Cancelled: Murder by Death

When bands cancel tours, I get sad. Especially bands I really want to see. But everything about the Murder by Death cancellation actually makes me happy (except for having to wait longer to see them again).

Why?

1. It's the night of Soundwave. I am photographing that festival and sideshows before/after. I'm going to be dead that night
2. Carly's going to be in town and staying with me that night! Choosing between an overseas friend or a band? That's tough
3. It was at Woodland. I don't like that venue. Now it is no longer at Woodland.
4. I get to see them now!

It was originally February 25 at Woodland. Now it's May 26 at the Jubilee Hotel. A much better venue. And it only appears to be clashing with Florence + the Machine, a clash that's easy to choose. (Hint: not Florence).

Review: After the Fall (USA)/Anchors/Army of Champions/Friends with the Enemy/Milestones, Jubilee Hotel, November 17 2011

Last night was a great night of Australian (and mainly Queensland) punk rock, topped off by the first Australian show by After the Fall (the New York band, not the Triple M rock Australian band). It was my first time at the upstairs bar at the Jubilee and although the crowds were small, they still had a great night.

First up was Milestones. I cam in late and didn't catch much of their set or get a chance to photograph it. One of these days I'll catch a full set of theirs I hope, as their sound was tight.

Next up were the female-fronted Friends With the Enemy. Imagine if you crossed A Wilhelm Scream with a cute punk-girl for a lead singer. That's what you get with this band.

They were great fun and it was good to finally catch a full set of theirs, even if I did accidentally knock the power cord out while trying to take a photo, causing the bass and guitar to go off for a minute. Sorry guys.

Army of Champions were a band I knew nothing about, except their drummer is the guy from Headaches. But after half a song I was head over heels for them. They're basically Queensland's version of Against Me. Their three singer combination though makes it even better. I found myself grinning like an idiot within about 3 songs, just enjoying it immensely.

You can get one of their tracks for free at their Triple J Unearthed website. Do it, if you like any of that folk-styled-punk in the vein of Against Me.

I'd seen Melbourne's Anchors once before, over a year ago, and were not that impressed with them. But at this gig they were a well-polished band and had a great mini-mosh going with the small crowd, much to the hatred of the bouncer.

They've also got a new track out that you can check for free. They played it last night and there were lots of fists pumping the air in time to it.

Finally, closing in on 1130 pm, After the Fall played for the first time in Australia. Looking a little bit jet-lagged, having only arrived at 6am that morning, they rushed through their set to try and fit as much in as possible before midnight. Live they sounded like a mix of NOFX and A Wilhelm Scream which got the crowd up and moving even more, despite the slippery floor.

If you get a chance, see them while they are on their short tour of Australia. These guys are rad and you will have a great punk night.

Some more news

These three slipped under my radar while I was updating a few minutes ago.

No Years
I always find New Years Eve to be the worst day of the year. There's so much anticipation for a huge party that'll be memorable, but it generally ends badly and in disappointment. From all reports, most people's are like that. So instead of being predictable with bars/parties/fireworks, why not go out and see some killer live music? That's the theory behind No Years at the Powerhouse anyway, which brings a kick-ass indie festival to New Years Eve. The first announcement this year has The Dum Dum Girls, as well as Australian acts Ball Park Music, Charlie Mayfair and Last Dinosaurs. There's more to be announced. December 31 at the Powerhouse, spread over 2 stages.

Track and Field

Track and Field is an occasional indie music night-club. It's been a while, but it's time for another incarnation, this time at the Arena. Featuring Bleeding Knees Club, Deep Sea Arcade (launching their new single all the way from Sydney) and Velociraptor, it'll be a good night of Australian indie. And drinks. Don't the two go hand in hand. The Arena, November 25.

After the Fall
I mentioned a while back that the awesome New Jersey melodic hardcore (not the Australian rock band) After the Fall are coming on a tour with Melbourne band Anchors. Well they've just named their local opening bands and it is shaping up to be a huge night, with Friends with the Enemy and Milestones opening. I'll be there early at the Jubilee come November 17.

After the Fall

Being Australian, this tour announcement today made me go meh. After the Fall? Washed up Australian radio rock I first heard when I was like 12?

But no, I just had to read a bit further. After the Fall... from the USA. Melodic-hardcore-punk of awesome.

Seriously, would the Australian After the Fall wear a Black Flag shirt? I doubt it. I gave these guys album from 2010 a 4.5/5. It was damn good punk.

I wasn't expecting this at all, but they're coming out to Australia! Touring with Melbourne's punk rockers Anchors. It's going to be a great show. The Jubilee, November 17, 18+. You've probably never heard of them, so head to their MySpace to hear many songs, including one featuring Make Do And Mend.

Church of Misery

Japan.
It's a country of great music. There's no doubt about it. So many great bands, of every genre, seem to come out of there. I think of it as Asia's Sweden. Both countries just export such quality music.

One Japanese band I stumbled across this year is Church of Misery. Imagine, if you will, some 1970s Black Sabbath. Now take that, mix it up with some Kyuss and Oliveri-era Queens of the Stone Age (fuck he made that band) and while you're at it, throw in some dirty southern rock (in a Maylene and the Sons of Disaster style) and just a pinch of the Melvins.


Finding all of those videos for those bands mentioned above has made me excited for this. They are just truly awesome doom-metal. So it's not surprising that they're headlining Doomfest this year. October 14 at the Jubilee.

If you like only one or two of those bands I listed above, do yourself a favour, head over to their MySpace and chuck a listen. Don't let the band name or the genre fool you, it's just great rock and roll.

EDIT: According to the festival's Facebook, Church of Misery are out. Stay tuned to see who the replacement is

Bastardfest

I say it all the time, but we are blessed in Australia with some amazing local bands. And one of my favourite ones, who are also probably one of the best bands in their genre worldwide, is Extortion.

Granted, their genre isn't exactly popular. It is however, powerviolence: short, brutal, insanely fast songs. It's not often we get them up to Brisbane anymore, and last time we did my roomate Ed got carried off by the cops while trying to break up a fight in the mosh... unlucky bugger.

We are getting them soon for Bastardfest: a celebration of all things Australian loud and heavy. I'm not the biggest fan of heavy music, but I'm pretty damn psyched for this lineup. Bands I want to see include

Extortion
I Exist (I love these guys way too much)
Ironhide (great local band I've plugged before who released an astounding album this year)
Psycroptic
Pod People
Blood Duster

There's way more bands than that, so you'll have to get your ass down to the Jubilee Hotel on September 3rd

Rosies = Dead

Rosies. Over the last few years it's been almost a second home to me. Smaller punk/hardcore/indie/metal bands have been stopping through there most nights during that time, playing some great shows to always keen crowds. Not to mention they had bloody reasonable prices for jugs.

Well, now it's over.

Rosies has been sold, and bought by the guys that own the Fox. As part of this sale, it appears that Rosies will no longer be for music. Instead it's to be restored to it's former glory (whatever the hell that is) and turned into a pub (maybe even a nightclub) with DJs. Maybe. They're not sure yet.

As most of us local music fans know, it just wasn't the gigs, but the weekly night clubs that brought together people of the same music tastes, that were hosted there that made it a great place. So what will happen to them?

The metal night, Monstrothic, will be moving upstairs at the Jubille starting June 10

Level Up looks like it will be killed for good, with the promoters looking to new projects.

And Thriller, the one that took most of my time, energy, money, dignity and hearing ability (seriously, turn down the music between bands) are undecided. But it looks like they will be moving to a new venue. But of course, expect all of these nights to go off with a bang. The first announced one is Thriller:


This is sad. Rosies will be missed. With Rosies and the Basement gone, there's really nowhere left in downtown Brisbane for live music at all.

Heavy Heavy Low Low farewell tour

Heavy Heavy Low Low are an American thrash/mathcore band. I'll be honest, I had never really heard of them until a few weeks ago. Mainly because with a name like that, I will tend to ignore you. But then in one day my mate asked me if I was going and I saw this kick ass poster hanging off the walls at the Jubilee.

So I checked them out. And realised they are everything I like about that style of music. They combine all of the different heavy genres I adore: grindcore, thrash, mathcore and hardcore. Luckily I got on the band wagon with enough time to spare, literally a few days.

Because they are breaking up. This is their first and last tour ever down under. They'll be playing the Jubilee on December 16th (18+) and Burst City on December 17th (AA).

They are supported by NSW crazy grindcore guys Totally Unicorn.

MySpace

Week of concerts (a photographic review)

So last week turned into a mega week of local and Australian bands. I ended up 4 gigs, 3 of them in 3 days, seeing about 15 bands. And it was a whole lot of fun. Two of them were at the HiFi, which for the first time ever did not allow me to take my SLR in. Boo. But here's photos of the gigs I managed to get.

First up was Friends with the Enemy/In Trenches/Anchors at Fat Louies on the 13th. I've already blogged it, so you can see it here: http://moshpitson.blogspot.com/2010/11/in-trenchesanchors-fat-louies-november.html

Here's In Trenches:

On the 18th I saw the Triple J Aus music month show, which was at the HiFi. That included Ball Park Music, Hungry Kids of Hungary and John Steel Singers playing with special guests such as Dave McCormack and Robert Forster. I put a video and a gig review up here: http://moshpitson.blogspot.com/2010/11/triple-j-aus-music-month.html

Friday saw me back at the HiFi for the Howl/Philadelphia Grand Jury show. The Philly Jays now have Brisbane drummer Suzie (from I Heart Hiroshima) and this was her first show back in Brisbane in ages. It started with her standing right behind me, rapping 99 Problems. They put on a short, but excellent, show playing most of their songs. It ended up almost where it started, back in the crowd near me.


Always an enjoyable party band.

The next day, after an unsuccessful fishing trip, we decided to hit up Punkfest at the Jubilee. We got there just in time to see the Black Market play their Rancid inspired punk. We even got to see what it would be like if Bob Dylan played bass guitar for a local punk band:

Yes, that's a harmonica.


A lot of other local bands played, including the hardcore boys Wheatpaste and Mouthguard, who were supposed to be playing no shows for the rest of the year. LIARS!

It's not often I'm the youngest person at a punk gig, but Punkfest always brings out the best of Brisbane's old school punk scene. Everywhere you looked were amazing tattoos, torn denim, girls in hot dresses and crazy-ass hairstyles. And of course, lots of mohawks:


But the highlight of the night was most definitely Melbourne's celtic-punkers, the Go Set. They started with a bit of a parade from outside, led in by bag pipes. Like any good folk-punk band, they had an arsenal of unusual instruments, including an accordian and tin whistle:


These guys were great. The crowd loved them too, with lots of skanking and moshing:

All up, it was a great night of local punk, ending an excellent week of Australian music. And there was even a drummer that looked like ?uestlove from the Roots

As always, you can see my gig photos at my Flickr. I like to think I'm getting better at this after a few weeks of practice.

PUNKFEST

Ohhhhhhhh punkfest. There's nothing like it. Cheap entry, lots of great local and Australian punk bands, reasonably priced beer and steak and a bloody awesome time. This year, the big draw cards are Victoria's celtic punkers, the Go Set.

Joining them from the local scene are two of my favourite Brisbane punk bands Mouthguard and the Black Market. Mouthguard do hardcore punk and weren't meant to be playing anymore shows this year. I guess they lied. Black Market do ska/folk punk, much in the style of Rancid. Both have excellent live sets.

All this goes down on the 20th of November at the Jubilee Hotel. $15 entry.

The Go Set
Mouthguard
The Black Market

Blowhard best of!

Brisbane's best ska band of the last few decades, without fail, has been Blowhard. Not that there's much competition.

On November 9 they will be releasing their best of compilation, with 34 awesome ska tracks. As part of the launch, they will be playing a show at the Jubilee on November 13,featuring bands such as Ringpull, Fun With Explosives and Vaginabillies! Go local ska!

The Real Deal/Dan Potthast tour

The Real Deal hail from the great snowy north of Canada, and proclaim themselves as Party Punk... think a bit of ska, a bit of skate punk and sounding a lot like Goldfinger.

They put out a pretty solid album last year called Fun, which pretty much explains what they are all about. It must be doing ok for them, because they are deciding to tour down under, bringing out American Dan Potthast with them.

Dan was originally the lead singer of ska band Mu330, but now he goes around doing his style of acoustic punk and ska. Just him and his guitar. I saw him open a few years ago for Streetlight Manifesto, and although people were talking over him, he put on an amazing show. I never knew ska could sound so good with just an acoustic guitar.

Catch them at the Jubille Hotel on November 11th, 18+.

The Real Deal
Dan