X-PRESSIONS

And just when you thought things couldn’t get any more warped! If the fact that Australia’s ‘infallible’ political convention has well and truly shat itself wasn’t oddball enough, the madcap Axl Rose has gone and announced he’s bringing his post-millennium incarnation of Guns N’ Roses to Perth.

KEEP MOVING

The folks at One Movement For Music have finally lifted the lid on who is going to share their expertise at this year’s Musexpo Asia Pacific conference, and the line-up reads as a who’s who of the music industry. Hailing from various overseas locations, individuals such as Simon Renshaw, Henning Ahrens, Wu Jun, Jakomi Matthews, Jimmy Steal, Scott Schorr, Benji Rogers, Crispin Parry, Rob Graham, Mark Smutz Smith, Seven Webster, Neill Dixon, Rob Zifarelli, Monte Malone, and Ande MacPherson, will share their knowledge at Musexpo. On the home front, experts such as Molly Meldrum, Michael Chugg, Peter Hebbes, Ian James, Harvey Lister, Paul Piticco, Michael Harrison, Damien Slevinson, Dan Medland, Nick O’Byrne, Jaddan Commerford, Keith Welsh, Russell Thomas and Shayne Locke will share their thoughts on the music industry. To learn more about these fine speakers and all things One Movement, head to onemovementmusic.com.

GENTLEMEN OF THE JURY

Punk-soul outfit Philadelphia Grand Jury will be returning to Perth on Friday, December 3, to play Capitol. Following a huge tour that has seen them cross the USA three times and play over 50 dates in the UK, the boys will be looking forward to chillin’ out with some snags and frostys back on home soil. The band will be performing new single Hope Is For The Hopeless on the Australian tour and their cute punk cover of Jay-Z’s 99 Problems. Tickets are available from moshtix.com.au and heatseeker.com.au.

A BIT OF BIFF

Legendary live act Muse have lined-up Scottish indie rock heavyweights Biffy Clyro as special guests for their Perth show on Sunday, December 19, at Steel Blue Oval. Biffy Clyro are renowned for their energetic performances and play loud experimental rock with melodies to boot. Their fifth album Only Revolutions features a guest collaboration with Queens Of The Stone Age front man Josh Homme, and the band opened for Muse on their European tour. We look forward to seeing them in Perth! Muse’s live show includes huge three dimensional towers, lasers and… “silver trousers”. Tickets are still available for the Perth show from ticketek.com.au.

LAZY DAYZE OF SUMMA

Supreme Court Gardens - normally home to passing felons and cockatoos - and The Esplanade will be the venue for next year’s Summadayze dance festival. For the first time ever the festival will be held on a Saturday, January 8, and organisers have just announced that Boys Noize, Art Vs. Science (live), Tinie Tempah (live), Claude Vonstroke, PVT (live), Breakbot, Nervo and Stafford Brothers have been added to the line-up. ’Tis going to be a beauty indeed! Limited edition early bird tickets, at a discounted price, are now on sale at ticketmaster.com.au.

DIRTY DEEDS

The lads from The Dirty Secrets will hit the touring circuit this September to launch their brand spanking new single All Over The World. Featuring a blend of psychedelia with indie pop, All Over The World is set to go gangbusters when it’s launched at Amplifier on Saturday, September 11. To have an early listen, head to thedirtysecrets.com.

SCHOOL’S OUT

Student bands from all over Perth will lock horns at the National Campus Band Competition next month. The competition has been running for over 20 years and previous winners include Eskimo Joe, Jebediah and The Vasco Era. The WA semi finals will take place on Wednesday, September 8; Friday, September 10; and Saturday, September 11, at the Swan Basement in Fremantle. The winner of the State Final receives $500 cash, $1,500 voucher from Kosmic Sound and a spot in the National Final.

QUARRY, BE HAPPY

The folks behind Live At The Quarry have decided that their 2010 line-up, which already features Lisa Mitchell, John Williamson, Clare Bowditch, Mark Seymour and James Reyne, needs another act to top it all off, so they’ve booked Lior for a very special show on Wednesday, November 17. Taking place at the Quarry Amphitheatre in City Beach, the Live At The Quarry season will see big name acts take to the stage under the stars to enchant Perth audiences, kicking off on Wednesday, November 10, with a show by Lisa Mitchell. Since tickets for Mark Seymour and James Reyne’s concert on Thursday, January 27, have sold out, organisers have arranged for the lads to take to the stage again on Friday, January 28, with tickets on sale now from Ticketmaster. For the full rundown on what’s on and when, head to liveatthequarry.com.au.

SHE’S SO HARD

Indie popsters The Jezabels have been jangling away in Oceanic Studios in Sydney, putting the finishing touches to their latest EP Dark Storm. It is the final album in an EP trilogy (released on October 1) and follows The Man Is Dead and She’s So Hard. The east coasters will be bringing their mottled dresses and mufflers to Freo in September, playing Mojo’s Bar on Friday, September 24.

Pre-sale tickets are available from thejezabels.com or heatseeker.com.au. Doors open 8pm.

CASIO A GO GO

Dubbed as the “James Brown of the Casio”, Chico Mann is a musical time machine who merges the sounds of 1970s Afrobeat, 1980s freestyle and Afro Cuban music. Chico grew up in New York, where his father owned a Latin record label in Hell’s Kitchen. Ignoring his father’s advice to stay out of the music industry, he ploughed ahead, forging a successful career in Latin-electro fusion. And lucky us, he will play with his trio at The Bakery in Perth on Friday, September 24. Tickets are available pre-sale from heatseeker.com.au and on the door on the night.

ROBBED OF LAUGHS

You’ve seen him in Water Boy, Big Daddy and Deuce Bigalow, and this November, fans of Rob Schneider can catch him performing in the flesh at His Majesty’s Theatre. Known for his crazy characters that often pop up in Adam Sandler films, Schneider is an Emmy-nominated actor and comedian, who will embark on his first ever stand-up tour of Australia later this year. Hot on the heels of the release of his first comedy album, Registered Offender, Schneider will make his way to the land down under to tickle our funny bones Schneider style. Tickets for his Sunday, November 28, show go on sale at 9am on Thursday, September 2, from BOCS.

HEAVY LIFTING

Get ready Perth because a brand new festival is about to hit our shores and it’s a doozy. The No Sleep Til Perth concert will invade Arena Joondalup on Sunday, December 12, with sets by some of heavy music’s biggest names. Headlining the festival will be thrash act Megadeth, who have promised to play Rust In Peace in its entirety. Joining Megadeth will be punk rockers NOFX, Dropkick Murphys, Parkway Drive, Gwar, Alkaline Trio, Katatonia, Frenzal Rhomb, Me First And The Gimme Gimmes, 3 Inches Of Blood, Suicide Silence, August Burns Red, We Came As Romans, House Vs Hurricane, Break Even, Heroes For Hire, Confession, Antagonist Ad, The Outsiders, Shitripper and Leeches. Tickets for this massive festival go on sale on Thursday, September 9, from ticketmaster.com.au. Get some rest…

FANGS VERY MUCH

When you hear the word ‘twilight’ these days chances are your mind will conjure up an image of an angsty teen in a volatile relationship with a vampire. But it’s time to change your thinking patterns because One Movement For Music has just announced a special Twilight Festival. With naught a pair of vampire fangs in sight, the Twilight Festival will take over The Esplanade on Friday, October 8, from 5pm for a concert under the stars with some of music’s biggest names. And bringing the song will be Canadian songstress Sarah McLachlan, Court Yard Hounds (starring members of country superstars Dixie Chicks), Paul Kelly, Kate Miller-Heidke, Pink Martini, Lil’ Band O’ Gold, Mama Kin and Kadangyan. To get the full rundown on all things One Movement, and to secure your tickets for the Twilight Festival, jump online to onemovementmusic.com.

HERE COMES THE SUN

Cirque du Soleil - the acrobatic show that revolutionised Las Vegas entertainment – is returning to Australia. The troupe will perform Saltimbanco, one of the most company’s best known and loved shows in a nationwide tour.
The show promises to be a spectacular production, showcasing awe-inspiring agility and artistry. You can catch Cirque du Soleil in Perth at Challenge Stadium, from Thursday, April 21, 2011. Tickets go on sale nationally on Monday, October 18. For more information visit cirquedusoleil.com.

U WHO?

The global rock juggernaut U2 is coming to Perth! Yes, you have read correctly – the Irish lads and rock’n’roll legends will be rolling in on Saturday, December 18, for what will surely be the biggest gig of the year at Subiaco Oval, as part of their 360° world tour. It is the first time the band has rocked Perth since the Popmart tour in 1998. As usual the band have a NASA-scale budget for their live show, which will feature a 150 feet steel structure, rotating bridges and a cylindrical video system of interlocking LED panels. That Bono – he does love building bridges. And in other big news, they’ll be accompanied by Mr Suave himself JAY-Z. Tickets for the rock’n’roll (and R&B) circus go on sale on Friday, September 3, with prices starting at $39.90 (hoorah for honest ticket prices). For full details of vendors and prices head to u2.com.

The word ‘safe’ is too often coupled with Australia: a safe country, a safe bet for investment and a safe and stable society. Indeed, we’ve been playing it safe since Federation in 1901, when a limp union was cobbled together and Australia so courteously came into being.

We pride ourselves on being a straight shootin’ bunch, devoid of the unnecessary complexities that plague many European societies. A country where you call a bucket a bogger, and do so in the politest of manners. A country where certain things are just the way they are, and there’s no need to bloody question them – like a Sunday roast at mum’s, and orderly waiting in the queue to buy your midweek Lotto ticket. A country where you either vote Liberal or Labor, but you’re still a nice bloke or sheila either way.

Similarly, our political system has operated under a squeaky clean set of gentlemanly conventions – a system where the Prime Minister sits on top, the Governor General takes a ceremonial back seat and the house is overlorded by two parties, and two parties alone!

Well, by golly we’ve gone and shoved a firecracker up that one haven’t we! We’ve gone and got ourselves in a right pickle and no one – not even the Governor General – knows where they stand, or how to get us out of the mess. It’s like everyone turned up for the chook raffle and the unthinkable has happened and two people have the same number. What to do now? You can’t exactly cut the chicken in half…

What the 2010 federal election has exposed is something most would much prefer to deny: that beneath our polished veneer, Australia is a far more complex country than we care to admit. Like the European experience, cracks are beginning to show in a system whose cogs of convention are rusty and are in need of replacement.
The rise of the Greens, the re-emergence of the Nationals, the move to independents and the epic defection away from the ruling ALP are all clear signs that people are sick to death of the dull politeness that’s plagued this country for a century. We are no longer that predictable little sun soaked island way down there. We’re much deeper and complex than that, right down to what we eat, what we think and how we vote. It’s time to seize this momentous opportunity – we have a country to reinvent.

_JULIAN TOMPKIN

SWING LOW

And The Bakery announcements have already begun! Minnesota indie-rock gods Low bring their mesmerising slowcore sounds to the venue in late October. Famed for their sonically intense sound, Drums And Guns – the band’s latest album – features minimalist drum loops working alongside subtle melody. The Perth show will see the band perform material from across their entire catalogue, with local support from Erasers and Schvendes. Saturday, October 23, The Bakery, Northbridge. Tickets are $44 plus booking fee from 78 Records, Mills Records, Planet Video and nowbaking.com.au. Doors open 8pm.

TALKING TREE

Helmed by Perth producer Sue Taylor and French filmmaker Julie Bertucelli (Since Otar Left) and based on an Aussie book, The Tree recently closed the 2010 Cannes Film Festival to a standing ovation. The Tree tells the story of a young girl who becomes convinced her dead father is whispering to her through the leaves of a Morton Bay fig tree on the family property.

SOUNDS OF THE SOUTH

If you like the sound of performing alongside Interpol, Klaxons, Joan Jett, Eskimo Joe and Birds Of Tokyo at Southbound 2011, then you should register your band today with Sonicbids.com. All you need to do is upload your band’s tracks to Sonicbids before Friday, October 29, to be in the running to win a highly coveted spot at Southbound. The winners will be announced on Thursday, November 11, and will join the many big acts at Sir Stewart Bovell Park in Busselton from Saturday, January 1, ’til Monday, January 3.

LLAMA LIVE

Welcome to Llama Live – the latest addition to the local live music landscape. A weekly showcase of the crème of the scene from Perth and beyond, every Thursday will see a new handpicked selection of bands from ’80s synth pop to dance punk and everything in between. Drinks, tapas, music and you – the ultimate weekend warm up at the Llama Bar, Subiaco every Thursday night. It all kicks off on Thursday, September 2, with Good Little Fox and Resort. And throughout the rest of September catch Sneaky Weasel Gang, The Brow Horn Orchestra, Brash & Sassy, and The Domnicks, featuring Dom Mariani and Nick Shepherd. $10 entry or $20 for table seating (including a drink). Free entry before 7.30pm.