At The Opera

It’s not long now until renowned New York experimentalist collective, Battles, once again touch down on our shores.

The outfit were last in Australia to perform two spectacular shows at the Sydney Opera House for the inaugural Vivid Sydney Festival, curated by none other than Brian Eno. Battles founding member and guitarist/ sometimes-bassist, Dave Konopka, looks back on the band’s mindset during their barnstorming stint at the Opera House, and the changes which have eventuated since.

“It was a pretty fun time,” he recalls. “It was a privilege to be able to come back to Australia, especially to play the Sydney Opera House. And to be invited by Brian Eno, it was just an all round exciting experience for all of us. Those shows were great. I think we were starting to work on new material at that point, maybe even playing new stuff at the shows. It was an excellent way to end the last album’s touring cycle.”

Not only did the shows at the Opera House mark the end of the ‘Mirrored’ touring cycle, but they also signified the beginning of a watershed transition for Battles. The two shows were among the last instances of the band’s distinctive vocalist, Tyondai Braxton, performing with the band. Though losing a quarter of their ranks, Dave explains that it was never an option for the group to cease existing under the Battles banner.

“No, not at all. That wasn’t even talked about. Battles has always been our band – Ty was the last person to join Battles,” he explains. “Indicating that we wanted to change the name of the band would just be alluding to giving way too much credit – well maybe not too much credit for him, but just taking away from what Ian [Williams, guitarist/ keyboardist] and John [Stanier, drums] and I have. It’s always been our band first and foremost.

“As far as him leaving, it wasn’t that big of a deal. I think we felt that things were heading in that direction. It was a slow, evolving process seeing that he was no longer interested in being part of the band or working with us. So when he made that decision it was fine. It wasn’t shocking or anything. But he did have very poor timing,” Dave relays with a chuckle.

Before the public received any aural hint of what was to come on ‘Gloss Drop’, we were treated to the album’s striking album art. The sculpture, created by Dave, features an unidentifiable glob of strange pink matter, striking a weird balance between disgusting and appetising. “It was more or less a reaction to ‘Mirrored’. My brothers and I built that room,” Dave states, referencing the stunning one-way mirror cube which features on the artwork to ‘Mirrored’, as well as the film clip for ‘Atlas’. “I still love that album cover. But this time around the music was a little more playful. I wanted this thing that was organic and non-representational. It stemmed from the idea of this dichotomy between the live show and a recorded document. When you have a recorded document, it’s this very controlled, deliberate statement that you make.

“But when you get into the live situation – we’re still a rock band first and foremost —­ it takes on a life of its own. If you were walking down the street and saw that somebody had spraypainted some dog shit pink, you would think, ‘Hey, maybe I should go home and listen to that Battles album’. It comes from a place that’s a little more fun.”

One of the standout moments on ‘Gloss Drop’ comes in the form of the Gary Numan-led charge of ‘My Machines’. One can’t help but fantasize about the possibility of a LPs worth of Numan-fronted Battles tracks. “He’s actually admitted himself that he doesn’t like collaborating with anyone,” Dave reveals of the electro pioneer. “When he heard the song which we offered him to see if he would be interested, he just thought it was totally bizarre. He said something like, ‘There’s something interesting about what you guys are doing, and the process seems really cool’,” Dave states before dismissing any hope of a collaborative album.

“I think it would be a little too much for us as well, but overall I don’t think he would be interested in a full-length collaboration. He’s a legend, and has been carving his own path for so long, that he is so intently driven as a solo artist.”

BATTLES PLAY THE BIG DAY OUT, GOLD COAST PARKLANDS, JANUARY 22. BIGDAYOUT.COM - ‘GLOSS DROP’ IS OUT NOW.

Wing Span

Punk and mariachi music definitely have their differences; as the love child of legendary punk band The Bronx, Mariachi El Bronx is no novelty.

“I think for the most part people are open-minded to it because we aren’t making a mockery of it, we take it very seriously and pour our hearts into it. We’re just as serious about the mariachi band as we are about the rock,” Jorma Vik, percussionist for the band says. “People respect what we’re doing because it’s coming from our hearts.”

Jorma talks in an intense tone about his feelings toward the band, and it’s little surprise when he tells me about the fruitful transition between punk and mariachi. “We got asked to play a TV show and they wanted us to do an acoustic version of one of our The Bronx songs and we weren’t really into the idea. So we got Mexican instruments and did one of our songs in mariachi style and we had so much fun, so we started writing some music. No one knew how to play the music before we started, we just got some instruments off Craigslist and watched YouTube videos and learned how to play them.”

Spreading their musical wings meant adding synth and piano to the mix on their first album; now they’re working on album number two and feeling a lot more confident. “When we wrote the first one we had just got the instruments, and we had just started learning how to play it so the writing process was also a part of the learning process. Onto the second record we were definitely a lot more comfortable and didn’t have to think about the rhythms we were playing. I feel like we were a little more well versed and had some doors open in our heads as far as what we could do and what might sound good.”

Ahead of Mariachi El Bronx’s Big Day Out appearance, Jorma wants an open-minded crowd. “Just eight dudes on stage having the time of their lives, playing music from our hearts and just enjoying Australia. Keep an open-mind — enjoy yourself. It’s so mindblowing to us, there’s so little Mexican culture down there, I think that the music is easily digestible you know?”

MARIACHI EL BRONX PLAY THE BIG DAY OUT, AT THE GOLD COAST PARKLANDS JANUARY 22. BIGDAYOUT.COM

Great Moments In Hawk History

To say that the line-up for this season’s Big Day Out is impressive would be a complete understatement. Kanye West, Soundgarden, Kasabian are headlining the 20th anniversary edition of the festival, with Noel Gallagher, Hilltop Hoods, Parkway Drive, Odd Future and the Jezabels also confirmed to appear, along with many others.

But the Big Day Out’s secret weapon in 2012 is undoubtedly Tony Hawk and his Vert Jam team. Seeing Hawk perform nine McTwists in a row in 1996 while Rage Against The Machine played in the background has gone down as one of the great moments in the festival’s two-decade history, and it looks like he’s set to do it all again.
What Hawk and his Vert Jam comrades have in store this time around is anyone’s guess. But for those who have come late to this particular party, Scene have put together a timeline of Hawk’s achievements so far. Grab an energy drink, and let us learn you something.

May, 1968: Anthony Hawk is born in San Diego, California, to retired US Navy officer, Frank Hawk, and his wife and part-time business teacher, Nancy. Hawk’s a restless, unfocused youngster, later describing himself as a "hyperactive demon child”.

Summer, 1977: Steve Hawk, on a whim, buys his younger brother a blue fibreglass hand-me-down skateboard. Hawk reportedly rides to the end of his driveway, only to ask his brother, “How do I turn?” Hawk’s father, not a believer in walking before running apparently, soon constructs a skate ramp in the family’s backyard. Hawk begins to practice up to six hours a day in the now defunct Oasis Skatepark.

1980: At just 12 years of age, Hawk bags his first sponsorship deal with the legendary Dogtown Skateboards.

1982: Hawk goes professional, and in the same year hooks up George Powell and Stacy Peralta’s Bones Brigade skate team. He is soon dominating competitions and by 1984 is considered one of the top skateboarders in the world.

1983: Hawk masters the McTwist, a trick involving one-and-a-half rotations on a skateboard with a flip in the middle. He uses the stunt to place first at the St Petersburg Pro Am that year.

1985: Masters the 720 – two full mid-air spins – while training in Sweden.

1986: Tony Hawk graduates from high school, having already achieved an annual income greater than that of his teachers. He buys his first house. Rumours that Suicidal Tendencies used it in their ‘Possessed To Skate’ video have never been confirmed.

1989: Hawk appears alongside Christian Slater in skateboarding-inspired Hollywood picture, ‘Gleaming The Cube’. The film bombs. Hawk’s career survives; I guess Slater’s does too, if that’s how you define survival.

1991: The bottom falls out of the skateboard industry, and Hawk suffers like many other pros. His income shrinks drastically, and Hawk has to survive on a $5-a-day Taco Bell allowance. Whether his allowance permitted him to eat at any other family restaurants remains unclear.

1992: With interest in vert skating at an all time low, Hawk collaborates with good friend Per Welinder to establish a new street-aimed skate brand, Birdhouse Projects (later Birdhouse Skateboards), Birdhouse being a reference to Hawk's last name. With the market overloaded with inventory, the company makes a shaky start.

February, 1994: With Birdhouse on life support, Hawk takes what he thinks is a parting shot at his pro skating career by producing the infamous ‘Titanic’ – intended to be his last signature-model skateboard. Within 18 months things for both Hawk and his company will be very different.

Summer, 1995: ESPN debut the Extreme Games (now the X Games) on Rhode Island. Hawk gets lucky and receives an invite, and capitalises on his luck by placing first in the vert competition and second in the street event. Skateboarding’s back on the map, and Hawk is suddenly being stopped for autographs in airports and restaurants across the USA.

July, 1999: The world catches its breath as Tony Hawk becomes the first skateboarder to nail a 900 in competition. He successfully lands the trick, two-and-a-half in-air revolutions, on his eleventh attempt. It’s the last trick on his wish list.

August, 1999: ‘Tony Hawk Pro Skater’ debuts on the Sony PlayStation. The game features a loose interpretation of physics to create over-the-top skating gameplay, the player choosing a pro and completing goals on a series of levels. One of the biggest sports game franchises in history ensues.

December, 1999: With an ever growing number of business commitments and his wish list of tricks fulfilled, Tony Hawk retires from competitive boarding, aged just 31. But he continues to skate, learning new tricks and doing innumerable public demonstrations.

August, 2000: Hawk releases his biography, ‘Hawk: Occupation – Skateboarder’, through Harper Entertainment. It receives an average of five stars on Amazon, with one reviewer noting that the book is ‘ausome’ and ‘definetly exiting’.

September, 2001: Hawk cleans up on ‘Celebrity Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’. Host Regis Philbin continually ridicules Charles Barkley. Philbin obviously doesn’t know that Charles never, ever forgets.

October, 2001: ‘Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3’ is released for a range of gaming systems and becomes the most critically acclaimed title in the popular series. Playable characters include Bam Margera, Bucky Lasek and the lead character – character? – out of ‘Doom’.

2002: The Tony Hawk Foundation is established to support programmes focused on the creation of public skateboard parks. The work rate of the foundation explodes and to date has helped open 387 skate parks across the United States. Hawk also kicks off Boom Boom HuckJam, a touring exhibition featuring freestyle motocross, skateboarding, and BMX. To top off a busy year, Hawk has a small role in ‘XXX’, the Vin Diesel film which one US critic goes on to describe as ‘unrelentingly stupid’.

2008: Hawk debuts Tony Hawk’s Halfpipe, a skate-inspired water ride at Six Flags theme park. Later that year he wins the Favorite Male Athlete award at the Nickelodeon’s Kid’s Choice Awards.

2011: Hawk establishes the Tony Hawk Vert Jam, travelling around America with some of the world’s best pro skaters, including Kevin Staab, Mitchie Brusco, Sandro Dias, Neal Hendrix, Elliott Sloan, and Jesse Fritsch. Minds are blown, as they will be when the team hits Big Day Out in January.

TONY HAWK GLOSSARY

Are you a gentleman interested in skateboarding, but not sure how to break into the scene? Or maybe a lady who just wants to get close to the devilishly handsome Mr Hawk come Big Day Out 2012? Well, we’ve compiled this quick glossary so you know your tricks from your trucks. Get some air.

Bones Brigade – Pop culture’s most iconic skateboard team, so named for their preference for Powell Peralta white urethane wheels.
McTwist – One-and-a-half rotations on a skateboard with a flip in the middle.
720 – Two full mid-air spins on a skateboard.
Birdhouse – Hawk’s skateboard and apparel company, which he started with Per Welinder.
Skate Wave – The debacle that almost crippled the Tony Hawk Foundation barely a year into its operation. Don’t mention this to Hawk. He’ll probably get angry.
900 – The last trick on Hawk’s to-do list. Involves completing two-and-a-half on-board, in-air revolutions.
Animal Chin – The mythical character at the centre of the 1987 skate film, ‘The Search For Animal Chin’. In more recent times, the name has applied to the ramp the Bones Brigade find at the end of the film. Many wonder what became of it.
Boom Boom Huckjam – Hawk’s iconic exhibition featuring motocross, skateboarding and BMX. Complete mayhem.
Police Academy 4 – Hawk was in this.

THE BIG DAY OUT TAKES OVER THE GOLD COAST PARKLANDS JANUARY 22. bigdayout.com

Global Designs

When Scene connects to Architecture In Helsinki’s Cameron Bird he’s in Los Angeles. It’s appropriate, given the history of success the Melburnians have in the United States.

It’s the band’s second visit to the US in just six months, but that’s not necessarily due to demand. Indeed, the extended period AIH took to release their latest album, ‘Moment Bends’, saw them slip from public view to a certain extent, and now they’re feverishly working to reintroduce themselves to Stateside audiences. “I think going away for four years wasn’t really great for us here,” Bird laughs. “Four years is almost like a generation now. We definitely went off the radar for a little bit, but we still have a really strong core audience. It’s always awesome playing here; our shows have always been great. I think we were popular in America before we were in Australia, so we definitely feel slightly indebted to Americans.”

Not that it should be interpreted that AIH are slumming it. Bird and his bandmates are natural travellers and seem to coexist peacefully on the road. “We play plenty of shows, and there’s not a lot of darkness on tour. We definitely get along and I think you just learn how to cope with being away so much and travelling so much. It’s probably meant that we’ve all aged prematurely, but we definitely still have fun touring. We really enjoy that connection you make with the audience – it’s a good thing.”

The band have notched up 100 shows this year, and are now looking forward to getting back to Australia in a month for some well-earned rest before the summer festival season kicks off proper with the Big Day Out. “I grew up driving from country New South Wales down to Melbourne to go to the Big Day Out with my friends,” Bird explains. “So for us to play, it is totally a dream come true. We’re definitely already thinking about how we can make it a good tour for us and what we’re going to do differently and what new things we can try. We look upon playing this tour as a big deal or bigger deal than any festival show in Australia. We’re super excited to be doing it, for sure.”

ARCHITECTURE IN HELSINKI PLAY THE BIG DAY OUT, GOLD COAST PARKLANDS, JANUARY 22. BIGDAYOUT.COM

Hanging With Katy Perry

It’s no secret the team at Frenzal Rhomb Incorporated have always been about quantity over quality.

But for album number eight, the boys saw fit to treat themselves to some shoe scrub. They shipped overseas to record ‘Smoko At The Pet Food Factory’ with one of the best punk rock record producers around, the infamous Descendents and Black Flag stickman, Bill Stevenson. â€œIf you need a bone marrow transplant, go to the bone marrow guy”, vocalist Jason ‘Jay’ Whalley says. “If you want a punk rock record made, go to Bill Stevenson. All the people who work over there with him at the Blasting Room, they’re very much the specialists in this type of music.”

With killer tracks about keyboard fascists, clergy, celebrities, junkies, pollies, crap friends and… birds attacking, the album wrangled a number 14 debut on the ARIA charts. “Who’d of thunk [sic] it? We’re up there with Katy Perry and Pitbull and other people I don’t really know about. The fact that people went out there and bought it when you can, you know, essentially get it for free on the internet, is really nice.”

It’s been a long 18 years for the band who formed in Sydney in 1993, with moments of controversy, radicalism and nudity bookmarking the way. Although they’ve released over 100 songs, Jay says he’d  be guessing if asked how many Frenzal Rhomb songs actually exist, recorded and otherwise. â€œThat would be in the thousands. We have a very high cull rate when it comes to tracking records. For every one song that you hear there’s usually another seven or eight that exist.”

It’s been five years in between albums, but Frenzal Rhomb are back on the road, touring up a storm as usual. They’ll be playing their fifth Big Day Out early next year, and Jay’s looking forward to fun party times with his pals. â€œThere’s always been laughs and jokes surrounding the group. We don’t really get to see each other that often ‘cause outside of the band we all live in different states: Gordy lives in Melbourne, Tom’s in Adelaide, and Lindsay lives in space. So when we do get to see each other it’s fun!”

FRENZAL RHOMB PLAY BIG DAY OUT, AT GOLD COAST PARKLANDS, JANUARY 22. BIGDAYOUT.COM

Been Here For Years

Hilltop Hoods are no strangers to performing to massive crowds. With their addition to the Big Day Out travelling circus, festival veteran MC Pressure tell us how the Adelaide crew keep their live shows fresh.

“A lot of the content we're going to perform at Big Day Out will be from our new album that won’t be quite out then, it’s due out in February, but we'll perform I guess at this point three, four new songs from that album and then a variety of tracks that people know and work well.”

The Hoods aren’t shy about mixing it up on stage with live instruments either. They’ve previously had the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra backing them up, as well as funk outfit Lowrider. Now they’ve headhunted drummer extraordinaire, Plutonic Lab, for the latest round of shows. â€œWe just like changing it up live, so for people that have seen our show they’re not just seeing the same shit, it'll be new takes on old tracks plus new tracks. So hopefully it’ll be something cool and something that people haven’t seen before.”

Hilltop Hoods have a busy couple of months ahead of them, with a tour to Canada happening next month. â€œCanada is our strongest territory away from home. We're basically just doing a short tour there, firstly as an excuse to get away and hopefully do some snowboarding, and secondly to give the Canadian fans a bit more love because last time we went there we sold our tour out. We can’t get enough of going back there, the crowds are just amazing.”

The new album from Hilltop Hoods will be titled ‘Drinking From The Sun’, and Pressure says it will be full of that familiar sample-driven music they’re known for, plus a couple of party joints as well as a few moody tracks. â€œThere is a fair bit of live instrumentation, there is a fair few guests on the album, there's some rappers, some producers, I can't really drop any names at the moment because it’s too far from completion, and some of the tracks might not make the cut.”

As for whether we can expect a Golden Era tour or posse joint in the future, only time will tell. â€œI don’t know if there will be a posse joint at this stage, there could be, it can always happen in the last week of making the album, a lot of things happen in the last week of making an album! There is definitely some collaborations. Trials has done some production for the album and I’m sure there will be some more, but I don’t know about a posse joint or a tour at the moment, although it isn’t a bad idea!”

After leaving Obese Records in 2008 to start their own label, the Hoods had a lot of ideas about how they wanted to operate. With a shelf-full of successful releases to their name, Pressure believes the imprint’s success can be credited to the strong relationships they enjoy with their artists. â€œWe are a pretty laidback label really. We give our artists all the creative control so they make all the calls on their music, which is everything from their film clips to how they want to present themselves in their photo shoots and their artwork, that’s all them. Sometimes we're probably a bit too casual, but it’s a fine line between being a fellow artist, being a label, and to all the guys that are on our label, being their friend as well.”

As they get set to embark on the 20th anniversary of Australia’s biggest travelling music festival, Pressure leaves us with his favourite Big Day Out memory. â€œI think my best Big Day Out memory was making DJ Debris do push ups on stage! He fucked up our set so badly one day that we were like, ‘Right, you’re doing push ups in front of like forty thousand people’ … He got to about nine, he couldn’t even get to ten!”

CATCH HILLTOP HOODS PERFORMING AT BIG DAY OUT, AT THE GOLD COAST PARKLANDS, SUNDAY JANUARY 22. BIGDAYOUT.COM

Crossing Over

Pluralism is a way of life for the modern music consumer. Where once listeners could be conveniently organised along genre lines, the internet has produced a more sophisticated breed of music fan, one willing to hot swap his Michael Jacksons for his Sepulturas.

In many ways, Parkway Drive’s success is down to this very phenomenon. A powerful force on the Australian hardcore scene for close to a decade, in more recent years the band’s music has begun to spill over to a wider listenership.

“I can’t remember what tour it was,” says the band’s charismatic frontman, Winston McCall. “It started off early in the sense that we were playing our own local shows and there would still be random people coming to these shows that weren’t at the normal, local hardcore shows. You’d have a mate’s girlfriend saying, ‘I really like that’, and you’re saying, ‘Really? You listen to Britney Spears!’ That kind of thing. As the shows got bigger they drew in more of these different types of people. Somehow it just continued in that vein until it became so big that we started to push through those medium barriers, with us getting TV spots and radio play and all that kind of stuff.

“It definitely is weird to be the kind of music that we are and achieve the kind of success and recognition with such a broad spectrum of people. It is really strange that there are a lot of people in Australia these days who recognise the name even if they haven’t heard the music.”

Parkway Drive are one of the most talked about bands on the Australian music scene, with their records going gold and their shows regularly selling out. To achieve this sort of success, most bands would have a major label in their pocket and an army of staff at their disposal, but as McCall tells it, it’s all down to just a handful of enthusiastic helpers.

“Cases like this prove that you can still sell records, but you don’t need this massive corporate machine behind it. We’re doing it with five people in a band and two people in the store. I think that’s the thing: major labels are obviously a large business, and for them to have this change – they haven’t evolved as the technology’s gone along. People have just realised what they can do to get their music out there; it’s a lot more user-friendly for both the people making music and the people collecting it.”

The group are tight with their label, Resist Records – which also serves as a music store – and in particular its founder, Graham Nixon. Nixon’s been with the band since the start of their recording career, and as far as McCall’s concerned it’s not a relationship that’s about to change.
“Friends come before anything else and Graham’s been such a good friend over the years, that no amount of money could take us away from our relationship with him,” McCall explains. “When you consider all of the horror stories with this industry, I doubt that there’s another band in the world – especially on a major label – that’s as happy with their relationship as we are.”

As a sign of Parkway Drive’s ever-widening popularity, the group have been invited to play at January’s Big Day Out. It’s the 20th anniversary for the festival, but only the second time for McCall and his bandmates. They’re understandably pumped.
“I think this is pretty much the ultimate example of breaking through those genre boundaries – just being given a chance to play in front of the largest festival crowd you can get in Australia. It’s a pretty amazing opportunity, and a unique opportunity. For them to give us a chance to play, and for it to be on the 20th anniversary – it’s such a great line-up, it’s pretty amazing for us.

“The show’s either going to be something completely mental or just us doing our thing. I guess there’s going to be a hell of a lot of people who have never seen us before, and it would be a good chance to blow them away with something. It’s a kind of initiation, but whenever we play we try and go as mental as we can.”

And away from the constant touring, both here and overseas, Parkway Drive are finally drilling down into the process of writing a new album. Wary of taking too long to get the record out to the public, the band are nevertheless pushing their sound in new directions.
“I’m off to jam after this, actually,” McCall laughs. “It’s going really, really well. We’re definitely ahead of where we wanted it to be, but at the same time the ideas for the record involve a hell of a lot more work and going into territories that we’ve literally not even thought about, so we’ve got to learn a whole bunch of skills. It’s going to be an interesting experience!”

PARKWAY DRIVE PLAY THE BIG DAY OUT, GOLD COAST PARKLANDS, JANUARY 22. BIGDAYOUT.COM

Looking Towards The Horizon

When Jackson Haswell jumps on the phone, it’s during a ten-minute break from his day job. A bit of a change, then, from earlier in the week when his band, The Oceanics, were holding down an afternoon slot at the Big Day Out.

“It was brilliant. Really great, yeah,” Jackson says. “Out in the sun, playing to a really big crowd: it’s what you love to do. This is what you do. Our manager’s pretty well sorted on the Gold Coast when it comes to these sorts of things. He knows the right people in the council and he deals with the festivals and that sort of thing. We don’t actually have a booking agent on paper yet. But yeah, it was great work on his part.”

Jackson talks in insouciant tones about his Gold Coast-based band and the business of playing music, so it’s easy to believe the guitarist when he says there was little intimidation about going out on such a big stage. “Nah,” he says offhandedly, before thinking for a moment. “Well, I guess I was pacing a little bit back and forth, but it was more anxiety, and a couple of beers fixed that right up!”

Fair enough too: it’s not like The Oceanics are a flash in the pan. Beginning as a casual songwriting partnership between Jackson and singer, Elliot Weston, in 2005, the arrangement had developed into a fully-fledged band by early 2008. “Yeah, it was Elliot and I in 2005. We just wrote music together in our bedrooms and whatnot. In 2008 we met one of my best mate’s brother [Andy Geisel] – he’s a drummer and we just sort of played around with him.

I guess we rated what we wrote in those little jams to be of a decent standard enough to gig, and thought if we had an opportunity to show people what we’ve got, they’d like it. It actually took us another whole two years to get a bassist [Tom Garnett] and some proper steady gigs coming. But the desire [to take the band somewhere] has been there since early 2008, just because we were pretty impressed by how we were able to write together.”

Since then, The Oceanics have become known for introducing a little bit of indie to Gold Coast life. The four-piece finally forged their partnership through a love of Britpop, and those influences show up heavily in their songwriting. It’s perhaps no surprise then that the band sometimes feel a touch out of place on the sunny strip of the GC. “All the time. 100 percent,” Jackson chuckles.

“We’re lucky enough to have a good following down here of friends and people who have discovered us through friends of friends. We always play to good crowds, but it’s really not our scene down here. If it were up to me, I’d probably be in Brisbane or Sydney. We do a lot of time in Brisbane anyway, and we’re quite close to a few Brisbane bands. We’ve worked with some really good ones, like Ball Park Music for instance, so we feel like we belong a bit more in Brisbane, but unfortunately that’s not where we are at the moment, so we’ve just got to make do.”

Questions of where to base themselves are certainly taking a back seat at the moment: the pressing item on The Oceanics’ agenda is the scheduled release of their debut EP, ‘Get Friendly, Mistress Maybe’, in the coming weeks. “Yeah, obviously the vast majority of songs on there were written between 2008 and late 2009-early 2010, so they’re not exactly our freshest material.

It’s still good, catchy stuff, but it’s not quite where we’re at right now – we’re at a little bit of a different stage at the moment. When we signed up with our management, they started putting us in front of the industry and it was kind of hard, because the only product we had behind us were the self-recorded tracks. So we wanted to get some good quality product to push to the industry, because we got strong reviews and we just needed more to show people. The EP’s a chance to get a good first product out there and imprint our name, I guess.”

‘Get Friendly, Mistress Maybe’ is scheduled for release in March. The Oceanics play The Basement for the Gold Coast Arts Centre’s ‘Unplugged’, Thursday February 10. They also play the Beatles tribute show at The Zoo February 5.

<<SIA

GOLD COAST PARKLANDS SUN. JAN. 23

Kicking off Big Day Out action at the Converse Essential Stage was New Zealand's The Naked and Famous.

The tent was filled to the brim with eager festival heads, including a collection of gents who had let their girlfriends' backsides take up residence on their shoulders. Ahh, modern-day chivalry.

Also at the Converse Stage, a barefoot Megan Washington pumped out a series of crowd favourites, while a new song was warmly welcomed by the audience - but did anyone else pick up on the uncanny likeness of Washington's 'Plastic Bag' to Laura Marling's 'Rambling Man'? Waiting at the Green Stage for Grinderman, I got the feeling that a lot of people would be crossing entries off their bucket lists after seeing 'the man', Nick Cave, in action. Cave did not disappoint, and neither did Warren Ellis, Martyn Casey or Jim Sclavunos. An adoring audience was treated to unbridled live versions of 'Worm Tamer', 'Love Bomb' and 'Get It On'.

By: Jodie Grinsted

With an image of a strange half-human, half-lizard face on the stage screen, South African hip hop DJ group Die Antwoord unleashed themselves upon the audience. Though not as obscene as one might have expected after watching the group’s YouTube videos, Die Antwoord were nonetheless amazing to see in the flesh. With pinpoint vocals and an orgasmic amount of bass, the group kept the audience captivated until the end of the set.

The same cannot, unfortunately, be said for Iggy Pop, whose frail, gyrating-old-man body inspired sympathy rather than a punk rock passion to rebel.  That said, the performance was solid, and Mr Pop seems to be still having a lot of fun entertaining punters, so I can’t really be too harsh on him. Another slight disappointment, and I’m aware I may be lynched after writing this, was Tool. Poor vocals and a complete lack of interest from lead singer Maynard left a sense of confusion and bewilderment amongst the crowd, with many a call of “turn up the vocals” being yelled at the stage.

By: The Blue Monkey

The Big Day Out is always a mixed bag of bands, clashing set times, dust, dagwood dogs and way too many sweaty shirtless men. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetics Zeros managed to restore my faith and have me believe that smocks and top knots on a man are sexy. Speaking of psychedelic, which we weren’t but you would’ve been after seeing Sia in her Gaga-esque homemade costume, (courtesy of Crazy Clark’s and her two friends).

Resplendent in striped jumpsuits, her band provided both romantic opportunities (she pointed out which were single and which weren’t) and the musical platform for Sia to jump off. Which she did - with gusto and perfectly pitched glorious vocals. Another girl who giggles is the sweet Julia Stone and together with her brother Angus performed a dreamy set under the hot air balloons that hung from the ceiling of the Converse Stage.

By: Majella McMahon

With the sun streaming down and the stench of last week's flood still firmly in many nostrils, it was reassuring to head to Parklands for BDO 2011; exactly the same as every other year. Despite a mildly uninspiring lineup, there were pockets of joy to be found, the first of which was Bliss N Eso’s maiden BDO show. The duo (plus uber talented DJ Izm) was a ball of energy, prowling the stage, splitting the crowd with call and response and generally working it, getting plenty of bogan love in the mid-arvo sunshine as they ran through their genuinely impressive back catalogue.

A quick squizz at the Surecut Kids over in the Boiler Room saw them working a bass-heavy sound with splashes of Baltimore and dubstep - perhaps a bit derivative, but it got the young gurners in the tent closing their eyes and flexing their mandibles nicely. Back at the main stage, the John Butler Trio was incredibly well received, and from the elevated shelter of the VIP tent (nice one!), where they were actually selling full-strength alcohol (even nicer one!), tracks like 'Wrong Way', 'Better' and emotive closer 'Revolution' sounded pretty damn fine. Some poor girl had her top ripped off on someone's shoulders during Birds Of Tokyo's triumphant set, the whole thing flashed up on the big screens.

By: Holden Caulfield
PHOTOS: LACHLAN DOUGLAS

Take Four

Many questions have been asked of Pnau over the last two years, but very few have been answered. Now, from his studio in Montreal, Nick Littlemore sets the record straight.

Yes, he did run away to join the circus, kind of. Yes, the fourth Pnau album is nearing completion and yes, thank the Lord, Pnau will play in Australia for the first time in over two years when Littlemore returns from self-imposed exile to play the Big Day Out from late January. “I'm so hanging to come back,” he says. “So looking forward to it; it's going to be a real homecoming for me. The Big Day Out is gonna be the best Christmas present ever for me.”

And well it might be, for the eccentric artist has been doing many things since the runaway success of Pnau's 2007 self-titled third album threw him and partner Peter Mayes into the international spotlight, but spending time in Australia hasn't been one of them.

After the relative failure of 2003's 'Again' LP, Pnau fans were left wondering if the duo had lost their touch first demonstrated on their 2000 debut 'Sambanova'. The success of 'Pnau', however, saw Littlemore and Mayes grab worldwide attention on the back of singles 'Wild Strawberries', 'Baby' and 'Embrace', and corresponding remixes courtesy of French wonderboy Breakbot and Littlemore's brother Sam La More. The duo was suddenly being promoted by Sir Elton John and, as a result, was feted by labels around the world for a follow-up as fans clamoured for more of Pnau's original, pop-influenced electronica.

But Mayes and Littlemore had other ideas back then, most notably their Empire Of The Sun project with Luke Steele. That little group took pride of place for two years, in the process winning a massive seven ARIAs and two APRAs. While Steele took the EOTS show on the road, Littlemore stayed in the UK working on the fourth Pnau LP in between contributing vocals to Groove Armada's album and working with Sir Elton John. Rumours swirled around whether the album would ever see the light of day, and Littlemore's own occasional rants did nothing to quell the hype surrounding his working relationship with Elton John or the future of Pnau and EOTS.

Now, as 2011 dawns, Littlemore confirms the fourth Pnau album, tentatively titled 'Soft Universe', is set for release some time next year and will feature a raft of collaborations, including several with Pnau's chum “Elton”. “We've got a single coming out soon,” he promises. “It's really exciting … the record is a very lyrical record. It's really about trying to find some joy. Purely on a personal level, making these songs, it's given me a will to want to go on, you know? I want to make these as pure thoughts, pure golden moments. I want them to shine; I really want them to connect with everyone in the world, you know?”

Golden moments take time to produce, however, and Littlemore admits the album has been slow going. With Mayes based primarily in Australia and Littlemore being kept busy as musical director for Cirque Du Soleil's new production opening next year in New York, the duo struggled to find time to get the runs on the board in between weathering the international success of Empire Of The Sun. “I think it's chaos, as it's always been,” Littlemore reflects on the creative process. “It's just throwing things at the wall, and sometimes they stick and then sometimes you rub them off but a little bit remains and then that connects to this and then all of a sudden you've got a line and maybe with that line you can have a curve.

“You just kind of make shit; it just happens. Some way or another you find it and if you find it and you truly make it, and you dig it, then maybe you put a beat with it and beyond that, I don't know man. When it turns out good you guys get to hear it; when it turns out bad, there's all these train wrecks.”

Currently preparing for a small number of European shows, Littlemore reveals the Pnau live show has undergone a transformation of sorts and that Big Day Out audiences are in for an energetic display. “Oh my God, it's cool; it's going to be like Bon Jovi, you know the Slippery When Wet tour? It's going to be just like that,” he says, strangely. “[But] it's going to be cool man; the likes of which you've never seen.”

2011, it appears, will see him spend more and more time in Australia. After two years abroad, where he confesses he hasn't “been in the one place for more than three weeks at a time”, there are big plans afoot, which Littlemore discusses in typical cryptic fashion. “We're planning a very big event next Homebake actually,” he reveals. “I think that's going to blow everything out of the water, with a very very special guest.”

I suggest Elton John as that possible special guest, but Littlemore won't give any more away, instead launching into a piano solo in his studio, which he continues for a minute or so. When he returns, it's in a philosophical mood. “It's been a trip,” he says of the last two years. “I've met all kinds of people; amazing people I never thought I'd meet and worked with them. The journey's explosive. I can't find a place to put a point because the universe just keeps expanding at such a rate that you can't find your feet anymore.”

Okay. When it's suggested he and Mayes are under considerable pressure to follow-up the third album with a fourth of similarly accessible hits, Littlemore is quick to respond. “We never had a hit”, he says dismissively. “I don't think I've reached the heights of a … small flowering shrub … there's a very long journey to go, I hope, I wish, I pray, everyday, to be able to be blessed to be able to make music. It's a beautiful job man, there's nothing better than this; I'm very lucky.”

Following another brief piano solo, Littlemore reveals, contrary to reports he and Luke Steele are on non-speaking terms, that Empire Of The Sun will indeed reign again. “I talked to Luke the other day; we're doing a new record,” he says. “We've already written a couple of tunes; you know when it's right I guess. All projects, I think they find their way ... you just create the environment and the record, it kind of makes itself.”

And with that - and another brief piano flourish - Nick Littlemore was off into the Montreal night. If he's only half as entertaining on stage as he is over the phone, the BDO massive are in for a rare treat come January.

Pnau play the Gold Coast leg of the Big Day Out, Sunday January 23.