Drum Media Sydney Issue #1027

THE DRUM MEDIA 21 SEPTEMBER 2010 3

6 THE DRUM MEDIA 21 SEPTEMBER 2010


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twitter.com/drummedia 24 THE DRUM MEDIA 21 SEPTEMBER 2010

All entries must be sent to [email protected] and include your full name, address and a contact number. Please note prizes that are to be collected from the offi ce must be done within four weeks of notifi cation of winning.

Contents Issue No. 1027Tuesday 21 September 2010

DRUM MEDIAGiveaways Look to your left for free stuff, silly! 24The Front Line hits hard with industry fact and conjecture, plus we ruminate on who should be nominated to the ARIA Hall Of Fame. Spoiler alert Collette not considered. 26Mailbag your say on what fl oats your boat or makes the red mist descend, plus Backlash and Frontlash. 28The News just like it says, with tours, releases and more. 30Even if hes a kook, Birds Of Tokyo love when a weird cousin turns up and hes in his colourful suit. 36Regurgitator admit to being a bunch of cardigan wearing thirtysomethings. 37Peter Hook hasnt just cashed in a winning lottery ticket thats been sitting in his pants for years with Unknown Pleasures. 38A national tragedy, plus one closer to home, propels The Paradise Motel. 40On their pessimistic premise that no one will give a fuck in two years, You Me At Six plan to ride the wave. 41Many life changes cause an existential crisis for Old Man River, but he ends up with a new album from it. 42Ladies, the results are in and Enter Shikari say that Australian women have bigger breasts on average than anywhere else. 43Matthew J Tow of The Lovetones comes through a couple of rough years with a new album. 44Mayhem enjoy being the black sheep of the music family. 44Passenger initiates a set of musical postcards. 46Its not always a holiday on tour for Miles Away. 46Murder Junkies endeavour to continue the spirit of their late frontman GG Allin. 48The musical landscape of Chico Mann keeps evolving. 48Overkill get a new lease on life thanks to playing with younger bands in the thrash scene. 50The underlying manifesto of The Barons Of Tang is having fun. 50Angelas Dish fi nd themselves with a lot more substance. 50On The Record reviews new release albums and singles from The Holidays, Kasey Chambers, Mark Ronson & The Business Intl and more. 52Chris Maric gets local with hard rock and metal in The Heavy Shit. 56Stu Harvey delivers a Short FastReport on punk and hardcore. 57Adam Curley muses on remixes and what it represents in The Breakdown. 58Viktor Krum asks you to Get It Together with the latest in hip hop. 58Scott Fitzsimons gets Young & Restless with all ages goings on. 58Tom Hawking sends us a snapshot of life in the Big Apple with New York Conversation. 58Dan Condon features the world of blues and roots with Roots Down. 60Michael Smith delivers some Blow with jazz and world music news. 60Go south as you enter Pedro Manoys Swamp Shack. 60

FRONT ROWThis Week In Arts wraps up whats happening at Sydney Fringe; 7Up looks at fi lms where guys solve problems with helicopters; Cultural Cringe reveals the weeks big news and gossip; News, news, and more news. 62Helpmann Award winner Ewen Leslie speaks about his role in Kafkas The Trial; Omid Djalili waxes lyrical about his new fi lm in which a man raised as Muslim in later life fi nds out he was born Jewish. 63The Birdmann reveals all ahead of The Bohemian Masquerade Ball; we weigh in on Josh Thomas live show; more News! 64Joseph OFarrell talks about his shabby, junky, and oh-so-hot musical group Suitcase Royale. 65Our wrap up of the fi rst week at Sydney Fringe. 66

LIVEIts all here: gig reviews, tour guide, whats happening this week, charts, gig guide, random shit and we let Richard In Your Mind loose on our Live section. 69Heading to the Coaster Festival? Youll want some map and times then. 83Backstage and BTL your guide to studios, recording, courses and more. 90The Classies need a singer/bassist/drummer/any other service/product you can think of? Your answer is here. And on ifl og.com.au. 94

SEABELLIES ARE LANDINGHaving released their debut album, By Limbo Lake, a month ago this week, Novocastrian six-piece Seabellies have been taking their luscious, layered instrumentation and melodic sound around the country, determined to visit everywhere they possibly can between now and the time they hit the Peats Ridge stage at years end. This Friday sees them head into the Oxford Art Factory and we have two double passes to the show to give away, so email us with Seabellies giveaway in the subject line by 5pm Thursday.

THE OX IS AN OVER-REACTORWhere once was Mammal now snarls Over-Reactor the new musical vehicle for the uncompromising Ezekiel Ox and this Saturday night, SFX at the St James Hotel gets to host them in an evening where theyll be joined by special guests Del Santo and Me Vs You, the latter in what will be their last show ever. A huge night as always, the alternative party spread over three levels and four huge rooms with DJ Bzurk taking on M.I.T. in the Party Room all night long. We have fi ve double passes to the night to give away. Email us with Over-Reactor giveaway in the subject line by 5pm Thursday.

FRINGE-DWELLING PREACHERSTaking their cue from the black American music that was being created in the Deep South somewhere between 1920 and 1940, The Blues Preachers Brother John on guitar, banjo and vocals, and Captain Bluetongue on harmonica, mountain dulcimer and vocals are launching their new album, Dead Catz Can Bounce, at The Vanguard this Saturday as part of the Sydney Fringe, along with special guests Leroy Lee and Lanie Lane. We have fi ve copies of Dead Catz Can Bounce to give away, so email us with The Blues Preachers CD giveaway in the subject line by 5pm Tuesday.

THEYRE RAISIN CRAZYAfter a very successful EP launch at the Annandale Hotel, back in January, Raise The Crazy took six months off to write the material necessary for their fi rst full length album, due for release in the New Year. Having had more than enough time away from the stage, its time for the pub rockers to hit the road and try the new songs out, so where else would they do that but The Annandale? Friday night theyre doing just that, and Devine Electric, Buzzkillers and The Prehistorics will join them on the night. We have fi ve double passes to the show to give away, so email us with Raise The Crazy giveaway in the subject line by midday Friday.

CHICO IS DE MANNFurther inside bulging pages youll fi nd a little story about a Brooklyn-based guitarist who plays in Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra who, one day, happened to be noodling away at an old Casio keyboard and discovered not only a bunch of fun sounds but a whole new musical journey to pursue. Opting to call the project and himself Chico Mann, hes added a tour of Australia to that journey and Thursday night, hes at Melt Bar. We have fi ve double passes to the gig, so email us with Chico Mann giveaway in the subject line by midday Thursday.

LINKIN BLINK-INYoure all invited to join the Club Blink crew as they host, in association with Warner Music, the offi cial launch of the new album from Linkin Park, A Thousand Suns, Saturday night at the St James Hotel. Spinning the discs across the four rooms through the night are DJs from Blink, Trash and SFX, but the main event of course is the spinning of A Thousand Suns. We have fi ve double passes to the night to give away, so email us with Club Linkin giveaway in the subject line by 5pm Thursday.

WE HEAR VOICESCubas a cappella sensation Vocal Sampling literally create every sound that comes off the stage themselves, whether it be the most traditional Cuban samba or The Polices Every Breath You Take instruments, percussion, the lot. But dont take our word for it. Theyre here Wednesday 29 September to perform one show only at The Basement in Circular Quay and we have three double passes to the show so email us with Vocal Sampling giveaway in the subject line by 5pm Tuesday 28.

CHERCHEZ LES FEMMESLes femmes, in this instance, are two of Frances hottest contemporary singer songwriters, Emilie Simon and Melanie Pain, who are heading over to share the bill at The Metro Thursday 30 September. Simon now lives in New York, where she wrote and recorded her most recent album, The Big Machine, while Melanie Pain spent time in Nouvelle Vague but has been travelling solo for some years and recently released her debut solo album, My Name. We have one double pass to the show to give away, so email us with Emilie and Melanie giveaway in the subject line by 5pm Tuesday 28.

SEABELLIES


BLACK T-SHIRTS AND WHITE POWDERRichard Clapton was seriously depressed, verging on suicide, during the time he spent shopping himself to the British and American markets, Michael Chuggs new biography Hey, You In The Black T-shirt claims. The Front Line has obtained a copy of the book, which covers the heavyweight promoters rise to the top of the industry and the excess surrounding rocknroll tours in the 70s and 80s. Recalling Fleetwood Macs demands (including importing beer for the sole purpose of using the bottle caps for cocaine), the book also discusses his failed stints to break it as an international manager (missing opportunities with Clapton and Kevin Borich), his turbulent relationship with Michael Gudinski (whose backstage attitude is subtly commented on throughout), the discovery of Stevie Wrights heroin addiction (which he claims he hid from the rest of his former Easybeats bandmates initially), Ian Saxons drug bust that almost brought down Frontier, his own marriage breakdowns and heart attack amongst other things. Hey, You In The Back T-shirt, which has already been the subject of legal rumblings between Chugg and Gudinski, will be released October.

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MUSICAL LESSONS IN LIFECelebrating ten years of existence, MusicNSWs all age branch will host the Indent All Ages Tour featuring Urthboy, industry workshops and triple j Unearthed supports that will draw into Newcastle Panthers Friday, Cessnock High School Saturday and The Factory Theatre Sunday. The events have been organised, promoted and will be run by under age industry hopefuls under the eye of Indent and speaking to The Front Line, Indent board member Andy Kent (also the bass-ist for You Am I) believes that its the best way to learn. I think its about as being as close to real as you can [be], so these kids really learn how to do it properly. They have to do all the planning, they have to do all the marketing, they have to make sure that they have all the legalities and health and safety right, the insurance and theres a fi nancial reality that they have to deal with. So I think the more real the experience is and the more that theyre doing this without training wheels, then the better the learning experience is going to be for these guys.

Regionally focused, theres even less opportuni-ties for kids not in the city not only is there not an all ages scene, usually theres no scene full stop so this experience is highly valuable.

Kids can go to college and have their parents pay a lot of money to have an education in the music industry, but I dont necessarily know that a lot of those graduates are ready for the music industry or particularly for the risks of the free market, Kent says,

One of the best things about this tour, explains Tim Levinson, aka Urthboy, is its something weve never done before, all ages shows across New South Wales and that is something that is unheard of for a lot of music, but particularly hip hop. Also the workshops, which does add an extra element that can be draining on a tour but theyre also something that Im a big believer in.

We live in a pretty conservative age where not only are we obsessed with public liability and the borderline paranoia of some kind of accident occurring where somebody will be liable, but were in a society that frowns on taking a risk Its a frustrating infrastructure that you have to work with and especially being a young person in a regional area where its already diffi cult enough to organise something that captures the imagination of the other young people in that area so I think youve got to hold these sort of initiatives in both hands and embrace them, he says.

And by empowering people within the music industry, the experience and confi dence will spill into other aspects of life. These type of things are sometimes the stepping stones to a whole lot of other opportunities and sometimes they dont even relate to the music scene at all, but they might have something that reinforces their self esteem, their sense of worth, self-confi dence, continues Levinson, and it allows you to feel a little bit more empowered to go on a do a little bit more of study or be a bit more confi dent of getting a job.

FINAL ONESThe fi nal announcements for One Movements Weekend Festival line-up have been announced, with Karnivool and The Jezabels joining the previously announced Xavier Rudd, Grinspoon, Ben Kweller, Children Collide, British India, Dead Letter Circus, Dan Sultan, Operator Please and more. The Perth conference and festival runs Wednesday 6 through Sunday 10 October.

DRUMS LOSE GUITARISTIn what seems to have been an on-tour altercation between members, The Drums guitarist Adam Kessler has left the band in the middle of an American tour. The band, who were out recently for Splendour In The Grass, posted the following on their website, There have been some questions as to recent events and we are sorry to say that Adam has left The Drums. Jonny, Jacob and Connor are devastated and are keeping to themselves and with friends at this time. The band are currently on the road in America. Thank you for all of the support, it means a lot. Upcoming dates are going ahead as planned, it seems.

GUINNESS MUSIC RECORDSThe expensive Kanye West album doesnt seem too bad with the news that Jay-Z and Beyonc will be listed in the Guinness Book Of Records 2011 edition for being the Highest Earning Power Couple, as they amassed $122 million American up until June 2009. Lady GaGa is the most searched for female (ousting Sarah Palin), Michael Jackson the equivalent male. Susan Boyle is the oldest artist to reach #1 with a debut album, while GaGa also took over Oasis record of weeks in the UK chart (topping their 153 with 154) and Pixie Lott has the highest one-week jump to number one ever (Boys And Girls fl ew from 72 to the top).

UK: INDUSTRY TO PAY FOR FIGHTThe British Government has indicated that the rights holders in music, TV and fi lm industries will be required to fund 75 percent of the fi ght against illegal downloading, with the remaining 25 percent to be funded by internet service providers, The Guardian reported. Independent telecommunications regulator Ofcom now has three months to fi nish the Online Copyright Infringement Initial Obligations Code, which will govern the costings and this particular cost-sharing mechanism is expected to kick in the fi rst half of 2011. It is believed that the rights holders will be up for as much as 14 million a year. The industry had hoped that service providers would foot a larger chunk of the bill, but the move is an example of the increasingly prevalent their problem attitude. Britain recently surpassed its 500 millionth legal digital download; at the end of August there had been 102 million this calendar year alone.

DEBUTS DOMINATE TOP TENLinkin Parks fourth album A Thousand Suns has debuted in the top spot on the ARIA charts this week, as a fl urry of strong international releases pushed local titles out of the top ten. Locals Little Red entered at fi ve with Midnight Remember, Grinderman ninth with Grinderman 2, but they couldnt compete with the like of The Script, whose Science & Faith sits at three, Interpols self-titled album in seventh and Linkin Park. After having fi ve titles in the top ten over the last couple of weeks, the only album able to hold its position was Angus & Julia Stones Down The Way, which clings to tenth.

PANICS, CC PULL OUTThe Panics and Cloud Control will not be appearing at the upcoming Stonefest festival in Canberra, due to the formers recording commitments and Cloud Controls impending UK tour which was insisted upon by their new UK label, Infectious Records. In their place, the festival has announced that Xavier Rudd and Deep Sea Arcade will now be performing. The event happens at the University of Canberra, Saturday 30 October.

SHUFFLE TO THE TOPCanberras The Aston Shuffl e have been voted the winner of the InTheMix 50, an online poll of Australian DJs. Last years winner tyDi dropped to second, Andy Murphy, The Stafford Brothers and Bag Raiders rounded out the top fi ve.

FACE THE GUESTSMelbournes Face The Music Conference Friday 19 and Saturday 20 November at the Arts Centre has announced its fi rst round of speakers. MGM owner Sebastian Chase, Glastonbury music festivals Malcolm Haynes, Posse.com founder Rebekah Campbell, music journalist Christie Eliezer, Rubber Records lawyer David Vodicka, Artist Voice Agency co-founder Brett Murrihy, Resist Records owner Graham Nixon and more. Early bird-priced registrations for the conference are available until 10 October from The Pushs website.

NIGHT OF THE DEADSThe 16th Deadlys award ceremony for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander achievements in music, sport, entertainment and community will take place at the Sydney Opera House on Monday. Live performances will come from of Australias top artists, including Christine Anu, Archie Roach, Dan Sultan, Ali Mills amongst others.

AAA CONFERENCEMusicians Making A Differences Access All Areas conference will take place at Sydneys Seymour Centre,

Friday 25 and Saturday 26 February, 2011. Aimed at young/aspiring musicians, speaking will be Michael Taylor (Island Records), Tim Kelly and Mia McLeod (Universal Music), Jaime Chaux (Radar Radio), Ben Fletcher (Video Hits), Nick Findlay (triple j), Jeremy Sharp (Harbour Agency), Neil Ackland (Sound Alliance), Mark Bulgin (MySpace) as well as Australias Got Talents Justice Crew and So You Think You Can Dance representatives/performances.

RAINMEN HAVE BUZZBring The Rain, from Coffs Harbour, have been announced as the fi rst fi nalist for the inaugural Australian Red Bull Bedroom Jam. They topped the online band competitions buzz chart (consolidates mentions from social networking sites) and will play a live webcast from their bedroom on Friday. They are now in the running for the grand prize a high profi le support and recording session in LA.

OUR QUIET WORLDBEATERSAC/DC loving Victorian rockers Airbourne have been confi rmed as one of the headliners at Germanys Wacken rock festival, which welcomes 75,000 people each year. Another example for the bands comparatively small fanbase in their homeland.

CRACKS TO SINGThe Cracks have been chosen out of LGs unsigned band competition and will now perform at LG Live, at Singapores Formula 1 Grand Prix event next week alongside international acts Missy Elliot, Adam Lambert and Mariah Carey.

$3 MILLION MANThe long awaited and delayed Kanye West album apparently titled Dark Twisted Fantasy this week has cost Def Jam Records $US3 million, according to hip hop gossip blog VladTV.com. Recording is ongoing but has already involved sessions in a Hawaii mansion, Jimi Hendrixs studio with guests Jay-Z, Raekwon, Rick Ross, Mos Def and more rumoured to have guest spots.

SHOT TO THE TOPBuckshot, former frontman of the now inactive Brooklyn hip hop group Black Moon, is celebrating the 15 year anniversary of underground label Duck Down Records with a how-to e-book/audio book of the music industry. A press release for the book states that it will be split into three stages, covering Basics, the Framework and How It All Works.

CAN YOU DESTROY?Destroy All Lines (Hot Damn, Teen Wolves) are looking for a Sydney-based event coordinator. Promoting/managing nights, experience in event management and the scene necessary. Cover letters and CVs to [email protected] by Monday.

NEWS? ANNOUNCEMENTS? TIP-OFFS? RUMOUR AND GOSSIP?SEND THEM THROUGH TO [email protected]

NEWS FROM THE INDUSTRY WITH SCOTT FITZSIMONS

URTHBOY

MICHAEL CHUGG ON STAGE WITH A MIC

twitter.com/drummedia THE DRUM MEDIA 21 SEPTEMBER 2010 27

Slipped in amidst a few announcements about their events calendar this year, it was not only men-tioned that ARIAs annual Hall Of Fame ceremony was moving to Sydney, but that once again only fi ve art-ists would be inducted. The number of inductees reached a peak between 2005 and 2007 with seven artists being put forward in each of those years, the number being cut back to fi ve since 2008. Its understandable that ARIA want the Hall to remain an elite club to get into, but as each year passes the waiting list grows longer. We cant keep so many deserving artists waiting so long.

The criteria for induction is simple an artist must fall into one of four musical categories (pop/rock, jazz, classical and country); an artist must have recorded work; that recording must have commenced twenty years prior; they must possess a signifi cant body of work; they must have made a cultural impact locally and/or been recognised globally. Rock and pop now dominates (over 80 percent of inductees would fall into this category) while jazz, classical and country artists have been recognised less and less since the Halls inception in 1988. But thats hardly surprising, as those genres grand achievers are recognised elsewhere (the Australian Country Music Foundation has its own Roll

Of Renown, the Classical Music Awards recognise long-term achievement at their annual ceremony and the Australian Jazz Awards, now the Bells, have their own Hall Of Fame). The ARIA Hall Of Fame has become the ultimate accolade for the local rock and pop scene if youre into that kinda thing.

With this years inductions to take place on Wednesday 27 October, its that time of the year when you start wonder-ing who will be joining those greats already inducted (over 60 artists so far, from Johnny OKeefe, The Bee Gees and The Seekers to The Triffi ds, The Saints and Nick Cave). And it can be anyone who has recorded prior to 1990. Yet to be inducted from the 60s are successful chart acts The Loved Ones, Lynne Randell or Bobby & Laurie, let alone more seminal acts like The Atlantics, The Throb or Purple Hearts (although member Lobby Lloyd was inducted in 2006). And while the biggest names of the 70s have been tributed (Sherbet, Billy Thorpe, Skyhooks, The Angels and Little River Band), we are yet to honour one-time household names Jon English, Ted Mulry Gang and Hush or those who remained on the cusp like Spectrum and Ross D. Wylie. Of course, now there is the sprawling 80s to dip into from The Church at one end to Kylie Minogue at the other. Inducted artists who

created, or began to create, a signifi cant recorded output in the 80s so far include only INXS, Hunters & Collectors, Jimmy Barnes, Australian Crawl, Paul Kelly, Midnight Oil, Divinyls, Icehouse, Men At Work, Hoodoo Gurus, Nick Cave, The Triffi ds and Mental As Anything. Were yet to scratch the surface with TISM, Models, Do Re Mi, The Sports, Eurogliders, Im Talking, Redgum, Goanna, Wed-dings Parties Anything, Sunnyboys, Not Drowning Waving and Yothu Yindi. Locally, the 80s also witnessed a boom in DIY labels giving acts on the underground live circuit the ability to release a steady fl ow of records. They may not have made the top 40, but many are cited by overseas artists as major infl uences (Eastern Dark, Cosmic Psy-chos, God, The Stems, Severed Heads, The Dagoes, Boxcar, Foetus, The Scientists, The Moodists, Lime Spiders and the list really goes on).

Its hard to narrow the list down to fi ve. So, attempting to spread them across the decades and no setting aside of all personal biases how about these fi ve in 2010?

The Loved Ones: Fronted by the dark-voiced Gerry Humphries, this Melbourne band managed a string of infl uential singles in just a few years of existence (1965-1967) as they bridged mod, garage and early psychede-

HALL OF FAME GAMELATER THIS WEEK, ARIA WILL ANNOUNCE THE LATEST ROUND OF INDUCTEES INTO THEIR HALL OF FAME. RIGHT NOW, ANDREW MAST COMPILES A WISH LIST OF INDUCTEES.

WHAT The ARIA Hall Of Fame

WHEN & WHERE Wednesday 27 October, Hordern Pavilion

frontLINE

lia. A cover of their song, The Loved One, was a hit for INXS in 1981.

Hush: This Sydney pub rock take on the glam sound ruled Australian teen girls lives between 1971 and 1977. They scored hit singles, massive album sales, sold-out tours and their anthem, Get Rocked, was the perfect song to accompany the arm-swinging, foot-stomping dance so loved by the kids of the time. Importantly too, the mixed-race lineup of Hush gave middle Australia its fi rst glimpse of an Asian-integrated Australia.

Lynne Randell: The late pop singer was the most popular Australian female singer in the mid-60s thanks to catchy hits Goin Out Of My Head and Ciao Baby. In the US she toured with The Monkees, Jimi Hendrix and Ike & Tina Turner. Her music is now much sought after by UK northern soul fans.

The Reels: This pop troupe from Dubbo paved the way for the future of local electronic music. Along the way they scored pop hits (Love Will Find A Way), dabbled in politics (The Bombs Dropped On Xmas), reinter-preted classics (Bad Moon Rising) and produced a song considered one of this countrys fi nest (Quasimodos Dream). The Reels also took-the-piss out of the Aussie mainstream all-the-time remaining uniquely Australian their 1988 album Neighbours was all Australian covers including Cold Chisels Forever Now.

The Go-Betweens: The Brisbane-based literary popsters were one of the cornerstone sources of the indie pop scene. Their elegant recordings were largely ignored by the mainstream here despite a strong live following and international cult fandom. Despite a fl uctuating lineup, the basic duo of Robert Forster and the late great Grant McLennan consistently released albums of acclaimed pop masterpieces across a career spanning three decades.

THE LOVED ONES


YOUR SAY

SIGN OF THE TIMESDear Drum,

Re: Amandas letter (mailbag #1026)

While a generation gap was a way of explaining differences in taste and values between teens and their parents during the 60s, whether it be music related or not, a few decades ago access to information was scant at best. However with computers now in almost every home, everything is more easily accessible and I think we blame too much on generation gaps. Being younger is no longer an excuse to not know whats out there or what came before.

Lets face it, Australia is a depressing wasteland when it comes to music. The overwhelming majority is content on being spoon-fed whats current only. Youre incredulous over someone not knowing The Beatles, but given how bland and disposable music is these days, what can you expect? You cant compare 60s music to today, be it The Beatles, Hendrix or countless others. Music has degenerated to the point that if a band like The Beatles came out in 2010, they wouldnt last past two albums at best. Ask yourself, if you saw four guys on stage all dressed the same and singing about living in a yellow submarine, do you seriously think theyd survive? Today a group like that would be eaten alive, seen as nothing more than a novelty act.

Name any rock song considered a classic by many music fans Smoke On The Water, Stairway To Heaven, Paranoid, etc and theres a multitude of people who either havent heard of them or disregard them as dinosaur music best left in the past. AC/DC may be our biggest rock export, but if High Voltage or TNT was put out today, theyd go nowhere, swallowed up in a myriad of consumer friendly radio noise. I spoke to a self-proclaimed huge fan at an Iron Maiden gig, dressed head to toe in Maiden gear, but hed never heard of Blaze Bayley. Generation gaps maybe, or just plain ignorance?

I dont think that ramming more Aussie content down peoples throats is a solution. The music is already there, people just have to want it. The Drum is full of local gigs catering for every taste and its free. People bitch and whinge about pub closures and that we should take some kind of affi rmative action against the death knells of whatever live music scene remains, but instead of trying to close the gate after the horse has bolted, a

simple solution would be to pry ourselves away from the TV every so often and go see some bands.

As Australians we love a good outrage story and a venue closure is one that gets many people going, regardless of what generation youre in. Although its one thing to get outraged over something, its another thing entirely to actually do anything about it.

Felix

Newtown

I kind of wish Id never heard Blaze Bayley out front of Iron Maiden either Ed

MOVE ALONGDear Drum,

I agree with Martins letter (mailbag #1026) in that when it comes to live scenes, Sydney and Melbourne are completely different. For those lamenting that Melbournes scene is infi nitely better because The Tote reopened whereas the Hoey remains shut, get over it, seriously. Yes, its a damn shame the Hoey closed and even though it was a live music icon, people act as if it was the only venue in Sydney and that the live scene is doomed because of its closure. Can we all stop to think about just how many other venues are out there still plugging away, providing live music, multiple times a week? And they havent closed. The Hoey shut a year ago, so instead of still banging on about it after all this time (quite possibly from in front of your computer screen), how about you actually get off your arse and see a band in a venue that is still kicking. Im sure not all venues are swimming in gold and some are probably doing it tough, but if we want to avoid another Hoey-style closure, we should support whats currently out there, rather than mope about whats not there.

Tara

Chatswood

My my, it has been a year already. Thankfully weve been to that many gigs since we havent stopped to mourn the Hoey since it originally passed. Ed

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FRONTLASHPLAYSTATION MOVEIts just like a Nintendo Wii, but with added visual awesome. Proof? No-one plays bocce unless theres some other reason to (grandad/beer). We played Playstation bocce for hours last weekend because we wanted to.

FINALS FOOTBALLThe tears, the joys, and soaking it all in as a neutral observer. That said, would much prefer it if the sup-ported teams were still involved, so to partake in said joys/tears

SYDNEYS PEOPLESometimes the suckers just come through for ya, thanks for returning the lost phone, guys.

BACKLASHKELLY ROWLANDJust cant help that lip syncing, can you?

SACHA AND FREDDYSacha Baron Cohen the guy behind Borat, Bruno and Ali G (oh, how the pecking order has changed) has been cast as Freddie Mercury in an upcoming biopic. Is this cool or not?

RECORD PLAYERSYes, everything sounds warmer on vinyl. But geez dont the things break down more often that a sev-en-disc, surround sound, USB input, iPod jack, social networking, wi-fi ready, web 3.0 sound system?


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When Parklife takes over Kippax Lakes surrounds in Moore Park Sunday 3 October, itll not only be presenting a blinder of an international and national line-up you should all be well aware of, but itll also be presenting Convaire, a local indie pop four-piece hitting the stage courtesy triple j Unearthed.

Stepping out for a solo spin, Fremantle-based singer songwriter Justin Walshe is taking in the sights this side of the continent, including The Phoenix in Canberra Wednesday 13 October and Casa Di Musica in Enmore Thursday 21.

Canadian singer, songwriter and guitarist Matthew Barber is releasing his fourth album, True Believer, released locally this week and introduces it person-ally Wednesday 29 September at the Brass Monkey, Thursday 30 at Lizottes Kincumber, Friday 1 October at Notes, opening for Angie Hart and Saturday 2 at the Clarendon Guesthouse.

Japanese hardcore/metal band Zeni Geva are in town Saturday to play alongside Nunchukka Superfl y and more at the Bald Faced Stag.

Irish rockers Aslan fi nally hit Australia this week, having had to reschedule their originally mooted April tour and head into Canberra Irish Club Wednesday 29 September and The Forum in Moore Park Sunday 3 October.

Joining NZs barnstorming Cell when they head into the Valve Bar (formerly The Harp in Tempe) Friday 1 October are The Understatement, City In Crisis and more. Cell return to Sydney to play Club Blink Friday 29.

The Wombats wont be releasing their new album to which theyre just adding the fi nal touches in LA, til Wednesday 24 November, but youre sure to hear a few new songs from it at their Parklife performance Sunday 3 October.

Break Even get the Guernsey opening for Alexison-fi re right around the nation, which means theyll be there Friday 8 October to do the honours at the UNSW Roundhouse.

It seems Billy Corgan himself decided that Adelaides City Riots should be the band to open for Smashing Pumpkins on their forthcoming Australian tour, which youll experience here under the Big Top in Luna Park Saturday 16 October.

Bone Thugs N Harmony have sold out their Thursday 11 November show at The Gaelic and have now added a second show there Sunday 21. Tickets for the Newcastle CBD show Wednesday 10, Southern Cross Event Centre Canberra show Friday 12 and Grand Hotel Wollongong show Sunday 14 are still available.

Akaname get to showcase their fi ve-years-in-the-making self-titled debut album in style when they open for Baroness at the Annandale Friday 12 November.

Fresh out of Detroit comes Detroit Techno in the form of D25: Detroit Twenty Five, hitting The Forum/Entertainment Quarter Saturday 11 December and featuring Carl Craig, Theo Parish, Moodymann and more.

When Pikelet hits The Gaelic Saturday night with Ghoul and Collarbones, or the Hotel Gearin Sunday with Maple Trail, you might also be hearing her radio-only Remix EP slamming out of, well, the radio.

Opening for The Paradise Motel when they play the Clarendon Guesthouse Friday and the Sandringham Saturday is former Love Outside Andromeda singer Sianna Lee.

Koolism are taking their latest album, The Umu, for a stroll round the place, kicking off in the Transit Bar in Canberra Friday 8 October, the closest theyll be to our patch before joining Good Vibrations in Sydney Saturday 12 February.

Celebrating a decade of working together, Kid Kenobi & MC Shureshock are hitting the road with a debut single, Safe Sound, a debut EP, Ten, and a fi stful of dates including Fat As Butter in Newcastle Saturday 23 October, Club Club in Sydney Saturday 20 November, King St Hotel Newcastle Friday 10 Decem-ber and One Five One in Wollongong Saturday 18.

Releasing their fourth studio album, Loose Manifesto, Friday 1 October, Peabody are doing an instore performance at Red Eye Records 3pm Sunday 3 and launching it live Thursday 28 at the Harp in Wollon-gong, Friday 5 November at the Annandale, Saturday 6 at the Phoenix Bar Canberra and Saturday 13 at the Hotel Gearin.

Melbournes Kate Vigo & The Underground Orchestra pop into Raval Saturday 30 October.

SALLY SELTMANN

HOWL

KAKI KING

ONE DAY AS A LION

THUNDAMENTALS

SIANNA LEE

HOOTING AND HOWLINGThose photo-savy young Ballarat punks, Howl have had a very busy year indeed and it looks set to get much, much busier. From support slots with Children Collide and Philadelphia Grand Jury, not to mention a run of dates with Die! Die! Die!, the triple j Unearthed High previous winners are about to embark on their fi rst ever headline tour. In support of their latest EP, Brothers In Violence the follow-up to their brilliant debut release the garage punks will be playing Friday 22 October at Spectrum.

BEATZ ARE BACKOn the back of the success of the massive Winterbeatz event, its time to prepare for another huge urban/pop concert Summerbeatz. Over four hours of live music, international names Flo Rida, who could probably ride off the success of Low for the rest of his life, multi-mil-lion record-selling Jay Sean, Twitter beef-prone Soulja Boy and Gym Class Heros frontman Travie McCoy will be joined by locals Stan Walker and DJ Nino Brown. It happens at Acer Arena Saturday 20 November.

THE NEW SALLYAfter winning hearts the world-over under her old moniker, New Buffalo, Sally Seltmann has re-defi ned herself as a brooding and soulful folk artist. Armed with her new album Heart Thats Pounding and one of the sweetest voices in the country, Seltmann has just announced a run of shows this November and December which will see her visit both capital cities and regional towns along the way. Joined by one of the nations sleep-er-loved acts Oh Mercy, you can catch the songstress Friday 19 November at the Grand Hotel Wollongong, Saturday 20 at The Factory Theatre and Sunday 21 at the Brass Monkey.

PHAT PRODUCTIONSInspired by varying spheres of blues and rock, Tranzphat are launching their new record Dirty Bird, at the Annandale Hotel Thursday 7 October. The four-track EPs available now and the band have opted to capture that big production sound belying their status as a local outfi t. Itll be a night of all those things we love about rock.

GATHERING NO MOSSFor the past year, singer/songwriter Fergus McAlpin and double bassist Adam Afi ff have been playing to audiences as Roller One, developing their sound and identity one show at a time. The former members of Silver City Highway now have a record to accompany their live show Roller One Motorsports that was recorded in a burst of 20 songs in three days. The country-folk duo will launch the record at Ravl Tuesday 12 and Tuesday 19 October.

CHERRY POPPIN GOOD TIMESThe next Black Cherry rocknroll party is taking place to coincide with the events fourth birthday and will happen at The Factory Theatre Saturday 2 October. From 8pm to 2am everything thats rocked from the 50s to now will be spun and on stage American one-man band Bob Log III, Mojo Juju & The Snake Oil Merchants, La Mancha Negra and The Lazys will belt out tunes. Punk Rock Karaoke and burlesque wont be far away, either.

KNOW ABOUT BONJAHWith a swag of APRA Award nominations under their belt, Bonjah will hit the road in support of their new single Something We Should Know, reintroducing their roots rock to fans around the country. Currently spinning on triple j airwaves, the track was recorded at Melbournes fabled Sing Sing studios and the band were recently showcasing themselves at the recent Bigsound conference. Friday 12 November theyre at the Brass Monkey, Saturday 13 the Beach Road Hotel and Thurs-day 18 Newcastles The Brewery.

NEWTOWNS DAY OUTThe eclectic Newtown Festival is back for another year, still free, still fun and probably still nice and hot. Sunday 14 November is when it all kicks off, with the fi rst line-up announcement including Richard In Your Mind, Skipping Girl Vinegar, Thundamentals, Chocolate Strings, Mojo Juju, Snowdroppers, Ernest Ellis, Guineafowl, Megastick Fanfare, Liz Martin, Laneous And The Family Yah, Stiff Gins and Kira Puru & The Bruise. Brought to you by the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre, the festival works as a fundraiser for the Centres essential services to those less fortunate in the community and attracts an audience of around 80,000 punters.

SOUNDWAVE CONTINUES TO ROARThe second Soundwave line-up was leaking like a sieve recently, with bands and promoters not able to contain their excitement as they took to social networking sites. So theyve decided to be out with it and drop the whole second and fi nal announcement for the monster punk, rock and metal festival. One Day As A Lion (Zach de la Rocha of Rage Against The Machine and line drummer supreme Jon Theodores visceral collaboration) will fl y out for an extremely rare performances while on the rest of the line-up theres Bullet For My Valentine, Bring Me The Horizon, The Murderdolls, Dimmu Borgir, Millencolin, Coheed & Cambria, The Amity Affl iction, Feed, H2O, The Rocket Summer, Saxon, Silverstein, Fucked Up and We The Kings. Sunday 27 February the pilgrimage to Eastern Creek Raceway happens again.

AUSSIE ACCENTSSeemingly made for Australian audiences, moody French rockers Dimo Dero Inc will be hitting Australia to support their latest album Cremation Day In The Court Of Miracles. Theyve two albums under their belt and toured most parts of the world, but in joining tours with The Drones, Beasts Of Bourbon and The New Christs among others, they seem destined for an Australian fanbase. Friday 22 October theyre at Manly Fishos and Saturday 23 the Excelsior, Surry Hills.

MOUTH WORKSTwo of Sydneys and Australias most exciting hip hop acts at the moment, The Tongue and Spit Syndicate are hitting the road together very soon. The Tongues recently dropped his new album, Alternative Energy, which was picked up as album of the week in more than a couple of places including this very publi-cation, while The Syndicate have been going hammer and tong since the release of their second album Exile. Friday 5 November theyre at the ANU Bar, Saturday 6 Cambridge Hotel and Saturday 27 The Gaelic.

KINGS WELCOMEWed almost call her a regular by now and its with pleasure that Australian audiences will welcome Kaki King back onto our shores and into our venues this November. Playing the Queenscliff and Mullum Music Festivals, shes just announced sideshows where shell be playing tracks from her latest effort, Junior. With sub-lime guitar tactics and a voice that central to everything gelling as well as it does. Friday 19 November shell be at the Oxford Art Factory.

HOLLER ALL AROUNDWestern Australias Mama Kin has had a big year, dropping her album Beat And Holler somewhere in the middle of it all. Sharing stages with the likes of Gur-rumul and the John Butler Trio, the rootsy singer/song-writer is fi nishing off 2010 with her own headline tour. Its taken a while for her sounds to reach our ears, but shes wasting no time now hat it has. After a showcase at the One Movement festival, you can be part of her tales Thursday 28 November at The Vanguard and Friday 29 at The Brass Monkey.

A TREAT FOR USTheres no doubting the calibre of what the Sydney Opera House have got lined up for us. American jazz vocalist Kurt Elling will be on stage, singing tracks from his Grammy Award winning album Dedicated To You. The record, which had the arts sections of the major American newspapers tripping over themselves to heap praise on, takes its music from the Impulse record, John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman. Tuesday 2 November hell be at the Concert Hall.

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A CASIO AND GRAND PLANSAnother taste from her forthcoming debut full-length, Emma Davis has offered us the track Machines. A Casio-driven number, its minimal in parts, sound-scape-y in others and tied together with an obviously personal narrative. The album has been created over the last year, with help from Brian Campeau and his home-made studio, which saw friends and guests tide in an out to lend their voices and advice. Friday 29 October at the Red Rattler and Saturday 6 November at Canberras Front Bar, you get to fi nd out what the fuss is about.

SEAM OF CONSCIOUSNESSSerial crowd-worker AniKiko is set to launch her album Fibonaccis Seam at The Vanguard Thursday 30 Septem-ber and then throw in the release of her fi rst fi lm clip for Like No Other because she can. Playing calculated and rule-breaking trip-pop, its probably too unlike the mathematics of her albums namesake less hated by high school children, though. Shes already released two EPs this year, so shes not waiting around for you to catch up if you miss her. Alex Gibson and Yunyu will provide support for the night.

GET LOWPart of the New Justice Records roster, Chemical Trans-port kicked off the year with the release of their debut EP Were Not Alone in April. Showing they wont be tied to a genre either, theyve since supported Switchfoot, Senses Fail, MM9, Snob Scrilla and got acoustic with MXPXs Mike Herrera. The Sydney based fi ve-piece are now hitting the road again in support of new single Down Down a track about teenage parties, which just had to be recreated in a video clip. Saturday 2 October theyre at Alliance Youth, Thursday 7 Bull & Bush Hotel, SFX @ St James Hotel Saturday 30, Sirens Nightclub Friday 12 November, Gideon HQ Saturday 20 and the Crest Hotel Friday 26.

THE EARLY BIRDSIf theres no rest for the wicked then were hoping that Eagle & The Worm dont end up auditing our tax returns. The Melbourne act seems to be spending most of their time touring and once again venues across the east coast beckon as they continue support debut single Futureman and follow up All I Know. With plenty of glam and camp to go around, their honed eight-piece live show hits The Harp Hotel Thursday 14 October, Coogee Diggers Friday 15 and Spectrum Saturday 16.

TRUE BLOODWe last saw them as the special guests of Kasabian, and the Fearless Vampire Killers are trekking back into town very soon to preview songs from their debut album which were told is almost completed. Mixing psychedelic surf and pop punk initiatives, theyll be right at home in the intimate Good God Small Club Thursday 30 September and Friday 1 October at the Ivanhoe Hotel the latter is free.

THE VICTORIANS ARE COMINGThe Oxford Art Factory will welcome two Melbourne musicians to its stage in the near future, each with a story to tell and a new record to promote. They are The Stu Thomas Paradox the multi instrumentalist, songwriter and producer Thomas having played bass with Kim Salmon for years and their album Escape From Algebra and the vocally gifted Jane Dust, with her new self-titled record. They team up for the CD launch Thursday 14 October.


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TEMPER VIEWSWe already knew that The Temper Trap were the surprise headline for Harbourlife this year (which introduces a Gold Coast leg this week), bringing a show with all the bells and whistles for the occasion. Its now also been announced that Metronomy, Yacht Club DJs and Knightlife will be joining the festivities. It takes over the Fleet Steps at Mrs Macquaries point Saturday 20 November, running from 2pm to 10pm.

LYING ABOUT THE BLUESOnce upon a time they were called the Very Geordie Malones and now theyre called Kira Puru & The Bruise and with all matter of hyperbole and superla-tive theyre hitting the road in support of their second studio recording The Liar. The no holds-barred blues revellers were at Katoombas Bohemian Masquerade Ball last week this Wednesday theyre at the Bar On The Hill, Newcastles Masquerade Ball Friday, The Vanguard Friday 1 October and Wednesday 20 Phoenix Canberra.

ANIMAL SHAPESThe hard rocking Baby Animals are making another of their rare forays onto the stage when they the Oxford Art Factory Wednesday 20 October. Frontwoman Suze Demarchi has been based in Los Angeles for the last 16 years, but is now back on home soil until the new year to play some shows, write some songs (a new Baby Animals album is not off the cards) and soak up the Aus-tralian summer vibe once again. Its a one-off show, so ensure that youre present and accounted for.

INTERNATIONAL RESPECTSWe always knew theres was something exciting about The Fumes and sure enough their recent North American joint has had the folks over there yelling their praises. Now the blues/rock duo are back on home soil and theyve even bought some friends Canadas Elliot Brood. Starting from scratch again in the US has seen them build a fanbase steadily, releasing singles from their back catalogue as they went along. Thursday 21 October theyre at the Great Northern, Friday 22 the Brass Monkey, Saturday 23 Notes and Sunday 24 the Heritage Hotel. Then they headline the Sydney Blues Festival Friday 29 and Saturday 30.

THIS IS THE ENDMusic to dance to, rather than strictly dance music, the infl uences for Worlds End Press come from all over the shop or musical history of the last 30 years. And theyve been honing their skills into a debut album recently, with Music For The World due for release early next year. Recently found warming up crowds for Del-phic and Miami Horror, theyre dropping and EP Faith-ful mid-October that will be launched and followed up in November with a full-blown tour leading up to Falls and Southbound appearances. Friday 8 October theyre at World Bars MUM, with a support slot for Catcall at The Civic Saturday 9.

STORMS A-COMINBubbling at the surface for the last couple of years and having more than one person who knows what theyre talking about singing their praises, melodic rock outfi t Sydonia are ready to take the next step. Leading their charge is the new single Ocean Of Storms, which previews what their second album will be made of. With a support history that boasts Slipknot, Lamb Of God and recently Dead Letter Circus, Friday 1 October theyre at the Annandale Hotel, Saturday 20 November the ANU Bar.

SURPRISE HITSPerhaps understandably, few took them serious when Fozzy emerged to cover metal tracks with WWE wrestler Chris Jericho at the helm. But a few years down the track theyre hit their stride with latest and original record Chasing The Grail, a surprisingly dynamic metal record. Returning to Australia for the fi rst time since 2005, theyll play an all ages show at The Factory Theatre Friday 3 December. VIP meet and greet packages are also available for the tour.

KORN

THE FUMESXAVIER RUDD

THE TEMPER TRAP

STONEFEST 2.0Canberras music festival, Stonefest, has encountered a couple of line-up hiccups recently, with headliners The Panics and Cloud Control having to pull out of the event, due to recording commitments and a UK tour respectively. Called in to fi ll their shoes will be roots man Xavier Rudd and Sydney indie up-and-comers Deep Sea Arcade so things are going to be a little different, but the vibell stay the same. Happening 30 October at the University Of Canberra, previously announced acts still on the bill include Pendulum, Bliss N Eso, Does It Offend You, Yeah?, Spiderbait, Airbourne, Clare Bowditch & The New Slang and Operator Please.

MISS MAREAdelaides newest talent, Delamare have been busy of late, scoring support slots for local heroes The Presets, Pete Murray and Operator Please among others. The fi ve piece play a rock/pop blend, accentuated with moods and accompanying lyrics and their latest single Miss Sunshine has been receiving attention on local radio and TV. The boys will be embarking on a run of shows throughout the state in October, playing Thursday 21 October at The Wall, Friday 22 at the Mars Hill Cafe, Saturday 23 at Trash which has recently moved to Plantation Bar and Sunday 24 at the Annandale Hotel.

SOUND OF POCKET CHANGELaunching this Friday is Sydneys newest social night (unless you start one very soon), the Stop Start $7 Social Club. Finding a home in the emerging indie venue, Melt Bar, the new night will be graced with performances from Hungry Kids Of Hungry, Maniac and Pluto Jonze. On the eve of the Coaster festival, Hungry Kids are making the stop over in the city for a solo show a few weeks before the release of their debut album, Escapades its a cracker. All in attendance will be also gifted with a Stop Start Sampler.

WHO KORN AREReturning to their roots for their ninth studio album and fi rst for new label Roadrunner, the aptly titled, Korn III Remember Who You Are, Korn have re-energised their fanbase. Coming out to Australia to support Guns N Roses (or whats left of them) on their national tour, it was only a matter of time that a Sydney date got announced. Saturday 4 December at the Hordern Pavilion, theyve got some top supports of their own. Not least the ever-formidable Shihad, plus Melbourne up and comers Sydonia. No room for second shows, so dont miss the fi rst.


One-woman orchestra Glasser, aka Los Angeles-based artist Cameron Mesirow, has just released her debut album, Ring, here.

UK fi ve-piece indie rockers Rotating Leslie, who spent their fi rst four years together practicing, writing and recording in an old farmhouse in Hertfordshire before they got discovered, release their debut album, The Walls Have Ears, Thursday.

The hotly anticipated new and eighth studio album from Shihad, Ignite, fi nally hits stores Friday.

Fifteen years after releasing their last album, the reunited Soundgarden release a career retrospective, Telephantasm, which includes one previously unreleased track from their Badmotorfi n-ger sessions, Friday.

Still keeping it simple and authentic, Justin Townes Earle releases his new album, Harlem River Blues, Friday.

Eric Clapton releases his 19th solo studio album, simply titled Clapton, Friday, among the inevitable guests are Steve Winwood, Sheryl Crow, Wynton Marsalis and Derek Trucks.

The ninth album, Mixed Race, from producer extraordinaire Tricky, is released 1 October, with the album offi cially introducing Irish-Italian singer Franky Riley, who has been Trickys vocalist the past two years.

The multi-skilling producer Mark Ronson has set the Dap Kings aside for his latest album, Record Collection, out Friday, utilising instead a bunch of vintage keyboards he bought on eBay.

System Of A Down frontman Serj Tankian releases his solo album, Imperfect Harmonies, Friday.

Old school R&B singer John Legend has hooked up with hip hop combo The Roots to create an album of soul covers from the 60s and 70s aimed at instilling some serious consciousness in this second decade of the 21st century. The album, Wake Up!, is released Friday.

Scottish singer, songwriter and guitarist KT Tunstall releases her third studio album, Tiger Suit, Friday.

One of Britains most popular exports, Seal, reunited with producer David Foster for his sixth album, Seal 6: Commitment, released Friday.

Israeli-born, South African-raised singer songwriter Yoav releases his second album, A Foolproof Escape Plan, Friday.

Auckland, NZ three-piece punkettes Coolies release their latest effort, Master, Monday.

Slow Dancing Society is Washington-based producer and musi-cian Drew Sullivan and his new album, Under The Sodium Lights, is out Thursday 30 September.

Sometime Wilson Picker Andrew Morris called in a few of his fellow Brisbanites The Gin Club and Bernard Fanning, as well as Tim Rogers, Clare Bowditch, Washington and Drew from The Panics, to help out in the recording of his fi fth album, Shadow Of A Shadow, out Friday 1 October.

Friday 1 October sees EMI release An Introduction To Syd Barrett, a new, remastered collection from both Syd Barretts solo and band period from the late and deeply troubled founder of Pink Floyd.

PARK HEIGHTSJust as you thought things couldnt get any busier, nu metal-cum-alternative rock heroes Linkin Park are headed our way this summer. Playing major arena shows throughout the country, the fi ve-piece will be showcasing songs off their new album A Thousand Suns (debuted at #1 this week), and, of course, those old favourites (which will make for an interesting setlist). Its been a couple of years since the Californian fi ve-piece have graced our sunny shores, last time around singer Chester Bennington broke his wrist attempting a stage dive at a Melbourne show. Be ready for the noise Saturday 11 December at Acer Arena, with tickets on sale Friday. (P.S., the band and Jay-Z will be in Sydney the same time by our reckoning will Collision Course be revisited?)


PASSIVE ME / AGGRESSIVE YOU

Album out 1 October featuring the single Young Blood

www.thenakedandfamous.com

THENAKED +FAMOUS

HOWL AT THE KIDSDestroy All Lines the folks behind the hugely popular Sydney punk/party night institution Hot Damn are launching a brand new night, Teen Wolves at UTS Glasshouse. With a band room big enough for locals and internationals, the Hot Damn DJs will be spinning throughout the night as well. Launching Saturday 6 November, Carpathian and Shinto Katana will be kicking proceedings off. Expect it to go long into the night and long into the future.

BOUNCE IT INThe line-up for New Years Eves Harbour party has been announced, with a huge international and local contingent set to be hyping you into the new year. Germanys Digitalism youll know them from such club monsters as Pogo head things up, with Sneaky Sound System, New Yorks Dennis Ferrer, Riva Starr and Goodwill run-ning out the bill. Taking place at Luna Parks harbourside location, therell also be the fi reworks to watch if you can keep your eyes off the live acts. This year 31 December falls on a Friday.

BONA-FIDE BASSISTTheres few better names in the bass world to be compared to than Jaco Pastorious, but thats exactly what Richard Bona can lay claim to. And now, thanks to the Adelaide Guitar Festival, which is being curated by Slava Grigoryan, Bona is on track to make his fi rst ever appearance in Australia. The seventh recipient of the Antonio Carlos Jobim Award, the Festival International de Jazz de Montreals honour for those with infl uence over jazz and crossover, his new album Then Shades Of Blues will be released in Australia to coin-cide with his tour. Wednesday 24 November hes at The Basement, Circular Quay.


Its a pretty big change of scenery, to go from the bright, blue skies and endless beaches of Perth to the almost permanent dark of a winter in Sweden. Imagine also that youre not just in Sweden to take in the sights and visit the fjords, but to create to record your magnum opus, your most defi ning album up to this point.

Before this Birds Of Tokyo had spent the majority of their recording time at home in WA or in Melbourne, with guitarist Adam Spark taking on the role of producer. But a change is as good as a holiday, right?

For album number three, Birds (Spark, singer Ian Kenny, bass player Anthony Jackson, drummer Adam Weston and unoffi cial fi fth member, keyboardist Glenn Sarangapany) enlisted the help of an outside producer, Scott Horscroft, a man known for working on projects with a rich sonic palette, such as Silverchairs Young Modern, The Sleepy Jacksons Personality and The Panics Cruel Guards. Then after two weeks pre-production in Sydney in the hottest month of the year, the band decamped to Scandinavia.

It was like minus-twenty outside, Kenny says of their briefl y adopted home. It was brutal. Two weeks in Sydney in January and six weeks in Sweden and then two weeks in New York mixing. The bulk of the record was made in Sweden. Cool place to do it.

Literally and fi guratively, Spark adds laughing.

Its funny. It was that bleak, Kenny continues. It was dark. Not completely dark, but more than it was light. You still had your seven hours of daylight or whatever. But we didnt see it much. We were in the studios going insane. And it had an effect on the record, I think. Its funny. If you listen to this record for those that look into it if you found out it was made in the Bahamas in the middle of a beautiful summer youd probably go, That doesnt sound right. But the fact that it was made in a fairly hostile environment, it had a mental effect on the headspace we were in. It allows you to look inward and really focus and really feel a connection for what the unit is doing at the time.

The fact that it was a new avenue, an organic forward movement, for Birds, this record was totally necessary, Spark adds earnestly. I think to make this record [we had] to be in an uncomfortable environment because you really do disconnect from the real world. We were so disconnected it wasnt even funny.

Cabin fever set in. This time its Kennys turn for the one-liner.

But together the pair paint a vivid picture of a creative process outside the Birds Of Tokyo norm. And so far the new way of working has paid off. Released at the end of July, Birds Of Tokyo, the bands eponymous third album, debuted on the ARIA chart at number two, only kept from a chart-topping opening week by the all-conquering Eminem.

Now, a month later Birds Of Tokyo is still hanging onto its place in the top ten an oddity for an Australian rock album. Usually albums like this, if they debut high, they fall rapidly. But the album has already achieved gold status and with the bands biggest tour to date about to start, playing venues like Festival Hall in Melbourne and the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney, as well as festival appearances including Coaster this weekend, its highly likely the album will stick around the upper reaches of the charts for a little longer yet.

And to think, after fi ve years of drawing their audience in with big, hook-fi lled rock numbers, this album was the bands taking a risk moment; the point where they stepped out from behind the guitars and developed a new sonic language for their audience to connect with.

If youre in your home youve got friends going, Huh? constantly, Spark says of the recording process, Reminding you that youre doing something different than youd normally do, so you maybe pull back on that. But we had no one around us, that infl uence. We were allowed to just run with it. Plans, it was just coming out really bubbly and pretty and electronic and were going, Wow. Were in Sweden so we dont know any better and then you fi nish it and you go, Shit, how are people in Australia going to think this is Birds? But you dont really think about that. It just is what it is. And thats when it becomes really real and honest.

There are some elements to the new Birds sound that werent totally unexpected. This time last year, the band were preparing for a national Strings tour that stripped their songs down to their acoustic bones and added a string quartet. But Kenny asserts there isnt a direct link between that tour and the addition of strings on the new album. Wed done all this before the strings tour even happened. The wheels [for the record] were set in motion before the string thing. Its come up a lot in interviews too. People have been asking, Did it inspire the new record? What did it inspire? But it affected us as a band I think and allowed us to learn and grow and feel things out in a completely different light. But [the album] was done.

What people perhaps werent expecting were songs like The Gap, a song that manages to be heavy and dense with hardly a guitar riff to be heard, where instead a string section gives the song its hooks and theres a gang vocal at the end, or The Unspeakable Scene, a song that sounds more like modern day Silverchair than Birds Of Tokyo. Even Kenny can see the connection.

Maybe, yeah, Diorama, Kenny says, acknowledging where the song fi ts in the Australian rock landscape. I think its the nature of the string delivery on that that punctuated that. Its pretty kooky. To me its the black sheep of the record. But its totally fuckin cool. I dont say black sheep in a negative thing. It is absolutely part of the family and without it the album wouldnt be the same at all. The record would be completely different.

Its like the weird cousin, Spark adds. Yknow. Youve

got a family BBQ and the weird cousin turns up and hes in his colourful suit. Hes a kook but we love him.

Its the colour and diversity of the palette the band are painting with on Birds Of Tokyo that make it an album worth returning to again and again. And its going to take on another life again when these songs get a run onstage. The album is full of songs just made to be played in stadiums.

Though no band is ever presumptuous enough to assume there is an audience out there for each new album they release, especially guys as humble and down to earth as this Perth four-piece, from the outset both Kenny and Spark knew it wasnt a matter of winning people over to the new Birds Of Tokyo sound; it was a matter of giving them space to make up their own minds and let the songs do the rest. People need to just source it themselves, Kenny says. You cant tell people how they should listen to this presuming theyll like it. I think people fi nd things. If you go searching for them youll fi nd them and if you fi nd it you might be pleasantly surprised.

Some people shy away from things that they dont know and I think any band thats put out a new release has to take that on board because people like what they know. But in understanding this band I think people will absolutely enjoy this record. Maybe not on fi rst listen, but I think weve offered a fair bit.

Youre either into it, or youre not, Spark says decisively. I think everything we do comes from a pretty real place. Theres no bullshit. It is a refl ection of who we are and if people arent comfortable with that, thats their own thing.

To be honest I feel a lot that were a fairly misunderstood band. In that I think what people on the outside think of this band is that it is just big, dumb, muscular rock and people assume that of the crowd as well. That its just drunk guys carrying on and singing along and that kind of stuff and drunk girls and whatever. From the inside its not like that.

The stuff that people really resonate with and people kind of talk to you at shows is not the big hooky singles. Its not the big, There goes my baby moments, Spark continues, namechecking the chorus of their earlier track Silhouettic. Its track eight and the elevens and stuff that people go, I love all that, but my favourite one is this one. Its great because people are constantly surprising us. Its not as big and engaging but its much more personal.

THE KEYMASTERGlenn Sarangapanys role in Birds Of Tokyo is so much more than simply hired hand. While the keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist isnt a fully-fl edged member, he plays on all their recordings and is always there behind a bank of keyboards when the band plays live. To bring this new album to life, Sarangapany is going to have his work cut out for him. Rather than take another string quartet out on the road, Sarangapanys bandmates have entrusted him with the task of fi lling out the bands sound. Weve equipped ourselves with the latest technology, Ian Kenny says with a wry smile.

Weve got this elaborate keyboard system, Adam Spark goes on to explain. This little brain thing which allows [Sarangapany] to play on one hand the chords of the piano with one fi nger and the other fi ngers he has got a harmony string section and electronic bleeps. Him and I spent a week in a house in LA, starting on a Tuesday morning setting this rig up and we fi nally programmed our fi rst song on the Saturday night. That came with massive hugs and yelling.

But you were kind of learning it as you went though, Kenny points out, before adding with a chuckle, It was so funny. These guys were like pull-ing out their hair.

But with determination and perseverance, Spark and Sarangapany have conquered their new piece of technology. Its clear Kenny and Spark have a lot of respect for Birds Of Tokyos unoffi cial fi fth member and the way he approaches the kinds of challenges this ambitious and forward-thinking band like to present him with. Glenn loves it, Kenny says. He just throws himself in the deep end. Hes more than capable of taking it on board. He loves a challenge. Hes like an octopus. Doing crossovers and under overs and this arm behind. You watch him. Its hilarious. Its pretty funny.

I think people love the challenge of taking on a task that seems impossible, Spark says.

Glennll send me videos of himself. Ive been on Skype with him before when Ive been over in the US and hes in Australia and hes playing. Heres what Ive done. Listen to what Ive done. And I hear these massive orchestra organs, pianos, synths. Im doing it all with two hands. Youre a maniac.

Spark though believes one of Sarangapanys biggest assets is his ability to get his increasingly complex job done onstage with a minimum of fuss. While the Strings tour gave Sarangapany a chance to take centre stage at a grand piano, the bands upcoming tour will see the focus back on the unit as a whole. You dont want people to notice, Spark says. You just want people to feel it. Its working hard to make it feel fairly effortless and seamless. Its a fairly discrete thing. Hes up there doing his thing and were there playing our thing.

WHO Birds Of Tokyo

WHAT Birds Of Tokyo (EMI)

WHEN & WHERE Saturday, Coaster Festival; Thursday 30 September, Hordern Pavilion; Saturday 20 November, Open Arms Festival; Friday 26 November, Newtowns Nation

ITS NOT ALL DRUNK GUYS AND GIRLS WHEN IT COMES TO BIRDS OF TOKYO, BUT, THERE IS A KOOK AND BIRDS OF TOKYO LOVE HIM, EVEN IF HES WEIRD AND WEARS A COLOURFUL SHIRT. IAN KENNY AND ADAM SPARK TALK TO DANIELLE ODONOHUE ABOUT WHEN THINGS COME FROM A REAL PLACE. COVER AND FEATURE PICS BY KANE HIBBERD.


LOOKING INWARD

twitter.com/drummedia THE DRUM MEDIA 21 SEPTEMBER 2010 37

THERE IS NO ENEMY OUT NOW ON SPUNK

TICKETS ON SALE FRIDAY 24TH SEPTEMBER THROUGH WWW.FEELPRESENTS.COM

FEEL PRESENTS

WEDNESDAY 29TH DECEMBERTHE METRO THEATRE

SPECIAL GUESTS BEARHUG

BUILT TO SPILL IS A LIVING TESTAMENT TO THE ENDURING POWER OF THE ROCK GUITAR. DOUG MARTSCHS SIX-STRING SYMPHONIES ARE AS SUBLIME AS THEY ARE MASTERFUL, BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN POP-ROCK PRECISION

AND PUNK-ROCK ABANDON. - DETROIT FREE PRESS

Friday 22nd October Factory Theatre, Marrickville

Ive been a fan of Low for a long time. That whole spook element. Monkey is such a great song - I dont think I could write anything half as good as that.

Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin)

TICKETS ON SALE NOW FROM WWW.FEELPRESENTS.COM

Special guests The Laurels

Ask Regurgitators Ben Ely what he wants his bands legacy to be and the normally articulate and thoughtful bassist hesitates. I dont know. I dont know how to answer that question. I feel a bit embarrassed about it. As long as weve brought some happiness to some people at some point, I think thats probably the main thing. I think just to remind people theres more to life than just being entrenched in the grind. To remind people of a kind of tribal idea at a gig, when people get together it feels like this is humanity. This is people coming together to be elevated out of our earthly state, our material state. That sounds kind of like new age bullshit to me, but something like that, Ely says with a chuckle.

Regurgitator may never have had an ARIA number one album or headlined stadiums, but theirs is a legacy that is about so much more than just sales fi gures. Units sold dont even begin to do justice to this band. Likewise, Elys hope for his bands legacy also seems to undersell the extent of Regurgitators achievements over the last 16 years. Whether it be songs that have become part of pop culture Polyester Girl, Black Bugs, or ! (The Song Formerly Known As) or the ambitious and very eccentric Band In A Bubble project, or their recent forays into the world of high culture, Regurgitator are a band that can never be pinned down, musically or otherwise. Its just helping our short attention spans that we have, Ely says of the various paths the band has taken over the years. As we grow as a band we need to do some different things to challenge ourselves and keep it interesting, as well as, I dont know, seem relevant to people.

Its kind of good to explore making music in different ways. Last year we did a show in Brisbane with a contemporary dance company. Its just good exploring new ways of being a band without having to be a band in that pop sense putting out a record and making a video clip and selling yourself as a personality, rather than just creating something thats a bit more arty.

As part of their non-traditional approach to music, the band are moving away from the more structured album release, taking to the Internet with gusto and releasing music at much more frequent intervals, the fi rst of which is called Distractions. It will just free us up to just put out whatever we feel is okay at the time. I think you can put stuff out as you write it. If you write a song and you like it, you put it out. And its done. You can kind of move onto the next thing.

I think its kind of fi ne for us because weve genre hopped a little bit. Ive got this song that sounds like this bluegrass song about the devil that I thought I was going to put it on the last album, but now I can put those songs online and it will be fi ne. You just put it out. Its just a song that goes out to the world and whoever wants it can listen to it. I think it will help us create whatever we like.

Ely has faith that Regurgitator fans are ready, willing and able to adjust to a new way of following his band. I think that it will probably just free us up from the idea of making something cohesive so when we go to do a tour or something we might press vinyl or do a CD of the compilation of the songs that weve released online. I think the albums that we put out that work the best are the ones that genre hop the most. Like, Mish Mash was all over the place and Unit was all over the place and even Tu-Plang. I think they were pretty good albums.

This sudden change in the Regurgitator world isnt just about shrugging off the old industry model of production; its also a way for the band to prepare for a more prolifi c songwriting period. For the last few years, while the band released and toured their last album, Love And Paranoia, Elys partner in Regurgitator Quan Yeomans had been living in Hong Kong. Now Yeomans is back and for the fi rst time in a long time, Ely or his fellow songwriter doesnt need to jump on a plane to see each other. He was over there and working on his solo album. So now its really good to be in the same city so we can work a bit more diligently on Regurgitator, rather than sending emails and tracks to each other, which doesnt really work very well. Actually, I think we appreciate it now.

We havent really had that free time together. So its funny, it feels like were better friends than ever. We havent fought at all this year. Its been really good. Its going the opposite way relationships are supposed to go. Its good at the beginning, you dont fi ght, then you fi ght at the end and break up. We started our relationship fi ghting all the time and now things have been done in reverse.

Ely accepts the suggestion that maybe he and Yeomans are just growing up that starting the band as angry, teenage punks was always going to lead to lots of creative tension that just isnt as applicable anymore. Maybe thats what it is, Ely admits contemplatively, cardigan-wearing thirtysomethings. We can talk about it calmly and gently and everythings going to be fi ne. I dont feel any older.

I mean I look in the mirror, obviously I look older but its a weird sense that I have. When I went to Sydney [for a show at the Opera House last month] I just had this feeling like it was It may as well have been 1993 and wed gone to Sydney to play for our fi rst time. It didnt feel any different. It felt really fresh.

If Ely and Yeomans are as excited to be playing as they did 16 years ago, then the energy they bring to their stage show night after night, maybe that should be their legacy.

WHO Regurgitator

WHAT Distractions (Valve)

WHEN & WHERE Wednesday, Hotel Gearin; Thursday, The Maram; Friday, Wollongong Uni; Saturday, Manning Bar; Friday 10 December, Festival Of The Sun

THE BAND FORMERLY KNOWN ASREGURGITATOR DUO BEN ELY AND QUAN YEOMANS HAVE ALWAYS WALKED A DIFFERENT PATH TO MOST OTHER BANDS. ELY CHECKS IN WITH DANIELLE ODONOHUE.

I think you can put stuff out as you write it. If you write a song and you like it, you put it out. And its done. You can kind of move onto the next thing.


Wednesday 29th September Oxford Arts Factory (Sydney) Moshtix: 1300 GET TIX (438 849); www.moshtix.com.au

Thursday 30th September Grand Hotel (Wollongong)

Moshtix: 1300 GET TIX (438 849); www.moshtix.com.au

Friday 1st October CBD Newcastle (Newcastle) Venue: (02) 4929 2274 Oztix:1300 762 545; www.oztix.com.au or www.bigtix.com.au

Rockshop; (02) 4929 1856 Northern Star Bottle Shop (02) 49611 087

Sunday 3rd October Parklife SydneyTickets: www.parklife.com

First single Time to Wander out now. Debut album Gilgamesh coming soon.www.gypsyandthecat.com

& present

Its a striking image. The graphic representation of the fl ashes from a dying Pulsar star in fact. But as an album cover, its as iconic as that baby in the swimming pool, or those guys on the pedestrian crossing. It is Joy Divisions Unknown Pleasures. When released in 1979, the critics embraced it, but as the bands tragedy unfolded, with singer Ian Curtis becoming a generational martyr, the myth and infl uence of the album grew. Even now youll hear echoes of its moody atmospherics.

Peter Hooks throbbing bass was one of the centrepieces of the albums sound, but he certainly didnt think it would endure. As the man himself offers, in a Manchester accent which you half-expect to be called from the phone at any moment because theres trouble at tmill, If someone said to me a few months back that Id be going to Australia to play Unknown Pleasures? I would have just said, Dont be fuckin ridiculous.

He offers the back story: It came about from [Manchesters] Macclesfi eld Council we were supposed to celebrate Ians life and Joy Divisions music in May. But naturally, being a government idea, it fell through, he chuckles dryly. For whatever reasons, weve never celebrated one year, or fi ve, ten, twenty-fi ve years of it and I wasnt going to let it go again. To be honest, I thought wed just play it the once at home and I want to point out, every time we do it is because Ive been asked to do it, not me pushing to do it. Im gratifi ed people want it.

That history and the albums effect on listeners then to now makes people very protective of it. Hook has been careful with the memories. Ive got records that mean so much to me: Ian Durys New Boots, Nicos Chelsea Girl, The Clash. You dont want someone making a mess of it.

Hes heard the whispers and is blunt about the criticism. If someone had said after hearing us, Thats shit, mate, Id pack it away. Now, weve had plenty of people saying that before they hear it, but no ones said it afterward. Those who say Im cashing in? Fook, Ive waited thirty years to cash in? Ive had the winning lottery ticket and Ive just left it in my pants pocket for thirty years? I wish! he laughs darkly. The fact is there are songs on that record we just never did. It was not really through technical problems, it was just easier to rock out and more delicate songs just never got played. We were twenty-one and just wanted to take everyones eads off.

Hook also admits the albums quality was as much due to the eccentric genius of producer Martin Hannett. He gave the album an aura that was very lasting, very ethereal. Bernard [Sumner, guitar] and I we would have made a punk record. We liked The Clash, The Sex Pistols and it just wouldnt have the mystique to it. But it was like working with a mad professor we really didnt know what he was talking about a lot of the time.

Its all about the arrogance of youth, apparently. They just didnt recognise the greatness of what theyd done, they actively disliked the result. Fook no, I hated it! I thought hed emasculated our music, where hed actually empowered it. Found depths in it I certainly didnt know were there.

Thus, 30 years of experience, of knowledge, of hindsight can now be put into a live performance. And compromise is possible, apparently. I hope its a cross between Martins idea of Joy Division and mine. Theres a lot of atmosphere he gave it and the balls out wed put there.

Theres durability to the songs as well. Hook has been performing the album in several manners over the past couple of months, sometimes surpris

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Drum Media Sydney Issue #1027