Band - Sin City...last gig of 2011...already!

Melbourne is rocking along beautifully at the moment. The street-press pages are thick and live music venues are overflowing with emerging and established acts performing a diverse range of music..something for everyone...whatever your aural drug.

One particular gig that has hit my headlines is the "last gig for 2011" from Sin City...

...huh...last gig of the year...in April?!? Whaaaa?

Here's the PR explanation, via their Facebook page:

"It's been 9 & 1/2 years since Sin City exploded onto the Australian music scene. Armed with nothing more than 3 chords and a maniacal stage presence the band went on to become one of Australia's premier independent rock acts clocking up over 900 shows, touring Australia countless times, moving from Perth to Melbourne, playing everything from the Big Day Out to Sounds Loud and with everyone from The Misfits to Metallica. Not bad for a pack of punks.

But now it seems the road is finally starting to catch up with the rock'n'roll juggernaut that is Sin City and the band are going on hiatus while members travel overseas and try to catch up on some sleep. They do promise to be back but not until at least 2012!

So let's get pissed and celebrate all things Sin City with a fuck off huge party at Pony on Saturday 16th April.

Starting from 9pm Sin City have invited some of their favourite Melbourne acts to warm up The Pony stage with Stranglehold, Bombing Angels, The Mercy Kills, Ramshackle Army and Australian Kingswood Factory joining forces to create one of the best line-ups you can see. Then from 2am Sin City play their favourite time slot in their favourite venue for the last time in who knows how long.

Expect 2 sets, songs spanning their (almost) 10 year career, tears, beers, cheers and a blood-boiling, fist-pumping, body-slamming, heart-breaking, dance floor shaking, good time like only Melbourne's kings & queen of rock Sin City can deliver. Rock'n'Roll satisfaction is guaranteed and Do Not Miss This Show! HELL YEAH!!"

I have blogged here previously my love for Sin City and Pony bar's 2am late shows on weekends. This band knows how to kick on and on and on, whilst imparting their messy energy onto a forever keen crowd of randoms. If you love some raucous pub rock, it will be a night worth experiencing, supported by a local band line-up that is worthy of a big dirty rock party in a tiny space.

Sadly, this gig is on a night on which I'm committed to going to bed early, in preparation for the Herald Sun/City Link Run for the Kids event the next morning. In my world, running 14.38km at 9am makes gigging the night before mostly impossible. However, I encourage anyone who enjoys a late night out with a bit of dirty rock and a fun crowd to get along to this gig!

Sin City's Tash at The Green Room, 2006

My gigging has been somewhat limited of late. Nevertheless, I have locked in to revisit some of my favourite local artists over the next month and am looking forward to hearing what their support acts have to offer.

First up...tonight we are headed for the Big Scary gig at the East Brunswick Club. Supports include Kins (Thom Savage, formally of Oh Mercy) and Step-Panther from NSW. For only $12, I consider this something of a bargain gig these days - brilliant band, awesome venue - it is too rare to find such a gig under $15 these days.

Big Scary at Northcote Social Club, May 2010.

Next week we'll catch The Jezabels play The Corner (wow...it has been too long since we've had a night at The Corner!) and then return to EBC on Friday night again for Gareth Liddiard and Dan Kelly.

Further, with the Melbourne International Comedy Festival commencing tonight, I am taking a punt on seeing LA comedy-music act The Dan Band at The Hi-Fi Bar. My only exposure to The Dan Band so far has been through their Christmas song "I Wanna Rock You Hard This Christmas" and their cameo in The Hangover, which has been enough hilarity to suck me into seeing them live. I do love quality comedians who are musically talented as well, because they inspire me whilst making me laugh...the type of high I embrace in life.

[rant] Beer vs Bar vs Bands - Becks Fesitval Bar, Melbourne Arts Festival

Ok, time for a somewhat unqualified and disjointed rant about beers at events. Please tune out if you are seeking to read something informative or professional...(although, this is a personal blog afterall!)...

Last weekend I spent two nights at The Forum, which was under the guise of the Beck’s Festival Bar, for a couple of gigs that were part of the Melbourne International Arts Festival.(MIAF).

Here is the MIAF promo text for these gigs - "Beck’s Festival Bar transforms Melbourne’s iconic Forum Theatre into a house of worship for a series of performances designed to respond to themes of Shamanism, cult bands and music as religious experience."

I'm sorry, but the the beautiful Forum Theatre was hardly "transformed"...no...not at all. There was Becks signage on top of the drink fridges behind the three bars, as well as some lame Becks-imaged spot-lights shining on the high roof between acts, but that was it.

But for the real issue...

...I fully understood that attending such a commercially-branded event will no doubt limit my beer drinking options to Becks and several other beers, which - as a craft beer lover - I would probably never otherwise drink. However, I was not quite prepared to be hit with the choice of ONLY two (shit) beers, which really do not deserve a place in the Melbourne music scene.

Those choices were, of course, Becks ($6.50 per bottle) and Kirin ($9 per bottle!!)!!

Both these beers are brewed by Lion Nathan (under licence for their parent company, Kirin), with Becks coming from Lion Nathan's Malt Shovel Brewery in Camperdown, Sydney, and Kirin from the South Australian Brewing Company in Adelaide.

First - how Kirin, which I find tasteless and under-carbonated, can be worth $2.50 more than Becks astounds me (....I know I know, it was because Becks was the "showcase beer" of the night...therefore it was on "special"...but honestly?!?).

Second - why could Lion Nathan not provide one of there local brands, such as something from Boags, or a different style of beer...other than a premium lager, possibly something from the James Squire range? But no, it was just Becks or Kirin, boo.

So...*sigh*...on the Friday night, for The Drones, I drank Becks. I enjoy drinking session beers during rock gigs, especially when it is over 4 hours of standing, but I struggled to make it through a second bottle of Becks, as it was leaving my mouth dry and rough, with a tinge of metallic medicinal burn. WATER PLEASE!

On returning Saturday night, for Mariachi El Bronx, we had some time to kill before the first support began, so we grabbed a booth and considered the other (also limited) drink options available at the bars - Magners Cider, Jack Daniels and Coke premix, UDL premixes and a couple of other brightly coloured beverages which I do not care to recall.

No wonder there has been issues with crowd behaviour at large events that provide bars like this. Such a drink selection will make anyone violent on sugar and chemicals!

Deciding not to rape our mouths with bad beer again, we drank a glass of house red wine. After that first glass, I knew that drinking this house red was not going suffice for another 4 hours of live music. I moved onto Jack Daniels and Coke and WOW/OUCH...sweet sweet terrible sugar hit! (note: my diet has very little sugar in it these days.) I am afraid that I had to wash away the JD+Coke with a Becks...and once again I was done with drinking for the night.

THE SHAME!

But what's a Melbourne rock gig without beer?!? And I serious had to wash away that JD & coke.

Oh, and The Forum needs to learn from other bars at major venues, which provide an "express queue" for people ordering just beer. The bar queues were annoyingly long and slow, as many people tried to order drinks that were not available or mixed spirits that took time to put together. Since the beer option was so limited, surely there could have been a "Becks only" queue to streamline those wanting to place a simple order of one, two or four figures.

And whilst I'm ranting...LIGHTEN UP Crowd Controllers! Do security staff not realise how much their menacing presence and disdain towards the crowd really sours the mood in a room? People are there for a good time, not to make trouble! Yet the Crowd Controllers stand their and scowl, as though only bad can come of this gathering...and get they ready to jump at any flinch by someone to reach into their bag for a tissue. Joy killer!

But back to the lack of a good bar...

For an event that seeks to be cultural relevant, artistic and even bohemian, to be so bound by the corporate dollar is just sad! Any true artist would be appalled (...expect that all real artists are very poor and need the money. yeah?).

MIAF says "Melbourne Festival is quintessentially Melbourne's festival"...then give us some MELBOURNE BEER! Please? Hell...I'd even drink Melbourne Bitter during a Drones gig! Becks and Kirin is not Melbourne.

Awesome music, brilliant artists, excellent crowds...but terrible beers and bars in a venue that could be so much more!

Thankfully, both nights were ultimately rewarding due to kick-ass performances by The Drones and Mariachi El Bronx

Friday night was opened slowly by the uninspiring post-stoner new-wave hipster rock of The Twerps. The night turned for the better when almost everyone was surprised by the awesomeness of China's P.K 14 as they completely lifted the tempo with a high energy and thoroughly entertaining set! Rocking out, high kicks and love for the crowd...these guys were fun! All songs were sung in Chinese...but that did not matter a bit because they were just so fun! Closing the night was The Drones, who I have declared my love for previously in this blog.

At first I was concerned that their dark pub rock style would not fit the large venue...but that was soon put to rest as they easily engrossed the room with their beautiful mess and noise. The volume might not have quite been turned up to 11 for The Drones on this occasion, but it was definitely at 9 and the performance was nothing short of typical Drones passion and talent.

Saturday night was opened softly with The Ukeladies, with their mysterious Captain Manas - who received the biggest cheer of the night when he stepped up for vocals on one song - as well as Drones guitarist, Dan Luscombe, in a very different mode to the previous night's rock out. Local indie up-and-comers, Eagle and the Worm were next, with a big sound and possibly a little too much desire to be cool, but they were enjoyable enough.

Finally, the usually angry punk rockers of LA's The Bronx were simply joyous in their Mariachi El Bronx persona! They had so much love to share with the Melbourne crowd, engaged the audience and were all class and quality with their punk roots never too far away. They ended the night in authentic Mariachi 7-man lineup mode, singing live rarities such as "My Love" and, crowd favourite, "Sleepwalking". Great stuff...want more!

So my wrap up of the Becks Festival Bar is as follows:

• Beer - Fail
• Bar (in this incarnation) - Fail
• Bands - WIN!

Bands - Melbourne still rocks...so LOOK OUT, Summer!

With Summer approaching, the pages of the local music street-press magazines are growing thicker...as peak live music season returns...and it is shaping up to be another fine Summer of rock in Melbourne!

Live music venues and bars are certainly buoyed by the prospect of a bumper Summer music season after the mess of last year's Liquor Licencing fiasco, which saw many small venues under threat from conditions that restricted their activity. This was due to an unjustified link between live music and violence, which was suddenly being enforced like never before. However, in the last month - through the great work of Music Victoria, SLAM and Fair Go 4 Live Music - the Victorian State Government has now removed the link between live music performance at licensed premises and crowd controller licence conditions, with the Live Music Agreement!

You can read more about that on the Music Victoria website.

For me, it will all kick off again next weekend with the Melbourne International Arts Festival, celebrating music passion and diversity with cult bands, through two nights of big gigs held at the beautiful Forum Theatre, which will be transformed into the "Beck's Festival Bar" (ug, Becks...I do hope I have time to enjoy some quality craft beer at Beer DeLuxe before and after the gigs...!)

• First up will be next Friday night (22 October) with The Drones, supported by China's P.K.14 and The Twerps.
• On Saturday night (23 October) we will be back for The Bronx in their mexican-alter-ego-mode, Mariachi El Bronx, supported by Eagle and the Worm and The Ukeladies.

Looking ahead, other gigs that are locked in include The Drone's frontman, Gareth Liddiard, showcasing his debut solo/acoustic album at The Thornbury Theatre on Friday 5th November (which will actually be my first ever gig at The Thornbury Theatre)...and some little band that I liked when I was a kid, called U2, who are playing Etihad Stadium on Wednesday 1st December.

A couple of my favourite little Aussie bands will be kicking around too. I recommend checking out The Jezabels at The East Brunswick Club on Friday 26th November. The Basics at Northcote Social Club and Papa vs Pretty at East Brunswick Club during October are gigs that I have on my radar as well. Also, if the Collingwood fans have stopped celebrating at the Grace Darling Hotel, it may just be safe to return to catch Blackchords play a Thursday residency.

December will also be a good month for the "old guys" who are still doing good things...especially at The Corner Hotel where you'll be able to catch gigs with Colin Hay, Hoodoo Gurus and Peter Combe! Now that is serious fun!

And for the ultimate experience is Melbourne dirty rock...catch Sin City play the Pony late show (2am) on Saturday 30th October!

Band - The Drones (Coopers 'Sounds After Dark')

Why hello there! Long time no see. Yes, I've been missing-in-action for a little while thanks to the wonderful distraction of getting married and having an all-too-brief honeymoon. But now we can resume standard programming...because there is a great deal of catching up to do!

First, here is a post that I prepared earlier, but never quite finished and therefore did not post...until now...

Gig: The Drones - Coopers' Sounds After Dark (presented by Inpress and PBS-FM radio)
Supports: Batrider, The Dacios
Venue: Inpress Warehouse, Abbotsford – Free gig
Date: Saturday 17th July 2010

Over the last few months, South Australian macro-brewery, Coopers, had been running a promotion for their Dark Ale, providing a competition to win tickets to their "Sounds After Dark" secret shows, headlined by one of my favourite local bands, The Drones.

The requirement to enter this competition was that you must first buy a Coopers Dark Ale (at one of a handful of Melbourne pubs), receive a scratchie with your purchase, then SMS code on the scratchie to enter the competition for the gig tickets.

As a relatively new yet passionate Drones fan, I was all over the competition right away, which lead me to making a detour on the way home from the city one night to buy a Coopers Dark at Wild Oscar's in Richmond.

In a bit of a farce, the bar staff were without the scratchies and a bit unsure how it all worked, despite the bar being covered in paraphernalia for the Sounds After Dark promotion. Nonetheless, I drank my Dark Ale then headed home...thinking I would just try one of the other nominated pubs (over in Fitzroy) the following weekend. However, in the meantime, I emailed Coopers to let them know my experience with their little promotion (careful when you disappoint a Drones fan!)...and woah...I was surprised with a prompt, cheery and apologetic response...notifying me that my name (+1) had been added to the winners list...and hence I was in to the Sounds After Dark gig! Rock on, Coopers!

The "secret show" was held on a Saturday night at the Headquarters of streetpress magazine, Inpress, which is an Abbotsford warehouse, a short tram ride from home (...awesome...I love a close-by event!). The wife and I had been to the Inpress building before (to pick up prizes from competitions entered with Inpress)...and it is also very close to one of our favourite coffee cafes/suppliers - First Pour (Veneziano)...however, this was our first peak inside the warehouse.

It was the first official gig to be held in the Inpress Warehouse and I thought the space made an awesome little venue. Very rock, very Melbourne.

Support acts Batrider and The Dacios opened the night with big sounds to warm the crowd.

Watching Batrider made me feel like they would have been the type of band you would have found in the 1980s Melbourne underground post-punk-rock scene (à la Dogs in Space).

The Dacios were very robust. Upbeat and more than a hint of heavy-alt-country. Two good young and raw support acts, appropriately setting the dirty rock scene for the headliners.

Batrider

The Drones hit the stage around 10:30pm and played a non-stop hour of faithful Drones repertoire, pleasuring and deafening all present.

Opening big with the awesome "Jezabel", it was clear that the crowd was full of Drones lovers and general appreciators of such awesome alternative rock.

Shark Fins Blues was as beautifully brilliant as ever, and everyone knew the words to "Minotaur".

Fan favourites "I Don't Ever Want To Change" and "The Freedom in the Loot" certainly had the crowd singing along in full voice and shaking along like a beer soaked crowd will do.

Strangely (maybe), The Drones are not easy to like...yet they are so easy to love!

Sonically, the band is terribly raw, rough, dark and often super loud in a fucked up way...which all works so beautifully!  As noted on the Wikipedia article about them..."Their sound has been described as The Birthday Party kick the shit out of Neil Young in Hendrix' garage."

Lead vocalist, Gareth Liddiard, isn't a singer (that is...he does not have an "Australian Idol" signing voice) but no-one else could so perfectly front this band. Gareth vaguely reminds me of Stevie Plunder from the original lineup of The Whitlams.

Maybe it's just because they are everything I like about local rock music - they are musicians, they are storytellers, they are dark and raw, they are very Melbourne Rock.

Two guitars, bass, drums. Pure rock. The Drones totally rock me.

Alternatively...it may be that they are just so far from the boring excessive commercial shite that the world doesn't need any more of.

Anyways...if you want to get into The Drones...I highly recommend buying their 2005 album Wait Long By The River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By as well as their most recent album - Havilah - it's special!

The Drones seem to play out a set effortlessly, yet always with energy and passion, proving how in-tune they are with each other. They rock fluidly from song to song, despite every live performance always providing a slightly (or sometimes significantly) different twist on every song they play. Tonight was no different. Another great gig all round...and I'll even forgive the bands for the hearing damage (again)...because it was a top night out in Melbourne.

Of course, I can not conclude without mentioning the drinks.

A little makeshift bar was serving Coopers beers (naturally) throughout the gig.  On tap there was the Dark Ale and the Pale Ale (Coopers Green). A a small selection of basic wine and pre

I don't mind Coopers. They are generally the best choice for a macro-brewed & commercially driven beer in Australia, due to their family owned-and-run Australian business. The Cooper's primary beers - Red (Sparking Ale) and Green (Pale Ale) - have a fairly good standing in Australia and they are quite unique in the marco-beer landscape in that they have plenty of taste, unlike the majority of bland big-name beers.

The Coopers beers also do go down alright, but I don't find them overly sessional. The main issues I have with Coopers beers is that they always tend to leave me with a very rough sore-head hangover the next day, as again happened after this night out (which is why I'll stick with chemical&preservative free craft beers).

Coopers Dark is fair (certainly better than anything produced by the LionNathan crowd) but essentially just tastes like a malty macro lager. My favourite Coopers beer is the easily the Coopers Extra Strong Vintage Ale, which I am currently cellaring one bottle from this year's Extra Strong Vintage batch to see how it performs a year later.

Rock on...