Diesel Dudes

Rec Centre, Oakland CA. Aug 18th 2012

Goth Horse records finally got round to mailing me the wonderful  Diesel Dudes cassette : "Born Brute". I love this band ..they blew me away first time I heard them (random web trawling) and I got to experience them live in Oakland and San Francisco last year ...gimp masks, baby oil, mass push ups, free cheeseburgers...well you just had to be there I guess.

Main man Doug's songs at first seem like the archetypal EBM macho bullshit, but the songs question, overturn and completely compromise that mindset/conditioning/disease with pokerfaced irreverence. Despite the testosterone oozing muscle obsessions the boy aint no jock... as if the nappy didnt give that away.

 Okay I admit I cheated with this one 'cos its the mp3 dubbed onto the live video, it was filmed at the absolutely deranged REC Centre show with mnttaB last year. I got lost looking for the venue (as usual) and traipsed around parts of Oakland which I learned later where not exactly the best places to be wandering around after dark... but I found it (a decrepit rehearsal space filled with crazies) and had the best night of my trip.

Listen to this puppy- and then try to tell me you didn't wiggle at least 3 different parts of your anatomy ..probly in different directions at the same time!



I've always worshipped at the alter of guitar rock, but I often stray in moments of weakness, tempted by the irresistible appeal  of a badly operated sequencer.. no, credit where its due - its fucken hard to be this minimal and that exciting - this band takes me back to the guilty and largely secret pleasures of my youth listening to 12"s bought on dole day at the  Notting Hill Record Exchange from acts like Portion Control, HardCorps and of course Nitzer Ebb..and Im pretty fucken happy about that.

 Rumour has it the boys are putting the finishing touches on a 7" for release in the new year...cant wait, until then here's their hit PitBull, you haven't heard it yet? .... loser.

Girls Pissing on Girls Pissing

Northcote Social Club, Nov 18th 2013
There's one thing that Aussie bands never really get the hang of, and that is: "Angry". They may spit and shout , scream and snarl but its always a bit self conscious ..a bit tongue in cheek somehow. GPoGP are from NZ, it rains a lot there, they have real fucking EARTHQUAKES and they aren't like us, GPoGP aren't just a bit pissed off, these guys strike you as genuinely upset (bordering on postal in fact) about ..well most things probably.

I picked up a tape (but not the book ..regretting that now.) from the Grace Darling show and the cover art is exceptional..I love the way they give credit to an "art director" - something not often seen on a micro-run cassette release I can tell you.
The first track "A Fraud Abroad" is a really great discordant hate-noise-pop song falling somewhere between the Virgin Prunes and Mass covering Pavement... its almost pretty with its dual vocal layers and accidental hooks...the second track "Darwinning" however is a different kettle of fish from the same school of (rejected) fish....

This is Darwinning from the NSC show , thankfully the dude kept his undies (and slacks) on tonight so Saturdays "challenge piled upon challenging" aspect of dealing with a naked guitarist (it was fine until he bent over to adjust his pedals..(shudders at the memory))  was absent but there were still  challenges aplenty - with the nearly 7 minute piece (mainly comprised of a vicious barked haranguing from the synth player with very little song structure to provide relief) beaten, abused and ,by the end, stretched with all flesh stripped back to an almost unbearably intense skeletal angst. So good.

Heres a track from their "Eeeling" Album which shows the less unsettling but still un-easy listening side of this great band ,  managing to jam so many ideas and feelings into simple yet dense songs that seem to teeter on the point of collapse from start to end.

Elizabeth Pistol Club

Grace Darling Basement, 16th Nov 2013

 ...maybe a lesser man would question his taste when he rates a band so highly and the rest of the (scumbag bogan "you am I" loving ) music stealing world doesn't even notice they exist...Not me! I'm never happier than when I'm the only person standing in a bowling club at midday appreciating a rapidly warming watery domestic and watching a band that has driven everyone else out into the sun.
But tonight the grace darling basement is very dark, the p.a is sub-"screamo band house show" standard and the décor downright tacky...I dont really connect with the Grace Darling story..  Proto Feminist Riot Grrrl icon maybe .. boy! that chick could row..but the sea was involved so you can forgive the clichéd theme the Pubs'  interior decorator latched onto: a few ships in bottles/knotted ropes/melted candles/paintings of wrecks and a 100 years of rising damp/solitude.

Anyway  as I should have mentioned EPC are a brilliant band.. I love the sturdy churning baselines, the deadpan almost gothic ranting, thunderous drums and caterwauling guitar they sound like they should be from Bradford not Brunswick. I couldn't get a clip of them cos it was so dark the guys couldn't even see the dots on their fret boards ..I tried to get a cunning sillouette of the singer but failed miserably..que "Sony Swirl" effect to the rerscue!....also had to  chop the first verse cos the vocal levels were screwed....quality job I know...but Im gonna put this out there cos the band has a policy of only playing one show per year, and Im not getting any younger.

This song is called Stabilizers and while it takes me back - as they always do to Lack of Knowledge (listen to "apologies for the early bits " and tell me Im lying!) also though I'm ashamed to admit it, as I listened to the song again I was reminded of "I'm dead"...how appropriate : comparing a band that only 10 people have heard of to one that 13 have.

They ended the set with an epicly thumping version of "Nice Hands"..so give that a listen here....and get down to the 2014 show..

Blank Realm

Melbourne Music Week, The Residence 18th Nov 2013

I wanted to have a look inside the mushroom/dome/thingy so dropped in on my way home from work..it was awesomely TARDIS like : Authentic 1972 BBC deco and I swear the inside was  far bigger than the outside.
Hopefully the dome will be reused and not thrown away at the end of the week...my yard isn't big enough but it would be brilliant as a doof tent at Meredith perhaps.

Blank Realm had a bit of trouble getting the keyboard podium working so their set was abbreviated I suspect. They looked like they would work better on a small stage, but they weren't too phased and had a good time as did my zoom...she hearts good lighting... but enough Queenslanders already!

Paddock Bash

A Paddock (aka Field) Whittlesea, Nov 9th 2013

Then it was bed time.


Monolith PB2013. Photo by Alyssa McBain.

Much the same as your soul cries out for a bit of guitar after a night on the doof, at 2am I was more than ready for something electronic after a long day of (at best) Avant Garde guitarmanship..
I was in dire need of some beats by the time Monolith arrived and after a nice noisy preamble he delivered big time, rounding off the bash nicely.
Here's a G-Fleck exclusive extract from the performance, it sounds just as good in the cold light of day but was apparently part of a one off  "Techno set".. the "regular" Monolith output is a slightly more minimal noise/drone beast but to me doesn't sound sooo far off this, its  all pretty fucken good and well worth checking out on the Iceage Productions Bandcamp

ahhh those MAD Nannas, I'm no stranger to substance abuse and I know what its like to play when really just standing up is challenging enough...but a set climaxing with the "artiste" passing out on stage after executing two endless atonal "freeform minimalist" ( I'm being kind) pieces will remain the most appallingly entertaining things I've ever seen. Id joked earlier about putting the Nannas on at 1:30 because they probably wouldn't sound any worse when epically wrecked. I was wrong....
How can you fuck up a one note guitar solo??? easy: try and keep trying again and again.

The Gruntled pushed out a well received immersive wash of jam-band drone and were notable for the use of a butter churner, not something you get to see very often in modern rock.

I think Im warming to Encounter Group, they walk that fine line between very cool and very shoddy, its an interesting place for a stroll and tonight they were leaning precariously towards the former, not sure what the Kitchen Floor dude really added with the extra guitar but whatever...

Zond Photo by Rene Schaefer

After the fire was started Aktion Unit did too : seizing their opportunity to have a bash, and a drone...and probably a couple of squeals and a fair bit of whining if truth be known.. they were followed by the mighty Zond who blew what was left (not much) of reality into the sky, best band of the day hands down with extra points for "technical problem hissy fits" too. That was about the time I realised I had bought along a pocketful of flat batteries and would have to be happy with taping a couple of brissie pop bands....so I went in disgust to have a (relatively sane) Nanna nap through the PKE/Gravel Samwidge sets.




Im pretty sure I saw a bit of faspeedelay but things were losing their focus a bit by that time, the bonfire was a monster the likes of which I haven't seen since Guy Fawkes night when I was in the 40th Chingford cub scouts,  it lit up the night and damn near torched one of the aforementioned "artistes" who got far closer than I dared, I swear I saw smoke coming off his jacket as my eye brows singed at a safe distance.

The mid arvo QLD contingent continued with Kitchens Floor and an unlikely and very unruly mosh developed,  indicating some of the bash "artistes" had begun their run at the rider a little early...and what a rider ! a tent full of booze that would put most provincial bottleshops to shame..

Extrafoxx had a couple of Big Star/Teenage Fanclub (depending upon your age/side of the atlantic) moments of bliss and (apparently) a Simpsons lyric, and the sun kept on shining and all was good.

Bodies and Sewers did their stuff.

Unfortunately Map Ends are not so organised, but who cares if your singer and drummer missed the bus? No worries: you can still knock out a swift impro set with a press ganged drummer and a couple of monster-riffs.

More Amazing: Things are running to schedule and Tangrams are in full flight as we enter the paddock.

The Sun Shines.

Teeth and Tongue

Teeth and Tongue, Courtney Barnett, Abottsford Convent.

Best bit of the night was bike riding down (and back up)  the side of the Yarra in the dark with a very real possibility of winding up in the soup at every turn, and the venue was pretty cool : the Abbotsford convent technical college.. a bit communist work house, a bit Blakes Seven budget sci-fi set set and a bit 70s NHS hospital ward. There were sharks and rays projected onto the back wall into a sort of Play school window AND there were table tennis tables WITH paddles AND balls!

 

So Teeth and Tongue are a pop singer (with some backing musicians), ... ok there's nothing wrong with that ,,but who goes to see pop groups in Melbourne in 2013, where's the money in that lark?...without Hey Hey its Saturday and Recovery  how does she ever expect to get anywhere? ok shes very pretty, ok she can sing, ok she can play...but pleeeease no more Simple Minds arm waving and condescending Bert Newton entertainer by numbers between song banter....just not my type I guess....they played this one and Its a  good contender for pop song of the decade though.. Darryl would(ve) love(d) it:
 

 

 

 ....I came expecting a cute but quirky,  singer/songwriter, 12 string, chick lit , navel inspecting,

 Australiana fest but the Courtney Barnetts are a guitar band of the old school, I mean REALLY old school: think Dream Syndicate, Green on Red, Robin Hitchcock....some of the songs chip a couple of carats off the Gram parsons/Smithereens mother lode,  but it was with carpet bombing not precision drones....by the time they reached the encores I had drifted back to the table tennis/green room but was mentally transported further to the bad old 90s at the punters club, days when it was considered socially acceptable to round off a 90 minute set with  a interminably dull "bluesy" passion killer and a 3 week long Wah-Wah guitar solo led RRRock "work out"...Then It rained on the way home, and it was all up hill....you will tell me if I'm whinging again, won't you?

Maggot Mass

First up: Shovels, ok its probably nothing too revolutionary : Old-school Big-bass AmRep-inspired Noise-Rock with a capital N. but it was just fucking amazing to see/hear a really talented musician like Mike Beach kicking out  such discordant, jarring , primal and totally excellent guitar abuse... bang goes my theory that people played like that because they had to.....

And this one in particular kicked , very soundly, thank you: Car Yards' got that Gordons like guitar feel , almost like somethings holding it back and its struggling to go ballistic at all times...even when finally unleashed.

 

 

'skipped Sewers and Gentlemen....but Adelaide based Terrible Truths bought a welcome breath of oestrogen to a day of macho swamp rock posturing, they looked very "catholic school "cool and get bonus points for channelling the Au-pairs..(maybe)....Passions ((early ) a bit) and.. Linus (no, maybe not, scrub that:  seriously I fucken hated Linus) but at the end of the day theres no mistaking the way girls play guitar...and how many boy bands swap instruments mid set? I love that... its more Un-rock than anything  the  "ironic" but straight faced retro fender twang by numbers the boys do, over and over again.

 

 

Cuntz: ok just back from "conquering" the states but still not really headline band material.. surely? ... yet , they went down well, and there was a bit of moshing happening ...but REALLY? REALLY? ... this material is not really ever gonna get you on the APRA best new artist awards list but I guess you have the get out of jail free of the band name yuh?

 

I cant help liking em though, theres something irresistible about the size and intensity of the giant neon FUCK YOU! they project,  they opened with the popticious "Bin Day" and the set still has a couple of tunes with a synth, friggin Zoom battery ran out in the first, but heres the second: "Meth":
 

Singer is pushing the boundary between some kind of bipolar but embarrassed 1st gig awkwardness and ...aforementioned bogan in a box swamp rock choreography...its actually quite weird and car-crash compelling to watch ...is he angry or confused..is he wasted or pretending...both?..probly...after all they're pretty much two sides of the same coin... nice Gun Club T-Shirt too.

New album is available in Aus now from Homeless records, here's the other synth led track: Never felt Better...
 

ASPS

Dire Ears, Justin Fuller, ASPS, Multiple Man : Grace Darling, Collingwood, Nov 3rd 2013

Grrrrrr.....got there early I thought, but once again entered a venue while Dire Ears where in full flight, the guy looked different : hair much longer than last time , but that's easily attributed to the hydroponic properties of the lamps..the  P.A volume wasn't up to the job tonight though and there was daylight competing with the halogen so while you could argue it was possible to hear more layers/nuances/parts of the sounds I felt  the overall Impact lost something and it was a bit flat unfortunately.

Justin Fuller is guitarist of Zond (-really looking forward to seeing them  at Paddock Bash 3) but this is the first time Id seen him doing solo stuff, which is quite an achievement since it seems he appears on 8/10 line-ups in melbs......
His set had the closest approximation to dance beats of the night, sort of like 1/2 the fuck buttons (with no space drums (dammnit)) but  twice as much knob twiddling. It was ok but it seemed to go on for ever..im a 20 minute set man these days.....




Id count Chromedome as one of my favourite Melbourne bands (Check out my 2011 phone videos here and here!) , sadly they are no longer around , but one of their vocalist/front persons Andrea Blake is now performing solo as ASPS. The pace is a lot slower, and the energy levels lower than her previous band but unsurprisingly some Chromedome'sh elements remain in the songs. You cant really call this synth-punk...its actually getting close to synth-folk if such a genre has been invented yet.... definitely mood music - where the mood is down ..but not out.
There wasn't enough light so my camera slipped into blurred mode but this song is a pretty good example of the minimalistic cold-water blow-wave siren-songs ASPS do to great effect.

 I enjoyed the short set, but with its unvarying rhythms and not exactly uplifting "haunting" vocal delivery the show was moving into the realm of "Lakes with a frock" by the end and no one wants to go there..

The multiple Men opened with an engulfing wall of noise then swiftly moved on to the industrial bash of one of the many new tunes dished out : dual synth action,  Big Black drum beats and sensible fringes : how can you not love these boys?
I don't pretend to be their no.1 fan but I didn't recognise any of the songs played tonite...its all very different from when I last saw them :  there is guitar on only one or two tracks and the aesthetic is much improved by the twin keyboards..6 strings BAD! 24 keys GOOD! ,,,.the place was pretty packed by the end and there's a single out in December and its hard not to believe good things await them....well better things than  playing in the pokey upstairs room of a Collingwood pub , on a Sunday night. Which  I actually rate as a pretty good achievement in itself, although probly not
what you had in mind when you got your parents to buy you all that gear and spent months writing songs... Any way what is "making it" these days? how do you gauge success?  err where was I? am I arguing with myself again?