20 June 2014
Beautiful You Australia is a massive weekend aimed at redefining beauty. The ideal girl’s day or weekend out, ‘Beautiful You’ explores the glamourous you, the happy you, the healthy you, the stylish you and the younger you. Ambassadors include Carmelo Pizzino (Dancing with the Stars), Jules Sebastian (MTV stylist) Mrs Australia 2014 Kate Johnson, Jennifer Hawkins and Sophie Falkiner. Royal Exhibition Building – September 13 & 14.
20 June 2014
Remember the 2001 Australian hit comedy The Man Who Sued God? It starred Billy Connolly and was pretty darn funny. Well, Borat helmer Larry Charles has signed on to write an American remake. Charles also wrote several Seinfeld and Mad About You episodes. At this stage it looks as though Charles’ take on the film will veer from the original premise. Eh, keep an open mind, I guess.
20 June 2014
In 1988, playwright Billy Aronson wanted to create a musical based on Puccini’s La Bohème, in which 1890s Paris would be replaced with the rawness and street vibe of 1990s New York. Jonathan Larson, a 29-year-old composer, began collaborating with Aronson on this project. Larson’s inspiration for Rent’s characters and plot elements are drawn directly from La Bohème, the world premiere of which was in 1896, a century before Rent’s premiere in New York. Tuberculosis, the plague of Puccini’s opera, is replaced by HIV/AIDS in Rent.
20 June 2014
The Kills’ Alison Mosshart recently spoke with Nashville Scene, a local publication in Mosshart’s hometown, about the band’s fifth release. She said: “We’re trying to make a record that’s completely different. Anything that sounds like it could have sat quite easily on any of the other records will probably get scrapped or reworked…” Bandmate Jamie Hince has apparently turned to dubstep and reggae for inspiration.
20 June 2014
Armed with their new album Volition, Canada’s Protest the Hero are set to return to our shores shortly. Volition, their fourth effort, was released last year and was entirely funded by their fans through an Indiegogo campaign. The album features Lamb of God’s Chris Adler on drums, following the departure of founding member Moe Carlson. The band started life as Happy Go Lucky in 2001. The Hi-Fi – September 6.
20 June 2014
The blues is often seen as a resort of the older person, preferably with a black t-shirt and Harley Davidson. In my last column I talked about the origin of the blues in work songs decades ago in the south of the USA. There’s actually a large number of younger people getting into the blues, often as a result of participating in the Melbourne Blues Appreciation Society’s ‘Youth in Blues’ program, or our local ‘Blues Boot Camp’ organised by Wayne Jury and with a high quality set of mentors including Chris Wilson, Tim Neal, Sarah Carroll, Sandy Brady, Dave Steel and David Park. Recently, one such graduate, Jarrod Shaw, was a headliner at Sleepy Hollow.
20 June 2014
It’s no secret I love me some indie-rock! If you feel the same and haven’t heard about Love of Diagrams, please read on. The Melbourne based three-piece personify everything we love here at Forte Mag – the independent spirit, a DIY ethos, but above all they know how to put on a show. LoD are Antonia Sellbach (vox/bass), Luke Horton (vox/guitar) and Monika Fikerie (drums). After more than a decade of non-stop gigging, LoD have paid their dues, earning them the reputation as one of Melbourne’s best live bands.
19 June 2014
Can The Preatures top the year they had in 2013? A year which saw their single ‘Is This How You Feel?’ find love everywhere? Which saw the same single land an ARIA nomination and a ‘Song of the Year’ gong from Sydney’s FBi? Yeah, I reckon they can. The band is thrilled to welcome new single ‘Two Tone Melody’ – and they’re itching to take it on the road. The Corner – July 12.
19 June 2014
In a world of auto-tuned vocals and Top 40 radio hits, it’s hard to get lost in the dance beats and simple lyrics. One band that is leading the charge in saving rock and roll music is Nashville’s own The Wild Feathers. With their electric guitar twang, four-part vocal harmonies and some sweet-arse riffs, they might quite easily become your new favourite band. Having supported the likes of Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and Paul Simon, the feats the band has achieved within only the few years that they have been together is quite astounding. For the first time ever, the band is headed to our shores to play at Splendour in the Grass, with sideshows in both Melbourne and Sydney.
19 June 2014
Australian country music has never looked in better hands than with Wagons and their latest album, Acid Rain and Sugar Cane. Gritty electric guitar and horn arrangements ring out as Henry Wagons channels Nick Cave in ‘Hold On Caroline’, the most impressive opener to one of their albums yet. Co-produced by Mick Harvey of the Bad Seeds fame, this album in parts is a lot darker than previous releases, but I think that is one of the main positives behind it.
18 June 2014
Norwegian pop outfit Highasakite will play a couple of shows on what will be their debut tour of Australia a little later in the year. Fronted by Ingrid Helene Håvik, who has drawn comparisons to Björk and Lykke Li, Highasakite was personally invited by Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon to tour with the band after he caught a live performance. The band has released two albums, with Silent Treatment their latest. Howler – September 20.
18 June 2014
HBO has confirmed that the network has ordered 18 episodes of Vice Principals, the new baby of Jody Hill and Danny McBride, the pair behind Eastbound & Down. As you may have guessed, the new show focuses on a US high school through the eyes of its vice principal. In a chat with Splitsider, Jody said that the show is based on a movie script he and McBride wrote a long time ago.
17 June 2014
When i was really young, like 8 or 9 my mum used to book me in for singing lessons. That was where i sort of found out that i loved music (and singing). My teacher told me that “if you are going to write a song, you’ve got to tell a story”. It doesn’t have to exactly be a lineal story with a beginning, middle and end, but it’s good to at least say ‘something’ in the song you are writing i think. When I’m writing lyrics i still often sit back and ask myself “what exactly am i trying to say here” and do often think about narrative in some way, shape or form. So yeah, i guess I do focus on it a bit.
17 June 2014
“I’m not going to put on a Nina Simone record and think ‘man, I kick ass!’ I’d be a real jerk if I did that! Or I’d be very deluded!” Jeff joked when asked about his secret to success. “I try to maintain a perspective on why I do what I do in the first place, and the simple answer is I fall in love with music and I just felt compelled to give it a go, you know?” The humble multi-ARIA winner is back on the road this winter to promote his latest, and in my humble opinion, greatest release yet, I Live in My Head a Lot These Days (out now through ABC/Universal).
16 June 2014
If throwing television sets out of hotel windows and playing to thousands of people each night seems like a charmed life to you, then tune up that guitar and get out of your bedroom because the Courthouse ARTS’ Battle of the Bands is coming back to town and is happening on Thursday, August 7. Although there are no televisions to be thrown out of the Courthouse’s window, you will have a cracker crowd to play to. Last year’s winner, Residual, officially formed for the battle despite jamming together ideas for songs twelve months beforehand. Since then the band has gone on to national touring and sold-out shows at Beav’s Bar and is getting ready to release their debut EP in the next couple of months.
16 June 2014
Guns N’ Roses are joining the 3D world with Appetite for Democracy 3D: Live from the Hard Rock Casino – Las Vegas. Released early next month, the DVD captures their November 21, 2012 performance at the Las Vegas venue as part of 25th anniversary celebrations of Appetite for Destruction. It is the band’s first official concert movie since 1992’s Use Your Illusion, recorded at Japan’s Tokyo Dome.
16 June 2014
Sydney trio Tin Sparrow have been spending their time writing and enjoying overseas adventures in recent times but are now back to give us new single, ‘Echoes in the Dark’. From the press release: “Echoes in the Dark taps into the notion of memory, and the small pieces of someone that get left behind that, whether we like it or not, remind us of them.” It is lifted from the band’s forthcoming new EP, The Shoelace Ring. Grace Darling – June 21.
16 June 2014
It’s been seven years, seven long years, but finally in 2014 we should be getting the long-awaited fifth album from Melbourne’s own The Band Who Knew Too Much (TBWKTM). From busking on the streets of St Kilda to playing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the band has taken in a lot of miles over the last twenty-five years. I recently got the opportunity to sit down with Dave Evans, accordionist and vocalist for the group, to have a retrospective chat at their illusive career so far and to find out what the future holds.
15 June 2014
The short-lived series Freaks and Geeks lives on in the hearts of an ever-growing fan base. Featuring names including James Franco, Seth Rogen and Jason Segel, the show centred on a bunch of students at a high school during the early 1980s. Late last month indie Australian DVD label Via Vision announced it would be releasing the series on DVD. Extra material includes bonus footage and commentary.
15 June 2014
Opening with the title track, rollicking punky guitar lines and kick drum compliment my headphones. It’s a little bit of a departure away from the bluesy guitar tunes that Dyson is well known for but I think it is a positive direction for her fifth album in eleven years. Funky basslines and organ accompaniment are present in ‘Growing Up’, which make the sensitivity and passion in Dyson’s vocals shine through a lot more in the songs than previously.
15 June 2014
Croatia sailing, Turkey sailing, Greek island sailing – all of these are incredibly popular right now and conjure up images of clear, glass-like aqua water, wearing a glamorous broad-brimmed hat with a bow whilst drinking a glass of wine, and awesome parties with a bunch of new friends. And whilst all of these images are rightly so, there are also a few more things to consider, like the fact that depending on which trip you choose you’ll be spending between 60-100 per cent of your time completely out in the middle of the ocean, warm water is sparing, weather is unpredictable and the toilet and shower conditions can be much, much different to what you’re used to!
14 June 2014
Pennywise will issue a collection of older songs written by their original bass player and chief songwriter, Jason Thirsk. Titled Yesterdays, it will feature lead single ‘Violence Never Ends’. Should be a very interesting listen. Melbourne punk rockers Strawberry Fist Cake and Canadians Rehab for Quitters venture into Forteville for a MASSIVE show at the Music Man Megastore on Friday, June 13 to promote their brand new albums. How massive, you ask? Well, they’ll be joined by No Idea, Australian Kingswood Factory, the Revengers and Rabid Zulu! Yowsa! The bands then play IdiotFest at the Brunswick Hotel the very next day, alongside the likes of Foxtrot, Muscle Mary, Admiral Ackbar’s Dishonourable Discharge, Kmart Warriors, The Murderballs and Shadow League!
13 June 2014
Clare Bowditch has sent out the invite to Adalita to join her on her fourth annual Winter Secrets run, an invitation that was warmly accepted. Bowditch on Winter Secrets: “Winter Secrets is not your typical ‘performer on stage and audience below’ style of affair, and loathe as I am to use the term ‘Interactive Co-Creative Transformative Absurd Joyful Experiences between Audience and Performer’, that’s Winter Secrets in a nutshell.” The Corner – July 18.
13 June 2014
While Liz Stringer’s release, Warm In The Darkness, may be a few years old she’s still sharing her smooth vocals to captive audiences around Victoria. Liz will take her sweet tunes to Geelong and down the coast for a few one off shows. She took the time out while on the road, to have a chat to Forte about her writing process and what she has planned for the future.
