Beat Magazine Online

Boogie 6 Second Announcement

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:49:20 +1000

First up, the sad news - Perth rock 'n' rollers Pond have had to pull out of the upcoming Boogie 6 due to shit starting to blow up for them in the States. The good news - a massive second batch of artists has been served up on the already-impressive bill.

Following on from last year's psuedo-supergroup Rogers, Kent, Hopkinson, Lane & Friends comes The Superholics - an outfit consisting of Beau Campbell from Front End Loader, Jamie Cibej from Bluejuice, some chap called Kram and another guy about town called Dan Sultan. Nice!

Also joining in on the action will be the incredible talents of My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James, performing tracks from his Yim Yames, MMJ, Monsters Of Folk, and whatever other bodies of work he fancies.

If that wasn't enough, Dead Meadow, Eileen Jewel, Dawes, Pink Mountaintops, The Rubens, The Gooch Palms and Sures will also be gracing Tallarook with their presence.

These acts join Justin Townes Earle, Royal Headache, James Reyne, Lanie Lane, AC/DSHE, Snakadaktal, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizzard, Bittersweet Kicks, Baptism Of Uzi, Merri Creek Pickers and Love Migrate.

Boogie 6 takes place at Bruzzy's farm, Tallarook on April 6 - 8.

The Beautiful Girls

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:07:34 +1000

In the ten years that The Beautiful Girls have been delivering their fun-loving mixture of roots, reggae and rock, they've played in all sorts of venues. But there's been one type of venue they haven't played – until now, that is. With the Melbourne Zoo launching its 150th Anniversary Celebrations with a series of concerts featuring some of Australia's best performers, Mat McHugh, lead singer/songwriter of The Beautiful Girls can now say that they've played at a zoo!

“That's certainly one thing we have not done,” he admits, laughing over the phone from Sydney. “I'm excited; I love animals! Depending on the zoo, most of them tend to treat their animals pretty well, so I'm hoping Melbourne's is pretty amazing. I'm definitely going to try to spend as much time there as possible, checking everything out.”

This will be a solid return to The Beautiful Girls duties, as McHugh spent much of last year touring for his 2009 solo record Separatista! which was an entirely different beast from his dealings with his regular band. McHugh says that Separatista! was centred on the theme of “separatism” – something he wanted to do outside the “mother-ship.”

How did that experience work out? “Oh man, for me personally, I loved it,” he gushes. “You have everyone on the business side of things nagging me, ‘When you gonna come back and do some shows?' because obviously, Beautiful Girls shows are much bigger than my solo ones. A lot of the smaller shows were pretty intimate – just me and an acoustic guitar. It was completely fulfilling and romantic…just the idea of travelling around with a guitar and no smoke and mirrors and all that stuff. You know, when I think of music, that's the idea I had when I first got into music. I was thinking [of] Bob Dylan and that classic kind of troubadour mode is my favourite thing, so I was able to do that for a year and it was awesome!”

I ask McHugh whether releasing Separatista! between 2007's Ziggurats and the most recent Girls' album, 2010's Spooks, affected his recording process. “Yeah, Separatista! was done really off the cuff,” he admits. “The Beautiful Girls had a break, and I just wanted to head into the studio; I had some songs, I wanted to get in there with some friends…and it took like three days, with a lot of stuff done on the first go. It was easy and simple and enjoyable. Spooks was the polar opposite.

“[Spooks] was laboured over an insane amount. I put that record together in the basement of my house and it took me a year, ten hours a day. I played everything, but ended up chopping most of it up and rearranging it and approaching it like an electronic or a dance or a hip hop producer would have done. I love the end result, but it was insane! There were moments where I was like a molecule away from insanity. It was just overwhelming, and I needed a breather after that, which is why this last year's just been: take an acoustic guitar to a stage and plug it in and away you go.”

Sounds to me almost as if McHugh, given his druthers, would prefer to record under his own name more often. He agrees. However, he admits, “The Beautiful Girls has been the name I've been releasing all my music under, so I'm being encouraged to stick with that. It's all semantics as far as I'm concerned; it's just letters on a piece of paper or on a CD cover – it's all music, and however it gets to people most effectively is how I'm going to do it. I do like the name The Beautiful Girls, too – it's kind of catchy!”

He mentions that he'd originally chosen the name to take the piss out of his fellow surfers growing up in the Northern Beaches region of Sydney. He laughs at the memory, regaling me with some of the outrageously macho and violent monikers of his contemporaries. “I just wanted to have a laugh,” he reminisces.

Looks like he's had the last laugh, I note. He takes a deep breath. “The whole thing's weird, you know,” he confides. “Every day I wake up in a sweat, waiting for people to tell me that it's all just one big joke. Like, [mocking tone] ‘Ha ha, we let you believe you were in a band and you played music for a living.' I didn't grow up that way, you know. I grew up just being a surfer, and always played music just as something fun; I never had a career aspiration – opportunities just represented themselves. I always just did the best I could at each point in time and it's still kind of rolling along, you know? So if I'm having the last laugh, it's kind of a nervous one. A nervous giggle!

“But I definitely enjoy it,” he continues. “It's just music as a vehicle to live an interesting and exciting kind of life! And not to just sit in some ivory tower and think I'm more special than the next person because I get to play music – I think that's ridiculous. So I see it for what it is and I believe I'm happy, and it's been a great ride so far and if it ended tomorrow, then it still would have been a great ride!”

BY THOMAS BAILEY

The 2012 Melbourne Zoo Twilights Program has kicked off and features some of Australia's favourite artists performing under the stars every weekend until Saturday March 17, this is a perfect opportunity to go ape – and we're not lion. THE BEAUTIFUL GIRLS will be performing on Saturday February 11 with The Fearless Vampire Killers. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster, or through Zoos Victoria at zoo.org.au/twilights.

Evanescence

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:56:55 +1000

Amy Lee from American gothic rock outfit Evanescence turned 30 years old in December 2011. Her band formed in 1995, and so if you do the maths she was just in her mid teens when she put together the outfit that has gone on to sell records in the tens of millions, win Grammy Awards and gain all sorts of other awards, accolades and successes since. However, she tends not to view this in such pragmatic terms.

“Something like that,” the friendly and chirpy vocalist agrees, from on tour in South Carolina, “but it's weird to put a number on it like that, because the 'band' was really just me and Ben (original guitarist Ben Moody) writing together, and working in our parents' garages and basements, and working on whatever weird recording gear we could find and recording ourselves. It was a band, but it wasn't like we were running around playing gigs and developing a big following at that point. So yes, that was when it started, but it wasn't a 'usual' band thing at that point.”

And it wasn't like she envisioned the success that they were to have within a few years at that moment, but there was definitely a strong feeling that something was 'happening' in those early days. “I wouldn't say I had a 'vision', like I knew it was gonna happen,” she recalls, “but I definitely dreamed of it, we definitely dreamed really big from the very beginning. I don't think that if I hadn't been dreaming so big I would have put all those strings in our music, and I never thought it was going to be just keyboard stuff, it was going to have to be a full orchestra, that was my vision. Not a cheap thing, not a thing that any band could afford.

“So yeah, we were always dreaming big,” she states, “and when it really happened it was very surreal, I don't think I could really understand it all when it was happening, it took a couple of years. And then it was like 'that's crazy, that really happened!'” she laughs.

Not only has her band succeeded to her wildest expectations and dreams, she herself has become a role model for young rock and goth chicks the world over, and while it's tough to handle at times, ultimately it's a responsibility that sits quite comfortably on her slender but strong shoulders.

“I think it's awesome,” she concurs, “you know, it's a lot of responsibility for anybody who's ‘famous' on any level, where there's people watching your every move. And it is hard sometimes; I went through a time when it was really hard for me actually. Not to just feel like everyone was criticising me, ‘cause people naturally for some reason, when you're doing well especially, they're super interested in what is wrong with you, or whatever they can see in you that's a flaw. It's just human nature. That's why people love crappy reality TV, it's like, 'Well I'm better than them!'” she laughs again.

“But I got over it in a big way,” she continues. “I love our fans, and they've always been there for us. We have fans that started being fans even pre-2003, that are still coming to shows, and inventing fan clubs. We have relationships with people around the world who just have a deep connection with our music, and it's a big part of their lives...that's all deeply inspirational for me, I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world. So I think it's cool to be a role model, I don't know if I've gotten off track, but I think it's cool that people out there can see what I've done and say, 'I can do that too.'”

The band recently released their third full length album, simply titled Evanescence. Once again it's a record chock full of epic, emotional goth rock anthems, and it's sure to please their legion of fans worldwide. As has been the case with this band it was a long time coming, being five years since their previous album The Open Door, and Amy and the band could not be happier with the final result.

“We love the record,” she enthuses. “I would hope that that's the case for me always, I never want to say something different from that! Really really proud of the record; in many ways I feel it's the best thing we've ever done. I don't think it's completely typical of us, I think there's some really new feelings, and new things we've been inspired by since the last record...I think it's a bit of both. I think it's a classic Evanescence album, but it's also for 2012. And it's been fun playing the new songs live, that's for sure. I'm not bored with any of them yet, so I guess that's a good thing!”

Evanescence make their long awaited return to Australia very shortly, and Amy can't wait to get Down Under and show the Aussie fans the new songs and their brand new show, which promises to give punters an even bigger band for their buck.

“Yeah, absolutely, it's been a long time,” she gushes. “It's been a long time since we've been anywhere crazy. We're doing a big Asian tour and then heading to Australia. Those are the most fun, because it's a special rare experience. And Australia's a place that we all love. It's beautiful, and everyone speaks English, so we can be independent and walk around, and read signs! And everyone's so friendly too.

“We're playing the longest set we've ever played,” she reveals, “so I think people will feel they've got their money's worth. We've been like, 'I hope people don't get bored! Are they gonna want to leave by the end?' It's an hour and 20 [minutes], and the songs are really demanding. It's a great show, we're doing songs from all three albums, so get ready to rock!”

BY ROD WHITFIELD

EVANESCENCE play Rod Laver Arena on Saturday March 24.

Laura Marling

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 07:12:48 +1000

“You start off on a light foot, fall into a crevasse and then come back up again,” laughs Laura Marling. She's talking about the journey that unfolds on her third album, A Creature I Don't Know. It's Marling's latest critically-acclaimed composition and further proof that the 21-year-old (22 on February 1) from London is en route to becoming one of the most prolific and respected songwriters in modern folk music. Age has been neither an issue nor a hindrance for Marling: “I try not to think any further than one day ahead.”

To say that releasing three acclaimed albums by the age of 21 is a rare feat would be an understatement. Marling's evolution as a singer-songwriter has led to each album garnering higher acclaim than its predecessor. “I think music is the core of my identity and that was obvious to me from teenage-hood,” says Marling. “I'd much rather be tucked away listening to music on my headphones than doing what other people would do,” she laughs, adding: “I don't know what they were doing.”

Indeed, Marling has always felt different to others. She didn't relate to her school mates in the way that most are propositioned to. Enraptured by the folk music that her father had introduced to her, Marling moved to London from Hampshire at the age of 16 to make music, humbly and honestly. The singer/guitarist bonded with like-minded musicians who possessed the same love for timeless folk music and inspired what the British music press would later term as the “nu-folk” movement.

Marling first came to the attention of indie music fans as a member of Noah And The Whale's original line-up (she was backing vocalist on the band's debut album – Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down). However, Marling departed the group and split with lead singer Charlie Fink before the album's release to focus on her solo career. Her debut solo album – Alas, I Cannot Swim (2008) – would prove why leaving Noah And The Whale was the right decision as it showcased the uniqueness of Marling's artistic vision. Despite the British press' interest in both her former relationships with Fink and Mumford & Sons' Marcus Mumford, Marling has remained as dignified in her expression of personal matters as she is with her craft.

In the eyes of Marling, A Creature I Don't Know (2011) is the first record that she truly put her stamp on as she finally possessed the confidence to do so. How did it feel to find that self-confidence? “It felt like more of a relief, I guess... to know that I could trust my own opinion,” she ponders.

On her sophomore album, I Speak Because I Can (2010), Marling explored womanhood and adult responsibility with a sense of gravitas; impressively, A Creature I Don't Know explores those themes even further and more profoundly as she contemplates the issues of devotion, betrayal, submission, rage, dependency, desire, innocence, guilt, euphoria, despair, angels, devils, family and gender roles. But as Marling demonstrates, the act of asking questions is often more important than finding answers.

“I think it was the general idea of not knowing, not understanding... that was kind of the reason why those themes came up, I guess, because I suppose from a feminine standpoint, those are the things that most people will question or I hope would question in their time. And I think especially on A Creature I Don't Know, there's such a lack of understanding,” she laughs. “I'm wondering.”

Marling's love of great writers John Steinbeck and Robertson Davies inspired the tales that weave through A Creature I Don't Know, and triggered her own drive as a writer. “I think I take a bit more from the writers that I read than maybe I should,” Marling laughs. “It's not necessarily what they're talking about – it's the way they talk about it, and that's why I get stuck in ruts of reading the same writers because I feel so comfortable with the way that they write and I really find myself sinking into it, especially with people like Robertson and Steinbeck, who have a really, really distinctive way of writing. I find that the way someone structures a sentence is really fascinating because it can be the difference between something being conveyed and you understanding it or something being so well conveyed that you feel like no one could have said it better and there's no way it could have been phrased in a better way.”

Sophia (the name of the ancient goddess of wisdom) was the stunning first single off A Creature I Don't Know and influenced by Robertson Davies' The Rebel Angels. Meanwhile, Salinas can be traced to Steinbeck's East Of Eden. “I do like hearing what people do deduce from them because sometimes I write without really knowing myself until it's done,” Marling muses. “When I was at school, I always thought that when we were doing English and learning poetry or dissecting a novel, it was terribly unfair that there was one way of taking it in and one way of understanding it and there was a set curriculum of how you would take on this poem or how you would take on this novel. I just don't think any writer has that much control over how words affect people. Words will affect people differently and I like that people would have their own ideas about things like that.

“In art and music, you're completely unrestricted,” says Marling. “You can do anything to get a point across. There are bits on this album that feel more emotional and intense; there are some bits that I wrote with quite a light heart and lots I wrote with a heavy heart. It's a nice mix and when we play live, we try and play most of the songs in order or close to being in order.”

Marling returns to our shores for the Laneway Festival as well as a special performance at The Forum Theatre. As Feist will be joining Marling at Laneway (they released two of last year's finest albums), I ask her whether Leslie Feist is an artist that Marling derives inspiration from: “Yeah, very much so... I was a huge fan of the stuff that she used to do with Broken Social Scene. She's amazing.”

Marling's versatility on A Creature I Don't Know and the timeless quality of her songs have seen her mentioned in the same breath as PJ Harvey, Tori Amos and Fiona Apple. PJ Harvey's latest album, Let England Shake, was viewed by many as the album of 2011 – how much does Marling draw from such a strong, uncompromising artist? “PJ Harvey set a path and a standard that I find very interesting, and she's great – actually, I haven't gotten that far into her music and that's just because I haven't got around to it yet,” admits Marling. “And she's the kind of artist where you have to buy them all – you can't just try one,” she laughs, “so I'm working on that.

“Women singer-songwriters get bracketed into a genre; it happens all the time and I'm really glad that there are stand-out people like PJ Harvey and to some extent, people like Bjork who are doing interesting things; you can't put them in a bracket with straight-down-the-line pop artists because they're just doing something more exciting.”

Infused with both the beauty and darkness of A Creature I Don't Know, Marling's guitar playing is more haunting, distinctive and expressive on her latest masterpiece. “I made a conscious effort between the last album and this one to play a different style of guitar,” she relates. “I was playing on a nylon string guitar this time; the first style of guitar that I learnt was classical guitar, so it was quite strange in a way to go back to a Spanish guitar and it's a completely different tone. The older I get, the more I play the guitar...and the easier it comes.”

In the next few months, Marling's hectic touring schedule will include performing at the Coachella Festival and supporting Andrew Bird. “We toured with him about two years ago,” Marling recalls, “and when I went on tour with him, I think I had two of his albums. And then we were helping him set up his merch after the shows and the guy has like ten albums,” she laughs. “They're all bizarre and amazing.”

As much as she adores Bird, the one artist whom she remains utterly awe-stricken by – even after having the privilege of touring with the music icon – is Neil Young. “It was really, really surreal – you know when someone's been such a figure in your life that they don't appear in a justified reality anymore? You can't really consider them walking around or drinking tea or doing whatever people do,” Marling laughs. “And in a way, I wanted it to remain like that – I only really met him for about five minutes when I toured with him for four shows... on the last day, I managed to summon up some courage and say hello. I managed to let him remain a mythical being in my head.”

BY CHRISTINE LAN

LAURA MARLING performs at The Forum Theatre on Thursday February 2 (supported by Husky – sold out) and the Laneway Festival on Saturday February 4, where she'll be joined by Feist, The Horrors, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, The Drums, Toro Y Moi, Active Child, Chairlift, M83, Pajama Club, Husky, The Panics and more. A Creature I Don't Know is out now through EMI.

Mayer Hawthorne

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:51:09 +1000

‘Flashy But Classy' – that's Mayer Hawthorne's motto, and those are the words that he lives his life by. The Ann Arbor, Michigan performer is known for his falsetto croon and his immaculate throwback soul productions, but he walks the walk as well as talking the talk, clothing himself in outfits that hark back to the era when sartorial elegance in music was key. His outfits are retro with a modern twist – snappy suits paired with sneakers and his trademark chunky glasses – and his sense of style is such that he was recently profiled by men's fashion bible GQ, where he held forth on some of his biggest inspirations.

In the GQ piece, Hawthorne named everyone from Marvin Gaye – the ultimate ladies man – and James Brown to Eric B and Rakim as influences on his flashy but classy aesthetic. For him, sartorial elegance is not just something for the stage and photo shoots – it's a lifelong pursuit. “Dressing well is just part of everyday life for me,” he says, when I ask about his love of looking snappy. “Even when you go to the record store, you've gotta keep it classy. That's just my personal style, though. That's what makes me feel good. To each his own, you know? Whatever makes you feel good, that's the way you've gotta rock it.”

Hawthorne's love of soul music dates all the way back to his childhood. Born and raised in Michigan, he grew up immersed in the Motown sound, and in fact, his favourite pastime as a child was listening to 45s on his Fisher Price record player. His nickname, Haircut, dates back to this period. “When I was a toddler, I absolutely hated to get my hair cut,” he tells me with a laugh. “I would have tantrums, man – I was a total baby about it! My parents would buy me 45s to keep me occupied while I got a trim, and that was the only thing that worked. All I ever wanted to do was play records,” he says. “My folks still call me ‘Haircut' to this day.”

While Hawthorne had always loved soul music, he didn't consider a career as a soul musician until later in the piece – in fact, his first musical forays were as a hip hop producer and DJ. The only reason he started making soul was to have a cheap and easy source of samples for the rap songs he was producing. “A lot of the deep knowledge I have of soul music actually came through hip hop and from digging for all the samples in my favourite rap songs. When I moved to LA, I wanted to make rap music, not soul, but I was getting sued for some of the samples that I'd used, and I decided, well, I don't want to pay anybody for clearance, I don't want to be involved I these crazy lawsuits all the time, so I'll just make my own samples! That's really how it started, out of necessity, really.”

It took a while for it to click into place that this was what Hawthorne wanted to do with his life. “It really didn't really happen until I had started really touring around and doing a lot of shows,” he tells me. “We did some big festivals out here. Definitely a big moment for me was Bonnaroo Festival here in the States. We had the ill 10pm time slot, there were 15,000 people out there in the crowd, and I just remember thinking, ‘Wow, I really could do this for the rest of my life'. It took a while, you know? There was definitely a period when I thought, ‘This is cool but I'm definitely going to go back to making hip hop music and being a DJ'. I originally thought of this as just a side project, and that I'd just sell 1000 copies and then go back to the rap thing.”

Hawthorne's breakthrough record, How Do You Do?, came out last year to great acclaim and cemented his transition from hip hop beat-maker to bona fide soul crooner. Drenched in hooks and with strut to spare, its 12 tracks harked back effortlessly to eras gone by. The Walk, which could have come directly from the ‘60s, was a defiant kiss-off to an old lover while Hooked, with its classic brass, was pure Motown joy. Finally, Falling harked back to the white-boy soul of You Make My Dreams hit-makers Hall & Oates, two more people that Hawthorne cited as style icons. One of the album's more surreal moments, however, is Can't Stop, which features a guest spot from none other than Snoop Dogg.

Now, objectively speaking, you know you've made it in pop music when Snoop Dogg shows up to do a cameo on one of your records. Both Katy Perry and Robyn have experienced this in recent years, but in both of those cases, Snoop was rapping. On Can't Stop, listeners get the extremely rare pleasure of hearing him sing. How did Hawthorne possibly hook such a thing up, I ask? “That was easy,” he says, laughing. “I'd done some remixes for him before, and Snoop and I share a common love for classic soul. He's always bumping The Dramatics, The Chi-Lites, Willie Hutch, all that good stuff, and he's always singing along! He asked what he had to do to get on my album, and I said, ‘You gotta sing!'”

Although he has set the collaborations bar pretty high with Snoop, I ask Hawthorne if there are any other artists he'd like to work with in the future, anyone who might tickle his fancy or add just the right lovelorn note to one of his ballads. “I want to work with anyone who is doing different and creative things,” he says, “people who are moving the music forward. I just got out of a session with Pharrell [Williams]. That was crazy. I learned a lot. I would love to work with Benny Sings from Holland. Some of my fans might be surprised to hear it, but I think Justin Timberlake is brilliant.”

There's a certain continuity between How Do You Do? and Mark Ronson's productions, especially some of the tracks on Record Collection – both fuse soul music with hip hop beats, and both share that unbridled sense of happiness and enthusiasm. I ask Hawthorne if he'd ever consider working with Ronson – or indeed, if a collaboration has been suggested at any point – and he says he'd definitely think about it. “Mark Ronson was the first DJ to play my music on the radio,” Hawthorne tells me, “and I'll always sincerely love him for that. He definitely has good taste in music!”

Given the warm, vintage sound of How Do You Do?, I ask Hawthorne if he's one of those musicians, like Jack White, who favours vintage recording techniques, and has to work in a studio full of analogue gear. “Oh no,” he says with a chuckle, “I'm definitely not one of those guys that's like, ‘Oh, everything has to be analogue equipment and I have to record directly to vinyl'. I'm not one of those guys at all.” As Hawthorne sees it, he lives in 2012, so he should therefore take advantage of as much modern technology as possible.

“A lot of people think that I live in some sort of vintage world where I only listen to Otis Redding in vinyl and I shun technology, but that's not the case,” he continues. “I'm a young dude – I have an iPhone! Why wouldn't you take advantage of all the technology that's available? You'd be crazy not to. Obviously, I want to get that warm sound, but there are other ways you can do that.” So it doesn't have to be painstaking, I venture? “Right, exactly,” he says. “It doesn't have to be painstaking for it to work!”

After listening to How Do You Do?, the one thing you come away with is the sense of pure joy that the music exudes, especially tracks like Hooked, which is two and a half minutes of sunny day distilled into music. I ask Hawthorne if he is consciously trying to evoke this feeling with the music, and he says yes. “Fun is number one, man,” he says. “That's the motto around here, and I think that's one of the main reasons that so many people are drawn to this music. That's the only rule that I have when I'm making music, is that it has to be fun. Everybody wants to have fun.”

Given the explosive acclaim for How Do You Do?, the greatest priority for Mayer Hawthorne right now is just keeping his feet on the ground. “Oh man, you know, I'm just doing my regular thing, you know?” he says coyly, when I ask how he's surviving the hype. “I'm still the same old me. I've just been doing my best to try and ride the wave, making sure I wake up every morning. I'm thankful for this opportunity I've been given to make music for a living, to do what I love for a living. Above all, I just make sure that I don't take it for granted.”

BY ALASDAIR DUNCAN

Mayer Hawthorne [USA] plays The Corner Hotel on Wednesday February 29.

Neon Indian

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 07:11:15 +1000

2011 was a busy year for Alan Palomo of Neon Indian fame, and if his recent New Year's Eve celebrations are anything to go by, 2012 looks to be just as jam packed. “I played on New Year's Eve in Dallas,” Palomo begins when asked how he rang in the beginning of 2012. “It was a crazy rave in downtown Dallas with Diplo and Girl Talk and some others. It was a lot of fun. I ended up having an early night though because I played with The Flaming Lips and Yoko Ono on New Year's Day. That show was incredible!,” he chirps enthusiastically.

“I got to get up and perform a song with The Lips off that EP we did a little while back. It was a crazy and eventful New Year's. If there's anyway to start the year with a supposed celestial shift that's going to bring on the end of the Mayan calendar and some sort of strange dramatic change you might as well do it on stage performing with The Flaming Lips.”

Since releasing the debut Neon Indian record, Psychic Chasms, in 2009, life has been hectic for Palomo – touring, collaborating and writing in some rather unusual places. For the act's sophomore outing, Era Extrana, which hit shelves last September, Polomo hid himself away in an apartment in Helsinki; an experience he isn't keen to repeat.

“When I got to Helsinki and remembered what it really felt like to be by yourself for an extended period of time I think I had this sobering reminder that, ‘Oh yeah, this totally sucks'. As interesting an experience as it was, I don't think I'll do something nearly as capricious next time. When I went to Helsinki it was to give myself some time to digest everything that had happened. Since Pyschic Chasms came out I've really been non-stop wrestling with the narrative of this project in particular.”

In the time since escaping his self imposed Helsinki hideout, Polomo has played shows here, there and everywhere, and will continue doing so until mid this year.

“I'm touring pretty relentlessly until the end of May but after that I'm kinda shutting everything down and being a hermit for a while. I'm trying to finish a VEGA record [Palomo's side project] and write another Neon Indian record and I've been trying to finally set up some releases for my imprint with some weird electronic acts from Austin. I see myself putting out two records this year and after that I'll focus on some filmmaking for a while, or just change my creative output altogether.”

One person who is sure to lament Palomo's temporary departure from the music scene is the musician's father, who was a Mexican pop star in the ‘70s and ‘80s.

“I didn't really know that I wanted to do music until the beginning of college. I experimented with it in high school and did some really terrible songs. Indirectly I absorbed influences from my dad as far as musical sensibilities and I definitely grew up watching my brother and my dad dedicate themselves to their instruments. By the time I got around to writing music there was a strange ease in terms of it being a relaxing thing because it was always going on around my house on any given afternoon. My dad was always trying to put together some kind of crazy family band. Everyday my dad would have a different idea, none of which ever came to fruition.”

Though music occupies much of his time these days, film has always been one of Palomo's passions and as such Neon Indian live shows are never just about sounds – utilising tripped out visuals created by Palomo in partnership with visual artist Lars Larson to set the scene.

“I just gave myself a Christmas present which is a modified Atari Video Music which was released in the '70s. One side connects to your eight track player and the other goes to your TV and does these goofy Atari graphics that respond to the volume and frequency of the music you're playing. My friend Lars modified it to do all sorts of glitched out stuff and it doubles as a distortion peddle too. So I've been running a guitar through it and any other instrument whose sound I just want to destroy. That's been pretty entertaining.

“We have been trying to figure out some new and interesting things that we can incorporate into the live show. At the very least the fun thing about having this Atari Video Music, and we tried this during The Lips show, is plugging it in and feeding it a signal from a couple of our synthesisers and watching it go.”

BY EMMA BERGMEIER

NEON INDIAN performs at Prince Bandroom on Friday February 24. Era Extrana is out now on Popfrenzy Records.

Friendly Fires

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 07:24:47 +1000

They're one of those “We have to go and see them!” bands. Why? Because the fact of the matter is, Friendly Fires understand what it means to entertain their audiences. With everything from their catchy tunes to Ed MacFarlane's ‘80s-inspired dance moves and quirky Hawaiian shirts, the Hertfordshire threesome are getting ready to play our very own Future Music Festival in just over a month's time for what will be their first live performances of 2012. Over a very delayed and cut-out conversation, I got the opportunity to speak to the band's guitarist, Edd Gibson, about all things Friendly Fires, the health risks associated with being in such a sought after band, and pre-stage rituals.

“It's an absolute pure joy to be headed back down there for...I guess the first gigs that we've done this year as well. We're trying to write [more songs] at the moment, but it's sort of nice to be in that space, and to have that quick trip to the other side of the world to look forward to as well – just to, you know, have some sort of excitement on the horizon as well.

“We've been going for ages now. I think I've been going in the band longer in my life than I have outside of the band. We all met at school and, not long after, we were in the band. I actually think that I was in the band before I could even play the guitar,” he laughs. “We started off playing happy pop-punk covers at people's birthday parties, trying to organise gigs...The music has just sort of kept us together. I think it helped us form our identity and kept us going for hours on end, but then we ended up at different colleges and, by that point, we'd been doing this for around eight years...We really just saw how far we could go with it ‘cause, yeah, I suppose it was one of those things where only time would tell.”

“We'd [be in the band] while still having crappy day jobs on the side, but then we got the offer from XL Records and we wanted to be part of their label, so we just went, ‘Yeah, let's have it.'”

In May of 2008, numerous songs of the bands became featured on various programmes, magazines and radio shows throughout the UK, but that wasn't where they stopped. The band's music even ventured as far as appearing on popular American drama Gossip Girl with their song White Diamonds. You know that you must be doing something right when all of this has happened and you haven't even released your debut LP yet. That came a little bit after, in September of that same year, when the band released their debut self-titled album, Friendly Fires; an album which Edd himself admits that the band toured for extensively.

Fast forward three years, and May of 2011 saw the band release their sophomore record, Pala – an album which many, especially Fires fans, can identify the difference between both records.

“Here's the thing, because we toured the first record for so long, we put [the first album] out, and then did the tour, and then we wrote Kiss Of Life. That song was just sort of meant to be a bridging single, and that was sort of a new thing for us without us writing an entirely new album.”

“The label really liked [the song] and it really caught on; I actually think that it was the first single to chart in the UK, so we sort of toured the album all over again for ages before we were actually given a chance to properly get in the headspace of writing in the studio again. I think it was only towards the end of the first record that we actually found something unique to us.

“I mean, we were influenced by the New York disco scene that was going on at the time. You know like DFA Records, LCD Soundsystem – we're really into that sound. I think more towards the end of [touring the first record], we really started to find our own sound.

“With writing, [we're not the type of band] that could just take an acoustic guitar on the road with us and sort of strum out the guidelines or blueprints for future songs. [We're the sort of band] that has to not be distracted or have anything that would get in the way of us writing. It takes quite a while for us to really hammer through a song. We'll probably be writing for a solid ten hours and just get totally immersed within it all. [With our songs] I think sometimes we always end up with the goods, I'm very pleased. I mean, every song that we start, we tend to finish, so I'm really proud of that fact.”

But, in the words of Uncle Ben from Spider-Man, with great power comes great responsibility. Despite the utter joy that the threesome get from writing, recording and performing their music, as well as the undying appreciation they have for their fans, they find that the job can be quite taxing on them.

“When we finish touring, normally everyone gets ill from about a fortnight to a month – I think it just all catches up with us...It can be quite a mind-fuck. When you're on the road, you kind of have to switch off in many ways because you are always surrounded by people for about 80 percent of the day, or you're waiting for cars, or planes, or waiting to go on stage.”

Is that enough to deter them from doing what they love doing, though? Not in the slightest.

“Being on stage is definitely the best part of the day. That sort of hour that we're up there is the best because you get to see other people besides your crew or your band, and we just have fun performing. You just get to throw yourself into it wholeheartedly.

“We're not too bothered about replicating the record [on stage] at all – live is something totally different for us. And even though we're up there sweating our arses off like Barry White on a regular day, we just get into throwing ourselves all over the place and just having fun with the crowd. That's why I like listening back to live recordings because things just get really chaotic. Sometimes I just get so into it that I'll forget what I'm playing,” he laughs.

For anyone that has ever seen Friendly Fires live, you'll know what I mean when I say that there has to be some sort of pre-show stretches involved. Have you seen Ed MacFarlane's dance moves? The man could easily take on Ian Curtis for the title of Most Eccentric Dancing Frontman.

“I think everyone does have their own little ritual to get hyped up. Ed [MacFarlane] sort of just paces back and forth, doing stretches and stuff like that. We also play some pretty loud music to just get into it and get the heartbeat up. I prefer to sort of think about what I have to do on stage so I make sure that I don't mess up.”

Having released their latest LP, Pala, in the earlier stages of last year, I felt compelled to ask the guitarist if we could expect any new material when they head down here in March.

“I don't know. We're desperately trying to write at the moment. We've only had a couple of weeks off, really, because we only finished our UK tour at the start of December. Instead of sort of getting up, Christmas shopping, we actually just got straight back into the studio to write some new stuff. But I think it will sort of be a while before we properly are able to perform the new stuff live. So, there's potential, but I don't want to get any hopes up.”

Okay, I'll accept that ambiguous albeit direct answer. How about any sideshows, Edd?

He laughs, “I honestly don't know, I hope so. I think [the Future shows] are all that we've got pencilled in for now, but you come all that way [to play in Australia], you'd want to make use of it. But as soon as one gets organised, I'll let you know.”

It's hard for you not to notice these guys. With tunes that will undoubtedly make your bums wiggle, your hands clap and your boots dance, the sound of Friendly Fires is unlike any other sound. And if you need, for whatever reason, some dancing inspiration, I can't stress enough – frontman Ed MacFarlane will lead by example.

Don't miss the opportunity to catch FRIENDLY FIRES play alongside the likes of FATBOY SLIM, SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA, CHASE & STATUS, THE RAPTURE and many more at Future Music Festival on Sunday March 11 at Flemington Racecourse.

Toro Y Moi

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 07:19:49 +1000

Better known as Toro Y Moi, Chaz Bundick is the mastermind behind what could be described as danceable music with a personal twist. Think classic soul meets '80s synth-pop, along with indie rock touches, and you're still hard-pressed to put a finger on his style. He's been cited as one of the artists at the forefront of the ‘chillwave' movement, the industry's favourite new buzz word, along with Neon Indian, Washed Out and the like. Talking from his home studio in California, the low-key and thoughtful Bundick is the all the bit the focused prodigy you would expect.

“I'm just trying to create an inspiring environment but other than that it's about the same,” he says of the difference between Cali and his native South Carolina. The creative environment seems very much an important factor for Bundick and his recording process. The physical location isn't important to the process but getting to travel to different places sparks ideas, he explains. “I get really inspired when I come back from somewhere, I get excited. When I'm out on tour I'm always looking for inspiration, experiencing as much as I can and comparing when I come home.”

Evolution is very much key, as Bundick looks for new ways to express himself. “It's more about trying to figure out what's next for me, like where would I go next in my career. I think about that a lot of the time, I try not to be too serious but it's a business now unfortunately. You have to be aware of what you're gonna do next.” Having the freedom to explore, without record label constraints is a plus for a project like Toro Y Moi. “[Politics] don't affect me at all creatively. We're with Carpark, which is basically one guy. Every once in a while he'll be like ‘maybe this song should be the single'. I'm always open to input but I have full creative freedom.” For many of the most acclaimed acts independent is the way to go, as a reliance on the major system decreases. “It's not really necessary to have a major label contract. You can do a lot on your own with [live] shows and the internet. It's not necessary to have that major label advance to get by.” Always a DIY artist, Bundick got his start by recording from home. “I still create at home, I did the last record [Underneath The Pine] at home. The only difference is I have people to mix it.” In the early days he amassed a large collection of tracks, however things have changed for him musically and creatively. “The recordings don't sound like what I'm doing now. A lot of that has to do with wanting to evolve and get away from I've already been doing.”

In the span of one year, from 2010's Causers Of This and 2011's Underneath The Pine, Toro Y Moi has seen his popularity grow while creatively he transitioned from a more loungy electronic style to more up-tempo, soul and funk-infused efforts. Bundick sees his latest effort as the continuation and evolution of his songwriting. “After Causers Of This I started exploring more hip hop elements and now I've found myself going more to where hip hop evolved from, like funk and R&B. So now I find my music going back in time. I find my music fitting in more with the R&B genre because I really have a strong connection to that style of music and that era of music. I think if you look back to music from the ‘70s that's where it's all evolved from now.”

While it may sound like a deliberate effort, for Bundick, it was a natural process. “It was more subconscious. When you look at what I was sampling on Causers Of This that really influenced my approach now.” Much like the pioneering DJs of hip hop it was the groove-based music of the past that greatly inspired him. “I found a way to connect everything and I felt like I was experiencing it firsthand. It's like the opposite direction, going from electronic to live instruments. It's been cool to have everything evolve to what it is now.” Ever the prolific artist, he's now looking towards his next project. While he couldn't impart many details fans can expect further exploration of his influences. “I don't know when it's gonna come out and when I'm gonna be finished with it but I've got a couple of ideas I've been working with. I do a little something and see where it goes then I come back to it the next day. II want to make the album different from the first two. I want it to come naturally as opposed to knowing when it needs to be done by.”

Bundick will be bringing the Toro Y Moi live experience back to our shores this January and February, as part of the stacked Laneway Festival lineup and on his own sideshows with the aforementioned Washed Out. “It's definitely one of my favourite places to go,” he says of Australia. Accompanied by his live band they will be putting a live touch on his catalogue. “We're pretty faithful to the recordings on Underneath The Pine, but as far as Causers Of This it's hard to replicate that sound so when we're playing that it brings out the songwriting more than the production.”

TORO Y MOI will play St. Jerome's Laneway Festival at Footscray Community Arts Centre on Saturday February 4, along with a co-headline show (shared with Washed Out) on Thursday February 9 at the Hi-Fi Bar. Underneath The Pine is out through Mistletone/Inertia.

Big Day Out 2012 - Ken West

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:57:53 +1000

Pacing fervently around the Flemington Racecourse, soon to be home to this year's Big Day Out with founder Ken West, it's near impossible not to be swept up within the whirlwind of the festival's astonishingly rich history. Since its inception as a Sydney-only festival in 1992 the self-professed ‘travelling circus' rapidly evolved into a nationwide extravaganza, underpinned by its devoted and fanatical followers.

Over the past two decades the iconic festival has hosted the likes of Nirvana, The Ramones, Rage Against The Machine, Metallica, Neil Young, Foo Fighters, Muse, Blink 182, The Strokes, Bjork, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Tool, just to name a few. It's been touted as one of the most integral parts of Australian culture, it's eternally shaped the landscape of our vibrant live music scene, and time after time, it's defined itself as the sovereign celebration of our festival circuit. Yep. The Big Day Out holds an undeniable legacy. Cherished by punters and performers alike, it's near impossible to elucidate the perpetual effect it has had on our nation.

“At the first show [in 1992] just after Nirvana had finished, I actually said that ‘I could die today and still feel as if I had achieved something amazing in my life'” West reminisces with a zealous passion. “Luckily I didn't” he laughs, “That's the proudest moment I've ever had. Where I've sat back and gone ‘Wow, I've just done something that's never been done before'. It was scary just how amazing that show was.”

That's not to say the festival has progressed without its share of difficulties, none moreso than those which have been over-scrutinised within the media over the past six months. But, semantics aside, who really cares? In a contemporary world possessing a dire economic climate, an oversaturated festival market and a constantly revolutionising music industry at the mercy of technology, it's all too easy to overlook the outstanding achievements of the Big Day Out, and in essence, it's true ethos – to be a celebration. And that's exactly what the 2012 Big Day Out – and every past Big Day Out – aspires to be. “I'm just seeing this as a very expensive degree course in updating my doctrine of music” jokes West amicably, “Even though it's self taught.”

Fast forward to 2012, and West explains that the Big Day Out is about to embark on its third chapter. The first taking place from 1992 until 1997, culminated by the year off the festival took in 1998, and the second taking place from 1999 until 2012. As the page turns to a new chapter in the festivals life, the recent partnership with C3 (promoters of Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits and thousands of other yearly concerts and tours) is promised to breathe new life into the Big Day Out. “I took it to a point in 1997 [the year proceeding the Big Day Out's year off] where I said, ‘This is too hard'. I feel like the tall poppy syndrome is going to kick in within Australia. I'm struggling with this'” divulges West, “The newspaper headlines after that tour read ‘Can't Keep Up The Standard, Not Prepared To Lower It'. That's where the Big Day Out position is always going to be, if we can't keep up the standard, if we can't deliver what we believe in, if we can't make the art versus commerce link properly, then there's no point in doing it.

“Therefore the recharging process with the partnership with C3 post this year is really exciting. I'm dealing with people in similar situations day-in-day-out on a global level. I'm not feeling alone anymore. This new partnership, this new world and new beginning is one of the most exciting moments of the past 20 years.”

“The C3 partnership is a very collective and creative partnership” West outlines carefully, “There's no more games anymore. We don't want to know about other things, other festivals, all we want to know about is the Big Day Out. We want to make sure that the Big Day Out is as unique as possible, and in a way that all of the changes on the structural, musical and technological sides of things are interlinked and embraced, so that it clearly remains a very important, relevant and needed event for the entirety of the music industry.”

But, before speculating on future developments, there's an unbridled celebration to attend to. With the 2012 Big Day Out welcoming a lineup which boasts the world's most revered hip hop producer Kanye West, the reformed and undisputed gods of grunge Soundgarden and one of the world's most gifted songwriters Noel Gallagher, just to scrape the surface, it's truly a multi-dimensional lineup worthy to soundtrack the 20th anniversary. “There needs to be treasures within the Big Day Out that you didn't know anything about but they end up being just amazing” smiles West affably. “It's an incredible collection of acts” he notes of the 2012 lineup, “Cherish what it is. I love this show, I love what it's done and I love its rich legacy.”

BIG DAY OUT celebrates its 20th Anniversary on Sunday January 29 at the Flemington Racecourse. Featuring the likes of Kanye West, Soundgarden, Noel Gallagher, My Chemical Romance, Royksopp and a hell of a lot more, it's going be a party to remember. See you in the D.

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:18:15 +1000

Ariel Rosenberg is ready to cut loose. After a long day of fielding interviews from his Los Angeles home, he admits to me, “After [this round of interviews], I'm going to get tanked. Hammered!” Rosenberg, who goes by the nom de stage of Ariel Pink, had an absolutely brilliant 2010. His latest album, Before Today had been released to very favourable reviews and his newly minted band Haunted Graffiti played around the world to sold-out crowds. Rosenberg is gamely chatting with me today about his thought processes and the long, winding path he had traveled to end up where he is.

He's been making music for quite some time. At the age of 15, Rosenberg began recording songs in his bedroom that were extensions of whatever music he happened to be listening to at the time – whether it was Michael Jackson, Billy Idol, Def Leppard or videos on MTV. “What inspired me [initially] was just the people making records, and that's the only reason!” he exclaims. “I didn't understand how there were so many artists out there, making so many records.”

His ultra-lo-fi and experimental recordings evolved as time progressed. “The songs just kind of mutated, and shit got heavier and heavier,” he laughs.

It seems that what Rosenberg was truly after in his recordings was, in a sense, a deconstruction of the popular music that permeated his upbringing. “I was always very cognizant of what I didn't want to do – I always wanted to be different and so [my music] wasn't so much an amalgamation of what I like as much as [it was] just a stage of what to avoid,” he continues. “I had this feeling, at a very fundamental level, that I wanted to write the most boring song, the [saddest] song; I wanted to write stuff that didn't matter, something that I could just cling to.

“I basically got my sound with a combination of using my ‘mouth drums' which was essentially an extension of my mouth, and then I had a bass guitar and I'd do my melodies with that, so it was all a very, very basic groove. The sound itself was very pedestrian; I wanted to make a pedestrian version of everything that might be considered ‘pop'. I wanted to put across a very, very weak and satanic world. You know, something that wouldn't be encouraged by anyone. Something that's more of a warning sign! I wanted to scare people a bit!”

Whether or not Rosenberg's compositions actually scared people is unknown. But they can certainly be described as challenging. Tracks such as L'Estat (Acc. To The Widow's Maid) and Round And Round, whilst certainly of higher quality than his earlier recordings (which were as “lo” as lo-fi can get), still provide a challenge to the casual listener with their avant-garde je ne sais quoi and an anything-goes, individualistic attitude.

When this writer posits that his music is an example of the artist staying true to his self and not watering shit down to the lowest common denominator, he is quick and vehement with his reply.

“I completely disagree,” he says bluntly. “You don't have to stay true to yourself at all – there's nothing there! I mean, what's ‘true'? You can try things out, and if you fail then you failed. So what, if you have a few duds? If you have one good song, you should be happy. It doesn't matter.

“Staying true to yourself really has much more to do with me, and my ego, and my peccadillos and what I have to say. I mean, those are the things I tell myself, and those are the things that are important to me, and they have very little to do with what people find they think about my music or what is ostensibly special about music. You can't do wrong if you continue to make music. People might ridicule you at some point, but if you just continue doing it without letting people get you down, then you're going to have the last laugh, you know?”

And when it comes to last laughs, Rosenberg has emerged victorious. “I think I was always ready to share my stuff with audiences,” he reveals when I ask him about his transition between going it himself and then sharing the stage with a proper band. “In the beginning, there were no hostile reactions; it was an extremely encouraging environment, and I thought I was good at [performing solo], so that's why I kept on doing it. But that was just on the local level, and about four or five years before I got signed. So I was probably at my most groundbreaking and my most confident, just doing the ‘karaoke' thing.

“And then as time went on, I started to strip down [the music] more and more; suddenly stage-fright started to rear its head and I started to put myself into very, very compromising situations by actually playing in front of people and not being prepared and not having a setup that can be easily described as functional – and then going on the road with that [setup] and having to weather all sorts of humiliation and discontent from people who were curious about us.

“Playing with different lineups, it was just diminishing returns, and it was less people showing up; and it was people thinking, ‘I just can't get into this.'

“I had to find a way to enjoy it,” he says after a brief pause, “and I realised what I had to do was to get a band of committed musicians and make sure it was an outfit that over time could commit and stay true to the music, the songs and the arrangements; having a band that was capable as well as prepared.

“It was all just a very gradual process,” he continues, “and when I did those things I got a band together so that we could make music, that I could enjoy my concerts and get to the point where I could have a real band and real chemistry onstage and get on a record label! That was cool! We did it in two years and – yep – mission accomplished.”

BY THOMAS BAILEY

ARIEL PINK'S HAUNTED GRAFFITI perform at the sold out Golden Plains Festival in Meredith from Friday March 10-12. There's also a sideshow at the Corner Hotel with special guests Lost Animal and Montero on Sunday March 4. Tickets can be purchased at the venue. Before Today is out now through 4AD/Mistletone.

Soundgarden

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 09:08:59 +1000

On April 16, 2010, Soundgarden played their first 21st century gig at The Showbox in Seattle. On the guest list were Eddie Vedder, Built To Spill's Scott Plouf, Exene Cervenka of LA punk legends X and Mudhoney's Mark Arm and Matt Lukin. “We were playing in front of an audience who were primarily friends, relatives and peers,” says lead guitarist Kim Thayil of the momentous night. “This is what constituted our audience for most of the shows in our early days. Then we started playing these bigger venues where of course that changes, so it was fun to be playing for the guys in Mudhoney.”

Soundgarden and a group of like-minded Seattle bands – Mudhoney, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Screaming Trees and Alice In Chains – inspired the grunge movement that emerged during the mid-1980s and found commercial success in the late '80s and early '90s. Relentless in their experimentation with alternative metal, hard rock and psychedelia, Soundgarden also boasted an indomitable frontman in Chris Cornell who raised the rock vocalist bar with his powerful wail and those darkly enigmatic, existentialist lyrics. Between their formation ('84) and acrimonious break-up ('97), Soundgarden released five studio albums, scored a number one record with Superunknown ('94), won two Grammy Awards (for Black Hole Sun and Spoonman) and sold over 20 million albums. To the delight of their diehard fans, the Seattle grunge legends reunited 13 years later.

As Thayil asserts, their performance at The Showbox was “a powerful experience” that reinforced the fact that reuniting was an inspired decision. “We played a few shows and there were promoters interested, and people who wanted us to play at Madison Square Garden,” he explains, “so we thought ‘look, we've had fun playing these shows – we should go on tour'. The interest was reciprocated.”

A dream come true for devoted fans, the reunion was also inspired by the group's desire to serve Soundgarden's catalogue and legacy. During Soundgarden's 13 year break, Thayil was able to reflect and appreciate the scope of their influence in the '90s. “Meeting a number of underground and indie bands coming up that were inspired or influenced by us without being imitative or derivative was really encouraging and satisfying to me,” Thayil expresses. “Bands like the Japanese band Boris or the band Ohm, Sleep and High On Fire... I love these guys.”

Returning to our shores for Big Day Out 2012 (Thayil also has relatives and friends here), Soundgarden will be headlining Australia's largest touring music festival for the third time. Even after all these years, Thayil is quick to recall many fond memories from those '94 and '97 Big Day Out festivals.

“I remember the first time we played, one of the exciting things was meeting the guys in Bjork's band, who were great guys, just wonderful,” Thayil enthuses, “and of course the Ramones – to meet and hang out with the Ramones all the time... we went on to tour with the Ramones here in Lollapalooza. And of course, the Breeders, Smashing Pumpkins... and on our next tour, we played with Prodigy and Urge Overkill.

“On our first tour, it was really exciting to meet the guys in You Am I and see them play,” states Thayil, passionately. “I remember running back into our dressing room and grabbing Chris and Ben [Shepherd], and saying, ‘Hey, you guys gotta see this band that's out there opening for us – these guys are like a cross between Nirvana and The Who. Chris, Matt [Cameron] and Ben were like, ‘Wow, these guys are great'. We had the opportunity to bring You Am I to the US and they did their first US tour with us.”

Not content with merely playing their classics, Soundgarden have been writing new material over the past year. New ideas began emerging as they were rehearsing old songs for the shows. “We were obviously trying to recollect our older material and that was a humorous time in itself because I might forget my own guitar parts, but I'd remember one of Chris' vocal parts or one of Ben's bass parts and they would remember my guitar parts,” Thayil laughs. “So it was funny what we remembered and what we forgot, but in the course of playing together in a room, it's very natural for us to kind of improvise and jam and come up with ideas. So while we're working on Spoonman or Limo Wreck or 4th Of July, we'd throw up some other riff and someone else will respond. It became obvious that we had that kind of relationship where we were naturally creative with each other, so we decided that we should commit to making an album. Initially, you walk on tip toes; you're not sure if people are feeling the same way that you are, but then you get pleasantly surprised when they all feel the same way.

“The first songs were written about a year ago and we recorded in March,” Thayil explains, “but of course our recording sessions are broken up schedule-wise because of the commitments that Matt has with Pearl Jam and Chris with his solo tour, so while they're on tour, Ben and I would work on guitar and bass and arranging songs. Then those guys come back and we'll develop other material, so we're getting close to the end of this record. We're still writing new material, but we're close to recording and tracking the basic instruments and lead instruments for a number of the songs, so we hope that we can complete the record sometime after Australia.”

Cornell has said that writing songs without bottles of Jack Daniels has led to longer and more cohesive sessions. “I think in some ways they're very similar, but in some ways they're much better,” Thayil affirms. “The way that they're similar is that there is a way in which we respond to each other musically. It's different because we are older. Ben, Matt and I still drink beer, but we wait till after rehearsal,” he laughs. “When you're younger, you're probably drinking beer as soon as you wake up. We're grown up now.”

Thayil's guitar playing has inspired rock devotees around the world and across generations, which also earned him a placing in Rolling Stone's Greatest Guitarists Of All Time (although he should've been higher). As Kim states, Soundgarden have “always tried to explore how to make really heavy, aggressive music without sounding like a bunch of knuckle-dragging meatheads” and the new songs have a very heavy vibe.

“[The new album] will be full of that dark psychedelia,” Thayil informs. “We were always working on redefining what ‘heavy' meant. We always thought that you could do a slow song and still have it be heavy. We always thought that you could take the distortion off the guitar and still do a song that's heavy by the mood or feeling that you evoke or can create. Music can be heavy without it being loud or distorted; by the same token, volume does help as well.

“We're still trying different approaches to songs and ideas, and trying to bring out that dark psychedelia, that heaviness that we were known for. You're not gonna see a party album or a pop album – we're the record that someone puts on when they want people to go home. We're not the record that you put on to get everyone dancing.”

Having your explosive Lollapalooza performance described as “a blueprint of the Seattle sound” must make them proud? “It makes us feel that we're doing something right – that we're accomplishing what we've always intended to do, which was to play well and write songs that we enjoy and that our fans would enjoy as well,” says Thayil. “It's great to find like-minded people out there who also like what it is that we're doing.”

As Soundgarden were one of the most influential bands of the '90s, how much fulfilment does Thayil derive from the knowledge that Soundgarden were a generation-defining band? “I love that,” Thayil expresses. “All the bands that are coming up now, I love these bands – I think they're inventive and interesting, and to know that they were fans of ours, that's a great feeling. Of course, we had similar feelings in the late '80s and early '90s when we had an influence on Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins and Alice In Chains. Nirvana were just one of our favourite bands for so many years – it's amazing to think that they were inspired or influenced by us. When we read in Rolling Stone that Billy [Corgan] had felt that way about our early records... that was also fantastic.

“To influence your peers – not just bands that are popular – but bands that you like yourself, it's like: ‘Wow, I like what these guys are doing and they're saying ‘hey, thanks – we like what you're doing'... that's a great feeling. It'd be disappointing if we were influencing pop acts or dance bands or knuckle-headed rock – that would bum us out, but to have an influence on people that we respect and enjoy is definitely fulfilling as an artist, performer and writer.”

SOUNDGARDEN headline Big Day Out 2012 alongside Kanye West and Kasabian. They also play a sideshow on Wednesday February 1 at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl with support from The Bronx. Live on 1-5 and their career-spanning retrospective album, Telephantasm, are out now through Universal.

Death Cab For Cutie

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 08:58:46 +1000

Looking back over more than a decade in the music industry, Nick Harmer sees a life well lived. While his band has risen to prominence as one of America's most beloved indie rock mainstays, the Death Cab for Cutie bassist has travelled the world ten times over. But it's a small world, he explains, and everywhere he goes, he runs into old friends.

“It's just really exciting to be part of this international community of people, of musicians, where you can sit back stage at a festival on a nice sunny day and have a long conversation with someone about touring and travelling and know that they really understand where you're coming from. I've really come to embrace and enjoy that feeling of camaraderie that you have with people who have chosen to make music with their life,” Harmer says.

With the release of their latest project last November, the remix album Keys And Codes, Death Cab have extended their social and professional network even further. Taking tracks from their critically lauded 2011 album Codes And Keys, the band asked an eclectic group of electronic artists to have their way with the Death Cab sound.

“We've talked about doing something like this for a long time, but for whatever reason, the source material never really seemed like it would lend itself to that kind of project,” Harmer explains, “When we finished Codes And Keys and we could see how the record was made in Logic – sort a modular recording process anyway, with parts and pieces clicked together – it seemed pretty natural to unpack that and give it to someone for whom, that's their forte. We wanted to see what different artists would get excited about and what interpretations they would have with the sounds we created.”

Although Codes And Keys itself was a more synth-oriented effort for the guitar-loving quartet, the remix project threw them into radically new waters. They worked with artists including Yeasayer, chameleon-like LA producer Dillon Francis, UK house/hip hop producers The Two Bears and Melbourne's own Cut Copy, and the results are surprising. With tracks ranging from Pet Shop-inspired pop disco to swinging funk to spacious drum and bass esoterica, Keys And Codes is nothing if not far away from Death Cab. But just because it isn't their style, doesn't mean they can't appreciate it.

“Not every one of the remixes on the EP would be what I consider my favourite thing ever, you know, but the ones that works for me, I love them,” says Harmer. “The thing for me is, while I don't really listen to a lot of that remix/dance culture of music out of my own aesthetic choice, when these remixes were coming back I was blown away at home much I really did enjoy them. In fact, there's a couple of remixes, like the Cut Copy one and the Some Boys one, which really showed me the song in a new way. They didn't feel like something I had been a part of to begin with, and that was a really powerful moment, to be removed enough from the music so that you lose the sense of yourself making it, that was exciting. I think they're super exciting because I know it came from us but I don't feel like I'm ever listening to my own band anymore.”

For Harmer, the remix project falls into the same process of artistic evolution that has always interested Death Cab. The band has always been curious about how their music intersects with other art forms, especially film, television and video art, with their work appearing everywhere from The O.C. and Six Feet Under to Mean Creek and Twilight – a highly commercial form of exposure that has never embarrassed the band.

“Our fans always have the albums to come back to, or they can come see us live, but there are a multitude of ways to explore our music and I like to be a part of encouraging that rather than limiting that, if that makes any sense,” Harmer says.

Death Cab's willingness to experiment has kept them enthusiastic over the years, and contributed to the fresh sound their most recent record. While producer and guitarist Chris Walla insisted on recording live to a 24-track analogue tape to make the 2008 album Narrow Stairs, his new fixation with computer-based recording programs meant the band could experiment more with overdubs and digital composition for the follow up record, pushing them in a significant new direction.

“The overwhelming majority of the demos that Ben brought to us for Codes And Keys were written on acoustic guitar or piano, but even the early ideas Chris had for recording had some synth in there,” Nick explains, “It just sort of made sense when we were exploring the songs in the studio to take what was originally a guitar part and maybe make that a synth keyboard line or move it into a stranger more textural loop that happens. All of the instruments we play are still present in Codes And Keys, but we use them more texturally. They seem to be a little more skeletal and decorative than they have in the past.”

Death Cab have been touring the last album for almost a year, and they are happy with how well the old and new material hang together. They're lucky, Nick says, that everything they have tried so far has worked out so well.

“You feel like being a successful musician is so big and so impossible sometimes, but here we are, ten years later, still doing what we love. We just concentrate on what is right in front of us. We still have ideas and we still have a lot of energy and we still love making music together and I think we'll keep doing it until there's nothing there any longer, until we've run out of steam,” he smiles, “I'm excited. I just want to see what tomorrow will bring.”

BY SIMONE UBALDI

DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE play the Palace Theatre on Tuesday February 21 (sold out) and Wednesday February 22. Both Codes And Keys and remix album Keys And Codes are out now through Warner.

Lamb Of God

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 08:53:05 +1000

Ever since their early days as Burn The Priest, Lamb Of God have utilised a no-bullshit attitude to ensure each album released has been a progression on its predecessor. They trumped the now classic Ashes Of The Wake with the release of Sacrament – winning both a Grammy nomination and a horde of new fans. Having set the bar high, they met the challenge with the organic and raw Wrath – scoring two Grammy nominations and cementing themselves as a cornerstone of modern heavy music. But when a band have ascended at such a consistent rate, how long can it last? I caught up with drummer Chris Adler to discuss the new album and the driving force behind machine that is Lamb Of God.

"'Where do we go from here?' That's a very daunting question. Coming out of Wrath we all weren't sure that we could do another record. Not physically, obviously we're not getting any younger, but it felt like we had really achieved what we wanted to achieve as a band. So, how do we beat that? How do we get the hunger –the edge – to stay relevant? It's obviously at a point where we could just kind of rest and just do what everybody expects us to do. But that's the last thing I want to do. There is no way we could leave the legacy of the band at the last album being all weird. We can't do that shit. We have to stay true to it or let it go and that's a hard thing for a band – or anybody with a career – to really stomach."

Having built a steadily growing fan base, it was always going to be a matter of time before LOG stopped being that band with the new sound and took their place as influential to the scene. However, with easier access to home recording gear there are more bands around than ever before. With new blood constantly entering the music world, how can an established group hope to remain relevant without knowing their place?

"It's brutal you know, but the music industry is very cut throat. Especially in metal, there is a new band every four minutes and they write the stuff the kids want to hear much better than the old guys do so we know where we are at, we know the place we kind of created in the scene, we know the impact that we have had on a lot of young bands. But we don't want to stop – our evolution is continuing. There will never be another Metallica. In this age with the technology and the attention spans, it's just not possible. Bands like ourselves, Machine Head, Slipknot, we've kind of created this second tier level behind them that makes sense with the technology of today and how far you can get. We embrace and appreciate that and realise how far we've come to be able to be a part of that, but also it makes us very much a target. We're not that underground cool band anymore. It's hard to root for us you know, we really have to fucking prove it. Especially now putting out our seventh record, we're very easily dismissed by the new heavy metal fan of being the good old guys. 'Ah you know, they've made their money and let's support this unheard-of Norwegian Black Metal band'. We know that and it adds to the pressure of: How do we continue to prove our relevancy and our credibility in the scene?"

It seems that LOG have reached a point where they aren't on the same level as big acts like Slayer or Metallica, but also not still on the rise to power like Trivium or Mastodon. This is a point in a career that sometimes spawns nostalgic acts, but one listen to Resolution – and I have been as fortunate to have more than just one – underlines LOG's intent. Vastly different to any previous record, it still retains the distinct LOG characteristics. It is the sound of a band pushing their limits, and Chris is adamant to keep pushing for as long as is necessary.

"I think every album has somewhat been a reaction to the album before it. With Ashes, we felt like it was a great album but it was missing some production quality, so we beefed up production quality for Sacrament. Then after Sacrament we felt like we beefed them up too much so we stripped it back for Wrath and tried to make this nasty and raw sounding album. We all felt like we had accomplished what we wanted to accomplish, so now we can really spread our wings a little bit and maybe improve upon things that we had introduced prior but not been able to really fully expand because we were so focused on the overall goal of heavy or fast or something like that. Now we felt a bit more free. But again, in the back of our heads, you can feel as free as you want but it's got to fucking kick the last album's ass or else you have to stop because you can't put out something that is any less in anyway to the last record or we start to become a nostalgia act."

After both hearing the album and talking with Chris, it is obvious LOG have a goal to surpass what has come before. "Name one band that you can say their seventh record is your favourite. None. There's none. So for us that was in the back of our head the whole time, like, 'How do we make this record as important as our first or second or third record?' Everybody loves a certain band because of their first record or second record, nobody is ever talking about a band's seventh record if they are ever lucky enough to do it. We're not in this for money, it's never been about money. We love the music that we make, we love being a part of this scene, we love contributing to the future of music and heavy music and it's an honour to be in the spot that we are and we don't take it for granted."

BY OSCAR SCHIESSER

LAMB OF GOD play Soundwave Festival at the Melbourne Showgrounds on Sunday March 2.
Resolution is out on Friday January 20 through Roadrunner Records.

Foster The People

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:04:58 +1000

It's 9.30 in the morning in Jakarta – but despite the entirely un-rock-&-roll hour, Mark Pontius is up and about. A year touring the globe has done many things for the Foster The People drummer, but conquering jetlag doesn't feature on the list. He has however adjusted to life on the road. Off the back of a three-week break in late 2011 (comprising the bulk of last year's time off), getting back into ‘reality' is made to sound harder than re-entering the touring lifestyle.

I should be less surprised; the Los Angeles indie rockers' recent tour schedule reads like the board at an international airport, while their US tours resemble attempts to cram the most shows into the smallest timeframe possible. As well as a mind-boggling number of frequent flier points, over this time the group have also accumulated a slew of reviews as acclaimed and confident live performers. “We don't get nervous,” Pontius tells me, albeit admitting to initial nerves as the band was starting out. “We worked really hard at it and we got comfortable almost right away – although we were playing a show pretty much every day for months, so we got used to it pretty quickly.”

We're not talking about small shows here either. While last January the group hadn't even made a festival bill, a trip to Coachella quickly remedied that, and as anyone who saw their show at last year's Splendour In The Grass can attest, it's an environment they seem to relish. “We love festivals,” Mark confirms. “There's an energy that happens with that many people at one stage. There's just something about having a festival crowd that's awesome.”

While unwilling to nominate a favourite between festivals and club shows, Pontius drops a few hints “The atmosphere [at a festival] is so big and everyone's there to party and have a good time. Even if you mess up it doesn't feel like that big a deal. When you're in smaller venues, you're kind of under a microscope and everyone's watching.”

Such scrutiny hasn't prompted them to shy away from smaller shows; 2012 is already heavily booked with tours, although notably there are a couple more breaks than the previous year. “I think you have to figure out a balance,” he offers. “We haven't really been able to work on music for our second album yet because we have been so busy [touring].” He's quick to defend the decision though; “It's been super important, if we hadn't done that, we wouldn't be where we are now, we wouldn't have the momentum that we have. I think the balance is just figuring out how to find the time to do that.”

With work on the follow-up to their debut full-length, Torches, due to begin in earnest sometime next month, Pontius highlights a few expected changes: “The first record was written in the studio and we had to adapt that to the live show,” he explains. “We had to find out how to play all these songs live, which was a really big challenge and was actually something great that we did as a band because we learned a lot. Being on the road and touring the record so much, it's really cool to see the songs transform into something else live and we really enjoy that.

“I think what we will want to do with the second record is pull some of that element into the studio and try to come up with ideas live and record live as a band and reverse the process I guess.” While nothing is set in stone, he's expecting this to result in a stronger live percussion element, fuelled by greater input from the original trio's two added live members.

Frontman Mark Foster remains the primary songwriter, but Pontius foresees some changes – from Foster and also the rest of the band. “There'll be a lot of experimenting and there'll have to be a balance between keeping elements of this first record but also doing something new.” After a year heavily touring Torches, he sounds keen for some fresh material. “We can kind of just throw everything against the wall and see what comes from it; there's no real limit.”

Indeed, the usual limitations that can apply to musical careers seem to have turned a bit of a blind eye to the Californian lads. Having rubbed shoulders with professed fans like Bono, Gene Simmons and (Pontius' personal favourite) Taylor Swift recently, and fresh from their first ever airport-to-hotel police escort yesterday, Mark muses on fame and how he had imagined it.

“It's a bit bizarre,” he confesses. “When I was younger and thinking about a career as a musician – it was the most obvious career ever. You play music and you go to different places to play music. It's so easy!” The folly of youth…

“There's a lot of work involved” he admits. “With all this fame, there's a lot of work involved to keep it going. I don't think any of us really expected any of this so quick.” He remains pragmatic about it though, “It comes with the territory; it's the same with actors and movies. You can't just make music and relax; it's not that easy.”One other emergent theme in Foster The People's career has been, oddly enough, Australia. Personally for Pontius, the connection goes back some years; a trip out here in high school sparked an attraction so strong that, before joining Foster The People, he was getting out of bands altogether and planning to move here.

He recalls the events of late 2009: “I hit a point where I was just done with it, and being in a band was not on my radar at all. I'd met Mark Foster at the end of that [previous] band [rock-hip hop outfit Malbec] and we'd been kind of working on something together, and once I'd quit that band Mark said, ‘Well, let's do this now.' I was super-hesitant and was actually about to move to Australia. I'd packed up and had this whole plan.

“But he turned me around and said, ‘Just give me two more months and focus on this for a bit. See what happens.' So he convinced me to stay for four months and in that time he wrote Pumped Up Kicks and everything kind of changed and I stayed in LA.” The rest, as they say, is history.

The decision doesn't appear to have restricted his time here either. The upcoming Big Days Out mark Foster The People's third trip Down Under in 12 months. “It's kind of weird because Australia took on the music first, somehow” he tells me. “Through the Internet, or whatever it was, and that was the first place that we decided we needed to go because there was an element of people wanting to see us.”

Many things may have changed for the group over the course of the last 12 months, but it's fair to say, with their hotly anticipated festival appearances and several sold-out sideshows coming up, the huge demand from Australian audiences is not one of them.

BY NILS HAY

FOSTER THE PEOPLE play the Big Day Out at Melbourne Flemington Racecourse on Sunday January 29, alongside Kasabian, Battles, Royksopp, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds and more. They also play a sold-out sideshow at The Palace on Monday January 30. Torches is out now through Sony Music.

Dillinger Escape Plan

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:15:56 +1000

With experience comes confidence and no longer being “the new guy” in the band, Greg Puciato isn't talking himself out of doing “weird” or “crazy shit” ten years since joining Dillinger Escape Plan. It's a right the band has earned ever since the beautiful chaos of Miss Machine and they certainly up the ante on latest effort Option Paralysis, as the singer explains.

“We're not really at risk of being swept out with the tide at this stage of our career. We've come to realise that we're not just going to wake up and nobody will care, and we've worked hard to get to this point. I still remember when I joined the band and I would do interviews and the questions would be like, ‘So what are you guys going to do in three years time, like, when you're not in the band anymore?'… Nobody thought we'd still be doing this, we never thought we'd still be doing this! We certainly never expected to make a living out of it, that's for sure. I can remember really vividly joining this band and I'd just turned 21! It's incredible because I've actually been doing this my entire adult life!”

The strangest thing, according to Puciato, is seeing other 21-year-olds and realising that once upon a time, he was just like that. And it makes him cringe, too, the singer adds.

“Totally! Sometimes when I see the younger bands I can see myself! It's not all of them, but a lot of them do get over-the-top. And I know that was me! I look at these guys and they're 21 and I just think, ‘You're still a child!' And they are, they are totally still kids. That was like me when I joined this band – I must have been totally as obnoxious and in-your-face and annoying. It does get irritating though, I know after a show backstage, they really get hyped up and I'm just thinking, ‘Please, settle the fuck down!'” Now in his early thirties, Puciato has earned the respect of younger bands and his peers, not to mention of his idols, too. Aside from Dillinger Escape Plan, the singer is currently in the process of penning songs for a brand new, all-star metal collective which also features Max Cavalera of Soulfly and Brent Hinds of Mastodon. In a nutshell, according to Puciato, think Nailbomb or along those lines at least.

“We're not planning to tour with that band at all,” he states. “It would just be impossible! The schedules that everybody has, it's not going to happen. For now it's just going to be a studio project between us, with the possibility of doing an odd show maybe just in LA or New York or something. It's amazing to be able to work with these people, though, it's something different for me. There's a lot less in-fighting! And I mean that in the best way possible. With me and Ben [Weinman, Dillinger Escape Plan guitarist], we clearly get a little too excited about the band sometimes because we've had some pretty heated conversations over the last ten years – like full-blown fights, really. There's always a big argument behind every song and album, and it's a wonderful thing! It means that we're both still very excited about this band, we're still very passionate and we both think our idea is the best one! So what you hear when you put on one of our songs is a musical version of me and Ben having a fight.”

The only time there is any kind of peace is when the band is on tour, according to Puciato – as getting any songwriting done at all is virtually impossible. Not that the band hasn't tried…

“It didn't work out. Every time we're on tour we say we're going to give it another shot, try writing some songs, just for efficiency's sake at least, but it just doesn't work. There is something about playing shows that drains you mentally and physically, your ears are completely beaten up from so much noise the last thing you want to do is pick up a guitar when you get off stage. Even writing is such a draining process for us! It takes us forever to write a single song because of me and Ben, we have to go through a million arguments along the way before we settle on an agreement. After that we get into the studio and then we argue some more – with the producer! After that… Well, you just never wanna record anything ever again.”

Fear not, however, as Puciato claims it's not just his new side project that's going to be coming out with an album release, new Dillinger material is on the priority list too.

“We've actually had quite a long break recently – well, if you want to call two months a long break, anyway. The last two years, we've just gone into a time-warp because we've been touring non-stop since 2009, so it's time to come up with some new stuff. Right now I'm looking forward to Soundwave, which we've done before, and there's seriously nothing like it in the world – at least in America. I remember when we were younger and poorer, we would try to save money so we would take the longest possible flights everywhere. That included Australia on our first visit. Just to try and save money, we added a bunch of extra stops, like New York and London and it took at least 40 hours to get there in the end. We left on like a Sunday and we got there on like a Thursday or something, so we're definitely never going to underestimate the distance again.”

DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN play Soundwave Festival at Melbourne Showgrounds on Friday March 2.

Steel Panther

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:23:22 +1000

“If I'm wrong, I'll only let two chicks suck my dick instead of the normal 5. That's how serious I am. Just wait. I ain't wrong.” It's the tweet which sparked one of the biggest local music stories of the year. Steel Panther drummer Stix Zadinia broke the news that the Van Halen-headlined Soundwave Revolution was no more, meaning Steel Panther would not be hitting our shores as planned. Luckily for us, the band will be making an appearance on the massive Soundwave 2012 bill, bringing latest LP Balls Out in tow. Brash lead singer Michael Starr lets us in on the creation of the new record, and how their postponed Australian visit played a part in its creation.

“Well after Stix tweeted it, that was his trip to rehab actually,” Starr reveals. “He'd been up for, I dunno, he says two days, but I think it was 14 days he was up straight. And he was just tweeting – tweaking and tweeting the whole time. It was the perfect time for us, because it gave us time for him to recoup, and to put the finishing touches on Balls Out. Everything worked out. The only bummer is that we didn't get to play with Van Halen,” he states plaintively.

With Van Halen out of the mix, the stage is set for Steel Panther to take the crown as reigning hair metal champions – not that they're out to replace Diamond Dave and co. “You know dude, I don't think anyone can do that – that's just the way it is. Van Halen is Van Halen. Our job is just to go take over the world with Steel Panther, maybe fill the void in a way where we're gonna bring some fucking extra juice to Soundwave with our style of music. Our style of music is a little bit different than everybody else's, in that we not only talk about what's really going on in the world – like, who doesn't want to hire an Asian hooker? You know what I mean? That kind of stuff. I really think that element is missing in today's music. We wanna bring that with us to Australia and really rock some balls,” he proclaims.

That quest to take over the world will see the band hit our shores for the very first time, bringing a stratagem of biological warfare in tow, it seems. “First we're gonna hit every continent. The first one we're gonna go to is gonna be Australia. The best thing for us to do is just lay down the groundwork with most of the slutty girls out there. Because the girls that are backstage and like to fuck are the kind of girls that not only spread diseases, but they also spread the word of heavy metal. So that's where we want to infiltrate – the vagina of Australia, and work that magic,” he declared with Patton-like resolve.

Last year saw the release of follow-up LP Balls Out, which doesn't exactly chart what you would call lyrical growth. “Both Balls Out and Feel The Steel are about partying and fuckin', straight up that's what they're about. Really to say that we've changed what we sing about, what we talk about – no, I think the difference you'll hear is that we've put more songs on it because we told the label ‘fuck you, we'll put more songs on it',” he reveals. “Then what we did, instead of saying, ‘Oh, what would Bon Jovi do?' we started saying, ‘What would Steel Panther do? We're Steel Panther now, what are we gonna do?' We had so many new experiences, like playing on the road, playing in Europe and Canada. I think that really inspired our guitarist Satchel, because he writes most of the music, it inspired him to write a bit differently. Then the contents of the songs, I dunno if they're that much fucking different, but at least they're a little more worldly,” Starr muses.

One of the album highlights stands to be 17 Girls In A Row, a track which opens with Starr wailing the memorable line “I fucked 17 girls in row last night / And ten of them gave me head”. As you would expect, it is an opus rich with metaphor. “Unfortunately for me, it's a metaphor because I didn't write that. Stix wrote the words for that one, that's his champion – he's the one that did 17 girls. But I gotta tell you just out of a little animosity, they were all fucking ugly. When you're fucking 17 girls in a row, it's definitely not about quality,” Starr states.

When Tiger Woods visited Australia in 2009, his world of “transgressions” famously became unstuck. But don't expect Steel Panther to meet a similar fate. “Well the cool thing about us is what we do – fuckin' chicks and partyin' – it's all there for all to see, where Tiger Woods was undercover. Which is why we wrote the song [Just Like Tiger Woods]. It was so cool for him to have this facade of this prim and proper golf dude, but on the side, behind closed doors, he's fucking hookers and lying and cheating and just doing heavy metal shit. Steel Panther will definitely get involved in that type of behaviour, but it's not going to be a surprise. It would be a surprise if we went over there and started playing golf and wearing polo shirts,” Starr declares.

STEEL PANTHER will rock the massive 2012 Soundwave Festival (sold-out), taking place at Melbourne Showgrounds on Friday March 2. The band also perform a double-headline sidewave with Alter Bridge at The Palace on Wednesday February 29 (sold-out).

The Naked & Famous

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 09:47:32 +1000

Listening to The Naked & Famous' track Young Blood makes me feel young and cool. I was at a 30th doing horsey bombs into a pool while the song was playing and although I seemed like a ridiculous try-hard, it was fucking rad. A doctor said to me once, "Running naked under a sprinkler is fun when you're a little kid but you grow out of it," and I was like, "Where's the nearest sprinkler?"

Earlier this year I got some phone time with the The Naked & Famous' vocalist and keyboard player Thom Powers who is the founding member of the Auckland based five-piece. Powers was in Seattle when we spoke. "Yeah Seattle is pretty awesome" he shares gently, "But just the whole US tour is amazing."

After forming in 2008 the band came to notoriety off the back of the popularity of the aforementioned song Young Blood. Powers had this to say about the track, "There's times in an artist's career when they kinda' stumble upon something that is kinda' of the moment, I mean I do feel like I'm setting myself to come across as," Powers trails before, finally, taking the compliment and acknowledging the song has the fucking zeitgeist dripping from it. "Yeah I guess it does have that thing about it that really resonates with a lot of people, it'll be fantastic in ten years if people will look back and say that song was really cool, that would be wonderful. I like the idea of creating something that means a lot to people."

Powers goes deeper into the origin of the song telling me about the feeling when Alisa came to him with the keyboard line - one of the most exciting factors of the song. "She was just sitting playing around on the keyboard and then we put it on the computer and started playing around with the keyboard lines and stuff and writing chords to go with it and it just developed so quickly."

However, the band are more than just one song with their 2010 album Passive Me, Aggressive You picking up seven awards at The New Zealand Music Awards in 2011. Another song off the record that has got a big response from fans is called Punching In A Dream with its challenging keyboard arrangements, driving bass-line and soaring verse that pushes Xayalith's unique voice into the stratosphere of the listener's mind. "It was the most difficult to write, that was a song we were working on for weeks and weeks, day and night, to just try and make it work. I mean the demo was quite simple but we knew if we pushed it hard enough we could turn it into an epic pop song."

He now lets us in on the fact that even though they are very proud of the finished product, at the time it was tough to keep perspective on getting the song recorded. "It was actually such a miserable process and so stressful and I think that is an element of how the song turned out with its sense of urgency and feeling that you are ploughing through something." The very well spoken New Zealander even sounds slightly out of breathe as he reflects on this gruelling song writing process.

Looking forward to their next record Powers offers this: "We're not a band that want to repeat ourselves so the new material that we're working on at the moment we are really pushing to do something different." He continues explaining that although the new material will be different, it won't be so different that it will alienate fans of their Passive Me, Aggressive You. "We're not about to do a big 180 degree turn and bring out a jazz record. I never really understood how some musicians talk about how much they hate their old stuff."

Powers now discusses the band's Parklife tour from earlier this year, explaining that even though the band got a huge response from the audience it still hasn't sunk in how big they have become. "I don't feel massive anywhere. I think as a New Zealander it's not really in our nature to think we're big rock stars." He now tackles the Australia/New Zealand rivalry: "I don't think there's massive difference between our two cultures, you make great coffee and I love the food culture over there, it feels like home."

Powers then puts his modesty slightly to the side and talks about how great it is when other musicians tell them that they like The Naked & Famous' music. "Just a couple of months ago Mark Ronson was talking about us on Twitter which was really lovely, I mean just a few years ago I was working at a record shop and putting the CDs on the shelf of these artists who are now telling us that they love our music; it just really puts it in perspective!"

Staying on the topic of live shows, Powers gets into the difficulty of reproducing the band's sound live. "Look some aspects of a song sound slightly different but we've been doing live electronic music for so long I like to think that we can pretty accurately reproduce all the sounds that went into Passive Me, Aggressive You.

"Our set up is so fail safe and the reason for that is that Aaron, who is the keyboard player, was a very well paid IT professional before he joined the band."

The Naked & Famous [NZL] play Future Music Festival alongside Swedish House Mafia [SWE], Fatboy Slim [UK], New Order [UK] and more on Sunday March 11 at the Flemington Racecourse.

Girl Talk

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:45:19 +1000

Change is in the air and Gregg Michael Gillis knows it. Better known as Girl Talk, he'll eventually get to the paradigm shift in pop music. But at the beginning of our 25-minute conversation, Gillis is focused on a different kind of change: that of the approach of the new, shortened NBA season and players like LeBron James building “super teams” comprised of more all-stars than not.

“People have changed teams in the past, sure. But this was just such a major change in the way teams are run. It's such a big deal for [LeBron James] to do that, because he could be opening the door for this to become the trend: building these super teams. Who cares where you come from? You're just trying to build these teams in order to win a quick championship. And in a sense, it's the end of a certain era of basketball. LeBron could have ushered in this change and that could potentially suck. As a fan of the sport and a fan of people keepin' it real in general, I feel like there really isn't any other option.”

Whether Gillis, a massive basketball fan, was speaking cryptically and allegorically or not, it's hard not to read into his comments and draw a parallel. The way Gillis constructs the songs and albums he releases has drawn equal parts criticism and praise. By mashing samples containing intense hooks from some of pop's most popular songs of the past, Gillis has created a culture that's endorsed by club-goers yet reviled by purists he's not so much “creating” music so much as he is constructing it based on the success of others. He's the musical equivalent of a chef who borrows proven recipes from famous chefs, throws them together and calls it a creation all his own. Or, he creates “super songs.”

Gillis isn't impervious to the moral dilemma associated with his music. But he isn't hung up on how his music is perceived; Gillis is more concerned with the bigger picture. How music has changed, the direction music is headed and what caused said result.

“There's no right or wrong way to consume music. People get hung up on being like, ‘The music of 30 years ago was right. The industry and the way people listened to music, that was right,'” he says whilst adopting a snotty tone. “But I'm more excited about a general change and people having access to anything. At any point, whether it's the hippie movement of the ‘60s, punk in the ‘70s, hip hop in the ‘80s – that all stems from a general cultural change and the way people chose music before them, but also with the technology available. We're definitely going through one of the biggest changes of all time with the digital revolution. Young people growing up are approaching the idea of making music in a totally different way. And to me, that's exciting, because things definitely weren't right per se in the ‘90s or the ‘70s or whatever. People shouldn't listen to songs that are 20 minutes or 30 seconds long. There's no smart or dumb version. Things are going to move forward. There will always be reactions to that. In the ‘80s, when things were shifting towards more pop music, perhaps that created the platform being set for Nirvana to come through. These things are all a result of what happened before it, good or bad.”

The current shift in the music industry towards an instant accessibility of songs certainly creates the issue of pop music being very temporary and replaceable. And Gillis is at risk of contributing to that culture; in predominantly using hooks and choruses and samples, there's an element of attention deficiency in his musical creations which is often soaked up by his club-going fans.

Yet Gillis is a fan of long players and feels that his music is sometimes misunderstood. While he uses short samples, he's still after a result that is more permanent and, essentially, meant to be taken in with patience.

“I like a lot of progressive rock, like Yes and Rush, where it's very quick yet technical. That sort of music, like Yes, while it's always changing, they still write 18 minute songs. So people would never associate it with attention deficiency. And when I make my albums, I make them as a whole. The last album was a 71-minute song to me. The only reason I broke it up was to make it easier to navigate through. I'm definitely pushing for a more long-term listening experience. To me, the albums are not about hearing a one second clip. Sure, there's the technical aspect to it, but when I sit down to make it, I'm thinking about the beginning and the end, there's peaks, there's valleys. I have no problem where music is going and how it's becoming more ‘single' based. But with the last three records, for me, it's been important to make something that people can listen to from beginning to end.”

Change is not always a welcome idea. But Gregg Michael Gillis seems ready not only to welcome change, but grab it by the balls. The results might not always win over everyone, sure. There is a strong element of Girl Talk that is not content to just ride the wave; he's ready to understand what creates the wave.

“I want to make things that are good and have a fan-base, but there's also the desire to change things. And wanting to put something there that is confrontational, maybe even in a way they don't understand. There are people that don't enjoy it, simply because it's pop music. But then you're missing a major point, because you don't understand where it comes from.”

Girl Talk plays Big Day Out on Sunday January 29 at the Flemington Racecourse. He also hits The Palace on Tuesday January 31.

Dan Deacon Ensemble

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 10:35:16 +1000

It's around 6pm on the last day of 2011 at a sun-drenched amphitheatre at Falls Festival in Lorne. A gathering of a few hundred punters are bent down on one knee, pointing directly at a prematurely-risen moon, reciting a harrowing poem dictated to them by one Dan Deacon. It's an entrancing power which Dan invariably permeates within each and every one of his renowned live sets, dishing out instructions for a string of child-like activities - of which the crowd gleefully indulges. While one might have the tendency for a Freudian dissection on the phenomenon, Dan offers a more grounded appraisal.

"Maybe people just had better times when they were younger, and I'm showing them that they can have just as much fun now," Deacon states on the phone from Mistletone HQ, where he is putting the finishing touches on the follow up to 2009's Bromst. "Childhood was cool, but adulthood is cool too. I think why people long for a period of time that's different than their current life is that they're not appreciating the current period of their life. I loved being a kid, but the whole time I was a kid I just wanted to grow up. As soon as I was that age I wanted to change that age, then I just started thinking about age and time. I don't know what Australian culture is like, but American culture is about wishing to be something that you're not. I just started getting into the idea of getting older and being older, and how age doesn't really reflect youth. That's just sort of how I often think about me. I don't think is the human condition, I think it is the consumerist condition. I don't know if people felt like that years ago, maybe I'm wrong. I think a lot of it was the Church imposing on fun and freedom, and everything had to be so puritan and the spirit was really squashed. But I think the human condition and the human spirit wants to be free and wild and fun. But at the same time, it's short. There's a reason why people mature. Fun doesn't have to be irresponsibility, which I think goes hand in hand with being young. You can still have fun and be youthful without being irresponsible," he philosophises.

I'm speaking to Deacon on a monumental date, marking the end of the gestation period for his third studio LP proper. "Today's the final day of mixing," he reveals. "It should be out sometime in May or June. It's hard to say what to expect - I hate expectations. I'm not prepared to answer that question," he laughs. "I'm too wrapped up in it to look at it yet. I don't know if it reflects a greater musical life - which is to move toward acoustic instruments as well as electronic instruments. The last two years, while writing this record, I was working on a film score, and my first piece for an orchestra was performed, and two large-form percussion ensemble pieces. So I started really getting interested in the acoustic sound, the timbres that can be created with those instruments as well as computers. I think that sort of reflects the direction that this record took."

Though still steeped in electronic tones, Bromst marked a decidedly more organic approach than the breakthrough Spiderman Of The Rings. It's a progression that gains more prominence on the upcoming album, as Deacon explains. "Yeah I think they're organic. There are like 75 different definitions for organic these days. It's not sustainable," he laughs. "I think the way I write music, any sound is valid in the way it sounds to me. I used to write exclusively electronic music, because that's all I really had the means to record. I didn't have microphones or the facilities to record acoustic instruments, nor did I have the funds to record them. Now that I have that available to me, it makes more sense to utilise them and add them to the palette."

Though it's been a few years since Bromst, Deacon has kept busy with more than a few extracurricular pursuits, some of which shaping the upcoming record. "I went to school for composition, so I had the faintest of memory of what I learned in school in the back of my head. But I sort of approached it the same way, trying to reach a certain level of density. Density is probably the main thing I'm thinking about when I'm writing music. The film score [for Francis Ford Coppola's Twixt] was different, because there was a long-distance collaboration with the other composer involved - I had to fit the confines of the film, it couldn't go off in its own direction. It had to play along with the narrative that was being presented in the movie."

The upcoming Mistletone Fright Night showcase presents the opportunity for Deacon to perform alongside John Maus once again, an artist who also explores the possibility of art within pop. "John and I have played a few shows together, mainly in the UK. I'm looking forward to seeing him and his performance - he's an awesome person to be around," Deacon beams. "Both of us have a background in composition. I think both of us like to view pop music as just another valid form to create art within. I feel like a lot of people view pop music as entertainment, but there's definitely viable art in there and I think John's really great at mastering that artform."

DAN DEACON ENSEMBLE perform alongside John Maus, Rat Vs Possum, Jonti, Montero and Parking Lot Experiments at Mistletone Fright Night, taking place at The Corner on Friday January 13.

360

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 08:52:06 +1000

It might sound corny as all hell to talk about vision boards and the law of attraction, but in Matt Colwell's case it's definitely not baloney. Also known as Aussie hip hop phenomenon 360, the rapper reckons his biggest challenge right now is thinking up new goals to accomplish in the New Year. A Top 5 ARIA-charting album? Check. Bringing in New Year's Eve on stage at Falls Festival? Been there. Taking out [V] Artist Of The Year? Done that, too. What could possibly be left to add to Colwell's brand new ‘to do' list? Another album, of course…

“I've always been a firm believer in that kind of stuff – like, visualising what you want and setting goals and making lists,” he admits. “I've always believed that if you believe it, it can happen. This year I found out that that stuff actually works. I had a think about all the things that I wanted and I wrote down a whole big list of goals. One of the goals was to debut a Top 5 album on the ARIA Charts. Another goal was to play the Falls Festival and I got to do that this New Year's Eve – that was just incredible, it was amazing. I also wanted to have a triple j feature album. I wanted to make a certain amount of money within a year, and it turns out that everything that I'd written down I actually ended up achieving, all of it. It's weird, I know. I am officially a full believer in that shit. The only thing now is that I need to make a new list!”

While Colwell's hugely-successful debut album Falling And Flying is still very much fresh to our ears, the rapper stresses the importance of staying one step ahead. Living in the moment is all good, but planning for the future is absolutely necessary.

“One thing I definitely know is going on ‘the list' is to have a brand new album out by the end of the year,” Colwell states. “The way it's looking right now, this year is going to be mainly about touring and my biggest goal would be to try my best to break it overseas, but I know it's also one step at a time. I have done two rap battles internationally already, one was in the U.S. and another one in Canada, but to have the right impact you have to go about it a different way. My main focus is Europe. But I also feel like I'm really in the zone and like I've got a creative buzz at the moment. I've been writing a lot lately and I can tell you it's leaps and bounds ahead of the stuff on the current album. People who know my music know that I usually write about very personal stuff, it's all coming from my own experience.”

Dealing with his new-found fame is proving to be a predominant topic, as Colwell reveals – and while sometimes he admits he feels a little “hassled,” he also acknowledges some negative things come with the territory and are to be expected.

“I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining because I know that there are certain things that come with having success, like having people recognise you. I guess I never expected it to be the way it is. There's some songs that deal with going from nobody really recognising you to suddenly having everybody notice you. I'm still getting used to shit like that. It's not too bad but people can start coming up to you and sort of not leave you alone when you're just out trying to do stuff. You've got to look at it from a positive perspective – if people are recognising you out on the street it just means that they're hearing your music and they know what's going on with you. I've also recently quit drinking and partying too much – it's actually been three months for me now, which is good. I've been writing about that experience too. I guess I could say that I started having a bit of a problem with alcohol and that stuff.”

Despite his upcoming national Boys Like You tour, Colwell reckons he's confident he can keep up the good work. You don't need to be smashed to enjoy yourself, after all, and as Colwell points out, his touring buddies only have his best interest at heart anyway. “I know it's going to be a really fun tour because I've got all my favourite people onboard,” he enthuses. “Gossling will be coming along for most of the shows, and her performance is just mental. She is such a talent. Also Pez is doing some shows and I'm really hoping that maybe we'll even get Josh Pyke to do a guest appearance, that would be awesome. Pez and I go way back, we first met when we were 15-years-old and we used to play for the same basketball club. It's funny because I knew that he liked hip hop and he knew I liked hip hop but neither of us knew that we could both rap. When we realised it, we just decided to try and make some tracks which went pretty well. We're really close, actually, at one stage I even moved into his house and I lived with his family for about three months. In a lot of ways when I think about it, it was really Pez who even got me to start doing this. I started rapping at 15 but I always thought of it as a hobby kind of thing. I only start thinking about it seriously as a career when I got to about 20-years-old. I was an apprentice carpenter at the time and Pez said to me, ‘You need to quit this and focus on music – I reckon we can definitely do it'.”

Pretty much the next day Colwell took his best mate's advice and admits he's never looked back since. Some people just enter your life for a reason and some things are just pure destiny, as he points out…

“I'm not really sure how else to explain everything that's happened. On top of that, I've been so lucky to have the kind of family support that I have had, I know that not many people get that especially when they're trying to turn their hobby into something serious. Mum and dad were a little bit concerned at first, but only because they wanted me to make sure I had something to fall back on just in case, but they've been so supportive of me. I just said to them, ‘Look guys, just give me a couple of years, I want to give this a real try and I know that it will work', and so they did, and they are so proud of me now.”

And things can only get better from here on in, as Colwell points out, having kicked off 2012 in very fine form, not only at Falls but with a recent win at the [V] Awards. “That's pretty special, yeah,” Colwell says. “I think it was out of 50 or 100 people or something. Basically, it went through the first stage of voting, then down to the Top 10 and then down to the Top 5 and it's amazing that I actually beat out people like Gotye. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that many of them didn't really go hard on the social media thing like I did. When it comes down to voting, dudes are going to win if they get their hands on the social media and really work that side of things. It's just how it is these days. I really did my best to put it out there and get people to vote as much as possible, and I ended up getting Artist Of The Year. So yeah, I think it's probably both to do with destiny but also taking things into your own hands.”

360 brings his Boys Like You tour to The Corner Hotel on Saturday March 10. He is also playing the Push Over Festival on Monday March 12 at the Abbortsford Convent. Falling And Flying is out now through EMI.