Punk’s not dead as long as NOFX lives (for The Edge Magazine)

25 November 2010

by Poppy Reid 

In the not-too distant past there was a time when NOFX would not have done this interview. Or any interview for that matter. For much of the last two decades the band has boycotted MTV and VH1, refusing permission to let them play their music videos and even ceased production on music videos altogether. Lead guitarist Eric Melvin blames the monotony of the interview process for the media snub.

“After years of touring so hard we were doing every interview for every fanzine that knew of us, and questions got to the point where they were all the same, all the time. My answers went from being all the same, all the time, to when I started making up nonsense just to keep it interesting,” laughs Melvin. “Then we realised we weren’t even telling the truth about anything anymore and so we said ‘well what’s the point?’”

More recently however, the band decided to let fans in again, starting with their Backstage Passport documentary that followed the quartet on their 2008 world tour and aired on Fuse TV. The doco ushered the band into a more relaxed approach to the media and to a more honest narrative through their music; whilst they still kept their controversial lyrics about drugs, alcohol and even vaginas, NOFX’s latest releases Coaster and the Cokie The Clown EP are the most intimate editions to their 11 album backlog.

That is not to say that these punk rockers have let slide any of that attitude that has seen them pioneer the genre for the last two decades. If anything demonstrates that punk is in fact not dead, it’s Fat Mike’s infamous performance as his alter-ego, Cokie at this years SXSW festival. Mike indulged the audience with graphic, emotional tales of his younger years, before using pre-recorded video footage to make them believe they had drunk his urine from shot glasses he had passed out. Many fans berated Fat Mike, and SXSW festival organisers banned him from future events.

“He told me how he was going to set out the whole thing from the beginning. I just don’t want people to think that he’s an asshole! Before the second camera angle came out, people were talking shit about him and it wasn’t fair but I couldn’t tell them that I knew about the second camera angle so that was tough for me,” says Melvin.

Needless to say, Melvin doesn’t think Cokie will be making an appearance on the No Sleep Til tour, “he’s already got so many personalities, I don’t think his psyche could handle another one,” he jokes. However, we can still expect the straight-jacket antics we’ve come to bank on from Mike. Although, according to Melvin, those attending the later festival dates will be treated to a more unhinged live set.

“At the beginning of a tour he’s straight and a little mellow but by the end he’s gone of the rails a bit and going a little crazy,” he chuckles. “[Sydney] will get some of the good stuff I think, he’ll be a little bit cock-eyed and crazy, a little more bush-haired than at the beginning.”

For Melvin, playing festivals like No Sleep Til must come as a welcome change to their regular touring schedule, with (only!) 40 or 50 songs on the repertoire. The band normally keep a record of their set list from every gig, cross-referencing to make sure their live act is different every time they play, and choosing the tracks from a revolving list of around 100 songs.

“We should be ready to play those songs any time, but for this tour I might only have to know 40 or 50 songs,” he says nonchalantly.

Despite this incredible backlog the band have still found the creative energy to set to work on their twelfth studio album. “We’ve got 10 or 12 pretty short, fast songs and Mike decided he wants me to sing them so we’ll see how that turns out.”

Fortunately this career change from guitarist to lead singer (and the fact that Melvin’s just welcomed his first born child) don’t mark too much of a departure from the band’s infamous no-holds barred attitude. “It’s still fun to spread some obnoxious rumour about something we’re doing or somebody else’s band,” he only half-jokes, promising a “more hardcore punk” sound on the new record.

Coaster and the Cokie The Clown EP are out now through Fat Wreck Chords.

No Sleep Till Tour dates:

12/10/10 Auckland, Australia, ASB Showgrounds

2010
12/12/10 Perth, Australia, Arena Joondalup

2010
12/15/10 Adelaide, Australia, Adelaide Entertainment Centre  2010
12/17/10 Melbourne, Australia, Melbourne Showgrounds

2010
12/18/10 Sydney, Australia, The Entertainment Quarter Moore Park  2010
12/19/10 Brisbane, Australia, RNA Showgrounds

Jack Johnson: more than a stereotype (for The Music Network)

25 November 2010

by Poppy Reid

It may not come as a surprise that Jack Johnson’s latest album pays homage to the sea, or that like his last tour, 100% of the profits from his upcoming Australian circuit will go to charity; but after speaking with the nonchalant singer, I realise that the stereotype he so easily falls under, prevails for a reason.

To The Sea is Johnson’s fifth album and to be fair it’s not all about the sea, it’s infused with love songs for his wife Kim, a track inspired by his newest progeny (My Little Girl) and the teachings of his late father who died of cancer in August last year.

“It’s about a father leading his son to a place where he can dive deeper and try to understand himself,” says Johnson. “The ocean is deep so it has that representation of the subconscious in my life.”

For Johnson, life didn’t change all that much when he exploded onto the soul scene in 2002. His debut, Brushfire Fairytales was a stab at a third-choice career, right after professional surfer and surf film director (both of which he succeeded at). Since his induction to the music industry, the now 35-year-old still lives where he grew up on Oahu’s North Shore in Hawaii, he still surfs almost everyday and still make surf films, except now he uses the footage for his music videos.

Johnson says the biggest challenges he now faces is not whether his latest record will go platinum (it’s his fourth consecutive #1 album on the ARIA charts), it’s whether he’ll be able to pass on his dad’s wisdom to his kids, or whether he’ll be home on time to play Lego with them.

“The first half of your life you just take in the advice, thinking that you’re smarter, then all of a sudden you switch positions and are able to look at the relationship you had and figure out the things you want to change,” Johnson says he’s at a place in his life where he still feels like a son; which isn’t such a bad thing. “It’s a pretty fun time to be appreciative that you spend hours playing Lego every night.”

Still a kid at heart, even Johnson’s new record is reverting back to the days of old. Playing in a punk-rock cover band throughout high school, his hero’s were Jimi Hendrix and his electric guitar. In fact, the reason why his first album was so mellow and acoustic driven was because he did all his writing on an acoustic guitar.

“When it came time to do the second album I felt a bit like the sound was established, so I’ve slowly added a little more electric on every album until we get to this one here,” says Johnson.

One of the tracks that reflect this departure in sound is Johnson’s single At Me Or With Me, which he conjured on an aeroplane watching television. His lyrics, “but is there something telling you, you can't trust anyone in this town? Oh, baby, those are such great shoes," came from “how insecure humans can be.”

“I was watching this TV show, I don’t even know what it was called but it was one of those ones where they take a woman and they do a complete makeover and give her a new haircut.

“She felt so insecure and was wanting to know whether people were laughing at her or with her and all of a sudden they gave her this new pair of shoes and she just got so excited about the shoes!” laughs Johnson. “I guess for me it’s the waves, I can have my whole world get pretty heavy but then if I just go for a surf, maybe that’s like the shoes for her.”

Not that long ago, around the time of his fathers passing, there was a stage when Johnson’s world leant so heavy that he wanted to give up touring for good. It could be said the only reason he’ll be gracing our shores is because of the proceeds he’ll donate to charities like the Johnson Ohana Charitable Foundation or the Kokua Hawaii Foundation and also toward local projects in each town he plays at.

“I wasn’t even sure I wanted to tour anymore, but then the idea of making the tour a fundraising tool and going out and leaving every town we played in, in better shape than when we got there; it’s just a good feeling,” explains Johnson. “It makes it easier to explain to my kids what dad does for work.”

Johnson may be a philanthropic tree hugging flower child, but if even one of his teachings get passed down to his children, you can guarantee the world the will be a much brighter place.

“It’s a big part of it is just being a dad now, getting to show my kids they can do this.”

Jack Johnson will tour Australia from December 4 to 13, supported byAsh Grunwald and Tegan and Sara.

Australian tour dates and venues below.

Saturday December 4 – NIB STADIUM, PERTH,www.ticketmaster.com.au

Monday December 6 – ADELAIDE ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE, ADELAIDE, www.ticketek.com.au

Wednesday December 8 - SIDNEY MYER MUSIC BOWL, MELBOURNE, www.theartscentre.com.auor www.ticketmaster.com.au

Saturday December 11 - THE DOMAIN, SYDNEY, www.ticketmaster.com.au

Monday December 13 - RIVERSTAGE, BRISBANE, www.ticketmaster.com.au

Album Review: The John Steel Singers (For The Music Network)

23 November 2010

by Poppy Reid

With the rise and rise of Brisbane’s recent emissions like Yves Klein Blue and Hungry Kids Of Hungary, big things are expected from the city’s latest offering, The John Steel Singers.

The shoegazing sextet have big, erm, shoes, to fill, but they have a few advantages when it comes to their debut album Tangalooma; there’s more of them, they had Brisbane luminary Robert Forster (ofThe Go-Betweens) produce the album, they use wacky instruments like an autoharp and a vibrating shaver, and their debut was triple j’s Album Of The Week not that long ago.

Named after a tourist spot off of Queensland’s Moreton Island, you’re immediately confronted with images of family holidays, sandy hair or ocean swims; and that’s exactly what the band want you to think. On the surface Tangalooma is an innocent anodyne, with spiralling instrumentals that make you feel all fuzzy inside, but when listened to from start to finish with both ears ready, you’ll either feel tricked or pleasantly surprised.

Opening with Your Favourite Perversion and the lyric “I propose we take our clothes off,” the band maintains their schoolboy perversions whilst still sounding suave and musically developed. This short track (at just 1:55) is the most lyrically dependent on an album where the instruments provide a creeping backdrop that moves an inch forward with each new song. ...Perversion and following single Overpasscreate a false pretence of thick storytelling, leaving bouncy instrumentals at the wayside. It’s not until the third track where they perform the ol’ switcheroo.

Cause Of Self lets the keyboards and percussion sing the catchy chorus and verses while the shared vocals act as unnecessary counterparts which wouldn’t necessarily take away from the track had they not been there. The same goes for past tracks Rainbow Krautand Evolution, which have been polished with a mix of melancholy and ‘60s nostalgia. Forster must be commended here for stripping back the originals, making room for each band member to stay indispensable.

The orchestral pop in Masochist bounds through the brass and horns sections, the vocalists seem blissfully unaware of the jaded lyrics they’re singing; “you’ll die alone if you won’t settle down, the masochist with marriage on his mind.”

The John Steel Singers know exactly what kind of ‘sunshine and lollipops’ reaction they’re music emotes, but behind the swirling strings and echoed percussion in tracks like You’ve Got Nothing To Be Proud Of and Dying Tree, lies a downbeat of layered understanding that will have you discover something new each time you come back.

Good Charlotte: Back in Black (for The Music Network)

22 November 2010

by Poppy Reid

A decade after the release of Good Charlotte’s debut album, the US pop-rockers almost scrapped their latest creation Cardiology and ditched music altogether.

In July of this year, Good Charlotte – vocalist Joel Madden, guitaristBenji Madden, guitarist Billy Martin, bassist Paul Thomas and new edition and drummer Dean Butterworth – dumped their label Sony Music and signed with Capitol Records, part of the EMI family. TMN caught up with tattooed twin Benji, whilst they were in Sydney performing for the Debit Mastercard Priceless series.

“We were on a label that didn’t really care, the staff had changed six times over, no one really got our band anymore…I thought maybe this is it, maybe we are not meant to still be here, maybe we just got really lucky and maybe the ride’s over,” reflects Benji.

This self-doubt is unsurprising when you consider the waning popularity of the band in recent years. After two long years spent supporting their flop of a fourth album, Good Morning Revival back in 2007; fans were hungry for the classic GC found on their first self-titled record. Benji says when the band decided to take a year off he stopped caring about media opinion and was able to write honest music again.

“I think that’s why this record sounds more like the first record because when we wrote the first one we were just fans and when we made this record we were truly fans again.

“We couldn’t write the songs that are on Cardiology on Good Morning Revival because our guard was up,” admits the 31-year-old. “Why would we write a personal song like 1979 (the year the Madden twins were born) or why would Joel write Harlow’s Song (about Joel’s daughter to partner Nicole Ritchie), just to put it out there and have people tear you to shreds?”

For a guy who once famously wrote the lyrics “I’m young, I’m hopeless, I’m lost and I know this,” he seems… well, hopeful, and on track. Good Charlotte’s fifth opus takes us back to basics; it’s that guilty pleasure mix of pop rock churned with simple guitar riffs and whoa oh’s that make you wanna don your Chuck Taylor’s and dye your hair blue. This is partly thanks to producer Don Gilmore who worked on the band’s first record. “He actually cares more about us as people than he even cares about the music,” says Benji.

Similar to the label switcheroo, Gilmore was GC’s second choice.Howard Benson (who worked on My Chemical Romance’s, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge and The All-American Rejects’, Move Along) was fired after not once appearing in the studio throughout the recording process. Benji blogged of his frustration on the band’s website and the over-600 responses from fans cemented his decision to start again.

“The response from the fans was so overwhelmingly positive that the next day I wrote the song Let The Music Play. It was really a turning point, that’s when we started over,” explains Benji.

Let The Music Play is the next single to be released from the album and is dedicated to new beginnings and, of course, their fans. After a complete turnaround from almost giving up, to releasing a mature throwback record that tips its fedora hat to the bands breakout release; Benji says there’s still more for him to achieve within the industry.

“There’s still a lot of things I’d love to be able to do within the music industry. I’d love to be able to take a Grammy home to my mother and be like ‘look mum!’” he jokes. “I think we’ll just stick around for another 10 years and see what happens.”

Static Revenger: Best served cool (for The Music Network)

18 November 2010

by Poppy Reid

Dennis White is on a mission. Under his not-so-secret superhero alias, Static Revenger, he’s out to prove a point to an unnamed DJ, who pissed him off ten years ago. With his single I Like That having charted at #3 receiving Double Platinum status on the ARIA Charts and three #1 tracks on Billboard, it's fair to say that revenge has been served.

Before White started writing, producing, directing and performing dance music all over his homeland America and the world, he was playing guitar in a major label rock band called Charm Farm. Shortly after deciding to try his luck in the electro world, White was confronted by a racist album liner note written by one of his then-favourite Detroit techno artists.

“So I’m reading the liner notes and the artist who was not a white guy said “and all you white boys trying to do techno, give it up you’re making our shit sound tired, stick with your rock n’ roll.” I was gutted and then I was pissed so I had this idea of taking revenge as some sort of super-hero character stepping out against the static of nonsense like that. Just for that I’m gonna have a bigger hit than you motherfucker,” says a still agitated White.

White most certainly got his hit, and with the success of I Like That he was offered a record deal with a major label. He rejected the offer and says it was one of the smartest things he’s ever done for his career.

“The moment I didn’t [sign] and I released independently through Ministry Of Sound, I made more money in one year off of one song than I have in eight years off of three albums,” recounts White.

His departure from rock has served him well, not least because he has a finger in every musical pie known to man. After directing the video for I Like That, he picked up a handful of other remix and directing gigs and when his remix of Madonna’s track What It Feels Like For A Girlcharted at #1 on Billboard, the requests came flooding in from other artists. Currently he is hard at work remixing tracks by Swedish House Mafia and getting ready to release a new single titled Vegas, which he wrote with Australian electro-house band, Vandalism.

Although the dance music industry is now home for White, he admits to having a “strange relationship with the culture” he works in. Outspoken against drug use, White sometimes questions his fans reasons for attending his shows.

“Sometimes I think ‘am I just here giving people an excuse to get out of the house and bug their brains out?’…To be perfectly honest it’s a little disquieting when I’m playing, when I to tune in to the fact that there’s a couple of kids moving their jaws around in a funny way it feels depressing and I’m actually really not into it.

“People that do drugs and listen to music say music sounds better on drugs, and I think that’s absolute crap. What they’re experiencing is the fact that they feel better, they just got a blast of serotonin in their brain and so because they feel better they think everything around them is better,” explains White. “They’re going to think a flower smells way better when they’re on drugs but it’s not the case, you’re missing out on an actual balanced interaction with something.”

A war on drugs aside, White plans to bring his unique brand of musical revenge down under. He will be promoting his latest single release Long Time here this month, and like all good superheros should, he’s done his homework for this mission.

“Australians are the best dance music audiences in the world. They are so up on music, it’s almost intimidating. You can’t just show up with your set in Australia, you gotta figure out what’s happening there because you guys are so far ahead on everything,” White promises a “custom” made set with “new music that’s not even going to be released.”

The John Steel Singers: Bathroom rockers (for The Music Network)

15 November 2010

by Poppy Reid

Five years ago Tim Morrissey was moon-lighting as a debt collector in Brisbane and using his flatmates ensuite bathroom to record his music. Since then, Morrissey along with his band The John Steel Singers, won the very first Unearthed J Award, released an EP and a mini album, toured the UK and Australia and have just dropped their patriotic debut, Tangalooma. You’d think with a record deal and backing from Dew Process he’d ditch the dunny for a swanky studio, right? Wrong.

“We have a fascination with recording in bathrooms. You know how everyone sings in the shower and you’re really good and then you get out into the real world and you’re not as good? It’s that natural reverberation we happened to come across in bathrooms,” says Morrissey.

Morrissey says much of Tangalooma was recorded in his roommates’ ensuite, bandmate Luke’s parents’ bathroom, and even in the toilet at the White Room Studio’s in Mt Nebo; oh and he still keeps it real as a debt collector on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Formed in 2005 and named after a stolen toy horse, pennypinchers Morrissey, Luke McDonald, Scott Bromiley, Ross Chander, Pete Bernoth and Pat McDermott recorded their vocals, brass sections, guitar and key parts in studios and bathrooms throughout Queensland and Melbourne. They were ready to start recording in October last year; Morrissey won’t divulge the reason for the hold up. “I’m not really meant to say anything too much, but it was just music industry stuff,” he says.

Perhaps Morrissey is eluding to the fact the band signed with Dew Process backstage at this year’s Splendour In The Grass festival and the album campaign didn’t begin until then; but despite industry bureaucracy delaying the album release, the creative process was a more natural affair. 

Robert Forster of ‘80s rock band The Go-Betweens was asked by the sextets management to produce the album after they’d filled in for his backing band at a Brisbane Flood and Fire Benefit.

“Robert came into our dingy practise studio and we played some of our favourite Go Betweens songs with one of our songwriting idols, it was a very surreal moment. We became friends after doing that and I think our management suggested we get Robert to produce,” he says.

The result is 12 tracks inspired by the bands home state, named after a resort on Queensland’s Moreton Island, the reference a nod to the band’s idols, The Go-Betweens.

“They would always reference Brisbane suburbs and I think a lot of bands in Australia tend to reference things in London and New York. I think why?! You’ve got so many cool things over here with names you don’t see anywhere else in the world,” reproves Morrissey.

Prior to the release of Tangalooma, a lot had been said of The John Steel Singers’ sound. Their single Rainbow Kraut received high-rotation on triple J and triggered adjectives like ‘bright’ and ‘sunny’ but Morrissey feels the album’s “more melancholic in a lot of aspects.” He even ran a vibrating shaver along the guitar strings, “we ran through about ten pedals or something to get this really crazy sort of sonic squeal.”

Their intriguing live sound (unfortunately sans en-suites and electric razors) can be experienced firsthand; with a national tour underway and festival dates set for later this month, John Steel singers will be everywhere.

Tangalooma is out now through Dew Process.

The John Steel Singers’ national tour runs from November 10 – December 31.

Live Review: Crowded House (for The Music Network)

10 November 2010

by Poppy Reid

Hordern Pavilion, Sydney
Saturday November 6

Straight off the back of their UK Intriguer tour, Crowded House proved they won’t be known just for the classics at Sydney’s brimming Hordern Pavillon on Saturday night.

Opening with Saturday Sun, the first single from the band's second post-reunion album Intriguer, the band eased us into an intertwined set of new and old. “Saturday night back in the Hordern Pavilion. Oh glory be,” said frontman Neil Finn.

The last time the kiwi/Aussie darlings played the venue was with their original drummer, the late Paul Hester and the ensuing tracks Fall At Your Feet and Don’t Stop Now seemed fitting for the more nostalgic devotees.

Bringing us forward again to Intriguer, the four-piece performed the backing for the title track as competition winner Sarah took on the vocals. Unfortunately this track along with other newbie’s like Isolationand Archer’s Arrows (where Neil’s wife Sharon joined the band onstage), were treated as unwelcome fillers and even saw a few crowd members take obvious drink slash bathroom breaks.

Delivering a compromise, classics like World Where You Live, Don’t Dream It’s Over and It’s Only Natural grew extended limbs that built up a layered, experimental sound and pushed boundaries far from their familial genre structure. Having said that, when Neil did ditched the guitar for a synth table, his idiosyncratic jumping jacks and nods reminded us they are still the Crowdies we know and love.

The intended five-song encore grew to six with an audience request for Recurring Dream. Weather With You was weaved with snippets ofOnce In A Lifetime, Money’s No Object and Relax.

“Do we just keep going or do we bring it to a glorious climax?” Neil bantered before his take on Frankie Goes To Hollywood track,Relax. “…don’t do it, when you wanna fuck to it,” he sang.

Fingers Of Love saw lesbians rejoice (really, they did) and final track and standout sing-a-long, Better Be Home Soon, was executed to a swaying Pavilion.

Crowded House marked their 25^th year together with fervor, proving they haven’t lost their youthful humour, hunger to grow or their ability to win over any skeptic traditionalists.