we come from garageland entry #1

weekend of 16, 17 and 18 february, 2007

wow! this past weekend was really great for local music and film! on friday february 16 target="_blank">we played with some fantastic bands; life off (it was their first gig - i think they're my new favourite band), yes nukes, deaf! deaf! (melb), always (recently moved to sydney from melbourne) and lakes (melb).

it was an early show at the aviary in newtown which is a house full of kidz that put on shows in their lounge room (?). it's a great space to play, mainly because it's so small - if there were 20 people there you'd playing to a full house (there were more than 20 people there tonight)!

i think that because it's in a lounge room it just feels like a house party, which is a super-nice environment to play in, and especially to see bands in. shaun from deaf! deaf! (as well as young romantix make love) had organised it as part of their nsw 'tour,' and it was one helluva fun night.

life off! wow! featuring tully (no news), angie (kiosk, the straight arrows) and chris (yes nukes, robert zimmerman), their no wave musings blew me away. they have only written three songs to date, but these three songs were enough to make me totally excited, and craving more. life off are fucking amazing, keep an eye on them for sure.

yes nukes were next, whom have recently lost their synth and acquired a bass player by the name of shelagh. this move has made their great songs sound 500% better, and basically just completed what was already a fantastic band.

yes nukes recently decided that the easiest way to have a good set is to turn their amps up as loud as possible, which they put into effect tonight. chris managed to bleed all over my drum kit too, which was a bit special! splattered snare! burst ear drums! so punk rock.

the new sound has added a definite grunge to yes nukes, which i can only assume was their intention. i strongly recommend checking them out.

we played next, and played for way longer than we thought we would (or should!). there was a small crowd that managed to fill the room, so the energy was great. i hadn't eaten anything and was pretty drunk by the time i got on the drums, and am pretty sure that i was super-sloppy. kat's drumming on the other hand gets so much better with every gig, it blows me away, and dice's voice just becomes more and more booming and melodic each time as well; me thinks we gotta write some songs that really show that off.

i dig deaf! deaf! though i feel that in some spaces they'll get a less-than-positive response. that will be the audience's loss though, and i'm sure they don't mind if you hate them. a good show for deaf! deaf! doesn't have to include adoration from the crowd, or even its interest. their post-punk sets border on self-indulgence, but its really just their nervous energy. noisy stuff, crammed with sax, keys, minimal drum set up, loud guitar and bass thwhacked with drum sticks - if you've seen young romantix, it's actually quite similar, but tighter - and i use the word loosely. basically, it's good fun punk.

always was next, standing on an amp and still not managing to tower over the crowd too much. i enjoyed his set immensely, as i always do. a capella, two microphones, two delay pedals and a floor tom.. somehow he manages to write not only great songs, but some of the catchiest tunes i've ever heard. the sing along power of his set is incredible, and if you haven't seen him, promise me that you will. (alex vivian, or always, is also in a duo called hysterical pregnancy with kiosk's jack mannix, check out their tape, youth onn acyd, for some punk nursery rhymes!)

ahhhhhh, the closer to this wonderful night was lakes, another solo genius. armed with a tape deck, effects, drum loops and more, lakes, aka sean bailey, is astonishing. i wonder if i didn't know all of the songs so well if i would get as much out of it - it truly is chaotic, a kind of half hour sonic blast, but one not to be missed. as at most lakes shows that i've seen, sean was convinced to do an encore, something that is relatively rare at most house gigs.

there are a number of lakes releases available on sean's own label inverted crux, we have them at chooch-a-bahn if you'd like to pick some up, or you can contact him/order some directly at lispering.com/invertedcrux.

we followed this gig with a beach party at lady jane beach which was really nice, but ended up being way too late! t'was well worth it though...

the next stop of the deaf! deaf! tour was chooch-a-bahn on saturday february 17. chooch-a->bahn is an all ages event that a few friends of mine (kat from say cheese and die!, and lucy and mathew from naked on the vague) and i put on every month at lanfranchi's, which is a great ari in chippendale. along for the ride tonight was batrider (melb), scul hazzards (bris), and sydney's yes nukes.

yes nukes should never open a show again, they truly deserve a better placing. as i have pretty much spelled out above, they are awesome. a-w-e-s-o-m-e. chris was particularly funny tonight, even doing an always cover; a capella and all.

as with the night before, shaun from deaf! deaf! sang national rat school with them, which was definitely a highlight.

deaf! deaf! were a bit, um, happier (?) with themselves tonight it seemed. they had some keyboard trouble the night before which i think threw them off, but tonight they were their own, and they were clearly digging it. we couldn't get the delay to work for the vocals, so i suppose that it was a little less cluttered too - i enjoyed the set more tonight, for sure.

brisbane's scul hazzards are lovely, and we'd helped them out getting shows on friday and sunday and a place to stay, so i think they were particularly grateful. they're a three piece - guitar, bass and drums - and pretty much play straight up grunge (even covering nirvana's scentless apprentice). we were having vocal level trouble and steven, the singer, said that he'd prefer the vocals not to be too loud anyway - i think that i would have preferred them louder than they were, just for some more texture.

the ep that these dudes released last year (house of heads through valve) is good and sludgy, with great production (recorded by steven i believe); live it came across differently to the recording. great drummer, one of the loudest i think i've seen at lanfranchi's in a while.

finishing up the february chooch-a-bahn was new zealand-via-melbourne 4 piece batrider. i'm a really big fan of this band, especially live. they are captivating, and while the crowd had diminished a bit earlier, a second wave had arrived just in time for their set.

the vocal level problem was fixed by now too, and everyone got to properly enjoy sarah's vocal strength. the band is really tight, and just have great songs. i don't think that their recordings so far have done them justice, so try and get along to one of their shows; they come to sydney quite regularly, and are well worth it. really nice people too, and are managed by sam from no promo, a great little label from melbourne.

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there was also a show at the pitz in marrickville on saturday that i couldn't make it to featuring hiss, pure evil trio, wok, ahkmed and fattura de la morte. i heard that it was rad, so if anyone would like to add a review here, please let us know.

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all music'd out, especially after going to a beach party after the friday show and a rave at sydney park after the saturday one, i was glad that sunday brought with it the 7 the annual squatfest. 7th! that's so amazing!

squatfest is a film festival held in a secret squatted venue on the same night as sony tropfest (because tropfest sux corporate cock!), showcasing films by local, interstate and international artists and activists. in other words, a much, much more productive, enjoyable, and worthy film festival than tropfest ever was, let alone what it has become.

this year's squatfest was held at the wedding circle in chippendale, an ex-ari. the resident artists there were kicked out last may to make way for apartments (just what chippendale needs).

the films tonight were great - totally enjoyable. as much as the charm of squatfest is the dodgyness and the thrown-togetherness, there were some high-quality flicks this year, and i don't think that's such a bad thing. there were so many films submitted that the organisers (the amazing squatspace collective) decided to hold another night of screenings so that they could all be played. stay tuned to we come from garageland, watch squatspace.com, or watch this blog to find out more.

i had a little bit of a problem with the judging of this year's festival (not with the judges), namely the fact that there were judges (how many times can i write judges?)! in previous years, they have relied on audience response alone, and although that was taken into consideration by the judges (damn!), i felt that having judges (ok, last one) at all took some of the magic away from the festival.



now it's monday, and i'm tre-sleepy. i shall go now, please get in touch if you have any questions.

xxkurt