Tag Archives: June 2010

The Bank Holidays “Sail Becomes A Kite” CD Review

Review by: Victoria Nugent

  When listening to sophomore album Sail Becomes A Kite by The Bank Holidays, I couldn’t help but smile. The Perth band, made up of Nat Carson and Bekk Crombie on guitar, James Crombie on bass and Stuart Leach on drums, clearly has a talent for producing delightful indie pop. The songs on Sail Becomes A Kite are largely reflective and sweet, with buoyant moments shining through as well. There’s a reason why this band are considered Perth’s pop darlings, producing some amazing, highly enjoyable music.

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The Break @ The Globe, Brisbane June 24, 2010 – Photo Gallery

Photographer: Gerry Nicholls
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The BreakThe Break

Photo: Gerry Nicholls

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The Break @ The Globe, Brisbane June 24, 2010
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The Go Between Bridge Concert – Brisbane June 25, 2010 [Photo Gallery]

Photographer: Matt Palmer
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Julia StoneRobert Forster

Yves Klein BlueJohn Steel Singers
[Photo: Matt Palmer]

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Artists: John Steel Singers, Bob Evans, Yves Klein Blue, Josh Pyke, Robert Forster, Angus & Julia Stone
Venue: Go Between Bridge, Brisbane
Date: June 25, 2010
Continue reading The Go Between Bridge Concert – Brisbane June 25, 2010 [Photo Gallery]

Audio Interview with Jeff Waters of Annihilator

Interview by: Ben Hosking
Annihilators’ Jeff Waters talks with Ben Hosking [LifeMusicMedia] about their new self titled album, touring, Hellfest, signature guitars and so much more. Jeff Waters opens up and gives us great insight into Annihilator – past, present and future.

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John Waters – Brel @ Playhouse Theatre, 25th June 2010 [Live Review]

Review: Lana Harris

  The piano player starts up, an accordion bursts in, and by osmosis of memory into reality, the room is filled with a cloud of collective audience thoughts of France. Personal artistic journeys for one, a package holiday with Eiffel tower earrings for another, access to the iconic baguettes and berets for those who haven’t been. This is the invocative power of Jacques Brel, a Belgian musician and artist who created his songs in the language of love. Never heard of him? He is mostly known in the English speaking world through his songs which have been translated and interpreted, but performers of these works include Frank Sinatra and The Dresden Dolls among many others. John Waters’ memories of Brel and his works start from a hitchhiking experience in France where Waters overheard a street musician playing a song whose passion captivated him. The song was Brel’s.

Since that time Waters has embellished the original experience by seeing Brel perform live, and Waters now tours his own shows of Brel’s works. He performs them “as often as I can” and they are brought to Brisbane tonight as part of QPAC’s week long cabaret festival.

A broad selection of musicians have been gathered to help Waters convey the magic of Brel. The singer performs with an accordionist, pianist, percussionist, saxophonist and two guitarists, some of whom jump to other instruments as the songs necessitate. Waters moves like a marionette to their sounds, arms extended, hands waving, rake thin grey suit legs twisting and flicking at the mercy of his tapping, rolling, springing feet, French phrases spilling indiscriminately from his lips. He performs the first song with no introduction, using humorous gestures to convey that the song, in part at least, is about wine and women. Fortunately for those of us who do not speak French, the rest of the songs are introduced by Waters’ summary and interpretation of their lyrics. Waters, who has a background in acting as well as song (most recently, he was part of the TV movie UnderBelly: The Golden Mile) delivers these synopses alternatively in humorous, dramatic and irreverent ways, and the stories become as much a part of the show as the music is.

The first tale we hear is about a man, losing his virginity. In the army. In the Mobile Military Brothel. Waiting in line for the occasion, he listens as his commander yells out ‘Next!’ at irregular intervals until, shuffling forward naked except for a towel, his first foray into the carnal world is anointed with a case of venereal disease. “Looking back, the man sees his place in the world ‘Next!’, as one of the endless line of the following and the followed ‘Next!’, never to be number one.” It’s not easy to tell how much of the poetry is in the song, and how much comes from Waters’ skilled translation. The song and sounds that follow are more light and jaunty than seem fitting given the tale told beforehand. The next tale speaks of love, not new love but old love, the love between people who know all of each other’s tricks, how the games are played and how they end, and yet still retain play and passion “knowing its okay to grow old, but not to grow up”.
This tale is told with musical worship, all minor scales and melancholic yearning chords, complemented by the French verbs and accents falling from Waters’ lips.


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Even death was covered in the wide ranging themes: one tale started with a dead man reflecting on his life as he lay awaiting his funeral, another focused on the concept of the last meal, a last life experience, a last drink and love and irreverent yell at God and the bourgeois – Waters finished this performance by giving the finger to the crowd. While the songs themes were not always clearly linked to the sounds which accompanied them, it was interesting to note the format of the songs did not swing from verse to chorus and back again, but ebbed and flowed without a strong pattern
except for a swelling of sounds and emotions at the appropriate places in the often emotional tales. This was most evident in a song which Waters described as “Renoir on acid” – imagine a painter on drugs transforming the colours into words and rhymes. The music was a maelstrom, starting with a funny waltz introduction before invoking rich brass sounds, becoming forceful and frantic and building to a raucous, drunken finish as Waters hurtled his voice into the crowd.

Waters performing Brel was mind expanding. Experiencing songs without the burden of lyrics but with a poetic description of the intent was a unique experience which allowed both the beauty of the tales and panache and verve of the music to be appreciated separately. This was enhanced within the jazz styled form of following the story with the music rather than constraining it with choruses. Waters combined the best of his acting and voice talents to present an intriguing, amusing and enjoyable evening of cabaret.


“FAME – The Musical” @ The Lyric Theatre, QPAC June 22, 2010 [Live Review]

Review: Lana Harris
The general rule is that you can recycle a trend around about every thirty years. The late ‘90s saw the return of super flared jeans and platform shoes adapted from their 1970’s incarnations, and the final years of the 2000-2010’s saw 1980’s revivals turning everything fluro again, including ruched skirts and the accessories holding big hair in check. As the wardrobes of many of the theatregoers tonight attested, the 80’s success Fame: The Musical is ripe for a comeback. Bucking usual trends, Fame (the movie) actually came out first, then a TV series, and then the musical, and it’s worth noting that the story is not the same as the movie.
Continue reading “FAME – The Musical” @ The Lyric Theatre, QPAC June 22, 2010 [Live Review]

Train @ Enmore Theatre, Sydney Monday June 21, 2010 [Live Review]

Words and Pics: Ben Hosking – www.hoskingindustries.com.au
TrainHaving missed all but the closing bars of opening act, Victoria’s Ryan Meeking & The Few thanks to the perpetual and chronic lack of parking in Sydney’s Newtown and Enmore areas; I got into the warm and cosy confines of the iconic Enmore Theatre just before San Francisco chart botherers Train took to the stage.

Formed in 1994, the group shot to fame with their smash ‘Drops of Jupiter’ – a track that won them two Grammy awards and made the album double platinum in the US. After a three-year hiatus, the band returned with its latest album, ‘Save Me San Francisco’ in 2009 and is currently owning the Aussie charts with the single ‘Hey, Soul Sister’. Now that we all know who they are, it was a surprise to see the Enmore at less than capacity, considering that it isn’t the biggest venue in the city. Regardless, it was a pretty busy evening, with the audience full of well-dressed folk of wildly disparate ages- mainly female and in very fine voice each time vocalist Patrick Monahan pulled a rock move or hit a high note.
Continue reading Train @ Enmore Theatre, Sydney Monday June 21, 2010 [Live Review]

Cassette Kids @ Oxford Art Factory, Sydney June 18, 2010 – with Howl and Kids of 88 [Live Review]

Review: Ben Hosking

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Cassette Kids

[Photo: Ben Hosking]
  It’s 8pm on a Friday night in busy inner-city Darlinghurst. Yet here we are, presented with an awesome parking space right next to the Oxford Art Factory (OAF) where Sydney darlings Cassette Kids are due to take to the stage in just a couple of hours. Supported by New Zealand’s Kids of 88 and Victoria’s Howl; it was to be an interesting night of music, full of pop, and at times dance-infused rock.

First up was NZ’s Kids of 88 who tonight were boasting a full band line-up including a live drummer and guitarist. This more organic delivery of well known electro tunes such as ‘Ribbons of Light’ and ‘Just a Little Bit’ had the rapidly growing crowd moving. The group provided a lively and entertaining performance that will no doubt win them some new fans this side of the Pacific.

Continue reading Cassette Kids @ Oxford Art Factory, Sydney June 18, 2010 – with Howl and Kids of 88 [Live Review]

Nikko, Mr Maps, AXXONN, Loomer @ The Zoo, Brisbane June 18, 2010 [Photo Gallery]

Photographer: Stephen Goodwin
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AXXONNLoomerNikko
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Cassette Kids @ Oxford Art Factory, Sydney June 18, 2010 – with Howl and Kids of 88 [Photo Gallery]

Photographer: Ben Hosking
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Cassette KidsCassette Kids

[Photo: Ben Hosking]

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Headliner: Cassette Kids
Supports: Howl and Kids of 88
Venue: Oxford Art Factory, Sydney
Date: June 18, 2010
Continue reading Cassette Kids @ Oxford Art Factory, Sydney June 18, 2010 – with Howl and Kids of 88 [Photo Gallery]

Ash Grunwald + The Blackwater Fever + Band Of Frequencies @ The Tivoli, Brisbane June 19, 2010 [Photo Gallery]

Photographer: Rachael Dale
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Ash Grunwald
Band Of Frequencies
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Review: So Frenchy So Chic: Nouvelle Vague, Berry @ The Powerhouse, Brisbane June 14, 2010

By Denis Semchenko

  If indulging in French chic ever seemed like a good idea, The Powerhouse on the last day of the Queen’s Birthday long weekend certainly has a solution: the two-part musical program called So Frenchy So Chic and designed to bring the spirit of Montmartre to the River City. And so, as the French say, bienvenue – we’ve arrived to get our dose of Parisian charm.

At the Turbine Platform, the amount of hipsters in the crowd initially makes me think I’m on the set for The Bedroom Philosopher’s video – perhaps a similarly-themed follow-up to the notorious Northcote (So Hungover) – but we’re here to watch music rather that mingle with the trend-followers. For the first part of the evening, our host is the diminutive chanteuse Berry. Backed by two leather jacket-wearing, colourful-looking guitarists – one with long dreadlocks,

another in shades (making him look like a cross between an old-time gangster and a French cabbie), she sways and smiles as she sings the chansons from her French hit album Mademoiselle. Continue reading Review: So Frenchy So Chic: Nouvelle Vague, Berry @ The Powerhouse, Brisbane June 14, 2010

Album Review : Anathema – “We’re Here Because We’re Here”

Review: Ben Hosking

Listening to UK band Anathema these days, it’s hard to believe that they once toured alongside groups such as Paradise Lost, Cathedral and Cannibal Corpse. Formed in 1990 under the moniker of Pagan Angel, the group signed to Peaceville Records – the same group that was home to other legendary doom metal bands of the time.
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Butcher Birds @ The Step Inn, Brisbane – June 11, 2010 [Photo Gallery]

Photographer: Stephen Goodwin
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Butcher BirdsButcher Birds

[Photo: Stephen Goodwin]

Acts: Butcher Birds
Venue: The Step Inn, Brisbane
Date: June 11, 2010

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