Good Vibes Melbourne 2010

It was a busy day for us interviewing, so we only caught snippets of the bands we really wanted to see or really only had time to see.
Of course the one band we had to see was Gossip as we couldn’t get an interview with them 😦
Beth’s and the bands soulful take on their pop/punk did not disappoint me either! Gossip have clearly crossed over to commercial land, but are well deserved of it, after all the band have been playing around for over 10 years.

Salt n Pepa, Think its fair to say that most of the punters went to Good Vibes just to see them! They were definitely one of the big draw cards for me, It’s been a 10 year wait… These ladies certainly know how to work a crowd! Meeting them after their set was the highlight for me. What great chemistry, they giggled a lot, like teenagers doing their first interview. Salt’s 10-year-old son adoringly watched us interviewing his mum with such pride.

Basement Jaxx totally rocked the main stage with what felt like 20 piece band, a plethora of singers, costumes, brass sections, coloured jeans and massive light show (pity it was still daylight).
Proving once again, why they’re still on the festival scene!

Friendly Fires couldn’t make it out due to personal reasons, however the lovely Jack came all the way out to brave the heat and bringing us a bangin DJ set! For that Jack we love you! Although he kinda looked up bit lost on the stage without his drum kit….

My surprise band of the day – Gym Class Heroes, although i had a feeling they would totally rock the house live. Before seeing them on stage I have to admit I really didn’t get them and I have to admit I still don’t….
However Travis McCoy and his band WOW! They certainly know how to work an audience, the kids were going off and I was mesmerized.

Unfortunately I didn’t get to see Naughty by Nature, Busta Rhymes or Kid Cudi, but heard they are were all amazing!

fortunately for me, our interviews were all done by the time The Killers played. Massive Wow factor on this one, its been a couple of years since I last saw them at Festival Hall and I must say their live show is now well up there with some of the best bands in the world. No pitt access for photographers, so sorry no photos. All I have is the memory of seeing them, then again later that night when the whole band turned up at my vinyl night at rock n roll haunt Cherry Bar in AC/DC Lane….. Worth way more than photos for me 🙂

Stay Tuned for interviews and live footage…. coming soon….

Words: Sarah g
Photographs: Semira Rogan

Westrocks London – Bertie Blackman this Friday

LIQUIDNATION
165 Ladbroke Grove
WEST LONDON
W10 6HJ

Friday 26 February
6pm – 3am
FREE ENTRY b4 8pm

LIVE BANDS:
SEMI PRECIOUS WEAPONS (New York City, USA)
Glam Rock n roll from New York City! Fronted by the hottest blonde guy Justin who has killer legs and only ever performs in heels! Recently signed to Lady Gaga’s personal label Haus Of Gaga they will be in London for 2 nights, they are playing 1 exclusive show in London and this is it at WEST ROCKS!
http://www.myspace.com/semipreciousweapons

DAISY DARES YOU (Essex, UK)
Daisy Dares You is the new up & coming future pop sensation from Sony. At just 17 years old, her first single Number One Enemy features Chipmunk and she is currently on a UK tour with Chipmunk. Also a keen cook and makes a mean gooseberry & elderflower jam. http://www.myspace.com/daisydaresyoumusic

ELIZA DOOLITTLE (Camden, North London, UK)
http://www.myspace.com/elizadoolittle
Eliza launched her EP at WEST ROCKS recently in November! She is back armed with more bubblegum melodic pop – go to her website for a free download of one of her songs http://www.elizadoolittle.com

BERTIE BLACKMAN (Australia)
Her Dad is iconic artist Charles Blackman. She is now getting really big in Australia on an indie level after just been awarded
Best Breakthrough Act at the Australian Independent Record Awards (AIR Awards) Zane Lowe and Annie Mac are said to be on board so come and make your own mind up…. RANDOM FACT: remember the Galvatrons, well Manny their old drummer now plays for her!
http://www.myspace.com/bertieblackman

BRETON (UK)
Dance-led Avant-Grunge. This 3 piece have just put out their debut 4 track EP on Rough Trade
http://www.myspace.com/bretonbretonbreton

DELUKA (Birmingham, UK)
This band have had early praise from Dazed and Confused magazine and also the NME. They recorded their album in Brooklyn, New York and now reside in Birmingham.
http://www.myspace.com/deluka

DJ’s:
TARA ROCKS – The lovely host

RICHARD BIEDUL – This man is the other half of me & WEST ROCKS TV

ANDY & JAMES TAYLOR – 2 of the hippest hipsters…

QT (Callum Turner & James Quilty) – Models and music always go well. Expect some indie classics….

ALI & JAMES COWELL – This duo will be responsible for the late night rave hour from 2am – 3am….

THEM:YOUTH – Local West London band doing a DJ set. They have had singles out with AMAK and Dirtyboot!

cherry vinyl on sundays – Brian jonestown after party, the killers, gossip, dandy warhols and more…

Do you remember the time before you pressed play?
Do you remember the time your music came on two sides?
Do you remember the time when bass was warm and fuzzy?
Do you remember the time when music was only 7 or 12” wide?
Do you remember the time of cover art?
Do you remember the time when music was bought from strange men with pony tails and beards?
Do you remember the time when music crackled?
Do you remember the time when music cost money?
Do you remember the time of the cue and stylus?
Do you remember the time bringing your music purchases home meant back ache rather than RSI?
Do you remember the time of dust in your grooves?
Do you remember the time your Mum got Big Kev’s needle stuck in her groove????

You don’t?! Oh well, must have been before your time..…

Every Sunday night at Cherry Bar the Cherry Vinyl crew are still only playing vinyl!
So far they’ve hosted after parties for The Eagles of Death Metal, Jamie T, Marilyn Manson & Twiggy Ramirez, The Bronx, Bad Religion and No FX, AIR Awards, Jet and Green Day dropped by when they were last in town! However Sunday the 21st of Feb was the week to be there: It was mega The Brian Jonestown Massacre hosted their after party and along came The Killers, Basement Jaxx, Nathan from Gossip (who jumped onto the decks a spin) and Brent from the Dandy Warhols partied early into the morning….

Cherry Vinyl On Sundays
Cherry Bar AC/DC Lane (off flinders lane)
8:30pm till late

Vampire Weekend new music video – Giving Up The Gun

“Giving Up The Gun” is the new single from Vampire Weekend!

The video features cameos from Jake Gyllenhaal, Lil’ Jon, RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan and Joe Jonas of the Jonas Brothers and was directed by production duo The Malloys, the brothers behind such works as “Sooner or Later” by N*E*R*D, “Dig Out Your Soul in the Streets” (short film) by Oasis, “Don’t Phunk With My Heart” by Black Eyed Peas, “Under The Great Northern Lights” (documentary) by The White Stripes plus many others.

British Sea Power @ The Corner Hotel Melbourne

Playing dodgem cars on Hoddle Street, on a Friday night in a bid to get to the Corner Hotel for the first rift of indie greats British Sea Power (BSP) was a game of Russian roulette worth playing.
British Sea Power (BSP), hailing from the Brighton, England was founded in the usual way, lads (and a chick) getting together and playing songs for the music appreciates out there. Friday night was no different, the dark room was packed to the rafters with guitar-loving boy crowd as the 6 member band serenaded them with tunes from their most recent albums, Man from Aran and Do You Like Rock Music?.

The crowd however had two strange anomalies one being that they all seem to be dancing with middle age, this seemed to be the destiny of scene-sters as the years go on, their hair cuts get shorter and less swooping, the pants baggier and higher and the tattoos once worn as a badge of honour are now demurely hidden behind beige and maroon checked shirts.

The second anomaly was that the majority of the crowd was expats, proudly donning football jumpers (of the English variety), bad teeth (jokes) and pointing their hands to the ceiling with appreciation.
Apart from these 2 facts the crowd was much the same as any Melbourne crowd, in awe of the band breaking out with whoop and hollers in the gaps between one song and the next, but unwilling to show any kind of physical appreciation through dance.

BSP however seemed un-phased by this reaction performing the grand sweeping tunes, swapping instruments like a floozy swaps…well you get the drift and gracing the crowd with what can be only defined as that indie essence of nonchalant making everyone in the crowd feel honoured to have the chance to breath in the carbon dioxide particles expelled by the band.

BSP’s sound ranges from epic instrumentals, indie rock anthems and sweet ballads, which make this band truly genre defying.
The swan songs for the night were, Waving Flags, Remember Me and Carrion which seemed to be a shouted out as a request like a cheer at a football match through out the night.

Nearing the end of the evening the band somewhat abruptly took their bow and headed off stage leaving the crowd cheering, and hanging for more like a herd of wild pigs at and empty trough. The band reassembled on stage to play and encore that had so much energy that I was almost sceptical about whether they had exited the stage to take some kind of uppers.

The encore was laced with the second guitarist being carried up right through the crowd quite gracefully as he continued to play. The bassist, up this anti by crowd surfing until he reach a poll in the middle of the room, grabbing on to it for dear life, hanging upside and then proceeding to crowd surf back to stage. To this the crowd finally reacted with mania, like their pill of Viagra had finally set in and the love began to flow …then over flow as they derangely jerked and bounced to every frenzied note. Mission accomplished: middle age Melbourne scene-sters showing physical appreciation for music. I think this band may have opened Pandora’s box.

British Sea Power are rumoured releasing a new album in 2010, however it seems to be hard to find much web information on what the troop is up to next… if you are hungry for more of their stuff I can start you on the scavenger hunt at their website: http://britishseapower.co.uk good luck and God speed.

Words: Eva Lubulwa

45 King On The Making Of Jay-Z’s “Hard Knock Life”

While looking for BP3 tour footage from FLA, I stumbled across this video of what appears to be an excerpt from a documentary on enigmatic producer, Mark The 45 King. Here he and Hov talk about the making of Jay’s 1998 breakthrough hit. Kid Capri, the man who made the connect, is also featured.

Speaker TV Is Giving Away 2 Tickets To Lupe Fiasco For Fri-Feb26th

Visit Speakertv.com.au And Enter To Win 2 Tickets – Winner Announced 24th Feb 4pm

Speaker TV Food For Thought

So without further ado

1.

Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn’t work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ’s. We just figured it out. Today’s kids are soft.

2.

There is a great need for sarcasm font.

3.

I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

4.

LOL has gone from meaning, “laugh out loud” to “I have nothing else to say”.

5.

I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

6.

How many times is it appropriate to say “What?” before you just nod and smile because you still didn’t hear what they said?

7.

What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?

8.

While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it…thanks Mario Kart.

9.

Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

10.

I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

11.

You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you’ve made up your mind that you just aren’t doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

12.

Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don’t want to have to restart my collection.

13.

I’m always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

14.

“Do not machine wash or tumble dry” means I will never wash this ever.

15.

I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There’s so much pressure. ‘I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren’t watching this. It’s only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?’

16.

I keep some people’s phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

17.

Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, hitting the G-spot, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey – but I’d bet my ass everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time…

18.

I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

For All The White Strips Fans

Under Great White Northern Lights is Emmett Malloy’s documentary film of The White Stripes 2007 Canadian tour.

The tour saw the enigmatic duo perform in every territory and province of Canada. Not only concert halls in every nook and cranny of the country, but also spontaneous performances on a fishing boat, youth shelter, city bus and their famed one note concert.

The film is a captivating mix of riveting live footage and poignant off-stage moments. No lesser film maker than Jim Jarmusch says that Malloy “has captured and crafted a magical, compelling and perfectly musical document.” Emmett is renowned for making the surf documentary Thicker Than Water which unleashed Jack Johnson on the world. He has also made videos for Foo Fighters, White Stripes, Raconteurs, The Shins, Black Eyed Peas, Ben Harper, Ben Folds, N.E.R.D and Blink 182.

The film will be released on DVD, as part of a CD/ DVD package. The CD is the band’s first official live album, with 16 classic White Stripes songs recorded on the 2007 Canadian tour including Seven Nation Army, Let’s Shake Hands, Black Math, Icky Thump and Fell In Love With a Girl.

Under Great White Northern Lights is released in Australia on March 12 through XL/ Remote Control.

Screening at Hoyts Cinema’s next week only!

HOT BBQ –The War Begins- 16th January 2010

Words: Eva Lubulwa

Hot BBQ brought to our shores by the guys from Future Entertainment was a battle of the beats waged by an army with tan tainted skin and fluoro wife beaters. The dance arena was speckled with tribal inspired dance moves, accompanied by serious faces and the odd smile. The music provoked people to lose any trace of their city personas and delve into that moment between beats, where one dance move ends and another begins.
To claim that there was peace and tranquillity by the Point Neapean sea-side that day would be a misrepresentation of facts to say the least. The ground grumbled with the vibration of the rhythm as the weight of the party people bouncing up and down dinted the delicate soil. This was war and as the drum beats increased with tempo as the mania grew from a dull roar to an out right war cry.

The highlights of the days battled started early with new comers We Are Fans introducing us a fresh new genre of music. Their sound can best be described as the illegitimate love child of disco and dance. They began to play when the sun was high and the sweat pour freely but despite themselves people began to dance.

Maxi - We Are Fans

The Scientists of Modern Music continued this trend memorising the crowd with their intoxicating mix of funky electronic tempo, synchronised dance moves and tight synth infest melodies.

The Lost Valentinos

Bertie Blackman brought the rock tunes, which made the crowd shake as her strong soulful voice washed over the audience.

Jet played an almost hypnotising performance with the crowd’s eyes glazing over as they sung the lyrics in complete unison while jump up and down to every rift, note and drum beat.

Nic - Jet

Sneaky Sound System brought back the fun, the lead singer Connie Mitchell wore a Jetson’s inspired attire and danced around the stage as the crowded mimicked her performance in the vein of a wiggles concert for drunk adolescents.

Connie - Sneaky

But the highlight of the night would have to be our all American master of the decks who brought insanity to the crowd by using his turntables as a weapon. Grand Master Flash played the best tunes since the early nineties which in the beginning had people quoting utterances like “ man I love this song” and by the end had over loaded their sense into such a manic thirst for the next tune while desperately trying to hold on to the last the English language evaded everyone’s lips, leaving only a high-pitched scream the could no longer be measured by simple decibels as the crowd almost tramped each other trying to fit as many dance moves in the time allocated to the guy that made the deck a musical instrument.

The Grandmaster himself!

Hot BBQ was insane… As cars headed back towards the city, faces were washed clean to regain the little respectability needed to face the city inhabitants, bodies lay limp in back seats of cars as if all life had been drain and all that was left was a glint in their eye and the hope for more craziness at the same place, around about the same time next year.