Archive for December, 2015

Noiseweek: Neurosis, Baroness, Chelsea Wolfe, Primitive Calculators + More

Friday, December 18th, 2015

The sights, sounds and words of the week in noise.

Neurosis have announced a return to Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio Studio to record their eleventh full length, and added more dates to their US and Europe tour schedule for 2016. Founding member Scott Kelly is also setting out on a string of solo dates with Colin H. van Eeckhout of Amenra in Europe in January.

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Speaking of Steve Albini – listen to the man himself in a wide-ranging conversation with Woody McDonald at Melbourne’s Wheeler Centre last week. Great stuff.

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File under: quirky xmas presents for the hirsute metalhead in your life (see also last week’s Weedian figurines) – Norway’s Borknagar have launched their own line of beard oil. Made up of “a blend of 100% natural and highest quality jojoba, sweet almond, hazelnut, castor and hemp seed oils” Borknagar’s beard oil will be no doubt be filling stockings all over old Norse territory.

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Sub Pop’s Best of 2015 lists are pretty hilarious too.

READ

Stage fright hasn’t sidelined singer Chelsea Wolfe | CNN
“Performing was something that I had to learn. I could barely handle being onstage for the first few years, and it’s the reason it took me so long to start my career as a musician,” she said. “I started writing songs when I was 9 years old but didn’t release an album or do a tour until I was 25.”

Streaming War Pigs: Apple, Tidal, Spotify, & The Year In Music Services | Stereogum
“And with that, you’ve got the story of streaming in 2015: artist as product or artist as propaganda. Like Zuckerman’s Famous Pig in Charlotte’s Web, musicians today are being fattened either for slaughter or for show, but make no mistake: The beneficiary of all this shiny pink flesh is Zuckerman.”

The Near-Death Of Raves: The Fate Of Independent Music Venues In 2015 | The Quietus
“The pressures on independent musical and cultural spaces are also symptomatic of more fundamental threats to under-represented and marginalised groups within society. There’s the soft bigotry of rhetoric around “British Values” and the like, implying that cultural worth is singularly-defined and divergence fundamentally suspect.”

LISTEN

Baroness – Purple
Out today, making a late entry on a bunch of end-of-year lists, and streaming in full for you here.

Primitive Calculators – ‘I’m Fucked’
More snarling synth-punk from one of the originators of the genre – their trademark misanthropy and willingness to tell it like it is on display once again.

Black Tusk – ‘God’s On Vacation’

The seasonally appropriate first taste of the Georgian trio’s final release recorded with founding bassist/vocalist Jonathan Athon, who died in a motorbike accident last year. Equal parts stoner sludge and hardcore crossover.

WATCH

Deaf Wish – Live on KEXP
Melbourne’s Deaf Wish making an unholy racket on the Seattle public radio station on their recent US tour.

Baroness – Making Purple

A 11-part making-of video series in case you want a bit more release-day hype.

Brian Cook’s Top 10 Albums of 2015

Thursday, December 17th, 2015

Brian Cook of Russian Circles and Sumac (among others) kicks off LIFE IS NOISE’s end-of-year countdown with some of his faves from 2015.

There was a lot of good stuff happening in 2015. But whenever I start making these year-end lists I gravitate towards the stuff made by friends and colleagues. My top ten albums for the year should probably include the excellent records made by Metz, Chelsea Wolfe, Deafheaven, Mutoid Man, Marriages and Coliseum, but I wanted to pick albums by artists that I hadn’t toured with, so here’s what I was left with (in no particular order…)

Alcest – Shelter
Alcest shed all vestiges of metal on this album and wound up with the kind of lush melodic record all these new shoegaze bands are trying to make. I know this record was kind of a tough sell for Alcest’s old school fans, but I would think that anyone that dug the Manchester sound of the late 80s/early 90s would eat this up.

Jackson C. Frank – Remastered & Unreleased
Life isn’t fair. And poor Jackson C. Frank was dealt a particularly bad hand. And while a few sad bastard audiophiles have long held his minor hit ‘Blues Run The Game’ close to their hearts, his recording career was pretty much forgotten by the time he passed away in 1999. Childhood trauma, schizophrenia, and poor health plagued his life and kept him from releasing any proper full-length following his debut. Ba Da Bing Records managed to cobble up 67 tracks from his career, from early traditional standards to a set of sparse demos for a comeback album that never materialised. For me, the most engaging songs are from those final demos, where Frank manages to craft a handful of songs out of the same few chords and one fingerpicking pattern. The guitar work across ‘Bull Men’, ‘Maria Spanish Rose’, ‘Singing Sailors’, and ‘(Tumble) In the Wind (Version 2)’ is almost identical, but Frank makes each song heartbreaking in its own way.

Mára – Surfacing
Over the course of several years, Faith Coloccia of Mamiffer recorded piano and vocal demos in her home on Vashon Island when winter storms would knock out all the power on her property. Maybe they were going to turn into Mamiffer songs. Maybe they were just little creative exercises. But after being tucked away for a couple of years, Coloccia dug up the songs and released them under the moniker Mára. Try and listen to ‘Love and Infinity’ and not tear up.

Mount Eerie – Sauna
Phil Elverum’s work has always been an exploration of music that operates on the periphery of pop culture. And yet these eclectic elements always somehow make sense within the context of his soft-spoken experimental folk music. Sauna is a particularly diverse record for Elverum, with nods to drone, black metal, and Terry Riley-esque arpeggios all sitting nicely together.

Napalm Death – Apex Predator – Easy Meat
I stopped following Napalm Death after their 1996 album Diatribes. But I checked out Apex Predator on a whim and was hooked right away. I guess I thought Napalm Death had settled into some fairly safe mid-tempo territory back in the mid-90s, but Apex Predator sounds like the kind of vicious, discordant stuff that could’ve found a home on Hydra Head. Brutal and smart.

Native North America (Volume 1): Aboriginal Folk, Rock, and Country 1966–1985
Back when Myspace was still the primary way musicians were presenting themselves on the internet, I used to investigate bands based on their location. I remember wondering if there were bands in Greenland, and, sure enough, there were a handful of young’uns with electric guitars cranking out some really weird permutation of rock music out in the coastal towns with names I couldn’t pronounce. I’ve always been intrigued by bands that come out of remote or isolated regions. What kind of sound comes out of those cultural bubbles? So when I stumbled across this vinyl boxset compilation, I was intrigued. What exactly was going on in the northernmost inhabited areas of North America? Turns out, there was a lot of Neil Young and CCR worship. But there was also some gloriously sloppy garage rock by some Inuit kids in a band called Sugluk, some devastatingly sad protest music from Willie Dunn, some kitschy surf rock from The Chieftones, and a slew of other strange variants on pop culture. The opening track by Willie Dunn, ‘I Pity The Country’ is worth the cost of the collection alone.

Royal Headache – High
Good songs. No frills. These guys sound like someone else. Maybe it’s The Small Faces? I dunno. I’ve never really delved too deep into The Small Faces catalog, but whenever I hear High, I feel like I’m listening to a classic record from yesteryear. I feel like I should have a really perfect reference point for this band. But they’re not flashy enough for a Stones comparison. They’re more gritty than The Kinks. Maybe that’s what these guys were trying to do—they were trying to fill that gap in rock history, before punk slathered everything in distortion but after all those soulful garage bands started slashing up their speakers.

Thee Oh Sees – Mutilator Defeated At Last
I included this mainly because I think ‘Web’ is one of the best songs of 2015. I mean, the whole record is great, but they could’ve rocked that krautrock beat and psych guitar lead for an entire side of the LP and I would’ve been totally fine with it.


Turnstile – Nonstop Feeling
I should not like this record. Imagine a combination of Snapcase, 311, Gorilla Biscuits, maybe even a little gloomy western twang on ‘Love Lasso’, and filter it through 80s thrash metal production. Then slap some artwork that looks like a Spin Doctors demo on it. It’s so absurd that I kept listening to it. I couldn’t figure it out. What were these kids trying to do? What were they listening to and why did they think these sounds worked together? Granted, there are a few moments where it doesn’t work (I can’t handle the 311 moments in ‘Can’t Deny It’), but as a whole Nonstop Feeling sounds like a bunch of kids who didn’t care what was cool and made something genuinely interesting out of their disparate interests.

Xibalba – Tierra Y Libertad
It sounds like Covenant–era Morbid Angel decided to form a hardcore band. So good.

Wilco – Star Wars
When you’re a band that’s been around as long as Wilco, and you have those records that have entered into the canon of classics, it can be tricky to write a new album that can rival all the warm fuzzy feelings we’ve attached to Summerteeth or Yankee Hotel Foxtrot or A Ghost Is Born. So forget that those records exist for a moment. Now put Star Wars on. Give it a few spins. See? It’s an amazing record. Stick with it long enough and you’ll get all those warm fuzzy feelings whenever you hear ‘Taste The Ceiling’ or ‘Where Do I Begin’ or ‘Magnetized’.

Noiseweek: Weedians, List-o-mania, Sunn O))), Oneohtrix Point Never + More

Sunday, December 13th, 2015

The sights, sounds and words of the week in noise.

Wondering what to get for the Sleep fan who has everything this Christ-myth? How about one of these incredibly detailed Weedian figurines? Dopesmoker cover artist Arik Roper worked with Unbox Industries to get every last detail right, down to the vape tanks. They might not ship until January, but who actually cares about christmas anyway? Meanwhile, Sleep keep adding dates to a Summer 2016 Europe tour which now includes Roskilde, ATP Iceland and Les Eurockeennes Festival in Paris in July.

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Speaking of the European Summer (almost), the mind-boggling Roadburn line-up just got a little more insane with the announcement that Converge will perform their 2001 masterwork Jane Doe in full at the 2016 festival, “for the first and last time”, as well as a special collaborative set Blood Moon “focusing on the band’s slower, more ambitious work”. They join Neurosis, Paradise Lost, Cult of Luna, Black Mountain, G.I.S.M., Full of Hell and a ton more at the festival in April.

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It’s that time of year – the lists keep coming. Spoiler alert: Windhand taking top spot on Consequence of Sound’s Top 25 Metal Albums of 2015 list; LA’s Volahn getting top spot on LA Weekly’s Top Ten and you should probably just read The Quietus’ 100-strong best of 2015 list. We’ll be rolling out our own lists from Thursday.

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READ

Enduring Love: Why Swans Are More Vital Now Than Ever | The Guardian
“Speaking as a journalist, it is difficult to ignore the amazing stories that have built up round the band over the years. Once, for example, an unfortunate sound guy made the mistake of asking the singer what he wanted the band to sound like. He replied: “Like this” and punched the hapless engineer in the chest.”

Phil Anselmo And The Business Of Heavy Metal Horror | Forbes
“A revered figure in metal who continues to draw live audiences, Anselmo gladly leverages his own brand to promote his Housecore artists by having them open for headlining tours with his own bands like Down and The Illegals. Fully aware of the effect his name has on his business, he actively strategizes how to use it to serve the label’s agenda.”

A Crushing Embrace With The Earth: Ecological Sound In 2015 | The Quietus
Sound and music also have key roles to play in this process, through highlighting the complexity, intimacy and emotional texture of the relations between ourselves and the rest of nature. In her 2015 paper Geopolitics And The Anthropocene: Five Propositions For Sound, political geographer Anja Kanngieser argues that sound makes visceral, even comprehensible, aspects of the world that normally lie beyond our perception.

LISTEN

Sunn O))) – Kannon
It’s here. And it’s immense, as you’d expect.

Extreme Misanthropy Crew – Revelations One
Featuring members of Sydney’s Making and Tanned Christ – nasty, noisy improvised post-drone.

Florian Schneider – ‘Stop Plastic Pollution’
The Kraftwerk co-founder samples a dripping tap as part of his bit to stop the Great Pacific garbage patch as part of the Parley for the Oceans campaign.


WATCH

Dinosaur Jr. – ‘Forget the Swan’
As part of a seven-night stand at NYC’s Bowery Ballroom to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their debut LP Dinosaur. Guests each night have included Kevin Shields, Jeff Tweedy, Mike Watt, Kim Gordon, Lee Ranaldo and Kurt Vile among others. Can we have a Deep Wound reunion next please?

Oneohtrix Point Never – ‘Sticky Drama’
All the end-of-year lists can be overwhelming, then you catch something you somehow slept on. Daniel Lopatin’s ‘Come to Daddy’ comes with its own prologue video.

Prologue

Video

Interview: Tom Scott of Sydney’s Black Wire Records

Friday, December 11th, 2015

Black Wire Records is one of Australia’s more vital institutions when it comes to nourishing underground musical talent. It’s helped to incubate a long list of varied and dynamic bands including Royal Headache, The Bennies, Smith Street Band, Oslow, Mere Women, Canine, Ted Danson With Wolves, and H A N N A H B A N D. Each year it opens its doors to tens of thousands of punks, rockers, grindheads, folk singers, indie kids, noise artists, prog freaks from the Con and all other forms of musician and music-addict.

I sat down with Black Wire’s Tom Scott to learn more about the history and ethics of this vital DIY space. Our wide ranging discussion touched on the final days of Paint It Black, gender diversity, the state of Australian music, the digital revolution, and how one can reconcile DIY punk ideals with the reality of operating a business in capitalist-consumer society.

Deep Heat. Credit: ZK Photo.

Lachlan: How did Black Wire Records begin?

Tom: That’s a good question but a difficult one. I guess it’s been a natural progression. I started running a record label, Deplorable Records, around 1998. I was starting to get into underground music, but none of my friends liked anything that I was into.

I am massively socially awkward, so it was really hard for me to go along to shows by myself. I felt like I had to justify my presence there: I didn’t want to be someone just standing at the back and passively observing. The music was special to me and I wanted to be involved.

Starting Deplorable Records justified my presence within the community. I’d have a box of records on a trestle table at the back of a show — it was like a security blanket. Then after a little while I started to put on shows.

Lachlan: What were some of the more memorable shows you organised early on?

Tom: I can remember putting on shows at Hornsby PCYC with bands like Heart Felt Self — who were My Disco before they became My Disco. They’re still a really special band to me.

Back then it was completely normal back for those sorts of bands to be playing with groups like Deadstare and Far Left Limit. I don’t think anyone really analyzed it that much at the time, but in retrospect when you’re looking through flyers, the line ups were a lot more diverse. Not in a forced way, it was just a natural thing.

Lachlan: Do you think the music scene has gotten more fractured over time thanks to the proliferation of sub-genres?

Tom: Absolutely. Obviously there are people who break out of that, but I see it a lot more. At Black Wire it’s really pronounced. For two shows that seem to be intrinsically linked there’ll be two completely different crowds which is weird.

But then at the same time, I think if you force different bands together, that often doesn’t work. People just come to see that one band they like and then all fuck off out the back when the other band is playing. It’s a weird thing. I would like to see more mixed bills, but if you start trying to force it to happen, it doesn’t work.

Lachlan: So you did Deplorable Records for a while. When did you first start a storefront?

Tom: It was the very start of 2004. Deplorable turned into Appliances and Cars, named after the I Spy song that I adore. When we opened up a store that was called Paint It Black. The initial collective was probably about four people, maybe five.

Arafura. Credit: ZK Photo.

Lachlan: How did that collective work?

Tom: Very haphazardly.

Lachlan: Did everyone pitch in to various degrees depending on how much they wanted to be involved?

Tom: That was the idea. Much of it was amazing and worked really, really well, but then there was a whole side that didn’t work at all. It was a weird scenario in that we were all relatively young and had ideals and a strong sense of ethics… but when you apply that to an actual business… well, we were all adamant that it was not actually a business.

Most people — even in the collective — are only used to dealing with a scenario where people dictate things to you. People are very stuck in that employer-employee dynamic. We didn’t have a cult leader or a figure head kind of thing. It just gets to a point where without any kind of clear cut guidelines, for lack of a better word, operating becomes a bit weird and tricky.

Anyway, we were just near the corner of King Street and Enmore Road for about three years. After a while we started doing shows — it was a tiny shop, just tiny.

Lachlan: How many people could you fit in there?

Tom: I’d say 20 tops. Shows would frequently spill out onto the street. We were in the main thoroughfare for people coming from the station going towards Enmore. It created a few problems.

It wasn’t like one day I said “I’d love to do shows, let’s go and try and do shows.” Being a record store we’re dealing with a whole lot of bands and labels. We found a lot of bands wanted to play in Sydney but couldn’t — bands that we really loved and thought were really important had nowhere to play. Pubs were just being shitheads and weren’t booking bands, so bands would just not play in Sydney. We were like, “Oh, fuck, we’ve got to try.”

Self interest was a part of it; these were bands we wanted to see; they’re friends that we want to help because it made us feel good. It’s not entirely selfless.

After a while it became fucking impossible because the shop was tiny and heaps of people wanted to do stuff. We ended up leasing 22 Enmore Road a few doors up — which is where Black Rose is now — and started doing shows there. That went on for about two years.

All said and done, it was a fairly positive exercise. It all worked and we were able to see some amazing shows — some of the first Eddy Current Suppression Ring shows and things like that. This was in the early-to-mid 2000’s.

Eventually it became impossible to maintain. People in Newtown are shit. It’s a couple of generations back now, but there was a social group that fancied themselves as liberal, free-thinking individuals. They moved to areas like Newtown because of the appearance of culture that they wanted to associate with — but then, when that culture didn’t quite align with what their perception of it, they got really shitty.

Last Chaos. Credit: Lee Stefen

Lachlan: Are you talking about noise complaints?

Tom: Noise complaints and people used to complain constantly about people — the appearance of people. We’d have a few somewhat decrepit looking punks hanging around. They would complain about them. They didn’t fit in with what their idea of what the culture of Newtown was.

It was so frustrating. I was at a point where I would have to go to the Newtown Police Station before every single show and give them my phone number and say, “This is the show. This band is playing at this time, this band is playing at this time, this band is playing at this time.” Even with all of that done, there would still be constant complaints.

It was also the people who came to our shows. I’m sure there were scenarios where the complaint was completely valid, but obviously how you interact with people is important. There were a few people who were kind of representative of us, who just acted like shitheads. We lost all of our high moral ground and it just became untenable.

Lachlan: How did that all work out then?

Tom: We basically just handed the lease of 22 Enmore Road over to Black Rose. Then, very soon after that, we had the massive feud with our landlords. We were subleasing from our neighbors. It was awful… We ended up moving a bit further up Enmore Road, towards Enmore Theater. That was an even smaller shop, but we still did a couple of shows there.

We had bands like Taipan and Snake Run play, but around then we started shedding people. Then we were hit by the decline of the compact disc. CD prices and sales started dropping… that, coupled with interpersonal problems, meant Paint It Black crashed.

It ended with chained and padlocked doors and us losing a bunch of stuff. We blurted out a bunch of things and then I turned up and the guy was actually changing the locks and padlocking the doors. I was like, “Oh, fuck, mate. Can I just grab a couple of those things?” He was like, “Oh, yep no worries. You got to do it in 20.” We quickly grabbed as much shit as we could.

Lachlan: So that was the end of Paint It Black?

Tom: Yes, and it was bleak. The collective was still operating in a business framework, so we were still susceptible to rent increases or the decline of CD sales. We were deliberately underpricing things and were trying to be as ethical as possible, which just fucked us up. It’s not like I would have done it another way. It’s just how it ended up.

Lachlan: How did you go from Paint It Black being shut down to opening up Black Wire? How long did it take?

Tom: I don’t know exactly. It’s a weird and bleak period for me. It probably took about a year. I just had to gradually piece my actual life back together in terms of my living situation and being able to pay for food which took a little while.

The first two weeks following on from literally being locked out and having no option., it’s like, “Oh well, it’s closed. It’s shut.” That first two weeks was almost this euphoric sense of relief just because this massive weight off of my shoulders. I was so relieved.

Then, after a couple of weeks, what do you do? Paint It Black was such a big part of my identity and how I perceived myself.

Lachlan: It leads back to what you were doing in 98, you going to shows and you said, “I need to have a function and place in the scene.“

Tom: Exactly. That’s exactly it. Then all the sudden I didn’t have a place again. Obviously, I was in a slightly different position because I was more knowledgeable in how it all worked. After a little while, you’re kind of like, “Oh, fuck. That’s all I want to do.” So within a really short space of time, Bridget and I started piecing together the framework of what Black Wire would be. We didn’t have a mission statement or a big ideology thing. A lot of it didn’t need to be stated. It was always going to be a part of anything we were going to do.

Lachlan: What were some of those principles or ideas?

Tom: Just the idea that we didn’t exist primarily to generate income for ourselves. We wanted to help bands and put on shows — the fact that we needed to generate income was secondary.

We couldn’t afford to live in Newtown or Enmore anymore. A lot of people we knew were being pushed out to Summer Hill, Ashfield and the other side of Marrickville due to rent increases. There was a dramatic shift in the population of Newtown. We had to look for places that were further out.

Spite House. Credit: ZK Photo.

Lachlan: How did Black Wire begin? Did you have any experiences that helped rekindle your faith after the Paint It Black experience?

Tom: Not really, no. The night before we opened, I got a really serious head injury from a show at the Sando when they had that shitty fucking stage with the lip on it. I got taken out by the Taipan dancers and fell onto the stage but smashed my head on the lip of it. At the same time, I was holding a beer so I managed to spill the beer all over myself. Then got hospitalized while covered in beer so everyone was like, “Oh, it’s the drunk person with the head injury.” Actually, it was my first beer.

So the night before we opened I got this really, serious head injury. As a result I can’t actually remember much about the first few shows.

Lachlan: Were there any spaces in Sydney, across Australia or internationally that inspired what you were doing?

Tom: No. Not to say that those spaces don’t exist, but we were just doing what we felt needed to be done. We weren’t based on any other model or anything.

More recently, there are a few ideas I like — such as the Japanese model of having backline provided for all bands. I’d really like to do that. Then there’s the European model of actually feeding bands — making sure touring bands get fed after every show. These are things that we’ve been trying to do the whole time, but in terms of an actual existing space that we’re imitating? No, not really.

Lachlan: I’m guessing back at Paint It Black, you didn’t have a lot of support from the local council. Do you feel like you have that bit more now?

Tom: Not necessarily. Back then, it’s not like we didn’t have the support of the council — the council was just nonexistent. All of our dealings were with the police directly. We had no dealings with the council whatsoever.

Lachlan: So if you called the police and let them know what you were doing, things were largely fine?

Tom: Yeah. Newtown police are a bit weird in that they tend to get a lot of the younger new recruits in to get trained, so you get some weird shit going on there. On the whole, they were alright.

Even prior to Paint It Black, any dealings we had with council — when we’re doing shows at Newtown Neighbourhood Centre — were always adversarial. The council only existed to make things harder and worse.

Lachlan: Was this is a couple years ago when you experienced all that legal trouble?

Tom: Yeah. It all came from one vindictive neighbour — which is something every venue has to deal with.There is a minority of extremely vocal, disgruntled people who make issues.

We’d been so used to this dynamic of ducking and weaving to avoid the council, but we finally had to engage. As I’ve gotten older I started to realise that we have agency. The council is supposed to be representing the community of which you’re a part of.

Still, initially it was impossible. It was the most bureaucratic bullshit I have certainly ever encountered, but we were eventually able to find some sympathetic people — which is not to say the sympathetic people helped us coast through or anything. Having sympathetic people meant that they were able to explain the absurd hoops that everyone’s being made to leap through.

We were also really lucky because we had friends on radio and in print that were supporting us and who called out the council publicly. If that hadn’t have happened, I don’t know what position we would be in. It meant that the council were forced to engage with us on somewhat equal terms.

Lachlan: I had an interview Kegan of Space Bong and FALSExIDOL Records recently. His perspective was that while there was a time where institutions like Black Wire could work with government and receive some kind of support through funding or otherwise, these days the government is a lot more antagonistic towards these spaces, which in turn makes it harder for these collectives to exist. Do you agree with that?

Tom: I think it varies dramatically, not only between states and local councils, but also within the people that you’re dealing with on council.

It’s strange when you’re dealing with the council. We’d get emails from them talking about how they love arts and culture, kids, and all kinds of shit. Then five minutes later you’ll get an awful email demanding all kinds of shit off of you.

Lachlan: Do you agree that Australia has a problem acknowledging or honoring arts and culture?

Tom: Yeah, absolutely. Arts and culture in general, but Australian arts and culture even more so. I don’t know why it exists, but I know what I’d do about it though — exactly what I and most people I know are doing about it: championing Australian arts, music, and culture.

Burlap. Credit: ZK Photo.

Lachlan: It’s almost fashionable to have a pessimistic view on the future of Australian music, especially live music. Do you buy into that?

Tom: No, no. That goes back into the cultural cringe I was talking about. People are quite happy to go on about some band from Philadelphia being amazing, because somehow they’re more exotic than a local band.

I don’t buy into it at all. It’s absurd. The bands in Australia, at any given time — but certainly at the moment — are, to my ears, at the forefront of what’s going on globally.

People who are pessimistic about Australian music; they’re coming from a good place and they’re trying to argue for something like more funding, but the way they’re doing it is dismissive of everyone who is already trying to strengthen and develop Australian music.

Lachlan: I have a few friends who all used to play in bands ten years ago, but they’ve since fallen out of the loop. They’re always eager to proclaim that there are “no good bands around these days”. I always want to reply: “I haven’t seen you at a fucking show in a decade. Don’t talk to me about a lack of bands.“

Tom: Yeah. It’s like, “Punk died as soon as I stopped going to see the one punk band that I like, so therefore punk is dead.”

Lachlan: How do you think the Australian music scene has changed in the last couple of decades?

Tom: That’s a good question. It’s hard to say because I don’t get reflective very often. There’s a lot that I care about historically that I revisit and stuff, but in terms for what’s actually changed, it’d be hard to identify.

Lachlan: Well, for example it seems like the era of rock bands playing in pubs is coming to an end.

Tom: Yeah, you’re right. There used to be heaps of jazz trios playing all along this stretch (in Annandale) almost every night of the week. Parents and older people would always be going along.

Lachlan: This is probably a dumb question, but are you optimistic or pessimistic about Australian music?

Tom: I’m absolutely optimistic. I don’t want to sound like a lunatic, but I’m hugely optimistic. There are bands around now that I adore, and I think are really important not just in terms of Australian music, but music internationally.

But it’s not just about the bands who exist right now either. I’m excited about bands that haven’t even started yet. I’ve seen a sequence where kids aged 14, 15 or 16 start coming to shows, start identifying with certain styles, then start their own bands based on what they’re into — and then they end up playing with the bands they first started coming to see.

There is a huge amount of promise in younger people starting to play music. Maybe everyone isn’t privy to that. Maybe I’m in an especially privileged position to see it, but I’ve seen that cycle play out quite a few times. Watching it play out is really quite special.

Then you’ve got the issue of female representation — there is still inadequate representation, but at least people are paying attention to it. More often than not, people try to have some kind of gender diversity when they’re booking shows. Even bands that I wouldn’t exactly consider to be at the forefront of gender politics are paying attention to it.

I’m not an optimistic person — I’m an incredibly cynical and pessimistic person, but all this makes me optimistic.

Lachlan: As a contrast, I know a few people in gender diverse bands who feel uncomfortable with the idea that they get booked simply because they have female members.

Tom: That’s something that is rarely acknowledged by people who are campaigning for representation — how people are choosing to identify. I’ve seen lineups being criticised for having no queer performers when I’ve known that there are a number of queer performers on there.

It’s just that they are not a visibly queer band; it’s not part of their identity. Does that make them less queer and then less representative? I don’t think so, but then how do you quantify that? I genuinely don’t know.

It’s an argument people tend to be really passionate about which kind of bogs down a lot of the discussion. I understand women being passionate about it. Some people — like some dudes that are passionate about defending their institution like they’re in some way being personally challenged — is just bizarre to me. I understand it in terms of how when you’re feeling personally attacked you lash out, but you have to understand it’s not a personal attack.

Lachlan: What do you think of Spotify and digital streaming services?

Tom: I’ve certainly made many obnoxious statements pertaining to them before. Essentially, I have no interest in them. I don’t use them. There’s a lot of hugely unethical practices going on involved with it. At the same time, I acknowledge that that is how a huge number people engage with music.

As it stands, it’s these companies that are reaping all of the massive profits. It’s easy for me to go, “Fuck streaming, fuck this, and fuck that”, but I don’t know what is the best way to address it. I genuinely don’t know.

Lachlan: I really hope for an ethical alternative to Spotify where they actually back artists.

Tom: Yeah, I think that that’s where every platform falls really short in actually adequately compensating artists.

Lachlan: I’ve heard many people say that stealing music is fine because music should be free anyway. They’re asserting they should be able to possess White Walls new album for free even though the band is asking for five or ten dollars to download it. How do you feel about that argument?

Tom: It’s tricky. Again, it is a nuance, and the nuance is always lost. I am definitely more inclined towards music being freely available, but I understand that music costs money to produce.

I’m conflicted. I do feel like that music should be freely available. I feel quite strongly about it. From my own experience, when I was getting into music I was mail ordering shit and paying 40 or 50 bucks for an album. I’d wait two months to get it, then it’d be shit. A lot of people argue that’s why when you do come across something and it’s amazing, and special, and then it stands out.

They’re valid arguments, but I don’t think they outweigh the other side. If I was 16 now, I could download the entire Black Flag discography and go, “All right, everything after Damaged is shit.” I would not have to go into Red Eye and spend $29.98 on In My Head and have to listen to fucking Greg Ginn…

Lachlan: That’s an example of the market or the established institutions having all the power to the point where you don’t have enough information to make an informed decision about what you want support financially. It becomes a gamble.

Tom: I’m very, very conflicted about it. There are arguments on both sides that I strongly disagree with. There are arguments on both sides that I absolutely agree with. The main one — and I guess I have very cliché punk rock ideals in my view of major labels and distribution networks — the idea that labels are making loads of money at the expense of artists, and then try to make people feel like shit for ripping off artists by downloading music… it’s ridiculous. It’s not the consumer ripping off the artist — it’s the label.

Lachlan: Surely it is possible for a Spotify-type service to fairly distribute cash. At the moment it just seems like older power structures are attempting to co-opt new technology like streaming services while still enforcing their old models. The technology doesn’t have to be used like that.

Tom: The argument that you don’t want to pay for something because you’re going to stream it and listen to it and you can familiarize yourself with it and know that you like it — it’s weakened by the excesses of free streaming services.

Lachlan: I’m going to ask a handful more questions. What bands this year have blown you away?

Tom: That is also a good question which sounds like something I should have prepared for. In terms of releases, the new White Walls album and Halt Ever’s new 7 inch I adore. The new Infinite Void release I’m really excited about. Infinite Void are probably one of my favorite bands of all time. I cannot express how much I adore that band.

Deep Heat have just recorded an album that’s about to come out so that’s exciting. The new Making record is phenomenal. The Tanned Christ record is phenomenal. The Carb On Carb record that we released is amazing. It’s one of my favorite albums of all time. I just absolutely adore it.

The new Thorax record is amazing. The new Royal Headache and Low Life records. And a lot of demos too — bands like Deafcult and Ultra Material and Nature Trails. There is a whole lot of awesome music coming from Brisbane at the moment. They’re ruling it. New stuff like Clever and FOREVR from Brisbane as well.

Lachlan: I’ve been listening to that Deafcult album a bit recently. It’s quite cool.

Tom: Yeah, we’re releasing that too — as well as the new Burlap record.

Lachlan: It sounds like you are getting busy on the record-pressing side again.

Tom: A little bit, yeah. Don’t tell Bridget because she yells at me and punches me in the arm. Releasing records is what first got me into all of this. We were supposed to be releasing records when we opened Paint It Black, but within about a month the shop just sent the label broke.

We were trying to separate it like “this is label money and this is shop money”, but when the electricity bill is due, you can’t go, “Oh, no we can’t pay the electricity bill with label money!” Because I was still dealing with records and labels and stuff, it took a few years to hit home that I really missed that aspect of involvement. There’s a great amount of satisfaction in being involved in music that you adore and you absolutely support. I crave that. It’s an absolutely stupid business decision though.

Lachlan: Since Black Wire began, there have been a few times where you or another concerned party have gone to the community and said, “Look, we need a hand to survive.” How have you felt about the response to those call outs?

Tom: I was genuinely so overwhelmed. I cried. I burst into tears. I didn’t know how to process these kinds of emotions. When you have this influx of people, not only who are donating money, but also sending these amazing messages and amazing testimonials and stuff that I can’t process it. It’s too much for me. It’s amazing. I do process it, but it takes me months.

It was a weird thing because you go from struggling to function because you can’t make all of these financial demands, to being able to meet all of them. Then I can’t function because I’m overwhelmed with emotion. It was a very weird thing. Yeah, you’re right, it has happened a few times. Every time, there’s been this amazing outpouring of support.

Lachlan: How do you feel about Black Wire’s future then? Do you think about the long term?

Tom: We’re in the start of September now. My whole afternoon has been planning and booking shows for December and January. That’s the extent of how far I look ahead.

There’s a few other elements. For instance, with the last bit of money we got from fundraising we were able to get a sub and replace a whole bunch of mic stands and mics and stuff like that. Which are things that I hope to be able to do, but you don’t work towards them, they’re just in your mind as something you’d like to be able to do. That was amazing.

Yeah, I’m satisfied that people are fairly into what’s happening here. I can still identify a few areas that could be better. In terms of future planning, I just want to perfect things. That’s the kind of thing that is never achievable and I acknowledge that it’s not achievable. I think being able to work towards that unachievable goal is part of what keeps us going.

Lachlan: All right. Thank you very much for you time Tom.

Tom: No worries!

Check out Black Wire Records and on Facebook.

Anger Management: End of Year Round-up

Wednesday, December 9th, 2015

Every fortnight, we check in with all things heavy on RTRFM’s Critical Mass show.

DANZIG — SKELETONS

It’s been a rough couple of years for Evil Elvis himself, Glenn Danzig. He’s been the brunt of many a joke or meme and various ongoing legal dramas surrounding The Misfits. But underneath it all there is always the music, 2010’s Deth Red Sabaoth wasn’t too bad and Tommy Victor (Prong) is riffing and harmonic pinching like it’s going out of style, so it was with great interest that we listened to his latest effort of cover songs Skeletons.

With a list of bands covered including ZZ Top, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, The Troggs and yes, Elvis Presley, Skeletons seemed like it would be a good time if nothing else. Sadly it is hindered by a lousy production job: a lot of the tracks sound like the product of a first take in the studio, a sub-par demo recording at best. I get that the early Misfits albums were rough and maybe the style they were deliberately going for was Garage Days–era Metallica, but it really is a poor effort.

Black Sabbath’s ‘N.I.B’ is woefully flat (not that Ozzy has ever been a vocalist known for his range) – its a damn shame. The one shining light is the Elvis cover ‘Let Yourself Go’. Danzig NAILS it. Get the Elvis cover, skip the rest.

GRAVE — OUT OF RESPECT FOR THE DEAD

There is something endearing about Swedish death metal veterans Grave – Ola Lindgren and clan have been churning out old-style death metal since 1988. Despite having a large discography and some killer tracks (e.g. ‘Souless’, ‘Into The Grave’) they never achieved the success that many of their contemporaries did (e.g. Dismember, Entombed or Unleashed).

Grave were never really going to outblast a band such as Nile, or be super technical and dissonant like Gorguts, but they have stood the course (aside from a brief flirtation with a slightly more accessible style with 1996’s Hating Life, which for lack of a better description was a death metal version of Helmet) and turned the Boss HM-2 pedals all the way up for that buzzsaw guitar tone. They also have some interesting song titles that have really been at odds with the sounds and made me enjoy them more (‘Lovesong’, ‘In Love’, ‘I Need You’).

Out Of Respect For The Dead offers little in the way of surprises or new sounds. Everything is bordering on being in the red and that Swedish death metal tone is loud and clear – possibly the best-produced album they’ve done. That said, Grave offer some great songs here, with tracks such as ‘Deified’, ‘Mass Grave Mass’ and ‘Plain Pine Box’ all getting the head banging. Grave seem content here, in ‘Mass Grave Mass’ Ola sings “Can’t Believe I’m Still Alive”. The world is better for Grave still being Grave.

HORRENDOUS — ANARETA

Writing album reviews and presenting radio is great fun. Inevitably though, lots of worthy albums slip through the cracks due to time and lack of knowledge, sometimes though you find great stuff unexpectedly. I found out about American death metallers Horrendous through the sheer amount of support and praise they were getting, topping several best of 2015 lists as early as November. So, curiosity piqued, I checked out the band’s third album Anareta, knowing only that the band played something of an old school brand of death metal.

Although definitely inspired by the old school Anareta is so much more, taking many twists and turns. The vocals are a bellowed howl that remind me a bit of a cross between Atheist’s Kelly Shaefer and Chuck Schuldiner. The songs twist and turn in a way that would make ‘Evil Chuck’ proud. There are some epic moments on here that are indebted to the likes of Gojira and even some post-metal bands (check the closing five minutes of ‘Acolytes’). Phenomenal stuff. Worth your time and the hype.

NIGHT VIPER — NIGHT VIPER

A new five-piece band blasting out of Gothenburg, but eschewing the more common Gothenburg-style melodic death metal of In Flames and At The Gates (among others) for an older pre-thrash style of metal. Night Viper play old style heavy metal that mixes a bit of Judas Priest, a dash of Iron Maiden and some Megadeth-style soloing with just a touch of doom heaviness (guitarist Tom Sutton having played with Japanese doomsters Church Of Misery for a spell).

Vocalist Sofie-Lee Johansson has a style that mixes a bit of Joan Jett and Joey Belladonna with Paul Di’anno but is all her own, a unique voice that stays low and doesn’t try to reach the falsetto highs that dominate the genre. There’s some great stuff here, especially the faster tracks such as ‘The Hammer’ and ‘Faces In The Mirror’. Like ALL the good bands they have a song named after themselves (Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Motörhead, Voivod, The Devil Rides Out etc).

UR DRAUGR — WITH HUNGER UNDYING

I haven’t listened to this release that much, but it’s still found its way into my top ten for 2015 (more on that in the coming weeks). That’s how good Ur Draugr are. The band’s follow-up to the The Wretched Ascetic EP, released in January, was apparently plagued by a major hard drive crash that resulted in the loss of a lot of material. The wait was certainly worth it though as With Hunger Undying is an amazing album.

A mix of dark black metal and death metal, the band have created some epic songs here that invoke Enslaved, Gojira and many more upper tier bands. Riffs weave in and out hypnotically (check the dizzying rollercoaster ride that is ‘Augur Incarnate (Distended Crown)’). Some phenomenal drumming from ‘drum machine for hire’ Dan Grainger and some pleasingly complex bass from Drew Griffiths make this all the more enjoyable.

Critical Mass airs every Wednesday from 9PM (GMT+8) on RTR FM 92.1 in Perth, Australia.

Rebellious Jukebox: 40 years of Brisbane’s 4ZZZ

Tuesday, December 8th, 2015

It’s often lamented that there’s not much rebellion left in music: the heart-on-sleeve socialism of Joe Hill, the salacious sexuality of Ma Rainey long gone, even the refusenik attitudes of the Greenwich Village hippies seem quaint. Subversion, where it exists in the mainstream today, is mostly confected by publicists and stylists; hedonism, escapism and apathy far more palatable for most than righteous indignation or speaking truth to power. It’s a reductionist view – you only need to look to a superstar artist like Ai Wei Wei to see rebellion being served to the masses, albeit in a different medium – but it broadly holds true. The corporate takeover of authentic, socially charged art seems to have reached its conclusion about the same time that Punk Broke.

There are still pockets of resistance that remain though, that combine revolutionary fervour and artistic self-expression. They may be in disparate, atomised reaches of the underground, or the domain of ultra-niche online communities, but they’re still there if you look hard enough. It’s not like there are no pricks left to kick against.

All this makes something like Brisbane community radio station 4ZZZ, which celebrates 40 years of broadcasting today, all the more exceptional. Its founders – to oversimplify it, mostly left-wing students at the University of Queensland – were both victims and beneficiaries of the time and place that allowed the station, and the creative and insurrectionary communities that surround it, to flourish. The perfectly timed collision of new, experimental FM radio licenses, the jackboot conservatism of notorious Queensland premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen and the birth of punk rock in Brisbane’s stifling suburbs all conspiring to instill the station with a character that shall not be moved. With a motto loaned from the labour movement to “Agitate, Educate, Organise”, music and politics have marched together, arm in arm, since day one. The station has long been a proving ground for young journalists too – you couldn’t find a newsroom in the country that hasn’t had a zedder work there at some stage.

With an avowed rejection of both the state’s authority and the easy listening dross that filled commercial radio airwaves at the time, the station embraced punk and other more experimental musical forms for their musicality as much as their inherent ideology. The high fidelity FM signal – the first of its kind in Queensland – was perfectly suited to broadcasting quality music and despite itself, the station found a large audience quickly. While its fortunes and influence may have experienced ups and downs in 40 years, Zed’s role in the cultural life of Brisbane can’t be understated.

“Triple Zed has always played different music. In the beginning Zed played ‘album tracks’ – music that wasn’t just in the Top 40. That was radical for Australian radio back in the mid-70s,” says Sam Kretschmann, a long-standing listener, subscriber, and station volunteer.

Like any good radio station, almost any conceivable style of music can be heard, with primacy given to the new, local, independent and non-commercial, obscure and bizarre.

“Local music has always been very important to the station. It is part of our quota as an announcer to select at least 30% local music content for each show that goes to air,” she says.

Kretschmann, who also performs as Miss P Leisure in Brisbane psychedelic basshead institution Monster Zoku Onsomb! (MZO!), first came to be involved with 4ZZZ in 1996, after growing up listening to the station as a kid in the 80s. Her experience as a listener, then subscriber and volunteer in a range of on– and off-air roles, and participation in Brisbane’s music scene is one that is repeated throughout the station’s history.

“Me and the other coordinators practically lived there. For about 10 years I did all sorts of things: event organiser, promotions coordinator, announcer, programming committee, and board member,” she says.

The active involvement of local musicians in community broadcasting isn’t particular to 4ZZZ, but is still idiosyncratic enough to have played a large part in shaping the station’s identity. The line-ups of many fundraising events are a good indicator of some of the folk that have been involved with, or connected to the station at any given time.

“They are all organised by volunteers, and bands mainly play for free to help to raise money for the station. These events are all from the heart. Everyone comes together for the good of the station and there really is no better feeling than that,” Kretschmann says.

There have been countless gigs and fundraisers organised or presented by the station over its 40 years. The infamous Joint Effort shows commenced in 1976 and featured artists such like Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Screaming Jay Hawkins, The Go-Betweens, and The Riptides.

Market Day, the most notorious of all Zed fundraisers, is now the stuff of legend thanks to Queensland police, who ended the 1996 event prematurely with a trademark display of wanton aggression. Riot Day, as the 1996 Market Day has been known ever since, resulted in more than 50 arrests, with many more bloodied by Queensland’s finest, nearly 10 years after Joh’s reign finally ended. They don’t call it Pig City for nothing.

“These events were crucial to the station. It was the major fundraiser in the 90s and the station would not be broadcasting today if it had not been for the community getting behind these events and raising money to keep the station going. It brought the underground of Brisbane together. Just being there meant that you were giving the finger to the mainstream,” she says.

Riot Day wasn’t the first time the station had been hassled by the man. 4ZZZ eventually broke ties with the University of Queensland after being taken off air briefly in 1988 by a hostile student union, and station staff and volunteers were routinely subject to surveillance (and occasional beatings) by Joh’s Special Branch until its dissolution in 1989. This is a whole other story though, and one that has been told much more eloquently and in much greater detail in Andrew Stafford’s book Pig City, or in the war stories of hundreds of volunteers and staff.

Today, 40 years on, 4ZZZ in many ways serves the same role it has since it was miraculously born. A voice for the voiceless, a creative space where diversity and acceptance flourish, a fertile place for ideas and connections to form. A place to hear cool, interesting, unusual music, played by people who love it.

“It is a great accomplishment and proof that there is passion in Brisbane. Passion for independence and passion to keep the station alive. And whether you like the music played on air or not, Zed is the soul of Brisbane for many people. It is impossible to think that there [could ever] be no Triple Zed. There must always be a place where you can get involved, have your say, and be creative, all without having to tow the corporate line or sell something. With Triple Zed behind you, you can be you – you can be different,” Kretschmann says.

Happy birthday to a true revolutionary. Don’t ever change.

4ZZZ’s 40th anniversary celebrations continue on and off air until December 13. Tune in today from 2pm AEDT for a ten-hour retrospective of Brisbane music.

With thanks to Sam Kretschmann and David Lennon for the images.

DEAFCULT — DEAFCULT

Saturday, December 5th, 2015

DEAFCULTIn an honest world, you wouldn’t be able to escape a band like Deafcult. They’d be played in supermarkets all over the country and they’d be interviewed on Sunrise as the newest darlings of booming, national shoegaze scene, widely recognised as our most distinctive cultural export, and the populist extension of an equally well-regarded avant-garde Australian underground.

But we don’t live in an honest world, so it’s possible you haven’t heard of Deafcult, a Brisbane shoegaze band whose devastatingly loud, but blissfully melodic self-titled debut album – released digitally in May – is set for a vinyl release on Sydney label Black Wire this month, just in time for their recently announced east-coast Australian tour. The album is melodic enough for almost anyone to enjoy, while still offering the musical depth and authenticity craved by the modern indie scene. It’s heavy without being challenging, dark without being depressing: an overwhelming and instantly gratifying addition to the sunny side of local shoegaze. It feels like flying through a kaleidoscope of coloured clouds, relaxing and powerfully psychedelic, while the force provided by the band’s four guitarists creates unparalleled feelings of immersion and intensity that set the band apart from everything else that’s happening in Australia at the moment.

It’s world-class, anthemic alt-pop, and the vinyl release will allow you to enjoy it in greater detail than you ever could have done before. There seems to be a lot of awesome music coming out from Brisbane at the moment, but as far as dream-pop goes, Deafcult make some of the best. If you missed out on the band when they made their debut in April this year, now’s the perfect time to check them out. In an honest world, you wouldn’t have a choice. This is powerful, novel, and emotional popular music, that represents the best of the Australian shoegaze scene; it demands your recognition and support. Check it out if you’re a fan of local acts like Flyying Colours, Day Ravies, or Forevr, and prepare to be blown away.

Deafcult is out December 10 through Black Wire Records.

Noiseweek: Tours and Reunions, Le Guess Who?, Miles Brown, Iommi and More

Friday, December 4th, 2015

The sights, sounds and words of the week in noise.

NEWS

It’s one of those so-crazy-it-has-to-work ideas: British grind legends Napalm Death, Washington sludge pioneers The Melvins and Japanese noise weirdos Melt-Banana teaming up for a six-week, 35-date North America tour, fittingly named the Savage Imperial Death March. The latest iteration of The Melvins will feature Steven McDonald (Redd Kross, OFF!) on bass, with a planned 10? War Pussy in the works ahead of the tour. King Buzzo and Napalm Death’s Shane Embury and Danny Herrera have previously collaborated as Venomous Concept – who’ve just released a new single from forthcoming LP Kick Me Silly; VC3, though without Buzz in the band this time around. Got all that? Good.

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With the trademark dysfunction for which they were often known, Texas post-hardcore giants At The Drive In are reportedly reforming for Rock On The Range festival in Columbus, Ohio in May 2016, though original member Jim Ward claims the line-up announcement is the first he’s heard of it. He ran a similar line prior to ATDI’s previous reunion for Coachella in 2012, so there’s hope yet.

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A cavalcade of punk icons have pledged support of US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, with Jello Biafra, Wayne Kramer and Mike Watt all endorsing the the self-proclaimed socialist candidate. A lengthy list of ‘artists and cultural leaders’ have come out in support of the plain-speaking Vermont senator, whose policy platform includes an end to the federal prohibition of marijuana, fairer income distribution and a less-trigger happy US foreign policy agenda. With policies like that, it’s clear the Democrats and US media will never let him get elected, but it’s a nice idea.

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Finally, Radio Adelaide – Australia’s oldest community radio station – is seeking support in the form of a petition, after news that licensee the University of Adelaide is considering selling or closing the station. The decision comes after the university sold the CBD property that houses Radio Adelaide’s studios. Show your support by heading to www.saveradioadelaide.org. #SaveRadAd

READ

Le Guess Who? Proves That Experimental Music Doesn’t Have To Be Lofty And Joyless | Fact Mag

“The most refreshing thing about Le Guess Who? is how it gives a platform to more experimental strains of music without any of the associated loftiness. Faust were first to marry a challenging approach with humour. Sure, their sound was a heavy, delirious mix of magnificent acoustics punctured by industrial crashes, gas canisters and hurdy-gurdies, but Jean-Hervé Peron was yelling, “Pinochet! Stalin! Kartoffelsalat!” and three women were seated front-and-centre stage, nonchalantly knitting for the entire set.”

The Essence And The Purity: Rob Halford Of Judas Priest’s Favourite LPs | The Quietus

“For over 40 years, Rob Halford has been one of the most singular figures to emerge from the metal scene, and while some of his contemporaries have struggled to age gracefully, Halford is still out-performing many singers a quarter of his age, and his recorded output is as vital now as it has ever been.”

The Sober Proprietor Of A Bar On Avenue B | New York Times
“He started out as a roadie, which eventually turned into a job singing for the Dictators, in 1975. After the band disbanded in the early ’80s, Mr. Manitoba was part of various groups that included various iterations of The Dictators. In the early ’90s, he found himself driving a cab, addicted to heroin. He attended meetings, got clean and ripped up the hack license.”

LISTEN

Miles Brown – ‘Space Cadet’

The first taste of The Night Terrors’ theremin genius Brown’s forthcoming solo debut LP Séance Fiction blends Carpenter-esque gloom with 80s synth-pop sensibilities.

The Rival Mob – ‘Speak With Power’

Boston’s The Rival Mob carrying the mantle of classic Clevo/NYHC on this tape release being put out by Adelaide’s Nopatience Records.


WATCH

Tommy Iommi talks about his origins as a guitarist and what keeps him on stage after taking out the Q/Gibson Les Paul Guitar Award back a little while ago.

Peaches – ‘Rub’

Probably the most NSFW video since Rammstein’s ‘Pussy’. Enter at your own risk.

Peaches — Rub (Uncensored) from Peaches on Vimeo.

Two Minutes with Greenfog

Tuesday, December 1st, 2015

Ahead of opening for MONO at The Kings Arms on December 10, we spend a couple of minutes with Greenfog and chew the fat…

Describe your music in five words or less.
Forest rock, fuzzy shoegazey doom.

What’s going on in the world of Greenfog?
We’re all playing a lot in other bands at the moment (NIISA, Her Desher, The Naenae Express, Sea Views, Teracotta Cat, SonofSun, Rewind Fields, 3 Little Pubes, CHARLIE, Couchmaster) however we’re planning on releasing another Greenfog album soon filled with weird demos from recordings of our practices over the last couple years, something a little different. Then we might go back to Bruce Farm and record some new stuff. Who knows.

What motivates you to make music?
It’s hard to pinpoint this exactly. It’s what we do and will probably always do; making music we want to hear, with and for people we love.

What have been the high and low points of your musical experiences so far?
High (420): Probably opening for Earth, they are a huge inspiration for us and such lovely people.
Low: A couple of weeks ago watching Caroles, our tour bros/soul mates play their last show ever. Real sad.

What music are you listening to at the moment?
The new Fuzz album (!), Durutti Column, Duster, Shellac, Slowdive, Sunn O))), A Place to Bury Strangers, Swans, Broken Water, My Bloody Valentine, Conan, Pallbearer, Amen Ra, Soma, Thelonius Monk, Erik Satie, Neil Diamond’s ‘Girl, You’ll Be A Woman’, Kraus, and all the other seriously great shit happening in AKL central at the moment.

If you were stranded on a desert island, which member of the band would get eaten first? And why?
Scott and Elliot would feed me to the crabs.

Here’s an opportunity to bitch about something, whether music related or not. What really pisses you off?
Dry season.

You’re putting together your perfect gig featuring NZ artists. Who would you get to play and where? Feel free to include acts/DJs/bands/venues that no longer exist.
KCB
Alec
Sere
Kraus
Heavy
Bespin
Totems
Caroles
Reaving
CHEATS
Snapper
I.E. Crazy
Bandicoot
Deathbeam
Trust Punks
X-Ray Fiends
David Adison
The Mint Chicks
Seth Frightening
God Bows to Math
Dear Times Waste
Shacklock Meth Party
Reuben Winter (drone set)
Girls Pissing on Girls Pissing
The venue would have to be some amazing field/campsite/chronophonium-type place outside of Auckland with Mark from the Kings Arms on sound for the whole night and all the staff from The Kings Arms, Whammy Bar/Wine Cellar and Golden Dawn smashed together on the bar.

Greenfog support MONO at The Kings Arms in Auckland on Thursday, December 10. Tickets are on sale now through lifeisnoise.com.