Josh Pyke Interview

Pretty much any Australian lass would love to have a serenade from this man. Josh Pyke just seems to have a way with words. He accompanies his beautiful lyrics with delicate melodies and musical masterpieces are created. Boys, if you want to get in with your ladies, it’s easy, just “play a little Pyke and turn down the light”. There is the other option of going to see him live for added authenticity. Josh has toured the UK a bunch of times and he’s coming back before heading to the studio again. Australian Times Journalist Vivienne Hill caught up with him to find out what’s on the way for the Aussie artist and why he keeps coming back to charm the UK with his tunes.

Josh has now toured the UK about 10 times and will be back in March to woo his audiences once more. He is looking forward to seeing some old friends again. “I've toured the UK quite a few times now. It pretty much feels like a second home, and the thing I miss most are the friends I have over there. Some of my best friends live in the UK and it's such a blessing to be able to tour and play music to people and also get to see my friends,” he said. “I don't really miss the food in the UK though.”

We all know there is a definite lack of freshly grown cuisine in the UK compared to Aussie’s fine culinary selection but Josh assures me the fans are much the same. “I find they're pretty similar, although there is (as there is in Oz) a real difference between crowds from town to town,” reveals Josh. His tour will take him all the way from London to Glasgow, stopping at most main cities along the way. ”I’m really excited! It'll be the last shows in the UK I'll do for this record, and I’m looking forward to playing with my support, Emma Pollock too. I feel like the shows have been getting better and better in the UK, and I plan to keep on coming back and building it there.”

After the tour Josh will head back to OZ for an exciting collaboration. “I'm doing a record right now with Kav from Eskimo Joe, Bob Evans (put his real name in) and a dude called Steve Parkin, we're called the ‘Basement Birds’, and I’ve loved collaborating with them,” says Josh.

Pyke still has plans to fly solo aiming to hit the studio soon for a follow up to his second album ‘Chimney’s Affire’. “I've written a bunch of tracks, but I’m still trying to figure out who to do it with and where to record it,” he reveals. “I'd like it to be more rocky, and possibly actually rehearse the songs up with a band, and record the album pretty much live.” As for the name of the album, nothing is set in stone yet. “Maybe I’ll call it ‘Bodies Vanish’, but that'll change no doubt,” he jokes.

If there’s one thing that’s certain to be on the new album, it’s some more of those intricate loved up lyrics that Josh is so famous for. “I love romance! I think people should always try to be romantic and make the effort to do that stuff,” he says. Definitely some hard evidence there that not all Aussie men aren’t all wife beater wearing, Bundy drinking, bogans.

Defending the Caveman Review

The longest running solo play in Broadway history, Defending The Caveman, was been adapted by Australian actor and comedian Mark Little. The show ran successfully in London until February 21.

Little is best known as Joe Mangel in Neighbours and took to the stage to deliver some hilarious analogies about the differences between woman and men.

Australian Times journalist Vivienne Hill and her boyfriend Bart went along to see how the battle of the sexes played out to give a review the show an even gender spectrum and get some of the best relationship advice they have had in a long time.


Vivienne’s review: Doing it for the girls
When a play which is going to be performed by a guy starts off with the words ‘all men are assholes’ on two big screens.

From the moment Mark entered the stage he had all couples in the audience hating each other in the first 10 minutes.

I could see people looking at each other in disgust as he talked about the gross things boys do to girls to annoy them and the reasons why ladies get toey with their lads when things don’t work out right.

However, Mark was just setting the scene.

As the play develops it gets funnier and you see couples smiling at each other and appreciating their differences in a big way.

The jokes are absolutely hilarious and the real life analogies to the caveman were so spot on.

In the show, Mark produced fantastic observations of how females and males communicate differently in western culture.

A solo production has got to be the hardest performance an actor can possibly do. For one man to hold the audience’s attention for so long and remember such a long script is an enormous task.

If you’re having trouble understanding the opposite sex. This is the best relationship advice you’ll get in a long time.

Bart’s review: Defending the caveman
As I write this my dear sweet girlfriend Vivienne wants to talk to me, and she is complaining that I can’t do two things at once.

I am reminded of one of the dozens of insightful and very funny observations made by Mark Little in his show Defending the Caveman.

This specific observation being that as much as they try, men genuinely can’t do two things at once. I hear you brother.
So I enjoyed the show immensely as it managed to be quite funny without ever sounding disingenuous or going over the top in the search for laughs.

I went into the show fully expecting it to be a drawn out homage to ‘According to Jim’ or ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ type humour (ie. ain’t them ladies be crazy!!), but I came out having had a thoroughly enjoyable and actually enlightening experience.

Mark’s caveman analogies are never stretched too far, and he does a fantastic job by not veering off course into broad gender generalisations and stereotypes in one direction, or aloof pseudo-psychology and philosophy the other.