2011: Best of gigs

2011 was my most musically productive year, in regards to gigs. Over the last 365 days I went to 64 gigs/festivals. This smashes my previous years by a long margin. I imagine the increase is due to my photography, but I like to think it was just a great year for live music in Australia!

There was the normal year starter of Future of the Left, followed by festivals in torrential rain, festivals in crazy heat, multiple trips to Melbourne and Sydney for shows, in-store performances, orchestras, flood-benefit shows, cover bands, friends' bands, classic bands playing arena shows, bands I've waited most of my life to see, my favourite band of all time and lots of new bands I'd never heard of before yet became instant fans. What a year.

Despite my bemoaning of the death of the festival, there were too many good ones for me to pass up this year. Most years I'll go to 2 or 3, but this year I went to 6, 2 of them as a photographer. Considering one of them was a 2 day festival (in torrential rain a few days before the floods), it was quite a tiring year.

With so many gigs (I think I saw 237 different sets), it's really hard to do a top 5, so I made an internal compromise and came up with my top 8 gigs of the year that was 2011.

8. Off With Their Heads/Against Me! (4 May, 2011 @ the HiFi)
If you've ever seen Against Me! live, you'll probably realise their inclusion in any best-gigs-of-the-year list is mandatory. Through an extended set you could just see them enjoying playing as much as we were enjoying watching. It's rare to get a synergy between a band and a crowd at a venue of a large size like the HiFi, but everyone in the band and the crowd had massive smiles on their face. Throw in a long set list full of classic songs designed to get the crowd pumping their fists and singing along, bring along another great international punk band in Off With Their Heads and you get a great night of punk rock.

(click here for the original review)

7. Sufjan Stevens (26 January, 2011 @ the Tivoli)
This was my first time seeing Sufjan. Although more of a fan of his acoustic-folk, I knew this set would lean towards his newer electronic stuff. I figured it was worth going just to see the few songs I really, really like. What it ended up being was an ethereal all-encompassing experience. Not just a gig, but a whole show. Sufjan conducted a light, laser and balloon show that added incredible depth to his music, allowing me to appreciate it at a new level. And he still played some of the folk classics.

(click here for the original review)

6. Melvins/Primus (3 March, 2011 @ the Palais Theatre, St Kilda)
No surprise this was going to be on my list. Primus is my favourite band, no matter what, and my trip to Melbourne was purely for this show. The venue was sitting only (heavily enforced by the ushers), but it was in ridiculously comfortable leather seats with plenty of room. Kim and I were right near the front of the upper balcony and we first watched an all-out aural assault by the Melvins with 2 drummers following a classic set of Primus, including a few new songs as well.

(click here for the original review)

5. The Chariot (20 April, 2011 @ Sun Distortion Studios)

Their first tour of Australia and they absolutely slaughtered the venue. The opening bands weren't really to my taste, but when the Chariot came on I no longer cared. The stage broke and was carried out in pieces. A yellow pages phone book was ripped in half and thrown in the air. The bass guitar broke a string, something I thought was nigh on impossible. The bass player was carried out of the venue still playing. Everything was destroyed in a full on noise-assault. It ended with everything in pieces and the band slumped to the floor and me wanting to see it all over again.

(click here for the original review, picture gallery and bonus video)

4. Modest Mouse (21 July, 2011 @ the Prince of Wales Bandroom, St Kilda)
I travelled to Melbourne just for this show. There was a fight in a mosh pit (what the fuck Melbourne indie fans?), there was no Johnny Marr, but it was still one of the best times I've seen Modest Mouse play. They played something off almost every album (fairly rare) even a few impromptu acoustic songs that Isaac has obviously forgotten most of the lyrics for... stopping to apologise at the second or third verse. The kicker for me though was the fact the encore saw them playing for an hour and a half longer than they were supposed to. Is there such a thing as too much Modest Mouse? No. Not at all.

3. Harvest Festival (Kevin Devine/This Town Needs Guns/The Holidays/The Walkmen/Mercury Rev/TV on the Radio/Clap Your Hands Say Yeah/Bright Eyes/Mogwai/The National/The Flaming Lips/Portishead) (19 November, 2011 @ the Riverstage)

Granted, any festival featuring the Flaming Lips will blow you away with their fully immersive spectacular. But this festival was enough to make me actually enjoy the whole day, instead of suffering through a day of mediocrity just to see one or two bands I really like. Harvest restored my faith in the music festival. It wasn't just about music, there was plenty other things to do that were actually interesting as well as plenty of art and installations. The grounds were laid out perfectly with no noise-pollution between stages and the bands were top-notch. I may have also cried when the Walkmen played The Rat. What a magnificent day it was. I wish all festivals were even half as good as this.

(click here for the photo gallery I shot of the day over at Tone Deaf)

2. The Mercy Beat/Trash Talk/H2O/The Bronx (25 February, 2011 @ Step Inn)

The night before the Soundwave festival and this was a hard-to-get-tickets-for flood fundraiser in the tiny-ass band room of the Step Inn. Originally supposed to be featuring Terror on the line-up, flight connections meant they missed out, but it didn't stop one of the greatest gigs I've ever been to. Trash Talk played an insane (as always) set, going all out with amazing energy. H2O showed why they are one of the best hardcore bands and featured guest spots by members of New Found Glory and Terror (who just showed up) and the Bronx wowed us all the way through to the wee hours of the morning, even playing a song they never play live: Strobe Life.

(click here for the original review and photo gallery)

1. DZ Deathrays/Fucked Up (9 December, 2011 @ Alhambra)

They put out one of the best albums of the year and then they came out on a stadium tour with the Foo Fighters. Luckily they threw this gig together quickly. Alhambra didn't know what hit it. Fucked Up played an awesome set that had security confused and saw Damian spend most of his time shirtless in the crowd with everyone going crazy (which of course is his normal routine, but it's still great to see). He even stopped the band and retrieved an evicted punter when security got a bit too over the top. It was full of great songs, DZ Deathrays were the secret opening band playing their first Australian show in god knows how long and Fucked Up were nice enough to stay behind afterwards and meet everyone. Of course there's a bit of fanboy-bias in this choice, but it was just an amazing night.

(click here for the original review and here for my Tumblr-based photo gallery)

Review: Pallisades/Quiet Steps/Nuclear Summer/Loma Prieta/Raien, Sun Distortion Studios, December 31 2011

I've had such a bad run of New Year Eve parties over the last few years that I decided to do something compeltely different: stay sober and watch some great bands play the last ever show at Sun Distortion Studios. There's been so many great shows there, but I probably won't miss it at all; probably because of the black-eye incident.

At least on NYE I got a good spot on the balcony area to photograph the bands without getting punched in the face. I can't really be bothered writing words for this, so here's some photos of what was a damn good night of scramz (and Quiet Steps) on NYE spent with some of my new friends I've made throughout this year.

Quiet Steps

  
Nuclear Summer

Loma Prieta

Raein

Free Music Friday 34! The "my new years eve plans" edition

What are you doing for New Years Eve? Going to a club with 100's of other people, drinking overpriced champagne and generally just hating on humanity as you wait for the bus/train/taxi with 100's of other people after midnight?

I'm not. I'm getting my rock on at the very last Sun Distortion Studio show. It features some great bands from all over the world. The headliners are Italian screamo band Raein and American scream band Loma Prieta. It's going to be a great (and loud) night.

If you're deciding at the last minute to come along, check out Raein's new album "Sulla linea dell'orizzonte fra questa mia vita e quella di tutti gli altri" which you can get for free on their website!

Seriously, if you've got no other plans tomorrow night, get to Sun Distortion Studios. It's 20 bucks. It's BYO and their will be a tonne of great bands.

Free Music Friday 33!

I've been waiting for this album for what seems like forever now. And finally, it's here. And even better, it's free! The band is Nuclear Summer and they are from Brisbane. And I took this picture of the guitarist doing some finger tapping at Fat Louies.

I've been raving about this band for the better part of the year now, with their mix of noodly riffs, clean harmonies and thrash-like vocals (not surprising, given their lead singer is one of the two from Ironhide). They dub this sound Sunshine Metal... I like that tag.

Their first album is pretty damn good. Get it for free (or give them some a donation) over at Bandcamp.

You can also catch them touring around supporting this album on the following dates:
December 26, Billionaire (18+ and with Mourning Tide!)
December 30, House Show, Sunshine Coast
December 31, Sun Distortion Studios, supporting Raein and Loma Prieta (all ages)

That las tshow is one you do not want to miss out on. Seriously. I just bought my tickets today. It's an all ages show, so it should be done well before midnight so you can still go off and party for NYE and kiss your girl. It also features to great skramz bands, Raein from Italy and Loma Prieta from the USA. It's also the very last show Sun Distortion Studios will host. Which is sad, as it has been an amazing all ages venue in Brisbane.

Local Brisbane Music extravaganza

Every few weeks I harp on about this, but goddamn Brisbane has some of the best local music around. So much good stuff is happening lately that I just have to share it with you all.

Snitch

I stole this picture from Jess. Sorry, but it was the only one I could find of the month's poster. I'm normally not a fan of any Destroy All Lines clubs. They have good bands ocassionally, but the crowd of scenesters isn't my favourite at all. They just kind of annoy me. But this month I'm going to have to make an exception with so much good music coming up at Snitch, their Thursday nightclub.

This Thursday, the 3rd of November, old Brisbane punk rockers The Gifthorse will be playing an acoustic set, while two of my favourite (and not to mention great) bands Fires of Waco and Quiet Steps will be playing full sets.

Then come 24th of November, my friend's band Castles Sunk Below the Sea will be playing their post-rock/emo stylings alongside Jud Campbell (former singer of the Disables doing acoustic), Fires of Waco and Perth's hardcore giants Break Even. It is two great Thursday night gigs of great Brisbane bands. Get on it.

Quiet Steps
Speaking of Quiet Steps, they will be playing the last ever show at Sun Distortion Studios. Come New Years Eve, they will be playing a show with Nuclear Summer as well as the awesome Italian screamo band Raein.  I may have squee-ed out loud when I heard of this show.

Lofly records
Also on this Thursday night (but at the Zoo) the local record lable Lofly will be putting on a showcase of their local acts. Included on this will be Mr. Maps (who's new music video you can see me in) and Re:Enactment.  It's $10 for great indie and post-rock.

Southern Indie Music Festival Sideshows Coming North to Brisbane

Apologies. I promised myself I wouldn't do this ever again, but there's been so much news updates in the last 2 or 3 days and I have so little free time that the only way I'm going to get it out to you right now is in one of those "one-size-fits-all" blog update. Except this one size happens to be Shaq-size. So there's plenty of room for all of the news.

The following news items are in no way in an order of importance, more or less just which tab I have open in my browser closest to the blogger editing window.

The Kooks
The weird thing is, I saw this on a bus stop near my shopping mall days before the official press release. But yes, indie darlings the Kooks are coming to Australia for all the southern New Years festivals, which means we get sideshows up north! January 2nd at the Tivoli.

Beirut
Appearing at some of the same festivals will be the folky indie sounds of Beirut. We get them at a full gig, January 12 at the HiFi.

Deerhoof
Let's just presume every indie band playing in that fortnight is on one of these festivals. Deerhoof would be one of the ones I'm most excited for though. Their experimental indie style is quite an inspiration to many modern indie bands, and they are playing Woodland for like $24! It's on the 10th of January. I can guarantee it will be a sweatbox, but bloody hell, it'll be great.

Fleet Foxes
Is this folk-rock band playing a southern New Years festival?
Yep.
Are we getting a sideshow?
You bloody well know it.
January 11, the Tivoli.

J Mascis
The creative genius behind the legendary noise band Dinosaur Jr is also coming out for some festivals, but in his solo acoustic mode (which is still bloody good). He'll be playing sideshows at the Sound Lounge on the Gold Coast on January 7 and the Powerhouse on January 10. Given Woodland's late starts, you could probably do this before Deerhoof. I'm thinking of that plan anway...

Kings of Leon
Despite the rumours of their break-up, alcoholism, etc, they are coming down under to play their postponed tour from last year. This band really polarises me. Their first two albums, were amazing. I still love them to this day. They inspired me to relearn guitar when I had given up on it, and they blew me away on their first Australian tour oh so many years ago. Then they released a bunch of tripe. And continue to. But hey, if you like them now, they've added a new Queensland date on their tour, at the Gold Coast Convention Centre. It will be November 9, the day after their show at the Entertainment Centre.

Off!
Switching genres now, Off! are a band made up of former members of Black Flag, Circle Jerks and Rocket From the Crypt. I don't think you can get anymore punk credibility there. But they're bringing their old school style of skate-hardcore punk to Australia.

If you can't see the tour poster above, I'll tell you what's on it. We get two shows. Dec 4 at the Zoo for the 18+ and Dec 6 for an all-ages at Sun Distortion (this will be insane). I cannot wait.

Review: Phantoms/Cruel Hand, Sun Distortion Studios, June 17 2011

I was pretty damn excited for this gig and I was hoping to write a proper review of the whole thing. But due to getting hit on the head, I don't remember much of the Cruel Hand set. So instead, here's some photos.

Phantoms:


I had just gotten a new lens the day before, hopefully with the ability to take better quality low light pictures. Unfortunately, Sun Distortion being what it is, the bands were only illuminated by about 2 fluorescent tubes on the roof. Trying to take reasonably good photos in there without a flash is nigh on impossible. My new flash arrived two days later, too late for me unfortunately. So most of these pictures aren't amazing, but it's all just practice for me anyway.


Whenever Phantoms/I Exist plays, this guy always shows up. He's one of the kids that are always great to watch at these punk shows (except for that Browning St Studios gig where he was near to naked the whole time). Phantoms let him sing along for a while:

Cruel Hand warming up:

This shot, taken on the new lens, is by far one of my favourite pictures I've taken yet. With a little bit more practice with the lens hopefully they all work out like this!

I was pushed against the wall at this point trying to stay out of the way. Fat lot of luck that did me. I had to take the pictures over the heads of everyone at my maximum zoom. So not many turned out. In the end I turned on the internal flash. As shite as it is, a few photos turned out okay and not overly exposed.

The singer has a Dinosaur Jr shirt. He's instantly my favourite person.


And it's really not a hardcore show unless Jacob randomly appears in one of my photos hanging out right next to the band. Every bloody time man.


I liked this photo, but with no flash it was horrible quality. Nothing a bit of sepia can't fix, right?


Apart from the injury it was a great gig. I do love small all-ages shows, and Sun Distortion Studios is looking to be a worthy replacement for Burst City.

Hardcore dancers: a rant

It seems I've been ranting a lot lately, probably because of me being an old jaded man. But as I sit here, 16 hours later, with a swollen face, a black eye and a ringing headache that hasn't fucking quit since last night, I figured this rant is allowed.

Hardcore dancers, fight dancers, mosh lords, whatever you want to call yourselves, show a little respect for your fellow punters please.

I say it a lot, hardcore and punk fans are some of the best in the world. No matter what, there'll always be a few people dancing and really getting into the music. It's great to see people feel something at a gig and be motivated enough to move around. I've got nothing against your dancing. I think it's hilarious to watch and bloody stupid to participate in, but you know what, I don't care. Enjoy yourselves. That's what we're supposed to be doing at a gig.

I'll move aside, I'll give you room. However, when you impede on other's people's private space and start involving and trying to hit people who are actively avoiding it, then you become nothing more than a dickhead.

Swinging fists, flying feet, it's ridiculous to think it's going to do anything but cause damage if it connects with someone.

Last night I saw Cruel Hand/Phantoms at Sun Distortion Studio. It was a great show. As expected, during Phantoms, the pit opened up. Well as much as it can in a room with only about 5 metres width. No problems, I got out of the way. I took the animations you see in this rant now. It was all fine, you only involved those that wanted in (although my camera, and JHat's too, seemed to get close to getting hit a few times).

But during Cruel Hand, that's when shit turned nasty. I was pushed right up next to the merch desk, leaning against the wall. It's as far away as I could get in that corner. Not an ideal place to take photos, but I would think out of the way, as there were a few people in front of me. Oh, how wrong I was. A few songs in and you assholes decided to push everyone out of the way and go wall-to-wall. Next thing I know, a fist comes flying across my face, hitting me hard. I went down. I was groggy. I had no idea where I was for a few seconds.

I couldn't get away, I was just trying to watch the band and take a few photos out of your way, and you had to come at me. I ended up with a bloody nose, a black eye, a swollen face and a fucking headache that won't quit. That's what I get for trying to stay out of the way and enjoy a show. You probably don't realize that you did it to me, but it happens a lot.

A couple years ago I was sitting at the back of a crowd at the Big Day Out watching Enter Shikari. Nowhere near the pit, probably 30 to 40 metres back just standing around. The next thing I know, a crowd surfer lands on my head, and as I stand up some asshole fight-dancer swings his fists right into my gentleman's area. The rest of the day was a blur. I was out of it completely. According to someone that saw me afterwards, I was just sitting on the edge of the highway looking lost and confused after the festival.

So seriously, if you're going to fight dance, at least keep it to yourselves. We give you room and don't chastise you, why can't you show the equal respect and do it back?!

The Flood

I bang on and on about the local music scene, but for good reason. It's bloody good up here in Brisbane. A bunch of rad people in rads bands making rad music. And they know this, so together, they've put together a collective and called it the Flood.

And to celebrate, they're having a show!


I feel as if I've gone on and on about these bands before, I love so many of them. So really, there's no excuse not to go if you like anything about local heavier music.

EDIT: Apparently demand is strong, so it's been moved to the Morningside School of Arts Hall, cnr of Thynne Rd & Wynnum Rd

Cruel Hands/Phantoms

Lately, Clus has had a pretty good mantra when it comes to music: if it's on the Bridge 9 label, it's good. And this tour, it features a Bridge 9 band.


Coming around in June will be America's Cruel Hand. They can best be described as New York hardcore punk with Metallica-style riffs. You like the sound of that? Check out their MySpace.

Following them on this tour will be one of my favourite current Australian bands: Phantoms. In fact, thinking about this, both bands are mightily similar. Phantoms also do hardcore punk with a metal influence. Basically, I'm going to enjoy this tour.

South East Queensland gets two shows.
June 16, Boys and Girls (X & Y), 18+
June 17, Sun Distortion Studios, All-ages

Review: The Chariot/I Am Villian, April 20, 2011 at Sun Distortion Studios

Another week, another amazingly crazy all-ages hardcore show.

I rocked up early to Sun Distortion Studios, as although this show was sold out, they said they'd release a few tickets on the doors at 5. So I made the trek there straight after work and lined up feeling like a sore thumb in my business clothes while surrounded by 16-year old scene kids. But it was worth it, I got my ticket and found out that no one would be playing for another 45 minutes at least.

It was my first foray into Sun Distortion Studios, which turns out is less of a 'studio' and more of a very tiny industrial warehouse space. Apparently 200 people were going to squeeze in there, yet I could only imagine about 60 crammed in.

In the spare time I hoofed it home, got changed, grabbed my car, got a parma and a beer and headed back in time to catch local guys I Am Villain. Mixing together some pop-punk and some hardcore, they stomped and jumped around the very small stage.

And that's where things got ugly. The stage basically gave out underneath them. After they wrapped up their set, a crew of randoms moved in and started disassembling the stage. The Chariot then started setting up on the floor. In a very tight and cramped space. And all I could think of was "my god, it's going to be like Perth." I was a little bit more than excited to think that this set was going to just fall apart into a sea of hardcore crazy.

I wasn't even close. I underestimated the entire evening.

Photographing a gig like this is hard. The light came from two fluorescent tubes overhead and was just crap. The band wouldn't stop moving and my auto-focus was no good. The crowd was insane and surging, meaning I kept being moved. So in the end I grabbed my widest angle lens, which happens to be a manual, I set it to an approximate focus, I turned my flash on, held my camera in one hand, held on to a railing behind me with the other hand and balanced on the edge of a very small couch. It's no surprise some of the photos didn't turn out. It was really just guess work, luck and me trying hard not to fall on my ass and get crushed. Because what came next was insane.
Within a song the band was just tearing it up. Instruments were unplugged, the crowd was everywhere, the band was under them, on top of them, screaming, playing along wherever they could and just losing themselves in the music.

Even as it was only one song in, they already said this would probably be their best show of the tour. And we all made sure it was. The bass player climbed up the sound booth behind me during their second or third song and just stage dove straight in. Basically, like their music and sound, it was just organised chaos. Barely organised chaos of course...




The set list was a healthy mix of their entire career, a perfect mix for their first Australia tour. I was actually surprised how little of Long Live, their 2010 album, that was included. But in the ones they did play off Long Live, they even included the samples, like in Evan Perks.


Not that it mattered. Some times, with random instruments unplugged, you had no idea what songs they were playing. But it didn't matter. It was just the vibe. Like in this video:

Definitely one of (if not the) craziest gigs I've ever been to. It was just uncontrollable musical chaos. And I was by far one of the oldest people there. Kids, they just know how to do it. At the end of the gig, most of the members of the Chariot just collapsed on the floor in exhaustion. The few still standing got hugged to death by the supportive fans.

Gig of the year? The Defeater show may have something to say about that.