Archive for January 2009
After the second time of climbing the hill I’m officially over it and it’s time to consider using the ski lifts, which are now in operation.
The reformed Primitive Calculators sound like a band that has only played once in almost 30 years (a warm up Melbourne show a few days earlier), with an initial sense of uncertainty emanating from those on stage, not helped by some technical issues. When they start playing it’s hard to tell whether they are a serious band or a joke band, whether they are amazing or just plain terrible. But with a combination of good humoured self-deprecation, some fine tuning of the sound and an increase in the volume from the speakers it all suddenly comes together beautifully, leaving no doubt that even after 30 years age and countless musical trends their impact hasn’t diminished.  It does make you think about just how good it must have sounded at their small club warm-up show and what it must have felt like to have seen this band back in the late 1970s. Having been asked to play and talked up by Nick Cave, as having made a massive impression on him when he saw them play in Melbourne thirty years ago, both he and Warren Ellis watch from the side of the stage.
 
James Blood Ulmer brings another change in musical style and pace back down at the Amphitheatre stage, one man and his guitar simply playing the blues. He’s got a music stand to help him out, an item that makes a regular appearance over the course of the festival, showing that even ageing musicians with a life-time of playing need a bit of help remembering the words. I’m stood next to Bill Callahan as we watch and am tempted to ask why he’s not playing in Brisbane on this tour, but it seems a bit rude to ask, even if he is playing four shows in Sydney.Â
A surprise to just about no one is that the ’mystery’ act are Grinderman. Although it always seemed on the cards that it would be them, I had been secretly hoping that it would turn out to the The Triffids, playing a warm up for their upcoming Leonard Cohen support slot and one-off Melbourne gig, but I guess that ATP needs to hold back some classic Australian bands for next year’s line-up. The more optimistic were hedging on a Mt Buller appearance by Kylie, and whilst I think she is still in the country, relaxing after her December tour, it always seemed like that was going to be a real long shot. A shame, as she could have done 45 minutes of ‘Indie Kylie‘ and cemented a legendary status upon ATP Mt Buller in its first year. Maybe ATP are also saving her for next year…Â
Despite allegedly having a new album in the works, Grinderman stick to songs from their first album, with Nick Cave still needing to have the lyrics to the songs on a music stand to help him out. They come out with all cylinders firing, the fervour of a band that has been waiting impatiently in the wings all day. Although all the photographers have had to sign a contract for Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds which restricts the time in the photo pit to the first song, nothing has been signed for Grinderman, and no one knows whether we’ll be able to stay for the standard three songs. However, our worst fears are realised as they finish ‘Depth Charge Ethel‘ and launch straight into ‘Get It On’ and we are escorted from the pit. Photographing in daylight does make it easier to get some good shots but with only one song it still feels like too much of a rush.Â
It feels like the only way to alleviate the disappointment of only getting one song in the photo pit is to go on the ski lift and cunningly use the trip to get some aerial shots of Grinderman as I pass by the stage. Not being too good with heights, the initial lurch away from the station and into the open air is slightly terrifying, not helped by the realisation that the bar holding you in is there largely for show. But it doesn’t take long for fear to be replaced by exhilaration as, with camera primed, the chair advances towards the stage. But in photography time is everything and I’ve managed to perfectly time my ride so that the optimum position for photographing the stage coincides with the end of the song, everyone stopping playing and roadies on stage to help out with changes in guitars. So at the bottom of the hill I decide to stay on the lift, along with most of the others who have travelled down, much to the annoyance of the ski lift operators, who are obviously bored of telling the same people ”one more time, then you HAVE to get off”, and the queue of people trying to avoid the walk up the hill. Photographing the stage from the ski lift going back up the hill involves a small degree of contortion to face backwards, making it feel even less likely that the safety barrier is going to stop you from falling out. Photographing moving away from the stage is harder than on the trip down the hill and at the top I’m not sure if I’ve really got anything but although tempted to stay on the lift for another round-trip decide to go and watch the rest of Grinderman’s set. They end with a ferocious ‘No Pussy Blues‘ which makes you wonder how they are going to top that for their second album.
Back at the bottom the hill The Necks are playing minimal jazz. I keep waiting for something to happen, something to start, something to change, some build-up into a crescendo but nothing does before I get bored of photographing musicians who have spent the last ten minutes with their eyes shut. It never gets above being anything but background music, but maybe that’s the point and you need to disassociate the music from the performance, relax on the grass and take in the vistas and setting sun.
Â
As the day moves into early evening it’s begins to get a bit colder, although I’m still surprised at the amount of people already wearing big coats, hats and scarves; it’s not THAT cold. I make use of having some free time before Fuck Buttons and being near the ski lodge to go and download my memory cards onto my laptop, realising back there that the reason I’m not feeling the cold might be due to sunburn…
Downloading takes longer than expected, although this is due in part to also having a couple of drinks, so I end up missing the start of Fuck Buttons. Security in the photo pit has been fairly lax during the day, with no enforcement of the three song rule, so they don’t seem that perturbed by my late showing. Fuck Buttons are boring to photo from the pit, as you can’t see anything that they’re doing, and the photos are essentially two guys stood at a table.  Musically it sounds like Playstation game tunes from the 1990s, something that might have been used on the soundtrack to Wipeout. As with Dead Meadow, it feels like their set is too early for them and too early for us. A later set, ideally one after sunset, would have at least meant the benefit of some sort of light show and the possibility of some more interesting photos.
More ATP Mt Buller photos on flickr.
Waking up in Merrijig the first thing you notice is that even at the bottom of the mountain it’s cold enough to make getting out of bed a struggle. But once that’s been achieved and some breakfast eaten it’s a short and scenic 20 minute drive back up the mountain. After dropping my stuff off at the Corio Ski Lodge the first thing to do is sort out my photo pass, which happens effortlessly for once and with confirmation of the ‘mystery’ act, not that it was ever much of a mystery. I also find out that if I had stayed on the mountain the previous night I could have caught (and been able to photograph) Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and The Saints sound-checking, as well as a secret midnight show from The Stabs in the ABOM building, and the opportunity to try and gate-crash Nick Cave’s welcoming BBQ…
The first band of the weekend are The Holy Sea, and it’s a nice chilled start to the festival, with the ever growing numbers joining those already relaxing around the natural amphitheatre that surround the stage. The band have an air of The Triffids to them and looking through the ATP program it’s no surprise to find that they are also from Perth. Their influences are confirmed when they cover ‘Raining Pleasure‘, which with Texas Tea also recently covering it for their second album. ‘The Junkship Recordings‘, obviously makes it the current Triffids song of choice. Although it’s a good song, and both The Holy Sea’s and Texas Tea’s versions are fairly faithful covers, it does feel like a bit of a missed opportunity to cover one of the many classic David McComb songs, although maybe they are considered too much of a musical holy grail to cover and do justice to.
Second band on the Amphitheatre Stage are Hoss, who turn out, not very surprisingly and to great relief, to not be the American hip hop band with the same name that has been playing on the ATP Australia last.fm radio station that has been much listened to in the days leading up to the festival. Instead there’s an instant change from the acoustic-based, melodic and lyrical Holy Sea’s set to a much grittier and heavier punk sound.  For the few songs I see, it’s a bit average and unengaging, but largely harmless.
 
Next it’s a walk up the hill to the Bourke Street stage, for the first band on the festival’s main stage, the much talked-about Dead Meadow. The hill is deceptive as from the bottom it doesn’t (a) look that far, and (b) look that steep but it really takes it out of you, with an unhappy realisation at the top that it’s just the first ascent of many that is likely to be done over the course of the next two days.Â
 
Dead Meadow are a band that you could probably guess what they’re going to sound like as soon as you see them and before they play a single note; they’re possibly three people of the most pallid and anaemic-looking people that you’ll ever see, an even more astonishing observation considering that they’re from LA, hinting at a lifestyle that doesn’t include much time spent outside, and the drummer, with his centre-parted golden locks and dodgy moustache, looks like he’s travelled in time from 1970. So their brand of stoner/psychedelic rock is no surprise to the uninitiated. However, it just feels a bit too early in the day for them and for us, and by all accounts their second set of the festival, inside on the ABOM stage early the following evening, is a much more fitting time and place (as is their excellent ATP show at the Brisbane Powerhouse the following week).
Although it’s only been about 15 months since I last saw Bill Callahan play, I don’t actually recognise him when he comes out onto the stage, and somewhat embarrassingly don’t recognise him to the point of taking photos of Mick Turner, only realising my mistake when Bill walks up to his microphone and starts singing. In those 15 months since the show at the Troubadour he’s grown his hair and a bit of a beard and has turned into Edder Vedder… In addition to having Mick Turner on guitar, he’s also by Jim White on drums, and whilst the band is under-rehearsed, with Bill Callahan leading the others through the changes, it doesn’t matter as you can just close your eyes and listen his rich and soothing voice, with ‘Diamond Dancer‘ and ‘Cold Blooded Old Times‘ being amongst the highlights.
Mick Turner, easily mistakable for Bill Callahan c.2007…
Melbourne all-female super-group Beaches have been garnering column inches in the music media and receiving very favourable reviews for their debut album over the last few months but are disappointing and largely unremarkable during the few songs that I see.  They are the type of band that no one would pay any attention to if they came from Brisbane, even if they had an all-female line-up, and seem a bit undeserving of the hype.
More ATP Mt Buller photos on flickr.
Saturday was probably an even better day than Friday. Here’s a quick round-up. Time to start going through all the photos in a bit more detail now and to try to remember all the things that happened over the weekend, a tall order all things considered. I probably should have taken some notes as I went but will see how much I can piece together from my own memory and the various message boards.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Spiritualized
Laughing Clowns
Rowland S Howard
Harmonia
Robert Forster
Michael Gira
Afrirampo
Small Knives
Bridezilla
The Stabs
Hunter Dienna
Back in Brisbane after an amazing weekend at Mt Buller. I had planned on doing a quick round-up of Friday yesterday but the internet place on the mountain wasn’t letting me upload. So here’s some stuff from Friday and hopefully I’ll be able to do a quick round up of Saturday’s events tomorrow, before I get started on going through all the photos and writing some more detailed blogs.
The Saints
Dirty Three
Silver Apples
Fuck Buttons
The Necks
Grinderman
James Blood Ulmer
Primitive Calculators
Beaches
Bill Callahan
Dead Meadow
Hoss
The Holy Sea
It’s always about the sex, the drugs, the glamour, the romance. It’s never about getting up at 4:15am to get to the airport to get the plane down to Melbourne. The taxi comes at 4:45am and it’s a quiet ride, everyone in a state of still being half-asleep combined with early morning grumpiness. But gradually after some food and coffee and with the onset of daylight everyone begins to wake up, although this is then followed up by more sleep on the plane.
Everything goes better than expected when we get to Melbourne; baggage is first out on the conveyor, car hire is speedily sorted and within no time at all we’re on our way. Stop for a quick unhealthy breakfast at Hungry Jacks and then a mix of ATP-related CDs accompanies us all the way to Mansfield, where we make a final stop for lunch and to pick up last minute food and drink supplies for the weekend.
The road wind its way up the mountain until the first checkpoint, where tickets are exchanged for wristbands and festival programs are dispensed. In theory we are supposed to stop and park at the second checkpoint and get a shuttle bus to the village, but as we are there so early and as I’m only dropping Michael and Annie at their accommodation for the weekend before coming back down the mountain for tonight before returning tomorrow to stay Friday and Saturday nights, I’m waved through. Once your above the treeline and can appreciate the unrestricted views, you really get to see what a spectacular location this is, certainly better than Butlins in Minehead, one of the venues ATP uses in the UK, and a more impressive locality than the Riverstage, where the main Brisbane leg of the Australian ATP is being held.
Although the excitement of the festival has been building over the week, actually seeing the site takes it to a whole new level. And It’s not just the physical location, it’s also the realisation that it’s going to be a 2-day festival without the usual camping ‘experience’; one without tents, mud and portaloos, where you can sleep in a decent bed and pop back to you room at anytime for food, drink, sleep, all the luxuries that you don’t get in a tent at a festival. In addition, having the accommodation inside the venue, a couple minutes walk from the stages means that I don’t have to pack everything and then carry it all around for the day and I can set up my laptop with some degree of safety and download photos and edit as I go in relative comfort. Whilst ATP’s demographic is undoubtedly a more affluent, older and call it musically-elitist, call it musically-refined crowd, and there are probably people who would say that not camping would take away a major part of the vibe of a music festival experience, it just seems a more civilised way of seeing some bands over two days, rather than the endurance test you get living under canvas. And having experienced the rain, mud and general carnage of Glastonbury in 1997, 1998 and 2005 it can’t be a bad thing.
After the exhilaration of the top of the mountain, it’s a reflective and meandering drive back down the mountain to the Merrijig Motor Inn, my home for the night.
I can’t wait to get back up the mountain tomorrow and until the music actually starts. More words and photos over the next few days.
Mt Buller, proudly brought to you by Holden
Main Stage
2nd Stage
Ironic billboard. Chris Bailey pictured right…
The drive up the mountain
Festival With A View
Censored ATP poster in Country Victoria
When you’ve got a new camera to test out for the first time, there has to be no better place to take it into battle than the original scene of the crime, every Brisbane photographer’s favourite venue, the black hole that sucks all the light out of the universe, The Troubadour, where MereNoise were holding their Xmas Party, featuring The Horrortones, The DZ annd Butcher Birds. There was also an advantage in that it wasn’t an assigned shoot and knowing most of the bands and having photographed them plenty of times previously, there was no pressure whatsoever, allowing me to play around with settings and try to get used to using my new toy.Â
Having bought the camera, the first thing I did as soon as the battery was charged was download and install the v4 firmware which was released by Sony on September 2008. Amongst other things, this is supposed to have improved the high ISO quality and also allows the in-camera noise redcution to be turned off (as opposed to the ‘low’ setting that was the minimum in the previous versions of the camera’s software) meaning that the much criticised ‘watercolour’ effects at higher ISOs can be avoided.Â
In addition to getting used to physically using a new camera and its settings, I found that the learning curve has also extended to post-production. The Sony a700 has a different noise structure and saturation compared to my old Minolta 5D, so most of the playing around in post was trying different ways of processing the photos to try to optimise a modified workflow to get the best out of the camera. I was also keen to try and maintain shots in colour, as previously I would have just coverted everything taken at The Troubadour to mototone. As I worked through the photos I think the quality of the final images improved, so by the end I was tempted to go back and re-do most of the photos.
Overall I was pretty happy with the first run-out, especially as the gig followed my work Xmas lunch and an afternoon spent in the pub… I started at my usual ISO800 setting, but was soon playing around with taking photos at 1600, 3200 and 6400. Image quality at 1600 is very good, 3200 is more than usable, and although 6400 isn’t great, it’s more than comparable to ISO1600 on the old Minolta. Still some work to be done I think, as JPEG quality is probably even smoother than the processed RAW files but hopefully we’ll get there soon. Looking forward to testing it out at a venue that isn’t The Troubadour, and has a bit more light, to see how it handles at my typical ISO800 setting.
Some more photos on flickr.
Butcher Birds at ISO6400 on the Sony a700Â
For comparison – Jeremy Jay at ISO1600 on the Minolta 5D
ISO 3200
The DZ (all DZ photos at ISO 1600)
The Horrortones (at ISO 1600)
Â
The law of diminishing returns in the music industry shows, especially in more recent years when the record companies have demanded immediate success and have been less likely to allow a band to develop over a number of albums, that however well your debut album is received, the follow up is unlikely to match the sales and positive reviews of your debut, with column inches for further releases decreasing, no matter how good the album might be, until reviews are largely token 200 word efforts, with an obligatory 3-star rating, and you’re only really playing to the already converted. Now onto their fourth album, ‘HeadStunts‘, The Datsuns seem to be well entrenched in this territory, with a quarter full Zoo showing a notable reduction in numbers from their last show at the venue back in 2006. It’s a real shame as they remain a really great, little live band, playing a style of garage rock that never quite goes out of fashion, but just gets done by younger bands who hog the attentions of the music press for their turn of 15 minutes in the limelight.
This was the third time I’ve photographed the band. The November 2006 show at The Zoo resulted in this not particularly good photo ending up as my first photo published in Rave.
 
And their Camden Buzzard show back in London in June 2005, when I was still photographing with film, resulted in one of my own personal favourite photos from the year.
In keeping with recent experience at The Zoo the lighting was particularly poor, with none of the cans at the front of the stage being turned on during their set and all the lighting coming from the back and side, so it was another disappointing and frustrating photographic experience at the venue.
Black Diamond Heavies, another blues-rock two-piece but with drums and keys, supported but although they played with a lot of passion it was a largely unremarkable set and the band just aren’t in the same league as other similar two pieces that are around, such as The Black Keys, who still remain the leading proponents of the whole drums+guitar genre, and The Mess Hall.
Some more photos on flickr.
The Datsuns
Â
Black Diamond Heavies
