Not so Regular John?

Did you know that a Regular John is a term for a customer in the sex industry? It’s also the name of a Queens of the Stone Age song. But your education of mindless facts doesn’t stop there, Regular John are also a band, and a bloody tops one too. Ryan Adamson could tell you that, but what does the lead singer of Regular John know about other stuff? Or does he know anything at all? The answer to that question is yes. It turns out Ryan Adamson is a rather articulate man on loads of subjects.

It’s hard to box the Sydney based four piece into a genre which is why Ryan feels that Regular John is such a fitting name. “Regular John is kind of like an anti-name, its two common words. We could have been a metal band and called ourselves a really psycho name or been an Emo band and called ourselves “Second wait for autumn Tuesdays” or some shit,” says Ryan. “But Regular John doesn’t sound like anything. It could be a country band or a rock band or even like a rapper. So that is why we really dug it. It is kind of like; let the music do the talking. We are all just regular cats you know. We aren’t some elite species of rocker.”

These regular cats have got it made with Regular John touring around the country to celebrate the release of their debut album. ‘The Peaceful Atom Is A Bomb’ covers a range of rock genres. Ryan wants everyone who attends the shows to be prepared for some volume. “We’ll be bringing loudness, a good time, and some good old fashioned amplifier worship,” says Ryan. Punters may also get to witness some on stage nudity. “We played a gig once and our drummer Macca got nude. About the third song in we held a poll to see who wanted our drummer to get naked and he did.”

Aside from spontaneous nudity, the band hold legendary comedian Bill Hicks and film extraordinaire Stanley Kubrick as some of their main influences. “He (Bill Hicks) is quite socially aware. When you listen to him you can laugh your ass off but when you come away from it you can leave thinking that you have actually learnt something because he puts forward some really cool points and it’s a big influence in that sense,” reveals Ryan. “We wanted our music to be the type you can rock out to or you can listen to some of the lyrics and think about what they are saying and come away from our music with something to think about too.” Filmmaker Stanley Kubrick is also a favourite of Ryan’s. “His meticulousness and his dedication are amazing. Sometimes I put the volume down on 2001: A Space Odyssey, play along to the images and make my own soundtrack to it.”

The future looks bright for these rockers from Sydney, but things haven’t been easy for the boys in the past. “We moved from Griffith up to Sydney, (except for Caleb, he is from Tamworth.) If we had stayed in Griffith we would still be playing to people who were covering their ears and yelling out for Chisel covers, which is bullshit. We don’t want to play other peoples songs. That is boring, it may pay better but there is no soul in playing other peoples stuff,” says Ryan. “We had to do it. It took some confidence but it was for our own sanity.”

By Vivienne Hill

Catch Regular John…
Thursday 2nd July, Coolangatta Hotel, Gold Coast.
Friday 3rd July, Step In, Brisbane.

‘The Peaceful Atom Is A Bomb’ is out now through Difrnt music.

p.s. Cheers to www.abc.net.au for the pic.

The Temper Trap Chill Out In Scotland

By Vivienne Hill

When you’re kicking back in the Scottish highlands for a quick rest in what seems to be a never ending touring schedule, the last thing you wish for is to be woken up early to do twenty something interviews. Lead singer of The Temper Trap Dougy Mandagi is one exception; turns out he doesn’t mind a yarn on a cold Scottish morning.

Since The Temper Trap left Australia, their overseas success has dramatically expanded. With an impending debut album, coupled with appearances at nearly all the major European summer festivals, the future is dazzling for these four lads from Melbourne. Dougy believes they have been well received so far. “It has been pretty consistent everywhere. The best country was probably Germany. I imagined Germans to be quite reserved, stiff people so it was weird.” Dougy admits that the touring can become very tedious. “Um, yeah being stuck in a van for 8 hours a day can be a bit overwhelming at times but the payoff is when you do a good show and get up on stage and people dig it.”

The band also played at South by Southwest festival in Texas. “It’s a crazy festival especially if you are playing there. If you are just going as a punter it’s a lot of fun but for us it was just work mainly,” says Dougy. “We had to be on top of our game the whole time you know you can’t get on the piss and drink. You have to watch everybody else having fun.”

Through periodic yawning, Dougy manages to let me know what the band did yesterday on a rare day off. “It was awesome we were cruising around the highlands of Scotland,” reveals Dougy. “We went to a castle and looked around, it was pretty rad and we went to our tour manager’s house in the hills, it was quiet and beautiful and we drank some whiskey.” Dougy assures me that whiskey drinking and the rest of yesterday’s antics were short lived. “Tomorrow we go back to England for a few shows, then a bunch of festivals.”

The hard slog is definitely paying off for the four piece from Melbourne with their debut album Conditions set for release as a follow up to their Sweet Disposition EP. The album, aptly named, observes the human environment. “The record is about the condition of humanity as I see it and my own condition and how it relates to the world and to me as an individual,” says Dougy.

With such a quick rise to fame, and an overseas tour so soon, The Temper Trap have left many Australians speculating a permanent European relocation without leaving us with some love. “Don’t worry, we are definitely coming home,” reveals Dougy. “We will be home for Christmas and we will be playing a few shows in summer.” As for the bands rocket to stardom, Dougy believes he is well equipped to handle the onslaught of overseas media. “I am preparing myself. Going for morning jogs and doing a lot of pushups,” says Dougy. “I don’t know if that’s the kind of preparation I should be doing but we’ll see. I am preparing myself for when all the attention stops. I am kind of getting used to this.”

Get your Preset on...

THE PRESETS INTERVIEW ... done last year... in May.

The Presets have pretty much sold out in all cities for their upcoming tour. At present their singles, ‘My People’, ‘This boys in love’ and ‘Talk like that’ are blasting through almost every TV set, stereo and set of headphones in the country. They are invading people’s eardrums everywhere with their innovative, hedonistic, hard hitting melodies and they don’t intend to let up in a hurry. They have played at almost every Australian festival possible and at countless venues overseas. I checked in with vocalist and keyboard player Julian Hamilton to get the low down on everything Presets.

By Vivienne Hill

When you’re a performer, especially a dance music duo like Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes from the Presets, you have to make technology your friend. Julian Hamilton is struggling today as all the computers he is using to organise the new show keep crashing. “Sometimes I wish we were a nice big 12 piece band or something that didn’t rely on technology so much,” said Julian. The Presets are working hard to produce a national tour which hits Brisbane later this month.

Both Kim and Julian met while studying at the conservatorium of music in Sydney and it was soon after that their musical brains started concocting what was to be a musical feast of epic proportion. “I was doing a piano major and Kim was doing percussion. We were studying all this formal music in the day time and at night time we were going to all the clubs and listening to techno and we worked out after a while that techno stuff was what we wanted to do,” said Julian.

The decision to take the dance music route has definitely payed off for the boys. Their latest album ‘Apocalypso’ is a doozey and possibly the best dance release of the year. A lot of the songs have underlying minor tones which add to the mystery and splendour of the duos music. “With this record we wanted it to be cold in a lot of ways but still a bit romantic and melancholic if that makes any sense,” said Julian. “We wanted the overall mood of the album to be a bit bleak and a bit desperate sounding, like it is the apocalypse, like it is the end of the world but still have a bit of heart and a bit of fun in there and make a bit of a party out of it. Two strong ideas really crash together pretty hard.” While writing Julian and Kim try their best to stay away from dance music for fear of creating something that is similar to what’s around. “If it does start to sound like anyone else we usually just try to mash it up by putting other things in there that shouldn’t be, then hopefully it comes out sounding a little bit more like, well, The Presets,” said Julian.

One of the most distinctive music video releases this year was the clip for ‘My People,’ directed by Kim’s brother Kris Moyes which sees The Presets in a futuristic kaleidoscope. Julian said the video was a lot of fun to make. “Kris put us in these harnesses and we were spinning around and then he did all the special effects later on where he made millions of us, like an army of Presets!” said Julian.

Anyone who has watched a Presets film clip or seen a photo will be familiar with their use of masks. Julian explains that it was an idea that has slowly become a signature thing. “A few years ago before we played at Splendour in the Grass, we were at the airport waiting to pick up our bags that were arriving on the plane and we had a couple of hours to kill. We went down to a market stall in Tweed Heads and we brought these masks that made us look like 50 year old versions of ourselves. We played that night with the masks on and everyone loved it. It was a funny little idea that we came up with that we have embellished on over the years,” said Julian.

The Presets also had the opportunity to support Daft Punk on their recent visit to Australia. “It’s funny we didn’t actually get a chance to sit down and have a ‘talk’ to them but that’s ok because they are idols of ours musically and I’m happy for it to stay that way,” said Julian. The shows were some of their biggest yet. “Sometimes those shows, they go by so quick and when you get off stage you kind of forget and miss how fun it was,” said Julian. “Its not until you get offstage until you think aw shit, that was really fun I wish I could have been a bit more in the moment up there and taken it all in a bit more.” In addition to their antics at the Daft Punk shows The Presets also got to rock out at festivals overseas with acts like Blondie and Devo. It has been a wild couple of years for the boys playing in venues across almost every continent. “Every city in the world has a little club that would have its place and you end up playing these little nights in wherever,” said Julian. “It gets a little crazy but it’s so much fun.”

‘Apocalypso’ is out now through Modular Records

Are rules really for squares?

THE WHITEST BOY ALIVE

Rules

(Intertia)

9/10

This Berlin based group have been pigeon holed as dream pop, shoegaze, lounge, easy listening, elevator music, electric jazz and more recently minimalist pop. Genres aside, they could also be described as awesome, innovative and very cheeky. But The Whitest Boy Alive aren’t any one of those things, they are all of them at once. ‘Rules’ does the opposite of what it suggests and breaks all the conventions of what it means to be a genre based artist. Rules? Who needs them? The Whitest Boy Alive have invented their own with this sound. It’s unlike any other and very groovy. Every track starts just as beautifully as the one before with Norwegian vocalist Erlend Oye’s voice providing a jazzy syncopated tone sporadically throughout. The song structures are irregular, with a few exceptions such as ‘Keep a Secret’ which provides the listener with a guitar hook to die for. The rules have been given by the Whitest Boy Alive. Will you keep them?

Truth of the World finally comes out.

Ok, so throw out your old perceptions of Evermore. Go on, put them into a box and throw them in the trash. Alternatively, you could burn them, give them to your grandma or maybe just send them on a holiday. Whatever you do, just make some room in your tiny little brains for the new Evermore.

By Vivienne Hill

Well, they aren’t entirely new, but just modified a little with a shiny innovative album, a changed image and a freshly adapted sound. They are doing what Madonna has done a million times; reinventing themselves. “Just hopefully with not as many naked photos as her,” says singer Jon Hume as he looks across the desk a little scared at me.

Aside from talking to me about the dwindling prospects of seeing Evermore naked, Jon also enlightened the fact that that the band have an album ready to be heard by anyone who will feast their ears on it’s glory. “Truth of the World: Welcome to the show” is a concept album about over the top trashy media (Kind of like this hyperbole you are reading now). “We just took inspiration from trawling through Youtube for the most over the top news stories and put all of that into songs,” says Jon.

Jon says Evermore have always wanted to do a concept album. “We grew up listening to concept albums,” he reveals. When someone says the words (concept album), I tend to think of terrible ones but there are a few good ones out there like Sargent Peppers and Dark Side of the Moon. There’s not that many good ones, but the ones that are good, are some of the best albums ever I think.” From the moment the album starts, there are no awkward pauses, and no breaks. “The album is like one big song. It takes you on a journey. Even if you took out one song the album wouldn’t be the same,” says Jon. “A lot of people download just one song these days and we really wanted to make a record that you don’t want to stop listening to.”

”Truth of the World: Welcome to the Show” was recorded and produced in the bands studio just outside Melbourne. “We got the opportunity to do the whole thing ourselves and it was really good,” says Jon. “In the past there’s always been someone coming in and going ‘I think that’s sort of…not right”. Sometimes people just want to come in and change things to make their mark even though they don’t need changing.”

With a new Evermore, comes new fans and Jon is excited about the prospects. “I think it might take our fans a little while to adjust to our new sound but I think people who haven’t been into our other records will probably enjoy it,” he says. “It goes from heavy rock, heavier than we’ve ever been to orchestral sections. There is a lot of different music in there.”

A new image and a peroxide attack on Jon’s hair is one thing but one question remains. Can Evermore shake the commerciality that has been placed upon their wary souls from day one by throwing out a concept album? “I guess we’ve always just made our music and people try to label it as commercial or indie or whatever but in the end it’s just music. I guess we just make our music and people make up their own mind about what they think of it,” says Jon.

Blogtastic. Let's get started.

href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CViv%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml">

My mother once told me, ‘don’t bite off more than you can chew’. Ok, it probably wasn’t her saying. In fact, I’ve heard it a million times before. But I’d like to think she invented it. She’s quite right though. If someone took a bite too big of anything they would quite literally, choke. And nobody wants to cark it. Or do they?

Hectic is my new word for this year. Don’t you think things are getting a little bit too much these days? To start with, there’s Christmas and we all know the joy that brings. (Insert sarcastic festive comment here.) Then there’s New Years, Festivals Galore, Birthdays and the occasional christening and funeral just to shake things up a bit. The festivals are what have gotten to me though. 2009 should be named year of the festival. They sneak up behind you in a dark alleyway and then BAM! They are all there with killer line-ups; in your face and begging you do attend them. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that Australia is finally making a name for itself as this beautiful festival laden country where scores of happy people can come to dance the days away. But nobody in their right mind can attend all of them without pretty much dying by the end of it or selling all their possessions to get there.

In the words of my mother; don’t choke this summer. I don’t want anyone to choke, which is why I will try to give you the best info around on what to see, hear and where to go. So you can make informed decisions about what you are putting into your mouth, I mean, ears. My advice is, be picky, be choosy and be darn right careful with what music you choose to kill your eardrums. Cus you really don’t want to be deaf by the age of forty with nothing else in your head but that Nickelback album you heard in 2001. (Sorry fans of Nickelback but I am not a believer.)

But hey, who am I to tell you this, after all it was greats like Billy Joel that said ‘Only the good die young’ and it was the Eagles that sang ‘Life in the fast lane’. Isn’t rock and roll about all that crazy stuff? Maybe I am becoming like my mother and rock and roll has been watered down to a pansy version of what it used to be. Who knows? All I know is that musical knowledge will be your tool to survive the onslaught. So make sure you have your water bottle, your dancing shoes and your tickets ready, and remember, don’t choke.