Frank Turner

Frank Turner is one of the few artists that both me and my girlfriend agree on and have even seen together! And it's not hard to see why. His punk/hardcore credentials now moved on to folk/acoustic/punk is something we both like.

Last time we saw him was in the sweat box that is known as Rosies, with him playing by himself over the bad electronic music from the room next door. But now, we're getting him with his full band!

May 13 at the Zoo. To make this an even better folk-punk night, he'll be supported by William Elliot Whitmore (EEP!) and my number 1 album of last year, the Smith Street Band. This may be the gig of the year for me.

Nevermind: 20 years of tributes

As I mentioned a while back, it's been 20 years since the release of an album that left us all wondering "could we be busted for child pornography for having this on our shelves?"

Yes, Nirvana's Nevermind. The kickstarter of the entire alternative music genre (if you ask some people). Whatever you think it's legacy is for music, there's no denying it's a great fucking album. But with a great album, comes even greater covers. And as part of the anniversary celebrations, I have been inundated with tribute albums, recreating the classic track by track. Here's a summary of what I've come across so far.

Kevin Devine
The lovely red-head is better known for his softer side of folk-rock. However, as was the time I saw him open for Brand New, he has a full band he sometimes put together for the whole rock show. On his Nevermind tribute, he's gone the electric path.

So, how does he do? Well, for starters, the music itself sounds almost note for note from the original Nirvana cut. There's a few differences in tone, but it's very minimal. In no way has he put his own spin on this. It's Nirvana, but with a slightly higher pitched voice of Kevine Devine. His voice is not so suited to the Nirvana sound, as it lacks that rough edge that was Kurt Cobain. I like Kevine Devine normally, but his Nevermind tribute is just copy, paste and nothing new added.

SPIN
Spin is offering this CD up for free at their website. Taking together a handful of old and new artists across varying genres, it offers a glimpse of the wide-range appeal of Nirvana. At times the tracks go lounge, cabaret, art-rock, twee, electronic and my personal favourite, the last "bonus" track goes all-out fuzzy noise-rock.

There are some great interpretations of Nirvana on this album. However, there are some horrible ones as well. The worst of all of the covers in my mini-review is from an Australian band too. It hurts me. Midnight Juggernauts Come As You Are has me hitting fast-forward every time. The album is a bit more indie than most Nirvana fans are used to, but it is a good bridging gap for old-school fans to check out the lighter and sometimes completely different side of things.

Kerrang!
It's probably not a surprise that the tribute album by British magazine Kerrang! is my favourite. It features two of my favourite artists (Dillinger Escape Plan and Frank Turner) and to me, their bias towards heavier music is more in tune to the Nirvana and Nevermind legacy: the way it helped heavier, alienating music cross to the mainstream.

This album still covers a bit in the heavier genre though, from acoustic punk to metal to hardcore to whatever the heck you want to call Dillinger Escape Plan. For me, this is the pick of the Nevermind tribute albums.

There's more to come though and as I dig my way through my giant inbox of CDs I'll add more to this.

Record Store day

Every day for me is basically record store day. Where I go into a record store and buy lots of vinyl. However, there's one day a year where they try to encourage me to do it more and more and more to buy special limited edition runs and listen to instores.

Normally I venture into Rockinghorse Records in the city and pick up a 12 inch or two. But this year, they've upped their game and made me actually excited to go in and spend a few hours in my favourite record store. They've got Frank Turner. My favourite hardcore singer turned acoustic punk. He's going to play a few songs in Rockinghorse before he heads out to Thriller for a full set later that night.

Not to mention, they're releasing a run of limited Sonic Youth and Nirvana EPs that I want... nay, I need.

I am not sure on the times, but keep watching the official website for updates.

Totally Unicorn

My only Totally Unicorn experience involved me being absolutely wasted, umbrellas and naked fat men slithering on the ground beneath me.

Which is why I totally want to do it again.


These crazy New South Whalian hardcore dudes are coming back up to Brisbane for a show featuring the best local bands that you can get in Brisbane.

To the North.
Marathon
Nuclear Summer

April 16th, Sun Distortion Studios in Albion. It'll be a great little show of great Australian "heavier" music.

I just hope it finishes early-ish so I can still go see Frank Turner at Thriller.

Totally Unicorn

I'm back, here's the news

After a great week spent rocking out in freezing cold Melbourne, I'm back with a musical todo list the size of Peter North's tackle. I went to shows, I drank a bit, ate some good food, met some friends, did some shopping and took pictures. I'll try and blog/share some of the shows information later on, but for now, here's the news that I missed:

Rise Against/Sick of it All/Break Even tour
Rise Against used to be one of my favourite punk-bands. Then they released the album Appeal to Reason. Sick of it All are one of the best NY hardcore bands ever. EVER. Yet they only ever come to Australia as opening bands for other internationals. And Break Even are swell dudes from Gero. Put them together, we have a great tour. I hope.

July 18, Entertainment Centre

I have a few problems with this tour. First, the price? $70. Second, the Entertainment Centre is a crap venue, especially for hardcore/punk. Third, I'd really only be going for Sick of it All, unless Rise Against's new album is a return to form.

Frank Turner
He was one quarter of number 5 in my 2010 best of gigs list, but now the hardcore-turned-acoustic Frank Turner is coming out for a solo tour. He'll be playing Thriller at Rosies on April 16. 18+ of course, and it may be worthwhile buying tickets in advance.

Frenzal Rhomb
They must be broke again, because it's been about a year since their last tour. May 6 at Coolangatta Hotel, May 7 at the HiFi. Both shows 18+ and will be full of drunken revelry and swear words.

Swans cancel
It was one of the highlights of my post-holiday 3-gig week, wrapping it all up in a noisy swath of post-punk bliss. But now it's been cancelled. The Swans gig for Friday at the HiFi is canned. It's the only show in Australia not happening and they've given no reason why. I guess I will never get to see them then.

The Wombats get another go
The Wombats are in the country for Groovin' the Moo, and they've already got one night slated for a Brisbane show. Apparently it's a popular thing, as they've announced a second, all-ages show on May 5 at the Tivoli.

Best of 2010: Gigs

So it's that time of the year again, when the internet is overloaded by bloggers arguing over what in fact was the best-faux-hipster-lofi-core-pop-punk band of the year and why their opinion is better than NME/Rolling Stone/Pitchfork. And don't worry, mine will show up at some point in time, but I still have about 20 albums to listen to and not much free time to do it. So for now, with only a few hours left in the year, I thought I'd do my top five gigs of the year.

2010.
49 gigs (2 festivals).
182 bands.

It's down on the last few years, that's for sure. I'm not sure who to blame... My old job with it's travel, my new job and settling in, old age, having seen a lot of bands before and not wanting to see them or the GFC, I just didn't go to as many gigs this year. That being said, some of my favourite gigs of my life have been this year, specifically the last few months. So let's begin:

5. I've had to call this one a tie, as I just could not take one of these off my list, they were both amazing.

5a) Mark Lanegan, July 6 @ the Zoo
Two men: one standing with an acoustic guitar; the other singing such beautiful songs. I can't remember last time I stood there absolutely spellbound by someone's voice (maybe the Thrills in 2008). I didn't know most of the songs (except for the one Queens of the Stone Age song he threw in at the end) but it didn't matter. When someone can sing that beautifully and command such a presence with just his voice, it is truly memorable. I may have even swooned a little.

5b) Revival Tour (Tim Barry, Ben Nichols, Frank Turner, Chuck Ragan), April 28 @ the Rosemount Hotel (Perth)
Sure, I was disappointed that I was travelling for work through their Brisbane show, but seeing this in Perth was probably even better.

4 great punk singers on acoustic guitar, with 2 backup multi-instrumentalists, getting together randomly on stage for 3 hours, playing their own songs, each other's songs and whatever they felt like in a neo-punk-folk-country style. Chuck Ragan (Hot Water Music), Frank Turner, Tim Barry (Avail) and Ben Nichols (Lucero) are even better performers acoustic than they are with full bands. Not to mention the fact that I made some great friends that night and even met the guys.


4. The Pixes, July 31 @ the Zoo
A last minute announcement was made that this was the warm up show for the Pixies before they headlined Splendour in the Grass the next day. The show was unexpected. Earlier in the year I saw them play a fairly mediocre and lacklustre performance at the Convention Centre and had actually written them off as no more than a cash machine living off our fond memories. But then, given the opportunity to see them play a tiny-ass club with ~450 other people, I could not say no!

They rocked through 28 of their classics on a stage that couldn't even fit their setup properly. I was standing less than 2 metres from them (compared to the Convention Centre where I was probably 100 metres away). It was a very rare one-off gig, and I will never go see them again, so as not to tarnish this special performance.

My full review is here.

(FYI, apparently their headlining set at Splendour the next day was horrible. So I'm glad we got to see it privately).

3. Graf Orlock, Dangers, June 19, Burst City
One of the main reasons I started blogging was for the band Dangers. At the start of the year I was obsessed with this band, and still am. I started blogging because I wanted to share this album with as many friends as possible. So when they came out on a little DIY tour of Australia I had to go, as it may have be the only chance we will ever get.

Having seen Dangers and Graf play the Tempo Bar the day before, I was already excited. But seeing them play a little club hall, with an amazing all ages crowd (and BYO alcohol) was an experience. Everyone there was really getting into it and the main bands went all out. Even the four local bands opening were great, leading to just a huge evening of hardcore music (which was followed by seeing Carpathian play another gig and Australia play a World Cup soccer game. It was just a huge day).

My short review is here.

2. Dave Hause, Hot Water Music, Bouncing Souls, December 11 @ the Zoo
This gig would have been amazing purely for Hot Water Music playing one of their rare live performances or for the Bouncing Souls doing their first Australian tour in about 3 years or even for a nice unplugged set from the lead singer of the Loved Ones. But what made this gig memorable was the encore. All 3 international acts came on together to sing each other's songs, changing instruments/singers mid song sometime. This was what an encore should always be and capped off an amazing evening.

My full review is here.

Drumroll....

1. Baroness, October 17 @ the Zoo

I've never seen a band enjoy themselves on stage so much. I've never seen a predominantly metal crowd like so spellbound and in awe of what they were seeing. Put those together and Baroness just fed off the raw energy and put on an amazing show. They showed how talented they were as musicians and just couldn't stop smiling and enjoying themselves the whole set. A set, mind you, which went an extra 30 minutes past the scheduled ending time. A set which included an encore of a song they hardly play, because they enjoyed themselves so goddamn much. And a set which ended with a band absolutely humbled and thanking us like it was also the best night of their life. Lucy and I just walked out smiling and giggling like little school girls in love, it was that amazing.

My short review is here.


2010 was full of great gigs for me. Some of these will be top 5 of all time for me, I just know it. However, 2011 is shaping up to be even better. I'll be seeing some of my favourite bands like Future of the Left, Interpol, Sufjan, Streetlight Manifesto, La Dispute, Primus, Belle and Sebastian and the Hold Steady. I'm also heading to at least 4 more festivals. And that's just all in the first few months of the year. 2011 is set to blow me away with live music.

Happy New Year to my readers

Orgcore

So it turns out there's a subgenre of punk called orgcore, which I've only discovered today. According to wikihow, the look involves band shirts under plaid, beards, getting scruffy and ... crap. That's me.


The music itself is described as a mixture of punk, country, folk and blues. Basically all the things I like!

So it turns out I'm orgcore. As weird as that sounds. So here's some bands to get into orgcore with:

Lucero - More on the country than punk side of things, their song writing is just absoultely amazing.

Hot Water Music - Old school Chicago orgcore. One of the bands that came to define the genre (also playing in December).

Frank Turner - Acoustic punk. Keep an eye out for this guy, he'll be big soon.

The three lead singers of the afore mentioned bands came out and did the ultimate orgcore tour last year, the Revivial Tour. They basically got together (with Tim Barry from Avail) and played acoustic punk for a few hours. The above picture is from that gig. It was amazing. If only I knew that was orgcore at the time...

Against Me! - Their early albums are some of my favourite punk albums ever, not to mention some of the best orgcore.

The Gaslight Anthem - The ultimate orgcore band. They channel a punk Bruce Springsteen to a tee. And they've just released a new free song which covers...

Fake Problems - Their new album, Real Ghosts Caught on Tape, is a little bit more indie, but it's one of my favourites of the year. And also, that's the beauty of orgcore, it mashes everything into it's uniqueness!

There's plenty more bands you can throw into this melting pot of a genre. In fact, a lot of these appear to come from the Naples/Gainsville Florida area. It must be something in the water. This blog: http://carriedouttosea.blogspot.com/search?q=orgcore is a huge fan of orgcore and always puts up new bands.

God bless the country-influence, plaid wearing, gruff and working class punk!