The almost monthly "oh crap I ran out of time to blog so here's the big update" post

See the title. I've been bad lately, I know. But here's everything I've had written down to share with you lately.

The Blanks
Ever watch Scrubs? I hope so, it's one of my all time favoure shows (pre season-5). You probably know Ted, the lawyer with horrible flop sweat. You may also know his acapella band that appears sporadically throughout the show.

Well, they are a real band. Called the Blanks. And they will be playing the Old Museum on March 12. 18+. I'm not even kidding. I'll be fanboy-ing there.

Chali 2na

He has one of the best voices in rap. It's so unique. If you hear it, you'll know him from Jurassic 5 and Ozomatli.  He's done a bit of solo work lately and it's pretty good. He'll be coming down for a show at the HiFi on December 10. 18+.

The Casualties

These old-school punk rockers were supposed to do their first ever Australian tour (in decades of being a band) a few months back, but it got cancelled. Now it's going to be November 13 at the HiFi. 18+. UP THE PUNX.

The Damned

Speaking of old-school punk, the Damned are coming to Australia as part of their 35th anniversary tour. These gothic punk-rockers were one of the very first punk bands (see my history I did a while back) , so it's amazing to see them still going strong. January 19, the HiFi. 18+. Not that many people under the age of 18 will even know who the heck they are.

Bright Eyes

So many of my female friends just swoon at the mention of Bright Eyes, aka Conor Oberst.  He's coming out for Harvest Festival in a few weeks time, but they've announced a sideshow. Which is weird, given Brisbane's history of not having sideshows for any music festival ever. November 17, the HiFi.

Supafest

There's been lots of announcements, cancellations, back-pedalling and rumour-milling surrounding an Ice Cube Australian tour over the last few months. I've posted nothing about it, but it seems that he's finally coming down, but as part of next year's Supafest. He'll be touring alongside Lupe Fiasco, Diddy, Kelly Rowland and more to be announced. Not normally my scene, but Lupe Fiasco, Ice Cube and Diddy together may be too good to pass up. April 14, RNA Showgrounds.

The Red Paintings

A former Brisbane band, I saw these art-rockers a few times before they relocated to the USA. Known for mixing together their orchestral indie sounds with live art , they put on an amazing and involving live show. At the least you'll get someone painting on stage to the music, at the best... well you don't know what to expect. The first time I saw them they covered Nick Cave's the Mercy Seat, in one of the most haunting and beautiful ways. Now when I listen to this music video, I still get shivers.

Their homecoming is January 7 at the HiFi. 18+.

Howling Bells

Another former Australian band that relocated overseas (this time to England) is the Howling Bells. I've loved their music for a while, which is like a moody-folky female-fronted slightly noisey indie. They even throw in a bit of country every now and then. They're coming back to support their new album which sees them play Alhambra on December 16. 18+.

Review: Title Fight/Touche Amore/Break Even/Headaches, Old Museum, September 8 2011

The Old Museum. Is there a stranger place for a hardcore show? For what could possibly be the best hardcore/punk show of the year? There probably is, but I can't think of any more odd than a 120 year old heritage building that used to hold a museum and is used mainly for orchestral stuff now.

That being said, it was a bloody nice and big venue inside. A huge stage, great lighting a more than adequate PA and lots of space in front of the stage. The problem was, being the kind of building it is, they took the "no moshing" rule to an extreme. Throughout the course of the night we were repeatedly warned that if one person stage dived or got out of control, the show would be over immediately.

Locals Headaches were up first and played to a fairly big crowd (of people wearing mainly La Dispute shirts). They were solid as always, but played only about a 20 minute set.

Break Even are the Australian band doing the whole tour with the Americans. They put on a solid set with the crowd really getting worked up and into it.

The crowd participation was closely scrutinised by the security on the stage. If it looked like one person was even close to getting out of control, they bore down on them like a hawk. At one point, someone jumped up to sing along and grabbed the lead singer's shirt. He was ejected quickly.

The guitarist from Fires of Waco was standing in front of me in the crowd and Break Even passed the microphone down to him to sing a song. The security didn't like that either. They kept trying to grab it back out of hands, despite the band reassuring him it was okay.

Touche Amore was the band I was really excited for. Their unique style of hardcore lends so well to a live setting and they just blew everyone away.

The set was quite heavy with songs from their latest album Parting the Sea Between the Brightness and Me, which I managed to pick up a special Australian tour 12" press of at the show for $20. In fact, all their merch was $20. Good on them!

The crowd was very well behaved following the repeated warnings by people before and during the set. But then again, they didn't need to get on stage to get involved, because the lead singer kept coming down to the crowd for sing alongs.

It was great to watch from the side of the stage. If you turned away from watching the band at any point and saw me, you would've seen a guy holding a camera and screaming along to the lyrics while pumping his hands in the air and occasionally taking a photo. To say I enjoyed it was an understatement.

Everyone cleared out after Touche Amore. I honestly thought they wouldn't come back for Title Fight, but as the guitar started swelling up, you could see everyone running back in. I don't know much about this band having only listened to their album Shed once or twice, but they were goddamn enjoyable live. Their punk/hardcore/orgcore style was great fun and led to a lot of guitar jumps. A lot.

I was standing next to another photographer on the side of the stage and we kept having competitions to see who could get the better guitar jump on film. It was a tough contest, but I like to think we both won, by just watching this band.

By the time they announced their last song, you could tell that things were about to get hectic. The crowd had been fairly well behaved but they were itching to really get into the music. Apparently Title Fight are always about stage dives.

When they started playing YoureYeah everyone started bumrushing the stage. People started jumping into the crowd and moshing like crazy. Security tried to stop them and it got quite physical. One of the "volunteers" (not one of the security guards) picked up a kid and tried to throw him off the stage to get him out of the way. The band manager did not take kind to this and tackled this volunteer. Right in front of me. The volunteer looked so scared and took off running.

Needless to say, halfway through the song the power was cut and all you could hear was the drums. The bass player threw down his guitar in disgust and the show was over.

I tried to get some photos of it at this point, but my flash ran out of batteries and it was dark. Of course it would happen at this point.

I have no anger towards the security at this gig. They did their job well. Moshing and stage dives were banned and they enforced it well. The crowd went along with it fine too. It was actually a job well done by all to keep a hardcore show in quite good check. My beef goes to the organiser. Why choose this venue? You know that the crowd was going to behave exactly like it did. And you know the venue bans it. So why have the show there? We were actually just lucky that everyone was so well behaved and the gig went as long as it did.

Still, a great night all around. So happy to photograph it. You can view the full gallery over at AltMusicHub.

Blog Update

Apologies readers. I've been a bit slack lately with blog updates. As I'm sure you're aware, I've started taking concert photos more often for more than just shits and giggles. The result of this taking up a whole bunch of my free time, coupled with work, travelling for work, girlfriend and napping has seen me not update as often as I would like.

It's not that I don't want to. I have a "To Blog" list in my email drafts box that's huge. It'll get done soon. I promise. I'll still bring you all the concert announcements. They won't be within 2 minutes of the announcement, like other music blogs, but I'll put them up in plenty of time. I'll still post all the rants, mix CDs, photos, reviews and other goodies whenever I get a chance too. Especially Free Music Friday. I love that.

So no, I haven't forgotten about you. It's just I get to go places now and take photos of people playing instruments. And jumping. While playing instruments.

Stay tuned this week. I'll be pumping through my "To Blog" list. Which will hopefully also include some web page improvements all around.

Meanwhile, enjoy my recent galleries for AltMusicHub.

Title Fight/Touche Amore/Break Even/Headaches, Old Museum, September 8 2011
Man Overboard/I Am Villain, The Globe, September 3 2011
Jim Ward/Jud Campbell, Alhambra, August 13 2011
The Get Up Kids/City Riots/We Set Sail, August 5 2011
Periphery/Tesseract/Iron Hide, July 29 2011

Touche Amore/Title Fight

The first quarter of this year has been amazing for me and concerts. It's pretty much been better than the last 10+ years combined. I'm a bit bummed now that there's not much going on, and where I was going to see gigs two or three times a week, I'm now down to barely one a month. I figured the rest of the year would be pretty meh.

But then, I heard about this tour.

Both bands, Touche Amore and Title Fight, have put out great albums in the last few weeks. Especially Touche Amore. I actually only listened to it for the first time today, but following their La Dispute split last year, I knew to expect some awesomeness. And they deliver. Both of them deliver.

In celebration on both great albums, they're touring together out to Australia later this year. September 8, at the HiFi. It's a scarily large venue for them.

EDIT: So I jumped the gun before the "official" announcement. Turns out it's an all-ages gig at the Old Museum now. The crowd size which fits them much better.

Both bands lean on the harder edge of punk, Touche Amore more so.

Check out both bands, and prepare for some musical awesomeness:
http://toucheamore.com/
http://www.myspace.com/titlefight

Track and Field

While you read this story, you should play this song in the background.

Presenting: Track and Field.

The idea is the brainchild of a bunch of local band managers. The idea being that instead of having regular music club nights, or an annual festival, they create some sort of fun medium ground. And thus, Track and Field was born. Every few months now they'll put together bands and DJs in a warehouse like space for good party times.

The first installment of Track and Field will happen on June 4 at the Old Museum. The bands include Last Dinosaurs, Ball Park Music, The Belligerents and Mitzi. The DJs will be members of bands such as Hungry Kids of Hungary, the John Steel Singers and the Honey Month.

Tickets will be $17 on pre-sale and $22 later on. I'm pretty sure this is 18+ too, as I imagine this won't be a party without some sort of drinks flowing.

The Chariot, change of venue, serious this time

Tomorrow's the Chariot All-Ages show is looking to be the hardcore show of the year. If you're wondering why, check out this video of their show in Perth a few days ago.

It got shut down. For a bowl of pears. But that didn't stop them. Oh no. Not at all. That is why I love hardcore.

Tomorrow's all-ages show is sold out. Because of that, they're moving it from the Old Museum to Sun Distortion Studios in Albion. And if you're like me, and don't have a ticket, you still have a chance, with a small run of door tickets available. So I'll be heading out from work early to go wait in line for one.

Actually, if you don't have a ticket, don't go. I want to be the one that gets in. Not you.

Apologies

It's very rare that I'm wrong. So rare, that I don't think I can remember it ever happening.

But today, it dawned on me. I was wrong. Specifically? This post: http://moshpitson.blogspot.com/2011/03/chariot-change-of-venue.html

Check the dates on that. Yeah. It's already gone. Huh. Wait. I was at the Alley that night! And I didn't see The Chariot.

What happened is that I mixed up my Defeater and Chariot shows, in excitement. So really, the Chariot show is still happening at the Old Museum. Next Wednesday. And I will be there.

Woops. My bad.

The Chariot, for real this time

So I've been bitching about this for a while. The Chariot, whose 2010 album Long:Live was amazing, are coming to Australia. Their only stop in Queensland is in Toowoomba though, for the Easterfest Christian festival.

Chuck was not happy.

But then there were rumours (not of wars (bad Chariot joke)) of an all-ages show at the Fort. Unfortunately that rumour has been shot down.

In even better news, today they announced two Brisbane shows!

April 20, Old Museum (All Ages)
April 21, Boys and Girls (X&Y), 18+

YES! Marathon are opening one of these shows, but this will be a truly amazing two nights of chaotic hardcore in-your-face noise music.

What can I do? The river's overrun. We're swimming in a flood, you know

All of my flood related blog titles are songs from my soon to be "Flood - the Mixtape". It's actually hard to find songs about flooding and I haven't had much time, but it will happen hopefully. Even just to live in my car.

As you can see from above, the water line on my apartment was barely head height. I got truly lucky. All I lost was the stuff in my garage: a drum kit, old golf clubs, some furniture, a fridge, a keg and random other things. Mere metres down my street was different. Poor souls. You can see my pictures on my Flickr, including a huge boat found in a park down my street.

But now, flood related music news!

Big Day Out released a release releasing the fact that they are still open for business. And they're donating $20k to the flood efforts. Honestly, I forgot that BDO is like a week away, I still have to sort out my transport/accomodation/etc. Obviously I had thought of other things this week.

The cancelled Mos Def/Talib Kweli show at the Tivoli has now been moved to January 26. EDIT: Now at the HiFi. Existing tickets will be honored.

The Beautiful Girls show at the HiFi tonight has now been moved to March 18.

As I mentioned yesterday, Burst City was hit by the flood water. Last night's Danish punk show was cancelled, but tonight's show with Blank Realm and Feathers will be going ahead.

Woodland is still open, with the Health/Death Set/DZ gig in full force tonight.

I would encourage anyone going to gigs to use public transport where possible please. It's free right now, and after being stuck in traffic for 5 hours last night trying to get to and from my place to clean, it's kind of annoying. You're not helping the flood people by being on the roads unless you have to.

And now the big one: Flood Bank, a benefit for flood victims, will be held at the Old Museum on February 3. Some of the best local indie bands will be playing, including:

Violent Soho
Ball Park Music
Inland Sea
The Medics
Bang Bang Boss Kelly
The Baby Seal Club
Blonde On Blonde
Grand Atlantic
Texas Tea

Tickets are $30 and go on sale this week from Oztix. The event is 18+ and licensed. Get in quick, it should be great and will help people much worse off than me.

If you're under 18 and want to help buy listening to music, an all-ages show will be announced in the next few days.

Good luck my fellow Brisbane music-fans that were affected by the flood.

Amanda f**king Palmer (the tour)

Amanda Palmer, avant-garde-cabaret-piano-player extraordinairre, is half of the band the Dresdon Dolls. Lately though, she's been doing her own solo thing. Including the incredibly random CD that is Amanda Palmer Performs The Popular Hits Of Radiohead On Her Magical Ukulele. It's bloody good though. Check it out.

She's also got a new album coming out at the start of next year, called Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under. I have a feeling it has something to do with our country, especially since she now comes here a few times a year.

As part of the album, she's doing a tour.


February 12. The Old Museum.

No word yet on if she's going to do her Dresden Dolls songs, but she's such a performer that it's worth seeing her no matter what she's performing. I saw her on the first Dresden Dolls tour, and it was just amazing.

Website

Owen Pallett

It's good for people to listen to a different kind of music every now and then. And Owen Pallett is a very long way away from a lot of the music I listen to. And I still like it.

Owen is a multi-instrumentalist known for a few things. For one, he composes a lot of the string arrangements for Canada's orchestral-rock supergroup, the Arcade Fire. He's also known for his solo work, which up until recently has gone by the name Final Fantasy.

This year he changed monikers back to his name and put out an excellent album by the name of Heartland. His style can best be described as layered strings in an electronic-orchestral style with haunting vocals. His new album is a narrative about an ultra-violent farmer having a one sided dialogue with his creator. An interesting concept, which you would think doesn't lend itself to his style; but it does.

Sure, it may not be what a lot of my friends listen to, but give it a chance. He will be coming to Australia and playing a show at the Old Museum on the 25th of January. I think it will be a beautiful surrounding for his beautiful music.

MySpace

Bedroom Philosopher

When I went to Melbourne a few weeks ago, my beautiful host made me watch this video before we went out:

It pretty much got me prepared for the people I was going to see over the weekend. The track was recorded by a rather elusive artist called the Bedroom Philosopher, who a few years ago charted on Triple J's Hottest 100 with the song I'm So Post Modern.

He's put together a band to tour his comedic songs and he'll be making a stop in Brisbane on the 29th of August, playing an all-ages matinee show at the Old Museum. Joining him will be the Boat People and Pinky Beercroft (of Machine Gun Fellatio fame).