Perth Music

OK, so I sat down to write a review of the Pnau and Van She gig I went to last Wednesday (which was great by the way, it had fantastic songs, crazy people in strawberry and dove outfits, huge balloons bouncing around the whole club and a tonne of little instruments used instead of samples). What I ended up writing and seemed to notice more and more at the show was the crowd and I guess just the state of the youth in 2008.

What started as an eighties revival in music and in fashion has started to blend with some nineties influences and kids just don’t know what genre they are into anymore. People wear fluero and hypercolour shirts next to their friend that is wearing a plain white t-shirt labeled “Fuck Fluero” and don’t get me started on popped collars. It does seem funny that clothing a lot of twenty-somethings would have in their wardrobe from primary school is now in again and sold at shops for such a high price, wear and tear already included. There are still groups of different styles in the room but they have definitely become less and less obvious and styles are mixing together. Skater styles have mixed with mod and goth styles to create emo and now even more Frankenstein styles are getting created by the youth unknowingly.

Another thing that was quite obvious in the room was that at least one out of every three people had a camera and didn’t mind taking a photo every 5 seconds. Most of the time the photos were not taken of what was happening on stage but just simple photos of themselves and their friends, holding the camera with one hand slightly above their head and a silly pose on their face. What started as a fun thing to do on MySpace has become essential to the youth of today going anywhere night or day for MySpace or Facebook or their blog or Flickr or their MSN Messenger display pic or their laptop wallpaper…you get the point.

Mobile phones were out in force that night as well. I think it would be safe to say every single person in The Capitol had a mobile phone. And they weren’t afraid of using them either. You could see people smsing their friend that was on the other side of the room, back and forth all night. There are also no need for lighters at gigs any more for the slow loving songs as mobile phones do a good enough job apparently. I’ve even seen videos of flames that people can download off the internet onto their mobiles so that the flame plays on the screen at concerts.

Mmmmm anyway Pnau and Van She were awesome.

Twenty-five year-old Carl Riseley has always had music in his veins. Carl played the trumpet throughout school, but it was only towards the end of high school that he really felt he could make a career from his talent. When a good friend joined the Royal Australian Navy as a trombone player, Carl was inspired to do the same and signed up the following year as a full-time musician in the Navy. Then came the chance of a lifetime when Carl decided to do something different and try out for Australian Idol. And what a decision that was as Carl made it all the way to the top 3. Carl Riseley’s debut album The Rise is out now through Universal Records and he chatted to Justin Middleton for this exclusive interview.

Click here to download the podcast of the entire interview. (12:57 - 1.5Mb)

“At the end of Idol John Foreman, who produced the album, said to me that if nothing comes from Idol that we should just make an album anyway and have a bit of fun. We had become good mates and he was originally a jazz pianist so it was a good opportunity for him too. We ended up just hanging out for a few weeks, almost a month just kicking tunes and arranging them.”

I asked Carl if it was difficult in choosing the songs that eventually ended up on the album. “A lot of these songs are songs that reflected really nice memories of my past. My favourite part was standing in the recording studio when we had 36 muso’s in the room all recording at the one time. They were all just the finest dudes in the country and they only ever did two or three takes of each song, they were that good. It ended up only taking a couple weeks in the studio so it was an amazing adventure. We did long hours, it was rough. We did 16-17 hours a day in the studio for the two weeks and just smashed it out.”

“We all loved the songs and we all could relate to them so we just wanted the best outcome. I think there was about 5 tunes we had that were on a backup list but we only ever recorded 13 songs. We discussed 13, we agreed on 13 and we went in and recorded 13 songs. So there are 12 songs on the album and the 13th will be the bonus track on iTunes.”

With Guy Sebastian releasing his Memphis album, Human Nature releasing their Motown albums and David Campbell releasing his Swing albums there is plenty of public interest in music that isn’t necessarily pop/rock at the moment. I asked Carl if he noticed this as well. “These guys like Guy and Human Nature and myself are just trying to bring a bit of a different taste out there than this pop and rock stuff that keeps coming out. I mean I haven’t listened to the radio for about a year now, since the start of Idol, so I don’t know what’s out there but I think it’s really nice to have this different style come through. It gives everybody options.”

The lineup of songs on The Rise features new arrangements of much loved hits including first single This Guy’s In Love With You, Girl From Ipanema, Pure Imagination, Lido Shuffle, We’ve Only Just Begun and even Waltzing Matilda. I asked Carl how much fun it was creating new arrangements for the classic songs. “It’s really a very special experience. I remember so clearly sitting down with John (Foreman) in his studio thinking about The Letter and what we can do with this. And we sat down and probably talked about it for two minutes and then we just started…and then we got on a roll and when we were doing it there seemed so many options but I can’t imagine it any other way now.”

Carl is set for a string of tour dates in May and June and the shows are set to be quite spectacular. Each show will consist of two sets - one with Carl backed up with a quartet and one with Carl backed up with a Big band. No Perth show is locked in as of yet but Carl did hope he could make his way over to the West. “I know we’ve locked in dated for Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide and we are still negotiating Perth and Hobart but we have to get it Perth. I’ve got good mates over there at the moment. I love Western Australia, I’ve been to Broome and I’ve spent a lot of time in Fremantle as well as Perth so I love it.”

The Rise is out today. For more info on Carl Riseley visit www.carlriseley.com.au

Carl Riseley Tour Dates
Wed 28 May - Governor Hindmarsh Hotel, Adelaide
Fri 30 May - Bennett’s Lane, Melbourne
Sat 31 May - Bennett’s Lane, Melbourne
Wed 4 June - Troubador, Brisbane
Fri 6 June - Rooty Hill RSL, Sydney
Sat 7 June - The Basement, Sydney
Sun 8 June - The Basement, Sydney

A great site that Triple J fans will love is www.hottest100tunes.com. It has complete lists of the annual Hottest 100 songs voted by Triple J listeners from 1989 all the way to 2007. There are also links to ringtones of every song as well as links to iTunes where you can pay and download MP3’s of every song.

Check it out.

The beautiful surroundings of the Somerville Auditorium in UWA was again host to the best local band music festival around, In The Pines. Although the weather was kind of gloomy and their had been rain the few days before today, the Somerville grounds were only slightly muddy and plenty of fans had brought their picnic rugs, blankets and pillows. 20 bands were playing today so it was a long, fun-filled day for those that arrived early but there were many people trickling through the gates all afternoon.

The first band I got to see were dirty rockers The Homicides and there were plenty of hardcore punks up the front giving as much shit to the band as the band was giving to the crowd. The music was loud, it was fast and it seemed that it was more of an attitude that fans appreciated than the lyrics or melody. Sure there were bottles of water and sticks thrown on stage and at the band but it all seemed that it made the show more interesting than just an average band playing average songs.

Up next on the second stage were indie rockers Kill Teen Angst and the mood of the grounds did a complete 360. It was like a polar opposite punk show to The Homicides. Instead of the angry, Sex Pistols style punk it was an almost emo, modern style punk show that concentrated on the music. The songs were played with talented precision - guitar, bass, drums and vocals were all outstandingly played to perfection and the crowd would not have even thought about throwing anything on stage during the set.

Another change in musical style saw The Tigers up next playing their avant/rock grooves that the band have been playing around Perth for many, many years. Their songs are more atmospheric than anything else and keyboard mixes beautifully with haunting guitars and great drums. With some tunes lasting 6-7 minutes and their set only allowed to be 30 minutes, there were only a few songs played but it probably worked out well that way as it was easy to lose interest after a little while. But The Tigers are an institution of the local scene and it was great to see them live again.

Felicity Groom and The Black, Black Smoke looked like they were still ecstatic from their four WAMi nominations earlier this year and the crowd felt that happiness ooze from the stage. Alternative country music has been a popular style with bands in Perth of late and this band was on top of it’s game today. It was a set that not only the people up front could enjoy but those that had gone to the trouble of bringing their picnic blankets could lay back and enjoy the music. Vanessa from Jebediah also got a bit of a warm up for later playing bass for The Black, Black Smoke.

Another member of Jebediah was up next with frontman Kevin Mitchell completing his set as Bob Evans. Looking very relaxed, Bob played songs from his two albums albums on his acoustic guitar, harmonica with a friend on accordion. It was great to hear the ARIA Award winner playing his contemporary style music and the crowd definitely got a lot bigger while he was playing. Don’t You Think It’s Time and Nowhere Without You were huge favourites with the crowd singing along and waving their arms in the air.

After the Noongar ‘Welcome To Country’ and Djiva as well as some food, New Rules For Boats were up next on the first stage. Brother and sister duo Sean and Miranda Pollard shared vocal duties for the rock/pop set as the sun was setting and the atmosphere was getting exciting. There were a few in the crowd that looked like they had been drinking all afternoon and it was starting to take it’s toll but the music was infectious enough to get everybody grooving.

Adam Said Galore are another local band that have been around for years and years and as proof of the years of hard work their live show is perfection. Skillfully playing a wide range of music from their past albums, Adam Said Galore were a crowd favourite for the day and even with a bit of sound trouble, they made it look and sound great. The set was very interesting in that it started off with soft, gentle type songs but by the end it was rocking out with the speakers almost exploding with sound. For a band that have been around since 1994 it was great to see them live once more.

Capital City have built a reputation as one of Perth’s best live bands going around and after this evening’s set they had proven that reputation true. The songs were great, the attitude was fantastic and the band must have made plenty of the crowd proud that they were from Perth. Another band that are one of the best live, local bands going around is The Bank Holidays and they were up next on the second stage. With a small string section helping them out for a few songs, they sounded great and with a cover of The Beatles Helter Skelter as a finisher they had earned a huge applause from the crowd.

Headliners Jebediah were up last and even with a short set they proved they still had it after the extended break over the last year or two. Starting with oldie Monument, the crowd sung along and I am pretty sure I saw at least one girl crying in happiness. New song Comet was played next and sounded fantastic, followed by Fall Down and No Sleep. Another new song, To Your Door, was played and then Kevin Mitchell announced that “this song was written when they were very young and smoked too much pot” before Jerks Of Attention exploded onto the crowd. Final song Star Machine is always a great set finisher and as the band walked off and the crowd screamed for an encore, it was announced that the local council did not allow for music after 10pm which it was now. Jebediah showed they are worthy of the top notch on any local gig and gave just a sneak peak at their new album which should rock just as much as their previous albums.

Saturday 19th April, 2008
The Paddington Ale House, Mt Hawthorn
Gyroscope
Calerway
Escapes Me

A special private party presented by EatingWA saw three fantastic Perth bands playing at the Paddington Ale House and a great crowd were present and eager for some rocking tunes. For a gig that was private and not advertised very much, there was a tremendous turn out and fans took advantage of a rare opportunity to see the local rockers in a low key environment. Cheap beer, wine and spirits also helped create a joyous mood and, even though it was an early start at 3pm, everybody looked to have a great afternoon.

Most people in the crowd would not have heard of Escapes Me before this afternoon and the boys in the bands took the gig in their stride. After a song or two warming up Escapes Me got into a rhythm and cranked out some old school punk that got the crowd pumped up. Sounding like early Blink 182, the young band did very well in stepping up to the challenge of opening for a couple of seasoned local bands. Escapes Me definitely have a bright future ahead of them and I hope they get the opportunity to perfect their live show with more opportunities like today.

Next up on the bill were a band that has a very full couple of months coming up. Calerway took the rock baton from Escapes Me and showed a confidence that not every young band has early in their careers. With a bunch of launch shows coming up with the release of their debut album, Calerway look set to explode on the live scene. The drumming was fierce and the vocals demanded attention as all eyes in the room focussed on the stage. If you haven’t seen Calerway live before, make sure you catch one of their album launches next month.

The crowd was only allowed a short break before the explosion of Weapon Enemy Friend blasted from the stage as Gyroscope ripped into their set. The local lads were obviously still extremely happy about their third album, Breed Obsession, debuting at number 1 on the ARIA charts and played plenty of songs from it. Hits from previous albums were also played and the crowd loved every minute of it even when singer Dan Sanders jumped into the mosh pit mid song and kept singing and playing guitar. The AFL song of the moment, Snakeskin, was a huge favourite for the crowd along with Doctor, Doctor, 1981 and Safe Forever. Gyroscope have gone from strength to strength over the past few years and watching them live just proves that they are one of the best Perth bands around.

For more info on EatingWA visit www.eatingwa.com.au
For more info on Gyroscope visit www.gyroscope.com.au
For more info on Calerway visit www.myspace.com/calerway

The South Street Ale House in Hilton is introducing the Indie-nation DJ night to help kick-start your weekend in style. Every Thursday from the 24th of April RTRFM DJs will be at the Ale House playing classic rock, indie hits and pop tunes with some great surprises thrown in for good measure.

If you’re into The Shins, Pixies, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Arcade Fire, Sonic Youth or The Clash, then the South Street Ale House is your new hang out every Thursday night. They also serve up a great feed and they have a wide range of refreshing drinks and beers on tap to complete the picture. Great tunes, scrumptious food and a tasty beverage, what more could you want?

So throw down the remote control and take complete control of your Thursday night at the South Street Ale House’s Indie-nation.

What - Indie DJs playing a mix of classic rock, indie and edgy pop
Where - South Street Ale House, 277 South Street, Hilton
When - Launch night - Thursday, 24th April, Doors open at 8pm
Price - Free Entry

Over the past 4 years, Seany B has dazzled partygoers with his hip hop, house and electro style, from Perth to the Gold Coast, Darwin to Launceston, playing in excess of over 100 shows a year. He had his biggest hit 2 years ago when he teamed up with TV Rock and released the smash Flaunt It which stayed in the Top 10 of the Australian charts for 22 consecutive weeks, giving it the title of the longest Top 10 charting single ever by an Australian artist. As well as establishing a successful solo career as a performer / rapper, the songwriter has now co-produced a solo album and is already gearing up for a year of live shows with a new band and great DJs. The first single from the album, B Good 2 Me was released a couple months ago and his new single, Happy Today, will be released in a couple weeks. Seany B caught up with Justin Middleton for this exclusive interview.

“It’s hard to tell a story when you’re living it. I have this thing when someone calls you from a party to tell you how good it is, I always wonder if it’s so good why do they have time to call you.”

I asked Seany B to describe what he went through while writing his first solo album. “The recording process was grueling man. I was incubated over winter I guess because it was a good time to write and I had a lot of time to think about what I had done the past few years. I wrote the album in a real intense place in my life and I was doing the music as well. I don’t mean to say anything about the other works that I have done but on the new record these are songs. I wrote the lyrics to all these songs first where as traditionally we write beats first and then try and put a loop on top and then craft words but with the new songs I wrote stories. It’s a collection of stories that are three dimensional so there are 13 or 14 songs for me to express myself on. It really helped me diversify myself in being a story teller and not just picking the right tone, the right groove and the right vehicle to tell these stories. They aren’t all rap and they aren’t all dance, there are some slower tracks with some great instruments on this album, we used a lot more real guitars and I didn’t want it to be just a generic dance album.”

“I wrote the album in about three months which is really quick when you think about it in industry terms but not that quick when you think that I had my whole life to come up with these songs. I think you can see the album developing when you listen to it and the character kind of blossoms. I think it’s a good representation of me as a person and as a musician. I think you connect to different songs depending on your mood. The songs that I usually connect to are the ones that usually aren’t the singles. The thing about a single is that it’s your favourite song but it’s also everybody else’s favourite song. I hope I put a broad enough spectrum on the album so that each song is someone’s favourite. I like to think that there’s a full mood swing on the album.”

He adds “Each song was something I had to vent whether it was good things or bad things. B Good 2 Me, the first single, was an ode to my hip hop roots, sampling and bringing the electro beats. The next single, Happy Today, is about all my love for roxy music influenced by Bowie with a touch of Calvin Harris. B Good 2 Me was the first track I recorded for the album and Happy Today was the last so there may be a bit of bipolar between the two singles.”

I asked Seany B to explain his philosophy on song writing. “I think it’s hard to talk about something that is important to you in simple terms because you have all this pent up shit that you want to talk about and you’ve thought about it for so long without vocalizing it and then you have so many different ways to say it. But what makes you the person you are is the way you can articulate it in a way that is palettable for other people to connect, it’s all about connection. To write the stories wasn’t the hard thing and marrying it to the music wasn’t hard either. I guess i even made the subtle shift back then when I did Flaunt It which is introducing the story and the narrative to something you can dance to.”

“You can dance with your eyes closed or you can listen with your ears open.”

For more info on Seany B visit www.seanyb.com

Calerway are a local band set for big things in the music industry. They have only existed for a few years but individually JP, Chedda, Riley and Cam have grown and matured to become a band that is ready to take on the world head on. They have released two EP’s and have their debut, as yet untitled, album ready for release next month. Lead singer/guitarist JP caught up with Justin Middleton for this exclusive interview.

“We’ve been together for about three years and formed purely from a bunch of different bands, it wasn’t really a side project but we all left our other bands. We then recorded our first EP without playing our first show yet. We then did a whole lot of shows and last year we didn’t do too many to concentrate on recording. We will be launching our album in May which was engineered by Adam Spark (Birds of Tokyo)”

A bunch of songs from the upcoming album are available on the bands MySpace page (www.myspace.com/calerway) and I asked JP to explain the process the band went through when recording. “We tried something different for the recording of the album. All our other recording have been layered but for our demos for the album we tried them all live and they all actually sounded better. So for us it just made sense to do the album that way and it’s cheaper too. We went down to Margaret River and booked out a big house, put all the amps into a room and rocked it.”

“We recorded three songs last year which were supposed to be on the album, kinda the first little batch. But after we did that we ended up writing a whole bunch of new songs so the first three didn’t even end up on the album. So all the songs on the album are basically new except for 1 or maybe 2.”

The band have planned a few album launches around Perth in May (dates available below) and I asked JP if there was any planned touring for the East Coast as well. “We are looking to do some touring from July. We have one run booked but we know that you need to do a few runs in a tour to make it successful. We booked some shows and went over East a couple years ago and, here’s some advice for other bands, it was a waste of money. We didn’t promote it and it was just like going to the pub in Perth when nobody know about it and nobody cares. Now we are going to push it properly and promote it properly. So bands that are thinking of going over East to play shows just for the sake of it, don’t do it. Use your money on something else and do it when are really ready.”

Calerway’s debut album is available in May 2008.

You can catch the band playing at the following dates:
19 April - Private Function for EatingWA (www.eatingwa.com.au)
2 May - UWA
7 May - The Foundry, Cannington
8 May - The Breakwater, Hillarys
9 May - HQ (AA), Leederville
10 May - Amplifier Bar, Perth
11 May - Mojo’s, Fremantle

For more info on Calerway visit their MySpace page - www.myspace.com/calerway

It was the final major music festival of the summer but plenty of music fans young and old made it down to The Esplanade to attend the first V Festival to be held in Perth. With the fairly clear sky, you could hardly tell that there had been a deluge of rain that had fallen in the previous two days in Perth but there was still some mud pools around. The crowd wasn’t as packed as the previous festivals this year but that just made it more enjoyable for the faithful. There was also a noticeable age spectrum in attendance with the younger fans eager to see the newer bands and the older fans eager to see some of the 80’s and early 90’s bands playing.

On arrival it was great to see a large, happy crowd getting ready to see indie/electro act Cut Copy on one of the two main stages. As soon as they started playing, girls started dancing and the band seemed just as happy, smiling and waving to the first few rows. Given that Cut Copy’s second album, In Ghost Colours, debuted at number one on the ARIA charts just the week before V, they had every reason to be on top of the world. Radio friendly hits Hearts On Fire, Lights And Music and So Haunted were definite crowd favourites.

The next band up was The Jesus & Mary Chain which saw a shift in crowd demographic and considering they formed 24 years ago it was no surprise. There was a buzz of excitement for the band that just reunited last year after a 9 year break but the excitement didn’t last too long. It was great to see the band that made distorted indie music popular but unlike the late 80’s it isn’t as unique as it once was. After a couple songs the indie tunes all started to sound the same which was great for diehard fans but for newer ones the intrigue was quickly lost.

Alternative darlings Modest Mouse were up next and a blistering set exploded onto the Perth foreshore. The crowd looked like it almost doubled in size as the Washington based band played a great set of older songs as well as a bunch from their 2007 release We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank. As soon as the band played Float On the crowd were in total reckless abandon and it was great to see. Frontman Isaac Brock gets almost as crazy as the crowd and it started to look like there was a competition for who was more wild. For me, Modest Mouse were the first band of the day to be in rock festival mood and pull it off perfectly.

Just like Spinal Tap were the first band to turn their speakers up to 11, Queens Of The Stone Age definitely turned it up a notch in Perth. It was dirty rock at its best and Josh Homme owned the crowd as the band played hits such as 3’s and 7’s, Little Sister, Go With The Flow, a fantastic and rocking version of No One Knows as well as the drug filled Feel Good Hit Of The Summer that had a cameo of Amy Winehouse’s Rehab in the middle.

It was then time to go back to the 80’s when Duran Duran came on stage to play to the very enthusiastic crowd. Formed 30 years ago, Duran Duran didn’t look tired or rundown or even stressed out as many older bands usually do and singer Simon Le Bon seemed a happy man. Even if some of the younger members of the crowd didn’t know the band, they definitely knew the songs. Girls On Film, Ordinary World, Planet Earth, Rio, Notorious were all played and loved by the crowd and when Le Bon asked “Are you hungry Perth?” and played Hungry Like The Wolf there was a frenzy of dancing.

Brazilian electo/pop girl band CSS had a packed crowd on one of the smaller stages half way through Duran Duran’s set and there was a lot of joy int he room. With a bunch of helium balloons placed around the stage, the set looked more like a party than a festival act. There was dancing, there was hand claps, there was synchronized arm movements and there was sexy and fantastic songs played.

The Smashing Pumpkins were the main headlining act of the day and as soon as Billy Corgan walked on stage, the crowd erupted. It was great to see Corgan smiling at the crowd and the whole band looked like they were enjoying themselves (even without founding members James Iha and D’arcy Wretzky). Opening with 90’s hit Tonight, Tonight, the entire front 20 rows turned into a mosh pit of movement. Next up was the first single from the Pumpkins Zeitgeist album Tarantula, followed by Mayonnaise, Porcelina, Cash Car Star, Crush, Today (dedicated to all the DJ’s of dance music who Corgan “Fucking hates”), a solo, acoustic version of 1979, a few more newies in That’s The Way, Set The Controls and United States. There was also a rocking cover of Britney Spears’ Piece Of Me that most of the crowd didn’t recognize until half way through and the sky also lit up with fireworks thanks to a wedding in King’s Park. An encore of The Everlasting Gaze and a blistering version of Bullet With Butterfly Wings finished a set that left fans very satisfied and proved why The Smashing Pumpkins are one of the greatest rock bands in the last 20 years.

Click on photos for bigger versions.

Keir Tunbridge interviewed me to talk about the state of the Perth Music scene as well as Steve Ashfield, manager of Mojo’s. The show was on last Friday afternoon but if you missed it you can still have a listen to the story HERE (5:00 - 1.7Mb)

A big thanks to Keir and RTR-FM for taking the time.  For more info on RTR-FM visit www.rtrfm.com.au