Caitlin Croucher

Sparkadia - Can’t start a fire without a spark

Sparkadia

Alex Burnett believes that all men should write emotionally sensitive lyrics and that a sensible haircut is far easier to groom. He’s the lead vocals and guitar in Australia’s latest pop/rock darlings SPARKADIA , a band who quite frankly “Can’t grow our hair out quick enough these days”. Alex is also driving and talking on the phone at the same time, but that’s ok because he’s a rock star with feelings and they’re supposed to live life on the edge, aren’t they? “Yeah, I mean we’re not Motley Crew. But we like to have a good time, you know.”

These three guys and a girl (insert wacky sitcom here) were signed to British label Ark Recordings in 2006 and pretty soon after began churning out their debut album Postcards in the UK. A somewhat intimidating experience, considering the closest the Sparkadia guys had been to a proper studio set up before this was in a basement with a fridge full of cheese. “Recording our first studio album was amazing,” Alex fondly recalls. “We’d never been over seas as a band before… never used a producer and suddenly we’re in this studio which is the total pedigree of the best rock and roll. The Killer’s had just finished recording Sam’s Town when we walked in.”

Despite having the cream of recording at their tips, the band weren’t particularly fussed with the end result of Postcards as long as their sound retained at least some of that authentic, virgin-album-feel. “A lot of bands want that really perfect, polished sound,” explains Alex. “We didn’t even think about that kind of thing. Sometimes a new band will get far too hung up on perfection and it ends up sounding almost too polished.” So what exactly did the ol’ Sparkies think about when writing Postcards?

Actually, why call it Postcards in the first place? Surely it’s all about Facebook now. “Some songs in the album have that feeling of regret, like a lot of postcards I wish I’d never sent or things I wish I’d never said,” Alex admits. “And some are postcards I wish I had sent but never did…” Not that it’s all sit-in-the-dark-and-cry material. “There’s a lot of hope in there,” Alex is quick to point out. “Just some bittersweet moments too.” The whole album is supposed to be something that everybody can relate to. “We made something that the whole band would want to listen to. But we wanted something timeless too.”

Oh yeah, they also get points for having a girl in the band that isn’t a bass player or an ex-Neighbours rebound. “Tiffany (guitar and vocals) was originally an actress but she didn’t want to be one of those hybrid chicks who’s a model, an actress and a musician. Lucky ours could already play guitar!”

Sparkadia will be available for drunken swaying singalongs at Trackside on Saturday November 22. They will also be at the ANU Bar, October 22 with special guests Gin Wigmore and Oh Mercy. Tickets available from the venue: (02) 6125 8101, Ticketek: 132 849 www.ticketek.com.au and sparkadia.oztix.com.au

TV Rock - Lean wit’ it, Rock wit’ it

TV Rock

Don’t be fooled by their name. TV ROCK actually have nothing to do with TV. Namely because they’re a DJ/producer duo. Anyhow, if you have a penchant for ra-ra-sweaty-man-sweat-doof-doof-big-room-electro kind of music then TV Rock are probably your kind of pie. According to the latest onelove Neon Lights compilation they’ve just recorded a mix for, these chaps ‘party in Ibiza and wave the flag for the Melbourne Mafia like no other’ (there are quite a few of these Ibiza mafia flag-waving chaps waltzing about apparently). Grant Smillie, one half of the Rock, didn’t seem to be knifing anyone in a hot pink g-string bikini when we spoke about their debut mix 3am on the latest onelove album. But who knows, it was a phone call after all.

Grant Smillie and Ivan Gough have been working the electro-house circuit in both Europe and Australia for a fair few years now. After spreading their musical seed throughout the European clubs and releasing their debut album Sunshine City, they’re back with their latest single Been a Long Time and lending a few decks toward the well-oiled onelove machine. “In the past we’ve been trying to push our singles a lot more” says Grant, “but we felt that it was time to do a compilation.”

Their 3am mix on onelove incorporates the old with the new. The Rock boys have included some unusual vocal tracks, including Zoe Badwi, a newbie from Melbourne’s underbelly pub scene. “It’s good to be able to give new talent a foot in the door. We found Zoe singing in a band one night.” Other tasty little numbers include Carl Kennedy (no, not the guy from Neighbors), Laidback Luke, David Guetta and Bookashade.

As for their other stuff, the Rock chaps have been “trying to play at a club level lately, rather than putting everything on the radio,” Grant explains. “We try and let the clubbers own the record!” Conveniently, Grant also has a show on Radio Nova, which he and John Course have been running for a while now. The upside for Grant is that “most radio stations aren’t prepared to take a chance with new music, so for two hours a week we get to play whatever we want.”

One mix from TV Rock that is likely to receive some decent airplay is their latest single Happiness, which is sure to release a crap-load of serotonin on the unsuspecting listener soon. “[Happiness] has got a really cool Jamaican reggae vocalist,” Grant explains, “who hasn’t done anything for 15 years. He heard us play and just decided that he had to do something with us, which was pretty cool.”

It looks like TV Rock are well and truly smug for now. And rightly so, as they’ve certainly earned their chewing gum in the competitive DJ/producer world. “I’ve been doing this for years,” Grant admits, “and I’m an old man now! But I still love it.”

TV Rock will be doing something fairly loud and stimulating at Academy on Friday September 12 to launch the onelove Neon Nights set. Supports include Tim Galvin, Sean Kelly and Staky.

Peter Combe and The Juicy Juicy Green Band @ ANU Bar, Sunday July 20

Everyone was wearing newspaper hats and it was all very cute and ‘lets rediscover our childhood whilst chugging schooners of beer and saying fuck a lot’. The guy with the hardcore metal tattoos wearing a folded paper on his head dancing to the spaghetti song was pretty much the most awesome thing ever.

What is it about a daggy kids musician who’s going on 60 that can make people so goddamn happy? If Peter Combe had been throwing handfuls of Prozac out into the crowd it would have made a lot more sense. But maybe that’s just it.

We were drinking beer and dancing like retarded monkeys to a man who brought us up on ’80s songs like Wash Your Face in Orange Juice, Spaghetti Bolognaise, Chops and Sausages, Toffee Apple, Chopsticks… Christ, the list is endless. And Combe, like a trooper, made sure he played them all. Funny thing is, it wasn’t just about the novelty of hearing the songs you once danced around to in the loungeroom wearing Astro Boy underpants on your head (oh wait, we still do that). Combe has taken these kids classics, thrown in a few more instruments / young, good-looking musicians / a slightly better beat and given his songs a contemporary edge that still maintains a Vegemite charm. To some it might seem that the whole Combe phenomenon is more about an idea than the actual quality of his music. Screw that. I’m going so far as to say that Combe the ‘adult’ performer now has a musical edge that just cuts out the wank. The man described puberty at one stage through the metaphor of a sexually confused tadpole. He’s a dag. And he’s goddamn proud.

At the end of day, Combe was just a guy doing what he loves. No pretensions, no awesome stories involving Russian prostitutes, crack and another wacky band adventure (oh, those crazy bands). He seemed a little bemused by the mass hysteria that almost every second song seemed to excite, but this guy took it all in his early ’80s stride. I’m pretty sure a few people cried during Chopsticks. Who can blame them?

My Fair Lady - The Fairest of them All

My Fair Lady

Oh come on, who doesn’t like to occasionally watch a costumed man stand outside his loved one’s house, singing and dancing, wearing a Charlie Chaplin-esque hat and warbling a set of well-trained opera lungs? Matthew Robinson, Australian opera singer, musician, and dark-browed young performer-man is certainly partial to a bit of a whistle.

All right, he’s only got one song as the character of Freddy in the musical tea party that is to be Opera Australia’s latest production of Lerner and Loewe’s musical MY FAIR LADY (the stage adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s classic play Pygmalion), but it’s a really good song. And let’s face it, sometimes that’s all you really need to snag a lady. I can’t tell you if Freddy gets the girl in the end. You’ll just have to wait and see the show.

Actually, it’s a four million dollar show, he tells me. It’s got elaborately frilly costumes, musical numbers and a lot of dancing. Now all you need is a monocle and a date. It’s a classic musical/tear jerker/dance bonanza set in Edwardian London with a lot of lines like ‘I do say old chap’ and ‘pollywaffle’ (accuracy of actual lines is disputable). Your mother probably forced you to watch it once in high school. The stage version tells the story of Eliza Doolittle (Taryn Fiebig), doing a very convincing cockney accent, and an old professor guy called Henry Higgins (Richard E. Grant. He was in Spice World. Need we say more?) who says rather a lot of big words and then just to make a point sings them too.

It’s your basic run-of-the-mill boy (or old academic man) meets young, poor, dirty-but-attractive flower selling woman and decides he is going to use her as his very own linguistic experiment to see if he can’t convince upper-class English society that this peasant is actually a well-spoken princess in disguise. Of course hilarity, romance and a phonograph ensue. There’s the complication of Freddy, (played in this latest stage version by Matthew Robinson), a young debonair cad besotted by Eliza and John Wood, that guy from Blue Heelers, who plays Eliza’s father. Awesome.

Matthew Robinson is pretty sold on his part in Opera Australia’s production. “Freddy is a man who’s not afraid to say what he feels!” He explains. What about the rest of the characters? “My Fair Lady is a musical that explores complex relationships between men and women after all. Well, controlling men and basically destitute women… The issues between men and women are really eternal,” Matthew believes. “You know, it’s that whole idea that ‘men are from Mars, women are from Venus’. It’s a very universal love story.”

Some may consider My Fair Lady to be a musical of rather ancient proportions, considering it’s been on Broadway since 1956, but Matthew thinks the show is a timeless classic that can be enjoyed by even the most jaded of our shoe-gazing youth. “It’s got that sense of undergoing a total change in identity, which everybody can relate to at some stage in their life. Kind of like Extreme Makeover…” As for the production value, he assures me that the set design definitely won’t disappoint. “You can smell every bit of that four million dollars.”

Stop hyperventilating with excitement already. My Fair Lady will be on at The Canberra Theatre from the August 9 to 24. Tickets are available through Canberra Ticketing. Phone: 02 6275 2700 or 1800 802 025

THE SUNPILOTS - Take a run at the sun

Raj Siva-Rajah, lead singer of Australia’s latest commercial chart-huggers THE SUNPLILOTS , has had a pretty interesting story behind his vocal work. He was actually classically trained by his Sri Lanken mother, an expert when it came to the music of the East. Naturally, this kind of training also inspired Raj to musically chew into a more pop-culture friendly snack of rock and pop. So began the kind of fusion that has made The Sunpilots what they are today. A little bit of pop, a little bit of grunge, a touch of Eastern charm. Maybe even a sitar or two…

Originating from Sydney as four bright-eyed chaps in 2005, The Sunpilots quickly claimed commercial skies with the release of their first EP, featuring the track Spotlight in the Sun. Apparently a lot of people liked the whole sun analogy, because the track quickly became iTunes Single of the Week, the most watched Australian music video on Youtube and received regular airplay on Video Hits and Channel V. They were fairly chuffed.

So chuffed, indeed, that they locked themselves in a studio for a good few months and proceeded to do what all self-respecting Channel V darlings do. They recorded an album. The title has little to do with the band flying themselves into a giant ball of gas, but it is called Living Receiver. Co-produced by Aussie producer Phil McKellar (Silverchair, Grinspoon, Kisschasy) and mastered in New York by Ted Jensen (Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance), Living Receiver has been a year in the making. Raj thinks their debut album “reflects all the different colours and shades of what we do. Grunge, jazz, they’ve all got a bit of Sunpilot. There’s even a string quartet featured in a few of the songs.

“Your first album is always the scariest. Everyone judges you by it forever,” Raj admits. The guys aren’t planning anything too challenging for their Channel V audience. It’s all about the listeners, after all. “You need a sound which people can recognise,” he notes.

The Sunpilots have certainly been recognised recently overseas, perhaps more so than in Australia. The band was recently one of 15 rock finalists in the International Songwriting Competition (nominated alongside fellow Aussie chaps Eskimo Joe). A new track from Living Receiver, entitled Metric System, was chosen by the judges as being one of the best of 20,000 entries from around the world, so obviously they’re striking cords with people.

Last year they won Best International Artist on a Canadian College radio. They weren’t even aware they had been picked up until one of their songs “started to spread from station to station. It was a bit of shock!” recalls Raj.

With Living Receiver less than two months from release, and a comprehensive national album tour throughout July, August and September planned, The Sunpilots are preparing to take flight (Oh, shut up…). Living Receiver is said to be “an astounding debut album which intertwines the refined complexity of the East with the direct energy and power of the West.” Whatever ever that means, sounds like there are going to plenty of people listening. And Raj for one is looking forward to the tour. They bought new jackets and everything. “Yeah, we’ve got really cool jackets which we got overseas. Kind of military. Anything but the shoegaze look!”

The Sunpilots will be playing at the Transit Bar on Thursday July 17 with Using Three Words and Hancock Basement. Free entry.

A Prisoner’s Dilemma - Tales from urban bohemians

For those of you thinking “well, it’s rather obvious what a prisoner’s dilemma is, I mean, they’re in PRISON, not exactly trying to decide what sort of cheese they’d like…” it’s a concept a little more complicated than that. Jack Lloyd and David Finnegan, from Canberra’s resident absurdist theatre masters Bohemian Productions, have based their latest performance A PRISONER’S DILEMMA on this very concept.

Before going any further, it’s probably wise to explain what the ‘dilemma’ actually is. Jack sums up the whole concept with the skill of man who’s clearly been in prison (or, you know, is in the play). “The Prisoner’s Dilemma is a central concept of game theory…”

Oh Crap, quick interjection, I’m just going to explain Game Theory. Wikepedia* sums it up as a way to “mathematically capture behavior in strategic situations, in which an individual’s success in making choices depends on the choices of others.” So if anybody actually understood that, good on you. Back to Jack…
“…and describes a situation where two players are rewarded for betraying each other, but the best outcome between the two players is for them both to cooperate.” Of course, humans will be humans and everyone knows we’re all seedy bastards. “Any situation where you are tempted to do something, but you know that it would be bad if everyone did it, is likely to be a variation on the Prisoner’s Dilemma. The performance addresses these concepts and other Game Theory concepts from the perspective of the players.”

Sounds complicated, but absurdist theatre is always about challenging the audience in unconventional ways. “As for the content of the show,” David explains, “Game Theory has been hugely influential in the sciences, in politics, in sociology, in economics over the last half century. It’s unfortunate that the general public doesn’t have a greater knowledge of these concepts. We wanted to share some of that information.”

Since its first performance at the Multicultural Fringe Festival in 2007, the four cast members of the show have since performed in various theatres, schools, conferences and lecture halls. Each performance has allowed them to develop the show, mainly because the audience plays such a huge role in the game itself. “A Prisoner’s Dilemma uses various devices to allow the audience to control the action on stage and the course of the games, without leaving their seats - like a live-action arcade game.” If this all sounds a little confronting to those who had their 13th birthday party at Time Zone, David promises it’s not. “It’s surprising how concrete and intelligible Game Theory and the Prisoner’s Dilemma actually is. These are not esoteric, hand-waving concepts you’ll need a maths degree to comprehend - these are real life, actual situations that the audience will be very familiar with.”

Also, they’ve got a “morbid dislike of the kind of interactive theatre which drags audience members out of their seats and humiliates them on stage. Our interactivity is based on electronic control devices, like adapted remote controls.”

Sounds like A Prisoners Dilemma will intrigue a variety of backgrounds ranging from theatre, interactive digital media, music and science, or just maybe just your average philosophical hack. Also, it’s a far more intellectually stimulating way to spend your night then watching Home and Away. “For me, the great thing about absurdism is that it undermines reality and it changes the rules, and you’ve got these unlucky characters who have to try to be rational in this irrational world,” David says. Sounds slightly like a Home and Away plot line, but we get what he means.

A Prisoner’s Dilemma runs at The Street Theatre from June 17 to 21 at 8pm. Tix $20/$15 conc. from The Street Theatre on 6247 1223 or thestreet.org.au .

The Small Poppies - Poppycock!

In between smoking pipes, lounging about in tweed jackets, reading international papers and discussing human rights policy, extremely serious law students Simone Gubler, Adam Brodie Mckenzie and John Horan have written a comedy skit show that recently ran for three weeks at the Melbourne Comedy Festival. Now THE SMALL POPPIES are bringing it back home to Canberra, still steaming off the comedy festival circuit, ready to be unleashed upon the unsuspecting crowds…

Approaching their final years at university, Simon and Adam decided it was their last opportunity to write a series of political and social commentary skits peppered with a dash of absurdist humour and salted with the general desire to make complete asses of themselves. “We were all graduating and knew that in the real world, taking off to Melbourne for four weeks would be nigh on impossible,” Simon explains. “So we did everything in our power to make that trip happen.” The script flowed, the actors were half decent and so The Small Poppies Think Inside The Box was born.

So controversial was this Melbourne show that John Safran, our beloved triple j religious geek, interviewed The Poppies during their three-week run. The reason? Adam, who also acts in the performance, plays Safran in one of the skits so convincingly that Safran himself requested interview on his Sunday Night Safran show with “that little arsehole who’s running around the festival pretending to be me.” And yes, he did call Adam an asshole on live radio. Quite frankly, when John Safran has the gall to mention you on air, you know you’ve made it somewhere…

Like all good comedy spectaculars, there’s a little bit of everything in this show. No ping-pong balls or rubber chickens, but Simone’s working on it. Their humour is political, philosophical and topical, as would be expected of a skit comedy group living in the shadow of Kevin’s boudoir. What you can expect, amongst other stupidity, is a surprising twist in the US elections, a universally effective rebuttal to philosophy, a terrorist union, a back alley encounter with a few Melbourne wankers, an interview with John Safran and Jesus gone horribly wrong and a few other biblical figures thrown in for fun. Judy from Centrelink will be there to reassess your future payments. Feminist Woman and Reasonable Man have a brief but rather lusty encounter.

All of The Poppies (the cast consists of Adam Brodie-McKenzie, Caitlin Croucher, Simone Gubler and Andrew Nichols) are in the final throes of university studies and are willfully flirting with academic failure to put this show on, but it’s been worth the pain and angst of it all. “A lot of top brass comedians have often said they are inspired by anger and frustration at the state of the world. I’d say we’re certainly in that camp - not top brass, but certainly we’re a little pissed off,” Adam explains. “Simone and I decided early on that we didn’t want to write a skit show just to do a skit show, purely to get our rocks off - we wanted to write something that had a point.”

It always helps to have a point. “We hope to get people to think as well as laugh. That’s not to say we let the message override the joke, funny is always our primary concern. And slaughtering sacred cows is always fun.” So is shameless self-promotion.

The Small Poppies Think Inside the Box is running at The Street Theatre from Thursday May 29 to Saturday May 31at 7:30pm, with a 4pm matinee on Saturday. Tix are $12 (students) and $15 general admission, available from The Street Theatre.

Sin City - Citizens of Sin

So, the kind of soiled, seedy pub-ish rock and roll that makes you want to tear the garter strip off that chick in the French maid outfit dancing on your table while you hack into a good old-fashioned leg of deep fried southern chicken may appear to have disappeared since the late ’60s, but SIN CITY are trying their hardest to bring it all back.

It appears this Melbourne dirty rock/punk four-piece with a sex-bombish female lead are thoroughly dedicated to spreading their sins throughout as many cities in Australia as they can possibly muster. Having just released their debut album Hungry For Love, Sin City was still a little hungry for something by the sounds of it (oh shut up). Now Getaway, the second single off the LP, is ready for rotation on the radio jibe. Tommy Gunn, aspiring porn star/drummer (aren’t all drummers?) and really nice guy explains that, “‘we pretty much tour non-stop – as much as we can play. It helps when you finally know how to play your instruments!” Yes, it does, rather.

Having been in Melbourne since 2004, the band are beginning to feel pretty confident in themselves and their unique personalities. The successful release of Hungry for Love has been a boost of confidence for the guys. They’re going to continue having fun with that kind of gritty old school sound, but they’ve also matured a lot in the past few years. “Originally we were a lot punkier and generally trashier, but I think we’re getting pretty good at what we do now!” The Gunn explains. And it always helps to take the piss out of yourself a fair bit. “I look in the mirror every morning and think ‘how can I take myself seriously with a face like that?’” he chuckles.

After 400 shows you’d think they’d be feeling a little worse for wear, but it appears that when Tommy says, “Sin City is in the blood!” he really means it. Everything these guys do seems to be with a refreshing lust for life and possible injury. They are unashamedly sexual, a little popish and still excited about the prospect of wearing a lot of leather, big heels, and some studs perhaps. “Realistically, we won’t be able to record anything for a while,” Tommy ponders, a moment of reality crawling through what I imagine is a very nice head of hair. He quickly recovers. “But we’ve got four or five new songs to unleash on Canberra.”

Unleash being the operative word. “We’ve had some awesome carnage during the shows,” he explains. Like what? Dead cows? “Probably the craziest gig we’ve ever done is where two guitars got broken and I got a cymbal through my skull. I went for the rock and roll head bang and ended up with a lot of stitches,” Tommy fondly recalls. Not to worry, there was a full recovery. And it hasn’t scared him off the drumkit either. “Sometimes a good show means there’s a bit of pain involved. Besides – gaffa tape can mend most things on stage.” Except heads, perhaps.

Tommy will be gunning it along with those other crazy citizens of Sin City at The Basement Friday May 30. They’ll be joined by local roustabouts Penguin and System Addict, doors at 8pm.

Fred Smith - The Original and The Best

Well, his name may be a little on the dull side but the person certainly isn’t. FRED SMITH is a man of action with one thing on his mind: Texas. And possibly cheese sandwiches. But I can’t confirm the latter. Having just returned from a long and eye-opening three year journey through our favourite cesspit of political mayhem (America), Fred is back in Australia to give his fans a taste of some pie from the Land of the Free.

Fred is one of those singer-songwriters who’s been playing around Canberra since the dawning of time (not that he’s old, he just really likes Tilley’s). But residing in Canberra hasn’t stopped the man from living in far more interesting places over the years, inspiring a distinctly quirky and amusing brand of travelogue CDs. These albums are inspired by a range of topics, from Fred’s peace work in the South Pacific’s Bougainville - name’s funny, situation isn’t - to his current release, Texas.

Texas isn’t necessarily all about Texas. It’s more like a snapshot of the America that Fred experienced while “working out of home as a house husband and meeting a lot of really interesting people.” It was a fascinating time to be living in the States, with the controversy of America’s war on freedom and the terror of the Bush administration adding a little pickle to Fred’s McDonald’s fries. Frankly, how could the man not spiff out a fair few political ballads. Especially since he had the perspective of an Aussie coming from the nation’s slightly (less) exciting political capital. “In many ways it felt like a divided, confused and angry place,” Fred explains. “Certainly at the political level, but I think the economic realities of peoples’ lives relative to their high personal expectations also puts pressure on.”

Capitalism and war make for a juicy album, but a potentially serious one too - and sometimes they’re not so fun. Luckily, Fred has a cracking sense of humour to lighten up the mood, after all “the natural Australian response to America is to take the piss.” Which he does, tastefully of course. “No quite so tasteful” is the way that many Americans Fred has met tend view to the Iraqi invasion. “The intervention is traumatizing America at a very visceral level. At least half of the country thought it was a dumb idea to start with. The great strength of Americans is their self-belief, but it’s also their great weakness and Iraq has laid this bare once again.”

Touring up and down the North American circuit has made for quite a few interesting shows. Apparently Fred is up for anything, as long as it involves an amp. “I’ve done everything from an 18 day folk festival in the middle of Texas, to house parties and Quaker meeting halls.’ (Quaker the religion, not the cereal. Or are they the same thing? This is highly irrelevant anyway.)

After spending so much time in America, it’s worth asking whether Fred’s been beaten up for his humour more than he’s been praised. I mean, Australian’s aren’t always the most tactful of creatures, especially when singing politically-charged satirical ballads in some remote part of a country you don’t belong to in the first place. But it seems the charming old Fredster’s come away from this experience with a greater appreciation of the culture and its quirks. “Duke Ellington once said you should never underestimate your audience and that is certainly so of Americans.” Just don’t mention Dr Phil.

Fred Smith will be playing at Tilley’s Devine Cafe, Saturday May 10 with The Fred Smith Band. The last few remaining tickets are available from Canberra Ticketing or Tilley’s. He kind of looks like a more a wholesome, less drug-addled version of Nick Cave. Nice

Rogue Traders - Dastardly Rogues

So it seems that Ramsey Street (Neighbors to those of you less cultured) breeds more pop stars than ugly houses. Anybody who once indulged in late afternoon bouts of quality television may remember seeing Izzy, the psychopathic but undeniably attractive receptionist to Dr Karl Kennedy (sigh), suddenly appear leather clad and more than a little provocatively dressed on TV Hits, singing for a pop rock band called RO GUE TRADERS and looking pretty damn happy too. It took everyone a while to adjust but eventually Izzy became Natalie Bassingthwaighte, Karl’s receptionist by day, sexy lead singer of Rogue Traders by night. She was a bit like superman. Except not really.

It seems the word ‘pop’ is kind of dirty in this day and age. Attach that to an ex-soap star, shove it in a room full of indie kids and suddenly there is an eerie quiet that surrounds. Rogue Traders have certainly faced this kind of criticism, but they shrug off such derision because, at the end of the day, they’re still good musicians and they’re doing what they love.

Rogue Traders have been around for a lot longer than Natalie’s perkier points, it should be understood. Originally a two-piece, “we were already pretty established as musicians when Natalie came along. We were a DJ duo a bit more like Basement Jaxx.” When Rogue Traders released their debut album in 2003, the boys knew this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. “We write a lot of songs about going out and partying. I was heavily involved in dance music when we decided to find a female vocalist, but it just naturally progressed into something a little less nightclub orientated.”

James describes their latest release Better in the Dark as “a bit more rocky. We’d just done Homebake and been to the Arias when we started recording. That’s what happens, you get a guitar riff in your head!”
So what exactly is Better in the Dark? James twitters a little and we both don’t say the word ‘sex’ to avoid seeming sleazy. Well, I do at least. He may be less of a pervert. They actually got the name from a restaurant

“There’s a famous place in New York where they serve you everything in the dark,” James explains. “The idea is that everything is amplified, because you can’t look at it.” Not that you can really look at music - unless you see it in colours like the guy from The Red Paintings - but you get his drift. “Food is better in the dark. So is music sometimes.”

Not that Better in the Dark specifically needs to be heard in a darkened room with the lights off; that’s just depressing. It’s an eclectic mix of “big guitar riffs, orchestral arrangements, fast energetic punk, and futuristic grooves,” complimenting the theatrical onstage performance of their singer. “The last time we played in Canberra it was one of the best gigs that we’ve ever done. There was a kind of electric vibe that went around the audience,” James remembers fondly. The Traders are most certainly coming back this time around, so anybody with a love of the band or possibly just a creepy obsession with Neighbors can stalk Natalie after the show. Either way, I’m sure Dr Karl Kennedy will be there watching from the shadows.

Everyone knows it was a real romance, after all. “Can we stop talking about Neighbors?” James asks. “You must get really sick of that!” I jest. “Actually, nobody ever mentions it…”

The Rogue Traders will doing all kinds of things on stage at the ANU Bar on Thursday May 15. Tickets are on sale from Ticketek.

Corinbank @ Corin forest, February 29 – March 2

Driving 45 minutes out of Canberra to seemingly the middle of nowhere, only to be greeted by a suspicious looking dirt ‘road’, I can’t say I was in the best of moods upon arrival. Also, I wondered if Corinbank was actually a ploy to lure unsuspecting Canberrans into the middle of nowhere in order to brainwash an undeniably lefty crowd into a party of liberal voters.

The very impressive set-up for the main stage, the plethora of exotic food smells that lingered and stalls like the creepy clown caravan quickly soothed my cynical soul. The first thing you look for in a good festival is the Hari Krishna food stall. Second, the music. Luckily there was no shortage of kofta balls at this event and therefore no mass panic amongst the hungry crowds. Next, it was a walk around the camp site, lit rather beautifully by rows of Chinese lanterns, glowing different colours against the gum trees in the dark. If you were looking in the daytime you would have seen the giant bamboo sculptures, creating a canopy of architectural genius near the chai tent and the awesome chocolate guy who just wanted to ladle hot melty goodness onto everything savoury he could possibly find.

Being Corinbank’s first year in the wilderness, everyone seemed keen to make their experience one of those events that you can look back on years later and say in a smugly patronisingly tone, “oh yeah, I was at the first Corinbank. Of course it was a lot more intimate then.”

When The Herd played on Friday night it was the start of something very big and very cool. Nobody wanted to sit down, and nobody wanted to be mean to each other, which is sometimes nice. Yeah, that was the overriding feeling of Corinbank. Some would say it was full of fucking hippies, I would say it was full of fucking hippies with a lot of fucking love.

When Darren Hanlon had problems with the PA system he walked into the crowd and played an entire set without a microphone. It made you want to take the charismatic lad home and eat him on toast. When you saw the ever-growing Andi and George band play, it reminded you how awesome it is that we have so much talent in our own little town. Xavier Rudd brought the weekend to a close and, let’s face it, you can love or hate the guy but the moment he gets those cute kids on stage you are gone. He may slap the political sunscreen on a little hard for some, but the man has his heart in the right place.

As the sun set over the mountains and a clearing full of people danced like they weren’t going to school or work tomorrow, it kind of made you realise why we need festivals like this so much. They promote creativity, environmental sustainability (the pit toilets don’t actually stink so bad) and remind us that we are definitely not alone. Sounds corny, but I’d have to say the overwhelming feeling of this festival was love. For the amazing wilderness that surrounded us, for the joy that music can bring us and lastly, for each other. This is the kind of thing I hope will last for many years to come, because everything about it was so positive, and God knows we need a little more of that in the world. And hamsters. You can never have enough of those.

Chasm - Mind the Gap

Yes, wherever CHASM goes he is bound to tear some sort of giant hole in the backside of soul-driven hip-hop and nicely chewy beats. He’s recently been signed to kingpin Aussie hip-hop label Obese Records, and there’s already a sniff of success in the air. Coming to prominence as a member of Astronomy Class with The Herd’s Ozi Batla and Sir Robbo on Elefant traks, Chasm has now decided to solo it with his debut album Beyond the Beat.

The chap has been doing a lot of remixes lately - “actually, I just started on a Resin Dogs one,” he reveals - and now he’s embarking on an album tour that doesn’t actually include Canberra… Yeah, there was a bit of an awkward pause when we both realized that Chasm may not even be coming to our humble little town and the conversation kind of felt like a first date when you realize the person may be a serial killer. Fear not though, we figured it out.

Chasm is a part of the Obese Block Party tour - and yes, that’s actually coming here. No, it’s not a Bloc Party gig for obese people (although that would be kind of funny and scary at the same time), it’s Obese Records holding their annual showcase of talented artists signed to the label, performing for one night only in what is sure to be a very large event.

Chasm isn’t allowed to comment much on the Block Party gig, as details involving the extravaganza are being kept tightly under wraps lest the public guess that it’s actually a ploy to bring down Hilltop Hoods in some kind of whack voodoo ritual, but he can talk about his album.

It’s been hailed as a journey through the best of Australian hip-hop and the man is enjoying favourable reviews for his debut effort, reaping the benefit of being close friends with a few awesome MCs and producers. “You gotta get the love while you can, man,” he explains. “Most of the MCs on the record are dudes that I just hit up when the time came.” These dudes include Urthboy and Ozi Batla. “Most of the guest spots on the album are people I’m down with or have met on tour or through rap in some way. I just hit up MCs that I thought would suit particular beats, and there were younger rappers coming up that I wanted to work with too like Thundamentals and Dialectrix,” Chasm says. “Me and Robbo have also been working on beats for the new Astronomy Class album, so it’s pretty hectic.”

Chasm is a bit of an old school master when it comes to mixing. Just as there was a time before the iPod - yes children, come gather ‘round the fire and I shall tell you the tale of Disc Man - there was also a time when it wasn’t all digital. Chasm prefers vintage gear in the studio. “I really like working with analogue gear,” he explains. “There’s harder and more challenging aspects to mixing on vintage. Sometimes digital sounds really flat, whereas vintage sounds a lot richer.”

Luckily for ol’ Canberra, we’ll get to taste a little bit of Chasm’s musical cuisine, as well as acts like B Pegz, Downsyde, Drapht, Muph & Plutonic, Chasm, Spit Syndicate, Bias B, Reason, Hyjak N Torcha, DJ Bonez, Tommy Illfigga, Jeswon, Dialectrix, DJ 2Buck and mdusu&damez, all coming together for the Obese Records showcase. Golly darn gosh, it could almost be a party!

The Obese Records Block Party is happening on May 23 at the Uni Bar, featuring the likes of Pegz, Muph & Plutonic, Chasm, Hyjak N Torcha, Spit Syndicate and many more. Tix are $35 plus BF from the venue, Landspeed Records, Writer’s Block or www.oztix.com.au .