new music

Record review: Foxygen – …And Star Power (2014, LP)

/ Paul McBride / Leave a comment

foxygen ...and star power

Before having even heard of note of Foxygen’s third album you’d be forgiven for thinking they’d lost the plot. Twenty-four songs spread over a double LP seems like the sort of rock music folly that ’70s punk killed off for good, but the Californian duo of Jonathan Rado and Sam France are seemingly undeterred. They even go as far as labelling their opening track ‘Star Power Airlines’ in a nod to a time when rock stars flew in planes with their band logo painted on the fuselage.

Thankfully, the expected musical flatulence doesn’t appear, although it’s barely kept at bay in parts. Second track and lead single ‘How Can You Really’ goes a long way towards bursting that particular bubble; it’s Big Star-esque aesthetic soothes and radiates warmth, before the piano balladry of ‘Coulda Been My Love’ shows that the duo have lost none of their song-writing talents during the crazy times they’ve experienced since the release of 2012’s We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace and Magic. Indeed, it could be suggested that the alleged infighting, shambolic live performances and so-called exhaustion have made …And Star Power what it is. Much like their heroes The Rolling Stones’ 1978 classic ‘Beast of Burden’, Foxygen have their own bruised-and-battered anthem with ‘You And I’, on which France is found asking “Why doesn’t anybody help me? Why doesn’t anybody care?” amid tales of broken bodies and divided relationships.

The next four tracks, labelled the ‘Star Power Suite’ are a fairly ridiculous few minutes that start off sounding like a medley of ’70s theme tunes in the vein of The Fall Guy or Smokey and the Bandit, before ‘Mattress Warehouse’ picks things up again; its organ-driven base allowing France to mumble and stumble through his vocals in the elegantly wasted manner he has made his own. The driving whimsy of ‘Cannibal Holocaust’ provides an album highlight shortly after, ‘Cold Winter Freedom’ throws some heavily-distorted synths into the mix to make it the heaviest track here, and ‘Freedom II’ is about as Rolling Stones as any band is going to get without snorting their dead father’s ashes.

By the last quarter, the gloves are well and truly off and nothing is left in the tank. The flailing fury of ‘Talk’ gives way to the cheese-balladry of ‘Everyone Needs Love’ and its calls to “shine on”, before closer ‘Hang’ closes proceedings on a miserable and dragging note.

At 82 minutes, boundaries of length and self-indulgence aren’t quite reached and beached, but there’s a lingering feeling that at least four or five of these tracks could have been left out or set aside for the special edition and no loss of quality would have resulted. At times out of focus, at times incoherent, but always engaging …And Star Power is more like three or four albums disguised as one. However, for all their retro leanings and sometimes misguided ideas, Rado and France remain top-drawer songwriters, and it’s that fact that make this album worth a spin or two.

For FasterLouder

Record review: Johnny Marr – Playland (2014, LP)

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johnny marr playland

Beginning his career as the talented one in The Smiths provided Johnny Marr with a pretty solid foundation on which to build his musical world after shedding the Sultan of Sorrow that is Steven Patrick Morrissey. His second solo after album after last year’s The Messenger, Playland is a further opportunity for the 50 year-old Englishman to quietly impress, as he has been doing with a variety of projects for several years. If impressing was the intention, however, Marr has mostly fallen short here. Rather too much of this album sounds badly dated, perhaps most closely exemplified by lead single ‘Easy Money’, which comes off like a wince-inducing mix of Duran Duran and Dire Straits. There are still some fine moments though, as there will always be when a guitarist as good as Marr is involved. ‘Dynamo’ and ‘The Trap’ contain some of those wonderfully ringing and intricate guitar lines we come to expect from his fretboard; the ones he should stick to building all his songs around. The main problems are a lack of quality songcraft and consistently expressionless vocals; a losing combination if there ever was one, and one that leaves you feeling like an opportunity has been missed here. Marr is a vital talent – of that there is no doubt. He simply needs a writing partner to take these songs to a higher level, and then he shouldn’t ever consider himself a lead singer ever again. (New Voodoo Records)

For mX

Richard Cartwright of Richard In Your Mind: “If you want to have a spliff in the morning, you can”

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richard in your mind

BLUE MOUNTAINS psychedelic/pop quintet Richard In Your Mind have returned with Ponderosa, their most accomplished album to date.

Band leader Richard Cartwright explains how it came together and why marching to the beat of your own drum is a good thing, ahead of their Sydney shows.

“People seem to get it,” he says. I think it’s kind of a weird album I guess, although that’s for other people to decide. There are songs on there that stick out like a sore thumb, but we decided we’d keep them on there anyway because that’s what we like and what we wanted to do, and it seems that other people are like ‘it’s great that you did that’ instead of ‘you really messed up the whole thing by doing that’. So, we’ve been pleasantly surprised that people get it, and that’s cool.”

A 14-track collection of psychedelic pop gems mixed and produced by regular cohort SPOD, Ponderosa features woozy instrumentals, waves of percussion and a few surprises.

“There’s one called ‘Good Morning’ and even a little of ‘My Volcano’; they’re kind of synthy and groovy,” Cartwright says. “’Good Morning’ especially has a pitch-shifted and distorted vocal. It’s kind of noisy. We wrote heaps more songs than we put on the album. We basically kind of just chose the best. In making the list, we played around a lot before deciding. There are still heaps of songs we really like that didn’t make it on, but we tried to balance the instrumental tracks in between the songy-songs to make sure people weren’t getting too lost in an instrumental before giving them another kind of stronger-feeling anchored to a proper song. In the long run, there’s an argument for not having too much coherence. I feel like there’s always more work to be done leading up to releasing it, but we’ve had it ready for a little while now, and now it’s not just in our heads, it’s in the world. We wanted to make sure we got it right. It took as long as it did, and once it was finished it was decided we were putting it out in five months, which seemed like ages, but time is on a slope and it goes fast and here we are now. It feels good.”

The singer explains how the off-kilter album found its title after a discussion about the Cartwright family on the American TV Western Bonanza.

“Well, I’m a Cartwright,” he says. “Not that I really grew up watching a lot of Bonanza, but my parents and people in the generation above did grow up with it would talk about Bonanza and start singing the tune to me. It was only recently when my mother came to visit and we were talking about Bonanza that she mentioned that the ranch was called Ponderosa out of the blue, and I thought it was a kick-arse name for something. The whole album is a diverse album; it goes to different places, but in a way this idea of home and trying to describe the different things that stand for a unified whole or the quest for home or something; it’s not specific but it’s a vibe.”

While the influences and variety of sounds on Ponderosa are as eclectic as they come, single ‘Hammered’ is a frolicking ray of sunny pop that pays tribute to daytime indulgence, although Cartwright admits it’s not necessarily about alcohol.

“It depends on what you’re getting hammered on, really,” he says. “With booze you should wait a little bit, until you’ve done something, but if you’ve got the day off, the sun is shining and you want to have a spliff in the morning, you can.”

When he’s not getting loaded in the daytime, Cartwright can probably be found collecting ingredients for dinner, as described on ‘Four Leaf Clover Salad’. But how many four leaf clovers constitute a salad?

“I think it’s the same rule as ‘a few’, so three,” he laughs. “Two is only a couple of four leaf clovers, so obviously you’ll want more, so I’d say three is enough for a little salad. My wife is really good at finding four leaf clovers – she finds them constantly, and the way you get luck is by eating them, or so she tells me. I was walking the dog one day and that concept occurred to me, as I think I did eat a few.”

Expect upcoming Richard In Your Mind shows along the east coast to be heavy with new material.

“To start with, it’s a small eastern tour; Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, Newcastle, Byron Bay, Brisbane and stuff. Then, hopefully we’ll play a bunch more shows. We’ve played a couple of shows, mainly focussing on the new songs. We want to make sure a couple of the new songs are more up-to-scratch, but at the moment our set is probably 50 percent new stuff. We’ll try to get it up to about 75 percent new stuff, while keeping songs we’ve always enjoyed playing live as well.”

RICHARD IN YOUR MIND PLAY THE LANDSDOWNE FRIDAY OCTOBER 17 AND NEWTOWN FESTIVAL SUNDAY NOVEMBER 9. PONDEROSA IS OUT NOW.

For The Brag

Jeff Martin of The Tea Party: “We’re making another record”

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the tea party

THE TEA PARTY have had more than their fair share of break-ups and make-ups, but frontman Jeff Martin’s confidence in their new album and upcoming tour is higher than ever.

“It’s surreal, but we’re an achievement and an accomplishment,” he says. “I’m very proud of the three of us; that we overcame what seem now to be very petty differences, but at the time we thought to be much more than they were. The music won the battle and brought our friendship and this very important band back together. There are a lot of great rock bands out there, but there’s nothing like The Tea Party, and I think it’s good that we’re back. The mental framework of the band is better than ever, so here we are.”

The Canadian rock trio formed in 1990, but split in 2005 due to the dreaded ‘creative differences’, before reforming in 2011. Their new album The Ocean at the End is their first since 2004’s Seven Circles.

“It’s everything you want,” Martin says. “Everything that The Tea Party is capable of doing is on that record, and that’s a lot. That’s a lot of music on one record. It’s exactly what we need to be like now, you know? For ourselves and for our fans. Over the course of the years we were apart, promoters were calling our various agents with massive offers to get the band back together. The wounds were pretty deep for the three of us, then after seven years my agent called me and asked if I’d entertain the idea, and I was like ‘you know what? Yeah.’ Time had passed and I missed The Tea Party, and I missed Jeff [Burrows, drums] and Stuart [Chatwood, bass]. I was game, and if the other two were ready, so was I. And that was that. Musically, it was on fire immediately from the first rehearsal, although it was icy for the first few months as we tried to feel each other out, since we hadn’t spoken for seven years. That being said, I’ve known Jeff Burrows since I was five years old. Lots of bands say they’re like brothers or whatever, but this band truly is, as we’ve known each other that long. We just had to learn to trust and respect each other again; we’ve each grown with our own individual experiences and I think it’s now better than ever.”

Ontario-born Martin now lives in Perth, so it was an easy choice for the band to re-find their musical feet on Australian soil; the result being a 2012 live album entitled Live From Australia.

“The criteria that the three of us initially held in our minds was firstly, can we be that great rock band again and make that magic on-stage?” Martin says. “Yes, we ticked off that box with the reformation tour. Point two: can we rekindle that beautiful friendship that has to exist for us to continue? We ticked that box off. I had to also prove things to Jeff and Stuart, and also to myself – and we won’t go into it or anything – but towards the end of The Tea Party the ship lost its captain, you know? I sort of went off the rails, so I had to prove to myself, Jeff and Stuart that I could be the captain of the ship again. Then it was time to say we have to make music, but the one thing we did realise was if The Tea Party was going to come up with a new record, it has to stand up to anything we’ve done in the past; it’s got to be that good or else don’t do it at all. That’s why we took our time over a year and a half. We did four recording sessions, two writing sessions and we did them in tiny blocks of time, stepping away and coming back. It’s our statement now; it’s exactly where we’re at, so let’s go forth and conquer.”

An upcoming nine-date national tour will give fans a chance to reacquaint themselves with a band that has made Australia its honorary home in recent years.

“Australians have great taste,” Martin says. “Still to this day, there’s a great rock ‘n’ roll audience in Australia. Many of the great bands that came out of Australia had to prove themselves in the pubs; the INXSs, the Midnight Oils and all that stuff, right? They had to be a great live band to make rock ‘n’ roll fans go ‘yes’. I think that’s why Australian audiences have been so passionate about The Tea Party, because when we’re on we’re one of the best there is. Australians really appreciate the musicianship and passion that we put into it, you know? I want the band to be at its very best when we’re playing here and for it to be firing on all cylinders. It’s going to be a big campaign, about two-and-a-half years, but for music of the band, Australia is very much its home.”

When asked whether The Tea Party are back for the long haul, Martin once again answers with towering confidence.

“I’ll tell you this. I don’t know if it was an e-mail or text, but I got it from Stuart a couple of weeks ago saying he’s already booked pre-production in Vancouver for 2016. So apparently we’re making another record [laughs]. We’ll be touring Australia and making some great memories. Following that, we’ll do Canada, then take a couple of months off. After that, the world is calling. We’ve got Asia, South America, Europe; we’ve made a commitment to ourselves and this music, as well as the fans, and for us it’s the real deal. I’m looking forward to it.”

THE TEA PARTY PLAY:

MELBOURNE PALAIS THEATRE – OCT 12
SYDNEY ENMORE THEATRE – OCT 15
BRISBANE THE TIVOLI – OCT 23

THE OCEAN AT THE END IS OUT NOW.

For mX

Jack Carty: “Esk is the best thing that I’ve done so far”

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jack carty

FOR most musicians, a national tour means five or six dates taking in the obvious urban hotspots. Sydney folkie Jack Carty, however, is bringing his new tunes to a village near you on his upcoming 32-date tour.

“It’s really good to get out to regional shows,” he says. “There are audiences out there who are hungry for live music. It’s good to get outside the capitals and get to all the people who want to hear live music. I grew up in the country, and I remember when I was kid, if there was a band coming to town there would be a buzz, even if we didn’t know who they were. I love that about getting out to regional Australia. I’ve also played a lot of those places before, so it’s nice to go back and play for the people who’ve bought the records and became fans. It doesn’t really matter where I am; I just close my eyes and sing.”

The 27-year old is touring on the back of his new album Esk, which features a number of musical collaborators, including Josh Pyke on first single ‘The Joneses’.

“He and I toured together about two years ago,” Carty says. “We did a huge 27-date national tour together. Well, when I say he and I toured together, I really mean I supported him. We became friends and stayed in touch. When the time came to write and record this record, I gave him a call one day and asked if he’d be interested in working on it with me, and he just said yes. It really was that simple; he’s a super-down-to-earth guy. Then we ended up touring together again earlier this year, so I’ve spent a lot of time with him now, and he’s an amazing and nice guy. I then recorded ‘The Universe’ with Katie Noonan and the rest of it is a whole different bunch of collaborations. I worked on some songs with Casual Psychotic, who is the guy I made the EP with last year. The last album was quite personal and introspective, and I think that’s how I naturally write songs, so I wanted to collaborate more to see what would happen if I mixed in some outside influences.”

Having been quietly but assuredly building his fanbase with two albums and two EPs since 2010, Carty sees Esk as another stepping stone in his musical development.

“I think this is the best record I’ve ever made,” he says. “But I also think it’s not right to compare. Break Your Own Heart was a break-up album; it’s meant to be quiet and introspective and is the only record up to Esk that I feel completely proud of. Not that I think that it’s perfect, but it is what I meant it to be, if you know what I mean. But Esk is the best thing that I’ve done so far.”

JACK CARTY PLAYS:

MELBOURNE – HOWLER DEC 4
SYDNEY – LIZOTTE’S DEE WHY NOV 13 & BRASS MONKEY CRONULLA NOV 27
BRISBANE NEW GLOBE THEATRE OCT 17

ESK IS OUT NOW.

For mX

Christopher Owens: “I’m going to wish I went to school for the rest of my life”

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christopher owens

HE GREW UP in a travelling religious cult, writes songs about his ex-girlfriends and splits his time between fashion modelling and being a successful singer-songwriter.

With such an eventful past, is it any wonder that 35 year-old American Christopher Owens has named his latest solo album A New Testament?

“On my European press tour I’ve been having to explain the concept of the title,” he says. “For someone like me, it’s a real bonus to not just understand the lyrics, but the first language thing makes it easier to explain them. I don’t know what the word would be, but there’s baggage that comes with that phrase that they don’t fully get.”

The ex-Girls singer finds a large amount of his material being inspired by past relationships, which luckily doesn’t have a negative effect on his current one.

“I’ve sung about so many [ex-girlfriends],” he laughs. “I’ve written about girlfriends from a long time ago in a very reflective way. ‘Jamie Marie’ is a song about a girlfriend from a long time ago. If you look at the lyrics, maybe I say their name or I’m talking about them, for the most part I’m talking about how I feel. First of all, I don’t think they feel very invaded as I’m not giving much about them, and second of all, they’ve always been pretty nice songs. My songs about other people are generally nice, not nasty. Doing a whole album about my ex-girlfriend is something I could see being difficult for my current girlfriend, but the reason she is so great and why we’ve been together for as long as we have, is because she doesn’t get hung up on things like that. She knows I wrote that album before we had even met, and she knows this is what I do. She has the ability to see what’s going on and I think she’s okay.”

The Miami native’s latest release is his fifth in as many years – a trend he is keen to continue.

“I just like to record as much as possible,” he says. “Part of me would say I should be doing two a year, because I have the songs and the ideas already, but it’s good to take a little breath and pause, and make things stand the test of time in a way; give the songs a year or two to see if I still think they’re good after that. But I think at least one a year is a good year. It’s like a Woody Allen film or an Ingmar Bergman film, you know? There are a few people who can keep that pace, and if I can keep that pace, I think I’ll be doing well.”

With a heavily reflective mood to the album, will A New Testament bring a little peace to Owens?

“I’d say I’m doing better now, for sure,” he says. “I don’t want to get into things I could complain about, like my upbringing. I never went to school, for example. I’m going to wish I went to school for the rest of my life; I know that. I can count many things I’m very happy to have. This album is just out, and my mind is already on the next.”

A NEW TESTAMENT BY CHRISTOPHER OWENS IS OUT NOW.

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Slash: “We ended up doing 17 tracks in six days”

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slash

In 2001, former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash collapsed at a soundcheck, woke up in hospital and was given between six days to six weeks to live.

A pivotal point in the hard-drinkin’, heavy-druggin’ Los Angeles native’s life, it marked a turning point that saw the legendary axeman get sober and eventually begin writing and releasing records of his own.

“I’ve gone through a lot of different stuff,” he says. “I was comfortable with a lot as far as when Guns N’ Roses was happening, but there’s been a lot of stuff I’ve had to go through to get to the point of where I’m at now on my own; it was very hard. Maybe there were periods there when I probably had question marks in brackets around whatever I was doing, but I never really stop and specifically think about stuff like that. I just like doing what I do. It seems insane to people that I don’t have a specific motivation now other than just liking music. I like playing live, I like writing, I like touring and everything that goes with it. Making records and going out in front of audiences; this is what I picked up a guitar for.”

World On Fire is Slash’s third solo album, and the second on which the 49 year-old has worked with Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators.

“It’s exciting; we finished it in May,” he says. “We’ve been doing this for five years now. It started off as nothing; I didn’t have any plans for this. It was just really a band that I’d put together to support my first solo record, but it turned out to be such a great bunch of guys that I decided to work with them to make the next record following that, which was Apocalyptic Love. Basically at that point it had already turned into a band and was one of those sort of magical combinations of people that I didn’t see coming, but turned out to be really great.”

Produced by Michael ‘Elvis’ Baskette, World On Fire is 17 tracks of typically Slash-esque hard rock, with plenty of big riffs and solos, and was recorded in double-quick time.

“Usually it’s one or two songs a day,” Slash says. “But with this record we ended up doing 17 tracks in six days. It was good. I write the stuff on the road, here and there, and then I work it up with Brent [Fitz, drums] and Todd [Kerns, bass] and start getting a real musical arrangement together. I then send it out to Myles so he can start getting some ideas. They’re with me the whole time on the road when most of these ideas come in the first place, so they’ve heard most of it before. We’ve jammed in soundchecks and dressing rooms or whatever, so most of the initial ideas they’ve heard. I grew up in a very rock and roll environment, musically, and guitar solos are a very important part of rock and roll songs. They’re just a really exciting part of a good rock song.”

An upcoming slot on the Soundwave 2015 bill will give Slash and co. a chance to play the new material to Australian audiences for the first time.

“I’m excited about it,” he says. “We did it in 2011 or 2012 – I can’t remember exactly. We did the tour and there was Slayer and a bunch of cool bands on the bill. It was a lot of fun, and was one of the coolest sort of moving tours that I’ve ever done. We are really looking forward to it. Everything [on the album] is basically all recorded live. We don’t write songs with the intention of them being live songs, but when we go in to record it, we just play the songs live so much it just comes out that way. Everything on the record more or less comes from a live setting, so it should all translate great live, you know? We’re on tour now with Aerosmith in the States and then we start a world tour in November. It’ll basically run all the way through next year.”

Despite Gene Simmons recently claiming rock music is dead, Slash is quick to come to its defence.

“I’ve been hearing that same exact quote since the seventies,” he says. “But anyway, I think rock music as a medium will never ever die or anything like that, but it’s going through a hard time. The way that the business has become is predominantly, if not a hundred percent, corporate at this point. When it comes to record companies and radio and all that kind of stuff, rock music doesn’t really have much of a place in it. But that’s what I love about what’s going on right now – there’s this really great underbelly of very genuine, spirited rock and roll happening. It’s starting to get that sense of rebellion back, which is really great. I think that’s important, and I think it should be ‘us against them’, you know? I sort of like the way that things are going and I don’t see rock being dead at all. I see it in Europe and a lot just recently in America. I can’t speak on behalf of Australia, but I do know certain bands over there who have that same attitude.”

With more than his fair share of hard-living and dark times behind him, and his new band line-up set in stone, the only question remains is whether one of rock’s great survivors is willing to drop the solo moniker and give his bandmates equal billing.

“I’m not going to,” he laughs. “Never.”

WORLD ON FIRE BY SLASH FEAT. MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS IS OUT SEP 15.

For Beat and The Brag

Record review: U2 – Songs of Innocence (2014, LP)

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u2

What is this thing that has appeared in my iTunes account without my permission? I didn’t ask for it. I didn’t want it. The other tracks in there were doing just fine before these 11 barged their way in and caused a disturbance in the force. The manner in which the Irishmen’s lucky 13th album has basically been forced on millions of people won’t help curb the growing trend of U2-bashing, but the marketing side of things can of course be forgiven if the music is quality. But therein lies the problem; it’s mostly not. Supposedly one of the band’s most personal albums to date, the once-I-was-a-young-lad lyrical platitudes and general emotional emptiness add up to an album filled with the most bloated sides of U2’s music and scarcely few of the better elements of their earlier career. Only Bono could write a tribute to a punk legend and make it entirely about himself, as on ‘The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)’, while the Beach Boys-tinged ‘California (There Is No End To Love)’ and ‘Sleep Like A Baby Tonight’ suggest that the song pool for this album can’t have been a rich one. They’ve had a career most other bands can only dream of, but it’s hard to listen to this album and think that U2 were once trend-setters; it’s all too vague and formulaic to make any kind of impact other than disinterest. Right clicking and hitting the delete button seems like an attractive method of restoring iTunes harmony. (Island)

For mX

Record review: Joe Bonamassa – Different Shades of Blue (2014, LP)

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joe bonamassa different shades of blue

This being his 11th solo album of blues-rock in just 14 years, Joe Bonamassa could be forgiven for running out of new ways to express his prodigious guitar talents on record. Thankfully, Different Shades of Blue finds the 37 year-old American axe-slinger on top form and showing once again why he’s one of the hottest six-string shredders in the world today. This is the Grammy nominee’s first album to feature all original material; a significant step for a blues-rock purist. Not that the influences aren’t as glaringly obvious as usual; the hands of Clapton, Page and Rory Gallagher are all over this record, and that can only ever be a good thing. At the top of the pile for rock riffage is second track ‘Oh Beautiful!’, which rivals anything found on Led Zeppelin II, while ‘Heartache Follows Wherever I Go’ brings the melancholic blues and there’s even a Queen-esque ballad to keep things varied with ‘Never Give All Your Heart’. Bonamassa is often labelled as Eric Clapton’s natural successor, although Clapton himself probably wouldn’t take kindly to that, given he’s still putting out records himself. In saying that, it’s a fitting sentiment, and this record will only serve to reinforce it.

For The Brag

Celia Pavey: “The Voice was an amazing experience”

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celia pavey

IT’S a long way from the sleepy town of Forbes, NSW (population 7000) to the stage of TV talent show The Voice, but it’s a psychological leap Celia Pavey has seemingly taken in her stride.

Having won over a national TV audience and judge Delta Goodrem, the 19 year-old folkie is now embarking on a national tour in support of her new EP, Bodies.

“I’m very excited and a little bit curious and nervous as to what people will think of it,” she says. “I feel very positive about it, and it was a very wonderful experience to be working on it. It’s good that it’s finally out there. I came off the show and I sort of knew who I was as an artist, but it was good to get down to writing the EP and realising what it was going to sound like and what the vibe was going to be. It did take a while, but good music does take a while and you’ve got to work hard to make it sound the way you want it to.”

Having some songs already part-written, the singer-songwriter has been able to count on some pretty solid collaborators to help finish them off.

“I did a bit of co-writing with Tim Hart [Boy & Bear] on a song called ‘Shadow’,” she says. “We had things in common in our friendship and things we had been through, so it just flowed really well, and the song is a beautiful track. It was lots of fun and it was great to work with him; he’s very down-to-earth and is very in touch with folk music, so he knows what my music is about. I also worked with Jake Stone of Bluejuice on ‘Bodies’, which is the main feature of the EP. Everyone I worked with had really open minds about the style of music and what the songs were about.”

Studying at the Australian Institute of Music before blind auditioning on The Voice meant that Pavey had musical talent on her side, but her naturally shy personality was a potential barrier to success on the show.

“I wasn’t thinking too much about it,” she says. “I usually like to take things as they come. The whole experience was really full-on to start with as I didn’t know what was going to happen. It was full-on, but it was an amazing experience to go through.”

Thankfully, her rendition of Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Scarborough Fair/Canticle’ immediately won over judge Delta Goodrem, with whom Pavey teamed up.

“She’s incredible; such a wonderful person,” she says. “She has guided me and helped me overcome my fears of being on stage. She said to me I just have to be myself and know who I am as an artist, just perform and be myself. There’s always nerves, which are important as you need the adrenalin for the performance, but to be able to overcome the fear is important. It’s all about realising you’re up there because you want to be and you’re there for a reason.”

While she has found an audience and built a fanbase on the back of her appearance on The Voice, Pavey is ready to move on and be regarded as an artist in her own right.

“It’s more about finding myself as a folk artist and keeping myself down-to-earth,” she says. “Not just launching into the pop world because that’s what most artists feel like they should be doing to make a career or something. You’ve got to take it slow and wait for people to appreciate what you do as an artist. Television shows can be a little full-on. I’m not quite sure how to explain it as I’m still thinking about all that, but they can exploit artists. Sometimes it can be beneficial and other times not – it’s all a bit crazy. I think it’s definitely important to experience things in life that will help you in the long run. It really did help me positively, although there were some negative parts that I guess will help me positively in the future and help me grow. You just have to give things a go and see what happens.”

She may only be 19, but Pavey probably would rather have been born around 1950, such is her affinity to the hippy/folk movement of the late sixties; something will be evident by her song choices on her national tour.

“I’ve got four songs on the EP, but I’ve got a band and we perform for an hour,” she says. “I’ve brought some more originals into the set – some of which will be on the album coming up. We’ve got a couple of fun covers; ‘White Rabbit’ by Jefferson Airplane and some groovy sixties songs. I love Joni Mitchell, so I do a couple of her covers; I like to do ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ and ‘Woodstock’. They really take people on a journey; the music back then was just incredible.”

When & Where:

Thursday 11th September
Melbourne | The Toff in Town

Friday 12th September
Traralgon | Spirit Bar

Saturday 13th September
Ballarat | Karova Lounge

Sunday 14th September
Torquay | Torquay Hotel

For Forte

Jamie MacColl of Bombay Bicycle Club: “The crowds tend to be quite aggressive”

/ Paul McBride / Leave a comment

bombay bicycle club

WITH four album releases in five years, English quartet Bombay Bicycle Club know the importance of finessing and expanding their sound.

It’s been this approach that’s seen them move from being simply another indie guitar band to something altogether more multi-faceted, explains guitarist Jamie MacColl.

“I think if we did what most other bands do we would have toured our first album for two or three years, and we did the opposite of that,” he says. “Strategically, it was probably the worst thing we could do, but it came off nonetheless, and I still don’t quite know how. When we released the [first] album we were 18 or 19, and we just kept getting bored easily and wanted to try new things, so we ended up making three albums in two years. That was just representative of the fact we were young and trying to figure out what we wanted the band to sound like. I think it was only towards the end of the third album when we finally came across a sound that we were comfortable with, and the latest album has explored that further. I think it’s what the band together, really. If we just kept making early-’90s influenced indie-rock, I don’t think it would have gone on as we would have just got bored. There are so many bands who I grew up listening to – particularly indie bands – who had very successful first albums and were then unable to move on from that and got trapped by the sound of their first album. Luckily, we’ve managed to escape that”.

The band’s latest release, So Long, See You Tomorrow, features a wider range of instrumentation than before, which was inspired by frontman Jack Steadman’s travels through India. Just don’t label it ‘world music’, says MacColl.

“I think ‘world music’ is a ridiculous term in itself,” he says. “[It’s] just very lazy journalism; especially when applied to our latest album. There are a couple of prominent Bollywood songs on the record, but those are needles in the haystack in terms of the overall picture of the record. For journalists, the fact that some of the album was written in India and there’s a connection with the name, it suddenly becomes the thing that they write about. That’s wrongly come to define the album, which is a shame, but it’s certainly not world music by any means. I think – aside from the band – it’s a bit offensive to anyone who makes music that isn’t influenced by traditional western pop and classical music.”

Whatever label is pinned on it, the band will bring their new material for an Australian airing, with three shows chalked up for September.

“At this point we’ve got four albums that are all quite different to one another and we tend to try to do a bit from each of them,” MacColl says. “So, our show is interesting because it’s kind of an hour and a half of songs that don’t necessarily fit together, but I often find bands that play songs that sound the same for an hour and a half are quite boring. With us, there’s plenty to keep you interested. I think the thing that always seem to strike people who haven’t seen us before, is they expect it to be quite chilled out, both the crowd and ourselves, but that’s basically the opposite of what happens. We are a very energetic live rock band; far more than you’d expect from listening to the records. Particularly in the UK and Europe, we have gigs where the crowds tend to be quite aggressive, which I find a bit inexplicable, but it happens.”

With over 100 shows already under their belts this year, the band are set to be on top form for their Australian jaunt, but bigger things lie ahead for MacColl and the band.

“[The rest of the year] is a continuation of what we’re doing now. After Australia we’ve got another month long American tour, then a bit of South America, Europe and the UK, and a final gig of the year at Earl’s Court in London, which will be our biggest ever headline show.”

BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB PLAY THE TIVOLI SEP 27.

For Scenestr

Interview: J. Mascis

/ Paul McBride / Leave a comment

j mascis

AS SINGER, guitarist and songwriter for Dinosaur Jr. since their foundation in the mid-eighties, J. Mascis has forged a reputation as being a blisteringly-brilliant grunge and alt-rock guitar hero who consistently appears in those forever-changing “best guitarists of all time” lists. The 48 year-old is also known as being an infamously awkward and reticent interviewee; a reputation he showed no signs of being willing to deconstruct during our chat. On the horn to discuss his second solo album – the acoustic-heavy Tied To A Star – the Massachusetts native is an intriguing subject from the off.

Congratulations on the new album. How does it feel knowing it’s out there being consumed by the public?

It’s hard to tell just sitting around in my house. I hope to get some feedback on it from people soon.

Have you had much feedback so far?

Yeah, people seem to like it.

How long have you had these songs? Has it been a major process to put the album together?

Uh… I can’t remember. Yeah. Most of them I wrote just for the album, I guess, you know? Mostly last year.

Why did you choose ‘Every Morning’ as the first single?

Uh… it’s the most radio-friendly, I guess. It has drums, which most people like.

You don’t seem like someone who worries too much about radio play.

Well, that’s what singles are about, I thought.

The video for the single [with Portlandia’s Fred Armisen] is pretty fantastic. How did that come together?

I guess it was a guy called Jake Fogelnest and some other guy. Funny guys.

You definitely looked the part in your role as cult leader.

Oh, thanks.

You have a few collaborations on Tied To A Star. When you’re writing, do you have particular musical collaborators in mind, or does it work itself out later?

Umm… usually I don’t have anyone in mind when I’m writing. Chan [Marshall, vocals on ‘Wide Awake’] – her voice just fitted the song and that really worked out. Most of the other people either just lived near me or are friends. It wasn’t too difficult.

What are the biggest advantages to making a solo record over a band record?

There are different limitations and there are only so many possibilities these days to narrow it down from the beginning. It helps to focus somehow.

A song like ‘Drifter’ – it probably wouldn’t appear on any of your other band’s albums, for example.

Right. Just because it’s instrumental, but it’s interesting just to leave it. I figured it was good enough on its own, without vocals or anything.

What can you tell me about Dinosaur Jr – is that band on a break at the moment, or are there any plans to do anything together?

We’ve got a couple of gigs in November, but that’s all we’ve got planned right now. Lou [Barlow] is moving back to this area, so that will be interesting for the band. He’s been in L.A. a long time, and after we kicked him out of the band he moved to Boston, so he hasn’t been back here living since we kicked him out. It will be interesting to be like a local band or something.

What are your plans in terms of touring the new record?

I’m touring round the States for most of the fall, then a little bit of Europe, then I’m not sure. Maybe Australia.

So we can quote you on that? You’re coming to Australia?

Hoping to, yeah.

There was a recent interview you did with Sub Pop in which you said Australia was one of your favourite countries. What is it that appeals most?

Yeah, I was just saying that to somebody else. I like the fact the beach is near the city – you can walk from the beach to a coffee shop or a record store – you know, civilisation. It’s a struggle when my wife wants to go on vacation. I hate being isolated on a beach, it’s just a nightmare. That’s what I like about Australia – it’s not like sitting on a beach in the Caribbean wanting to blow your brains out or something. There’s stuff going on.

Do you still enjoy touring as much as you did in your early career?

Yeah, I like it more than I used to. It’s more about playing – I don’t like the travelling that much.

You’ll love the 24-hour flight to Australia, in that case.

Umm… yeah… that.

TIED TO A STAR BY J. MASCIS IS OUT NOW.

For The AU Review

Record review: The Ninjas – The Ninjas (2014, EP)

/ Paul McBride / Leave a comment

the ninjas ep

Swagger can take you a long way in music, and garage-rockers The Ninjas have it in spades. But when it comes to the crunch, you have to be able to back it up with great tunes, and luckily the Brisbane quartet have come up with the goods on this five-track debut EP. As with many first releases, it’s a record of two halves; first comes the angular lo-fi indie-rock, before the riff-heavy second half cranks the rock up to eleven. Opener ‘Can’t Go Back’ could have been lifted from The Strokes’ underrated Room On Fire album, while second track ‘Kill ‘Em All’ combines Josh Stewart’s towering Britpop vocals with Pat Ferris’s likely-lad guitar glory à la The Libertines circa 2002. What possessed Ford to use the sleazy bass-driven grooves of ‘Yeah Yeah’ in an advert for their latest gas-guzzler we may never know, but it’s a driving and danceable track that’s more suited to a Happy Mondays gig than a used car lot. Pleasingly, the closing double of ‘Boogie On It’ and ‘Never Had Much Time’ show that this is a gang whose hearts truly belong to the golden Gods of rock and roll and all their resplendent glory. While there’s probably not a jot of martial arts talent among them, it’s reassuring to know this particular band of ninjas are slinking around the shadows of Australian music making tunes that pack a punch as powerful as this. (Independent)

For mX

Carl Newman of The New Pornographers: “We’re a supergroup; that’s just the way it is”

/ Paul McBride / Leave a comment

new pornographers

WITH their new album Brill Bruisers, The New Pornographers are keen to celebrate their return after a four year absence, says frontman and songwriter Carl Newman.

“With this record, I just wanted to make a rock and roll record, or what I thought was a rock and roll record,” he says. “It was fun to do because it was the first record [on which] we ever used a vocoder and we’d never used arpeggiators very much; it was fun to try all those things. It happened that all the songs I was writing lent themselves to that kind of arrangement, so it all worked out. It’s scary and exciting to know that a lot of people are going to be hearing it, but I feel confident in it.”

Four years may seem like a long time between albums, but Newman hasn’t been idle.

“I put out a solo album in there, so that took up some time,” he says. “I also had a kid; I’ve got a two-and-a-half year-old son. Kids take up a lot of time, and time just flies, you know? Sometimes you don’t even notice that it’s been four years between albums. I knew my solo record should be a lot more subdued. I wanted it to be a lot more singer-songwriter; a lot more personal.”

The Canadian eight-piece – featuring Neko Case and Destroyer frontman Dan Bejar, among others – are often labelled a supergroup; something Newman doesn’t take too seriously.

“It’s definitely a bit of fun,” he says. “People called us a supergroup when we began, and we weren’t a supergroup. Now I look at us and I think ‘sure, we’re a supergroup’. Why not, you know? I don’t fight it; I’ve just accepted it. Now, I think if we’re a supergroup, we’re a supergroup; that’s just the way it is.”

With eight members involved in their own separate projects, Newman admits it can be hard to bring them all together come tour time, but the end result is worth it.

“It’s an endless hassle,” he says. “It always has been, but it’s just the way it is. There’s nothing we can do about it. Its the weird part of our band. It’s our greatest strength and our greatest weakness, you know? [Touring] is fun to come back to. When we played a few songs recently it made me think ‘wow, we’re a good band’. I forgot we’re a good band. We’ve done about four of the new songs live, and that’s been very cool. In this day and age you don’t want to play all of your songs too early because then they all end up on the Internet. The new songs feel like they belong in our set; they don’t feel weird. [They went down] well, which is always a good sign. Sometimes when you play new songs people are looking at each other like ‘when are they going to stop playing new songs and play the old songs?’. But I feel like they fit in very seamlessly.”

So, will Australia be featuring on the Pornographers’ tour schedule any time soon?

“We want to [visit] but it won’t be until next year,” he says. “We’ll have to figure it out. It’s hard; there’s not enough time in the world to play everywhere you want to play, but I think well definitely get there next year. We’ve always loved playing in Australia, so I’m looking forward to it. The most exciting thing that ever happened was the first time we played in Sydney in 2006, and Dave Faulkner from the Hoodoo Gurus was at our show in Sydney. We met him and I remember we were really excited because we were massive Hoodoo Gurus fans. That really jumped out as an exciting thing to have happen the first time we went to Australia – to have one of our favorite Australian musicians be there.”

BRILL BRUISERS IS OUT NOW.

For Beat

Record review: Kingswood – Microscopic Wars (2014, LP)

/ Paul McBride / Leave a comment

kingswood microscopic wars

As recently as February, Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner felt the need to include the words “that rock ‘n’ roll, it just won’t go away” in an award acceptance speech, as a gesture of defiance in support of a so-called waning form of music. If rock and roll is indeed fading away, thankfully nobody has told Kingswood, who seem intent on embarking on a one-band mission to put it back where it belongs. Anyone who has had their ears assaulted by the Melbourne quartet on one of their many jaunts up and down the east coast over the last couple of years knows that they are one of the hottest rock bands in Australia right now, but until now they’ve been a white hot rock band without a debut album. Now it’s here, and it’s a lot more varied than you might expect, with the scorching big-noise numbers ‘Ohio’ and ‘Sucker Punch’ being bookended by the desert blues of ‘So Long’ and jaunty ‘Piece By Piece’. Single ‘ICFTYDLM’ packs an altogether groovier punch than perhaps anything the band has done before; it’s as if a sleazy lounge band has been allowed to throw in some songwriting ideas for a few minutes, and it works beautifully. Inevitable Led Zeppelin comparisons will ensue, but whether you label this album good old fashioned rock and roll, straight-up guitar-rock or whatever, in the end Microscopic Wars is simply a ballsy and brilliant piece of work. The future of rock and roll, it seems, is in excellent hands. (Dew Process)

For mX