Tonight is one of those shows that you feel very privileged to be at; getting to spend in evening with one of modern music’s greats in intimate surrounding with only 100 other people (somewhat bizarrely including Peaches, who had been DJ-ing downstairs as part of the Frankly Festival).

Having been to The Powerhouse plenty of times before but never to anything at the venue’s Roof Terrace before, it really is an underused space, although I guess the layout of might prove difficult if you were trying to put on a more traditional gig.  The set up for tonight has Van Dyke Parks playing almost in the round, or at least as much ‘in the round’ you can have in a small room, with a double bassist and guitarist accompanying him as he plays on a baby grand piano.  Being a baby grand, there’s obviously issues with sight-lines for photographing so I stake a claim on some space against the wall that gives me a fairly good side on view, only to find that when the double bassist picks up his bass that he almost completely blocks my view.  It then becomes a case of largely having to wait until the breaks between songs to take some photos.  Being such a small venue and a performance where you could hear a pin drop (such a nice change from the annoying levels of chatter you get everywhere else) I’m more than aware of the sound of my camera shutter and so don’t take many photos.

Music photography does a lot to destroy your love of live music; when you have a camera you’re concentrating so much on taking photos that the music often completely drifts over you, and when you don’t have a camera you just get fidgety, wishing you had one and mentally noting moments when “that would have made a great shot”.  But tonight is so exquisite and so much more than a normal gig that it’s easy to sit back, not worry about the photos (and lack of) and just really enjoy the music and all of Van Dyke Park’s anecdotes – he is a wonderful story teller and considering everything he’s done in the music world he has plenty of material to draw upon.

Having got in for free to cover the evening I go via the merch table at the end of the night.  Whereas I would normally buy CDs, as he’s got some photo books for sale, with photos inspired by his music, it seems obvious that I should get one of those as a memento of the night (and also of the last few days covering Big Sound where he was one of the keynote speakers) and get it signed by the great man.

A few more photos on Flickr.

I think tonight is supposed to be an all ages show but it seems more like the old school BYO shows that you used to get at 610 as dressed-up scenesters teenagers show their real class by drinking wine straight from the bottle.

Playing as a 9-piece tonight, Velociraptor take up more than half the room and at the start of their set there’s more of them in the room than there is people watching them, with the scenesters preferring to sit outside with their bottles of wine, well out of the way of the bands playing; they’re there to be seen, not watch bands.

In a way it’s hard not to find the band irritaing on first impressions; the abundance of very tight jeans and very pointy shoes instantly marks them as a scenester band, not particularly helped by their soundcheck, which for the most part involves the band members sneering ‘Nyyeeeaaaaahhhhhh’ into any microphone in the near vicinity, and not forgetting that they’ve got two drummers (both who play stood up) and a dedicated tambourine player.

But when the band actually starts all the pre-conceptions are forgotten. It’s raw, frenzied, happening right in your face, sweat dopping from the ceiling, unbounded fun; all the things rock ‘n’ roll is supposed to be about.  The best bit is probably when one of the five guitarists stacks it and takes out at least one of the microphones, just at the point in a song where there’s a 2 second break, and the rest of the band just continue as if nothing happened, whilst he’s there on the floor still playing.

The band have been making a buzz for a few months now and having experienced them it’s easy to see why.  Definitely one of Brisbane’s bands to watch in 2010.

A few more photos on Flickr.

Husker Du probably never got their fair dues and although they seem to be one of the few bands that haven’t jumped on the reunion bandwagon in recent times (other than for two songs as part of a benefit for Soul Asylum bassist Karl Mueller back in 2004), Bob Mould and Grant Hart seem to have never got over their animosity for each other and in all fairness they probably didn’t have the widespread appeal to make a reunion an all conquering and financial success.  They’re probably much more of a musicians band, evident by a lot of Brisbane musos in attendance for Grant Hart’s solo gig at The Troubadour tonight, including Robert Forster and various members of Screamfeeder, Halfway and Yves Klein Blue.

Although I prefer a lot of Grant Hart’s  Husker Du songs over Bob Mould’s, Copper Blue and Beaster by Bob Mould’s post-Husker Du band Sugar are still two of my favourite 1990s albums.  Copper Blue was NME’s Album Of The Year in 1992, rated above some fairly notable other albums released that year, although it feels like it’s one of those albums that has been lost to the masses through the ongoing celebration of all things Seattle from that period.

When Grant Hart slips quietly onto the stage and starts playing tonight you can’t help but wonder if it’s going to be a repeat of Evan Dando’s gig at The Zoo last year, with him machine-gunning through his songs with little much in the way of conversation with the audience.  At the end of the first song he berates the people sat at the front for being sat down, and follows it up with “I’m a little curious” before playing Don’t Want To Know If You Are Lonely as the second song, something that gets a couple of girls straight down the front for a dance, although they vanish towards the back at the song’s end.  As well as the dancing there was much waving of hands in the air, something of an annoyance when trying to photograph and keep to a 3 song limit for good practice.

But the more the gig went on the more he really opened up, showing himself to be very affable and in good humour as well as being very sharp.  LOTS of Husker Du songs are played; something I guess you’d hope for and expect but something not always delivered by solo artists with new albums to promote and who want to leave the past well behind them.  But his new stuff fits in well with the back catalogue and there’s some great songs on his new album Hot Wax.  Playing solo, his heavy use of a phaser/flanger gives a number of songs a very psychedelic fee

He was due to start at 10:30pm but started a bit after this and didn’t finish up until after 12:20am, what I’d consider a REALLY late hour for a Wednesday night gig; not all of us are students, unemployed or work in media or music industry.  There’s much talk at the moment about the state government’s proposed move to make pubs and clubs shut down at 2am, which has raised the ire of a large number of people, the creation of the obligatory Facebook site (over 11,000 members at time of writing), and a call to march on state parliament in opposition to their plans (although it does bring a wry smile to my face that they’ve arranged the march to start at 4pm on a weekday when a large proportion of the population are going to be at work).

But, you know, until fairly recently pubs in England shut at 11 and most clubs did at 2 or 3am.  And it’s not like the UK is found wanting when it comes to drinking culture and music scenes.  The solution is pretty easy; go out earlier.  Go the Valley, even on a Friday or Saturday night and it’s not that busy at 8 or 9pm compared to what it’s like at 1am.  Go to a gig in London and it’ll be over by about 11pm; it has to be as everyone uses public transport and needs to get home.  Headline acts finish in the UK at the time that many of those at Australian gigs are starting.  Having been up since before 7am, often feeling tired and knowing that I have to also get up before 7am in the morning often makes going to see a band a lot less enjoyable than it should be.

To me, the recent Marianne Faithfull gig that was all over by 10pm on a Saturday night was great; it started at a sensible time (8pm, although admittedly there was no support) and ended at a sensible time and I had the option to stay out or not.  Likewise Ric’s having earlier shows (although to be honest set times at 7pm and 8pm probably is slightly too early) has to be a good thing; there have been plenty of bands play there over the last few years that I had planned to see but didn’t want to stay out all night and ended up being too settled to want to go out at 10pm on a weeknight to see.  Anyway feel free to comment.

A few more Grant Hart photos on Flickr.

Before heading off to the UK a couple of years ago, Scul Hazzards were one of my favourite bands to go and see in Brisbane.  Two years later some things have changed; Tif has gone blonde and Leigh has a massive beard.  And somethings never change; the band remain as tight as ever and the terrible lighting at The Step Inn.

Anyway, it’s good to have them back.  Some more photos on Flickr.

If there’s a good time to release a new album that’s been over five years in the making and play a gig launching the album, it’s probably not in the same week as your old band has announced a series of reunion gigs, more than ten years after you last played.  But this is where Spiral Stairs finds himself tonight, playing new songs to a crowd that would much rather be hearing Pavement songs and is probably more excited about the reunion than they are to hear his songs for the very first time.

You have to feel a bit sorry for him; from after the very first song people are calling out for Date With Ikea.  He plays it fairly early on, with a sly note that he won’t have to play that again, “at least not until next year”.  He make another subtle reference to the reunion later on and plays Two States at the end but other than that it’s all new songs, a smattering of Preston School of Industry songs and a couple of covers, although I can’t remember for the life of me what they were and Google isn’t being much help.  I’m pretty sure I read them somewhere but it must have been in Melbourne Street press the following week; whatever they were they were interesting covers of songs by classic Australian bands.  Maybe someone will come by and leave a comment.

Until then, there’s a few more photos on Flickr.

Went and caught a couple of shows when I was working down in Melbourne in September, including DZ’s Thursday night gig at the Birmingham Hotel on Johnston Street.  It’s always interesting to see how well Brisbane bands do when they go out of town.  For a while it looked like it might be a really tiny audience in attendence but by the time they started there was a reasonable crowd.

A couple of Melbourne bands supported; Mother & Father and Sharpie Crows.  My initial reaction to Sharpie Crows was that they sounded really awful but as their set went on I started to really like them; like a cross between Nick Cave and PIL, both of which are acquired tastes so they did pretty well to achieve that over the course of maybe 30 minutes.

The main support was the really terribly named Mother & Father.  The singer dressed like Kurt Cobain, had the same haircut as Kurt Cobain, had the same onstage mannerisms as Kurt Cobain, played a Fender Jaguar (like Kurt Cobain), sang like Kurt Cobain and the band sounded like Nirvana, with songs being a mix of loud distorted sections and quieter chourus-ed guitars.  I guess some people are really hanging their hopes on the grunge revival really taking off.

Unfortunately DZ didn’t bring the strobe light with them in their luggage, something that really adds to the enjoyment of watching their performance.  They play the standard set that they’ve been playing in Brisbane and go down well with the assembled crowd.  They also help their cause by buying a few jugs of beer to entice the audience to move forward to nearer the stage; a stroke of genius and something I can’t remember seeing before, despite the ongoing reluctance of audiences everywhere to stand anywhere near the front.

The show is the launch for their debut EP, DZ Ruined My Life and there’s a little merch display on the table by the door.  So it’s annoying to find at the end of the gig that whoever was manning the door/merch had already given up and packed up.  Surely the optimal time to get punters to part with their cash is straight after the show?  Writing this blog five months later in mid-February I still haven’t managed to get a copy of the EP; I keep checking in Brisbane’s record shops but to no avail.  So if anyone can point me in the right direction I’d greatfully appreciate it.

A few more photos on Flickr.

For a while tonight’s Marianne Faithfull show, the first of two at The Tivoli, didn’t look like it was going to happen as a reviewer interested in covering the show couldn’t be found, meaning that it’s a fairly last minute addition to my diary.

Looking around the venue, it’s a very mixed crowd; there’s obviously a lot more older folk than I normally see at most shows but also a surprising amount of fairly young people.  Best of all is the guy in front row centre aisle seat who has a massive green mohican; definitely something I wasn’t expecting at a Marianne Faithfull show.

Tonight’s photo instructions are to photograph from the far right hand side against the wall.  It’s a long way from the middle of the stage but worst of all is that there’s a music stand in the way.  And of course after the first three songs not only is there a change in lighting from a lot of red to a lot of pure white light, but she unhooks her mic from its stand and moves forward, providing a clear, unobstructed view.

Her tour is in support of  a new album of covers, Easy Come, Easy Go.  Whoever was responsible for the A&R and directing her to potential songs has a lot of good taste, although much of this is lost on the audience, with hardly a sign of recognition as she introduces songs by Neko Case and The Decemberists.  A mention of the name “Black Rebel Motorcycle Club” (whose song Salvation she covers) provides some amusement, but probably more at the absurdity of the band’s name rather than her story about being a founder member of the ‘Club’ as a result of her role in the 1968 film The Girl on a Motorcycle. She also plays older classics from the 60s and 70s, including As Tears Go By, Sister Morphine, Broken English and the previosuly banned in Australia Why D’Ya Do It?.

The show starts at 8pm, with no support act and is all over by 9:45pm, an exteremly rare event for a gig in Australia on a Saturday night.  Persosnally I think it’s a stoke of genius, as it’s gives the option to either stay out or head home.  In the end I decided to head home, with an early night meaning all the photos are edited and out the way by midnight.

A few more photos on Flickr.

Today’s gig is billed as a farewell show, I Heart Hiroshima’s last before drummer Susie heads to Berlin, with the band playing both of their albums in full over two separate sets.  It’s a Sunday afternoon all-ages show at The Powerhouse, and unlike the venue’s more typical Sunday shows, this time you’ve got to pay to get in, with a black curtain surrounding the Turbine Hall stage and wrist bands being checked at the bottom of the stairs.

It’s a brave move for a band with only two albums to their name to play them both in full, but it highlights a strong catalogue of songs, and the change between the first and second albums, with the songs on latest album ‘The Rip‘ , being more complex and showing the band’s maturity when it comes to songwriting.  If there is one weakness (and to me there is) it’s that the overall sound and the make-up of the songs doesn’t really change; the guitar sounds are untreated and don’t really vary in sound from song-to-song, and the male/female call-and-response vovals are ever present, although I guess ultimately that’s the IHH sound.  Each song more than stands up on their own, it’s just when almost their whole back catalogue is played that it really becomes noticeable.

Whether today’s farewell show is just a temporary hiatus or something more permanent depends on who you talk to in Brisbane.  It would be a shame if this were to be the end; it would be intersting where album No.3 takes them.  But if it is to be the end then it’s been a few fun years and they will be missed.

From a photographic point of view they’ve thrilled and frustrated in almost equal measures over the years; Susie is a photographer’s dream, Matthew and Cameron are less so, a lot less.  Today I only photograph the first five or songs in the first set, choosing to sit back, relax and enjoy the band.  My decision is greatly helped by a girl who spills her drink all over my camera bag whilst I’m photographing the first few songs; why, if someone spills a drink over your bag, does it always have to be on the padded side, so that it soaks up all the liquid, instead of the other side where it’s designed to be vaguely waterproof.  Even by the end of the show it is still soaked through, and as I had cycled to the venue it also ends up soaking through into my T-shirt on the ride back.  And of course the following day I go to work with a bag that very unsubtely reaks of stale beer, hoping that no one thinks I’m a tramp…

A few more photos on Flickr.

Apparently this was a really good gig; it just completely passed me by as I was still in Soundwave euphoria and having already photographed 23 bands that day, by Number 24 I was very much in autopilot mode.  It sounded nice enough; very old school 1980’s twee British indie but I was too busy rehydrating after a day in the sun with a couple pints of lemon, lime and bitters to go with the very-bad-of-me Mighty Angus meal from McDonalds (my first meal since a bacon sandwich for breakfast) I’d had on the walk up to The Zoo.  Not sure why but there was no review either in Rave or on their website, so you’ll just have to ask someone who was there and hadn’t been to Soundwave what it was like.

A few more photos on Flickr.