Beat Magazine #1318 by Furst Media

ISSUE 1318 2 MAY 2012

EEEE FFRR

EVERYTHING MELBOURNE – 25 YEARS & COUNTING

online www.beat.com.au email info@beat.com.au telephone (03) 9428 3600 facsimile (03) 9428 3611 print for post publication # 34274800004 04 cab audited

DEVILDRIVER

HUSKY

THE AUTUMN ISLES

THE DARKNESS

100%: ATMOSPHERE

To enhance the safety and welfare of all patrons, Crown enforces the following conditions of entry: Entry is prohibited after 2.00am. Dress standards apply. Customers must be 18 years or over and submit their driver’s licence or other photo identiﬁcation to be scanned upon entry. Customers entering prior to 2.00am will receive a stamp which permits re-entry to the venue after 2.00am at Crown’s discretion. Management reserves all rights. Crown practises responsible serving of alcohol. Personal information collected by Crown will be handled in accordance with Crown’s Privacy Policy.

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THIS WEEK: MIMI VELEVSKA, THE DARKEST HOUR, THE MOUNTAIN GOATS, FLAP!, THE GO SET, EMILY BARKER, SPLIT SECONDS, TOY BOATS, THESE HANDS, DRIFTER

GEORGE GARZONE ANTONIO SANCHEZ

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new album

MASTER OF MY MAKE-BELIEVE includes Big Mouth & Disparate Youth

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From the hit musical

WICKED... Come and experience the other side of this sensational vocalist. Melbourne - The Evelyn, May 13 Tickets $12 + bf available through Moshtix “James is a very gifted artist, he is a great songwriter with one of the best voices I’ve ever recorded, and he works hard- it’s a rare combination”- Sean Carey (Thirsty Merc / Record producer)

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THURSDAY ANNAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S GO GO ACADEMY $10 - 6:30PM

FRIDAY KILLING LIARS LET THEM EAT CAKE FREE ENTRY - 9:30PM

SATURDAY RED HOT RHYTHMAKERS $15 - 8:30PM

SUNDAY LUAU COWBOYS

FREE ENTRY / CHEAP JUGS - 5:00PM

MONDAY $12 STEAK & FREE POOL TUESDAY

$10 VEGAN AND VEGETARIAN MEALS

FOX FOOTY & FOX SPORTS ON THE TV ALL WEEK

dEUS WITH SPECIAL GUESTS

THE PARADISE MOTEL

“Europe’s answer to Sonic Youth. At times like Queens of the Stone Age chilling with a string section ... then it goes full-on purple-rock raining down from Beck’s mansion.” - Drowned In Sound

S U E d D N A B T S E G G I BELGIUM’S B W O H S L A I C E P S F F PL AY A ONE-O

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IN THIS ISSUE...

HOT TALK

TOURING

KAISER CHIEFS

ARTS GUIDE,

ART OF THE CITY

THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE

SEVEN STORIES

HUSKY

INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH FLAP!

THE DARKNESS

MIMI VELEVSKA THE MOUNTAIN GOATS

FLAP! P. 44

THE MOUNTAIN GOATS

THE AUTUMN ISLES 49

DEVILDRIVER

THE DARKEST HOUR FRANK TURNER & THE SLEEPING SOULS SIX FEET UNDER

THIS WEEK IN 100%:

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FRANK TURNER & THE SLEEPING SOULS P. 44 PUBLISHER: Furst Media Pty Ltd. MUSIC EDITOR: Taryn Stenvei ARTS EDITOR / ASSOCIATE MUSIC EDITOR: Tyson Wray EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS: Nick Taras, Bella Arnott-Hoare SUB-EDITORS: Penny Evangelou, Penny Coulson, Jac Manuell GENERAL MANAGER: Patrick Carr SENIOR ADVERTISING/EDITORIAL CO-ORDINATOR: Ronnit Sternfein BEAT PRODUCTION MANAGER: Luke Benge GRAPHIC DESIGNERS: Luke Benge (we’ll miss you!), Matt Crute, Mike Cusack, Rebecca Houlden, Gill Tucker COVER ART: Luke Benge ADVERTISING: Taryn Stenvei (Music: Bands/Tours/Record Labels) taryn@beat.com.au Ronnit Sternfein (100%/Beat/Arts/Education/Ad Agency) ronnit@beat.com.au Aleksei Plinte (Backstage/ Musical Equipment) mixdown@beat.com.au Adam Morgan (Hospitality/Bars) adam@beat.com.au Kris Furst (beat.com.au) kris@furstmedia.com.au 0431 243 808 Grace Arena (Indie Bands/Special Features) grace@furstmedia.com.au CLASSIFIEDS: classiﬁeds@beat.com.au GIG GUIDE SUBMISSIONS: now online at www.beat.com.au or bands email gigguide@beat.com.au ELECTRONIC EDITOR - BEAT ONLINE: Paddington Wray: tyson@beat.com.au

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Patrick Emery, Jesse Shrock. COLUMNISTS: Emily Kelly, Peter Hodgson. CONTRIBUTORS: Tyson Wray, Adam Baidawi, Helen Barradell, Matt Bendall, Cam Binger, Graham Blackley, Chris Bright, Rose Callaghan, Adam Camilleri, Paige Cho, Stefan Chrisp, Nick Clarke, Talitha Conway, Dave Dawson, John Donaldson, Justin Donnelly, Georgia Doyle, Cam Ewart, Paul Fischer, Lawson Fletcher, Jack Franklin, Chris Girdler, Sean Gleeson, Aleisha Hall, Louise Hardwick, Daniel Hedger, Nick Hilton, Lyndon Horsburgh, Briony Jones, Lachlan Kanoniuk, Cassandra Kiely, Greg King, Joshua Kloke, Stuart Lynch, Rhys McCrae, Ruth McIver, Adam McKenzie, Kylie McLaughlin, Nick Mason, Tyler Mathes, Krystal Maynard, Anna Megalogenis, Al Newstead, James Nicoli, John O’Rourke, Matt Panag, Jack Parsons, Liam Pieper, Steve Phillips, David Prescott-Steed, James Ridley, Gav Ross, Leigh Salter, Tim Scott, Denis Semchenko, Side Man, Matt Sutherland, Lin Tan, Steve Tauschke, Brigitte Trobbiani, Rene Schaefer, Melanie Sheridan, Jeremy Sheaﬀe, Kelly Theobald, Andrew Tijs, Alistair Wallis, Etienne Waring, Dan Watt, Rod Whitﬁeld, Katie Weiss, Tom Whitty, Cara Williams, Simon Williamson, Bronius Zumeris. © 2012 Furst Media Pty Ltd. No part may be reproduced without the consent of the copyright holder.

DUST AND DIRT RELEASE TOUR

MELBOURNE

15 JUNE THE CORNER HOTEL TIX FROM THE VENUE AND WWW.CORNERHOTEL.COM

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HOT TALK

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THE AFGHAN WHIGS The wait is over, guys. 25 years after their first gig, The Afghan Whigs are coming to Australia for the first time. The recently reformed ’Whigs first began in Cincinnati in 1986 and became one of the most acclaimed alternative bands of the early ‘90s, developing a dedicated cult following. Playing material from across their catalogue including the seminal albums Congregation and Gentlemen, catch the ‘Whigs at The Hi-Fi on Wednesday July 25.

CABARET NOCTURNE THE RECHORDS METRIC Canadian indie darlings Metric are thrilled to announce their Splendour in the Grass sideshows. Metric will be playing a handful of shows leading up to the festival, kicking off their tour. From platinum record sales to headlining festivals, selling out arenas, performing at a private event for the Queen of England and winning prestigious JUNO Awards for Alternative Album of the Year and Band of the Year, Metric have been nothing short of prolific in their sonic career to date. With the impending release of their fifth studio album Synthetica on June 15, Metric are on the brink of starting yet another meteoric chapter in their musical career. The band are set to play Billboard on Friday July 27.

The ReChords have been a regular on and off at the Gem Hotel in Collingwood over the past two years creating their Saddle Up Sunday residency. This last three month long residency now comes to an end in a huge show on Sunday May 6. The crowds have been coming back again and again, so they might need to knock down some walls to fit everyone in, but no matter how packed it gets, everyone manages to have one hell of a good time. The word has been spreading that the Gem Hotel has been ‘the place’ to go on a Sunday night between 7:30 - 9:30pm with audiences singing along to the tunes they’ve come to know and love. So if you’ve been missing out on all the fun get yourself down this Sunday for the final hoorah.

BOB DYLAN TRIBUTE TOUR

JOE BONAMASSA Joe is heading to the Palais Theatre this Thursday October 11 and will knock your socks oﬀ. His reputation is speedily growing into being one of the world’s greatest guitar players, whilst also evolving into a charismatic blues-rock star and singer-songwriter of stylistic depth and emotional resonance. His ability to connect with live concert audiences is transformational, and his new album Black Rock, brings energy to his recorded music more powerfully than ever before. This is Bonamassa’s tenth solo album and eighth studio release for his career. Black Rock adds an enlivening dose of world vibes to Bonamassa’s virtuoso mix of ‘60s British blues-rock and rootsinﬂuenced Delta sounds. Tickets for the upcoming show are available through Ticketmaster.

NED COLLETTE & WIREWALKER To celebrate the release of their much anticipated second album 2, set for release on Friday May 11, Ned Collette and Wirewalker will perform a string of album launches over June. 2 explores themes of distance and restarting, taking up arms against the neighbours, fantasies of death and decline after the party, butterﬂies, salad, altering cities and forgotten home. Since relocating to Berlin, Collette has toured throughout Europe and has shared stages with the likes of Kurt Vile, Nina Nastasia, Damien Jurado and Tu Fawning. Don’t miss your chance to see Ned Collette & Wirewalker perform at the Northcote Social Club on Saturday June 23, tickets via the venue.

FREE SHIT DEUS Belgium’s biggest artist dEUS are gracing our shores for the ﬁrst time extremely soon. They’ve been describes as Europe’s answer to Sonic Youth, and they’ve enjoyed a career that has spanned 20 years, with their star growing bigger by the day. World-class. We have four double passes to give away to their show at The Corner Hotel on Saturday May 12. Head to beat.com. au/freeshit to get amongst it.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Bob Dylan’s debut The Basement Birds, Eskimo Joe’s Kav Temperley, Josh Pyke, Jebediah’s Kevin Mitchell, Holly Throsby, and Patience Hodgson will be accompanied by a six-piece band under the musical direction of Even’s Ash Naylor. They are teaming up for a tour in honour of Bob Dylan, and performing an array of songs from right across his 47 albumstrong catalogue. The tour will then lead the group to a performance at Splendour In The Grass, where they will be joined by a series of surprise guests from the festival’s lineup. The tour will see two Melbourne shows, both at the Palais Theatre on Thursday July 5 and Friday July 6.

HEAVEN THE AXE Heaven The Axe are what you get when you cross a handful of the best metal musicians that Australia has created (from pioneering bands such as Damaged, Manticor, Terrorust and House Of Thumbs) and get them to play the songs of a bombshell rock chick. Chunky, tight and catchy rock riﬀs backed up by soaring vocals delivered in a high energy bastard child of a show, word on the street is Heaven The Axe is a band not to be missed. Head to the Bendigo Hotel on Saturday May 12, so you won’t miss out. Supports from Bad Karma, System of Venus and Kong Fuzi. Tickets are $10 at the door.

Now in its ninth year the gothic-industrial juggernaut that is Cabaret Nocturne enters another phase in its evolution, as it moves to a new and exciting venue. From Friday May 4 Cabaret Nocturne will be running on the ﬁrst Friday of the month at The Bottom End, Lt Collins Street. With a massive open layout, multiple rooms and a state of the art audio-visual system, Cabaret Nocturne promises to take this monthly night of debauchery to the next level. Playing the music you love and with all the usual amazing drinks prices apply and a few more to-boot so the opening night is sure to be huge.

EAST 17 The ‘90s revivals just keep on coming, this time bringing to you East 17. The band who successfully sold 20 million albums, alongside 18 top twenty singles and four top ten albums, which no ‘90s pop revival could ever be complete without. The hit It’s Alright which stayed at No.1 in the Australian charts for seven weeks), made them the biggest band in Mongolia. When the band visited the country, the airport was so mobbed with fans they had to sneak out through the back doors. Relive the frenzy at Trak on Friday June 8. For old times sake. Tickets are available from Oztix.

YOUTH LAGOON Youth Lagoon, the moniker of 22-year-old Trevor Powers, has been doing anything but sleeping since the release of his debut album. The Year Of Hibernation was a dreamy lo-ﬁ breakthrough of 2011 landing in Pitchfork’s Top 50 albums of the year and set Powers oﬀ on a touring schedule that spanned four continents and over 100 shows. Having captivated Australian audiences on his sell-out tour in February, Powers returns with full band in tow for a series of intimate Splendour sideshows, including the Corner Hotel on Sunday July 29.

It’s the launch party to end all launch parties, Max Crumbs, Galapagoose, Andras Fox and Wooshie are all joining forces to launch their respective releases. Maidenhair is the ﬁrst solo release for Max Kohane under the Max Crumbs alias, who is best known for his work as a drummer and his work with Agents Of Abhorrence. Maidenhair follows in the tradition of instrumental hip-hop pioneers, creatively blending spliced beats and chopped samples to create a fresh collage of sound. Dynamic performer Galapagoose will be launching his new album Commitments, the record has a very DIY and experimental feel to it, using a combination of sampling, home-made percussion and looping. Joining in the festivities will be Andras Fox, launching his mini LP Daydreaming, and Wooshie who will be launching his long awaited Boyfriend Material EP. Check out the quartet as they play the Phoenix Public House on Saturday May 5.

CNR SPRINGVALE & WELLS RD, CHELSEA HEIGHTS PH 9773 4453 WWW.CHELSEAHEIGHTSHOTEL.COM.AU

BABY ANIMALS TIX $37

PUBLIC ENEMY Legendary rap group and social political-icons, Public Enemy have announced a change of date and venue for their Melbourne headline show in May, which will now be held at The Esplanade Hotel on Thursday May 17.

FATHER JOHN MISTY Having departed Fleet Foxes in 2011 after three years on the drum stool, Joshua Tillman celebrates the release of his debut album Fear Fun under the new moniker of Father John Misty with Splendour sideshows in July. The music maintains a gloomy, secretive and yet conversely playful quality. Lyrically, his absurdist fever dreams of pain and pleasure elicit, in equal measures, the blunt descriptive power of Bukowski or Brautigan, the hedonistphilosophy of Oscar Wilde and the dried-out wit of Loudon Wainwright III. Go and experience the soulful musings of Father John Misty at The Corner Hotel on Saturday July 28.

RECLINK COMMUNITY CUP That one day in, uh, June that we like to remember is back in full force this year, with the much-loved Reclink Community Cup returning to Elsternwick after a cameo visit in Sydney earlier in the year. Just as last year’s theme was the dark prince Nick Cave, this year’s motif will be that of The Cramps. Each band performing on the day will slot a Cramps track into their setlist – those bands being none other than Boomgates, reformed ‘80s punks Blue Ruin, and Bunny Monroe Oh, and of course there will be the main event – the mighty Megahertz will try to regain the title of reigning champions from the Rockdogs. The 2012 Reclink Community Cup takes place Sunday June 24 at Elsternwick Park.

THU 10TH MAY

KERSER TIX $17 STEVENS, BRAITHWAITE & BARKER TIX $37

SAT 2ND JUNE

THURS 14TH JUNE

SAT 23RD JUNE

ABSOLUTELY 80’S

WENDY MATTHEWS

CADD & MORRIS

MANNIX/CARNE/RYDER TIX $25

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After he was announced as the headliner of this year’s Splendour In The Grass yesterday, Melbourne fans have been eagerly anticipating the possibility of a Jack White sideshow - especially considering he was one of the select main acts on the poster not to be suﬃxed with “only Australian show”. We can expect a selection of classics from the Jack White canon, which includes The White Stripes, The Racontuers and The Dead Weather material, as well as tracks form his cracking debut solo LP Blunderbuss. Recent shows have been split into two halves – one with an all-female backing band and one with an all-male. Support comes from our very own Lanie Lane, who of course worked with Jack last year to release a 7”. Jack White performs at Festival Hall on Wednesday July 25. Tickets on sale Tuesday May 1.

MAX CRUMBS, GALAPAGOOSE, ANDRAS FOX, WOOSHIE

SAT 5TH MAY

SAT 26TH MAY

JACK WHITE

TIX – DINNER & SHOW $63 SHOW $33

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TIX – DINNER & SHOW $62 SHOW $32

SYN FREE KICK COMPETITION For the third year running, SYN is partnering with the Reclink Community Cup to hold the Free Kick Competition; an initiative for new and emerging bands to play at the 2012 Reclink Community Cup. Bands with members under the age of 30 have the chance to be part of one of Melbourne’s iconic football and music events. Entrants go in the running to be chosen as one of the Free Kick ﬁnalists that will battle it out at The Tote on Thursday May 24. An expert panel of judges from SYN, Triple R 102.7FM, PBS 106.7FM and the Rockdogs will determine the winner. The victor of the Free Kick ﬁnal will play the opening set at the Reclink Community Cup on Sunday June 24 at Elsternwick Park, alongside the Melburnian dream team lineup of Blue Ruin, Boomgates and Bunny Monroe.

HOT TALK

THE BIGGEST IN INTERNATIONAL & NATIONAL NEWS

60 SECONDS WITH… THE STAFFORDS

SPLENDOUR SIDESHOWS BAND OF SKULLS Fresh from performances at Coachella, a UK tour with The Black Keys and a mass of North American shows, Band Of Skulls will play a handful of Splendour sideshows. Having wowed the world with their debut release Baby Darling Doll Face Honey, this will be the ﬁrst taste of their critically lauded new album Sweet Sour live for Australian audiences. A powerhouse on stage, the UK trio is a must-see when they play The Corner Hotel on Thursday July 26.

BIGSOUND 2012 With last year’s event smashing home a reputation as the Southern Hemisphere’s global music gathering, Bigsound has launched its first announcement of speakers and live performers, who will converge on Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley Live Music Precinct from Wednesday September 12 until Friday September 14. Bigsound recently announced its first three keynote speakers to be one of the planet’s most perplexing artists- Ben Lee, EMI Chairman’s Mark Poston and award winning artist and activist David Bridie, to be taking the podium in September. Overseas guests include Jack White’s Third Man Record’s MD Ben Swank, Rene Chambers, Lisa Hresko, David Jimenez-Zumalacarregui, Aly Ehlinger, Charles Caldas and both Nicky and Ben Berger. Local speakers Nick Findlay, Ian Haug, Richard Moffat and Jessica Ducrou round out the speaker announcement. Ten artists have also been confirmed for Bigsound Live with Kate Miller-Heidke, Violent Soho, Eagle and the Worm, The Paper Kites, King Cannons, The Cairos, Oliver Tank, Kira Puru and the Bruise, The Trouble with Templeton and The Preachers, who are all locked in to appear. Ninety more artists are to be revealed. Tickets for Bigsound are now available at the early bird rate of just $295 for Q Music members and $395 for non-members. This discount price is available for one month only and includes entry to all official conference sessions, parties, after parties and live music events.

HANSON With three of Hanson’s six dates selling out almost immediately, the trio have added a second show in Melbourne to their September tour. Back in 1997, Hanson’s album Middle Of Nowhere was owned by one of every ten Australian households, with their most famous single MMMBop holding the number one position in the ARIA charts for nine weeks. This will be the Hanson siblings’ ﬁrst tour of Australia in seven years. In addition to their show on Friday September 14, Issac, Taylor and Zac will be swinging back around and performing an extra show again at the Palace Theatre on Tuesday September 18.

As you’re probably painfully/ecstatically aware, tickets to this year’s Splendour In The Grass were snapped up in record time. For those who missed out, there will still be plenty of shit-hot acts making their way down to ol’ Melbourne town. Break out the highlighters and balance your budget, as well as the bunch announced in this here Hot Talk spread, the following sideshows will be hitting town at the end of July: Howler, Zulu Winter - The Corner, Tuesday July 24 Friends - Northcote Social Club, Wednesday July 25 Michael Kiwanuka & Ben Howard - The Corner, Wednesday July 25 Django Django, Cast Of Cheers - The Corner, Tuesday July 31 Electric Guest - Northcote Social Club, Wednesday August 1

THE TEA PARTY Australian fans of The Tea Party can rejoice at the news that the iconic rock trio will hit Australia to tour Nationally this July, and will be owning The Palais Theatre on Saturday July 14. The Multi-Platinum selling Canadian band has had a long history and love affair with Australian audiences, which began with the band’s first major label album recording in 1993 Splendor Solis, which was championed by triple j, and achieved a Gold selling status. This early success was followed by the critically acclaimed and Platinum Award selling release The Edges Of Twilight. The combined success of these albums cemented the band’s fan base and saw The Tea Party tour Australia 12 times between 1994 and 2004. After 15 years together, The Tea Party went their separate ways in 2005. Reuniting for a series of Canadian shows and festivals in 2011, The Tea Party’s renowned and powerful blues/rock/Indian/MiddleEastern sound, which utilises 12 string guitars and exotic instruments such as sitars, sarods, harmoniums and goblet drums have received an overwhelmingly positive response from fans and media alike which reignited the fire that once was The Tea Party. Tickets available through Ticketmaster.

CASTLE MUSIC FESTIVAL Returning for its sophomore year, the boutique Castle Music Festival is back and is bigger than last year. Featuring a slew of local talent, the 2012 lineup includes the likes of Northeast Party House, Oliver Tank, Flume, Playwrite, Tehachapi, Love Connection, The Smith Street Band, I’lls’, Drunk Mums, Animaux, Sleep Decade, The Murlocs, Electric Sea Spider, A Colourful Storm, Michael Phelps Backstroke (Indian Summer DJs), Clowns, The Bennies, Thrupence, Valentiine, OneTalk, Flash Forest, Cold Hiker, The Oil Baronn, 2Fuddha, Kyowa, Elephant Eyes and Yosemite, with many more to come. The 2012 Castle Music Festival takes place at a secret location (revealed to ticket holders) just outside of Melbourne on Friday June 29 until Sunday July 1. Head to castlemusicfestival.com for the lowdown.

MUSCLES To celebrate the release of Manhood, Muscles will be taking himself oﬀ and around the country to give everyone a taste of what he’s got. Manhood, due out on Friday June 15, is Muscles’ long awaited second album. With its release, he is promising to create an even bigger spectacular, including outrageous props and an elaborate light show to depict all of Muscles’ multiple personalities. The ﬁrst sneak peak of the album is the newly released Ready for a Fight, which is more of a call of arms, rather than a single and more muscles than you can handle. Muscles will be playing Survivor at The Bottom End in Melbourne on Saturday June 16, as well as Groovin’ The Moo on Saturday May 5 and Splendour in the Grass from September 27 to 29.

Define your genre in five words or less: Punchy punky power pop. Bearing the terrible clichéd nature of this question, what do you reckon people will say you sound like? Corey: We get the obvious comparisons, like Elvis Costello or The Kinks, but we occasionally get something out of the blue. Phoebe: Fleetwood Mac was an odd one. Mike: Yeah, Chris (Cheney, who produced their debut) reckoned my voice sounded like Freddie Mercury. Just not as good, obviously. What do you love about making music? Mike: Hearing a recording back and realising that it’s better than you thought it would be. What’ve you got to sell CD-wise? Mike: The Beatles were for sale, we’re giving it away. Two tracks of solid gold – our single, Hollow To The Core and the B-side, Flick Of The Wrist. So, someone is walking past as you guys are playing, they then go get a beer and tell their friend about you... what do they say? Phoebe: I don’t need beer anymore… for my ears have been intoxicated by The Staffords and their delicious sound! Mike: I renounce this life of debauchery! I have found salvation in this unique brand of rock’n’roll. Corey: Also I am criminally insane and need to be incarcerated! Where would you like to be in five years? Mike: Right here, answering this Q and A but with more impressive answers. Do you have a pre-gig ritual? If so, what is it? Mike: Detune the other act’s guitars. Phoebe: Street fight. Definitely. Corey: A good cry. Name an interview question you wish someone would ask you, and answer it. Mike: Is your latest release awesome, or just brilliant? Phoebe: Why yes it is Mike! Mike: And where can I find it? Corey: You can download it for free on triple j Unearthed! When’s the gig and with who? Phoebe: We’re playing The Evelyn Hotel on Wednesday May 2. That’s the big one, but also we’re playing Revolver on Friday May 4 with our mates The Give. Corey: And after that we’re playing Worker’s Club with The Messengers on Monday May 28.

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Beat Magazine Page 13

HOT TALK

THE BIGGEST IN INTERNATIONAL & NATIONAL NEWS

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CHARGE GROUP Charge Group is hitting the road this June in support of their latest release. The long-awaited second album from Sydney’s cinematic art-rock antiheroes has received an abundance of dashing reviews and support, already having been seen as one of the ﬁnest Australian releases for 2012. Joining them will be the former frontman of acclaimed Perth group Snowman, Joe McKee. Catch the two as they play The Tote on Friday June 29.

ALBARE

LOWTIDE Superficially, it would seem relatively easy to define Lowtide’s music. Their reverb drenched, richly layered and heavily textured sound brings to mind bands such as The Cure, Ride, My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive. However, to categorise their sound as simply “shoegaze” is to miss the point entirely. Lowtide produce music which both reflects and refracts reality. Extremely visual in nature, their music exists in a kind of emotional pre-dawn. Its half-lit sound speaks of both isolation and inclusion and manages the rare feat of sounding paradoxically distant and cool while still retaining a beautiful intimacy and warmth. Plus, they’re huge babes. After releasing their Underneath Tonight 7” in 2011 and a brief live hiatus, the band are set to play the Curtin Bandroom on Friday May 4, with support coming from Last Leaves, Whipped Cream Chargers and The Quivers. Get washed away.

THE THOMAS OLIVER BAND New Zealand’s The Thomas Oliver Band will be delivering a robust and gutsy roots sound, like rock’n’roll injected with soul. Rock’n’soul if you will. The TOB have amassed a hoard of fans in their home country thanks to their phenomenal live shows and captivating debut album Baby I’ll Play. The TOB are hitting up The Evelyn on Friday June 1, for a debut Australian show.

SKA NATION 5 From humble beginnings in 2008 and having hosted ska favourites such as Streetlight Manifesto, Nicky Bomba, The One Night Band, Commissioner Gordon, Area 7, The Planet Smashers, The Porkers, Chris Murray, Dan Potthast, The Resignators and many more, it’s time to close the door on Ska Nation. For the ﬁnal episode, a super ska party will be held across the entire Esplanade Hotel complex in St. Kilda on Saturday September 15. There will be 15 bands across three stages including for the very ﬁrst time in Australia, New York City’s The Toasters. Also featuring at Ska Nation 5 will be Melbourne’s own Ska Vendors and The Resignators, Brisbane’s The Kingston Stompers, Wollongong’s Steel City Allstars, Adelaide’s Son of Dad and more.

CLAG One of Australia’s oddest and most compelling bands is back. ‘90s Brisbane kiddiepunks Clag are reforming to launch Pasted Youth Chapter Music’s exhaustive and inspiring reissue of their entire recorded work. When first formed, Clag played a kind of psychotic twee punk, full of one note Casio keyboard solos with lyrics about cows, goldfish, chips and gravy. Their apparent innocence however, was merely a front, disguising the examinations of the human psyche that grew darker as the band progressed. When seen live the band would face away from the audience and play with masks taped to the backs of their heads, or dress in hospital gowns and bedeck the stage with fluffy Mr Men toys. Musically, they were equally confusing, staking out a bizarre middle ground between the Shaggs, Bikini Kill and the Banana Splits. In short, Clag were one of the most head scratchingly strange bands in the world, and those who came across them, either recoiled immediately or developed a lifelong obsession. Clag are playing Melbourne’s Tote Hotel on Sunday May 20, for an afternoon BBQ show from 3pm ‘til 8pm. Support is from the Ancients, Inevitable Orbit, Stationary Suns and Chapter Music DJs. Entry is $10+bf from Oztix or $13 on the door.

A DAY BY THE GREEN Drunken Cowboy Productions and Cold Harbour are proud to be presenting St. Kilda’s seventh A Day By The Green on Saturday May 5. Featuring ten fantastic local musical acts including the likes of Vic Meehan with Dave Moll, Chaos Kids, Burn In Hell, Bugdust, Cold Harbour and to close the proceedings a very special mystery band. Doors open at 3pm with the music beginning at 3.30pm. There’s a sausage sizzle and, of course, drinks are at bowling club prices. Come down to the St. Kilda Bowling Club on Saturday to see ten great bands for a measly $15 – cheaper than half a tank of petrol!

Albare visits the Melbourne Recital Centre as part of the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, to perform songs from his forthcoming album release- Long Way, and his extensive back catalogue. Long Way was recently recorded in New York, with some of the world’s ﬁnest musicians featuring on the album. For one time only, this lineup of international players are visiting Australia to play, which include the triple Grammy Award winning drummer- Antonio Sanchez, George Garzone, Leo Genovese, Hendrick Muerkens, and Albare’s musical collaborator, bassist and composer Evri Evripidou. The Melbourne Recital Centre’s stage will be lit up on Tuesday June 5, with doors opening from 7.10pm. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster for $69+bf.

PUNK FEST ‘80s Australian punk and hardcore band Perdition, are back and have been since early 2011, recording and releasing, the 3D Radio Live To Air 2011, launched at Richmond’s The Central Club on Monday May 28. Saturday June 2 begins The Perdition 2012 Punk Fest Tour at The Espy, launching Reactor Records’ twenty third release Not Just Another Anthology. Special guests include Vicious Circle, Speed Demons, Bastard Squad, 1-2-FU and Tasmania’s Bulletproof, which are the beginning of what The Espy hope will be an annual tradition of Punk Fests. Doors open at 6pm, with the first band- Bulletproof kicking off at 7pm. Merchandise from all bands, will be available for purchase on the night. Presale tickets are available at The Espy Booking Office, as well as online and through Oztix for $15+bf.

NICKY BOMBA One of Australia’s busiest and highly respected musicians Nicky Bomba has jumped on his musical boat again to deliver a party filled island adventure with his new band Bustamento. The first single Manana, is a jitterbuggin, upbeat ska infused expedition that ticks all the right tropical boxes. The forthcoming album entitled Intrepid Adventures to the Lost Riddim Islands, finds Nicky sourcing both classic and rare tunes whilst writing a whole swag of new songs in keeping with the form, covering the calypso, mento, early reggae and ska styles. Catch Nicky and his new band bust out some smooth tunes as they play the Thornbury Theatre on Friday June 15 and the Williamstown RSL on Sunday June 17, tickets through the venues and Oztix.

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TOURING

WHO'S ON TOUR, WHERE AND WHEN

PROUDLY PRESENTS:

For all the latest touring news check out beat.com.au

INTERNATIONAL ANDREW W.K. Corner Hotel May 4 ORBITAL Palace Theatre May 4 DEVILDRIVER, DARKEST HOUR Billboard The Venue May 6 FU MANCHU Hi-Fi May 6, 7 THE DARKNESS Palace Theatre May 8, 9 WAVVES Corner Hotel May 9 FRANK TURNER AND THE SLEEPING SOULS The Espy May 10 THE MOUNTAIN GOATS The Toff In Town May 9, Corner Hotel May 10 dEUS Corner Hotel May 12 PRINCE Rod Laver Arena May 14, 15, 30 PUBLIC ENEMY The Espy May 17 KAISER CHIEFS Palace Theatre May 16 THE MACABEES The Hi-Fi May 16 MUTEMATH Corner Hotel May 15, 17 NICKI MINAJ Hisense Area May 18 NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK/BACKSTREET BOYS Rod Laver Arena May 18, 19 BRIAN JONESTOWN MASACRE The Forum Theatre May 19 FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE Rod Laver Arena May 20 BARRY ADAMSON Corner Hotel May 23 S CLUB 7 The Palace May 23 VIVID LIVE Sydney May 25 - June 3 MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND Northcote Social Club May 28 YOUNG GUNS The Hi-Fi May 30 LIGHT ASYLUM Phoenix Public House June 1 SIMPLE PLAN Festival Hall June 2 ZOLA JESUS The Toff In Town June 2, June 3 ALBARE Melbourne Recital Centre June 5 SISTER SLEDGE The Hi-Fi June 7 REEF Billboard June 8 EAST 17 Trak June 8 TRAIN The Palais June 9 MARK KOZELEK The Toff In Town June 9, Phoenix Public House June 11 FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS The Plenary July 14 THE BLACK SEEDS Corner Hotel June 15 THE SHINS Festival Hall July 23 LADY GAGA Rod Laver Arena June 27, 28, 30, July 1, 3

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GOATWHORE Corner Hotel July 6 THE TEA PARTY The Palais Theatre July 14 MELISSA ETHERIDGE The Plenary July 15 HOWLER, ZULU WINTER The Corner Hotel July 24 THE AFGHAN WHIGS The Hi-Fi July 25 FRIENDS Northcote Social Club July 25 MICHAEL KIWANUKA & BEN HOWARD The Corner Hotel July 25 JACK WHITE Festival Hall July 25 BAND OF SKULLS The Corner Hotel July 26 METRIC Billboard July 27 FATHER JOHN MISTY The Corner Hotel July 28 SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS Belongil Fields Byron Bay July 27 – 29 THE ENGLISH BEAT Corner Hotel August 30 DJANGO DJANGO, CAST OF CHEERS The Corner Hotel July 31 ELECTRIC GUEST Northcote Social Club August 1 HANSON The Palace September 14, 18 R KELLY To be announced WHEATUS Corner Hotel September 19 JOE BONAMASSA Palais Theatre October 11 THE BLACK KEYS Sidney Myer Music Bowl October 31 RADIOHEAD Rod Laver Arena November 16, 17

NATIONAL DAPPLED CITIES Northcote Social Club May 4 GOSSLING Thornbury Theatre May 5 HUSKY Corner Hotel May 6 BEN WELLS & THE MIDDLE NAMES The Toﬀ In Town May 9 KIMBRA Palais Theatre May 9 SPLIT SECONDS Northcote Social Club May 10 CALLING ALL CARS The Hi-Fi May 11 JOSH PYKE The Forum May 11 MICK THOMAS The Regal Ballroom May 11 DANIEL MERRIWEATHER Phoenix Public House Saturday May 12 CATCALL Toﬀ In Town May 12 LEADER CHEETAH Northcote Social Club May 19 BOY & BEAR The Hi-Fi May 20 CLAG The Tote May 20

METRIC Billboard, July 27 PROUDLY PRESENTS:

BONJAH Corner Hotel, June 8 TIJUANA CARTEL Northcote Social Club May 24 TUMBLEWEED The Tote May 25, 26 LANIE LANE Corner Hotel May 26, 27, 28 TEMPER TRAP The Forum May 29, 30 TZU Corner Hotel June 1 GRAVEYARD TRAIN The Hi-Fi June 1, 2 THE JEZABELS Festival Hall June 1 THE MISSION IN MOTION The Tote June 2 MATT CORBY The Forum June 6 BONJAH Corner Hotel June 8 THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT The Hi-FI June 8 DEEP SEA ARCADE Phoenix Public House June 8 THE HARD-ONS The Tote June 9 360 The Hi-Fi June 15 NICKY BOMBA Thornbury Theatre June 15 MISSY HIGGINS Her Majesty’s Theatre June 16 MUSCLES The Bottom End June 16

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NED COLLETTE & WIREWALKER Northcote Social Club June 23 BUSBY MAROU The Corner June 28 CHARGE GROUP The Tote June 29 BOB DYLAN TRIBUTE TOUR Palais Theatre July 5, 6 KARNIVOOL The Hi-Fi July 5, 6, 7 LADYHAWKE Billboard July 17 YOUTH LAGOON The Corner Hotel July 29 KATE MILLER-HEIDKE Corner Hotel August 24 HILLTOP HOODS Festival Hall August 25

RUMOURS That a rap or hip hop artist might actually book, arrive in and tour Australia one day. = New Announcements = Beat Proudly Presents

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Beat Magazine Page 17

KAISER CHIEFS BY ALASDAIR DUNCAN

For all their catchy hooks and festival-friendly choruses, there has always been something a bit dark and misanthropic about the Kaiser Chiefs. Take songs like Never Miss A Beat or I Predict A Riot – superficially bouncy though the music might be, both have lyrics that tap into a deep dissatisfaction with the state of the world. Singer Ricky Wilson agrees that the band’s attitude to life has always been a somewhat cynical. “We write songs about society, not songs about love,” he says, “and that’s quite unfashionable these days, but that’s always the kind of subject matter that has interested us. If you take a look at our biggest songs, they all come from quite a dark place, lyrically.” Where previous albums have played on the tension between the brightness of the melodies and the curmudgeonly quality of the lyrics, Kaiser Chiefs’ most recent release, The Future Is Medieval, is dark and angry-sounding, with arrangements that have finally having caught up with the words. “I suppose the most recent album is a blending of subject matter and music, more so than we’ve done before,” Wilson agrees. “I think that in the beginning we were really excited because suddenly we were doing the thing we always wanted to do, and we were jumping around the room and bouncing off the walls, and I think that was probably reflected in our early records. Musically, we’ve gotten darker, but I think that what we’ve done this time is pretty special.” The Future Is Medieval was a risky album in more ways than just this. The band chose to release the album in a highly unconventional manner, releasing a total of 23 tracks through their website, from which fans could choose any ten they wanted and customise the artwork in any way they pleased. It was a bold move, but, as Wilson says, a necessary one at this point in their career. “We were doing something we’d wanted to do our entire lives: we were in a band, releasing records and touring the world – but something wasn’t working. Our enthusiasm just wasn’t there – we needed a push, and it took releasing this record in an unconventional way to do that. If we’d done it any other way, I don’t think we’d have done it at all, to be honest.” If Kaiser Chiefs were feeling glum when they recorded their new album, touring it looks set to lift their spirits. On stage is where they feel most at home, and as Wilson is keen to tell me, live performance is the most important part of the process. “I remember every show I’ve ever done,” he says. “I wish I could bottle the feeling I get from going on stage and performing. I mean, it would all amount to nothing unless we got to bring the songs to your doorstep,” he says. “Writing songs in a room is one thing. I know I’ve been Beat Magazine Page 18

criticised in the past for being some kind of applause junkie, of making music for other people, but I don’t think it’s like that. I think that the ultimate reward of creating art is for people to witness it, and a really big part of that is live performance.”

“WE WERE DOING SOMETHING WE’D WANTED TO DO OUR ENTIRE LIVES: WE WERE IN A BAND, RELEASING RECORDS AND TOURING THE WORLD – BUT SOMETHING WASN’T WORKING.” He retreats into self-deprecating mode at this point. “I don’t want to sound bonkers when I call it ‘art’,” he says with a nervous laugh, as if anticipating all the ways his quote could be taken out of contest. “What we isn’t at the higher end of that spectrum, but we think that when it comes to the process of writing and recording music, playing it live should be the climax. I think it’s far more important than release dates and physical copies or any of that stuﬀ – the most important thing is the live experience.” Performing live, Wilson goes on to tell me, is a form of necessary release for him – some people run for miles every morning as an outlet for their energy; he formed a band. “I’m not an applause junkie,” he says again, unprompted, “but playing live is my outlet.”

DISCUSS WHAT? BEAT.COM.AU/DISCUSSION

I ask Wilson if the band consider the dynamics of the live show when writing songs, but he demurs, “As soon as you start playing a song live in front of audiences, it becomes a different beast all together. Oh My God is an example of that – that song has gotten longer and longer in the show. I remember when we broke the four-minute barrier for the first time – it was at a gig in Paris, and we didn’t want to stop playing it, so we just kept going, carrying on and on, and it went down really well.” Anyone who’s caught one of the band’s energetic headlining sets at a festival knows just how greatly Kaiser Chiefs value the connection with their audience. “The crowd dictates whether a song is a good live song or not – always,” Wilson says. Things get a little prickly when I bring up a quote from a recent interview with Wilson’s band-mate Nick Hodgson, in which he lamented the state of guitar music, claiming it to be at an ‘all-time low’. He was speaking in terms of the chart performance of guitar music, and the general dearth of festival slots for young guitar bands, but when I ask Wilson how he feels about this situation, he goes on the defensive. “You know, the internet being the way it is, people trawl it and take one thing you said off-hand to a local paper somewhere and turn it into a quote,” he says. “I mean, Nick was right in some respects, but he wasn’t saying that there aren’t people out there making guitar music. There are a million garages on a million streets full of kids making great music, but it’s not in the charts. Fashions come and go, but you can’t think about that, you just have to keep doing what you love. I mean, guitar music might be at an all-time high, but it’s just not in the charts at the moment because it’s not fashionable. A lot of great art comes out of dips and troughs, and struggling against what’s popular, breaking away from it.” I ask Wilson if he therefore sees a renaissance for young guitar bands happening any time soon, but he seems unsure. “I really don’t know. I mean, it’s not up to me,” he says. “I’m not the one making those decisions. Millions and millions of people dictate those kinds of things. We’re a guitar band, we make music and we’ll continue to do so – we’ll keep writing Kaiser Chiefs songs, and it’s as simple as that. When we brought out our first record, the kind of thing we were doing was very fashionable, and that probably helped us along, but I mean, I think you should just rely on the quality of what you’re doing and not worry about any of the bullshit that’s out there with fashion, just keep doing what you believe in and not worry about anything else.” KAISER CHIEFS play The Palace Theatre on Wednesday May 16, as well as Groovin’ The Moo in Bendigo on Saturday May 5 (sold out). SOUVENIR: The Singles 2004 – 2012 will be out on Friday May 11 via Liberation.

WASTE MANAGEMENT PRESENTS

WITH SPECIAL GUESTS

BRITISH INDIA

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FRI MAY 25TH

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CORNER HOTEL

ONLY MELBOURNE SHOW

Beat Magazine Page 19

THIS WEEK: ON SCREEN Do you hate it when the douchebags around you in a cinema eat loudly and rustle M&M packets? Well, Southgate hosts free ﬁlms on Tuesday and Wednesday nights at Melbourne’s only silent deck chair cinema, and customers are provided with individual headphones and audio kits to listen to the ﬁlm, or you can bring your own headphones. This week, they’ll be showing Pretty Woman on Wednesday May 2 and Woody Allen’s fucking brilliant Midnight In Paris on Tuesday May 8. Book online for your free tickets, sit back in the deck chairs and relax under the open atrium. Check out celebratesouthgate.com.au for more info.

ON STAGE The Wheeler Centre and St James Ethics Centre join forces once more to present another series of Intelligence Squared Debates, this time on the topic “Freedom of Speech is Overrated”. Established in 2002, IQ2 has spread from across the globe, bringing the traditional form of Cambridge and Oxford Unionsstyle debating – with two sides proposing and opposing a sharply formed motion – to Melbourne Town Hall. Arguing for the proposition will be Marcia Langton, Michael Gawenda and Catherine Deveny. Speaking for the opposing side will be Julian Burnside, Gretel Killeen and Arnold Zable. Too often, the big issues feel ill-served by parliamentary question time or the 24hour news cycle. Big issues and bigger ideas deserve informed and passionate consideration. Beyond the soundbites, beyond the sloganeering, beyond the posturing, there’s the debate. It’s on at Melbourne Town Hall next Tuesday May 5 at 6.30pm. Check out wheelercentre.com for more info.

ON DISPLAY From the inﬂuences of Japan comes the work of Japanese born and Melbourne based artist, Mami Yamanaka, as she deals with patterns with the same sensitivity for which traditional Japanese design is best known. Drawing in circular motions and incorporating forms that symbolise her experience of migration, the intricate forms she produces reﬂect both the fragility of nature and the abundance of inner experience. Get a taste of Japanese culture and art as Mami Yamanaka displays her show, Silent Yesterday, at Flinders Lane Gallery until Saturday May 5.

BEAT’S PICK OF THE WEEK:

STOCKHOLM BY BELLA ARNOTT-HOARE

Stockholm Syndrome, in the case of Red Stitch’s new play Stockholm, has been used as a disturbing analogy to diagnose abusive lovers’ entanglements. When two damaged people join in a kind of unholy matrimony, things can go awry easily, and according to ensemble actor Brett Cousins, growing to love your captor is the perfect allegory. “Your captor in this case is your partner, who you love. But who you also potentially want to…” he pauses to ruminate, as he considers the weight of his next statement, “…rip their face oﬀ.”

The launch of the nationally touring exhibition of works by Pop Art maestro Roy Lichtenstein will open at the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery in April. Featuring over 100 works plus ﬁlm and photographic stills of the artist dating from the ‘50s to the ‘90s, the exhibition explores the artist’s extraordinary development from the intriguing pre-Pop precursor works through to the slick, intelligent and humorous works that stand as icons of ‘60s and ‘70s America. The exhibition will also include newly restored and digitised, rare, candid photography and ﬁlm components drawn from the Kenneth Tyler Photographic and Film and Sound Collections at the NGA to reveal a fascinating insight into the artist’s collaborative working methods in the creation of a number of his best-known printed series. Roy Lichtenstein: Pop Remix is on display at the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery until Monday June 11. Check out mprg.mornpen.vic.gov.au for more information.

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These violent terms are speciﬁc to the play. Speaking to Cousins on the eve of the its premiere, he says, “It happens almost literally in [Stockholm], but it’s about why we come back to people who perhaps punish us over and over again, or will destroy each other over and over again with a cycle of sex and violence. And when you’ve got that much sex and violence [it creates] a sort of co-dependence. You become addicted to it, the drama – or some could argue the purity to it.” Cousins does relate that he’s used his own experiences to inform the role. Though now ensconced happily in a healthy marriage his younger years were marred by experiences of jealousy and possessiveness, something we can all identify with and which he necessarily mined to give his character life. Not an easy process. “There’s a lot of conversation in the rehearsal room about what we’ve been through and it really does – I imagine most people would come and see a ring of truth to at least elements of the play. But we are deﬁnitely drawing on our past personal, physical, sexual experiences. All of us. The director - everyone. “ Sometimes erotic, sometimes macabre, the story of two young lovers plumbs both the depths and heights of relationships – their excitement, whimsy and ecstasy; their potential abuses and entrapments. “It’s a beautiful play I think,” says Cousins. “Because of the way it’s written and the way it’s movement oriented – there’s

lovely tender moments and some funny moments in the play. But I think at the core of it there’s some really troubling issues that [playwright Briony Lavery] is trying to address.“

“YOU BECOME ADDICTED TO IT, THE DRAMA – OR SOME COULD ARGUE THE PURITY TO IT.” Performing scenes classed as “erotic” or “violent” is certainly a test for an actor. Far from an insipid role, his ability to throw himself into a part like this shows he and co-star Luisa Hastings Edge are worth their acting salt. Was it uncomfortable, I ask? “Uncomfortable – yes. I mean, there’s some violence in it. Real violence, and there’s sexual stuﬀ. That would have been far more uncomfortable if Lu and I hadn’t found a trust.” And the actors who play these demanding parts were virtual strangers before they began working together. But his familiarly with his co-star now is obvious, considering the varying familiar colloquial terms he uses

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to name her. “There were challenges with Lulu and I. We’ve gotten along really well, and gone to the places we have to go. If you’re not in a place personally where you can move forward you’re really stuffed from the beginning. But we’ve found that understanding and that trust between us so that’s been good.” Reaching this goal did take up much of their five weeks training for the role, according to Cousins. “Infamous” director Tanya Girstle pushed them both to their physical and emotional limits, a taxing experience for the actors. “We’ve been met deep in this and she asks a lot of her actors, was the advice I got when I did my homework on her. She’s awesome, but she will push you to your limits and that’s what’s happened. “But you need to be very flexible as an actor, and very adaptable and malleable. You’ve got to be able to leap great emotional distances in a short time. So that’s been really challenging. Especially working on pieces of the play and putting them all together, needing that dexterity has really been a big challenge.” Perhaps the most interesting aspect is the intent of the playwright. Whether she’s a brilliant writer of fiction or has been involved in a similar romantic-hostage situation remains to be seen. Beneath its flourishes in movement, a reincarnation of what was originally a movement and musical place, there’s no doubt the piece is deeply dark. “I think [Briony Lavery] is interested in how things can get out of control. How relationships can go to places because of that addiction to sex and violence and drama and discordance.” Perhaps though, Cousins says there’s a message. “Especially when you’re growing up you do get into situations and relationships where you go through jealousy and possessiveness and dysfunction. But you look back and you learn to understand what a healthy relationship is. There’s certainly things that, relationship situations I was in and I tolerated that – things I did that I would never do now. It’s part of growing up. You learn from them.” Stockholm plays at Red Stitch Actors Theatre until Saturday May 26.

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THE COMIC STRIP CHECKPOINT CHARLIE COMEDY

With Tyson Wray. Got news, gossip, reviews, thoughts, tip-oﬀs, complaints, hate mail? Email tyson@beat.com.au or send by ESP before Friday.

WOODY ALLEN: A DOCUMENTARY He’s one of the most highly regarded and renowned movie masters of our time and, in such fashion, must be celebrated. As part of its Long Play program, ACMI will present the Australian premiere of Woody Allen: A Documentary, paying homage to the remarkable career of arguably America’s premier auteur, comedian and neurotic. For 60 years, Woody Allen has been a prolific filmmaker giving us cause to laugh, cry, contemplate and at time cringe. His distinctive voice has developed over the years from a comedy writer for television to producing some of the most seminal films in cinematic history. Celebrate all things Woody Allen as Woody Allen: A Documentary screens at ACMI from Friday June 1 – Monday June 18.

BINGO UNIT The Next Wave Festival just keeps delivering. Fancy yourself to be a bit of a television buﬀ? Enjoy getting in amongst the action? Well, now you can. Sydney’s Team MESS are headed our way to ﬁlm the pilot episode of BINGO Unit. The team will shoot each scene repeatedly over the course of a select day with as many participants as turn up in an allocated time frame. Then it’s onto the Arts House Meat Market, where audiences on a Warner Brothers style back-lot-tour will watch the footage, uncover the magic and put together the missing pieces of the puzzle. All you need to do? Rock up to numerous public sites around town on May 8, 10, 12, 14 and 19. For more information, head to nextwave.org.au.

BLOKK

CAMPFIRE FILM FESTIVAL

We’ve all heard of The Block, but now it’s time for us to feel our heads with everything BLOKK. Exciting street artist, Ian Blokkeerus – who’s down for designing bars here and there around Melbourne, is getting ready to recreate Sailor Jerry’s ‘40s style tattoos as life-size pieces airbrushed onto board. His works are sure to take you on a trip which is not only entertaining and visually pleasing, but also nostalgic and quite an interesting visual experience. Because, let’s face it, it’s very raw that we see tattoos in life size. Hogan Art Gallery will host BLOKK from Friday May 4 – Thursday May 17.

Our good friends at ACMI are helping put on this unique, short film festival to help high school students negotiate the complexities of modern life. How they do this: by examining the often-neglected themes of philosophy, personal values and spirituality. The Campfire Film Festival will bring together students, teachers, filmmakers and film critics in an event that is sure to inspire imagination amongst future generations. The Campfire Film Festival will be held on Saturday May 12. Visit campfire.org.au/cff2012 to learn more.

THE STREAM/THE BOAT/THE SHORE/THE BRIDGE

Running hand in hand with the Melbourne Jazz Festival for the fourth consecutive year, ACMI will present its week long film program Jazz On Film – a program that will focus on two artists who found their inspiration in jazz: Terence Blanchard and Woody Allen. Consisting of five films, this year’s season brings forth works from both men, including Blanchard’s Summer of Sam and the until now theatrically unreleased Cadillac Records, as well as Allen’s Sweet and Lowdown and his infamous Bullets Over Broadway. This year’s ACMI Jazz On Film will screen from Sunday June 3 – Saturday June 9. Information, session times and tickets are all available at acmi.net.au.

As audience members, it’s rare to have the pleasure of being in amongst the stage action. Well, most of the time it is, anyway. How about watching a performance on a boat down the Yarra? Well, this quirky little piece, The Stream/The Boat/The Shore/The Bridge (try say that three times fast) has it all. As part of the Next Wave Festival, the unique performance invites its audiences to literally be part of the journey as its performers take a small audience of no more than four in a boat down Yarra River. And together, like any good water fable, they embark on an adventure. Celebrate The Stream/The Boat/The Shore/The Bridge as each journey begins at Southbank Wharf from Saturday May 19 – Sunday May 27. For more information, head to nextwave.org.au.

WE ARE ALL FLESH This is deﬁnitely one that PETA won’t be happy with. The ACCA is thrilled to announce an upcoming exhibition of selected works from extraordinary Belgian sculptor, Belinda De Bruyckere. Using things such as wax, wood, wool, horse skin and hair, Belinda creates haunting sculptures of humans, animals and trees in metamorphosis. If that wasn’t oddly creepy and cool at the same time, her studio where she creates these immaculate sculptures is an old neo-Gothic Catholic school house. Add a bit of haunt into your life. Go check out Belinda De Bruyckere’s We Are All Flesh as it dons the walls of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art from Saturday June 2 – Sunday July 29.

Arj Barker Joy Harvest

JAZZ ON FILM

LADY JULIA MORRIS She brings you to tears of laughter from her stand-up routines, she made us all fall in love with her character even more so on Celebrity Apprentice, and now Lady Julia Morris is getting ready to put a bit of ooh-la-la back in our lives. Yep, she’s getting ready to embark on her ﬁrst ever national city tour with her latest show, No Judgement, about things that we can all relate to – surviving everyday frustrations and trying not to kill people in the process. Lady Julia Morris will perform her No Judgements routine at The Atheneum Theatre on Saturday November 3. Tickets on sale through Ticketek now.

21 CHALLENGE What could you do, or even do without, every day for 21 days to help homeless young people? Take the 21 Challenge, that’s what. OFA’s 21 Challenge is your chance to help homeless youth by doing something you love, perhaps something you don’t love, or maybe something you’ve never done before, for 21 continuous days in June. Unlike similar challenges, it’s all up to personal preference what you want to do with your 21 days. More than 32,000 young Australians will sleep on the street each night and young people aged between 12-18 years are the largest group experiencing homelessness. All you need to do is choose your challenge, register online at 21challenge.com.au, and get people to donate money to the cause. Make a diﬀerence.

WARREN SPECTOR Gaming nerds unite, because ACMI have recently announced that creator of popular videogame titles Deus Ex and Disney Epic Mickey, Warren Spector, will visit Australia in June for the opening of the centre’s Game Masters exhibition as part of the Melbourne Winter Masterpieces. Being the third international guest to be announced to be attending the event, Spector will appear alongside Dungeon Keeper creator, Peter Molyneux, and Psychonauts creator, Tim Schafer, each of whom will take part in public programs including education and industry programs. Also, any big fans of the great gaming man will be happy to hear that you will also get the opportunity to get up close and personal with him. Game Masters will head to ACMI as part of Melbourne Winter Masterpieces from Thursday June 28 – Sunday October 28. Tickets on sale now through the ACMI website.

THE AUSTRALIAN POPS ORCHESTRA

The seeds of laughter have yielded a bountiful and veritable banquet of succulent, pesticide-free comedy.

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The Australian Pops Orchestra is back this May for two shows only at The Palms at Crown on Friday May 18 and Saturday May 19. With an all-star lineup, the Australian Pops Orchestra is joined by radio, TV and musical theatre performer Todd McKenney along with music director and TV personality John Foreman. Also joining them on the night will be McKenney’s co-star from the Annie stage show, the talented Chloe Dallimore. Known as the people’s orchestra, The Australian Pops Orchestra presents music for the people. Presenting an exciting programs across a broad spectrum of popular music – you can expect to hear anything from Bolero to The Beatles, Gershwin to Tchaikovsky, Strauss waltzes to the classic rhythms of Cole Porter or the haunting melodies of Andrew Lloyd-Webber, there’ll also be an Abba medley on the night and McKenney and Dallimore are set to impress the audience with a special performance of Tomorrow taken from Annie.

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Cheap piss and piss-cheap entry at the city's premier above-ground underground comedy room. Tonight, come ﬁll yourself with $6 drinks and put your continence to the ultimate test as crowd favourite Bart Freebairn hosts another rad lineup including Jason Chatﬁeld, Beau Stegmann, Don Tran, Mike Nayna and more. Plus a surprise headliner! And they'll all be spitting funnies into the business end of a loud stick. Check in 8pm tonight at Eurotrash Bar, 18 Corrs Lane, Melbourne. $5 entry.

FELIX BAR COMEDY Tonight at Felix Bar, the headliner is the man who sold out his run at the recent comedy festival, so here’s your chance to see him! It’s one of Melbourne’s best, Dave Thornton! You’ll have seen him on the telly, but probably not at the festival unless you were lucky! They’ve also got red-hot Ronny Chieng, Khaled Khalafalla, Hayman Kent and heaps more! Come down and check out the biggest night of comedy in St Kilda, every Wednesday night! It's happening this Wednesday May 2 at 8.30pm for only $12, at Felix Bar, 11 Fitzroy St, St Kilda.

SOFTBELLY COMEDY

This Thursday, they’ve got the winner of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s best newcomer award, Ronny Chieng! All his shows were sold out, so here’s your chance to see what all the fuss is about! Plus Khaled Khalafalla, Tegan Higginbotham, Karl Woodberry and more! It's all happening at Softbelly, 367 Little Bourke St in the city, this Thursday May 3 at 8.30pm, for only $12! Get in early for a good seat!

COMMEDIA DELL PARTE Come on down to the George Lane Bar this Thursday as they present another great bunch on comics including David Quirk, Neil Sinclair, Cam Marshal, Sean Bedlam, Dale Craig, Ethan Addie, Nick Johnson and Geoﬀ Setty. Get in early to secure yourself a comfy couch and go into the draw for some great prizes from Punchline. The room runs on a ‘pay as you like’ basis, so come along and have a great laugh, then pay what you believe the show is worth on the way out. So if you enjoy the show chuck in a few sheckles and show your appreciation. Commedia Dell Parte runs every Thursday 8.30pm at George Lane Bar, 1 George Lane, St Kilda.

COMEDY AT SPLEEN Another rollicking Comedy at Spleen is promised this Monday, with the host being the hottest name from the Comedy Festival, Ronny Chieng! Ronny won best newcomer, and he’s sure to host the shit out of Monday! Along with a lovely lineup including Don Tran, Steele Saunders, Tegan Higginbotham, Daniel Connell, Gerard McCulloch and more, it’s gonna be gooood. It’s this Monday May 7, 41 Bourke St, in the city, at 8.30pm. It may be free, but we appreciate a good gold coin donation at the door!

SHITS N GIGGLES This Tuesday welcomes Melbourne's newest weekly comedy room, Shits n Giggles Comedy, at The Lounge on Swanston St. Times are tough, so come out of the cold and in for some warm and hearty laughs for free. Yep that's right, Melbourne's top comics every week all for free. This week they have the wonderful Justin Hamilton as MC, fresh from his sold out run at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Added to that is the fabulously talented headline act, Ryan Coﬀey, as well as Jonathan Schuster, Beau Stegmann, Simon Keck, Hayman Kent and Dilruk Jayasinha. Seven acts for zero dollars, and a free jug every week for one lucky entrant, how can you say no? All at the Lounge, 243 Swanston St from 8pm.

ST KILDA FILM FESTIVAL Every year it comes around, and every year we love it more and more. Now in its 29th year, there seems to be no slowing down for the mature (yet still young at heart) St Kilda Film Festival. Think about it – six days of must-see short films and industry events. Can’t get much sweeter than that, right? Renowned as the premiere short film festival in Australia, SKFF screens Australia’s Top 100 short films in competition alongside the best new music videos in SoundKILDA. Also included in the program is an international showcase, youth programs, filmmaker development series and industry networking events. It’s everything that any movie fan would want, plus loads more. The St Kilda Film Festival is on from Tuesday May 22 – Sunday May 27.

THE SEED FUND Applications are now open to apply for The Seed Fund, a corporation that supports emerging musicians, artists and arts workers via their three grant categories and five strategic initiatives in 2012. Grants and initiatives are made financially possible by donations from within the music and arts community and it’s with thanks to their many donors, most of whom are industry professionals, that they are able to offer grants to artists in the early stages of their careers. To apply, head to theseedfund.org.

THE BOOTLEG BEATLES Formed from the West End cast of the Broadway musical Beatlemania, The Bootleg Beatles are the world's premier Beatles tribute band. In a memorable career, they have played the main stage at Glastonbury, supported Oasis, performed on The Graham Norton Show and performed for the Queen. Now, they’re bringing their amazing multimedia production to Melbourne. They play Frankston Arts Centre on Friday May 11 at 8pm.

THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967-1975 BY PATRICK EMERY

The story of the American civil rights movement, led the charismatic southern Baptist preacher Dr Martin Luther King Jr, is reasonably well known. Less feted is the Black Power movement, conceived in the turbulent mid 1960s, and constructed in contrast to King’s philosophy of nonviolent resistance. The confrontational rhetoric of African-American radical leaders such as Stokely Carmichael, Angela Davis and Black Panthers protagonists Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver, Huey Newton would send shivers down the spine of the American social and political establishment. In the late 1960s a stream of Swedish documentary film-makers, fascinated by the United States’ internal dramas, sought to document the public and private statements of Black Power leaders. In the 1970s, the cameras were turned on the gritty, drug-infested reality of life in inner-city American cities, most notably the suburban of Harlem in uptown Manhattan. Save for a documentary shown on Swedish television in the early 1970s – which provoked outrage from the United States government, and the recall of the United States ambassador to Sweden – much of the footage remained lost, and with it a large chunk of the world’s consciousness of this significant chapter in American political history. Swedish documentary film maker Göran Olsson “knew more about the Black Power movement than many other people” in Sweden. Born around the time the same year former Nation Of Islam spokesman Malcolm X was assassinated, Olsson was already a seasoned film-maker when he began to hear rumours of a vast cache of archival footage of material from the Black Power era. “I heard about 20 years ago that there was a lot of footage on the Black Panthers in Sweden,” Olsson says. “Actually some people said there was more footage in Sweden than there was in the United States, which isn’t actually the case. But when I did finally find the footage, I was absolutely blown away. I watched the interview with Angela Davis, and the speech by Stokely Carmichael, and I felt it was my responsibility to get it out to a younger audience,” he says. The film starts out with footage of Stokely Carmichael, an early leader of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, itself a key group in the civil rights movement. By the late 1960s Carmichael’s rhetoric had become increasingly confrontational, with Carmichael popularising the term ‘black power’ to characterise efforts of AfricanAmericans to challenge the hegemony of the white ruling class; Carmichael’s discourse would be seized upon by the Black Panther movement and other related radical causes. “Black Power was the first movement that used ‘power’ in the title,” Olsson says. “Later on you had Flower Power, Girl Power, so it became a blue print for other social and political movements.” Olsson was so impressed with the footage that he uncovered that he decided to blend it together to tell a narrative of the Black Power movement and its fall-out. Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 combines footage of Carmichael, Davis (interviewed while under arrest for her alleged involvement in the murder of a trial witness) and other notable figures of the era, with footage of Harlem, plagued by the influx

“ALL THESE PEOPLE IN THE FILM WERE THE MOST SPARKLING INTELLECTS OF THE TIME, AND THE GREATEST MINDS.” of drugs in the early 1970s, and struggling to overcome its negative public image. “To me why this film works, and why I can do it, is that I had this film of the situation, and I know the people who took it,” Olsson says. “I could never do a film of the inner-city suburbs of Chicago, and reality of life there.” The fact that the footage was taken originally by Swedish journalists and documentary film-makers is important. Sweden, as a neutral country in the Cold War, and at the time led by the left-leaning Prime Minister Olaf Palme, had taken a particular interest in the social dramas of the United States. “I think Sweden and this movement had a much closer connection that many other countries,” Olsson says. “Sweden was a neutral country, with a strong social justice movement. And when people would leave the army bases in Germany, they would often come to Sweden.” The contrast between the charismatic speeches of Carmichael in 1967 and the footage of young African-American youths shooting up in derelict Harlem apartments in the mid 1970s offers arguably the film’s most confronting moments. “That was not intentional,” Olsson says. “But while I was working on the film I was realising that the focus of the filmmakers was swinging from leaders of the movement to the problems of the cities, so later on you had more focus on drugs and social issues.” The film also features contemporary commentary from various iconic figures of the era, including Angela Davis. Olsson’s expectations of Davis were drawn from her public image as a serious intellectual; instead, he found her to be a humorous and engaging subject. “All these people in the film were the most sparkling intellects of the time, and the greatest minds,” Olsson says. “When I met Angela Davis I was expecting her to be this serious, intellectual person, but she turned out to be a very funny and witty person who cracked a lot of jokes.” Olsson has been flattered by the reaction of audiences, especially in the United States, to his film. “The most common reaction is ‘wow, I’ve never seen images of Stokely and Angela before’,” Olsson says. “We’ve had grandparents in Harlem taking their grandchildren downtown to see it. It’s been wonderful to see.” Blackpower Mixtape 1967-1975 screens from Thursday May 3 to Wednesday May 9 at ACMI as part of the First Look program. First Look will also feature Mama Africa (Thursday May 3 to Sunday May 6) and Come Back, Africa (Thursday May 10 to Sunday May 13). Visit acmi.net.au for more info. ARTS NEWS, REVIEWS, INTERVIEWS ONLINE – BEAT.COM.AU/ARTS

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100% MELBOURNE BY KATE MCCARTEN

Statistics isn’t usually a word associated with fun or creativity. Without faces to a number or stories to a percentage, it’s hard for anyone to muster the energy to care about how John and Jane down the street filled out last year’s census form. 100% Melbourne is putting an animated spin on those usually lifeless numbers, attempting to encourage people to stand up and take notice of their own surroundings. After huge acclaim for 100% Berlin, 100% Cologne and 100% Vienna, celebrated Berlinbased theatre company Rimini Protokoll, in association with the City of Melbourne, is bringing their hugely successful 100% franchise to the Southern hemisphere for the first time. Described as ‘part-theatre, part-game, part-reality performance’, the genre for the 100% franchise is obviously tricky to categorise. The format though, is simple: 100 different Melburnians selected based on five key statistical criteria – age, gender, region of birth, residential location and family composition – take the stage and partake in a variety of activities that show us the opinions, stories and lives of the people who live in our city. Nine of the 100 are toddlers, representing the nine percent of Melburnians who are under five years old. The oldest performer is 88. Three of the group were born in Africa or the Middle East. In fact, only about half the group were born in Melbourne, illuminating just how metropolitan this city has become. The unique selection process of the performers illustrates that despite these differences, we are all connected. Associate Director Bec Reid was in charge of casting, which was a huge undertaking all in itself. Reid was given 100 days to find 100 people. She began by finding one Melburnian that fits into a particular statistical mould. From there, that person recommended someone they knew who fit another set of criteria. The next person recommended the next so that everyone on stage knows at least two people alongside them. Two degrees of separation is yet another statistic represented here. Watching the 100 chosen Melburnians take the stage for

their second-to-last rehearsal before opening night, it is immediately obvious that these are not actors; the majority of whom have never even visited the theatre before, let alone dreamed of performing inside one. Here is your local shopkeeper, your chiropractor, your neighbour, your babysitter, your local busybody. They seem as confused as anyone to find themselves as the centre of attention. It’s this organic feeling of watching, not plastic faces drowning in make-up or cardboard cut outs with neutralised accents, but your fellow city-dwellers representing you that has made the 100% franchise such a surprising success. Any one of you could be up on that stage, which makes the performance immediately relatable. As one part of the larger performance, there is a time lapse activity, in which the 100 act out tasks that they would be doing at a given hour of their standard day. When “Melbourne at 10pm” is announced, the children and the elderly are lying on the stage feigning sleep; harried looking women are miming the washing up; while a few enthusiastic 20-somethings pretend to sip from alcoholic bottles whilst fist-pumping to imagined club-bangers. Watching the 24-hour cycle of one day, with so many of the 100 doing so many different things, begins to awaken the usually dormant notion that there are indeed so many other lives out there.

The group is asked questions about their beliefs and their politics and their morals. The left side of the stage is “yes”, the right is “no”. Who believes in a God? Who is in favour of gay marriage? Who is afraid of the future? Who has come to Australia to escape violence somewhere else? The questions are emotional and loaded, and as you look into the faces of those few who are standing on the left side of the stage after being asked, “Who has experienced war?” you can’t help but wonder what their story is. And sometimes they tell you. Throughout the performance, members of the 100 approach the microphones and share a tiny snippet of their lives with the audience, bringing everyone inside their bubble for the briefest of moments. Veterans speak of war, immigrants of culture shock, and a seven-year-old girl of Justin Bieber. Being the fifth instalment of their 100% series, German directors Helgard Haug, Stefan Kaegi and Daniel Wetze have the mechanics of the work down to a prototypical science. As they call orders and suggestions to the group of 100 performers, you get the sense that they’ve been here

before. Although it’s the first performance for 100% on this side of the world, the fact that they can coordinate 100 English-speaking people so seamlessly further echoes what the underlying message of the show is: whether you live in Melbourne or Vienna or anywhere in between, people are people are people. Fundamentally, we are all the same. This story can be told anywhere by anyone. But this time it is being told here, to us, by us. 100% Melbourne promises to entertain as well as to inform. It’s a performance for everyone, about everyone. It’s interesting, it’s powerful, and it makes you think. Not about some once upon a time unreality in a galaxy far far away but about our city, our neighbours, our friends. Perhaps above all, it promises to make us contemplate ourselves. And all of us could do with a little self exploration. 100% Melbourne is on at Melbourne Town Hall from Friday May 4 – Sunday May 6.

THEATRE REVIEW:

AUSTRALIA DAY

BOY GIRL WALL

BY REBECCA HARKINS-CROSS

BY SIOBHAN ARGENT

Playwright Jonathan Biggins’ new comedy Australia Day explores the competing values of present-day Australia. While didactic in highlighting the political correctness befalling our national holiday, there are some genuine belly laughs to be had amidst the at-times clumsy social commentary.

Boy Girl Wall is a cheerful, inoffensive, sweet-natured show that seems to break the fourth-wall every ten minutes and certainly makes the most of chalk drawings.

Set in rural Coriole, the play focuses on the Australia Day Committee as they prepare for this year’s celebrations. Chaired by Brian (Geoff Morell), the local mayor who’s more concerned with his Liberal pre-selection than the interests of the shire, the committee members represent various national types who constitute contemporary Australia. Helen (Alison Whyte) is a bleeding-heart Greenie insistent on wrenching Coriole out of its backward past, who butts heads with Wally (Peter Kowitz), a xenophobic bumpkin who’s more than happy with things as they are. Then there’s Marie (Valerie Bader), a small-town busybody who can’t comprehend why the committee needs a website, and Chester (Kaeng Chan), a spritely, second-generation Vietnamese schoolteacher who’s determined to counter their racism with humour. The team is held together by Brian’s best mate Robert (David James), who just wants everyone to get along. Of course, this ragtag bunch can’t even agree on what kind of snags to throw on the barbie. Helen insists sausages represent “monoculturalism”. “Would you like us to serve satay sticks,” asks Marie coldly, “or fried rice?” Everything that can go wrong does, while tensions inevitably come to a head as each character is forced to confront the hypocrisies underlying their political beliefs. Australia Day squeezes in every social issue it can muster (environmental and disability politics get a look in too) in its quest to examine the changing fabric of the nation. No stereotype is left unturned, but the strong cast somehow pulls it off. It is at its best when affectionately poking fun at our national specificity.

There’s only one actor, Lucas Stibbard, and he does a fine job of shifting between various characters. The two main protagonists, Alethea and Thom, live in two separate apartments right next to each other. They’ve never met, but the narrator (still Stibbard) points out that they are destined to be together. It’s a whimsical and unexpectedly romantic story that has a jolly old time bouncing around between various quirky characters. It’s the kind of play that even includes inanimate objects in its dialogue, particularly in some amusing scenes where the wall shared by Alethea and Thom rebels against the ceiling (and a lazy floor) in a stoic battle to help unite two young dreamers. The characters themselves are harmless yet addictive; Alethea is a children’s book writer, owns a bike called Penelope and is overrun by writer’s block. Thom is a naive young office worker who literally has no clue what his job has been for the last ten years. He fends off his creepy boss’ constant invitations to his group’s theatre sports show. Both Thom and Alethea face impending deadlines that spell a certain level of doom upon failure, but it’s their wider quest to find happiness that makes this such fun to watch. Stibbard does a bang-up job of pulling two characters out of thin air who could quite conceivably be perfect for each other. He’s got charisma, energetic bounce and the right level of fourth-wall awareness to make this show entertaining but not overly self-conscious. For seasoned theatre-goers, the constant fourth-wall breaking might get a little old, but Stibbard is charismatic and sticks enthusiastically to his characters when the play doesn’t call for a little audience interaction. The minimalist design, snappy, quick pace, neat storyline and rom-com feel give Boy Girl Wall the youthful, edgy feel that will appeal to most, but most particularly to a younger crowd, for whom fourth-wall breaks are part-and-parcel of many visual media experiences.

Australia Day will be showing at the Playhouse, Arts Centre until Saturday May 26. For bookings or further information, visit mtc.com.au.

Boy Girl Wall is showing at the Melbourne Theatre Company until Thursday May 3. For more information, see the mtc.com.au.

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Roy Lichtenstein Nude with blue hair 1994 relief National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Purchased with the assistance of the Orde Poynton Fund 2002 ÂŠ Estate of Roy Lichtenstein. Licensed by Viscopy

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HUSKY BY STEPH HARMON

“Wild. It’s been wild,” Husky Gawenda understates, shaking his head with a laugh. The Melbourne songwriter and his cousin Gideon Preiss are sitting across from me at a table in Austin, Texas after just coming off stage at The Aussie BBQ – the now infamous Australian showcase held each year at South by South West, aka the indie music world’s Spring Break. It’s Husky’s first time in Austin and when we speak, on the second last day of what feels to us all like a year-long week, Gawenda and Preiss are looking a little worn out. “It’s pretty hectic as a band,” Gawenda says. “The shows are, you know, they’re a bit tough – it’s a bit of a hustle getting to and from them – but it’s been great. It’s an amazing experience.” Their Aussie BBQ show was the Melbourne band’s fourth of five gigs at SXSW, but it’s fair to say their most important set happened the previous night, at the much-hyped Sub Pop showcase. The band had announced their deal with the iconic Seattle label just a month before, causing substantial chatter amongst the global music press: they were the first Australian band to ever have the privilege. “It was an honour to be playing with those other bands,” Gawenda says, of sharing a stage with acts like Blitzen Trapper, Shearwater and Spoek Mothambo. And if you’re unversed in Sub Pop lore, here is the label responsible for the rise of Nirvana, Mudhoney and Soungarden, whose current roster boasts The Shins, Beach House and Dinosaur Jr. “It felt like a bit of a historic occasion for us.” The record that got them here is Husky’s self-produced debut LP, Forever So, which came out in Australia through Liberation in November – but it all started before then, in February, when their single History’s Door won them triple j Unearthed. “The song got added to triple j rotation, and then the labels and the managers came knocking,” the frontman says. “It was pretty strange. We’d been very much alone, doing it on our own, everything – including the production and the engineering and the management, booking our own tours, booking our own gear… It was strange to suddenly have a lot of people calling. We weren’t expecting it.” But they should have expected it. Three years in the making, Forever So is a meticulous, detailed and pensive record filled with the silky harmonic folk its leading single promised; all the way through, the music brims with energy, warmth and gentle nostalgia. Often compared to Boy & Bear and their new labelmates Fleet Foxes, the album certainly captured the zeitgeist of the time – but Husky weren’t content to rest on that well-worn formula of four-boy folk. “I think it’s a dangerous idea to make music to suit something, to suit triple j or to suit a record label or to suit the time; to try to create a sound because it’s fashionable. Because if you don’t achieve that, then you’ve got something that doesn’t suit anything, and you don’t necessarily really believe in it…” Gawenda says, trailing off before Preiss neatly sums up his point: “And then you’re left with nothing.” The twist to Husky’s music, the sound that shields them from bandwagon accusations and creates a style that’s truly their own, comes courtesy of Gideon Preiss’ virtuosic jazz training; throughout Forever So, his keyboard lines are engaged in a nuanced pushand-pull with the rest of the music, building with and, against the gentle guitars and rolling drums, Gawenda’s smooth voice and those wonderful melodies. Live, the sound is full and fresh, and often seems spontaneous. “There’s a bit of freedom in the parts that come from having played different styles,” Gideon agrees. Filled out by bassist Evan Tweedie and drummer Luke Collins, the band recorded the album themselves in a homemade studio at a rickety old property that Gawenda was leasing in Northcote. They were renting and borrowing gear as they went, taking YouTube tutorials on soundproofing and self-production, and basically starting from scratch. Recording took them over a year. (“I mean, by the end, Husk’s beard was like – I mean it really was something,” Preiss says in awe, as the frontman sagely nods: “It grew out, rather than down.”) “Having our own studio gave us the freedom that we needed for these songs. To make this album, we needed a space,” Preiss says. But it certainly wasn’t easy. “There were a lot of moments, or even extended periods, where things weren’t going right technically or we were having trouble with this or that,” Gawenda admits. “We’re not engineers. We’re not producers. It took some determination. But it was a really interesting, exciting, rewarding time.” Just over a year has taken this young band from a home-built studio to national rotation to a debut record to Sub Pop Records. On behalf of every single new Australian act who’s out there trying to follow that exact same path, it would be remiss not to ask what exactly it is that Husky did right. But Gawenda has trouble answering. “It couldn’t – it’s sort of…” he falters. “It’s been a bit of a dream run for us, actually. Not that it hasn’t been a lot of hard work – and there was a lot of hard work before that as well, even DETAILS before our three years as a band. But in terms of what I would do differently, or what I learned, or what advice I’d give – well, even now I don’t really know how it all happened, or what we did right, or what we did to deserve this. I don’t know. All I know is that we had our mission: to write great songs, and to produce a beautiful record. And I think that’s really the only thing we did intentionally. Other than that, it all kind of fell into our lap.”

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HUSKY play The Corner Hotel on Sunday May 6. Forever So is out now via Liberation. They also play the sold out Splendour In The Grass taking place at Belongil Fields in Byron Bay from Friday July 27 – Sunday July 29.

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Beat Magazine Page 43

INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH MUSIC INDUSTRY NEWS & GOSSIP

with Christie Eliezer * StuďŹ&#x20AC; for this column to be emailed to <celiezer@netspace.net.au> by Friday 5pm LIVE MUSIC ANNOUNCED

ROUNDTABLE

BE HOLO VICTORY

The State Government is expected to announce the members of its Live Music Roundtable within the next two weeks. It made two pre-election promises to the music community. The ďŹ rst, to formally recognise the contribution of live music to the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economy, happened last December. The Roundtable, the second, will discuss and address licensing issues. It will have reps from Music Victoria, venues, live lobby groups, ministers, police, the Australian Hotels Association, liquor licensing and planning. Music Victoriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s CEO Patrick Donovan told this column that Music Victoria is pushing for the government to formalise the principle of â&#x20AC;&#x153;agent of changeâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201C; that is, residents and builders who come into an area where there already is a music venue have to make provisions for it. Music Victoria is â&#x20AC;&#x153;extremely preparedâ&#x20AC;? for this push, Donovan tells us: it has a sub-committee including planning experts, lawyers and advisers who worked on the 2003 Live Music Taskforce under the previous government. Music Victoria will also push to increase noise levels for clubs in designated entertainment precincts like Swanston Street in the city, Sydney and Lygon Streets in Brunswick, High Street in Northcote and St. Kilda Road and Ackland Street in St. Kilda.

MUSIC VICTORIA DOUBLES MEMBERSHIP In light of the great work that Music Victoria is doing, Industrial Strength is extremely pleased to note that its Jump On The Bandwagon membership drive was successful. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s doubled its members, with the last batch of sign-ups happening on the weekendâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sixth CherryRock012 festival at ACDC Lane in the city. Increased membership gives Music Victoria more clout, not only in dealing with authorities but in attracting corporate sponsorship. On Monday, Music Victoria threw a thank you and meet-each-other party for its new subscribers at The Corner at which Dan Sultan, Graveyard Train, Brous and Courtney Barnett played. Its top tier $550 gold membership was taken up by Kylie Minogue and her manager Terry Blamey, Frontier Touringâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Michael Gudinski and Shock Records. At the same time, Minogue, Sultan, The Temper Trap, Deborah Conway, Graveyard Train and Phrase were among those who agreed to become the associationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ambassadors to spread the good word about its work. See musicvictoria.com.au.

APPLICATIONS FOR THE SEED FUND OPENS The Seed Fund has opened applications until July 9 to aid emerging musicians and arts workers. It has three grant categories. Its highly acclaimed Management Workshop gives 25 opportunities for managers and self-managed acts to get practical advice from fellow managers and top executives. Publicise It oďŹ&#x20AC;ers three grants of $5,000 each to hire a publicist for an album/tour campaign. Art On The Street pays up to $5,000 to two visual artists for a social commentary project, and includes graďŹ&#x192;ti, photography, murals and exhibitions. Initiatives for Indigenous acts include a money pool to get emerging acts from remote communities on festivals, get mentors to train bush bands and take industry pros to regional Australia to see acts.

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MUSHROOM

Kath Davine has returned to Mushroom Marketing alongside Carl Gardiner and Megan Tudor, in the role of project tour coordinator. She was marketing services manager â&#x20AC;&#x201C; communications for Allans Music and Billy Hyde.

WARNER ABSORBS ROADRUNNER Seventeen months after Warner Music bought out Roadrunner Records, it absorbed the label into its fold. Founder CEO Cees Wessels stepped down, and oďŹ&#x192;ces in the Netherlands, Australia, UK, Germany and Canada closed. thirty-six lost their jobs. In Australia half the staďŹ&#x20AC; were let go, and half will move to Warner.

The post-Tupac hologramania is now oďŹ&#x192;cially over the top. In the wake of the Jackson 5 announcing theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d tour with a digital Michael (â&#x20AC;&#x153;we talked about it two years agoâ&#x20AC;?), TLC plan to celebrate their tenth anniversary by bringing Left Eye Lopes back to life. Finally, the company that created Tupac, Musion Technology, revealed that theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re working on likenesses of Jimi Hendrix, Michael Jackson, Kurt Cobain and Whitney Houston. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Seeing Elvis onstage with Justin Bieber would be a cool thing,â&#x20AC;? said its Sanj Surati.

THINGS WE HEAR *Just how much are the judges from Nine Networkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s megasuccessful The Voice getting? Sydney publicist and events manager Max Markson told Sevenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Today Tonight that he estimates Seal and Keith Urban probably gets $2 million, Joel Madden $1.5 million and Delta Goodrem possibly $750,000 because sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not an international star like the others. This week, there were no less than 16 entries in the ARIA singles charts related to the show, including judges, contestants and originals of songs performed. Mahalia Barnes has gained overseas interest including corporate gigs while even Gold Coast based Cory Hargreaves, who failed to get the judgesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; nod, says heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s getting bookings for gigs and radio appearances. Hargreaves, who was in the band Smokinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Joker when living in Geelong, says he entered for self-promotion and not to win â&#x20AC;&#x153;because Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m 37 and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got a family.â&#x20AC;? *Sevenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Australiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Got Talent is also drawing â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;em in. Last Wednesday it drew a night-topping 1.53 million, after the previous weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 1.39 million. *DJ and producer David Guetta arrived in Australia to headline CreamďŹ elds to be told that global sales for his Nothing But The Beat have eclipsed the 1 million download mark and certiďŹ ed double platinum. *It was a good week for Splendour In The Grass festival: not only did the Byron Bay council ďŹ nally give it the green-light for its permanent site at North Byron Parklands but this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 17,500 tickets sold out in 43 minutes. *Social network buzz: how similar are Delta Goodremâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new single Sitting On Top Of The World and Arcade Fireâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Rebellion (Lies)? *Justin Bieberâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stay at Londonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Royal Garden Hotel has been a nightmare for its telephone receptionists. They have got calls from over 2,000 fans wanting to be put through to him. Some have used names of Bieberâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s family, friends from homeâ&#x20AC;Ś and one insisted she was the singerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s personal stripper! *More tour dramas. DMX tweeted that his Australian dates for May are false and he ainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t coming. Promoters Able Touring say the tweets are from the rapperâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s disgruntled ex-manager trying to sabotage the tour. Murder By Deathâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tour was axed after promoter Jung Heartâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s investor disappeared, with the band moaning on Facebook that air tickets and visas were not booked. *Joining the growing amount of music subscription services arriving in Oz was Franceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Deezer (deezer.com). *Brian Cadd, Russell Morris, Glenn Shorrock, Gyan and The Firetree were among those who played a beneďŹ t in Byron Bay for Mi Sexâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Murray Burns who suďŹ&#x20AC;ered a stroke onstage. Burns is in a private hospital in Victoria undergoing rehabilitation. Last week he was able to stand up for the ďŹ rst time and can hold both arms up over his head. *Snoop Dogg designed pages of his new book to be smoked with â&#x20AC;&#x153;your ďŹ nestâ&#x20AC;?. *Cee of Melbourne hip hop soul collective Movement Fam has been working on a challenge called 365 Days of Beer. It involves drinking 365 diďŹ&#x20AC;erent brands of beer, taking a photo of it, and reviewing it on Facebook and Tumblr. Apparently he hit #365 last year, but heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s continuing with it. *Does It OďŹ&#x20AC;end You, Yeah? going on hiatus for â&#x20AC;&#x153;the foreseeable futureâ&#x20AC;?. *Record Store Day in America saw indie stores post a 26.6% gain in album sales the following week to 528,000 units from 417,000.

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VENUES #1: WEDD RETURNS TO THE THORNBURY Venue booker Neil Wedd has returned to the Thornbury Theatre to work with Julian Abrahams. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll look at the Ballroom upstairs as well as the more intimate Velvet Room on the ground ďŹ&#x201A;oor. Call: 94849831.

VENUES #2: WANNA WORK AT THE ESPY? The Espy in St Kilda needs a full time graphic designer/ promotions manager. Duties include doing the weekly ad for various publications, creating posters and promotional materials for gigs and events and managing them on traditional and social media, creating twice weekly newsletters and organising printing of posters and ďŹ&#x201A;yers. You need to be print and web design savvy, experienced with Adobe CS5 suite and heavily interested in live music and understand how a venue works. Experience in working for bands/venues/clubs etc viewed favourably but they are not opposed to taking on a fresh graduate if your folio impresses! Email jobs@espy.com. au and publicity@espy.com.au with a cover letter and either a brief folio or a link to a website and they shall be in touch.

LIFELINES Engaged: Hilltop Hoodsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; MC SuďŹ&#x20AC;a (Matt Lambert) proposed on the weekend to his high school sweetheart, Carlie Pisters. Born: daughter Pearl to Jack Osbourne and actress ďŹ ancee Lisa Stelly. Split: hippie couple Angus Stone and actress Isabel Lucas after 18 months. Recovering: Missy Higgins removed a ganglion cyst on her left hand which made it painful for her to play guitar. Hospitalised: a 33-year-old man underwent emergency surgery at Royal Adelaide Hospital for a fractured skull after being punched outside The Palace nightclub. Police arrested a 36-year-old, allegedly a bouncer at the club. Sued: 50 Cent, by The Persuadersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Robert Poindexter for sampling the bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Love Gonna Pack Up And Walk Out for his track Redrum without permission. 50 released it on his War Angel mixtape (2009) and says it was given away free and hence didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t commercially exploit the Persuaders. Sued: Elton John and lyricist Bernie Taupin by songwriter Guy Hobbs who says their 1985 song Nikita (about a German female bodyguard) ripped oďŹ&#x20AC; lyrics from his 1982 song Natasha about a waitress on a Russian cruise ship. Fined: a 20-something couple have to pay $1,000 after being caught urinating on the grounds of Warrnamboolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s relaunched Lighthouse Theatre â&#x20AC;&#x201C; after local nightclubs closed at 3 am. Died: Tommy Marth, touring sax player for The Killers, 33, suicide.

VENUES #3: NIGHT CAT UP FOR SALE Max Vella, frontman of Relax With Max, is selling cool Fitzroy live music venue The Night Cat. It is expected to get over $3 million at auction on Thursday May 24, with developers wanting to turn it into apartments. The Night Cat has long showcased roots music, back to when Henry Maas of Bachelors from Prague set it up 1994 as a big band showcase and late night muso hang-out.

VENUES #4: NEW CLUB FOR MARKET HOTEL? A new 700-capacity late night club could be set up in the Market Hotel on Commercial Rd, South Yarra, Property developer Tadcaster Holdings has put in a proposal, saying it is a lounge-style club aimed at the 25 to 55 age group. The Market, a former gay club, has been closed since last May.

MATT CORBY SIGNS OVERSEAS DEALS Singer songwriter Matt Corby signed with two Warner Music imprints abroad â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Atlantic UK and Elektra US. His manager Matt Ensell of Wonder Management conďŹ rmed that his EP Into The Flame will be released there in September, followed by his debut album which heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s working on. Corby this week returns from overseas. Shows last month in Los Angeles and New York City sold out while two in London this month sold out in two minutes.

CHEAP ARTS GUIDE Arts Victoria has released its ďŹ rst Cheap Arts Guide which

details budget-friendly arts experiences in Melbourne and the rest of the state. The free guide includes 250 listings live music, exhibitions, performances, zine making and kidsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; activities, and tips on how to get cheaper tickets. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no secret that Victoria has the best arts and cultural oďŹ&#x20AC;ering in Australia, however what may surprise people is just how much there is to enjoy for little or no cost,â&#x20AC;? says minister of the arts Ted Baillieu. Collect your copy from cafes and venues around town or ďŹ nd it online at arts.vic.gov.au/cheaparts

INERTIA, HUB ARTISTS, CREATE HUB THE LABEL Inertia and artist manager Troy Barrottâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Sydney-based Hub Artist Services have jointly created a record label HUB the label (HUB in caps, rest lower case). It is an extension of the management company whose roster includes Megan Washington, Dappled Cities, Winter People, Glass Towers, Jordan Leser, DJ Monkeybrain and record producer John Castle. The label launches with Dappled Citiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; fourth album and Sydneyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Winter People.

SEARCH FOR AUSTRALIAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S NEXT BIG DJ Your Shot, the search for Australiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s next big DJ is back for a third year. Register at yourshot.com.au by 12pm on Thursday May 24. No DJ experience necessary. Over 4,000 applied in two weeks last year, with 72 selected. 60% of contestants went on to land gigs and residencies. The prize pack includes gigs at Stereosonic, at Paradise Club, Mykonos (plus ďŹ&#x201A;ights and accommodation) and a major Red Bull event.

FLAP!

BY BELLA ARNOTT-HOARE Sartorially inclined frontman and trumpeter of Flap! Eamon McNelis has more trouble than most ďŹ nding a shirt that ďŹ ts. When we speak heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just returned from a necessary ďŹ tting at a tailor, and is kind of despondent about his sizing prospects. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not exactly sure what fabric itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gonna be yet, I still have to decide that, but I need a shirt that ďŹ ts my massive neck. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just ridiculous. I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;cause my headâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s really big â&#x20AC;&#x201C; it needs to support its weight or something.â&#x20AC;? On the plus side, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve all heard the rumour that a large headâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a sign of intelligence. The rollicking Melbourne four-piece, made up also of Ben Endry on the drums, Mark Eltham on double bass and Jess Guille on the banjo-ukulele, are getting ready to embark on a national tour with new album A Great Day For The Race in tow â&#x20AC;&#x201C; probably a good time to get themselves suited and booted. Having existed on the fringes of Melbounreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s jazz scene for the past three years, their brand of optimistic gypsy bohemia is sparking more interest than ever, and for a group that started as â&#x20AC;&#x153;matesâ&#x20AC;?, according to McNelis, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got reason to hunker down and take it seriously. In discussing their origins, McNelis sites their biggest inďŹ&#x201A;uences as Melbourne bands the Hoodangers and the Band Who Knew Too Much â&#x20AC;&#x201C; brass behemoths in their own rights and jazz-scene loyalists. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re great bands,â&#x20AC;? says McNelis, who also notes that a great deal of their inďŹ&#x201A;uence has cannibalised from other musical styles. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We take all sorts of diverse inďŹ&#x201A;uences and add them in. One of the songs on the new album is actually a really ancient English folk song and other songs are much more 1920s jazz. One of the songs has a warbleboard in it. So we just grab stuďŹ&#x20AC; from everywhere and use it for our own evil devices.â&#x20AC;? The longtime trumpeter (or cornet-player) is backed by a considerable amount of experience. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was eight-years-old when I ďŹ rst started playing a trumpet, which means Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been doing it for just over 20 years now.â&#x20AC;? By the time he ďŹ nished primary school his principle directed him to the Victorian College of

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The Arts (VCA) to study music further. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Really I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think of anything better. By the time I was 12 I knew I was cursed.â&#x20AC;? A lot of his learning, he notes, has been through sheer experience. How to put on a good live show for example. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a lot of fun,â&#x20AC;? he says of their performances. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s high energy, everybodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dancing, often until it hurts. We had somebody saying they nearly gave themselves shin splints dancing to the music a couple of weeks ago.â&#x20AC;? This continues what seems like a theme for the band, with a lot of their high energy tunes brought to life through the magnetism of their performances. And a lot of their songs are indeed about trying to enjoy yourself. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s where the bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s title stems from, in fact. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Flap! is an instruction. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a way to live your life. Have you ever seen a bird ďŹ&#x201A;ying into the wind? Flapping really hard because the windâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s so strong itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not getting anywhere, even though itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s trying its heart out? I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a sort of metaphor for life. It doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t matter if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re getting anywhere or not, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve just gotta do your thing. Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve gotta ďŹ&#x201A;ap. And maybe everything will be alright.â&#x20AC;? After they embark on the national tour, including a place called Urunga that heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s excited to visit (in a deadpan kind of way), theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re headed overseas, ďŹ&#x201A;apping if you will all around the European continent. The world had better watch out for McNelis, his band, and his oversized head. FLAP! launch A Great Day For The Race at The Corner Hotel on Saturday May 5. The album is out via Vitamin.

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Beat Magazine Page 45

THE DARKNESS BY TAMARA VOGL

Anyone who had the first edition of SingStar will be familiar with the hit song I Believe In A Thing Called Love performed by British glam rock band, The Darkness. Any bona fide fans of The Darkness will also know that they have been off the map for damn near six years now. Throw in some rock star drama including drug addictions, band break ups and rehab; it is clear to see the hiatus was necessary. The good news is that they’re back together with the original lineup that created Permission To Land and are heading to Australia in May. Bassist, Frankie Poullain, speaks with me about his reasons for leaving the band, their new album and why they reunited. At a time when The Darkness had reached ultimate success with their debut album Permission To Land (which was certified quadruple platinum in the UK) they also entered a phase where luxury and temptation were flowing in abundance. There were drugs, girls and lots of talk going on which led to tension within the formerly tight-knight group, ultimately resulting in Frankie leaving the band. “Justin and I couldn’t bear to be in the same room together,” Frankie explains. “Everything had gone sour. People were whispering in our ears and we had been touring for too long on our first album. We lost all the qualities that made the music good. The enjoyment, fun and euphoria were replaced with drugs, greed and stupidity. Most relationships broke down between the band after that.” The Darkness are defined by their outgoing and zany costumes equipped with spandex onesies, sequins and headbands. Their revival of this glam rock aesthetic helped them to stand out, but at the same time they looked “uncool” says Frankie. They evolved from a smaller band, and slowly began creating a more defined look. “In the late ‘90s I was in a band called Empire when I asked Justin to visit,” Frankie begins. “We needed a fifth member, but he had always wanted to start a band with his brother. Justin did join the band though and ever since then we worked together. Justin started to be the singer, and then we made a pact together with Dan which is how it all evolved.” Despite not receiving a lot of interest initially by A&R guys, The Darkness’s live performances and energy earned them their attention. “We maxed out in any possible way,” Frankie says. “[We] spent all our money, all our time and all our skill to put everything into it. [It was] based on trial and error…[we would get] pissed up and charged on Friday and Saturday nights to perform and would go all out….that began to define the music and changed our musical style.” Why Frankie decided to reunite with the band after such a long time apart seems an obvious question to ask him. “Probably because all the people around us were trying to bang our heads together,” he explains. “A lot of people were saying the same thing; that no one had stepped up to have taken our place. Our old manager got us together for a meal at an Indian restaurant in London. Everyone was sitting around a table and you could cut the tense atmosphere with a knife. Absolutely no one was talking [but then] gradually we began easing into it [and were] enjoying each other’s company.”

“OUR OLD MANAGER GOT US TOGETHER FOR A MEAL AT AN INDIAN RESTAURANT IN LONDON... ABSOLUTELY NO ONE WAS TALKING.” During their hiatus, Frankie spent a lot of time travelling, however things weren’t as uphill for Justin who was battling a drug addiction and consequently checked into rehab. Frankie says that he is a brand new person now and his improvement is “amazing”. He explains, “It has been a long time since he’s been dabbling in that lifestyle. He is a force of nature now [and is] fitter than he’s ever been.” Their yet-to-be-titled third album is in great anticipation, with the new single Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us only recently becoming available. “[You can expect] lots of very melodic guitar playing, with harmonic resonance,” he says. “We were sort of dicking around, but there is lots of loud drumming and pounding on the new album also.” The band is looking forward to returning to Australia, especially for its beaches, Frankie says. “Everything felt more primal in Australia,” he explains. “I’m looking forward to this trip because last time we were getting messed up all the time. But now we’re a clean-living rock band who can appreciate more. I want to soak it up more this time, go to sushi restaurants and what have you.” Melburnians will also be pleased to learn that the Cherry Bar was a favourite of his. I couldn’t have an interview with a member of The Darkness without asking about some of the crazy shit they’ve no doubt gotten up to. The answer did not fail to disappoint. “Justin was dressed in a microphone costume while on a flight with Japan Air,” he begins. “We were in business class and Justin kept on walking up and down throughout the plane. The stewardesses kept on trying to make him sit down, but they were very polite and he just wouldn’t stay still. Eventually, however, he crashed and fell asleep, but ended up pissing himself. So there was Justin, asleep in business class, in a microphone costume drenched in his own piss. We don’t let him live that one down.” THE DARKNESS will be playing The Palace Theatre on Tuesday May 8 and Wednesday May 9.

Beat Magazine Page 46

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Beat Magazine Page 47

MIMI VELEVSKA

BY JOSHUA KLOKE

When Mimi Velevska answers the phone from her day job on a Wednesday morning, she speaks with the kind of heightened enthusiasm that one wouldn’t normally have on a Wednesday morning. But Velevska is of a different breed; her day job isn’t the only reason she has to get up in the morning. She’s just weeks away from the release of her debut EP, The Bonafide Electric, a collection of songs which Velevska hopes will lead to her “establishing my sound on the Melbourne scene,” she says. “I’d love to get a response out of people.” It’s not just the impending release of the EP which has Velevska bubbling. There is an unmitigated passion in her voice, one you might expect from someone who states that if “Anthony Keidis, Slash and Tina Turner had a red-head musical love child, I want to be her.” There’s exuberance in all three above performers, one Velevska attempts to channel every time she steps onstage. When asked about her early musical influences, the 22-year-old outlines her transition from a simple consumer of pop music to one more in tune with her desire to perform. “After reading [Anthony Keidis’ autobiography] Scar Tissue, I learned that I’ve just got to do it. When I first started learning about music, it was all about jazz. Then read-

ing that book, I thought about what I wanted to be doing musically, and I realised I wanted to be singing. When I first heard the Chilli Peppers, I thought to myself, ‘Oh my god!? What is this?’ Although I was around in the ‘90s, I was more caught up with The Spice Girls. The Spice Girls was the first album I ever bought, but could I go back in time, it’d probably be Blood Sugar Sex Magik. I’d like to think that the jazz and soul that I do is combined with a bunch of rock, a bunch of energy. I wanted to get back to stuff like Jimi Hendrix, The Doors and Led Zeppelin. That stuff has always been around, but I’ve only really dove into it lately because I’ve been focused on having a pop sensibility, if anything.” Though her influences would easily find a home on classic rock radio, Velevska’s rough around the edges sound

THE MOUNTAIN GOATS

BY JOSHUA KLOKE

There are some things that people simply love to talk about. The allegiance they’ve always portrayed to a sports team, especially when they’re in the middle of a losing streak. A restaurant which they “found” and that you simply must try. And finally, their children, especially when these children are new additions to the world. So when Peter Hughes, bassist of long renowned acoustic troubadours The Mountain Goats begins our interview by talking about his six-month-old daughter, there was really no stopping him. “I’m doing what I basically do every day,” he says, reached on the phone from his home, kicking the small talk into high gear, “which is take care of my new sixmonth-old baby. It’s a lot of work, but just in the last month have things gotten a lot easier. I’ve got a little girl and she can do a lot of stuff now that she couldn’t before, which means it’s a lot less demanding now. She can actually hold a bottle now; which doesn’t sound like a very big deal, but I can hand the bottle to her and go do dishes,” he laughs. “Or she can take a nap now. But it’s really fun. When I’m not travelling and touring, I’m at home being a full-time dad.” Eventually the conversation turns to Hughes’ other fulltime job, and the one that would probably win him more friends at parties. Hughes joined The Mountain Goats for the recording of 2002’s landmark Tallahassee. It was a pivotal turn of events not only for Hughes, but for The Mountain Goats as a whole. Tallahassee marked a swift stylistic departure from intrepidly lo-fi recordings to

more polished, comprehensive records. Hughes has never claimed responsibility for this change of pace. Yet when asked if he’s happy with the work he’s done with the band ten years in, he leaves little room for interpretation. “I’m super happy with it,” he says. “Part of me always wanted to hear his early songs using a broader palate, sonically. When we made that first record together, in an actual studio, it was what was so exciting for me: having the opportunity to hear John’s songs on a larger stage. I thought it was really successful. “At first, it was tense in the studio,” he continues. “John was used to doing things in a fairly stripped down, puritanical way. And the studio introduces a lot of other opportunities to do other things, but it also introduces a lot of artifice. It’s really important, for what The Mountain Goats is, for there to remain a realness.” Their most recent full-length, 2011’s All Eternals Deck, offers no measured departure from The Mountain

THE AUTUMN ISLES

BY PATRICK EMERY

Russell Loasby, drummer with Perth psychedelic pop band The Autumn Isles, laughs diplomatically when I ask him what’s the best and worst thing about the Perth music community. “We’ve been asked that before, so I’ll just go with what we said last time,” Loasby says. “The best thing is that it’s a small, tight-knit community and very competitive, and the worst thing is that it’s a small tight-knit communty and very competitive. Because it’s small, you do have to know the right people.” The Autumn Leaves formed in 2005 when Loasby happened across some fledgling tracks composed by guitarist and vocalist Alex Arpino. “I found some of Alex’s music online, and I liked what he’d written,” Loasby says. “So I got in touch with Alex, and offered to play drums – he was playing as a duo, and had already played a few gigs. We jammed a bit together, and then eventually we came to form a band.” Initially Arpino’s songs took on a classic pop sensibility, influenced heavily by the catchy pop melodies of the ‘60s and ‘70s. “When we started out, I suppose the basic musical idea for the band was just the songs that Alex was writing,” Loasby says. “It was very much that catchy pop song that you had in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Alex’s music definitively borrows from that era, but it’s not that obvious.” Loasby’s observation of The Autumn Isles’ initial association with classic pop sensibilities provides the Beat Magazine Page 48

ideal segue into a potentially confronting topic: a review of the band’s debut album, Kaleidoscopes, in which the reviewer makes the none-too-subtle assertion that The Autumn Isles is derivative. It’s a charge that Loasby greets politely. “I suppose I don’t care too much,” Loasby responds. “I think that review was a bit amusing at first to read. But most music is derivative to some extent, and I think that the reviewer didn’t really recognise that.” In fact, Loasby says Kaleidoscopes is already out of date in reflecting The Autumn Isles’ prevailing style. Whereas Kaleidoscopes was predominantly on the lighter end of the pop spectrum, Loasby says The Autumn Isles has embraced darker, more complex songwriting style. “The music has definitely matured recently,” Loasby says. “It’s darker, whereas the earlier material was more summery. But you can see evidence of the current sound in some of the tracks on Kaleidoscopes.” Prior to releasing Kaleidoscopes, The Autumn Isles

harkens back to the ‘90s. She’s an old soul at heart, but still game to discuss current music which turns her on. “Wolfmother is pretty cool,” she says. “Zeppelin seems to have influenced a lot of bands that I enjoy, including The Vasco Era and Money For Rope, so I guess that’s always present. I like a combination of sounds, stuff like The Black Keys or Gary Clark Jr. Genre-bending stuff always intrigues me. I’m a 22-year-old, but I’m listening to stuff much older than me.” Being relatively young, it likely would have been easy for Velevska to follow the road oft-taken and churn out predictable singer-songwriter fare, largely derivative of her influences. Instead, Velevska imparts a soulful and original voice upon her music. And it’s music which she believes is meant to be heard only one way: loudly. “A couple of years ago, I felt like I was being restricted from who I really wanted to be onstage,” she confesses. “Performing onstage is a kind of exorcism, and it doesn’t matter what else you have going on in your life, when you get onstage, you get to be the best part of yourself. I can be the loudest or craziest person I want to be. I can channel the spirit of performers I enjoy, whether it’s Axl Rose, Tina Turner or Beyoncé. People who aren’t afraid to be themselves on stage. Very often in life we have to follow rules and be orderly. Onstage is where you can be a wildfire. I’m happiest if I can get to that point.” What Velevska learned from the recording of The Bonafide Electric, done so in under a week, will certainly impact her musical career in the future. Yet for now, Velevska’s only goal is becoming an unadulterated performer. And that’s not a bad homage at all. Goats’ classic brand of rousing and literate folk, all with a palpable flow. Hughes insists, however, that an overarching theme need not be present from the outset of the recording process. “It depends from record to record. Some records are quite obviously concept albums, some are simply collections of songs. There are always themes that emerge naturally. Sometimes you don’t even get an idea of the big picture until you start recording. With All Eternals Deck, it’s funny that you should mention that it has great flow to it. Because when we began recording it, we went in with the same mindset we had on the previous record; namely we tried to deliberately work different than we had on the previous five records. We were going into the studio and recording everything all at once which was a very immersive situation. With the last two records, we said, ‘Oh, well let’s go to this place for a weekend, and we’ll record three or four songs.’ And it turned out into a series of short sessions over a period of months. I suppose we’re lucky though, because regardless of which studio we recorded in, it’d always end up sounding like…the band. “John’s voice and his songs have such a strong identity,” he says. “His voice is so instinctive that sometimes it doesn’t matter what else is going on.” Though Hughes is remarkably modest about his role in The Mountain Goats, there’s a shift and tone in confidence when asked about The Mountain Goats’ upcoming and 14th full-length, the tentatively-titled Transcendental Youth. “Well, I think it’s going to be really good. We’re really excited about it, and they’re a great group of songs. We’ve actually been playing some of the songs out a little, which we never tend to do. We want to see what they’re made of. We’ve also taken to playing the songs live. You learn something about the songs when you play them live that you don’t necessarily notice when you’re rehearsing or recording.” For Transcendental Youth, The Mountain Goats are released a couple of EPs. In 2006, the band released the four-track A Beautiful Pantomime EP, followed by the seven-track Wish Lists And Sunken Lands. Along the way, the band’s lineup chopped and changed, culminating in the current five-piece lineup of Arpino, Loasby, Brian Maloney (bass), Tenille Bamford (keyboards) and Daniel Silvestri (guitar). While lineup changes naturally have a disruptive effect on any band, Loasby says the change in membership has helped to refine and develop The Autumn Isles’ sound. “The influence of the different members can definitely be seen in some of our new material,” Loasby says. “When you have a new member, obviously there’s some time that’s required before everything settles down, but after then you start to get new ideas injected into the process, which is a good thing.” Notwithstanding the recent evolution in sound and the changes in membership, the band’s songwriting process has remained largely consistent over the past seven years, with Arpino sketching out the basic melody and chord structure before the other band members chip with bits and pieces to create the final product – or a product close enough to final to warrant taking it into the studio. “We try and have the best idea we can before we demo it,” Loasby says. “And then while we’re in the studio we’ll play around with, work out the harmonies, that sort of thing, so that we can have it ready to record.” The lyrics, however, remain Arpino’s personal domain. “They’re exclusively Alex’s”, Loasby says. “Most of the time I have no idea what he’s singing about – he’s a really complex lyric writer. If I ever ask him to explain a lyric, I’m like, ‘But how did you get to this lyric from that idea!’,” Loasby laughs. This weekend sees The Autumn Isles return to Melbourne, including performing at a Laughing Outlaws showcase at the Northcote Social Club alongside fellow Laughing Outlaw label mates Mikelangelo And The Tin Star, Bambino Koresh and Wilding. The Autumn Isles’ association with Laughing Outlaw – owned by music

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“Onstage, I want to try and translate that electric side of myself. I literally want to try and have a bonaﬁde electric performance. For me, it’s not about being the best musician in the world as much as it is about being that electrifying performer onstage.” MIMI VELEVSKA will celebrate the release of her debut single Damn at The Workers Club on Saturday May 5.

allowing the songs to grow by testing them out live before the recording process. It’s an experiment that speaks not only to the band’s dedication to keeping the process fresh, but also to their commitment to keeping the band’s momentum moving forward. “There’s always a sequence of the song being written, the song gets emailed around, we exchange ideas, we get together, we rehearse and we go into the studio and the song takes shape there,” says Hughes. “Subsequently, we go out on tour and the song could end up in a totally different place. With these songs, it’s cool to allow them to opportunity to gestate and become something before they’re recorded.” THE MOUNTAIN GOATS treat Melbourne to two separate shows: first, an intimate evening at The Toff In Town on Wednesday May 9 before night two at The Corner on Thursday May 10. (sold out)

journalist and former Hoodoo Gurus manager Stuart Coupe – came about during a Western Australian Music Industry (WAMI) event a few years ago. “We were playing at WAMI, which is this annual music industry festival in Perth when people from all over the world come to Perth to check out the local bands,” Loasby says. “Stuart Coupe just come across us by accident. He was walking down the street, and we must have been pretty loud, because he came in and saw us, and he really liked us. Basically, we’re his ﬁrst Perth band.” THE AUTUMN ISLES play with Mikelangelo and The Tin Star, Bambino Koresh and Wilding at the Northcote Social Club on Saturday May 5 as part of the Laughing Outlaw Showcase. They also play Bertha Brown on Thursday May 3, Pure Pop Records at 4pm on Saturday May 5 and The Retreat on Sunday May 6. Kaleidoscopes is out now on Laughing Outlaw via Inertia Distribution.

DEVILDRIVER BY ADAM ROBERTSHAW

Dez Fafara is without doubt one of the most hard working men in heavy metal. DevilDriver are one of the most formidable live acts around, and have built up a loyal fan base though years of constant touring and releasing album after solid album of brutal mosh-pit inciting groove metal. I spoke with the surprisingly warm, softly spoken frontman about his workaholism, his connection with his fans and his most recent trip to Australia when he played Soundwave 2012 with his first band Coal Chamber. Problems with hard drugs tore the band apart nearly ten years ago. So why would he suddenly do a reunion when DevilDriver are doing so well? “Over the course of the years the guys from Coal Chamber started coming out to DevilDriver shows and started hanging out. Once they got off the hard drugs it was something that I wanted to do, you know? The guitar player came and apologised to my wife, which I thought was really big of him, and when they did that sort of stuff I thought, ‘You know what? This will be really fun to do’. It’s good music, it holds up over the time and if we do it right it’ll kind of show itself to be worthy.” As if fronting two bands isn’t enough, Fafara also keeps himself busy working with other artists, appearing on Soulfly’s latest album Enslaved and releasing an album with Lamb Of God guitarist Mark Morton. “Yeah, Born Of The Storm, it’s stuff we’ve been working on for about two or three years now. [Mark is] influenced by bands like Trouble, I’m really influenced by Soundgarden, Circus Of Power, a little bit of Ozzy as well. Out of nowhere he said, ‘I’m gonna release this stuff’ and it’s a good thing we did, a lot of people like it. “I love being able to working with other bands when I’m home and have time, I’d like to do something with [Marylin] Manson, I hung out with him when we were in Australia had a good time and I think he’s a great artist,” Fafara says. “My youngest kid listens to a lot of dubstep, this dude Excision hit me up on twitter the other day saying he wants to do a track so yeah I might do something with him,” he says. Some fans would definitely be shocked by the idea of Fafara doing dubstep but he doesn’t find it all strange. “I’m not a purist in any way,” explains Fafara. “I love all music from Bauhaus to Black Flag to Black Sabbath – I love it all. If I like something I like it and I don’t care which genre it is. And I hear so much dubstep in my house and some of it’s really heavy and I’d really love to do something with it. And if I do end up doing it, I’m gonna attack it with ferocity and unleash hell!” It’s this passion for music and a willingness to give his all in which ever pursuit he is currently focused on which keeps Fafara going. He’s also one of the most personable figures on the metal scene and any of his Twitter followers (@evilriver if you don’t follow him already) will know his devotion to his fans.

“I HEAR SO MUCH DUBSTEP IN MY HOUSE AND SOME OF IT’S REALLY HEAVY AND I’D REALLY LOVE TO DO SOMETHING WITH IT.” “I use twitter all the time. I don’t have Facebook or any of that but I think it’s important to have a connection with the fans and it’s the perfect medium to do that. I love talking to fans at shows but it’s sometimes hard to do but on Twitter you can ask me, ‘Hey Dez what’s your favourite colour?’ and I’ll be like, ‘Purple!’ I’m just a real dude but I happen to have a day job that puts me in front of a lot of people. I’ve also met a lot of really cool people as well, outside of music. Painters and sculptors and people involved with the esoteric arts, who I’ve made lasting connections with” It’s only a few months since Fafara was over here, but he plans to return to Australia this month, this time with DevilDriver and with death metal veterans Six Feet Under (who he personally invited on to the tour) in tow. When we spoke, he was in the USA getting ready to play his 25th show in a row. It’s a road schedule that other bands would find punishing. And DevilDriver are not without their own casualties. Bass player Aaron Patrick is currently in hospital with pneumonia as a result of relentless touring after replacing previous bass player Jon Miller who had to quit because of battles with alcohol and drugs. “I’ve run the numbers man. DevilDriver does more shows and tours more than any other band in the world. We should be in the Guinness Book of Records. I love being on the road with DevilDriver but I’m looking forward to taking some time off to reassimilate myself into being just a normal guy with a family. Once this tour’s done we’re gonna take a year off. I’m careful not to burn myself out but I’m starting to feel it now. During that time we’ll write a record, record the record, all of that, so it won’t be a quite year ‘off’ where the phone is not ringing, but I’ll be home with the wife and kids and dog and it’s gonna be fun.” DEVILDRIVER play Billboard The Venue this Sunday May 6.

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Beat Magazine Page 49

DARKEST HOUR

BY OSCAR SCHIESSER

Some people may make the same mistake as I did with Darkest Hour: several years ago when I first heard their name I thought it sounded a little hardcore-esque and didn’t give their music a try for a while. Genre-snobbery, guilty as charged. If you are into melodic death metal, I would advise you to be more open minded than myself as there is a good chance you will end up with every one of their albums. Their current tour with DevilDriver will be their third of Australia, and is something guitarist Mike Schleibaum is definitely looking forward to. “People always say that American crowds are kind of like the most violent and wildest, and then I always say, ‘Well, they’ve never met Australians’. Because, you know, you guys are kind of like our culture on ten without the violence really and it’s cool. People are jovial and very excited. You usually play Japan right after you play Australia – it’s just how it works, the islands are kind of close – and they react totally diﬀerent. Very sombre kind of cheer, very quiet. Australia’s just a circus and we love it, we feel right at home.” Almost every artist has made this claim about every country they visit, but further into our conversation it became obvious that Schleibaum meant what he said. “I’m always excited to go to Western Australia and go in the water, I just love it, it’s crazy. Seems so far, to a guy from Washington DC, when you stand in that ocean. It’s like, ‘I’m on the edge of the world!’. Do you know where my favourite place to drink in Australia is? The car. I’m not saying I drive drunk, but I’m saying it’s crazy when you get into the van and someone’s like ‘Hey, would you like a beer?’ and you’re like ‘No, you can’t drink in the vehicle!’

and they say, ‘Well, in Australia you can’. I can appreciate the freedom, the actual freedom, it’s something that an American can deﬁnitely appreciate because we got a lot of rules.” Darkest Hour started up in Washington DC in 1995, and while they might not be as huge as their neighbours from one state over – Lamb Of God – it can’t be said that they aren’t as potent. They are seven albums in and show no signs of wanting to give up. Despite each band member living in a diﬀerent state, Schleibaum says there are no problems writing thanks to technology. “Technology baby! Email, recording, doing what we are doing right now while I’m doing this interview, demoing. You just kind of adapt, that’s all you can do as a musician. Just adapt and kind of become accustomed to the technology involved and use it to be able to maintain a band for guys who don’t live that close.” While each band member has their own separate lives in addition to their role in the band, Schleibaum’s passion for music extends into his personal life. He has produced albums

for several bands, and when not surrounded by tattooed guys with guitars, he can be found composing scores for documentaries. “We are guys who do other things. I record bands, I’ve done some television composing. I try and stay in the realm of it. But everybody does something else, even guys in big bands. Sometimes they’re like, ‘I build houses on the side!’ It’s hard to make money, but the thing is that creatively, when the call comes from the big man, like when James Hetﬁeld says, ‘Let’s tour!’, when fucking Vinnie Paul says, ‘Let’s do this!’, when there’s a tour that comes up we’ll be there because this has been our passion for over a decade and a half now.” Despite having a well established musical career, he sounds like a mate telling you about the new demos he just recorded in his bedroom. He lives and breathes it, loves being involved

in the industry, and has some advice for anyone who is as into their music as he is. “Practice, write good music, like continually write music because the best way to get exposure is to connect with people, and I would say that just remember that in your search as a rocker that relevancy is the best currency. Like, you gotta try to stay relevant, gotta try to stay putting out music that matters to people, and that’s kind of what it’s all about no matter what you do. Making sure the music you make is relevant is the only thing that matters.”

For now, his next stop is Australia and Turner cannot contain his excitement at the prospect of embarking on another tour here. “I genuinely, absolutely adore coming to Australia,” he admits candidly. “Before I came over for the ﬁrst time Chuck Ragan (Hot Water Music) had spent years telling me that Australia was the promised land of touring and once I went there I’d never want to tour anywhere else. And then I did come down for a show, for a tour with him in 2010 and really did have the time of my life. (It’s) one of my favourite tours I’ve ever done and I just have a huge soft spot for Australia.” This time around, Turner will be accompanied by his long time band, The Sleeping Souls, who will add to the overall dimension and sound of the live show. “Yeah this is the ﬁrst time which is great because you know whilst playing on my

own with my guitar remains the core of what I do and always will be, right now the band are a really integral part of what I do and wherever possible I want to present what I do with them. Having never taken them out to Australia before even though I’ve played to a lot of people in Australia, they’ve never seen that setup before and I think people who have already seen me play a couple of times will come down to the shows again and be entertained in a new way.”

mainstream metal sounds of Pantera and Machine Head. But Chris waves the suggestion away, stating that DevilDriver are certainly heavy enough to share the stage with Six Feet Under, and that it’s all about appreciation of heavy music as opposed to having a bill of all very similar sounding bands. “I don’t know, man,” he says. “People say that, but I don’t really see it like that. They’re heavy as fuckin’ balls man! I’m best friends with Dez man, he’s one of my best buddies. I’ve done some tours with them, not complete tours but some festival dates here and there in Europe. I don’t really see the separation in the styles of music. I think both bands have a lot of the same fan base. They’re just heavy and aggressive and raw, and that’s the same type of music we are, we

just have a bit of a different approach to some of the riffs and vocals. But it’s really, really aggressive music, I love those guys. It’s awesome to be on tour with people that you’re friends with, I did a tour with Darkest Hour last year and a few years back, and those guys are real good friends as well. It’s a known fact since day one of rock’n’roll, if a tour is compiled of bands that are all friends, and they’re all havin’ a good time back stage, you can count on havin’ a good time in front of the stage. It’s gonna rip your fuckin’ face off man, every night. It’s really gonna be incredible.”

DARKEST HOUR are playing with DevilDriver and Six Feet Under on Sunday May 6 at Billboard The Venue.

FRANK TURNER & THE SLEEPING SOULS

BY JAMES W. NICOLI

Frank Turner’s star had already well and truly been on the rise over the last year or so thanks to his signing with giant US indie label Epitaph in 2009; a move that garnered the folk/punk troubadour’s music far greater reach and exposure. However, it was the release of his 2011 album, England Keep My Bones, that really got things moving and just days before we spoke, saw the UK singer/songwriter playing his biggest headline show to date at Wembley Arena. “It was amazing. It was very surreal,” he recalls. “We had 12,000 people at the show and I’ve played to crowds like that before but it’s only ever been at a festival or as a support act and it was a surreal experience. Throughout most of the show I was concentrating so hard on not screwing up, to make sure the show went right that I didn’t really get time to take it in, but there was a moment right at the end when the show was done and the last song was ﬁnished I went and stood at the front of the stage and looked out and thought to myself, ‘Holy cow that’s an awful lot of people’.” Things have certainly come along way for the man who started out playing the English pub scene armed with only an acoustic guitar and a whole lot of determination. That determination, along with a hell of a lot of hard work has not only earned Turner a bunch of accolades and integrity but also an increasing fan base. The release of England Keep My Bones further propelled the troubadour into the limelight and the album has been his most successful to date; both in terms of critical praise and record sales. The record is full of catchy folk/punk anthems which pay

homage to his homeland and to the traditional English sounds of old; a sound that resonated with a huge audience; especially in the UK but also abroad. “Hopefully when I sing and write about England it’s not in such a way that if you’re not from England, then it’s exclusive. It’s not going to be a private party or only English people are invited,” he says of the album’s main theme. “I want to sing about it in a way that’s more universal.” In 2012, touring remains every bit as vital as it did when Turner ﬁrst started out and as his popularity has increased so too has his touring capacity. “Touring is an essential part of what I do,” he admits. “You know, I regard myself as a professional travelling musician. I actually quite like the word entertainer to describe what I do because actually the vast majority of what I do with my job is I get up on stage in front of a crowd full of people who’ve paid money and I try and make them have a good time. So obviously there’s the art side of it and there’s songwriting and trying to make the best record I can, but the bread and butter of what I do is playing live and it’s where I started and it’s hopefully where I’ll ﬁnish.”

FRANK TURNER & THE SLEEPING SOULS play The Espy on Thursday May 10 with support from William Elliot Whitmore (USA) and The Smith Street Band.

SIX FEET UNDER

BY ROD WHITFIELD

The contrast inherent in the man known as Chris Barnes is quite something to behold. On the surface, he appears to be something of a mad man, having founded arguably the grizzliest, most brutal death metal band of all time, Cannibal Corpse, and been responsible for the lyrics of such charming songs as Edible Autopsy, Meat Hook Sodomy and Force Fed Broken Glass. He is one of the forefathers of the guttural, demonic style of death metal vocals and for the last 20 or so years has fronted the brutal death metal band Six Feet Under (who are no shrinking violets themselves). However, none of this is apparent when you speak to the man. He is charming and chilled and as mellow as you can imagine, ﬂying directly in the face of what you would expect from a bloke responsible for all of the above. He joined us recently from his home to speak about Six Feet Under’s impending tour of Australia, the ﬁrst time the band have assaulted our shores in quite some time. “I’m just kickin’ back here in Tampa, Florida,” he informs us in his laid back Southern drawl, “getting ready to rehearse a little bit, doing some rehearsals every day getting ready for a tour of Australia with DevilDriver and Darkest Hour. “It’s only been a lifetime [since I was in Australia last]. Seventeen years is a little too long. [The last tour] was a great tour on a few levels. It was a sad tour, ‘cause it was my last tour with Cannibal Corpse. It was a good time for me, I felt really at home there and I’m really Beat Magazine Page 50

looking forward to all Australia has to offer. It was my one and only tour, so I’m looking forward to the same type of vibe. It was incredible, it really was. I’ll never forget it, that’s for sure.” So that obviously makes it his first tour ever with Six Feet Under, which is quite difficult to believe for a band that has been around since 1993. “It is, yeah,” he agrees. “People have come and gone, and new people have come in, and gone. It’s kinda wild. The fans definitely want to hear the songs, and I hope that they want to see me again – I hope I haven’t insulted them with all the AC/DC covers!” he laughs. The bill with DevilDriver could possibly be viewed as somewhat of an odd match, with his own band steeped in the traditions of old school brutal death metal, whilst Dez Fafara’s mob have been one of the leading lights of the so called ‘new wave’ of American heavy metal’, more influenced by the groove-based

DISCUSS WHAT? BEAT.COM.AU/DISCUSSION

SIX FEET UNDER play Billboard The Venue this Sunday May 6, alongside DevilDriver and Darkest Hour.

CORE

PUNK, SKA, HARDCORE NEWS, REVIEWS AND GOSSIP BY EMILY KELLY: EK1984@GMAIL.COM

Mere weeks ago I had a rant – as I am often inclined to do – about how young promoters need to be supported and anyone that wishes to tour excellent bands in DESCENDENTS Australia should be welcomed with open arms instead of criticised for their chutzpah. I am saddened to say I’m tempted to retract this stance following the cancellation of the Murder By Death tour this month. The entire tour was suss biscuits from the beginning and I’m utterly heartbroken to the see the entire thing implode in a sorry and unspectacular fashion. The band revealed on their website last week that the promoter had cancelled the tour after an “investor” went “walkabout” although no further explanation was offered about how a lynchpin of an entire operation manages to disappear, effectively abolishing the entire tour. The band were even more disappointed to reveal that no flights or visas had been arranged for the tour. “This fucking blows”, they heaved, and I echo those sentiments. It feels a little as though some of these promoters should perhaps realign their career trajectory, before more businesses, bands and punters are left in the lurch. As it remains to be seen when or how the tickets will be refunded, how are we to have faith in small promoters and buy tickets with confidence when we stand to have a tour swept out from under us? As my mum used to say: I’m not angry…I’m just disappointed. Death metal legends Cannibal Corpse will return to Australia after a three-year absence this October. They released their new album Torture last month and they’ll be giving it a mighty plugging when they hit Billboard on October 5. Tickets are available now. The Exploited added their name to the list of bands dishing out a cancellation on the very week their tour was scheduled to begin. Apparently their bass player had a family emergency. The band apologised to fans and promoter alike and said they were “totally gutted” to cancel. There are plans in place to reschedule for the later half of the year. Miami band Thick As Blood will tour Australia this June with Newcastle band Taken By Force. They’re gunning down the east coast for a pretty thorough run of dates including Mechanics Institute in Ballarat on Friday June 15, Bang on Saturday June 16 and Phoenix Youth Center on Sunday June 17. Thick As Blood hit the studio recently to record their newie for Rise Records. Tickets are available tomorrow.

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CORE GIG GUIDE WEDNESDAY MAY 1: Arch Enemy, Teramaze, Elysian at Billboards Black Cobra at National Hotel, Geelong City & Colour at The Palais Thursday May 3: The Storm Picturesque, The Rose Line, Kontact, Clowns at Next City & Colour, Interval, Bahamas at The Palais White Walls, Brick, Penguins, The Debutant Kid at Gasometer Graft Vs Host, Damn The Torpedoes, Shadow League, The Kremlings at The Tote The Getaway Plan, New Empire at Corner Hotel Lizard Punch, Secret Crackpipe Handshake, Cruntburgers at Pony FRIDAY MAY 4: These Hands, This Is Your Captain Speaking, Hotel Wrecking City Traders, Fathoms at The Evelyn Andrew WK, Aleister X, Bitter Sweet Kicks at Corner Hotel Night Hag, Palisades, Urns, Old Skin at Gasometer Internal Rot, Rort, Last Measure, Red Red Krovvy, Kremlings at The Bendigo Bowcaster, Gatherer, Dead River, On Sierra at The Tote Killing Liars, Let Them Eat Cake at Victoria Hotel SATURDAY MAY 5: We The Innocent, Remission Theory, Daylight Hours, Feel Good Drag at Bang Hoodlum Shouts, Harmony, Fear Like Us, Rise Of The Rat at Gasometer Encircling Sea, Nontinuum, Islands, Whores Of The Black Cross at Gasometer Upstairs Acoustic Afternoon at The Bendigo Double Dragon, Sons of Asena, King Parrot, Abrasion, Broozer & A Murder Of Crows at The Bendigo SUNDAY MAY 6: We Disappear, Foxtrot, As A Rival, Raven Vs Crow at Gasometer Devil Driver, Six Feet Under, Darkest Hour at Billboards Monday May 7: Fu Manchu, Black Cobra, Matt Sonic & The High Times a Hi-Fi Bar

Charitable cause alert! The Bendigo will host an acoustic afternoon this Saturday May 5. The $5 entry will go towards canned/basic food to be donated to The Salvation Army food bank, which will then be distributed throughout relief centers in Melbourne. Dan Bonnici, Guy Treadwell, Luke Smith and Luke Thomas are all lending their time and skillz.

CRUNCH! Hi and welcome to this week’s Crunch. I guess the big news in metal this week is the restructure at Roadrunner Records by label owner Warner. Roadrunner has done great things for metal for over 30 years now, and the folks at Roadrunner Australia are so dedicated to and passionate about rock and metal. They really understand what it takes to work with and for a metal audience, and I sincerely hope, for the sake of remaining Roadrunner Australia staﬀ and Warner, that this understanding continues under the restructure. And best of luck to those who have lost their jobs due to the restructure.

GIG ALERT: KING PARROT King Parrot return with their infamous live show on Saturday May 5 at The Bendigo Hotel on Johnston St in Collingwood. They recently released a live video for the song Psychotherapy and Valium which will give you a good idea of what to expect: raucous moshing, booze, violence, hilarity and heavy as hell, balls to the wall metal. Joining them on the bill will be legendary South Australian act Double Dragon (who are about to break up and reconﬁgure as Sons of Asena – this is the last round of DD shows ever), Abrasion, Broozer and A Murder of Crows. Entry is $12 and the action kicks oﬀ at 8pm. King Parrot also play at The Newmarket Hotel in Bendigo on Friday May 4, The Karova Lounge in Ballarat on Friday May 11 and The National Hotel in Geelong on Sunday July 1 with Macabre, and they’ll also appear at the annual High Voltage festival at The Corner on Saturday June 30.

KUNVUK READY ALBUM #2 Kunvuk will release their second album, Consume Rapture, in June via The Light of Damnation Records. It’s the follow-up to 2010’s Immute: Jackals, and is once again being produced and mixed by guitarist/vocalist David Hart. The album will be mastered by Alan Douches at West West Side Music in New Windsor, New York. The video for Where Orchidectomy And Mastitis Street Meet Is Why I Will Die is on YouTube now.

THE TEA PARTY MELBOURNE!

RETURN

It’s been a long time since they rocked and rolled: reformed Canadian legends The Tea Party reformed for some shows in their homeland last year, and it went so well that they’re back, baby! Their seven-year hiatus is broken (but don’t let that dissuade you from checking out the awesome Jeﬀ Martin 777 album The Ground Cries Out from last year). The Tea Party plays at The Palais on July 14. My birthday! How did you guys know? More info at the Palais website and Ticketmaster’s website. See you there!

METAL, HEAVY ROCK, CLASSIC ROCK LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL GOOD SHIT WITH PETER HODGSON: CRUNCHCOLUMN@GMAIL.COM

GIG ALERT: ROCK N LOAD The inaugural Rock N Load festival kicks oﬀ at The Espy on Saturday May 26. There will be over 30 acts across the entire venue including Electric Mary, Bugdust, The Stiﬀys, King Of The North, Ten Thousand, Heaven The Axe, I Am Duckeye, The Charge, Anna Salen, Hailmary, Shadowqueen, The Morrisons, Beggars Orchestra, Shadowgame, Bottle Of Smoke, System Of Venus, Arcane Saints, Apache Medicine Man, The Vendettas, Riot In Toytown and many more. Check out rocknloadfestival.com for lineup and ticketing info.

GIG ALERT: GRUNTBUCKET Gruntbucket will launch Songs From An Empty Room on Saturday May 5 at The Tote in Collingwood, with support from Iowa and Teenage Libido. The album is the follow-up to 2009’s Receiving, and has already had regular airplay on radio. You can pick it up on CD, download from iTunes or on vinyl (featuring a download card with two exclusive bonus tracks), from their website and in select independent record stores Australia-wide.

NEW RESIST THE THOUGHT ALBUM ON THE WAY Sydney’s Resist The Thought will release their album Sovereignty (and exclusive bonus DVD) on May 18 via Skull & Bones Records/Shock Entertainment. After sharing the stage with the likes of Suicide Silence, The Acacia Strain and All Shall Perish, they barricaded themselves up in Lambesis Studios in Escondido, CA to work with producer Dan Castleman (As I Lay Dying, Impending Doom) on the album. The band says to expect nine driving metal anthems; a cacophony of extreme riﬃng, rapid ﬁre drumming and a relentless vocal attack. Check out the video for Extermination, and catch the band at the following dates: May 29 - Bendigo - Musicman Megastore AA May 31 - Ballarat - Karova Lounge 18+ June 2 - Warrnambool - The Loft 18+ June 3 - Geelong - The National Hotel AA

FEEDBACK Send your news, gig dates, release info or whatever to crunchcolumn@gmail.com!

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CROTCHETY KNITWITS Crotchety Knitwits is back Monday evenings at The Old Bar from 6pm and it’s free. A place where drinking and knitting go hand-in-hand! Everyone is welcome, you can bring your own knitting, or there will be some needles and wool available at the bar if you don’t have your own project or can’t be bothered bringing it in. There’ll be people there who can help with knitting problems or if you’d like to learn new things. A perfect way to lead into Gerry Hale’s Bluegrass sessions at 8pm. Crotchety Knitwits is on Monday May 7 from 6pm.

GRAFT VS HOST

THE GO SET The Go Set hit The Espy this Friday May 4 to launch their new self-titled album. The new album is the band’s fifth studio effort and was recorded with producer Paul McKercher. Likened to everything from early Midnight Oil, to the Pogues, and the Clash. The Go Set combine the traditional sounds of bagpipes, accordian and fiddle with punk rock guitars, and a mind blowing live show. Not to be missed. Supports on the night come from Handsome Young Strangers and Blazin Enfields.

THESE HANDS

NEIL HAMBURGER

These Hands will be launching their long awaited album Endlessly at The Evelyn on Friday May 4 with very special guests This Is Your Captain Speaking, Hotel Wrecking City Traders, and Fathoms. Nearly two years in the making, this pivotal album portrays dense and brooding post rock that slowly creeps up on you with the weight of a thousand anchors. With such a showcase of heavyweight Melbourne bands, this heck of a lineup is one that cannot go amiss. So don’t sleep on it, and make sure you get a copy of the new These Hands album.

Fresh from sold out shows at the Montreal Comedy Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the Perth International Comedy Festival, America’s Funnyman Neil Hamburger will make a long awaited return to Australia in May 2012. It’s been two long years since we’ve seen the funnyman, best known for his work with Faith No More, Tenacious D, Tom Green, Tim & Eric and even on Fox’s The Red Eye, and he returns to Australia for a selection of East Coast shows. Joining Neil on the night will be his partner in crime, Australia’s premier parlor magician and DJ Dr El Suavo. Catch Hamburger as he plays the Caravan Music Club in Oakleigh on Friday May 4 and the Toﬀ in Town on Sunday May 6, tickets available through the venues.

MIMI VELEVSKA Recorded at Sing Sing South Studios in Melbourne, Mimi Velevska’s maiden release Damn from her upcoming debut EP The Bona Fide Electric unveils an artist furnished with a rare vocal aptitude, and the ﬂair to match. Damn exudes a passionate combination of soulful rock and infectious melody. To celebrate the release of her debut single, Mimi Velevska and her band will launch Damn at The Workers Club on Saturday May 5, with support from rock duo Slow Chase and rock/funk outﬁt The Charlies.

SPERMAIDS Spermaids don’t seem to fuck around. Since having formed less than a year ago, the two-piece from NZ have gigged relentlessly and released a unique EP that walks the line between playful experimentation and outright aggression. The live performance is full of tension as they trigger samples, loops and eﬀects creating a cacophany usually only achieved by bands of more than two members. If you’ve not yet seen these guys live then May is the month. They play every Wednesday night at The Tote, joined each week by only the dopest of local supports. CDs and merch for sale at gigs.

THE SPINSET Come one, come all to The Prague on Thursday May 3 for a night to be forgotten, then relived, The Hangover style, in series of chaotic antics, fuelled by drug dealers, prostitutes, copious amounts of alcohol and some fantastic live music. The Spinset will be ripping it up with their collection of beautifully tuned, harmony driven, upbeat punk.

HALFWAY 2011 saw Halfway play Big Day Out, and receive AIR and Q Music award nominations for ‘Best Album’. Before taking time oﬀ to record their forth LP, Halfway are doing a ﬁnal run of local and interstate shows with label mates We All Want To, and also Melbourne’s Nick Barker. This tour includes a special four-piece acoustic performance in the GoMA Matisse up-late series. Don’t miss Halfway playing in Melbourne, on Saturday May 5 At The Empress Hotel, and Sunday May 6 at Kew RSL.

BUCKLEY WARD Buckley Ward are currently celebrating the release of their acclaimed second album So Pretend with a string of shows around the country. The band will be throwing a launch party here in Melbourne town at The Toﬀ in Town on Saturday May 19. Supports on the night come from The Neighbourhood Youth and I’lls’. Tickets are available from The Toﬀ website.

SILVER SIRCUS Four years have passed since Silver Sircus’ ﬁrst EP releases Sovereignty and Dark Back Garden. These formed the material for the band’s ﬁrst theatrical stage work, Songs From The Red Room (Brisbane Cabaret Festival, Adelaide Fringe Festival). Come Back As You, the band’s latest EP, illustrates how much Silver Sircus has matured in four years. The title track’s sparse sounds are punctuated with rich, layered orchestration. Shaw’s vocals touch deep emotions, delving into grief without ever losing sight of hope. Silver Sircus will be launching Come Back As You with a very special show at The Wesley Anne, on Saturday May 5, with special guest Madame Andree. Beat Magazine Page 52

BEN WELLS AND THE MIDDLE NAMES No strangers to touring, Ben Wells and The Middle Names, have clocked up over 10,000km in the past year alone, driving from their home town of Hobart to all points along the east coast of Australia. As well as playing supports to such acts as Art Vs Science, San Cisco, The Jungle Giants, Little Red and Passenger, they were selected by triple j’s Unearthed to perform at Falls Festival Marion Bay 2011, the band’s second year to perform on the main stage. Ben Wells and The Middle Names and Kate Martin will be playing at the Toﬀ in Town on Thursday May 10 in celebration of their new releases – House, Come Home, and Hand Me My Bow And Arrow. With Kate is coming from Townsville and Ben Wells from Hobart, they are both outsiders in the Australian music scene. With each of them travelling from opposite ends of Australia, they will be meeting in the middle throughout May to share their unique music.

Thursday doesn’t have to be Friday’s boring cousin. Sure you could spend it sitting at home downloading Game of Thrones or playing Skyrim or some shit, or you could get a jump on the weekend and expose Friday for the pussy that he is. Inside of the Tote will be all of these things: The energetic reverb punk of Graft vs Host, the driving garage punk rock’n’roll of Damn The Torpedoes, the catchy Folx Punx of Shadow League and the ball exploding rock and roll of The Kremlings. So pry your sticky ﬁngers oﬀ that control and wrap them around and beer glass this Thursday May 3. $8 from 8pm.

Having already supported the likes of MOTO, Ty Segall and Guitar Wolf, local garage punk trio Bad Aches are about to release their ﬁrst “ Hypochondriac. This will coincide with their ﬁrst residency every Saturday afternoon in May in the Tote front bar. The lineup will include The Exotics, Late Arvo Sons, Bits Of Shit and more. See the Bad Aches at the Tote front bar this Saturday May 5 from 5pm with special guest Bat Piss and Ausmutants.

MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU It’s time to celebrate ‘May The Fourth Be With You’. Star Wars fans across the globe rejoice on one special day, celebrating one of the most loved ﬁlm trilogies in Western culture. To maximise the festivities, Bowcaster (Melbourne’s only Star Wars-themed rock band) will perform at The Tote, one of Melbourne’s most important rock establishments. Joining them will be NZ kids Gatherer and two of Melbourne’s most underrated bands, Dead River and On Sierra. This night is sure to be a celebration of space, time and incredible music on Friday May 4 from 8.30pm. Entry is $10.

GRUNTBUCKET Gruntbucket, Melbourne’s premier slacker-psych heavyhitters launch their new album Songs From An Empty Room on Saturday May 5 at The Tote. This album shows a band with breadth, depth and vision. Live, Gruntbucket deliver an exhilarating roller-coaster ride of tumbling riﬀs and mindbending detours from ﬁnger-snappin’ garage rock through to sun-dappled stoner wanderings. With support from Iowa, fresh from their release of their debut LP Never Saw It Coming, and new kids-on the block Teenage Libido. $12 from 8.30pm.

CHRIS RUSSELL’S CHICKEN WALK

BRAVO JULIET

Having wowed audiences at the Clarksdale, Mississippi Juke Joint Festival in April where he shared the stage with Kenny Brown, L.C. Ulmer, Lightnin’ Malcom, and Old Gray Mule, Chris Russell’s Chicken Walk return to Australia, and the Old Bar every Wednesday in May. Featuring Handsome Dean Muller on drums, Chris Russell’s Chicken Walk play rollicking, hypnotic North Mississippi Hill Country Blues with supports from Jimmy Stewart (Clinkerﬁeld), Bob Harrow (Immigrant Union), Guy Kable and a host of others. Beat the winter blues with some Mississippi heat from Chris Russell’s Chicken Walk tonight at The Old Bar.

A band making a big splash on the Melbourne scene, Bravo Juliet return to Pony on Friday May 4 from 9pm armed with majestic stormy guitars and soaring energy as they promote their debut album Turning Tables, Turning Tides which was recently released on iTunes to great reviews. Support comes from Someone Else’s Wedding Band and No Escape For The King, who will be oﬃcially unleashing their debut single Stuttgart-Upon-Thames/ n My Bones (Again). The mouthwatering lineup is completed by youthful popsters and legends of tomorrow, the Mere Poets.

Here’s one for the kids: The ﬁrst Sunday in every month The Old Bar hosts Crybaby Sessions. A time for you parents to bring the young-guns down to the bar to watch some music. The whole bar is non-smoking on this day and there’s changing tables, face-painting, a BBQ, lemonade, and it’s only $5 to get in. The wonderful Mikelangelo is performing for y’all this week too. Bring your juniors to The Old Bar’s Crybaby Sessions on Sunday May 6 from 1pm.

SOUTHPAW Melbourne acoustic duo Emani is playing at the Great Britain hotel on Sunday May 6 at 7pm, featuring Emma Gardner on vocals and Manny Gauci-Seddon on guitar. This formidable duo plays blues classics and more recent tunes by artists like Tom Waits and Gillian Welch . Southpaw headlines and will liven things up for a Sunday with a smashing set at 10pm, see how we put the headline last, it’s a secret.

TOM LEE RICHARDS, MUCKLE PUP With the grand task of being the ﬁrst performers to grace the stage of the Richmond Underachievers Club (below the Great Britain Hotel) two very eclectic acts will take to the stage. Muckle Pup will loop and layer organic and synthetic material into breathtaking sound-scapes while Tom will take you on a folk jazz journey through space and time. Thursday May 3 will see it all happen, 8pm will be the time and it’s free.

BOX ROCKETS After four years, two EPs, 130+ shows and many memorable moments on-stage and off, Melbourne’s Box Rockets have decided to call last drinks on their time together as a group. To cap things off, and as final thank-you to everyone who has ever supported the band, Box Rockets are playing two final and free shows: Saturday May 5 at their beloved home turf, the Great Britain Hotel. Watch them rip up the carpet with their soulful rockin’ tunes and work their way through the venue’s ever-so-generous rider. It’s going to be a party. Doors at 8.30pm.

ARTIST PROFILE:

‘HALFWAY’

LIZARD PUNCH, THE SVENS

The Darling Downs are Kim Salmon and Ron Peno playing country ﬂavoured songs and they’re doing it every Sunday in May at The Old Bar. They’ve even been working on some new ones for this residency. 8pm every Sunday with some killer supports all for a measly $8. What else do you need to know? It’s Kim Salmon and Ron Peno playing together! Catch them this Sunday May 5 at The Old Bar from 8pm.

CRYBABY SESSIONS

What’s heavy metal? Skulls! What’s tougher than skulls? Tanks! What does all this mean? Who cares! ‘Cause it’s time for Melbourne thrash attack Desecrator to play the infamous Pony Bar 2am slot. For the last two years Desecrator have been carving themselves a meaty slice of the Australian music scene’s pie and have become a formidable live act not to be missed. Plus, it’s Riley’s Birthday and Mano’s last show for a while before he spawns the next generation of the Greek race so it’s time for friends to thrash with Desecrator at 2am. For free. Hell yeah!

BAD ACHES

Party punks Lizard Punch bring their snorkel swilling, costume changing shenanigans to Pony for a night of old fashioned debauchery on Thursday May 3. Joined by the garage rock stylings of Secret Crackpipe Handshake and the punk rock attack of the Cruntburgers this is a night for people that just want to have a good time and potentially do things that they probably shouldn’t. Doors are at 8:30pm. After this, The Svens will be playing the infamous 1am slot. The Melbourne twopiece will show oﬀ their set of furious garage-alt sounds on the eve of International Star Wars Day, so go and celebrate with a drink and start oﬀ the festivities with some explosive tunes.

THE DARLING DOWNS

DESECRATOR

KEGGIN Do you like to drink? Do you like punk music? Do you like punk music about drinking? If you answered yes to all the above then come check out Keggin in one of their last shows. This band has deﬁned and perfected the art of booze punk with catchy choruses and guitar solos that will have your ears ringing for weeks. This Saturday May 5 at Pony in the 2am late slot. Free entry.

MASTER BETA Pony will be splitting ears come Saturday May 5. The lineup includes a taste of punk, punk/rock, rock/punk, rock and punk and punk and rock. Master Beta will be displaying their unique heavy stoner rock beats that sound like a guitar soloing space whale. Joining them are punk rockers Clowns, back from a tour of SE Asia who continue to spread it on at every chance. Punk rockers Dixon Cider will smash your face in with bit of the old danananana and Sunbury ‘s energetic Dirty Chapters will riﬀ your night up with their brand of thrash rock. Doors open at 9pm, get some!

WATCH INTERVIEWS, CHATS & AWKWARD SILENCES... BEAT.COM.AU/TV

Define your genre in five words or less: Indie/country/rock’n’roll. What do you love about making music? Writing songs for Halfway. What do you hate about the music industry? I don’t have much to do with the music industry. We rehearse twice a week, make albums and play shows. We are on a small indie label and they shoulder most of that stuﬀ and let us do what we do. How long have you been gigging and writing? Twenty years writing songs, ten years playing in Halfway. What inspires or has influenced your music the most? I guess the guy we talk about most at rehearsal is Bob Dylan. What makes you happiest about what you’re doing? In 2010 we made a record with Robert Forster producing. That made me pretty happy. If someone made a movie about your life, who would play you? Mickey Rourke. If you could go on tour with any musician or band, who would it be? We have been lucky enough to play with quite a few of our favourite bands already. But we would still love to play shows with Centro-Matic , Phosphorescent & Richard Hawley. The list is long. Do you have any record releases to date? What are they? Where can I get them? We have made 3 LPs. Farewell To The Fainthearted (2003) Remember The River (2006) and An Outpost Of Promise (2010).They are all available through Plus One Records. When’s the gig and with who? Saturday May 5 at The Empress with We All Want To and Nick Barker.

WE ALL WANT TO

THE AUTUMN ISLES

We All Want To spent three weeks in August 2011 hunkered down over the recording console armed with bouzoukis, tambourines, xylophones and an omnichord, but more importantly an army of electric guitars, loud amps and fuzz pedals. In 2010 the group’s debut album highlighted a band of diverse genres ﬁnding their feet; the new album is the sound of a conﬁdent rock band turning on and tuning in. Punk rock ist nicht tot. First single You Used To Be Funny is a bratty blast of playground pop, a bittersweet duet done fast and loud. The band are touring Melbourne in May, with label-mates Halfway on Saturday May 5, at The Empress, and Sunday May 6, at Pure Pop Records and Kew RSL.

Perth band, The Autumn Isles, embark on their third trip to the East Coast for an exclusive visit to Melbourne. Taking in four shows over three nights, the band are visiting on the back of their critically acclaimed debut album Kaleidoscopes. The Autumn Isles are known for their ability to create a musical melting pot of classic song-writing styles and abstract lyricism with melody always at the forefront. Catch them at Bertha Brown, on Thursday May 3, Pure Pop, and The Northcote Social Club, on Saturday May 5 (as part of the Laughing Outlaw shocase), and The Retreat, on Sunday May 6.

INTERNAL ROT, RORT Internal Rot and Rort both play their last shows for three months this Friday May 4 at the Bendigo Hotel. So head along and say “we’ll miss you” or “good riddance”. Last Measure will make you feel like you’ve fallen into a Spiral Objective catalogue from ‘97, Red Red Krovvy (NSW, members of Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys and Pop Singles) will boot you in the nuts and Kremlings will tear your pimply arse open from the word go. $8 will get you in.

BENDIGO HOTEL ARVO SHOW Four friends playing some songs to their friends and others. This show is being held this Saturday May 5 in the Bendigo Hotel beer garden, a little oasis in the guts of Collingwood. Entry is ﬁve clams and all proceeds from the show will be spent on canned/basic food that will be donated to The Salvation Army’s food bank in Brunswick, which will then be evenly distributed throughout their 11 emergency relief centres in Melbourne, which help families in emergency situations and the homeless. 3pm ‘til 6pm.

A NIGHT OF PURE HATRED Melbourne Metal Music returns in 2012 with a huge night of metal at The Bendigo Hotel. The event titled ‘A Night Of Pure Hatred’ features an extremely diverse lineup, showcasing some of Melbourne and Adelaide’s most elite metal bands. Double Dragon from Adelaide will be playing their very last show. They will be ending in style launching their latest album Sons Of Asena. Melbourne thrash grind aggressors King Parrot reign in support, as they stop at nothing to deliver a kick in the face every time. ‘90s death metal returns in the form of Abrasion. A much anticipated and overdue comeback show that promises to deliver a furious action packed live performance. Tough technical modern sludge metalers Broozer are one of the most impressive and exciting bands to hit the scene in years. And ﬁnally, a Murder Of Crows will also making the trek from Adelaide, opening the night with their blistering thrash power chaos. Don’t miss it this Saturday May 5 from 8pm.

PSYCHO DAISIES This Sunday head to the Bendigo Hotel for the night of your life, you might even make some friends. It’s the Psycho Daisies debut show so make sure you get there early to have a dance. Wolfs are a band who are fresh on the scene with their easy listening, catchy tunes. They were formerly Royal Control but they’ve got a whole new thing going on. Champagne Reggae return to the stage to bring us their unique jam-band style music and brilliant energy. Having just played the annual Buttifest at the Evelyn, and just ahead of their headline show at the John Curtin, the fantastic four will put on a great show at The Bendigo Hotel on Sunday May 6 from 7pm. $5 entry.

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Q&A THE PRETTY LITTLES

JONNY TELAFONE This is going to be one hell of a romp with Jonny Telafone, Full Ugly, Velcro, and Orbits all at Bar Open. For his debut nude show, apparently, Jonny Telafone who is the master of his own domain and many others, taps the sensual, spiritual and raw side of bedroom musician to produce and perform some of the finest lo-fi pop songs of our time. Full Ugly is a bright star in the jangly-pop scene that’s ever so growing in Melbourne. They will be bursting with some neato riffs and some most excellent vocal charm. The big night sees Velcro release their Inadequate Lover EP, five tracks of down-beaten sexual angst. Orbits opens the gig. He recently moved to Melbourne from Canberra with his regular band Cat Cat, but in a solo context conducts hypnotic loops and sonic sensations. It’s at Bar Open tonight. Doors from 8pm. Free entry.

SUGARCRAFT Once again, Bar Open presents a night of the finest local electronic soul music on Sunday May 6. Neo soul/pop outfit Sugarcraft is the strange collision of two worlds: the sugarsweet harmonies of Beth Stephen (The Little Stevies) and the crafty beats of Ben Houghton (//This Thing//). With Mike Kay filling out the live show, expect catchy hooks and deep grooves with just the right amount of poppy fun. Joining them on the night is Killbot Kindergarten and Andras Fox. Doors from 7.30pm and it’s free entry.

STU THOMAS Psychedelic surfster space cowboy Stu Thomas comes on all solo-like on Saturday May 3, at Tago Mago, Thornbury’s coolest hang. He’ll be dishing out gems from his ﬁrst two golden albums, and throwing in some obscure movie tunes especially for music aﬁcionados and lovers of the Twang. Bring a friend, tell them to bring two, and wrap your listening gear around Stu’s sweet sweet baritone on Thursday May 3 at Tago Mago.

MIKELANGELO & THE TIN STAR

So then, what’s the band name and what do you ‘do’ in the band? The band is called The Pretty Littles and I play a hollowed out bible that you can plug into a guitar amp. Viva la Revolution mutha lickers. What do you think people will say you sound like? If BABBA were a Vasco Era tribute band instead of an ABBA tribute band, people would say we sounded like that. What do you love about making music? Everything. What do you hate about the music industry? Gimmicks. Even backhanded gimmicks like bands smoking nangs on stage. I thought that would be kinda cool, then I saw it and it was the pitts. If you could travel back in time and show one of your musical heroes your stuﬀ, who would it be and why? Probably about one week ago when Levon Helms was still kicking. Then I’d ask him if he wanted to play drums and sing in our band, then sit Will our dummer down and ask

if he wants to play ‘percussion’ in our band… basically just give him a maraca or something.. it would be kind of like watching your friends play video games and your 99% sure you’re having a bad time but you keep watching anyway. What can a punter expect from your live show? Way worse renditions of songs we have recorded. What’ve you got to sell CD-wise? We did an EP late last year which you can get off bandcamp for five beans and we just finished another which we will have in our slippery hands in like a month. The new one is heaps better. When’s the gig and with who? The gig is Friday May 4 at Noise Bar with blues rats White Summer and The Cocoa Jacksons who have a rad name and are therefore probably rad. We will be playing our seminal 1999 debut album, Living Legends from start to finish… but don’t worry our encore will have the hits from all our albums. Anything else to add? When I grow up I wanna be a parking inspector.

Prolific Sydney independent label Laughing Outlaw records presents their first label showcase gig in Melbourne with a great line up headlined by local Surf’n’Western sensation Mikelangelo & The Tin Star. The Tin Star will be launching their official clip for smokin’ instrumental album track No Sign Of A Pipeline. Other Laughing Outlaw acts featured on the bill are Perth psychedelic pop purveyors The Autumn Isles, Sydney’s indie rock royalty Bambino Koresh and local boys Wilder. See one, see all this Saturday May 5 at Northcote Social Club from 8pm.

GHOST TOWS OF THE MIDWEST Currently receiving steady airplay on RRR & PBS, Ghost Towns of the Midwest team up with The Merri Creek Pickers & Ryan Nico and The Overlanders for a night of stomping, hooting and hollering Friday May 11 at The Nash in Geelong. Hire a bus and come on down. You won’t regret it.

HIGH TEA High Tea are explorers of black noise, quantum mechanics and astronomers rock return to Bar Open on Thursday April 3. Boasting members of Baseball, Cuba Is Japan and more, their live performances radiate light years away. Following an appearance at Camp A Low Hum 2012 in Wellington NZ, a national tour of Japan, supports for Mono, Holy Fuck, Seekae and Perth experimental rock three-piece Usurper of Modern Medicine is embarking on their ﬁrst oﬃcial Australian tour this May. Doors from 9pm. Free entry.

CANARY

THE BULLETTES

Ben Wright Smith is an Australian singer-songwriter and musician. Ben’s music combines styles such as folk, blues, country and rock’n’roll; his lyrics are often allegorical and surreal. Ben Wright-Smith and the Birthday Girls and Tulalah will be joined by Mouth Tooth, Neil Wilkinson (Red Coats) and Jumpin Jack Williams at the Phoenix Public House, Friday May 4.

Mix one third southern soul, one third ‘60s rock’n’roll, one third doo-wop and an extra third of a bunch of songs you might not have heard before. Combine with yet more thirds of amazing audiences, over-enthusiastic friends and unexpected, slightly innocent, bystanders and you get the brand new thing from The Bullettes, a mathematically incompetent and improbable nine- piece band satiating the thirst for good time dance music. Gentlemen grab your suede shoes, ladies get your go-go boots and head to Bar Open on Friday May 4. Doors from 10pm. Free entry.

After releasing their debut album Dear Universe for the world to download, Canary kick start a season of live performances with a very special show at the Grace Darling this Thursday May 3. Sharing the stage with friends and local hot-shots The Twoks and The Universal, it’s likely to be a highly unique, energetic and enthralling night of music. Not a gig to miss.

BEN WRIGHT SMITH

TROPICAL SPACE LAB Tropical Space Lab special Live guest this month is Dizz1 performing with a guest MC. The Melbourne-based bassheavy producer Dizz1 built his reputation blending Detroit hip hop with London dubstep. But it’s his latest EPs nod towards European tropical bass producers that made it essential to invite him to Bar Open. Also heading for a DJ tour of Europe soon is Tropical Space Lab host Saca La Mois DJ!, and this time he is performing with percussionist TomTom from the Cumbia Cosmonauts. As usual at Tropical Space Lab, plenty of new unreleased new Cumbia Cosmonauts songs and remixes are unleashed testing out the subwoofers at Bar Open this Saturday May 5. CHECK OUT ALL THE LATEST NEWS, REVIEWS AND FREE SHIT AT BEAT.COM.AU

Beat Magazine Page 53

MUSIC NEWS

60 SECONDS WITH… ‘RED HOT RHYTHM MAKERS’

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THE PROCESS After an exceptional launch of their debut single I Burn/Religion which was held at the gothic grounds of Montsalvat, The Process is proud to invite you to another show curated by them to be held in the band room of The Grace Darling Hotel this Friday May 4. The Process is a darkly hypnotic trio, from which songs of faith and failure bloom. Ghost Vein will immediately precede The Process with his spoken word, Inerzone will hold your gaze, Machine will make you a part and Ashley R Rivers will open the night nurturing the wall of sound from the ground up. Electric Mary

DIRT RIVER RADIO After a three month hiatus due to rehab and recording commitments, Dirt River Radio are stepping back on their hometown stage for the ﬁrst time this year on Saturday May 5 at The Retreat Hotel. Fresh from the European release of their album Beer Bottle Poetry and their song Chase The Sun being the theme song for the TV show The Aussie Way Up, the boys are looking forward to tearing it up. Know for their unique style of drunken sing-along debauchery this one promises to be a show not to be missed. Two sets in the front bar from 7:30pm, free entry.

RICH DAVIES ROCK N LOAD The mighty Electric Mary will headline the inaugural Rock N Load festival at The Espy on Saturday May 26. This rounds out an impressive 32 band lineup of local and interstate rock acts sweating it out across the entire venue. Catch Electric Mary, Bugdust, The Stiﬀys, King Of The North, Ten Thousand, Heaven The Axe, I Am Duckeye, The Charge, Anna Salen, Hailmary (WA), Shadowgame, The Morrisons, Beggars Orchestra (NSW), Bottle Of Smoke, System Of Venus, Arcane Saints, Apache Medicine Man, Riot In Toytown and heaps more - all for a mere 21 bucks! Check out rocknloadfestival.com for full lineup and ticketing info.

HEATHER STEWART TRIO The trio’s sound mixes old time ﬁddle blues with country, Cajun and swamp grooves topped with soaring vocals reminiscent of Bessie Smith and Memphis Minnie. Heather Stewart is a rare breed of musician. She has a huge voice, is an immensely talented violinist and writes much of her own music. So head on down to the Drunken Poet this Saturday May 5 and check the trio out.

The songs of sinner Rich Davies are tales of murder, ghosts, demons and pain, on a dark backdrop inspired by alt country, folk, reverb drenched swampy rock, acoustic balladry and Dylan-esque slap-in-the face, venom-filled rockers. Davies’ delivers his songs with an impassioned vocal delivery, which echoes the tones of Bruce Springsteen, Nick Cave and Win Butler (Arcade Fire). Born from a poetic compulsion to tell the untold stories of the wretched of heart, Rich emerged like the fiery tongue of flame from a sparked match. Don’t miss Rich performing two sets in the front bar of The Retreat Hotel this Sunday May 6 from 4pm, free entry.

SPLIT SECONDS If Split Seconds were a football team their pre-season preparation for the 2012 musical season could only be described as impeccable. Entering the building on the ground ﬂoor in late 2010, Splits worked their way into the hearts of local independent music fans on the back of their eminently likeable singles All You Gotta Do and Bed Down. Their selftitled EP released in March 2011 helped secure a place in the 2012 triple j Next Crop alumni, followed by national tours alongside Owl Eyes, The Panics and Jebediah, plus a publishing deal with Native Tongue. Now they’re moving on up, releasing their new single Top Floor this April and taking it to the streets throughout May, accompanied by Sydney psych-pop dreamers Underlights, who will co-headline the East Coast Second Light Tour. They bring the tour to the Northcote Social Club on Thursday May 10.

CROSSING ROMEO

THE HIDING The Hiding are a new Melbourne band on the scene, hailing from an old project in which they toured nationally and internationally. Their ﬁve-track debut EP has just been released and was produced by Jimi Maroudas (Kimbra, You Am I) and mixed by Mark Needham (The Killers, Sick Puppies, Neon Trees). The Hiding support Zoophyte On Saturday May 5 at The Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. Music from 10pm, and it’s free.

Crossing Romeo (formally known as Rhymada) are a fourpiece rock pop band from Melbourne, formed in 2009. Their debut EP The Ruin The Remedy is a tasty appetiser into the band’s blend of ground-shaking rock and pop melodies. The simplistic lyrical interpretation of everyday complexities are delivered with a raw sincerity and backed with a powerful sound that pushes the boundaries of modern day pop music. Catch Crossing Romeo launch their self-titled debut album on Saturday May 5 at the Evelyn Hotel.

LADIES SINGLES One night. Five dynamite performers. Warning: May contain traces of Beyoncé and bad tennis puns. From electro-soundart composer Karen Heath to the swirling space oddity of Kim Boekbinder (The Impossible Girl), Ladies Singles is a rare opportunity to see ﬁve stunningly original and talented musicians on the one bill. Conceived by Xen Pow (A Lonely Crowd) and Jen Kingwell (The Jane Austen Argument) as a night to showcase the solo talents of women musicians who front some of Melbourne’s most acclaimed bands, Ladies Singles will feature Karen Heath, Xen Pow, Carly Fern, Jen Kingwell and Kim Boekbinder. Don’t miss it, at the Phoenix Public House this Thursday May 3.

LOVE CONNECTION Love Connection launch their second album, Euphoria, on Friday May 25 at the Northcote Social Club. The launch of Euphoria will be one of the ﬁnal Love Connection shows before they relocate to New York in July. Special guests on the night will be Montero, and Angel Eyes. Tickets are available from Northcote Social Club.

WIZARD OZ Wizard Oz is a loﬁ electro-pop duo, who will play new and old bangers from their sparkling tapes. Pop/punk masters Pop Singles will blow your mind again after Sleaze-Gaze bushrangers Grand Prismatic take you to a new plane of existence. There’ll be the Big Tobacco DJs also. This will most likely be Wizard Oz’s last Melbourne show for the year, so make your way to the Grace Darling this Saturday May 5. Beat Magazine Page 54

DRIFTER Want some HEAD? Get down to the Old Bar this Friday May 4, to see Drifter launch their debut EP HEAD. It’s going to be crazy, loud and soaked with feedback and distortion. Drifter will have the help of Shep Grunge Rock maniacs Inedia, the stoner rock tones of Motherslug, and loud as fuck River of Snakes (with new drummer Glenn Evans). Bands kick oﬀ at 9.30pm. $10 entry. First 15 payers get free HEAD.

STAR WARS DAY A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... shit got real. Father/son reunions, civil unrest, kissing twins, robot comedy, two unfinished death stars, and heaps of tricky x wing stunts. These events not only changed their galaxy for the better, but ours too. Star Wars day is approaching and what better way to celebrate it than drinking like a wookie, dancing like a ewok and sweating like a guy in a robot suit to a massive selection of awesome live music. The eve kicks off with the beatbox looper Influx creating some live kaoss, always good for a dancey dance. Next the awesomely smooth tones of the three-piece rock outfit, Agility. Then we wander and get lost in the blissful psychedelic haze of Wandering Spirit, until SID AIR pulls you out and makes you boogie to their ridiculously energetic style of post punk. They are in fact releasing a single on the night, Firth. a compact disc recording of it will be handed out for free as you leave. But they are not last, for those still keen to ‘get down’ Vinal Riot will be rocking out some killer grunge. A massive night of all things Star Wars (not really, but it will be massive) kicking off at 8.30pm on Friday May 4 at Noise Bar, Brunswick.

THREE KINGS Ben Peters, the force behind Benny and The Fly By Nighters, Ian Collard of Collards Greens N Gravy and Jason Liusoon have teamed together to make the ever powerful trio of Three Kings. This is a new project which blends their individual talents in a combination of rockabilly and blues. Ian Collards amazing harmonica and Benny’s brilliant guitar work are superbly rounded oﬀ by Jason tasty and skillful drumming. They’ve played at the Labour a bunch of times now to full houses each time. As these guys are always ﬂat out gigging both here and in the States this is a rare opportunity over the next three Sundays to see some of the cream of Oz musos doing what they love. Admission is free. Get down to the Labour in Vain this Sunday May 6 from 5pm.

So then, what’s the band name and what do you ‘do’ in the band? We’re called Michael McQuaid’s Red Hot Rhythmakers. I’m the bandleader, and I play trumpet and write music for the group. What do you think people will say you sound like? We play really old-school big band jazz, the sort of stuff you would have heard in a Chicago speakeasy in the ‘20s or a Harlem ballroom in the ‘30s. We’ve got saxes and brass and a stomping rhythm section, plus two great vocalists. It sounds like your grandmother’s records, only in stereo. What do you love about making music? This music was meant for dancing, and it’s so exciting to look out over a packed dance floor filled with dancers doing the Charleston and the Lindyhop! The whole room seems to come alive. What do you hate about the music industry? The emphasis on music being up-to-date can be pretty depressing – just because something’s new doesn’t mean it’s going to be good. And old music doesn’t stop being good just because time passes – it can come alive anytime someone plays it with passion and skill! That’s what we try to do. If you could travel back in time and show one of your musical heroes your stuff, who would it be and why? We’d love to go play for Duke Ellington in Harlem in the ‘30s. He was this incredibly talented, stylish and intelligent musician, and he demanded quality in everything he did. We’ve played a few shows featuring his music, and I reckon he’d be amazed that a band was playing his stuff in Melbourne in 2012. What can a punter expect from your live show? Expect exciting music and relaxed old-school charm, partly thanks to our great swing-dancing crowd. Join in or watch their amazing skills on the floor. And then there’s our music – authentic old-style jazz with wailing saxes, roaring brass and more. We’ll even throw in sousaphone and banjo if you’re lucky. When’s the gig and with who? We’re starting our monthly gig at the Victoria Hotel, Brunswick, on Saturday May 5. Doors open at 8.30pm. Entry is $15, or $10 if you book online – see redhotrhythmakers.com for more details. Anything else to add? Come along on Saturday and party like it’s 1929.

BONJAH FRASER A. GORMAN Fraser A. Gorman will be bringing his full rock n rolling, country stylings to The Retreat Hotel every Thursday in May. Don’t miss this young man preaching the old world to your very ears with jangley guitars, violin, harmonica and gospel hollerin’ vocals. Coming straight off the back from Queenscliff, Port Fairy Folk Festival and the Boogie campfire and landing supports for Joe Pug, Jason Isbell and A.A Bondy amongst many others, this kid’s been playing his guts out. Come get down to this gig with a different support each week, it’s goin’ to be a humdinger. This week support from The Perch Creek Family Jug Band, onstage from 9pm, free entry.

Bonjah started the year off in a big way seeing in NYE at Pyramid Rock Festival, playing the Big Day Out and selling out their headline summer tour, and they’re now off to London before starting work on their third album. The band was also invited to join The Cranberries in Sydney and Auckland in March. Bonjah have made a name for themselves for their powerful and dynamic live shows, and before they head off to the mother country, you can catch them on their last Australian East Coast headline tour of 2012, including this show, for the release of new single Fall Together. With singles Something We Should Know, The White Line and Go Go Chaos on radio rotation, see for yourself why Rolling Stone nominated Bonjah for the 2011 ‘Artist To Watch’ award. They play the Corner Hotel on Friday June 8 with Buckley Ward and The Dawn Chorus.

WHITE SUMMER Somewhere along the long and winding road that is musical history, tucked in between Beethoven and Bob Dylan’s back pages, a whole lot of people decided they had a preference for tightly coiled metal strings being distorted by a humbucker over the top of a driving snare drum like gunfire during sex. And from this predilection came rock music. But not just any kind of rock music – the kind where blues drips from grit-stained fingers, the kind where dancing comes with screaming and the kind you wouldn’t let your daughter near for all the whiskey in the world. Before they got their shit together and started making exactly that kind of music, the majority of White Summer were hanging out in the picturesque coastal hinterland of Phillip Island in Victoria (a place that’s tourism website includes amongst its star attractions: a cooking school, a maze and a “venison and cuckoo clock farm”). Lead vocalist and drummer Jimmy Stanfield and guitarist Michael Barnsley then took on the city-slicking bassist Anthony Zielke to become that most prized and valued of things: an exciting new rock band. White Summer are playing as part of an incredibly sexy blues-rock lineup featuring The Pretty Littles and The Cocoa Jacksons on Friday May 4 at Noise Bar, doors at 9pm. WATCH INTERVIEWS, CHATS & AWKWARD SILENCES... BEAT.COM.AU/TV

KING OF THE NORTH After wooing Cold Chisel’s crowd at Festival Hall, playing a packed out Palace Theatre and destroying Cherry Rock last week, local rock duo King Of The North will be playing a free show to say thanks to everyone for all the support. The show will be at the Cornish Arms on Sydney Rd in Brunswick. Joining KOTN for this rocking occasion will be two great local acts in their own right, Sheriﬀ and Vimm. Come down with ya’ dancing shoes for a night of high-energy original riﬀ rock! Doors 9pm and free entry this Saturday May 5.

IN A MEMORY With new releases from In A Memory, Hard Reign and This Fiasco, and as Asperity Within have recently played with Australian heavyweights The Amity Aﬄiction, Disintegration Bookings are thrilled to be organising a show at one of their favourite music venues Yah Yah’s. Headliners In A Memory hail from the western suburbs of Melbourne and are looking to make a big statement in 2012. After gigging around Melbourne, Geelong and the surrounding suburbs, this quintet are generating alot of buzz amongst the public and building a solid fanbase. With catchy choruses, solid riﬀs, and massive breakdowns, be sure to keep an eye out for this young, up and coming band. Come one, come all, come chuck a mosh and enjoy some fresh tunes at Yah Yah’s this Thursday May 3.

60 SECONDS WITH… ‘EARL’

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GHETTO GHETTO

So then, what’s the band name and what do you ‘do’ in the band? The band is called earl and you’ve got all of us. Troy – guitars and all things tech. Tom – drums. Jackson – slappin’ the bass, and myself, Mark – vocals and guitar. Bearing the terrible clichéd nature of this question, what do you reckon people will say you sound like? Pop-rock. No one has told us we sound like any particular band so I suppose we sound like Earl. What do you love about making music? It never ends, never gets old and always keeps you going. You can be creative, do as little with it or as much as you’d like but it’s always there. What do you hate about the music industry? Jealous bands/tall poppy syndrome. The lack of live venues that support local original music and the constant justifying to punters why they should see your band and why they should buy your music instead of downloading it (illegally that is, download by all means, just pay for it ﬁrst!) If you could assassinate one person or band from popular music, who would it and why? Good question……Nickleback and Ke$ha. Can I have two? Cop this, I’ll invite Chad and Kesha to a dinner party at an old abandoned warehouse, once they are both there, BAM, lock the doors then go have a beer while I wait for them to get acquainted with the starving Bengal Tiger I left in there four days earlier. What can a punter expect from your live show? A professional unit leaving the ladies excited, the gentleman jealous of our awesomeness, energy, fun, and songs that will be stuck in your head for the next week.

There is word of some upcoming live mayhem to be envious of in Melbourne, Australia. Wielding some of the best new guitar bands we’ve heard in a while together with a handful of raw live venues, the hotspot Downunder is taking no prisoners. Ghetto Ghetto punk outfit (ex-Londoners) who are all set to play a brace of the snarling, soaring shows they’ve become renowned for. The first onslaught sees them join forces with the fierce yet tuneful Udays Tiger and the brilliantly named Dark Arts; casting a more subversive slant on indie punk. Taking over Yah Yah’s bar in Melbourne on Friday May 4, we’re assured that Ghetto Ghetto fans can expect outings of early faves from their debut EP You’re One of Us as well as some new material.

When’s the gig and with who? Earl is playing for the next two weeks at the Brunswick Hotel, Friday May 4 and Friday May 11. All free entry shows with cool local bands.

LOST ANIMAL Lost Animal celebrates the vinyl release of his debut album Ex Tropical with an all-too-rare headline show on Friday May 18 at Phoenix Public House in Brunswick. In response to signiﬁcant demand, Ex Tropical has been made available on vinyl, and each copy comes with a digital download card. The pressing is strictly limited to 500 copies. See Lost Animal performing tracks from Ex Tropical, with support from Sensory Projects label-mates New War, and Pearls, plus DJ LA Pocock.

60 SECONDS WITH… ‘SILVER SIRCUS’

HELM Moving into 2012, Helm are currently preparing for the recording and release of their third full length album, scheduled for release late in the year. Bullets, the ﬁnal single to be featured on the album was showcased live by the band on the Under the Sun Tour. Helm launch Bullets on their Call To Arm tour which hits the Espy on Friday May 11.

STRAYLOVE After racing the sun for a year or so, travelling around collecting sound, Melbourne’s Straylove have crashed back into town grasping a ten-track diamond and a fourth member on Hammond Organ. Their debut LP, 21st Century Ballroom, was written at the BurningMan festival in Black Rock Desert, USA, amidst a post-apocalyptic landscape and a primal side-show of truth and calamity. They play The Evelyn this Sunday May 6.

UNCOMFORTABLE KUMAR Young Melbourne guitarist Kumar Shome and his powerhouse trio The Punkawallahs are coming back to the Evelyn this Tuesday May 8 to bring to you colourful psychedelic harmonic progressions that make clouds burst and pone. With sounds taking you from the deserts of Ennio Morricone, to streetwise vibes of David Holmes to prog rock riﬀs that sets the bar for 21st century music.

THORNBURY SOUL SESSIONS What’ve you got to sell CD-wise? Limited hard copies of our debut four-track EP are available at shows or on iTunes under “e a r l”. The new single will hit iTunes in June with a launch to follow. Stay tuned!

The Thornbury Theatre and Calmer Productions is proud to present Thornbury Soul Sessions #2. The Soul Sessions will be bringing the funk to The Thornbury Theatre on Friday May 18. Boogie on down to soulful tunes reminiscent of traditional and neo-soul music from Melbourne and around the world. Featuring three of Melbourne’s most sought after soul acts, The Cactus Channel, Hiatus Kaiyote and The Putbacks, and Australia’s number one Soul DJ (Vince Peach), this is one night that lovers of groove should note in their diaries and ﬂock to the dance ﬂoor.

Q&A SID AIR

What do you love about making music? Making music is a very present in-the-moment thing. Time stands still and in that moment you can express a reflected version of what you actually love. What can a punter expect from your live show? Definitely a feeling of being transported, we put together our music and shows to reward an attentive audience member – this is why we love playing in sit down venues like The Butterfly Club and The Wesley Anne – venues that are set up for people to actually listen to bands and performers. We put a lot of emotion into our songs and performances, we want it to be intense, beautiful and thought-provoking for you. What have you got to sell CD-wise? We have our first EP Sovereignty which we will be performing all of as well as our new release the Come Back As You EP. Our second EP Dark Back Garden is completely sold out but will be getting re-released digitally soon. Tell us about the last song you wrote. Phoebe was the latest. It was inspired by a show done performed in a cemetery by a women’s circus company, Vulcana. I was musical director and a troupe of musicians travelled through the graveyard providing the live soundtrack. This marks the beginning of the next wave that will follow the album we’ll release later this year To The Place That Is Home. It is dark but delicate and strong. The other recent material on the new album similarly has stories about strength and vulnerability, carnal and metaphysical interrelationships. Love, letting go, finding friends, the flow of life, burning witches. What’s your favourite song, and why? Local and wonderful…. The Good Ship: Bury Me or Cut Off M. If someone made a movie about your life, who would play you? Same answer as at the beginning of my career. Nick Cave, if he was willing to go blonde. If your music was a chocolate bar, which one would it be, and why? A Kinder Surprise, only adult flavoured. How do you stop your pre-gig jitters? I don’t. Performance anxiety is part of the rush….just turn it into an energy, focus it and offer it up. SILVER SIRCUS launch Come Back As You at The Wesley Anne on Saturday May 5.

So then, what’s the band name and what do you ‘do’ in the band? The first few gigs we played were attended by an old local man, the man’s name was SID AIR. So in honour and respect, we stole his name. I’m Rhian Willis. I sing, play guitar and make other noises. What do you think people will say you sound like? Very danceable fast paced rock, with hints of math and post punk, and the occasional ballad thrown in. Hard to pin down, easy to pick up. What do you love about making music? Whether listening to it or playing it, music always brings out something positive in people, that can’t be achieved by anything else in this strange world. And the fact that doing whatever you want is celebrated and encouraged. What do you hate about the music industry? The fact that doing whatever you want isn’t celebrated and encouraged. If you could travel back in time and show one of your musical heroes your stuff, who would it be and why? Playing in a LA whiskey bar in front of Jim Morrison, because he’s had a major influence over my singing. The

YOUR COMPREHENSIVE LOCAL GUIDE

DANIEL CHAMPAGNE Reaching into folk, blues, classical, jazz and other stylings, Daniel Champagne delivers crowd-pleasing sets that have made audiences buzz wherever he goes. Brilliant live performances and phenomenal guitar abilities have seen him score invitations to support the likes of legendary performers Lucinda Williams and Judy Collins. With his new EP Real Live out now (from shows or his website), Daniel is on the road, touring nationally. Catch an amazing young performer on a rapid rise; he’s at The Espy on Mondays in May, and The Toﬀ In Town on Tuesdays in May from the 8th. He’ll be back for the EP Launch at the Caravan Music Club on Saturday June 23 as well.

LET THEM EAT CAKE Let Them Eat Cake are a rock band from Melbourne whose sound can be described in one word: fuzzy! Loud and quiet, slower then fast amid intermittent noise and varied rhythms. By good luck, being in the right places at the right times, seismic anomalies and a trashy internet forum and absolute sobriety, the three met, set their music shit up and blurted out some chords and grooves. They play Friday May 4 at The Victoria Hotel in Brunswick with Killing Liars. Free from 9.30pm.

THE STAFFORDS Produced by The Living End’s Chris Cheney in late 2011, The Staffords are proud to announce the release of their debut single Hollow To The Core / Flick Of The Wrist, and will celebrate this occasion tonight at The Evelyn. The Staffords pride themselves on short, catchy tunes with clever wordplay and their independent debut encapsulates this aesthetic. The Staffords also play Revolver on Friday May 4, and Worker’s Club on Monday May 28.

LUAU COWBOYS Tom Forsell brings his Luau Cowboys back to the Victoria Hotel in Brunswick on the ﬁrst Sunday of every month. Playing early country music bluegrass, some blues, ethnic waltzes, rhumbas, ‘50s country ala Johnny Cash, the odd Cajun tune mixed with originals and some genuine Hawaiian slack key tunes done in the island way. Free entry, 5pm and $10 jugs of beer.

SPEAK DIGITAL WATER Rock kings Speak Digital Water are about to release their much anticipated debut EP It Is Mine. With songs of this calibre these guys are set to rock the world. Head along and see them rip the stage apart on Friday May 11 at The Laundry with guests Sudden State, The Wire (Syd) and The Good Kept Quiet.

RED HOT RYHTHMAKERS Michael McQuaid’s Red Hot Rhythmakers is an exciting young band from Melbourne, Australia, aiming to bring new life to the hot and sweet sounds of ‘20s and ‘30s jazz bands such as those led by Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson and King Oliver. Formed in January 2004, the band is led by multi-instrumentalist Michael McQuaid, and features a combination of musicians already highly regarded in the jazz world as well as some exciting newcomers. They begin their new monthly show at The Victoria Hotel in Brunswick on Saturday May 5. $15 entry from 8.30pm.

same could be said for Ian Curtis. Though Curtis and the lads probably have more inﬂuence over our general sound, so a trip to ‘70s Manchester might be it. What can a punter expect from your live show? Heaps of other punters, punting everything. Also probably lots of energy, friendly people dancing and the occasional heckle. We like to jam things out if we have the time to do so. What’ve you got to sell CD-wise? We have a self-titled four-track EP out at the moment, which we are really happy with. Just got back from touring the east coast with it. When’s the gig and with who? We’re playing an International Star Wars day gig on May the 4th (be with you) at Noise Bar, and have managed to book all our favourite Melbourne bands. Wandering Spirit (psychedelic blues rock), Agility (smooth melodic rock), Vinal Riot (grunge) and Inﬂux (beatbox looper) are all great performers with catchy tunes. On the night we’re releasing a new single, Firth, which everyone will get for free. So come down, drink like a wookie, dance like a ewok and sweat like a guy in a robot suit to a massive selection of awesome live music. CHECK OUT ALL THE LATEST NEWS, REVIEWS AND FREE SHIT AT BEAT.COM.AU

Beat Magazine Page 55

ALBUM OF THE WEEK BEACH HOUSE

AIRIT NOW

Bloom (Mistletone)

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Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a brutally eďŹ&#x192;cient way to summarise the Baltimore duoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fourth LP, and while labelling it as Teen Dream 2 is perhaps not an unsurprising summary, it unfairly underlines a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;if it ainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t brokeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; mentality that betrays Beach Houseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s characteristically organic craftsmanship. Naturally Bloomâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s predecessor was the pairâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s breakthrough album, critics and fans alike ďŹ&#x201A;ocking to the most accessible evocation of their gently nostalgic dream pop yet, besotted by its beauty and brilliance. Fashioning a sequel that matches its slow-burn appeal, Bloom is more of a casual extension of Teen Dreamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s successes than a daring artistic leap. But again, that takes nothing away from its haunting eďŹ&#x20AC;ect and unfussy vividness. Just as Teen Dream was an appropriate title for a record that employed plaintive intimacy to score adolescent star-gazing; so too is Bloom a stylistic moniker. An album that ďŹ ttingly and gradually blossoms with colour, its organic details ďŹ&#x201A;ourishing with each subsequent spin, an album that reveals more of itself over time, its gentle hooks sinking deeper with each listen. Opening with a characteristically strong number, Myth lays Beach Houseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s modest toolbox out on the table: whitewashed keys, waiďŹ sh guitar arpeggios, spartan drum patterns and â&#x20AC;&#x201C; of course â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Victoria Legrandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s majestically ďŹ&#x201A;awed yet distinctive singing. Her androgynous croon hovering between the husky drone of an adolescent boy while retaining the graceful chanteuse depth of her natural French breeding. Most of the album relies on similar tools, but thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a grander sweep to their arrangements now that suggests the pair of Legrand and accomplice Alex Scally are comfortable to move beyond the bedroom to embrace their status in the indie big leagues. Cascading melodies are doubled, the synths laid thicker and the guitars, in particular, no longer solely ring and tremble. Wild and Wishes recall â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;80s guitar fashions, plucking reverbed notes or scraping into a stratospheric tremolo; while on the gentle bob of On The Sea their slow-dive resembles a string section. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a darker tone than previous eďŹ&#x20AC;orts too, their mystery transformed into a nocturnal melancholy on Troublemaker, or the dramatic shift in Lazuliâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s emotive coda; Legrand lamenting â&#x20AC;&#x153;Like no other, you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be replaced.â&#x20AC;? Thankfully, these subtle new emphases are introduced without sacriďŹ cing the lucid haze that deďŹ nes Beach Houseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sound. Once again, the pair forgoing typical verse/bridge/chorus structure in favour of a far more subtle approach than simply growing bigger, lusher and louder. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in the masterful combination of deliberately outdated elements â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the dinky Casiotone melody that opens Lazuli, the clunky beats beneath The Hours â&#x20AC;&#x201C; deceptively complex components built into shimmering textures that result in an eďŹ&#x20AC;ect best described as impressionistic.

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1. Dollar Chills DZ DEATHRAYS 2. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m Gone GRAVEYARD TRAIN 3. Maybe When The Sun Comes Down XTREMIX By Cloud Control RICHARD IN YOUR MIND 4. Tidal Wave THE LAURELS Shame THE CAIROS 5. Baby Thighs MAX CRUMBS 6. My Shadow PLANET LOVE SOUND 7. Shame THE CAIROS 8. Raisin Heart MOSMAN ALDER 9. Sword To A GunďŹ ght CHILDREN COLLIDE 10. Lance Jnr. COURTNEY BARNETT

COLLECTORâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S CORNER MISSING LINK

Which leads us to the main criticism of Bloom â&#x20AC;&#x201C; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s almost too much of a good thing. Its pace never moves beyond a steady metronomic nod, not once faltering beyond the comfortable sweet spot between lilting slumber and gentle nod. After ten tracks, the songs seem to bleed into a pleasing blur. But it could just as easily be taken as treading the ďŹ ne line between brilliant cohesion and being â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;too samey.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; This hazy wash has always been Beach Houseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s consistent style, ever since their 2006 debut, but to detractors this tremulous wash may seem dull, or at worst tedious. But few complained that Rembrandtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s watercolour style was â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;formulaic.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Here, Beach House have once again perfected their meticulous mix of elements. The closing seven-minutes of Irene best demonstrates their triumph. A soothing upward movement of familiar chordal shifts, before the half-way drops it all away to the relentless hammering of a single note. Almost childishly monotonous in its simplicity, but it soon informs a gilded sweep into a lush, shimmering cadence. A spine-chilling moment that caps an album rife with them, to the deďŹ ant refrain of â&#x20AC;&#x153;itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a strange paradise,â&#x20AC;? a phrase that surreptitiously describes the record in general. Does Bloom articulate anything new about Beach Houseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sound world? No, but it is perhaps the most delightfully satisfying expression of their music yet, and could well be dream popâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new deďŹ nitive gesture. AL NEWSTEAD

Best Track: Lazuli If You Like These, Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll Like This: Veckatimest GRIZZLY BEAR, Halcyon Digest DEERHUNTER, The Year Of Hibernation YOUTH LAGOON In A Word: A grower

SINGLES BY SIMONE Last week I watched a member of ACMIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s executive management team dance in gold hotpants and a paper crown in front of a crowd of 1,500 people for Body Electric. He was terrible, but he won a prize for eďŹ&#x20AC;ort. Sometimes Melbourne is just a little too Melbourne, you know what Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m sayinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;?

WILDING

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll Love You Until Monday Morning (Laughing Outlaw Records/Inertia) Melbourne artist Justin Wilding Stokes has a debut album, Birdâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bread, due out this week. The lead single has a breezy and a bouncing oom-pah beat, an homage to Sgt Pepper that wafts into a clattering reverie echoing A Day In The Life and half a dozen early songs by Blur. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll Love You.. is lively and pretty but not striking â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the melody plods in a fairly predictably way. If anything here is really noticeable, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Justinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s voice, which has an odd nasal catch that rubs against the twee, tinkling music.

THE STAFFORDS

Hollow To The Core (Independent) Chris Cheney produced the single by this emerging Melbourne three-piece, a straight-faced country rock number that would sit comfortably in a Billy Ray Cyrus set list. It rocks, it rolls, it boot scoots, it speaks of wanton women and broken men, and hits familiar notes in a very familiar order. Absolutely pleasant but also a little bland.

LISA MITCHELL

Spiritus (Warner) Lisa is back with steel drum laden pop song in which her little voice peels and soars ambitiously. The notes tremble and dance in a gently epic way, reďŹ&#x201A;ecting the knock-it-to-the-bleachers swooping pop style of producer Dann Hume (Evermore). Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an interesting step forward for Mitchell but, ironically, Spiritus lacks real spirit. There is something very white and very girlish about it, setting it leagues behind similar work by Sigur RĂłs or Bjork. Insipid middle-class musak.

NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE

Oh Susannah (Warner) Youngâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ďŹ rst album in nine years is a collection of folk rock tunes â&#x20AC;&#x201C; traditional songs reworked in a Yard Birds fashion, judging by the single. In this bizarre version of Oh Suzanna, you can just make out the line, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee,â&#x20AC;? but it bears no resemblance to the twanging hillbilly bluegrass of the original. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not sure itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s improved, neither. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a grim seriousness to Neilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s delivery of the word â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;banjoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; that made me giggle, although the backup singing from Crazy Horse is pretty rousing.

Beat Magazine Page 56

TOP TENS

PORTUGAL. THE MAN

All Your Light (Times Like These) (RZA Remix) (Warner) Portugal get a little dark muscle courtesy of RZA; a crunching beat, some muttered rap and a Prince-worthy refrain, a sharp pitching chain-gang chorus. The bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s psychedelic swirl is all but erased in this remix, but their soulful melody comes into sharper focus. Sounds good.

THE BEACH BOYS

Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Why God Made The Radio (EMI) The Beach Boys new album is out now and if the very fact doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t blow your mind, try listening to the single. While written and recorded by Brian Wilson, Mike Love et al, Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Why God Made The Radio has an ersatz Beach Boys ďŹ&#x201A;avour, not unlike Kokomo but it fact weirder because at least Kokomo is a now familiar obscenity. There is also a cruising yacht rock vibe that is more â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;80s than â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;60s, creating loops in self-referential pop culture that I am scared to properly examine. While sweetly harmonised, this whole episode is grave and disturbing.

ARCTIC MONKEYS

Electricity (EMI) Even heavier than its precursor, Electricity is the B-side to R U Mine?, released to support Record Store Day. This one is a mess of distortion, the vocals buried beneath the slapping would-be Dave Grohl drums and the rolling QOTSA guitar line. Doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t sound like it was much of a song to start with, but the production makes it one big forgettable stew of sound.

SINGLE OF THE WEEK FIONA APPLE Every Single Night (Sony)

I wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t fussed about Fiona Appleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s return to the spotlight until I heard this song. Arch, spare and moody, with an unexpected push in the chorus, Every Single Night is an awfully clever tune. It starts out harmless enough but then her voice begins to tremble and snarl, carefully constrained against music that shudders and ďŹ ts. Meanwhile, the lyrics are vivid as hell: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Every single night I endure the ďŹ&#x201A;ight of little wings of white-ďŹ&#x201A;amed butterďŹ&#x201A;ies in my brain/These ideas of mine percolate the mind trickle down the spine, swarm the belly, swelling to a blaze/Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s when the pain comes in, like a second skeleton, trying to ďŹ t beneath the skin/I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t ďŹ t the feelings inâ&#x20AC;ŚI just want to feel everything/ So Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m gonna try to be still now.â&#x20AC;? Her bristling, anxious energy is unchanged, still youthful, still sexy and as always, a little bit insane.

FOR MORE REVIEWS GO TO BEATTV.COM.AU/REVIEWS

1. Hard Rubbish LP LOWER PLENTY 2. Horizontal Action 7â&#x20AC;? PSYCHOSURGEONS 3. Songs Of Yesterday 7â&#x20AC;? MARCHING ORDERS 4. Transverse Temporal Gyrus LP ANIMAL COLLECTIVE 5. Sleeping Dogs Lie CD THE VICTIMS 6. Grinderman 2 Rmx CD/LP GRINDERMAN 7. IntroducingÂ The Sonics LP SONICS 8. Insomniphobia CD/LP SIGH 9. Split LP SCOTT & CHARLENES WEDDING/ PEAK TWINS 10. Beard, Wives Denim LP POND

SYN SWEET 16 1. Uptight THE CRIBS 2. Barcelona MAKING 3. The First Time I Saw Your Face THE FLAMING LIPS 4. Krokodil ST. VINCENT 5. Lighthouse PATRICK WATSON 6. GriďŹ&#x192;n THE MEDICS 7. Autumn CATCALL 8. All Night Long TOM LARK 9. Darling Hills JOE MCKEE 10. Creep & The Sicko SHERIFF

WOOLY BULLY 1. Everything Goes Wrong LP CONSTANT MONGREL 2. I Made Blood Better LP MAD NANNA 3. Split LP SCOTT & CHARLENEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S WEDDING/ PEAK TWINS 4. Rave Cave LP SKY NEEDLE 5. Henge Beat LP TOTAL CONTROL 6. Hard Rubbish LP LOWER PLENTY 7. Para Vista Social Club LP SCOTT & CHARLENEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S WEDDING 8. Krazy & Ignatz 1922-1924 Book GEORGE HERRIMAN 9. Goinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Out 7â&#x20AC;? STAG 10. Dirty Drawings Book CLEAN CARTOONISTS

THORNBURY RECORDS 1. Blunderbuss LP JACK WHITE 2. Outlaws LP THE TOOT TOOT TOOTS 3. Wrecking Ball LP BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN 4. Radiant Door EP CRYSTAL STILTS 5. Future Universe LP RON S PENO 6. Saint Jude LP SAINT JUDE 7. Muzzle Mini LP GONJASUFI 8. Between the Times and the Tides LP LEE RANDALDO 9. Port of Morrow LP THE CRIBS 10. Christmass LP FRANK BLACK

PBS TIPSHEET 1. Caravana Sereia Bloom CEU 2. Nothingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Gonna Change The Way You Feel About Me Now JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE 3. Jungle By Night HIDDEN 4. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve Got a Friend Called Emily Ferris COURTNEY BARNETT 5. The Inner Flame: A Tribute To Rainer Ptacek VARIOUS ARTISTS 6. Maidenhair MAX CRUMBS 7. A Great Day For The Race FLAP! 8. Five Easy Pieces THE SHEEP DOGS 9. Adventures In Your Own Back Yard PATRICK WATSON 10. Daydreaming ANDRAS FOX

BEATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S TOP TEN SONGS ABOUT CHIEFS/CAPTAINS/HBICs 1. Hail To The Chief ALBERT GAMSE 2. Sleep GODSPEED YOU BLACK EMPEROR! 3. Bossy KELIS 4. The Song Of Chief Joseph JAMES TALLEY 5. Captain Jack BILLY JOEL 6. (Baby Baby) Can I Invade Your Country SPARKS 7. Caesar TY SEGALL 8. Run The World BEYONCE 9. The World Is Ours CATCALL 10. The Boss JAMES BROWN

ALBUMS

SIMONE FELICE

Simone Felice (Warner Music) FOR MORE REVIEWS GO TO

BEAT.COM.AU/REVIEWS

KATE MILLER-HEIDKE Nightflight (Sony)

Believe it or not, Nightflight is actually Kate Miller-Heidke’s first solo album in three years. The success of its predecessor, Curiouser, rippled so triumphantly for so long, it’s as if Miller-Heidke never withdrew from the limelight. Nevertheless, she’s back, presenting a satisfying return to form. Buoyant opener Ride This Feeling offers an electrifying first impression, bristling with optimism. Sarah, by contrast, presents an anxious, on-edge narrative. Though a tad flamboyant and overblown in its execution, it is engrossing, successfully reestablishing Miller-Heidke as a formidable storyteller. The title-track emerges the record’s strongest inclusion however, Miller-Heidke’s poignant dissection of strenuous touring demands channeled through a dynamite melody. Of course, Miller-Heidke’s elastic, opera-esque delivery colours much of the record, her voice an enduring delight. The first half of Nightflight is undoubtedly superior to the second, Miller-Heidke’s polished pop-sensibilities far more pronounced and memorable early on. Even the naff The Tiger Inside Will Eat The Child – a Dawson’s Creek soundtrack knock-off - proves pleasing and more potent than anything featured in Nightflight’s more subdued second half. Nightflight feels both less brave and less commercially viable compared to its predecessors, a dubious distinction by anyone’s calculation. Normally that would be the death knell for any record, but Miller-Heidke nevertheless finds a way to make Nightflight pleasant listening. It might not be an Best Track: Nightflight essential record, but it is, without question, enjoyable. If You Like These, You’ll Like This: I Believe You Liar WASHINGTON, Wonder LISA MITCHELL NICK MASON In A Word: Nice

SOULFLY

Enslaved (Roadrunner Records) Enslaved is Max Cavalera’s first foray into the world of the concept album, with the album based thematically around the concept of, you guessed it, slavery. Since their formation in 1998 after Max’s departure from the legendary Sepultura, Soulfly has slowly evolved with each album, moving from the tribal, dub-infused nu-metal heard on early albums such as Soulfly and Primitive, into darker and more extreme territories with their last couple of outings. Enslaved is probably the heaviest thing Max has put under the Soulfly moniker. Intro track Resistance revolves around a repetitive yet crushing riff and a typically tribal rhythm, however this gives way to the insanely brutal World Scum which is a straight up death metal track, complete with an inhumanly fast double bass drum assault from newly recruited sticksman David Kinkade and guest vocals courtesy of Capital Decapitation frontman Travis Ryan. Pretty much all flirtations with tribal drums and dub have been replaced by blast beats and general brutality. There is still that Soulfly mark of authority, provided mainly in the form of Mark Rizzo’s ever inventive lead work and Max’s trademark bark. On Gladiator, Rizzo really shines, infusing the track with otherworldly textures and an absolutely blistering solo. Amongst the violence and brutality throughout Enslaved, there is actually a lot of scope and variation. American Steel for instance gives a nod to old school thrash before morphing into an eerie sound scape. Redemption of Man by God (featuring DevilDriver’s Dez Fafara) shows off Max’s love of hardcore, and with its tolling bell, haunting lead work and sample of an evangelical preacher it is one of the standout tacks on the album. Many critics have written off Max Cavalera saying he has spread himself too thin with his many projects and is struggling to come up with anything new, however with Enslaved he’s shown just how heavy he can go while still making Best Track: Redemption Of Man By God If You Like These, You’ll Like This: CAVALERA great songs. In doing so he has proven, yet again, that he is and always will be one of the true kings of metal. CONSPIRACY In A Word: Brutal ADAM ROBERTSHAW

That Simone Felice has had an eventful last couple of years is an understatement of the most perverse kind. Having taken the first cautious steps out from the shadow of his elder brothers with The Duke and the King, Felice wrote a couple of critically acclaimed books, and made two ill-fated attempts to cross the Pacific to tour Australia, the second aborted trip after having been forced to undergo emergency heart surgery. With that mixture of art, business, travel and near-death experience, Felice’s debut solo album was always going to be something worth waiting for. Simone Felice is the type of record so rich and deep you can almost touch the emotion within which each song is enveloped. On Hey Bobby Ray and New York Times, Felice’s voice shudders with emotion as he recounts the tale of a lost friend and disconcerting memories. On You And I Belong the mood is upbeat, the closest track on the record to the bar room excitement of The Felice Brothers. Stormy-Eyed Sarah is lifted straight from the Cat Stevens folk tradition and Charade is the ideal metaphor for everyone’s emotional insecurities. On Dawn Brady’s Song, Felice nestles into the country rock tradition alongside the Drive By Truckers and any southern country rocker worth their salt. Gimme All You Got is so tender it’s almost oozing blood; Splendour In The Grass lays down in the grass with a copy of Nick Drake’s Pink Moon and gazes wonderingly at the stars. And then there’s Felice’s celebrity biographical narratives: on Courtney Love, Felice wonders aloud at the Hole singer’s dysfunctional lifestyle and romantic existence; on Sharon Tate, Felice offers vivid glimpses of a life of beauty and brilliance cut short by murderous psychopathy. It’s a story that’s been told a thousand times; in the hands of Simone Felice, it’s a poignant moment only very few songwriters Best Track: You And I Belong can create. If You Like These, You’ll Like This: CAT STEVENS, NICK PATRICK EMERY DRAKE, THE FELICE BROTHERS In A Word: Emotional

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN Wrecking Ball (Sony)

Bruce Springsteen refuses to quit. Throughout his career, he’s painted the landscape of the “behind the scenes” America, that of the blue-collar factory workers, the catalyst that lets the dudes in the skyscrapers keep rolling in Benjamins. Or that of the country drowning in debt, hiding to the rest of the world behind silver screens everywhere. As The Boss has put it, he’s spent a life “…judging the distance between American reality and the American dream.” On the 11 tracks that make Wrecking Ball, Springsteen hasn’t sounded this passionate and laced with fury in recent years. You’d think that with a seemingly sane man in charge of the White House and impressive changes coming to America’s foreign policy that Springsteen would be able to relax a little. Yet he refuses to let the dust settle and continues to empower a critical eye, heard almost overwhelmingly on album opener We Take Care Of Our Own, a rousing public call to conscience with lyrics like “Where’s the promise from/Sea to shining sea” or “There ain’t no help/The cavalry stayed home.” Of course, he gets personal, especially on the country-tinged Easy Money, with lyrics in a similar vein as his classic Atlantic City, or the near six-minute title track. You can practically hear Springsteen’s eyes watering throughout the cinematic rise. What he’s always been a master of is painfully evident on Wrecking Ball. Springsteen may be telling a story in which he is the protagonist, but it’s one that millions others will have experienced in some manner. Wrecking Ball becomes permanent in that respect. He tells the stories that need to be told. When people talk of grassroots movements, Wrecking Ball needs to be included as the soundtrack. To benefit the people, one must truly represent them, and The Boss has given the people he’s always aimed to represent something of a vote of confidence: he’s not going anywhere. Best Track: Wrecking Ball If You Like This, You’ll Like This: Keeping your fist in the air JOSHUA KLOKE for an extended period of time In A Word: Rousing

GRUNTBUCKET

Songs From An Empty Room (Torn And Frayed) About 150km north of Melbourne lies the regional Victorian town of Nagambie. Like most Australian towns, Nagambie has weathered its share of slings and arrows of outrageous modern economic and social fortune: reduction in community services, fatuous political promises, skewed demographic migration patterns. Nagambie, however, has punched above its weight in one key, and frequently ignored indicator: recording of independent music. James McCann, Kim Salmon, Roller One, Spencer Jones and even the shabby chic French garage duo Destination Cervo have cut great records at Andrew McGree’s Empty Room studio. The latest offering comes from Gruntbucket, who returned to the Empty Room to record the band’s second album, appropriately titled Songs From An Empty Room. This is a record conceived, reared and matured in a healthy atmosphere of rock: in Regrets flashes of '60s stovepipe garage dovetail with blue denim '70s rock; the spirit of protagonist Mikey Madden’s former band The Vandas can be discerned on Didn’t Leave A Trace with a serious injection of southern rock attitude. Cry, Cry, Cry is as heavy as any deep and meaningful conversation of yore, and when the darkness of Anchor breaks into psychedelic freak-out, everybody’s got a smile on their face. From then on, it’s all plain sailing with the winds of serious rock’n’roll filling the sheets: I Could Wait is the song everyone wants to hear at 1am to kick the party back into gear, I Want is as moody as some bloke trying to wrestle his juvenile emotional existence into a state worth poking a stick at and Wasting Time is so tender it’ll sweep you off your feet, massage your tired shoulders and stick its tongue in your ear all in the one swift move. Next time you’re looking for the future of rock’n’roll, check out the songs coming from Best Track: Anchor the Empty Room. If You Like These, You’ll Like This: HUMBLE PIE In A Word: Rock MICHAEL HUNT

NEW ESTATE

UN EP LA

Recovery (Chapter Music) The contemporary phenomenon of the outer-suburban real estate development – described conveniently as a ‘new estate’ – is at best a planning abomination, and at worst a dysfunctional planning and architectural monstrosity. Beneath the utopian rhetoric of these contrived communities exists the disturbing reality of a lack of public infrastructure and isolation from the surrounding population. Melbourne band New Estate, on the other hand, is a paragon of dishevelled pop genius. The band’s fourth album, Recovery, is everything that grass-roots independent pop should be. The title track is as light and delicious as a bowl of organic bircher muesli on a crisp autumn morning; Get Out is a clear-cut candidate for the finest independent pop song since Smudge metaphorically fellated Evan Dando into a state of ecstasy 20 years ago. The emotional weight of Ghost In My Room straddles the line between reflective and remorseful before exploding in a hail of Sebadoh-like lo-fi excitement, Diamonds makes you want to cry with tears of sheer pop joy Can’t Do Without You blends the slick '60s styling of Dusty Springfield with the slacker attitude of Olympia State College circa 1991. And it just keeps getting better: No Use In Cryin’ is textbook emotional pop therapy for the troubled of heart and pure of mind, the thin waterfall of feedback that falls over Two Into the Valley, the stripped back classical aesthetic of Whiskey Spider and the West Side Story cartoon pop of No Hedgehogs. Add to the mix the invigorating whimsical wonderment of Parallel and the sparse shoe-gazing edge of Flowers In Your Hair and you’ve got nothing to complain about. This is the metaphorical antithesis of everything that’s wrong with Best Track: Get Out the average new estate – in the perfect musical form. If You Like These, You’ll Like This: CALVIN JOHNSON, PANEL OF JUDGES PATRICK EMERY In A Word: Uplifting

THE UNION HOTEL

SATURDAY 12th MAY

FOR MORE ALBUM NEWS AND REVIEWS GO TO WWW.BEAT.COM.AU

5 – 7 PM

WWW.THELITTLESISTERS.COM

Beat Magazine Page 57

GIG GUIDE WEDNESDAY 2 MAY ROCK/POP ANDREW WK + ALEISTER Pier Live, Frankston. 7:30pm. $30. ATTACK OF THE MANNEQUINS + DEAD STAR RENEGADE Cherry Bar, Melbourne Cbd. 7:00pm. CITY & COLOUR + BAHAMAS Palais Theatre, St Kilda. 7:30pm. JESS HARLEN + AL PARKINSON + DJ MZRIZK + KILLBOT KINDERGARTEN Toﬀ In Town, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. $15. JONNY TELAFONE + FULL UGLY + ORBITS + VELCRO Bar Open, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. LAST DINOSAURS (IN A MILLION YEARS TOUR) + DIRT FARMER + MILLIONS Northcote Social Club, Northcote. 7:30pm. $15. MATT SONIC & THE HIGH TIMES + RAINY DAY MUSHROOM PILLOW Cherry Bar, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. SAN CISCO + THEM SWOOPS + VOLTAIRE TWINS Corner Hotel, Richmond. 7:30pm. $17. SPERMAIDS + GOLGOTHA MOTEL + RAIN PARTY Tote Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. THE WOODS + LONG HOLIDAY + THE SCARECROWS + VINTAGE CINEMA Espy, St Kilda. 8:00pm. VISITANDRE Idgaﬀ Bar & Venue, Abbotsford. 8:00pm. WE DISAPPEAR + QUESTION + TANTALUM Bendigo Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. $6.

ACOUSTIC/COUNTRY/BLUES/FOLK ADAM KATZ DUO Gertrudes Brown Couch, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. CHARLES JENKINS Standard Hotel, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. CHRIS RUSSELL’S CHICKEN WALK + BOB HARROW + CHERRYWOOD Old Bar, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. ISAAC DE HEER Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 8:30pm. OPEN MIC Dancing Dog, Footscray. 7:00pm. OPEN MIC Thornbury Local, Thornbury. 7:00pm. OPEN MIC Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick. 7:00pm. OPEN MIC & JAM NIGHT Grind N Groove, Healesville. 8:00pm. SAFEWAY CAFE + EXEC + HOMEMADE GREEN

SLIME Empress Hotel, North Fitzroy. 8:00pm. $6. STEVE POLTZ + PHILL DEEH Ruby’s Lounge, Belgrave. 8:00pm. $13. THE STAFFORDS + GRIZZLY JIM LAWRIE + MASTER GUNFIGHTERS Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. $6. TIERRA + MAKA KHAN + THISISLS Wesley Anne, Northcote. 8:00pm. WINE WHISKEY WOMEN - FEAT: FREYA HANLY + JANE WEST Drunken Poet, West Melbourne. 9:00pm.

JAZZ/SOUL/FUNK/WORLD MUSIC ADAM RUDEGEAIR TRIO Paris Cat Jazz Club, Melbourne Cbd. 9:00pm. $15. BOPSTRETCH Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy. 7:00pm. BOPSTRETCH Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. DIZZY’S BIG BAND Dizzy’s Jazz Club, Richmond. 8:00pm. $14. KEWTI + THE TIM PLEDGERS PRODUCT 303, Northcote. 8:00pm. SALVO BROTHERS TRIO Cruzao Arepa Bar, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. THE PAUL GRABOWSKY QUARTET Bennetts Lane Jazz Club, Melbourne. 8:30pm.

THURSDAY 3 MAY ROCK/POP 1AM LATE SHOW - FEAT: THE SVEN Pony, Melbourne. 1:00am. ACOUSTIC NIGHT! - FEAT: TIM BRAUN 29th Apartment, St Kilda. 9:00pm. CANARY + THE TWOKS + THE UNIVERSAL Grace Darling Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. $10. CARTA EXTERMIES + RENEGADE ROBOT COPS + THE JOHNNY ROCK EXPERIMENT + THESE CITY LIGHTS Idgaﬀ Bar & Venue, Abbotsford. 8:00pm. CHATEAU RDIO HITS MELBOURNE - FEAT: GOLDFIELDS + CUT OFF YOUR HANDS + DIE! DIE! DIE! + FORCES + LOVE CONNECTION Workers Club, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. CITY & COLOUR + BAHAMAS Palais Theatre, St Kilda. 7:30pm. DAVID BASS + JAMES HURT + SAME O + THE AMAZING LEONARD Noise Bar, Brunswick. 8:00pm. $5.

ORBITAL

Who else wanted to be a goddamn astronaut when they were kids? Wait, what am I talking about, we all still secretly harbour that desire to ditch out on the seriously average day jobs, join NASA and play hide-and-seek with stars and planets and shit. Or maybe I’m just projecting, who knows. Either way, this week provides you with another chance to get Orbital, what with the arrival of the UK’s techno and house pioneers in town. Enter the stratosphere: Orbital play Billboard on Friday May 4. DINOSAURS EXIST + CHARM + GRANSTON DISPLAY + SPINSET The Prague, Thornbury. 8:00pm. GRAFT VS HOST + DAMN THE TORPEDOS + SHADOW LEAGUE + THE KREMLINGS Tote Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. $8. HIATUS KAIYOTE + DJ JACKSON MILES + KALACOMA Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy. 9:00pm. $15. HIGH TEA + USURPER OF MODERN MEDICINE Bar Open, Fitzroy. 9:00pm. HOUNDS HOUNDS HOUNDS + HIGH FALUTIN’ + SMITTY B GOODE Old Bar, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $8. IN A MEMORY + ASPERITY WITHIN + HARD REIGN + THIS FIASCO Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. JADE LEONARD Gh Hotel, St Kilda. 7:30pm. LADIES SINGLES - FEAT: KIM BOEKBINDER + CARLY FERN + JEN KINGWELL + KAREN HEATH + XEN POW Phoenix Public House, Brunswick. 8:30pm. $11. LIZARD PUNCH + CRUNTBURGERS + HANDSHAKE + SECRET CRACKPIPE Pony, Melbourne. 8:30pm. PENNIES - FEAT: ALICE D + METTALLIC + REFLEX REX + THE SUN SLEEPERS + WINTER YORK Laundry Bar, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $6. PHIL PARA BAND + JOHN LUKE SHELLEY BAND Musicland, Fawkner. 7:30pm. RB’S LIVE - FEAT: VAN MYER + RENEE CASSAR + WINTER MOON Red Bennies, South Yarra. 7:00pm. $8.

RUBY’S SHOWCASE Ruby’s Lounge, Belgrave. 7:00pm. SAM MCAULLIFE QUARTET Gertrudes Brown Couch, Fitzroy. 9:00pm. SECONDS + MOUTHPLUG + THE ELLIOTS Empress Hotel, North Fitzroy. 8:00pm. $5. SIMON WRIGHT BAND + BIG WORDS + CLOCK TOWERS John Curtin Hotel, Carlton. 8:00pm. STEVE POLTZ + KATE WALKER Northcote Social Club, Northcote. 7:30pm. $22. STU THOMAS Tago Mago, Thornbury. 9:00pm. THE GETAWAY PLAN + BUILT ON SECRETS + NEW EMPIRE + STRICKLAND Corner Hotel, Richmond. 7:30pm. $30. THE HELLHOUNDS Pure Pop Courtyard, St Kilda. 6:00pm. THE SINKING TEETH + A GAZILLION ANGRY MEXICANS + THE FOG + TZOLKIN Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick. 8:00pm. THE TRUTH + ALL THE CATTLE + SHARAYA Espy, St Kilda. 8:00pm.

60 SECONDS WITH…

BEN WELLS AND THE MIDDLE NAMES

60 SECONDS WITH…

DRIFTER

Define your genre in five words or less: Degenerative rock. When and why did you start writing music? When I was 16 I was too lazy to learn other people’s songs! What inspires or has influenced your music the most? Being a teenager in the ‘90s, and catching the train to see bands like the Meanies, Magic Dirt, Tumbleweed and Spiderbait. Describe the best gig you ever played. It was Thursday night at the Prague. We put on a bloody good show to one lucky punter and the bar staff. Describe the worst gig you have ever played. Shepparton. A Friday night, Dave and I (Dan) were heavily distorted well before reaching Yahoo Bar, so as you could guess, played like shit. That night I fell from the hotel roof and walked away! Which band would you most like to have a battle/ showdown with? One Direction. Do you have any record releases to date? What are they? Where can I get them? We have just released our debut EP HEAD. We are launching this at the Old Bar on Friday May 4, with River of Snakes, Inedia, and Motherslug. You can get HEAD at the gig, or a t-shirt or you can come back to my place and get one there. Beat Magazine Page 58

SUBMIT YOUR GIGS TO GIGGUIDE@BEAT.COM.AU

Define your genre in five words or less: Loose indie pop. Bearing the terrible clichéd nature of this question, what do you reckon people will say you sound like? People say we sound like we’re having fun. In relation to another band, maybe The Kooks or a pop version of Something for Kate. What do you love about making music? I love how music takes you to a different place. It doesn’t matter if I’ve had an hour sleep, when I’m making music nothing else matters. What do you hate about the music industry? I hate how expensive it can be to tour and how easily the music industry can pigeonhole a band. Do you have any record releases to date? What are they? Where can I get them? We have released our EP House, Come Home which has six tracks and you can get it from JB Hi-Fi or online, but the best way to get it would be at a show. Why should everyone come and see your band? Because they’d probably get really drunk and have a good night or maybe they wouldn’t get really drunk. Either way I think they’ll have a good night. What makes you happiest about what you’re doing? Travelling and meeting new people is one of the great things about music, but the best part is being able to play music with five of my best friends. Describe the best gig you have ever played. Opening Falls Festival last year was probably the best show we’ve played. It was a hometown show to heaps of friends and there was a really good vibe. When, and why did you start writing music? I started writing music when I was about 15, because I had learnt guitar earlier and I didn’t want to end up playing the trumpet in year 9 music. If your music was a chocolate bar, which one would it be, and why? Mars Bar, because I like Mars Bars, they seem to be reasonable popular with the youth also. If you could go on tour with any musician or band, who would it be? I’d go on tour with Arcade Fire, because I think I’d learn a lot and I’d want to see them play every night of the tour. When’s the gig and with who? The show is at The Toff in Town on Thursday May 10 with Kate Martin.

ACOUSTIC/COUNTRY/BLUES/FOLK ASH NAYLOR Rainbow Hotel, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. AUSTIN BUSCH + PEAR Rice Queen, Fitzroy. 6:00pm. BEAUTIFUL CHANGE + BIG SEAL & THE SLIPPERY FEW + WISHFUL Toﬀ In Town, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. $5. CLAIRE HOLLINGSWORTH + JULIA TURNER Wesley Anne, Northcote. 6:00pm. DOC HALIBUT Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East. 8:30pm. FRASER A GORMAN + PERCH CREEK FAMILY JUG BAND Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 9:00pm. GRASS TAYLOR & CISCO ROSE - FEAT: GRASS TAYLOR & CISCO ROSE + ANIMAL HANDS + TANE EMIA-MOORE + WELCOME TO THE NUMB Revolver Upstairs, Prahran. 8:00pm. $10. GUY KABLE Labour In Vain, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. HISSY LOCO Edinburgh Castle, Brunswick. 7:00pm. OPEN MIC Acoustic Cafe, Collingwood. 6:30pm. OPEN MIC Arcadia Hotel, South Yarra. 7:00pm. OPEN MIC Drunken Poet, West Melbourne. 8:00pm. SALLY CHATFIELD Gertrudes Brown Couch, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. $5. TOM LEE RICHARDS + MUCKLE PUP Great Britain Hotel, Richmond. 8:00pm. VICUNA COAT Bar Nancy, Northcote. 8:00pm.

JAZZ/SOUL/FUNK/WORLD MUSIC BLUESTONE UNDERGROUND JAZZ - EVERY THURSDAY - FEAT: CYCLONE WARNING Bluestone Downstairs, Melbourne Cbd. 7:00pm. GIANNI MARINUCCI TRIO Bennetts Lane Jazz Club, Melbourne. 8:30pm. $15. SCHRODER’S MESSENGERS Paris Cat Jazz Club, Melbourne Cbd. 9:00pm. $15. SOL HAUS & THE SPOKESMEN Cherry Bar, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. $10. TANGO RUBINO Cruzao Arepa Bar, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. THE JAZZ CATS Dizzy’s Jazz Club, Richmond. 8:00pm. $14. TIM NEAL TRIO 303, Northcote. 8:00pm. $10.

FRIDAY4 MAY ROCK/POP 2AM LATE SHOW - FEAT: KEGGIN Pony, Melbourne. 2:00am. A GENDER + ASPS + HEX ON THE BEACH Empress Hotel, North Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $7. ACOUSTIC BEATLES Beaumaris Rsl, Beaumaris. 8:00pm. BRAVO JULIET + MERE POETS + NO ESCAPE FOR THE KING: SINGLE LAUNCH + SOMEONE ELSE’S WEDDING BAND Pony, Melbourne. 9:00pm. BURN IN HELL + SUZI STAPLETON Penny Black, Brunswick. 9:30pm. COLD HARBOUR Pure Pop Courtyard, St Kilda. 6:00pm. DANIEL ROLLS + NICOLETTE FORTE Thornbury Local, Thornbury. 9:30pm. DAPPLED CITIES (RUN WITH THE WIND LAUNCH)

MOUNT KIMBIE THE STAFFORDS

Dogs rule. Don’t listen to those who will try and convince you that cats are the superior domesticated animal, for they are wrong. Go and Google Staffords, for example. Adorable. If you do that, you might also land up jamming to the sounds of delightful threepiece Melbourne power-pop outfit The Staffords, who are just as likeable as our four-legged furry friends. Catch ‘em at the Evelyn Hotel tonight, or Friday May 4 at Revolver. + GLASS TOWERS + I’LL’S Northcote Social Club, Northcote. 8:30pm. $18. DEAD ALBOTROSS + THE ASTHMATICS + THE COLLECTABLES + THE STREETWALKER Idgaﬀ Bar & Venue, Abbotsford. 8:00pm. EMERSON + A BETTER PLACE + ASHES OF DECEMBER + GREY NURSE Espy, St Kilda. 8:00pm. $10. EXTREMELY ELVIS EXTRAVAGANZA Musicland, Fawkner. 8:00pm. $20. FOX ROAD + DJ PATTY The B East, Brunswick East. 8:00pm. GHETTO GHETTO + DARK ARTS + UDAYS TIGER Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. GRASS TAYLOR & CISCO ROSE + THE FINAL CUT B’artiste Lounge, Frankston. 8:00pm. $10. INTERNAL ROT + KREMLINGS + LAST MEASURE + RED RED KROVVY + RORT Bendigo Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. $8. JIMMY HAWK & THE ENDLESS PARTY + BAPTISM OF UZI + LAURA IMBRUGLIA + THE MESSENGERS Espy, St Kilda. 8:00pm. JOHN PAUL YOUNG + THE ALLSTAR BAND Regent Theatre, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. $85. KIDS OF ZOO + MESA COSA + SCUL HAZZARDS Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood. 8:30pm. $10. KILLING LIARS + LET THEM EAT CAKE Victoria Hotel, Brunswick. 9:35pm. LOW SPEED BUS CHASE + EARL + MISS NICHOLLS + TOO SOON Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick. 9:00pm. LOWTIDE + LAST LEAVES + THE QUIVER + WHIPPED CREAM CHARGERS John Curtin Hotel, Carlton. 8:00pm. MAJOR TOM & THE ATOMS + DIRT FARMER + RICHIE 1250 & THE BRIDES OF CHRIST Cherry Bar, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. $13. MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU - FEAT: BOWCASTER + DEAD RIVER + GATHERER + ON SIERRA Tote Hotel, Collingwood. 8:30pm. $10. NEIL HAMBURGER + FRANK LEE & THE EMPTY

It seems Bart and Lisa Simpson’s desperate pleas to be taken to Mount Splashmore have been eternally seared into my brain through the sounds of highpitched screeching - to the point where every time I hear the chemical formula H20, I think more like H2Whoa. This is depressing. Not only because I watch too much television, but also because Mount Splashmore is not a real place. Luckily, Mount Kimbie are the real deal, and their dreamy, delightfully-adventurous take on post-dubstep is coming to Melbourne, joined by Oscar and Martin, and Sicilia. Thursday May 3, The Hi-Fi. GLASSES Caravan Music Club, Oakleigh. 8:00pm. RIVER OF SNAKES + DRIFTER + INEDIA + MOTHER SLUG Old Bar, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $10. SID AIR (SINGLE LAUNCH) + AGILITY + INFLUX + VINAL ROT + WANDERING SPIRIT Noise Bar, Brunswick. 8:30pm. $8. SQUID SQUAD + ECHO DRAMA + LAMARAMA + WAR PAINT Cornish Arms, Brunswick. 8:00pm. THE BULLETTES Bar Open, Fitzroy. 10:00pm. THE DETONATORS + DJ GARY SEVEN Tago Mago, Thornbury. 9:00pm. THE GIVE (FILM CLIP LAUNCH) + HARRISON GROVE + PIGEON + THE STAFFORDS Revolver Upstairs, Prahran. 8:00pm. $10. THE GO SET (ALBUM LAUNCH) + HANDSOME YOUNG STRANGERS + THE BLAZING ENFIELDS Espy, St Kilda. 8:00pm. $15. THE OVALS + JOE RANSOM & THE BIG SMOKE + LOOKING FOR POULSAN Gertrudes Brown Couch, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. $12. THE PRETTY LITTLES + THE COCOA JACKSONS + WHITE SUMMER Noise Bar, Brunswick. 9:00pm. $8. THE PROCESS + ASHLEY R RIVERS + INTERZONE + MACHINE Grace Darling Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. $10. THE TOOT TOOT TOOTS + LITTLE JOHN + MOTHER & SON The Hi-ﬁ, Melbourne. 8:00pm. THE VIBRAPHONIC ORKESTRA + MIDDLE C +

74 JOHNSTON ST FITZROY 9417 4155

www.theoldbar.com.au

ROCK N LOAD FESTIVAL

HEAVEN THE AXE VS THE CHARGE Phoebe (Heaven The Axe) questions Ash (The Charge)... What are you five favourite albums of all time? Led Zeppelin's II, Nirvana's In Utero, Black Sabbath's Paranoid, Queens Of The Stone Age's songs for the deaf, Metallica's Masters Of Puppets. What was it that made you choose to learn guitar in the first place? I think it was grunge! Then I quickly found Jimi Hendrix and Black Sabbath. What is the biggest strength about the people who are in The Charge with you? That 3/4 of the band have beards. Almost makes up for a beardless drummer. What makes your band different to other bands? We sound like The Charge. Heavy but not metal. Grimy but not grunge. Pretty cool if not awesome. If The Charge was a drink what would it be? Three parts Jagermeister, two parts spit.

OPEN EVERY NIGHT 12PM - 3AM FREE WI FI

wednesday 2nd May CHRIS RUSSELL’S

CHICKENWALK

The Charge

CHERRYWOOD BOB HARROW (IMMIGRANT UNION) 8:30PM $5

thursday 3rd May

HOUNDS HOUNDS HOUNDS SMITTY B. GOODE - LAUNCH HIGH FALUTIN’

8:30PM $8

friday 4th May

RIVER OF SNAKES DRIFTER - LAUNCH MOTHER SLUG, INEDIA

8:30PM $10

DJ DEL AMP

saturday 5th May

JACKALS

BIG DUMB SEX (WA) CUNTZ, THE KREMLINGS

8:30PM $10

DJ FRASER GORMAN

sunday 6th May

Heaven The Axe

THE DARLING DOWNS (KIM SALMON, RON PENO)

Ash (The Charge) questions Phoebe (Heaven The Axe) ...

JOHN PATRICK & THE KEEPERS

8PM $8

DJ TREBLE KICKER

Who are Heaven the Axes main influences? Napalm Death, Slipknot, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Revocation, Nikkah Costa, He Is Legend, Kyuss, Queens of The Stone Age, Britney Spears. What is the last CD you bought? Halestorm's The Strange Case Of... Black Sabbath with Ozzy or Dio? Ozzy... I'm shit with music history. Ask me a question about sstrology or what kind of people live in an eight number house. Guilty pleasure? I have an obsessive compulsive disorder with opshopping and I have to work out every day or I get depressed. Name a song you wish you wrote: I Will Always Love You by Dolly Parton

CRYBABY SESSIONS (KID FRIENDLY GIG) MIKELANGELO

1PM $5

monday 7th May 8PM FREE GERRY HALE’S BLUEGRASS SESSIONS CROTCHETY KNITWITS

KNITTING, SEWING & BOOZING

6PM FREE

tuesday 8th May

HEAVEN THE AXE and THE CHARGE play ROCK N LOAD Festival featuring 32 bands over three stages at The Espy on Saturday May 26. Head to rocknloadfestival.com for the full lineup.

RARE CHILD HYFRYDOL WIRE BIRD SOPHIE OFFICER

8PM FREE

band bookings: bandbookings@theoldbar.com.au

SUBMIT YOUR GIGS TO GIGGUIDE@BEAT.COM.AU

Beat Magazine Page 59

Mikelangelo & The Tin Star

60 SECONDS WITH…

THESE HANDS LAUGHING OUTLAW SHOWCASE

Crime is a serious-business topic and one that commands the attention of many a politically-engaged, upstanding citizen in our fair city. “Can’t stand crime either them hooligans on heroin! Drugs and criminals! Those thugs are the pinnacle of the downfall of society!” Indeed, dear friend Terry from that Streets song. Wait, no that shit’s hilarious. Laughing Outlaw, too, know where it’s at – with a killer lineup of tasty talent from their label including local surf and western sensation Mikelangelo & The Tin Star, The Autumn Isles and Bambino Koresh. They Sydney-side label has finally made it to Melbourne. Welcome them at the Northcote Social Club, Saturday May 5. REUBEN STONE + VIBEMASTER 303, Northcote. 8:00pm. $5. THESE HANDS (ENDLESSLY LAUNCH) + FATHOMS + HOTEL WRECKING TRADERS + THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN SPEAKING Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $12. VICTOR PENDER Cape Cafe, Fitzroy. 8:00pm.

ACOUSTIC/COUNTRY/BLUES/FOLK ALEX HALLAHAN & WOODLAND HUNTERS Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East. 9:30pm. ANDREW WK (ONE-MAN-PARTY TOUR) + ALEISTER X + BITTER SWEET KICKS Corner Hotel, Richmond. 8:30pm. $45. BEN WRIGHT SMITH & THE BIRTHDAY GIRLS + JUMPIN JACK WILLIAMS + MOUTH TOOTH + NEIL WILKINSON + TULALUH Phoenix Public House, Brunswick. 9:00pm. FLAP! Basement Discs, Melbourne Cbd. 12:45pm. JEAN-CLAUDE SAM-DAN Wesley Anne, Northcote. 5:30pm. JIMI HOCKINGS BLUES MACHINE Brycees Tavern, Mooroolbark. 9:30pm. JOHNNY GOODALL + TODD RIPON Bar Betty, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. JOHNNY ROCK & THE LIMIT + DJ DAVE THE SCOT + SMITTY B GOODE Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 9:30pm. MOON POET Edinburgh Castle, Brunswick. 8:30pm. NATASHA ROSE Edinburgh Castle, Brunswick. 6:00pm. RAISED BY EAGLES Gem Bar, Collingwood. 8:00pm. REUBEN JT DUFFY & SARAH EIDA Balaclava Hotel, Balaclava. 8:00pm. STUDENT BAND COMP The Prague, Thornbury. 8:00pm. THE F100S Highway 31, Brunswick. 8:00pm. THE SHOTTLEBOPPERS + JIMMY DANIELS Rice Queen, Fitzroy. 6:00pm. TRADITIONAL IRISH MUSIC SESSIONS - FEAT: DAN BOURKE Drunken Poet, West Melbourne. 6:00pm. UPTOWN ACE & PIGGY Town Hall Hotel, North Melbourne. 10:00pm.

JAZZ/SOUL/FUNK/WORLD MUSIC BANDA SIN FRONTERAS Cruzao Arepa Bar, Fitzroy. 9:00pm. GRAND WAZOO Rainbow Hotel, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $10. JERSON TRINIDAD Prince Maximillian, Prahran. 8:30pm. LA MAUVAISE REPUTATION (CD LAUNCH) Paris Cat Jazz Club, Melbourne Cbd. 9:30pm. $20. THE MELTDOWN Bennetts Lane Jazz Club, Melbourne. 8:30pm. $25. THE ROYAL JELLY DIXIELAND BAND Workers Club, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. $12. WIZARD & OZ Dizzy’s Jazz Club, Richmond. 9:00pm. $20.

Beat Magazine Page 60

Define your genre in five words or less: Moody broody post-rock.

ROYAL JELLY DIXIELAND BAND

Okay, so I know from the band’s name, it sounds like there’s an overwhelming amount of things going on here, but the Royal Jelly Dixieland Band are actually a throwback to simpler times – times of troubadours and enchanting rogues. A wandering troupe of raucous cads, The RJDB clatter triumphant from every battered gramophone in the land, bearing delicious waves of richest Old Glory. Their self-titled debut EP is due for release on the Friday May 4. Celebrate the spectacular unveiling at The Workers Club, with Pugsley Buzzard and DJ Greasy Chicken (RRR’s Hellzapoppin’).

SATURDAY 5 MAY ROCK/POP 2AM LATE SHOW - FEAT: DESECRATOR Pony, Melbourne. 2:00am. A NIGHT OF PURE HATRED - FEAT: DOUBLE DRAGON + A MURDER OF CROWS + ABRASION + BROOZER + KING PARROT + SONS OF ASENA Bendigo Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. $12. BAD ACHES + AUSMUTANTS + BAT PISS Tote Hotel, Collingwood. 5:00pm. BANG - FEAT: THE INNOCENT + DAYLIGHT HOURS + FEEL GOOD DRAG + REMISSION THEORY Royal Melbourne Hotel, Melbourne Cbd. 9:00pm. CATACOMBS + CREPTTER CHILDREN + DEATH OF ART + INTERNAL HARVEST + MARDRAUM The Prague, Thornbury. 8:00pm. CLAMPDOWN Rochester Castle Hotel, Fitzroy. 9:00pm. CROSSING ROMEO (FORMERLY RHYMADA) Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. DOG HAIR JACKET + NEATLY FOLDED GOAT + PAUL MCMAHON 303, Northcote. 8:00pm. $5. FLAP! (ALBUM LAUNCH) + THE BON SCOTTS + THE CACTUS CHANNEL Corner Hotel, Richmond. 8:30pm. $12. GALAPAGOOSE & MAX CRUMBS (DOUBLE ALBUM LAUNCH) + ANDRAS FOX + WOOSHIE Phoenix Public House, Brunswick. 8:00pm. GOSSLING + HAYDEN CALNIN + WINTER PEOPLE Thornbury Theatre, Thornbury. 7:00pm. $18. GRUNTBUCKET (ALBUM LAUNCH) + IOWA + TEENAGE LIBIDO Tote Hotel, Collingwood. 8:30pm. $12. HOODLUM SHOUTS Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. HOUSE OF ROCK Palace Theatre, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. $15. JACKALS + BIG DUMB SEX + CUNTZ + THE KREMLINGS Old Bar, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $10. KINGS OF THE NORTH + SHERIFF + VIMM Cornish Arms, Brunswick. 8:00pm. LIKE DEELERS + JAMES MCCAN + LOS DOMINADOS + THE VINDICTIVES Idgaﬀ Bar & Venue, Abbotsford. 4:30pm. LIP MAGAZINE LAUNCH - FEAT: THE TWOKS + DAVY SIMONY + KERRYN FIELDS + TIMOTHY CANNON John Curtin Hotel, Carlton. 8:00pm. LUKE TYLIM + BERT COCAIN + CAITLIN ARCHIBALD Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick. 5:00pm. MASTER BETA + CLOWNS + DIRTY CHAPTERS + DIXON CIDER Pony, Melbourne. 9:00pm. MENAGE A SKA + TABASCO JUNKIES Penny Black, Brunswick. 9:30pm.

If you could go on tour with any musician or band, who would it be? The Appleseed Cast. What can a punter expect from your live show? Blisteringly loud post rock music with heaps of pretty bits. What advice would you give to bands that are new on

MIKELANGELO & THE TIN STAR + AUTUMN ISLES + BAMBINO KORESH + WILDING Northcote Social Club, Northcote. 6:29pm. $15. MIMI VELEVSKA + SLOW CHASE + THE CHARLIES Workers Club, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $8. MITCH DAVIS & THE DAWN CHORUS + TOBY & THE WAYNE FORTUNE + VINTAGE CINEMA Espy, St Kilda. 8:00pm. RAISED BY EAGLES Union Hotel, Brunswick. 5:00pm. RED INK Pier Live, Frankston. 8:00pm. $12. RON PENO Union Hotel, Brunswick. 9:00pm. SANS VOX - FEAT: TANGLED THOUGHTS OF LEAVING + ANNA SALEN + BEAR THE MAMMOTH + JAREK + MUSHROOM GIANT + XENOGRAFT Espy, St Kilda. 8:00pm. $13. SIETTA + CANDICE MONIQUE + JESS HARLEN + MONEYKAT + PIGEON Espy, St Kilda. 8:00pm. THE FAT THING + DEAD SALESMEN + THE REDANS Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. THE FAUVES + THE RONSON HANGUP Toﬀ In Town, Melbourne Cbd. 7:30pm. $18. THE PLAINS + SLEEPY DREAMERS The B East, Brunswick East. 8:00pm. THE X O EXES + SEMUTA + SOCIETY OF BEGGARS Cherry Bar, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. $13. VICTOR PENDER Cape Cafe, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. WIZARD OZ (TAPE LAUNCH) + GRAND PRISMATIC + POP SINGLES Grace Darling Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. $8. ZOOPHYTE + DJ XANDER + THE HIDING Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 10:00pm.

ACOUSTIC/COUNTRY/BLUES/FOLK ACOUSTIC AFTERNOON - FEAT: DAN BONNICI + GUY TREADWELL + LUKE SMITH + LUKE THOMAS Bendigo Hotel, Collingwood. 3:00pm. ALEX BURNS & JEN HAWLEY BAND Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East. 8:30pm. AUSTIN BUSCH + TOMMY 9 FINGERS Open Studio, Northcote. 7:00pm. $8. BLUES TO BLUEGRASS - FEAT: QUARRY MOUNTAIN DEAD RATS + ANTHONY YOUNG + JENNY BIDDLE + STEWART KOHINGA Chandelier Room, Moorabbin. 8:00pm. $10. BOX ROCKETS Great Britain Hotel, Richmond. 9:00pm. BROTHER JOHNSTONE + ANNA SMYRK & THE APPETITES + THE MATT GREEN BAND Empress Hotel, North Fitzroy. 3:30pm. $6. CIDER FESTIVAL - FEAT: THE MELCHIOR MARTIN PROJECT + CIDER COUNTRY + STEPHEN MCCULLOCH + TESKEY BROTHERS + TRANNY SMITH & THE PINK LADY BOYS Kellybrook Winery, Wonga Park. 12:00pm. $10. CLAYMORE Caravan Music Club, Oakleigh. 8:00pm. $20. DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR + ALITHIA PLASTIC + SHARI WYATT + SPACEMAN Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick. 9:00pm. DIRT RIVER RADIO Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 7:30pm.

SUBMIT YOUR GIGS TO GIGGUIDE@BEAT.COM.AU

the Melbourne music scene? Play the music that you love. Push it as much as you can. The outcome isn't the point. When are you playing live/releasing your album/EP/ single/etc? Our first full length Endlessly will be released Friday May 4 at The Evelyn. EMILY BARKER (ALMANAC TOUR) Pure Pop Courtyard, St Kilda. 8:00pm. FATS WAH WAH St Andrews Hotel, St Andrews. 9:30pm. HALFWAY + NICK BARKER + WE ALL WANT TO Empress Hotel, North Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $12. HEATHER STEWART TRIO Drunken Poet, West Melbourne. 9:00pm. NICK CHARLES St Andrews Hotel, St Andrews. 1:00pm. ONE & THE SAME + LITTLE FLAME & THE STRINGS WITHIN Thornbury Local, Thornbury. 9:30pm. PETE SOUNDS + AUTUMN ISLES + EMILY BARKER + THE PERCH CREEK FAMILY JUGBAND Pure Pop Courtyard, St Kilda. 3:00pm. SILVER CIRCUS + THE BOYS Wesley Anne, Northcote. 5:30pm. THE HRB STRONGHEART BAND + STACKFUL + TAM & TERROR Town Hall Hotel, North Melbourne. 5:00pm. THE NUDGELS Rainbow Hotel, Fitzroy. 9:00pm. THE PHEASANT PLUCKERS Labour In Vain, Fitzroy. 5:00pm. THE THREE PAIRS Palais, Hepburn Springs. 8:30pm. $20.

JAZZ/SOUL/FUNK/WORLD MUSIC ANDREW DE SILVA Prince Maximillian, Prahran. 8:30pm. ARAKATAKA Cruzao Arepa Bar, Fitzroy. 9:00pm. DRU & THE INTENTIONS Rice Queen, Fitzroy. 6:00pm. JACQUI WALKER BAND Tony Starr’s Kitten Club, Melbourne Cbd. 10:00pm. $5. MICHELLE NICOLE QUARTET Paris Cat Jazz Club, Melbourne Cbd. 9:30pm. $20. MONIQUE DIMATTINA QUARTET Paris Cat Jazz Club, Melbourne Cbd. 7:30pm. $20. OUT FOR THE COUNT Musicland, Fawkner. 8:00pm. $10. RED HOT RHYTHMAKERS Victoria Hotel, Brunswick. 8:30pm. $15. SHIRLEY IN THE RAIN Dizzy’s Jazz Club, Richmond. 9:00pm. $20. THE WINTERS (EP LAUNCH) + JORDAN CLAREY & THE MONGRELS + SAVING GRACE + THE PRINCETONS Revolver Upstairs, Prahran. 7:30pm. $15.

SUNDAY 6 MAY ROCK/POP AMAYA LAUCIRICA + JIMMY TAIT Northcote Social Club, Northcote. 2:00pm. $10. CANCER COUNCIL FUNDRAISER - FEAT: THE DEATH RATTLES + BRENDAN WELCH + DYNOMEN + STU CULLEN Empress Hotel, North Fitzroy. 3:30pm. $12. DEVILDRIVER + DARKEST HOUR + SIX FEET UNDER Billboard, Melbourne Cbd. 8:30pm. $55.

Q&A EL MOTH So then, what’s the band name and what do you ‘do’ in the band? El Moth – a lot of inexplicable extra-curricular activities with a healthy dose of music on the side. What do you reckon people will say you sound like? Better than nails down a chalkboard, these guys are actually alright for a bunch of drunks (minus Leon, he's a good boy!) What do you love about making music? Music is incredibly cathartic and allows you to express that which you might have difficulty with otherwise. There is no better feeling than playing music with your brothers and having the audience open up and let themselves experience what you have to offer. Oh, and the rider is pretty good too...

FU MANCHU + BLACK COBRA + MATT SONIC & THE HIGH TIMES The Hi-fi, Melbourne. 7:30pm. $40. HARMONIC GENERATOR + BONNEY READ + THE DEEP END Cherry Bar, Melbourne Cbd. 6:00pm. $10. HOWARD + CHAMPAGNE REGGAE + PSYCHODAISYS + WOLFS Bendigo Hotel, Collingwood. 7:00pm. $5. HUSKY (THE WOODS TOUR) + AINSLIE WILLS Corner Hotel, Richmond. 7:30pm. $18. HUSKY (THE WOODS TOUR) + AINSLIE WILLS Corner Hotel, Richmond. 7:30pm. $18. KEL DAY Bar Nancy, Northcote. 6:00pm. LIAMEWENSON Idgaff Bar & Venue, Abbotsford. 8:00pm. LONESOME + JIMMY HAWK & THE ENDLESS PARTY + NICK MURPHY + THE RUMOURS Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. MIKELANGELO & THE TIN STAR + BAMBINO KORESH + ROWAN FALZON + SHANNON BOURNE + WE ALL WANT TO Pure Pop Courtyard, St Kilda. 2:00pm. MONEYKAT (ALBUM LAUNCH) Workers Club, Fitzroy. 6:00pm. $10. MURDERBALLS + CURSING TOMORROW + LEGLESS + SMOKING ACES Tote Hotel, Collingwood. 6:00pm. $10. NEIL HAMBURGER & DR EL SUAVO + SEX ON TOAST Toff In Town, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. $23. ROSS HANNAFORD & THE CRITTERS + BUCKSKIN Caravan Music Club, Oakleigh. 3:00pm. $15. SNAPS 4 KIDS CHARITY EVENT - FEAT: MOOSE

What do you hate about the music industry? The time off from gigs... If you could travel back in time and show one of your musical heroes your stuff, who would it be and why? If time travel were possible we would most certainly travel into the future and steal songs that haven't been written yet. Where is the Delorean when you need it?

140 Sydney Rd

If you could assassinate one person or band from popular music, who would it and why? Chad Kroeger, for all the obvious reasons and because you can never trust a man who looks like the Paddle Pop Lion. What can a punter expect from your live show? To get home with only a few hours left until work wondering how they ended up so heavily intoxicated and exhausted from getting down to our funky reggae party. What’ve you got to sell CD-wise? Nothing as yet but we are heading into the studio very

9387 6637

BRUNSWICKHOTEL.NET NO COVER CHARGE WEDNESDAY THE 2ND OF MAY - 8PM

OPEN MIC

WITH YOUR HOST BRODIE GET IN AND REGISTER FROM 7PM ONWARDS $10 JUGS THURSDAY THE 3RD OF MAY - FROM 8PM TILL MIDNIGHT soon and will be launching our debut EP mid-year. When’s the gig and with who? Every Tuesday this month at The Evelyn with supports from Ghost Orchid, Skippy's Brain and Echo Drama. Donation entry and $10 jugs!

$3 SCHOONERS $5 BASICS FROM 8PM

THE SINKING TEETH

A GAZILLION ANGRY MEXICANS, THE FOG, TZOLKIN FRIDAY THE 4TH OF MAY - FROM 9PM

JAW RIFLE CLUB + LAURA K CLARKE + NCAT FUNKADELIC + ROB & PAUL Rainbow Hotel, Fitzroy. 2:00pm. STRAYLOVE Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy. 9:00pm. $5. STREET FANGS + HAILGUN + ROAD RATZ Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick. 9:00pm. SUGARCRAFT + ANDRAS FOX + KILLBOT KINDERGARTEN Bar Open, Fitzroy. 7:30pm. THE DARLING DOWNS + JOHN PATRICK & THE KEEPERS Old Bar, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. $8. THE NAY SAYERS The B East, Brunswick East. 2:00pm.

ACOUSTIC/COUNTRY/BLUES/FOLK 8FOOT FELIX Open Studio, Northcote. 8:00pm. $5. AUTUMN ISLES Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 7:00pm. CHRIS WILSON Rainbow Hotel, Fitzroy. 4:00pm. CRYBABY SESSIONS - FEAT: MIKELANGELO Old Bar, Fitzroy. 1:00pm. $5. DAREBIN SONGWRITERS GUILD 303, Northcote. 3:30pm. EMANI + SOUTHPAW Great Britain Hotel, Richmond. 7:00pm. EMILY BARKER (ALMANAC TOUR) Wesley Anne, Northcote. 8:00pm. FRUITJAR Town Hall Hotel, North Melbourne. 6:00pm. GEOFF ACHISON Bay Hotel, Mornington. 3:00pm. GOLD FISH Idgaﬀ Bar & Venue, Abbotsford. 6:00pm. JAM NIGHT Musicland, Fawkner. 7:00pm. JIMI HOCKING The Bay, Mordialloc. 4:00pm.

KES O’HARA Bar Nancy, Northcote. 8:00pm. LINDSAY FIELD TRIO Carringbush Hotel, Abbotsford. 4:00pm. LUAU COWBOYS Victoria Hotel, Brunswick. 2:39pm. MANDY CONNELL Edinburgh Castle, Brunswick. 5:00pm. MISTRESS MONDAYS + DAN & DAN + THE SINKING Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick. 5:00pm. MUSIC FOR THE SOUL - FEAT: HIGH STREET BELLS CHOIR + FLOWER FROCK N’ FIDDLE + FRANK JONES + LIPSTICK & SPURS REVIVAL Northcote Uniting Church, Northcote. 5:00pm. NIGEL WEARNE + THE MISERABLE LITTLE BASTARDS Drunken Poet, West Melbourne. 4:00pm. OPEN MIC Chandelier Room, Moorabbin. 4:30pm. PERCH CREEK FAMILY BAND + MARTY KELLY & AUBURY MAHER Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East. 5:30pm. RACHEL BY THE STREAM + ELVINA 303, Northcote. 8:00pm. RICH DAVIES Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 4:00pm. SINGER SONGWRITER SESSIONS - FEAT: BARRY CALLISTER + DAVE DIPROSE Chandelier Room, Moorabbin. 4:00pm. TESKEY BROTHERS St Andrews Hotel, St Andrews. 3:00pm. THE CLIFFORDS Standard Hotel, Fitzroy. 7:00pm. THE MERRI CREEK PICKERS Penny Black, Brunswick. 5:00pm.

SUBMIT YOUR GIGS TO GIGGUIDE@BEAT.COM.AU

LOW SPEED BUS CHASE EARL, MISS NICHOLLS, TOO SOON SATURDAY THE 5TH OF APRIL - FROM 9PM

DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR ALITHIA, PLASTIC SPACEMAN, SHARI WYATT FROM 5PM

LUKE TYLIM

BERT COCAIN, CAITLIN ARCHIBALD SUNDAY THE 6TH OF MAY - FROM 9PM

STREET FANGS HAILGUN, ROAD RATZ FROM 5PM

MISTRESS MONDAYS

DAN AND DAN, THE SINKING MONDAY THE 7TH OF MAY - FROM 8PM

PASSIONATE TONGUES POETRY

HOSTED BY MICHAEL REYNOLDS - OPEN STAGE READINGS AND SPOKEN WORD WELCOME WITH FEATURE PERFORMERS EVERY FORTNIGHT $10 JUGS TUESDAY THE 8TH OF MAY - 4PM TIL 10PM

BRUNNY BURNOUT TUESDAYS!

$4 ROCK ‘N’ ROLL STUBBIES OF MELBOURNE, CARLTON OR VB FREE POOL AND JUKEBOX!

Beat Magazine Page 61

60 SECONDS WITH…

EMILY BARKER

AND THE RED CLAY HALO Define your genre in five words or less: Alternative folk/country, chamber. What do you love about making music? Writing songs tucked away in my music room when it's raining outside with a cup of coffee on the go and no one else in the house. Then arranging the songs with The Red Clay Halo somewhere in the countryside. Then performing them live to great crowds. They are my three favourite things about making music. If you could travel back in time and show one of your musical heroes your stuff, who would it be and why? My musical heroes are still living. They are Neil Young and Aretha Franklin. I would love to sit down and play them some of my songs sitting in a lounge room somewhere

in the world. I'd play Neil Young my song Nostalgia and also Ropes. I'd play Aretha Pause and a new song called Dear River. They have both been such an inspiration to me, Aretha for singing and Neil for songwriting. What can a punter expect from your live show? Cello, violin, accordion, banjo, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, four-part harmonies, percussion and flute played by four women; terrible jokes; very, very quiet moments that burst into loud ones; and a heart-felt, passionate performance. How long have you been gigging and writing? My first live performance was at Bridgetown High school assembly when I was 14-years-old. I sang Respect by Aretha Franklin. I didn't start writing songs until I was 18 as this is when I learnt to play the guitar. Do you have any record releases to date? What are they? Where can I get them? Photos.Fires.Fables. released in 2007, Despite The Snow released in 2008, Almanac released in 2011. My three albums all featuring The Red Clay Halo. You can get them from record stores or from iTunes. Tell us about the last song you wrote. The last song I wrote is about returning one day to the

ACOUSTIC/COUNTRY/BLUES/FOLK

THE T-BONES Union Hotel, Brunswick. 5:00pm. THE THREE KINGS Labour In Vain, Fitzroy. 5:00pm. WAYLAN JOES Thornbury Local, Thornbury. 4:00pm.

DANIEL CHAMPAGNE + AINSLIE WILLS Espy, St Kilda. 8:00pm. GERRY HALE’S BLUEGRASS SESSIONS Old Bar, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. THE RECHORDS Gem Bar, Collingwood. 7:30pm.

JAZZ/SOUL/FUNK/WORLD MUSIC JOSE NIETO Cruzao Arepa Bar, Fitzroy. 7:30pm. KEN SCHRODER TRIO Watermark, Docklands. 1:00pm. THE DALE RYDER BAND + BAD BAYS BATUCADA + DJ ROCK LANDERS + NUDIST FUNK ORCHESTRA Espy, St Kilda. 8:00pm. THE DAVID REX QUARTET Bennetts Lane Jazz Club, Melbourne. 8:30pm. $15. ZULYA & THE CHILDREN OF THE UNDERGROUND Bennetts Lane Jazz Club, Melbourne. 8:30pm. $25.

JAZZ/SOUL/FUNK/WORLD MUSIC BENNETTS LANE BIG BAND Bennetts Lane Jazz Club, Melbourne. 9:30pm. $15. GILES WARREN QUARTET + DAN SHEEHAN QUARTET 303, Northcote. 9:00pm. $8. THE TEK TEK ENSEMBLE & SHJLIVOVITZ ORCHESTRA (DOUBLE HEADLINER) + SHJLIVOVITZ ORCHESTRA + THE TEK TEK ENSEMBLE Toﬀ In Town, Melbourne Cbd. 7:30pm. $7.

MONDAY 7 MAY

TUESDAY 8 MAY

ROCK/POP ESC + DAVID O’CONNOR + SLEEP DECADE + THESE PATTERNS Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. FU MANCHU + BLACK COBRA + MATT SONIC & THE HIGH TIMES The Hi-ﬁ, Melbourne. 7:00pm. $40. MONDAY NIGHT MASS - FEAT: ZOND + DEAD BOOMERS + JACK MINNIX BAND Northcote Social Club, Northcote. 6:00pm. THE MESSENGERS + RAIN PARTY Workers Club, Fitzroy. 6:00pm.

ROCK/POP JACK CARTY (ALBUM LAUNCH) + THE FALLS Northcote Social Club, Northcote. 8:00pm. $13. KUMAR SHOME & THE PUNKAWALLAHS + UNCOMFORTABLE SCIENCE + WHITESPLOITATION Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy. 5:30pm. $10. PATRON SAINTS Cherry Bar, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. ROD FRITZ + GECKO THEORY + LANGUAGE OF

+ BEAT PRESENT... whatson@thepush.com.au

ACCESS ALL AGES Blackwood River (my original home in the South West of WA) to rest forever. It's the final song for the new album which is all about the concept of home. We're going to record this album in June in Gorbals Sound studio in Glasgow with producer Calum Malcolm. EMILY BARKER AND THE RED CLAY HALO play at Pure Pop Records on Saturday May 5 and the Wesley Anne on Sunday May 6. THE BIRDS + LEADLIGHT + TIM STOKES Espy, St Kilda. 8:00pm. THE DARKNESS + BAPTISM OF UZI Palace Theatre, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm.

ACOUSTIC/COUNTRY/BLUES/FOLK JIMI HOCKING Grandview Hotel, Fairﬁeld. 8:00pm. JIMMY STEWART John Curtin Hotel, Carlton. 8:00pm. MIKEY MADDEN + ESSAY EDWARDS Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 8:30pm. OPEN MIC Empress Hotel, North Fitzroy. 6:30pm. RARE CHILD + HYFRYDOL + SOPHIE OFFICER + WIRE BIRD Old Bar, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. SKYSCRAPER STAN & OSKAR HERBIG Labour In Vain, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. THE LIMELIGHT Order Of Melbourne, Melbourne Cbd. 7:00pm. $10.

JAZZ/SOUL/FUNK/WORLD MUSIC MORDIALLOC JAZZ ORCHESTRA Dizzy’s Jazz Club, Richmond. 8:00pm. $14. THE SAM BATES TRIO Bennetts Lane Jazz Club, Melbourne. 8:30pm. $15.

CLASSIFIEDS 33c PER WORD PER WEEK (INC GST) • Send your classified listing information to Beat Magazine at 3 Newton St, Richmond 3121 with a cheque, money order or credit card number (including expiry date and name on card, NOT AMEX or DINERS) (1.5% surcharge on Visa and MasterCard) OR deliver it yourself with cash OR you can email your classifieds to us - classifieds@beat.com.au with credit card details • DEADLINE IS THURSDAY 5pm, prior to Wednesdays publication • Minimum $5 charge per week. We do NOT accept classifieds over the phone - sorry.

FRIDAY 11TH MAY

Got any all ages gigs or news coming up? Send it to whatson@thepush.com.au by 10am Thursdays.

City and Colour: w/ Bahamas, Palais Theatre, Lower Esplanade, St Kilda, 7:30pm, ticketmaster. com.au or 136 100, AA

GUITARIST SEEKING DRUMMER to start band. Inﬂuences: Coldplay, Jeﬀ Buckley. Call or message James on 0407 043 241 ***

FRIDAY MAY 3

TUITION

Josh Earl Comedy Workshop, Kyneton Red Brick Hall, 23 Yaldwyn Street, West Kyneton, $35, Macedon Ranges Youth Development Unit on 5422 0221, AA

SERVICES

LuWOW 62-70 JOHNSTON ST FITZROY CONTINENTAL ROB’S CONTINENTAL BLUES PARTY PLUS DJ’S

MAN WITH A VAN. Best value movers in Melbourne. Now with trucks!!!! Equip with 1 or 2 experienced men, trolleys and removal blankets. Available 7 days. Check out www.manwithavan.com.au or call us on 9417 3443.

SATURDAY 12TH MAY

EMPLOYMENT

The Hi-Fi 125 SWANSTON ST, MELB THE CHORDS (UK) LITTLE MURDERS (MELB) THE MESSENGERS (MELB), PLUS DJ’S

FLAUNT IT. Internationally acclaimed producer of pro-feminist erotica looking for conﬁdent, adult women to smash the stereotypes and earn good money ($500 and up). Don’t overlook this til you’ve found out more about it. Rebecca 9495 6555 or www. feck.com.

Beat Magazine Page 62

For those who like a good laugh, or making others laugh to be more specific, check out Josh Earl’s comedy workshop on Friday in West Kyneton. The two hour session is $35 and includes entry into his show at the Kyneton Town Hall later that night. To book a place, check out the Macedon Ranges FReeZA facebook page.

WEDNESDAY MAY 2

SONGWRITING COURSE- 8 week course. Commencing May 22nd. Places are limited, book now! Visit www.katzmusic.com.au or call 9530 0984 / 0425 788 252 for more info. *

THINK MOVING SUCKS? Call Little Red Trucks! Moving Melbourne everyday. Call 9380 6444 or head to www. littleredtrucks.com.au

LOOKING FOR AMATEUR COMEDIANS to perform at Bar Betty - 129 Smith Street, Fitzroy Ph: 9417 3937

....presented by The Crimplenes in association with Stamp Out Disco and The Melbourne Crusaders Scooter Club.

The sold out Groovin’ The Moo is happening this Saturday in Bendigo and it’s sure to be an epic day with the likes of 360, Big Scary, Blue Juice, Hilltop Hoods, Parkway Drive, Kaiser Chiefs, Matt Corby, Kimbra, and Muscles among many more taking to the stage. And while it may not be Victorian news, kudos to everyone who was fast enough to score tickets to this year’s Splendour in the Grass. The annual Byron Bay festival mash up sold out in only 43 minutes!

All Ages Timetable

PAUL HENDER DRUM SCHOOL. Positions available for students. Phn: Paul 8786 3421. ***

INFO: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=277033998988858

Another band tearing up the aussie metal scene are Sydney’s Resist The Thought, who have just returned from recording their debut album in California. ‘Sovereignty’ boasts a collection of nine driving metal anthems, a cacophony of extreme riffing, rapid fire drumming and a relentless vocal attack. It’ll be released on May 18 and followed by a tour in which the four-piece will be hitting Victoria towards the end of May with some all ages gigs. Stay tuned.

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One of the most relentlessly touring bands of the decade would have to be metal thrashers Terror, hailing from Los Angeles, who have managed to play more than 300 shows a year since their inception in 2003. That’s pretty damn impressive, and the good news is their world tour is heading down under this July, with support from Melbourne’s own Iron Mind. It’s rumoured they’ll be playing an all ages show in Melbourne on Sunday 15 July, so we’ll keep you posted when more details are revealed.

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Beat Magazine Page 63

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Beat Magazine Page 64

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LIVE Photos by Carbie Warbie

DIG IT UP! The Palace (and Pony and Spleen), Wednesday April 25

Photos by Charles Newbury

ONE DIRECTION Hisense Arena, Monday April 16 For those unaware, One Direction are a teenage British boy band who are just the right combination of good looks and shitty pop music to seduce the hearts of young girls worldwide, and just young enough for Kony to kidnap. They released an album called Up All Night (which has dominated charts worldwide) and got away with it because of their young, clean image. It was considered “cute” and “playfully naughty”. Yet if Dr Dre put out an album with the exact same title it would be considered “extremely vulgar” and “too heavy on references to hardcore everlasting anal sex”. One Direction are in their late teens. Just sayin’. I must admit that I was not in a grand mood before One Direction. Firstly, in some form of sick joke, I was asked to review this band, and then I was told I couldn’t get a +1. I was alone. At One Direction. And I paid $10 for parking. And then I was seated between two groups of horrifyingly loud 14-year-old girls. It was awesome depressing and a low point in my career. But then things got better, and I was transformed into a good mood because these girls were hot. I was interested in seeing why such a colossal chaos was made of this boy band. One Direction, with less collective hairs beneath their underwear than hairs on my face, came out to the sound of a screaming pre-pubescent frenzy. They opened with one of their shit songs followed by another gargantuan turd. I knew I was in for a musical orgasm after Niall (is that even a real name) started strumming his cool air guitar in time with the drum beat. As both instruments do in fact make a form of noise, I will refrain from further criticism.

MICHAEL ROTHER

LOVED: When Louis jumped really high. HATED: The expensive price of chips. DRANK: Didn’t serve alcohol but I had chips. They were good but not cheap!

stage to the right of the venue. These meticulous precautions display just how serious these musicians are in perfecting their craft. This night’s performance saw Rother and Co move through music from seminal Neu! and Harmonia outputs, however, these were not carbon copies of the old recordings. Re-imagining these songs for a new epoch, old favorites had been reworked in a fresh and innovative way. Classics such as Neu!’s Hallo Gallo and I’m Gluck continued to thrill the close-to-capacity crowd. Rother’s distinctive guitar playing ebbed and flowed from lush ambience to harder psychedlic washes, with Lampe’s insistent 4/4 ‘Motorik’ drumbeat was the perfect accompaniment. Some of the most interesting sounds of the night came from Dieter Moebius and his magic box of oscillating synths. Watussi from Harmonia’s 1974 album Music Von Harmonia was a welcome inclusion to the set, reworked in a more driving manner, showcasing Moebius’ machines. Swift proto acid sounds augmented the setlist in an adventurous way and showed just how warm analogue sounds can be. Like Harmonia’s exquisite peformance at Mount Buller, tonight left me feeling thankful I had the opportunity to listen to a piece of musical history, reworked but nonetheless affecting. CASSANDRA KIELY

LOVED: Great crowd. HATED: Sore back. DRANK: Very little.

By now we were fighting our way through a selfinduced cognitive haze, and our strategic planning was making Frederick Stopford look like a military genius. Died Pretty was in blistering form – a friend suggested Ron Peno was the Billy Hughes of Australian rock’n’roll, a comparison that led us into surreal territory. At the last strum of Brett Myers’ guitar, we scooted back to Pony for Kim and Spencer’s set. Words From A Woman To Her Man snuffed out any lingering regrets at having made the trip; Something To Lean On battered it into submission. And now it was time for The Sonics. In some respects The Sonics were on a hiding to nothing – maybe the most significant of the original Pacific North-West garage bands (with due apologies to The Wailers), and the ultimate champions of the three-chord garage track. And when you’re offered up The Witch, Strychnine and Psycho, can you ever go wrong? Categorically, no. The Hoodoo Gurus’ set – largely Stoneage Romeos, with a few encore tracks thrown in – was notable for a few things: finally having the opportunity to hear rarely played tracks like Zanzibar, Death Ship and Let’s (All) Turn On; dancing our posteriors off to Television Addict; and the band’s enigmatic departure from the stage before completing its full compliment of encores. The next day it was revealed the Gurus thought the crowd wasn’t as enthusiastic as the band had hoped; on the floor, it was a different matter. Poor encore management, but we’ll all live. By now we’d largely forgotten where we’d started, and our logistical mistakes during the day – a bit like the reluctance of commanding British officers to admit their culpability in constructing shoddy military plans. But we had the benefit of a near-perfect musical smorgasbord. A well overdue visit to Ulysses in Thornbury capped off events, and the evening came to an ideal end. You don’t get better days than this. PATRICK EMERY LOVED: Everything, but especially The Lovetones, The Sonics and Steve Wynn. HATED: That no-one told the Hoodoo Gurus the crowd wanted more. DRANK: The right amount of water at the right time to make sure the next day was a good day.

MY DISCO The Toﬀ In Town, Sunday April 15 A few weeks prior to My Disco’s return to the live setting in Melbourne, band members Ben Andrews and Rohan Rebeiro took their deep house side-project Kangaroo Skull to Brunswick’s Tinning Street Gallery. The smoke machine failed to perform that night, leaving a relatively weak mist to underlie the half hour of intense strobe-lighting to provide a complementary sensory overload. Tonight at The Toff, the efficiency of the smoke machine more than compensated for that night, with My Disco’s three members remaining completely absorbed within the opaque atmosphere contained onstage. It’s been a long while since we’ve received anything in the way of new material from the minimalist punk trio, with the video (the band’s first) for Little Joy cut Turn being the only artefact put forth in the past two years. Rather than workshop newer material, the band took their existing canon and pushed everything to its logical extreme – contorting within the constraints of their pre-established body of work. Songs bled into and within each other, with the explosive intro to Young making for a teeth-gnashing, visceral delight. Paradise cut You Came To… pounded like an H-bomb production line in full force. The aforementioned curtain of fog confounded what

you might expect from a live set, with a centralised laser proving the extent of the show’s visual stimuli. The effect was compounded by an immaculate PA mix, with the kick drum pounding much like a filthy house beat underneath the storm of bass and guitar. A seemingly perpetual drum solo proved to be a divisive factor on the evening. With the visual showiness of the feat nullified, the aural nuances were accentuated beyond reproach – the tonal variations of the sticks on the snare rim were explored with pristine clarity. If tonight was an exercise in underlying, or manufacturing, the similarities between My Disco’s minimalism and repetition to that of the many strains of house, it was a resounding success. The performance gave the audience the gift of the unknown, and in a time where we seem to know so much, it is truly something to cherish. LACHLAN KANONIUK LOVED: Young. HATED: The residual tinnitus come Monday. DRANK: Fog juice.

The Palace, Wednesday March 14

For those who don’t know, KRS-One has travelled four weeks by boat to visit Australia. As imagined, the hype for his performances has been insane. Prior to his journey, I spoke to him while in the States when he explained that once he was here he would be searching far and wide for the “depth” in Australia. Simply put, he was visiting as an “anthropologist”. I appreciated his attitude, but wasn’t sure whether these were underlying good intentions that would slowly evaporate under the heat of performances, interviews and other commitments he would be bound to. Not so surprisingly, he stuck to his word and not only was this an exceptionally entertaining show, it was similarly culturally and politically relevant. Before him was a big lineup of supporting acts. Def Wish Cast and Bias B were Australian hip hop groups; Beat Magazine Page 66

NICK TARAS

The Corner Hotel, Monday March 19

So much can be said of Krautrock’s influence on modern music. Although many of the musicians affiliated with the scene don’t identify themselves as Krautrock; (a term coined by English listeners) the German experimental music scene of the ‘70s facilitated the growth of future electronic, ambient, post rock and noise movements. It’s stimulus on music and sound art is undeniable. Having seen Michael Rother play an amazing set with Harmonia at ATP in 2009, it was with much anticipation that I ventured to tonight’s show. New War were first on and as usual, blow the audience away. Their sound is tight – the steady, driving drumbeat a perfect backbone for the melodic pairing of bass/keyboard and Chris Pugmire’s intense vocals. The set is slower paced this evening, but nonetheless poignant. Newly released 12” single Ghostwalking amazed in a live capacity. Baptism Of Uzi were up next, their first song was a Harmonia-esque soaring instrumental that made me wonder why I hadn’t seen these guys live before. The set was a nostalgic ride through kraut, prog and psychedelia and it was done really well. The only confusing bit for me was the addition of vocals. Perhaps it’s a reference to the way in which CAN utilises sporadic vocal sections in their songs; but I sound the disco style vocal lines a bit distracting. Regardless, Baptism Of Uzi were great and I look forward to seeing them again soon. Finally, Michael Rother took to the stage, joined by Dieter Moebius (Harmonia, Cluster) and Hans Lampe (touring drummer for Neu! on occasion). The trio’s instruments had remained untouched since soundcheck, the opening bands playing on the smaller

KRS-One

Not long after, they performed their most puzzling hit, What Makes You Beautiful, a gem which contains the bizarre lyric: “You don't know you're beautiful/Oh oh/ That’s what makes you beautiful”. I can’t understand how this lyric has gone under the radar. It roughly translates to “You have no sense of self-worth/Oh oh/That’s why I like you”. One Direction are obviously sickeningly attracted to girls with low self-esteem. Other lyrics from that song include the repetitive chanting of “Nana Nana Nana Nana Nana Nana Nana Nana” – quite reminiscent of the schoolyard tease chant of “Nana Nana Na”. Those monsters. By far the highlight of the evening was a break in the performance where the band read the tweets from audience members which featured various questions. My favourite tweet was “Who can jump the highest?” The members of the band then all attempted to find out who was the most talented jumper. They each took turns, one by one, jumping on stage and then high fiving each other. It was a moment that will go down in rock history; a moment where I can say, “I was there”. One Direction are fucking terrible, and I hate my fucking shitty job.

The fate of the Dardenelles campaign of 1915 was the product of blind optimism and breathtaking naivety. Hatched in the offices of Whitehall, the plan was a triumph of dysfunctional strategic planning. Neither the War Cabinet nor the commanding officers had ever experienced the imposing terrain of Gallipoli Peninsula; when the allied troops arrived, the poorly constructed military plan went to hell in a hand basket. And so, according to that strange nationalistic myth that’s churned out every year, a nation was born. It was with the logistical failures of the Gallipoli campaign in mind that we arrived at the Palace – a place with its own perplexing terrain and associated idiosyncrasies – on Bourke Street on a wet and uninviting Anzac Day to attend the Dig It Up! festival. The early signs weren’t entirely promising: the perennially impressive Frowning Clouds had packed out the so-called Attic, and free passage and oxygen were in dangerously short supply. Downstairs on the main stage, The Fleshtones acted like a bunch of grown-up kids having the proverbial candy store moment, overcoming the sub-optimal acoustics with a mixture of sparkling boots, powerpop riffs and highkicks that would leave most of us on the long-term injury list if we were ever stupid enough to try them. Half-way through the set we returned to the Attic for what was arguably the days’ musical highlight, a blisteringly blissful sojourn through The Lovetones’ psychedelic paradise. After a mesmerising finale, we headed back downstairs for the 5,6,7,8s, who, it was generally agreed, were good without being necessarily great. Stretching our calves again, it was back to the Attic for Steve Wynn, and a trip down the paisley patterned underground memory lane. This was the largely unexpected moment to cherish, the atmosphere saturated with collective contentment. Over to Pony Bar on Little Collins Street, and Spencer P. Jones was on Spencer Time, a couple of songs into a set that was notionally due to finish very shortly. We’ve seen it all before, and it’s always just as good the next time around. Kim Salmon was up next; three times we made an in-principle decision to check out Beaches and Redd Kross – both of whom, it was reported subsequently, were in fine form – and three times Salmon pulled out killer tracks – Fix Me Up, Last Night and Frantic Romantic – and we were unable to leave.

however both their performances were mediocre not including Bias B’s song about being perverts, which was just plain weird. DJ Peril spun some great tracks, focusing on old school beats and tracks to prime the audience. Soon KRS-One’s DJ (DJ Prime) stepped on stage, and so began the countdown until ‘The Teacha’ did too. With some Golden Era hip hop, the audience were dancing and bouncing to Nas, Biggie and Wu-Tang. Keeping to his word, there was a First People tribute with a spoken word poet and accompanying didgeridoo music. With that, it was the perfect segue for KRS-One to grace the stage. With a crazy energy, he launched straight into song with his Jamaican influenced belting of lyrics. Freestyle rhyming throughout the show to talk about political issues, what he was thinking and to communicate with tech guys was just one highlight!

Mid-performance he introduced an aboriginal musical and dance act, which was very unique. True to his essence he rapped: “No jewels on my neck/ Know why? I don’t need ‘em/ I got your respect,” followed by a freestyle detailing the history of hip hop, he carefully and cleverly praised hip hop greats dating from 1973 with DJ Kool Herc, across to Crazy Legs, Run DMC, LL Cool J, The Sugarhill Gang right up to ’86. Throw in some insightful and perhaps abstract philosophical views, including the concept of two individual selfs, one of which is in the future, this was a performance not to be missed. The highlight moment was when he belted, “Get Your mind right/ You don’t have to deal with hindsight/ If you operate with foresight.” Impressing upon the audience to never doubt

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themselves and to release fear, this show was a refreshing break from one-way performances. KRSOne thrived off his audience as they did him, and he even came down to sign people’s shoes, CD’s and posters. As he reminded everyone, he isn’t hip hop, the audience just allows him to be. TAMARA VOGL

LOVED: His genuine love for the audience/the Aboriginal musical piece. HATED: Aussie hip hop (sorry…) DRANK: Water.