HOMELAND SECURITY: An interview with THE SKYBOMBERS

Monday, June 02, 2008 

Courting celebrities, songs on high rotation, exciting big industry movers, living it up in their favourite playground of LA; the rapid and near-vertical trajectory on which Skybombers find themselves let's us see them for what they are; four boys from Melbourne who, when not having a blast (which it seems they do most of the time), are often finding reality a little 'scary'. Like their recent shows at Auckland's Vector Arena with Foo Fighters. 'Man that was terrifying," says drummer Scottie McMurtie, "Very memorable, definitely scary, but fucking sweet at the same time. After the second night we were like...'man, we just played with Foo Fighters!' he laughs, 'I was almost more happy to be there just watching the Foos because their show was amazing. It was [guitarist] Chris Shiflett's birthday and they had a male stripper come on stage and do a dance, it was hilarious.'

With their Sirens EP the release responsible for kick-starting all this attention, and their freshly debuted album already flying off shelves in the US, Skybombers seem almost unnervingly unchanged by it. "Yeah it's pretty weird, I don't think we're huge in The States or anything but it's nice to get the opportunity to get to go over there and give it a shot. It's pretty scary, it's something we never would have expected - this time last year was the first time we'd been overseas, and since then we've been back four times. We recorded our album there, we sold out the Viper Room twice and all these things....yeah, it's pretty scary." says McMurtrie. "Touring with this legendary punk band X was our first chance to get out of LA, we got to do 18 states - we went everywhere - Boise, Idaho! It was fun, 13 000 miles, I've never been in a car for so long. The shows with those guys were great and the crowds were really responsive."

"It would've hate to suck." adds singer Hugh Gurney. "We played a show at SXSW, at Lance Armstrong's bar and had a ball-tearer of a gig. Yep, I just made a cycling joke." he nods, "We just partied. Partied with The Von Bondies, The Donnas...that was fucking sweet. We tried to do the whole meet-and-greet thing so we'd go out and get wasted, go home, have dinner, go out and get wasted." he says wryly, rubbing his eyes.

"The Viper Room show, 22nd of April, that was my birthday." says McMurtrie. "That was a fun night. I met Slash! That was fucking sweet. Lemmy too. No really," he says to a surprised Gurney. "He was just at a bar getting a drink. I said hello. Then I was like: [shouts] 'holy shit man, there's something on your face!" a joke about Lemmy's prominent mole sends them both into hysterics. LA sounds like it's becoming a second home for the band, but that's something he's keen to keep in check. " I couldn't live there, I could go out every night there, but I couldn't live there. I reckon six weeks is the longest you could ever spend there, something about the food and the booze starts to kill you." "Yeah," chimes in Gurney. "Management would like us to be in the States the whole time, but we want to fuckin'..." he trails off, "Man...we have priorities, like playing The Pub and Karova Lounge! We wanna do Australia, I'd much prefer to be a big band in Australia than a band overseas. I want to play to the home crowds, build more of a vibe, playing smaller cities here rather than being scattered all over the place."

All over the place is precisely where Skybombers have been since their signing to Albert Productions (home of AC/DC and The Easybeats), quick ascension into the books of Gold Mountain Management (Neil Young, Nirvana, Beck) in the US, and teaming up with producer Rick Parker (BRMC, The Von Bondies and Dandy Warhols) to produce their new album. Whatever it is Skybombers have that sets them apart from the legions of other rock four-pieces populating this planet besides the 'Livers of Steel!' that Gurney suggests, it's working. "I think a lot of people come across as pretentious and fake." proffers Gurney. "We play music because it's fun performing, I think a lot of people don't do that anymore. What sets us apart from rock and roll bands is the live show and how much fun we actually have when we play, that comes across on the record as well."

Unlike most bands, they haven't made a quantum leap from the EP (recorded in two days for $1000 with a 'let's get in there and do it' attitude), to their album. "We wanted to make the EP as fun and as high-energy as we could, so the spirit of that remains the same." Gurney explains. "We did the album over six weeks and had a million more guitars to play with and time to develop songs and get everything right. We had no idea what to expect, we were shit-scared. We'd heard all these stories about bands going into studios with shit producers and arguing - we just went in there and had the time of our lives, everyone got along really well. We laid a lot of it down in the same room so we got a live vibe. We spent a long time playing with sitars, guitars, amps, tabla, sleigh bells, shakers, maracas...everything, we even had an explosion on Teenage Dreams." Sleigh bells? "You'd be surprised," says Gurney seriously, "If you listen to Oasis their songs are full of sleigh bells, and the Hives use them a lot, you actually hear them but never really notice them. Sleigh bells, doesn't sound rock and roll but it fits well."

Knowing what it takes to fit well into the Indie 103 playlist may be one thing, but underlying this sort of instant acceptance is the band's nous. Clearly they've been saying yes to the right people at the right time. "I mean, we have been lucky, we've fallen into bed with the right people and I really don't want to let them down." says Gurney, "I want to do as best we can, rock as hard as we can, have as much fun as we can and take advantage of what we've got. We write the songs to play live. We're a little bit more ahead here because we've been playing for longer, so I'm looking forward to this tour a lot." he says before pausing. "We party. We try." Right now, they're winning.

CD Review: THE STICKMEN - WHO SAID IT WOULD BE GOOD? (Solar/Sonar / Shock)

Monday, June 02, 2008 

The answer to that is: anyone who saw them, ever.
Sooner or later, quality will always surface somehow, sometime, somewhere. Tom Lyngcoln, better known as frontman for sonic behemoths The Nation Blue is, via his label Solar/Sonar, on a one-man mission to ensure that it happens sooner rather than later for some. After making listeners widen their eyes and take a few steps back from their speakers with 2005's reissue of punk legends (at least in Hobart) Mouth's sole digital release Victim Chant, he's done it again with another formidable and relatively unknown proposition, The Stickmen. A Tasmanian four-piece existing from 1996-1999 and playing only a handful of shows in Melbourne, they here prove themselves as masters of barely-restrained nervous tension; building atmospheres, bending sinister riffs while using dynamics and speed changes in a way few bands before or since have ever thought to.

Guitar, bass, drums, turntable player (not a DJ but a turntable through a distortion pedal and guitar amp) and snarling vocalist and intimidating songwriter Aldous Kelly make the lineup for a band who were one of the most absorbing and fearsome live acts in the country for their time - a claim to which live video footage and recordings still attest. It seems impossible that music this simple and powerful isn't like or reminiscent of any other band, but it's true. 

Like all great bands, they do just as well live as they do in the studio and with all great albums there is a sense of an encapsulation of time and place - time they can seemingly bend within a song. In blindingly illuminating liner notes Andrew Harper explains: "...there was a smell in the air, it was a bright, sharp smell and there was a moment when something could have happened, but nothing did. It never got out of town and perhaps it's far better that way." Perhaps for a few hundred people in Hobart, but for everyone else it's a manifold blessing that this testament exists.

Wasting no time in dropping you into the whirlpool of the title track, Who Said It Would Be Good? proceeds to give you an overview of the band's recorded history; a protracted convincing argument rather than a desperate one-two punch. With disparate sonic elements and tightly-tethered musicianship The Stickmen create space in a refreshingly curious way. Slivers of distorted turntable signal pull ghostly orchestras from thin air before wiry riffs and Araldited drums and bass return to arrest you with repetition as on the slackly sinister Ashtray, the blistering title track, the ear-incinerating No, the belligerent Rider Down, the seasick spaceship ride of Man Made Stars or the spiderweb stickiness of Measure Your Limbs in it's live recording from a Senior Citizens Hall. "Under the electric light we wait for the sun / Nocturnal skin / The air is clear tonight / Salivate, you have desire / Calculate, your next move". - Strange World

The sounds are simple, the lyrics curt Hobartian verse, the production crisp; it's ageless music. Had it been made ten years later (which it sounds like it was), it would have found literally a million ears around the world and pulled the band from Doghouse obscurity to a global stage; were that what they wanted. Evidently it wasn't as few photos or interviews exist. Myth; it's a rare thing these days.
For the few of you who know, it's time to update those CD-Rs. For a band who are short on ideas yet hunger for fame, here's a book to rip from.

Live Review: GUY BLACKMAN, LAURA JEAN, ALWAYS

Monday, June 02, 2008 

The Toff

The simple delight in seeing a songwriter, any songwriter, so fully be able to express their craft is likely to always be a rare pleasure. Tonight saw evidence that Guy Blackman is a character who has clearly earned great respect from a lot of people through his variously pursued passions for music, and it is tribute to his songs that they aren't overshadowed by the caliber of guests he brings on to flesh them out.

Opening act, the perfectly-titled Always, is a curious prospect. Kneeling - sometimes lying - on the floor, for the most part hidden behind a huge beard and a curtain of lanky black hair, Always proceeds to let us glimpse at an often unholy relationship between man and machine, or man and delay pedal and pitch shifter to be more precise. Variously industrial, funny, animalistic , onomatopoeic yet entirely corporeal in his sounds, Always delivers three very different pieces which, as Laura Jean later states, perfectly sets the mood for his evening.

Laura Jean's ebullient songs rise and fall with measured perfection as rendered by her 5-piece band. With an impassive gaze that more suits appraising farmland than engaging a crowd in an classy establishment, Laura Jean proves to be an engaging and naturally charming presence. From simmering away in the background of the local music scene, her latest album Eden Land provides most of the set's highlights (Anniversary, Mikhail and the closing Love Is Going To Lead Us particularly),  but even those get a close run by No Mystery 'our first foray into political songwriting,' she says, and the impossibly lilting Valentine, a song that showcases her Sandy Denny-ish voice beautifully. The band give us lessons on how to arrange folk songs that almost seem impossibly nuanced and effortless. A perfect choice for support.

"It's a night of nights for me," says Blackman taking to the stage and seating himself behind a Wurlitzer organ. "It's the end of a long journey." With guests lining the wall and there being little room to move by the time he finished the opening I Still Think Of You, he soon seems to feel at home, as he should be, having made a home for himself among the musical community of Melbourne over the last 12 years. Isobel Knowles, Geoff O'Connor, Mark Monnone, Julian Patterson, Mick Turner, Clare Moore, Jess and Nick Venebles, Peggy Frew, Alison Bulger and Nisa Venerosa all lend their considerable talents to bringing most of Adult Baby to life which peaks with a gorgeous Older, a shimmering Johnny, the embarrassingly intimate Act Like You Don't, blistering Carlton North and everyone-on-for-the-final-song thrill of Gayle. Listening to Blackman's impeccably sincere songs you feel you know him well, and he's an incredibly hard guy not to like and be grateful for.

Live Review: THE SEABELLIES, SKIPPING GIRL VINEGAR, TWIN CITY RADIO

Wednesday, May 28, 2008 

Revolver Upstairs

Unexpected revelations are the order of the evening here tonight. First up is Twin City Radio, a band who instantly knock you flat with the sense that they are going to be totally, utterly, massive. The ingredients are all there; the talent, the ambition, the sense of something not that unusual but different enough to stand out, and a charismatic frontman. Pushing a tightly-reined melodramatic edge to their smart and heavy songs, it's easy to see that industry people will see dollar signs and audiences will swell, should that be the way they want to go. Tracks like Stitches and the closing Longitude seem ready-made for radio and the band deliver them with a maturity and a sense of humour that belies their youth. Granted, vocalist Gustav Gustavenson has overblown lyrics at times (And in the winter of our historical experiment / There is a signal tracing through the northern firmament - Distance), but they are delivered in a totally charming and convincing way; he knows what these words mean, and the Van Morrison-esque understated intensity seals the deal. It's hard to believe it was only their fourth gig. Were this Sydney, they'd already be signed and have a fervent following of kids in Muse t-shirts.

Matching them for upward mobility are Skipping Girl Vinegar. A real rarity in this day and age - genuine songwriting skills and sensitivity without a hint of the smugness that so many Aussie rock bands and solo artists seem to resort to. Mark Lang is a gifted songwriter of the Paul Kelly vein, and his admitting to being on an unfortunate mixture of pseudoephedrine and red wine may be the reason the ballads are lent a weight and space tonight, taking them from good to room-silencing. Smartly-dressed bassist Sare Lang pushes the songs with her high-necked riffs and is on form tonight. From irresistibly rousing opener Wandered via future JJJ-fave Sift The Noise to the glorious Sinking the band don't miss a beat. Mark these words - 2008 will be their year.

Following these guys would be a tough act in anyone's book, and indeed the only level on which The Seabellies can match SGV is hype. The three-quarter-full room thins as the band come on stage and they soon give reason for it. The Heart Heart Heart Out Tour on which they're on seems to have tired them, as the songs, which are perfectly fine, are discharged in an almost disinterested way. Each of the six band members wear tight black jeans and Chucks (bar keyboardist Stephanie Setz) and have nicely sculptured hair, unsurprisingly their songs show a similar lack of freshness or individuality. Clearly they would love to rip drama from the stage a la Arcade Fire, but the multitude of instruments they use seem to only be there for texture; arrangement is not their strong suit. The Los Campesinos!-like charge to Day Of The Bees really should work - it should be tearing up the place - but is delivered with so little conviction it too falls flat. The colder electro Song We Don't Speak Of suits their stylised detachment far better. The songs are fun, but the heart heart heart is out out out.

AND THERE WE GO: An interview with THE FRATELLIS

Friday, May 23, 2008 

Success has given many an appetite for the finer things in life; haute couture, yachts, fois gras and more success, but the same can't be said for Barry Fratelli aka Baz, bassist with Glaswegian rockers The Fratellis. Relaxing at his home in home in England ("shh, don't tell anybody!") he's getting some time in with the missus before hitting Europe, the States and then our own shores. "It's true to say that Glasgow is a place where no one will let you get too big for your boots, and being away, I do miss my family and friends a wee bit, but I love it here in the country; lots of sheep and ducks. I'm my happiest at home." At my suggestion of hiring someone to be Barry Fratelli on stage while he writes, he brightens up "That's my ideal game plan man! But no, I wouldn't change any of it. It's good to get out and see this world of ours and get a different perspective on life."

With the release of the new album Here We Stand Baz is similarly thoughtful about possible interpretations of the title, "It was never supposed to be a profound statement, but it does seem like that now - the fans and us. I mean we did produce it ourselves, it was done it in our own studio and it's exactly the record we wanted to make. We never wanted to do Costello Music mark II, we were always set on it being a different record and it just ended up being a pretty good title." Taking over an old schoolhouse in Glasgow's West End (a place that reminds them "you can't disappear up your own arse"), The Fratellis set about building the record literally from the ground up. "It's definitely different, it's just better in all regards; the songwriting the musicianship and the production. That's what we took from touring so much; the touring improved the musicianship. It was very important to us not to bring out another guitar album, we didn't want to be lumped in with all these other guitar bands, we're better than that." he says with a Gaelic pride. "Improvement, I think the point of any band with every album should be improvement and diversity, I would have been disappointed with a Costello Music mark II and I think the fans would have been too. If you are lucky enough to get the chance to put an album out you should take it to somewhere else and do something different. We removed the safety net and did it ourselves." That they did, nae danger.

Having said that, Baz is keen to point out that the band are still obsessed with the same films and CDs as when they made the first album, "There's been no new influences I don't think, we're rooted to the past to some degree, only now we're a bigger rock band. Costello Music, as good as it was, had a sheen over it. On reflection it's a bit poppier than we wanted it to be. I'm still very proud of it and I still listen to it occasionally, though, having said that, I'll skip certain tracks," he laughs. "I still get a buzz when I see it in a record shop. I had a break in Thailand after the last time we played in Japan and I found it at a little stall in a market in Bangkok, this guy had a handful of CDs and man, it made my day!" he enthuses like someone with half his fame.

The world must certainly seem The Fratellis' oyster. Over a million records sold in the UK, a Brit and an NME award to their name, their bright pop tunes adorning advertisement for everything from iPods to Burburry perfume, their songs so invasive and catchy that you have most likely heard them whether or not you knew it. Chelsea Dagger was used in so many films and trailers that the band ended up saying no to Shrek the Third and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. "It just got to a point where you realise it's starting to get ridiculous, we thought we'd never be able to move away from that track. We're glad it did end up being used for films we liked, like Simon Pegg movies, so we decided we didn't want it featuring in the trailer and not the movie; it became a hook thing, like a media studies thing just to entice people. For some other things though the money was too good, like [lubricant manufacturers] Pennzoil wanted to use Chelsea Dagger for an advert in Texas and they offered a LOT of money. And, y'know, I don't care that much, and none of my mates are gonna hear it, you'd be an absolute idiot if you said no to some things."

It's hard to begrudge a band so down to earth, particularly as they seem so grounded success almost seems to be ricocheting off them. "We were a really young band when we got signed," reflects Baz, "we'd not even played 30 shows, but what a lot of people don't realise was that we went through a lot of shit just before we got signed. We had a really tough time and that really helped us bond as a band. You spend more time with your band than you do your family, and we've got a very weird relationship. We know when to give each other space, when it's time to drink together and when it's time to rock out - that's when you don't bring your missus along."

Straight after playing here, Barry and his missus are tying the knot in Japan, thankfully, she sounds like a woman with few illusions. "She's tolerant of the lifestyle. She knew what she was doing when we got together and knew what I did when we met. It's work y'know? It's a very, very, very good job, and it's got a lot of perks but there are downsides too of course, namely never getting to be at home." This means that the Australian leg of their tour will be particularly special for the band. "Yeah, all my pals have been telling me Byron Bay is the best place to go in Australia," he says referring to the band's Splendour in The Grass date, "So I'm really glad that that's where our first show is. I was really sorry not to make it there the last time - too many gigs, not enough time man!" he laughs. He'll clearly not be making that mistake again.

ALL GROWN UP?: An interview with GUY BLACKMAN

Friday, May 23, 2008 

Guy Blackman is a man rapidly becoming as much of an institution of Melbourne music as a venue like The Empress; modest ambitions, a little away from the fast lane, resolutely independent and constantly offering up gems. Since you may know him through his music, his writing in The Age's EG section, or through his label Chapter Music, it stands to reason that when it comes to assembling musicians for his long-gestated album Adult Baby and live shows, it shouldn't be too hard. In selecting over 20 members of the cream of the Melbourne music scene Blackman found everyone happy to join up. "They were all people I had relationships with already. I moved to Melbourne in 1995 so most people I've known for ten years or more and I can't think of anyone who is better at what they do."

The guest attracting the most attention features on the song A Dark and Quiet Place; Swedish pop sensation Jens Lekman. A beautiful epistle about 'meeting some guy in a sauna' (something Blackman is keen to point out has never happened), it's an unusual deviation from his hallmark first-person paeans but he music, as ever, serves the song perfectly. "I sang it as a solo song for quite a while then it occurred to me that you could divide it up into a duet. Jens Lekman was the one person I was a bit hesitant about asking, but he remembered that song from the first time he saw me play it. He says it's his favourite duet that he's sung, which is really nice," Blackman pauses. "Maybe you shouldn't put that in the interview, I don't want it to sound like I'm talking myself up." he says laughing nervously.

Writing, Blackman shows no signs of self-doubt at all. Adult Baby is a collection of 15 concise and bittersweet songs characterised by their unequivocal bravery, and it's clear that this is a quality that marks all of his work. "All my writing comes from a fanzine background, I did my first fanzine when I was 16, which was when I started writing songs as well; they're inextricable. I always try to push myself to write stuff that's challenging to me, honesty can be confronting as well. Most of the songs are about one person, my long-term boyfriend. He said it can make him uncomfortable watching me play since most of the songs are about him and other people in the audience realise they are too, but he's really encouraging. I'm sure there are places that are off limits, it's hard to say. I do find it hard sometimes being on stage and singing some of the songs, but in a funny way having a band legitimises what you're playing. If other people are willing to play along with these songs then it seems to people in the audience, in my mind, that there must be a lot more to them."

Being a longtime listener, Blackman is acutely conscious of the audience when performing. Though songs are carefully constructed, he embraces a variety of interpretations live. "I like playing with lots of different people. Living in Japan made me see different ways of doing things. When I'd go and see my favourite bands they'd have different people in the band every time; a whole new set of songs with different instruments and arrangements. I'm not quite as spontaneous as that but I do like the idea of entertaining the audience with a different combination of people, keeping things interesting. I really enjoy playing, but I don't really like the whole singer/songwriter thing, I find as an audience member it's kind of boring to watch. It's so rare you'll see one person with one instrument do a whole set that will hold your attention, I don't want to be that person." With songs like these and a band like that, he needn't worry.

Live Review: WOOLLEN KIT, PSUCHE ENSEMBLE, FUCK YOU ASTRONOMY, HARRIET

Friday, May 23, 2008 

The Afterdark

A minute or so into the opening set the six-foot square projection of the St Kilda/Collingwood game over the band's head is switched off. The Afterdark is a curious place; full of sweet kids with scarves and dyed hair with oddly rough security and an atmosphere of bohemia on a budget. It works, and works perfectly for tonight's bands.
Harriet lead singer Lena channels dreams, slouched against the wall at the back of the small stage eyes closed, singing in a broken voice and thrumming dissonant chords. Sounding like Karen Dalton with half her guitar strings missing, Harriet succeed in creating a trance-like state with occasional simple yet arresting dynamic changes. Closing song Howl is breathtaking in it's intensity and fragile delivery. It's all a revelation after the automatic polish given to so many bands when they put on a 'performance'.
Usually going by the name of Orphan's Project, but tonight opting for Fuck You Astronomy the drum/guitar duo push an anti-folk feel to their short and punchy tunes. Able to switch from hilarious ('I want a girl who fucks like the girl in Bad Santa' - Our Sweet Song) to oddly moving (Superglue) in a matter of seconds they have a charm that lets them get away with anything. Singer Will is a completely fascinating figure, seemingly obsessed with curious sex, disabilities and physical deformities he injects humour and pathos into everything he touches. If there is anyone who should be opening for Kimya Dawson next month it should be these two. Tracks like Upfield Line and My Little Amputee will be highlights of their forthcoming cassette release (with code for free mp3 download!). Ace!

'These ain't our smash hits,' grins non-drumming drummer Martin King, 'we're usually a band.' Missing a member mean Psuche Ensemble opt to be experimental noise-merchants tonight. Occasional songs arise from lush and brutal soundscapes like icebergs in a thawing sea. Fire is an ear-clearing exercise in sine-wave squelching, squeaky shrill voices abruptly shifting dynamics. Using affected vocals, accordion, bowed saw, electronics, ukulele, clarinet and bass the Ensemble sound best when they break things right down and let their songwriting skills shine, though clearly they're experienced at making and destroying atmospheres. The songs featured from their forthcoming album are bravely odd, beautiful, severe, poetic and more open, warmer and more engaging than Coco Rosie - with whom there are stylistic similarities - could ever hope to be. Amazing stuff.

Organiser and Woollen Kit frontman Tom Hardisty has a genre-be-damned attitude toward music. The only links between his songs tonight are the instrumentation of guitar and drums, and his C86/Stephen Pastel-esque vocal style. This is a great thing live as you never know what is coming next; Felt-ish indie balladry, country swagger, brief bursts of noise rock or a smooth Velvets chug. Opening with the title track of tonight's launched album, the gloriously packaged Cupcake Kiss, the interplay between the drums and guitar hold your attention even if his vocals aren't your cup of tea. Playing Zombies and the cross-the-finish-line thrill of closing track I Wonder About Animals indicate there is a talent here that should be getting more attention that it currently is. Indeed the whole night shows that getting off the beaten track of more popular venues is a fantastically rewarding experience.

Live Review: INSTITUT POLAIRE, CUTHBERT AND THE NIGHTWALKERS, WORLD’S END PRESS

Friday, May 23, 2008 

The Toff in Town

Five-piece World's End Press have, if nothing else, been a remarkably consistent band. Consistently relying on a sort of Talking Heads-meets-TV On The Radio density to detract from the numbingly repetitive chords that prop up their songs. There is a LOT going on, and individually parts are interesting, well-thought through and work well. If you focus just on the melodies, the drumming or the ceaseless wall of bass coming from their out-of-place bassist, then the music is fine. It's when you listen to it together that it stops being Talking Heads and becomes more Joe Jackson fronting Wang Chung. Which is odd, because it should work, but the density of tom-heavy drumming dynamic-free bass and keyboard chords fills out a suffocating sound that is further burdened by faceless songwriting and formulaic rhythmic shifts.

Which is nothing compared to the excruciatingly painful experience of sitting through the first half of Cuthbert and the Nightwalkers' set. A name that long befits a stage this crowded and with eight obviously talented and well-dressed individuals, it's odd that we can't raise a smile. Finally there is a band playing indie-pop that doesn't 'get' it. Instead we get smug over-acting theatre students, half a band that could be fired without detracting from the songs at all and mannered 'dance' moves which means that by the time Richie Cuthbert sings 'I'm a lot like you / My favourite colour is blue' you want to scream 'NO!!! Please NO!!' and overact as much as his co-vocalist in her Baz Luhrmann-burlesque getup does all night. 'Marmalade is my favourite spread' she coos; it's agonising. The better parts of the set are those that reduce half the band to handclapping and allow the songs to breathe a little. Smokin' In The Basement is a great upbeat B&S-style rocker that lets bassist Brenden push things a little. Closing duo Pogues-esque song Maggie's Health and the literal Big Band are rousing tunes that see the band joined by some of Institut Polaire, and sound all the better for it.

Another eight-piece take to the stage and it's here that the value of arrangement shines. IP do this better than most, not a person is wasted and it's only occasionally that the three guitarists play the same chords. Amply helped out by a West Australian contingent (that seem to have amply helped themselves to the bar) the band are clearly on peak form, with trumpet, violin and keyboard fleshing the songs out beautifully. Highlights from their EP (and there are quite a few) are matched by new songs; a glorious potential album-opener To New Holland and it's Decemberists'-esque segue, plus a great rendition of Neutral Milk Hotel's In The Aeroplane Over The Sea. 'I wish I'd written that' says singer Eric Hecht, he needn't worry, the following The Flora and The Fauna is a wonderful minor epic showcasing his impressionistic lyrical turns. As if to bring home what a great show this is, the drunk couple dancing up the front are soon joined by three more couples, and eventually the entire venue, at the behest of Eric and his sidekick Elliott Brannen, so by the end we are all on their feet dancing and clapping along to a crowded stage for closing song Super!. Fantastic stuff.

IT’S ABOUT TIME: An interview with THE FIVE O'CLOCK HEROES

Friday, May 23, 2008 

"I'm outside Yankee Stadium! Yeah, I'm with some buddies and I'm going to see the Yankees play. Can you believe it's $10 a beer here? They're big though, you only need two of them to get drunk...well I will." Not the sound of a kid brought up in Northumberland, England to the sounds of reggae you may think, but then Antony Ellis, frontman for Five O'Clock Heroes is not your average Northumbrian.

Escaping the 'shit and cynicism' prevalent in the post-Britpop-slump UK, Ellis relocated to New York and formed the half-British, half-American Five O'Clock Heroes, soon specialising in upbeat, catchy, dry songs that sound like they would kick live, though this isn't what Ellis always set out to do. "For me, we don't go into the room and think: 'We've gotta be new wave'. We've become friends with bands like that because they're good guys. If we we're going to record a song that sounds different then great, but we're not about to start playing hip hop." Interestingly the initially disingenuous hip-hop angle is a factor in Five O'Clock Heroes latest offering their second album Speak Your Language."A guy by the name of Chuck Brodie approached us and said: 'I want to record you guys'. He'd just come from working on the Wu Tang Clan record so I was pretty skeptical. But he said 'the one thing that I would really want to do is overdub the drums.' That got me going, I wanted to have this album focus a lot more on the percussion and the beat. So we recorded snares in the corridors for a boomy sound, bass drums under blankets - whatever we could find, we could do it. It was very fun to do."

Fun is clearly on the cards for punters at a Five O'Clock Heroes gig, but this is more a release of intensity for the band who've not had the easiest evolution. "We were turned down by 16 or 17 labels; majors and indies included. They would say stuff like: 'You need to have another angle on this', 'You need to have a girl in the band' or 'You need to have a keyboard player'. We decided to do it on our own. Some of our friends were in the bands The Paddingtons and The Rakes and they invited on their tours, and basically, we never got off the road. We jut kept going. As a result of this we screwed up all normal occupations, all the relationships and living circumstances we had. I can't help feeling that if you're going to do it, do it right. Go all the way. That's the way to do it. A&R people are not the people to tell you yes or no. I don't like the word no. Mind you, it's a lot easier when you have a band of friends who all think the same way."

Ironically, it's the addition of a girl (supermodel Agyness Deyn) for their latest single Who that has brought them more attention than ever. "I've known Agyness for a long time since her and Josh Hubbard [of The Paddingtons] were together. She was a just a kid then; late teens, she was always so cool. She moved to New York a couple of years back and stayed with me when she first arrived, we were really tight. The song Who was written for a French singer, Amelie Simon, and she wrote the four lines in the chorus in French, and I thought I could translate to into English. I mentioned it to Agyness and she asked me if she could try singing it, and she nailed it. The girl can sing. She was really impressive. I had a great time recording with her and doing the video too, it's blown up a little bit, but England are really good at bringing something up and taking it down just as fast."

NAMING 'MY BLOODY UNDERGROUND': An interview with RICKY MAYMI of BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE

Thursday, May 08, 2008 

"You know what? Fuck him. If Anton can say to NME that we were a bunch of molested bedwetters, you can print that stuff about him and Kevin Shields," says Ricky Maymi, long-time guitarist of Brian Jonestown Massacre during a particularly heated discussion about the release of the band's new album. Anton Newcombe is legendary among music circles, not only for his inadvertant starring role in the 2004 Ondi Tiamner film DiG! that concerned the history of BJM and the Dandy Warhols, but for his erratic behaviour, ability to channel 60s-garage rock better than almost anyone else on the planet, and unwillingness to compromise creatively, regardless of consequences. It's fair to say there is little he fears. Working with Anton for longer than most, Maymi is a rare confidente and performer in several other bands including The Triffids, The Church, The Clean and Koolaid Electric Company.

"I'm not particularly fond of the name." he says before pausing for a long time, contemplating the simultaneous 'fuck you' and homage to his friend Kevin Shields' band My Bloody Valentine that the name constitutes.

"There was some talk about Anton recording with Kevin Shields at one point who said: 'That's great Anton, but I want to work with the band. The band has a sound live that isn't represented on any of the records and I want to capture that'. He was interested in the idea of working with us - US - and that's easier said than done. It all looks good on paper but in reality it's not that easy to make happen for a multitude of reasons. It would be a matter of getting the band in the studio, playing new material and recording it live, and that sounds like a simple enough thing to do, but it's just not."

Opening up, Maymi, continues "OK. Last year, northern hemisphere summer, BJM do a tour of England which ends in July. Anton says: 'Right, we'll go to the studio in Liverpool, the whole band, and we're gonna record an album as a band.' And I think that he's into this idea because he knew my mate Kevin expressed interest in doing that. As it turned out the whole band couldn't make it, so that got turned into 'well if you can't all make it then none of you are going to make it - except for the drummer'. He sort of alluded to wanting the rest of us involved but he couldn't give us a date or a time-frame. I can't be standing by in Liverpool for X amount of days wondering if or when something is going to happen and not even knowing how long it will be if it does. So I just assumed that it wasn't happening and the same went for the other guys who were available. He ended up going to Liverpool and doing a couple of songs with our drummer," Maymi continues, "I don't think those are going to be on the album I think that's the start of another album he does want to do with the band so hopefully that will come to light."

"Then Anton decided he wanted to go to Iceland: 'Hey I'm here in Iceland recording. I just flew Mark Gardener [of UK band Ride] up here to do a track with me. I want you, Ricky, to get Kevin Shields and bring him to Iceland, and I will reward you'. I didn't even bother to ask what the reward was - I'm not after any rewards, and I'm not going to try and coax a friend of mine - whoever he might happen to be - into doing something he has only expressed an interest in not doing. So I told Kevin and he said 'well, for how long?' and I said 'I don't know'. It seemed abstract and far-fetched to us, and, as it turned out I was committed to other bands and those had solid timelines, whereas recording with Anton does not, and I can't be standing by spending pounds when I have other bands waiting, so I said to Anton ' I can't make it.' And I think he knew right there that Kevin wasn't coming. Kevin wasn't going to come anyways but he certainly wasn't going to come without me. So I think he kind of resented me and Kevin a bit, hence the title. And every conversation after that was like: 'I'm doing stuff that Kevin Shields can't do without a million pedals, I'm doing it with NONE.'

Live Review: PRINCESS ONE POINT FIVE, NED COLLETTE BAND

Monday, May 05, 2008 

Northcote Social Club

Though the crowd are physically restrained in their appreciation of the music tonight, for the most part, it's clear there is a lot of love in the room for tonight's performers. A smattering of pink fluffy tiaras and wands throughout the crowd . Ned Collette and his able rhythm section earn their stripes turning Collette's wordy meanderings into barely discernible rock tunes. No doubt the lyrics are fantastic, the few that do make it through the muddy mix are tantalising: "The day rolled in like innocence / If innocence was grey" and the rhythms and guitar squalls are rock solid, all making for a brilliant counterpoint to his recent subdued set at Laterra Festival. Tonight Collette's trademark moodiness is rendered with a refreshing depth - the music regularly swamping his impassioned soliloquies taking the crowd along with him. Mediocre Days and The Hedonist are accentuated in their sludgy grandeur by Collette's expert used of pedals and become highlights of the set.

Half an hour later curtains part to reveal five guys, the median age of whom is likely a decade above that of the Princess, continuing the Velvets-chug of Collette's set with crisp aplomb. Cam Butler (of Silver Ray) introduces us to the Princess herself who, all smiles, takes her place behind her keyboard and leads us into the land of the smart, simple, and tender song. Few performers in this country are capable of pulling such an arresting about-turn with a few slivers of chords and some breathy vocals in the way that Sarah-Jane Wentski can. Give her a Ronnettes drum intro and she'll take it to places few would dare. After silencing the room with Man In A Suitcase she takes us on a day trip to the beach with the sugary jags of I'm Onto Something Good which is only a playlist-feature away from taking her to major league status. Given the strength of these songs - the burning garage rockers (You) gently swelling surges (There's Got To Be More Than This) and the warmly-received so-new-it's-unnamed track - it's a curious state that P1.5 isn't more famous, a situation the new album Vous Je Vous, launched tonight, will make harder to maintain. One reason her live show may not be making the impression it should is the constant distraction from the mood by her drummer's monkey antics. Perpetually annoying nervous attempts at comedy really don't help the mood or the songs, still, the man can drum. It would be nice to say it's a Björk/Einar Örn relationship, but that would be much too kind. New, and hopefully not temporary, guitarist Ben Grounds is a brilliantly judged addition to the band with his curlicues and sparse arpeggios bringing a gloriously atmospheric edge to the songs. With the sound crystal clear and the audience loving each moment the band should consider it another step on the long and - it seems - inevitable road to success.

PATTERN RECOGNITION: An interview with THE MOTIFS

Friday, May 02, 2008 

For a woman so clearly focused on songwriting, the associated tasks of performing them live, compiling them onto records and releasing them has happened in quite a contrary way. Main Motif Alexis Hall is, as befits her music, someone discovered rather than found through promotion. "None of my releases have been really conscious on my part. I just made the music and random people offered to release it. Since it was mainly on the Internet it didn't really matter where it was from, so I guess that was why nothing had been released in Australia until now." These releases, 2006's Dots on the Swedish Music Is My Girlfriend label, 2007's Away on Japan's Lost in Found and the WeePOP!'s English release of Matches have had highlights taken from them for the new Cross Paths album, another release at the instigation of a label's owner. "I was asked if I wanted to release something on vinyl. Scott [Brewer, founder of Knock Yr. Socks Off Records and member of local pop group Summer Cats] mainly chose the songs, but it's sort of half of Away, four songs from the WeePOP! EP and three new songs." she explains. Describing the music leaves Hall a little lost for words but listeners the world over lean on the terms dream pop, twee and indie to describe The Motifs quiet yet wonderfully sculpted tunes. "I've never been really good with genres, never been able to describe other people's music," she says hesitating. "The way I'm described often surprises me, and when I get compared to bands it's always because of the sound, never the songwriting, but I kind of like that everyone has their own interpretations. When I listen to music it's always for the melody and the songwriting. I don't care that much about the production, even if the sound is not that good, sometimes that makes me like the song more, the song sounds better."

Motifs' songs themselves are revolutions of their format; their sheer brevity is almost breathtaking with many songs not breaking the minute mark. Perhaps due to a ruthlessly harsh editing process? "Oh no! I think it's the opposite," laughs Hall "I'm really trying to get them longer. I don't want to repeat myself when I write, I guess some people will write songs with four of the same verse, but I'm more interested in having ideas rather than driving them home. I kind of like the idea that you get one listen at that one thing; I have a short attention span. I was thinking that iTunes give you a 30-second preview, which for some of my songs is nearly the whole song! I put in the effort for a short song as much as a long song, and for me that's what I value. I'm putting heaps of ideas into a short amount of space. If you write a really long song you're forcing people to stare for five minutes, whereas with mine you can listen to four or five different songs in that time, and you can listen to them again if you like."

Plainly, a lot of people are doing just that – The Motifs have had over 100 000 listens on last.fm and more on Myspace. In explaining their popularity Hall reaches to the reasons she writes. "When I write songs, I'm not going for a sound, and I'm not very good at talking," she says with a laugh. "The way they sound is a result of the resources I have and I'm really interested in the sound you get when you record at home." Translating these recordings live has proved more a case of reinvention than reinterpretation. "I'd never be able to get that same sound. I might record 10 keyboard parts to a song and then I go 'Oh no! How am I going to do this live?' so it is pretty challenging, but I do like bringing in other people, it's more fun."

NOUVELLES AVENTURES: An interview with INSTITUT POLAIRE

Friday, May 02, 2008 

Few bands would be brave enough to launch a national tour with the addition of two new members, the loss of one, and debut new songs while road-testing song titles with the audience as they go. Clearly the expansive and smartly-attired Institut Polaire have few qualms. Like the French Antarctic vessel they're named after, exploration and faith are hallmarks of their trade. Multi-instrumentalist Elliott Brannen is fairly used to these changes, but especially happy at the current state of the band. "It's funny, I joined three years ago saw two leave and one join, then there were no changes for two and a half years. With the move to Melbourne, one left and two joined. We'd been looking for a full time keyboard player for a while and the obvious thing was to get Rebecca (May), who is an amazing musician." Rebecca is the girlfriend of original IP drummer Ash who had left the band to move to Melbourne. Incidentally, two years later, the band - except for the drummer - followed him; no prizes for guessing who returned to the drum stool. "This will be the lineup for at least a while," confirms Brannen. "It's sounding great. Our gig last night went surprisingly well for a midweek show. We've just really nutted down and worked, and to have an audience specifically there to see you was really cool."

Relocating a band 3500 kilometers is never a decision undertaken lightly, moving to Melbourne, as many readers will know, is no easy task. Brannen sees the experience as all part of playing in IP, and other band members, particularly Ohio-native front-man Eric Hecht, are clearly no strangers to upping sticks either. "We all generally took about six or seven weeks to find a place to live, with the rental market being terrible it took longer than we'd thought. Everyone has a place to live and full-time work now, which makes it a lot easier. I've moved a few times and it's never easy, it always takes a little while to feel settled. We'll have to work full-time till we can make enough money to do otherwise, but we're happy enough. "

With their debut album due out later this year and an as-yet-unnamed single due in a few months, IP are clearly onto something good. Bands who influenced IP are fans, as are JJJ and pretty much any awards panel they've been considered by. "The album is still at demo stage," says Brennen. "And because of the changes we can't make the record we would have made 12 months ago, so it will be different from the EP. The album has the working title of Make Your Own Mayflower. The Mayflower was the boat the Pilgrims came to America on. Eric was in the military for four to five years and away from his girlfriend for that time. There are a lot of songs about distance and loneliness, being apart from someone." Brennen points out. "It's definitely Eric's band - he does the majority of the writing," he continues "but it's more of a band than some people think it is. The general direction of the band is that it's a democracy no one's vote is worth more than anyone else. There are strong-willed people in the band and we wouldn't have it any other way."

Last year's signing to Sydney label Popfrenzy brought them more attention due to it being the label's first Australian signing. "That opened lots of doors." Says Brennen. "If we were a little band from Perth then we wouldn't be on this tour or doing this interview now. It adds some kudos and takes the pressure off knowing there is someone there who will pay for it for starters and release it when we're done. We trust them, they trust us; it's a really good relationship and makes the job a lot easier."

SHINING BRIGHTLY: An interview with RUBIES

Thursday, May 01, 2008 

Making the artwork for one of the biggest albums of 2007, Feist's The Reminder, as well as running her own business, Simone Rubi is clearly a talented girl. Rubi, half of electro-pop duo Rubies, is a self-described inspiration fiend. Inspirational stories and people, Rubi says are 'crucial' to her. "I meet a lot of people who are great and I'm always 'more, more, more, more inspiration'. I guess the kid in me is always looking to be in crush-land. I have like ten different crushes a day - I guess it's the inspiration thing." she confesses. Currently crashing at Feist's Parisian apartment, Rubi is finding inspiration plentiful at present, but then she has had a long interest with Europe, musical and otherwise.

"It all started when I met [Swedish pop legends] Kings Of Convenience in 2001 when I was with [indie-rock band] Call And Response. We were blown away by the way they could make such quiet music. You'd listen and say 'oh, I could hear a trumpet there' and that was their intention. They played implied music - they wouldn't just record the violin, they'd want you to hear it for yourself. That really helped my ear too, to hear the same thing but differently in a new way."

Quietly and forcefully, Scandinavian pop has been winning greater and greater fans courtesy of songs like Peter Björn and John's Young Folks, albums by The Concretes and tours from Jens Lekman. It was a scene Rubi instantly felt a bond with. "When we were there some friends said 'you should come back here and record' so we did! There is such a good vibe and a strong sense of the appreciation of songwriting there. The government has a lot of grants for musicians and songwriters - it's kind of amazing - there's nothing like that in the US, actually...it blows my mind. I like music from everywhere but I think that the music from there is gentle - not too assaulting - it comes from these geographically very beautiful places too, where people are very concrete about what they want to do and say."

Surprisingly Rubi thinks there is a strong connection between her home state and the music made in the north of Europe, an influence noticeable on the electro-pop warmth of their debut album Explode From The Centre with it's strong mix of smart, emotionally bare songwriting and dancefloor-ready beats "I think there is a mutual thing. They have this thing about Californian music and old West Coast melodies - they have a very similar sense of melody to us, and we're equally fascinated with what the other is doing." This duality is something that Rubi has noticed in herself when traveling "I'm one of those 'grass is always greener' people. I'm definitely very aware of my Californian-ness over here and when I'm in California I long to be in Europe, so much so it sort of feel like there are two versions of me."

With tracks featured on the influential Pitchfork website, remixed by Trans Am and DJ Shinichi Osawa, being Feist's guest at The Grammy Awards (who also appears on the album along with friends Devandra Banhart, members of Peter, Björn and John and Kings Of Convenience), Rubies are clearly in the ascendancy. this heady thrust into the spotlight is something her and bandmate Terri aren't letting go to their heads. "We both love growing things. Growing vegetables is a very big part of being in California - it helps with certain pace. The lifestyle we lead...yeah we're stressed and we work hard, it's nice to remember to enjoy things. With the music that we're doing, we put so much of ourselves into it, we're not trying to change the world by any means but it's something we love." Something it seems, they're getting more and more of back too.

Live Review: EELS

Thursday, May 01, 2008 

The Palais

"I know why you're all here," deadpans E. "Because I'm the son of a genius physicist. Well I'm proud to be the Julian Lennon of physics." Indeed the whole night and for a large part of his back catalogue (which gets an uneven going-over tonight), E is singing about himself. So it's fortunate that he is such an engaging character and one prone to self-deprecation regardless of his heavy history. To drive the point home, a booming bodiless voice states 'Mark Oscar Everett, this is your life," at the beginning of his set. The voice recurs throughout the night as often as he reminds us how great it is to be him, how he has the mic and does the talking not the drunken punter up the back, and the interesting story of how he came to be the way he is.

Eschewing a support band for a screening of the BBC documentary Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives that sees E researching his late father's life, there seems few sad secrets E will keep. Hugh Everett, it turns out, was a renown yet, until recently, overlooked quantum physicist who developed the 'multiple universes' theory. Telling his story sees E wandering Princeton University talking with his father's colleagues, exploring his basement for old tapes and boxes of files belonging to his father, and visiting the Pentagon to trace the military work his father did after his theory - submitted aged 24 - fell on deaf ears. The documentary is fascinating and its emotional ramifications and ruminations could be seen to make up a lot of the ensuing set which sees 1998's cathartic Electro Shock Blues album heavily mined.

Unceremoniously striding to a stool by a mic, E takes a baby blue Danelectro and opens with Grace Kelly Blues. It seems after a piano-led It's A Motherfucker this will be a stripped back show, and once 'the band' are introduced - all one member of them - for a still-rousing Strawberry Blonde, this isn't going to stop the show from being more than satisfying, largely thanks to 'The Chet' aka multi-instrumentalist Chet Atkins III. The Chet proves himself master of bowed saw, slide guitar, guitar, drums, harmonium and xylophone, all while having a great pair of lungs. Indeed his skills are mocked by E during a mid-concert break when E reads us live reviews of some of his British shows which highlight The Chet's prowess at expense of E.

Other set highlights include a glorious My Beloved Monster, a moving In The Yard, Behind The Church, E reading his fanmail, and a foot-stomp-good I Like Birds. Twice The Chet reads from E's book which illustrates well the diverse nature of his ponderings and their enhancement by song. The section during Flyswatter when E and the Chet seamlessly swap instruments mid-song is pure gold, as are the two encores and hundreds of in-the-know fans who clamour by the stage hoping for one more moment to connect with one of the funniest and most selflessly selfish stars in the firmament.

Live Review: KAT FRANKIE, THE SPOILS

Wednesday, April 23, 2008 

Northcote Social Club Spread across the carpet like toadstools on a forest floor, the gently chattering crowd are clearly in a very positive frame of mind, comfortable in knowing what they're getting and being pretty laid back about when it arrives. It's an oddly bucolic feel - a gentle hustle around the merch desk, brisk trade at the bar, a mood capitalised on by openers The Spoils - tonight in two-piece mode. Spoils singer Sean Simmons seems to be another graduate from the Dave Graney school of tongue-in-cheek masculine showmanship with his cowboy whoops, baritone mic deep-throating vocals and exuberant strumming. The Spoils have well-written imaginatively played songs for a two piece though there really isn't anything new happening here song-wise. Between the songs however, is some of the funniest chat in aeons, like an old married couple Simmons and violinist/accordionist/singer/drone box player Bronwyn Henderson are warmly engaging and familiar. Closing song Goodnight Victoria is an endearing Pogues-ish sea shanty that leaves us primed for the voyage to Berlin. In her third trip here two years Frankie has gone from playing to a dozen clued-in and lucky punters to her band's raucus Rob Roy debut to tonight's often harrowing tour de force. Bookending her show with the Welch-esque whispers of Be The Death Of Me and The Faint-Hearted Ones she takes us to places few other singer-songwriters would dare. With her guitar buckling under her levity of subject and impassioned delivery there is nothing fake or forced here. The longer she spends in Berlin the harder the edge to her songs get, so you can almost draw a line between the gentle folk-inspired meanderings of her JJJ hit The Tops via the '0-100 in 5 seconds' reinterpretation of Everything Everything to the writhing hellish glee of set-closer Serves You Right For Using Violence. Never at any point does she have to grab our attention, but her sudden shifts in dynamic wrench us in again and again. Maybe this is necessary in a crowded European metropolis, but on a weeknight at the No So, it strays into overkill at times; seduction of the crowd isn't on Frankie's agenda. What is however, is astonishingly accomplished songwriting, no more so than on the live favourite and crowd-rousing Happy which, along with new song I Been Dangerous indicate the well is far from dry. Tonight solidifies what the audience already know, Frankie is one of the most fearless performers and songwriters we have; so fearless she had to move to Berlin.

SOCIAL EXPERIMENTAL: An interview with GREY DATURAS

Tuesday, April 15, 2008 

For seven years now Grey Daturas have been simmering away in the pages of the street press, playing countless gigs, releasing innumerable (last count 23) recordings and touring in various forms overseas, most recently, and excitingly, Japan. Unlike most bands at seven years, they are a work in progress; evolving in their own noisy way. With the release of their latest and most accomplished full-length release Return To Disruption they seem to be one of the few bands who actually embody the idea of experimentalism as meaning 'you don't know where a song is going when you're halfway through it', not simply using it as an excuse to naval gaze.

Rob Mayson, guitarist, drummer and gentle sonic behemoth is quick to point out that Return To Disruption is technologically an improvement on their previous album Dead in The Woods, both of which were recorded with Neil Thomason at his Head Gap studios. "Two-inch tape, while giving you physically more space for the sounds, is expensive, so we rented two reels and laid down our tracks. We don't have any songs; when we go into the studio we just jam - we never rehearse. When we capture something that we feel has, for lack of a better word, a vibe, we use that as a foundation for what we contribute more to through overdubs and post-production. We let this album flow in two different halves, it not about tracks, it's conceptually oriented toward vinyl." Indeed, the song that would finish each album's side ends with the tape spooling off the reel.

With this much integrity toward making music, it's a rare band that can have been held at knife-point because an audience didn't dig what they were hearing, but Grey Daturas are used to objectionable punters. "In Brisbane once, we were playing at this BBQ" elaborates Mayson, "a pair of locals came up to us with a knife and said 'if you fucken don't stop playing we're going to come and cut up your stuff. I could understand if it was Jet, but this isn't music'. It was just like fuel to us: 'Wow, what we're doing isn't as comfortable as it's become to us, it still offends people. All it is is a bunch of outer-suburban kids causing a racket. To think it can stir such anger in some people and ecstasy in others, it's great." While the band doesn't always play loud, there is a genuine openness to what they play. "In almost every city we've visited we've played shows where we stripped away the drums and played entirely electronically. We play one night after the other: drums/no drums. Stripping it back to the meditative droning, pulsating, physical music, there is no attempt to be melodic or rhythmic. That Brisbane BBQ gig...it was like 'uh uh, this isn't music this is noise pollution', they were right, it's definitely something we are very passionate about."

Grey Daturas may well be one of the more amorphous bands around too, with there being a side-project for each two-person combination of the three-piece as well as each member freely joining other transient collectives. Together though, they challenge themselves to the extent that Mayson says it has irrevocably shaped him as a person. "it's been very consuming part of our lives, it's formed who we all are."

Clearly, seeing the band isn't a typical gigging experience, you're also witnessing a sociological experiment, one centred around its soundtrack. "Being improvisational, because we've been doing it for so long, means we can interpret each other's moves. The band allows for little corridors toward exploring something interesting to open up. To be blunt it's a slow evolutionary thing, it's a case of watching a relationship grow and change. If we were trying to perfect something musical we'd be writing music, but what we're trying to perfect is the communication between three people."

Live Review: SPECTRUM, DIMMER, THE LOVETONES

Monday, April 14, 2008 

Northcote Social Club

The Lovetones epitomise what most of these Sydney bands who get signed before their 5th gig and have very nice gear, no original ideas and predictable song structures will become in 10 years time. While they're not playing anything actually offensive the sheer dullness of their dynamic and hook-free songs boarders on insulting to their equipment if not to us. One can only imagine the divine 12-string Burns or gorgeous Gibson the guitarists use yelling out through it's pick up 'Stop being so lazy! I wasn't made for blandness!'. Bassist and keyboardist Matthew Sigley does however have talent and writes interesting parts, giving the band what little bounce it has, but it's not enough to pick these songs up.

Dimmer however, keep their songs down, way down, and sound all the better for it. Pushing sub-bass like Lee Perry but keeping the music firmly within the realm of hypnotic rock, each song builds gradually from ex-Straitjacket Fits frontman Shayne Carter's muttered vocals and stuttering guitar, vocals that peter out after the opening minute to be replaced with subsuming caverns of sound. Carter uses an e-bow with a proficiency rarely seen while guitarist James Duncan squeezes heavenly squeals of feedback from his malfunctioning Firebird. Crystalator, The Seed, Degrees of Separation and killer closing song Pacer are perfect examples of their trademark musical quicksand; mid-paced thuds, murky two-note basslines with soaring and diving guitar lines hanging like vines overhead. Needless to say this all goes down especially well with the by-now packed No So.

It seems everyone in Melbourne who knows who Spectrum is finds themselves within these walls tonight, and it is a safe bet that most of them will be here tomorrow night for his second show. 'Different Set. DJ Set' read the fliers he hands out mid-gig to the front row: 'half price with this flier'. A piece of chipboard with an array of pedals, a sequencer, a small mixer and a couple of littlesynths on top of it is placed front and centre. Soon follows Sonic Boom aka Spectrum aka Pete Kember who begins tuning a guitar he doesn't use and spends the first few minutes searching for a small red clip that he uses to hold down keys on one of his keyboards. Once these formalities are dispensed with we are treated to an hour's worth of Spectrum and Experimental Audio Research material that he renders beautifully through his DIY-style setup. Often closing his eyes as he attenuates the tremelo or delay effect, Spectrum layers sounds in a way that echoes simpler moments of Kraftwerk and more complex moments of Karaoke for My Shadow. This Is The End sees vocal samples cut up while most of the rest of the set is warm synth sounds and filtered melodies played with a simplicity that can only come from honed experience.
Ending with a cover of his heroes Suicide's Che, he then returns to the stage for Spaceman 3's tribute to the band, Suicide, with an enthusiastic Dimmer who back Spectrum brilliantly in recreating the chasms of barely controlled anger that make up this modern classic. All in all, a trip.

Live Review: EDDIE FLOYD

Saturday, April 12, 2008 

Prince of Wales

The DJs of PBS who set the scene for soul titan Eddie Floyd are a rare breed, and one we should be eternally grateful for. Pierre Baroni, Manchild and Vince Peach do a sterling job of playing 7-inch records, many of which sound familiar through being sampled and which reinforce the theory that almost all good modern music owes something to soul. Horn blasts, song structures, astonishing vocalists, levity of subjects and loquacity of hips; it's all there in an ingeniously composed four minutes. All of these elements are present in the songs that comprise Floyd's set tonight too, a set whose opening seconds lay waste to any suspicion that this might just be an occasion to go 'Shit. THAT guy wrote Knock On Wood'.

The be-suited and behaved Bamboos stride out and start with a funk introduction that is dangerously slick, busy and a bit 'Daptones'-younger-show-off-brother'. Thankfully, with the arrival of tonight's star performer, they slip into a perfectly-toned and restrained bang-on-the-money professional soul revue. Boy are they tight. Only guitarist Lance Ferguson's lack of space in his guitar solos (a very minor quibble, but these things get magnified when the listener is so familiar with the sound and feel of a soul band) give away these guys as ring-ins.

Eddie Floyd. 74 years old and every year spent grinding out soul songs and delivering stellar shows it would seem. From the black handkerchief sprouting from from the top pocket of his immaculate white silk suit to the copious sweat that he never uses it to wipe from his face, to the way he paces the stage you know you're in the presence of Legend.

Given a rousing and perfectly-pitched introduction from PBS presenter Mohair Slim Floyd kicks off the show with Raise Your Hands. A plea he echoes dozens of times throughout the night as he rouses the crowd again and again to sing along, clap and get involved. 634-5789 'A song I wrote for the wicked Wilson Pickett' follows and it's clear that though Floyd doesn't seem to know the name of the Bamboos members, they are a golden match. Soon drawn to certain female members of the crowd, Floyd's voice is in fine form and many a lady is serenaded during I Never Found A Girl, and Love Is A Doggone Thing. After a barnstorming version of the overlooked sould classic Big Bird ('this is a song I wrote in an airport in London just after I found that Otis' plane had gone down') and two songs from the Stax stable Soul Man and Dock Of The Bay Floyd seems to be pointing the mic at us a little more and forgets most of the words to People Got To Get Together - but hey, the man is 74 and singing like a man half his age and when he does sing, it's magic. Closing anthem Knock On Wood drains his last and the audience have nothing but glee on their faces when leaving. Hats off to those who brought him here and to the great man himself.

Live Review: ROWLAND S. HOWARD

Friday, April 11, 2008 

Ding Dong

Happy Goths! Everywhere! That's the first thing that becomes apparent on walking into the Ding Dong tonight; the sense of reverence and respect that is metered out to only a very select few Australian musicians, and even fewer people at all from this audience. Ambling onto the stage the Dickensian chimney sweep of Australian rock, a (seemingly barely) living legend and songwriter who tonight proves that the peak of his powers are possibly yet to come. Sporting his trademark battered white Fender Jaguar, Howard has visibly more zest and energy than his last appearance four months back when he outshone The Devastations as their support. Howard straight away begins the chugging chords of Oh Jim showing that he is one of the very few performers around with the authority to get inside a Lou Reed song (something he does brilliantly again later tonight with his version of Ocean) and render it as his own. 'Every note of every song tonight is dedicated to Bianca,' intones Howard sincerely, scouring the crowd for his muse before launching into Dead Radio. Despite barely moving, not shifting from his half-octave vocal range and using only the one guitar sound, one style and almost one rhythm for each song tonight, Howard somehow, through sheer persistence maybe, owns the Ding Dong tonight. Yes the songs are good, the crowd clearly adore him and he's a fascinating sonambulistic character to watch, but he is so adept at putting himself through the songs and comfortable being on stage that each song reinforces the feeling that it's we who are lucky to be here, not (after all his adventures, japes and scrapes) him.

"After some consultation we arrived at a spurious agreement,' laughs Howard into the mic following a lengthy chat with the obviously very important Bianca. Whatever it was that was said it was the stuff of pure inspiration because Howard returns for an encore of sorts which brings down the house. These Immortal Souls' Crowned is resurrected in stunning style, while White Wedding is rendered in the only way Howard knows how; excoriating, tough melancholy, The closing gem - one of the more unjustly ignored songs of recent decades and a highlight from his Teenage Snuff Film album - Autoluminescent: 'I'm bigger than Jesus Christ / I'm greater than God in light / I'm...dangerous.' Possibly the highlight of the show though, is his mid-show aside: "all you people who've been coming to my shows the last few years will be glad to know I'm recording a new album in July.' his youthful smile following this brief remark was mirrored on every face. Bring it on.