Politics in the pop charts

Turns out that I'm not alone in picking out 'Ding Dong the Witch is dead' as a fitting memorial to Thatcher. After some vigorous social media-ing it made number two in the UK pop charts this weekend. The pro-Thatcher movement kicked off a retaliatory campaign to try to get 'I'm in love with Margaret Thatcher' by punk band The Notsensibles to chart, but that only made no 35 and was apparently written as satire anyway. So that's a double fail for the Tories. Love your work old chaps.

Sadly the BBC seemed to be in the grip of paralysis about what to do during the 'Top 40 countdown' so only played 7 seconds of 'Ding Dong'. Not banned, but not played in full. So in some ways it joins other banned classics -

 Relax (Frankie Goes To Hollywood)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyl5DlrsU90

 

Urban Guerilla (the mighty Hawks)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2UUdMaB2wo

 

Ebeneezer Goode (the Shaman)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFJdUJg4wOk

 

and of course God Save The Queen (Sex Pistols)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z2M_hpoPwk

 

Ironically, John Lydon (aka Jonny Rotten) considers the recent celebrations to be 'loathsome' . I think he's just offended that there are people out there protesting and he's not making anything out of it. Mrs T would be proud of what he's become.....

How deep is your love...for carpet?

In a bizarre way I have a slight link to the Bee-Gees as my parents lived in the Isle of Man for a while (where the Bee-Gees were born), I lived in Chorlton in Manchester for a while (as did they) and then I moved out to Brisbane  (as did they). The difference is of course that they went on to have stellar careers whilst I....well, let's not get into that.

The Bee-Gees actually lived in Redcliffe, just to the north of Brisbane, and the town has recently opened an imaginatively named memorial street

 complete with statue

and a presentation wall.

 As you can tell by the crowds, not much happens in Redcliffe

The funniest bit is seeing how the local shops have cashed in on the Bee Gees legend. The music is playing in all the shops (I have had a medley of their 'classic' tunes on constant repeat in my head), there are commemorative t-shirts and postcards for sale and all of the op-shops and clothing shops have a distinctly retro style. But my favourite was the local carpet shop, which had 'How deep is your love - for carpet' painted in big letters across the front window. The owner of that place is a thinker. 

Dedicated to Rex

An classic oldie this week...anyone spot the connection?

 

Master of the universe

There's more Cx excitement planned for this weekend - one of the local cycling clubs are putting on a 'Mudsters of the Universe' race at Murrarie crit track. Not sure where the mud is going to come from, perhaps they'll truck it in from a more miserable Southern state.

Looking at the font and knowing that the main organiser is a Gen-Y hipster type you can tell that the pun is inspired by the Masters of the Universe TV show & franchise. But well before He-Man came the mighty Hawkwind, who recorded a track of the same name in the early 70's. This version was filmed in the mid 80's and is a bit rockier than the original track, but it gives a good idea of what it's like to be at a Hawkwind gig. Bear with the poem - it's part of the ride.

The Laurels

The Laurels are a 4-piece band from Sydney that produce luscious hard-edged psychedelic shoegaze music

They're a hard working, hard touring band that have an awesome live show and are playing in Brisbane at the Beetle Bar tonight. I was planning on going - I've been planning on going for weeks - but looking at the set list I don't think they will be on stage until late. Will I be able to motivate myself to leave the flat this evening after a long week? And if I do will I be able to stay awake long enough to see them? Sadly, probably not. That's another good reason to go to gigs to watch the up-and-coming support bands instead of the headline act - as well as the coolness factor you get to go to bed earlier :).

The GOD riff

One of the joys of moving to a new country is getting to hear all the classic music that was around before you arrived but that you didn't get to hear at your original home. Australia has a very strong rock'n'roll history and I reckon that this is one of its standouts, released by 4 lads from Melbourne aged 15 & 16 in the late 1980s.

I just can't get enough of that constantly repeating riff, and if you feel the same here's the same song as a backing track to some awesome (and painful) skating.

Enjoy...

A Tale They Won't Believe

After 10 days in Brisbane I'm back on a plane again tomorrow, but this time it's for a much needed holiday. It's been a long hard 6 weeks for me and Liz is doing her final exam as I write this (who schedules an exam on a Saturday morning?) so we thought we'd spoil ourselves with a short break. Any guesses where we're going?

Hope the food has improved :)

Labels

I've finally gotten round to indexing my blog. So now if you want to view all posts on a particular topic, just select the appropriate label. I've broken the posts down into the following :-

• Beer
• Bikes
• Cheese
• Food
• Life
• Music
• Running
• Skating
• Travel
• Work

Which isn't a bad selection of things to be writing about. Life is good :). Was in two minds about splitting out 'Beer' and 'Brewing' but can always do that later if need be.

Most posts are linked to a couple of labels - this one is linked to them all so you can have a starting point. Have fun!

Aural crack

Die Antwoord are a rap / rave band from South Africa who released their first album '$0$' as a free download a couple of years ago using a pc computer. They became an overnight internet sensation and this year have taken it to the next level with a new album Ten$ion and it's accompanying single 'I Fink U Freeky'.

I'm not sure whether the band is a high-art meets low-brow project, an extended joke at the expense of it's fans, a cynical attempt to boost their sales through the addition of an unnecessary shock factor a la Marilyn Manson or just a bunch of musicians pushing their boundaries and following their muse down whatever twisted alleyways it chooses to lead them. Either way it's music that reaches inside your brain, grabs your frontal cortex and doesn't ever stop shouting into your inner year.

The clip below probably isn't safe for work and definately isn't something to watch with kids around. It's probably also worth skipping if you don't like 90's styled rave, rap, bad language, bad haircuts, bad tattoos, rats, snakes, gangster posturing or South African accents. If anyone is left, welcome to your new internal soundtrack.....

Go on Marin - just one more listen.....
   

A musical interlude

I've been out on site for the last three days doing some user training. Not difficult as the people I was working with were good people, easy to get along with and who picked up what I was teaching fairly well. But still draining, so I just get home and relax. So here's a musical interlude which kinda sums up how I'm feeling at the minute....

Harvest II

For some reason I wasn't able to upload posts from my phone yesterday - it created a blank post and nothing else. Still, that blank post provoked a comment which more than many of my other ones do! Cheese, bikes, beer, sharks - all pass unnoticed. Does that say something about my writing style? :)

Anyway - Harvest festival is over and it was officially a very good day. A hot one so I needed to do a fair amount of shade-lurking early on, but I braved the sunshine for Mercury Rev. They were very good, although sadly they didn't play anything from the earlier albums.

Obligatory fan-boy 'This is me & Mercury Rev!' photo (taken by an obliging gentleman behind me). Yes my cap is on backwards - the sun was behind me so I was protecting my neck.

After Mercury Rev and a couple of relaxing strawberry cider / tequila cocktails I wandered down to watch Death In Vegas

Hard edged dance music with overlaid with samples and distorted guitars. They were awesome and I danced pretty much the whole way through. Their final track morphed into a kind of goa-trance anthem and I found myself waving my hands in the air sizing fish like back in the rave days. Which probably provoked great amusement amongst the mainly non-dancing Brisbane crowds who had obviously lost their cardboard boxes. Their loss.

After Death In Vegas I shifted back to the Windmill stage for Mogwai, a bunch of Scottish post-rock ambient funsters with beautifully mellow tunes. So mellow in fact that at one point I dozed off. No pictures, but imagine some grizzled bearded Scots in flannel shirts looking at their guitars.

I grabbed a bite to eat and then somehow managed to get a stage-side position for the Flaming Lips -  not in the main body of the crowd, but peering down an access passage. The Flaming Lips are renowned for their live shows and they didn't disappoint. The lead singler initially appeared on stage in a large ball, which he then rolled around on top of the audience for a while

 Then they pushed out a whole stack of large balloons, which the crowd batted around for most of the gig

There were audience members jumping around on the edge of the stage in costume too, I'm not sure how they were selected but there seemed to be a large proportion of young women with shapely legs wearing short skirts

 As I say, my view was exceptional

 Guitars, balloons, cheerleaders, charismatic front men, great tunes - what else do you want from a gig?

Ah yes - lasers.

 and of course confetti fired from cannons

I think everybody enjoyed themselves :)

After the Flaming Lips pretty much the entire audience headed to the main Riverstage to watch Portishead. Which, from my position in the crowd (and after a few more tequilas), looked a lot like this.

I listened to a couple of tracks and whilst they were very good I wasn't getting much of the ambience from where I was, so I went for another wander and found a burlesque show with electric violins and flaming hoola-hoops

This seemed like a much better option so I stayed there for a while.

By then it was getting late (9.30!) and I was starting to crave my bed. I left about 10 minutes before close to beat the rush on the busses and was walking past the Riverstage just as Portishead finished - the cheers were huge so it sounded like a great show. But that's both the joy and the pain of festivals - there's always a few things you miss for every one that you see. That's a lesson we can learn in life. You may expect to spend quality time with sulky West country folk, but you might end up at the carnival instead. 

Harvest festival

I've been a bit low over the last few weeks so I haven't been posting much. Which is not to say that good things aren't happening - they are in spades - it's just that when I sit down to reflect I get a bit *Meh*. Indefensible in many ways.

Anyway, breaking continuity i'm at 'harvest festival' in Brisbane botanical gardens right now, a one day festival featuring a few of my favourite bands. One of which is mercury rev, the best band *ever*. I first saw them at Reading festival in 1991 and soon after at the Boardwalk in Manchester, so this is a little different backdrop!






In typical Australian nanny state style you can only buy mid-strength beer (at least it's Coopers!) but if you plan ahead you can smuggle in tequila (allegedly).

Should be a fun day - let's see how we go!

Don't panic - I made it back from the gigs intact (if a bit blurry the next day) and I wasn't abducted by mysterious flying machines. It's just been a busy time, with days flying past seemingly without pause. Work has been pretty hectic and I've had to pick up the slack from one of my more useless colleagues as well as doing my own job. This means long days, tired nights and a blurry brain. I need to put evenings and the odd weekend into my work and I begrudge that - it's not something I should have to do, it's not because of my mistakes, my inabilities or my ambitions but just the fact that I'm sometimes able to get things done when other people can't. I put the time in because I hate doing a bad job, but in reality I'll get nothing more from the company than if I just follow the 9-5 of some of my colleagues. So I end up begrudging myself for begrudgingly working late, and that's just a downhill spiral......we saw this the other day at the Surrealism exhibition in town and it seemed appropriate.  

 

In reality my days are pretty mild and my job is pretty cruisy compared to a lot of people and I do know how lucky I am. But the urge to keep going at the turnoff to the office and stop at the south coast is sometimes almost overwhelming...

Anyway - time is flying past and Spring has officially sprung in Brisbane. The temperatures soared to over 30 degrees over the weekend (with accompanying heat stroke after a mountain bike ride), duvets have been tucked away and replaced with blankets, fans have been dug out again and our barbecue 'Mark' (it's a Weber) has been sparked up again.

Sometimes it seems like the whole of Brisbane has dug out the barbecues as a haze of smoke is hanging over the city. In fact it's just the backburning that they need to do at this time of year to reduce the fuel that's on the ground before summer and the fire season. 

A little later....

The Cairos were disappointing, a small sound not living up to their expectations. Worlds End Press were horrid, not even worth staying for a beer. The Medics were good but very busy, something to look out for as a gig. And Evil Eddie is proving to be a good and varied performer , although you can feel that people are waiting for 'figjam' (google it if you're brave)

How long can I stay awake?

Big sound

I'm in brisbane city (on a weeknight!) to enjoy ' big sound' - a kind of music festival without the festival. Around 10 venues in the valley have teamed up to host short sets by up & coming bands. It's actually a great idea. A music festival is basically a bunch of bands playing in a field rigged out with several temporary stages, so why not make use of the stages already available in an urban environment?

So I'm in the valley with my wristband. The first band I saw (and my reason for coming down) was The Laurels. These guys are a fantastic shoegaze style band, channeling Spacemen 3 and My Bloody Valentine. My new favorite band


the only problem with the festival is that's essentially a media outlet, which means that any band comes complete with an outrigger of photographers


The fact that the guitarist is channeling kurt cobain probably doesn't help. But please - you may have a camera, but don't stand in the f*cking way!



I wanted to get a cd from The Laurels, but although I waited around I didn't spot them after their set. I did check out the sound check of the following band, which had a bloke on his knees banging a recycling bin and a piece of steel as someone did a soundcheck on an ipad



I ended up staying around and in the true traditions of festivals it turns out that the following band were also fantastic. Jackson Firebird are like a crossbreed of the White Stripes and the Revolting Cocks - funny, talented, ready to rock and well work a look.

The big question is, how long will I last tonight?

Hawkwind

The mighty Hawkwind played in Melbourne last weekend, so I thought I'd treat myself to a weekend away and flew down to see them. I was also keen to check out Melbournes new city bike scheme and compare it to its Brisbane equivalent.

I managed to get a 'budget' flight to Avalon airport, 'the second Melbourne airport', on Friday night. It's actually in Geelong, a good hours cab ride & $100 from Melbourne CBD, so that's not something I will be doing again. Still, I got to have a good chat with the cabbie.

On Saturday I went out for breakfast and remembered that Melbourne is different to Brisbane - people just don't get up early. At 9am the city was deserted. I was lucky enough to find a place offering Mexican breakfasts and my bacon, green chilli & olive breakfast burrito hit the spot. The sauce is a green habanero hot sauce.

Suitably refreshed I headed down to the tourist information centre to get my bike access sorted out. The tourist info people weren't much help and suggested I get a 'proper' bike from a bike hire company, but I persevered. The process is easy - you swipe your credit card and for a fee of $2.50 you can then take out a bike from one of the bike stations for upto half an hour for no additional charge. Once you dock a bike you have to wait 5 minutes or so before you can get another one out. There are stations all over the city, but unfortunately none down by the seaside. And oddly there are no take-away maps showing you the location of the bike stations - you need to get a city map and mark it up based on the maps they have at the bike station.

They've also addressed the problem of compulsary bike helmets - you can buy a helmet for $5 at a 7-11 or at a helmet vending machine

Once you're done with it, return it for a $3 refund. Easy.
The bikes themselves are a little more basic than the Brisbane bikes, but just as good. Or just as bad, as my bike snob mates would probably prefer :)
I had a great time pedalling around the various Melbourne sites in what was beautiful weather - 29 degrees & not a cloud in the skyEventually I returned to the lowly status of pedestrian and accidentally walked down from Toorak to St Kilda - I was looking for a bike shop on a specific street and it later turned out that it had closed down. Still, it was a nice day for a walk so I just kept on going and worked up a thirst. St Kilda is home to what is now one of my favourite pubs - 'The Taphouse' - on the junction of Chapel St & Carlisle St. They have a rotating menu of 20 beers on tap, including (on my visit) two separate Saisons. Above is a pint of Mornington Peninsula Saison, a lovely brew. Sadly this is not available in Queensland, but if my Saison ends up anything like that I'll be a happy man.
After a few beers the New Scientist I was reading stopped making much sense so I thought it was time to leave. I wandered through St Kilda enjoying the sights
I also noticed this dude, rocking courier style on a full downhill bike. With barends.
Time was pressing on so I went back to my room to freshen up, and after a quick and not entirely intentional nap I made it out to the gig venue. It was a bit of a wierd place - a teeny bopper club after 10pm, so the support band started at 6.30pm and Hawkwind at 7.40pm. It was a good gig - not great, and not as good as I've seen them in the past, but it was still well worth the visit. Dancers, guitar solos, wibbly wobbly synthesisers, strobe lights, synth breaks on a guitar-synth and lots of smoke - everything that a space rock band should have. No pictures unfortunately as I'd forgotton my camera.

To be honest I was secretly glad that it finished early - after a long day I was exhausted....

4ZZZ Community Radio

There's a local community radio station in Brisbane called 4ZZZ - it can be found at 102.1FM if you're within about 50 km of the city or on-line via http://www.4zzzfm.org.au/ . Ever since I found it it's become my regular radio station of choice. All music is chosen by the presenters, not by any media-driven playlist, and because of the demographic of the presenters that leads to a lot of what I would consider 'my music'. It's not uncommon to hear Joy Division, the Happy Mondays or the Stone Roses and I've even heard such long forgotten gems as Ride, the Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance & Slowdive. Classic British bands are in a minority though - there's a lot more local music and up & coming bands that catch the presenters ear.

Some of the shows are 'themed', such as 'Thunderstorms & Neon Signs' which plays blues & alt country, 'Locked In' which broadcasts messages & requests for people in prison, 'The Anarchy Show' which presents alternative news & rants and 'Dykes on Mikes', which is a professor called Michael discussing Dutch flood prevention schemes. Others offer a more random mix of music & opinion, although the general style of both is humerous, independent, alternative and a little bit out there.

All presenters are volunteers, and although the 'umms' and silences can be a bit irritating at first they soon become more soothing than the endless jabber of the commercial stations. It's worth a listen so if you're local tune in, and if you're overseas try the streaming option. If you're in another time zone then beware, it could get a bit wierd late at night. If the station plays Cannibal Corpse at 11am then Christ knows what will be airing after dark.

The station is independently funded, relying a lot on donations & subscriptions. It's their annual fundraising week this week so if you subscribe you're also in the running for a variety of prizes. It's $50 for a waged subscription - a small price to pay to keep a section of the airwaves free from corporate domination. Go on - you know you want to...

Liz Stringer

We went to see Liz Stringer at the Troubador last night. The Troubador is my other favourite venue in Brisbane - a bit lower key than the Zoo, a long narrow room that has pictures up on the walls (not painted on, mounted in frames) and comfy couches to sit in whilst you're waiting for the band. The toilets are also on the other side of the stage, so every time you need to empty your bladder you get stage fright.

We got there early to find the lady herself was manning the 'Merch' stand and then queueing for drinks. It's nice to have a chat with the people you're coming to see. To be honest I didn't talk to her myself, because I turn into a gibbering fool when faced with artists I like, but I did listen in on the lady next to me at the bar as she chatted away and Liz seemed very friendly.

The support act was good - a very talented guitarist & singer called Danny Widdicombe. He also took a phone call from his agent on loudspeaker and broadcast through the microphone, which entertained the crowd. And Liz was great. She's a folk-tinged singer/songwriter who plays great guitar and sings with the bluesy voice that belies her slight stature and sounds like an angel dipped in tar. She was plugging her new album so a lot of the tracks were new to the room but she also pulled out a couple of classics from earlier albums. Her first album, Soon, is a particular work of genius and the room was silent & spellbound when she revisited a couple of tracks from that. Unfortunately she only had a guitar with her - she can pick a mean banjo as well - but she's based in Victoria and I guess you can only fit so many instruments into the overhead lockers.

This does however give me the opportunity to re-use one of my friends sayings. "The definition of a gentleman is someone who can play the banjo - but chooses not to".

For those about to rock...

I've been fighting off a bug recently so I've been going to bed early. For the last few nights we've heard a band playing after we've turned everything off - we thought at first that it was a local neighbour playing a loud stereo, or possibly a band practicing in a nearby house. Turns out that it was AC/DC, playing at a stadium about 5 miles away! Not sure if it's cool or sad to write about being kept awake by AC/DC...

In other news, I've now officially applied for Australian citizenship. I've chosen the oath that isn't 'under god' (you get the choice of whether to include that phrase or not, although my pagan mates in the UK will be upset to hear that 'under the gods' doesn't seem to be an option) and now I need to wait for a citizenship test. Once that's been sat and assuming I pass I then need to wait until I can attend a citizenship ceremony. Once I swear the oath at the ceremony I'm an Aussie. That could take up to 6 months but I'm looking forward to it. The only question then will be who to cheer for during the Ashes :)

Go England!

Why don't you move your feet?

I don't think I'm one of those ex-pats who spends their entire time grumbling about where I'm living and wishing I was back home. But the Australian attitude at gigs leaves me scratching my head. We went to see 'The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart' at the Zoo last night. For anyone who's not heard of them the Pains are a jangly indie pop band that put a smile on your face and a song in your heart (lookthem up on YouTube), and the Zoo is one of Brisbanes best small gig venues.

Back in the UK you tend to get gig crowds split into 4 layers -

• The first couple of rows are devoted fans pressed against the stage just happy to be close their idols (and to maybe grab a plectrum, a set list or a drop of sweat to take home with them)
• Then you have the dancers (or the moshpit for more aggresive music)
• Fading out of the dancers you get the swayers - no discrete split here so you can find a spot to suit your groove
• Finally you get the watchers, happy to have a beer and check out the band from the back of the room

Over here hardly anyone seems to want to dance - the first 8 rows of the crowd are pretty much static apart from the odd rhythmic nod or gentle sway and then you get the watchers. And if you do 'dare to dance' you risk colliding with and getting cursed by people attempting to get photos of the band silhouetted against spotlights with a 2Mb phone camera with no flash and on maximum digital zoom. Now don't get me wrong - I'm not expecting the sort of choreography you see on 'So you think you can dance' and my personal dance style looks like a derivation of the Madchester shuffle as done by a crippled performing bear - but I don't know how so many people can keep so still to such good music.
I'm assured that this isn't always the case but I've not seen much different in any of the music I've seen over here. We're off to Melbourne in a month or so and I'll try and catch a gig down there to see if it's a Brissie thing or country wide...