Perth Music

RTRFM 92.1 have just announced that they will again be entering the serene surrounds of the Somerville Auditorium, UWA for In the Pines. Mark down Sunday April 20 in the diary for the most beautiful day on the local music calendar.

Since the early 90s, after the Perth Festival film season ends, Perth’s community radio station has had access for a one day local music festival in the beautiful pine ringed arena on the campus of the University of Western Australia, The Somerville Auditorium.

The chain will drop at midday in the Somerville and the 20 local bands will not stop until after 10pm.

Over the years some of WA’s greatest bands have gone on from In The Pines to very lofty heights, like: John Butler, The Sleepy Jackson, Snowman, Little Birdy, The Panics and oh so many more… This year the tradition continues with another stellar line up of local legends and super fresh talent. And the host will be double Gold WAMi winner and breakfast ham, Mr Peter Barr.

Presale tickets are available for General Admission from Planet Video, 78 Records and Mills Record Bar for $25.

Subscribers can get their tickets from the station for $20. Gold subscribers will get free admission on the day at the Somerville.

In the Pines 2008 - Playing Times
9.30pm Jebediah
9.00pm Bank Holidays
8.30pm Capital City
8.00pm Adam Said Galore
7.30pm New Rules For Boats
7.00pm Djiva
Noongar Welcome to Country
6.30pm Bob Evans
6.00pm Felicity Groom and the Black Black Smoke
5.30pm The Tigers
5.00pm Kill Teen Angst
4.30pm The Homicides
4.00pm Harlequin League
3.30pm Slim Pickins
3.00pm Hooper’s Store
2.30pm Mink Mussel Creek
2.00pm French Rockets
1.30pm Cease
1.00pm Mile End
12.30pm Will Stoker and the Embers
12.00pm Captains of King

It was only a couple of years ago that Amy Pearson made the hard decision to leave the UK to come to sunny Australia. Today, at only 21 years old, the pop singer is finally living her dream. The hard work and sacrifices she has made in her life are set to be rewarded by her first album coming out next month (19th of April) and a promising singing career signed to Sony BMG.  Amy Pearson chats to Melanie Tremblay about the release of her album and new single for a special interview from Sydney.

Click here to download the podcast of the entire interview. (7:54 - 1.0Mb)

“I’ve been waiting all my life for this album, it’s going to be awesome to see it in the shop!”

The album Who I Am was supposed to come out last November, but because of an incontrovertible opportunity she made the decision together with Sony to postpone the official release.

“I just found out that Channel 7 was going to pick up the single of Ready To Fly for their Olympics campaign and I just thought that if I’m going to be everywhere at that moment it’s probably better to release the album then. I thought I’ll wait and do everything together, and that’s what I’m doing now, so it required a little bit more patience but it’s all worth it!” As the album had already been released in China, Amy found it funny “that while a lot of people in Australia had to wait for the record, some actually got it from China on eBay, so these people had the record from overseas, it’s cool.”

Amy still can’t believe that her song (Ready To Fly) has been selected for the Australian coverage of the Beijing Olympics. The video was shot in the Chinese Capital, and is a montage of her singing the song. In one scene she is surrounded by Chinese children and in another she is standing on the lofty Great Wall of China. These images of Amy are blended with clips of memorable Olympic moments. The video is set to start playing on Channel 7 on a regular basis soon. The video for Ready To Fly for the Olympic campaign is at the bottom of this interview.

Speaking of her recent experience Amy remarks that, “it has just been incredible and seeing all the landmarks in China was just like a dream, I couldn’t believe it! When I was on the Great Wall, singing the song in front of the camera, I just thought everything I was singing about was real. The opening line says: I open my eyes, the world seems in a different place, and there I was standing in China. I now had a new inspiration behind singing the song, so much has been happening in my life, having the Olympic team to sing for feels great!”

When I asked Amy about the exposure she will receive when the video is aired on the most popular national channel, she explained modestly that she “tries not to think about things like that. I’m more excited about getting the album out there and hearing people’s reaction. If they start to recognize me, I’ll roll with what ever happens and try to enjoy every little step while it lasts.”

Two singles from Amy’s album have been released on the radio already, one of them (Don’t Miss You) is receiving frequent air time. The young singer confesses that she is really pleased, especially because the story of the album is really about her. “I’m going to go to Australia, I’m going to take on my dreams, I’m going to break the cycle that my personality was in! I used to worry in many situations and not really take that many risks, I thought you’ve got a change, you’ve got to just go for it, and that’s what I did. I’m so happy I did it now. Looking back at the day I wrote that song (Don’t Miss You) I just think: yeah of course you can do it!”

Amy Pearson is likely to come to Perth to promote Who I am in the next few months. Without being too sure of her schedule, she admits, “I don’t know if there is anything booked yet, but I definitely want to come over there (to Perth), hopefully pretty soon!”

The singer might be young but her ambition is the size of the Great Wall. Looking into the future she says she would love to work on a second album in the next year and maybe prepare to launch worldwide. “That would be great” she says.

For more info on Amy Pearson visit www.amypearson.com.au or www.myspace.com/amypearsonmusic

Amy Pearson - Ready To Fly

He’s the Irish pop star that now calls Australia home and will soon be married to Australia’s sweetheart Delta Goodrem. Brian McFadden has come a long way from his days in super pop band Westlife, who sold over 30 million albums worldwide. His new single Like Only A Woman Can has just been released to the Australian public and his sophomore album Set In Stone will be released in a month’s time. Brian McFadden talked to Justin Middleton for this exclusive interview.

Click here to download the podcast of the entire interview. (9:08 - 1.1Mb)

Brian’s first solo album, Irish Son, was released in 2004 so a lot has happened in his life since then. Given that time frame Brian had enough time to write and record the album that he wanted to release. I asked Brian to describe the whole process of getting the new album completed and how he feels about finally getting it out to the public. “Yeah I’m very happy with it, it’s taken a long time to do, it’s been almost 2 and a half years in the making. I’m just glad it’s over now and I’m ready to release it. I started writing it about 2 and a half years ago. I just kept writing all these different kinds of songs and I was never really happy with where it was going because there were so many different directions. Everyone wanted me to have an album that sounded like one album and went in a certain way. But I ended up going ‘You know what, I am just going to pick, out of the 150 songs I wrote, I am just going to pick 10 and record them’. So about six months ago I picked 12 songs that I liked, recorded them and ended up just using 10. I started recording in the UK, I did all the tracking with the band in the UK then I flew to Australia and did all the vocals then went back to London to mix and master. The last couple of months were the best when I was recording, the writing was a bit tedious because it went on for so long.”

“Even though I had 150 songs I kind of had a fair idea what the best 20 were. As I was going along I knew which songs were going to be keepers and which ones probably wouldn’t make the album. In the end it was a pretty easy process. My next record will be a fresh record, all new songs again.”

The first single, Like Only A Woman Can, was released in Ireland late last year and went straight to number 1 and has just been released in Australia. I asked Brian how that song came to become the first single off the album. “Nobody else wanted it to be the first single. I know a lot of people get caught up in the whole radio market over here and people said ‘It won’t get played on the radio because it’s a ballad’. I feel it is one of the best songs I’ve ever written so I just think you have to put your best foot forward and if radio doesn’t play it well people will still get to hear it. I just feel that if people hear it hopefully they will like it. So I did take a bit of a risk with it but hopefully the risk will pay off.”

Now living in Australia, Brian has a much different environment to that he became a megastar in. When Brian left Westlife in 2004 they were still one of the biggest bands in the world but much bigger in the UK than in Australia. Talking about being based in Australia, Brian explains “I think people over here don’t know what to expect from me, they don’t really know anything about me. They’ve read stories about me and they know that I am with Delta but besides that they don’t really know me. So it is nice to be able to introduce myself when I am doing interviews and doing TV as something new. So far it has been really good and I’ve been getting a great response from people and I’ve met some great people while going around and I’m really enjoying it. The Australian culture is pretty similar to the Irish culture so it hasn’t been much of a culture shock really. Obviously the weather is the major difference but the whole lifestyle is pretty similar.”

And Brian even plays AFL footy. He explains “I’ve been playing for East Sydney. Well I haven’t actually got a position yet because we are still in pre-season training but I reckon I would be a forward because I can’t actually bounce the ball properly. So I won’t be able to run very far with it so I’d need to just mark it and score. I am a Collingwood fan, which doesn’t go down very well with many people.”

A highlight of the album is the rock song Zoomer. I asked Brian to describe the song “Even though it is rocky it is quite surprising in how it came about. It’s actually written about my Honda 50, my little moped. I came to the studio one day and wrote the song with Guy Chambers and we were just talking about the bike and we said ‘Why don’t we just write the song about the bike’. The whole chord structure for that song I wrote on a xylophone and we just transposed that onto guitar. So it was never intentional or supposed to be that rocky but it just ended up like that. We were hoping to get it onto the Mazda ad, with the whole ‘Zoom Zoom Zoom’. We have to send it to them and see what they say.”

“I wanted every track to have its own identity. I didn’t want the album to flow like one album, I wanted to be kind of like a compilation album of just pop hits.

First single Like Only A Woman Can is out now. The album Set in Stone will be released in Australia on April 19th.

For more info visit www.brianmcfadden.com.au.

It was day 2 of The West Coast Blues ‘N’ Roots Festival and just like day 1 the weather was perfect for a day of outdoor fun. A bit of cloud cover threatened rain for most of the day but it also kept temperatures down to allow fans to enjoy another great day of music. The Esplanade Reserve was so clean that you could not tell a musical festival had occurred there just hours earlier, but given the environmental theme of Blues ‘N’ Roots you would expect nothing less.

An early start was good and bad for Abbe May & The Rockin’ Pneumonia as they started to play on The Big Top Stage. The bad was that there were only a handful of people watching the local band when they played their first song, the good was that the crowd grew and grew and grew and the Big Top area was not the sauna that it would turn into later in the day. A group of 4 or 5 girls decided to get into the mood of the day early and danced around the front of the stage as if they were at Woodstock and it was quite a sight. Abbe May is Perth’s best front woman and the band played a set full of rock and folk music that will see them much higher on the bill in the very near future.

The Audreys have had a pretty meteoric rise in the past 2 years and as they started playing on The Crossroads Stage crowds still entering the reserve stopped to watch as much as die hard fans were pushing to the front barrier. A band that all wear formal dress and consist of a various band members playing the violin, melodica, banjo, double-bass and ukelele would usually come across as gimmicky but The Audreys pull it off with professionalism and a lot of musical talent. Guitarist, Tristan Goodall even managed to change guitars mid-song to a huge cheer from the audience as he only just got the second guitar tuned in time for the chorus.

Next up on The Harbour Stage were The Beautiful Girls and they had a very healthy crowd eager for them to play their radio friendly tunes. Not having ever seen them live before, I’ve always thought of The Beautiful Girls as a rocking/roots based live band but what I saw at the start of their set was quite different. Acoustically sounding almost exactly like Jack Johnson, the band played the perfect chill out start to their set before turning up the volume and rocking out to the excited crowd. Triple J favourites Under A Southern Sky and In Love were clear highlights of their set as the clouds cleared and the Fremantle sun shone down on the dancing crowd.

Kasey Chambers walked on to The Harbour Stage as happy as could be and that joy was also obvious in the songs that she played. It was certainly a family affair for Chambers as she explained that her father was on her right playing guitar, her husband Shane Nicholson was playing guitar on her left and her brother was doing the sound mix. With a new album due out next month Chambers played a few new songs but also delighted the crowd with a whole bunch of hits from her previous three albums.

Playing at the same time on The Big Top Stage was Cat Power who had the same sound issues on that stage that many others had the day before. After a small delay she was ready to get the crowd pumping as she played a set full of hits. Wearing one glove and constantly grabbing her crotch, Cat Power could have been mistaken for a white, female Michael Jackson and with a strut in her step as she sang, she could have also been mistaken for a female Mick Jagger. Not many artists could have pulled this off without looking ridiculous but with her husky voice and sexy looks Cat Power pleased everybody present.

Back in their home town, it was time for Eskimo Joe to take The Harbour Stage by storm. Just as John Butler had done the year before, the Eskimo boys announced how good it was to be playing in their home of Fremantle and that this would be their last show before they start writing and recording their next album. The set started out like a normal Eskimo Joe gig with guitars, bass and drums turned up loud but then had a 6 piece string section join them half way through for some acoustic tunes and then rocking again along with the string section. A range of songs were played including From The Sea, London Bombs, Life Is Better With You (which turned into Crowded House’s Weather With You), New York, Forever Young, Sarah and Black Fingernails, Red Wine.

The highlight for almost everybody in attendance and the real headliner of the festival was former Creedance Clearwater Revival front man John Fogerty. Legal disputes had prevented Fogerty from playing CCR songs for a long time but luckily this was resolved a couple of years ago and the Blues ‘N’ Roots crowd were allowed to witness a true legend of music at his best. Even at 62 Fogerty is a fantastic musician as well as a fantastic showman. Tales were told about playing at Woodstock, jokes were made with the crowd and of course great music was played. Legendary hits such as Bad Moon Rising, Rollin On The River, Lookin’ Out My Backdoor, Down On The Corner (with great appreciation by the 5 girls behind me who started singing it in between every single song), and Proud Mary were all played and the cheers from the crowd was deafening. With that the ultimate two day music festival was over for another year and as the crowd walked out most would have been thinking already about attending again in 2009.

More photos can be found here thanks to Noodlez

The gods were smiling upon The Esplanade Reserve in Fremantle for day 1 of The West Coast Blues ‘N’ Roots Festival as the weather was perfect and the atmosphere was as friendly as ever. The crowds may have been a little down compared to last year but this just meant it was easier for the 20,000 fans that did attend to wander from stage to stage and catch more of the world class artists that were playing. With 26 bands and artists playing on day 1 and 24 playing on day 2, there was something to see for everyone and then there were the market stalls, food stalls, music stores, micro brewery, silent auction and chill out areas all in an eco-friendly environment. This festival has set the standard for perfectly organised music events for a long time and this year was no different.

Clare Bowditch & The Feeding Set were the first band I got to see in the Big Top Stage and even with a smaller crowd Clare was excited to be playing and fun to watch. With her husband/producer on hand to help out with songs from her last two albums and previous EP’s, the music was full of joy and happiness. This came across to the crowd and it wasn’t long before the crowd was dancing and bopping along to You Look So Good, Peccadilloes, Your Other Hand, Orange (which Clare explained is a song about finding clarity…..in a Corona factory in Mexico) and When The Lights Went Down.

Next up on the Big Top Stage was Sydney singer/songwriter Lior who has just released his second album Corner Of An Endless Road and surprisingly rocked out compared to the softer sounds of his debut album. There were some initial sound issues and this was a precursor to a lot of sound issues that occurred over the whole weekend in the Big Top Stage but Lior soldiered on like a true professional. Crowd favourites were Autumn Flow, Daniel and This Old Love but the highlight was definitely the power that could be heard in Lior’s voice throughout his set.

The crowds for Angus & Julia Stone have been getting bigger and bigger over the past year, mainly from word-of-mouth and even as they started to play on The Harbour Stage I could hear people in the crowd talking about their friend that told them that they HAD to see Angus & Julia Stone today. And they didn’t disappoint. With a slight breeze cooling the crowd, Julia Stone danced around on stage looking beautiful and Angus Stone sang with his highly distinctive voice. The Beast, Wasted, Just A Boy, Paper Aeroplane and A Book Like This were all played to the appreciative crowd as plenty of new fans were gained on this day.

Even though this was a blues and roots festival it was definitely time for some good ol’ Aussie rock ‘n’ roll as The Cruel Sea started to play next up on The Harbour Stage. Tex Perkins was looking like all of the touring he has done recently with Tim Rogers has turned the two Aussie rockers into the same person and the crowd was loving it. There were some sound issues early but as soon as Better Get A Lawyer started to get played they were ignored.

One of the real draw cards and legends of folk rock was on next on The Big Top Stage and that man was Don McLean. It was pretty obvious that most of the large crowd only wanted to hear one song and the heat inside the Big Top Stage was not helping. Looking older and not in the best shape, McLean struggled through most of his set but the crowd would forgive him as long as he played American Pie. Even though American Pie was released 37 years ago and even after the terrible cover that Madonna released, the song is still an all time favourite song for millions around the world and the crowd here today were a mixture of the old, the young, the professional and the hippy. With the crowd encouraged to sing the chorus a few times alone, the song went for 10 to 15 minutes and everybody loved it.

Out on The Crossroads Stage, 21 year old, Canadian based Hayley Sales played to a fairly small crowd that grew larger and larger as her set went on. Looking a bit like Norah Jones but playing the acoustic guitar instead of a piano, Sales impressed the crowd in attendance with her soulful, folk based tunes. A huge fan of Sales is Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic and considering the beautiful and poetic nature of her lyrics it is easy to see why. It was a shame that her set was squeezed between Don McLean’s and KT Tunstall’s as she deserved a much bigger audience as she played tunes from her two albums.

Wearing a sparkling, silver dress, Scottish singer KT Tunstall was up on The Harbour Stage to a crowd that were mostly still buzzing from hearing American Pie live. KT is probably more famous overseas than in Australia and the only song of hers (Suddenly I See) that has charted in Australia was the clear crowd favourite. I didn’t really get to see much of KT’s set as it was that time of the day to get some (quite expensive) food.

The Harbour Stage was then host to multi-instrumentalist and a true blues and roots artist: Xavier Rudd. Playing guitar and the didgeridoo together perfectly, Rudd played hits such as Shelter, Messages and Let Me Be and arranged close to ten tribal aboriginal dancers come on stage to dance and physically show what he was playing. Earlier in the day Rudd had told me an ancient native American story about the hummingbird and the edge of the Earth and watching him on stage it was obvious that he is passionate about his beliefs and everything he sings about. Rudd is a true musical talent and artist and was the perfect example of the blues and roots festivities on today.

Former lead singer of Manchester’s The Stone Roses, Ian Brown was up next on The Big Top Stage. Never known as one of the world’s best singers, Brown still entertained the sweltering crowd with his rock and roll demeanor on stage and true rockstar attitude. Brown has released five solo albums since The Stone Roses called it quits but knowing the popularity of the band he still played quite a few of their hits. There were huge sound problems at the start of the set and Brown ended up starting about 15 minutes late. After a technician apologized to crowd for the delay Brown grabbed the mic and announced that he wasn’t sorry and that it wasn’t good enough. Looking and acting very Liam Gallagher-like, Brown was everything the crowd expected in an English rocker and more.

Sinead O’Connor was another artist that had her fair share of sound problems on the day but The Harbour Stage still had a huge crowd gathered in front of it. And even though she looked a bit like a pregnant nun that had just gone through chemotherapy, O’Connor put on a fairly decent set full of her hits with Nothing Compares To You one of the biggest crowd pleasers of the day. The sound problems were pretty constant throughout O’Conner’s set but wasn’t too noticeable after the first few songs.

Setup strangely on the smallest stage in the reserve, ex-Tea Party front man, Jeff Martin played, I believe, the best set of the day. Martin was layed back playing an acoustic set with only himself and a drummer and covered songs from his solo album as well as a bunch of Tea Party hits. Even though it was acoustic there were many moments that Martin put so much energy into the song that the rock/soul level was pushed up a notch. Interesting to note was that Martin mentioned that his wife is from Perth and that their son was also born in Perth so he feels almost at home here. Martin also mentioned that the 60 minutes he had to perform at Blues N Root was not nearly enough for people to really enjoy his music and that he would be performing a near 3 hour set at the Fly By Night Club this coming Sunday. Even with only the 60 minutes Martin put on a truely awesome set and the fans that caught it were completely satisfied.

Another ex-front man of a legendary band was on next on The Harbour Stage. Former Kinks man Ray Davies was ready to play a set full off hits that covered 40 years of rock and roll. Just like Don McLean, Davies looked much older than most fans would remember or even expect but the sound he created was just as good as ever. The biggest hit was of course Lola but he also played a slew of Kinks songs that had the young and the old singing and dancing in front of the stage. All in all, day 1 was a complete success and fans were either going home happy from what they had seen or going home to get some sleep before heading back for day 2.

More photos can be found here thanks to Noodlez

Following on from their sold out ‘Pre-Obsession’ tour, Gyroscope are set to embark on their national ‘Breed Obsession’ album tour throughout May 2008.

The band’s third album, ‘Breed Obsession’, featuring the Top 30 single, ‘Snakeskin’ and their current single, ‘1981’ debuted on the Motorola ARIA Chart today at #1. It’s the highest debut in the band’s history (previous release Are You Involved? debuted at #20).

Breed Obsession’ was Triple J’s Album of the Week and JB Hi-Fi has an exclusive package of the album featuring a bonus DVD. The DVD includes a Making of ‘Breed Obsession‘ component where you will see the songs being re-worked in Pre Production as well as extensive interviews with all the band members. The Snakeskin and 1981 videos are included as well as unseen behind the scenes footage of us making the 1981 video.

First single ‘Snakeskin’ is currently featured in all Network 10 promotions for the AFL season and reached an impressive #16 on Triple J’s Hottest 100 – and it’s already won 2 WAMI Awards for Best Single and Best Video.

Gyroscope have been itching to finally showcase the album live on the Breed Obsession Tour. With them they bring Perth’s Sugar Army who, with the lengthily named And Now You’re Old Enough, I Think That You Should Know, are enjoying high rotation on Triple J and are sure to please Gyroscope fans new and old.

Tickets on sale Thursday April 3

BREED OBSESSION TOUR – MAY 2008
with special guests Sugar Army

Thu May 08 – Settler’s Tavern, Margaret River WA (18+)
Fri May 09 – The Prince of Wales, Bunbury WA (18+)
Sat May 10 – Capitol, Perth WA (18+)

Breed Obsession (featuring Snakeskin & 1981) in stores now
For more info visit www.gyroscope.com.au or www.myspace.com/gyroscope

Claire Clarke is only a young musical artist but has certainly progressed in leaps and bounds over the last two years. She released her debut EP Alter Ego to great reviews and now has just released her debut album Unhinged. She is set to explode upon the local and national music scene. Having filled some pretty impressive support slots Claire will play a special acoustic gig at the Hyde Park Hotel Front Bar on March 19th and sat down with Justin Middleton for this exclusive interview.

“The initial writing of it (Unhinged) was done over the past couple of years, I write all of the time and have all my journals so I put together songs that I thought were both relevant and immediate to that time. Unhinged was just the name that I thought most reflected me and my personality. The recording process was pretty intense and getting it all together was very exciting for me. We recorded it at Northbridge Sound Studios and that is just a beautiful studio and I believe the best studio in Perth. It was amazing listening to the tracks and seeing the evolution of them from acoustic numbers and going through all the steps to a final product. That was really, really cool. After that we sent it off to New York to get mastered by Leon Zervos who has worked with Avril Lavigne and Alanis Morissette. When we sent it off I was expecting it to come back exactly the same but when it came back and we were listening to this final version, it was just an amazing feeling to know that it was you had in your head all along.”

The lyrics to Claire’s songs are usually very personal and reveal a window into her soul that can be very poetic but mixed with her music also very easy to bop along to. Claire explains “I really enjoy writing about stuff that isn’t from ages ago but is really current and it is great to get the songs onto CD and get it out there now. I don’t want to be one of those people that works on an album for 10 years and just never does anything. I want to do it now and still be passionate about what I am passionate about. I don’t want to feel like I am waiting around. Waiting around for what? I want to do what I want and do it now. You may not have the chance later on in life.”

Claire isn’t signed to any major label and Unhinged is released through independent record label Bluestone Records. “As an independent artist I get to do what I feel is right and I get the freedom to do that. I haven’t got someone telling me or trying to manifest me into this little product or this manufactured product I’m not. I also know that i have had the time to develop as well rather than someone saying ‘This is your niche and this is what you have to do and this is what you have to wear’. I’ve had the time to develop myself and at the moment I am just so proud to be an independent artist.”

With recent appearances on Video Hits, Rage, Mornings With Kerri-Anne and multiple trips to play over east as well as locally in Perth, Claire has had a busy schedule of late. “The recent gig highlight would have to be with Kate (Miller-Heidke). The all ages show was my favourite so far just because all of the kids and people of any age really were just so excited and supportive. And after the show I just got a million photos and I was signing everything and it was just one of the highlights of all the shows I’ve done. Also playing acoustically is something I feel completely comfortable with and people always go on that you’re either one or the other, acoustic or full band, but I don’t see it that way. I just see this music as fluid and ever changing for me and when I started playing shows they were just unplugged versions of the band stuff anyway. For me it’s really cool to do shows like that and do the acoustic thing because it’s really, really nice to connect intimately with the audience and the live band thing is always very crazy.”

Like most musical artists these days Claire’s first single off the album, Rush, and the album itself is available digitally and physically in shops. I asked Claire for her thoughts on the digital age and the internet: “I am supportive of MySpace and digital music because I am part of that whole movement in a way and without it how could I connect with bands over east or overseas. I don’t go onto MySpace and ignore people that add me, I try and talk to everyone that messages me and chat back. It’s my way of communicating with the people that like my music. In the space of 2 years I’ve gained like 13000 friends with half a million views and I think it’s fantastic. In regards to digital music I can’t believe ARIA has just started to count digital sales. I mean what the hell has taken so long? Sanity, J.B Hifi and all those type of stores only stock the top 10 singles and some of them don’t even stock singles any more. So digital is the way it is going to go and in the next 10-15 years there may not even be CD’s any more. You have to be in the now and I think it’s great.”

For more info on Claire Clarke visit www.claireclarke.com or www.myspace.com/claireclarke

Claire Clarke - Rush

Saturday 8th March, 2008
The Paddington Ale House, Mt Hawthorn
Thirsty Merc
Angelas Dish

A small venue was the setting for two touring bands tonight and both Thirsty Merc and Angelas Dish have done plenty of touring in their distinguished careers. It was a sold out show and inside The Paddo the crowd were pushing themselves forward all night. Angelas Dish were up first and the boys from Gosford, NSW looked surprisingly fresh considering this was their last stop supporting Thirst Merc (although they are still on tour promoting their album War On Time until mid May). Their new album was officially released tonight which was another reason the boys were so happy and considering the line at the merch stand, they had every reason to be. Their punk/rock influences showed in their set and tours with the likes of Gyroscope, After The Fall and Behind Crimson Eyes have been very beneficial on their live show.

Next up on stage were Thirsty Merc and the mainly female crowd were set for the catchy pop tunes that have made the band very popular over the last 4 years. Emancipate Myself, In The Summertime, My Completeness, Someday, Someday were all played and all sung along to at full volume by the room full of fans. The biggest crowd pleaser of the night was recent single 20 Good Reasons which, by the amount of airing it had on TV ads and shows, isn’t that surprising. The sing alongs by the crowd got louder and louder but it couldn’t drown out the P.A system that wasn’t up to the sounds of the night and became slightly distorted.

Both bands put on a great show and were only too happy to sign merchandise and CD’s afterwards. The crowd were very appreciative and were extremely pleased what they had witnessed tonight. For those that missed it, Angelas Dish will back playing at The Prince Of Wales, Bunbury on April 10th, Mojo’s, Fremantle on April 11th and The Rosemount Hotel on April 12th. Thirsty Merc will be back supporting Matchbox 20 at The Burswood Dome on April 15th.

Thanks to Noodlez for the photos.

Eskimo Joe have become one of the most recognized and successful bands in Australian music history…but you have never seen them like this!

In what will be the group’s last shows in Australia before they bunker down to craft the next exciting phase of their remarkable career, Eskimo Joe have been rehearsing for what will be their most challenging and exciting live set of their career for the West Coast Blues ’n’ Roots Festival and their partner festivals on the east coast.

The band’s special performance has been labeled a synopsis of their career to date, and will be broken up into three parts. First up you’ll see the rock’n’roll 5-piece as you know it – melodic, raw and loud. For their second set the band will strip it back to a very special acoustic performance, backed a dazzling six-piece string section. And then Eskimo Joe’s final set will the see the full electric rock band reunite…accompanied by the string section.

What better way to experience Eskimo Joe for the last time, before they take a hiatus from the live circuit?

For more info and tickets visit www.sunsetevents.com.au

Another festival that saw a change of venue this year was the 2008 Future Music Festival. This year saw the dance and funk festival set at Wellington Square in East Perth which some thought was a risky move. The smaller venue limited numbers through the gates and was an unfamiliar location for many but still held up well against the strain of tens of thousands of music lovers.

Parking wasn’t too bad as the festival was on the Sunday of a long weekend and the central location gave the easy choice of public transport to many. Getting through the front gates was not fun as the line to pick up tickets ordered of the internet was long and slow and then the line to get bags and ID checked and finally into Wellington Square was just as long. For good or for worse the smaller venue allowed punters to wander aimlessly around from stage to stage with ease, with easy access to (expensive) food and drinks, water fans and sprayers and plenty of shaded areas to rest. But like most dance festivals not many people were there to rest and there were abundant numbers dancing professionally and really unprofessionally, dressed up in ultra fluoro or a special costume for the day (I spotted a Batman, Wonder Woman and even a mixing desk) and most guys decided that shirts were optional.

The Electro Splash Tent was host to the Norwegian electro punks Datarock early on with a great number of fans happily dancing in anticipation. Wearing matching red tracksuits, Datarock played a fun filled set that swayed between a rock concert and a rave with beach balls bouncing around from one side of the crowd to the other. Computer Camp Love was the biggest crowd pleaser and the use of a saxophone at the end of the set was a great thing to see and hear.

Aesop Rock unfortunately drew a small crowd to the Future Funk tent but played a fantastic set to those that turned up. The American hip hoppers were very interactive with fans and the covered tent was a welcome relief to the hot sun. Daylight was great to hear live and new song Coffee was also performed to perfection. The small crowd did start to lose attention pretty quickly and the sides of the tent soon were getting pulled up as people were looking for something else to do.

The Silent Disco was quite interesting to see and quite an original idea for a music festival. Essentially people line up to get headphones that play 2 channels of music played by a DJ. The tent is then filled with people dancing to music that people without headphones can’t hear. Interesting idea but it got very old very fast and seemed just like something anybody could do at home instead of paying over $100 to do.

Roger Sanchez is a very popular DJ who was expected to entertain a huge crowd at the Famous Stage and entertain is just what he did. A great set full of popular songs mixed and matched seamlessly to the dancing crowd but unless you were quite close up there were sound issues. The small venue required the stages to be quite close to each other so sounds traveled between stages constantly to the annoyance of many. Sweat Dreams and Stronger were crowd favourites for sure.

The electronic duo that most had come primarily to see were greeted with a huge roar from the crowd. The Chemical Brothers not only had a great set but a fantastic light show that worked together really well. They play a show instead of a set which was missing from almost all of the other acts for the day. Hey Boy, Hey Girl, Galvanize, Do It Again and The Golden Path were all played and all loved by most. Even the dirt that had risen from the park ground and covered the feet of everyone couldn’t dampen the utter excitement that the dancing fans were showing.

Photos from Future Music Festival can be found here at PerthNorg (Thanks to Noodlez).