It rained and it rained, it rained both night and day. The people got worried, they began to cry

Although the mud has been cleaned out and all the ruined crap thrown out, I'm still without power at my place, so I'm stealing internet and food and hot showers from my parents for now. Which means, I get to give you the flood related music news of Brisbane while I'm here!

Powderfinger are not reuniting for the floods. Thank goodness. Despite what people have apparently been begging for (who, seriously... who?!) they've said no. No reunion. However, in the coming days, they will be releasing a new/unreleased song with all proceeds going to the Premier's flood relief thingy.

The Whitlams, who have songs much better than No Aphrodisiac, have been doing tours with orchestras for the last few years, bringing the best out of their songs. They were scheduled to play QPac's Concert Hall on January 21 and 22, but that's now been cancelled. Possibly because QPac's underground parking lot looked like this a few days ago:


Brisbane punk boys Spitfireliar, are turning their Friday gig at the Zoo this week into a flood benefit. Come in, watch some great punk and support all those who are suffering right now. The gig includes Bixby Canyon, Groin, Bertie Page Clinic and Smokestack Orchestra. 18+, $10 at the door and it's a good cause with good music.

This next show, may be my favourite Brisbane flood benefit, and it's all local bands. Get ready for it... the following will be playing the HiFi on February 6 to support the floods:

• Regurgitator
• Custard
• Kate Miller Heidke
• Screamfeeder
• Hungry Kids of Hungary
• Gentle Ben & His Gentle Side
• Little Scout

MY GOD. Custard. Regurgitator. Two of the best Australian bands of the 90s. Playing together. Get on this. The HiFi, 18+, ~$35.

And in non-music, but important to me flood news, I have this:

• LifeLine bookfest has been pushed back to start this Saturday
• The Big Bash 20/20 match at the Gabba last weeked was postponed until January 24
• The Brisbane Roar v Wellington Phoenix game at Suncorp has been rescheduled to January 26
  

Triple J Aus Music Month

So last night I went along to the Australian Music month show at the HiFi, put on by our youth network, Triple J. It was an amazing night of Brisbane music. First up were Ball Park Music, playing their funky rock.

They rocked pretty hard, but I about lost my shit when they bought out a special guest for a song: Dave McCormack (of Custard and the Polaroids fame). Sure, he just played percussion and a single song, but it was amazing.

Next up were the Hungry Kids of Hungary, who my friends were excited to see. I've seen them a few times before, and their live set was slightly less exciting than Ball Park Music. However, for a few of their tracks they bought out a bunch of friends to play extra instruments and sing the backing vocals for a Kylie Minogue song. That was definitely the highlight of their set.

Finally were local boys the John Steel Singers (plus a chick from Little Scout playing glockenspiel. I totally swooned for her). These guys get better everytime I see the, and I am just sad that their recordings don't do the grandeur and large sound of their live set any justice what so ever.

And the best part? They bought out Robert Forster (from the Go Betweens) to play a few songs. He played about 3 covers with them, and even did a stint on acoustic guitar.


The whole night was an amazing show of just some of the talent Brisbane has on offer. But it didn't end there. Oh no. All of the artists came back out for an encore, including Robert Forster. Massed on stage together they covered the Saints' Know Your Product. And I recorded a crappy quality version of it:

Once Triple J post the recorded audio for the night, I'll redub it to have it sounding awesome. Great night.

EDITED: For the redubbed video