Tom Loud and Ghostwood rock Pot Luck's Halloween party

We were excited to see Sydney's Tom Loud (above) perform at FBi Social's Pot Luck on Friday night. DJ/VJ Loud mashes the fuck out of songs and videos to create an audio-visual orgy of awesomeness. His set was funny, inventive and offered bomb after bomb. It was hard to know whether to watch the big screen, sing along, laugh our socks off, or dance like maniacs. The Bobbysix representatives in the room did pretty much a combination of all of the above. His mash-ups were AH-MAY-ZINGGGG and surely the result of a ridiculous amount of hours spent on Youtube.

Rage Against The Machine vs Pingo? Yes please. The filthiest splicing together of Nigella Lawson quotes you'll ever hear? Yummy. Salt 'n' Pepa segueing into Prince? Yowser. A Fresh Prince of Bel Air singalong? Oh, go on then. His turn on the decks got an initially shy room dancing like loons for a couple of hours and was the most fun you could have with your trousers on. We didn't even take a sip of alcohol all night. We didn't need to.

Before this, Tyson Koh span some tunes while punters crafted their own Halloween outfits and local band Ghostwood (above) played a fine set too. We've been following these guys since the very start (back when they were called The Ghosts), so we were happy that their new stuff sounded impressive. The sweeping newie, Cutlass, was especially epic.

Pot Luck is always an incredibly fun yet chilled evening; the music is top drawer and the hard-working organisers go out of their way to ensure there is always something artistic and interesting to see and do. Which, in a Sydney scene that is often half-arsed and lazy, is really refreshing. So, if you like good times, you should follow FBi Social on Facebook and Twitter to keep right up to date with all the good shit that Pot Luck has got going on in the future.

With amazing entertainment like this, it is little wonder that FBi Social recently won the Time Out Bar Award for Best Entertainment.

Words and pictures by Bobby Townsend

Changing Lanes 2011

Last year's inaugural Changing Lanes felt like a proper festival. Which is kinda weird because there were no tents, no fields and not a naked wasted hippy anywhere in sight. Instead, there was a street, a stage and a pub. Doesn't sound much like a festival, you may think. But that's where you'd be wrong, Changing Lanes 2010 was an incredible festival experience. A labour of love for its founders (they had to bend over backwards to convince the local council to give them the green light) the Sydney-based, one-day event was made up of brilliant Aussie bands, DJs, food stalls, artists, and had simply the most organic, home-grown feel to it. In 2011, the festival moved to a new venue. Goodbye grungy Newtown, hello hipster haven Surry Hills. A bigger event, a new location, more punters, would Changing Lanes 2011 retain its charm?

Thankfully, the if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it rule was strictly adhered to. Sure, everything was a little magnified this time round, but this was still the same Changing Lanes that we swooned over last year.

As the sun beat down relentlessly, Sydney's best new band, Cameras (above) were a lunchtime treat, even though a 1.30pm slot wasn't really ideal. While their atmospheric sound is best suited to playing in the dark, they still gave one of the performances - if not the performance - of the day. We've gushed plenty about Cameras on these pages over the past couple of years (and, trust us, there is more to follow when their debut album drops next month) so we won't rave for too long this time. Suffice to say, they won't be playing this early at festivals for long.



Elsewhere, DJs on the FBi stage belted out some crowd faves and The Gaelic hosted a bunch more acts, such as the divine Lanie Lane and the brilliant and bizarre 'country surf' of Mikelangelo and the Tin Star. As we have often seen at Brighton's Great Escape, the problem with having a festival that utilises indoor venues is that, once they're full, they're full. So there were eternal lines snaking from the three clubs/bars that hosted stages. Simply, it's the nature of such a beast. If you weren't organised and didn't arrive early to whatever you wanted to see, you probably missed out. No point grumbling about it. Besides, the quality on the main stage was so high that there was always an outstanding option to fall back on. Like Aussie legend Gareth Lilliard (below) of The Drones, who played a devilishly downbeat acoustic set, introducing each song with a funny-as-fuck preamble.

Just like last year though, the music was only half of what was going down at Changing Lanes. For instance, after the street artists had done their thing with spray cans, there were fashion installations to enjoy, most notably from the ever-interesting Jesse Willesee (check out the pics below). There were also market stalls from the likes of Dear Pluto and, of course, no festival would be complete without a spinach and cheese gozleme. And the band(s) played on too. Bleeding Knees Club started a little on the ropey side, but by the end of their set, their perky indie pop had even the most sun-drunk of punters dancing.

As night continued to fall, Devonshire Street grew more atmospheric. While Gay Paris and The Snowdroppers did their thing in The Gaelic, Papa Versus Pretty rocked the life out of the main stage, before headliners PVT (below) ended proceedings. As always seems to be the case with PVT, their instrumental offerings were comfortably their strongest and most visceral. That is what we fell in love with them for in the first place, after all.

And once PVT had ripped the crowd apart with their shuddering math rock, that was it. Another year done, and another big thumbs up from Bobbysix.com. Will the festival move on again next year, or has it found its home? Time will tell, but one thing is for sure, it has laid some pretty amazing foundations over these past two years.

Caitlin Park interview

“One of my favourite things to do is to play to a crowd, find one person who is not listening and try my hardest to get them to notice.”

It's a plan that seems to be working well for Caitlin Park. Her intelligent, looped brand of folk with electronic edges is captivating audiences across Sydney and she was recently a finalist in FBi Radio's Northern Lights competition. It's surprising then, considering her talent and growing reputation, that this isn't a path she has always desired to tread...

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE...

Changing Lanes first release sold out. Second round of artists added

Sydney's most organic, charming festival, Changing Lanes, is back on the 17th of September for its second consecutive year, taking over the lower end of Devonshire St, its surrounding laneways and venues to raise funds for FBi Radio. MAPS Entertainment and FBi Radio are transforming that part of Surry HIlls into a cultural wonderland featuring a melting pot of music, street art, fashion, photography and food. So awesome is the festival and so cheap are the tickets, that the first release has already sold out in a heartbeat, so, if you wanna be there, you'd best get your act together and grab one from the second release before they all go too. Check out www.changinglanesfestival.com for more ticketing details.

Changing Lanes made its debut in Newtown last year and was an overwhelming success. The event combined music, art and fashion and included acts such as Tame Impala and Itch-e & Scratch-e, resulting in tickets selling out in only a week. Festival Director, Danae Goiser said “We are pretty blown away by the creative concepts some of the artists have come up with for this year’s event. It’s an inspiring time to be involved in Sydney’s creative communities and we’re so proud to be able to provide a platform for artists to showcase their talents.”

This year will see the likes of PVT, The Vasco Era, Gareth Liddiard, The Snowdroppers, Papa Vs Pretty,  Bleeding Knees and Megastick Fanfare joined by heaps of other acts. And a second announcement of artists includes Big Scary, Canyons DJs, Domeyko / Gonzalez and, most excitingly of all, Cameras. Visit www.changinglanesfestival.com for the full line up.

Buy your tickets today. If you don't take our advice then don't come crying to us when you miss out.

FBi Social - Saturday 20th August

Anyone with the slightest interest in independent music in Sydney loves FBi Radio, 94.5FM. It's an institution, run by the people for the people and has helped countless local bands get the break they needed and deserved. Well, not content with filling the city's airwaves with awesomeness, FBi also has a venue, meaning punters can get their fill of live talent too.

Saturday saw four Sydney acts take to the stage. Opening things up were female-fronted four-piece The Glimmer, who offered some country surf with a pop twist and the odd sea shanty thrown in for good measure. Their set boasted some seriously catchy tunes. Next up was the evening's highlight. The beautiful, bespectacled Caitlin Park (pictured, below), along with her drummer from Bobbysix's hometown of Brighton, served up intelligent, experimental lo-fi folk music laced with electronic elements. Despite battling against sound issues, she utilised samples and loops to fine effect. Park's songs were accessible while remaining interesting and nuanced. She is an artist certainly worth checking out.

In contrast to Park's understated delivery, March of the Real Fly's vocalist/drummer Cam Crew stood atop his stool, occasionally wandered around the stage and employed all manner of histrionics with a level of overconfidence that was kind of irritating at times. However, there is no doubting his relentless energy was the driving force behind a fun, American-influenced punk-pop set that had the biggest crowd of the night dancing. Keyboardist/percussionist/vocalist Anita Miles (pictured, top) bopped around twixt sweet indie uber-nerds Daniel Levett and Sam Clayton to create a dynamic so cute that you just wanted to put them in your pocket and take them home.

Whipped Cream Chargers, the night's headliners (above), perfectly dissected rock n roll swagger and cool disinterest. Frontman Sebastian Harrison-Naish was the prime example of this, with his rubber-legged hip-shaking belying a facial expression that suggested he might just doze off at any moment. He didn't though, and nor did the audience, who were treated to a typically excellent barrage of dirty psych-garage-swing-punk that brought proceedings to a suitably impressive close.

Four fine local acts for ten bucks? Nice one FBi.

Changing Lanes Festival gets the go-ahead

It wasn't long ago that I was bemoaning how festivals can just lazily shove up a couple of stages and charge the shirtless masses extortionate amounts for tickets to watch Dizzy Rascal and Muse for the umpteenth time. Since then I have been impressed by a (hopefully) changing dynamic. Smirnoff's innovative approach to enhancing festival experiences, both at Future Music and at their own extravaganzas, is exciting and, as always, I found this year's Laneway to be a delightful way to spend a Sunday.

Last week, another festival that promises to be more about the whole experience than just the music got the green light from Marrickville Council after months of hard work. Changing Lanes, presented by MAPS Entertainment and in collaboration with the Sydney Fringe Festival, is a fund raiser for FBi Radio. It will take place on the 19th of September in Newtown, Sydney and will celebrate the city's brimming artistic and music communities. The line-up - announced soon - will feature bands and DJs that span indie, rock, acoustic, dub-step, hip-hop and electro. Local and international street artists will involve themselves throughout the day in a live painting event and there will also be food, fashion, vinyl and bike stalls there.

Ticketing details should be announced imminently.

FBi Fifth Birthday Party

FBI FIFTH BIRTHDAY PARTY
World Bar, Kings Cross
12/09/08

It shows just how highly thought of FBi is, as a sold-out crowd and a host of local talent flocked to Kings Cross to celebrate the successful passing of five years on the air. Early on, WOW performed to a sparsely populated room. Their distinctly unsubtle dance music was faintly entertaining during their first song, but, unsurprisingly, ugly vocals shouted over crude beats quickly became very annoying.

DJ Mailer Daemon’s (above) excellent set on the terrace stage included vocal turns from Catcall and Peach and was followed by S.Y.L.K, who offered female 80s-style rapping over DJ Spruce Lee’s beats. If you imagine The Waitresses’ Christmas Wrapping in a singing-into-hairbrushes-in-front-of-the-bedroom-mirror kind of way then you’d get an idea of the awesomeness of their performance.

In contrast, upstairs The Protectors (above) played straightforward rock ‘n’ roll. Even though they look absolutely fucking terrible – like a hobo version of The Darkness – their set was raucous enough to forgive such a woeful aesthetic. Meanwhile, Catcall and DJ Sleater Brockman, aka lynchpin of the local scene Andrew Levins, teamed up downstairs to get the crowd moving. In the club room, Yves Klein Blue had a justifiably confident swagger about them as they rattled off jaunty indie-pop-rock with a British feel to it. It’s easy to see a very bright future for the quartet.

Another highlight was beardy three-piece, Philadelphia Grand Jury, whose irresistibly effervescent pop was the kind of thing you’d hear on American college radio. They may not be pin-up boys, but they sure can pen a tune. While The Laurels filled the tea room with shoegazey guitar noise, Spod (below) was his versatile self on the terrace stage. His tongue-in-cheek mix of hip-hop and electroclash was wonderfully baffling and always entertaining.

Opening with Lies Are Much More Fun, before continuing with a couple of new tracks, The Grates were typically perky in the searing heat of a packed club room. Singer Patience Hodgson’s unabated enthusiasm created a buoyant atmosphere as she bounded around stage. “Now we get to play a new album. It’s very exciting,” she enthused as unfamiliar tunes were interspersed with oldies like Trampoline. While such poppy songs define the band, their true strength actually lies in deeper, more ruminative numbers, like the post-grunge of Feels Like Pain and Rock Boys. That said, it was the singalong of Science Is Golden and 19 20 20 which sent the crowd nuts.

And so, as night turned to early morning, the bands made way for DJs and the kids danced until dawn. The most refreshing thing about this party was the complete lack of pretence on display. Often in the rather narcissistic Sydney scene, people attend such events merely to be seen, or to be cool (or, indeed, to be seen being cool) but it is testament to the general vibe of FBi that people were here simply to have fun and enjoy some good music. It was a great night, fitting of such a brilliant community institution. Happy birthday FBi. Here’s to many more.

For another perspective on the night, go here