by Kiss Me Quick Hittin’ the town since 1985
STARR SPECIAL EVENTS Australia’s Best… Direct from Adelaide
ZEP BOYS Return to Perth by popular demand…
March 2010 Fri 19th – Charles Hotel, Nth Perth Ph 94441051 Sat 20th – Eastern Hotel Midland Ph 92501930 Sun 21st – Ravenswood Hotel Ravenswood Ph 95376054 Tickets on sale from all BOCS outlets Ph 94841133 & venues
COLIN HAY
(Ex MEN AT WORK) & his Band Performing his new solo material & classic Men At Work hits….
Down Under, Who Can It Be Now, Overkill…
March 2010 Thur 18th – Eastern Hotel Midland Ph 92501930 Fri 19th – Fly By Night Club Fremantle Ph 94305976 Sat 20th – Charles Hotel Nth Perth Ph 94441051 Tickets on sale from all BOCS outlets Ph 94841133 & venues New CD “American Sunshine” out now
www.starrspecialevents.com.au www.xpressmag.com.au
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www.happyhighherbs.com Hittin’ the town since 1985
Electro-pop icon Peaches is 43 years old, and thinks there aren’t enough folk these days “fucking shit up”: “I am a standard in music. I set the standard in video making and defining women and do-it-yourself.” She shares with SIMONE UBALDI the key to evolutionary success in the music business. Peaches is wearing a bath robe and a towel around her hair. Two unsuspecting people knock on the door of her apartment and she ushers them in. “It’s good that you’re both here because what I have to say, I have to say to both of you.” She leads the couple to a spare room and sits them on a couch, explains that she is in love with both of them, and then begins lip-synching to her latest single, Lose You. This is a performance piece, part of a group show in an apartment building in suburban Berlin, and Peaches has never met these people before. When the track ends, she asks them to leave. This particular round, she films the entire spectacle to use as a music video, but what we now see on Youtube is just the tip of the iceberg. Peaches did that little pseudo musical 135 times over five days, for just two bewildered Berliners each sitting.
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There’s no doubt that Peaches (AKA Merrill Beth Nisker) is dedicated to her art, and her art is so much more than funky feminism. With her debut album, Teaches of Peaches (2000), Peaches became a DIY icon – more bold, more abrasive and more playful than any other woman in the electronic space; up there with Bjork and Kate Bush as a fashion-forward creative hurricane. The problem is, we live in an era where innovation is dogged by imitation, and good ideas get engulfed and bastardised by the mainstream in a matter of seconds. This new generation of electro-pop princesses – Little Boots, La Roux and even Lady Gaga – are the milky spawn of Peaches’ influence. The sound is kind of similar, the look is kind of similar, but what does it really mean? Is it art? Would Lady Gaga spend five days confusing a handful of German couples in a disused apartment block? Probably not. “I’m more than music, I’m a performance artist, I’m a conceptual artist, I’m a filmmaker,” Peaches says. The forty three-year-old Canadian, now based in Berlin, is not shy about selfpromotion. She describes herself as a pioneer and talks freely about the pop stars that have personally thanked her for her inspiration (Christina Aguilera, Pink, Greenday, Tommy Lee, the list goes on). On the one hand, it all seems pretty obvious. On the other hand, it seems that Peaches has something of an agenda when it comes to recognition. CONTINUED PAGE 40
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BIG NIGHT OUT
Miami Horror
Shape’s notorious for throwing some great Big Day Out after parties, with the likes of Hot Chip, LCD Soundsystem,Battles DJs,Cut Copy and more heading down to Shape after the Claremont Showgrounds shenanigans to tear it up on the decks for Big Night Out. 2010’s looking to be no different, with the Juggernauts DJs rocking Shape with their cosmic disco selections. Miami Horror and Shazam will bring copious beat booty,whilst making their debut is The Peacocks, the popomatic dancefloor devastators from Melbourne.Audageous and Clomas finish this top billin’ line up! Saturday, January 30. Limited $25 presales from www.shapebar.com.au.
PINEAPPLE PARTY Pineapple Lounge Records is an independent label that’s just begun in Perth, a label dedicated to the advancement of undiscovered producers. The label stands for taking artists from the back room to the live stage,and a movement from sound being dominated by executives to headphone producers. Audiences can expect to hear a myriad of artists from all walks of life exploring and shaping the world of live production. Deuce presents the new label on Friday, February 6, at the Velvet Lounge. Acts for the night are all from the Pineapple Lounge label,and include DJ Paul-e,SwitchCutter,Yarhkob,Harvey Fresh, Fusion Six and Khaos Disorder. Visuals for the night will be drawn up live before your eyes by deuce’s resident visual artist shoes and socks. Free entry from 8pm.
Massive Attack
Boys Noize
POWER PLAY Villa nightclub brings together two Boys Noize Records stars for an evening of Berlin-inspired madness. Rebel without a pause Housemeister’s sound is a crazy blend of techno/electro/acid/punk. After hanging with the Bpitch Control Collective, he’s released numerous singles and two albums on Boys Noize Records. Watching Housemeister work his sets is something special - his passion to perfection in music is something only a true DJ/ producer can pull off. Always experimenting and always thrashing ahead, Housemeister adds the spark to the experience a party needs to make it worthwhile. Alongside peers Erol Alkan and Justice, Boys Noize is part of a new hybrid breed of techno artist. His latest album Power is all thriller, no filler. This release is anything but elevator muzac. This is a new kind of techno encompassing elements of rave and minimal, with a healthy dash of the kind of beats that’d make hip hop producers drool.Get your discounted Early Bird tickets ($30 plus booking fee) beforeTuesday,March 2,before ticket prices go up to $40 plus booking fee. Tickets available from Planet Video, Mills, 78s and Moshtix Outlets (1300 GET TIX) or online from moshtix.com.au and inthemix.com. au. Oi Oi Oi! Doors open 10pm.
Tomas Ford
TOMÁS’ TRICKS He’s not afraid of much, that Tomás Ford. He plays electro to punk kids, puts on confronting cabarets,dances on every conceivable surface and has as much fun as he can with audiences. After a string of controversial performances: One Night Stand (2007), Tomás Ford vs The Audience (2006) and a spot touring the country last year for the Big Day Out’s Lily World, Ford’s ready to unleash the latest installment of his performance art onto Perth audiences with Tomás Ford’s Disco Bunker,so heads up! There’ll be new costumes, video work, a unique performance environment and a series of happenings that may never happen again. The Bunker gets bunking this Saturday, February 27, at The Astor Theatre on Beaufort Street in Mount Lawley. Tickets are $20 plus booking fee from heatseeker.com.au, Planet Video, Star Perth or Mills Records. Doors open 7pm. And don’t say we didn’t warn you!
MASSIVE MUSIC There’s two reasons that Friday, February 5, is probably a date worth remembering, or marking in your diary, if you’re the diary kind. It’s the date that Massive Attack’s fifth studio album, their first since 2003’s 100th Window, is released. Heligoland features guests Damon Albarn, Hope Sandoval, Martina Topley-Bird, Tunde Adebimpe of TV On The Radio, Elbow’s Guy Garvey, Portishead’s Adrian Utley and more. It’s also the day that tickets go on sale for Massive Attack’s Australian tour shows! Not only is it great news that we get to see the pioneers of trip hop live, and take in their haunting and hypnotic fusion of hazy beats, dub, hauntingly soulful melodies and choice samples in the beautiful surrounds of Kings Park, but there’s a little bonus happening: all patrons purchasing tickets for the show will have the option of including a copy of Heligoland at no extra cost! Head to www.massiveattack.com.au to access this exclusive offer, or to Ticketmaster 136 100 or www.ticketmaster.com.au to grab your tickets. Friday, March 12, Kings Park (Botanic Gardens), Perth.
THE LLAMA BAR PRESENTS
GILLES JOINS FREDDYS
Gilles Peterson
Fat Freddys Drop head to Perth in late February,and news just in that legendary DJ Gilles Peterson will be supporting them.From the primal roots of Africa to the bass culture of Jamaica via the urban soul of Detroit to the intricate stylings of the European new jazz generation – Gilles is a grand master with an innate ability to understand and deliver the perfect cocktail of music required for any occasion,providing the ultimate mix of rhythms from right across the planet. Saturday, February 27, at the Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle, from 5.30pm-10pm. Tickets available from www.heatseeker.com.au,Planet,Mills, Star Surf (Perth & Mandurah) and Live stores.
Tiki Taane
AUDIO DELIGHTS
Inhibit Events has prepared a mini-festival of drum ‘n’ bass and hip hop to tide you over the summer season. Heading the line up of Precision Audio will be the “Godfather of Jungle”, DJ Aphrodite, along side MC Tiki (Tiki Taane), the NZ MC sensation and former frontman of Salmonella Dub. West-Aussie hip-hop pioneers Downsyde will be doing their fully-fledged live band performance, with Jade from Hungary bringing the techy drum ‘n’ bass sounds. They’re joined by A-Sides, ShockOne, Phetsta, and MC Bear. Tickets $50 plus booking fee from Moshtix: www.moshtix.com.au or 1300 GET TIX, or Live clothing stores, Planet, Mills, The DJ Factory and Double Drop Records. Friday, February 19 at Metro City. Doors open 9pm.
SALTLIST Gui Boratto
GUI’S OUR GUY
thursdays@llamabar dj’s petrosex+nhat+pils+jörg thor craig hollywood+mickey juice+black swan
it’s disco Jim, but not as we know it 38
São Paolo techno master Gui Boratto is one of the Kompakt label’s leading lights, having shot to prominence in 2005 with the release of his 12 inch Arquipélago.Infusing a much needed dose of colour amidst the monochrome minimal landscape, his 2007 debut album Chromophobia drew unanimous critical praise and sparked an avalanche of distinct productions and remixes, with the epic single Beautiful Life paving the way for a greater scene shift toward richer melodic climes. Gui has himself featured on innumerable compilations, from club mixes released by Fabric, Ministry of Sound and Cocoon to essential label mixes from Pokerflat, Mobilee and DFA and just last year dropped the impressive follow up to Chromophobia – Take My Breath Away, with tracks like No Turning Back, which featured Boratto’s wife on vocals,borrowing from the same melodic minimal technique Boratto honed in his first release. Boratto plays for Democracy on Sunday, February 21, at Geisha, Northbridge, with support from Ping Pong live (Aarin F and James Francis) and Massiv Trav.Tickets on sale for $30 plus booking fee from Monday,January 25,through www. moshtix.com.au.
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ALBUMS PUSHING OUR WRITERS’ BUTTONS THIS WEEK… VARIOUS (Kompakt presents) Pop Ambient 2010 THE ALBUM LEAF A Chorus Of Storytellers MC ABLE Ice Cream Won’t Save You VARIOUS MOS Clubbers’ Guide to 2010: Axwell/Anna Lunoe/Hook N Sling VAMPIRE WEEKEND Contra VARIOUS Renaissance The Mix Collection: Gui Boratto LINDSTROM & CHRISTABELLE Real Life Is No Cool RJD2 The Colossus MARCO V Propaganda V2 VARIOUS Mandarinen Träume: Electronic Escapes from the Deutsche Demokraktische Republik 1981-1989 Hittin’ the town since 1985
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PEACHES
STILL BOMBASTIC & FANTASTIC
MAINROOM THURSDAY
Pasha’s Kitchen,
The Big Man cooking up Meaty Beats.
FRIDAY
Time Tunnel
brings you champion tunes from
Rok Riley, Joe 19 And Guests SATURDAY
TRANSMISSION
Perth’s essential pre club night for discerning music lovers bringing you indie, electro, rock, punk & club classics with Andrei Mazz 8pm Free Entry
SUNDAY
Pizza & Pint
Nathan J, Dan Tha Man and The Nisbit
WEDNESDAY
UNI-QUE
kicks off at 8.30 with
DJs Armee & Andy
UPSTAIRS THURSDAY
The {move} crew’s
Ben Taaffe and Perth’s pivotal prodigal producer Dave Miller, are teaming up to
bring a brand new weekly night for music enthusiasts of all varieties this summer season
FRIDAY
The Beat Suite
with Micah, Sharif Galal and Guests. 9pm Free Entry
SATURDAY
Flying High
Indie Rock, Avant Pop, Classic Rock and Party Faves with with RTRs Sarah Tout, Cutter, Jack Midalia & Ryan Sandilands. Free Entry 8pm
SUNDAY
Chris Mason Acoustic
on the balcony from 5:30. Free Entry
THURSDAY
Isolation
“Like a night alone with a bottle of wine at the pub. Post Punk, wave alt-pop, electro, minimal 8pm Free Entry
SATURDAY
Minimal Exposure
Underground House, Minimal Tek, Off beat jazz fusion, electro & dubstep from an all star lineup featuring Mike Bishop, Bokchoy, Flaunt, E.N. 8pm Free Entry
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Peaches “I am a standard in music,” she says, “I set the standard in video making and defining women and do-it-yourself.” At least, she did set the standard. Where to next when the world of chart pop is snapping at your heels? Peaches is no dummy - if your originality has become the standard, it’s time to reinvent. When we talk, she is promoting her fourth album, I Feel Cream, and it is a truly surprising record. Her shock and awe approach had nowhere to go; brute electro-rock feminism had run out of steam, so Peaches has gone soft. “My first album was really DIY, very hardcore and stripped down, all done by myself, and the second album was I’m a man, I’m woman, check this out, and the third album was more a call to rock people to get with the dance revolution, that’s why I had guests like Joan Jett and Eagles of Death Metal,” she explains,“With this album, it’s me embracing electro and showing my secret weapon, which is that I’m a really good singer. And also, if I’m going to call on men to have their vulnerability revolution, then I need to show something other than a hardcore character, I need to show my vulnerable side alongside my hardcore side.” There are certainly a few tunes on I Feel Cream that follow the standard minimalist, hypersexual Peaches formula, but more than a few of the tracks are starkly different, and remarkably good. Lose You, the lead single, is a direct and honest expression of love. Both it and Talk To Me explore Peaches’ feelings about a relationship that is starting to fall apart. Tracks like Mud and Relax are more obscure, but the tone is still relatively gentle and reflective. And as she says, her voice is something of a secret weapon. Peaches has spent so long barking her political spoken word at us that hearing her smooth, soulful singing voice is actually kind of bizarre. “I’m really happy with the development and the variety of this album. I think people are really excited about the results,” she says,“It’s really exciting for me to have this time where I can show my singing voice and my soul voice, and to know that I have developed in such a way where I can do whatever I want.” Peaches also talks about a collaborative revolution, on account of the fact that she has worked with more producers on this record than ever before - and these are seriously big guns. Soulwax, Simian Mobile Disco, Drums of Death and Digitalism feature heavily on the album, taking Peaches far away from the rock shades of previous records. Blame it on Berlin, but Peaches is sounding more like a dance artist than anything else right now. “Both with Drums of Death and Simian Mobile, what we thought of each other and what we learned from working with each other was quite different, you know? There were some ideas that we didn’t relate to immediately, so we had to push ourselves in a different direction, and that’s how we came up with a song like Lose You. I’m really happy with that song, you know? We didn’t know we’d end up doing that. And a song like Talk to Me, I knew that Soul Wax had to be the producers because they get the whole soul/rock/ electro mix. Something like Mommy Complex, when I worked with Digitalism, I had a very specific thing I wanted out of working with them which was a very bombastic quality to match my classic bombastic Fatherfucker sort of lyrics,” she says, “I love it. I think everybody wins.” I Feel Cream is Peaches’ highest charting album in the US, peaking at 160 on the Billboard 200 and shipping 3000 units in its first week. When you think about it, particularly in the context of her far-ranging influence, these are numbers are actually incredibly low. “I’m actually biggest in the States, but they’re still scared of me. It’s ridiculous. If you look at the seventies and the eighties and the people who were really out there, they were on TV. Look at Iggy Pop, he would never perform on stage, he would run off and make the cameras follow him, you know, or David Bowie, they way that he would become a puppet or have amazing costumes – all of this happened on TV,” she muses. “People are just really conservative now. They’re afraid of the word fuck, they’re afraid of fucking shit up, which is really what defined rock and roll in the first place. TV is almost more conservative, and so they don’t play me on TV.” Peaches says this with pride. If they don’t play her on TV, it means she’s still a little dangerous. PEACHES SUNDAY, JANUARY 31 @ THE BIG DAY OUT, CLAREMONT SHOWGROUNDS; MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1 @ THE ASTOR THEATRE, MT LAWLEY
SIR NORMAN JAY MBE THE GOOD TIMES KEEP ROLLING
instalment in the Good Times compilation series. “I just got a call from the guys at Central Station, and they obviously heard that I was planning on coming. They said ‘well if you’re gonna come over, what do you think about the idea of doing an album for us?’ and I jumped at the opportunity,” he says. Jay says that the two-disc album boasts “a little bit of everything for everyone”, from obvious soul classics like Peggy Lee’s Dock Of The Bay to unexpected, but grooving numbers like David Bowie’s Kooks, as well as a house music heavy DJ mix - Jay’s first mix in 15 years. Jay has been a regular visitor to our shores since 1993, and has witnessed the growth of Australian club culture. “I’ve been coming over there for so long, and witnessed loads of great changes, slow, evolutionary changes, rather than revolutionary changes, and watched the Norman Jay MBE Australian scene grow up.” With almost three decades of party He has seen a number of other starting and taste shaping to his scenes grow as well, which have shaped his development as a DJ. After showing a love of name (not to mention a Member music at a young age, he ended up spending a of the Order of the British Empire lot of time in New York in the late ‘70s and the 80’s, and was present to witness the birth and granted by Her Majesty) Sir Norman both disco and hip hop music. Jay MBE is one of the world’s most growth of“Looking back on it now I was blessed renowned DJs. He speaks with to have been around in the right place at the JOSHUA HAYES in the lead up to right time when all that was going on, but back then it was completely normal to me,” he says. his latest Australian tour. “You do these things and you never imagine for a minute that a generation on Sir Norman Jay’s name is synonymous with people will look back at that particular point in ‘Good Times’; his Good Times Sound System is time and see that as a seminal point in music.” legendary on the European festival circuit, he He has since gone on to be one of the has released a series of Good Times compilation only DJs in the world to be named a Member of albums – and he has been bringing the “Good the Order of the British Empire by Her Majesty, Times” sound to Australia on a regular basis for Queen Elizabeth II. Who said that the Royal almost two decades. Family is out of touch? He received his MBE for And he’s back again, escaping his “deejaying and services to music” in 2002. “miserable, snowbound, freezing cold London” “That’s the ultimate point in my for a month-long national tour. Punters can professional DJ career, that moment is expect “the usual maverick mix of music and unrivalled. It’s an honour I’m still proud of genres, a Good Times mashup,” says Jay. today,” says Jay. “There’ll be plenty of drum ‘n’ bass, SIR NORMAN JAY MBE quite a lot of house,disco classics,funk,jazz,Latin, GOOD TIMES AUSTRALIA [CENTRAL reggae; just a mashup of great sunshine music.” STATION RECORDS] To coincide with his tour – and Australia Day - he FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12 @ THE MANOR has also released Good Times Australia, the latest
4 STRINGS NOT WASTING TIME
With their timeless trance anthem Take Me Away still resonating across the airwaves, GLEN CANNING caught up with 4 Strings front man Jan De Vos midway through his annual pilgrimage to Australia. Every January for the past seven years De Vos has descended down under to escape the icy Dutch winter and he soon reveals there’s more than the music keeping him coming back so frequently. “Well, my wife is from Australia! So I stay with my parents-in-law. It’s a bit of a combination between family visits and promoters are happy with me to do January.” Although De Vos is the face of 4 Strings, and gigs solo around the world, Carlos Resoort is the driving force behind all their productions, and after 14 years the cracks have failed to appear. De Vos explains their winning formula. “Sometimes I have good ideas and I join Carlo in the studio to discuss some ideas and sometimes he may ring me and ask me to come by because he’s a little bit stuck. When Carlo’s really producing he prefers to be on his own, he just works quicker. When I test out a new track out at a club, I come into the studio afterwards and we work on some changes together. I can listen to how it sounds in the club. He works it out in the studio.” With a decade of stark contrasts fading in the distance, 4 Strings has been there from the beginning, witnessing the pinnacle of trance’s popularity in the late ‘90s to its rapid decline into near obscurity soon after. Although trance is experiencing an impressive resurgence of late, the game has changed considerably with new technology paving the way. De Vos explains how such changes have affected the release of their fourth album. “The whole music industry at the moment is yeah pretty hectic, nobody can actually tell what’s happening and the earnings are going down so for us to sit for two to three months in a studio for an album is not really worth it. Basically the reason for the delay is the whole music scene is all a little bit upside down and we’ve been busy with some other projects. Doing an album is a big waste of time compared to the income!” Take Me Away was first released in 2002 yet is still frequently played, even featuring as the theme song on TV’s Getaway. With numerous remixes released over the years, De Vos contemplates the point of saturation. “we actually did a remix in 2006 then last year Dave Darell added another melody to it from another old track and so maybe it’s yeah, to the max but the record company don’t push
4 Strings
it too hard. We try to keep it in a proper balance but then again there is also a lot of demand for the track.” As our conversation comes to a close it is clear De Vos has Friday’s gig at the Rise firmly in his sights. “It will definitely be a mix of new tracks and classics and quite a bit of trance. Maybe start with some party house and work my way into the trance and sometimes jump a little bit back in style but it will be a nice, varied set. Not too progressive, more happy with a lot of anthems! I like to play them and I also know Perth likes their anthems! It’s going to be one big party set!” 4 STRINGS FRIDAY, JANUARY 29 @ RISE, NORTHBRIDGE Hittin’ the town since 1985
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DJ YODA
IN A LEAGUE OF HIS OWN DJ YODA/Charlie Bucket/Buda Villa, Highgate Friday, January 22, 2010 It seemed word had spread like wildfire of Yoda’s mindblowing set at Southbound. While many had missed him due to his clash with Moby, and others had only caught the end of his set, those that did catch him, raved about his amazing audio-visual extravaganza! So Perth was fortunate that Yoda was back for an encore club set; and such was the hype surrounding him, that the show sold out in advance. Charlie Bucket and Buda provided some good time, party tunes to warm the crowd up, and warm up they certainly did, with a great selection of bass heavy beats that turned the packed Villa into a heaving sweatbox. The DJ booth was set up the front at balcony level, overlooking the whole club, with the main stage set up as a dancefloor. A couple big plasmas were set up either side of the floor, and around 12.30am, as Yoda stepped up to the booth to rapturous applause and mad hollering, two more big screens unfurled from the roof either side of the booth. The music stopped, the screens lit up, and it was on! Yoda’s Star Wars style intro worked the crowd into a frenzy, before the screens posed the question, “Does anyone here want to see some scratching?!” and the turntablist extraordinaire got down to business. Unfortunately it was hard to see the man himself in action, but in some ways this helped to focus the attention on the amazing visual show, as it should be. Launching head-first into a barrage of AV samples, clips from a myriad of shows like Everybody Hates Chris, Inspector Gadget and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air were sampled, cut up and remixed, all perfectly in synch with the beat. Yoda is a child of the ‘80,’s and his selection of clips borrowed heavily from the era; it was like an indulgent trip down memory lane. As a member of the crowd was overheard to say “It’s like a history lesson!”. Audio and video snippets conjured up many memories, with classic scenes from all your favourite movies and TV shows scratched up; WWF, Back to the Future, Ferris Bueller; one of the biggest receptions was when he dropped I’m on a Boat. A truly unique talent, Yoda injects
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VARIOUS Masif Hard Dance Anthems Volume 3 [Masif]
Masif has assembled nine of the world’s premier hard dance DJs to present Volume 3 of their popular Hard Dance Anthem series and with DJ Yoda 75 tracks across three discs, this compilation is humour into his DJing, whilst still showing off his sure to have hard dance enthusiasts salivating award winning turntable skills, all whilst keeping in anticipation. the beat rolling and people dancing. He started Steve Hill fails to disappoint as he out as a hip hop DJ, but these days his musical dissects a devastating swathe through 25 high palette is wide and varied, and he mashed up octane, adrenaline fuelled tracks including rap with rock, drum ‘n’ bass and dubstep, reggae the impressive 2009 remixes of Joy Kitikonti’s and dub, 1930s music – even remixing the Tetris bass driven Joyenergizer and the Neon Lights’ and Pac Man songs, demonstrating that indeed thumping vocal track Shine. Alex Kidd & Kidd ‘impossible is nothing’. Kaos continue the onslaught with a slighter Using the latest Pioneer DVJ-1000s darker sound than disc one which soon descends and SVM-100 AV mixer, technology that he into the hardest of hard dance with unrelenting helped develop, as well as two Technics and bass lines penetrating the senses, no better Serato, it would be fair to say Yoda is truly on the represented than in Lisa Lashes aptly named cutting edge with this style of ‘AVJing’ - his mix of Dancefloor Orgy. audio and video captivated the crowd and the BK, Antolini & Bootek DJs somehow 90 minutes seemed to fly by. manage to sustain the intensity in disc three As many had heard, Yoda had a with almost every track coming from their own specially prepared encore with an Aussie flavour, productions. With the deliciously evil bass that saw him cut ‘n’ paste Summer Heights High, pounding away in BK & Anne Savage’s On The Corey Worthington, Chopper tells the weather, Edge demanding attention alongside Rocco’s Croc Dundee, Neighbours, finishing with a electro synth fusion Everybody 6.0. wicked breaks remix of the John Farnham classic Definitely the best release in the series You’re The Voice. and a must for those who like it hard. CL Blend seized the opportunity to keep the party going for the remaining crowd, and he was a well chosen act to finish the night, mixing his own mashup productions, such as Ice Ice Baby vs Stanton Warrior’s remix of Timebox – Beggin, and some Good Vibrations courtesy of The Beach Boys. But belong to Yoda the night did, displaying true genius, and showing why he GLEN CANNING 4/5 has earned a reputation for putting on a DJ/live show that you ‘must see before you die’.
VARIOUS
Underworld vs The Misterons: Athens K7 Underworld have teamed up with the Misterons (their extended production team – Darren Price and Steve Hall) to put together this unique mix of tunes for German label K7. The abstract painting on the cover, by Hyde himself, is reminiscent of the old jazz sleeves of yore, and hence it’s not too surprising when Alice Coltrane’s (John’s wife) classic jazz groove Journey in Satchidananda kicks in, closely followed by the even more chilled out You Know, You Know from Mahavishnu Orchestra, and by that point you might be wondering if you put the right CD in. But why would they do something conventional? With Athens, Underworld give a nod to their art-school roots and have released a deliciously eclectic, ambient, mood album. Roxy Music and Moodyman continue the soulful, groove based vibe, before things get a bit more frenetic and synthetic with Osunlade’s The Promise. This leads into the rare Underworld track Oh (off the Life Less Ordinary soundtrack) that really lights things up, then morphs into Laurent Garnier’s recent cut, Gnanmankoudji. They make you wait til the end to reveal the real jewel in the crown, an exclusive, new collaboration between Hyde and legendary ambient producer Brian Eno, the surprisingly short Beebop Hurry. Indeed, don’t ever try to corner Underworld as any one thing – they simply create sonic art and their inspirations are many other than just for the joy of it, and that’s why it’s great. So shake yourself a martini, spark up a cigar, put on your sunglasses at night, sit back and enjoy the ride. ALFRED GORMAN 3/5
ALFRED GORMAN
Hittin’ the town since 1985
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AMPLIFIER
Ù THURSDAY 28/01 Clancy’s (Canning Bridge) - DJ Wrighteous Clink – DJ Jinx Eve - DJ Tony Allen Euro Bar – Roger Smart/The Tourist Flying Scotsman (Main Room) - Pasha’s Kitchen – The Big Man Flying Scotsman (Upstairs) – Thursday Feel Up – Ben Taffee/ Dave Miller Foundry- DJ Travis B Kalamunda Hotel – Tip Top Sound DJ Al Leopold Hotel- DJ James/ DJ Jack Liquid Nightclub – DJ Buda Llama Bar – Run Rabbit Run Mustang Bar – DJ Giles Newport Hotel – Culture Clash – DJ Shannon Fox Niche - Johnni P/ Rob Blandford Paddy Hannans - Dr Bogus Players Bar – Neon Lights - DJ Samuel Spencer Swinging Pig – DJ Simon The Boat – Dr Bogus The Clink – DJ Jinx The Cott – Crème - DJ L3ON The Deen - Tropical Funk Merchants - DJ Flex/ DJ Don Migi/ DJ Nano/ DJ Surge The East End - DJ Midfield The Queens – Weekend Warmup The Shed – DJ Andyy Universal Bar- DJ Crisp
DEATH DISCO - CAPITOL
Strings, supported by Paul van Dyk, Judge Jules and Tiesto. The follow up was Into The Night, which got even more support. After a vocal edit called Take Me Away it became a huge hit around the globe, even now the track can be heard worldwide (and was once used as the theme song on the Australian TV show Getaway!). 4 Strings are currently busy with new productions set for release in the next few months. Head to Rise to be amazed by one of the best dance music producer/DJ duos in the world tonight. Support from 4 Strings, GeRmAn, Joe Benger, Simon Barwood and Steven Tranzor. Door sales only 9.30pm – 5am. R ise members $5 before 11pm, $10 thereafter. Non-members $10 before 11pm, $20 thereafter.
BAR REPUBLIC SHIT ROBOT A DJ who first got his start in NYC through the ‘90s, alongside the likes of James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem and DFA Records and Luke Jenner of the Rapture, Marcus Lambkin was responsible for starting New York’s infamous Plant party at the bar of the same name that later morphed into the Shit Robot party. He has since moved to Stuttgart, while travelling abroad regularly to DJ, and been producing under the Shit Robot moniker, putting out the Large Room Ù FRIDAY 29/01 Full Of People promo on DFA, RISE 4 STRINGS Behind the and well received remixes name 4 Strings hide two for the likes of Tiny Sticks musicians, Carlo and Jan. Daytime was the first track of 4
Records, DJ Kaos and Simian Mobile Disco. Bad Love Disco Club welcomes Shit Robot from Germany. Support from Fuking Midas, Petrosex, Mickey Juice and Lightsteed. 10pm5am. Door sales only for $20. AMBAR MOWGLI Fresh from the success of his track London to Paris, Italian DJ Mowgli has been getting props from the likes of Cassius, Popof, Style of Eye, Brodinski, Axwell, DJ Medhi and more. London to Paris is taken off Mowgli’s EP from late last year Nu Skool, which earned him accolades from right across the fidget a n d e l e c t r o c o m m u n i t y, and it comes at the end of a strong 2009 that saw him turning heads with his remix of Chemical Brothers’ Do It Again, as well as churning out the rerubs of artists like Simian Mobile Disco, Tricky, X-press-2 and more. Catch Mowgli tonight at Ambar, Door sales $20 from 10pm or presales from www.boomtick. com.au. Amplifier – DJ Shannon Fox/ DJ Jamie Ambar – Mowgli Bar Open – Dorcia – Time Travel Agent/Yon Jovie/Scott D/Bad Weather/DLo/Arrigold Bar 138 – Lokal Young Punks Party - D.One/Bacich Danny Graham/Jamie Haerewa/Progress Inn Bar Republic – Shit Robot/Mickey Juice Black Bettys- Trubble
THE RISE
Broken Hill Tavern – DJ Nick Alexander Capitol – Capitol Fridays Retro Mash - DJ Matty J Clancy’s (Canning Bridge) DJ Boogie Como Hotel – DJ Gazz Double Lucky – Full Circle – DJ Adam Kelly/ DJ Cee/Josh Devlin Eve – DJ Migi/Skooby/Crazy Craig Euro Bar – DJ Roger Smart Flying Scotsman (Downstairs) – DJ Rok Riley/ Joe 19 Flying Scotsman (Upstairs) The Beat Suite – Micah/ Sharif Galal Geisha – Global - James A/ Luke Reti/J Dubs/Sean Chee/ Mark Solo Harry’s Bar - DJ Double L / Benny T / Luca Castelli Hyde Park - DJ Zoom Inglewood Hotel – DJ Simone Kingsly Tavern – Dr Bogus Llama Bar - DJ Morris/DJ Reuben Library – DJ Meezy/ DJ AZT/ DJ Fiveo Liquid Nightclub - DJ Matty / Ricky Lakers Tavern - DJ Adrian Merrina Tavern – DJ Terry Mint – Club Retro – Chris McPhee Mullaloo Beach Hotel – DJ Kenny Mustang- Swing DJ/ James MacArthur Mojo’s - DAVs / Eva McGowan Band / Blow / Nugget Niche - DJ Jonni Zimber Norma Jeans – DJ Phil Onyx Bar – Slick/ Adroc Oxford Hotel – DJ Sequeria Paramount – DJ Morgan / Jordan Principal Micro Brewery – DJ Simon Queens Tav – DJ Rueben Republic – Clark/ Dave Miller/ Naik/ DJ Ben Taaffe/ Petro Vouris Rise – 4 Stings/ GeRmAn/ Joe Benger/ Simon Barwood/ Steven Tranzor Rocket Room – DJ Adam Round/ MC Timothy Nelson Rubix –DJ Pascal Sail And Anchor - T-Mac/ DJ
FunkyBottoms Settlers Tavern - Empress DJ Corby/ Missile/ MC-AyshaAmani/ Ali MC/ Binghi Fire South St Ale House – DJ Jay Shape – Rumble In The Jungle – Dair/ Greg Packer/ Rewind/ Menis/ Leroy B2B L Jay P/ Devo The Boat – Dr Bogus The Clink – DJ Jinx The Deen – DJ Birdie/ DJ Tony Allen/ DJ Nano/ DJ Surge The Eastern – DJ Midfield The Esplanade – Phrase The Queens – DJ Rueben The Shed – DJ Andy The Stamford Arms - DJ Anaru Tiger Lils – Paul Malone/ Joby / Alex K Toucan Club – DJ Armee Vic Park Hotel – DJ Melvin Windsor – Dj Riki and Ray
Ù SATURDAY 30/01 B A R O P E N [ C LU B 2 3 4 ] WATTHZ - FIRST BIRTHDAY From its humble beginnings at The Rosemount a little more than a year ago, WattHz has grown into a staple dubstep brand in Perth. Continuing to push the dubstep sound into 2010 (while still giving a nod and a wink to the year that was), WattHz invite you to join the celebrations as they turn one year old (it’s a double celebration, too, with MCs Skahna and Prophecy’s birthdays); with Skahna putting down the mic to picking up a pair of headphones to play a ver y special glitch-hop set, also playing are Skittlez, Vishnu, Ylem and Proximity Effect, with a special WattHz All Stars back to back mash up until close! Drink specials all night. $5 entry before 11pm; $10 after. Doors open 10pm. VELVET LOUNGE MINIMAL X - P O S U R E To n i g h t M i k e Bishop and Bokchoy will be retaining the deepness for the first few hours with some truly underground house. These selectors have travelled the world looking for hidden gems and happened to find
E
a stack in Detroit. Flaunt takes on minimal tek and house a n d E . N ’s s e t i s p l a n n e d as a mix of offbeat Jazz fusion, electro and dubstep. 8 p m to 1 a m . Fre e e n t r y. BAR REPUBLIC SEXY - TIM BURTON PARTY Tonight sees the return of Sexy’s infamous series of fancy dress parties. This time, the focus is on one of cinema’s most visually expressive and consistently exciting directors: Tim Burton. With his mind boggling new adaptation of Alice and Wonderland on the way, Sexy asks you to dress up as your favourite Burton character for a night of drinking and dancing yourselves silly to hot disco music. Doors open midnight-5am, entry $5. Ambar – Japan4 – Fdel/ Philly/ Marty McFly/Mono Lisa/ Bob Nocerous Amplifier – Pure Pop – DJ Eddie Electric Bar Open (Upstairs) – Woops A Daisy – Work Experience Kid/ Ace Basik/Mind Electric/Ant Biggz/Andy Sadler Bar Open (Downstairs) – WattHz First Birthday Bar Republic – Sexy Tim Burton Party Basement On Broadway – DJ Ricky Black Bettys- DJ Trubble/ DJ Jinx Broken Hill Tavern – DJ Nick Alexander Capitol (Downstairs) –Death Disco – Death Disco DJs Capitol (Upstairs) – 80s Classics – DJ Ryan Captain Stirling - DJ Dano Clink- DJ Carter Club Bay View – Shake & Pop - DJ Zelimir Connections – Michy T / JJ / Brian Double Lucky - Paul Raf /Alex K/Angus East End – DJ BigA Eurobar – Roger Smart/ DJ Raci Eve –Kenny L/Richie G/Riki Flying Scotsman (Upstairs) – Flying High – Sarah Tout/ Cutter/ Jack Midalia/ Ryan
Friday 05-02-10
F E AT U R I N G : DIVERTED [DJ SET] I N F O R M AT I O N : Doors Open 10pm. 104 Murray Street Perth.
Door Sales: $15. Get your exclusive presale from the Boomtick SHOP. For more info check out www.boomtick.com.au or events@boomtick.com.au, www.adicts.com.au, www.myspace.com/adictsevents, www.myspace.com/diverted
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Hittin’ the town since 1985
Sandilands Flying Scotsman (Downstairs) – Transmission - Andrei Maz High Wycombe – DJ Matt Impact Bar - Nu-Clear Soundz High Roller/ Spawn DJ’s Inglewood – DJ Leigh Leederville- DJ Loco Ren Library - DJ AZT/ DJ Fiveo/ DJ Jimmy Phatz/ DJ Zeke/ DJ L Street Liquid Nightclub - DJ Matty / Ricky L l a m a B a r – V J Zo o / D J R u e b e n / D J To n y L o p e z Metro City – Las Vegas Party - Double L/Slick/Angry Buda/ Kenny L Mint – Pop Life - Darren Briais Mustang – DJ Rockabilly/ DJ James MacArthur Niche – DJ Manda Power/ Cee/ Adam/ Kelly/Josh D Norma Jeans – DJ Dwayne O l d B a i l ey Tave r n – D r Bogus Oxford Hotel – DJ Sequeria Paramount – DJ Meez y / Jordan / Reuben Queens Tav – DJ Gear Rocket Room – DJ Brett Rowe Rise – Whiskey/ Luminate/ Greg Packer/ MC Xsessiv/ Simon Barwood Rubix – DJ Pascal Sapphire Bar – Filthy Gorgeous – Sketchism/ Jackness/ Nathan Francis/DeeJay Vee Sail And Anchor – DJ Jimmy Mac/ Dimitri Kapetas Shape - Big Night Out Juggernaut DJ’s/ Miami Horror D J ’s / S h a z a m / Pe a co c k s / Audagenous/ Clomas South St Ale House – DJ Jay Tiger Lil’s –Ben Sebastian/ Adam Kelly The Brighton - Philly Blunt/ Creek/ eSQue/ Kill Dyl/ Mad Dogs The Deen - DJ Birdie – Zone 2 / DJ Tony Allen – Zone 3 / DJ JJ - Zone 5 The Eastern – Dr Bogus The Shed – Glenn 20 To u c a n C l u b – S a m u e l Spencer/ Mr President Windsor – DJ Ray / Jinx The Victoria Park Hotel – DJ Melvin
www.xpressmag.com.au
NEWPORT
THE LIBRARY
EURO BAR
Ù SUNDAY 31/01 CONNECTIONS ROOFTOP TERRACE THE 27 STEPS - NO.2 After the success of No.1, the 27 Steps is back for the second installment of their monthly summer soiree series. Tonight, M iranda Menzies, Meupe recording artist and strange cousin Craig McElhinney, RTRfm’s Claude Mono (appearing live and in stereo) and the exotic emanations of {MOVE} DJs Ben Taaffe and Nikolas Patterson will entertain under the starry sky till close. $5 entry also includes mezé from Boucla Café’s Tanner family. Doors open 6pm, ‘til midnight. Entry from the Roe St Carpark.
The Shed – DJ Andyy The Wembley – Deckeclectic Pow!/ Dead Easy/ Nago/ Kapitol P
Ù MONDAY 01/02 Astor Cinema – Peaches Eastern Hotel – Adam Morris Funk Club - DJ Nickodemus Paddy Hannans – Dr Bogus The Deen – DJ Birdie The Paddo - DJ John Paul
Ù TUESDAY 02/02
Bar Orient - DJ Lyndon Double Lucky - Substance – DJ Paul Malone/ DJ JMC Eastern Hotel – Jon Edwards High Road Hotel - DJ Matty J High Wycombe - DJ Ricky The Cott (Upstairs) – Aussie Day at The Cott –Maxwell/ DJ Jus Captain Stirling – DJ Jay Haus/ Damian John Clancys - Rancho Relaxo / DJ The Paddo - DJ DPad Gear Claremont Showgrounds - Ù WEDNESDAY 03/02 Big Day Out - Groove Armada/ Basement On Broadway – DJ Ladyhawke/ Dizzee Rascal/ KB Peaches/ Kasabian/ Midnight Broken Hill Hotel – Oasis - DJ Juggernauts/ Calvin Harris/ Girl Armee (Downsyde)/ Refresh/ Talk + More Shaker/Cut-Nice/Jeremy C Clink – DJ Tony Allen Captain Stirling – DJ Ricky Double Lucky – Charlie Bucket Connections - DJ’s Joby / JJ / Euro Bar – DJ Flex Rueben Eve – DJ Birdie/MC Jex D o u b l e Lu c k y - Natural Flying Scotsman (downstairs) - Selection Nathan J/ Dan Tha Man/ Nisbit Dusk – Blackbelt/ Aswon Fonty’s Pool (Manjimup) – Dr Eurobar – Wild Wednesdays - DJ Bogus iPod/Ben Pettit Funk Club - DJ Nickodemus Eve – Déjà Vu – Smashproof/ Geisha – Fork – Cam Duff/ DJ Don Migi/ Skooby/ Stilez BaciCH/ Miss Tokyo Ali/ Flava Hip E Club - DJ E-Funk Boatshoes/ The Transients Inglewood – DJ Shifty Flying Scotsman (Downstairs) Mash – DJ Ricky – Uni-Que – Craig Mullaloo Beach Hotel – DJ Hollywood/ Select Kenny Gold – Slick/ Adroc Mustang - DJ Rockin Rhys Oak & Ivy –PCJ/Son Of The Paddo - DJ PDS Father Paramount – DJ Morgan/ DJ Mint - Open House Party – DJ Jordan Matt/ DJ Adrian Players Bar - DJ-Udas Mustang – DJ Giles Queens Tav- DJ Rhys Worth Newport Hotel – DJ Tony Rosemount Hotel – Sundae Allen Sessions Niche - DJ Frankie Button S h a p e – Big Night O ut – Paddo - Ben Merito Juggernauts DJs/Miami Horror/ Rosemount – DJ Shannon Fox Shazam/Peacocks/Audageous The Deen- DJ Zelimer / DJ Viper The Cott (Upstairs) – Miami & DJ Benny T– Zone 1 Beats The Eastern – DJ Jinx The Saint - DJ Anaru The Queens – Wriggle on
Ù THIS WEEK 4 Strings Friday, January 29 @ Rise Mowgli Friday, January 29 @ Ambar Shit Robot Friday, January 29 @ Bar Republic Boom Box Old Skool Boat PartiesRewind / Merlin / Dair / LJayP / Leroy / Menis Friday, January 29; Friday, March 19; Friday, May 21 @ Swan River
NEW
Nova Nation – John Course Marco Resmann S a t u r d ay, Fe b r u a r y 6 @ L i b r a r y Friday, February 26 @ Geisha Nightclub NEW Bass Check – Sibalance/ Ben Tiësto Elliott/ Rekab + more Wednesday, February 10; Thursday, Saturday, February 27 @ Bar Open February 11; Friday, February 12 @ NEW Metro City Fat Freddy’s Drop/Gilles Peterson Saturday, February 27 @ Fremantle RZA Arts Centre; Sunday, February 28 @ Wednesday, February 10 @ Villa Broadwater Farm, Busselton (FFD only at Busselton) Splitloop Friday, February 12 @ Ambar Gilles Peterson/Hypnotic Brass Ensemble Jamie Lidell/Sampology Sunday, February 28 @ Becks Music Friday, February 12 @ Becks Music Box Box
Big Day Out - Groove Armada/ Ladyhawke/ Dizzee Rascal/ Peaches/ Kasabian/ Midnight Juggernauts/ Norman Jay Friday, February 12 @ The Manor Calvin Harris/ Girl Talk + more Sunday, Januar y 31 @ Claremont Splitloop Showgrounds Friday, February 12 @ Ambar NEW Big Night Out – Juggernauts Power/ Housemister DJs/Miami Horror/Peacocks Friday, March 12 @ Villa Sunday, January 31 @ Shape
Good Vibrations - The Killers/ DJ Nickodemus Sunday, January 31 @ Funk Club; Monday, Basement Jaxx/ Armand Van Helden/ Gossip/ Busta Rhymes/ Salt N Pepa/ January 1 @ Fremantle Arts Centre Friendly Fires/ Kid Cudi/ Gym Class Heroes/ Plump DJ’s/ Art Vs Science/ Peaches Naughty By Nature/ Sam Obernik Monday, February 1 @ The Astor + more Sunday, February 14 @ Claremont Showgrounds
Ù UPCOMING
Tenishia/ DJ Wag Friday, February 5 @ Rise Diverted Friday, February 5 @ Ambar Silkie Friday, February 5 @ Shape Bar Becks Music Box Opening – Breakestra/DJ J-Roc Saturday, February 6 @ Becks Music Box Agent Alvin Saturday, February 6 @ Rosemount
Future Music Festival - The Prodigy/ Franz Ferdinand/ Empire Of The Sun/ David Guetta/ Booka Shade/ Erick Morilla/ Sven Vath/ John Digweed and more. Sunday, February 28, Ascot Racecourse James Blackshaw Thursday March 4 @ Rosemount Hotel Raekwon (Wu Tang Clan) Saturday, March 13 @ Villa Cobra Starship Sunday, March 21 @ Metro City La Roux Sunday, March 21 @ Belvoir Amphitheatre
Pivot/Meupe DJs Thursday, February 18 @ Becks Music Horrorshow Box Thursday, March 25 @ Rocket Room; Friday, March 26 @ Wintersun Hotel, NEW Precision Audio – DJ Aphrodite Geraldton; Sunday, March 27 @ Mojo’s /TikiTaane/Downsyde/Jade/A-Sides NEW Tonight Only/ Kissy Sellout/ + more HiJack/ Solo Friday, February 19 @ Metro City Thursday, April 1 @ Villa Deekline/ Ctrl Z Friday, February 19 @ Villa 16 Bit February 19 @ Shape Lupe Fiasco Tuesday, February 23 @ Metro City
MINT
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LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION! MUCH ADO CAMERA OBSCURA / Slow Club ABOUT ’MUFFIN
Camera Obscura (photo by Emma Bergmeier)
Amplifier Bar Monday, January 25, 2010 It may have been a balmy Monday night but with a public holiday to wake up to Camera Obscura managed to please a packed out Amplifier. Support act Slow Club were definitely the surprise of the night, with a well recieved set that meant sold-out CDs early in the night; by far the only disappointment of the night. The British duo quickly jumped straight into a folk-y pop tune with Rebecca Taylor and Charles Watson both playing guitar and singing together the whole way through. It was clear these guys have been playing together for a while, as their vocal harmonies were absolutely spot on, almost working completely as one. While the first track illustrated what we were in store for vocally, second track Rotten Mouth disarmed the crowd completely and made everyone realise there was a drum kit around Rebecca's legs. With just a kick drum, tom, snare and tambourine-on-a-stick she remained standing and looked effortless as she came in and out with an energetic rolling beat. Staying on drums for the next few tracks, the pair skillfully packaged and sold their sound to the eager crowd, which I'd put as a mix of the
sensibilities of Fleet Foxes with the spontaneous frenzy of Vampire Weekend. The pair’s infectious energy in their songs carried over to their banter, telling tour stories and introducing songs which loosened up the already full room. C o m i n g o u t q u i e t l y, C a m e r a Obscura went straight into the title track from their latest offering, My Maudlin Career, ending in a flurry of reverberated guitars, keys and rapturous applause. With the usual lineup (and even the addition of in and out member Nigel Baillie milling about at the back on percussion) frontwomen Carey Lander and Tracyanne Campbell's look matched the band's classic sound, with the latter rocking a vintage red dress and classic tobacco burst Epiphone Casino. As they played through a mix of fan favourites from previous albums and a generous helping from their 2009 release, fans were sure to hear the song they came for. Lead guitarist Kenny McKeeve’s guitar sang out his hooks very nicely, only lacking his beautiful slide guitar work. The string sections on the recordings translated fine to the keys, but I was dreading the idea of the brass sections on keys. Thankfully Nigel made himself known at the back by whipping out a trumpet for French Navy and kept tootin' it from then. Honey In The Sun especially benefited from the horn. If Looks Could Kill had a drum beat that started to get the crowd moving, but by far it was a show of observation rather than participation. Definitely a sharp contrast to opener Slow Club's interaction with the crowd, with the banter between songs even bordering on awkward at times. Leaving the room clapping and wanting more, they wasted no time and came back out for an encore, starting (rather fittingly) with Come Back Margaret. And even more fittingly they finished with Razzle Dazzle Rose, much like their 2006 release Let's Get Out Of This Country does - with a wall of built up sound that left the crowd satisfied. With a buzz at the end of the night, the talk was definitely of Slow Club. Unknown to most, a lot of new fans were made and I wager if they came back they would find an even larger, more eager crowd.
RAGGAMUFFIN FESTIVAL ME Bank Stadium Monday, January 25, 2010
Arriving at ME Bank Stadium just after 4pm, it was great to see so many people there for reggae music, although unfortunately delays getting through the gate left many Kiwis disappointed at missing the first act, NZ band House Of Shern. When I eventually got in, it was to find that Sean Kingston had just started. Accompanied by DJ Nasty Naz and an MC, Kingston ran through his hits Beautiful Girl, Replay, Take You There and Fire Burning from his Tomorrow album. Although singing along with a backing track, his voice and hits were greeted with enthusiasm. There was however some dissatisfaction at the brevity of his set, as he left the stage after performing only four songs.
Blue King Brown were up next. I don’t really understand their inclusion, as being ‘reggae-inspired’ isn’t really a good enough credential in a reggae festival of this calibre. Blue King Brown’s set was followed by a lengthy set up and sound check, before Steel Pulse took the stage. The wait proved to be well worth it however, as the legendary Birmingham ’70s powerhouse band burst on with their classic Rally Round The Flag. Bass was booming and the rhythms were crucial, as David Hinds (lead vocals / rhythm guitar) launched into Pan Africans Unite. With an impeccable drummer, and original Keyboardist Selwyn Brown, the bass was kicking and the crowd was lapping up the crisp sound of Steel Pulse. Handsworth Revolution and Stepping Out were pulled up, to the audiences delight. Steel Pulse declared ‘bass is king’, and gave us the highlight of the night.
Lauryn Hill
_TOM VARIAN
GET IT INDI YA! Indian Ocean Hotel Saturday, January 23, 2010
Vicky, Cindy
It’s one of the Indi Bar’s favourite annual events and one music lovers can’t wait for - Indifest. With a superb mix of some of the best national and local acts, including interstate Indifest regulars Ash Grundwald, Jez Mead and Dallas Frasca, this year’s event blew people away. Local acts and Indi Bar favourites K ill D evil Hills, M att Gresham, Andrew Winton and Ruby Boots also rose to the occasion in style, proving that WA acts are just as awesome as their eastern states counterparts.
Ashleigh, Tenielle, Darren, Scott, Rowlae
Sarah, Brendan, Gaff
Photographs by David Chong Dallas Frasca
WEDNESDAY
SUNDAY
BACKPACKER NIGHT - $5 BBQ & drink deal from 6pm
Peter Busher & The Lone Rangers
Circus with DJ Giles STUDENT & THURSDAY
WiKid & DJ Giles FRIDAY
Melody & The Quintones with Swing DJ Cheeky Monkeys with DJ James MacArthur SATURDAY
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Gemma, Astin
Lorinda, Gavin, George
with DJ Rockin Rhys
MONDAY
The High Rolling Rhythm Kings
The Rusty Pinto Combo
TUESDAY
The Damien Cripps Band
Salsa night
with Rockabilly DJ
Danza Loca
& DJ James MacArthur
DJ and live percussionists Hittin’ the town since 1985
show in pure Raggamuffin style. All in all, excellent performances from everyone on the bill. Despite long queues to get in, for the bar and the toilets, overly long stage changeovers and uptight security, much will be forgiven by reggae fans, as all are just grateful that there is a quality national reggae festival in Australia, and they will continue to support in ever larger numbers. Gotta love Jah people! _MUMMA TREES
Sly And Robbie (photos by Lisa Businovski)
Rosemount Hotel Saturday, January 23, 2010
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Photographs by David Chong
SLICK ROCK, FUNK AND GROOVE VIBES
Hanah & Trina
Sophia & Jade www.xpressmag.com.au
M.A U 4 6 2 2 W W W.F O U N D
TRAVISPM START / FREE ENTRY SIDE FXPUNK+ROCDJ AY / 8:30 RSD THU K THUMPING RLY + PMCR/ POPAVROCE KLAHITSTE9PM / FREE ENTRY KARINSTARPATSGEHEREEA / ACOUSTIC 5:30 THE W’END HOWIE MORGAN PROJECTT / FREE ENTRY
Perth’s own experimental rockers, The Brown Study Band, invited friends and fans down to The Rosie last Saturday for the launch of their self titled EP. With support from Hailmary, Gombo, Layla, Dan Hart and Dazastah, The Brown Study Band whipped the on looking crowd into a frenzy, demonstrating that the original music scene is alive and well.
Laura & Kim
U B.C O
COMING UP ROSIE
WAY, CANNINGTON IGH
RY P
Julian Marley
After an interminably long changeover, the highly anticipated performance from yet another Marley son began. Certainly, like all the Marley siblings who have followed a career in music, Julian Marley sounds remarkably like his father, but I personally find the aping of Bob’s signature moves and dance steps a little tired, especially after having seen Ziggy go through the same routine at last year’s Raggamuffin. With the notable exception of Damien, it seems that growing up in a life of wealth and privilege makes it virtually impossible for the Marleys to exude any kind of passion or originality, which perhaps can only be expected when engaged in a genre which is essentially the voice of the ghetto and the oppressed. Nonetheless, Julian began to rapturous applause as the first beats of Natural Mystic hit. Am I the only one who could see the irony in his singing the lyric ‘can’t go living in the past’,
Shaggy
Summertime and another version of Barrington Levy’s Broader Than Broadway (someone should have told him Sly And Robbie had already performed this one), he got massive cheers from the Kiwi contingent when he mentioned having just played New Zealand. When he was joined onstage by Rayvon, they demonstrated how people around the world party, by dropping tunes – New York was HipHop, Jamaica was Welcome To Jamrock and Australia with Land Downunder. More hits from Mr Lover Lover followed as he closed the
ALBAN YH
Steel Pulse
as he is singing a cover of a 30+ year old song and imitating moves performed by his father so long ago? His covers from Bob‘s catalogue, including Rastaman Vibration got him big cheers, but it seemed interest waned for his own tunes Boom Draw, Violence In The Streets and Awake, and gaps appeared in the crowd as people drifted off to the bar, before he finished strongly with Exodus. Next up was arguably the greatest rhythm section in the world, Sly Dunbar And Robbie Shakespeare. The legendary bass and drum duo were augmented with trombone, sax, keyboard and guitar. Beginning with Armigiddeon Time, the pure power that is Sly And Robbie electrified the crowd. Responsible for a vast amount of classic and instantly familiar reggae rhythms, they were greeted with roars from the crowd. Unfortunately their set was marred by feedback, and the sound dropped out completely at one stage. The trombone player gave passable vocals before a dubbed out version of Shine Eye Gal. When the first beats dropped on Dawn Penns classic No No No, the crowd erupted and the energy was electric, but the vibes fell as feedback once more intervened before we were treated to Robbie singing on the tune, which was then dubbed out with the sax player adding effects for an extended dub version. The Taxi riddim came next, and one by one the band members left the stage until only Robbie was left on stage playing the bass - as only he can. DJ Rampage, part of Lauryn Hill’s crew, played us a little reggae mix, accompanied by the three backup singers, before Lauryn Hill took the stage. Despite being bizarrely dressed (white hat, op-shop coat, kilos of gold bling and boxing boots) and looking thin to the point of anorexic, this lady still oozes super star charisma. Performing hits from The Fugees and from her Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill LP, her singing voice was amazing, although the mix could have been louder on her mic. Foldback issues seemed to mess with her timing on some of her raps, but she still delivered in a lightening fast style. She was joined onstage by Julian Marley for a brilliant duet on Turn The Lights Down Low, and finished with Killing Me Softly. The first that was heard of Shaggy was his voice coming from backstage, then he burst onstage in a blaze of lights and cheers. Running through hits Bonifide, Boombastic, Oh Carolina, Angel, Strength Of A Woman, In The
/ 9PM STAR
VDELLI TERS OF BADASS BLUES ROCK / 8PM START / FREE ENTRY PERTH’S MAS
The Brown Study Band
Scott & Cam
SENTRY WED FEB 17 www.foundrypub.com.au COMING SOON / SETHALBA NY HWY, CANNINGTON / CAROUSEL SHOPPING CENTRE,
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Edited by Mike Wafer Email your news and pics by 12 noon, Monday to: localmusic@xpressmag.com.au
BROWN DAMAGE
The Spitfires
IN THE CRIB
The Brown Study Band (photo by Shaun Ferraloro)
THE BROWN STUDY BAND CD LAUNCH The Rosemount Hotel Saturday, 23 January, 2010 For the first act of the evening, Gombo hit the jackpot. A nearly full room is hard to come by for an opener but Gombo were incredibly well received. The three-piece fielded applause for their mixed bag of alt. rock. The vocals were one of the more surprising features of the set, sounding like Brian Molko but then offset by a rockier bed of thick bass and screaming guitar. We may expect interesting things as Gombo continue to develop their sound. The group could benefit from an added element or instrument, to widen the scope of their creativity because they appear to be set on experimenting with style. Overall, it was a perfect match for the night’s proceedings and more than any headliner could ask for in terms of getting the punters in early. If there was a theme to the night, it certainly would be the ’90s. While Hailmary must be sick of getting reviewed as mid-’90s grunge, the shoe does fit. They do, however, wear it well and sound tighter than ever. They also sound as sleek and professional as any national touring act. It should be noted this band is hardworking, gigging to showcase the new EP and obviously jamming to the eyeballs. It’s paying off though and while there might not be many surprises in the sound itself, there aren’t that many faults either. If it’s surprises you want though, The Brown Study Band will deliver in spades. Watching this band for the first time is an experience, and so much fun regardless of your tastes.Firstly,the sound is a post-modern collage of some of the greatest contemporary feats from the previous Century. After opening with a rendition of the Australian national anthem,
no doubt in tribute to the approaching holiday, the band continued on to present a hilarious mash of Faith No More / Bungle, Primus, Queen et al. As far as vocals are concerned, singer / keyboardist ‘Mondo’ is truly gifted and is not afraid to use it. As far as comparisons are concerned, think of a love-child between Ian Kenny and Meatloaf. Speaking of the bizarre, lyrics like ‘Excuse me Mr, do you want some chicken? / Because I bought some from the shop’ might be too kooky for some people but if you can accept without judgment, The Brown Study Band have so much substance, style changes and musicianship featured in the new EP, What Came First?, that they should be applauded. Another theme for the night would be ‘poultry’. Perhaps to mark What Came First? as well as tracks like Loose Change For Free Range and The Egg there was a random chicken spotted on stage at various times. Well, a dude in a chicken suit to be exact… and he clucked. The band themselves were sporting costumes and they were actually ‘sport’ costumes. They featured a gridiron player, cricket player and maybe a tennis and a soccer player like some perverse, athletic Village People. Even though the sound might be left-of-centre and the live performance a little quirky, it would be unfair to write them off as a joke band because there is real substance here. They played for more than an hour and most tracks were in the 7-10 minute range with crafted changes and perfect timing. The Brown, as they are endearingly known, were pumping on Saturday night and there was an entire venue of punters who were rocked, shocked, confused and entertained. Get ready to hear more about these boys as they are set to ‘paint the town brown’. _LAURA GLITSOS
SLIDE AWAY
Blues’n’roots slide maestro Aiden Varro is heading down south for a string of dates this February. Varro will be bringing his stomp-box and nimble picking-fingers to Margaret River’s Settlers Tavern on Thursday, February 18, Ex-tensions Restaurant, Bunbury on Friday, February 19, The Bootleg Brewery, Margaret River on Saturday (day show), February 20 and to the Cape Wine Bar, Dunsborough on the same Saturday night. More information available at www. myspace.com/aidenvarrosolo
Brit-tastic local act The Spitfires have been coaxed out of the studio (where they are recording their Dead? Good! EP) to play a prized support slot with The Cribs, who include in their ranks a guitarist you may have heard of called Johnny Marr, who happened to play in a little English band called The Smiths. The Cribs show takes place at The Rosemount on Friday, February 13, but The Spitfires will be warming up for their support slot with a show at The Rosemount on Friday, January 29, joining melodic heavy rockers FoulPLAY (who are currently producing their debut LP), The Smiling Assassins and Applebite Beggars On Acid.
Goodnight Tiger
YOU, ME, LANEWAY
After two heats of head to head musical combat, five finalists will fight it out at the Rosemount Hotel on Thursday, January 28 to win a place in this year’s Laneway Festival. Wolves At The Door, The Veescars, Hayley Beth, Minute 36, and Goodnight Tiger are all in contention to win the golden slot. Doors open 8pm. Tickets $8 from the door.
NEW CLOTHES
After warming up at the Rosemount Hotel’s pre-Big Day Out bash The Big Night Before on Saturday, January 30, local act Emperors will be playing The Big Day Out on Sunday, January 31. The band’s delightfully noisy track Favourite Colours has recently been added to Triple J’s rotation list, so head down to the Hot Produce stage at 11am to hear the band in the flesh.
Turnstyle
BACK ON THE TURNSTYLE
Much loved Perth pop act Turnstyle are reforming for a special one-off gig, eight years after playing their final sell out show. Adem K, Emperors PJ and Dean Davies will pull on the cardigans on Saturday, March 6 at Amplifier Bar to remind fans of classics like I’m A Bus, Portamento, IT’S ALL O-KAYE Purple Crown and their ARIA Top 20 hit Spray Talented multi-instrumentalist Nathan Kaye Water On The Stereo. Joining them will be Seja will be playing at the L’Attitude 28 Wine bar (Regurgitator and Sekiden), Boys!Boys!Boys! in Geraldton on Sunday, January 31 from 5pm before leaving for LA to launch his latest album. and Burgers Of Beef. Tickets $15 (plus booking fee) from www.moshtix.com. Entry free.
Aiden Varro
THE NIGHT BEFORE
Warm up for the Big Day Out, or quell your ticketless angst, with a fine lineup of local talent at the Rosemount for The Big Night Before on Saturday, January 30. Harlequin League, The Chemist, Will Stoker And The Embers, Emperors and solo artist Tree will all be on hand to whet your festival appetite. Tickets $10 on the door.
Argentinean tango specialists Zigatango will get the boards rattling on Saturday, January 30, with their tribute to famous Argentinean composer and performer Astor Piazzolla. More info at www. kulcha.com.au.
A GOOD LEG UP
Jam Music and Offworld Prductions are offering indigenous reggae, hip hop and funk artists the opportunity to supercharge their careers with an NO JOE KING MATTER Fresh from the release of their debut EP Call In appearance at this year’s Good Vibrations festival. The Night, blues rockers The Joe Kings (who now If you’d like to join artists such as The Killers, feature drummer Ryan Brewer and bass player Basement Jaxx, Kid Cudi, Busta Rhymes and SaltRiley Watson-Russell) bring their blistering live N-Pepa at this year’s festival, which takes place at show back to The Perth Blues Club on Tuesday, Claremont Showgrounds on Sunday, February 14, February 2. Joining the band at The Charles Hotel send your demo to Offworld Productions, PO Box will be Empire Blues and 3 Wise Monkeys. Entry 325, Fremantle WA 6959 by February 1. All entrants must be over 18 years of age. For more information $15 or $10 for members. call (08) 9335 5066.
A LITTLE BIT FANCY
Raucous bluegrass fraternity The Fancy Brothers complete their summer residency at the X-Wray Café in Fremantle on Sunday, January 31, from 4pm. Two life-changing sets will be performed.
A SPICY BLEND
As January comes to a close, Fremantle venue Kulcha are doing what they do best and bringing audiences a fine range of worldly and exotic sounds. On Friday, January 29, punters can enjoy the exotic sounds of Knotwork – who have collaborated with 2003 WAMi Indigenous Song Of The Year winner George Walley to form a unique indigenous / Celtic fusion. Gypsy music and 48
Dilip ‘N’ The Davs
DAVS HERE, MAN
Nathan Kaye
Dilip ‘N’ The Davs will perform three shows this weekend, dragging them to both sides of the river. Catch them on Friday, January 29, at Mojo’s (with Eva McGowan, Blow and Nugget); Saturday, January 30, at Gypsy Tapas House; and Sunday, January 31, at JB O’Reilly’s (with Eva McGowan and Damien Binder).
MAN ON THE MOON
Tracey Read, Joel Barker and Dom Cayote will play Going Solo at The Moon Café on Wednesday, February 3. Performers start their intimate, closeand-personal sets at 8pm. Entry free.
EIGHT-LEGGED FUN
The Swan hosts the eight-legged, slimy rock fest that is Octopussy on Saturday, January 30. Louise Love And The Hates, Lantana, Indie Starts Fires, The Witches Promise, The Raw Electrics, Ultra Detectives, Reverse Engine Ear, and The Gizzards will be on hand to suck you in with their rocking prowess. Tickets $12. Doors open at 8pm.
Project Mayhem
DOIN’ IT FOR THE KIDS
High energy rockers Project Mayhem and The FAIM Project will headline an all-ages punk extravaganza on Saturday, January 30 at Sound Suite, 140 Railway Parade, Bassendean. Joining these two acts at the appropriately named Kings For A Day Concert will be zxspecky, The Kuillotines, SSA, Montage Of Jesus, and West End Riot. Tickets $10, doors open 4pm for a familyfriendly 9pm finish. Hittin’ the town since 1985
UNDER THE PUMP
CUP OF JOE
A rather tasty lineup of local blues, pop and rock talent will assemble at the X-Wray Café on Saturday, January 30. Classic blues rockers The Joe Kings, breezy folk outfit King George and jangly pop duet Goodnight Tiger will play from 8pm. Tickets $10 on the door.
GASOLINE INC CD LAUNCH Rosemount Hotel Friday, December 22, 2010
AMPLIFIER
This reporter had never heard of Gasoline Inc. before in his entire life, and there was a very good reason for that. If the lead singer was to be believed, this was show number nine for the band, and they sold out the Rosemount. Yes, they sold it out, 600+ punters. And what a crowd. Not since last Australia Day have so many enormous muscley men in Ed Hardy shirts enjoyed so many drinks in quick succession. Good business for the Rosemount then, which is great when one considers the dire circumstances some of the less fortunate venues around the country are currently facing. And hell, why not? The promoters certainly went all out, and one was greeted at the entrance way by a red carpet, and those fake flames made from sheets with lights on them so they look like fire. Kinda cool. After spending, and I kid you not, about 10 or 15 minutes trying to negotiate with one boofhead in the car park who couldn’t seem to fathom that the lot was very much full and who, presumably, saw backing his vehicle out as a threat to his manliness; this reporter was finally able to catch the last handful of songs by The Bronze. A tight band, very by-the-numbers postgrunge guitar rock. The vocal harmony interplay between guitarists Aaron Peden and Jon Stewart was probably a highlight. As ever, the one drawback for bands at the Rosie is the incredible, astonishing, downright awesome nature of its sprawling beer garden. Like a Venus Fly Trap it lures punters and keeps ’em there - why would they go anywhere else? and DJ Eddie Electric’s impeccable choice of rock classics was the icing on the cake. So, apart from a few early keen people dancing and tapping their toes, the crowd didn’t really start to pick up until toward the end of Thrust’s set. All leather pants, long hair, and muscley guitarists; watching this band makes you want to go to the gym. Brimming with confidence, the bandanna-clad lead singer yelled at punters outside to ‘get the fuck in ’ere!’, and generally engaged the crowd LA-style. Was he being too serious? It almost fell flat, except that, as the last
Friday, January 29, Lacey launch their new single Distractions, with support from Arts Martial and The Frighteners. Doors open 8pm. Saturday January 30, The Horrors are playing a sideshow at Amplifer, supported by Fabulous Diamonds. Doors open 8pm.
Gasoline Inc (photo by Lisa Businovski)
couple of songs roared from the enormous PA, the crowd actually did start to swell and engage. Charitable causes were then acknowledged, with the auction of a guitar signed by AC/DC. It went for $5,000. Seriously. Then, after some formalities, it was time for Gasoline Inc. to take the stage. A musically flawless, CD-perfect band packaged in a slick stage show, Gasoline Inc. played to an absolutely chock-a-block house of huge dudes and miniature orange girlfriends. One of the pleasant challenges of the reviewer’s job is trying to get into the headspace of acts that one would not normally experience. But with such nuggets of wisdom as Music Is My Religion, there wasn’t much really to ‘get’ here. This was straight up, dumb as all hell radio-rock. It could have been Creed. This is the problem when people expect commercial radio to ‘filter’ their music for them—they just end up with generic pap that is just so… unremarkable in every way. Bon Scott would never have been involved in anything so soulless. But goodness me, there’s an audience for it, and Gasoline Inc. have found ’em. And, as they trampled their way out of the venue leaving mountains of rubbish and having emptied thousands of dollars into the bar, Matt Gresham and his guitarist buddy played some booty shakin’ blues to the stragglers. It was a good way to do it, and allowed the headliners and punters to mingle and have a few more drinks. A well organised, well promoted show which featured some talented players; but from a critic’s perspective - and let’s remember, that’s my job - none of the bands did anything for me at all. _BEN WATSON
FLY BY NIGHT
Friday, January 29, don’t miss Puerto Rican reggaeton superstar Nicky Jam with special guest David Rolas. Then on Saturday, January 30, join the Northern Soul DJs to celebrate four years of Motown, Northern Soul and Modern Soul at the Fly.
JB O’REILLY’S
Tonight, Thursday, January 28, get a curry-and-pint for $15, from 5-9pm. Stay for some great live music with Red Yeti from 8pm. Friday, January 29, celebrate the weekend with The Healys from 8.30pm. Saturday, January 30, is Tea for Two from 8.30pm, and Sunday, January 31’s Original Music Night boasts Eva Mc Gowan, Damien Binder, Dilip N The Davs from 6.30pm.
ROCKET ROOM
Dyscord launch their new record, Tirades, with support from Empires Laid Waste and Devastator. Following on for Late Night Live are Pictures Of Sarah and Mordecai, with MC Tim Nelson and DJ Adam Round ’til 3am. Saturday, January 30, there’s more metal with kingpins Pyromesh, Dogs Of War, Sparring For Shotgun, and Vipera. Kickstart and DJ Brett Rowe tag team ’til 4am.
ROSEMOUNT HOTEL
Tonight, Thursday, January 28, the Rosemount hosts the Path To Laneway final, with Wolves At The Door, The Veescars, Hayley Beth, Minute 36, and Goodnight Tiger battling it out for a place spot on the Laneway Festival. Doors open 8pm and entry is $8. Friday, January 29, catch local rockers FoulPlay, The Spitfires, The Smiling Assassins, and Applebite Beggars On Acid. Doors open 8pm, entry is $8. Saturday, January 30, it’s the night before Australia’s biggest rock festival hits Perth and the Rosie has assembled a great lineup to warm you up for the main event, consisting of Harlequin League, The Chemist, Will Stoker And The Embers, Emperors, and Tree. Doors open 8pm, entry is $10. Sunday, January 31, the Rosemount’s Sundae Session continues in the beer garden – free entry. Tuesday, February 2, it’s the Rosemount’s weekly Quiz Night - see www.quizmeisters.com.au for more info. Wednesday, February 3 catch The Love Junkies, Milknurse, The Strobes, and Gloria. Doors open 8pm. In the beer garden catch DJ Shannon Fox
King George for the Rosemount’s Student Night. Check out www. rosemounthotel.com.au for more Rosie info.
MOJO’S BAR
Tonight, Thursday, January 28, King Brown Records presents a local hip hop showcase night featuring Diverse, Complete, Verdikt, Smiley, and Wolverine. Entry to this show is $5 from 8pm. Friday, January 29, is the Freo party night. Playing this evening of rambunctious dub and reggae grooves will be Dilip N the Davs, Blow, Eva McGowan Band, and Nugget. Entry is $10 from 8pm. Saturday, January 30, The Kill Devil Hills’ Another Joke, Another Ransom tour hits town. The boys will be supported by The Fags, The Love Junkies, and Moonlight Wranglers. Entry to this show is $15. Sunday, January 31, the Veescars will join The Morning Night and The Joe Kings. Entry to this one is $10 from 6pm. Monday, February 1, performing at Mojo’s for the Wide Open Mic will be a bunch of ambitious cats who will simply rock up on the night. This night is hosted by Justin Walshe 0408 755 233. These nights kick off at 8pm with about four acts each hour ’til 12. Entry is free. Tuesday, February 2, the Acoustic Café night returns with A Beggars Second, Echoes Of Django, Seth Lowe, and Mitch Becker. Entry to this night is $5 from 8pm. Wednesday, February 3, the Fremantle Blues And Roots Club hosts Martine Locke (Velvet Janes), Eva McGowan Band and Kim MacDonald. Entry is $10/$5 for members from 8pm.
RAILWAY HOTEL
Friday, January 29, catch The Grotesque, Nails Of Imposition, DFC, and Episiotomy. Doors open 8pm, entry is $10. Saturday, January 30 you’ll find Paperfly, Aztech Suns, Seer Cya and Helix To The Sun. Doors 8pm, entry is $5.
SWAN BASEMENT
Friday, January 29, there’s a big two-room show using both Swan Basement and Swan Lounge, featuring Burning Fiction,The Kuillotines,Ten Points For Glenroy, Jukebox Zombies, Liz Wreck, The Rhinehardts, Chris Body Coat, and Helen Shanahan. Doors open 8pm. Saturday, January 30, it’s another two-roomer for Octopussyfest 2010 - featuring Lantana, Louise Love And The Hates, Indie Starts Fires, The Witches Promise, The Raw Electrics, Ultra Detectives, Reverse Engine Ear, and The Gizzards. Doors open 8pm, entry $12.
SWAN LOUNGE
Sunday, January 31, catch Alithea, Shilo Blondel, Bill And Dylan, and Adam Hynes. Doors 6pm, entry $5. Wednesday, February 3 it’s some fresh talent in form of Sonpsillo Circus, Bulls And Bears, Black Sun, and James Teague. Doors 8pm, entry $8.
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CALVIN HARRIS
Like A Flashback... Calvin Harris is an anomaly in the world of electronic music - an artist with something important to say, as JAKE STONE discovers ahead of his set at Big Day Out. The Scottish-born producer welds vulnerable, funny and heartfelt lyrics onto a pastiche of ’90s and ’80s dancefloor anthems, refracting the best and worst of that period through a likably ironic mirror. While his 2007 debut LP I Created Disco was charming, it was a bunch of dancefloor fillers with “someone talking over the top of them”. His 2009 followup LP Ready For The Weekend demonstrates maturity, a process that has seen Harris develop into a studio technician with the emotional scope of a singer/songwriter. Why did you start producing so young? All the dubious skills I learnt at 14 messing around with my Amiga instead of going out and playing football. I started young because my brother went to uni and left me this bashed-up computer with sequencing software on it, and I got hooked. When it came time to go to university, I chose to not to, getting a job so I could buy more musical equipment. It was only when I reached 21 that I thought ‘shit, maybe I shouldn’t have done all that’. A couple of years later I got lucky and got a record deal. Your current single Flashback details the hedonistic world that opened up to you after the success of I Created Disco, and most of Ready For The Weekend grafts a sense of panic into the context of pleasure and excess. Is that a fair statement? Yeah, probably. My default setting is to panic and be concerned, but I make dance music, so I’ve been thrown into a world that loves
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parties and fun. It feels like I’m the complete opposite of the world that I’ve entered. I’m Not Alone deals with everything you care about being ‘replaced with mountains of gold’. Was the period between your first and second albums about re-evaluting what had changed since you became successful? All those things were going through my head. Life completely changed in the two years since I wrote that. It was the first time I’d been given any opportunity to think about it, and then I spent too long thinking about it. I don’t think that is reflected in the music, which is a more far-reaching than before. It’s still dance music, but lyrically I’ve wanted to be more interesting than the standard dance cliches. I want to approach it like a band. I think ‘would Kings Of Leon sing this, and would it work?’. I think it’s nice to try to make pop and dance music that isn’t shit, you know? You deliver surprisingly good studio vocals on this album, especially given that you’re a producer first, and a singer second. Was that a challenge? At first I was singing the songs because I’d written them, I had a record deal, and it was under my name. The second record put me in a position where I could have gotten session singers, but I thought I should see how far I could take it. I wanted to make something that was a bit more fully formed than the first album. This is an album by a person, rather than a producer. You turned down a collaboration with Lady Gaga, which is either insanity or a stroke of genius on your behalf. It was about a year ago, and no-one knew who she was at that point. They sent me a song and asked if I wanted to work on it, and I base anything I do on the quality of the song. I listened to it, and it was rubbish. My first impression was not good. There’s a real culture of style over substance in pop music at the moment. How do you feel about that? I mean, you famously jumped onstage wearing a pineapple during The X Factor to protest it’s dominance in the UK charts, so you obviously care a bit about it. It doesn’t frustrate me because I’m still getting songs in the charts. It might be totally different in a couple of years when I’m struggling to do that, but right now I’m happy with people buying records based on what people look like and what dress they wore in the video. It’s always been that way.
Hittin’ the town since 1985
THIS WEEK
SHARON SHANNON February 7 EMILY BARKER & THE RED CLAY HALO February 7-28 MARCIN WASILEWSKI TRIO February 8 MARIANNE FAITHFUL January 30 Burswood Theatre February 9-10 PORTICO QUARTET February 10 THE HORRORS RZA February 10 January 30 Amplifier DIRTY THREE February 11 February 11-12 BIG DAY OUT (Muse, TIESTO DAVE GRANEY February Powderfinger, Lily 11-14 Allen, Eskimo Joe, NICE VERDES February 11 - 19 GUY SEBASTIAN February 12 Groove Armada, GRANT HART February 12 Ladyhawke, The Mars LIDELL February 12 Volta, Dizzee Rascal, JAMIE GRANT HART February 12 Karnivool, Peaches, GUY SEBASTIAN February 12 The Temper Trap, NO TURNING BACK February 12-13 Kasbian, Midnight THE CRIBS February 13 Juggernauts) AMADOU AND MARIAM January 31 Claremont February 13-14 Showgrounds GOOD VIBRATIONS (The Killers, Basement Jaxx, PEACHES Armand Van Helden, Gossip, February 1 Astor Theatre Busta Rhymes, Friendly Fires, Salt N Pepa, Z Trip, Kid ACE FREHLEY Cudi, Naughty By Nature, February 1 Metropolis, Gym Class Hero’s and more) Fremantle February 14 JON STEVENS February 14 JOSH EARL February 15 DIE ROTEN PUNKTE February ROSS WILSON Febuary 4-7 16 THE STABS February 5-6 BRITISH SEA POWER LANEWAY FESTIVAL (Echo February 17-18 And The Bunnymen, PIVOT February 18 Florence And The Machine, THE PAINS OF BEING PURE Black Lips, The XX’s, Daniel AT HEART / BACHELORETTE Johnston, Sarah Blasko, February 19 N.A.S.A, Eddy Current TINA HARROD February Suppression Ring, Hockey, 19-20 Frightened Rabbit, Black YO LA TENGO February 20 God, Young Revelry and THE PANICS / WASO February more) February 6 20 CLIFF AND THE SHADOWS KATIE NOONAN & THE February 6 CAPTIANS February 20 BEACH BOYS / DARYL GIMME SHELTER (Kav BRAITHWAITE / BRIAN CADD (Eskimo Joe) / Steve Parkin / February 7 Blue Shaddy) February 20 BREAKESTRA February 6 MISTA SAVONA February 21 CLIFF AND THE SHADOWS ROB THOMAS / VANESSA AMOROSI February 21 February 6
AUSTRALIAN ROCK SYMPHONY (Diesel, Baby Animals, Chrissy Amphlett)
COMING UP
DIANA KRALL February 23-24 DANCING ON YOUR GRAVE February 22-23 LUPE FIASCO February 23 ROBERT FORSTER February 24 DAN SULTAN February 25 BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE February 25 CALEXICO February 26 THE POLYPHONIC SPREE February 26 NANNUP MUSIC FESTIVAL February 26-March 1 HEALTH February 27 THE POINTER SISTERS February 27 FAT FREDDY’S DROP / GILLES PETERSON February 27 MARDI GRAS 2010 (Bob Malone, Seamie O’Dowd, Adam Hall & the Velvet Playboys, Diamond Dave & the DooDaddies, Mo’ Candy, Simon Cox Band, Div Craft & the Big Ol’ Bears and more) February 27 HEALTH February 27 HYPNOTIC BRASS ENSEMBLE February 28 FUTURE MUSIC FESTIVAL (The Prodigy, Franz Ferdinand, Empire Of The Sun, David Guetta, Booka Shade, Erick Morilla, Sven Vath, John Digweed) February 28 SOUNDWAVE (Faith No More, My Chemical Romance, Jane’s Addiction and More) March 1 ANTIBALAS AFROBEAT ORCHESTRA / TIJUANA CARTEL / SUNSHINE BROTHERS March 1 CLUTCH March 2 THE BIG PINK March 2 PLACEBO March 2 THE SAW DOCTORS March 4 AL DI MEOLA WORLD SINFONIA March 5 AC/DC / WOLFMOTHER March 6-7 PAVEMENT March 6 JONATHAN BOULET March 6 GERSEY March 8-9
Llly Allen
SPINNERETTE March 9 NO FUN AT ALL March 11 DINOSAUR JR March 12 MAMA KIN March 12 MASSIVE ATTACK March 12 GRINSPOON March 12-14 YVES KLEIN BLUE March 12-14 DIRTY PROJECTORS March 13 WILD OATS MUSIC FESTIVAL (Grinspoon, Jebediah, The Novocaines, The Trigger Jackets, The Sneaky Weasel Gang and more) March 13 A DAY ON THE GREEN (Tom Jones, David Campbell) March 14 CALLING ALL CARS March 14 CONVERGE / GENGHIS TRON March 16 STATUS QUO March 17 DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT March 18 THE SCREAMING JETS March 18-21
LA ROUX / BERTIE BLACKMAN /TIM & JEAN March 21 OWL CITY March 21 COBRA STARSHIP / OWL CITY March 21 LYLE LOVETT / KASEY CHAMBERS March 22 BRIAN KENNEDY March 23 BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME March 24 CHRIS SMITHER March 24-25 THE MESS HALL / BRIDEZILLA & CABINS March 25-26 HORRORSHOW March 25-27 THE WHITLAMS March 26 SHORT STACK March 26 THE SUNDANCE KIDS March 26-28 HARRY CONNICK JNR March 27 PIXIES March 27-28 WEST COAST BLUES ‘N’ ROOTS (Crowded House, John Butler Trio, Buddy Guy, Jeff Beck and more) March 28
THE GIPSY KINGS March 28 PAVEMENT March 28 ANGUS & JULIA STONE March 28-April 1 THE DEAD WEATHER March 29 BRAND NEW March 31 28 DAYS March 31-April 4 LADY GAGA April 2 DECAPITATED / PSYCROPTIC / ORIGIN / MISERY INDEX April 6 NEW FOUND GLORY April 7 BEHEMOTH/ JOB FOR A COWBOY/ GOATWHORE April 12 SPANDAU BALLET / TEARS FOR FEARS April 17 KELLY CLARKSON April 22 JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE April 22-23 ELVIS MEETS BUDDY April 23-24 REVIVAL TOUR – CHUCK RAGAN / FRANK TURNER / TIM BARRY / BEN NICHOLS April 28 GROOVIN’ THE MOO May 15
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51
Charles Hotel
509 Charles Street, North Perth, WA 6006 Ph: 9444 1051 Email: enquiries@charleshotel.com.au
WINNER OF AHA BEST LIVE ENTERTAINMENT VENUE OF 2009 Arts Martial, Friday at Amplifier
THURSDAY 28th JANUARY
HEAT 4 OF RAW COMEDY FRIDAY 29th JANUARY
BURGERKILL DOORS OPEN 8PM RESTAURANT OPEN 6PM TICKETS FROM BOTTLESHOP, BOCS OR ON THE DOOR
SUNDAYS
TUESDAY 2nd FEBRUARY PRESENTS
KEITH ANTHONISZ & 3 WISE MONKEYS EMPIRE BLUES • THE JOE KINGS
DOORS OPEN 7PM - RESTAURANT OPEN FOR DINNER FROM 6PM
WEDNESDAYS
FUNKY BUNCH TRIVIA WITH $12 CHICKEN PARMIGIANA
THURSDAY 4th FEBRUARY
HEAT 5 OF RAW COMEDY COMING SOON
FRIDAY 12TH FEBRUARY LITTLE RIVER BAND LEGEND
GLEN SHORROCK DOORS OPEN 8PM RESTAURANT OPEN FOR DINNER FROM 6PM TICKETS FROM OUR BOTTLESHOP BOCS ONLINE OR ON THE DOOR
SATURDAY 13TH FEBRUARY
FOLKLORE
THURSDAY 28.01 BENNY’S Howie Morgan CASTLE The Jephasuns The Kirbens The Strobes The Robery COMMERCIAL TAVERN Chase The Ace ELEPHANT & WHEELBARROW Gun Shy Romeos ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Grace Barbe EURO BAR Wesley Goodlet Jamboree Scouts FENIANS Pearce Ward FOUNDRY SideFX INDI BAR Open Mic IMPACT BAR Vdelli JB O’REILLY’S Red Yeti LEDGENDS BAR Bill Chidgzey LUCKY SHAG James Wilson MARKET CITY TAVERN David Lazarus National Outrage Bulls And Bears The Midnight Condition MOJO’S Diverse Complete Verdikt Smiley Wolverine MOON & SIXPENCE Bar Code MUSTANG Wikid PADDO Ben Merito PADDY HANNANS Dr Bogus ROSIE O’GRADYS (Northbridge) Fenton Wilde ROSEMOUNT Wolves At The Door The Veescars Hayley Beth Minute 36 Goodnight Tiger SETTLERS TAVERN (Margaret River) Aiden Varro SOVERIGN ARMS David Fyffe SPICE LOUNGE Courtney Murphy UNIVERSAL BAR Off The Record WANNEROO TAVERN Keith McDonald WHALE & ALE Ryan Carbray
FRIDAY 29.01 AMPLIFIER Lacey CD Launch Arts Martial The Frighteners BALMORAL James Wilson BALLY’S Free Radicals BAR ORIENT One Island East BENNYS The Essentials
BLACK BETTY’S Smokin Section BRASS MONKEY Chris Murphy CAPTAIN STIRLING Howie Morgan (duo) CAPITOL Oats Supply CARLISLE HOTEL Inferno CASTLE Crankenstein 10 Past 6 Copious Cave Fire Cinema Old Boy CIVIC HOTEL (Backroom) Reaper’s Riddle Homebrewe Hailmary Kingdom Of Ruin CLANCY’S (Freo) Melliflous COTTESLOE BEACH HOTEL Open Mic Night CRAIGIE TAVERN Steve & Ben DUSK Redstar EAST END Stratosfunk ELEPHANT & WHEELBARROW Timeout ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Natalie Gillespie Howie Morgan ESS BAR Blue Hornet EVE J Babies EURO BAR Switchback FENIANS The Clan FITZGERALDS (Bunbury) Playthings FLY BY NIGHT Nicki Jam FOUNDRY Crave Karin Page GREENWOOD HOTEL Riddum Shak IMPACT BAR Skinny Lane INDI BAR Vdelli INDIAN OCEAN BREWING COMPANY Shawne + Luc JB O’REILLYS The Healeys KALAMUNDA HOTEL Ryan Carbray KINGSLEY TAVERN Dr Bogus KULCHA Knotwork LEFT BANK Bumpy Johnson MERRIWA TAVERN Damian Cripps MOJO’S Dilip & The Davs Blow Eva McGowan Band Nugget MOONDYNE JOES Dave Gillam Trio MOUNT HENERY TAVERN Full Circle MUSTANG Melody & The Quintones Cheeky Monkeys
Aztech Suns, Saturday at Railway NEWPORT Felix NORFOLK BASEMENT Young Revelry Sunspilo Circus Death Mouse OLD BAILEY TAVERN Rockstar PADDO Gun Shy Romeos PADDY HANNAN’S Blue Gene PADDY MAGUIRES 43 Cambridge PARAMOUNT Flyte PLAYERS BAR Milhouse PUBLICAN BAR Alfredo RAILWAY HOTEL Grotesque Nails Of Imposition DFC Episiotomy ROCKET ROOM Dyscord Empires Laid Waste Devastator Pictures Of Sarah Mordecai ROSEMOUNT HOTEL FoulPlay The Spitfires The Smiling Assassins Applebite Beggars On Acid SAIL & ANCHOR Easy Tigers SEVENTH AVE BAR Midnight Rambler SOUTH ST ALEHOUSE Robbie King Karaoke SWAN BASEMENT/ LOUNGE Burning Fiction The Kuillotines Ten Points For Glenroy Jukebox Zombies Liz Wreck The Rhinehardts Chris Body Coat Helen Shanahan SWINGING PIG Bar Code THE BOAT Living Large THE BURRENDAH Keith McDonald THE CHASE Better Days THE DEEN Slim Jim & The Phatts Clayton Bolger THE EASTERN MIDLAND Bill Chidgzey THE GATE Mike Nayar THE SAINT James Wilson THE SHED Three Piece Spritzer UNIVERSAL Funksta UWA Kristen Arnott VIC PARK HOTEL Ivan Ribic WATERFORD TARVEN Bogan Bingo WHITFORDS TAVERN Alan West
The Smiling Assassins, Friday at Rosemount
WOODVALE TAVERN Cherry XWAY BAR Peter Ewing Nick Styles YMCA HQ The Silence InBetween Chasing The Ninth Main Sequence Satan Himself
MOJO’S Kill Devil Hills The Fags The Love Junkies The Moonlight Wranglers MOON & SIXPENCE Bar Code MUSTANG The Rusty Pinto Combo The Damien Cripps Band NEWPORT SATURDAY 30.01 Gravity OLD BAILEY AMPLIFIER TAVERN The Horrors Fabulous Diamonds Flavor PADDY HANNANS BALLY’S BAR Decoy Glen Davies PARAMOUNT BALMORAL Felix The Other Guys PEEL ALEHOUSE (duo) Sophie Jane BAR 120 PLAYER’S BAR Flyte (Mandurah) BAR ORIENT Undercover Acoustic 3 Corner Jack PRINCIPAL MICRO BELGIAN BEER BREWRY CAFÉ Acoustic Inc Chris Murphy PUBLICAN BAR BENNYS Jazz With Quench Housequake RAILWAY HOTEL BLACK BETTY’S Paperfly Red Star Aztech Suns CARLISLE HOTEL Seer Cya Good Karma Helix To The Sun CASTLE RAVENSWOOD Threshold HOTEL Grave Forsaken Kokomo Band Mordecai ROCKET ROOM Pokkets Of Pyromesh Resistance Dogs Of War Paltiva SFS CLANCY’S (Freo) Vipera Current Swell Kickstart CIVIC HOTEL ROCKINGHAM Threeplay HOTEL COMO HOTEL Jam Night Switchback Loaded Denim COTTESLOE BEACH ROSEMOUNT HOTEL HOTEL Kristy Keogh Duo Harlequin League DEVILLES The Chemist The Johnny Nandez Will Stoker And The Hammond Explosion Embers ELIZABETHAN PUB Emperors Dave Crosby Tree ELLINGTON JAZZ ROSIE O’GRADY’S CLUB (Freo) Marnie Kent Timeout The Don Gomes Trio ROSIE O’GRADY’S Detour (Northbridge) ESS BAR Blue Gene Gun Shy Romeos SAIL & ANCHOR FENIANS Vdelli Shanks Pony SETTLERS TAVERN FOUNDRY Peter Ewing Howie Morgan Nick Styles Project SOUTH BEACH GREENWOOD HOTEL HOTEL The Hornets Baby Piranhas Jasmin HIGH WYCOMBE Bob Wright King Karaoke Blackhart & INDI BAR Strangelove Zarm Ronnie Domp INDIAN OCEAN Flashback BREWING STAMFORD ARMS COMPANY Blue Hornet James Wilson SUBIACO HOTEL JB O’REILLY’S Off The Record Tea For Two SWAN BASEMENT/ KINGSLEY TAVERN LOUNGE Flava Lantana KULCHA Louise Love And The Zigatango Hates MASH BREWERY Indie Starts Fires Lips McConague The Witches Promise MASH (Bunbury) The Raw Electrics Prita Ultra Detectives METROPOLIS (Freo) Reverse Engine Ear Lady Penelope The Gizzards
THE MUCH ANTICIPATED RELEASE OF FOLKLORE, PERTH’S FIRST LOCAL ARTIST COMPILATION ALBUM
PINS AND LADLES, ANDREW BOND, RYAN WEBB, BAKIA ARSLANOSKI, MEGAN JORDAN, SIOBNY, PETE USHER ENJOY A NIGHT OF ORIGINAL MUSIC PERFORMED BY SOLO ARTISTS, DUOS AND BANDS SHOWCASING PERTH’S UNIQUE FOLK AND ROOTS MUSIC.
SATURDAY 27TH FEBRUARY
www.charleshotel.com.au 52
Hittin’ the town since 1985
Listing deadline is Monday 5pm. The Gig-Guide is a service to advertisers listing bands. All inclusions are at the discretion of X-Press Magazine. Email reception@xpressmag.com.au or fax 9213 2882.
Sparring For Shotgun, Saturday at Rocket Room SWINGING PIG Zenburger THE BOAT Tall Stories THE DEEN Nujackcity THE EASTERN MIDLAND Ivan Ribic THE GATE Retrofit THE SAINT Threeplay THE SHED Huge Greg Scott THE WANNEROO Anthony Cormican Christian Thompson UNIVERSAL Karin Page (duo) Soul Corp VIC PARK HOTEL Festivus WHALE & ALE Slim Kim & The Phatts WHITFORDS TAVERN Jimmy James WOODVALE TAVERN Renegade X-WRAY CAFE King George The Joe Kings Goodnight Tiger
SUNDAY 31.01 BALLYS BAR Undercover Acoustic BALMORAL Karin Page (duo) BELGIAN BEER CAFÉ Alex Lewinski BELMONT TAVERN Matt Milford BROKEN HILL Ian Campbell CIVIC HOTEL Better Days CLANCY’S Zydecats COMO HOTEL Chris Murphy COMMERCIAL TAVERN Karaoke In The Garden COTTESLOE BEACH HOTEL Tourist ELIZABETHAN PUB Jimmy James ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Jodie Tes Back To Mono EURO BAR Zarm FIDELS Mitch Becker FLYING SCOTSMAN Chris Mason Acoustic GOSNELLS HOTEL Chris Gibbs GREENWOOD HOTEL Christian Thompson HIGH ROAD HOTEL James Wilson HILTON PARK BOWLING CLUB Jane Germain And The Yahoos INDIAN OCEAN BREWING COMPANY Retriofit INDI BAR The Wishing Well
JB O’RIELLYS Eva McGowan Damien Binder Dillip N The Davs KALAMUNDA HOTEL Trent Williams KULCHA Sunday Reggae Sessions LAKERS TAVERN Mike Nayar MASH BREWERY Dom Zurzolo MOJO’S The Veescars The Morning Night The Joe Kings MT HELENA TAVERN Gerard Maunick Band MUSTANG Peter Busher & The Lone Rangers PADDY HANNANS Flyte PEEL ALE HOUSE Sophie Jane PRINCIPAL MICRO BREWREY Courtney Murphy PUBLICAN BAR Open Mic RAVENSWOOD HOTEL Shiraz ROSIE O’GRADY’S (Fremantle) Dublin Rogues ROSIE O’GRADY’S (Northbridge) Blue Gene SALT ON THE BEACH Kris Arnott SETTLERS TAVERN Ten Cent Shooters SEVENTH AVE BAR Good Karma SOUTH ST ALE HOUSE Anthony Nieves SOVERIGN ARMS Ivan Ribic STAMFORD ARMS Bill Chidgzey SWAN LOUNGE Alithea Shilo Blondel Bill & Dylan Adam Hynes SWINGING PIG Nat Ripepi 2 Tenors THE BOAT Clayton Bolger THE EASTERN MIDLAND The Select Few THE GATE Jamie Powers THE MOON Andrew Weir Solo THE SAINT Howie Morgan Project THE SHED The Healys Renegade THE VICTORIA HOTEL Damian Cripps THE WANNEROO Richard Roberts THE WEMBLEY Pow! Dead Easy Nago VIC PARK HOTEL Damien Cripps WOODVALE TAVERN Reckless Kelly
Eva McGowan, Sunday at JB O’Reilly’s UNIVERSAL Retrofit
MONDAY 01.02 BAR ORIENT James Wilson IMPACT BAR Groove Karaoke METRO’S (Freo) Ace Frehley L.U.S.T MOJO’S Open Mic MUSTANG The High Rolling Rhythm Kings PADDO Rocket THE DEEN Plastic Max And The Token Gesture
TUESDAY 02.02 BAR ORIENT Mike Nayar COTTESLOE BEACH HOTEL The Mad Agents ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Jago Jeans Right Stuff Quartet FENIANS James Wilson FLOREAT HOTEL Open Mic Night IMPACT BAR Open Mic Night LLAMA BAR Karin MOJO’S A Beggars Second Echoes Of Django Seth Lowe Mitch Becker
MUSTANG Danza Loca Salsa PERTH BLUES CLUB The Joe Kings Empire Blues Keith Anthonisz & 3 Wise Monkeys
WEDNESDAY 03.02 BAR 120 Felix BLACK BETTY’S SideFX BENNY’S Howie Morgan COTTESLOE BEACH HOTEL Kirsty Keogh’s Open Mic CLANCY’S (Freo) Chet Leonard ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Adam Robinson Quartet EURO BAR Ben Pettit FENIANS Cranky FOUNDRY Vdelli IMPACT BAR Vdelli INDI BAR The Sunshine Brothers JB O’REILLY’S Open Irish Session LLAMA BAR One Island East LUCKY SHAG Howie Morgan
The Veescars, Sunday at Mojos MOJO’S Fremantle Blues Club Martine Locke Eva McGowan Band Kim MacDonald MOUNT HELENA TAVERN Open Mic Night MUSTANG Circus PADDO Ben Merito PADDY HANNANS Murphy’s Lore With Courtney Murphy PUBLICAN BAR Open Mic Night Tunesmiths ROSEMOUNT The Love Junkies Milknurse The Strobes Gloria ROSIE O’GRADY’S (Northbridge) David Fyffe SETTLERS TAVERN Open Mic Night SOUTH BEACH HOTEL Open Mic Blackhart Strangelove STAMFORD ARMS Joys Karaoke SWAN LOUNGE Sonpsillo Circus Bulls & Bears Black Sun James Teague THE MOON CAFÉ Tracey Read Joel Barker Dom Coyote UNIVERSAL Strutt
Young Revelry, Friday at Norfolk
YOUNG REVELRY SUNSPILO CIRCUS DEATH MOUSE FRIDAY 29TH JAN NORFOLK HOTEL
THURSDAY
BEX OPEN MIC FRIDAY
VDELLI SATURDAY
ZARM 29th JAN.
Awesome line up featuring Young Revelry, Sunspilo Circus and Death Mouse.
SUNDAY
THE WISHING WELL
Doors 8pm. BE EARLY.
COMING SOON 30th JAN.
KWUQVO [WWV " www.xpressmag.com.au
A very special Private Function for Hannah. Sat 6th Feb > Datura... Fri 12th Feb > Grant Hart (Husker Du)
14TH FEB - CHAIN WWW.INDIANOCEANHOTEL.COM
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Classifieds and Music Services Hotline: 9213 2888
Hotline: 9213 2888
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Display ads: musicservices@xpressmag.com.au Deadline: 4pm Tuesday Credit cards welcome
Display ads: musicservices@xpressmag.com.au
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Deadline: 4pm Tuesday
SOUTH BEACH HOTEL 396 South Tce, Sth Freo. ANDY’S STUDIO International multi award DANCE CLASSES Open Mic night every Wednesday. Ring Pete winning songwriter / producer. No band required. BELLY DANCE FREE CLASS Learn to bellydance, 0404 430 165 Broadcast quality. A songwriter’s paradise. Ph beautiful harem style dance studio. Special fun beginners classes. Free class 22nd Jan. Terms TENOR SAX TRUMPET & TROMBONE PLAYERS 9364 3178 start 1st Feb. Phone 9342 9460 or 0409 511 125. wanted for “ Rush Hour Big Band”. Must read. ARE YOU GOOD ENOUGH FOR LONDON? Free Phone 9302 5423 Chris Shaheena@iinet.net.au appraisals by producer, 20 years working in
EMPLOYMENT & TRAINING
PHOTOGRAPHY
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.
MICHAEL WYLIE PROMOTIONAL P H OTO G R A P H Y S t u d i o, L i v e, Lo c a t i o n . We s t Pe r t h . 9 3 2 8 1 7 6 9 . 0 4 1 7 9 7 5 9 6 4 Online gallery: www.projectphotography.com
HAIR, HEALTH & HAPPINESS DREADLOCK REPAIRS & EXTENSIONS Traditional method. Great rates and uni student discounts. Call Papo 0404 473 444 or 0402 991 335 WAXING FOR MEN Hairy back? Unwanted hair? Clipping, waxing, hair removal, personalised service. 10 yrs exp. Athletes Effigy 9384 2950
London. Great studio also available- arrangement and production help included if required. Call Jerry on 0405 653 338 / 9362 2252 www. jerichomusic.com.au
AVA L O N R E C O R D I N G , M I X I N G A N D MASTERING STUDIO- BIBRA LAKE 32 track, 2 C D & D V D M A N U F A C T U R E C h e c k live rooms, running pro tools and logic, avalon out our latest CD & DVD specials online at and joe meek pre amps and compressors, vintage analouge effects, plus the latest digital plug ins. www.procopy.com.au 9375 3902 MATRIX PRODUCTIONS AUSTRALIA Lighting, Vintage amps and key boards, valve mics staging, sound systems, smoke machines, night p l u s m o r e . C a l l To n y 0 4 1 1 1 1 8 3 0 4 , club FX, intelligent lighting, strobes & mirror balls, avalonstudios@bigpond .com crowd barriers, video projectors. 9371 1551 CUSTOM BEATS, BACKING TRACKS Production &
PRODUCTION SERVICES
PA HIRE Vocal to concer t size. Pro gear. mixing. Studio specializing in Pop, R’n’B & Hiphop. Pick up or delivery. Exp crew. Ph 9307 8594 / goldustconstruction.com 0408 097 407 mob 0404 410 020 CVP Digital, Protools, Recording and Mastering. PROFESSIONAL P.A. HIRE For concerts, parties, Productive environment, songwriters welcome. or corporate events. Call Sound Pro 3000 on Session musos available. Ph 9349 9365,Yokine area. 0424 279 328. www.clearviewproductions.com.au KEYBOARD/SYNTH PLAYER WANTED for Alt/Pop, SHORT FUSE SPEAKER REPAIRS Put new life Trip-Hop band. Call Melanie 0438 771 128. RECORDING MIXING MASTERING PRODUCING into old speakers. General repairs on all makes. KEYBOARDS WITH VOCALS WANTED for working Fremantle location. Call Pete Kitchen Cooked Ph 9249 4179 2/73 Holder Way, Malaga 6 piece cover band, 96 fm playlist. Easy going, Records. Ph 0407 363 764 / 9336 3764 committed members. E-mail info@rocketband. SHOWCO LIVE Suppliers of audio and lighting for concert, corporate, installations & driveway RECORDING, MIXING OR MASTERING with WA’s com.au or call 0410 596 418 after 5pm. hire. SHOWCO DJ’S - Professional staff and largest collection of tube recoring equipment. OPEN MIC NIGHT every Thursday night at Indi Bar. equipment for every occasion. Modest to massive. Classic analog tape recorders combined with Just call Bex on 0404 917 632 the very latest audiophile digital converters. Ph 08 9405 6450 OPEN MIC NIGHT every Tuesday at Impact Record your band using the worlds finest Analog RECORDING STUDIOS B a r, N o r t h b r i d g e . A l l w e l c o m e . P h o n e and digital rock’n roll equipment at Poons $1250/EP, $500/Single, $500/Demo Fremantle Nick 0438 451 215. Head Studios. “Today’s sound with vintage soul”. OPEN MIC NIGHT Tuesdays at Floreat Tavern Bar Records’ Producer Brian Mitra. www.poonshead.som / Ph 9339 4791 and Resturant, some backline supplied, Contact RTR, JJJ, Nova & Rage airplay in 2009 & 2010. REVOLVER SOUND STUDIO Ph 9272 7505. 0433196224 brianmitra@iinet.net.au Dave: 0415 140 767. www.revolverstudio.com.au SINGER WANTED Rock/blues band age 30+. Must ALAN DAWSON’s WITZEND RECORDING STUDIO be committed, reliable team player prepared Professional quality albums or demos, large live SOLO STUDIO specialising in singer/song writer to travel and have fun. Work waiting. Call Chris room, experienced engineer, analog to digital music productions. No band required. John transfers, mastering.Ph: 0407 989 128 0402 704 976 9330 6168 or mob 0419 794 683.
MUSOS WANTED
FEMALE VOCALIST WANTED to join experienced musicians forming new trio playing various styles. Acc Guitar or keys beneficial. Email luke@envirowest.com.au
THE DJ FACTORY Exclusive agents for Allen & Heath Xone DJ Mixers. Sound advice on all leading brands in DJ hardware, studio software/hardware, sound & lighting. For quality customer service and the lowest possible price, Check out W.A.ís award winning vinyl & DJ hardware store.
9228 1911
U1/222 James St, Northbridge info@thedjfactory.com.au
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Credit cards welcome
REHEARSAL STUDIOS **NEW** HOMEWOOD REHEARSAL STUDIOS Five large, new, air-conditioned rooms. 86 President St, WELSHPOOL. Ph. 0415 267 263. ASTRO STUDIOS REHEARSAL ROOMS available. 24 track digital studio avail. 1st rehearsal free. Armadale area. Call Dave 0438 839 999 or www.thetankstudio.com.au. CVP Private Rehearsal studio, excellent facilities. Protools, Recording and Mastering. Demos to albums, Musos avail. Ph 9349 9365, Yokine area. www.clearviewproductions.com.au PLATINUM SOUND ROOMS Professional rehearsal rooms, airconditioned, quality PAs mob 0418 944 722 STREAM STUDIOS The place to rehearse in Per th.. Phone: 0403 152 009 www.streamrehearsal.com.au VHS Good facilities & vibe. Unit 5 /16 Peel Road, O’Connor. Phone 9418 5815 bus/hrs or 0413 732 885 After hours
TUITION ***GUITAR LESSONS*** The Guitar Specialist. New term enrolments. Latest techniques, styles and songs. Guaranteed results. Beg-adv, all levels including bass. Cliff Lynton Guitar Institute. Mt Lawley 9342 3484 / www.clifflynton.com A A A C L E AV E R A C A D E M Y O F V O I C E S i n g i n g / V o i c e t r a i n i n g . Fo r a d v a n c e d s i n g e r s a n d b e g i n n e r s . Professional training all styles and levels. Special rates for new enrolments. Have some fun - learn new singing skills! Phone 9272 4497 for info. W/Perth & Mt Lawley BASS LESSONS Rock, funk & jazz. Tony Gibbs 9470 6131 DRUM LESSONS The Drum Shop has Perth’s biggest drum academy with 12 teachers. Drum kit, African drumming and orchestral percussion tuition. See ad Below. Lessons from $18. DRUM TUITION: PRIVATE LESSONS with Warren Daley. Beginners welcome.Hire kits avail. Ph: 9349 8594 (Osb. Park) GUITAR LESSONS Learn guitar by ear from a prof with over 20 yrs exp in teaching & performing. All levels & ages. blues & rock specialist. Results guaranteed. Phone Ian Wilson “The Teacher That Students Recommend” on 9403 3212 GUITAR TUITION (Beginners- Professional) One on One lessons. Burswood Ph 9361 1444 www.gvkschoolofmusic.com.au SINGING LESSONS Learn the technique of over 120 Grammy award winners! Extend your range and develop strength. Call Progression Music on 0431 335 495 or email simonar1@optusnet.com.au.
wanna play
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Hittin’ the town since 1985
www.xpressmag.com.au
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WHAT’S GOING ON
BABY I NEED YOUR LOVIN’ AIN’T TOO PROUD TO BEG
REACH OUT I’LL BE THERE
MY GIRL
NOWHERE TO RUN
WHAT BECOMES OF THE BROKENHEARTED
MY GUY
GET READY
CELEBRATING
SUN 28 FEB 2O1O
SANDALFORD WINES SWAN VALLEY LEAVE THE CAR AT HOME – GET THE BUS!
Contact Buswest 9256 3223 or buswest.com.au for fares and schedules A free shuttle bus service will run between Midland Train Station and the venue before and after the show. General Admission, Reserved Seating and All Inclusive Concert & Dining Packages available through ticketmaster.com.au and 136 100. No BYO Alcohol/Glass. This is a licensed event Minors (Under 18’s) must be accompanied by their parent/step-parent or legal guardian.
ALL EVENT INFO
ADAYONTHEGREEN.COM.AU MELLENEVENTS.COM
RIVER DEEP, MOUNTAIN HIGH
THE TRACKS OF MY TEARS
THE WAY YOU DO THE THINGS YOU DO
WALK AWAY RENEE
WE PLAY RAIN OR SHINE.
DESTINATION: ANYWHERE 56
YEARS OF MOTOWN HITS!
I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE
PLEASE MR. POSTMAN LOVE CHILD
MONEY (THAT’S WHAT I WANT)
YOU KEEP ME HANGIN’ ON YOU CAN’T HURRY LOV E
I SECOND THAT EMOTION
REFLECTIONS STOP! IN THE NAME OF LOVE
I CAN’T HELP MYSELF
YOU’VE REALLY GOT A HOLD ON ME
DON’T LEAVE ME THIS WAY
BABY LOVE
ROUNDHOUSE ENTERTAINMENT & MELLEN EVENTS PRESENT
SHOP AROUND Hittin’ the town since 1985