Which side of slurry are you?

Kristy Bradley, ex- YEN Editor

Just another love story? You decide!

I hate to be so Sydney-centric with my first post for this fine musical blog, but I believe this is an important matter that has to be taken by the balls. It goes something like this... Which side of Surry Hills do you root for? Do you wear black or fluoro? Do you listen to rock or dance? Do you like grass or sand? Are you indie or glam? Are you an Inner West or Eastern Suburbs person? These are vital questions you must ask yourself before we can proceed. I know I'm about to divide a city, but if Howard and Rudd can do it, so can I.

It used to be about which side of the bridge you came from. But I'm taking it to another level or should I say another direction. I'm proud to announce to the world that I'm an Inner Westie kid from way back. And for those who aren't from Sydney, it's like saying you've got to choose between Melbourne or the Gold Coast. In one corner Melbs represents the Inner West and in the other corner the Goldie represents the Eastern Suburbs.

There are many, many reasons why the Inner West is the 'best', but since this is a music blog, I'll keep my 'tight' case to this genre.

The Inner West is full of musical genii. There's Ginsberg Studio in Petersham where local bands like Expatriate rehearse and record from. Then if you cruise on down to Parramatta Road, Leichhardt, open the doors to The Bald Face Stag and you'll hook up with one of Sydney's new monthly Indie nights, Band Wagon. It's vibe is like Gas Light five years ago - full of indie kids and local musicians minus the pretentious attitudes. In one night at this local hang I mingled with many local Inner Westie musos; Matt from The Lovetones (he's a great kid and is supporting Brian Jonestown Massacre in August), the dudes from The Dolly Rocker Movement (who supported The Black Keys last week at the Manning Bar) and Nick from ex-The Mares. A few lefts and rights and you're outside Laughing Outlaw Records in Lewisham, which is an independent record and management company but also has a great record store. This hidden gem is located near the train station and is full of old vinyl, books and CDs. I won't mention The Annandale here because we all know about that.

But it's time to head a little closer to the east (if you dare) and you'll meet up with the boys from Speak n Spell Records whose head quarters are behind Pigeon Ground Records and Clothing (an awesome vintage store) in Camperdown. When the boys from SnS aren't in the UK looking after their number one band, Cut Off Your Hands, they're spreading some indie love by touring and releasing music from the likes of Dandy Warhols, Mystery Jets, The Concretes, Dappled Cities and that's just to name a few.

The list of great musical talent in the Inner West goes on and on but none of us have the time to read all bloody day and night about it! Put it this way, I could start one of those Celebrity House Spotting Tours they run in Hollywood, but for all the indie dudes who live in the Inner West.

To confess your love for the Inner West, join the Inner Westie Kidz Society at www.facebook.com. And for those who don't wanna be the 'best' they can be, facebook us anyway, we'd like to hear what you really think.

Peace, love and Inner Westie goodness

Kristy xx

HOW TO GET YOUR BAND A GIG

STEPH FROM FIDELITY CORP

I struggled a lot to get this blog out by deadline, and even then I’m 24 hours late. It has everything to do with sending 168 emails out yesterday and having a mild case of writer’s block, and absolutely nothing to do with spending the entire weekend in my backyard drinking cider.

So anyway, I’ve just taken on booking a new night every Friday and the thing about booking venues is it’s a lot fucking harder and time consuming than booking for a band. Even harder still doing it in Perth where the pool of bands you have to choose from is very limited, let alone the pool of good bands, let alone the pool of good bands that haven’t screwed themselves over in the past who you will never give a gig to again.

So here’s my quick tips for how not to piss off a booker:

BE GOOD
Too many crap vocalists, not enough muzzles. Repeat sentence and replace vocalists with “songs”.
BE AWARE OF ‘THE RIGHT TIME’
I had a tour not long ago that, to be perfectly honest, stiffed its nuts off. It had the potential to be really great, but it was a case of wrong place/wrong time sort of thing. Anyway, had about 50 payers at the main show in a 600 cap venue – I had expected minimum 200. I was also doing the door the entire night so was not only frustrated by lack of payers but also bored out of my head by lack of payers. So as I’m counting up the money and giving back the float I get that horrible sinking feeling when the realisation of having lost a whole bunch of money sets in. I’m sitting in the beergarden having a cigarette and drink with a mate who was in one of the bands feeling pretty shithouse when a dude from the opening band comes up and goes “just wanting to get our cash for tonight” which, at $1/head after door person cost, was $38. I had lost at least a grand. Pretty sure that this is the kind of guy that would interrupt a funeral by taking a phone call.

BE PROACTIVE
Posting a bulletin on myspace is NOT being proactive as much as you’d like to think that every single one of the 2,000 odd friends you’ve managed to add over the past 3 years give a fuck, or, in fact, even see the bulletin in the first place. There is a real big problem with complacency and that once you’ve been added to the bill, the work is done. WRONG. It is a two way street, booker and band need to work together to make the night the best it can be. Make the effort to bring as many people as you can to every gig because it has a domino effect – you don’t make the effort, bookers will be less inclined to book you. Slack bookers are just as much to blame, by the way. Too much vanity, not enough love.

NEW WOLF & CUB....

JOEL - WOLF & CUB

I’m not quite sure where to begin. Blogging is a very foreign concept for me, I mean I’m aware of the notion of ‘blogging’ and I’ve visited many ‘blogs’ but to be a practicing ‘blogger’ has never come naturally to me. I don’t know why, perhaps its because I never kept a diary or maybe I’m just too self-conscious. Anyhow I suppose the best place to start when writing a blog is to write about what’s on your mind, heres whats on mine.

Wolf & Cub, the band I’m in seems to be dominating my thoughts at the moment, well not just momentarily, actually it’s been my obsession for the last 6 years. I hate having an obsession, as it can be such a winless battle, you’re never satisfied. That’s not to say I’m never proud, truth be told I’m feeling very proud of what we’re doing at the moment and what we’ve done.

Anyway, the band is dominating my thoughts more so at the moment because we’re in the process of recording the new album. It’s going well, very well actually. We’ve enlisted Chris from the Bumblebeez to produce it for us and it’s a decision that I’m starting to be proud that we made. We’re recording a lot of the album at his hometown studio in Braidwood and even though its got mice running around at the moment, the place has a good vibe and we feel comfortable, so that makes for a positive working environment.

We have also just released the first single, which is out June the 5th, and currently on a little tour to promote it. By the time this goes to print we’ll be half way through the tour, so with that in mind lets go ahead and just say that the first half of the tour was great, the shows were astonishing! It has been triumphant return to the live scene for us.

Also if you’re interested the new clip for the single should be floating around on the internet, it was made by SPRPPL, the team that is also responsible for most of our artwork, the clip is another example of the team’s ability to make something out of miniscule budgets and it’s a partnership that I’m grateful for. Anyhow the clip is good and we’re proud of it so hunt it out on youtube or visit our myspace (myspace.com/wolfandcub) to have a peek at it.

Ok be back soon, gotta go finish the album, talk soon.
-Joel

TIRED, SOOOO VERY TIRED...

PHDJ (Boundary Sounds)

Not sure if I mentioned it in previous blogs but next week I am off to the
UK for 5 weeks to do some djing, some business and some film making. As well
as to hang out with some old friends.

I love London. I lived there for almost 3 years a few years back, and it
spoils you. There's literally an international act coming through town every
single night. Most nights there's three or four bands you want to go and see
but can't. And during Summer there's a festival every weekend. Some weeks I
hardly went home cos I was partying so hard. Then again I was pretty lucky
as I was working as a DJ and nothing else at the time, so as long as I
turned up for my sets I was OK. Even if I was still drunk.

Last few years it's a bit different. Ever since I started Boundary Sounds I
take my annual trip to London quite seriously.

The trip serves multiple purposes. I'll be playing clubs London, and I'll be
dropping in to Paris and Ibiza too. I'm also going over because I've started
filming a documentary that is exploring the ambiguous term of Oindie' and
the concepts behind it. I'm lining up interviews with guys like Alan McGee
(Creation records) and Geoff Travis (Rough Trade) - guys who were
instrumental in defining the early days of Oindie'. Back when it still
referred to being unsigned or signed to an independent label, pre-Radiohead
days. I shouldn't start on that topic as we'd probably be here all night.

I'm flying over and staying in London with my bestest buddies Sparkadia.
They are both lucky and good enough to have signed to a label over in the UK
and Europe as well as have an agent that look after them quite well. They've
been booked onto just about every British festival worth playing this
summer, so as a result I'll be tagging along to Glastonbury festival, T in
the Park in Scotland, Oxegen in Ireland, O2 Wireless in London and a
plethora of other gigs. I'll probably end up filming some tour diary action
as well, so look out for that down the track.

On my way back I'll be dropping into Japan to go to Fuji Rock Festival
before I come back to Oz for Splendour in the Grass.

Anyway, back to now ­ so where that brings me now is that I'm fuckin tired.
I have so much work to finish before I leave. I'm not quite sure when I'll
do my packing. Luckily for me a long time ago I devised a wardrobe for
myself which consists only of blue jeans, Cons, my trusty Chicago Bulls hat
and whatever band shirt I can get my hands on. And even more lucky for me,
the best band shirt shop in the world is at the stables markets on Chalk
Farm Road in Camden Town (London), so it means that it's not long now before
I get my annual band shirt refresher. And it also means I gotta pack light
going over to London as I'll be carrying excess baggage in band shirts on my
way back!!!

Oh well, that's enough from me. I gotta go give Ruby Rose (from MTV) a DJ
lesson. Next time you'll be hearing from me I'll probably be on Sparkadia's
tour bus on our way to Glastonbury Festival.

Until then, Cowabunga!!!

M

Busy Busy Busy!

Phew! What a weekend! Friday night I went to check out VHS or Beta at the Factory and they were great. They are probably one of the most danceable indie bands around. They really put on a show. They played a few extended versions of their tracks where they morph into long extended instrumental jams, and it was super. ‘Bring On The Comets’ is just as good live as it is on record, which cements it as my favourite track. After their gig the whole band came down to Purple Sneakers to hang out and Craig and Mark from the band spun some tunes for an hour. And surprisingly for a guest DJ band they didn’t suck. I later found out from Craig that they had been working as professional DJs for about 10 years, which would explain why they were two of the tidiest mixers I’ve seen for a long time. Coming on to close the night out til 5am after VHS or Beta was a pleasure. Saturday morning was a combination of being hung over and trying to make my way to Luna Park. Purple Sneakers DJs were playing at Come Together Festival there, so I made my way out. It’s kinda weird, I always have greater energy levels in the night than during the day. For some reason it doesn’t matter how tired, hung over, or pre-occupied I am at the time but as soon as I get to a gig at night or start to see the city skyline I get this sudden rush of ‘fuck yeah bitches, let’s do this!! So although I really wasn’t feeling up to any djing or partying before I got there, as soon as I walked into the Big Top I felt my whole body say ‘GAME ON!!!’ So needless to say, Saturday was a riot. With just about all my mates in the same building how could it not be. Jake (from Bluejuice) played with a cast on his leg (courtesy of me the week before), Alex and the Sparkadia guys kicked ass, Nick Findlay and DJ Fle represented Sneakers behind the decks. And generally anyone who was anyone in the Sydney band scene was there. A highlight of the day was seeing The Dirty Secrets and Little Red play on a large stage. Both these bands are gonna be big. The rest of the night turned into a bit of a haze. We went on the rides, got in trouble for taking my video camera out on the dodgems, and then again on the big slippery slide thing. I lost the slippery slide competition. We decided that it was wind resistance and not weight that makes you go faster. Then afterward we all went to the after-party at The Supper Club drank free beer (thanks Tony!) and passed out late again. Sunday I am kinda lucky that with versatility of my djing and the appeal of Purple Sneakers that we are just as easily booked to play a band festival like Come Together as we are on a dance festival like We Love Sounds. I’d never previously been to We Love Sounds festival in the past, so being invited to play there was exciting. And I must say that aside from the awesome line up of DJs and bands that were on the bill, it is also probably one of the best-run festivals that I have ever played at. Throughout the day I did not encounter any hiccups nor see anything that made me think that it was anything but a slick operation. And the acts playing were great. I got to see DJs that I’d been wanting to see for a long time. Some, like Stefan Bodzin, Mr Oizo, The Whip and Duke Dumont were every bit as good as I had imagined, and others, like Cassius and Dubfire, were not as good as I had expected. Watching Mr Oizo was a highlight, even though I’m not a huge fan of deep crunchy electro, this guy played one of the more entertaining sets that I’d seen. His mixing was clever and the great thing was that he was able to step out in front of the decks every now and then and have fun with the crowd. The only low point for me was that I was billed to play at the same time as Mixmaster Mike so that meant I missed him. Everybody said he was awesome. Although at the same time I can’t complain because my set with Purple Sneakers DJ buddy Walkie Talkie was a killer. We started with the room about a third full and ended up with a barn full of raving kids. They even got down to the rockier stuff we dropped into the mix. That night came to a close with djing at an after party at Qbar. Then sleep. Monday, yes, it was a long weekend. Which meant that Monday I could do work without any disturbances. I am currently finishing off a Dirty Secrets remix with and I also got to play around with stems from tracks by the Jezabels and Bluejuice. So I slept in and then spent the next 16 hours working on music production and eating delivered pizza. Can’t really complain – a pretty perfect day to end a pretty perfect weekend.

NYLON TOUR

CORY KENNEDY

i was so happy to wake up in new york. so were the native new yorkers the virgins. i went to chrissie and nicks house till the show. we picked up jessica and headed to irving plaza. i had to show them my living quarters they were all so shocked.it was beyond packed. completely sold out. and the energy for the show to start was energizing. everyone was so pumped and ready to rock out. so many buddies were there! been on the road for almost 6 weeks and im loving every moment.

i sleep so well on the tour bus. it basically rocks you to sleep. just being in a bus with 18 people is such a bizarre experience. the weather has been predominately very hot and humid which sucks. every night be your own pet puts on a fantastic show. jemina doesn't stop moving the entire time. nathan the guitarist and jonas get mad air. even if their music isnt your style.... just watching them is incredible.

theres 11 days left till tour is over and im pretty sad about it.

STUFF I'M DOING AND MUSIC I'M LISTENING TO!

PhDJ (Martin Boundary Sounds)

Launch of Levity Nights
You may or may not know, but I own an events company called Boundary Sounds. I’m neither the brains nor the brawn of this organization, I’m simply the pretty face (OK, not strictly true). The hard workers at Boundary Sounds run weekly nights like Purple Sneakers, as well as one off events, plus we are involved with presenting stages at festivals and the like. So when the guys at Levity Label asked us to help them put on a new weekly club night we immediately went “hell yeah!!”. Last Thursday saw the launch night happen and it was ace! Months of hard work realised in one awesome launch party!! The Holidays played, Red Riders DJd and my man Nick Findlay and I both spun tunes too. And if you’ve ever seen a band play in a room a little bigger than your bedroom it’s a pretty exciting affair. Bring on this Thursday!!

Other shit to look out for in coming weeks of the blog…

Sparkadia UK Tour
I got asked to join Sparkadia on their UK tour later on this month. They are playing at a series of huge British festivals including Glastonbury and O2 Wireless in England, Oxegen in Ireland and T in the Park in Scotland. So I’ll be keeping you up to date with my travels with the band and then on my way home to get back for Splendour I’ll be dropping by Japan’s huge Fuji Rock Festival, so will keep you in the loop on that too.

VHS or Beta at Purple Sneakers
VHS or Beta are DJing at Purple Sneakers this Friday, and I get the pleasure of driving them from their gig to Purple Sneakers in my big black Bedford (pic attached). Last year Chk Chk Chk (!!!) got to ride in the very same van and on the trip back from Playground Weekender of all things they taught me a brief history of Southern Hip Hop and kick-started my love for Three Six Mafia.

Festivals Festivals
This weekend PhDJ (that’s me) and Purple Sneakers DJs are playing at 2 festivals. Saturday sees us playing at Come Together Festival, and Sunday we get to play alongside Bonde Do Role, !!!, The Bravery and others at We Love Sounds Festival. I’ll give you a run down of the weekend’s activities in my next blog.


Music I’ve been listening to lately:

The Dirty Secrets – The Dirty Secrets
I couple of weeks ago I was asked to work on an official remix of a track for Dirty Secrets together with my production partner Black Anthony (we go by the name of Dept.). The Dirty Secrets are essentially a danceable indie pop band from Perth, and they are a touch on the synth side so I suppose due to that they inhabit the same musical territory as Dardanelles and Van She. And honestly they are every bit as good as these bands, both on record and live. Their self-titled debut album is pop gem after pop gem. You’ve probably already heard the single Five Feet of Snow, but on top of that there are other soon to be hits like ‘Devil’s Inside’ and ‘White Lies’, but to me the highlight is ‘Thoughts and Considerations, which is a Killer’s style slightly ethereal number with a touch more emotion. I suppose the Killers reference can be levelled at them as a criticism, but the fact is that unlike many bands these days they actually write songs rather than just ‘angular riffs’. Go get em!

Booka Shade - Movements
I’ve also discovered an old Booka Shade album from a couple of years back called ‘Movements’. I have an extremely large ‘music to acquire list’ which doesn’t discriminate across genre, and this record has been on it for ages. I finally got it and I gotta say that even though I’m not usually into music without words, nor am I really into non-song-based dance music, but as far as minimal techy stuff goes this is quite pleasing as daytime listening or night time driving music. I presume it would also be great at 5am at a big night club too, but you’re not likely to be seeing me dancing to music like this.

Breaking a Bluejuice leg & DJAM Party!

MARTIN - BOUNDARY SOUNDS

Hey, I’m new to this blogging thing. Not sure what to write about nor how interesting it’s gonna be but I figured that over the next few weeks we’ll get to know each other bit by bit.

So it’s been a pretty huge week in PhDJ land. The last 7 days has seen the following stuff happen to me in no particular order:

Touring with Bluejuice and Breaking Jake Stone’s Ankle
I have spent parts of the last 2 months with the boys on planes and in vans and in clubs and venues DJing on the tour at the shows as well as hosting the Purple Sneakers after-parties in all the capital cities and some of the smaller towns in between. Together we went to Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Newcastle and last week Brisbane. I also brought my video camera along for th trip and have been filming a video diary of the tour (which you’ll probably be seeing down the track).

Brisbane was a great show for the guys. The Paper Scissors and Bluejuice had been touring together for two months and had sold out every show along the way, and this second last show of the tour was no different. Except for one thing… Later at the after-party I was dancing (well, jumping is a more appropriate word) with my mate Jake Stone (he’s one of the MCs) and we got a bit excited when I dumped Warren G’s ‘Regulate’ on the decks, and after a bit of jumping around whilst holding hands in our drunken haze and a bit of a tangle we both fell. And as you may know, Jake’s not a big guy, and I’m not a small guy, and in an awkward landing I ended up cushioning the fall with a bit of Jake Stone leg. Ouch!! No sooner had I landed back in Sydney the next day than I’d heard that Jake had ended up in hospital with a fracture.

Needless to say the trooper that he and Bluejuice are he played the final date of the tour with his leg in plaster!! What a band, and what a tour!!

Throwing a Party for DJ AM
A couple of weeks ago I was approached to personally throw a party for LA superstar DJ AM. Yeah, we all know that he was the guy that went out with Mandy Moore and Nicole Ritchie and that he’s total Sneaker Freaker, but over and above that he’s actually just an awesome DJ!!!

I invited my mate DJ Kato to organise the party with me at 77. In less than 2 weeks we had arranged the party, done the flyer, pulled the press and pushed the PARTY button. On the night 77 had line ups snaking around the corner.

Dude, the guy plays my kinda party shit. He literally plays everything and anything. He’ll go from Justice to the Knightrider theme to Outkast to Oasis in the space of minutes. And toward the end of his set he was really letting rip with the indie classics, so like a giddy school girl (and given that he was playing such a variety of music) I requested he play ‘Waiting Room’ by Fugazi. And minutes later the guy was nailing it. Definite highlight!!