Travis Collins is bringing his ‘Any Less Anymore’ National Tour to Geelong
Eight-time Golden Guitar award winner, Travis Collins will celebrate the release of his eighth studio album, Any Less Anymore with the massive Any Less Anymore National Tour. Kicking off on Friday June 2, the day of release of the album, the tour will include fourteen headline shows plus festival appearances throughout New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.
With only two Victorian dates, he’ll head to Village Green Hotel in Melbourne on 7 July and Gateway Hotel in Geelong on 8 July.
Travis Collins Any Less Anymore National Tour
FRI 02 JUN | GUILDFORD, WA | STIRLING ARMS HOTEL | 18+ ONLY*
SAT 03 JUN | MULLEWA, WA | MULLEWA RODEO | ALL AGES
SUN 04 JUN | RAVENSWOOD, WA | RAVENSWOOD HOTEL | 18+ ONLY*
SAT 10 JUN | BROKE, NSW | SMOKE IN BROKE BBQ FESTIVAL | ALL AGES
FRI 16 JUN | NEWCASTLE, NSW | WALLSEND DIGGERS – MEZZ BAR | 18+ ONLY+
SAT 17 JUN | MOONEE BEACH, NSW | MOONEE BEACH HOTEL | 18+ ONLY+
FRI 30 JUN | BRISBANE, QLD | HAMILTON HOTEL | 18+ ONLY+
SAT 01 JUL | IPSWICH, QLD | RACEHORSE HOTEL | 18+ ONLY+
FRI 07 JUL | MELBOURNE, VIC | VILLAGE GREEN HOTEL | 18+ ONLY+
SAT 08 JUL | GEELONG, VIC | GATEWAY HOTEL | 18+ ONLY+
FRI 14 JUL | SHOALHAVEN HEADS, NSW | BOWLING & RECREATION CLUB | 18+ ONLY+
SAT 15 JUL | GOULBURN, NSW | ASTOR HOTEL | 18+ ONLY+
FRI 21 JUL | PENRITH | PANTHERS EVAN THEATRE | 18+ ONLY+
FRI 28 JUL | WAGGA WAGGA, NSW | TILLY’S | 18+ ONLY+
SAT 29 JUL | ALBURY, NSW | KINROSS WOOLSHED | 18+ ONLY+
SAT 5 AUG | CESSNOCK, NSW | CESSNOCK LEAGUES CLUB | 18+ ONLY+
THU 24 AUG | GYMPIE, QLD | GYMPIE MUSIC MUSTER | ALL AGES
SAT 30 SEP | DENILIQUIN, NSW | DENI UTE MUSTER | ALL AGES
SAT 14 OCT | MURRAY BRIDGE, SA | COUNTRY BY THE RIVER | ALL AGES
Keep up with the latest music news, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
The tour announcement follows on the heels of a blistering main stage set at the iconic CMC Rocks Queensland festival in March, regarded by many as one of the standout sets of the festival. The accolades for his live performances is nothing new and Travis has long led the charge of Australian country music with his soulful vocals and unique gift for piloting both sophisticated, heartfelt ballads and supercharged country-rock bangers.
Travis commented, “While I can’t be more excited to get the album out into the world, it’s performing the songs live and connecting with the audiences that makes the hard work worthwhile. We can’t wait to get out on the road and deliver these new songs plus all the hits and a few surprises. It’s going to be a massive party!”
Travis will be joined on all east coast headline shows by rising Southern Highlands based singer-songwriter, Sara Berki and on the Western Australian headline shows by 2023 Toyota Star Maker finalist, Claudia Tripp.
In addition to the Golden Guitar awards, Travis is a four-time CMC Award winner, CMA Global Artist Award recipient, two-time ARIA Award nominee and he toured alongside US megastars Tim McGraw and Luke Combs and written and recorded with Nashville’s best and brightest. With the release of his eighth studio album in 2023, Collins cements his reputation and place as a mainstage fixture at Australia’s peak country music festivals and routinely plays to sold-out crowds across the country.
‘Any Less Anymore’ out Friday June 2 (ABC Music). Pre-order on vinyl and CD and purchase tour tickets from www.traviscollins.com.au
Áine Tyrrell announces Irish as F*ck Not Irish Folk Australian tour
Irish singer-songwriter Áine Tyrrell is breaking down the stereotypes surrounding her music and heritage as she embarks on her ‘Irish as F*ck Not Irish Folk’ national tour, traversing three states, with 12 shows across major cities and rural centres.
Locally, she’ll take to Sooki Lounge in Belgrave on 22 June, Wesley Anne in Northcote in 23 June, and Palais-Hepburn in Hepburn Springs on 24 June.
Áine Tyrrell Irish As F*ck Not Irish Folk Australian tour
Friday, April 21 – Wildfire Lounge, Glebe
Friday, May 12 – The Regent, Murwillumbah
Saturday, May 27 – Bowraville Theatre, Bowraville
Friday, June 2 – The Junk Bar, Ashgrove
Saturday, June 3 – Cooroy Hall, Cooroy
Friday, June 16 – Dust Temple, Currumbin Waters
Thursday, June 22 – Sooki Lounge, Belgrave
Friday, June 23 – Wesley Anne, Northcote
Saturday, June 24 – Palais-Hepburn, Hepburn Springs
Saturday, July 1 – The Stag & Hunter, Mayfield
Saturday, September 2 – The Cordial Factory, Grenfell
Keep up with the latest music news, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
View this post on Instagram
Áine Tyrrell, a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, activist, and mother, is Irish and incredibly proud of her heritage, despite to continuous and ongoing connotations surrounding Irish music as Irish Folk and assumed ‘Irish’ behaviour associated with the heritage.
Hailing from a rich Irish lineage of music, Áine’s artistry cannot be confined to a single genre, as she rejects the limitations imposed by the music industry’s narrow definition of Irish Folk.
Instead, she is redefining her rise through her unique genre, ‘Irish as Fuck,’ blending spoken word, hip hop, acoustic guitars, and powerful vocals. A reflection of the brave new world we are entering, one that is post-genre, post-pandemic, post-colonial, and post-traumatic.
As Tyrrell explains she got the inspiration for this tour from a close friend.
“The name of this tour came after a discussion where I could see how the industry were placing limitations on the folk genre and because of such assumptions, placing unfair boundaries on my creativity as an artist.
“In discussion with my genre-busting dear friend Jen Cloher, she so eloquently stated that “Irish Folk” was damaging me and quite frankly could never contain me, but that I was ‘Irish as F*ck,” said Tyrrell.
“It felt like the perfect way to describe me and I could feel it in my bones. I run deep like my culture, I write complex like my upbringing, and I sing with the strength of my ancestors.”
Tyrrell wants the tour to also make the audience reflect on their own heritage and how we treat others.
“What I am really looking forward to on this tour is starting a bigger conversation and connection on how we see and define each other, how much better off we all will be if we can open our hearts to the humans in front of us and not be constricted by expectations of race, gender, cultural background, socioeconomic background.”
Tickets are on sale now here.
Splendour In The Grass announces full lineup for 2023
Splendour In The Grass is gearing up for one huge 21st birthday party, today revealing the enormous lineup with a bunch of international musicians and DJs, and an incredible host of homegrown talent, locked in to perform at the three-day festival at North Byron Parklands in July from Friday 21 to Sunday 23 July.
Joining previously announced headliner Lizzo, the festival will feature the likes of electronic music titan Flume who will make an exclusive Aussie appearance at Splendour with his 10-year anniversary, English band Mumford & Sons, Scottish singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi, Colombian singer J Balvin, American rockers Yeah Yeah Yeahs, English muso Sam Fender, and American duo 100 Gecs, among others.
There’s also a bunch of Aussie favourites gracing the lineup like Hilltop Hoods, Ball Park Music, Ruel, Marlon Williams, Dune Rats, Meg Mac, Skegss, Cub Sport, Jack River, Lastlings, RVG, Telenova, Mia Wray and so so so many more.
Splendour In The Grass Lineup 2023
Lizzo
Flume (Australian exclusive: ten years of Flume)
Mumford & Sons (Australian exclusive)
Lewis Capaldi
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Hilltop Hoods
J Balvin
Sam Fender
Idles
Little Simz
Slowthai
Tove Lo
100 Gecs (Australian exclusive)
Arlo Parks
Ball Park Music
Iann Dior
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
070 Shake
Pnau
Ruel
Loyle Carner
Benee
Marlon Williams
Rainbow Kitten Surprise
Hooligan Hefs
Peach PRC
Palace
Dune Rats
Tkay Maidza
Noah Cyrus
Skegss
Sudan Archives
Cub Sport
Meg Mac
X Club.
Claire Rosinkranz
Jack River
The Smith Street Band
Lastlings
Jeremy Zucker
Young Franco
Sly Withers
MAY-A
The Vanns
Telenova
Vallis Alps
Jamesjamesjames
Kaycyy
RVG
Teenage Dads
Balming Tiger
Automatic
Harvey Sutherland
Gali
Del Water Gap
Royel Otis
Shag Rock
Big Wett
Mia Wray
Memphis LK
Gold Fang
Milku
Sumner
Forest Claudette
Full Flower Moon Band
William Crighton
Hellcat Speedracer
Triple J Unearthed Winners
Mix Up DJs:
Tseba
Crybaby
Latifa Tee
Foura
Caucasianopportunities
Luen
Mowgli
DJ Macaroni
Crescendoll
View this post on Instagram
And music is just one piece of the Splendour multiverse! Alongside the stages you know and love, there’s a treasure trove of experiences waiting for you and your crew…
Thump. Thump. Thump. That’s not your hangover. It’s Splendour’s beating heart, The Forest! Your bass camp for traversing sub-genres and exploring boundary-pushing sounds, let the Rainbow Region’s spiciest spinners bring the doof to you. Dance into a new dimension as awe-inspiring lightscapes, playful performances and psychedelic art guide the way.
Ready to take a different trip? The Global Village is your one-way ticket to a unique ecosystem of expansive experiences. Add some namaste to your day with a yoga class, indulge in a tarot card reading, relax with a steaming mug of chai or get involved in some circus play. When you’re ready to find your groove again, salsa your way to the World Stage, Splendour’s musical melting pot serving up sounds from all corners of the sonic spectrum.
Keep your head in the game at The Forum! Sit down and listen up as some of the greatest thinkers and storytellers of today deliver an array of thought-provoking talks and panels across the weekend. Discover new ideas and new people. Get inspired, be challenged, cultivate new perspectives and experience innovation. Round it all off with a healthy dose of sh*ts and gigs at The Comedy Club, where the funniest people in the comedy biz come together for three nights of self-deprecating silliness.
Think reading your horoscope is a science? See yourself over to the Science Tent, where you’ll dive into out-there topics and learn about everything from fungi to fossil fuels. If you loved 2022’s presentations with green thumb Costa Georgiadis, the future of psychedelics and mental health, or the interactive live dating show that tested your romantic compatibility via climate values, Science Tent will keep you stimulated again in 2023!
Somewhere over the Amphitheatre hill, where skies are sparkly and utterly fabulous, you’ll find Splendour’s Rainbow Bar. Back for a second year in 2023, celebrate with a glass of bubbles an outrageous programme of DJs, dancers and drag, curated by some of the LGBTQIA+ community’s iconic party starters, unfolds around you.
For self-anointed kings and queens, Splendour’s VIP Village is here to tick all of your bougie boxes. Enjoy access to your private oasis and VIP access to the Golden View bar in the Amphitheatre. There’s also a concierge, express event entry lanes, coat check, fancy toilets and loads more. Also check out the ticket & hotel packages and Splendour’s brand new and very limited Platinum experience.
Bring your children to Splendour. No, we’re not kidding! Little Splendour is your festival superhero, ready to save the day with a curated haven designed for parents and their ankle-biters. From bubs to tweens, there’s something for everyone. You’ll find incredible performers and entertainers, babysitting services and so much more. Please be sure to check out Splendour’s Youth Policy, all U18’s must be accompanied by a responsible adult at all times throughout the event site.
Revel in the Splendour Arts program with its captivating and provocative collection of major visual and performance artworks. Keep your eyes and iPhone’s peeled for bold moments of artistic goodness, all hidden in plain sight across the entire Splendour site!
Splendour in the Grass heads to North Byron Bay Parklands from Friday, July 21–Sunday, July 23, 2023. Tickets go on sale at 9am on Friday, April 14. Head here for further details.
Void Of Vision announce ‘Das Ende’ Australian tour for 2023
Melbourne metalcore heroes Void of Vision have announced their Das Ende Australian Tour set to celebrate their completed CHONICLES EP series, live in action this August.
Kicking off at The Triffid in Brisbane on Friday 11 August, the Das Ende extravaganza will then head to Newcastle, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Adelaide, before closing out at Magnet House in Perth on Sunday 20 August, with the band joined by very special guests Like Moths To Flames (USA), Varials (USA) and Annalynn (Thai).
Void of Vision Australian Tour 2023
FRIDAY 11 AUGUST – THE TRIFFID, BRISBANE (18+)
SATURDAY 12 AUGUST – NEWCASTLE HOTEL, NEWCASTLE (18+)
SUNDAY 13 AUGUST – FACTORY THEATRE, SYDNEY (18+)
WEDNESDAY 16 AUGUST – THE BASEMENT, CANBERRA (18+)
FRIDAY 18 AUGUST – 170 RUSSELL, MELBOURNE (18+)
SATURDAY 19 AUGUST – LION ARTS FACTORY, ADELAIDE (LIC AA)
SUNDAY 20 AUGUST – MAGNET HOUSE, PERTH (18+)
Keep up with the latest music news, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
Since erupting onto the metal scene a decade ago, Void of Vision have gone on to solidify their standing as one of the most innovative and sonically explosive acts in the modern heavy scene. In 2023 alone, the quartet have featured at Australia’s first-ever Knotfest edition, alongside Slipknot, Parkway Drive, Megadeth and more, collaborated with metal-meets-electronic DJ and producer PhaseOne on the ambitious crossover single Eyes Wide Shut, locked in an appearance at UNIFY Off The Record, and unveiled the amalgamated CHRONICLES series as a complete album, bringing together the previously standalone EPs LUST, HEAVEN and UNDERWORLD into a scintillating snapshot of their relentlessly inventive past, present and future – and the band are truly only just getting started.
“Looking back to the beginning of this post pandemic world where we began unleashing the Chronicles series to everyone, it’s truly inspiring to see how far it has bought us since,” shares frontman Jack Bergin.
“Taking us all around the world and to some of the biggest stages we’ve ever performed on, this collection of music not only helped us find ourselves sonically but also unearthed a new Void Of Vision live performance we never even thought was possible.”
“We’re exactly where we want to be as artists right now so feel it would be truly fitting to take the entire EP collection on the road around Australia whilst in our element to celebrate the end of an era and give you all a taste of what’s to come.”
“The icing on the cake is being able to bring over a tour package comprised entirely of international acts that we’re all so excited to share with you. We couldn’t think of a better way to send off such a special release for us than to accompany it with some of our favourite heavy hitters from all around the globe to warm you all up for the biggest Void Of Vision shows to date.”
‘It’s not all beards and kilts’: How the 2023 National Celtic Folk Festival has something for everyone
From June 9 to 12, the National Celtic Folk Festival (NCFF) will be returning in full swing, bringing the best in Celtic culture to the shores of the Bellarine Peninsula. Across the long weekend, the diverse festival offering will be herding the traditions, talents and triumphs of Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Manx, Breton, Galician and Asturian cultures.
Following a two-year Covid hiatus, the National Celtic Folk Festival reemerged last year in a condensed format, promoting our international relations and strong Celtic heritage rooted in the region.
Keep up with the latest music news, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
Festival Director Una McAlinden explains, “Our event last year was a smaller version which was really successful and gave us renewed energy to know that people love the festival and they’re gonna come after the COVID years. So this year we’re pretty pumped about bringing it back in a full state. The successor built this sort of energy and momentum and fired everybody up again. I think we all needed to do something again after two years of cancelled events.”
With the emotional weight of ceased flying and disconnect from loved ones, the 2022 edition of the National Celtic Folk Festival took on a different meaning for the crowd, with the festival offering them an unexpected sense of belonging.
“You could just see how important it was for people to reconnect and to engage in their culture and the arts. We had a lot of people who hadn’t been able to go home, like to Ireland, and were missing families. So there was quite a lot of emotion last year and I was surprised,” says McAlinden.
View this post on Instagram
A place of gathering, community, connections and celebrations, the National Celtic Folk Festival is set to hit a double-decade milestone next year. In their 19th celebration, they will be honing in on their well-rounded programming, dynamic talent bill and exciting performance offering to continue the meeting of lands.
“It is important to celebrate our heritage and culture and do it in a contemporary context as well. We diversify and trust that the arts program on offer will inspire and connect to our audiences and that our contemporary program has broad appeal. People are surprised by all that the festival offers and the diversity across genres to represent a modern take on Celtic and Folk culture,” says McAlinden.
Within that programming is a focal point of live folk and Celtic music with renewed and strengthened international input, varying from contemporary artist performances to jam sessions and the more traditional pipe and drum bands. Leading the first artist announcement are Scottish duo Rachel Hair and Ron Jappy, Irish songwriter Daoirí Farrell and Irish folk trio Sorcha Costello, Conor Connolly and Padraig Ó Dubhghaill, joined by Melbourne’s Zeon, New Zealand act Polytropos, The Jolly Tinkers, Charm of Finches, and local Wadawurrung duo, Faerfolke.
“We are honouring the commitment we made to artists three or four years ago, in bringing them to Australia. So we’ve got some internationals who have been waiting since before COVID when we booked them, so we’re finally bringing them back including Irish songwriter Daoirí Farrell. There’s a whole heap of Irish artists who are award-winning artists who’ve been waiting to come out to our festival ”
It’s not all Lord of the Dance fiddle and flute music. Celtic culture, heritage and music traditions have informed several modern bands and artists. Look at the styling of Dropkick Murphys with their modern rock take on Irish influence, The Corrs who climbed the commercial charts with their pop-rock Irish-rooted sounds or The Cranberries with the signature yodel of the wonderous frontwoman, Dolores O’Riordan. On a local level, Geelong’s own The Go Set are a perfect example of the melting pots of music with their combined traditional sounds of bagpipes, mandolin and banjos, with contemporary rock music. They too will be joining this iteration of The National Celtic Folk Festival.
“There are punk and metal bands that say “we have Irish heritage and this is what we do with it”. Somebody might play bluegrass and they’ll say “our bluegrass tunes come from Celtic kings”. So if it is a really good fit we can bring new acts and something different for the audience. Each year we introduce new artists and will bring back some of the festival favourites – it’s about celebrating and showcasing arts and culture,” comments McAlinden.
View this post on Instagram
In addition, the music program migrates with the workshop program, offering a range of fun and educational songwriting and professional development sessions for beginner and emerging musicians of all ages and capabilities.
The festival further boasts a diverse program of activities for patrons across over ten ticketed venues including theatre performances, Celtic martial arts, ceilis, dancing, markets, delicious food and drink, and around 60 workshops across these different mediums for their three days. There will also be the 2022 addition of the Heavy Games and, new in 2023, the ancient Gaelic Irish sport of hurling.
The Heavy Games, also known as the South Pacific Highland Games Championship, will see female and male athletes from Australia and New Zealand compete to be the best in each class in traditional highland games heavy events. With the strength of one thousand Scotts, the athletes will compete in the heavy stone throw, the sheaf toss and fan-favourite the caber toss.
“Last year we introduced the Heavy Games with different competitions such as Caber Tossing and this year we’ve been talking to the Geelong Gaelic Games Association and the hurling group, and they’re celebrating 150 years of the rules of hurling, which actually began in Geelong. So it’s a new addition to our program and we will have a big celebration for them. There’ll be a parade, there’ll be all the traditions around hurling, there’ll be an exhibition of hurling,” she says.
From the land and out to sea, the festival’s favourite sightseeing experience, The Tall Ship, will be back this year, offering cruises around the beautiful Bellarine bay accompanied by an acoustic set with a festival band.
“On the back of Saint Patrick’s Day, it’s like one big weekend of fun. We aim to provide all of the experiences possible within the Celtic folk umbrella,” reiterates Una McAlinden.
No traditional gathering would be complete without the gourmet treatment. Top it all off with some haggis, Irish stew, Guinness and some craic, and you have yourself a cracker three days!
The National Celtic Festival is running from 9 to 12 June 2023. Ticketing and program information can be found at www.nationalcelticfestival.com
AUNAI: First Encounter brings a night of experimental music to Kindred Bandroom this week
Fresh from releasing his fourth solo album Charango Unchained late last year, Melbourne musical melange, Argentinian-born songwriter Abe Dunovits has continued to remain inspired, creating and performing his unique fusion of triumphant music, literature and art, which has been described as unconventional, inspired, avant-garde, luminary and memorable and above all, mestizo.
“Since last November I have been busy with different projects. One is Dunobeats, my original band. I put that together late last year and have been rehearsing for shows, such as Charango Unchained launch in late Dec 2022 and a recent show at Bar Oussou,” Abe Dunovits tells us.
“I have recorded a couple of singles in collaboration with two different singers, an electronic style one with Naarm-based artist Little Chilli, a track called ‘Migrant’s Cumbia’ released late March 2023 and another track ‘Don’t Talk to Me’, a mix of Pop, Rock and Rap with NZ performer Rochelle O’Reilly.”
Keep up with the latest music news, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
‘Charango Unchained’: Abraham Dunovits’ new album reminds us of how art can move
With such clear ambition and spontaneity, Dunovits continues to inspire, joining forces with two incredible multidisciplinary artists, Mito Elias (Cape Verde) and Ashley J Higgs (Melbourne), for one special evening this April at Kindred Studios in Footscray.
Coined AUNAI: First Encounter, the event will see the three artists come together to celebrate a meeting of sounds, words and culture in an experimental music night on Friday 14th of April.
“I met Mito Elias some years ago through the poetry group A Voz Limpia and through some workshops I did for MAV. I watched him and heard him performing at the poetry nights and I liked what he does, in writing, visual arts and performance. He is truly a unique artist, with a distinctive voice and a deep perspective on many things,” Dunovits explains.
“I also connect with Mito because we both come from colonised countries and we have converged here, in this country, which has also been colonised. I always thought that what Mito does is in the same vein as what Ashley and I have been doing for the past 25 years. I’ve been wanting to collaborate with Mito but due to Covid restrictions has been hard to organise in person. Funny thing is that Mito and Ashley met before, so when I introduced each other it was like (squinting) “I know you…” Mostly, I think both these artists need to be seen and heard more, they are my favourite avant-gardists.”
Each artist comes from different artistic and cultural backgrounds but they coincide in the spontaneous, improvised sound-making process. Sound Art is often a difficult proposition for mainstream audiences. However, these three sound adventurers allow for poignancy, empathy, respect and humour to filter through their respective
Mito, Ashley and Abe will each showcase in short solo performances culminating the night with a collaboration that will include the incorporation of custom-found instruments, synths, drums, string instruments from different cultures, voices and samples to create imaginative, avant-garde cinematic soundscapes, imaginative song cycles, improvised songs with a backdrop of images.
“All of us are self-contained artists who manipulate several instruments, both in analog and digital form. Mito uses found objects to produce sound cycles that are otherworldly, he also used instruments like the saxophone, both analog and digital, to create music that is akin to Free Jazz,” Dunovits says of Mito.
“Ashley manipulates language and sound to create layers of meaning in free-flowing sounding note-scapes, at the same time as playing percussion or instruments he might not be familiar with but with a sense of purpose and determination.”
Making music for a few decades now, Dunovits, however, tends to use unusual instruments or ethnic instruments to transform the obtuse into the familiar, be it sounds or words.
“What unites us is the way we combine sounds and musical structures into what people might call “songs”, “sound poems”, “sound pictures” with a beginning, middle and end, taking and transforming all of our musical and artistic notions and distilling them through the use of instruments to create sounds,” Dunovits says of the three artists and the forthcoming show.
“The term “tabula rasa”, clean slate, applies every time we start something. We don’t think in terms of “genre” but it could be interpreted as such. What sets us apart is that we come from disparate places and traditions.”
View this post on Instagram
With three incredible musicians uniting for one night only, the night of experimental music is spawned from an improvised album the three recorded together earlier this year. Due to be released later this month, and (available on Bandcamp here), the show in Footscray will be a chance to witness the album in a live setting, albeit, improvised for an incredible unique ‘jam’.
“Personally, the difference between a “jam” and our performance style is purpose. To me, a jam can happen between musicians but has no purpose other than to pass the time, practice your chops or try new things and have a good time. In our case, our purpose is to create a work of art on the spot, form a statement that can transcend space and time, something that can be recorded as a sound piece but surely we are trying new things and having a good time also,” Dunovits says.
“We don’t take the time we spend making music together lightly but we don’t have academic pretension either. We are playing as if we have been rehearsing all our lives for this moment. It’s a moment to be felt. We are visualizing what we do as we do it in a way that an artist might play something that was written out or rehearsed. People improvise for a lot of reasons. I have improvised to work and survive many times. I do it daily.
“We got together early this year to meet each other and we recorded it. To me, those recordings sound as if we rehearsed them, but as I said before, it’s a lifetime of rehearsal to culminate at the moment we are together in a room. Knowing how music works also helps in forming musical pieces in a way that sounds rehearsed and professional, even though it’s improvised.”
With a mesmerising night of improvised experimental music, this is a must-attend event for anyone who wants to be inspired by independent artists, sound making, unusual soundscapes and poetic originality.
AUNAI: First Encounter takes place at Kindred Bandroom in Footscray on Friday, 14 April 2023. Tickets are on sale now here or can be purchased at the door on the night.
Purchase the collaborative album on Bandcamp here.
Live review: Knotfest Melbourne delivered a monster display by the masters of macabre metal
For 11 years now, Aussie fans have had to sit and watch Slipknot unveil mammoth lineups for their self-curated headliner festival. And for 11 years now, we’ve been asking for it to come to our shores.
But for some reason, it never happened. Slipknot kept expanding the festival; editions popped up everywhere from Japan to Colombia, but yet Australia’s ‘bollywood’ sized fan base seemingly always got skipped in the rotation. And then finally, slipped in between the announcements for Knotfest Argentina and Knotfest Japan, Australia scored three dates. The pulse of the maggots wasn’t just real, it was frenzied, with fans going into meltdown mode when the group’s Instagram page announced the stacked 14-act lineup.
Keep up with the latest music news, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
An array of the world’s premier metal acts, both up and coming and iconic, packed into a one-day event? This is what metal fans had been longing for since the days of Soundwave.
But good things come to those that wait, and for the 30-thousand punters who attended Knotfest, it was definitely worth the wait.
In fact, it was pretty much perfect. From its seamless back-to-back stage setup, to its incredibly spacious wheelchair-accessible viewing platform, Knotfest was more or less the perfect event. Sure, the beers were overpriced and the lines to the merch tents were excessively long, (which is to be expected with any one-day event), but outside of that, Australia’s first-ever Knotfest (Melbourne) went off without a hitch.
Except for Bad Omens pulling out, which upset a lot of eager fans, but considering frontman Noah Sebastian was suffering from vocal issues, it seemed to be a withdrawal that many graciously accepted.
Making UK’s Malevolence the opening act of the day. After going too hard in the pit at Knocked Loose’s sideshow the night before, I slept in and missed the first train up to Melbourne, resulting in me missing the group’s 30 minute set. But after speaking to many wired up punters frothing on energy after the group’s set, I felt like I missed out. So I went home and listened to their most recent album Malicious Intent, and now I really wish I saw them. Ah well, we live and we learn.
I did however make it in time for Void of Vision. Having only seen the group during their more stock- standard metalcore days, I was keen to see how their newly adopted industrial tinged, nü metal sound translated in a live setting. As expected, it hit hard. Performing songs off the Chronicle’s EP series, Void of Vision absolutely tore through their early settime, winning over a wealth of punters previously unacquainted with their newly honed in blend of electronically charged hardcore. After closing with ‘The Lonely People,’ vocalist Jack Bergin stated, “We are ‘Void of Vision,’ remember that fucking name.” Based on the crowd’s reaction, they will.
Credit: Jordan Munns
Up next was fellow hometown heroes Alpha Wolf, who in my eyes have the phattest breakdowns in the Australian metal scene. I know, it’s not linguistically correct to spell ‘fattest’ with a ‘ph’, but honestly, Alpha Wolf’s breakdowns are just that phat that there is no other way to describe it. If you disagree, you can go look up a thesaurus; or better yet, go see them live. Their sets are always so gutsy, it’s hard not to get consumed by it. Their appearance at Knotfest was no exception, with the rising stars’ established brand of high pitched guitar riffs and huge breakdowns feeling so natural on a big stage setting. Opening with 60cm of Steel; Creep and Hotel Underground, Alpha Wolf had the crowd charged from the second they hit the stage, with moshers flooding the pit for the groups brief, but bludgeoning set. As always, Acid Romance’s breakdown stunned the uninitiated, while Akudama gave the group’s loyalists something to shout about. All in all, it was consistent with every Alpha Wolf set I’ve seen, exceptional. Their live shows are just something else. Honestly, if Alpha Wolf weren’t Australia’s next big metal export, it would be a crying shame.
Knocked Loose fit 80 breakdowns into their 30 minute set. Having caught their turbulent, no-barrier show at the Colonial Hotel the night before I knew that we would be in for a chaotic set, but wow, I wasn’t ready for the sub drop at the start of Where Light Divides The Holler. Entering the stage with a resounding boom, the Oldham County hardcore outfit proceeded to unapologetically annihilate the crowd with their signature brand of beatdown hardcore. With a pouncing nature to their set, the group tore through hits like Trapped in the Grasp of a Memory; God Knows and Billy No Mates, with each song gaining an even greater crowd reception than the last. When lead vocalist Brian Garris told the crowd, “Australia you can do fucking better,” before dropping Deadringer, people went absolutely raucous, giving way to one of the most intense pits seen for the day. Being the only hardcore act on the lineup, Knocked Loose may have come across as an anomaly for some, but undoubtedly came out a favourite for many.
Spiritbox slayed. Opening with Circle With You, the Canadian based metalcore outfit donned the stage as if they were headliners, with Courtney LaPlante adorning the crowd with her sassy stage presence and brutal live gutturals. Rotoscope’s hazy, club heavy rhythms got everyone dancing, while Holy Roller and Yellowjacket upped the ante for the moshers, with the latter bearing itself more impressive than the it’s record version (which feature guest vocals from Architect’s Sam Carter), with LaPlante delivering Carter’s feature with sinister conviction.
Story Of The Year provided a hit of nostalgia, delivering classics such as And A Hero Will Drown, Anthem Of Our Dying Day and In The Shadows, alongside newer hits such as Tear Me To Pieces. Being significantly softer than the acts before them, it did feel like a change of pace, but it was a fun set that undoubtedly got the older rockers in the crowd excited.
I’d never looked into In Flames much before Knotfest. I knew that they are an iconic Swedish death-metal band, and that’s about it. After seeing their set, I can confirm that they have gained a massive fan in me. With their sound blending huge riffs; unrelenting solos and massive breakdowns all in one, In Flames’ phenomenal set proved why they are legends of the game.
Credit: Jordan Munns
Similarly to In Flames, I’d never been too into Amon Amarth in the past, but their live display was nothing short of spectacular. From the massive Nordic statues that stood alongside the band, to masses of fans seated down to row in unison, it was a show like no other. Closing with Raise Your Horns and the riotous Twilight of the Thunder God, Amon Amarth’s powerful display of viking metal left punters in awe.
Unfortunately Northlane had a very muddled audio mix, leaving their sound subdued, muffled and largely bass-less. But while their sound didn’t hit as hard as normal, the group still played with precision, showcasing the elegant dark-wave simplicity of their newest release Obsidian alongside their cryptic, industrial inspired stage presence.
Trivium came out swinging, opening with 2004’s Rain, before blasting through classics such as Down From The Sky and In Waves. With some newer songs like Among The Shadows and Stone thrown in for good measure, Trivium delivered a set that left fans young and old ecstatic. Matt Heafy’s guitarmanship was a masterclass to watch; Alex Bents percussion were thunderous and technical in their approach; all round Trivium’s 45 minute set showcased melodic heavy metal at it’s finest.
I saw Megadeth’s 2 hour set at No Sleep Til Melbourne (2010) and it wasn’t for me, so I decided to bail on their set and grab some food. From a distance I could hear Hangar 18; Tornado of Souls, Symphony of Destruction and all the classics that Megadeth fans love, so I’m sure it was a memorable experience for many. Especially considering the sheer amount of Megadeth tee’s being donned by festival goers.
Up as the second headliner for the night was Aussie icons Parkway Drive, who at this point, are undoubtedly the most beloved act to ever stem from our homegrown metal scene. But whilst the band has maintained a career now spanning a whopping twenty years, many longtime fans still like to vocalise their love for the bands older material, whilst simultaneously expressing their disdain for the group’s newer more anthemic, arena-focused sound.
Admittedly, I am one of those fans. Whilst I’ve never expressed a clear disliking to the group’s new sound, I’ve never hidden that my preference lies in their earlier metalcore/deathcore material. So much so that the last time I interviewed the group’s lead singer Winston McCall, I commented that newer single Soul Bleach has a heavier sound that’ll resonate with older fans. He immediately laughed and said, “So it’s your favourite on the album?”
He was right.
Credit: Jordan Munns
But after seeing the group’s spectacular new live display, I feel like the lead singer of Smash Mouth. ‘I’m a believer’ baby. It’s beyond impressive. From the Survivor-esque torch bearers that walked the group out onto the stage, to the delicate inclusion of string quartets, Parkway’s newly adopted arena spectacle is an unprecedented live display for the Australian heavy scene.
Prey’s rolling breakdown hit with thunderous effect, as did the early inclusion of Carrion, which saw punters flooding from the back straight into the pit from the second the opening riff kicked in. As predicted, Soul Bleach got the crowd pumping, with Jeff Ling’s impressive use of wah effects creating so much depth behind Luke Kilpatrick and Jia O’Connor’s pounding rhythms. Dedicated hit home, with McCall changing the song’s lyrics from “12” to “20” to represent the band’s 20th anniversary.
Karma felt incredibly nostalgic, with it being the first time I’d seen McCall actually enter the pit since the group’s Deep Blue tour in 2010. Ushering in a circle pit, with himself in the middle of it, McCall got the crowd absolutely frenetic, truly epitomising why he is regarded as one of Australia’s best frontmen. Dark Still dazzled, with Luke Kilpatrick’s rapidfire guitar changes between acoustic and electric providing such an anthemic shine alongside the inclusion of a string quartet.
Which was an amazing addition in itself, with the strings giving the group’s newer material a powerfully performative nature. In future, I’d love to see the inclusion of strings become a more stapled part of the group’s set, with forgotten gems from their back catalog such as Deliver Me; Home is for the Heartless, and the trumpet charged The Blue and the Grey, feeling absolutely primed for orchestrally based live renditions.
Maintaining the earnesty that has continued to win over legions of fans over the years, McCall briefly stopped to thank the crowd, humbly stating that “We’ve been doing this shit for 20 years and I can honestly say it would never get to this.” And considering a lot of the crowd had seen the group cutting their teeth playing intimate club shows and regional basketball courts around the country for the better part of two decades, it was a statement that resonated with many. Closing with the chant-inducing Wild Eyes, Parkway had the crowd in absolute awe, with their triumphant homecoming headliner set silencing any naysayers of the group’s new sound.
Credit: Jordan Munns
And now onto the day’s main headliner, Slipknot. The moment we’d all been waiting for.
Now, I’m going to have to drop my ‘journalist’ voice for a second here, because holy fucking shit, Slipknot’s live display was next to none.
From the incredibly planned out stage design, to the unparalleled energy that the group’s live sound possessed, it was a live display that any aspiring or working artist should be studying up on and taking notes. Opening with Disasterpiece, before blasting straight into Wait and Bleed, Slipknot had punters going crazy. People were trying to race into the pit, but with 30 thousand maggots (Slipknot fans) all watching in awe, the crowd was almost impenetrable. But that didn’t matter, with a crowd that size it was hard not to feel the energy, no matter where you were positioned.
Stopping to chat to the crowd, vocalist Corey Taylor remarked, “It’s been seven fucking years Melbourne. I know there was a certain global issue that kept us apart from some of our craziest fans in the fucking world, but goddammit, Slipknot are back in Australia tonight.” If there was ever any doubt about the intensity of Slipknot’s pits, that one statement put any doubt to rest, with fans going absolutely manic as Taylor’s speech bled out into the opening riff of Sulphur.
Having listened to the group for the better part of 15 years now, I almost felt like I was hearing Slipknot for the first time. With it now seeming like there’s not a single recording out there that displays the earth shaking ferocity and unfaltering intensity that the group’s live sound possesses. It’s truly a live spectacle that needs to be seen to be believed.
Credit: Jordan Munns
Mick Thompson’s opening riff to Before I Forget, scored an upheaval of applause, as did Taylor teasing The Heretic Anthem, by asking the crowd “if you’re 5,5,5, then I’m?” Psychosocial hit hard, with the group’s trio of percussionists all banging in unison to the punching chorus, whilst Duality unsurprisingly scored the loudest singalong of the night.
Having never really been a fan of the group’s fifth album ‘.5 The Grey Chapter’, the grunt of Custer’s riff blew me away; as did Taylor’s live vocal cadence for the rap/metal Spit It Out, which was delivered perfectly compared to some of the group’s earlier live recordings.
Closing with People = Shit and Surfacing as their encore, Slipknot left the crowd of 30 thousand absolutely stunned, proving once and for all why they are regarded as God’s amongst the modern day metal scene.
As stated by Taylor, “I knew tonight would be fucking amazing but I didn’t know it would be this amazing”. Me either Corey, me either. I don’t think anyone did. Sure, everyone knew that Slipknot are an incredibly well-oiled live outfit, but their Knotfest appearance was unparalleled. Truly a monster display by the masters of macabre metal.
Experience the wonder of the Gippsland Night Skies with ‘A Night Under The Stars’ this April
Enjoy a unique and memorable evening of stargazing, a two-course meal and live acoustic entertainment from the picturesque Buchan valley with A Night Under the Stars at Stockmans Camp this April.
Taking place at The Stockmans Camp in Buchan on Saturday 22 April, guests can learn about the galaxy above us, under the expert guidance of the Astronomical Society of Victoria.
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around the region here.
View this post on Instagram
With low light pollution, the Buchan valley is a spectacular observational site for the timeless night sky. Whether you know all your constellations backwards, or you’ve never looked into a telescope before, whether you’ve had five trips around the sun or 95, this event is suited to anyone who’d like to learn more about the enchanting world that glows above us.
The Astronomical Society of Victoria will provide a short “Sky Tour” and will be on hand to answer all your celestial questions. A clutch of telescopes will be fixed onto objects of interest including constellations, nebula, planets and star clusters.
As for food, the two-course menu epitomises a hearty country feed. Plus, there’ll be a campfire to sit around, marshmallows to toast, creamy hot chocolate to sip on and warm your fingers, against a background track of enchanting acoustic sounds provided by Olivia Lay Music.
The setting for your unforgettable experience is The Stockmans Camp, a unique farm stay property nestled in the picturesque valley. Camping and caravan sites are set amongst beautiful gardens and shady trees, an epicentre of tranquility.
To fully embrace the full experience, guests are encouraged to bring your deck chairs, picnic rugs and cushions for lounging.
Find out more and book tickets here.
GAWS announce reduced adoption fees for special cats needing forever homes
Breaking animal lovers’ hearts everywhere, local animal shelter Geelong Animal Welfare Society has announced that their foster program is at capacity with extra special cats waiting for their forever homes.
In an effort to ease pressure on the program, until April 16th, people have the opportunity to adopt a cat who is currently in foster care for just $39.
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around the region here.
With more than 30 cats currently in foster care available for adoption, GAWS CEO Helen Cocks said the organization urgently needs to find loving homes for these felines to ease pressure on the GAWS foster program and carers, and create space for more vulnerable cats
“We urge any experienced cat owners who have been considering a cat companion to adopt an extra special feline from GAWS now.”
“GAWS has a dedicated foster program for cats needing some extra care and attention outside of the shelter environment.
“There are various reasons why a cat might be placed in foster care; whether it is respite from shelter life, rehabilitation or recovery from procedures or illness, they might have special needs or just prefer a home environment. They are all ready and deserving of loving, forever homes.”
View this post on Instagram
Given some of these cats require extra care, GAWS is seeking people with time, patience and understanding of cats and their needs to adopt the cats in foster.
Despite the low price, the usual GAWS adoption procedures will apply during the promotion to ensure animals are matched to the right home.
To apply to adopt a cat for $39, people can view the cats labelled “Available for Adoption – In Foster” on the Cats page of the GAWS website, find their match and submit an adoption application form. GAWS staff will arrange a meet and greet for applicants and their new furry friend.
All adoption animals are de-sexed, microchipped, vaccinated and flea and worm treated.
The promotion runs until April 16th and excludes cats available in the GAWS shelter. Adult cats are usually $120.
For further information, head here.
Victoria just scored more than 46 upgraded campgrounds across the state
Spread across some of Victoria’s most beautiful locations, the State Government is making it easier and more accessible for Victorians to explore their own backyards this winter, upgrading more than 46 campgrounds and caravan parks across the state.
Late last week, Minister for Environment Ingrid Stitt announced the many projects funded as part of a $6.6 million Camping and Caravan Grants program – forming part of a broader $106.6 million Labor Government investment in Victoria’s Great Outdoors which supports caravan parks and campgrounds to improve and upgrade their visitor facilities.
Grab your puffer jacket, here are some of the best local hikes to take in Victoria this weekend
Recently completed projects include a $140,000 new kiosk and accessible amenity block at Point Leo Foreshore Park and Reserve – making this popular beach and camping destination more accessible for all visitors.
View this post on Instagram
In Gippsland, the Mallacoota Foreshore Holiday Park used a $28,563 grant to deliver a new camp kitchen and picnic area, providing visitors with a spot to relax and enjoy a meal with beautiful coastal views.
Mongans Bridge Caravan Park, near Mount Beauty, recently celebrated the opening of their newly refurbished amenity block thanks to a $200,000 grant. Upgrades included installing an accessible toilet and shower facility to make the site accessible for all-abilities visitors to the park.
Harrietville Caravan Park also received a $200,000 grant, using it to make significant upgrades to their amenity block, laundry facilities and on-site drainage.
In the north and north west, Stawell Grampians Gate Caravan Park received a $170,000 grant to upgrade their outdated amenity block, while Lake Charm Foreshore Caravan Park used a $140,000 grant to deliver new ensuite amenities for cabin sites and refurbished existing amenities.
A further 17 projects are still underway, with all upgrades set to enhance the visitor experience and provide more affordable and family-friendly accommodation options at the best destinations across coastal and regional Victoria.
Victoria’s Great Outdoors Camping and Caravan Grants support local councils and committees of management to provide quality and affordable visitor accommodation across Victoria.
These grants have been boosting regional Victorian economies and tourism by employing local businesses and supporting campgrounds and caravan parks to welcome more visitors.
Read the Victorian Government announcement here or explore what’s on offer here.
Augie March’s Glenn Richards to perform at the Anzac Appeal Launch for a night of mateship, music and movies
This year, for the first time ever, RSL Victoria is hosting a special evening around a contemporary campfire of reflections and stories, music and mateship to launch the ANZAC Appeal at Astor Theatre on Tuesday 11 April 2023.
Open to the public this year, the launch event will be an evening of nostalgia, history and humanity as RSL Victoria kicks off the 2023 Anzac Appeal, a critical fundraiser spanning over 100 years that delivers services and support to current and retired veterans and their families.
2023 Anzac Appeal Launch Event
- A live performance by Augie March’s Glenn Richards of “I Was Only Nineteen” to celebrate the song’s 40th anniversary
- A screening of “The Battle of Long Tan” documentary by Director Damien Lay
- Original “I Was Only Nineteen” songwriter, John Schumann, speaking on the importance of the song
- Speakers presenting the new ANZAC Appeal Badges – including that of the heroic nurse Vivian Bullwinkel
- Q&A facilitated by ABC News Breakfast Film Reviewer Zak Hepburn and director Damian Lay
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around the region here.
Victorians are encouraged to join RSL Victoria and affiliates from AFL, NRL, and Racing Victoria with special one-off screening, presentations from veterans and performances.
This isn’t your standard night at the movies though. Movie-goers will be welcomed with their choice of wine donated by Yarra Valley Smaller Wineries Association members before taking their seats for a very special evening of guests.
Augie March lead singer Glenn Richards will then perform live his cover of the iconic ballad “I Was Only 19”, to be released on Spotify with royalties donated to the ANZAC Appeal as the song celebrates its 40th Anniversary.
The song’s original writer John Schumann of the band Redgum will also be in attendance and will speak to the importance of the song and the sentiments that young veterans faced on their return from the Vietnam war.
There will be speakers presenting the new ANZAC Appeal Badges – including that of the heroic nurse Vivian Bullwinkel – only the second person ever, and the first woman to be commemorated on a badge.
The evening will also air a Q&A facilitated by ABC News Breakfast Film Reviewer Zak Hepburn and director Damian Lay before the screening of his documentary ‘The Battle of Long Tan’ narrated by Sam Worthington hits the big screen thanks to support of The History Channel.
Tickets are $25 and include a glass of wine and access to entertainment.
The evening commences at 6 pm with a 6.30 pm start – and is a special collaboration that echoes the sense of community and camaraderie ANZAC Day inspires in Victorians – with $10 from each ticket sold being generously donated by The Astor Theatre for the appeal.
Tickets can be purchased here.
Sleaford Mods announce Australian tour for May and June
Sleaford Mods have announced their long-awaited return to Australian shores off the back of their latest album UK GRIM.
Kicking off in Adelaide in May, the Nottingham duo’s eclectic live show will take to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Byron Bay, Hobart and Perth, with special appearances at both VIVID Live and Dark Mofo.
Sleaford Mods Australian tour 2023
- Wednesday 31 May – The Gov, Adelaide: TICKETS
- Friday 2 June – VIVID Live @ Sydney Opera House, Sydney
- Saturday 3 June – The Forum, Melbourne: TICKETS
- Tuesday 6 June – The Princess Theatre, Brisbane: TICKETS
- Wednesday 7 June – The Great Northern, Byron Bay: TICKETS
- Friday 9 June – Dark Mofo @ Odeon Theatre, Hobart
- Sunday 11 June – Astor Theatre, Perth
Keep up with the latest music news, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
As Sleaford Mods’ most dance-floor friendly release to date, UK GRIM is an urgent and sage-like look at life, living and the gritty reality of our era.
Angry yet artful, innovative yet possessing an instinctual energy that irresistibly moves bodies and minds, UK GRIM is an erudite electronic vision that truly engages with times that have been anything but ‘precedented’.
Stream / download UK Grim here. Pre-sale is live Thursday, 13th April at 10am (AEST), general on-sale on Friday, 13th April at this link.
The NGV Triennial brings a world of contemporary art and design to NGV this summer
Bringing contemporary art, design and architecture into dialogue with one another and traversing all four levels of NGV International, the NGV Triennial features more than 75 extraordinary projects that invite us to reflect on the world as it is, while also asking how we would like it to be.
With more than 25 world-premiere projects commissioned by the NGV especially for this presentation, the NGV Triennial reveals the extraordinary ways in which leading and emerging artists and designers have responded to the most relevant and critical global issues of our time. With many of the works on display entering the NGV Collection, the NGV Triennial establishes a lasting legacy for Victoria that can be accessed for many generations to come.
Stay up to date with what’s happening within the region’s art scene here.
NGV Triennial 2023 highlights
Polish-born Agnieszka Pilat will train Boston Dynamics robot dogs to paint autonomously – a breakthrough in her practice that explores power of technology in contemporary society. Over four months, audiences can witness the robot dogs painting a monolithic durational work. Pilat imagines that in a distant future these paintings will be revered as the first primitive art-making of AI enabled robots.
View this post on Instagram
In a special collaboration with Paris haute couture house Schiaparelli, the NGV has invited artistic director Daniel Roseberry to present a selection of works from recent collections alongside a collection of gilded surrealist accessories and body adornment. Presented within an immersive and celestial environment, the display highlights Roseberry’s interest in pushing the boundaries of couture practice, the elemental, and his view that art and fashion can question, shape and address the concerns of contemporary life.
Counter-culture icon Yoko Ono will present a large-scale text-based work on the NGV International façade. The multi-media artist who works in performance, instruction, film, installation, music, and writing, will draw upon her Instruction Pieces and major public art commissions around the world for this poignant work. Ono’s text works speak to her conceptual practice of over 60 years, and offer declarative, poetic, confessional and political commentary.
View this post on Instagram
NGV Triennial will also present an exciting selection of recently acquired work by British artist Tracey Emin, whose autobiographical and confessional practice spans film, painting, drawing, installation and sculpture. Highlights include a five-metre-high text-based neon light installation of Emin’s own handwriting, abstract and tactile bronze sculptures, plus gestural and figurative paintings that confront moments of extreme emotion, anguish, elation or pain.
Senior Paris-based and American-born sculptor Sheila Hicks presents Nowhere to Go, 2022, a major sculptural installation utilising Hicks’ signature bulbous forms of brightly coloured fibre. Stacked high against a wall, the forms gather to create an imposing and yet playful installation that celebrates the experience of architectural space and the emotional potential of colour.
David Shrigley OBE, known for his darkly humorous artworks which reflect on the banality and absurdity of everyday life, presents his monumental public sculpture, Really Good, 2016. The work was originally conceived for the Fourth Plinth in London’s iconic Trafalgar Square, in the immediate aftermath of the UK’s decision to leave the EU. Taking the form of a seven-metre-high thumbs-up, the sculpture is characteristic of the self-conscious irony often found in Shrigley’s work and is intended as both a satirical and sincere gesture.
View this post on Instagram
Collaborators Elmgreen and Dragset offer a dynamic sculptural installation where multiple works combine to traverse the artists’ unique approach to sculpture and installation. The Painter, Fig. 1, 2021, depicts a male figure, barefoot and shirtless, caught in the process of making a sweeping black mark across a white canvas. In The Balcony, a figure leans out from above to photograph the audience. Above it all is What’s left?, a tightrope stretched across the void, a lone figure clings to the rope, seemingly to drop at any moment, to a tragic fate.
Other highlights include Mun-dirra, a monumental one-hundred-metre-long woven fish fence which was produced over two years by ten artists working with apprentices in Maningrida, Arnhem Land. The immersive installation, which invites audiences inside it, represents one of the two common types of fish traps produced in the area. The weavers are from the Burarra language group from the east-side Arnhem Land who specialise in the customary weaving. The artists use the woven form to tell a powerful story of matrilineal knowledge transference, as well as how Yolngu people have lived sustainably with the land for generations.
For the NGV Triennial, Tokyo-based artist Azuma Makoto will present a room sized installation as an homage to the magical beauty and lifeforce of plants. After freezing a multitude of Australian flowers and botanicals into crystalline acrylic blocks, the artist places these jewel-like sculptural elements in dialogue with a beguiling multi-screen film depicting the life and death of flowers. Makoto asks us to explore the complex and fragile relationship between humans and plants.
View this post on Instagram
American artist Hugh Hayden, whose work explores ideas of class, race, education and cultural assimilation, will exhibit his 2022 installation, The end, for the NGV Triennial. Taking over an entire gallery space, the work depicts an apocalyptic elementary school classroom – replete with desks and chairs – that has been overrun with branches and dodo skeletons. Also on display will be Hayden’s 2020 work The Cosby’s, which comprises a series of cast iron skillets that have been reimagined as West African masks – a commentary on the cultural impact of the African diaspora on American entertainment, food, industry, and society.
Megacities is large-scale, NGV-commissioned presentation that invites ten leading street photographers to capture the urban environment of ten global megacities, with a population exceeding 10 million: Cairo, Dhaka, Jakarta, Delhi, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Seoul, Lagos, Tokyo and Mexico City. Working collaboratively with the NGV, the photographers will stage their work in a dynamic, immersive environment and present a thought-provoking fact of the twenty-first century, an urban phenomenon – enunciating that for the first time in history the dominant human habitat is the city, and that we are rapidly becoming an urban species.
Three key thematic pillars of Magic, Matter and Memory anchor the 2023 NGV Triennial. Rather than forming a structure for the exhibition’s organisation and the selection of works, the themes offer insight into the concerns of the artists and designers in the exhibition. The three themes are entangled discourses that flow between and across the projects within the exhibition.
The theme of Magic delves into belief systems, allegory and symbolism, revealing some of the ways that human spirituality has shaped the world around us. Matter draws together nature, materials and making, highlighting the central role that materials and the natural world play in shaping human culture. Finally, Memory shines a light on both the histories of people, places and objects that make up the complex tapestry of our contemporary world.
Tony Ellwood AM, Director, NGV, said: ‘In the three years since the last NGV Triennial, the world has experienced a great many structural shifts, including a global pandemic. Through the work of more than 100 artists, designers, architects and collectives from Australia and around the world, the NGV Triennial offers a powerful insight into the ideas and concerns empowering creative practice in 2023.
‘The artists, designers and architects of our time play an important role in helping us to understand, navigate and relate to the world around us. The 2023 NGV Triennial offers audiences a valuable opportunity to experience new and surprising forms of creative expression from around the globe, which, together, present a compelling snapshot of the world as it is, while also asking how we would like it to be,’ said Ellwood.
The NGV Triennial is on display from 3 December 2023 – 7 April 2024 at NGV International, St Kilda Road, Melbourne. Entry is FREE. Further information is available via the NGV website: NGV.MELBOURNE.
Further highlight commissions, acquisitions and large-scale presentations at NGV Triennial 2023:
- Hoda Afshar (b. Iran): The Fold, 2023, a newly commissioned work by Hoda Afshar investigates images by the French psychiatrist and photographer Gaëtan Gatian de Clérambault (1872-1934), who photographed veiled Islamic women, and sometimes men, in Morocco. Unfolding in three parts, Afshar’s large-scale installation continues the artist’s decade-long exploration into how the medium of photography became – and continues to serve as – one of the central tools in the project of colonialism thought its representations of Islamic women.
- Studio Fernando Laposse: Conflict Avocados, Laposse’s most ambitious project to date, explores the troubled ethics behind avocado production in Mexico, the world’s largest producer and exporter of the fruit. Focusing on town of Cherán in the state of Michoacan, Laposse recounts through furniture, objects, film and a major 40m long narrative textile – the Cherán Tapestry – the struggle by local women to defend their home from criminal cartels and preserve their forest ecosystem, which is being cleared for avocado production. Laposse offers an optimistic perspective where local solidarity, artisanal craft and ecology work together to rebalance the situation.
- John Gerrard (b. Ireland): Irish artist John Gerrard has played a central role in the development of simulation within contemporary art. Utilising real-time computer graphics, his digital artworks often examine contemporary political issues, such as energy production, food systems, information flows and climate change. His large-scale simulation, Flare (Oceania), 2022, presents a seascape based on photographs taken by the activist Uili Lousi, who is documenting the rising temperatures of his ancestral ocean near Tonga. The work offers a poignant comment on the existential threat of rising seas due to carbon induced climate change driven by the burning of fossil fuels.
- Petrit Halilaj (b. Kosovo): Kosovan artist Petrit Halilaj will create a new iteration of his immersive installation, Very volcanic over this green feather, 2022. Drawing from lived experience, the installation takes inspiration from Halilaj’s childhood drawings, made in the Kukës II refugee camp in Albania during the height of the Kosovan War. Interspersing depictions of rural landscapes, animals, birds and scenes of death and destruction, the installation reveals the slippery relationship between the real and the imagined, personal and collective memory, and recorded history and lived experience.
- Sheila Hicks (b. USA): Senior American artist Sheila Hicks will stack nets filled with blue fabric to form an avalanche of colour in a corner of one large gallery space. Nowhere to Go, 2022, is a major sculptural installation utilising Hicks’ signature bulbous and joyful forms of brightly coloured fibre. Hicks is one of the world’s foremost artists and sculptors working with textiles, fibre and colour. Known for her experimental weavings and voluminous sculptural textile works, Hicks’ varied approach to weaving and tapestry made her a leader of the Fibre Art movement of the 60s and 70s.
- Yee I-Lann (b. Malaysia): For the NGV Triennial, Yee I-Lann has collaborated with Bajau Laut weavers, who reside off the coast of Sabah, Malaysia, to make tikar – woven mats. Tikar/Meja (Mat/Table) is a large-scale display of 60 Bajau Sama Dilaut mats, upon each of which is woven an image of a table. The table is a representation of administrative power and control – colonial, patriarchal and state power. They are the opposite of the non-hierarchical, community-based, open platform of the tikar. Tikar/Meja forms a message from the people on the mat to the people at the table: in rolling up the mat, the table is engulfed.
- Lehuauakea (b. Hawaii): Mele O Nā Kaukani Wai is a mixed-media wall-based installation that addresses the need to integrate Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge and western science in today’s ongoing global environmental crises. Using traditional ʻohe kāpala (carved bamboo printing tools) to print patterns that tell stories through intergenerational symbolism, Lehuauakea employs the metaphor of the meeting point of freshwater and saltwater where the river meets the sea to portray this complex issue.
- Illuwanti Ken (b. Australia): Iluwanti Ken’s newly commissioned work comprises of three paintings, collectively spanning 5 metres, which tell the story of Walawuru Tjukurpa (Mother Eagles). The large-scale paintings pulsate with energy and movement to reveal activities of the walawuru (eagles) as they journey across the landscape. The paintings will be accompanied by an audio recording of Ken singing her native Pitjantjatjara language.
- Thomas J Price (b. UK): Working primarily in figurative sculpture, Thomas J. Price’s addresses issues of identity, representation and power. For the NGV Triennial, Price will present two large-scale sculptures, All In, 2021, and Reaching Out, 2020, which confront the lack of people of colour represented in public statuary in the UK. Intentionally ambiguous, Price’s figures do not depict a certain individual, but are instead drawn from an amalgamation of found sources, including observed individuals and stereotypes represented in the media.
- Smac McCreanor (b. Australia): The video work Hydraulic Press Girl takes inspiration from videos of people reacting to the content published by the popular Official Hydraulic Press Channel, which captures a myriad of objects being compressed by a hydraulic press. Each episodes shows side-by-side frames of Smac’s interpretative movement and the active hydraulic press harmoniously in motion. Smac’s movements echo that of the pressed object and humorously highlight the absurdity of the material world.
- Betty Muffler (b. Australia): The epic scale of Ngangkari Ngura (Healing Country) – spanning 5 metres long and 3 metres high – provides an expansive representation of Country from the perspective of the eagle, including significant sites such as waterholes and waterways. Embracing a subtle monochromatic palette, the work is informed by the artist’s status as a Ngankari (traditional healer). Muffler, who started painting late in life, won Best Emerging Artist prize at the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (aka NATSIAA awards) in 2017, with this work.
- NGV Kids: For the NGV Triennial, the NGV will present a world-premiere all-ages exhibition that invites kids and their families to experience the work of leading contemporary artists and designers in an interactive and playful environment. The NGV Kids Summer Festival this year celebrates the work of the NGV Triennial artists and designers with an exciting 9-day program of all-ages workshops, activities and events.
The NGV Triennial is on display from 3 December 2023 – 7 April 2024 at NGV International, St Kilda Road, Melbourne. Entry is FREE. Further information is available via the NGV website: NGV.MELBOURNE.
Six movies worth seeing on the big screen these school holidays
Exactly why we celebrate Easter with chocolate eggs remains a bit of a puzzle, especially as going to the movies is clearly a much more sensible way to spend time over the holidays.
Seriously, the weather’s starting to get a little chiller, the days are getting shorter, you’ve just eaten a whole bunch of chocolate eggs – a nice warm cinema is definitely where you want to be.
The only question now is, what to watch?
John Wick: Chapter 4 (in cinemas now)
It’s not news that John Wick (Keanu Reeves) is a killing machine of such lethal intensity that his fight scenes largely function like dance numbers in a musical: they’re more about expressing and exploring a mood than driving forward the story. And the story here is thin even for a John Wick movie, with the moments between fights largely about moving characters from stand-off to stand-off.
Old favourites (Ian McShane, Lawrence Fishburne) provide old pleasures, while the newcomers – most notably Bill Skarsgard as new representative of the High Table / chief baddie Marchese Vincent de Gramont and the amoral tracker “Mr Nobody” (Shamier Anderson) – fulfill their roles with aplomb. And then there’s Caine (Donnie Yen), a blind killer and old friend of Wick’s who is forced to once again pick up the gun (if he doesn’t, the High Table will kill his violin playing daughter) and could possibly be the only gunslinger who can take our hero down.
It’s all intentionally too much of a good thing, everything dialled up to eleven in a way that reflects Wick’s own exhaustion even as he beats down a dozen goons using nunchucks. Going way over the top is the point in this enjoyably excessive bloodbath.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves (in cinemas now)
It’s fantasy adventure time, and while these tales usually involve vast treasures and mighty evils here the story is basically about trying to reunite a family. There’s still quests to get magic objects and loot treasure, as those who’ve ever played a game of D&D might expect, but there’s also a bit of heart in there between the battles (with magic and without), the classic monsters (an Owlbear! A Gelatinous Cube!) and a satisfyingly sinister evil scheme.
More important is the tone, which it gets exactly right. The fighter (Michelle Rodriguez) is gruff, the magic user (Justice Smith) is battling confidence issues, the shape-shifter (Sophia Lillis) is slightly more serious and mistrustful, and the Paladin (Rene-Jean Page) is extremely Good (at everything, including avoiding becoming the straight man for a bunch of jokes). You’ve even got Hugh Grant as a dodgy con man turned ruler who is the kind of bad guy who’s up front that he’s bad so you can’t really hold it against him. He’s a lot of fun, and he’s not even central to the story.
Someone who is central is Chris Pine, despite playing a character – he used to be a kind of undercover ranger, then he became a thief, now he’s mostly playing the lute – who is so superfluous other characters actually ask “why do we need you?” As he’s shown in everything else he’s done, Pine can be charming and lightweight while still delivering the goods dramatically when needed.
But the real takeaway is that it’s funnier than you might expect; if only all Hollywood adventures could get this many laughs out of resurrecting the dead.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (in cinemas now)
There’s a lot riding on this film, and that’s not a Mario Cart joke. It’s the big kid’s movie for the school holidays, and a major international release too – so much so that it’s hitting Australian cinemas a day early to synch up with the global release. But it turns out there’s a reason why this one’s largely been kept under wraps, as Mario’s second big swing at the big screen (c’mon, who doesn’t remember the live-action version with Dennis Hopper as the bad guy?) needed a few more power-ups.
When Brooklyn plumbers Mario (the voice of Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) travel via inter-dimensional pipe to a magical mushroom kingdom ruled by Princess Peach (Ana Taylor-Joy), it doesn’t take long before Luigi is captured by the evil King Bowser (Jack Black), forcing Mario to rescue him by, well, jumping on a lot of platforms and eating mushrooms. The dodgy accents are mostly sidelined (that’s good), Donkey Kong (Seth Rogen) shows up (also good), and the jokes about turning a 2-D game into a 3-D world are often inventive.
Otherwise though, this is firmly aimed at kids in a way that will probably keep them entertained while leaving older fans wishing they were back home with their console.
The Pope’s Exorcist (in cinemas April 6)
Look, it’s Russell Crowe playing an exorcist: what more do you need to know? Based on a real-life member of the Catholic Church – who claimed to have performed an extremely high number of exorcisms, but to be fair many of them seem to have been pretty casual affairs – the distributor has kept this one under wraps (though it’ll be in cinemas by the time you read this) but it seems safe to say that “demonic possession” is going to be high on this film’s list of activities if the trailer is any guide.
And look, while seeing a bunch of spooky evil activity and some kind of sinister Vatican cover-up is no doubt a big part of the appeal, getting to hear Crowe say “If you have any problems with me, you talk to my boss – The Pope” in an Italian accent is going to be pretty much worth the price of admission on its own.
Air (in cinemas April 6)
It’s the 80s, and in the sneaker business third place is last place – which is bad news for Nike, as their basketball shoe division is firmly in third place. Basketball “guru” Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) has been brought in by his friend and Nike CEO Phil Knight (Ben Affleck, who also directs) to turn it around, but all his big ideas involve the one thing he can’t have: more money.
As far as sponsoring players goes, 18 year-old Michael Jordan is clearly promising, but when Sonny decides to bet everything on a big gamble to win over the Adidas-loving Jordan and his business manager mother (Viola Davis), first he has to win over Nike before he can take his shot. There’s more small pleasures than big dramas in this true story of sports marketing: the main players are all slightly shabby middle-aged men (the fanbase for a Michael Jordan story in 2023), and as the ending is never in doubt the fun comes from seeing them slowly put the pieces together.
Everyone (including Chris Tucker and Jason Bateman) proves to be an integral part of the team and gets a big speech to prove it, though Affleck plays Knight as the closest thing here to comedy relief. Jordan himself is kept off camera, but Davis comes on strong as the mother who knows driving a hard bargain is in everyone’s interests – as Sonny says, this is the rare deal where everyone comes out on top.
Mafia Mamma (in cinemas April 13)
There’s a long tradition of movies where some average naïve citizen finds themselves up to their necks in organised crime. Mickey Blue Eyes; Analyse This (and to a lesser extent, Analyse That); the list goes on – or at least, it does now with Mafia Mamma, which does at least provide the new angle of having a woman be the one stumbling into a dangerous world. This is another holiday release that’s been kept under wraps, but here’s what we do know: Kristen (Toni Collette) is dealing with a lot of drama in New York (unfaithful husband, bad job, the usual) when she gets a call that her Italian grandfather (who she didn’t even know) is dead, and she has to get to Italy ASAP to “settle his affairs”.
Thing is, he was a high-ranking Mafia boss, and his final wish was for her – as his last living relative – to take over. Is this how the Mafia really works? So long as there’s plenty of scenic Italian countryside and some decent fish-out-of-water jokes (plus the occasional shoot out), does it matter?
Coconut Shy is optimistic for the future on captivating indie-folk ballad ‘The Finest Day’
Flushed with charming introspective, unique and captivating lyrics and indie-folk soundscapes (a la Bon Iver), Melbourne-based Singer/Songwriter Coconut Shy (the moniker of Joseph Mackey) has been thoroughly embossing his name in the industry over the past couple of years with an intoxicating writing style that fluctuates between mood poetry, fable-telling and reflections from real life experiences.
With a style that blends introspective, unique and captivating lyrics with the gentle sound of his soothing acoustic guitar drawing comparisons to the likes of Ed Sheeran, Coconut Shy’s latest release ‘The Finest Day’ is a gentle, dreamy indie folk song full of heart and depth.
Keep up with the latest music news, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
Independently released on 7 April 2023, ‘The Finest Day’ is Coconut Shy’s first single of the year, and his fifth overall career single since debuting with his EP Japan Town – a three-track collection of peaceful, heart-on-sleeve serenades – back in 2021.
Establishing himself as an up-and-coming singer/songwriter with a heart, and a voice, of gold, ‘The Finest Day’ takes you on a warm, chilled-out sonic journey, championed by Coconut Shy’s honey-sweet vocals, catchy melodies and adept songwriting, leaving you hanging on his every word throughout the track. He sings,
“Well I hear the sweetest sound
When you’re following me around
Into the light of day
And you’re always welcome there
“Into the lightness where
Paper tigers lie in a cage
And the beauty within your laugh
You see how the emblem’s march
So proud of where they belong”
With nods to the likes of Vance Joy, Dean Lewis, Jeff Buckley and Bon Iver, the indie-folk influences surge and flourish throughout the perfectly-timed, highly emotive and pensive track that offers an astute extension of his signature ‘acoustic campfire music’ sound. The perfect exemplar of what he is trying to do with his music: combining the delight of the six-stringed instrument with the insight of genuine, meaningful lyrics, ‘The Finest Day’ is a curious and exciting transition when one moves on from the brooding in the past to being excited about the future.
Written in 2020, ‘The Finest Day’ was written on the same day as Coconut Shy’s previously released single ‘Water, Water’ (October 2022), virtually simultaneously. During one rainy afternoon in March 2020, Shy – who should have been knee-deep in a Psychology essay – found himself toying with the idea of writing a song that focussed on the transition from life as he knew it – before the pandemic – to what things might look like in the future. In a rather unexpected fashion, the idea spilled out into two different versions: ‘Water, Water’ and ‘The Finest Day’.
“It’s difficult to talk about ‘The Finest Day’ without talking about another one of my songs, ‘Water, Water’. I wrote them practically simultaneously. One idea spilled out into two different versions; I think of them as twins. It was the strangest thing – writing two at the same time. It had never happened before that point and I don’t anticipate it to happen again,” the artist explains.
“I guess ‘The Finest Day’ draws from the same feelings and experiences as ‘Water, Water’ did, but with more of a positive light. The latter is trying to pull itself out of melancholic nostalgia, whereas the former looks directly to the future, excited and optimistic for all that is to come. The line at the end of the chorus probably sums it up best: ‘The widest grace knocking at your door, the finest day may come after all‘.”
View this post on Instagram
Neither overpowering nor complicated, ‘The Finest Day’ is a slow, sweet sonic journey that showcases Shy’s ability to seamlessly combine his smooth voice with soft acoustic instrumentals. Having performed the track live since writing it in 2020, the release of the track feels like a triumphant step to the future for the songwriter, teaming up with Simon Paparo from Four Doors Studios to guarantee its ever-lasting greatness. Thoughtful and introspective yet warm and inviting, the smooth, cohesive, feel-good atmosphere, gentle wash of acoustic guitar and eloquent tambourines throughout that makes you feel as if you’re simply gliding along with Shy’s melodic voice. It will have you feeling just a little bit lighter, and a little more at ease by the end.
Coconut Shy’s poetry is inspiring, his imagery is poignant and his performance is utterly breathtaking. The chorus, in particular, is fragile, yet bold, effervescent yet muted, the music swells with emotion and intimacy and it’s here that the melody becomes trapped in your head. It’s the perfect way to leave a budding audience satisfied, yet in desperate need of more.
Well come with me Friday
Raise for a toast
To the feeling of freedom
Down the South coast
You know with a reason
It will all begin
The widest grace knocking at your door
The Finest Day may come after all.
Though releasing music professionally has only happened in recent years, the promising Tasmanian-born solo musician has spent the last ten years carefully crafting his sound, surfing the local open mic scene, and playing gig after gig at pub after pub, to bring him to this moment, well and truly stepping into the light with ‘The Finest Day’.
If this latest release confirms anything, it is that Coconut Shy is a true artist who should not, and will not, be missed.
Listen to ‘The Finest Day’ and keep up with the latest from Coconut Shy here.
April 20th Solar Eclipse: A rare total solar eclipse will appear across the sky this April
Don’t forget to look up at the sky this month because, for the first time in 10 years, a total solar eclipse will be visible across Australia
Happening on April 20, 2023, this rare and truly beautiful celestial phenomena will allow stargazers to experience a full solar eclipse for the first time since 2012.
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around the region here.
A total solar eclipse is when the moon passes directly between the sun and Earth, completely blocking out the sun’s light and casting a shadow on Earth’s surface. Scientifically speaking, this shadow is known as the ‘umbra’, and the area beneath the shadow, where the total eclipse can be seen, is referred to as the ‘path of totality’.
The ‘path of totality’ for this total solar eclipse will begin in Exmouth, Western Australia and travel across the north of the country, where it will be at its most impressive. The path will be about 140 kilometres wide and last for just over three minutes at its maximum point.
People in WA within this path of totality will see the phenomena at its most impressive, with the sun disappearing completely, temperature dropping and planets becoming visible as the corona (the sun’s outer atmosphere) will appear as a glowing halo for the three minutes. A real sight to be seen!
For those of us not in WA, the eclipse won’t be as sensational but will still be beautiful and worth a gaze towards the sky.
Set the alarms, the sun will disappear above Sydney at 1.36pm, Brisbane at 1.43pm, and Adelaide from 12.23pm, while in Melbourne the rare event takes place at 1.15pm.
The next opportunity for peak one of these won’t be until 2043.
Live review: King Stingray brought the joyful energy of a band that truly loves what they do to Live at the Bowl
Supported by Gretta Ray and George Alice, the show was a testament to the incredible talent and diversity the Australian music industry has become known for.
Gretta Ray lit up the stage with her signature soulful lyrics and upbeat performance style, both captivating and emotionally sucker-punching the adoring fans in the mosh pit.
Keep up with the latest music news, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
View this post on Instagram
‘Cherish’, was a highlight with Gretta managing to be heartfelt and open while dancing across the stage. Sweet and slow songs are where Gretta is at her best, commanding attention with her voice. She covered both Bill Joel and Gang of Youths with such intensity you’d be forgiven for forgetting these aren’t her own words.
Rounding out her set with a dedication to the LGBTQIA+ community in honour of Trans Visibility Day, she sang and danced to ‘the song that gave me the job I have now,’ ‘Drive’, complete with the transgender flag.
Shifting gears, from sweet and emotive pop to upbeat Australiana rock, the energy changed with the arrival of King Stingray on stage.
King Stingray has been riding the wave of success for the past 18 months and their show was a celebration of the incredible energy they bring to their album.
Walking on stage to an Avalanches-inspired soundtrack, announcing ‘We’re about to launch the Stingray,’ the energy in the Bowl immediately changed – anticipation replaced with excitement.
Launching into ‘Sweet Arnhem Land’, the band set the tone for the rest of the show, with the band members interacting and playfully enjoying their time on stage.
The six-piece play around onstage, switching instruments and dancing with each other. Watching them you see they have fun without the pressure of the unwritten (or perhaps written) rules of performing. Moving around on stage freely they jammed with each other, transforming the stage at the Bowl into what felt like the warmest, friendliest jam sesh.
Mixing their classic and surf rock inspirations with First Nations influences, the King Stingray sound is one of the most iconic in all of Australia right now. Watching that sound come to life on stage is just as iconic. Without the pretensions and polished performance style of many of our more established bands, King Stingray brings the joyful energy of a band that truly loves what they do. And that energy is matched by the crowd, grooving along to the beat-driven sounds filled with positivity and radiating good vibes.
View this post on Instagram
Watching the band perform in language and celebrating the Yolŋu heritage of several band members is a cultural celebration. Their performance involves traditional First Nations dance styles and creates a truly unique gig experience – which is probably why they’ve erupted onto our music scene with such force and finesse.
Watching their performance, Kind Stingray reminded the audience of the importance of loving what you do and celebrating the connections in your life. Each song is an homage to their NT upbringing and their community and breathes life into a place many of us views as far away.
Closing with an extended version of ‘Milkumana’, a song about their inspirations, the band soaked up every last minute of their performance before coming together, arms around each other to take three bows to a roaring crowd.
This is a band that you need to see perform – listening is just the first step in enjoying everything King Stingray has to offer.
Keep up with the latest new music and tour news from the band here.
Newtown Italian restaurant Pompei on Pakington has closed its doors
Nestled amongst the hustle and bustle at the river end of Pakington Street, Pompei Geelong was a welcome addition to the region when it opened its doors back in September 2020 with a clear focus on combining Italian simplicity with high-quality produce, delivering a delicious and authentic Italian dining experience to locals.
A local family-run business of four, comprising Alastair, Alastair’s partner Tamara, Kai, their daughter, and Brendan, their brother-in-law, Pompei combines about 50 years of experience working in food, dishing up the kind of devotedly rustic, no-frills authentic Italian food that you can feel doing you good, body and soul. Taking inspiration from their culinary experience in Pompei, classic Italian flavours were given a contemporary makeover.
The pasta menu struck all the right notes, featuring the likes of homemade tagliatelle alle cozze, spaghetti alla carbonara, homemade gnocchi Osso Bucco and penne pesto. You’ll also find a refreshing Caprese or pear e noce salad among the other items listed on the menu.
Now, two and a half years later, the venue has sadly closed its doors – permanently.
Keep up with the latest food and booze news across the region here.
Pompei Geelong bring rustic, no-frills authentic Italian food to Pakington Street
Posting to Instagram in a story on Friday, 31 March, the business announced it has closed its doors and would not be reopening.
“Hi all, sorry to say that Pompei has closed and will not reopen,” the story read.
“We have put our all into this restaurant and so sad to say goodbye to our regulars and the people who have supported us.
“Thank you all and we will miss you Newtown. Tam & Alastair.”
Owned by Geelong locals, the loss of another business is a devastating blow to the community, especially one like Pompei, which begun in the midst of COVID and the toughest time for the hospitality industry.
The idea for opening a family business was initially conceived back in 2017, but it wasn’t until COVID first struck, that the team decided to chase their dreams, stumbling upon the vacant spot on Pakington street.
“Our spot on Pakington popped up and it was such a great location with an amazing courtyard, we knew it was exactly what we were looking for,” Tamara previously told us.
“Once we decided on Italian cuisine, we reflected on a trip to Italy six years ago, where we went to Pompei and had the most delicious food in our trip, and made it clear that our name would be Pompei.”
We will miss you Pompei.