Woodland's last call

So I've only been to Woodland once, in a drunken haze. I don't remember who I saw or when it was or anything, except that it was my kind of bar. Dingy. The shape of a box. Cheapish drinks. And a room for a band in the darkness.

Over the last 2 years they've put on some great punk and garage rock shows, featuring both local bands and internationals. I'm kind of ashamed I've never managed to go to one. They seem to always conflict with other things and have a reputation for running late and being almost impossible to photograph at.

It appears its short run is about to end though, on Easter weekend in April. It's a shame, as we're already hard pressed in Brisbane for venues of that size and quality. However, there's going to be some damn good shows coming up there.

The first I know about is the EP launch for the sludgy noise merchants No Anchor, supported by good Brisbane band Quiet Steps. March 17th, $12, bands start at 9pm. Go in, watch some great live music and enjoy the last few days of the venue.

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).

Murder By Death

The year: 2003. An 18 year old Chuck sneaks into a bar in Iowa City (drinking age, 21, legal entry age, 19) to watch one of his favourite, yet really new bands, My Chemical Romance, put on a rip-snorting show to about 80 punters in a dive bar with a tiny stage and a low roof named Gabe's Oasis. Their set was high energy and amazing (never to be relived no matter how many times he saw them in the next decade) but it was the opening bands that he remembers fondly.

The first one was a post-hardcore band channeling Muse named Vaux, who's album still gets constant rotation in Chuck's car in 2011. The other was a country-punk band called Murder By Death.

It was the first time I ever heard anything of this sort in my sheltered mid-west American musical upbringing. Of course, these days I'm obsessed with bands like Lucero that do this constantly. But at the time, it was something new and wonderful.

Even my great mate Wes, known more for his love of Christian punk rock, enjoyed them. We bought a matching set of these shot glasses to celebrate the night:

I hope he's still got his, I know I do and always use it when I hear this song... but that's another story.

It's been a long time since I first saw Murder by Death, but now they're bringing their unique style to Australia for the first time, and I imagine this little shot glass will be filled with a lot of whiskey before their show at Woodland on February 25.

Wait... what?! SOUNDWAVE DAY. Ah shit. This fucking blows. That being said, Woodland is notorious for late starting shows, I could probably do both in a day and then be exhausted.

Guttermouth

It's been a little over a year since the crude and rude skate punks Guttermouth did a regional tour of Australia, but apparently we're a great market, because they're coming back to do it all over again, with even more dates!

And proving both their love of Australia and their old school punk-ness, here's them on Recovery in the 90s:

If you want to revisit your punk past, there's a handful of Queensland shows to see them: (all 18+):

January 27, Woodland (Brisbane)

January 28, Billy's Beach House (Gold Coast)

January 29, King's Beach Tavern (Caloundra)

February 2, Magnums (Airlie Beach)

February 3, The Venue (Townsville)

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.

Times New Viking

I'm on the Woodland newsletter list, and once every week or so I get a newsletter where I see the name of DJs and electronic artists that I don't know and click 'next'. About once a month I get something which makes me sit back, stop, and say "OH GOD YES I WANT TO SEE THAT!"

Well today I got one of those emails. Although, it had a typo. It said 'New Times Viking.' I had to stop for a minute and think about it, is this a band I saw in NYC years ago, Times New Viking? When I got home and could follow the links and see the pictures, it was confirmed. Yes, it's this band. And here's the proof with a picture I took of them in Coney Island in 2008.

Granted, not a good picture, but that was back in the day before I had a good camera. In fact, it was like 4 cameras ago. But they were still good, and their name stuck with me for a few weeks until I flew back to Brisbane and checked out more of their music.

So what are they? Think lo-fi noisy indie with a female singer. That's them. And I enjoyed the shit out of them live, as well as their album this year called Dancer Equired.
Chuck them a listen on their MySpace and if you like it, join me on August 26th at Woodland. 18+ of course, it's a nightclub silly.

Brisbane Garage Rock, the festival

Is there anything better than garage rock? That raw sound of distorted guitars, not-so-clean bass and fast drum beats with not quite sung, not quite screamed vocals? I think not, I love it to bits. And so does Brisbane, as we're having a full day festival.

On July 9th, from 4pm to 3am, make sure you bring your ear plugs to Woodland, because it's going to be loud, oh so loud, for the Flavours of Skuzz festival.

Highlights for me are the ever funny hardcore boys Dick Nasty (whose song titles are longer and 80% more funny than their songs), Velociraptor (whose band members chop and change each performance, but can include 12+ people) and Undead Apes. For only $25, you're basically paying a dollar for each band. In this post-GFC climate, you won't get a better deal than that, not even on Cudo or Catch of the Day or any other cheap skate website.

The Belligerents

So a while ago I ventured into a really awkward music venue with a small crowd of about 20 to watch a band from Sydney. I ended up having my face blown away by the awesome local band instead.
They are the Belligerents. With their awesome matching shirts and dancey-indie-synth-pop they had the whole crowd moving around. And given the reaction to the other bands of the night (dead still silence) that's not something to scoff at.

Well these guys have a new EP out, entitled Less Arty More Party, which I'm pretty sure is their life motto.

To celebrate their efforts, their going around for some EP launch shows to try and make a few more of you dance. Catch them:
March 26, Woodland. 18+
April 1, Lake Kawana Community Centre, Sunshine Coast
April 8, Elsewhere, Gold Coast

You can also get a free track from their EP here.

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.

I Heart Hiroshima

As I've mentioned on this blog in the past, one of my favourite local bands is I Heart Hiroshima. They have an interesting take on lo-fi indie with 2 intertwining twangy guitars, a stripped back simple drum sound and 3 vocalists: 2 male and 1 female.

After releasing their second album the Rip in 2009, they went on tour and then buggered off to Germany to pull a Bowie and find themselves/write new music/have fun/whatever. Little has been heard from them in the last 6 or so months, until Susie, the drummer, randomly turned up as the new Philadelphia Grand Jury drummer on their recent tour, which is still ongoing.

Susie, on her Twitter, let it be known that the rest of I Heart Hiroshima will be in town while she's touring and that there will be a show! January 29 at Woodland. 18+. Hopefully they'll be showcasing some of their new stuff in this homecoming show.

MySpace

New Years Noise

My favourite New Zealand band, hands down, is Die! Die! Die! Not only do they have a great name, they play some great noisy garage rock. Which is a particular favourite genre of mine right now.

Although they've been through town a few times in 2010, they thought they'd squeeze one more show in just before midnight on New Years Eve. They'll be playing Woodlands on New Years Eve, before the venue transforms into the official after party for the No Years show at the Powerhouse.

MySpace

All the news in one

I've been neglecting my blog most of this week as life has been busy (as it always is in pre-Christmas/party/cricket season). So here's the condensed news I've been meaning to post here:

Toro Y Moi
... is generally one man making electronic/lofi/chillwave music. He's put together a small band and is coming down under for his first tour, playing Woodland on February 24.

MySpace

Helmet
Page Hamilton of hardcore masters Helmet have said they are coming out here in April/May. I am looking forward to this, Meantime is one of the best albums ever made that started the whole hardcore genre.

That was probably my first introduction to hardcore, late one night as I was watching it on Rage. About the same time I saw a Toe to Toe video actually.

Jason Collett
The name is probably not familiar, but he's one of the guys in the Canadian indie powerhouse that is Broken Social Scene. He does a lot of solo work too, and he'll be coming down under to play that (and I'm hoping a few BSS songs).

January 13, the Zoo. 18+.

MySpace

(hed) P.E.
These guys were one of the early bands about a decade ago, in the rap-rock movement. And they had a few good songs (Bartender still gets played by me a lot). They've just released a new album, which I've queued up but yet to listen to, and are doing a run of tour dates.

HiFi, January 28. 18+

MySpace

Cam/Mikey (Cola Wars/Bodyjar) Acoustic Tour
These two are the main drive behind the Australian punk bands Cola Wars and Bodyjar. They've jumped on the "old punk bands' lead singers doing acoustic tour" bandwagon and are heading out to play all of their classic Cola Wars and Bodyjar songs on acoustic guitar.

Boys & Girls (X&Y), December 16, 18+

ZZ Top added to Bluesfest
There's really nothing else to say here. It keeps getting better.

And girls go crazy about a sharp dressed man.

The Like
The all-girls garage rock band the Like, fresh from supporting the Strokes on their last tour (which missed Brisbane, bastards), are coming back for a solo show.

February 18, the Zoo. 18+

MySpace

Thank God It's Monday
Carlton Dry are sponsoring Monday night shows all around the country. First up for Brisbane will be local boys Hungry Kids of Hungary, fresh from playing the sold out Triple J Aus Music Month a few weeks back.

December 13, Birdee Num Num, 18+

MySpace

I Exist/Phantoms Wet n Wild Split
It's not really news, but I like it. One of my favourite gigs of 2010 so far has been the little basement show in West End featuring Phantoms and I Exist. Apparently they enjoyed that tour so much, especially their side trip to Wet n Wild, that they are currently recording a split EP with songs based and named after the rides. Awesome.

(Thanks JHat for the photo. He goes to a lot of gigs (some I'm at) and takes way better photos than I can ever hope for. http://www.jhatphoto.com/. Although I think he cheats with his careful placing of flashes, and knowing the bands).

I Exist
Phantoms

Surf rock tours

2010, without doubt, has been the year of surf-rock-indie-pop. I have no idea why, but I must say I'm not a huge fan of it. It seems we have been overwhelmed with bands playing bright guitars and dreamy vocals, with happy melodies and lyrics that just make us want to go out to the beach. Well I don't want to go to the beach, that's skin cancer central!

And if I do go to the beach, I'm bloody well listening to this:

(If any of my friends from 3 years ago are watching this, you know the rules, finish your drink while listening to that song).

Splendour this year seemed to have a fair share of it's surf rock bands and it seems Australia's late summer festivals are getting even more. Luckily, we don't get all of those festivals up this way, but we do get their sideshows. And two surf-rock bands are playing Brisbane in March:

Best Coast, March 10, Woodland
Wavves, March 8, the Zoo

Both shows, being at bars, are definitely 18+

I'll probably hit up Best Coast, as they feature a cute girl on guitar and are playing Woodland. Which is an intimate little indie bar.

Gorillaz support/Little Dragon sideshows

Oh Sweden, how come you make such good music? It's criminal how much good music of all genres comes from your cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold country. The latest is this very mellow electronic band, Little Dragon.

Mmmm, dreamy. And wouldn't you know it, they are coming out to play with the Gorillaz! I believe their role is to be the band behind the band. But at the same time they will be part of the opening band. And by part of the opening band, I mean they are doing the music for De La Soul who will be rapping as the openers, before joining back in with the main Gorillaz show.

They'll also be playing a set at Woodland (it's a new indie bar upstairs from the Mustang, enter via the alleyway behind the Family) on December 18th.

Little Dragon MySpace

Of course, I'm seeing the Descendents at the No Sleep Til festival, so I will probably head to Woodland to catch Little Dragon.