Perth Music

Timbaland is one of, if not the greatest producers of our time. He is the single biggest creative force currently active in popular music and has been responsible for making smash hits for some of the biggest artists in the world including Justin Timberlake, The Black Eyed Peas, Beyonce, Snoop Dogg, Kanye West, Rihanna, Madonna and Usher, to name just a few. His latest album Shock Value has gone platinum 3 times in Australia, and the smash hit singles Apologize and The Way I Are were among the biggest selling songs of 2007. And now for the first time ever, Timbaland is bringing his dynamic live show down under for the Shock Value Australian Tour.

Timbaland’s genre breaking has changed popular music today, and he takes pride in his success at staying ahead of the curve with his originality and experimentation. Confident and charismatic, his goal is still to blow the listener’s mind and make them move to the beat.

Don’t miss the opportunity to see one of the most exciting artists in the world today perform all his hits including Apologize, The Way I Are, Give It To Me, Scream and heaps more.

Tour Dates:
Sat July 12th – Challenge Stadium, Perth
Wed July 16th – Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne
Sat July 19th – Entertainment Centre, Sydney

Tickets on sale Tuesday June 10th

Following the release of his highly anticipated new album “We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.” Jason Mraz will continue his love affair with Australia with a run of headlines shows this August.

Starting the tour in Perth at the Fly By Night on Wednesday 6th August, Mraz and his merry men will then travel to Sydney’s Enmore Theatre on Saturday 9th August, the Forum in Melbourne on Tuesday 12th August and finish up at the Tivoli in Brisbane on Thursday 14th August. Tickets for all shows go on sale on Friday 30th May through the usual outlets.

On his previous tours, Mraz has become accustomed to spreading out on stage with his percussionist Toca Rivera, occasionally with bass player Ian Sheridan and for the first time on his last tour, drummer Mike “Leroy” Bram. This time all of his band mates will join him as well as a three-piece horn section, for the biggest show Mraz has ever brought to Australia.

The songsmith won over new fans across this big brown land in March of this year when he took the stage at the Blues Festivals in Perth, Victoria and Byron Bay. With overwhelming crowds and unprecedented queues at the festivals signing tents, Mraz couldn’t wait to come back for more. And with sell out shows in Sydney and Melbourne on his last visit, fans are encouraged to be quick on this one so not to miss out.

On “We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.” his third studio release, Mraz teamed up with renowned producer Martin Terefe, known for his work with KT Tunstall, Ron Sexsmith, and James Morrison. The album sees Mraz continuing to tread his own distinctive artistic path, melding a variegated musical tapestry with passionate, personal lyricism. Among the highlights are collaborations with British tunesmith James Morrison and singer/songwriter Colbie Caillat.

Tickets on sale Friday 30th May, 2008
Wed 6th August – Fly By Night Club, Perth
Sat 9th August – Enmore Theatre, Sydney
Tue 12th August – The Forum, Melbourne
Thur 14th August – The Tivoli, Brisbane

Winter is here and so are the Next Big Thing heats, and they ain’t called heats for nothing!

49 contenders from over 100 entries for the seven metropolitan NBT heats have been chosen by an expert panel of judges, with more to come from the regions. Two winners from each heat will go through to the semi finals to find the Next Big Thing in original music for 2008!

Metro Heat 1 - Wed 11 June - Rosemount Hotel
Apollo National, Hailmary, Still Born Stones, Damien Thornber and the Orphans, Trident Winter, Mia Slayford & The Sunday Suits

Metro Heat 2 - Fri 13 June - Rocket Room
Xave Brown, Team Sport, Contraband, Ryan Webb, The Four Walls, Adam Redd and The Easy Love, Tree

Metro Heat 3 - Sat 14 June - Breakers Whitesands
Hostile Little Face, Injured Ninja, The Jade Diary, Tracksuit, Boys Boys Boys!, Chasing Autumn, Colourblind

Metro Heat 4 - Wed 18 June - The Foundry
Short Fuse, The Blue Finish, Perfect Monday, Jonny Taylor, The Atom Hearts, Mrs Henry, The Lazy Railway

Metro Heat 5 - Fri 20 June - The Railway Hotel
Miche Suite, Jordi James, Buried in Damascus, Super Villans, My Mad Flow, Offbeat Antics, Flame Trees

Metro Heat 6 - Sat 21 June - Rocket Room
Prozac Vixen, The Upton Pilots, Myles Vincent, Ben Blondel, The Daily Nights, Mandelt Era

Metro Heat 7 - Wed 25 June - Rosemount Hotel
The Typhoons, Syrian Rue, Bravo Inferno, Jay Marriott, Project Mayhem, The Bullet Holes, Bird to Prey

Regional Heats
Esperance Fri 6 June
Broome Sat 7 June
Albany Sat 7 June
South West Sat 21 June
Mandurah Thurs 26 June
Karratha Sat 28 June
Geraldton Sat 28 June

Presented by Drug Aware and Healthway, the Next Big Thing is WA’s richest original music competition. For heat listings and prize details check the website www.nextbigthing.net.au

Trial Kennedy’s debut album New Manic Art is set for release on 31st of May and it is set to be an album where every song leaps out and drags you in, where the song-writing is fresh, honest, and original and where it never sounds like some dumbed-down predictable play for high rotation. They have toured the country endlessly to fine tune their live act and have previously released two EP’s, but it is with New Manic Art that Trial Kennedy are set to take the country by storm. Bassist, Aaron Malcolmson caught up with Justin Middleton for this exclusive interview.

Click here to download the podcast of the entire interview. (13:36 - 3.2Mb)

I asked Aaron to explain the process the band went through in the creation of the album. “We set ourselves up in a small studio, locked ourselves away and wrote as many songs as we could in the time period we had between touring. Tim (Morrison, vocalist) took away the melodies that he had put to all the songs and wrote the lyrics which helps him get in touch and feel the songs a little bit more. Then we did a couple demos and shopped it around to a few producers. We got told to put down any names that we wanted, even long shots, so we put down Nick Didia as a long shot. And he ended up being one of the people that turned around and said yes.”

“We then traveled over to Atlanta, Georgia, recorded in Southern Track Studios and were there for 6 weeks and came out with the album. It was amazing. Probably one of the biggest things was being away from all the distractions, whether it be family, friends or even just wanting to be in your own bedroom for a while. We were all out of that comfort zone and it was all just business. Everything came together really nicely. It always feels like you need more time but I think if you have all the time in the world you end up doing a Guns N Roses album.”

Producer Nick Didia has produced and engineered albums for Powderfinger, Incubus, Audioslave and Stone Temple Pilots just to name a few and Trial Kennedy made the most of having such an experienced guy to work with. “He did a couple of my favourite albums in Rage Against The Machine and Pearl Jam and stuff like that. He’s got a lot of experience under his belt and he’s a very professional guy. He was very quick to make you feel right at home and we all got along with him really well. He’s just an awesome dude and funny as, he had us in stitches the whole time we were there.”

I asked Aaron if they approached the recording of the album differently then they have have for their previous 2 EP’s; Present For A Day (2004) and Picture Frame (2006). “For the EP’s you are limited on space so you don’t want one rockin’ track and three experimental things on there, you want four rockin’ tracks on a four track EP. So when you are given eleven or twelve spaces for a record you have to write to cater that whole type of mood. We were definitely given a lot more space and room to play with which was a luxury and really good to have. We went in there with a different attitude and we really wanted to explore the depth of different sounds on every song and Nick was just the perfect person to put everything together for us.”

“We are very, very, very, very, very, very, very picky people and we had already gone through the songs with a fine tooth brush. We had got it down to 14 and we were asked to take over everything that we had so we brought over all 14 and we recorded them all. I think they will all be released and see the light of day which is really good. (11 on the album) and the 12th is the b-side on Neighbours, the 13th will be the b-side on the upcoming single, Colour Day Tours and the 14th song, which is one of my favourites but didn’t make the album because it is a slow and moody song and we thought it might take away from the flow, we will give away to every person that signs up to trialkennedy.com”

As an added bonus for fans, when you purchase New Manic Art on iTunes from May 31 for the special price $14.99, a special Podmix is also yours in full, free! Basically it’s a remix of the same wonderful album for your ipods; a remix for the 21st century. It creates a different spacial experience for “earbud” headphones and the mix involves unusual “Left/Right panning”, where high frequencies are also emphasised. It’s a whole new wall of sound!

New Manic Art is released on May 31st. For more info on Trial Kennedy visit www.trialkennedy.com

Seattle’s Death Cab for Cutie are returning to Australian shores in August as part of a worldwide tour in support of their groundbreaking new album Narrow Stairs, which debuted at #1 on the US Billboard Top 200 Album Chart and at #6 on the ARIA Album Chart in Australia.

After spending much of 2006 in the midst of a turbulent tour cycle surrounding their platinum, Grammy-nominated album Plans, the band took a well-deserved break of sorts during the first part of 2007. Frontman Ben Gibbard embarked on his first-ever solo tour; guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Chris Walla released a solo album and produced records for acts like Tegan and Sara; drummer Jason McGerr constructed his own recording studio, Two Sticks; and bassist Nick Harmer, as always seems to be the case, worked on various projects.

Don’t miss out on your chance to catch these extraordinary indie rock craftsmen live this August. These shows will sell out quickly.

Tickets go on sale Friday 30 May
Sun 17th August – The Palace, Melbourne
Mon 18th August - Enmore Theatre, Sydney
Wed 20th August – Metropolis, Fremantle
Fri 22nd August – The Tivoli, Brisbane

The Wombats have truly gone from strength to strength in 2008. Their ridiculously catchy single Let’s Dance To Joy Division saw them secure the number 12 position in Triple J’s Hottest 100, their debut album A Guide To Love Loss And Desperation became an anthemic summer album, and the band made their first trip to Australia in March for a sell out tour. Combine this with a 22-date sold out UK tour, rapturous crowds across Europe, Japan and the US, and their invitation to play one of Australia’s premier festivals, Splendour In The Grass, and you have a band well on the way to their own version of world domination.

The Wombats make their second trip to Australia this August, playing Splendour In The Grass and their own special headline shows. They then return home to perform one of their biggest shows to date at the 10,000-capacity Liverpool Arena in November.

Tour Dates:
Sat 2nd August - The Capitol, Perth
Tue 5th August - Enmore Theatre, Sydney (All Ages)
Wed 6th August - The HiFi, Melbourne
Thur 7th August - The Gov, Adelaide (All Ages)

Tickets on sale 4th June. A Guide To Love Loss And Desperation is out now.

Small Mercies are a classic rock band for the modern era. Hailing from Brisbane, the four-piece have just released their debut album, Beautiful Hum on May 24th. Produced by Matt Wallace (Faith No More/Maroon 5), Beautiful Hum has “international smash” written all over it. Lead singer, Steve Blaik caught up with Justin Middleton for this exclusive interview.

Click here to download the podcast of the entire interview. (10:43 - 2.5Mb)

I asked Steve to give us a brief history of the band and describe what the band has gone through leading up to the release of their debut album. “Danny, the guitarist, and I knew each other back at school, we started jamming back then which was about 10 years ago. Between now and then we’ve had a couple different lineup changes with certain members. We released an EP back in 2004 and then started touring around, we’ve been touring our butts off for the last couple of years. Then we finally recorded the album about 12-18 months ago and it comes out 24th of May.”

Beautiful Hum was recorded in Los Angelas with Matt Wallace who found the band through their MySpace page. I asked Steve how it was for the band recording in a different country. “It’s an amazing experience man. We got to record it in a studio where they did Nirvana’s Nevermind and Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, some really iconic records. It’s pretty awe inspiring when you look around and see these plaques on the walls from those iconic bands. Also we got to work with one of the best producers of our time, in my opinion, in Matt Wallace who did Maroon 5’s record (Songs About Jane) and Faith No More’s The Real Thing and Angel Dust. So it was an amazing experience for us both creativity and being really cool.”

“In a way it was challenging, as in we challenged ourselves to really perform at our optimum level. I think what was such really positive experience for us was that we got to dedicate 6 to 8 weeks purely on music. When you are in a different country doing that kind of stuff it just makes it such a productive environment especially with Matt there who really had a way about him. He was able to create and bring the best out of us and bring the best out of the songs. It was an exciting time and I think we are really happy and really proud with what we achieved over there.”

I asked Steve if the band treated the recording of the album differently then how they have recorded their previous two EP’s. “We were really concentrating on the songs, that was our focus. Making sure the songs that we had were being delivered the best way we possibly could. We were also conscious, as a listener, what we wanted to hear when we put on an album. Like the journey that an album puts you through. I listen to albums like August And Everything After by Counting Crows or Throwing Copper by Live or anything by U2 and they all put you through a kind of a journey of emotional ups and downs. That’s what we wanted to achieve from the record and hopefully we were able to capture that.”

You can catch Small Mercies on tour supporting Shannon Noll on the following dates:
Fri 6 June - Cronulla Leagues Club, Sydney
Sat 7 June - Reversby Workers Club, Sydney
Sun 8 June - the Evan Theatre, Sydney
Wed 11 June - Horsham Town Hall, Horsham VIC
Thur 12 June - Shoppington Hotel, Doncaster VIC
Fri 13 June - Ferntree Gully Hotel, Ferntree Gully VIC
Sun 15 June - Hallam Hotel, Hallam VIC
Thur 19 June - Deewhy RSL, Deewhy NSW
Fri 20 June - Campbelltown RSL, Campbelltown NSW
Sat 21 June - Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide SA
Wed 25 June - Mingarra Rec, Central Coast NSW
Thur 26 June - South Sydney Juniours, Sydney
Fri 27 June - Shellharbour Workers Club, Sydney
Sat 28 June - Blacktown RSL, Sydney
Fri 4 July - Southport RSL, Southport QLD
Sat 5 July - Norths League And Services Club, Brisbane QLD
Sun 6 July - Ipswich Civic Centre, Ipswich QLD

For more info on Small Mercies visit www.smallmercies.com.au

The next MySpace Secret Show is Bliss n Eso in Perth! Don’t miss your chance to see them at their exclusive MySpace performance and their only Perth show so far this year! Tickets to the show are free and operate on a first come first served basis - so make sure you get there early as capacity is strictly limited.

With their highly praised third album Flying Colours debuting at 10 on the ARIA Album Chart, Hip hop trailblazers Bliss N Eso have been blazin’ stages for over eight years and now you can see them up close and personal for free!

Thur 22 May 2008 - Amplifier Bar, Perth

Local rockers Bravo Inferno are set to heat up Northbridge this weekend as they launch their debut EP This Balloon on Saturday May 24 at The Rocket Room. Glen Strindberg, Mike Gardiner, Lee McDonald, Wayne Clayton and Christiaan Fok make up the rockin group and will be assisted by Long Gone Midnight, the broody Big Game Hunter and the soulful pop tunes of Tristan Venables. Tickets are available at the door for $10.

For more info on Bravo Inferno visit www.myspace.com/bravoinferno

Kav Temperley from Eskimo Joe will be playing some rare acoustic shows around WA showcasing a mixture of brand new songs never before heard live. He’ll be offering a sneak peek into new material which Eskimo Joe have been working on, while also playing some golden favourites.

Dates:
Fri 23 May - Norfolk Basement, Fremantle
Wed 28 May - Foundry Bar & Grill, Cannington
Sat 31 May - Rocket Room, Northbridge

Kav will be supported by Steve Parkin who will also be performing acoustically and showcasing tunes that will feature on his upcoming solo album. Steve is the first signing to the Eskimo Joe’s Dirt Diamond Productions label. There will also be a couple of surprise guests appearing at these shows so get your tickets from the venues listed above.