33,560 OCTOBER 2012 MARCH 2013 - AUSTRALIA’S HIGHEST CIRCULATING STREET PRESS
COURTNEY BARNETT
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
ELLINGTON TURNS FIVE This week The Ellington Jazz Club celebrates five years of existence and they’ve got a full week of national and local acts to celebrate. Tonight and tomorrow (Wednesday, March 5 and Thursday, March 6) leading jazz guitarist out of Adelaide, James Muller joins Jamie Oehlers, Tom O’Halloran and Daniel Susnjar. On Friday and Saturday catch Ali Bodycoat Quintet and the new nice piece soul/groove ensemble from Libby Hammer - Hammer Nine; and rounding out the weekend is a quadruple bill from US singer Mali, New Zealand’s April Fish, Leah Emily Grant and Joni In The Moon. For more info head to ellingtonjazz.com.au.
POP CULTURE GALORE The Australian version of San Diego’s massive Comic-Con International aka Oz Comic-Con arrives in Perth on Saturday, March 29, ‘til Sunday, March 30, at the Perth Exhibition & Convention Centre. Now in its third year, it’ll host pop culture events celebrating film, television, comic books, graphic novels, gaming and anime. Plus, of course, a ton of celebrity appearances including Doctor Who’s Billie Piper, Beverly Hills 90210/Charmed star Shannen Doherty and sci-fi queen Amanda Tapping from Stargate SG-1 and Sanctuary. Get your tickets via ozcomiccon.com.
Superstar Justin Timberlake is bringing his 20/20 Experience World Tour to Perth Arena on Wednesday, October 8. It’s the Grammy Award-winning artist’s first headlining tour in six years (if you can remember his last stellar show at Burswood Dome) and this will of course, sell out. Justin Timberlake’s all-new fan club, The Tennessee Kids has access to a pre-sale starting from now and the My Live Nation members’ pre-sale begins at 11am on Thursday, March 6. Head to livenation.com.au.
Shannen Doherty in Charmed
Justin Timberlake
SEXY’S BACK
... A SILVER LINING Local new music ensemble, Etica will present three cutting-edge contemporary chamber works at Fremantle Arts Centre’s Inner Courtyard as part of Tura New Music’s Scale Variable series on Thursday April 10. This outdoor concert will be the WA premiere of James Ledger’s Silver Swans, the world premier of Chris Tonkin’s Transient States and a reprisal of legendary Australian composer Ross Edwards’ Musica Viva commission Laikan, which premiered at the Perth Festival in 1980. Get your tickets for this one from Oztix.
TRIO OF TROUBADOURS Folk/roots duo, Hussy Hicks and Alabama singer songwriter Eric Erdman have been in WA for a couple of weeks, impressing and entertaining audiences from Margaret River to Dongara and in between. Catch them in the metro area this Friday, March 7 at Clancy’s, Fremantle; on Saturday, March 8 at The Astor; and on Sunday, March 9 at the Redcliffe On The Murray, Pinjarra from 3pm. Expect a journey to the deep south, intertwining acoustic grooves with some southern-fried Americana. Head to hussyhicks. com for details.
ECOLOGICALLY SOUND
TEENAGE DREAMS
Formidable Vegetable Sound System is a Fremantlebased electro-swing sustainability group of selfproclaimed ‘freaks’ who have been on tour since they began at the end of 2012. Forming at the Eclipse2012 Festival, Cairns as a result of a programming mishap involving Perth’s electro-swing darlings, Ensemble Formidable, they’ve since become a festival danceparty favourite playing the likes of Glastonbury and Woodford Folk Festival. Catch their debut Perth show at The Railway Hotel on Saturday, March 8. Special guests include The Brow, Lexie Mgee and The Channel Three.
International superstar, Katy Perry, is bringing her Prismatic World Tour to Australia and kicking it all off on Friday, November 7, at Perth Arena. It’s all in support of her latest smash hit album, Prism, which debuted at #1 in Australia. Apparently the one-of-a-kind set design will provide punters with a truly magical experience from every angle. Telstra is offering a 48-hour pre-sale, which runs from today (Wednesday, March 5, to Friday, March 7) - head to telstra.com/music to register; or get them via Ticketek.
Formidable Vegetable Sound System
Katy Perry
FOLK AND WINE
KNIGHTS IN SHINING ARMOUR
This Sunday, March 9, Swanbrook Winery will be celebrating 180 years of alcoholic excellence with the Vintage Festival. With vintage clothing, jewellery, second-hand books and just about any kind of knick-knack you can think of on sale throughout the winery grounds, as well as live music from local folk mainstays, Timothy Nelson, Josef Grech and Louis Inglis in the courtyard from 1pm, make sure you head on down. Entry is free and it’s set to be a fun day out for the whole family.
This Thursday, March 6, The Bennies will be hitting up Ya-Ya’s with fellow Melbournians, Apart From This as part of their Knights Forever tour. Alongside these East Coast heavyweights will be local boys, Grim Fandango and Sail On! Sail On! who will be bringing their own punk anthems to the table. The Bennies’ abrasive guitar riffs and energetic stage performances are not to be missed, especially for the paltry fee of $15.30 (plus booking fee). Doors open 8pm. Tickets available from Oztix.com.au.
Timothy Nelson, Swanbrook Winery Vintage Festival | Pic: Dominique Pratt
The Bennies
SUNDAE SCREENINGS On Sunday, March 16, Riverside Drive will be the place to find music, movies and icecream as Ben And Jerry’s Sundae Sessions Charity Launch kicks off a month of festivities with a screening of American Hustle and a performance by electro pop stars, Van She. From then on until Sunday, April 16, Ben And Jerry’s Sundae Sessions will be held at the end of every week and feature music from both young and established Australian artists, as well as offering free icecream to all ticket holders. Throughout the week, from Tuesday to Sunday, local DJs and movie screenings will keep running to entertain the crowds. Tickets are available through openaircinemas.com.au Van She
CLAREMONT ANTICS In the last Antics session of the month, on Saturday, March 29, the Claremont Hotel will be holding a night of indie all-stars. Featuring local seductress, Felicity Groom, Boys Boys Boys!, DJ Beryl (better known as Scarlett Stevens of San Cisco fame) and a host of others, the night will be an unforgettable highlight for Antics frequenters. Festivities kick off from 7pm and don’t stop until 1am, and with free entry, there’s no excuse to miss out. Felicity Groom
ON THE ROAD AGAIN Melbourne’s The Smith Street Band is about to hit the road with Philadelphia punk four-piece The Menzingers stopping by the Prince Of Wales, Bunbury on Wednesday, March 19; HQ for an all-ages show on Thursday, March 20, and the Rosemount Hotel on Friday, March 21. In the meantime, check out The Smith Street Band’s new film clip for Don’t F*ck With Our Dreams, which was filmed over three months while on tour in Europe and North America.
ONWARD SOLDIERS
CREATING CRADDOCK
Brisbane five-piece, The Trouble With Templeton, are off to the UK and Europe for a few months to celebrate the release of their album, Rookie on indie label Bella Union. But before they go they’re playing a farewell show in P-Town on Thursday, April 10, at the Astor Theatre with special guest, Kodaline. They’ve also got a new single out called, Soldiers, the video was shot in their hometown and can of course, be viewed on the ‘Tube. Head to thetroublewithtempleton.com for tickets and more.
Local interesting/popular guy Davey Craddock and his band The Spectacles are set to release a glimpse of a forthcoming new album. The There Will Be Light/100 Days single is available now via bandcamp. com and on iTunes from Friday, March 21. It gets the lively launch treatment that evening at Clancy’s Fremantle, with quality support from David Craft, himself on the verge of a tantalising release. A mere $10 entry, on your part, will be required.
The Trouble With Templeton
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FILM: TRACKS
PHOTOGRAPHY Rachael Barrett, Stefan Caramia, Guang-Hui Chuan, Daniel Craig, Brandon D’Silva, Max Fairclough, Daniel Grant, Sammy Granville, Matt Jelonek, Emma Mackenzie, Callum Ponton, Denis Radacic, Bohdan Warchomij, Michael Wylie
Tracks, based on Robyn Davidson’s best-selling novel and starring Mia Wasikowska (Stoker) and Adam Driver (Girls, Frances Ha) tells the inspirational true story of Davidson’s 2700km solo trek in the ‘70s across Australia, aided only by four camels and a National Geographic photographer who chronicled this epic adventure. The film is directed by John Curran (The Painted Veil) and produced by the team behind The King’s Speech. To win a double inseason pass, a Tracks coffee Keep Cup and a copy of Davidson’s novel, email: win@xpressmag.com.au.
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Leah Blankendaal, Nina Bertok, Lucas Bowers, Aaron Bryans, Joe Cassidy, Hayley Davis, Chris Gibbs, Alfred Gorman, Shaun Cowe, Predrag Delibasich, Jayde Ferguson, George Green, Alex Griffin, James Hanlon, Chris Havercroft, Joshua Hayes, Brendan Holben, Coral Huckstep, Ellie Hutchinson, Rezo Kezerashvili, Tom Kitson, Clayton Lin, Charlie Lewis, Daisy Lythe, Andrew Nelson, David O’Connell, Shane Pinnegar, Nick Sweepah, Jessica Willoughby
UK electronic artist, Gold Panda is heading to Australia to play at the east coast Golden Plains Festival and he’s also doing a couple of side shows, including Perth on Sunday, March 9 at The Bakery. Since he became known in 2009, he’s released two critically-lauded full albums, 2010’s Lucky Shiner and 2013’s Half Of Where You Live - with its eclectic textures and dance-worthy grooves. To see the man in action live, email: win@xpressmag.com.au. Gold Panda. Photo by Gem Harris
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FILM: NEED FOR SPEED Out in cinemas tomorrow (March 13) is Need For Speed, based on the most successful racing video game franchise ever. Starring Aaron Paul aka Jess Pinkman (Breaking Bad) it marks a return to the car culture films of the ‘60s and ’70s, the story chronicling a cross-country journey that begins as a mission for revenge, but proves to be one of redemption. To win a double in-season pass, email: win@xpressmag.com.au.
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FILM: VAMPIRE ACADEMY DVD: THE TURNING In Tim Winton’s The Turning, 18 talented Australian filmmakers come together to each create a chapter from the beautiful novel by the multi award-winning author. These overlapping stories starring Cate Blanchett, Rose Byrne, Hugo Weaving, Miranda Otto and many more, explore the extraordinary turning points in people’s lives in a small coastal community. Following a successful cinema release a ‘Limited Collector’s Edition’ is now available on DVD and BluRay. To win a copy of your very own, plus one of Tim Winton’s books - either The Turning or Eyrie, email: win@xpressmag.com.au.
Aaron Paul in a Need For Speed
Vampire Academy, directed by Mark Waters (Mean Girls) tells the legend of Rose Hathaway and Lissa Dragomir, two 17-year-old girls who attend a hidden boarding school for the Moroi (mortal, peaceful vampires) and Dhampir (half-vampire/half-human guardians to the Moroi). Rose, a rebellious Dhampir and guardian-in-training, and her best friend Lissa (a Moroi Princess) have been on the run when they are captured and returned to the place where their lives may be in most jeopardy. To win a double in-season pass, along with a Vampire Academy leather bag, notebook and iPhone 5 case, email: win@xpressmag.com.au. Vampire Academy
FILM: DOM HEMINGWAY The dark English comedy, Dom Hemingway sees Jude Law getting down and dirty as a foul-mouthed ex-con. The pretty-boy ingénue that Jude Law is best known for is all done and dusted in this film, as he dons mutton chops, gold teeth and a Cockney accent, playing a fresh out of prison safecracker who is trying to do right by his estranged daughter (Emilia Clarke from Game of Thrones) while at the same time extracting what he’s owed from the boss he protected while in prison. The film also stars Richard E Grant and Demian Bichir and to win a double pass to an advance screening on Sunday, March 16 at 6pm at bamBOO, featuring pre-film music by DJs from RTRFM, email: win@xpressmag.com.au. Jude Law and Richard E Grant in Dom Hemingway. Photo by Nick Wall
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FESTIVAL: ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE FILM FEST. The 25th annual Alliance Française French Film Festival returns to Luna Palace Cinemas between March 18 and April 6, with a selection of Gallic fare including features, documentaries and special events. On opening night (Tuesday, March 18) there’ll be a screening of The Finishers, directed by Nils Tavernier and starring Jacques Gamblin and Alexandra Lamy, which follows the journey of an embittered, former ironman champion and his disabled son. Head to affrenchfilmfestival.org to check out the full program and to win a double pass to a screening of your choice (excluding special events) email: win@xpressmag.com.au. The Finishers
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FLESH
NEWS - INTERVIEWS - REVIEWS - CONTENTS
COURTNEY BARNETT Ms. Milk Courtney Barnett plays her first-ever headlining show at Mojos this Saturday, March 8, and supports Billy Bragg at the Perth Concert Hall on Sunday, March 9. BOB GORDON reports. Courtney Barnett is having a moment to herself. “I’m standing in the middle of a field,” she says down the line to X-Press, this past Monday morning, “because I don’t have very good reception.” It’s a long way from Los Angeles to Nannup - in more ways than distance - but that was Barnett’s schedule last week, and she headed to WA for the much-loved Nannup Festival. “We got off the plane in Melbourne and then I went home and had some lunch and unpacked my bag,” she recalls cheerily. “Then I packed my bag again and a few hours later we were on the plane to Perth. It’s been a hectic week.” From headlining shows in Europe and the US in the last month, to playing in good friend Jen Cloher’s backing band, it’s all music and it’s all good. Needless to say, Barnett - who also has her own label, Milk Records - is lapping it up. “I love it,” she enthuses. “I love playing in Jen’s band. I love playing in anyone’s band whom I admire. And on any stage. I feel really grateful, any gig I play, whether it’s my gig or playing in someone else’s band. I always feel grateful to stand onstage and play music for people who want to listen to it, no matter where it is.” It’s a good attitude to have. Even when a music career is going well, it’s never easy. At least if an artist remembers why they ever started doing it in the first place at least that part’s going right. “Yeah, I reckon it’s pretty easy to lose sight of,” echoes Barnett. “I hear that from other musicians who’ve been around a lot longer than me; I’ve learned a lot from them. It’s good to have that philosophy.” Barnett’s trip to Europe and the US might be seen by many as a time to step up to the plate. From the sound of it however, it was more a case of going with the flow. “It was something that I never expected would happen, I didn’t really prepare any differently for it,” she notes. “Maybe I should’ve... I don’t know, but maybe that’s a good thing. We just did what we always do; play how we’ve always played; acted how we always act. I don’t really change anything for different audiences, or anything. I think it’s important to do what you do and do what you know. “But it was really amazing. All the shows were sold out and the crowds were incredible. I took the time to meet as many people as I could afterwards and they were all so nice and so interested. And so genuinely into the music... and into music in general. It’s cool to meet people like that.” Barnett is now looking into wide open arms of her first album, though she seems like an ‘album artist’ already, given the quality of, and reaction to, her first two EPs.
“Regardless of how the EPs have gone I’m just gonna record the kind of music that I would record anyway,” she explains. “I’m learning more and more about my own songwriting as I go on. I can even see that in the first two EPs. I’m trying not to put any weird pressure on myself because a few people liked those EPs. I just want to record some more songs and not make it a really big deal or anything (laughs).” It’s interesting to note, however, that as Barnett learns more about her own songwriting in last year there’s been more travel, shows and promo involved and less time for that quieter reflection which probably went into the EPs. “A little bit,” she allows, “but in a way it’s kind of equalled out because when I did those two EPs I was working a lot and doing a lot of songwriting late at night. Like when I got home from working at the pub. I’m travelling a lot but I still have so much spare time between travel... sitting on planes and driving around. It’s not really the same, but it kind of equals out in a strange way. “It wasn’t like I rushed the songs on the EPs, but I didn’t sit around with them for ages. Lots of them were first drafts, straight into the studio and recording them. Some of them I’d only played with the band two times before we recorded them. But even with some of the new songs for the album I can guarantee that there’s gonna be a few that I finish the day before we go to the studio to add to the bunch I’ve already got written (laughs). “It’s always a balance of stability, stability and not knowing what you’re doing. It makes it more interesting.”
AUTOPILOT Last Stand Following a reunion performance at the WAM Festival last November, Autopilot will make a final appearance at the Fremantle Arts Centre this Sunday, March 9, from 2pm. BOB GORDON checks in. How was the initially reunion show for you at the WAM Festival? Steve Parkin (vocals/guitar): Sweaty. Loud. Confusing. Everything I remembered Autopilot to be! Hugh Jennings (vocals/bass): It was an honour and it was a complete shambles. Jayde Smith (drums/ vocals): Wonderful and humbling.
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News Win Flesh Music Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros Queens Of The Stone Age Billy Brag, Gold Panda Morcheeba, Boy & Bear New Noise Eye4 Cover: Alan Davies The Selfish Giant, Non-Stop The Armstrong Lie, Tracks Sculpture By The Sea Flickerfest Arts Listings Urban Central Focus on Fremantle Salt Cover: Ryan Hemsworth News Tijuana Cartel Club Manual Rewind: Future Music Festival, Public Enemy Scene Soundwave, Mikhael Paskalev Local Scene Tour Tour Trails Troy Cassar-Daley Gig Guide Volume
FRONT COVER: Edward Sharpe and the
Magnetic Zeros play West Coast Blues ‘N’ Roots on Sunday, April 13 at Fremantle Park. SA LT COV E R : Canadian producer Ryan
Hemsworth plays with Flying Lotus and Ta-Ku at Handpicked 003, this Friday, March 7 at the Fremantle Arts Centre.
There must have been an element of relearning the songs. In doing so what did it teach you about your own musicality? Hugh: That I wasn’t a bad bass player last century. Good looking one, too. Steve: That I sound sooo much cooler with an extra guitarist. Jayde: Space is important. Any more Autopilot plans? What about your own? Steve: Sunday’ll be your last chance, folks. Hugh: Solo album due out 2019. Steve: Hugh’s solo album due out 2019. Jayde: Changing my super fund so I can afford to tour Hugh’s solo album, due out 2019.
Courtney Barnet will also participate in the next I Manage My Music Workshop on Sunday, March 8, from 10-5pm with Abbe May and Jen Cloher, RTRFM Music Director Adam Christou at the State Theatre Centre. Full details at imanagemymusic.com.
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What’s it like revisiting Autopilot for each of you? Steve: To be serious for a change, it was actually pretty cool revisiting all those old songs written by our young impetuous 20-something selves. We had a few crackers! Hugh: Very proud of those songs. Still love playing them. Jayde: Still evokes strong emotions within me.
A BLAST FOR INTERPLAST DEMPSEY DOWN UNDER From the bonny shores of Ireland, acoustic songwriter, Damien Dempsey is set to perform at Capitol on Monday, March 17, as part of his It’s All Good Tour. Supporting the release of his best of album of the same name, Dempsey will be playing hits from his 17-year musical career. Having worked alongside international heavyweights, such as Sinead O’Connor and Glen Hansard, and crafting numerous top 10 hits in Ireland, Dempsey is set entertain fans with his classic stripped-back roots music. Tickets are available through www.troubadour-music.com.
The Rotaract Club of Subiaco will be holding a special fundraising event at the Irish Club of WA on Friday, March 7. Set to raise funds for Interplast, an organisation seeking to improve the standard of living in Australia’s neighbouring countries through medical training and surgical treatment, the even will feature entertainment from Our Man In Berlin’s Justin Martins, Wilson Sam of Chance’s Tribe, and recent Big Day Out performers, Brufield. Doors open at 7pm and tickets are available through www.trybooking.com or at the door. Brufield
Damien Dempsey
PERTH PALMARAMA
WOLVES AT THE MOON Next Wednesday, March 12, The Moon’s longstanding staple, Going Solo will feature the electronic stylings of Leure (Wolves At The Door) and indie popstress, Methyl Ethyl. The event is a chance for the iconic frontpeople of Perth to shed their burdensome bands and entertain fans with their solo skills. The restaurant is always free entry and has a selection of delicious food and drinks to gorge upon while listening to some of this city’s premier female talent. Music starts at 8.30pm.
Having well and truly made their mark at the Nannup Music Festival over the weekend, Broome-based three piece 42 Decibel continue to impress the south with their desert-braked brand of rock. Catch them at Mojos tonight, Wednesday, March 5, with support from Day Of The Dead and Swish Sheppard; Thursday, March 6, at Indi Bar and Friday, March 7, at the Paddington Ale House.
This Thursday, March 6, Mojos will play host to Palmarama, featuring Sydney-based ethereal rockers, Palms and Newcastle-based indie punk duo, The Gooch Palms, as well as support by local trio, Gunns. Renowned for their freaky onstage antics, overt nudity and enthralling music, both headliners will be tossing a coin each night to decide who plays first. Tickets are available at the door for $10 from 8pm. If you miss them on Thursday both bands will be playing again on Friday, March 7, at The Bird with the support of Doctorpuss for a measly $5.
Leure
42 Decibel
The Gooch Palms
NOISE FROM THE NORTH
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EDWARD SHARPE & THE MAGNETIC ZEROS Crash Course Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros will perform at West Coast Blues ‘N’ Roots at Fremantle Park on Sunday, April 13. BOB GORDON reports. Sometimes it just takes a word. And sometimes that word is Perth. “Perth!” explains Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros’ vocalist/percussionist, Michael ‘Crash’ Richards. “I remember Perth! We did a really nice show out by the vineyards, at this beautiful stoned amphitheatre (Belvoir Amphitheatre). It was my first tour to Australia with the band, but they’d been there several times before.” “We were with Mumford & Sons on that trip. So we were playing all these massive shows; some places were big like the arena in Sydney but we also did this show in a remote area called Dungog (NSW). “So going over this time will be interesting; we’ll be doing smaller, more intimate shows as well as those festival dates. I love it there, it’s something to look forward to.” Here in the West, down Fremantle way, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros will be doing it festival-style at West Coast Blues ‘N’ Roots. At such festivals, bands often play to fans who come to the stage and flock to the front, but also, in most cases, the uninitiated. However, the music of the Magnetic Zeros has such a universality about it, that in a very real way you don’t need to know the songs to enjoy them. “The festival gigs are usually the most eclectic or universal crowds that I find in an audience,” Crash says. “Maybe even in general the shows that we play in venues get a mixed crowd, but I think, naturally, with a larger bill of acts playing at a festival that creates a nice diversity and it becomes a really great vehicle to see what kind of response you get to the music. Where all kinds of citizens of the world come together to enjoy the music - it can be explosive at times.” Songs such as Better Days seem to capture time, space and ambience in a jar. It must be something to travel to far-flung corners of the world and witness how four minutes of sound can speak so compellingly to so many. “The fact that you’re just even able to do that is just really rewarding,” Crash ponders. “With Better Days you could just take that around and for anyone who’s heard the new record and has grown attached to that song or any song, it’s a very rich experience for us to see them move about and sing it as if it’s the anthem they have been carrying with themselves throughout the day. “It sort of translates to us as, ‘wow, this is more than a song, it’s bigger than us’. That’s always moving for us to realise.”
Crash was a contributor to the Magnetic Zeros before becoming a fully-fledged member. He just belonged. “I was finishing a record with a band I was in at the time called The Deadly Syndrome,” he recalls. “We had finished the record in Laurel Canyon on Woodrow Wilson Drive, and as that happened Alex (Ebert, bandleader) came in with some Edward Sharpe stuff because Nico and Aaron (Aglietti and Arntz, former members) produced out of that space. “So I met people once Alex came through the studio and of course those were the early days and my time was split, but I would sing with them and go on the road here and there. I guess within two or three years I’d jumped on board full-time. I think now we’re up to 11 of us onstage (laughs).” Ebert is an enigma, albeit a friendly one, who has high expectations of his collaborators yet allows plenty of creative freedom with it. “All of us, I’d say, have pretty high expectations for how we want this to come across to our audience and how we want this to sound in a given space,” Crash explains. “Of course leading that march, or that high standard, would be Alex. He has a real drive to see those things through; to bring the show and the songs and the material to the height that could be the highest for what it is. Like I said, it’s a pretty mutual standard amongst all of us, but very appreciated too, from one member to the next. It’s really great to have that kind of help and be a part of this type of team.” The DIY video for the band’s new single, Let’s Get High, was directed by a fan, who won a competition via an online call out. Social media has certainly opened up the dialogue between fans and bands, but this goes into a further artistic conversation... “These are tools that are here for us for that reason,” Crash says. “Especially for a band like ourselves today, we are perfectly positioned for that kind of interaction. I think it’s imperative for what we do. “Maybe there was a time when artists and musicians - and perhaps it still happens - would have this great divide between them and their audience.
ELLIE GOULDING La Vida Loca
It feels like with every opportunity we get we try to eliminate that boundary.” Speaking of boundaries, in a special poll announced last week for each state in the US, The Magnetic Zeros were identified as the favourite band of Pennsylvania. Congrats! “It’s flattering and silly all at the same time, I guess,” Crash laughs. “But yeah, apparently there was this study and someone got this data that Pennsylvania was our state. The funny part is my brother lives there, so I immediately sent that to him.”
“All of us, I’d say, have pretty high expectations for how we want this to come across to our audience and how we want this to sound in a given space. Of course leading that march, or that high standard, would be Alex (Ebert). He has a real drive to see those things through; to bring the show and the songs and the material to the height that could be the highest for what it is. Like I said, it’s a pretty mutual standard amongst all of us, but very appreciated too, from one member to the next. It’s really great to have that kind of help and be a part of this type of team.”
And he concurred? “Of course! He got a good laugh out of it.” Following The Magnetic Zeros’ Australian tour, Crash is readying himself for the release of his debut solo album, Hardly Criminal, later in the year.
Ellie Goulding heads to Challenge Stadium on Wednesday, May 28, supported by Broods. ALASDAIR DUNCAN checks in. The past several years have been huge for Ellie Goulding. The singer/songwriter released two phenomenally successful albums, lent her highly distinctive vocals to Calvin Harris club bangers, and even performed at a royal wedding reception. Everything has changed for the young woman from Hertfordshire, and at the same time, she insists, very little has. “I travel a lot these days, and I have a lot of busy, crazy, unpredictable days,” says Goulding, who is spending some rare time at home before setting off on another tour. “It’s very tense and high-energy, but I still have the same people around me, and I don’t think I’ve changed that much. I’m a bit more efficient these days, because I want to fit more stuff in, but I’d say I’m still much the same person as before.” Goulding’s music strikes a fine balance between folk ballads and dramatic electronic sounds, a product of the rave scene that she immersed herself in from her late teens. “I was born in ’86 and I went through a lot of musical phases growing up,” she explains. “I guess I started out listening to a lot of pop music from the early ‘90s, before getting more into indie, and then starting to immerse myself in the electronic music scene a bit more. I don’t go out clubbing that much anymore, but where I grew up, there was a very big rave scene – there were a lot of dubstep nights and drum’n’bass nights, so it was a big thing for me growing up, for sure. I was very lucky to grow up though all these different phases of great music.”
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“It’s been a fun opportunity for me to stretch my wings, if you will, in this manner. Having so many lovely bandmates along the way, and even with the Magnetic Zeros and the creative pool that it is, sometimes you just write songs that aren’t so fit for everything that’s going on. “These songs came about, mostly, from being on the road with Edward Sharpe. It was really fun to be able to put some of my independent works down on an LP and share it. I’m really excited about it.” And Crash isn’t alone in this regard, with plenty of outside creative pursuits coming up from The Magnetic Zeros camp in 2014. “The cool part this year is that there is a lot of material being born, in that Alex is doing a lot of production, working on film composition and scoring and whatnot. There’s my Hardly Criminal debut as I said. Christian (Letts, guitar) will make a record and Jade (Castrinos, vocals/guitar) I believe, is working on a record, as well as Josh (Collazo, drums/saxophone). “So it’s gonna be cool, we’ll have a nice balance of Edward Sharpe, as well as our independent ventures blended with it.” Back in 2010, X-Press interviewed Alex Ebert in the lead-up to the band’s first ever Australian tour. Ebert took the call on his cell phone, waiting outside the band’s rehearsal space for a delivery truck to drop off an old grand piano. It was a scenario that seemed indicative of a musical life. It’s a story that resonates wildly with Crash. “You have no idea,” he enthuses. “I trip out on that fact quite often. I know a lot of us try to really keep our heads about ourselves and try not to drift off, if you know what I mean. I think it’s very fortunate for us to have this ride and lifestyle and opportunity. There are people all over who are trying to succeed in music that are very talented and gifted and with all of that I think even still, we’re pretty fortunate to be able to do that. “And if waiting on a piano delivery is the worst of it? Then yeah, it’s not so bad (laughs). It’s interesting; you balance your personal life with this freelancing, loose-ended type of career, but it all seems to come together, you know? It’s great.” Since the success of her Calvin Harris track, I Need Your Love, it’s natural to assume that Goulding gets approached by a lot of producers keen to collaborate. Right now, however, she’s in the fortunate position of being able to choose her musical hook-ups very carefully. “Usually I reach out to people if I really want to collaborate,” she says. “At the moment, I’m very focussed on my own stuff, but there are a few people I’d like to collaborate with. I’d like to collaborate with Disclosure, I’d really like to do a song with Drake.” For most people, collaborating with an artist like Drake would be a pipe dream, but she could quite easily make it happen if she so chose. “Yeah definitely,” she says, “because he sampled my song on his record, so I’d be able to get through to him that way!” Goulding’s ethereal vocals would certainly mesh well with a Disclosure beat; could this be likely to happen on her next album? At this point, she remains unsure. “I literally have no idea what direction my new music is going to take just yet,” she says. “I’d tell you, but I don’t know myself where it’s going. I’m just going to wait and see. I haven’t started working on the album.” Goulding has spoken before about her friendship with Taylor Swift. Have the two of them ever get together to trade tips on writing the perfect pop song? “Not really, no!” she laughs. “When we see each other, we don’t really talk about music. We do sometimes, but making music is kind of our job, so when we’re together, we just hang out. We don’t really share tips or anything like that. I mean, we’re big fans of each other’s songs, but generally we don’t talk about that.”
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BILLY BRAGG Three Chords And The ‘Tooth Touring in support of his new album, Tooth & Nail, Billy Bragg performs at the Perth Concert Hall this Sunday, March 8, supported by Courtney Barnett. PATRICK EMERY reports. In his 1989 essay, The End Of History?, philosopher Francis Fukuyama advanced a provocative proposition: that the demise of the communist governments in Eastern Europe signalled the end of the last great ideological battle. Bluntly paraphrased, Fukuyama contended that the tumultuous developments in Europe heralded the triumph of Western liberal democracy over its long-time ideological antagonists, fascism and communism. It’s a proposition with which Billy Bragg strongly disagrees. In the 1980s Bragg waved the proverbial – and, on occasions, literal – red flag as the protagonist in the Red Wedge group of musicians, established originally to raise youth consciousness of the dangers of Margaret Thatcher’s conservative economic and social policies. The end of Conservative Party rule in England in 1997 didn’t soften Bragg’s commitment to progressive causes, with the singer continuing to champion the rights and interests of the marginalised and oppressed, both in his home country and abroad. “The great ideological battle in history is between the people who have power and those who don’t,” asserts Bragg. “We might be in a postideological period where the language of Marx isn’t around, but the problems that Marx talked about are still here. I think Fukuyama is wrong to suggest that because the ideological challenge to the United States has passed, the problems and struggles of impoverished people have disappeared.” Bragg’s passion for progressive causes is consistent with the tradition of the folk singers he adores: Woody Guthrie, the champion of the American working class and self-proclaimed musical assassin of fascists, and Pete Seeger, the elder statesman of the contemporary folk movement. Seeger, who was imprisoned in the 1950s for his conscientious refusal to dance to Senator Joe McCarthy’s political witch-hunt, died the day before this interview, at the ripe old age of 94. Bragg is effusive in his praise of Seeger the folk musician and the political agitator. “Him being around at festivals, and his support in the making of Mermaid Avenue (Bragg’s album with Wilco of previously unreleased Woody Guthrie lyrics) was invaluable,” Bragg says. “I put a lot on the line with that project and Pete supported me all the way, and I’ll always be thankful for that. “And on another level, I never got to meet Woody Guthrie or Lead Belly, and I’ve never met Bob Dylan, but when I shook hands with Pete Seeger, you’re just one step away from those people. And Pete was such an outgoing person, part of what he was doing was involving you in the project in the same way that he involved his audiences into what he was doing. “And there’s not too many people who’ve got up onstage with Bruce Springsteen who were born in 1919!” Bragg’s latest release – his first in five years
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– is Tooth & Nail, a collection of songs recorded with producer Joe Henry at Henry’s studio in Pasadena, California. Henry had suggested previously to Bragg that he come out to California to record some songs, an offer Bragg eventually decided to take up after helping his family settle the affairs of his mother, who died in 2011. While Tooth & Nail includes a couple of tracks that pay tribute to Bragg’s mother, Bragg says the album wasn’t so much part of the grieving process as a way of Bragg picking himself up and getting on with his life. “Recording the album helped by giving me a project to get on with,” Bragg says. “If I’d just have carried on in that space I was in, it would’ve slowed me down. My mum was a strong person – she didn’t like people whinging and complaining. She would’ve picked herself up, so it made a lot of sense to me to do the same. So the album isn’t about mum passing, but there are some references to picking yourself up on there.” Bragg had about half the songs written before arriving in California, with the rest written in the studio and immediate surrounds. Handyman Blues, Bragg’s apology to his wife Juliet for his unimpressive practical skills around the house, started out as a melody composed in Bragg’s head in the taxi ride to the airport, before being finished at Henry’s studio. On No One Knows Nothing Anymore (“It’s
“I never got to meet Woody Guthrie or Lead Belly, and I’ve never met Bob Dylan, but when I shook hands with Pete Seeger, you’re just one step away from those people. And Pete was such an outgoing person, part of what he was doing was involving you in the project in the same way that he involved his audiences into what he was doing. And there’s not too many people who’ve got up onstage with Bruce Springsteen who were born in 1919!” grammatically incorrect, but sounds better,” he laughs), Bragg challenges the notion that contemporary society is smarter than its antecedents, notwithstanding the information available at our fingertips. “But I suppose you’ve got to hope that people’s curiosity keeps them searching for information,” he says. And while the emergence and growth of social media has provided an electronic vehicle for modern-day progressive causes – Bragg was a vocal supporter of, and participant in, the Occupy Movement a couple of years ago – it’s also become a platform for the reactionary rhetoric that Bragg despises so strongly. “It does look to me as if social media has replaced pop music as the vanguard medium for talking about the world,” Bragg says. “But the downside is that the right wing has the same access. In the past, the right wing didn’t have access to popular music because pop music was almost always liberal, forward-looking, progressive – there was never really a right-wing Bob Dylan or Pete Seeger.” Perhaps one of the more surprising tracks on Tooth & Nail is Do Unto Others, a track that invokes the language of the New Testament, and which was written as part of a project to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible. Bragg is no fan of the excesses of the Church; however, he appreciates the philosophical basis of biblical texts. “You can find positive things in the Bible, without having to run into right-wing interpretations, to divide people,” Bragg says. “And I couldn’t be an atheist because I love gospel music so much (laughs).”
GOLD PANDA Alive And Imperfect With a new album, Half Of Where You Live, out now, Gold Panda’s Australian tour stops by The Bakery this Sunday, March 9, supported by Naik. DANIEL PRIOR reports. 14
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When Derwin Schlecker, AKA Gold Panda, first started making waves with a volley of single releases, it sent him on a worldwide journey. After the release of his 2010 album, Lucky Shiner, Schlecker was on top of the world – but success brings its own pitfalls. “I was terrified of doing a second album,” he says. “I got over it by working out whether it would sound the same as Lucky Shiner. Half Of Where You Live sounds slightly different; I mean, it wasn’t a huge shift, but they are distinct from one another. I spent less time on arrangement – there was a lot more spontaneity, like I would do at a live gig. I listened to it again the first time a few days ago and there were, like, seven out of 10 tracks I listened to without cringing or thinking, ‘I could have done that better’. The next album I’m aiming for 10 out of 10.” By the time Half Of Where You Live was released in mid-2013, Schlecker had been travelling extensively, and his new worldview took a firm hold on both himself and the music of Gold Panda. “I think the biggest thing I learnt was the difference between reality and how things are reported. Example: people say Sao Paulo is dangerous. But I walked around the city in between gigs and it was fine. People were laughing, having a good time and I never felt like I was in any danger. What I have seen is that the world is good and, against what the news will say, people are friendly and not the evil monsters they’re made out to be. I wanted to capture that in the album. Exploration is the only real way to find out about a place.” To be in the privileged position of travelling the world and playing his music to thousands of people isn’t something lost on Schlecker, and his success is something he speaks of with modesty. “I’ve managed to sustain a career by putting SoundClouds together, and for some reason people seem to like it. I don’t know how long that can last. People are encouraging, which is a nice thing, but I feel guilty about what I’m doing
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sometimes. I make music for myself and then I put it out there to see if people also like it. But then I’ll do a show, meet some people who’ll tell me that they get a lot of enjoyment from what I’m doing, and that makes me feel really good. “I do want Gold Panda to evolve and grow, though. I want to release music in new ways and explore what Gold Panda can be. I’m happy to do something new, and for people not to get it, and then do the opposite right after. I want to be selfish, and I feel that I’ve found the perfect way to do it.”
“I do want Gold Panda to evolve and grow, though. I want to release music in new ways and explore what Gold Panda can be. I’m happy to do something new, and for people not to get it, and then do the opposite right after. I want to be selfish, and I feel that I’ve found the perfect way to do it.” But Schlecker doesn’t just put his success down to luck. He says it’s been a process of failing and making mistakes. “I hate a lot of electronic music. Most of the time it’s because people are using the same technology in the exact same way as everyone else. The ease of creation has made people lazy and you lose the reality in your music, and then it doesn’t sound like anything worth hearing. “I like to hear the imperfections and mistakes in music. It shows that it’s real and I can associate with that. I’ve made mistakes with my music, but it means that there is something to improve about it. I suppose the lesson is; find something organic in your music, something that makes it alive and imperfect, like we all are.”
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For more album reviews head to xpressmag.com.au
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OUT OF 5
OUT OF 5
BRETON
NEIL FINN Dizzy Heights Lester/Inertia
War Room Stories Shock Records
On Dizzy Heights, Neil Finn tries his hardest to make anything but a Neil Finn solo album. He’s employed famed producer Dave Fridmann and the album features so many other players that calling it a solo album is laughable. And yet, it is just another collection of 12 Neil Finn songs, and there’s nothing wrong with that. The album is covered in a sunny psychedelic sheen (courtesy of Fridmann), which seems to compensate for its anxious lyrical content, and the echoey, reverberated vocal treatment and constant unplaceable guitar effects make it all seem very paranoid. This contrast works best on the album’s two highlights. Divebomber has Finn singing exclusively in falsetto, while sampled divebomber sounds and a marching drum beat rise with a string section. Better yet, White Lies And Alibis evokes Crowded House’s Together Alone, and combines the same luscious strings with a constant siren in a dazzling arrangement. Elsewhere, though, there’s a push/pull with the production. On the one hand, everything sounds fantastic and of a piece. On the other hand, it’s so incredibly dense that it takes quite a number of listens before the songs start to reveal themselves. But once they do, you’ll be reminded why Finn is held in such lofty esteem.
In the space of two quick years, the London-based Breton have not only managed to extend and morph their electronic roots into a combination of indie-pop and dance, but the five-piece have composed layered masterpieces. Moving away from the London-based BretonLABS, the band headed out to Funkhaus, an old communist-propaganda radio station in Berlin, to record some War Room Stories. Their sophomore effort was more then anyone could’ve expected. Excelling in its attention to detail and planning, Breton incorporated the 44-piece Macedonian Symphony Orchestra into many of the LP’s tracks to produce their most poppy and atmospheric sound to date. Whether it’s the punchy, crescendo of brass in Legs & Arms, the oozing bass and driving synth in Get Well Soon or the pumping violins and shimmering lead guitar in Closed Category; the band have incorporated musical magic into radio-friendly and body-grooving tunes. Breton have found a way to not only rejuvenate their sound, adding more dimensions and refined production, but they have managed to maintain the flow of momentum produced from their first LP Other People’s Problems. AARON BRYANS
LEONARDO SILVESTRINI
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QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE Tight Bros Queens of the Stone Age and Nine Inch Nails team up at Perth Arena on Tuesday, March 11. AUGUSTUS WELBY reports. Queens of the Stone Age’s sixth LP ...Like Clockwork was one of the most anticipated releases of 2013 and the Californian desert rockers certainly didn’t falter under pressure. Packed full of their trademark stomping blues, intertwined with sultry grooves and even some melancholic balladry, the record roused almost unanimous praise from fans and critics. ...Like Clockwork is notable for being the first QOTSA record to feature bass player Michael Shuman and guitarist Dean Fertita, both of whom have been touring with the band since shortly after release of 2007’s Era Vulgaris. Ahead of their Australian co-headline tour with Nine Inch Nails, Shuman explains how participating in the songwriting and recording process solidified his personal attachment to the band.
“It brought a new light to the band for me. I’d been wanting to write some songs with the band since I started, so to actually finally do it really meant a lot. And it means a lot to me now.”
“As much as you give yourself to these old songs and the live show, that’s only one half of it - the other half is creating and recording,” he says. “It brought a new light to the band for me. I’d been wanting to write some songs with the band since I started, so to actually finally do it really meant a lot. And it means a lot to me now.” Josh Homme formed Queens Of The Stone Age in the late ‘90s and since then the band has gone through a giant cast of contributing personnel. The semi-regularity of line-up changes over the years suggests Homme is a dangerously volatile taskmaster. Contrary to this, Shuman reports that the band dynamic is far from hierarchical. “We were super close but we got even closer during the making of this record and learned a lot more about each other than I thought we could, because I thought we were already tight bros. “Everybody was going through personal stuff while making the record,” Shuman adds, “and then supporting each other to get through the making of the record. Everyone showed their true colours and it showed that 16
we have supported each other through tough times and didn’t just bail when shit got rough.” The six-year gap between Queens Of The Stone Age albums was enough to stir fears that the band had reached its expiry date. Due to the extended interval, when the album eventually arrived it was touted as a comeback release. However, Shuman says there was no internal shutdown. “To us it wasn’t a comeback record. We toured on Era and then we took a year off, then went and did another tour on the first record for a year (celebrating the 10th anniversary of 1998’s self-titled LP). Maybe it was six years away from putting out records, but not from being a band.” Nevertheless, the band members didn’t exactly keep to themselves in the intervening years. Homme recorded and toured with Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones as Them Crooked Vultures, Fertita teamed up with Jack White and Alison Mosshart for multiple Dead Weather albums and multi-instrumentalist Troy Van Leeuwen released a record with his new band, Sweethead. Shuman hasn’t been twiddling his thumbs either, setting the bass aside to front LA-based baroque-pop outfit Mini Mansions, who’ll release their second album later this year. “Some people like a vacation when they get home, to take some time off and put their feet up. Most of us are not like that,” he says. “Most of us go home and work on other musical projects. That’s what I do non-stop when I’m not with Queens.” There definitely hasn’t been much time to consider putting the feet up in the last 12 months. The band (completed by newest addition , dr ummer, Jon Theodore) actually started touring shortly before …Like Clockwork came out. “It all went so fast because we finished the record and immediately went on the road. We actually were choosing the master as we were on an airplane to go on tour and then the record was out a month later, so it was crazy,” Shuman says. The rapturous reception given to the record means the touring program hasn’t let up. The aberrant nature of tour life is wont to drain musicians and splinter relationships, but Shuman says they don’t struggle staying sane. “We just hang out together and do whatever we do and have laughs and drinks. That kind of gets us through – just being together, not hating each other.” Ongoing praise for …Like Clockwork also helps to keep spirits high. The album debuted at number one in both Australia and the US, picked up three Grammy nominations and consequently the shows have been bigger than ever. “It was surprising how well received it was, so we were super excited,” Shuman exudes. “The ride really hasn’t stopped and we haven’t slowed down and it’s been awesome and really gratifying to know that our fans are into what we made.” Q OT S A’s co n s i d e r a b l e A u s t r a l i a n fanbase finally have their hunger sated as the tour with good buddies Nine Inch Nails sweeps the country this month. Schuman looks forward to his third trip down here with the band. “It’s not like any other place – like the middle of the US and you’ve seen it a million times. This is something special; it’s not just a tour, it’s also part vacation – a part of the world where we can actually enjoy going out and go out in the sun and just be active.”
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OUT OF 5
MISS RENEE SIMONE
THE JAC
Roar Independent
Love Dumb Egomaniac Music
To pull off a great soul album requires masterful execution and a wealth of personal experience to draw from, and true to Miss Renee Simone’s industrious branding, it’s a mood she maintains, if only just, in her debut LP, Roar. The album begins on somewhat shaky ground, with some pop compositions that, while well-written, are uninspired and seem unsure, with vocals hovering awkwardly, somewhere between the floating delivery of early jazz and the solid structuring of contemporary soul. Particularly so with the curious inclusion of Top Shelf, which works as a textbook bossa nova while doing little to explore or expand upon the genre. From then on, however, the album gets a bit braver, showcasing more intelligent, jazz-inspired melodies and visceral compositions, particularly so with You Are Beautiful. Simone’s vocals feel more true to form and unburdened, not to mention the band begins to feel like a feature, rather than a backing track. It’s a strong, well-executed album, but with a little more daring and exploration it might have been a great album.
The JAC was a product of Joe Algeri retreating to his home studio and rarely seeing the light of day (unless taking a quick jaunt on his tractor in Byford). A quick solo tour to the US last year has clearly reignited Algeri’s passion for playing live so he has enlisted some friends to flesh out The Jac. Love Dumb is the first fruits of that union. Inspired by the ‘60s but containing the Perth power pop sound of the ‘90s, Love Dumb, with its chugging guitars and killer hook has all of the ingredients that would see this tune sit happily beside the best of his work with Jack & The Beanstalk. Algeri draws on his fondness for Ray Davies with the subdued Truly Julie & Terry and Wherever You Go is a glass full of sunshine. You can’t call yourself a songwriter unless you have recorded a version of Thirteen by Big Star, so The JAC oblige. This solo live take finds that Algeri has fine-tuned his voice to bring a richness and some extra sweetness to the table, while Frantic Romantic sees The JAC plug in the keyboards to give the Scientists tune a Marc Almond inspired sheen. Love Dumb offers a few tunes of the upcoming The JAC album as well as some curios that are well worth the listen. The release of Love Dumb will hopefully drag The JAC to the stages to show off their pretty new tunes.
SHAUN COWE
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OUT OF 5
CHRIS HAVERCROFT
3.5
JOHN BUTLER TRIO
OUT OF 5
Flesh & Blood Jarrah Records The John Butler Trio return after a four-year hiatus with their sixth studio album, Flesh & Blood. Melding the musical influences of band members John Butler, Nicky Bomba (most recently helming Melbourne Ska Orchestra and since succeeded by Grant Gerathy) and Byron Luiters, this album is a rollercoaster of rhythm, touching on acoustic rock, folk, blues and roots. The soul of Flesh & Blood – its very flesh and blood – was born on the Australian dirt road, and it shows. From the tender notes of Spring To Come, Bullet Girl and Young And Wild to the rollicking blues explosion of Zebra-esque Livin’ In the City and Devil Woman, Flesh & Blood certainly doesn’t break new barriers for JBT but it is clearly a deeper, more layered sound to their earlier, acoustic-driven compositions. First single, Only One, is actually not one of the album’s strongest. However, it is a subtle introduction to a release that should produce several more memorable radio hits (keep an ear out for Devil Woman, Spring To Come and Blame It On Me). It’s meetings of musical minds such as these that enable the creation of such an earnest, hopeful record. Earnest, in the sense that each song connects on so many levels and gathers momentum in your head upon each listen. Hopeful, that although some of these songs centre around depression, loss and addiction, this is a record truly connected to the human spirit and the many phases of evolution we all move through in our journey towards finding ourselves and our place in the world.
‘I was angry with my friend: I told my wrath, my wrath did end’, William Blake wrote in his poem, A Poison Tree. Some 219 years later, those verses speaking of basic human emotion – fear, anger, guilt – are softly sung by James Van Cuylenburg over a beautifully produced instrumental. The Tealeaves’ musical adaptation of Blake’s poem is a stunning track with an opening riff recalling Fleetwood Mac’s Rhiannon. It leads into a pleasing, thoughtful album – the second by the Melbourne band. The Tealeaves’ music is as amiable as their branding. Self-described as “melancholy indiefolk”, the album echoes a multitude of influences and similarities such as Midlake, Fleet Foxes, Cat Stevens and Bon Iver. The Fleetwood Mac (circa late ‘70s) resemblance recurs with vocalist Jess Wilson, who sounds faintly reminiscent of Christine McVie. Aside from A Poison Tree, the track, Run Together, is particularly memorable and the most upbeat. The other eight songs are unassuming and gentle with good choral arrangements and a comparison with the band’s 2010 debut reveals their music has become more layered, rich, and compelling.
JEN WILSON
CORAL HUCKSTEP
THE TEALEAVES No More Can You Be Here Independent
NEW NOISE
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OUT OF 5
ST. VINCENT
ROBERT HINTON Winter Sun Independent The cover art for Winter Sun depicts our singer, close up and out of focus, seemingly lying down and being enveloped in the incoming tide. This album – a folky, sunburnt, fuzzy collection of strikingly direct odes to various objects of Hinton’s affection – does what it says on the box. Primary among these objects is the natural surrounds of the shore. The drowning of ‘sorrows in the sea’ and dreams of ‘rainclouds and thunderstorms’ on Quench combine with a mourning, a feeling that whomever he’s lost can now only be found amongst the rocks and waves. This reflects a theme felt on practically every track, particularly To Absent Friends and the exquisite collaboration with Kim Stolen that closes proceedings, Footprints With The Tide. Sometimes the lyrics can cross from direct to just plain obvious, and there are limitations to Hinton’s Reedy, Josh Pyke-influenced vocals. But the album maintains a bustling, scrappy energy, an unpretentious enthusiasm, which makes Hinton’s sandy haired company a reliable pleasure. CHARLIE LEWIS
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OUT OF 5
St. Vincent Loma Vista/Caroline Annie Clark (AKA St. Vincent) is very hard not to like. Her voice has a natural honeyed grace and she sings with commanding cool. Even if she sounds austere or aloof, it just makes you yearn to understand what fills her vision. Then there’s that guitar playing. On St. Vincent, Clark dishes out malfunctioning robot riffs (Birth In Reverse, Bring Me Your Loves) and tearing groove metal breakouts (Huey Newton), elsewhere manipulating the six-string apparatus into a distorted church organ (Regret) or a flaring synth bass (Rattlesnake). Understandably, these startling abilities could very easily be too much to tame. Indeed, St. Vincent’s three previous solo LPs contain several moments of unquestionable greatness, but there’s an unevenness to them. However, on St. Vincent Clark sounds completely in charge of her considerable arsenal. The record explores an unpredictable range of moods, expresses touching emotion and upholds disarming sonic excitement without ever sounding like a struggle. Tracks such as the sincere and airy I Prefer Your Love and schizophrenic Human League-meets-Queens Of The Stone Age number Huey Newton possess such involving importance that taking a moment afterwards to digest what you’ve just experienced feels appropriate. But as soon as the next song kicks in, you’re transferred into another equally gripping universe. AUGUSTUS WELBY
MARISSA NADLER July Bella Union/[PIAS] Here’s one for the downtrodden romantics. Boston’s Marissa Nadler is an example of an artist who has no bad albums – no small feat, seven records into a career. If you love one of her quality collections of introspective folk, you’ll love them all. Her new album, July, continues the streak. There are a few surprising musical flourishes on this outing; the synth in Dead City Emily, the orchestral flourishes and blues guitar of Was It A Dream, the dual guitar in Holiday In. But for the most part, the star of the show is Nadler’s voice, with good reason. Her voice is incredibly striking and inherently sad - even if she were recounting the best day of her life, it would still sound like a loved one had just passed. Couple this with her ever-mournful lyrics, and there’s not much in the way of levity. A small sample: ‘If you don’t make it now, you’re never going to make it; ‘Maybe it’s the weather / But I’ve got nothing in my heart’. Not exactly a party-starter, but for those with a heavy heart, Marissa Nadler and July will ease the pain. LEONARDO SILVESTRINI
3.5 OUT OF 5
SALLY SELTMANN
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HOLIDAYS ON ICE The Luxury Of Wasted Space Cloudy But Fine It may seem an odd way to start a glowing review, but Holidays On Ice will never be huge. Gentle, insistent pop from 40-something industry veterans (in this case Angie Hart of Frente! fame and Dean Manning from Leonardo’s Bride) has never been particularly like to shift many units. Shame that, from the pulsing, dusky opener So Easy, The Luxury Of Wasted Space is an immersive and achingly lovely delight. These traits (the ache and the pretty) reach their apex on lead single Faces In A Passing Car, building from a single bass line to a quiet symphony of bells and sampled voices, and Falling Up, all jangling guitars and Strawberry Fields Forever-styled Hammond organs. These are representative; a slow build from sparse electronica to melodic release that just stops short of ecstatic, all held together by Hart’s breathy vocals. On the face of it, it’s a little slight, a little too ambient and unassuming. But with each listen it works its way a little further under your skin. Part of the charm of never being big is you can make music for its own sake. CHARLIE LEWIS
Hey Daydreamer Caroline Sally Seltmann’s heart is still very much pounding on the second album bearing her name. It’s a clear continuation of her debut, with the singer locked in a surprise-free but often quite loveable groove. Recorded at her Sydney bedroom studio, Hey Daydreamer is the closest collaboration with husband Darren (of the Avalanches) since the first New Buffalo EP. Perhaps a by-product of Seltmann’s intermittent trips to and from LA (where she now resides), she often sounds homesick and smothers herself in a transient, imaginary state that floats along on a sweet nostalgia, but is also quietly anxious about the future. On the album’s cover art, Seltmann is caught mid-stroll in a technicolor landscape, eyes set firmly on a book, and there’s little question that the daydreamer of the title/opening track is her. Seltmann’s Billy is addressed in the restrained manner of a Stepford wife that is in keeping with its promo clip, though it’s the jauntiest song about the death of a loved one that you’ll ever hear. Likewise, Needle In The Hay is far from a cover of Elliot Smith’s haunting song of the same name; instead, it’s an angelic pop song propped up by spritely gallops of piano and dreamlike pedal steel. Along with the playful Catch Of The Day, these neatly bottled, three-minute singles show off Seltmann’s formidable skills as a songwriter. Heartfelt ballads like The Small Hotel and Seed of Doubt also resonate strongly, revealing a vulnerable side to the singer that rings truer than some of the chirpier material. It’s only during the album’s lacklustre centre that the lack of traction makes you long for the sonic playfulness of her early material as New Buffalo. Hey Daydreamer is exploratory in terms of its emotional content, but the wistful vocals and lullaby-like melodies ensure there’s always a soft landing.
We’d never accuse Beck of retreading old ground, with a back catalogue that reads like a magpie’s nest of inspired influences and rampant genre hopping, but on Morning Phase he revisits the melancholy soundscapes of his beloved heartbreak album, 2002’s Seachange. Much has changed in the ensuing dozen years – not least of which includes a debilitating back injury that sidelined the musical adventurer for some time, and perhaps that’s the life changer this time around, rather than a broken heart. Musically, Morning Phase is stunning. There’s a few moments when one wonders if the title is a play on words – is Beck mourning something? Or is this the sunrise to his newest dawn? He’s an enigmatic fellow, it’s unlikely we’ll ever know. Using many of the same musos as he did for Seachange, the sound is very similar – folky introspection with strings and all the right production moves. Lyrically though, he remains elusive - hinting and winking at his true meanings, without ever laying the truth out for all to see. Morning Phase is as enthralling as any Siren’s Song. It will draw you in and entrance you, with its mysteries only making the content more enticing.
CHRIS GIRDLER
SHANE PINNEGAR
4.5 OUT OF 5
BECK Morning Phase Capitol/EMI
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MORCHEEBA
to come back. After they did The
Instigators in the ‘90s for their unique blend of hip hop, jazz and electronica, UK trip hop trio, Morcheeba are now in their 18th year of existence and are still kicking on, recently dropping their eighth album, Head Up High. RACHEL DAVISON chats to vocalist, Skye Edwards, in lieu of their appearance at West Coast Blues ‘N’ Roots on Sunday, April 13, at Fremantle Park. It’s early morning in Surrey, England - just gone quarter past 10 to be exact - the chatty Edwards hasn’t had breakfast yet and she’s just gotten the kids off to school. She’s sewing - making a winter coat. It’s not very rock’n’roll, but refreshingly homely and the antithesis of the glamour you see from Edwards on stage and in the video clip for the catchy single, Gimme Your Love. The making of this album and their previous 2010 album, Blood Like Lemonade has fit in around their own individual lives and families. With Paul living in France and Ross in Los Angeles, the process of writing and collaborating has been a mostly online
BOY & BEAR Hart To Heart Boy & Bear will make their way to West Coast Blues ‘N’ Roots at Fremantle Park on Sunday, April 13. AUGUSTUS WELBY reports. 18
STORIES
“They didn’t beg me, they asked me
Heads Held High
While Skye Edwards and the Godfrey brothers, Ross and Paul, haven’t strayed too far from their original sound, there is an audible dose of maturity and some inspiration from their teenage children by way of some post-dubstep. “Paul has two teenage kids who are really into dubstep and he mentioned Skrillex - and it wasn’t like we were gonna go off and start doing dubstep, but we did take that on board,” says Skye Edwards on the phone from her home. “We kind of listened to what our children were listening to and took tiny elements, which you can hear in songs like, To The Grave and Make Believer - a bit of a new production style.”
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Antidote they asked if I would like to do a couple of songs on Dive Deep and I said no, and then they asked again via management if I would like to come back and I said no again. It took a lot of convincing and my husband... we had a lot of arguments over it and I really didn’t want to go back, but I’m glad I did, actually. I really am happy to be back and I’m having a lot of fun on stage with Ross and it’s all pretty cool and I think it shows with Head Up High that the relationship is pretty strong.”
In late 2009 little known Sydney autumnal indie group, Boy & Bear, took out a triple j Unearthed competition to open that year’s Homebake festival. The prize-grabbing tune, Mexican Mavis, was the first in a succession of singles put on high triple j rotation, followed by Hottest 100 entries Fall At Your Feet (Crowded House cover) and the tracks Feeding Line and Part Time Believer from their 2011 debut LP, Moonfire. Four years later, the group’s popularity hasn’t waned. In fact, last year’s sophomore LP, Harlequin Dream, was the only Australian release to feature in the triple j listeners’ top 10 albums of the year list. Drummer, Tim Hart, acknowledges the station’s helping hand, but that alone isn’t enough to sustain a fanbase. “I think it’s down to the kind of album that we’ve made too,” he says. “Harlequin Dream is a bit more accessible than our first one, Moonfire. It’s a bit more of our own sound. Not saying we’re reinventing the wheel – obviously we’re not – but we feel a bit more comfortable in our own skin. It’s probably a little bit further away from that indie-folk thing, which was important to us because that wasn’t the direction we wanted to head.” There’s been a lot of heated conjecture this year regarding the ramifications of the so-called ‘triple j sound’. Negative claims about the station’s corruptive influence on the local music scene seem exaggerated and somewhat misguided, particularly when you consider what else is on offer. “I find it bizarre,” says Hart. “If you’re talking about homogenisation of Australian music, maybe the only reason you couldn’t blame commercial radio for that is because they don’t play enough Australian music. Other than that, the homogenisation of music in Australia is, to me, 100 per cent from commercial radio. “If you actually broke it down and looked at the categories of music that triple j play – all the shows like Short.Fast.Loud and the roots program and even the hip hop program – they do cover quite a wide range of genres.” The strangest feature of the recent public discourse has been the various musicians asserting that the health of their career rests solely on triple j support. “You can only play a certain amount of music,” says Hart, “and just because you don’t make triple j doesn’t mean that your music’s not valuable. I saw Whitley had a bit of a crack. I think Whitley’s really great but just because his new record didn’t get played, I don’t know that that means triple j are homogenising Australian music. It’s a bit of a far leap.” The whole scenario basically reads like a classic case of tall poppy syndrome. Australia has a very influential national radio station that favours alternative-minded music, which isn’t the case in most other western nations. But positive chatter hardly makes for enthralling headlines. Anyhow, a sincere example of the youth broadcaster’s constructive impact is its ability to bring quality music to people all over the country, no matter how far removed they are from razzle-dazzle city life.
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affair and very different from their early days spent smoking weed in the Godfrey’s London apartment. “Before we started writing anything new we had a few meetings and when we (Ross and Edwards) were on tour and over near where Paul lives (given Paul doesn’t get involved in the live shows) we would talk about tempos and the kind of album we wanted to write,” she explains. “We all agreed we wanted it to be more up tempo - Paul described it as ‘Morcheeba with a pulse’ and so he went away and got together with the drummer and recorded lots of different rhythms and beats and then edited those and sent us copies of 20 or 30 or so. “I guess we communicated more because it was really important to keep on emailing each other and letting each other know what we were thinking, and then when the time came we would get together and record the bulk of it. In the past - going back 18 years now - Ross and Paul lived together, I would go over to their flat and it was just getting stoned with a guitar and writing that way. But we all have our own lives now outside of the band, so it works well this way.” After a falling out with the brothers, Edwards departed Morcheeba in 2004 - releasing two solo albums and a third one in 2012. The two Godfrey brothers made The Antidote and Dive Deep with a range of guest vocalists. She talks openly about that difficult time. “They didn’t beg me, they asked me to come back,” she laughs when I suggest that Morcheeba just wasn’t the same without her. “After they did The Antidote they asked if I would like to do a couple of songs on Dive Deep and I said no, and then they asked again via management if I would like to come back and I said no again. It took a lot of convincing and my husband... we had a lot of arguments over it and I really didn’t want to go back, but I’m glad I did, actually. I really am happy to be back and I’m having a lot of fun on stage with Ross and it’s all pretty cool and I think it shows with Head Up High that the relationship is pretty strong.” Why didn’t you want to go back? “We didn’t like each other to put it bluntly,” she says. “There was a lot of hurt there still. I didn’t want to go back to that but they were sorry and it’s all pretty cool now, actually.” It seems that in any relationship you sometimes just need a break... “Yeah, exactly; it is pretty much like that. It’s like a marriage and I had two husbands and then a messy divorce and we fought over the kids - which is the studio or whatever - and then they got a couple of new wives - who were the new singers - which was a little bit weird and it didn’t work out and now we’ve resolved our differences. “We’ve not been through counselling, but I dunno, maybe they’ve done their own counselling and we’re back and happily married.”
“It’s really important to us that we be out touring regardless of what the risk is. You play to a half-full room with the knowledge that you’re going to lose money on the show, but it doesn’t matter. It’s just important that you’re there. You try to give back to the people that have supported you all along.” Boy & Bear will soon undertake a 30-date regional tour, giving some love to the country’s less frequented areas. “If you live in regional areas and you listen to triple j you want to see live music but you hardly ever get a chance,” Hart says. “When there’s something happening in town, everyone wants to be at it and that’s really exciting. You’ve got a show on every night of the year at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney but out at the Civic Theatre in Dubbo you might only have a show every couple of weeks that you’re interested in seeing. But they’re still really knowledgeable crowds so if you don’t put on a good show they’re going to know.” Unlike locations such as America and Europe, bands don’t often go on tours through regional Australia until they reach a certain extent of recognition. Even if it isn’t the most lucrative venture, Hart emphasises how significant it is for Boy & Bear to take their music all around the country. “When we did uni they taught us that Australia is two per cent of the world market when it comes to the music industry. But, for us, it’s our country, you know? It’s really important to us that we be out touring regardless of what the risk is. You play to a half-full room with the knowledge that you’re going to lose money on the show, but it doesn’t matter. It’s just important that you’re there. You try to give back to the people that have supported you all along – those people that voted for you in the Hottest 100 and who just enjoy the music.” The diminutive size of the Australian market often deters musicians from advancing beyond the major cities. Nationwide radio-play obviously enhances any band’s prospects, thus regional areas shouldn’t be ignored. “The reality is touring costs a lot of money,” says Hart. “When you’re starting out there’s little to no returns – in fact, you’re investing into it. The support of triple j and community radio really help to give you a platform with which to tour. It’s disappointing when bands do get established and they choose not to do regionals and you just see them doing six dates around Australia. That’s when I think there’s no excuse for it.” Boy & Bear are supporters of not-for-profit national organisation Angels Goal’s anti-bullying campaign, Bullying No Rockin’ Way. Head to bullyingnorockinway. com for more details.
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Quite g n i t s e Inter With a career spanning a quarter of a century, comedian Alan Davies is returning to Perth for two stand-up shows at the Riverside Theatre on Wednesday-Thursday, March 12 - 13. X-Press managed to catch up with him and chat about his upcoming tour and his TV career. His previous stand-up tour was called Life Is Pain, but this time around it is Little Victories (based on a tale of a nine-year-old Alan trying to convince his father to eat black currant jam). So why the change in tone? “Well I don’t know if I have cheered up, it’s the same really, little victories amongst the pain. They’re two sides of the same thing, but that’s all tongue in cheek. Not too much can be read into the title. What you get is anecdotal storytelling about personal life and family life and, well, life in general, actually - and the occasional rude word. All material created by me over the last year. In Life Is Pain my children were babies, now they’re toddlers. So it’s more about wanting to get hold of them and knock the living daylights out of them than the state of their nappies.” Perth will be the first stop in this Australian tour and as such will also be amongst the first to hear Davies’ new stand up material. With back to back tours (Life Is Pain finishing only last year in the UK), this would seem to mark a return to stand up for Davies, although balanced with his other commitments. However, before his 2011 Life Is Pain tour we saw a 10 year gap in Davies’ stand up comedy as he took time to pursue a different career path. “I was doing other things, TV drama and acting, and I had slightly fallen out of love with stand up. I wasn’t gigging so much, and shooting would take me away from the comedy clubs where I was generating material. Then you get a catch 22, you can’t do comedy without material and you can’t write anything without doing a gig. Nowadays I’ve got two children and touring is like having a series of days off. I used to be, ‘Awww, I’ve got to go up the motorway and stay in a hotel.’ Now I’m like, ‘A hotel! Nice!’ I’ve got a different view of it really.” Those “other things” have definitely paid off for Davies, with numerous TV and radio appearances under his belt, as well as an autobiography. 2013 saw the return of Jonathan Creek, the magician/amateur detective mystery series, with Davies again in the role of the title character. This fifth season will be showing later this year on Australian TV. Davies is, however, probably better known for his other television appearances. The popular quiz show QI, where he appearts alongside Stephen Fry, is now in its 11th season. Given that the show plans to work its way through the alphabet one letter a season, providing obscure knowledge and esoterica combined with comedy, that could possibly see Davies busy for at least the next 15 years. DAVID O’CONNELL
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FEMALE VOICES
FILM
Perth Poetry Club, in conjunction with West Australian Poets Inc., is hosting the Perth contribution to Woman Scream 2014 on Saturday, March 8 International Women’s Day - at The Moon Café. For the unfamiliar, Women Scream International Poetry Festival was founded four years ago in the Dominican Republic in the memory of murdered poet Susana Chavez and aims to commemorate the role of women in society. Poets who wish to participate are advised to keep on theme and encouraged to register their interest by emailing katearnautovic@gmail.com or perthpoetryclub@gmail.com.
CHILI TIMES IN FREO
PARK LIFE WAAPA In The Park is a free event taking place on Saturday, March 22 in Mt Lawley’s Ron Stone Park. WAAPA students will be presenting a range of big band-era songs along with contemporary rock, pop and R ‘n’ B hits. For more information, head to stirling. wa.gov.au.
The Livelighter Araluen’s Fremantle Chili Festival is once again upon us. From Saturday, March 8, until Sunday, March 9, the Fremantle Esplanade will be awash in spicy goodness as citizens come together to celebrate that titan of tongue-torturing treats, the humble chili. There’ll be over 100 vendors offering an incredible range of food, condiments, beverages and other products, live entertainment from the Junkadelic Brass Band, roving performances from the Spare Parts Puppet Theatre, cooking demonstrations and more. Go to araluenbotanicpark.com.au for more info.
NON-STOP Takes On A Plane Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra Starring Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore
WAAPA In The Park
CURTIN STYLE The Western Australian AIDS Council is certainly benefiting form the generosity of Curtin University, with the school having handed over a whopping $40,000 donation for naming rights to STYLEAID. WAAC has also announced that this year’s STYLEAID will be held at Crown Perth on Friday, August 1, with the signature theme being ‘mythic.’ For more information, shoot over to styleaid.com.au.
PERTH ARTS SHATTER RECORDS
I’M A LEBOWSKI, YOU’RE A LEBOWSKI
The 2014 Perth International Arts Festival has set a new high watermark for box office sales, participation and engagement. This year’s events took in over $6 million, with over 200,000 tickets sold and 500,000 attendees in total. In light of both that and the staggering success of this year’s Fringe World, it’s getting hard to sling around the old Dullsville label while keeping a straight face.
Sunday, March 16, Monkey Collective present a special screening of the Coen Brothers’ cult stoner detective flick, The Big Lebowski. Hosted by fauxLebowski Tristan Fidler, this will be an audience participation event. Get down early for hot dogs and plenty of tasty White Russians. Book your tickets through lunapalace.com.au, man. The Big Lebowski
Since Liam Neeson’s iconic performance in 2008’s Taken, his particular set of skills have often seen him playing on-edge tough guy roles. Like many action actors before him, we have often hoped for lightning to strike the same spot twice. However for every Lethal Weapon, there’s a half dozen more along the lines of Bird On A Wire. Bill Marks (Liam Neeson) might have once been good at his job, but now days the Air Marshal often drinks on duty and is in danger of getting fired. On a routine transatlantic flight his supposedly secure communication is tapped and he is sent message telling him that one passenger will die every 20 minutes unless $150 million is transferred into an off-shore account. Bill desperately tries to locate the source of the threat, but as the situation worsens he finds himself under suspicion and racing against time to save the lives of the passengers. Thankfully this is not another Die Hard clone on a plane. Instead, Non-Stop delivers to us an action thriller with the emphasis placed strongly on the thriller aspect. It uses the enclosed claustrophobic atmosphere of the passenger plane to ratchet up the tension in the game of cat and mouse that Marks is involved in. Indeed,
as the tension amongst the passengers builds, Non-Stop becomes a good study on the effects of fear and distrust on the mob mentality in a post 9/11 world. When it does ramp up the action, the audience is treated to some fairly intense fight sequences, the close-in fighting leading to a rapid trading of blows and counter punches rather than dancing around. One of the earliest fights, taking place in an air-plane toilet, is particularly effective in this regard (Mile High Fight Club?). Liam Neeson pretty much has this hardbitten action role down pat now. A few world weary haunted looks next to a half-empty bottle of scotch,and you just know there is a tragic backstory involving family and personal regret. A couple of intense stares, and you believe he can kick a man’s arse just using his thumb. He has most definitely been typecast of late, but he generally handles the role well. Julianne Moore is always a pleasure to see and manages to do a lot with the little her character has. As for the rest of the cast, they are pretty much treated the same way a cavalcade of suspects would be in an Agatha Christie mystery, and are paper-thin characters with just enough backstory to potentially be the villain of the piece. For all its faults (and there are many) NonStop is an enjoyable film. If you stop to think about it then director Jaume Collet-Serra’s second outing with Neeson makes as much aerodynamic sense as a bumble bee, but it pulls you through with good pacing and a wonderful sense of tension. Check your brain at baggage, buckle up and just enjoy the in-flight entertainment. DAVID O’CONNELL
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TRACKS The Journey, Not The Destination Directed by John Curran Starring Mia Wasikowska, Adam Driver Based on the best-selling memoir by adventurer, Robyn Davidson, this new film by John Curran (Praise, The Painted Veil) has been a long-time coming, the project having repeatedly stalled on its journey to the screen since the early ‘80s. As it turns out, it was worth the wait. Mia Wasikowska plays Davidson, who in 1977 set out to travel from Alice Springs to the Indian Ocean by camel. Trading her labour for education in the ways of camel-wrangling she manages to convince National Geographic to sponsor the trip in return for allowing photographer Rick Smolan (Adam Driver, as asinine and punchable as ever) to document the venture. As the film progresses, we begin, obliquely, to delve into the underlying psychological drives that might push a person to attempt a nigh-suicidal trip such as this. Wasikowska’s measured, grittily authentic performance anchors the film, pulling it down from what could have been an airily romantic fable about finding yourself (it’s interesting to ponder what the shape the film might have taken had it hit the screen in ‘93, when Julia Roberts was attached). Instead, this 20
is an earthier, more considered film. We never come to fully know Davidson as she is portrayed here, but we come to recognise the strange combination of grief she is haunted by her mother’s suicide - frustration, alienation and curiosity that propels her. Curran and his director of photography, Mandy Walker, have done an outstanding job of capturing the stark and alien beauty of the central Australia. This easily one of the most beautiful Australian films in recent memory. Yet Curran doesn’t shy away from showing the toll the journey takes on Davidson, leaving her ragged, haggard, sunburned and peeling. Again, it’s the refusal to romanticise that makes the whole effort all the more poignant. At heart, this is a contemplative film - and perhaps that will rankle some audience members. By its very nature, it is repetitive and somewhat staid in its pacing, so those who need a propulsive narrative are almost certainly going to come away dissatisfied. Which isn’t to say the film is without incident; along the way, Davidson has to contend with rogue camels, Indigenous communities and inquisitive tourists as well as the relentless heat. At its best, though, the film is almost hypnotic in effect, drawing the viewer along on the protagonist’s quiet, determined journey into the unknown. There’s a strong tradition of ‘alone in the wilderness’ narratives in both film and literature consider Into The Wild or last year’s All Is Lost as recent examples, or the documentaries of Richard Proenneke. Tracks represents a uniquely Australian entry into this odd but compelling subgenre, and is well worth your attention. TRAVIS JOHNSON
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John Curran - Photo by Joe Alvarez
JOHN CURRAN Camel Driver Director John Curran, perhaps still best known in this country for his 1998 of the novel Praise, by Andrew McGahan, first encountered Robyn Davidson’s memoir, Tracks, almost 30 years ago, but it took him a long time to first get around to reading it, and then to transform it into a feature film. “I moved to Australia in ‘85 - ‘86 and I travelled around.” he recalls. “The book had come out in 1980 and by that point it was a pretty popular book, particularly amongst travellers, backpackers and women. I didn’t read it then but it was pretty famous book by then and I certainly knew it was about a woman who crosses the desert on camels. Then I got into film and I was aware of the attempts over the years to make it into a film, but I didn’t read it until Emile Sherman, the producer, called me and said ‘Hey, what do you think about optioning tracks and taking a run at it?’ and I realised I’d never read it.” Curran’s first step, then was to remedy that. In doing so, he found the film reminded him of his own first, trepiditious encounters with the Australian landscape. “It took me back to when I first arrived in Australia. What I was first taken with was Robyn’s first impressions, first going out to Alice
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Springs. It reminded me of my first impressions when I first went to some of the more outback-type towns.” Even so, he realised that it would be a difficult adaptation process, as evidenced by the numerous prior attempts to adapt the book to screen. “It’s written in the first person, so it’s a very subjective story told in Robyn’s very distinct voice her observations and her honest self awareness. She’s alone in the desert with camels and a dog for most of the book, so it’s very interior. I think you have to project your own narrative onto her story in a way in order to get it into the shape of a film. I can’t speak to the other projects because I wasn’t involved with them and I haven’t read the scripts but I think, with us, those were the hardest elements.” That task fell to screenwriter Marion Nelson, but Curran knew that having the screenplay locked down was only the first leg of the journey. “We knew it was going to be one of those films that was going to keep evolving until the very last moment. It’s the way that I work, I think. I’ve never done a film where we did a storyboard for the film and shot it and then we edited it and there you were - there’s always an element of making it up as you go. I pick projects specifically so that they can be constantly surprising me. You’re on a film for a year and a half as a director, it’s a long time, so you always want to keep being surprised. You want to keep feeling like there are other things you can explore and learn about it, otherwise it just feels like a job, you know?” TRAVIS JOHNSON
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THE SELFISH GIANT Rag And Bone Directed by Clio Barnard Starring Conner Chapman, Shaun Thomas, Sean Glider This week I’ve seen about 30 deaths, a dozen car wrecks and one plane crash. It’s been a slow week. Yet the most effected I have been by a single event this week is towards the end of The Selfish Giant. That’s the one that’s going to haunt me. A silent roomful of critics might mean I’m not alone. It tells the tale of 13-year-old Arbor (Conner Chapman) and his best friend Swifty (Shaun Thomas). Arbor is suffering from ADHD and banned from the local school for repeated poor behaviour. Swifty is a gentle lad from a large family whose dad has a taste for the ponies and no talent with money. On Arbor’s insistence they start work scavenging metal for local scrap merchant and misnamed hard man, Kitten (Sean Gilder). Kitten soon realises he can use someone of Swifty’s talents, but the undisciplined Arbor rubs him the wrong way. As the friends’ lives start to diverge, the stage is set for tragedy. Despite being loosely based on the Oscar Wilde short story of the same name (as well as having more than just a hint of Oliver Twist), The Selfish Giant is more in the fine British tradition of social realism. Writer and director Clio Barnard’s first feature film brings us a grim yet powerful portrayal of a Britain in decline.
Stunningly shot, it manages to find a sort of beauty in its vistas of urban decay being slowly reclaimed by nature. It is in amongst these ghosts of industrial giants past that Arbor and Swifty plan to eke out a living. There is a certain predictability about this film, although one could rightly argue that it’s a sense of inevitability. With Chekhov’s Gun hung prominently, the fate of one or both of these boys is sealed - yet perhaps that is the point. Given the family lives that both boys find themselves in, their desperate financial situation and an education system that is ill-equipped to deal with them, there was never going to be a fairytale ending. Conner Chapman is impressive as Arbor, carrying the right combination of moxie, cunning and cheek to pull off the young, hyperactive central character. The fact that Chapman actually lied about his resume to get the job seems proof of his apt casting. Shaun Thomas’ Swifty is a photo negative to Chapman’s performance, gentle, quiet and with a great patience for animals and Arbor. Both young actors give an amazing performance given this is their first time on screen, and have a good chemistry together that makes their friendship believable. Sean Glider as the Fagin-like Kitten rounds out the cast, with the hard man offering a threat to the boys’ relationship. Relentlessly grim in it’s outlook, it is hard to recommend The Selfish Giant. However there is a genuine power to hold and affect an audience here, making them think and feel long after the end credits. DAVID O’CONNELL
The Selfish Giant screens as part of the Lotterywest Festival Films season at Somerville from March 1016 and Joondalup Pines from March 18-23. For more details, head to perthfestival.com.au.
FILM
THE ARMSTRONG LIE The Bicycle Thief Directed by Alex Gibney Starring Lance Armstrong To paraphrase The Simpsons, the Chinese have the same word for crisis and opportunity, crisitunity. In 2009 documentary maker Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) filmed Lance Armstrong as part of his Tour De France comeback. Many critics of Armstrong at the time denied him interviews, believing Gibney to be part of the PR machine manufacturing the clean Armstrong narrative in face of continual drug allegations. As the allegations of drug cheating grew, Gibney shelved the project. With Armstrong admitting the allegations in 2013 in an Oprah interview, Gibney was able to revisit his footage, pursue more interviews from interested parties, and release this fascinating study of a fallen idol. Following the career of Lance Armstrong from his from his first Tour De France in ‘93 and his battle with testicular cancer, The Armstrong Lie provides a detailed account of Armstrong’s rise and eventual fall. Particular attention is, of course, given to his Tour De France wins, particularly his record breaking initial win in ‘99 - an event considered especially surprising given that many of the organising bodies were prepping journalists for slower times
given the “drug free” nature of the event. Yet the event is declared clean, despite Armstrong testing positive for cortisol. With the wave of media interest that followed, Armstrong was rocketed to superstar status. His six subsequent wins cemented this position despite constant accusations of drug cheating and his professional association with Dr Michele Ferrari (a figure at the centre of previous and ongoing doping allegations with other cyclists). However it is his 2009 return after 4 years of retirement to the Tour that is the final act of hubris that brings about his fall, and this acts as the centrepiece of Gibney’s film. This is a complex and rich tale that The Armstrong Lie brings to you in vivid detail. There are a lot of issues to cover here; the cult of personality, the power of narrative, claims of corruption in international sporting bodies, the complexities of drug cheating and blood doping, the history of the Tour De France, the history of drug cheating in the Tour De France, cover-ups, bullying, sponsorship - just to name a few. Gibney covers all this through a series of interviews with relevant parties including critics, ex-team mates, sports journalists, Dr Ferrari and Armstrong – both pre and post admission. This is all inter-cut with previous race and interview footage, as well as the footage he himself shot in 2009 and tied together by Gibney’s narration. This is a fascinating character study with the disgraced hero often damning himself with his own lies. There is a lot here for those with only a passing knowledge of events to digest, but it does present a powerful warning against the attitude of winning at all costs. DAVID O’CONNELL
The Armstrong Lie screens as part of The Lotterywest Festival Films season at Joondalup Pines from March 11 - 16. For more details, head to perthfestival.com.au. WWW. XP RE SS MAG.COM. AU
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YOUR GUIDE TO EVERYTHING URBAN
FREO: NEW STYLE ICON
PLACES TO SHOP You don’t have to be ‘in the know’ to discover Fremantle designs. Fremantle’s shopping experience is accessible and more enjoyable just browsing by the beautiful heritage constructions with the smell of the ocean air. The boutiques themselves are well designed and many stock local designers.
The suburbs of Perth don’t appear to vary much when it comes to style distinction, but as little pockets of our city become more diverse, they slowly develop character. These nuances are already visible, fashion in particular identifying one Perth area from the next. Fremantle is one such pocket that has gone through an interesting identity change. X-Press caught up with Hannah McGrath of All Of The Above Creative to discuss Fremantle’s style and how location is invariably an anchor to inspiration. “The stereotype of the dreadlocked, hemp shirted Freo busker is long dead (sorry, Mr Butler)” says Hannah McGrath. As creative director of the Fremantle Fashion Collective, and previously event coordinator and stylist for the Perth Fashion Festival 2010, McGrath has noticed a “real shift in perception away from the crafty, hippy label” that once branded Fremantle’s fashion long ago. If we compare Fremantle’s style to say, Mount Lawley’s, “there’s a bit more genuine op-shop vintage and a bit less imported-fromAmerica boutique vintage”, says McGrath. The
Broken Doll
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quintessential Freo girl of 2014 would probably be wearing “a combination of op shopped pieces, but perhaps more ‘80s/’90s ironic vintage than ‘50s tea dresses, ASOS purchases, Nike/New Balance sneakers, and mum’s hand-me-downs from her cool hippy youth.” Not only is Fremantle’s fashion personality changing, there’s finally a focus and appreciation for local artisans. Although Fremantle has always produced designers of A world standard (Megan Salmon, Sheree Dornan and Liz Dawes) the new generation (Tindale, Wild Horses, Daniella Caputi, Luka Rey) is receiving more attention, which means Fremantle is finally being recognised as the creative centre it has always been. Connection to place inspires artists in one way or another, and with Fremantle’s rich history and idyllic environment, it’s a town that’s creatively stimulating and ever changing. “I think that the fresh air, the boundless space and the geographical isolation inspires a sense of freedom and honesty in design”, McGrath says. With the success of Many 6160, it seems that now more than ever, Fremantle will have more support going into creative projects, with an increase in platforms for these innovations to take place. “For me, it’s always felt like the town where it may not always be easy, but anything is possible”, McGrath says. “The slight but distinct separation from the rest of Perth creates a design culture where there are no limitations to what you could create.” It seems Fremantle has finally shaken off past judgments around the Freo hippie when it comes to style and according to McGrath this perspective is now an embarrassingly dated perception. “Fremantle is at last getting recognised as a place producing a (disproportionately) large amount of contemporary, unique and innovative design - and without a hemp shirt or fisherman pant in sight.” NAOMI FAYE
BILLIE & ROSE 30 Market Street BROKEN DOLL 9 Atwell Arcade LOVE IN TOKYO 61-63 High Street MANY 6160 2 Newman Court Tip: Grab a coffee, shop, then get a quick restyle while looking at local artists’ work at the eco-conscious Rock Paper Scissors hair salon. PEKHO 3 Wray Avenue REMEDY 95 High Street THE ARCHIVE 23 Market Street Love In Tokyo boutique
Many 6160 (old Myer building). Photo by Naomi Faye
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The Archive
YOUR GUIDE TO EVERYTHING URBAN
PORT CITY PICKINGS
FEELING FIT IN FREO The Fremantle lifestyle isn’t all lazy lunches on the cappuccino strip and sundowner drinks at Little Creatures Loft. For those who want to trim down in the southerly town, here are some of the top fitness spots in the port city.
TWO FEET & A HEARTBEAT What simpler way to exercise than walking? Two Feet & A Heartbeat offer structured urban adventures and walking tours that are suitable for almost all ages and fitness levels. Fremantle’s history opens up before you, as you are regaled with tales of colonial times and our convict heritage while taking in all the landmarks and iconic sights the city has to offer. Head to twofeet. com.au to make your booking.
Warhouse Fitness Centre
ANGELIC FITNESS Located on Hampton Road, this females-only gym provides a supportive, safe environment for women to exercise. Their all-female personal training staff are adept at identifying the best program for each individual, giving you the best results for your specific needs. Go to angelicfitness.com.au for more information.
FREMANTLE INDOOR BEACH VOLLEYBALL
THE RAW KITCHEN The raw food movement isn’t going anywhere, so if you’ve got a hankering to try something that hasn’t been near an open flame, point yourself in the direction of this High Street restaurant. Set in a refurbished 1920s warehouse, the restaurant follows a philosophy of sustainability without sacrificing flavour or nutrition. It’s also a lifestyle store, yoga studio and gallery space! Visit them at therawkitchen.com.au to check out their menu. The Raw Kitchen
Feeling competitive? Head to fremantleindoor.com. au to register a team and start racking up victories in this fast-paced and fun sport.
WILD BAKERY A French-style bakehouse patisserie, Wild Bakery offers exquisite, handmade breads, savouries, sweets and more for the discerning palate. The bakers utilise naturally sourdoughs, which are lighter and easier to digest than other breads, while retaining a hearty, rustic flavour. Head to wildbakery.weebly.com to check out their range.
WAREHOUSE FITNESS CENTRE Located in South Fremantle, this inclusive and extensive gym has been a local icon for over 20 years. Boasting over 2000 square metres of space, the gym caters to both dedicated exercise buffs and those who just want to shave off a few errant pounds. Their truly impressive free weights centre is great for those who want to knuckle down to the Big Three power lifts, while even the most easily distracted will find themselves engaged by their extensive range of classes, which include Konga Jungle Body Classes. Check them out at warehousefitness.com.au Warhouse Fitness Centre
Famous for it’s fresh out of the ocean seafood and one of the finest, most eclectic markets in the state, Fremantle has a well-deserved reputation as a food destination. Next time you’re in the neighbourhood, check out some of these culinary delights.
Wild Bakery
RUN A MUK Of course, if you simply must have meat on the menu, Run A Muk Hotdogs down on South Terrace is a must. Their pork/beef blend sausages are a cut above, and the variety of dogs on offer should please even the pickiest palate. Vegetarians shouldn’t despair, either: their locally-made vegan snags are just as tasty. Take a look at runamuk.com.au. Run A Muk Hotdogs
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MEXICAN KITCHEN A Freo staple since 1975, Mexican Kitchen provides a relaxed and friendly atmosphere as well as fantastic, traditional Mexican cuisine. Snack your way through the extensive menu while watching the foot traffic on the Strip roll by, or else book out the downstairs area for a massive Mexican feast. Peruse their offerings at mexicankitchen.com.au.
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Ukiyo-E - Japanese Prints Of The Floating World: Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery An exhibition of Japanese woodblock prints from the collection of Ronald and Catherine Berndt. It runs until June 28. Head over to lwgallery.uwa.edu. au for details. Year 12 Perspectives: The Art Gallery Of Western Australia This annual exhibition of the best work that our graduating Year 12 arts students have to offer runs until May 5. Go to artgallery.wa.gov.au for further information. Drawing Matters: Spectrum Project Space A collection of unique drawing works from artists Nola Farman, Marie Haass and Angela Stewart. It runs until March 21. Go to ecu.edu.au for more details. Encounters: Heathcote Museum And Gallery Nidia Hansen’s examination of the shifting point where raw materials are transformed into art runs from March 1 - April 6. Hansen works in wood veneer, paper and canvas to construct minimalist, organic shapes, geometric patterns and other objects. Go to melvillecity.com.au for more.
Fights And Flights
VISUAL ARTS Bali - Return Economy: Fremantle Arts Centre A diverse exhibition focusing on Australia’s relationship with Indonesia as well as showcasing pieces from some of the most extensive collections of Balinese art in Western Australia. It runs until March 27. Go to fac. org.au for details. The Refusal Of Time: PICA This video and sculpture installation by William Kentridge sits at the crossroads of industrialisation and colonialism, combining theatre, drawing, music, film, dance and animation. Presented by PICA, Perth International Arts Festival and the Art Gallery Of Western Australia, it’s on display until April 27. Go to perthfestival.com.au for details. Cabinets Of Curiosities: Perth Centre for Photography Connie Petrillo’s latest exhibition of autobiographical work casts a withering look at the exploitation of children by mass media and asks hard questions about they ways in which childhood is represented in our culture. It runs until March 16. Go to pcp.org.au for further information.
THEATRE/DANCE/ PERFORMANCE The Rocky Horror Show: Crown Theatre It’s Time Warp time again when this 40th anniversary production of Richard O’Brien’s essential cult show rolls into town. Featuring Craig McLachlan as the irrepressible Dr Frank N. Furter, this is one of the must-see shows of the year! It runs until March 9. Go to crownperth.com.au for details. Don Parties On: Melville Theatre This sequel to David Williamson’s classic Australian play, Don’s Party, takes place 41 years later on the 2010 Abbott vs. Gillard federal election. It runs from March 6 - 8. Go to meltheco.org.au for session times and tickets. Subscription To Love: Hackett Hall This Perth production charts the complicated relationships of a group of close friends. Set in the modern day but written in iambic pentameter, this tragi-comedy runs from March 13 - 15. For tickets and session times, go to playlovers.org.au. A Streetcar Named Desire: State Theatre Centre Sigrid Thornton stars as Blanche DuBois in Black Swan State Theatre Company’s production of Tennessee
Joshanne Dar, Corpus Christi College. Specium 13 2013. Clay, wood and pins, dimensions variable.
William’s classic tale of delusion and desire. From March 15 - April 6. Head to bsstc.com.au for session times and tickets. Green Porno: Perth Concert Hall Isabella Rossellini presents her new, wonderfully weird, one-woman stage show for one night only on Wednesday, March 19. Screen icon Rossellini takes us on a strange journey through the mating habits of a variety of terrestrial and aquatic animals, which should prove interesting. For info and tickets, head to ticketek.com.au. Paco Peña Dance Company: Perth Concert Hall Flamencura, the latest production from flamenco legend Paco Peña, will be performed for one night only on Wednesday, April 2. For info and tickets, go to ticketek.com.au. Fights And Flights: State Theatre Centre A stunning mixture of dance, theatre and kung fu from Steps Youth Dance Company. 65 performers, ranging in age from seven to 30, work together to celebrate the challenges and victories of life. It runs from May 10 - 11. For tickets and session times, go to ticketek.com.au.
MUSIC Silver Swans: Fremantle Arts Centre Presented by Tura New Music, cutting edge ensemble, Etica, will be performing three new works in the FAC courtyard, including James Ledger’s Silver Swans, Chris Tonkin’s Transient States and Ross Edwards’ Laikan. Performance on April 10, tickets through oztix.com.au.
FESTIVALS Alliance Francaise French Film Festival 2014 So Frenchy, so chic! The greatest Gallic film festival is just over the horizon, once again bringing Perth cineastes the finest of filmic treats. It runs at Cinema Paradiso from March 18 - April 6. Go to affrenchfilmfestival.org for details. To have your performance, exhibition or cultural event listed, get in touch via
localmusicarts@xpressmag.com.au For more Art Stories head to
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FILM
Tango Underpants
Sea Of Fortune - Kasane Low
SCULPTURE BY THE SEA Kasane Low With the 10th anniversary exhibit of Sculpture By The Sea opening on Friday, March 7, X-Press caught up with Kasane Low, one of the 74 artists displaying their work on the shores of Cottesloe Beach. “The sculpture is called Sea Of Fortune and I first got the idea at Cottesloe beach. Obviously the most striking thing is the beautiful blue water and the white sand, but when I went down I noticed tiny white shells that were getting washed up on the beach.” “For this sculpture I made like thousands of white porcelain fortune cookies, and I am going to pile them on the sand so it’s going to look like they’ve just washed up, and so when you get closer you realise it’s not shells, it’s fortune cookies. I thought about what brings a shell to a certain beach, or what brings a ship or person. Because of that idea of fate or fortune or random chance that brings them to our shore. So many people, settlers and migrants that came here to seek their fortune. So in the cookies they’ll have little messages, little excerpts from First Settlers and migrants when they first arrived here.” “I myself am a migrant to Australia, but you could say most of the population is since the 1950s. That’s why it interests me talking about movement. 24
Not always about migration, but I guess in this work it is more about it, because the sea, the beach, the journey of the shells. Perth was my first landing in Australia. I guess this project is important to me as it is connected to that.” Of course the outside environment presented its own challenges, so Low managed to adapt her original concept and add a further layer to her work’s theme. “The sculpture will be contained in a big Perspex box, so it looks like a museum box. We thought that worked, as the cookies contained these historical messages, that they would be containers of memory. And the box would also contain all those little memories inside it as well. Which is what a museum box is really, a container of memories” The sheer amount of work involved in the sculpture took its toll in time. “It took months and months and months. There are thousands of little cookies in there. I was aiming for 10,000. I haven’t been able to do a head count, but there’s a lot.” Yet this investment is something Low is very familiar with. Her work is often created with small complex objects repeated multiple times to form a greater whole. “Something in my work that I’ll always do, I’ll always have this theme of repetition.” With laugh she admits it’s a little “... obsessive and manic.” “Sculpture By The Sea makes art accessible to everyone. It’s art for the outdoors, it’s not just hidden away only accessible to elitists. It’s put out there in an open space for everyone to interact with. I think that’s what all great art should do.” DAVID O’CONNELL
FLICKERFEST 2014 Dance In Your Pants Now in its 23rd year, Flickerfest, Australia’s leading short film festival, is one again coming to Perth, running at Camelot Outdoor Cinema from March 6 - 9. We had a word with Perth-based filmmaker, Miranda Edwards who, with her brother, Khrob, co-directed the romantic short, Tango Underpants. Based on a short story by Carolyn Swindell and starring model turned actor Emma Booth, Tango Underpants follows the tribulations of a young backpacker in Buenos Aires as she seeks to outrun the pain of a broken heart. “John Collee, the writer of Happy Feet and Master And Commander, read the short story on the train from Paris to the Cannes film festival in a Lonely Planet travel book.” Edwards tells us. “We met him for lunch and he told about this girl and her underpants and we knew at once it would be a great short film. Three days later John had written the script!” The project gathered steam quickly,
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with Emma Booth coming on board to star almost immediately. “One of the producers, Stephen Van Mil, emailed the script to Emma and she got back to us within two hours to say she would do it. It turns out she used to be a state ballroom dancer when she was 13 and she has always wanted to go to South America so the project connected with her immediately.” Of course, shooting a short film in a foreign country on a relatively limited budget was never going to be easy, but one of the factors Edwards and company did not foresee was the cold weather they encountered when filming on location in Buenos Aires. “Buenos Aires was having a really cold spell so we had Emma on set in just her Aurelio Costarella tango dress when it was midnight and only three degrees Celsius which was a real challenge. Luckily her dancing skills meant she got the moves in just a few takes. “The other strange thing is that we tried to find some country side that was typically South American, but unfortunately it all looked like Australia - flat, with windmills and even some gum trees! Luckily there was a patch of pampas grass we could use that helped! Overall, however, the Argentinean crew was amazing and we had such a wonderful experience working there.” So far the response to the film has been overwhelmingly positive, which Edwards credits to the universality of the themes. “We have been so excited by the response to the film. People seem to genuinely enjoy it and the shop scenes always get a laugh. It seems there is something irrepressibly funny about undies.” TRAVIS JOHNSON
For Flickerfest tickets and information, head to lunapalace.com.au.
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RYAN HEMSWORTH TRIPLE A
Canadian producer Ryan Hemsworth will share the stage with the legendary Flying Lotus and Handpicked 003 curator, Perth’s Ta-ku this Friday, March 7 at the Fremantle Arts Centre. Hemsworth speaks with JOSHUA HAYES about the triple billing, his acclaimed full length debut, Guilt Trips and his expansion into indie rock. “I’m excited to spend time with both those dudes ‘cause I’m such a huge fan of them both. Obviously I’ve been following FlyLo for a long time, and I came across Ta-ku’s stuff a year or two ago,” Hemsworth says from Brisbane, where he had just flown in to kick off his 14 show Australasian tour – his biggest to date. Hemsworth is renowned for playing hyperactive sets that combine his own upbeat bootlegs and remixes with a broad range of his other musical interests, which span from hip hop to J-pop. The set will also have a visual component designed by London artist Rory Cahill. “I’ve just been working on my craft, I guess. Each show I feel like I’m figuring it out more and more,” the 23-year-old says. There’ll be a special gift for punters who show up early - a free 7” single with exclusive songs from Hemsworth on one side and Ta-ku on the other. Hemsworth says his contribution is the instrumental of his song Spotless - a collaboration with Chicago female rappers Sasha Go Hard, Tink and Kitty, which was released last year. “It was kind of funny. I was booked for the show and then a week later or whatever Ta-ku emailed me and was like, ‘Hey, I want to do a 7” just to give to the first 1000 people that get into the show as a thank you’, which I thought was such a great idea, but the only thing was he said, ‘I need your track within a half hour’,” Hemsworth laughs. “I’m just excited to give people a rare track that I wouldn’t be releasing in any other way.” After playing in bands as a teenager, Hemsworth first began dabbling in electronic production while studying journalism at university. He made a name for himself with a string of EPs, remixes and producing for emerging rappers like Deniro Farrar, Shady Blaze and Main Attrakionz, before releasing his debut full length, Guilt Trips last October to widespread critical acclaim. CONTINUED ON PAGE 26 RYAN HEMSWORTH. PHOTO BY SEAN BERRIGAN
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RUSTIE IS COMING!
BRO TIME
In follow up to shows held in Grand Lane, a year ago, Next Hype are bringing you Why Make Sense - a boutique beach party happening at Port Beach, Fremantle on Thursday, April 24 (Anzac Day eve). On the billing is Scottish producer Rustie, who shot to fame in 2010 on the back of his debut album on Warp, Glass Swords, which was nicely followed up by the Triadzz / Slasherr single last year catapulting him into the stratosphere and beyond. Also on the beach billing is T.Williams, New York Transit Authority and Nightwave. Tickets on sale at ticketbooth.com.au.
NYC house DJ/producers The Martinez Brothers are making their debut appearance in P-Town at The Causeway on Sunday, April 27 for The Carnevale - a side show party also featuring a stack of local DJs who (are mostly) a part of the Rough Love crew including Shaddow Brothers, James A, Marko La Kucha, Colour, Binny, Beto Quintero, Locky Mazzucchelli, Fielding, Tom Love, JK-Robot and Ben Sebastian. The Bros recently provided the soundtrack for Givenchy’s fall/winter 2014 men’s show in Paris and apart from their hedonistic dancing tunes; we hear there’ll be arcade machines and carnival food. More info to be revealed soon.
Rustie
The Martinez Brothers
Ryan Hemsworth. Photo by Ryan Lowry
Continued from cover. “It was exciting to go out on a limb and put out an album on my own… It was kind of motivating myself just to show people that I can do more original content and a whole project compared with last year when I was mainly just doing remixes and singles and stuff,” Hemsworth says. Guilt Trips was initially intended to be another EP but Hemsworth says he kept making music and ended up with a cohesive full length. “It was exciting to me because a lot of producers still aren’t doing full LPs and I feel like people should be doing it more, so I feel like I was trying to add to that,” he explains. He’s now working on his next project, another EP, which he hopes to release by winter. “It’s definitely still in a similar vein to Guilt Trips, where I’ve got a few vocalists who are working on stuff. This one, I’ve got a lot more tracks in the works, which I’m going to cut down and really work it down to the five tracks or however many it’s going to be,” he says. “I’m trying to be a little better at editing and to make more options so I can really get the best stuff possible”.
The EP will see Hemsworth continue to move away from the hip hop he has largely been associated with and towards the indie rock world. It will include a collaboration with Kelly Zutrau, the lead singer from Brooklyn buzz band, Wet. “People from the indie rock world are really what I’m looking to nowadays, a little less rap,” he says. “I’ve always really loved music like post rock like Sigur Rós and Explosions In The Sky, it’s a little harder to express that with laptop music and not knowing anybody, but now that I finally have these contacts and people want to work, I can take advantage of that. “I think initially, when you’re starting as a producer and you’re starting as a rapper, you’re pretty similar and everybody just wants to work and get something out. Now that I have a little more trust with other types of musicians, I can actually reach out and be like ‘Hey, do you want to play guitar on this song?’ or ‘Do you want to sing on this song?’… “Once I get back from this tour I’ll really try to hammer that out and get it finished. I’m excited though. It’s gonna be a lot of different stuff, and really not at all club music. It’s kinda scary to take a leap into a different genre, but I’m excited.”
3.5
FULL DISCLOSURE Following their headline spot at last year’s Listen Out event, the Lawrence brothers, aka chart-topping UK duo, Disclosure, are returning to WA for Groovin’ The Moo on Saturday, May 10 at Hay Park, Bunbury, as well as their own show on Friday, May 9 at Metro City. Disclosure’s debut album Settle hit #5 in Australia and #1 on the ARIA dance chart and their new single F For You featuring Mary J Blige has already clocked up over 3 million views. Get your tickets for this one via Oztix.
Cassian
Disclosure
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OUT OF 5
ACTRESS
PAUL VAN DYK
Ghettoville Ninja Tune/Inertia
Vonyc Sessions 2013 Vandit Records
As the artist himself has stated, this album represents “the conclusion of the Actress image,” so it’s hard to listen to Ghettoville and not hear an element of negativity. Album opener Forgiven is over seven minutes of trudging rhythm, a bleak semi-industrial exploration of what is essentially one loop, repeated over and over with minimal change-ups. Actress tracks have always highlighted the power of repetition however, and while it’s not exactly uplifting, the track is somehow engaging and hypnotic, setting the tone for the rest of the album’s 70-odd minutes of running time. While it’s basically a collection of loops and phrases, Ghettoville has more in common with a release from someone like Oneohtrix Point Never, than it does your Donuts-esque, J Dilla worship albums. Sounds are sampled and shuffled about, distorted and obscured, creating the effect of a hazy stroll through a smoggy city at daybreak. This may make the album sound dreary, but that’s not really the case. It’s like a soundtrack to the decaying world we live in; despite being bleak and repetitious at times, there are flashes of beauty and chaos revealed within. Droning album closer Grey Over Blue sums it all up, with its effortless pace and long fade out suggesting the closing of one chapter and beginning of the next.
Presented by Future Music headliner and stalwart electronic artist Paul Van Dyk, Vonyc Sessions 2013 celebrates the top 40 tunes of the year from over 600 played on his global radio show last year. Featuring tracks from W&W, Ferry Corsten, Andrew Bayer, Cosmic Gate as well as the man himself, the two-disc record attempts the challenging task of summarising the year in one element of electronic dance music. A number of lesser-known artists make appearances with the album focusing heavily on trance-inspired electronic anthems. Listening to this record is somewhat of a trip back in time, despite only being put together in the last 12 months. Uplifting synths, pumping kicks and wide sweeps pay homage to the origins of Van Dyk and other DJs who are now ushering in the next crop of producers. This theme is repeated almost exactly on each track, which means the music is predictable and offers nothing new to the tried and tested dancefloor filling formula, serving primarily to indulge fans of the genre and quickly alienating those of other musical inclinations. A release of this nature pigeonholes itself instantly in a nostalgic reminiscence of a heyday gone past - the dance music world has evolved and the same old bangers aren’t what they used to be.
NICK SWEEPAH TOM KITSON
3.5 OUT OF 5
ELIZABETH ROSE The Good Life Inertia Access After her debut EP Crystallise, Elizabeth Rose releases yet another glittering EP. Co-produced by Perth lad, Cameron Parkin aka Shazam and Styalz Fuego (Owl Eyes, The Aston Shuffle) the self-titled release oozes melody like the last, and with Rose’s oh-so pretty vocal 26
BEDROOM TO CASSIAN The final heat of the Bedroom To Big House DJ comp is on this Friday, March 7 at Capitol from 9pm. The next four contestants - Adam Gioffri, Kane Lucas, Tim Coveney and Ryan Stechman will get to support Sydney based DJ/producer Cassian in what’s likely to be a big night of bangin’ tunes. With several tours across North America, Asia and Europe and appearances at big festivals like Splendour In The Grass, Stereosonic and the Big Day Out, no doubt the up-and-comers will learn a thing or two from Cassian. Tickets available on the door on the night.
arrangements, this secures her as a producer to watch when it comes to electronic pop. Lead single The Good Life written about Rose’s quest for independence, is an anthem for any single lady chasing freedom, its body popping fun encapsulating nights out when all goes wild. Rose seems to only produce possible hits and Is It Love? reinforces her talent with the kind of lyrics well known pop artists only wish they could write. Heavily influenced by the catchy R&B love songs of the late ‘90s, Sensibility reminds us of the super cool female chart toppers of the past; conjuring up those simple daydreams we had during our youth. Rose has created a sound that’s infectiously clever, and the young artist uses her influences wisely, producing pop that bundles up a sense of femininity and the young fun we wish we could always feel. NAOMI FAYE
TIJUANA CARTEL On The Road Again Long time live performance-loving band, Tijuana Cartel, are planning big things in 2014 with singles, an EP and a live album all in the pipeline. TOM KITSON spoke to percussionist Daniel Gonzalez ahead of their appearance at the Rosemount Hotel this Saturday, March 8 and Mojos on Sunday, March 9. Also catch them down south at the Prince Of Wales, Bunbury on Thursday, March 13; Settlers Tavern, Margaret River on Friday, March 14; Clancy’s, Dunsborough on Saturday, March 15 and White Star, Albany on Friday, March 21. The multi-genre crossing electronic/world music group from the Gold Coast are setting out on a number of dates across regional WA, with a passion for getting up close and personal with their fans. The live aspect of Tijuana Cartel’s music is something that means a lot to Gonzalez and provides him with his drive to carry on in a career that’s spanned a decade. “We have such a loyal fan base and that along with selling out shows really keeps us excited,” he says. “Because we can still get people to our shows we continue to work hard and explore a lot of different avenues in sound.” Never belonging to just one musical style, the band prefers to play music with the aim of getting feedback in a live setting and then packaging what comes out as simply, ‘Tijuana Cartel music’. “We’ve definitely got deep electronic roots in our music, but there’s also the world music element,” he explains. “Over the last 10 years I think we’ve experimented with different sounds and it’s developed into our own sound. “At our shows you’re really experiencing something that in this day and age is completely original; it sounds like nothing else and that’s what we pride ourselves on.” Planning to release a three track EP soon as well as a live album of one of their shows, the band comes up with new directions to take a song in
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while playing out live - an ideal way to get feedback on their new works. “We tried the normal process of writing, recording then releasing material but found that we were changing things a lot in our live shows,” he elaborates. “So we started playing our new music live first, and then developing it into a full release from there.” Inspired by fellow Australian acts like Midnight Juggernauts and World’s End Press, Gonzalez says the breakbeat scene has also influenced Tijuana Cartel and is reflected in their tunes. “Over the years we haven’t had an intention to specifically create music differently to everything else, but it just kind of happened that way. It’s always been completely in-house, with music to artwork to interviews and even ads coming through one of the band members,” he says. Soon-to-be-released single, Endlessly is all set to be played on their upcoming tour and the clear point Gonzalez makes, is that the experience of a Tijuana show is the reason he keeps at it. “We’ve got about 20 songs that are singleworthy at the moment after locking ourselves away in the studio for months,” he explains. “We may have a few collaborations in the works for this year too, but we’ll keep that under wraps for now.”
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FUTURE MUSIC FESTIVAL 2014 Hot To Trot Arena Joondalup Sunday, March 2, 2014 Sweltering sunshine and high temperatures were not enough to deter over 30,000 dance music enthusiasts from flocking to the Joondalup Arena for this year’s Future Music Festival. The lineup, which was heavily biased towards dance music, still gave everyone plenty of acts to suit their individual tastes. ‘The Cacoon’ and ‘The Likes Of You’ stages were divided by sea containers, which gave this area an industrial feeling to match the underground techno and deep house acts. Guy Gerber (live) struggled to get the dancers up close, perhaps due to the intense heat or because his setup on numerous occasions cut out due to the direct sunlit location on the podium. Nevertheless, he pumped out solid beats despite the technical hitches. The main ‘Future Music Stage’ was gigantic and filled a quarter of the north end of the oval, with huge projection screens flanking each side of the impressively illuminated stage. Swedish DJ duo Dada Life had a dance party all of their own going on, with exploding streamers filling the air in sync with the drops of their hard hitting tracks, which were mostly
Rudimental
Netsky
a solid mix of tunes from their own independent label, So Much Dada. While there was plenty of space to move around at the Cacoon and main stages, over on the west side it was an entirely different story. Crowds were packed together like battery hens around the Knife Party hosted ‘Haunted House’ big top, which was situated en route to the ‘Safari’ stage via a cramped bottle neck of bar queues and food stalls. This maybe contributed to the lower numbers attending that stage later in the day, but it didn’t discourage multitudes of drum’n’bass fans from enjoying the immense bass tunes of Netsky’s striking live display. The light shows in that tent were without a doubt the most impressive out of all the stages, with multi-coloured laser effects erupting from the stage to the powerful bass music that emanated all afternoon. Meanwhile Maya Jane Coles had mustered up a solid crowd, who were by now getting their dance on to some serious underground techno rhythms that comprised of whirling bass and that distinctive 808 drumbeat backing track. In contrast, on the other side of the fence, Kaytranada fashioned a soulful dance sway of power stabbing lead synthinfused tunes over rolling funk-induced house grooves. By now the shadows were getting longer and the sun’s heat dissipated with a cool breeze that began to provide some relief. This gave way to Dubfire who provided a solid sundowner set of collective beats and minimalistic techno for revellers who seemed oblivious to what else was going on around the arena. Probably the show of the day was that of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. The hip hop duo entertained from the get-go with hit Ten Thousand
Hours, while supported by a solid 12-piece band of horns, strings and backing vocalist the Seattle boys filled the air with sing along hits that had everyone thoroughly transfixed. Lead man Macklemore poignantly reminded the masses of the importance of gay rights equality in Australia in the build up to the moving song Same Love, receiving immense approval from the audience for his valiant words. Rudimental generate a powerful following and it looked like a large number of those fans were there just to see them perform a killer drum’n’bassinfused set back at the ‘Safari’ stage. DJ Locksmith pounced around the front of the stage amping up the crowd to great effect, while Piers Aggett and Kesi Dryden provided backup from their synth setups on both sides of the energetic frontman. The battle for supremacy of the headliner final acts was a tough choice. Returning for the sixth year in row, the godfather of Future Music, Sven Väth had his loyal followers dancing up a frenzy to round off the techno tunes on the ‘Cocoon’ stage. Väth is the master of deep progressive techno mixing and he didn’t disappoint. Deadmau5 packed a punch on the ‘Future’ stage, Paul Van Dyk played his Grammy Award-winning trance hits indoors at the ‘Future Sound System’ stage, and the French alternative indie pop act Phoenix dished up a stellar performance to a slightly disappointing turn out. The lineup of acts at this year’s Future Music Festival had so much to offer, it was no surprise that their were smiles and cheers erupting from every corner of the huge arena.
Phoenix
MICHAEL CAVES
Dada Life on the main ‘Future Music’ stage. Photos by Michael Caves.
Knife Party
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WED 05/03
THURS 06/03 THE CAUSEWAY Xport Thursdays THE CLAREMONT DJ Pup & B-Fix VS. Wasteland Institution Thursdays CLUB RED SEA Thursday Night Revolution CONNECTIONS Bingay THE CRAFTSMAN Fiveo THE DEEN Chase The Sun MALT BAR The Collective EVE NIGHTCLUB Retro Thursdays ft. EVE DJ Team GOLD BAR OG Thursdays
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Boris - Fri, Mar 7 @ The Bakery THE GOOD SHEPHERD Juice ft. Odette Mercy & Strangelove LEISURE INN DJ Peta
FRI 07/03 AMBAR Get Weird ft. Roland Tings, Tornado Wallace, Ben Taaffe, Manimal, Jack Doepel, OMFOM & Bad Chad, Modesty Blaize, Roland the Realest, Lightsteed AMPLIFIER Fridays Are Back ft. KLa THE AVIARY Paradise Paul NDORSE THE BAKERY High Waste ft. Jonny Woo, Boris, The Duchess of Pork THE BAYSWATER Mario Zuli
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THE SHED
METROPOLIS FREMANTLE
MUSTANG BAR
AMPLIFIER Academy BEAT NIGHTCLUB Street THE BIRD Lean Back ‘n’ Chill ft. Mei Saraswati Hayley Beth Nora Zion BRASS MONKEY Vicktor Burlesque CAPITOL (UPSTAIRS) Harlem Wednesdays CAPTAIN STIRLING Lokie Shaw CLUB RED SEA Cheek GOLD BAR Famous THE GOOD SHEPHERD Thinkfar GROOVE BAR (CROWN) 5 Shots HIP-E CLUB DJ E-Funk LLAMA BAR Akuna Club METRO FREO Next Gen NEWPORT HOTEL Newport Wednesdays SOVEREIGN ARMS Jordan Scott THE VILLAGE BAR Village People Wednesdays
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THE BEAT (DOWNSTAIRS) PLAY THE BRASS MONKEY James Ess & Greene George THE BRIGHTON DJ Peta CAPITOL Bedroom To Big Room Heat 4 ft. Cassian CAPITOL (UPSTAIRS) I Love 90’s THE CARINE Jimmy Beats THE COMO Philly Blunt THE COURT Pam Ann Uniform Party THE CRAFTSMAN Dazman DAILY PLANET Sundowner Sessions THE DEEN Student Night EVE NIGHTCLUB Recharge Fridays
Roland Tings - Fri, Mar 7 @ The Bakery
FLAWLESS Monarch Fridays FREMANTLE ARTS CENTRE Handpicked ft. Ta-Ku, Ryan Hemsworth, Flying Lotus GINGER NIGHTCLUB Mondo Dance Party GEISHA BAR Habitat ft. Derrick Carter THE GEORGE NDORSE GOLD BAR Vanity THE GOOD SHEPHERD Throwback Fridays GROOVE BAR (CROWN) Decoy DJ Crazy Craig HIP-E CLUB DJ E-Funk LAKERS TAVERN Grizzly LEISURE INN Mel Burns
LIBRARY Sneaky MALT Nu Disco Hip Hop METRO CITY Planet Bollywood ft. Panjabi Hit Squad METRO FREO Frat House Friday’s MINT Club Retro MY PLACE Karaoke NEWPORT HOTEL Yolanda Be Cool PARAMOUNT Friday Nights PARKER Blowout ft. Klean Kicks, Jordan Scott, Not So Hot, Franchina, Simon Paiker THE QUEENS Jon Ee & Kenny L THE SAINT Garrison SOVEREIGN ARMS DJ Az-T THE WHALE & ALE Danny B YAYA’S ACE Fridays
SAT 08/03 AMBAR Japan 4 ft. Mo’Fly Dead Easy Blend Philly Blunt DNGRFLD THE AVIARY NDORSE Hykus Paradise Paul AVENUE Lokie Shaw THE BALMORAL Back To The 80’s BAR ORIENT The Reggae Club BEAT NIGHTCLUB (UPSTAIRS) CANVAS THE BIRD Dilla Tribute Rok Riley Ben M The Last Fair Deal BRASS MONKEY DJ Peta & Grizzly THE BRIGHTON Miss Chief CAPITOL Death Disco CAPITOL (UPSTAIRS)
Flying Lotus Yolanda Be Cool - Fri, Mar 7 @ The Newport DJ Tom Drummond Cream of the 80s THE CAUSEWAY PARKER House Party Parker Saturdays ft. THE COMO Kastel, Wasteland, Jay Lee Lloyd Chiari, ACEBASIK, THE CORNERSTONE Jackness Mario Julj PARAMOUNT THE DEEN Saturday Nights Saturdays ft. Felix DEFECTORS BAR THE QUEENS Future Wives Club Jon Ee & 3manuel EAST END BAR THE SAINT Home Crackers FLAWLESS SOVEREIGN ARMS LQ Saturdays River Milnes FLYRITE THE WHALE & ALE Father Sonny GOLD BAR VILLA Pure Gold The Upbeats & State THE GOOD Of Mind, SHEPHERD VLTRN, Illusiv & Chocolate Jesus Dvise, Eyesdown GROOVE BAR YAYA’S (CROWN) Arcadia ft. Switch DJ Cookie Hero DJs HIP-E CLUB SUN 09/03 DJ E-Funk THE AVIARY LIBRARY Rooftop Sessions MKT Ben Sebastian LOST SOCIETY Troy Division Chalk NDORSE METRO FREO THE BAKERY Metropolis Saturday’s Gold Panda ft. Mr T, Dr Wazz, THE ROSEMOUNT Ben (BEER GARDEN) C, DJ Shane Get Down ft. DJs NEWPORT Charlie Bucket, HOTEL Klean Kicks & Nick Gravity Sheppard DJ Tahli Jade
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Handpicked 003 FT. FLYING LOTUS, TA-KU AND RYAN HEMSWORTH FRIDAY, MARCH 7 @ FREMANTLE ARTS CENTRE
THE SAINT Jon Ee & Az-T THE QUEENS Fiveo & Sam Spencer
MON 10/03 BRASS MONKEY Monkey Madness THE DEEN Manic Mondays THE ROSEMOUNT HOTEL Bex & Turin’s Wide Open Mic YAYA’S Big Tommo’s Open Mic
TUES 11/03 THE BIRD The Bird’s Open Mic Night BRASS MONKEY Acoustic Open Mic Night MUSTANG BAR Danza Loca Salsa Night
Illy - Fri, Mar 21 @ Capitol
Deadline Monday 5pm. The Club Manual is a service to advertisers listing all DJs & Dance Music. All inclusions are at the discretion of X-Press. Email guide@xpressmag.com.au
ROCKET ROOM
CAPITOL
BLISS N ESO, HORRORSHOW, SETH SENTRY 2 Signal Park, Busselton 3 Wellington Square
THIS WEEK
HANDPICKED ft. Ta-Ku, Ryan Hemsworth, Flying Lotus 7 Fremantle Arts Centre
THUNDAMENTALS 8 Flyrite
YOLANDA BE COOL 7 The Newport
THE PRESETS, WORDLIFE, DJ BENI 8 Capitol
GET WEIRD ft. Roland Tings, Tornado Wallace 7 Ambar DERRICK CARTER 7 Geisha HIGH WASTE ft. Jonny Woo, Boris, Lyall Hakaraia, The Duchess Of Pork 7 The Bakery BEDROOM TO BIGROOM DJ COMP ft. Cassian 7 Capitol THE UPBEATS & STATE OF MIND 8 Villa TIJUANA CARTEL 8 Rosemount GOLD PANDA 9 The Bakery MARCH
PARKER
VANCE JOY & GOSSLING 8 The Bakery
Shapeshifter - Fri, Mar 21 @ Capitol
FORCE MAJEURE ft Nick Thayer 14 Ambar
ETC!ETC!, JACKAL & SPENDA C 22 Villa
HOOCH & DIE HIGH ft All Day, Paces & more 14 Players Bar
BATHS 23 The Bakery
CARNAVAL: BRAZILIAN NIGHT 15 The Deen DAY-WOO 16 Flyrite BLACKOUT ft. Black Sun Empire, Shapeshifter, Dillinja & more 21 Metro City BASSLINE & MORRI$ 21 The Bakery
JURASSIC 5: REUNION TOUR 14 Metro City
ILLY 21 Capitol
MOVE D 14 Geisha
RTRFM’S GO BANG! 21 Flyrite
PHARRELL WILLIAMS 14 Challenge Stadium
ALLEY OUT! AMBAR 13TH BIRTHDAY 22 Ambar
CHRIS LORENZO 28 Ambar MINISTRY OF SOUND CLUBBERS GUIDE TO 2014 ft. Ember & Joel Fletcher 29 Villa
ART VS SCIENCE 5 Amplifier Bar CHICKS ON SPEED 5 Fremantle Arts Centre NEKO PLANET 9 The Bakery ELIZABETH ROSE, SAFIA, FISHING 11 Amplifier 12 Mojos
WHY MAKE SENSE ft Rustie, APRIL T.Williams, New VENGEANCE York Transit 4 Ambar Authority & Nightwave THE BLU-V PARTY 24 Port Beach, 4 Metro Freo Fremantle HOT DUB TIME MACHINE 4 Metropolis Fremantle 5 Capitol A$AP FERG 5 The Bakery DUB FX & OPIUO 5 Villa
FAR TOO LOUD 25 Ambar THE CARNEVALE ft The Martinez Brothers 27 The Causeway MAY KANYE WEST 2 Perth Arena
HOLY FUCK 8 The Rosemount 9 The Odd Fellow DISCLOSURE 9 Metro City GROOVIN THE MOO ft. Disclosure, Dizzee Rascal, Holy Fuck, Illy & more 10 Hay Park, Bunbury ELLIE GOULDING 28 Challenge Stadium RÜFÜS 30 Players Bar 31 Fremantle Arts Centre JUNE
THE PRESETS (with the Australian Chamber Orchestra) 4 Concert Hall
Public Ememy. Photo by Emma Mackenzie
PUBLIC ENEMY Bring The Noise Chevron Festival Gardens Friday, February 28, 2014 As pop-up venues go, the Festival Gardens is up there. With an ingenious post-apocalyptic theme and recycled decor it’s reminiscent of a Mad Max set, but as we awaited the arrival of hip hip royalty in the form of Public Enemy, it was not so much Beyond Thunderdome but Welcome To The Terrordome. The Brow was charged with opening proceedings for the evening and it was very much mission accomplished with their party starting funked-up rhymes. Lead singer, Nicholas Owen, was like a kid at Christmas falling over himself and his keyboard with the excitement of opening for his heroes, and this only served to increase audience anticipation of the main event. After a short break and a sound check showcasing the turntablist skills of DJ Lord, we were greeted by the opening strains of Countdown To Armageddon, the siren wail from the opening track on It Takes A Nation Of Millions... is enough to sends shivers down the spine of any self-respecting hip hop fan and tonight it triggered a crescendo to feverish levels. Out walked Chuck D to rapturous applause as he introduced the band, his posse and the S1Ws who, down in number this tour, seem less and less menacing as the years roll by; slightly camp and performing their stilted dance moves with all the fluidity of a camouflage version of The Full Monty.
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Once Flavor Flav had bounced onto stage the night exploded with Rebel Without A Pause and there was no turning back. With so many classic tunes under their belt the momentum doesn’t cease. 911 Is A Joke, Don’t The Believe Hype and Welcome To The Terrordome were all delivered to perfection by one of the best rappers in the business whilst Flavor, still looking the same as he did 25 years ago (with a more diminutive than usual timepiece around his neck) interjected and worked the crowd. The voices of Chuck and Flavor have been sampled so many times that every intro, sound bite and adlib seems so familiar. ‘Bass, how low can you go’ being a case in point, triggering the ever popular Bring The Noise. Things didn’t let up even when playing the new stuff (Hoover Music from 2012’s Most Of My Heroes Still Don’t Appear On No Stamp) and one of the biggest cheers was reserved for Flavor’s ‘favourite song to perform at the moment’ Harder Than You Think. The powerful lyrics of Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos were a little subdued tonight, but the slow down in tempo signalled the band to exit the stage leaving the two main men in the spotlight. Flavor, now without his hat, performed his usual cameo on the drums, dreads flowing like Animal from the Muppets, whilst Chuck launched into a version of Public Enemy No.1 from first album Yo! Bum Rush The Show, which was greeted somewhat soberly by the crowd. Then there was only time for Shut ‘Em Down and some Smells Like Teen Spirit beat-juggling from DJ Lord before an immense version of Fight The Power, Chuck fistpumping anyone he could reach whilst Flavor walked the crowd flanked by his minders, like a boxer entering the ring. Chuck started the evening by asking, ‘What’s the number one city on planet earth’ and for the crowd, perhaps for one night only, the answer was unequivocally P.E.rth. ANDREW NELSON
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SOUNDWAVE Arena Joondalup Monday, March 3, 2014
Certainly the recent announcement that this latest edition of Soundwave was to be the past has marked 2014 as a bit of a crap year for music festivals in WA, but the crowd - mostly in black, mostly tattooed who descended on Arena Joondalup were determined that send-off be a bang, not whimper. Early numbers were high, with even those acts scheduled for before noon drawing respectable audiences and by the time the headliners hit their respective stages, the party was well and truly on. The UK’s Heaven’s Basement blew out the cobwebs of any sleepyheads with an in-your-face energetic performance more suited to 11:30pm than am. Displaying stylish hard rock power as they threw all the right rock shapes and set the bar high early on, it’s good to see the future of classic rock in such assured hands. Florida funsters Less Than Jake endeared themselves to the early crowd by the simple expedient making fun of a girl who had the temerity to text through their first couple of tracks, then encouraging the crowd to form a circle pit around a guy in a sombrero. Sometimes it’s the simple things. Nevada-based heavy metal rockers Five Finger Death Punch graced the stage with not even a second to think, initiating an explosive start with Under N Over It, clearly crowd favourite with the high intensity riff-to-riff outbursts instigating one hell of a mosh, setting the stakes high for the remainder of the day. Led by Ivan L Moody’s killer guitar leads and hypnotic vocals, the obsidian metal rockers breezed through the tracks Hard To See Your Side, Burn M.F. and Bad Company. Though the early timeslot seemed a tad mundane for the punch provided by the group that deserved a longer set closer to the headliners. The Mark Tremonti/Myles Kennedy dual guitar assault of Alter Bridge was as heavy as any of the metal bands playing Soundwave today, delivering riff after crushing riff to the slowly livening crowd braving the 30-plus-degree sun. A brooding Blackbird features some blistering playing from Tremonti, and they finished an excellent set with the monolithic Isolation and a long squeal of feedback. Poor Richie Sambora was an odd choice for the tour, a man out of time and out of place. His set started with a ill-chosen cover of Black Sabbath’s Paranoid and then headed south, taking in a range of borrowed tunes and Bon Jovi standards. It was an uncomfortable, awkward experience, and many of the mercifully small crowd drifted away before he finished. UK prog rockers Tesseract landed at Perth Soundwave for the very first time, and it is clear by the hypnotic bass dominate grooves that it won’t be the last time. The sounds are complex but they have a knack of making it come through crisp with a sense of simplicity. The 30-minute set featured an array of tracks from their latest album, Altered State, including Proxy, Retrospect and favourite Nocturne, along with the old school tracks Deception and Acceptance. The Living End cemented their reputation as one of Australia’s finest bands with a no-bullshit main stage set that made Sambora look like a Thursday night hack down the local bar. Second Solution, All Torn Down and Prisoner Of Society all sounded incredible, led by Chris Cheney’s raucous guitar and vocals. Gwar did what Gwar always do, which is deliver up a brutal, hilariously stupid pantomime that indulges in all the best and worse excesses of metal. Is it weird that they’re so controversial all of a sudden, even though they’ve been doing this kind of thing for years? Suffice it to let the record show that the crowd went wild when the Tony Abbott effigy met his gory end, and much fun was had for the rest of the day identifying those who had been in the front few rows by the fact that they were soaked in fake blood. Local lads Chaos Divine had some big shoes to fill, subbing in for the mighty Volbeat at the last
Black Dahlia Murder 30
Gwar
minute. Still, they managed to in hearts and minds by delivering a ripper cover of - of all things - Toto’s Africa. There’s nothing quite like the sight of a few hundred metalheads signing along to that hoary old slice of sentimentality, and it was easily one of the highlights of the day. Panic! At The Disco warmed up Stage Three for the Korn and Avenged Sevenfold to come, a mild break on stage acts before the heat was turned up again for the headliners. The set featured Time To Dance, The Ballad Of Mona Lisa and their debut single, I Write Sins Not Tragedies, where the crowd responded in a fun all-out singalong, ending the set on a high, in comparison to the slow start. It’s been a hile since hearing from Pennywise but their presence on stage was like they never truly disappeared. Led by Zoltan Teglas, the Californian punk-rockers featured an array of oldschool tracks including Same Old Story, Pennywise and Fuck Authority that sent the mosh into all-out true punk-rocker style chaos. Black Veil Brides showed exactly what their hype is all about with a magnificent set - despite the minute stage they were relegated to. The small room grew hotter than a furnace, the band and enraptured fans bonding in sweat and heavy glam metal through Nobody’s Hero, Wretched & Divine and A Thousand Yesterdays. Like most people, we’re suckers for a good cover, and they don’t get much better than their killer take on Billy Idol’s Rebel Yell, and Perfect Weapon finished a near perfect set. Alice In Chains tore the main stage a new one with their grunge anthems, singer William DuVall sounding uncannily like the band’s late founder, Layne Staley. An hour isn’t long to cram your career into, but they balanced old and new well, with Check My Brain and Hollow standing tall next to a superb closing trio of the hypnotic and mystical No Excuses, Would? and Jerry Cantrell’s reliving of his father’s Vietnam horror, Rooster. Light on chit chat and flash, it’s a lesson in monolithic groove and all about the music.
Rocket From The Crypt played a set of hard edged alt garage rock punctuated by squeals of horns as the doona of twilight was pulled up over Arena Joondalup. Singer Speedo cracked jokes about his hired band between songs and kept things lively, ensuring Young Livers, Sturdy Wrists, I’m Not Invisible and Get Down all go over well. What really sticks in the memory about the Eagles Of Death Metal set is what a love-in it was, with apparently half the bands on the tour having gathered stageside to catch Jesse Hughes
Living Colour
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and company do their thing. Hughes was feeling the love, too, name-checking Satyricon, Placebo and more in a clearly genuine outpouring of emotion that nonetheless didn’t hamper his ability to deliver kick-ass country rock jams. The well anticipated return of metal-heads Korn was distinguished with lead Jonathan Davis punching-out and kicking every beat. Twist sent Korn fanatics into an all-out metal roar, along with Freak On A Leash, Got The Life and Blind. It was very easy to forget all else around you when Korn came to life.
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Avenged Sevenfold lit up the stage, which featured a graveyard, iron fencing, fire throwing pillars and fireworks to accentuate every breathtaking vibrating beat. The spotlight was on every member, so that it was a race with your eyes as to what to look at next. If you weren’t glued to M. Shadows on vocals, your eyes would snap to the dual-bliss of Zacky Vengeance and Synyster Gates solo. It was a buffet of pyrotechnics, supporting a blazing setlist featuring Shepherd Fire and Welcome To The Family, where the crowd were welcomed into the ‘Sevenfold Family.’ The night finished in with Unholy Confessions. By the time we make it to the main stage to catch some of Green Day’s epic two and a half hour-plus set, they’ve already been playing for about an hour and we’re just in time for a run through of some of 1994 breakout album Dookie’s highlights and some teasers of riffs or a verse from the likes of Iron Man, Zep’s Rock ‘N’ Roll and Highway To Hell add to the fun. For a scuzzy little band of pop punk brats circa ’92, they’ve become immense business and millions of sales have honed their stage act, Billie Joe Armstrong playing the crowd like a fiddle. Whether he’s pulling a dude up to sing, conducting the crowd’s cheers, turning a firehose on them or firing t-shirts into the crowd with a mini bazooka, they lap it up. They go on the play tracks from throughout their career including mega hits American Idiot, Minority and Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life). SHANE PINNEGAR, KRISTINA SIMICH & TRAVIS JOHNSON Photos by Denis Radacic Korn
Davis constantly grooved and thanked the crowd, promising a swift return to Perth is on the agenda. Rob Zombie’s stage was decorated with giant pics of old Universal monsters, just in case anyone in the crowd was confused as to who was stalking around and growling into the mic. Although the set was marred by sound issues - an extended guitar solo in the middle of the proceedings seemed to be a placeholder while technical problems were sorted out - the crowd seemed happy with Zombie’s renditions of More Human Than Human and Dragula. Zombie even belted out a bit of School’s Out, his fandom of Alice Cooper coming as a shock to precisely no one. Most eyes were locked on ex-Guns ‘N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan during The Walking Papers set, a kicking collection of revved up Johnny Thunders/Stones bare bones rock ‘n’ roll. Singer Jeff Angell is magnetic though, and every inch the rock star, and let’s not forget drummer Barrett Martin has
Testament
history with The Screaming Trees and keyboard player Benjamin Anderson thrashes around maniacally. The band were impressive as hell as they ran through Your Secret’s Safe With Me, Leave Me In The Dark and Two Tickets And A Room from their self titled debut. Living Colour started with the grinding Preachin’ Blues, the virtuosic playing and smooth are as if nothing but their hairstyles and fluoro outfits have changed since their 1988 debut, Vivid. Dressed more like Bill Cosby than a rock star, singer Corey Glover prowled the stage like an agitated lion and stunned with his powerful vocals while Vernon Reid’s guitar playing was simply mind bogglingly unique, transforming already great tunes like Love Rears Its Ugly Head and Cult Of Personality into something purely magical. Time’s Up closed their set, with snippets of What’s Your Favourite Colour and Get Up (Like A Sex Machine), before segueing into AC/DC’s Back In Black and metal band Down taking over the instruments to finish with a stage full of celebrity admirers.
Green Day
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ROCKET ROOM OPENING NIGHT Friday, February 28, 2014 Live original music returned to The Rocket Room last week, presaged by the thunderous performances The Chevelles and The Volcanics, who felt a pressing need to get in a night of serious noise before embarking on their next overseas adventures. This Friday, March 7, get down there for Psychonaut, Cold Fate and Legs Electric. Photos by Sit Stay Photography
Clancy’s Fish Pub, Fremantle
FEATURED VENUE: CLANCY’S FISH PUB. FREMANTLE Answered by Tom Fisher, entertainment manager. What makes Clancy’s Fish Pub important to Fremantle? I think Clancy’s is a huge part of Freo. The building has operated as a pub since the ‘70s after being a school beforehand and has been under the current ownership for 25 years. We have always been a pub in the true sense of the meaning (public house) as we feel our appeal is to all walks of life. From families, old hippies, politicians, musos and hipsters,
we feel Clancy’s is a place for all and this creates a great atmosphere. We have been supporting live music and entertainment for 25 years and we feel this is a strong part of our brand. Throw in our selection of craft beers, our classic menu starting from the humble fish and chips, some whacky fish décor we like to sum us up as simply ‘fun’. It’s a fun place. What’s your favourite item on the menu? Hard to go past the classic fish and chips, seafood platters and fried mice. Gig of the week? Touring act the Hussey Hicks should be a beaut on Friday.
RAILWAY HOTEL Friday catch Railway Decay featuring DFC, Nails Of Imposition, CorpseFlesh, 9 Foot Super Soldier and Fetus Fertilizer. Doors open 8pm and entry is $10. Saturday night The Formidable Vegetable Sound System hit the beer garden stage with support from The Brow Horn Orchestra and Lexie Mgee And The Channel Three. Doors open 8pm and it’s $15 entry. Sunday catch Burnhabit, Who’s Your Daddy? and Richard Lane for a great Sunday session from 5pm.
THE BEAT NIGHTCLUB The Long March
ROSEMOUNT HOTEL On Thursday, March 6, Ol’ Bouginvillea play their final show for the year with support from Animal, Kortisol and Highway Breakdown. Friday local rockers The Long March launch their debut EP, Boy-O, with special guests Nevsky Prospekt, Foreign Architects and Beecroft Sux, while Saturday catch Tijuana Cartel making their Rosemount debut and on Monday Bex and Turin’s open mic night continues.
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This Friday, the almighty hometown legends Blkout are headlining and playing their first show back in Perth after their Euro tour with Bane and Power Trip, along with Reactions from Adelaide and Free World from Melbourne on their West Coast tour with Idle Eyes, Losing Grip, Apollo Zen. Doors at 8pm, entry is $10.
INDI BAR Vdelli return from their most successful European tour to date to play at the Indi Bar this Friday, March 7. Rocking blues will be order of the day and it’s sure to be a great night, so don’t miss this one. Doors open at 7.30pm and entry is $10.
LOCAL NEWS
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INTERVIEWS
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LIVE REVIEWS
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Q & A
Joe Algeri, The JAC
Many of the JAC songs such as Wherever You Go have their origins in an unfinished album about Perth that I wrote when I lived in Sweden.
THE JAC Joe Algeri’s outfit, The JAC, launch a new single, Love Dumb, this Saturday, March 8, at The Oddfellow (Norfolk Hotel), with help from The High Learys and Pat Chow. BOB GORDON checks in.
Big Star’s 13 and The Scientists’ Frantic Romantic are covered on this release. Not afraid of hitting on the classics then? No, nothing is, or ever will be, sacred in my book. With the confidence that comes with getting older I want to break more rules.
What happens now? More recording and a few more local gigs with my new buddies - I haven’t been in a proper band in over a decade. My trip to the US last The last 18 months has seen an increase in recorded output and live year was a good kick in the pants for me to play live again so there’s more performance from you. What prompted this? overseas touring on the cards. I also want to reacquaint myself with the The convenience of being able to record at home has been local scene that I feel I’ve neglected since the late ‘90s in my quest to a catalyst for me creatively. Without the pressure of having to ‘make it’ become ‘massive in Finland.’ which comes in your 20s, I also feel more comfortable in my own skin now. I’ll keep doing the same old thing if I want to or something completely It’s 20 years now since you were the Davy Jones of the local power pop unexpected without giving a damn as to what people think. All I know is scene. How do you look back on those days on the roof? that I need to keep doing it. Most fondly, I’ve embraced the digital/internet age but I’m happy I got my musical grounding in the era before it. It felt more real, Tell us a bit about the new original songs. Are they the bridge to an album more fun and there was a little bit more money floating about the release or are they flags flying on their own in the wind? industry, I’d hate to be starting out now. As for Davy Jones, the real one No, an definitely album is in the works and I’m also in the process died, but I’m still here and I’m not going anywhere... there’s a lot more of finishing an album for my other (international) band, The Britannicas. music to make.
BLOOD FOR BLOOD Get your recommended dosage of good, old-fashioned blues rock at the Rosemount Hotel this Wednesday, March 5, when the stage will be graced by Old Blood, Man The Clouds, Bonekickers and Moondog J. Doors at 8pm, entry is $8. Old Blood
HOOKED ON ROCK & ROLL Chainsaw Hookers continue their upward trajectory at Amplifier this Saturday, March 8, with a relaunch of their self-titled debut album. Support comes from Blazin’ Entrails, Scalphunter, The Shakeys and Blackwitch. Plus, the Hookers have been handpicked to provide local support for next month’s Monster Magnet gig, joining the stoner rock legends, along with Melbourne two-piece, King Of The North, at Amplifier on Thursday, April 3. Tickets through Oztix. Chainsaw Hookers
WORST OF THE WEST CHUGAJUG Night Of The Cheap Jugs continues this Wednesday, March 5, at the Velvet Lounge with a sharp blast of home-grown rock’n’roll. Catch The Cold Acre, Tooth & Claw and Ol’ Bouginvillea from 8pm. Entry is free. Ol’ Bouginvillea
Perth hardcore exponents Worst Possible Outcome are kicking it into high gear in 2014, with a new lineup and pending releases through Old School Cartel, Scott ‘Toe To Toe’ Mac’s label. Catch them tonight, Wednesday, March 5, at Bunbury’s Prince Of Wales along with Unfair Dismissal, Die From This, Sludge Bucket and Danger Brain, or on Friday, March 7 at 459 Bar, with Circle One, Reptillians, Beerfridge, Mindless and Friendzone.
LO C A L & L AU N C H I N G 06/03 07/03 07/03 07/03 07/03 07/03 11/03 08/03 15/03 15/03 16/03 21/03
AMY SUGARS So I Won’t Single Launch @ The Elephant And Wheelbarrow ARKAYAN Burning Circadia Album Launch @ YaYa’s. THE LONG MARCH Boy-O EP Launch @ The Rosemount LOUIS AND THE HONKYTONK This River Single Launch @ 78 Records MORGAN BAIN In The Middle Single Launch @ The Astor Lounge VALDAWAY Tiny Town EP Launch @ Amplifier KERRY B. RYAN Blues For My Sweety EP Launch @ The Charles THE JAC Love Dumb Single Launch @ The Odd Fellow KING OF THE TRAVELLERS Rambling Jackson Single Launch @ Mojos LIP SERVICE EP Launch @ The Civic THE RUMBLE The Annabelle EP Launch @ Indi Bar DAVEY CRADDOCK AND THE SPECTACLES There Will Be Light/100 Days Single Launch
21/03 29/03 30/03
RAGDOLL Break You Video Launch @ The Rocket Room MATT WARING Smoking Gun EP Launch @ The Causeway EBONNIE Patchwork Fantasia Album Launch @ Rubix Bar
@ Clancy’s Fremantle
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TOUR TRAILS
COURTNEY BARNETT, MARCH 8 THIS WEEK 42 DECIBEL 5 Mojos Bar 6 Indi Bar 7 Paddington Ale House THE BENNIES 6 YaYa’s 7 Prince Of Wales, Bunbury DAN SULTAN 6 Artbar STICKY FINGERS 6 Prince Of Wales, Bunbury 7 White Star, Albany 8 Settlers Tavern BRIAN MCKNIGHT 7 Riverside Theatre HUSSY HICKS & ERIC ERDMAN 7 Clancy’s Fremantle 8 The Astor 9 Redcliffe On The Murray GURRUMUL 8 Kings Park TIJUANA CARTEL 8 Rosemount Hotel COURTNEY BARNETT 8 Mojos Bar BILLY BRAGG 9 Perth Concert Hall BECCY COLE 9 Quarry Amphitheatre GOLD PANDA 9 The Bakery QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE & NINE INCH NAILS 11 Perth Arena MARCH JOSH PYKE 12-13 Quarry Amphitheatre NICK SAXON ft. ELLI SCHOEN & JORDAN MCROBBIE 12 Mojos Bar 13 Indi Bar 14 White Star Hotel, Albany 15 – 16 Settlers Tavern 42 DECIBEL 13 Clancy’s Fremantle 14 Northshore Tavern 16 Paddington Ale House THE ANGELS, DIESEL & MI-SEX 14 Graham Bricknell Music Shell, Bunbury JURASSIC 5 14 Metro City PHARRELL WILLIAMS 14 Challenge Stadium TIJUANA CARTEL 14 Settlers Tavern THE WHITLAMS 14-16 Quarry Amphitheatre KASEY CHAMBERS AND BAND 15 Quindanning Inne TIM GORDON BAND & BONEKICKERS 15 The Claremont Hotel SARAH MCLEOD & JEFF MARTIN 15 Prince of Wales, Bunbury SONGS IN THE KEY OF MOTOWN 12 Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre 13 Mandurah Performing Arts Centre 14 Astor Theatre NEIL FINN 16 Perth Concert Hall DAMIAN DEMPSEY 17 Capitol
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TOURS LIVE
JOSH PYKE, MARCH 12 - 13
THE ROLLING STONES 19 Perth Arena SUICIDE GIRLS 19 Astor Theatre THE SMITH STREET BAND 19 Prince of Wales, Bunbury CLOUD CONTROL Acoustic Tour 20 The Saint 21 Settlers Tavern, Margaret River 21 Caves House, Yallingyup 22 The OBH 22 The Northshore 22 The Empire Bar 23 The Brisbane Hotel ABSU & PORTAL 20 Amplifier Bar THE SMITH STREET BAND & THE MENZINGERS 19 Prince Of Wales, Bunbury 20 YMCA HQ 21 Rosemount Hotel CALLING ALL CARS 21 Amplifier Bar 22 Prince Of Wales, Bunbury 23 Indi Bar ILLY 21 Capitol KATE MILLER-HEIDKE 21-23 Quarry Amphitheatre KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD 22 Rosemount Hotel 23 Mojos Bar PROUD MARY 22 Clancy’s Fremantle 29 Quindanning Inne CASPIAN 22 Mojos Bar ANNA O 22 Rosemount Hotel GANG OF FOUR 23 Capitol ICEHOUSE 23 Hotel Rottnest THE ACACIA STRAIN 23 YMCA HQ 24 Amplifier Bar SEBADOH 25 Rosemount Hotel DARK TRANQUILLITY & ORPHEUS OMEGA 25 Capitol 30 SECONDS TO MARS 25 Challenge Stadium SEBADOH 25 Rosemount Hotel THE STRAY SISTERS 26 Fly By Night JOHN BUTLER TRIO 27 Fremantle Arts Centre 28 Belvoir Amphitheatre 29 Old Broadwater Farm, Busselton THE HOLIDAYS 29 Rosemount Hotel BRITISH INDIA 28 Indi Bar 29 Amplifier Bar STUART ORCHARD 29 Rosemount Hotel HUNTER & COLLECTORS 29 (sold out) & 30 Kings Park THE HOLIDAYS 29 Rosemount Hotel 30 Newport Hotel KRIS KRISTOFFERSON 30 Red Hill Auditorium THE STRAY SISTERS 31 Albany Entertainment Centre
APRIL PACO PENA 2 Perth Concert Hall MONSTER MAGNET 3 Amplifier Bar ART VS SCIENCE 5 Amplifier Bar CHICKS ON SPEED 5 Fremantle Arts Centre HYPERFEST Spit Syndicate, Allday, Cub Sport, Glass Towers, Jackie Onassis, Closure in Moscow, Mathas, In Hearts Wake, Luca Brasi, The Love Junkies, Statues, Timothy Nelson and the Infidels, When Giants Sleep, Emecia, The Decline, FOAM, Scalphunter, Apache, Lionizer and more 6 Midland Oval KYLESA 6 The Bakery SUZANNE VEGA 11 Astor Theatre ELIZABETH ROSE 11 Amplifier Bar 12 Mojos Bar THIEF 12 Amplifier Bar YOU AM I ft. ESKIMO JOE, JEBEDIAH & KATY STEELE 13 Hotel Rottnest WEST COAST BLUES N ROOTS Matt Corby, Michael Franti, John Mayer, Dave Matthews Band, Doobie Brothers, Boy & Bear 13 Fremantle Park BOZ SCAGGS 14 Crown Theatre 3 INCHES OF BLOOD 16 Amplifier Bar BURIED IN VERONA 16 Villa 17 Prince Of Wales, Bunbury 18 YMCA HQ, Leederville TWELVE FOOT NINJA 19 Rosemount Hotel 20 Players Bar TOXIC HOLOCAUST & SKELETONWITCH 20 Rosemount Hotel KREATOR & DEATH ANGEL 20 Amplifier Bar THE ACACIA STRAIN 23 YMCA HQ 24 Amplifier Bar SKID ROW & UGLY KID JOE 23 Metropolis Fremantle THE ALMOST 23 Amplifier Bar JEFF BECK 24 Perth Concert Hall ADRIAN EDMONDSON & THE BAD SHEPHERDS 24 The Odd Fellow 26 Rosemount Hotel FAIRBRIDGE FESTIVAL 2014 25 Fairbridge Village BALL PARK MUSIC 24 Astor Theatre 25 Studio 146, Albany 26 Prince Of Wales, Bunbury 27 Newport Hotel MICHAEL BUBLE 26 & 27 Perth Arena AARON NEVILLE, DR JOHN & THE NITETRIPPERS 26 Riverside Theatre
MONSTER MAGNET, APRIL 3 HUGH LAURIE & THE COPPER BOTTOM BAND 26 Perth Concert Hall JUSTICE CREW 27 Crown Theatre BOY & BEAR 30 Divers Tavern, Broome
MAY KANYE WEST 2 Perth Arena RUSSIAN CIRCLES 2 Rosemount Hotel JAMES REYNE 2 Charles Hotel BLISS N ESSO 2 Signal Park, Busselton 3 Wellington Square TRACEY BARNETT 4 Bouvard Tavern LEE KERNAGHAN 6 Princess Royal Theatre, Albany 9 Crown Theatre ORIGIN 6 Amplifier Bar GIDEON 7 Amplifier Bar 8 YMCA HQ ELLA HOOPER 8 Artbar VANCE JOY & GOSSLING 8 The Bakery THE PRESETS 8 Capitol HOLY FUCK 8 Rosemount Hotel 9 The Odd Fellow THUNDAMENTALS 8 Flyrite DISCLOSURE 9 Metro City THE JEZABELS 9 Astor Theatre THE JUNGLE GIANTS 9 Rosemount Hotel JASON DERULO 10 Perth Arena PAUL WOSEEN 10 YaYa’s 11 Mojos Bar GROOVIN THE MOO Action Bronson, Andy Bull, Architecture In Helsinki, Disclosure, Holy Fuck, The Jezabels, The Jungle Giants, Karnivool, Kingswood, The Kite String Tangle, Loon Lake, The Naked And Famous, Parkway Drive, The Presets, Peking Duk, Robert Delong, Thundamentals, Vance Joy, Violent Soho, Wave Racer, What So Not & more 10 Hay Park, Bunbury THE NAKED & FAMOUS 11 Astor Theatre ARCTIC MONKEYS 13 Perth Arena JONNY CRAIG 14 Amplifier Bar 15 YMCA HQ PETULA CLARK 17 Perth Concert Hall SEPTICFLESH & FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE 18 Amplifier Bar HITS & PITS 3 Strung Out, Face To Face, Unwritten Law, Implants 18 Capitol & Amplifier Bar THE ENGLISH BEAT 23 Rosemount Hotel
2014 AIRNORTH KIMBERLEY MOON EXPERIENCE Eskimo Joe, The Waifs, John Williamson, 42 Decibel 24 Jim Hughes Amphitheatre, Kununurra GARY NUMAN 25 Astor Theatre ELLIE GOULDING & BROODS 28 Challenge Stadium LARRY CARLTON 28 Astor Theatre RÜFÜS 30 Players Bar 31 Fremantle Arts Centre WE ARE SCIENTISTS 31 Amplifier Bar THE BEARDS 29 The White Star Hotel 31 Prince Of Wales, Bunbury
JUNE THE BEARDS 1 Astor Theatre PROPAGANDHI 3 Amplifier Bar YO GABBA GABBA! LIVE! 7 Riverside Theatre LA DISPUTE 7 Rosemount Hotel 8 YMCA HQ JAMES BLUNT 12 Crown Theatre 13 Riverside Theatre BASTILLE 18 Challenge Stadium THE PAPER KITES 19 Artbar 20 Prince of Wales, Bunbury FINNTROLL 22 Amplifier Bar MONDO ROCK 22 Regal Theatre KEITH URBAN 29 Perth Arena
JULY THE CRIMSON PROJEKCT 2 Fly By Night V CAPRI 12 Charles Hotel
AUGUST THE ANGELS ft. DAVE GLEESON 2 Charles Hotel 3 The Ravenswood Hotel, Mandurah ROY ORBISON & DEL SHANNON TRIBUTE 7 Albany Entertainment Centre 9 Crown Theatre LADY GAGA 20 Perth Arena
SEPTEMBER MARINA PRIOR 5 Albany Entertainment Centre ROBBIE WILLIAMS 11 Perth Arena
OCTOBER JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE 8 Perth Arena
NOVEMBER KATY PERRY 7 Perth Arena
TO U R TA L E S
TROY CASSAR-DALEY AND ADAM HARVEY
TROY CASSAR-DALEY Old School Two great mates in Australian country music, Troy Cassar-Daley and Adam Harvey, have teamed up to record their favourite tunes for The Great Country Song Book. CHRIS HAVERCROFT speaks with Cassar-Daley ahead of the pair’s shows this Thursday, March 6, at Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre; Friday, March 7, at the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre and Saturday, March 8, at El Caballo Resort. Troy Cassar-Daley is your typical country singer in that he loves to fish, ride horses, and shies away from the big city life, but he would be no great shakes on a dairy farm. He admits to being allergic to getting up early in the mornings and being much better suited to the late nights of playing music. Luckily for him he loves being on the road and is particularly thrilled to be presenting the songs from his labour of love with Adam Harvey, The Great Country Song Book. “Putting the record together was the first challenge really to make sure that we put together what we though was the great country songbook,” says Cassar-Daley of the product that he is clearly proud to have brought to fruition. “As far as we were concerned, when we finished the record we looked at each other and thought at least our families would buy the record. We thought it was self-indulgent to do these songs as we love these songs so much and were doing them for ourselves. There was a strict criteria as to what songs would go on the album as we had to make sure that we loved these songs and would have picked songs that people knew as well. We could have easily picked more obscure songs and ended up doing a box set.” No sooner had the record been made than people - other than John Williamson, of course - were already asking Cassar-Daley and Harvey when they would be making volume number two. At this point in time there is no plan to record another instalment and Cassar-Daley and Harvey are both songwriters who have ‘career albums’ they both wish to write, but if the success of this LP record is anything to go
by, a follow-up can’t be totally out of the question. “For the album to have done what it has sales-wise is a massive surprise and a thrill. The Great Country Song Book came out as number #1, but Kanye West’s people wanted a recount, so we ended up at number #2. For an old country covers record we were staggered with the results. So to bring the show on the road is a thrill and we bring the band that was in the studio with us who we consider to be the best musicians in Australia. For people that are purists I think they’ll get a real kick out these shows.
“For the album to have done what it has sales-wise is a massive surprise and a thrill. The Great Country Song Book came out as number #1, but Kanye West’s people wanted a recount, so we ended up at number #2. For an old country covers record we were staggered with the results. “We put together a supergroup of players and we have mutual respect for each there is never a cross word, except for when I make Adam go and get the coffees because he is younger than me. He is a practical joker so you have to watch him. We have shared a room the whole way and almost called the tour the No Divas tour. We don’t anyone to be a princess and do it the way that we used to do it in the old days of touring.” What Cassar-Daley wants to bring to the shows is that he really loves these songs and he wants the people that come along to realise that they love them too. Part of playing these tunes is that it has served as inspiration for Cassar-Daley to write better songs himself. He claims that all these classics have got tricks in them that you can learn, so by doing these songs and this tour it is a bit like going to school for the two artists. “If you put something up that people really know they are going to respond to it, but you wouldn’t want to do it with every project. For us it was just an experiment to see what our parents’ record collection would sound like with us singing it. It was really organic the way we did it, it certainly wasn’t a business decision.”
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GIG GUIDE
MEI SARASWATI/THE BIRD/ WEDNESDAY 5
WEDNESDAY 05/03 AMPLIFIER BAR Academy Unofficial Soundwave Afterparty Finders Lowlight Monolith Voice & Vices THE BIRD Mei Saraswati Hayley Beth ft. Brendan Jay Nora Zion Jo Lettermaier BRASS MONKEY Sugar Blue Burlesque THE CARINE Open Mic Night Shaun Street CLANCYS CANNING Songwriters Night Simon Marks Simon Kelly ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB James Muller ft. Oehlers-O’HalloranSusnjar Night Cap Sessions THE FLY TRAP (FLY BY NIGHT) Toby THE GREENWOOD Bernardine GROOVE BAR (CROWN) 5 Shots INDI BAR Songwriter Sessions Minky G & Rosco Lady Luck Natasha Shanks & James Rogers Meghan Grant LANEWAY LOUNGE Adam Hall & The Velvet Playboys LOBBY LOUNGE (CROWN) Decoy Duo THE LUCKY SHAG Howie Morgan MUSTANG BAR Kickstart DJ Giles MOJOS BAR 42 Decibel Day Of The Dead Swiss Sheppard THE MOON CAFE Jozef Grech Luke Dux OCEAN ONE BAR Marcio Mendes THE PADDO Southern Cross The Date Red Embers Tashi
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PAT CHOW/MUSTANG BAR/ THURSDAY 6
PRINCE OF WALES Worst Possible Outcome Unfair Dismissal Die From This Sludge Bucket Danger Brain 459 ROSEMOUNT HOTEL Braves Villian Rum Punch Matt Passmore ROSEMOUNT HOTEL Old Blood Man the Clouds Bonekickers Moondog J SETTLERS TAVERN Open Mic Night SWAN HOTEL (LOUNGE) Tracey Barnett Rachel Dillon Jordan McRobbie Matt Cal THE SWINGING PIG Open Mic Night Greg Carter UNIVERSAL BAR Retriofit THE VIC Leighton Keepa VILLAGE BAR Village People Open Mic X-WRAY CAFE Pacific Northwest Kim McDonald YAYA’S Last Week’s Heroes White Avenue The Midnight Mules World-A-Fuzzy Sexicans THURSDAY 06/03 ARTBAR Dan Sultan BAR ORIENT Open Mic Night THE BIRD Night Signals Pippa Lester Neil Fernandes Rag ‘N’ Bone BRASS MONKEY Rhythm Bound Karaoke BRIGHTON Open Mic Night Rob Walker THE BROOK Open Mic Night Chris Gibbs BROOKLANDS TAVERN Celebrations Karaoke THE CAUSEWAY BAR Xport Thursdays CLANCYS FREMANTLE Hussy Hicks
LOCAL GIG
ARKAYAN
ARKAYAN MIDNIGHT BOULEVARD APPROACHING OPPOSITE DJ PUP Friday, March 8- YaYas
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DEVILLES PAD Rock’N’Roll Karaoke DUNSBOROUGH TAVERN Open Mic Night Kris Buckle ELEPHANT AND THE WHEELBARROW Amy Sugars ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB James Muller Trio Night Cap Sessions FLY BY NIGHT Dewayne Everettsmith THE GATE Greg Carter GRAND CENTRAL PARK Karin Page GROOVE BAR (CROWN) Dr Bogus GYPSY TAPAS HOUSE Tracey Barnett INDI BAR Open Mic Night Josh Terlick KARRINYUP SHOPPING CENTRE FOOD COURT Chris Gibbs LANEWAY LOUNGE James Flynn LUCKY SHAG James Wilson MOJOS BAR Palms The Gooch Palms Gunns MOON CAFE The Fix Jazz MUSTANG BAR Pat Chow The Butter Guns DJ James MacArthur OCEAN ONE BAR Turin’s Open Mic Night PEEL ALE HOUSE Open Mic Danny Bau PRINCE OF WALES Sticky Fingers Bootleg Rascal 459 ROSEMOUNT HOTEL The Lake & The River Paper Walls Kites Lowlight Santa Muerte ROSEMOUNT HOTEL Ol’ Bouginvillea Animal Kortisol Highway Breakdown SETTLERS TAVERN Dilip Parekh SWALLOW BAR Shotdown From Sugartown UNIVERSAL BAR Off The Record THE VIC Harry Moore THE WINDSOR Mike Nayar X-WRAY CAFE The Jack Doepel Quartet YAYA’S The Bennies Apart From This Grim Fandango Sail On! Sail On! FRIDAY 07/03 78 RECORDS Louis And The Honkytonk Catbrush Delay Delay THE ALBION Jen de Ness Trio THE ALEXANDER Back2Back AMPLIFIER BAR Valdaway
LOUIS AND THE HONKYTONK/ 78 RECORDS/FRIDAY 7
Indigo Blackwater Station Ryan Webb ASTOR LOUNGE Morgan Bain BALMORAL Danni Stefanetti Duo BEAT NIGHTCLUB (DOWNSTAIRS) PLAY BELGIAN BEER CAFE Roger Roger BELMONT TAVERN Electrophobia BEST DROP TAVERN Pretty Fly THE BIRD Palms & The Gooch Palms BISTRO 38 Gary Fowlie BRASS MONKEY Dean Anderson THE BRIGHTON Rob Walker THE CARINE Frenzy CHASE BAR & BISTRO James Wilson CITRO BAR Justin Cortorillo CIVIC HOTEL Rolling Stones Tribute CLANCYS CITY BEACH Gillian Moorman Trio CLANCYS FREMANTLE Hussy Hicks Eric Erdman THE CORNERSTONE Why Georgia? COMO HOTEL Libby Hammer Trio THE CORNERSTONE Madam Montage CRUISING YACHT CLUB Preston King DEVILLES PAD Rockin’ A Gogo DUNSBOROUGH TAVERN Cuddles EAST 150 BAR Adam James EMPIRE BAR Howie Morgan ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB The Ellington 5th Birthday Bash The Ali Bodycoat Quintet Hammer Nine FAIRLANES AMPHITHEATRE Trevor Jalla THE GATE Choppa & The Hitman GOSNELLS HOTEL Chris Gibbs Third Gear THE GREENWOOD Mike Nayar GROOVE BAR (CROWN) Decoy DJ Crazy Craig HERDSMAN Elemental HIGHWAY HOTEL Cheek2Cheek HOTEL ROTTNEST DJ Eugene HYDE PARK HOTEL (courtyard) Jamie Powers INDI BAR Vdelli INDIAN OCEAN BREW CO. Ben Merito KALAMUNDA HOTEL Vendetta LANEWAY LOUNGE Hans Fiance Just For The Night MAHOGANY INN42.00 Dove
M ON THE POINT Retriofit MOJOS BAR Earthlink Sound The KBI Sound System DJ Corby MUSTANG Flat Nash & The Action Men Swing DJ Adam Hall & The Velvet Playboys DJ James MacArthur NEWPORT HOTEL Yolanda Be Cool OCEAN ONE BAR Mad Agents PADDINGTON ALE HOUSE Reilly Craig 42 Decibel PADDY MAGUIRES 43 Cambridge PORT KENNEDY TAVERN Siren & Assassin PRINCE OF WALES The Bennies THE PRINCIPAL Jonny Dempsey QUARIE BAR & BISTRO Blackbirds RAILWAY HOTEL DFC Nails of Imposition CorpseFlesh 9 Foot Super Soldier Fetus Fertiliser ROCKET ROOM Psychonaut Cold Fate Legs Electric RIGBY’S BAR & BISTRO Undergrowth Acoustic Open Mic ROLEYSTONE COUNTRY CLUB Kat Kinley 459 ROSEMOUNT Worst Possible Outcome Circle One The Reptillians Beer Fridge Mindless Friendzone ROSEMOUNT HOTEL The Long March Nevsky Prospect Foreign Architects ROSIE O’GRADYS FREMANTLE Felix SAIL AND ANCHOR Howie Morgan Duo SETTLERS Band Of Frequencies SOUTH ST ALEHOUSE Karaoke SWINGING PIG Greg Carter UNIVERSAL BAR Nightmoves VERNON ARMS TAVERN Greg Carter THE VIC Nathan Gaunt WINTERSUN HOTEL Brian Alleaume THE WOODVALE Flava X-WRAY CAFE The Fab Three YAYA’S Arkayan Midnight Boulevard Approaching Opposite DJ Pup SATURDAY 08/03 AMPLIFIER BAR Chainsaw Hookers The Blazin’ Entrails Scalphunter
Deadline Monday 5pm. The Gig-Guide is a service to advertisers listing all LIVE MUSIC. All inclusions are at the discretion of X-Press. Email guide@xpressmag.com.au
CUSTOM ROYAL/THE CLAREMONT HOTEL/SATURDAY 8
The Shakeys Blackwitch ASTOR THEATRE Hussy Hicks Eric Erdman THE AVIARY Just For The Night THE BAKERY High Waste THE BALMORAL The Wire Birds BAR ORIENT The Reggae Club Mumma Trees Sista Che The Empressions BEAT NIGHTCLUB (UPSTAIRS) CANVAS BENTLEY HOTEL Chris Gibbs Band THE BIRD Dilla Tribute Rok Riley Ben EM The Last Fair Deal BOAB TAVERN Electrophobia BROOKLANDS TAV Elemental THE CARINE Frank G CIVIC HOTEL The Squeeze CLANCYS CANNING Steve Parkin CLANCYS FREMANTLE Simon Marks THE CLAREMONT HOTEL ANTICS Custom Royal The Yokohomos DJ John Black THE CRAFTSMAN Groove CROWN: LOBBY LOUNGE Why Georgia? DEVILLES PAD Black Magic Disco DUNSBOROUGH TAVERN Travis Caudle EAST 150 BAR Jonny Dempsey ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB The Ellington 5th Birthday Bash with The Ali Bodycoat Quintet Hammer Nine FLY TRAP (FLY BY NIGHT) The Borrowed Few Lynda Smyth Singer Mali April Fish THE GATE Greg Carter GOSNELLS HOTEL Almost Famous GREENWOOD In The Groove GROOVE BAR (CROWN) Switch Hero DJs HYDE PARK HOTEL coverUP INDI BAR Matt Gresham Michael Triscari INDIAN OCEAN BREWING CO Shawne & Luc KALAMUNDA HOTEL Celebrations Karaoke KINGS PARK Gurrumul Dewayne Everttsmith LAKERS TAVERN Celebrations Karaoke LANEWAY LOUNGE Bernardine Astrid Ripepi
FORMIDABLE VEGETABLE SOUND SYSTEM/ THE RAILWAY HOTEL/SATURDAY 8
M ON THE POINT Rhythm 22 MERRIWA TAVERN Celebrations Karaoke MOJOS BAR Courtney Barnett MERRIWA TAVERN Celebrations Karaoke M ON THE POINT Rhythm 22 MUSTANG Peta Lee & the Deacons DJ Holly Doll Milhouse DJ James MacArthur NEWPORT HOTEL Gravity Tahli Jade PADDY MAGUIRES Jetpack PARAMOUNT NIGHTCLUB Felix PORT KENNEDY TAVERN Kevin Curran OCEAN ONE BAR Desert Bells DJ Martin QUARIE BAR & BISTRO DJ Eugene RAILWAY HOTEL Formidable Vegetable Sound System The Brow Horn Orchestra Lexie McGee & The Channel Three ROCKET ROOM Ladies Night ROSEMOUNT HOTEL Tijuana Cartel ROSIE O’GRADY’S FREMANTLE Flava SAIL & ANCHOR Better Days THE SAINT Justin Cortorillo THE SANDBAR Reilly Craig Tyson Keene SETTLERS TAVERN Sticky Fingers Bootleg Rascal THE SHED HUGE SOUTH ST ALE HOUSE Robbie King & Friends SWAN HOTEL (LOUNGE) Ibis Elm Mind Canary Crawjaw Pebble Mouse Creek Band SWAN HOTEL (BASEMENT) The Right Way Up Rich King Matthews Elkwood Tashi THE SWINGING PIG Big Steve Spouse Band UNIVERSAL Soul Corporation THE WOODVALE i Gen X-WRAY CAFE Lauren O’Hara YA-YA’S Noah Scape & The Teenage Wasteland Mossy Frog Sidewalk Diamonds Jacob Diamond Arcadia SUNDAY 09/03 399 BAR Turin Robinson
THE AVIARY Reilly Craig NDORSE Ben Sebastian DJ Troy Division BAILEY BAR & BISTRO Gary Fowlie BALMORAL Andrew Winton THE BAKERY Gold Panda BELMONT TAVERN Sophie Jane BEAUMARIS SPORTS ASSOC. Light Street THE BRIGHTON Dean Anderson BROKEN HILL HOTEL Justin Burford THE BROOK Kevin Curran BROOKLANDS TAVERN Gerry Azor CAPTAIN STIRLING Open Mic Night Josh Terlick THE CARINE Mike Nayar THE CAUSEWAY Accoustic Sunday CHASE BAR & BISTRO Jonny Dempsey CHIPPYS JINDALEE Little Ebony CIVIC HOTEL Frank G CLANCYS FREMANTLE The Zydecats COMO HOTEL Ansell & Fretall DUNSBOROUGH TAVERN Kris Buckle ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Mali April Fish Leah Emily Grant Joni In The Moon FLINDERS HILLARYS Justin Kutylowski FLY BY NIGHT Toby THE FLY TRAP (FLY BY NIGHT) Stage Fright Open Mic Night FREMANTLE ART CENTRE Autopilot THE GATE Choppa + The Hitman GOSNELLS HOTEL Steve Hepple GROOVE BAR (CROWN) Peace Love HYDE PARK HOTEL (courtyard) Adrian Wilson INDIAN OCEAN BREW CO Retriofit INDI BAR Nathan Gaunt Duo Seveno Tahlia Jaye Jamie Hall KALAMUNDA HOTEL The Mojos LAKERS TAV Wesley Goodlet Jamboree Scouts THE LAST DROP TAVERN Domonic Zurzolo LOBBY LOUNGE Thierryno MOON CAFE Co-Lab Jam Band M ON THE POINT Nathan Gaunt
THE AUTUMN ISLES/THE NEWPORT HOTEL/SUNDAY 9
MOJOS BAR Tijuana Cartel MUSTANG Jack Royale & The Hot Shot Playboys DJ Holly Doll NEWPORT HOTEL The Autumn Isles Three Hands One Hoof Todd Pickett NOBLE FALLS TAVERN Alex Robins OCEAN ONE BAR Tahnee DJ Martin THE PADDO Graphic Fiction Heroes Smooth Intentions Room for Reason PERTH CONCERT HALL Billy Bragg Courtney Barnett PORT KENNEDY TAVERN Greg Carter QUARIE BAR & BISTRO The Gypsy Minions RAILWAY HOTEL Burnhabit Who’s Your Daddy Richard Lane ROYAL PALMS RESORT Brett Donald THE SAINT Howie Morgan Project SEAVIEW TAVERN Jean Proude SETTLERS TAVERN The Ten Cent Shooters SOUTH ST ALEHOUSE Joppy SWALLOW BAR Voudou Zazou THE SWAN HOTEL (LOUNGE) MattyTWall SWINGING PIG Aiden Varro Siren & Assassin UNIVERSAL Retriofit VERNON ARMS TAVERN Jasmine Atkins WANNEROO TAVERN Matt Williams X-WRAY CAFE John Bannister The Charisma Brothers WHISTLING KITE Electrophobia THE WINDSOR Ryan Webb THE WOODVALE Ade Payne
MONDAY 10/03 BRASS MONKEY Wire Birds ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Shaun Rammers GROOVE BAR (CROWN) Justin & Mike MOJOS BAR Wide Open Mic MUSTANG BAR Triple Shots ROSEMOUNT HOTEL Bex ‘n’ Turin’s Open Mic Night YAYA’S Big Tommo’s Open Mic Variety Night TUESDAY 11/03 THE BIRD Open Mic Night BRASS MONKEY Open Mic Night Josh Terlick THE CHARLES HOTEL Perth Blues Club Kerry B. Ryan The Slide Machine GROOVE BAR (CROWN) Jack & Jill LOBBY LOUNGE (CROWN) Hans Fiance LUCKY SHAG Ben Merito MERRIWA TAVERN Celebrations Karaoke MERIDIAN ROOM (CROWN) Howie Morgan MOJOS BAR Matty’s Jam Night MUSTANG BAR Danza Loca Salsa Night OCEAN ONE BAR Undergrowth Open Mic Night PERTH ARENA Queens Of The Stone Age Nine Inch Nails Brody Dalle SWINGING PIG Siren Song Enterprises X-WRAY CAFE The Tom Tale Jazz Quartet YAYA’S Lumpy Dog Custom Royal Childs Play Dukes of Porn
LOCAL GIG
VALDAWAY
INDIGO
BLACKWATER STATION RYAN WEBB Friday, March 8 - Amplifier
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MUSIC GEAR & TECHNOLOGY
DJ SERVICES D J WA N T E D S e e k i n g D J w i t h e x p e r i e n ce & e q u i p m e n t . C o n t ac t www.dancefloordjs.com.au 0416 171 883 FOR SALE HEADPHONES all brands & styles. 23 Harrogate Street, West Leederville. C o n t ac t H e ad p h o n i c 0 8 9 3 8 8 6 3 3 3 headphones.com.au MUSOS WANTED BASS PLAYER WANTED for estab Perth band Hailmary. Available for tours. Stage presence a must. Contact Kevin 0401033743 hailmaryband@hotmail.com DRUMMER REQUIRED High quality working rock covers band requires r e l i a b l e , c a p a b l e d r u m m e r. C a l l / text 0427 471 423 or email pjkm@westnet.com.au OPEN MIC NIGHT at National H o t e l F r e m a n t l e Tu e s d ay n i g h t s from 7pm til late. Contact Jasmine 0412 185 674 OPEN MIC NIGHT every Thursday night at Indi Bar. Text Josh on 0430 313 577 for a spot. PRODUCTION SERVICES CD & DVD MANUFACTURE Check out our latest CD & DVD specials online at www.procopy.com.au 9375 3902 DISK BANK Perth’s premier CD & DVD manufacturer, with options fo r a l l b u d g e t s . ( 0 8 ) 9 3 8 8 0 8 0 0 . www.diskbank.com.au/specials. MATRIX PRODUCTIONS AUSTRALIA Lighting, staging, sound systems, smoke machines, night club FX, intelligent lighting, strobes & mirror balls, crowd barriers, video projectors. 9371 1551 RECORDING STUDIOS ALAN DAWSON’s WITZEND RECORDING STUDIO Prof quality albums or demos, large live room, experienced engineer, analog to digital transfers, mastering.. Alan 0407 989 128 or Jeremy 0430638178 www.witzendstudios.com ANALOG MASTERING VINTAGE TAPE, TUBES & TRANSFORMERS with the latest state of the art digital converters. Clients include: Melody’s Echo Chamber, Pond, Gossling, Knife Party, Felicity Groom, The Floors, Jeff Martin & The Panics. World class facility, World class results. Www.poonshead.com. 9339 4791 ANDY’S STUDIO International multi award winning songwriter / producer. No band required. Broadcast quality. A songwriter’s paradise. Ph 9364 3178 GOLDDUST Production Mixing, recording and composition. Leederville $80 p/h. 0408 097 407
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R E CO R D I N G M I X I N G M A S T E R I N G PRODUCING Fremantle location. Call Pete Kitchen Cooked Records. Ph 0407 363 764 / 9336 3764 REVOLVER SOUND STUDIO Ph 9272 7505. www.revolverstudio.com.au SONGWRITERS AND BANDS! - 30TH ANNIVERSARY DISCOUNTS! UNLOCK YOU R S O N G ’ S P OT E N T I A L ! F R E E APPRAISALS. UK Producer, 40,000+ hours studio experience, 20 yrs in London. Kicking arrangements. Great studio and the ability to really listen will give your material the edge you need. Call Jerry on 0405 653 338 or visit www.jerichomusic.com.au STUDIO ZED Digital Mastering, Demo’s, albums, Live tracking sessions special from $250 p/day. Studiozed.net.au Ph: 9207 2072 REHEARSAL STUDIOS AAA VHS REHEARSAL ROOMS Great facilities, great vibe & great price!!! Unit 5 /16 Peel Road, O’Connor. Phone 9418 5815 or 0413 732 885 BIGBEAT SOUND STUDIO Clean rooms, all new PA systems, air-con and good parking . Willetton Ph: 0425 698 117. PLATINUM SOUND ROOMS Professional rehearsal rooms, airconditioned, quality PAs mob 0418 944 722 STREAM STUDIO’S 89 Stirling S t , Pe r t h . M o b i l e : 0 4 0 3 1 5 2 0 0 9 info@streamrehearsal.com.au TUITION * * * G U I TA R L E S S O N S * * * N ew Ye a r enrolments, book online. Beg to prof, all styles. Catering to WAAPA and AMEB standards. All tutors have WWC clearance. Cliff Lynton Guitar Institute. Mt Lawley 9342 3484 / www.clifflynton.com BASS GUITAR LESSONS AVAILABLE by WAAPA tutor. A practicle approach to learning. .All styles.Years of experience. Tony Gibbs 9470 6131
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CLASSIFIEDS
ELECTRO HARMONIX MICRO SYNTH It’s been around for a little while, but I thought it would worth shining a light on this delightful pedal, capable of re-creating for guitar the classic warmth of an array of old analog moog synthesizers. The layout comprises of ten sliders, divided into voice control, which has controls for sub octave or higher octave, square wave and the actual guitar tone itself. There is an attack delay and a filter sweep, all of which can be blended, allowing for a great variety of tones. What I love is the versatility; it can provide you with bright, clangy ‘80s style stabs, gentler pulsing whines or, thanks to the attack delay, ghostly backwards sounding tones, as well as all manner of custom combinations in between. But each voice control can also emulate more conventional effects – isolating the sub octave gives you a great bass guitar sound (I wouldn’t recommend doing the same with the higher octave - it tends to produce a rather shrill, squawking sound), the square wave can produce a subtle wah-wah sound, and arranging the filter sweep from high to low frequencies can give you a lovely gentle flanger effect. My only qualm was a distinct lack of sustain, regardless of the setting. But, whether you’re a fan of proggy 1970s noodling (and given that you’re reading Volume, it’s a reasonable chance) or just want to expand the sonic palette at your disposal the MS has you covered. RRP: $549.
CLASSIFIEDS
VE-20 VOCAL PERFORMER EFFECTS PROCESSOR Another interesting oddity is Boss’s new effects pedal for live vocal performance, the VE-20. It has a range of effects which vary from useful and clever to superfluous and gimmicky to downright annoying. The best effect is the harmonizer; by entering in the key of the song, the VE-20 can augment your vocals with two or three part harmonies of impressive quality. Additionally, if you find the default settings unsatisfactory, you can set your own harmony intervals. If that sounds like a bit of cheat, the phrase loop allows you to record up to 38 seconds of singing, which you can then loop and provide your own harmonies to. The VE-20 also has the ability to provide real time pitch correction if you need it. The reverb is nice enough, if a smidge tinny on the upper registers. Now to the superfluous. Let me put it this way: how many of your songs require a strobe effect on the vocals to work? (Incidentally, if the answer is ‘several,’ I don’t think I want to go see your band.) The ‘distortion’ and ‘radio’ effects (exactly what they sound like) are subtler and therefore have wider application, but are still unlikely to become staples of one’s live show. Finally, there is ‘electric’, a truly bizarre and relentlessly undulating faux auto-tune effect which doesn’t even succeed in achieving its completely unwelcome aim. At $299, the VE-20 is certainly not overpriced, but produce a cheaper version shorn of all the nonsense and my recommendation would become entirely unreserved. CHARLIE LEWIS
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