Ema Bourke

Trackside Festival @ Thoroughbred Park Saturday November 22

“Canberrans are cursed; we are incapable of having a festival without it pissing down rain.”
Although the weather was less then perfect, Thoroughbred Park served up a monstrous line up; groups from labels big and small gathered to show Canberra they really do remember that we exist when scheduling tour dates. Freezing to death would be an understatement when attempting to explain the weather on the 22nd. However Hancock Basement and Los Capitanes, being first cabs off the rank, helped warmed up the growing number of punters.

With the time bomb that is Canberra’s weather ticking away, the Landspeed Stage tried its hardest to keep up with the wind. However, once midday had rolled around the winds got heavier and attempted to blow Little Red right off stage. This did not stop the Melbourne group pumping out their rapturous sound that certainty separated them from any other group on the day. Although anticipated, the raging winds, hail and throbbing rain threw the entire crowd into a frenzy; we were all torn between good music and warmth. Luckily the majority of the crowd manned up and sacrificed their health for the love of music.

When the rain stopped and the sun decided to make an appearance, so did Muph and Plutonic along with DJ Bones, Bliss N Eso and Bluejuice, who all certainly reminded us why we left our houses and trekked all the way down the Federal Highway. As the day grew longer the triple j stage was ready for action and the floor had transformed into a heavy ocean of raging fans, plastic ponchos and empty cans. Although there were a few technical difficulties with sounds and effects due to the weather, the Trackside sound crew put on an electric show inside with sensational performances by The Panics and Gyroscope, who were backed up by Cut Copy who absorbed the crowd with their somewhat ceremonial performance.

The comedy stage became the place to be at one point or another during the day with a variety of laughs from comedians all over Australia. Each comedian had his own method which constantly resulted in rounds of chuckles from the crowd gathered around the bar.

As dusk came upon us, each and every Trackside lackey was forced to make a choice of great importance, a choice that could make or break the entire feel of the festival. There were three main stages open and each of us had to decide which one to hang around ‘til the end of the festival. Some chose to get literally Sidetracked (all puns intended) in the over-18s section with Milkbar Nick and the Pang DJs on the decks, whilst others chose to stay outside at the Landspeed Stage (which by nightfall had begun to replicate a swamp) with British India, Something With Numbers and The Getaway Plan. However, as fast as you can say ‘Ben from Grafton Primary has a keytar’, the entire crowd split in half. Outside Grafton Primary headlined the Landspeed Stage, performing a superbly crafted set of domineering beats fused with controlled vocals creating a galvanized effect on onlookers. Inside, like hundreds of moths to a fluorescent office lamp, crowds gathered to end their night with some home grown rockabilly entertainment. The Living End gave Canberra heart and soul when it came to their performance. Their vivacious energy was a real treat for all the senses.

Overall Trackside was quite the success. We Canberrans are never afraid of a little rain here and there, and when it comes to festivals we generally expect it. A massive shout out to all the artists who played on the day - thanks for helping keep the Canberra festival circuit alive!

Muph and Plutonic - Native tongues

Muph and Plutonic

“We really respect our audience, I think it’s a big mistake to assume the audience is stupid. I think a lot of artists make that mistake by dumbing their shit down, because they don’t think the fans will be able to work things out for themselves. We like to make our songs somewhat ambiguous so people can put their own spin on our music. Leaving it open-ended like that is really cool because people always have different views on what our songs really mean, along with the fact that they get to add their own personal experience.”

MC/lyricist Dan, aka Muph, and Leigh, otherwise known as producer extraordinaire Plutonic have taken it upon themselves to revolutionise Australian hip-hop using a diverse range of rhythms, beats and grounded lyrics in which portray Australian life at its best and worst. MUPH AND PLUTONIC are the talented Melbourne duo determined to show Australia that we too can have a voice in the diverse yet cutthroat world of hip-hop.

“In Australia, Aussie hip-hop is a genre on its own compared to anything else,” Leigh says. “If a rock band from Australia were to get huge overseas we wouldn’t call them Oz Rock. They don’t dissect it like they do with any other genre in Australia. It’s so segregated, Australian hip-hop’s style isn’t a world wide thing.”

Muph and Plutonic’s unique approach to production and lyrical assembly is an audio gift to the music world; they use an assortment of production and lyrical techniques that one would hear in work from the likes of De La Soul and Jurassic 5. Recently releasing their third LP And Then Tomorrow Came after a two year wait since their previous album Silence the Sirens, Muph and Plutonic feel they have risen to the occasion this time, bestowing confidence and authentic intrepidity. Using live horn sections and producing the entire album in Plutonic’s Melbourne home, their latest record is an indication that the two are focused on growing as artists.

As a group we’re getting tighter,” Leigh explains. “We learnt a lot from the second record and this time we didn’t have a hard time letting tracks go. If something didn’t work with a song or the album’s theme, we were a lot more brutal when it came to cutting them out.”

Leigh feels that discussing important issues in a positive manner is quite an effective approach when it comes to the hip-hop scene in Australia. Said to produce ‘organic’ music, Muph and Plutonic are making their way up in the music world and seem to be creating a snowball effect when it comes to gaining recognition.

Muph and Plutonic are a truly original duo and will be launching And Then Tomorrow Came at the Transit bar on Wednesday August 27 with DJ Bonez and D’Opus and Roshambo. Free entry. The LP is out now on Obese Records.

The Getaway Plan - I love it when a plan comes together

“When we toured with Kisschasy I think we made a lot of people recognise us. We knew a lot of people knew our song Where the City Meets the Sea, and when we would play it at the end about 70% of the crown connected with us, which was cool that the crowd knew that we were ‘those guys.’”

Starting out in 2003, THE GETAWAY PLAN were simply five young boys seeking recognition in the crowded Melbourne music scene. Initially considered a screamo band, the group began touring with such hardcore bands as I Killed the Prom Queen and Parkway Drive. “We are a matured rock sound, compared to what we were,” drummer Aaron Barnett explains. “When we first came into the scene they were calling us a screamo band.”
Aaron has been the group’s drummer since early days and feels the band’s album Other Voices, Other Rooms signals a new direction for the band - one which he hopes the fans enjoy. “There is still heavy stuff in our new album,” he says, “but we have grown up a lot.”

The Getaway Plan - Aaron, vocalist and guitarist Matthew Wright, guitarist Clint Splattering, bassist Dave Anderson - are all childhood friends and still enjoy working together, although things have certainly changed since their formation, when, for some of the members, the band was more of a side-project than it was a serious concern.

Gaining recognition over the years by supporting such notables as Taking Back Sunday, Bodyjar and Millencollin - “The thing about supporting a band is that you know the fans are there to see the main act, but hopefully we can grab attention of a few hundred people” - The Getaway Plan’s ascent within the Australian music scene has been recognised in more real terms with nominations for both ARIA and AIR awards.

For most bands, one of the perks that comes along with recognition is free stuff. “I hate shopping, I hate new shoes and stuff, but I do like getting new jumpers!” Aaron enthuses. “Free stuff is good on tour when you run out of clothes and a lot of brands help us out. I don’t really care what they send me, because I have worn the same clothes since year seven. Clint wears the same thing every day and Dave… well Dave loves to wear big labels, he is really conscious of his appearance - he is a weird little boy.”

Being a radio-friendly band, they are subject to much attention from a diverse fan base. Basing their current sound in contemporary rock, the band also incorporate a number of other genres of their liking into the mix, forming the diverse sound of the album. And with Other Voices, Other Rooms becoming quite the success, the band are constantly on the move promoting themselves and setting a good example for other bands on their label, Boomtown Records.

A particularly interesting aspect of the band’s new album, along with the diversity of music on display, is the album title, which was named after the novel by Truman Capote - though they claim the album was only named after the book because its title had a nice sound to it. The record itself is quite an easy listen and I feel fans new and old will be happy with the outcome. The Getaway Plan are currently touring and will be coming to Canberra next month, before they head off to New Zealand.

The Getaway Plan play a liscensed all ages show at The Venue, Erindale, on July 10, with Closure in Moscow (New Zealand) and Amber Calling. Tickets are $14 plus BF through www.moshtix.com.au and all Moshtix outlets. Other Voices, Other Rooms is out now on Boomtown Records