Rip It Up 365

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T I C K E T S O N S A L E F R I A U G T I C K E T M A S T E R . C O . N Z

HUNTERS & COLLECTORS

ON SALE MONDAY 25 AUGUST

FRI 21 NOVEMBERPOWERSTATION

BEE & THE SOUND PRESENT

Creators Murray Cammick Alistair Dougal

Publisher Grant Hislop

Editorial Manager Tyler Hislop [email protected]

Designer Greta Gotlieb [email protected]

Sub-Editor Louise Adams

Distribution Jamie Hislop [email protected]

Accounts Gail Hislop [email protected]

Sales Grant Hislop [email protected]

Contributors Gary Steel, Ren Kirk, Barney Chunn, Tim Gruar, Jake Ebdale, David Kearney, James Manning, Nick Collings, Sarah Thomson, Laura Weaser

Rip It Up Magazine is published by Hark Entertainment Ltd

Office 2a Waverly Street, Auckland CBD, New Zealand

Postal PO Box 6032 Wellesley Street, Auckland 1141, New Zealand

Phone (09) 366 4616

Website ripitup.co.nz

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Rip It Up is subject to copyright in its entirety. The contents may not be reproduced in any form, either in whole or in part, without written permission of the publisher. All rights reserved in material accepted for publication, unless initially specified otherwise. All letters and other material forwarded to the magazine will be assumed intended for publication unless clearly labeled “NOT FOR PUBLICATION”. Opinions express in the magazine are not necessarily those of Hark Entertainment Limited. No responsibility is accepted for unsolicited material.

ISSN 0114-0876

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RODRIGUEZ Rodriguez will tour New Zealand this October prior to his Australian tour; playing shows in both Auckland and Wellington. Tickets are on sale on now. A self-taught guitarist, Rodriguez is outspoken about his fondness for playing to antipodean audiences. He played here in 2013 to longtime fans and more recent converts thanks to the success of 2012’s Oscar Award winning documentary ‘Searching for Sugar Man’. SEE HIM LIVE: RODRIGUEZ

MON 13 OCT ASB THEATRE,

AUCKLAND

THU 16 OCT OPERA HOUSE,

WELLINGTON

WHAT GOES ON

ON THE RIP IT UP STEREO

JENNY LEWIS – VOYAGER (2014)

ARCADE FIRE – ‘AFTERLIFE’ (2013)

JUNGLE – JUNGLE (2014)

THE DOORS – MORRISON HOTEL (1970)

JESSIE J, ARIANA GRANDE, NICKI MINAJ – ‘BANG BANG’ (2014)

RYAN ADAMS – EASY TIGER (2007)

SAM SMITH – ‘I’M NOT THE ONLY ONE’ (2014)

DANGER MOUSE AND SPARKLEHORSE – DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL (2010)

SHEPPARD – ‘GERONIMO’ (2014)

VAMPIRE WEEKEND – ‘DIANE YOUNG’ (2013)

THE LEMONHEADS This December The Lemonheads will bring us new music mixed in with the old classics and it promises to be a special affair for long-term fans and newcomers alike. The groups debut album Hate Your Friends was released in 1987 saw four young Boston lads emerge as one of the city’s premier bands, then 22 years ago the hit record It’s A Shame About Ray propelled the band into 90s alternative stardom.The bands last new and original material The Lemonheads was released in 2006, and in 2009 we were treated to the covers album Varshons an electric mix of songs from GG Alin to Leonard Cohen. SEE THEM LIVE: THE LEMONHEADS

WED 17 DEC THE TUNING FORK,

AUCKLAND

THU 18 DEC BODEGA, WELLINGTON

TICKETS ON SALE: THU 04 SEP

UTR.CO.NZ

KIMBRA Kimbra is set to bring her signature electric and powerful performances to the stage this November. Embarking on a mid-October US tour which includes a sold out show at Hollywood’s iconic Roxy Theatre, the ever-stylish singer-songwriter, Kimbra, returns to Australia and her native New Zealand in support of her brand new album, The Golden Echo, playing Auckland’s Powerstation Tuesday 18 November.SEE HER LIVE: KIMBRA

TUE 18 NOV THE POWERSTATION,

AUCKLAND

TICKETS ON SALE: 10AM, THU 04 SEP

AQUA Who knew?! ‘Barbie Girl’ hitmakers Aqua are still a thing... AND they are heading to Auckland’s Powerstation. Hanky panky. In 1997 AQUA owned the airwaves and indeed the upper reaches of the charts across the globe with a string of massive pop hits. Songs including the smash hits ‘Barbie Girl’, ‘Doctor Jones’

and ‘Lollypop (Candyman)’ had the world dancing to some of the most loveable feel good pop music ever recorded.SEE THEM LIVE: AQUA

WED 29 OCT THE POWERSTATION,

AUCKLAND

TICKETS ON SALE NOW

MTV LIKESMTV Australia and New Zealand have announced the launch of MTV Likes, a local music initiative profiling and supporting the “hottest” new clips from local and international artists. A new clip is chosen each week and introduced by a piece to camera from one of MTV’s local VJs. It airs on high rotation across the network for one week and is given maximum exposure across all MTV platforms on-air and online, including MTV News, and exposure on mtv.co.nz and across MTV’s social media accounts, which have more than 100,000 New Zealand connections and more than two million Australian connections.

8 | RIPITUP.CO.NZ

RYAN ADAMS

GARY STEEL

10 | RIPITUP.CO.NZ

RYAN ADAMS BY Ryan Adams. There must be a message in that. His first album in three years, and the first completely recorded and self-produced in his own, proudly all-analogue studio, Ryan Adams is a back to basics affair that seems to be saying: here I am, this is what I do, love me or leave me.

The truth is more prosaic. “The honest truth is that, uh… I just couldn’t think of a name,” says Adams. “I really did try and find a title, and every title I came up with just sounded so pretentious, I just could not figure it out. It felt like it was going to sound less pretentious just to call it my name, even though I never understood it when people called their records just their own name.”

Perhaps the title was a subconscious letting go, now that Adams is reasonably comfortably middle-aged (he’s 39, going on 40 in November), and has seemingly more-or-less dealt with the demons of a misspent youth.

For the uninitiated, despite his main course solo albums sounding about as friendly and approachable as a vaguely Southern-tinged, roots-inspired American singer-songwriting gets, Adams has something of a reputation as a firebrand, an agent provocateur, and can be a difficult interview subject. When he admitted to long-term substance abuse in 2009, having cleaned up and gotten married to actress Mandy Moore, his unpredictable behaviour and ADHD-type personality seemed to have been at least partially explained, though whether the erratic behaviour resulted from the drugs, or the drug-use was a kind of emotional plaster for the behaviour, fans will probably never know.

But Adams can clearly still be a prickly pear. His bizarre spat with Neil Finn on a BBC music show in 2011 proved that.

is a daily thing. I ruminate on that stuff when I write because I find that it’s inescapable that in order to think about joy and transcendence you must also talk about this cage that you are in and this life where it is our responsibility to spiritually become more grounded and more powerful from the adversities around us, or suffer the wrath on us, you know?”

Just when I start to wonder whether he’s attended too many AA meetings or been schooled by the psychobabble brigade of Californian hipster therapists, things get even darker.

“I find that to be the very thing that I’ve always been attracted to in art and music. I don’t believe I would ever be so blissful or blind that I would ever write a record where the entire emotional geography was just like, ukulele songs from a beach or something. I would never be that person. This world is not that way. We’re not here to simply roll around in token bliss. I don’t think the universe works that way.

“This cosmos that we’re in, it’s the principle of not just light and dark but the principle of fusion and burning; things burning for energy, and the conurbation of one thing from another, whether that be a nebula or a black hole or a planetary system or two planets colliding and creating a moon. And those moons settle in after millions of years and create tides, just so that we can crawl out of the water and become human beings. This is a cosmos of destruction and creation. Birth and death and… I have a hard time sitting and grinning for 11 songs of just how happy I was. I prefer to see both sides, and I like to paint them the way it works. That’s the challenge for me.”

Despite rehearsing to sing on Finn’s ‘Fall At Your Feet’, Adams spontaneously refused to do so, eliciting a loud admonishment from our Neil that became even more public when Adams later claimed that Finn had “derailed” his song ‘Invisible Riverside’.

I was pre-warned that Adams would kill our interview stone dead should I mention the Finn spat or the album that never was – the one he recorded with Glyn Johns, producer of 2011’s Ashes & Fire, that he considered was too safe and boring to see the light of day.

As long as I stuck more-or-less to subject, however, he seemed willing to answer questions fulsomely, and didn’t seem quite the grump I had expected. Having moved to LA in 2009 to be with his wife, perhaps the city has mellowed him over time. Or it could be his consumption of medical marijuana, the benefits of which he proudly extols in other interviews, for the treatment of Ménière’s disease, a condition of the inner ear that causes sporadic deafness, pronounced tinnitus, and most disturbingly, dizzying bouts of vertigo.

Certainly Adams, a published poet, is quick to fly into an almost stream-of-consciousness description of his writing process, when I ask him if the often miserable scenarios depicted on the new album (lots of driving around with his heart hurting for some impossible love), were conjured-up memories before he found his new happy place.

“I would like to think that life is an interesting balance of transcending a series of imperfect and sometimes, you know, traumatic and tragic events,” says Adams. “At no point in my life do I not have gremlins or have been away from the fact that there was stuff that reminded me that there was joy in our suffering. I mean, this

Phew. And here was me thinking Ryan Adams was just another well-crafted album steeped in Dylan and transfused by early Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. Having traversed time and space and all creation, I ask Adams where he finds the muse. Is he an analytical manipulator of raw songwriting data, or does he just find the lava flow and squeeze it out?

“Some songs come to me like gifts, others take years to marinade,” he says. “I don’t push any of them. They happen in their own time, when they’re ready. I’m just in the flow with music, I’m a witness, I’m a participant, I stay in that zone, and I’m really grateful for all the things that I find, and I think that the best way I could ever describe it is that I’m happy to respect the muse, the energy of where this all comes from. I know that this means I have to be respectful that I’m tapping into a cool part of my unconscious mind and my conscious mind, and I’m being a participant in this energy that hopefully with good intention becomes the crazy passage to get lost in music. What could be better?”

What, indeed.

NEW ALBUM: RYAN ADAMS

OUT FRI 05 SEP

“Some songs come to me like gifts, others take years to marinade.”

RIPITUP.CO.NZ | 11

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SO WHAT...

Drake was “excited as hell” to receive a lap dance from Nicki Minaj. The ‘Anaconda’ rapper can be seen seductively grinding against her pal in the raunchy music video for her new track and she admits her moves left Drake rather hot under the collar. Nicki told MTV: “After the lap dance, he was excited like hell. He was like, ‘Yo, do you understand? I’m the man after this video come out!’ We were just laughing. But it’s always good to do stuff like that with Drake because we’re so close.”

One Direction’s new album is “fantastic”, according to Simon Cowell. The record label boss believes the “heartthrobs” have at least six songs that could light up the charts on their upcoming fourth studio album which is due for release later this year. Speaking to Capital FM, he enthused: “The album’s fantastic. There’s probably five or six tracks I’ve already heard that could be singles. “There’s some very different kinds of songs than what we’ve done before, they’ve taken a few more risks. Most importantly, the boys love writing, they love recording.”

Taylor Swift doesn’t feel “cool” despite selling millions of records. The songstress has stuck up for the social outsiders after revealing that it’s better to have fun than worry about looking cool. Talking to the Daily Mirror newspaper, Taylor explained: “Selling millions of records doesn’t make me feel cool. It makes me feel proud and I have a lot of people on my side and I’ve worked really hard, but I don’t think it’s the most important thing in life to fit in. It’s the most important thing in life to dance to the beat of your own drum and to look like you’re having more fun than the people who look cool and fit in.”

Madonna has been working on a “super weird” song. The 56-year-old singer has teamed up with producer Diplo for a number of tracks on her forthcoming album, and he admits one song was made based on drunk improvisation following a boozy night in the studio. Speaking to Billboard, he said: “One [song] is super weird. Late one night in the studio we got a little bit drunk and she improvised a little hook and we made a song out of it. I think it’s going to be a breakthrough if she can manage to get everything together and get it out properly.”

TWEET TALK“My home phone is ringing. I did not know I had a home phone. Interesting development.”Taylor Swift @taylorswift13

90% of being a dad is yelling about doors being left open while the air conditioning is running.Chris Rock @ozchrisrock

“there is nothing more beautiful than eating a meat free gluten free dairy free cheeseburger in the sunset”Miley Ray Cyrus @MileyCyrus

“When I was 18 I got a job as an intern at Comic Relief just to be near him. A genius and a truly kind man who made the world a better place.”Judd Apatow @JuddApatow

12 | RIPITUP.CO.NZ

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WIN

IN AUGUST 2010, Slash found himself on the West Coast of the North Island, headlining a midnight guitar showcase. It was in a united museum library, smack dab in the middle of New Plymouth. There were bogans spilling onto the street and packed inside, hanging on to every creamy lick, every pinch of harmony from that signature Les Paul. It may have been the only library mosh-pit in Taranaki’s history. Looking at him play, there was no trace of the drug-addled fellow who once ran through a golf course in the nude to escape imaginary bugs.

The man born Saul Hudson now plays an unassuming figure – about his status as the most recognisable living rock guitarist in the world, his style of playing – and for the most part, has stayed elusive around the debauchery that would define and destroy his first band, Guns N’ Roses. He’s articulate and frank – not out of place in the library, actually. Close to 50, there are shades of an elder statesman. I want to know what Slash thinks of rock and roll today.

“I always keep my ear to the ground for a really great, bona fide rock ‘n’ roll band that has its chops together, some roots, but I think the industry has become so materialistic, commercially-minded and obviously about hits and finances…(that) everything is cookie cutter Top 40 stuff. Every genre – country, hip hop, EDM – is conforming to the industry standard. With rock, every young band that

has a record deal is trying to please daddy, you know, the big mothership record company owned by conglomerates. It’s sort of sad.”

He’s earned this strong opinion on the strength of the ‘Paradise City’ intro alone. But don’t call Slash a legend just yet – Mark Sainsbury said that to his face and he squirmed behind his aviators. In fact, it’s the shunning of this legend that drives Slash to make music, to keep things fresh. For one thing, he can still produce driving, balls-to-the-wall rock that competes with the young bloods.

For the last five years, there’s been a whirlwind of activity, including two albums, big tours and the formation of his band The Conspirators, featuring singer Myles Kennedy. Now there’s a third album on the way called World on Fire, which has relit the spark. Whilst humble, Slash is pumped up about the new record, particularly how far the band has come since second album Apocalyptic Love.

“The whole band has progressed in leaps and bounds. [Love] was our first real collaboration. I listened to it recently and it’s a good record – it opened the door to what we were capable of, but I’m really excited and satisfied with where we’re at now.”

Whilst Love was raw with hardly any overdubs, World on Fire is a return to roots of the debut album. The title track and first single, which Slash describes as a “very

SLASH

primal, sexual” song, storms out of the gate upon first listen. Slash grinds the axe, Kennedy wails like a banshee, the rest of the band plays with intense fervour. It’s aggressive stuff.

“Sonically [Fire is] a little different. It sounds bigger…I re-did the guitar in the control room this time. It’s really good.” Fire is Slash’s longest album too – 17 songs, 77 minutes. “We’re not gonna make any deluxe editions with that many songs,” he jokes. There’s also a monster of a track, ‘Battleground’, that “would be too hard to explain, too long a conversation.” It’s that out of control, apparently.

There’s no filler on the record, either. “I come from that school of thinking where an album is really a body of work; it represents a certain space in time. I’ve never gone into the studio with this concept of “Let’s concentrate on the single and fill the rest up with crap”, or “Let’s write singles that we can put on iTunes”. That’s never been my MO.”

There’s a deeper meaning to the record title that Slash is keen to point out. “…You look at it from a socio-political or global point of view; this title is actually a very poignant statement considering what we’re all going through in the world. It stems from people’s personal lives – the pandemonium that goes along with life in general.” Quite a general statement – he could be alluding to anything in his own career. After Gunners and Velvet Revolver, coming out the other end alive, as stated in his eponymous autobiography, was the main goal.

There were things I couldn’t ask about – the age-old Axl questions. There was stuff I flat out forgot, like his solo on Michael Jackson’s ‘Black or White’, or collaborating with Fergie. There’s so much to this guy. Yes, the hair, hat and glasses are still there, but I get the sense that he’s breaking new ground. The booze and drugs are long gone – if you could accuse him of being addicted to anything these days, it’s being Slash.

NEW ALBUM: WORLD ON FIRE

OUT FRI 12 SEP

“It stems from people’s personal lives – the

pandemonium that goes along with life in general.”

JAKE EBDALE

14 | RIPITUP.CO.NZ

WHO’S NEXT?

OPHELIA When did Ophelia start mak-ing music? We got together about 18 months ago recording Alex’s acoustic folk stuff. A number of months after that we decided to try writ-ing together and it kind of went from there.

I understand Patrick comes from an orchestral background and Alex started out writing folk music. How have these genres informed your electronic sound? We’re fairly new to writing electronic music so it’s actually really great to be able to bring totally different things to the table. We both have pretty eclectic taste so it’s nice to hear the different flavours pour out in the tracks. You might not hear orchestral sounds, but it definitely affects the way we build a song.

Can you explain your general songwriting process? We write in two ways; either Pat writes a rough track and sends it to Alex to create the vocals, or Alex sends Pat a song she’s written and he builds it up from there. There’s definitely a difference in outcome between the two methods.

Congrats on scoring funding

POLO When and why did you start making music? I’ve been making music in some form for as long as I can remember. It just feels right.

Is there a story behind the name? I used to get bullied in high school, especially at roll call.

Your debut self-titled mixtape was released in early August and has since received plays from STYLSS – can you tell us a bit about the background of the mixtape? It was just a bunch of songs I made over the course of a year and I thought I should release something.

The Deftones remix ‘Pink Polo’ is a standout – how was that created? Southern Comfort and a couple bottles of dry cough syrup.

The recent collaboration track with Kamandi ‘Tears Made Our Team Strong’ is a very strong collab – how did this happen? We’re always back and forth about projects we’re working on, and since the A.A.S.B release went so well, we figured another tape was in order.

from NZ On Air – what has this meant for you? Thanks, we’re so stoked! We’ve had so many ideas for how we’d like to produce our music and this grant gives us the ability to take it to the next level. We’ve already started work with Jordan Stone over at Roundhead on our single and the results are incredible!

How has the experience of releasing first debut EP Face the Sea in November influenced the music you are currently working on? I think we learned a lot from the first release. Definitely surprised by which tracks received the most attention. The first record was us finding ourselves as a band but we are still evolving. The second EP draws on some of what we loved from the first record, but also brings in a lot of new influences. There’s some big piano-based riffs, some guitar and even some house in this record, it’s a melting pot alright!

What are your future plans? We’d love to put a tour together once the second EP drops and hopefully make it overseas next year. But I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what people make of the new tracks.LISTENOPHELIA.BANDCAMP.COM

What does your general songwriting process entail? I usually start with a sample from a film or video game that makes me feel some kinda way, then I collect a bunch of sounds I think fit the aesthetic the sample needs, and I experiment with those until something sticks.

How did you end up with NZ record label Secret Club? I started it with a friend to release songs we weren’t sure were good enough, but after I released ‘AMEN’, we saw the potential in the platform.

If you could collaborate with any artist or producer (living or dead), who would it be and why? RiFF RAFF because he’s the NEON iCON.

What are your future plans? I’m doing a water festival with holograms and then I’m flying my fans to the moon for a show.SOUNDCLOUD.COM/FXRXVXRPXLX

AUTHOR

16 | RIPITUP.CO.NZ

HANS PUCKET When did Hans Pucket start making music? The band started with my brother Callum and I (Oliver) playing at house parties in 2011 in Christchurch. Our first show was for my older brother’s 21st – we played impromptu requests until noise control came.

Can you explain the background of your debut self-titled EP? We recorded most of it with a two-piece set up in an hour at a friend’s house with two mics. The overdubbing and mixing ended up taking six months because we had no idea what we were doing, just trying to make it sound good.

‘Fight For Fun’ is a highlight, how was that recorded? That was very hard to mix because we kept adding more and more instruments, trying to cover up the terrible guitar tone. We recorded and deleted all these keyboards just trying to rip off Tame Impala. Once we abandoned the two-piece thing and put in a bass guitar, it finally worked. Then we went back and added bass guitar to every song on the EP.

Can you talk a little bit about your general songwriting process? I write the music and the lyrics at the same time, not really

MERMAIDENS When did Mermaidens start making music? We’re all good friends from high school. Lily (guitarist/bass play-er) and Gussie (guitarist/vocalist) started jamming together in their last year of school. Then at Camp (A Low Hum) in 2013 they joined powers with Abe (drummer), vowing to get good enough to play at Camp the following year. Luckily enough we were accept-ed, yippee!

What was the recording process like for recent EP O? Pretty loud and sweaty – we squeezed into a little room at Abe’s place and recorded the vocals in a cupboard under the stairs. O was recorded and mixed entirely by us three. This made it a really great learning experience as we’ve usually had some expert tech dude helping us out – fiddling with knobs and such.

Can you share how it reflects the band at the moment? The three tracks on the EP are more pared back than our previous recordings and I think they’re a good representation of the direction we’re going in. We really like twinkly, reverby, plucked guitar riffs and the songs on O have quite a bit of this. From having more experience jamming together, we’ve refined our individual sound a bit more – experimenting more with pedals

thinking about anything. Sometimes later I realise what’s going on. They are generally written pretty quickly. Also, the other guys in the band have to like it.

What music are you listening to at the moment? Kane Strang, Virgins by Tim Hecker, a lot of Belle by Bic Runga, Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks. At my flat we play Talking Heads records a lot.

Favourite track to play live and why? The song ‘Why’ – which we haven’t recorded yet. When we play it right it builds across the whole song, gets gnarly, and has enough breathing room to be changed up every time.

Future plans for Hans Pucket? We want to release two EPs very soon, one that’s very pop, or like David Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’, and another that is just bat-shit crazy and experimental. Hopefully they cross over while being made and we’ll invent a new genre.HANSPUCKET.BANDCAMP.COM

and the like.

The bandcamp artwork is rad, who worked on that? Lily West – our guitarist/bassist. She has the sickest style and we’re so lucky to have her! You can check out her work here – lilybadposture.tumblr.com.

What does each member do outside making music? Gussie’s finishing a film degree/listening to doom/avoiding real life in general. Lily’s drawing and painting, fostering plants and procrastinating from study. Abe’s being a cool dude who fixes things and always seems to be biking and grinning.

What do you enjoy most about the Wellington music scene? Wellington’s scene is so rad at the moment. We have some great venues, which treat musicians really well, and we’ve also got a few low-key venues that don’t sell alcohol, putting the focus more on music. House parties here are rad too.

Future plans for Mermaidens? Writing new songs and taking fuzz and reverb to the next level – just in time to support Beastwars & Windhand at San Fran on Friday 10 October! We’re working to record in a few months…we’ll keep you posted!MERMAIDENS.BANDCAMP.COM

RIPITUP.CO.NZ | 17

THIS MONTH IN CLUBLAND

now planning the EP for release on iTunes.

There is a remix album underway at the moment – this is getting mastering soon and is an iTunes release as well

There is a music video for the track off my new album called ‘Seductive Wolf Eyes’ featuring Christina Roberts, I shot and directed it in Wellington.

Another video I’m working on right now is one for ‘Put On Ya Turban’ featuring Dexta Malawi from Jamaica... the video was directed and shot over there, but I’ll be editing it here in NZ. You can expect to see the completed video in October.

Also the NZ album tour that’s on the go over September! I’m touring with MC Lotek from the UK in the North Island & Camo MC in the South Island. We are also touring with Andy Qroniq on sax and Warp TV is doing all the live visuals – it’s a sick line up and the shows have been going off! I’m running my own label & putting on the whole tour myself... so it’s been a lot of work!!

Most memorable DJ moment to date? Island Vibe music festival on Stradbroke Island out of Brisbane, Australia. It is a three-day day reggae and dance music festival that happens each year. I played a D&B set with King Kapisi MCing for me – it was a massive set and we took off the roof! It was one of those gigs where you come off-stage & say to yourself, “this is why I do what I do.”

2013 was the year of “Deep House”. 2014 will be the year of… what musical genre? Haha, maybe Deep House if ya

NICK COLLINGS

live in Auckland, but where I’m from it was the year of Trap, Grime and Glitch Hop! It all depends on what sound you’re into and where you go out for a boogie. The NZ dance music scene is more diverse than ever and the audiences are breaking out of their genre barriers more than ever before.

This year for me is the year of mixed sounds and changing it up, my sets consist of a range of tempos and styles that all compliment each other.

What are your thoughts on the current commercialism of “EDM” in the world right now? Why don’t they just put an extra A in there between the D and the M. It’s all cheese! I don’t really think about it as I’m too busy doing my own thing. Haha.

What’s the musical equivalent of the G-Spot? When you are mixing an album down in a room which is set up so perfectly that you can hear every bass frequency through the Genelec studio monitors... and then Chris from Kog mastering says “the mix sounds PHAT as, my bro.” BLISS!

Do you think Paternity Insurance is an essential item on the road? I can’t tell you anything... what’s on the road stays on the road! I’m not from Van Halen, so it should be sweet.

THE NOMAD’S 7 IS OUT NOW

SEE HIM LIVE: THE NOMAD

FRI 12 SEP SAWMILL CAFE, LEIGH

SAT 13 SEP PACIFIC RESORT, PAIHIA

FRI 19 SEP CLUB ACCESS, AUCKLAND

SAT 20 SEP BEACH HOTEL, WAIHI

FRI 26 SEP THE MAYFAIR, TARANAKI

SAT 27 SEP BOAT CAFE, WELLINGTON

FOR EXTENDED INTERVIEWS CHECK OUT RIPITUP.CO.NZ/CLUBLAND

SCRATCHING THE SURFACE THE NOMAD For New Zealand’s own Daimon Schwalger, aka The Nomad, the wandering existence has been all about building strong connections with people and places. He shares the story of his journey through the creation and celebration of independent music. Having spent over two decades behind both the decks and at the controls, Daimon is now the mas-ter of his own production studios, The Nomad Music.

Clubland scratches the surface on The Nomad.

Coming up in electronic music, who was your DJ/producer hero? Well, I have been in the game for 25 years so it’s going back a while, I have to say DJ Shadow was one of my main influences. There are quite a few during the music timeline of my life but I’m happy with that choice.

What aspect of making music excites you the most right now? It’s got to be the time in the studio by myself getting engaged with the writing process, the arrangement, the experimenting with sounds, the pushing and manipulating of frequencies, the personal touch and also the emotion that goes into it. It’s all about the there and then approach to it all.

What track of yours do you recommend to people who have never heard your music before? ‘Brok Out’, it’s off the new album 7. It was released a few months back and has done really well on the radio. It’s also a good gauge of where I’m at right now with my music.

What projects are you currently working on? I have a lot on at the moment, particularly with the ‘Brok Out’ remix comp – we had 34 remixes come in from all over NZ and also overseas. The winner and runner-ups were drawn and I am

18 | RIPITUP.CO.NZ

MEFJUS Amongst a plethora of other young Austrian artists, Mefjus is still the new kid on the block. His brand of jaw-dropping, proper tech-infused productions stand out and have amassed quite a following amongst the drum & bass hierarchy in the past half decade. His remix credits to date include Chase & Status, Camo & Krooked, Optiv & BTK and Friction.

KASRA As the label boss/A&R manager for Critical Music, Kasra is an architect for the sound design of breakbeat music today. He decides what the future of drum and bass sounds like and plays it as an established DJ delivering in vast locations from Vienna to Beijing.SEE THEM DJ: CRITICAL SOUND TOUR

FEATURING KASRA (UK), ENEI (RU) &

MEFJUS (AT)

FRI 05 SEP BODEGA, WELLINGTON

SAT 06 SEP DUX LIVE, CHRISTCHURCH

THU 11 SEP PLATFORM, AUCKLAND

20 ALBUMS THAT TURN 20 IN 2014 2 Unlimited – Real Things Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works Volume II Autechre – Amber Depth Charge – Nine Deadly Venoms DJ Vagas – Central Nervous System Volume 1 – The Brain Kenny Larkin – Azimuth Massive Attack – Protection Mechanism – Morningstar Orbital – Snivilisation Plastikman – Musik Portishead – Dummy

TURNING THE TABLES WITH… PAULY D 1. He was born July 5, 1980. 2. He found fame on MTV reality TV show Jersey Shore which aired from December 2009 to December 2012. 3. He began DJing at age 16. 4. He took his early DJ inspira-tion from DJ A.M. 5. In 2011 he signed to 50 Cent’s G-Note Records. 6. In 2011 he was the official opener for Britney Spears on her Femme Fatale Tour of North America. 7. In 2012 he released his own signature range of SMS Audio

The brainchild of London D&B enthusiast Kasra in 2002, Critical Music has seen genre defining moments from the likes of Enei, Concord Dawn, Break, Rock-well, Sabre, Stray, Cyantific, Marcus Intalex, S.P.Y, Calibre, Total Science and many more.

Not just a record label, the Critical portfolio now boasts highly regarded club nights with a residency at London’s world-renowned Fabric club, as well as regular branded Critical tour nights across the UK and abroad.

ENEI Alexey Egorchenkov aka Enei got hooked on drum and bass in St. Petersburg, Russia way back in 2003. By 2007 he was a firm favourite, gracing the line-ups of local nights, and in 2008 he got his first production “Parallel” released on Dutch label Fokuz. Throughout the next two years he solidified his name with tracks through Blu Saphir, Cyanide and Citrus and by 2010 the Andy C-championed “Cracker” had cemented his place as a producer making waves.

Real McCoy – Space Invaders Reel 2 Real Featuring The Mad Stuntman – Move It! Sasha & Digweed – Renaissance: The Mix Collection Strawpeople – Broadcast The Future Sound Of London – Lifeforms The Prodigy – Music For The Jilted Generation The Sabres Of Paradise – Haunt-ed Dancehall Various – Dope On Plastic Volume 1 Various – Reactivate 9 (Razor-Sharp Beats+Bytes)

headphones. 8. In October 2013 he announced he was father to a girl named Amabella. 9. After holding down DJ resi-dencies in Las Vegas, Pauly D now has a residency at Harrah’s Resort, Atlantic City. 10. His new single ‘Tomorrow’ was released in August with the revelation that Pauly D no longer had his trademark “blowout” hairstyle.SEE HIM DJ: PAULY D (US)

FRI 26 SEP LOGAN CAMPBELL CENTRE,

AUCKLAND (ALL AGES)

SAT 27 SEP LOGAN CAMPBELL CENTRE,

AUCKLAND (18+)

CRITICAL SOUND

RIPITUP.CO.NZ | 19

“YOU KNOW, SOMETIMES I use my voice for evil, man,” laughs comedian, Gabriel Iglesias, better known as ‘Fluffy’.

“Sometimes I go to the drive-thru and they stuff up my order... I drive around again and order with my ditzy female voice. I pull up to the window to get my order… and they are not expecting me! They were thinking … say a small, pretty blond – not a 1000-pound Latino in a Hawaiian shirt!”

‘Fluffy’ is not...err? Well, he’s not a petite man. He can fill the space as much with laughter as with himself. But don’t call him “fat”.

“I prefer the term ‘Fluffy’. It was a reference used in the 1940s, especially around Latin Americans. Back when people were gentler in their language.”

He’s certainly livened up my day, as he tells me how that drive-thru routine came about – apparently he actually does buzz McDonald’s staff from time to time. Iglesias has always found his comedy on the street. And today those streets were rumbling. “You hear that. We’ve having a tremor.” Indeed, halfway

through our interview (he’s in Northern California, I’m in my jammies in Wellington), the windows in his apartment start rattling. “But it’s nothing,” he tells me in his broad Latino accent. “Nothing” turns out to be a pretty strong 6.0 on the Richter scale, but he’s not concerned. “When I walk the floor shakes – don’t quote me on that.”

Born in Chula Vista, California, Iglesias is the youngest of six children, raised by a single mother. By the way, he’s no relation to Enrique or Julio. “However, there’s a story,” he tells me, “of a mother who abandons a baby on the steps of a church. That’s what it means, ‘church’. And in that way we’re all related.” More specifically, it’s the commune of the province of Carbonia-Iglesias, Sardinia, Italy, where the tale originated, but no one’s quibbling on that.

Iglesias grew up, he tells me, as a shy boy in poor housing in Long Beach, California. One day he saw Eddie Murphy’s stand-up show Raw. “I totally loved it. It was amazing. I loved everything – his red leather, the brashness, the rudeness. I was about 10 years old. It changed me.”

GABRIEL IGLESIAS

Around 1997 he offered the opportunity to compere a music night. “It was these hum drum covers bands in a little dive club. It’s still there, God bless. I got paid $20 for 5 minutes. I got the taste and kept going.”

Dues were definitely paid in every biker bar and hole-in-the-wall joint in California, but he’d never expected the incredible success he has experienced.

Today, Iglesias is one of America’s most successful stand-up comedians. He regularly performs in sold-out concerts across the United States and internationally. I asked him what the craziest gig was.

“Oh, well. One was in the North Pole. It’s dark half the year. They actually have a light bulb that goes on for half a day so you know when it’s day and you know when it’s night. I was there entertaining troops up in Santa’s Grotto. Most audiences hit the boulevard for a couple to warm up before coming into a comedy club. But you can’t do that at the North Pole. It’s a long ride home if you’re DIC.”

He also told me that the weirdest event was for royalty in Saudi Arabia. “I was expecting ex-pats or something but there were plenty of locals. It was crazy. I was expecting them to be quite conservative, but they were very diverse, open, warm. Often the media portray only one side of a culture and you get a mindset about them. I was blown away by their warmth.”

Iglesias’s stand-up is the time-honoured mix of storytelling, parody, character assassination and sound effects that exaggerate everyday experiences into a larger than life event.

Last month he released The Fluffy Movie, a film of his stand-up show, in theatres and is also featuring in his first major studio release I (Zoe Saldana, Channing Tatum). Info on that is still under wraps but things are certainly hotting up. “Yeah, and then I get to come to you guys in New Zealand,” he notes, “that’ll be cool. Do you have drive-thrus down there?” Uh oh...

SEE HIM LIVE: GABRIEL IGLESIAS

THU 18 SEP THE CIVIC, AUCKLAND

“When I walk the floor shakes – don’t quote me on that.”

TIM GRUAR

WIN

RIPITUP.CO.NZ | 23

MATT HEATH, LAURA MCGOLDRICK & JEREMY WELLS WEEKDAYS 6AM - 9AM

THE UNDERDOG’S

UNDERDOG.INTRODUCING THE 13 MOST LISTENED TO BREAKFAST RADIO SHOW IN NZ

TH

*TNS New Zealand Commercial National Survey 1/2014 Station Share, All 10+ (Mon-Fri 6am-9am)

Auckland 99.0FM, Blenheim 94.5FM, Christchurch 106.5FM & Sumner 89.3FM, Dunedin 106.2FM, Gisborne 105.3FM,

Hamilton 96.2FM, Invercargill 93.2FM, Napier 99.9FM, Nelson 90.4FM, New Plymouth 90.8FM, Palmerston North 105.8FM,

Rotorua 94.3FM, Taupo 92.8FM, Tauranga 91.0FM, Wellington 93.3FM, Whangarei & Far North 93.2FM

STYLE FILE ARTIST Q&A

DESIGN TEAMILABB What’s the ethos of your store/clothing line/business? ilabb’s mantra is to “inspire collaboration”. We enjoy working with other like-minded and creatively motivated humans. We find that through collaborating with others the design process is thickened and the end result is even more excitingly unexpected.

Society’s biggest fashion faux-pas? Fashion moves fast, sometimes confusingly fast, and it is becoming increasingly more diverse (which is a rad thing), so not getting too distracted by all this and buying and enjoying garments that you have a personal connection with is key.

What’s the must-have look this season? Anything from our new 2025 Technically Basic collection!

It’s a more stripped back and simple look for us so really easy to mix and match with our prouder printed and coloured items.

Oh and our ilabb X Starter collab snap back caps are the radness!!!

JORDAN MOONEYACTOR Who’s in the dead supergroup for your dream hologram show? Michael Jackson when he was a child, Noah and the symphony of whales outside his Ark with Philip Seymour Hoffman doing a few spoken word verses.

What’s an upcoming film you’re jazzed about? Wes Anderson’s next film. Whatever that is. And potentially Into The Woods.

Where can your stalkers find you during the weekend? In some rehearsal room running around like a madman.

What happens when you mix Coca Cola with Pepsi? Coke and Pepsi? A sugary cola drink. How about Coca Cola and milk! Nasty. Coca Cola and red wine is a thing. That’s pretty funky.

Your fantasy spirit animal is… A Ukranian Ironbelly – the largest species of dragon ever recorded.

Your signature “I’m an amazing cook” dish is… Lauren Gibson cooking.

The best TV show around at the moment is… Penny Dreadful. Say what you

Colours/patterns big this season? Blues, bold patterns and sleeve prints are a huge. Monochrome is hitting hard too.

What are the essentials for a man’s wardrobe? Long-sleeved tees, joggers and with summer coming up an ilabb x starter snapback to shade your from the sun’s sunniness.

What are the essentials for a lady’s wardrobe? Tee dresses are super easy to wear and look mega summery, throw them on with a contrasty pair of dope casual kicks to complete your visualness.

Everyone should own at least one good… Pair of well-cut jeans!

Hyphenate three words to describe your style: Conceptual-Athletic-Interestingness.

ILABB

9 MT EDEN ROAD, EDEN TERRACE,

AUCKLAND

ILABB.COM

will – I love Eva Green going demonic. Victorian possession. Two of my favourite things.

The best place for a date night is… Better Burger in Britomart is a good afternoon start, then some quiet brandy upstairs at Roxy.

You’d get arrested if the police knew that you… I would be arrested if the police knew I’d done a lot of things.

People say you look like… Tom Hiddleston.

Five celebs on your fucklist? Eva Green. J.K Rowling. Bulma (from Dragon Ball Z). Yo-Landi Vi$$er. Jasmine from Aladdin.

Kittens or puppies? Puppies.

What generic current affair has your blood boiled? GAZA. Fucking bullshit. Palestine deserves freedom.

SEE HIM PERFORM: JORDAN MOONEY

IN EARNEST

TUE 02 SEP - SAT 06 SEP Q THEATRE

LOFT, AUCKLAND

24 | RIPITUP.CO.NZ

MATT HEATH, LAURA MCGOLDRICK & JEREMY WELLS WEEKDAYS 6AM - 9AM

THE UNDERDOG’S

UNDERDOG.INTRODUCING THE 13 MOST LISTENED TO BREAKFAST RADIO SHOW IN NZ

TH

*TNS New Zealand Commercial National Survey 1/2014 Station Share, All 10+ (Mon-Fri 6am-9am)

Auckland 99.0FM, Blenheim 94.5FM, Christchurch 106.5FM & Sumner 89.3FM, Dunedin 106.2FM, Gisborne 105.3FM,

Hamilton 96.2FM, Invercargill 93.2FM, Napier 99.9FM, Nelson 90.4FM, New Plymouth 90.8FM, Palmerston North 105.8FM,

Rotorua 94.3FM, Taupo 92.8FM, Tauranga 91.0FM, Wellington 93.3FM, Whangarei & Far North 93.2FM

FILM REVIEWS

*****

THE LAST SAINTShortland Street’s Rene Naufahu makes his feature film-directing debut in what’s sure to be one of New Zealand’s most controversial movies – for all the right reasons. Labelled polarising and harrowing by its own production team, The Last Saint is a white-knuckle ride through Auckland’s seedy underbelly of P addiction and gang wars. Minka (Beulah Koale) is a young Polynesian boy, trying to make ends meet to look after his addict mother (a superb Joy Vaele). He’s forced to hold true to his moral fibre when absent father (Calvin Tuteao) returns on the scene, offers him a job he can’t refuse and throws him head-first into a world of dangerous drug running. Although it feels

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXYLike the awkward middle child, Guardians of the Galaxy vies for attention in the

THE EXPENDABLES 3It begs the question – why have so much dialogue in a film where 90% of your cast members are incomprehensible? Swapping gun-toting, fist-flying, ass-kicking 1980s action sequences for nostalgic man-bonding and back-slapping, The Expendables 3 fails to pack the punch of its predecessors. A dialogue-driven narrative focuses on Barney (Sylvester Stallone) and his team as they finally come to terms with their ageing fragility when faced with an ex-Expendable-turned-bad guy Stonebanks (Mel Gibson). Enter a recruitment process to find new blood to shed, in the form of Twilight-er Kellan Lutz and MMA star Ronda Rousey, who are poised to replace your favourite action

DIRECTED BY JAMES GUNN

STARRING CHRIS PRATT, VIN DIESEL, BRADLEY COOPER

DIRECTED BY RENE NAUFAHU

STARRING JARED TURNER, COLIN MOY, CALVIN TUTEAO

DIRECTED BY PATRICK HUGHES

STARRING SYLVESTER STALLONE, JASON STATHAM, JET LI

*****

Marvel-sphere, caught in the wake of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and in preparation of The Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Introducing a whole new host of characters (and reacquainting us with some familiar ones), GOTG sweeps in from the side and slots right in with the Marvel formula, providing a welcome distraction from the Avengers group, which Marvel is so heavily focused on currently. It’s very similar, of course, in its tone and presentation – but who’s complaining? You can never have too much of a good thing. Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation) shapes up as Peter Quill, adventurer, womaniser and part-time thief. A wrong turn leads him to prison, where he bands together with an unlikely group of bounty hunters and warriors – including a talking raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper) and a tree creation (voiced, weirdly, by Vin Diesel). It’s fun, it’s silly, it’s everything we’ve come to expect from Marvel and you’ll be hard-pressed not to leave the cinema without a smile.

heroes. To be honest, I’d pay just to watch Rousey kick ass for 20 minutes (which she does, and it’s awesome), but unlike one and two, Expendables 3 lacks the momentum to sustain the premise for a third time out. Even extended cameo appearances from everyone’s favourites Harrison Ford and Arnold Schwarzenegger fail to hold audience’s attention, and the climactic finale comes too late in the piece to save it from being a disappointment. Time to retire the franchise?

disjointed at times, more like episodic events than a cohesive narrative, the film’s turning point comes from the second half which, like Minka, really opens audience’s eyes to what goes on behind the city’s bright lights. Viewers may find moments of intense violence and implied rape difficult to watch, but it never feels voyeuristic or unnecessary to the story. A stellar cast is the saving grace to any of the film’s minor flaws, particularly Koale and Rene’s brother Joseph Naufahu as drug kingpin and loose cannon Pinball – a raving psycho with a love of P and house music. Not for the faint of heart, but one to leave you thinking about New Zealand’s battle with drugs.

****

26 | RIPITUP.CO.NZ

COURTNEY BARNETT

“COURTNEY BARNETT... THE singer-songwriter, who is from New Zealand, will start her run of live shows in Newcastle...” wrote English music magazine NME recently.

“No way,” was Barnett’s reaction when I told her. “That’s hilarious! Am I good enough to be a Kiwi? Maybe better!” Barnett is actually from Sydney, via Hobart, and now resides in suburban Melbourne. She’s planning to front up in Godzone shortly, when she tours her double EP (not actually an album, she points out), called A Sea of Split Peas. The debut caught the attention of music lovers and critics, with Rolling Stone comparing the emerging songwriter to an “early Bob Dylan,” while NPR described Barnett as “laconic, funny and charming.”

The odd title was inspired by eating lentil soup whilst drawing the album cover – a reproduction of a Japanese print of a tsunami wave “...and I just wrote the title underneath – I thought it would be puzzling and intriguing.”

TIM GRUAR

Barnett’s getting herself known around the world for her witty, rambling lyrics and deadpan, drop-dead singing style, attracting attention from not only the dastardly and slightly inaccurate UK music press but their American counterparts as well.

...Peas is actually two EPs – the first made in a friend’s lounge and the second made, more professionally, in Melbourne’s Headgut studios in the sprawling suburb of Northcote – the perfect location for Barnett’s acidic little tales of urban banality. Songs swerve from the predictable bonding of “uncool” friends in ‘Anonymous Club’, to raunchy love songs like ‘Lance Jr’ with the line “I masturbate to your sweet music.”

“I know that line’s a bit raunchy but why can’t I tell that particular truth? Musicians are supposed to speak for those who can’t.”

However, the most eye-opening song on the album has quite a back story behind it. ‘Avant Gardner’ is about becoming sick from heat exhaustion when gardening in 40 degree heat. It’s

a simple but alarming illustration of how she becomes overcome by the heat as she cleans up the back garden – also a metaphor for moving on from a bad relationship, I wonder. Barnett is reluctant to answer that but she can hint that she’s never been good at resolution. “I guess I was never that good at breathing in! It’s a true story. I can’t really explain it more that the song does, I guess. It’s a bad thing that happened. Looking back a couple of weeks later I saw the funny side and, yeah!” Musically, Barnett’s touchstone is early 1990s alt-pop like Juliana Hatfield and the Breeders. “I guess I kind of (resonate) with that stuff. I like a lot of that stuff. When I started out I tried to write songs like that – cool songs. But I never really liked the outcome. And then I went through a couple of years of not listening to any music. Then I returned to it and just tried to forget what I knew and write naturally and that’s where I found my comfortable writing voice.” Influences that informed ...Peas range from Jonestown, to the

Velvets, to The Band to Bowie – “all over the place – different elements creeping in”. Sonically, the “flavour” of the first six tracks (EP number two) benefits from the overwhelming presence of Dan Luscombe (of The Drones), whose guitar work is utterly haunting.

Barnett has already had a big year – hanging with Steve Tyler on Jimmy Fallon; touring with Billy Bragg on his Aussie leg; playing shows with Kurt Vile and Sharon Van Etten; a string of major festival appearances including Coachella, The Great Escape, and Glastonbury. And, of course, a Kiwi impersonation whilst performing in the UK. And now she’s heading here for a wee look around and a show or two. “I’ll have my band in tow so that will be great. I had extra friends on the EPs but the core players will be there. We play as you hear it, no fancy gimmicks, all us. Genuine.”

All true blue, indeed.

SEE HER LIVE: COURTNEY BARNETT

WED 17 SEP THE KINGS ARMS,

AUCKLAND

RIPITUP.CO.NZ | 27

ALBUM REVIEWS

*****

HOWLING BELLSHEARTSTRINGSCAROLINE

Howling Bells are often characterised as a band that started brilliant, then went and stuffed it up, big-time. Their 2006 debut is seen as an alt-rock classic, but the next two albums (one a seismic shift to an electronic focus, the next plodding rock), just about killed them stone dead. The Australian group’s fourth album, Heartstrings, is being lauded as an unexpected return to form, and if it can’t quite summon the magic of that first flush. Juanita Stein’s vocals tend to sugarcoat

the group’s sound, which is no bad thing: they bring conventionally attractive things like melody and harmony to a group that keep the group anchored, give them songs to add their rhythms and textures to. And while those rhythms are fairly rudimentary, there’s some wonderfully immersive guitar interplay, and just enough to-and-fro between searing harshness and swooning ambiance. GARY STEEL

JENNY LEWISTHE VOYAGER IPECAC

It makes sense that Jenny Lewis started out as an actress: on her three solo albums she’s regularly swapped one musical style or sound for another. Which doesn’t matter a hoot, really, it’s just another something to confuse the fans. The first of Lewis’s albums I heard was 2008’s Rabbit Fur Coat, with the Watson Twins, on which she sounded like a mature alt-country singer-songwriter. It was great. Admirers of her previous group, Rilo Kiley, might have expected something else altogether. On The Voyager, produced mostly by Ryan Adams (with a little Beck on the side) she sounds younger, shinier, and well… inculcated with a pop aesthetic that sounds pure LA circa 1979. Contrarily, for an album as candy-coated as this, the lyrics often come from a very dark place, as they examine the nature and changing ways and needs of a woman in her late 30s.GARY STEEL

PORTER ROBINSONWORLDSASTRALWERKS

Here’s the debut from 22-year-old American electronicist Porter Robinson, who exclusively deals in big gesture stuff – music that surges to victory, music that you could almost imagine backgrounding footage of Olympic victories, so ra-ra is every climactic explosion. Worlds is nobody’s idea of aesthetically sophisticated, but Robinson (who has been making music since he was 12), clearly has imposing command over his gadgetry, and the young man has found his voice through music. Oddly, despite the aforementioned, there’s a stream of sadness running through the album: check out ‘Sad Machine’, with its fragile, girl-computer voice, tender chorus, and its blankets of grey, bipolar keyboard chords that all want you to gush tears. While some may baulk at the fact that he’s a protégé of the regrettable Skrillex, Robinson brings a strand of sensitivity, if not quite refined taste, to a scene that’s too often full of pumped-up aggression. GARY STEEL

JIM-E STACKTELL ME I BELONGINNOVATIVE LEISURE

There was a time when anything twinkly and new age would have been laughed out of the dance tent, but these days, “new age” is just something else to add to the armory of the electronic warrior, and San Francisco DJ Jim-E Stack, knows that it’s all about contrasts on his brief, 31-minute album debut. His essential logic goes right back to the aesthetic of ‘80s electro: simple, repetitive phrases meet agile, scurrying beat science and whatever else he feels like throwing in for groove traction: stuttering looped vocal samples, cartoon divas, funny old synth sounds. The highlight is probably ‘Reassuring’, with its rueful piano chords and even a Pink Floyd-style guitar solo, but that deviation into seriousness is tempered by the fizzy exuberance of clever chop-ups like ‘Without’. Tell Me I Belong seldom misses a step, its smart take on dance never sacrificing the dance prerogative for any alternative strategy. GARY STEEL

BASEMENT JAXXJUNTOLIBERATOR

Having more (and better) toys to play with: that’s one of the fringe benefits of being a hugely successful dance music duo, and Basement Jaxx make great use of those toys on Junto (Spanish for ‘together’, apparently), where they throw a kitchen sink worth sounds and styles over their omnipresent house and disco pulses. It’s an at times gaudy concatenation of just about every groove style you can think of – historic, global and contemporary electronic – with multiple flavours thrown into the pot and cooked quickly on a high heat. The result is a party on a record that often mimics the sly funk of ‘80s innovator Prince, sans his gift of song. There are lots of guests, and exhortations to sing, dance and be free. It’s like a wide-screen, high-definition version of a disco party made especially for gym calisthenics: empty, but fun. GARY STEEL

*** **** *

*****

*****

28 | RIPITUP.CO.NZ

VANCEJOY.COM

THE NEW ALBUMFEATURING THE SINGLE

‘MESS IS MINE’ +‘RIPTIDE’

OUT SEPTEMBER 5

’dream your life away’

TO CELEBRATE 30 YEARSAS A SOLO ARTIST, JIMMY BARNES

REVISITS SOME OF HIS BIGGEST HITS WITH SHIHAD, KEITH URBAN, THE LIVING END, TINA ARENA,

BERNARD FANNING, AND MANY MORE…

DELUXE 3 DISC SETincludes

17 NEW RECORDINGS &23 ORIGINAL BARNES CLASSICS

JIMMY BARNES30:30 HINDSIGHT

JIMMYBARNES.COM

THIS MONTH IN METALAND

5 MINUTES ALONETOMMY VICTOR – PRONG What was the first album that made you want to be in a band? Machine Head - Deep Purple, I saw the cover and thought Richie Blackmore looked so cool and I don’t know what cool means these days but it meant for me that, egotistically, I could be better than the other idiots in my neighbourhood.

What’s your poison these days? I don’t drink or do drugs – that’s just for spectators. Well, I do

THE METAL GIG GUIDE

PRONG

SUN 23 NOV THE POWERSTATION, AUCKLAND

SEPULTURA

WED 01 OCT STUDIO, AUCKLAND

GIVEAWAYSOPETH - PALE COMMUNION

GOT TO FACEBOOK.COM/THEMETALBARNZ TO WIN!

NEWS Glenn Danzig is working on a covers album and it’s not full of just any old songs. The man dubbed the Metal Elvis is working on a tribute to The King, imaginatively titled Danzig Sings Elvis. It’s due out in time for Mother’s Day next year.

Max and Igor Cavalera are to release a third Cavalera Conspiracy album in November entitled Pandemonium. This follows 2007’s Infikted and 2011 Blunt Force Trauma. According to Max it’ll be the heaviest Cavalera Conspiracy album yet, he stated “Pandemonium is heavy, very heavy – the heaviest of all three. I was possessed to get Igor back to his Arise-era of drumming: everything fast.”

BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE METAL BAR. MONDAY’S 10PM JUICE TV SKY CHANNEL 112

PRONGCLEANSINGAs these industrial-thrash pioneers are heading to New Zealand for the first time ever, I’ve been re-listening to the album that introduced me to the band – Cleansing.Best known for the track ‘Snap My Fingers, Snap Your Neck’, that launched them to the MTV audience, the album featured Killing Joke bassist Paul Raven who had previously remixed the song ‘Whose Fist Is This Anyway’.While Ministry were leading the way on the industrial front no one had really combined thrash stylings with samples and loops successfully until Tommy Victor and co unleashed this record.The unapologetic churn of ‘Whose Fist Is This Anyway’, the clinical execution of the aforementioned ‘Snap My Fingers, Snap Your Neck’ and the excellent staccato delivery of ‘Broken Peace’ it’s an album that’s dated incredibly well and certainly does sound like it was released 20 years ago.I could go through track by track but instead do yourself a favour – go discover this record whether it’s for the first time or a rediscovery you won’t be disappointed.

DECAPITATEDBLOOD MANTRAThe Polish death metal icons are back to harass your senses with their sixth studio album.New(ish) lead vocalist Rafal “Rasta” Piotrowski sounds more comfortable as the mouthpiece of the band this time round and with Michal Lysejko also formally ensconced behind the drum kit, it feels as though Decapitated are a fully integrated band again as opposed to their previous effort Carnival is Forever which at times sounded like guitarist Waclaw “Vogg” Kieltyka and a bunch of hired guns.From the first verse of opener ‘Exiled In Flash’, it’s clear the band have shifted focus slightly and allowed other elements to influence their writing. The title track certainly has a more groove-laden feel to it and this is prevalent throughout the record – think Pantera playing death metal.It’s a great record, and a cohesive and evolving Decapitated is an exciting prospect – expect this album to blow up and for these guys to be headlining more festivals soon.

WIN

Pantera fans hoping for a reunion of sorts will be sorely disappointed to see drummer Vinnie Paul’s latest reaction to the rumours. Paul was not impressed by the question in a recent interview, saying, “People are selfish, man, they want what they want; they don’t care what you want. And it’s unfortunate that people go, ‘Oh, wow, man, they can get Zakk Wylde to jump up there on stage and it’s Pantera again.’ No, it’s not, you know. It’s not that simple. If Eddie Van Halen was to get shot in the head four times next week, would everybody be going, ‘Hey, man, Zakk, go play for Van Halen. Just call it Van Halen.’ You see what I’m saying? I mean, it’s really selfish for people to think that, and it’s stupid. It’s not right at all.”

a drug, a very American drug that’s called snuff, Premium Winter Green moist snuff. It’s like snoff, which is a Swedish chewing tobacco. I got sort of addicted to it when I quit smoking, I haven’t been able to cut it but I love it. That’s the extent of my poison that and an occasional Diet Coke.

What’s the weirdest fan experience you’ve had? That was just recently, I had a stalker. We were travelling across Europe by train and there’s was this really nice older lady that kept appearing at all our stops on the platform and she’d say “oh I didn’t know you’d be here I just stopped in to get a coffee” or “oh I’m staying across the road”. It just kept happening and got really weird.

A kid asks you what metal is and you can only give him one album – what is it? Sabbath Bloody Sabbath – I think that’s the optimum metal record of all time.

WATCH THE METAL BAR TO WIN

30 | RIPITUP.CO.NZ

RICCARDO BALL

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• O H A K U N E + M T R U A P E H U •‘14‘14

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Groove_Guide.pdf 1 21/03/14 11:49 AM

OFF THE RECORD

SHAUN KIRKTRAVELLING MINSTREL Your house is on fire, what do save? My guitars, my record collection, and my family of course!

Favourite ‘90s TV show? Gladiators! I used to set up courses in the backyard using the trampoline, chairs and tables. I’m surprised I didn’t break my neck! I was totally obsessed.

Dream job as a kid? Professional skateboarder.

First album? Silverchair – Freakshow.

If you weren’t a musician, what would you be? I think I’d still like to be connected to the business. Producer? Agent? Manager? Maybe I could open my own studio? I am getting into this home-recording craze at the moment.

Ultimate festival line-up? Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Tony Joe White, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, JJ Cale, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Neil Young, Ray Charles, Gary Clark Jr, Allen Stone, Son House, Koko Taylor, Bill Withers, Ben Harper, Stevie Wonder, Jurassic 5, BB King, Freddie King, Albert King, Little Richard, The Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry... need I go on???

How do you discover new music? Record collecting!

Worst job you’ve had? I worked a Subway for a number of years in my teens. My profession was a “Sandwich Artist” apparently.

Which song do you wish you wrote? Bob Dylan – ‘Like A Rolling Stone’.

Biggest fear? Birds.

First gig in attendance? My first big concert was an Eric Clapton show about five or six years ago.

Any vices? I can be a little bit of a road rager from time to time…

Favourite lyric? This is a tough one… there’s so many to choose from! Maybe Bob Dylan’s ‘The Times They Are A-Changin.’

“Come senators, congressmen/ Please heed the call/ Don’t stand in the doorway/ Don’t block up the hall/ For he who gets hurt/ Will be he who has stalled/ There’s a battle outside and it’s ragin’/ It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls/ For the times they are a-changin’.”

SEE HIM LIVE: SHAUN KIRK

SEE TOURS AND EVENTS FOR DATES

TICKETS ON SALE NOW SHAUNKIRK.COM

JIMMY BARNES

TIM GRUAR

32 | RIPITUP.CO.NZ

THIS MONTH JIMMY Barnes celebrates the 30th anniversary of the release of his debut album Bodyswerve with a new collaborative retrospective: 30:30 Hindsight.

The man has literally never stopped writing, recording and performing since he finished up with Cold Chisel and went out solo way back in 1983. “We wrapped up [Chisel’s] The Last Stand tour in December ‘83 and I hit the road to try out new material,” he tells me over the phone, in his mutated Glaswegian-Aussie accent, “and by February the following year I was back in the studio.”

Barnes is referring to the process for making his bestselling solo debut Bodyswerve. “I was quite apprehensive about it. A couple of the songs ‘Daylight’ and ‘Promise Me You’ll Call’ had been demo’d with Chisel weren’t recorded just because Don’s (Walker) songs were so bloody good! So they went on (the new album). I was doubting myself as a solo performer because I’d always been backed by what I consider to be the greatest band. I was doubting myself as a songwriter too. Having been with the best writers at the time how would I compare? It was daunting. But luckily, I had a great ally, writing partner and sounding board in Michael Gudinski…I needed to keep the momentum going, so with new material I could keep jumping up on stage and screaming at people!”

30 years into an extraordinary solo career and as a diverse

collaborator who has worked with everyone from Tina Arena to Tina Turner, Barnes wanted to produce a collection of remakes from his career. But he wasn’t content to just release a “Best Of”. He wanted to work with some of the bands that had supported his shows over the years – performers like Diesel and the Baby Animals, whom in a way he’d nutured through touring together.

“I wanted to do something special. (When) Chisel did Standing On The Outside (we got) our favourite bands to record our material. That was cool but everyone’s doing that now. And it also took me out of the picture and I wasn’t havin’ that! Instead, I thought, “I’ll get my favourite acts to perform my songs as duets or backing me.” And it snowballed into inviting more and more friends on board!” Of course, this wasn’t the first time Barnes has done this. He’s duetted with Tina Turner, INXS, Joe Cocker and many others on 2005’s Double Happiness.

30:30 kicks off with The Living End backing Jimmy on ‘Lay Down Your Guns’. “Chris (Cheney) really nails the guitars on it, and that bass rhythm…it’s an upright…slap-whack…driving rhythm …it’s awesome.” The original was written by Barnes and Rick Knowles during the Two Fires sessions around 1990, with the guitars by Brian Seltzer (Stray Cats). As big fans of Brian you can hear “the rockabilly aggression…upped tenfold.”

Another brilliant moment is on the Bruce Springsteen-esque ‘Ride the Night Away’ (from Working Class Man), which was initially composed by “Little Steven Van Zant from the E Street Band. Steven sent me that as a demo through a contact. It was just him with an acoustic guitar and Steve Jordan drumming away on the arm of a couch…recorded on a Dictaphone, I just thought “What a great song”. I heard later that he liked (my version) so when we finally met (when The Boss toured Australasia earlier this year) he thanked me for doing it and I got to thank him – it’s been a great part of my live career. So it was really great to get him in to play guitar on a new version together and complete the circle.”

Barnes also hooks up with others on this album, too, including Keith Urban. “I think one of his very first recordings was done at my house in Mittagong. So (for 30:30) I got him to record a Vanda & Young song called ‘Good Times’, a big hit for me and INXS back in ‘87.” He also hooks up with keyboardist Jonathan Cain (The Babys, Journey) to do ‘Going Down Alone’ from Psyclone and a new version of ‘Working Class Man’. In fact there’s a veritable roll call of big-name acts from the ‘80s and ‘90s on this album, including two Kiwis. One is Jon Stevens (I’d Rather be Blind’) and the other is Shihad, who perform ‘Love and Hate’ with Barnes. “I was in Auckland and ran into them. They’d just made FVEY and were really angry about the state of the world, privacy issues and bad politics. It was great that they could channel all this aggression into this song and the result was brilliant!”

Another brilliant result was teaming up with his daughter, Mahalia, to make a new version of ‘Stand Up’ with her band, The Soul Mates. “That girl is a phenomenal singer. She sings harder than anyone I know. She picked ‘Stand Up’, which is one of my favourite tunes from the Heat album. I wrote this protest song around the time of one of the 1993 elections to tell people to get out and vote. People can’t be complacent though. They have to always ask their elected officials “what are you doing? Don’t let them sit on their hands. Call them to account. Stand up!”

Okay, so Jimmy’s always been a working class hero of sorts – how does he feel about workers’ plight these days? “It’ll always be a struggle. I hope my music in some way can inspire and encourage people to do better and get the best out of their lives.”

NEW ALBUM: 30:30 HINDSIGHT

OUT NOW

“It was great that they could channel all this aggression into this song and the result

was brilliant!”

“I was doubting myself as a solo performer because I’d always been backed by what I

consider to be the greatest band.”

RIPITUP.CO.NZ | 33

AS A FELLOW Wellingtonian, I’ve been fortunate to catch nu-folk/Americana outfit Eb & Sparrow open for Rodriguez, Beth Orton and Tami Neilson. Ebony Lamb’s smoky alto just seems to float over the Arizona dry desert tones of her ballads. Her aching loneliness rolls like soft thunder through dark clouds of foreboding grooves. So the cover image on their self-titled debut perfectly encapsulates the pioneer themes of nature, longing and loneliness – like a Geoff Murphy film or a CK Stead novel. Perhaps it’s Kerrie Hughes’ 17th Century botanical panels, their choice to record in a broken port town or the haunting anthems of loves lost and reclaimed that make this five piece’s take on Americana seem so unique and so personal. When I had coffee with the delightful Ebony Lamb recently she gave me a sense of how important music was to her emotional health and how important the band was to her music. I am very grateful for her honesty and candour as she talked at length about her band.

“We’re not only on the road together… we look after each other’s kids … we even help each other move house.” Lamb is rightly very proud of Bryn Hevelt – lap steel, guitars; Jason Johnson – bass; Nick Brown – drums; Chris Winter – trumpet, referring to them as a family. “And in our band, family comes first. They’ll all very talented and versatile. I’m amazed at their skill to take a song and explore it in so many ways until the true sense can be found. We must have done (the Cash-like track) ‘Big Train’ about 50 ways before we decided on the right one. I love that exploration process.”

Lamb’s fairly new to the music industry, having only been playing guitar for five years, taught by “a very patient man” – a former boyfriend (who, incidentally, later went on to break her heart and further inspire her creativity). “I guess I’ve had many dark moments in my life. I could have been a painter – that would have been a way to channel that emotion that sorrow. But I found music. I was meant to meet Bryn. He encouraged me. I hadn’t been writing long. I had song songs I wanted him to help me to record and he said ‘Why not make an album?’ So we did.”

“We collected together, saved up, and we chose to record away from our lives in Wellington. We needed to separate ourselves.” The album was recorded (predominantly live, with little overdubs bar vocals) in the unsettled maelstrom of a recovering port town – at Lyttleton. Lamb heard about Ben Edwards’ Sitting Room Studio though fellow singer Delaney Davidson, amongst others, and knew of the impressive work he’d done with The Eastern. “Ben was in the middle of rebuilding after the earthquake when we arrived – so he set up a room in the basement of the Wunderbar. I was apprehensive about the space because it was this concrete room. But he made it nice with padding, and the like. He made us welcome.”

“Bryn calls me a ‘freak of nature’ – I’ve had little experience or training, unlike the other members of the band who’ve been playing nearly all their lives. But I am writing a song a day, maybe more. Half my life I’ve been just a mum, at home. This is like a calling I didn’t

EB & SPARROW

know I could realise. I can be determined, hot-headed. The guys just follow along. So we need Ben to take direction. He was like the sixth member of the band for the duration.”

Many of the songs are deeply tied to personal events and have multiple layers. Lamb grew up around music – on the radio, the car stereo. Her solo father was “a mechanic-tinkerer – but a thoughtful and philosophical man. He loved rebuilding things. We must have had about 30 Holdens over the years.” She tells me about family road trips and the reminiscent journeys she made driving back to Tauranga over the last three years to visit her dying father, who was stricken with motor neurone disease. “It was those trips and a recent break up with my boyfriend that brought me great sadness. But with my daughter travelling with me I was reminded of great joy and to be thankful.” All that inspired the new video ‘Quietly We Tread’ (which is also on the album) which was made by with the help of good friends Nikki Parlance and Kate MacPherson. The road trip that features is a lifelong metaphor for transience of emotions – love, loss, recovery. And fittingly, it also features an old Holden.

DEBUT ALBUM: EB & SPARROW

OUT FRI 05 SEP

TIM GRUAR

WIN

34 | RIPITUP.CO.NZ

TV’S BIGGEST KIDS, Mythbusters’ Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage, are bringing their wildly popular TV show to the live stage at Vector Arena this month. Donning a beret and a fake moustache, Tim Gruar decided to sneak up on host Jamie Hyneman and explode a few urban myths of his own.

Hyneman is currently down under preparing for the Australasian leg of their stage event, which was originally performed back in 2012 all over the USA. It runs off their hugely successful TV show and a string of awards for their work “popularising” science.

“We don’t go to work every day saying ‘let’s try to educate everyone, bring science to the people.’ We go with the goal of fundamentally trying to solve a problem in our heads. It’s pretty cool that the benefit is that we’ve encouraged people to get into science.”

The idea for Mythbusters was originally dreamed up by Australian Peter Rees to show how special effects are made for movies but they went on further to test the validity of rumours, long tales, movies stunts and news stories. Hyneman says that at the time he was a props and effects designer and robot wars champion.

“The idea was to have some fun explaining how these experiments, goals to achieve an effect or explosion might come about. I knew that I was pretty straight so I needed someone more animated to [offset that]. Adam Savage was an employee of mine, so I asked him to be part of the show, and three weeks later they [camera crew and filmmakers] all showed up and our lives have never been the same since.”

He goes on to talk about their first experiments for the early trailers, which included designing

a rocket car and replicating the work of “Launcher Larry”, a guy who built a platform suspended by helium balloons. For me, though, the most memorable was when they built a suspension bridge out of gaffer tape. The extra appeal was to broach a cavernous ten metre drop at a local dockyard without a net or harness.

The show has garnered great appeal both here and internationally. “The show has gone all over the world. Despite trying to build bigger and better experiments we always keep the format: One week for preparatory and one week of filming. There’s only so much you can do in that period of time.”

Amazingly, the experiments always work. Slightly formulaic in a way the show always has a few build up failures before a conclusive resolution.

“Well, yeah. After two weeks we have to resolve the idea, somehow. One thing we can’t do is go ‘we tried but, you know, we don’t really know what happened there.’ It’s a big surprise. We do have to come to some conclusion. That’s often where ‘plausible’ comes in to explain it. Unlike a science experiment we do ‘cheat’ a little. In many cases we have a sample size of say, one – so it’s not like lab conditions. But it’s still fun.”

Bringing their stuff to a stage show was interesting. The performance was not going to be some kind of science version of Delia Smith.

“There was some hesitation because we were known for doing big spectacular things and we didn’t want to have unrealistic expectations. So what we’ve done is crafted a series of controlled experiments that are reasonably safe and involve the audience with the goal being

MYTHBUSTERSto give them a sense of what it’s really like to do what we do. So we have this sort of playful experimentation, often at the audience’s expense – that’s to get them to think that what is happening is not necessarily what is happening. It’s transparent, though, no smoke and mirrors – not a magic act.”

One example of the show is a “feat of strength”, a contest between the smallest child and the largest, strongest audience member – and the little kid always wins. How does that work? “Well, you’ll have to come to the show to find out.”

Along with medals and scientific accolades, their mythbusting has put Hyneman and Savage on the President’s radar.

“The White House has this science initiative and (long story short), we ended up doing a show for them. It was testing a theory of Archimedes that if a cohort of 500 soldiers all held up their highly polished shields at once and aimed them at the sun they could harness the energy into a ‘laser’ beam to destroy invading ships coming into the harbour. The original story used soldiers. We thought it would be cool to try this with a class of school children.”

Originally, they tried mirrors on sticks, then MIT got involved but the most successful demonstration was when they used his wife’s science class to try it out. So you gave, I asked, with the President’s blessing, wilful permission to a bunch of students to create havoc in their local harbour?

“Yes. But note that we couldn’t do it on a school day because there would be implications of us interrupting the students’ learning. So we had to lure them with cookies down to the Bay in the weekend.”

With their upcoming Auckland show, were there any particular experiments they’d like to try while they’re here? Indeed there was one – to work out why the toilet water swirls the opposite way to the northern hemisphere.

Given they’ll be here right in the middle of an electoral campaign, the amount of additional excrement flying around might upset their control systems, especially with the BS detector on overload... but that’s science, folks!

SEE THEM LIVE: MYTHBUSTERS

SAT 06 SEP VECTOR ARENA, AUCKLAND

TIM GRUAR

RIPITUP.CO.NZ | 35

THIS YEAR’S GOING Global Music Summit will be held in Auckland from Friday 05 until Monday 08 September and will bring Kiwi artists, producers, promoters and industry professionals together to exchange ideas and discuss the future prospects of the music industry. The summit will include live music showcases as well as workshops and panels to encourage the discussion and debate of all things music.

One of the key speakers at this year’s summit is Martin Elbourne, a stalwart of the live music scene, founder of Europe’s Great Escape music convention and currently one of the Glastonbury Festival’s main bookers. Elbourne is also a prolific music consultant and has had numerous advisory roles with government bodies and major festivals across the globe.

David Kearney: You’re one of the key speakers at this year’s Going Global Music Summit, how valuable are these types of artist showcases and industry seminars to the modern music industry? Martin Elbourne: These types of events are

very important – particularly if you’re not from a major market, as is the case with New Zealand.

DK: You’ve been involved with the Glastonbury Festival for many years now. How difficult is it to choose acts for a crowd of 175,000 people? ME: Surprisingly easy, as there are plenty of stages and everyone wants to play. The hard thing is turning acts down!

DK: In a year that featured memorable performances from both Metallica and Dolly Parton, it seems Glastonbury’s reputation for controversial bookings is stronger than ever. Is this apparent dedication to diversity intentional or just the way it works out? ME: It’s a mixture really – I started the idea of the Sunday afternoon “legend” slot on Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage, and now it’s sort of become the new headline slot – Dolly Parton drew the biggest crowd ever at this year’s festival. We’re lucky as we usually sell out before the acts are announced, which gives us freedom to do different stuff.

MARTIN ELBOURNE - GLASTO

DK: Have you got a favourite Glastonbury performance from over the years? ME: There’s too many to count... Dolly from this year, Trouble Funk from the early years, Leonard Cohen, Bowie, The Stones and lots of new acts on the John Peel stage.

DK: Do you think there is potential these days for a young band to have the same lifespan as the Rolling Stones for example, or has the music industry become too saturated for any realistic chance of a lifelong career in rock and roll? ME: No, in short, but it is possible to organise your business database and such to create some sort of longevity.

DK: Do you think festivals and live music in general have become increasingly important as recorded material has become increasingly easy to obtain for free? ME: Definitely – apart from a tiny number of people at the very top, live music IS the industry.

DK: How important do you think governments’ role is in funding music and arts programs, and should more investment be placed to support and nurture young artists? ME: Yes and no – it’s very easy to waste money, but having said that, if spent well it provides a very important contribution to a country’s well being... I could probably go on for pages about this...!

DK: A recent NME Poll named Bowie, Oasis, Muse & Fleetwood Mac as fan favorites for potential Glasto 2015 headliners. Is there any act you’d love to see play, or anyone you know is playing already? Go on, I can keep a secret. ME: Nick Dewey, Michael Eavis’ (Glastonbury’s illustrious founding father) son-in-law now books the Pyramid Stage – I don’t want to know until the acts are confirmed so I don’t have to answer this question... but nice try!

SEE HIM SPEAK: GOING GLOBAL

FRI 05 SEP STUDIO ONE, 1 PONSONBY RD, AUCKLAND

SAT 06 SEP STUDIO ONE, 1 PONSONBY RD, AUCKLAND

We’re lucky as we usually sell out before the acts are announced, which gives us freedom to do

different stuff.

DAVID KEARNEY

36 | RIPITUP.CO.NZ

AFTER AN EXTENSIVE tour in 2011 in support of Interpol’s self-titled fourth album, Sam Fogarino, the band’s affable and eloquent drummer is quoted as saying, “[Interpol] needs a big break. We need to recoup.”

Founding bass player Carlos Dengler had left the group prior to the tour, and the others were intent to focus on their respective solo projects or other bands. But it was always a hiatus. Now, Interpol are back with their 5th album El Pintor – Spanish for “the painter”, and an anagram for “Interpol” – set to be released on the 5th September and as Fogarino says, “it’s feeling exciting again.”

Dengler’s departure from the band had been not entirely unexpected by both the band and fans alike, who had noted his waning interest in the bass, and by proxy, the rhythm section that had been integral to the Interpol sound.

“What was sad really,” said Fogarino, “was that I hadn’t experienced [a collaborative] dynamic with Carlos since touring Antics. Because by the time we started doing Our Love To Admire, he kind of started losing interest in the bass guitar as an instrument of expression.”

But as one door closes, another opens, and with Dengler gone, bass playing duties for the initial rehearsals of what was to become El

Pintor fell organically to frontman Paul Banks, something the Fogarino says helped them each occupy their individual space within the band in a different way, and helped to inject vitality and a fresh perspective.

“[We wanted to] get back to what is really important. These dense beautiful counteracting parts that create this din. Without too much conscious effort, it’s kind of happening again.”

Fogarino was on his way to sound check at Splendour in the Grass in the “superb” Byron Bay when I spoke to him, so he could be forgiven for any hyperboles, but his enthusiasm and excitement about the state of the band was obvious from the beginning – a distinct difference from his tone in 2011.

“It feels more like a band than it has in quite a few years.”

Interpol’s current tour features the same members that toured during their last tour in 2011, a first for the band, who have gone through numerous touring line-ups over the years. It gives a little more solidity to the foundation of the live show; something that Fogarino says is going to “be a little less precious”.

“I think it comes back to the energy that

INTERPOLyou exude from the stage. And people have been noticing that we’ve been having a good time again. That goes so much further than reproducing every sound on the record. When they see Paul smiling or this great dynamic on stage, that’s what they’re going to talk about.”

Though similar in many ways, to Fogarino, the show and the record are both distinct ideas, in terms of preparation and delivery.

“To a certain degree they’re two separate things. You’re making a record, and then you’re getting ready to perform it live.”

That’s not to say that there aren’t commonalities between them. El Pintor sees both their live show and the record capture a band hungry to prove to their audience that there is still bite and authenticity to their music.

“[The mentality behind the record] ties in with that idea. Yeah we want the record to sound good, but we’re not going to create this precious sonic masterpiece, we’re going to do our version of a fucking rock album. It’s still cerebral and moody, you know, it’ll still have those elements, but it’s back to those basic elements of guitar bass and drums, and a lot of vocals.”

Witnessing the obvious enthusiasm within the band at the moment, it seems the main focus of the record was to capture that energy more than anything else.

With over 15 years together as a band, to consciously bring the crux of the Interpol sound to the fore again – to reinvigorate through self-reflection – makes a lot of sense.

And the key to even lasting that long, in what can be such a terribly treacherous industry? It seems that respecting each other’s musicianship and enjoying each other’s company comes high on the list. The energy that is the key theme on El Pinto and the catalyst for Fogarino’s excitement is ultimately founded in that.

“Those people you’re closest with can grate you but at the same time you love them to death and don’t want them to go anywhere. We really do like each other, at the end of it all.”

NEW ALBUM: EL PINTOR

OUT FRI 05 SEP

BARNEY CHUNN

RIPITUP.CO.NZ | 37

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