Although Sally Seltmann is the headliner tonight, it’s clear that Parades are the drawcard, with Seltmann playing to a much smaller audience than the main support act.

Whilst Parades are an interesting and intriguing band and have a lot of good things going for them, there’s something about them that just hard to actually like, although it’s hard to actually put your finger on what it is.  The genre description ‘Art Rock’ has been used with abandon in all the reviews of the band I’ve seen (both live and of their debut album Foreign Tapes), but whilst the tag has generally been used to apply to the likes of Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel, the sound of Parades has a lot more in common with the prog rock bands of the 1970s (amazingly, and more laughably, the band’s Wikipedia entry describes them as post-punk).  It’s best demonstrated in their song Loserspeak in New Tongue, the first single from the band and viewed by various music commentators as the definitive Parades song; a musical microcosm of what exemplifies the band. And yet in listening to it, the first thing I think of is 1970s cape-wearing, prog rockers Yes; it’s not necessarily the actual sound – the lack of keyboards and all the extended solos does for that – but it’s all the chord and the tempo changes and the changes in sound throughout the song.  And it’s a similar effect on Parades’ Dead Nationale, as well as their other songs.

I can’t help but think of early Yes songs like Yours Is No Disgrace and Roundabout.  Or maybe they’re just a couple of double-necked guitars, the world’s most ridiculous drum kit and a bass solo or two away from being Rush…

It’s interesting that intricacies and diversity of the songs has been so highly praised when these are the key attributes to 1970s prog rock bands be they Peter Gabriel era Genesis, the aforementioned Yes, King Crimson.  Looking at Wikipedia’s entry for progressive rock, Parades manage to tick all the boxes on the list of musical characteristics and yet I doubt there are many people praising the band who would admit to listening to, let alone having a copy of, albums like Fragile or Foxtrot in their collection.

And yet whilst has echoes of 1970s prog rock, it is an updated sound; as well as an obvious absence of never-ending keyboard solos, there’s also a strange 1980s sheen over their music.  It’s as if a prog rock band had formed a decade after the 1970s hey day and peaked around 1986.  Yes meets Once Upon A Time era Simple Minds if you will.  The presence of the female vocals, provided tonight (along with keyboard) by Little Scout’s Kirsty Tickle really adds to this.  Surprisingly Mess+Noise’s review of Foreign Tapes describes the album as ‘gender-less’, as to me, although there are female vocals throughout, they’re undeniably a very male-sounding band.  Maybe it’s because the female element in Parades isn’t an integral part of the core band, as opposed to a band like Songs, where, although Max Doyle’s voice is more prominent than Ela Stiles, the overall sound is more gender-neutral than the very ‘blokey’ sound of Parades.

In many ways, based on what’s in my record collection, it should be the sort of thing I should really like and yet it just hasn’t connected.  There’s definitely something there and yet there’s definitely something missing.  Maybe one or the other will become clearer in the fullness of time.

Surprisingly, despite the positive reviews of her new album (even Pitchfork getting in on the act), the Triple J playlisting, and having built herself a solid platform with her previous New Buffalo incarnation, The Zoo is far from full tonight and by the time Sally Seltmann starts it’s maybe only a 1/3 full.  Maybe she would have been better off playing at The Troubadour as she seems slightly overwhelmed and awkward at playing the larger and less intimate Zoo stage.

Every time I hear the recent single, On The Borderline, I’m reminded of CSNY’s Our House.

The trouble is that too many of her songs on show tonight have that same sickly sweet glaze.  They’re songs that would be rejected from being on the soundtrack of a Richard Curtis film for being too sappy and the schmaltz carries through all the way to the encore of Henry Mancini’s Moon River.  Although she’s a darling of Triple J, surely the youth market isn’t the right demographic for her; maybe this explains the small numbers in attendance tonight, with what she offers being far too “mature” (for want of a better word”) to appeal to your average Triple J listener.  Where it would fit on the radio dial is a little harder to say but it’s very Adult Orientated and FM wherever it is.

Little Scout start the evening off and  surprise me when they play Dead Loss, which previously had been their best song and which used to to be played last, so early on in their set.  But they then go onto show that they’ve got a few more really strong songs in their repertoire, that easy match, if not surpass their previous benchmark tune.

Some more photos on Flickr.

Sally Seltmann

Parades

Little Scout

As much as I really like Mark Lanegan, and all the music he’s been involved with, he’s not an easy subject to photograph, preferring to perform in extreme darkness with his eyes tightly shut.  The cause isn’t helped tonight by being at The Zoo, which doesn’t have a photo pit and choosing the wrong side to photograph from.  At the end of the first song, Bubblegum’s When Your Number Isn’t Up, it’s a case of running around to the other side via the back of the venue and trying from the other side, although I just end up photographing through the frame of the speaker stack rather than pushing my way into the front row.

But what you lose out in photography is more than made up in the quality of music.  Tonight it’s just Lanegan and guitarist Dave Rosser, who also accompanied him and Greg Dulli last year when they were touring as The Gutter Twins.  Without Dulli’s voice and guitar/keyboards accompaniment, it’s a very stripped down sound this time around, as Lanegan showcases songs from his solo albums as well as Screaming Trees, Soulsavers and Queens Of The Stone Age songs.

I stumbled across Soulsavers completely by accident. I was in Fopp on Charring Cross Road last November when I was back in the UK and in London when they were displaying their albums of 2009, one of which included Broken.  The sticker that was on the front of the CD which listed the people on the album was more than enough to convince me to buy it; Lanegan, Will Oldham), Jason Pierce, Mike Patton, Richard Hawley, Gibby Haynes.  It was surprising that it was so under the radar in Australia, unless I completely missed any mention in the music media and on web forums, considering that the album also featured Sydney singer Rosa Agostino, who performs under the moniker Red Ghost.  It’s very un-Australian to have a singer doing so well and keeping such esteemed company and for the Australian media not to be all over it.

The Soulsavers album was one of my favourites from 2009; it more than made up for the disappointing Gutter Twins album, of which great things was expected given how good the partnership had been on the Twilight Singers’ songs that Lanegan had sung on.

Although tickets were expensive – buying them online in advance managed to increase a $49 ticket to $55.60 when booking fee was added on despite it being an e-ticket, although this was still cheaper than the $60 door price – he only played for about an hour, which probably doesn’t represent great value, especially as it was 15 minutes less than the advertised show times.  (It’s a similar price to  The Pixies’ Splendour warm up show although I think the most expensive Zoo show I’ve ever seen advertised was $75 to see Tricky when he played a Splendour sideshow there in 2008).  The upside is that for once it’s a nice and early week night show; all done and dusted by 10:30pm and in all fairness it’s probably long enough when it’s just acoustic guitar and vocals.  Hopefully he’ll being a band with him next time or maybe Soulsavers will tour and bring him with them.

A few more photos on Flickr.

With the best part of 90 minutes to kill before Hope Sandoval is due to start her set at The Tivoli, I Used To Skate Once 6 down the road at The Zoo means that I have something to do whilst I wait. Although previous years’ events have always been in my diary, this is the first time I’ve managed to get there.

Arriving a little after 8pm, it’s a surprise just how busy the place is. And by the time I leave at about 9:20pm it’s one in, one out and there’s already a queue forming down Anne Street. When I pop back in on the way home, after the Hope Sandoval show has finished, to catch the end of the excellent Songs, it’s still busy, considerably busier than your average Thursday night at The Zoo when there’s no big name act headlining (even then, there are more people there at 11:15pm than there have been at some of the international bands I’ve photographed at The Zoo in recent times).

What’s the secret to filling venue all night long on a week day night? Obviously that it is an ‘event’, and more than a normal gig gives it a huge advantage and the organisers have worked hard over the last five years to build it up to the successful night it has become. But is that all? Does it help that it’s free? Does that it starts early, more or less straight after the normal working day (for most) has finished, draw in more people?

What’s the secret to filling venue all night long on a week day night? Obviously that it is an ‘event’, and more than a normal gig gives it a huge advantage and the organisers have worked hard over the last five years to build it up to the successful night it has become. But is that all? Does it help that it’s free? Does that it starts early, more or less straight after the normal working day (for most) has finished, draw in more people?

Free is an advantage; I remember seeing The Cops at The Columbian a few years ago (all the way back in 2006 by the looks of it) on a Saturday night and there was maybe 40 people there, with tickets around the $10 mark. Maybe six months later Triple J put on a free (and heavily advertised on their radio station) show at The Zoo on a Wednesday or Thursday night with The Cops headlining. Before the doors were opened, the queue went from the front of The Zoo all the way up Anne Street and around the corner to New York Pizza on Brunswick Street. But maybe that says more about Triple J’s unhealthy power than it does about people being too tight to pay $10 to see a band on a Saturday night.  But free isn’t the only answer: there have been plenty of free gigs recently – soundslikebrisbane, Label Parties, Unconvention – as well as free, live music 7 days a week at Ric’s, and the people watching are easily recognisable as the same people you see at gigs any night of the week anyway.

Regular readers of this blog will already know about my thoughts on late starting gigs (and there’s a separate post on the way for some more thoughts about that on its way).

It is noticeable that The Zoo is full of people who you don’t normally see at gigs in the Valley and at venues like The Zoo.  And especially not on week nights.  The crowd look more like they’d be at home somewhere like GPO.  It’s a very, very sceney and fashionista crowd; there are too many girls in heels and socks, far too many guys in three-quarter length skinny jeans and brogues.

It’s just one of the mysteries of life, at least it is to me: why people don’t go to gigs but will often be happy enough to pay obscene amounts to go to over-priced and usually underwhelming festivals and if they do go to gigs they will be ones by bands with songs heavily promoted by radio and TV.  People like music.  People will go to gigs and buy CDs and download music but so many seem to have to be spoon-fed what to listen to.  They won’t check out a local band until they’ve been validated by heavy rotation on Triple J, they would never dream of seeing that same band when they were playing for free at Ric’s a year earlier or paying $10 to see them in one of their early shows, maybe on the bill with a few other local bands.  A great example is when Ric’s put on a double bill of Cut Copy and The Presets (sadly before I moved to Brisbane, although I did see The Presets and Expatriate at The Hopetoun in Sydney, which was probably around the same time they were playing Ric’s).  You could have seen it a tiny venue with probably less than 100 people; last time The Presets played in Brisbane they were headlining The Riverstage in front of over 9,000 people.  Ric’s is free; The Riverstage gig was probably going on for $100.  All this has been brought further into perspective from talking to a few people recently and hearing that friends of theirs consider that “Brisbane doesn’t have a music scene”, are surprised when told that it does but still aren’t really that interested in it anyway.

That The Zoo can max out its capacity on a Thursday night for an exhibition of skate board art and some small, not-that-well-known bands is fantastic.  But what the Brisbane music scene needs to do to connect with a lost generation that doesn’t think that Brisbane has a music scene and that has little interest in going out to see some bands for the other 364 days is the year remains the million dollar question.

More photos on Flickr.

Tonight is a night that really highlights everything that’s wrong about the three songs, no flash rule.

The night gets off to a good start as I’m let in for free despite not covering the gig – I do keep my promise to spend the saved money on merch, buying both the Mess Hall and Bridezilla albums – and then I find $5 on the floor, which pays for my first drink.

Cabins start the night off with, as it turns out the best lighting of the night before Bridezilla take to the stage.  The lighting is pretty good for them too with the first three, no flash issue manifesting much later in their set – around the six or seven song mark – when violinist Daisy Tully bends so far over backwards whilst playing that she’s almost bent in two, replicating her pose in this shot of Dan Boud’s.  Not only is she doing this but she’s doing it right under one of The Zoo’s spot lights.  It really is a breathtaking moment and it looks absolutely magnificent.   But because it is a long way after the third song no one is taking a photo of it to capture the moment.  (I normally hate the use of “The Moment” in reference to gig photography, but this moment was just so sublime that there’s no other phrase to use really).

And so to The Mess Hall, who highlight a completely different aspect of the rule by playing in the dark for the three songs we’re allowed to photograph.  Amazingly I end up at the very front, against the stage, and in the best position to photograph both of them; this never happens and it’s quite ironic that it happens on a night when I’m only photographing for my own pleasure and not for a publication.  There is some light on Jed but it’s very, very red whist Cec is more in the ISO 6400 1/30 second range of darkness.  Song 6 arrives and someone turns up to do the lights; a shame that it’s six songs too late.  But then they disappear after the one song, leaving a bit more light on Cec than before but a bit less on Jed, with the stage in an overall darker place than it was during their first five songs.

Photographing The Mess Hall tonight was largely a complete waste of time.  If there is an upside it’s that I don’t have to send the photos to an Editor afterwards; I would have been even more angry than I was if I had had to submit the photos for publication.  Even so it’s incredibly frustrating that you have conditions imposed on you but then a complete mockery is made of these.  I know that I’ve posted before about not really having a problem with the 3 songs, no flash rule (although it is depressing when it means you miss out an potentially great shots, like could have been possible photographing Bridezilla for the whole of their set instead of the first three songs) but when it’s so dark during those three songs that it becomes a pointless exercise I’d rather be told that no photography is allowed, rather than be treated with the contempt and professional discourtesy of being told I can do something, only for the powers that be to make it impossible to actually do it.

Pop may very well eat itself but it also seems intent on burning the negatives on the way.

Some more photos (mainly of Cabins and Bridezilla) on Flickr.

The Mess Hall

Bridezilla

Cabins

It seems to have taken forever and a day ( a bit like this post), but finally we got there; the Butcher Birds‘ début album launch, just about 3½ years to the very day from their very first gig at The Rev on Sunday 2 April 2006.  Way back then, with half the band being fairly new to playing instruments (if I remember correctly) there was an obvious and noticeable ‘rabbit in the headlights’ aspect to them playing but it’s been a fascinating and fantastic experience watching them develop over the years; becoming more proficient at playing, increasing their song repertoire with a collection of outstanding tunes, gelling as a band, and the positive difference a change in drummer made to their sound, all culminating in an excellent début, Set My Bones.  The only criticism is that doesn’t include their best song, Rub It In Salt, a long time mainstay in their set as well as often being the opening number.  Hopefully it will return to the fold in time for album number two?

Looking back through my archives I’m well into double figures for photographing the band, not counting all the other gigs where I didn’t have my camera.  So it’s ironic that after all that I manage to miss the first couple of songs as a result of thinking that covering two gigs at two different venues in the Valley would be a good idea.

More photos from the night on Flickr and a mini Butcher Birds retrospective below.

The Rev – 2 April 2006

Rehearsing

Playing

Melbourne Trip – Lots more photos, so many favourites, here

Set My Bones Album Launch

Any chance to be in the same room as one of my musical heroes since forever is not something to be passed up on and why I find myself at The Cribs‘ gig at The Zoo tonight.

I photographed Johnny Marr when he played at Falls Festival with Modest Mouse back at the very end of 2006 and found it to be a frustrating experience; he tends to play head down, looking at his fingers, but every time I ‘gave up’ and looked to use my three song allocation to photograph some one else in the band he would pull out some rock move and hold and play his guitar vertically.  And of course by the time I’d moved the camera back around to focus on him it was too late.  Plus it was just about the only time I’ve ever felt in complete awe of someone I’ve photographed and I couldn’t help but stand there in the photo pit and just watch him play, something that didn’t help the photographic experience either.

Photographing him tonight is again a frustrating experience but at least I’m not hindered by the 3-song rule, although I still don’t really get the shot I want of him.  I do, however, have to photograph from the second row, with the people up against the stage having claimed their prize spots within seconds of The Legend! finishing his support slot, and get to witness the modern phenomena of people in the front row watching a gig that’s happening mere centrimetres from their noses through the LCD screen of iPhones held above their heads (and naturally in my frame).

There’s a completely different atmosphere at The Zoo tonight, with a strong/possibly drunk English contingent, who are REALLY into the band, something that you tend not to see that much at The Zoo for Australian bands that usually play there; like Biffy Clyro they’re one of those bands that are a lot bigger in the UK and play much bigger venues than The Zoo.  One of the night’s non-musical highlights is when a girl not only jumps onstage but also stage dives off it.  Talking to her afterwards she’s disappointed that I didn’t get a photo of her doing it so I had to tell her that everyone was a bit amazed that she did it, especially as the place was only about half full and not exactly packed down at the front.

Although I don’t really know many of The Cribs’ songs I liked a lot of what I heard and saw tonight; I’d hate to tar it with the ‘Brit Pop’ brush but it is very English sounding, with a touch of glam and a smattering of punk.  And Johnny Marr’s playing always manages to sound Smiths-like and is always thrilling to see up close.  However, somewhat depressingly, there’s only about 250 people at The Zoo tonight when every indie guitarist in the city should be in attendance to pay homage and enjoy watching and listening to him play.  Hopefully it won’t be too long before he’s back in Brisbane again in some shape or form.

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.

It isn’t often that you get a “three songs, no flash” instruction at The Zoo, the only ones I can remember were for Amanda Palmer and We Are Scientists.  It didn’t really make much difference for WAS but was very annoying for Amanda Palmer, considering all the amazing theatrics throughout the show.  I think I can remember reading somewhere that Camera Obscura’s Traceyann Campbell doesn’t like being photographed, which is fair enough and tonight the restriction doesn’t really affect being able to get a photo to be used to accompany the review.  The more annoying and slightly insulting aspect of the media accreditation was finding out that the Tour Manager needed to see my camera before they’d give me a photo pass, although in the end this didn’t happen and no physical passes were actually given out.

The photos aren’t great and with no photo pit they’re almost all from the same position; I did run around to the other side during the third song, taking the long way around the back of the mixing desk, but only had time to take two shots before the song ended.

It’s the first time back at The Zoo since got back to Brisbane from the UK and another one of those hot, sweaty summer nights at the venue that I’d forgotten about.  The conditions seemed to take it out on both band and the audience, with a lack of energy from both sides.  The band look like they are dressed for a Scottish summer, which can’t have helped.   Although there a few good songs played tonight, a lot sound samey and there are no real peaks to their performance.  From the audience-side, it feels like they’re more causal and inquisitve rather than rabid fans, and although each and every song is greeted with polite applause, they never become fully animated and energised.

A few more photos on Flickr.

One gig that has always been scribbled in my diary for the last couple of years has been the annual Brisbane Sounds gig at The Zoo.  The night is a showcase of local bands used as a fundraiser to raise money for a promotional CD sampler of Brisbane bands.  You can read more about it and buy the CDs here.  My blog posts from the 2008 and 2009 gigs are here and here and I also broke out a roll of film at last year’s gig.

The Brisbane Sounds 2010 CD was launched last Wednesday at a media night at The Zoo and I had a vested interest in attending as I was exhibiting a dozen photographs of local Brisbane bands, a number of whom are on this year’s CD, as part of a joint exhibition.  The photos will also be on display at the gig night on Saturday 27 February. 

In addition to the exhibition,  the launch night also had live performances from Tara Simmons and Grand Atlantic, an interview between the Courier Mail’s Noel Mengel and Brisbane Sounds’ Blair Hughes and a really interesting panel discussion, chaired by Andrew McMillen and including a number of Brisbane musicians and music industry stalwarts, talking about some of the issues affecting the local scene at the moment.  There are a few more photos from the launch night on Flickr.

The Brisbane Sounds 2010 gig night is on Saturday 27 February 2010 and promises to be another great night of local music, with the bill featuring The Gin Club, The Cairos, Grand Atlantic, The Coalition Crew, Lion Island and Dirtybird.  Photos and a blog post from the night as and when.

Tara Simmons

Noel Mengel and Blair Hughes

Discussion Panel

Grand Atlantic