Creedence

If you've been a reader of mine for any time longer than a few months, you're probably aware of my rather angry approach to Byron Bay Blues Fest and how it considers Brisbane to be next door, so we don't get side shows.

That in itself makes this show announcement confusing. But there's so many aspects of it that confuses the heck out of me. But first, who is it?

Well, it's John Fogerty. Lead singer of a little band from a long time ago that was known as Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Years and years ago, Cosmos Factory by CCR was one of the first albums my dad every bought. To this day, it still sits on my shelf and gets played to death. CCR is just one of those bands with a unique sound (southern swamp rock) that you just know and recognize anywhere. And a lot of this is due to John Fogerty's voice. So unique, that he got sued for sounding too much like himself. I shit you not.

He won, but had to pay a tonne of royalties to play any CCR song. Which brings me to confusing point number 2: this tour is him playing a classic album in full. Some towns get Cosmos Factory, some towns get Green River. 

Brisbane, much to my disappointment, get Green River. But never fear, at the same time he'll play a lot of other CCR songs and even some of his classic solo hits, which he had a few of.

April 5th, Entertainment Centre.

The big problem for me, is that there are 3 other shows I'm desperate to see that day: Sublime (with Rome), Taking Back Sunday and the G3 guitar tour. CHRIST. Which one?!

One Sentence Album Reviews (#20)

Ahhh! So close to the end of my 2011 list. A few more CDs and I'm moving on to the 2012 collection.

Howling Bells - The Loudest Engine (2011): another indie album from the ex-pats with beautifully haunting female vocals 3.7/5

The Subways - Money and Celebrity (2011): a very up-beat pop/grunge/punk album, with a beat great for jogging. It's very fun 4.6/5

Blink 182 - Neighborhoods (2011): After realizing it's not immature-joke punk, it's an album that grows on you. Reminds me of Boxcar Racer 3.7/5

Tori Amos - Night Of Hunters (2011): A very orchestral, almost cinematic album full of Tori's beautiful voice 4.7/5

The Smith Street Band - No One Gets Lost Anymore (2011): a masterclass in writing hella-emotional and catchy sing-a-long folk-punk 4.5/5

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - ST (2011): Surprising album that shows why he is a great songwriter. he's still got it 4.8/5

The Jezabels - Prisoner (2011): Obviously schooled in the Nick Cave style, this has dark lyrical content & a sound of great 80s post-punk 4.4/5

New Found Glory - Radiosurgery (2011): at their age can they still make pop-punk songs about teenage stuff? The answer: yes 3.8/5

Into It. Over It. - Proper (2011): Another one of those pop-punk albums that sound similar. Just can't get into it, I'm kind of over it 2.9/5

Tom Waits - Bad As Me (2011): Tom's most pop album yet? He still throws in so many random instruments and sounds though 4.5/5

Raein - Sulla Linea D'orizzonte Tra Questa Mia Vita e Quella Di Tutti (2011): Italian (real)screamo band's free album reminds me of how good scramz can be sometimes, without being extreme 3.8/5

No Anchor - Real Pain Supernova (2011): Imagine the bass from Fugazi being doubled up (2 basses!), lengthened and made into sludge metal 4/5

Bridge and Tunnel - Rebuilding Year (2011): it borders between orgcore and post-hardcore, but fuck genres, it's a rad punk album 4/5

Tony Sly - Sad Bear (2011): As far as former punks doing alt-country-folk goes, this is not that good. 2.5/5

Bush - The Sea Of Memories (2011): There's glimpses of their former past in there, but I still blame Gwen Stefani for making Gavin too happy 2.6/5

Samiam - Trips (2011): a good punk rock album that makes me think "this is what I want Alkaline Trio to always sound like" 4/5

Kasabian - Velociraptor (2011): Their stoner-indie-rock has lost a lot of its electronic edge to have a very brit-rock (even Beatles) sound 4/5

VA - (Ahk-toong Bay-bi) Covered (2011): Great covers by amazing artists celebrating U2's classic album. This is 100x better than the original 4.6/5

Florence + the Machine - Ceremonials (2011): Bringing opera and soul music to the indie hipsters since 2007, now to the pop-music world 3.5/5

VA - Come As You Are: A 20th Anniversary Tribute to Nirvana's 'Nevermind' (2011): My favourite tribute so far, includes a quirky mewithoutYou cover 4.5/5

The Black Keys - El Camino (2011): hard to believe it's 2 guys making such a sonically rich album; finally taking blues-roots mainstream 4.8/5

Snow Patrol - Fallen Empires (2011): the ultimate Greys Anatomy soundtrack now channels the Postal Service with more electronica 2.8/5

Los Campesinos! - Hello Sadness (2011): Lyrically dark & depressing twee-pop that makes you lonely and happy at the same time 4/5

 

Johnny Foreigner - Vs Everything (2011): punkier, less produced Los Campesinos! I listened to the 2 back-to-back and didn't notice a change 3.8/5

The Dear Hunter - The Color Spectrum (Complete) (2011): Epical prog-indie journey representing all colours. Misses sometimes, overall good 4.3/5

H2O - Don't Forget Your Roots (2011): A cover album of classic hardcore/punk songs, made kind of soft and pop-punky by H2O. 3.6/5

Spank Rock - Everything Is Boring And Everyone Is A Fucking Liar (2011): Okay beats under some less thank okay rapping 3/5

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - The Magic Of Youth (2011): Who said ska is dead? Not these guys. They've still got it 4.5/5

Guthrie - ST (2011): my dad, the old blues loving soul that he is, loves the dirty modern blues of this album. So do I 4.4/5

Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto (2011): Every Coldplay album is radio pop, with one song I really love. This album breaks that mold. Not one good song 2.4/5

VA-ZZ Top:A Tribute From Friends(2011):Some good covers, even Coheed sounding 80's rock. But it has Nickelback ruining my fav song: Legs 3/5

 

Pangea - Living Dummy (2011): a garage rock record that sounds like it was lost from the 60's 3.8/5

Pianos Become The Teeth - The Lack Long After (2011): soundds like a dirtier/more falsetto Touche Amore. Very similar styles 3.5/5

San Cisco

San Cisco is an indie band from Perth that obviously has their pulse on what the audience is digging right now. And that is that dreamy-surf-pop, with the male/female vocals and a very retro-beach feel. Because that's exactly what they are.

But unlike 75% of the music that paragraph just described, I really like San Cisco. There's something less pretentious about their music (at least to me). And you know, any band that makes it out of Perth has got to be good. It's hard competition over there, in the most isolated city in the world. 

They'll be coming through Brisbane on February 17th to Alhambra. 18+. If you want to check out some of their music, for free, before hand, head to their Triple J Unearthed site.

Free Music Friday 36! The father-bonding edition

My dad is the man to thank for all of my music tastes. He has influenced me over the years. And the thing he's big on is blues inspired rock. And zydeco, which may be where I got my ska love from.

I got a CD the other day that I just had to make him listen to. They're called Guthrie. And don't even think I'm going to post a picture of them, because it's a Google nightmare. So many musicians in the world with the name Guthrie.

What Guthrie, an Australian two-piece, do is make real raw and gritty blues-rock. It's almost downright dirty. These boys from Tasmania play the blues-rock you'd expect to come out of the dirty south of America, not Australia. There's a bit of lewd subject matter, but that suits them perfectly. You can draw many parallels to the White Stripes, Mess Hall and the Black Keys (all two-piece blues-ish inspired bands), but Guthrie just makes it heaver and dirtier. Which, if you look at a lot of what I blog, appeals to me.

So head on over to their Triple J Unearthed site and get all the free music of theirs that you can handle. I'd recommend a nice jug of whiskey to go with it.

2011: Best of Photos

2011 was a big year for me in photography. I got my first SLR at the end of 2010 and up to July 2011 I only was able to take band photos in little venues after sweet talking the bouncers. By the end of 2011 I had photographed two massive festivals of international bands, broken 1 lens mid-Future of the Left gig, broken 1 camera mid-Soundwave Counter-Revolution festival, had photos printed in a magazine (in Canberra of all places) and been able to get up close with so many bands I loved.

It's been fun. I would like to thank Alternative Music Hub and Tone Deaf for allowing me to occasionally photograph for them. 2012 will see me dragging my camera wherever possible and hopefully being able to take some more larger bands/festival photos. If you're reading this and you want me to take photos for your publication/band/etc, please hit me up on photo@moshpitson.com.

Now that's all done, here's my favourite live music photos I took last year. This list has been impossible to make as I keep changing my mind and I tried to only limit it to 1 photo per show.

20. The Chariot, Sun Distortion Studios, April 20

This gig was absolutely insane. Despite being a small room with one small bulb from the roof making for horrible lighting, the band was so crazy that most photos turned out. Even this one of the bass player being carried out the door while still playing.

19. The Damned Things, Soundwave Counter-Revolution, Riverstage, September 24

Although not an action shot, I just really enjoy this picture of Damned Things/Every Time I Die lead singer Keith Buckley walking off stage. (See the full gallery here)

18. The Walkmen, Harvest Festival, Riverstage, November 19

I had been waiting the better part of a decade to see the Walkmen. This picture of the lead singer looking suave and slightly 1950s is everything I had ever imagined about this band. (See the full gallery here)

17. The Grates, Tivoli, October 28

Patience, the energetic lead singer, is generally the focus of attention in the Grates live show. However, in this picture, John shows he can still get his boogie on. (See the full gallery here)

16. Alesana, Soundwave Counter-Revolution, Riverstage, September 24

I may not be the biggest fan of their music, but their live show was sure fun to watch. Even though my camera was minutes away from breaking, this shot of the guitarist mid-dance at the back of the stage managed to capture some of the action. (See the full gallery here)

15. Army of Champions, the Jubilee, November 17

It was the first time I had seen, let alone heard of, this band and I fell in love. This picture captures all of them singing/shouting at once, in the Against Me! punk vibe they put out.

14. Man Overboard, The Globe, September 3

Whenever I watch a punk show, it's always my goal to get a picture of a guitar jump. It's bloody hard and very rarely works out. This shot was taken just as I put the flash on my camera and before I even had it set up properly and it needed a lot of post-editing to not be dark. The post-editing gave it a very old-school film feel I think. (See the full gallery here)

13. Raein, Sun Distortion Studios, December 31

This was one of the last photos I took in 2011, of the Italian screamo band playing the last Sun Distortion Studios show. The whole energy of the set was intense, with almost everyone in the band screaming into any microphone that was near them and just jumping around like madmen. Was a great way to see out 2011.

12. Periphery, the Zoo, July 29

The first gig I shot for any reason apart from for fun. Although I had to jostle with the crowd a lot to get shots, they were just fun to photograph. Every shot I took had them in different poses and it was really hard to pick a single photo for the best of list! (See the full gallery here)

11. Nuclear Summer, Sun Distortion Studios, December 31

Nuclear Summer will go down as one of my favourite local bands in 2011. This shot shows basically everyone you see regularly at gigs in Brisbane just getting into the song as well.

10. The National, Harvest Festival, Riverstage, November 19

The lighting, the mist, the composition... I think it really just goes hand in hand with the style of music that is the National. (See the full gallery here)

9. La Dispute, the Zoo, January 25

Adam Vass screaming into the mike. This was my favourite photo for the first half of the year.

8. Architecture in Helsinki, the Tivoli, September 25

I couldn't take my eyes or lens off the front man of Architecture in Helsinki. I think of this picture as the hipster music version of Egon from Ghostbusters. (See the full gallery here)

7. Every Time I Die, HiFi, September 23

The second Keith Buckley picture of the top 10. He's just such an an enigmatic front man, you can't help to take a lot of photos of him. This photo was part of a set of photos I took of him just tossing the microphone around in between singing. (See the full gallery here)

6. Trash Talk, Step Inn, February 25

This was taken the night before Soundwave festival, in a special flood benefit fundraiser in the small band room of the Step Inn. Trash Talk, as always, were absolutely nuts on stage and barely kept still. This photo made the countdown purely for the expression of the guy on the side of stage. That's what everyone feels like after watching the insanity and non-stop movement of the Trash Talk live show.

5. Jim Ward, Alhambra, August 13

If I was to give an award for the worst lighting in a venue to take photos in, it would be Alhambra. One spot light and a mirror behind the performer. But I managed to get this shot with the lights above the bar reflected beautifully in the mirror. Artistic almost. (See the full gallery here)

4. AC4, The Zoo, April 7

I was lucky enough to see Dennis Lyxzen (lead singer of Refused/International Noise Conspiracy) twice this year in different forms. Dennis is renowned for his stage performane, and at the Zoo in his hardcore band AC4 he showed us all why. Despite only landing in Australia a few hours earlier, he danced like a mad man and finished writhing on the floor while still singing.

3. Touche Amore, Old Museum, September 8

I got to take most of my pictures on stage, which is rare for me in such a large venue. I was singing along the whole time and this whole band photo, with Jeremy screaming, was turned into a poster for my friend Jess who's hand is sticking out in the crowd. (See the full gallery here)

2. Flaming Lips, Harvest Festival, Riverstage, November 19

Anyone who has seen a Flaming Lips show will know about how insane it is. The photo pit was packed and I took about 400 photos just of the first 3 songs of these guys. So much was going on it was so hard to keep up with the action. This is a shot of Wayne just as he unleashed streamers from his blow gun, with more streamers in the background and all of the photographers trying to get a good angle. (See the full gallery here)

1. Fucked Up, Alhambra, December 9

What you can't see is the fact that I'm singing like a manic into the microphone while taking this photo.

Bomb the Music Industry

I've harped on and on about this band before and not just because of this awesome fan-made music video:

Or because every release they've ever done is available for free download on their website.

Or because they follow the Fugazi DIY method, cheap all-ages shows.

That all adds up, but I love them because of their goddamn fun punk and ska. Just listening to them makes you think a show would be ridiculous amounts of fun.

But that DIY methodology meant that there was probably no chance of them coming over. And then today I heard some news that made me go straight out and change my underpants twice over, because I was just that goddamn excited. Heck, as I type this now I'm smiling like a fool. 

Yes, they are coming down under. And playing with the Smith St Band. In what basically amounts to a small room. Between the Walls. On the 1st of March. I'm so goddamn excited about this. I've got goosebumps right now. I went to buy tickets the second this got announced, but they're not out yet. But never fear, I've been checking every 30 minutes or so.

I can't wait. I'll be there, probably camera in hand and still skanking like an idiot.

Mountain Goats

Regular emo music doesn't make me sad, unlike a lot of my friends. But for some reason, the down-to-earth honest folk music of The Mountain Goats does a thing on me. His real lyrics always touch me deep emotionally.

That song made me cry for most of 2005. The addition of sock puppets makes it even more depressing.

Despite being mildly obsessed with the Mountain Goats for a year or two in my early 20s, I never actually got around to seeing them. But (come on, you knew there'd be a but and a seque into announcing a tour) they'll be playing the Zoo May 4. Come cry with me.

Bluesfest third announcement; Chuck assumes the fetal position and spends the rest of the night crying

I've been avoiding posting too much about Bluesfest, because it just makes me sad. I can't make the festival down in Byron, and because of their "Brisbane=Byron" stance (THEY ARE NOT EVEN IN THE SAME FUCKING STATE) we get zero sideshows. Most years, there's a few bands/acts (*cough*cough* Bob Dylan) that makes me incredibly upset. But this year it's basically the whole lineup. I don't want to rehash, so just go look here.

Normally third announcements are just filler, local bands and for-contractual-reasons late announcements, but fucking hell, this Bluesfest third announcement is just rubbing salt in my already open and bleeding wound.

Ziggy Marley.
Richard Clapton.
John Fogerty.

JOHN FUCKING FOGERTY. That voice so distinct that you can recognize a Creedence Clearwater Revival song anywhere. The voice so unique and amazing he got sued for sounding too much like himself. Bloody hell Bluesfest. I hate you.

Hoodoo Gurus

I unashamedly love 80's Australian rock. Maybe it's part of my upbringing, but if you go through my record shelf you'll see lots of 7", 12" and casettes of great Australian pub rock bands of my dad's youth. A lot of it are Hoodoo Guru's 7" singles too. There's something about them I just love.

And it's not just their great fashion style.

Recently they've been still doing the pub-rock circuit, so it was with surprise that I saw an announcement today for them playing a very large Brisbane venue, the Tivoli. And then looking at the lineup, it's because it's going to be the ultimate retro-garage rock tour!

Brisbane's date includes the Sonics and that band best known for their catchy song in Kill Bill, the 5.6.7.8's. It's a good line up, but I feel we miss out on the retro vibe, with some other cities getting the Hard-ons, Royal Headache, Died Pretty and members of Radio Birdman! And if you don't know most of the bands I'm talking about, you probably think classic Australian rock is just about Cold Chisel, nothing else. If that's the case, I pity you.

April 20, The Tivoli.

Brisbane almost gets a Laneway sideshow... almost

Brisbane's not very well known for getting sideshows for music festivals. So when Laneyway was announced, I was 50-50 on going. There's a few bands I really want to see, but not enough to justify a whole festival expense. We never get sideshows though.

Then today, at rather short notice, a sort-of-Brisbane sideshow got announced. For the Drums, one of the bands I really wanted to see.

When I say "sort-of" I mean Byron Bay. Only a few hours drive away. It's January 29, at the Northern. I'm thinking it's a good reason to cram my car full of hipsters and go for a drive though.