DIESEL ANNOUNCES SUNSET SUBURBIA TRILOGY + AUSTRALIAN TOUR 0

DIESEL ANNOUNCES SUNSET SUBURBIA TRILOGY + AUSTRALIAN TOUR

Diesel at Melbourne Guitar Show 2018. Pic by Jason Rosewarne

Australian hit machine Diesel has today announced the Sunset Suburbia project: a trilogy of EPs leading into an album in 2020. And to coincide with the release of new music, Diesel will hit the road once again this October. With his powerhouse band, Diesel will showcase songs from all three Sunset Suburbia EPs, plus hits and fan favorites spanning 30 years of music making.

Diesel says, “Suburbia has always held a strange fascination for me. I remember designer cul-de-sacs strewn with shotgun shells in Chandler, Arizona; little vignettes of skateboarding around closed service stations on weekends in Perth; some guy in the hot tub in his backyard where I’m riding my bike over the rail overpass in Sydney. I love going into where people live — the sights, the smells, the little repetitive things that make their world. It’s kind of a bittersweet thing but it’s the stuff of life and it has a way of making songs.”

After more than 30 years of recording, Mark Lizotte (Diesel) has found a more direct route from inspiration to revelation.
“I’ve really enjoyed [recording the EPs] as it elongates the recording process, allowing for each EP to take on a uniqueness. I’ve always been a bit bummed when getting to the end of making a record, and this in a way delays gratification, making 3 ‘mini albums’ on the way to an LP. I’m also really excited at the prospect of releasing each one as limited edition signed and numbered 10” vinyl to complement the tour.”

On Sunset Suburbia (Vol. I) (out 19 July), this union of spontaneity and experience yields four of the most instantly arresting songs of Diesel’s multi-platinum career: the kind of exhilarating FM radio hits that sealed his reputation as a 1990s pop-rock auteur with Hepfidelity, The Lobbyist and Solid State Rhyme.

“There’s a lot of lost innocence in these songs. ‘By The Scars’ is pretty much about one or two years in my teens when a lot of things happened… I lost my virginity, I had two guys with balaclavas point a shotgun at me at a gas station… It’s about the time you basically realise the world isn’t as safe as you thought.”

Vol. I of Sunset Suburbia follows last year’s top-20 retrospective, Diesel 30: a double CD which was led by the FM radio embrace of ‘Give Me Saturday Night’.

The second Sunset Suburbia EP will drop later this year, Vol. III is currently under construction, and an album, featuring even more new songs, is due in 2020. Be sure to catch the evolution of Diesel’s ever-expanding horizon as he and his band roll out Sunset Suburbia to a city, town or suburb near you.

DIESEL SUNSET SUBURBIA TOUR AUSTRALIA

OCTOBER – DECEMBER 2019

GENERAL PUBLIC ON SALE NOW

Thursday 10 October
20 Years At The Brass Monkey
Brass Monkey | Cronulla, NSW Tickets on sale Monday 2nd September
* Solo show

Friday 11 October
Central Hotel | Shellharbour, NSW
centralhotelshellharbour.com.au

Saturday 12 October
Manly Leagues Club | Manly, NSW
oztix.com.au

Friday 18 October
Entrance Leagues | Bateau Bay, NSW
oztix.com.au

Saturday 19 October
Wingham Akoostic Festival | Wingham Showground | Wingham, NSW
akoostik.com.au

Friday 25 October
Gateway Hotel | Geelong, VIC
oztix.com.au

Saturday 26 October
York On Lilydale | Lilydale, VIC
oztix.com.au

Friday 1 November
The Juniors | Kingsford, NSW
seatadvisor.com

Saturday 2 November
Hornsby RSL | Hornsby, NSW
hornsbyrsl.com.au

Saturday 9 November
Bridgetown Blues Festival | Bridgetown, WA
bluesatbridgetown.com.au

Sunday 10 November
96FM Kickstart Summer Concert w/ Jimmy Barnes
Ascot Racetrack | Perth, WA
ticketmaster.com.au

Friday 15 November
The Triffid | Brisbane, QLD
oztix.com.au

Saturday 16 November
Southport RSL | Gold Coast, QLD
seatadvisor.com

Friday 22 November
The Gov | Adelaide, SA
oztix.com.au

Saturday 23 November
Get Your Blues On | Renmark Riverfront | Renmark, SA

Friday 29 November
Lizottes | Newcastle, NSW
lizottes.com.au

Saturday 30 November
Lizottes | Newcastle, NSW
lizottes.com.au

Friday 6 December
The Basement | Canberra, ACT
oztix.com.au

Saturday 7 December
Paddington RSL | Paddington, NSW
oztix.com.au

Friday 13 December
Lizottes | Newcastle, NSW
lizottes.com.au

Saturday 14 December
Lizottes | Newcastle, NSW
lizottes.com.au

Sunset Suburbia (Vol. I) EP Out Fri 19 July through Bloodlines

Pre-order  available here

Sunset Suburbia (Vol. I) tracklist:
1 By The Scars
2 I’m With A Girl
3 Coming From You
4 Wake Up With An Angel

HAKEN AUSTRALIAN TOUR INTERVIEW 0

 HAKEN

By Peter Hodgson ( I Heart Guitar)

Haken aren’t like all the other prog bands out there. In a genre that has ironically come to take on certain stylistic hallmarks that it seems like every prog band needs to have, the British quintet manage to remain actually progressive. Where many prog bands aim for utter precision, Haken aren’t scared to get groovy in amongst the odd time signatures and noodly interludes. Their latest album, Vector, is a technicolour ride through their collective imaginations. Produced by the band and mixed by ex-Periphery bassist and producer Adam “Nolly” Getgood, it’s a complex and diverse yet cohesive experience – and one that fans will be able to experience live in June as the band brings their Vector Studies tour to Australia.

This is the band’s second tour of Australia (although several members did make a sneaky trip out here with Mike Portnoy’s Shattered Fortress project), and the tour is also taking in Auckland and Adelaide. “That’s because of feedback we got from the last tour,” vocalist Ross Jennings says. “We didn’t want to miss the middle of Australia this time – but now we have to skip Perth!” Guitarist Richard Henshall is also a bit miffed that the tour will miss Perth: “We played Perth on the Mike Portnoy tour, but it’s so difficult logistically. But it’s a beautiful city and I’m sure one day we’ll return.”

The Vector Studies tour is, obviously, a vehicle to promote the Vector record. “We’ve been travelling with this Vector Studies concept for the last couple of tours and now it’s Australia’s turn,” Jennings says. “Last time we toured Australia we’d only just released Affinity, so there’s a whole bunch of new material for people to hear now, and we have a programmed light show now so everything is going to be a step up from last time. You can expect a really intense Haken show as usual.” Henshall adds, “When we were writing Vector, we had a larger-than-life sort of feeling, and when we toured the US on the first leg of shows for the album, we wanted to really take the production up a notch to reflect the music. That was the first time we’d done it, which was November and December last year and it really took our whole stage show to another level and really lifted the music.”

It’s a big leap from the band’s early days. “I remember turning up at shows and there would be one purple light on us for the whole show,” Jennings says. “Yeah!,” Henshall adds, “It would really affect the way we performed as well because when there’s nothing happening onstage it really puts a damper on the whole show, for us and the fans.”

“We take a lot of inspiration from cinema,” Jennings says. “Sometimes when we’re writing we try to visualise images in our heads. TV is the new cinema now and Netflix has taken over the business in a way: people aren’t going to the cinema any more, they’re binging on epic productions like Game of Thrones. Affinity, for example, that album was heavily influenced by a lot of 80s sci-fi, and that’s a great passion across all of us in the band. That stuff has always seeped into our concept albums as well.”

“I love Asian cinema,” Henshall says. “I love kung fu films. One of the best recent kung fu films was The Raid. I like a lot of sci fi stuff, independent films… Bladerunner 2049, Arrival…

It would be unfair to talk to Australian Musician without throwing in a whole bunch of musician talk, especially for such a musicianly band. So guys, what gear are you bringing with you? “On the last album, Diego started a new deal with Arturia and they’re an amazing company that do a lot of retro softsynth stuff,” Henshall says, “but they also do a hardware synth called the Matrix Brute, and that was really instrumental in creating the sound that Diego came up with on the album. It’s quite an amazing piece of gear, actually. It looks like something out of 2001: A Space Oddyssey.” Henshall’s guitar of choice is a Strandberg headless custom 8-string, while co-guitarist Charlie Griffiths will be bringing his Kiesel 8-string. “We travel with a Fractal Audio AX-8 pedal,” Henshall says. “They’re tiny! They fit into a laptop case so you can just throw it in the overhead on the plane, and we get the same tones every show. There are no micing issues at all, no bleeding issues onstage. It’s probably a dream for whoever is mixing our shows! We can just take the sounds from the album and bring them right to the stage. Flying between each show can really kill us when it comes to baggage fees, but theoretically we could just show up for a tour with a gig-bag and a laptop case. I wear the same clothes every day, so…”

Bassist Conner Green used to use an AX-8 but at the moment he’s running a pedalboard of doom, featuring a bunch of Darkglass pedals running direct into the mixing desk. “The Darkglass pedals are especially nice,” Henshall says. Drummer Raymond Hearne uses Natal drums. “On the last tour he had a see-through acrylic red Natal kit and he’s never sounded that good before!”

HAKEN June 2019 Australian and NZ Tour Dates:
Wednesday 5th June – AUCKLAND Galatos
Thursday 6th June – BRISBANE The Brightside
Friday 7th June – SYDNEY Factory Theatre
Saturday 8th June – MELBOURNE Max Watts
Sunday 9th June – ADELAIDE The Gov

Tickets:
ON SALE NOW
From: http://davidroywilliams.com/tours/hakentour/

Peter Hook - Joy Division Orchestrated Australian Tour 0

Photo: Peter Kaminski © Copyright 2017 All rights protected.

Joy Division’s legendary bass player Peter Hook is set to tour Australia with The Metropolitan Orchestra this August for a string of five concerts which will see him, special guests and a full orchestra perform the band’s seminal post punk repertoire with classical elements.

Having sold out the debut concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall in July 2019, the Australian dates are the first outside England to be announced and follow on from Hooky’s many successful tours of Australia with both The Light and New Order.

“Peter Hook & The Metropolitan Orchestra present Joy Division Orchestrated” celebrates one of the most influential bands ever and put that group’s most famous works in an immersive show that recognises their role in shaping popular culture and the influence they continue to hold.

The show is curated by Peter Hook acting as Executive Producer with Musical Director Tim Crooks taking care of the orchestration. The concerts are the first time that an original member of the group has taken part in such a project to remember its decisive back catalogue.

One of Australia’s most versatile and independent orchestras, well established for over a decade now, The Metropolitan Orchestra is joining the tour for all dates, having previously worked with the cream of the world’s vocalists and musicians and concert tours with Basement Jaxx and the BBC (Dr Who / Blue Planet).

“Orchestrated” pairs up musically the elements of post punk that characterised Joy Division’s ground-breaking sound with the orchestra, paying homage to the spirit which defines their heritage.

Given the band’s iconic legacy, the arrangements of classic Joy Division are to be presented in a state-of-the-art concert setting with the highest standards of production.

As the band tragically ended on the eve of their first American tour in May 1980, Joy Division’s influence round the world has grown remarkably since and remains now ever present, with fans of all generations complimented by the many contemporary groups who have taken on the template of the band’s sound in the modern era.

Across their two LPs and singles, all produced by Martin Hannett for Factory Records, the band’s landmark tracks are to be featured in “Orchestrated”, including from the band’s debut album considered by many the finest debut release by any group.  Meanwhile the follow up, is described as a “start to finish masterpiece” (Pitchfork). Their singles are regularly lauded as some of the greatest ever to hit vinyl.

About bringing the Orchestrated concert to Australia, Peter Hook commented;
“When we began to celebrate Joy Division with The Light in 2010, Australia was one of our first international visits. Our seventh gig came in Melbourne and as always down under, the reactions were amazing. Over the years I’ve come to love visiting Australia more and more, the people are wonderfully hospitable and to be able to bring the show here, straight from the Royal Albert Hall, is a tremendous honour.

“In my recent work with orchestras, I realised that my first group could also lend itself to this treatment. Post punk is already dramatic, this will accentuate and take it to another performing and emotional level. “

“I’ve been very impressed with how our arranger Tim Crooks works and I know the band’s canon will be treated with great reverence and care, enthusiasm and passion as the originals were. I know everyone involved will be adding something very special.”

Tim Crooks added “To be given the opportunity to present the music of Joy Division with Hooky is a great privilege. The process for me involves peering through the veil of history to create an immersive experience that retains the anarchic, raw spirit of the originals. Modern life is rubbish. This is analogue, unfettered and live.”

Ticket Details

Friday 2nd August 2019        Sydney Opera House, Sydney
Saturday 3rd August 2019    AEC Theatre, Adelaide
Tuesday 6th August 2019      BCEC, Brisbane
Friday 9th August 2019         Perth Concert Hall, Perth
Sunday 11th August 2019      Plenary Theatre, Melbourne

Tickets On Sale Thursday 18th April, 10am local time.

General public tickets on-sale date:
10am local time on Thursday 18 April from www.wearenice.com.au

Do not buy from unauthorised resale scalper websites. You risk buying invalid or fraudulent tickets.

Peter Hook – Joy Division Orchestrated Links
facebook.com/orchestrated

Lyrebird Arts Offers Generous $20K Prize for Musicians 0

The Lyrebird Arts Council have made many financial donations to local groups and associations over many years, and they’re very proud to have organised the fund raising event for Black Saturday some years ago that raised over $40,000. Lyrebird have been honoured to have been in a position to give back to the community where possible. In celebration of their 20th anniversary there is one community they wish to give an extra gift to – the music community.

The Lyrebird Gift is a one-off gift of $20,000 to a musician or band.

In keeping with their core beliefs, philosophy and approach to all they have done in the past 20 years, the application process to be the recipient of The Lyrebird Gift will be quite straightforward.

Email them at: lyrebirdgift@gmail.com and tell them why, as a musician, you should receive the gift.
That’s it!

Your entry may be some words, it may be a CV, it may be a link to your live music. Tell them who you are, what you do or plan to do musically and if possible, a sample of your music. Don’t forget to send your contact details.

Lyrebird have made a conscious decision to make the gift as large an amount as they can so that it will make a difference to the recipient.

Entries open 31/03/2019 and close 30/09/2019
The winner will be announced on our 20th anniversary, which is October 25th2019.

There is some small print, so please read it before you submit your entry.
The Small Print:
• You must be 18 years of age or over
• You must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident of Australia.
• The recipient of the gift will be responsible for all and any legal requirements that come with receiving this gift. For example: Income Tax / GST. The gift is a gift of $20,000 net in one payment.
• Lyrebird Arts Council committee or their relatives and general members of the Lyrebird Arts council are exempt from receiving the gift
• If the recipient is a band, then all responsibility is with  the band to determine which bank account the prize will be deposited into and how it is used/divided.
• The judge’s decision will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.
• Lyrebird impose No restrictions on how the recipient will spend the gift.

This is a fantastic, one – off opportunity for musicians made possible by Lyrebird, get onto it now!

Dave Graney and the Mistly: The 'Zippa Deedoo' Interview 0

Dave Graney and the mistLY release a new album on March 22 called ZIPPA DEEDOO WHAT IS/WAS THAT/THIS? Featuring Dave on vocals and guitar, Clare Moore on drums and percussion, Stuart Perera on guitar and Stu Thomas on bass, the album was produced by Graney and Moore (roughly the 33rd album they have created) and had tracks mixed by Henry Wagons and another by Andrew “Idge” Hehir, who also applied his scholarly amp micing skills to the project. The album art was created by Tony Mahony who has been doing photography, illustration and video for Graney and Moore since 1990. Coral Snake Robin Casinader also appears on a track.

With ZIPPA DEEDOO WHAT IS/WAS THAT/THIS?, Graney set out to make a BAND album this time around and the MistLY revel in the creative freedom of tracks like Is That What You Did?, an eight minute-plus opus executed in the spirit of the great jam bands such as The Allman Brothers and Grateful Dead. Credited to all four band members, there’s a sense of space in the song which allows the band to explore some wonderful musical ideas, taking great advantage of the opportunity to lay down some tasteful, complementary licks.

Where’s My Buzz? is another stretch out exercise, a cruisy, yacht-rocker clicking in at over seven minutes in an orgy of guitar chords. A lot of chords, a lot of questions marks. Could Dave have been a Better Pop Star is another question he ponders in the album opener Baby I Wish I’d Been A Better Pop Star. (see video clip below) What is good pop star etiquette? Where’s the rule book?

Dig deep into Zippa Deedoo and you’ll find various rock ’n’ roll culture nods and winks. However, a more conspicuous homage is the track Ultrakeef. (see video clip below) A Honky Tonk Women-style cowbell beat propels the track along as Dave bullet-points the life of Stones’ legendary guitar hero Keith Richard. Your Masters, a track originally written and recorded in 1998 is re-recorded and mixed this time by Henry Wagons and features a warm 70s west coast flavoured guitar-jangle and includes an equally sweet, old fashioned, genuine guitar solo. Song Of Life contains the album’s title within its lyrics and is a luxurious, lounge-style groove, another track which the band are looking forward to riffing out live.

Eight new songs are offered on Zippa Deedoo, with five of them repeated in re-imagined form totalling 13 tracks in over an hour and seventeen minutes of classy, MistLY fare. Dave, Clare and band head out on the road over the coming weeks to give this album a workout on stage, where I can see some of these tracks taking on a life of their own.

Ahead of the album release and tour Australian Musician’s Greg Phillips headed down to Idge’s Soundpark Studios in Northcote, the spiritual home of Zippa Deedoo to chat to Dave Graney, Clare Moore, Stuart Perera and Stu Thomas about the making of the album.
Thanks to Idge for the studio time and Barry Douglas for recording footage and photos

TOUR DATES:

Shows below are by Dave Graney and Clare Moore.
Thursday 28 March – Stag & Hunter, Newcastle
Friday 29 March – Bent On Food, Wingham
Saturday 30 March – 5 Church Street Bellingen
Sunday 31 March – Brunswick Picture House
Friday April 12th – Memo Music Hall opening for Stephen Cummings (with whom Clare Moore is playing drums)
Saturday May 4th The Gov- Adelaide CLARE MOORE AND DAVE GRANEY opening for Stephen Cummings.
Friday May 24th – Tanswells Commercial Hotel – Beechworth
Saturday June 1st – The Railway Club Darwin
Saturday June 15th-Major Toms, Kyneton.

Shows below are by Dave Graney and the mistLY
Wednesday 8 May – Brass Monkey Cronulla
Thursday 9 May – The Bunker Coogee
Friday 10 May – Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville
Saturday 11 May – Metro Social, Katoomba
Sunday 12 May – Dangar Bowlo.NSW

Sunday May 26th – Northcote Social Club (afternoon) ZIPPADEEDOO album launch show.
Friday June 21st the Bison Bar, Nambour.
Saturday June 22nd- Sunday June 23rd – the Bearded Lady, Brisbane.
Saturday June 29th – The Caravan Music Club – Bentleigh
July 12th – THE GOV – Adelaide.

Alejandro Escovedo, Thornbury Theatre 0

After an illustrious recording and performing career spanning five decades, Texas-based alt-country rock legend Alejandro Escovedo has finally made it to Australia for the first time. Coming off a celebrated weekend at the Port Fairy Folk Festival, ably assisted by You Am I’s Tim Rogers, last night it was Melbourne’s turn to have our hearts melted by Alejandro’s wonderful life stories and compelling songs.

Escovedo is a master storyteller. His tales stem from true events and are delivered with authority, poignancy and quite often with a cheeky grin. Opening tonight’s set at The Thornbury Theatre with a five minute long monologue leading into the song San Antonio Rain, Alejandro told of his family’s move from San Antonio Texas to California. Presented to the kids as a vacation, the young Alejandro wasn’t to know until much later that they’d never return to their home to collect their belongings. He hilariously recounted the “13 kids in a sedan, with some in the trunk, some on the hood and some running behind the car, trying to keep up … and a few we lost outside of Phoenix, Arizona.” It’s no surprise that many other heavyweight songwriters such as Bruce Springsteen and Townes Van Zandt have been known to be major Escovedo fans.

Such was the impact of Alejandro’s spellbinding storytelling, that it was 20 minutes into the show before a second song was performed, yet at all times holding the audience in the palm of his hand. With “Five Hearts Breaking”, he recalled romantic notions of what America used to be, when musicians played for beer and food only but were grateful all the same. With songs from his current album The Crossing, he explored themes of immigration and the barriers facing migrants in a harsh political landscape globally.

An Alejandro Escovdeo concert is not only a journey through the troubadour’s own colourful career but also a history in contemporary music itself. Brought up on a mix of Mexican, country and big band music that his parents enjoyed, Alejandro’s influences grew to take in punk, garage and glam rock, all of which have infiltrated his own music at various stages of his work. One of his earlier bands, Rank & File tried to merge George Jones with The Clash, he tells us. His song Chelsea Hotel ’78 which was performed late in the set described life at New York’s notorious Chelsea Hotel, where Sid and Nancy were neighbours to Alejandro and The New York Dolls were regulars too.

Normally performing with a band, the economic hurdles of an Australian tour decreed that Alejandro would perform this time in duo mode. Sideman Tim Rogers provided much vocal character to Escovedo’s sensitive songs and was also responsible for the electric guitar atmospherics, which are an integral part of this music. Although the set was plagued by many on stage gremlins including wrong capo tuning, broken guitar strings and at one point, loss of Tim’s guitar sound altogether, it seemed to matter little to the audience who were caught up in the amiable, community spirit of the night.

As they have done each night throughout this Australian tour, Alejandro and Tim stepped into the middle of the audience to perform a few songs unplugged to great effect. A powerful acoustic version of the Mott The Hoople song I Wish I Was Your Mother held the audience in complete silence. A rendition of the beautiful Rosalie, a song about a couple who were separated for seven years, yet stayed in touch by writing letters to each other daily, left many in the crowd wiping back tears.

Swallows of San Juan, a song about Alejandro’s days as a young surfer in Huntington Beach pretending to be Hawaiian rather than Mexican to prevent him from being beaten up by jocks, took the concert into overtime. Leaving us in the same manner he welcomed us, it ended with a tale attached to a song. He recalled a friend phoning him up one day and asking if he had read the New York Times that morning. Featured in the paper that day was President George W Bush’s top ten iPod playlist, which happened to include Escovedo’s song ‘Castanets (I like it better when she walks away)’. “That wasn’t cool,” Alejandro told us. “I didn’t know what to do, so I retired the song until he was out of office.” Kicking into the rollicking party-piece with gusto, Escovedo and Rogers brought the audience to their feet in celebration of one of the most engaging and enjoyable shows seen at The Thornbury Theatre. Judging by the audience reaction and Alejandro’s smile, I doubt that it will be long before we see him back in Australia.