Getting To Know... House of Shem

House of Shem tell Bobbysix.com about their tours of Australia and the US: 

House of Shem are an all Maori trio of vocalists, song writers and producers, fronted by New Zealand Reggae ambassador Carl Perkins and his two sons Te Omeka and Isaiah Perkins with the best selection of Reggae musicians from New Zealand behind them providing the world with quality Reggae Music.

Our debut headline tour of Australia will be a fun experience. We love the vibe there the people are always happy and skanking when we come there! We are covering WA, VIC, NSW and QLD and we cant waitttt!!

Before then, we are travelling to The States in June to perform at the Sierra Nevada World music festival alongside some of the biggest names in Reggae music and performing for the first time in Hawaii. Hawaii has been waiting for over seven years for us to go there from the time we released I Love U Girl in 2003. Our song Thinking About You was a number 1 hit for a long time on the radio there. We cant wait to share our music and culture with the People of Hawaii!

We're currently listening to our children laughing and playing, also our new album which is sounding so niceeee! Also we are listening to Stevie wonder, The Eagles, Steely Dan, Bob Marley and the Marley Family, Alborosie, Steel Pulse, Big Mountain... the list goes on, but daily we just write and listen to our hearts and minds to create some music for you all.

Auckland is fire inna Babylon city, haha! Some of us are based in West Auckland and it is beautiful out here. You can see a bit of bush and it's nice and quiet because they limited how many alcohol outlets are out here, so even Better.

It might surprise people to learn that we have just recorded a reggae version of a Beatles song, ready to be released on a compilation that is been compiled in Argentina.

House of Shem Australian Tour 

Thurday 12th July - Wanneroo Tavern, Wanneroo WA 
Tickets available from www.oztix.com.au, www.heatseeker.com.au, www.moshtix.com.au, venue and usual outlets. 
Friday 13th July - Eliot St Bar, Bunbury WA
Tickets available from www.oztix.com.au, www.heatseeker.com.au, www.moshtix.com.au, venue and usual outlets. 
Saturday 14th July - Rosemount Hotel, North Perth WA Tickets available from www.oztix.com.au, www.heatseeker.com.au, www.moshtix.com.au, venue and usual outlets. 
Sunday 15th July - Leisure Inn, Rockingham WA Tickets available from www.oztix.com.au, www.heatseeker.com.au, www.moshtix.com.au, venue and usual outlets. 
Thursday 19th July - Kings Beach Tavern, Sunshine Coast QLD Tickets $25+bf from www.oztix.com.au 
Friday 20th July - Coolangatta Hotel, Gold Coast QLD Tickets $30 +bf from www.oztix.com.au Saturday 21st July - The Zoo, Brisbane QLD Tickets $30 +bf from www.oztix.com.au 
Sunday 22nd July - Byron Bay Brewery, Byron Bay NSW Tickets $25 + bf from www.oztix.com
Thursday 26th July - Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle NSW Tickets $30 +bf from www.moshtix.com.au Friday 27th July - The Standard, Sydney NSW Tickets $30 +bf from www.moshtix.com.au & www.eventfinder.com.au 
Saturday 28th July - Deep Roots @ The Espy, Melbourne VIC Tickets from www.oztix.com.au

Radiohead announce Australian and New Zealand tour.

You know Radiohead are, like, really good, right? You know that their eighth studio LP, The King of Limbs, was voted Bobbysix.com's Album Of 2011. So we'll spare you the superlatives. All you really wanna know is how the hell to get tickets for their landmark return to Australia and New Zealand in November (it has been nearly a decade since the Oxford bred five-piece last graced Australian shores and a staggering 14 years since playing in New Zealand).

As they are only playing six shows, it's safe to say that it will be a total shitfight for tickets, so, read the below carefully. As we have said before, if you snooze, you lose.

Tickets for all shows go on sale at 9am on Thursday 1st March (local time).

Radiohead are playing at the following venues:

Tuesday 6 November: AUCKLAND 
Vector Arena - www.ticketmaster.co.nz
Friday 9 November: BRISBANE 
Entertainment Centre - www.ticketek.com.au or call 132 849
Monday 12 & Tuesday 13 November: SYDNEY 
Entertainment Centre - www.ticketmaster.com.au or call 136 100
Friday 16 & Saturday 17 November: MELBOURNE 
Rod Laver Arena - www.ticketek.com.au or call 132 849

So, set your alarm and be sitting at your computer/by your telephone at 8.59am on Thursday. Good luck.

Mark Lanegan Band announce Australian tour

While Mark Lanegan is no stranger to Australia - having recently toured in support of his projects with Isobel Campbell and his 2010 solo dates - this April the Mark Lanegan Band will play their first Aussie tour in eight years, following the release of their acclaimed new album Blues Funeral.

Produced by Alain Johannes, Blues Funeral is the band’s first offering since 2004’s Bubblegum. Alongside Lanegan’s trademark gravel and grit vocals, known to envelop listeners and mesmerise audiences the world over, Blues Funeral features appearances from his former cohorts Greg Dulli of The Gutter Twins and Josh Homme of Queens Of The Stone Age.

MARK LANEGAN BAND TOUR DATES:
Wednesday 18 April - Powerstation, Auckland
Tickets on sale 9am Monday 20 February via Ticketmaster 0800 111 999 or www.ticketmaster.co.nz Friday 20 April - The Hi Fi, Sydney
Tickets on sale 9am Monday 20 February via The Hi Fi 1300 843 443 or www.thehifi.com.au 
Saturday 21 April - The Tivoli, Brisbane
Tickets on sale 9am Monday 20 February via Ticketek 132 849 or www.ticketek.com.au 
Tuesday 24 April - The Gov, Adelaide
Tickets on sale 9am Monday 20 February via Moshtix 1300 438 849 or www.moshtix.com.au or VenueTix 08 8225 8888 or www.venuetix.com.au
Thursday 26 April - Forum Theatre, Melbourne
Tickets on sale 9am Monday 20 February via Ticketmaster 136 100 or www.ticketmaster.com.au

Geoffrey O'Connor interview

Geoffrey O’Connor - known for his work in Melbourne band Crayon Fields - plays this year’s St Jerome's Laneway Festival as a solo artist. Heidi Pett chatted to him about his various name changes, duelling synthesisers and a dream collaboration with Elton John before he loses his marbles:

You’ve previously released solo work under ‘Sly Hats’ - what sparked the decision to use your real name this time?
Sly Hats was a name I just came up with on the spot when I got my first gig. I gradually grew to regret it more and more. I just never really liked the name and I couldn’t see myself releasing albums as Sly Hats, so I thought I’d curtail that and use the name that my mother gave me.

It’s a very personal album in terms of lyrics, did this have something to do with your decision to use your birth name? I guess I’m asking because it might be expected that people distance themselves from the more personal aspects of their own life in their work whereas you’ve gone in the opposite direction.
For this record I actually wanted to make it quite personal. All the songs are based on both experience and observation, which I guess is still all experience. Just something I’m familiar with, really.

Do you find it difficult offering up these things that you’ve created? Knowing they’ve come from somewhere close to you? 
Not at all. In drawing from personal experience I admit certain things and exaggerate other things to make out that I’m a bit of a better guy. There’s still a strong resemblance between the way the stories are told in the songs and what actually happened. I guess with songcraft and that kind of licence you can make yourself out to be better than you actually were in the situations. Little bit of fantasy and exaggeration.

Do you differ in your approach when writing your solo work as opposed to what you’ve done with Crayon Fields? 
I guess with my solo work I’m able to chop and change things a little more. It’s a lot easier for me to rework a song when I’m doing it all by myself. When I’m working with the band I feel like I’m wasting everybody’s time. There’s different levels of preparation involved, different ways of approaching songs. I don’t have to be wary of other people as much when I’m writing for myself.

The latest album does feature a lot of collaborations, though, so how did that work?
I’d bring the songs fully formed. Usually I’d sing their parts first and ask if they wanted to sing the duets. There were a couple of times where somebody asked me if I wanted extra vocals on my records. It worked out really well cause I get a nice variety of different voices and instruments.

How do you set up your collaborations? 
I’ve never approached someone. Never made the cold call. Usually they’re friends because I really like their music and their voice. Not that that’s the way I choose my friends! But that’s often how I get to know people.

Of course. Now, your latest album has been described as having a synthy, power-ballady vibe. Was that a deliberate nod to the eighties? 
It wasn’t a deliberate reference, but I can definitely see where the comparisons come from. I did consciously set out to make a record that sounds very synthetic, which I guess is always going to evoke the eighties a bit. Although, I feel like in 50 years time when synthetic instruments become more familiar to people it will just be seen as another instrument. You know folk musicians use acoustic guitars and it doesn’t really evoke a certain period anymore whereas it might have 30, 40 years ago. It wasn’t a conscious thing, you know? I’m not going to be making a music video where I’m of surrounded by people doing aerobics or anything like that.

I was going to ask about your videos, actually. You’ve collected a fair bit of praise for your previous videos, are you working on some for your solo work? 
I’m making a trilogy of videos, they’re all sort of thematically linked. They’re just fun to make. A little bit morbid but vaguely humorous as well, I hope.

What can we expect from your set at Laneway? 
I’m bringing my band along, which is two synthesisers and this kind of laser machine which kind of acts like a drummer. And duelling synthesisers, which I really enjoy; they kind of flank me on stage.

It sounds like a military operation! 
It is, yeah. *laughs* You should see the rehearsals.

So you’re quite precise in the way that you approach your music? 
Yeah, I like to be thorough in that way, I don’t like to leave things to chance.

Speaking of leaving things up to chance, Laneway is certainly a large production. How do you feel about playing in that sort of environment? 
To be honest part of what appeals to me about playing festivals is the freedom you have to miss bands as much as see bands you really like. There’s something really comforting and satisfying about drinking backstage while you can hear them playing faintly in the background and knowing you might see them next week. It’s a bit perverse really!

I guess when you’ve got any number of opportunities to see them play, you lose the urgency. Is there anybody you’re particularly looking forward to seeing? Making ‘friends’ with on the basis of their musical talents? 
I doubt I’d hang out with them, I never approach my idols! It’s not that I’m shy or anything it’s just not something I’m comfortable doing. I’d feel like the really corny guy.

If, in a parallel universe that was totally socially acceptable, who would you like to work with? 
I’d love to collaborate with Elton John to be honest. *laughs* That would do it for me. While he’s still got half a brain it’d be great. Him and Stevie Nicks, I think that would be a great balance.

If the idea of duelling synthesisers appeals to you, then get yourself along to the St Jerome's Laneway Festival where you can catch Geoffrey O’Connor alongside the likes of Feist, The Drums, Laura Marling and Yuck. For the full lineup and for news on ticket availability, visit lanewayfestival.com.au

Interview by Heidi Pett. 

Husky interview

After a string of festival gigs over the past few months, Melbourne band Husky are closing out their Summer playing the national St Jerome's Laneway Festival. Heidi Pett spoke to frontman Husky Gawenda about his literary influences and thoughts on triple j Unearthed:

“I’d say we’re about songs.” It’s a deceptively simple explanation from Husky Gawenda when asked to define his band and their music. Variously described as indie folk and harmonic pop, favourably compared to the likes of Fleet Foxes and Boy & Bear, Husky have certain a knack for creating gentle melodies that nonetheless stay with you all day. Single History’s Door received extensive radio play on both triple j and Sydney’s FBi, as well as some recent lovin’ in the Bobbysix End Of Year Reviews, and with good reason: it’s an almost perfectly-crafted modern folk offering, sparking all sorts of comparisons with such a range of artists it leaves Gawenda faintly bemused. “I’m always so surprised by how people describe us and the different bands we’re compared to. I don’t always agree or hear the influence and sometimes it’s somebody whose music I’ve never actually heard, but I don’t think there’s any point being precious about it. People will listen to music and want to categorise it. It’s human nature.”

“I can say whatever I want about the songs I write and the sort of music we play, but in the end it doesn’t matter what I think. It matters what you think, it matters what the people who come to our shows think.” It’s an almost postmodern attitude - the death of the author/songwriter in favour of the audience’s interpretation. When I mention this, Husky laughs and admits “Well my father’s a writer and my mother’s an English teacher, so literature and writing was a big part of my upbringing and part of my life as far back as I remember. I grew up reading the classics, novel-wise. Most of the 20th century classics, as well as 19th century English and Russian literature, and a bunch of poets - Dylan Thomas, Wordsworth, those sort of guys. There are musicians as well, who are as much poets as they are songwriters; Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan, even Paul Simon.” These early literary influences certainly come through in his music, expressed through a strong lyrical component to the songs on debut long-player Forever So.

Recorded in a backyard bungalow in Melbourne’s northern suburbs which the band spent late nights soundproofing themselves with the aid of Youtube tutorials, it was an album Husky says, “we really wanted time and space to record”. Well, that and the fact that before scoring a spot at Pushover Festival thanks to a triple j Unearthed competition, Gawenda admits they were fairly unknown and thus hadn’t the cash to hire a studio and producer. “We wanted the luxury to be able to record songs that we won’t necessarily use. To take the time to write, develop and arrange the album. If we went into a studio and were paying by the hour we wouldn’t be able to do that. It was a mixture of getting the sound we wanted, and just not having the money to record in a proper studio.”

Looking back on their success over the last year, it seems Husky won’t be running into the same problems again. “I think what Unearthed does for bands like us is incredible. It does exactly what it’s supposed to, which is to bring bands to the attention of the public that otherwise nobody would hear of. That’s the beauty of the platform that triple j has, they can pick bands out of near obscurity, and put them on the radio.” Since the release of Forever So in late October, Husky spent some time touring before the busy summer festival season, where they’ve found the crowds, “really embracing and responsive”. Husky notes that the festival circuit is an equally important way for emerging bands to establish themselves. “You get exposed to people who might not know you that well or might not otherwise have come to your show. They discover you for the first time and you get to meet all these people that you otherwise wouldn’t have met. I think festivals are great for all bands, but especially for newish bands like us.”

Having seen them at Woodford Folk Festival over the New Year, I can attest to the fact that they put on a charming live performance which has certainly added to a fan base that has grown exponentially over the past year. Offering something a little different from the current crop of fingerpicking, harmonising folk acts, they’ve attracted praise from high places - triple j’s Richard Kingsmill, for instance, described them as “pure class.” This is something which Husky attributes in part to the varying musical backgrounds within the band. “I think the jazz training that they’ve done over the years have influenced them and it's certainly added to their ability as musicians,” he says of bandmates Evan Tweedie, Luke Collins and cousin Gideon Preiss.

Despite spending a lot of time together growing up in quite a creative family, Husky says he and Gideon, “didn’t really formally play music together until about three years ago. We spent a lot of time listening to music and going to gigs together, but he was on a different path for those early years. He was playing in a lot  of jazz bands and I was kind of just writing songs. Then, about three years ago, we decided to get together and have a play and see how that went.” It seems things have panned out fairly well so far, and Husky agrees. “Even from the beginning it felt right, and it’s never stopped feeling like that.”

Interview by Heidi Pett. For more information on the St Jerome's Laneway Festival, click here.

Dirty Three announce Australian and New Zealand tour

So we were totally hanging out with Warren Ellis the other night. True story. Well, by "hanging out" we actually mean that we were at the same birthday party, standing across the room, admiring his epic beard. Had we felt the nerve to go up and say hello, he might have told us about how Dirty Three will boldly break cover with an extensive Australian tour in early 2012, including their own headlining shows, festival appearances and their first ever performance at the Sydney Opera House. Or he might have told us how the band will also release a new album. Instead, he probably just wondered who those weirdos were that were staring at him all night.

Dirty Three’s last tour of Australia was in 2009 when they performed their album Ocean Songs in its entirety as part of the Don’t Look Back classic albums series, a run of shows that sold-out across the country. This was a tour that confirmed Dirty Three's status of one of the greatest live acts in the world.

DIRTY THREE AUSTRALIAN & NEW ZEALAND TOUR 2012 PRESENTED BY FEEL, INPRESS,TIME OFF & X-PRESS

Tickets for all shows on-sale Monday 12 December 2012 except where noted.

FRIDAY 9 MARCH 
Perth, Astor Theatre presented by X-Press Magazine. Tickets from www.bocsticketing.com.au, feelpresents.oztix.com.au, phone 9484 1133 or in person at all Bocs outlets.

WEDNESDAY 14 MARCH 
Auckland, Powerstation Tickets from www.ticketmaster.co.nz, www.powerstation.net.nz, phone 09 970 9700 or in person at all Ticketmaster outlets *ON SALE NOW

FRIDAY 16 MARCH 
Melbourne, The Palace presented by Inpress Magazine Tickets from www.ticketmaster.com.au, feelpresents.oztix.com.au, phone 136 100 or in person at all Ticketmaster outlets.

SATURDAY 17 MARCH 
Gippsland, Mossvale Park, One Perfect Day Festival Tickets from lyrebirdartscouncil.oztix.com.au, phone 1300 762 545 or in person at all Oztix outlets.

SUNDAY 18 MARCH 
Castlemaine, Theatre Royal Tickets from www.theatreroyal.info, phone (03) 5472 1196 or in person at the venue 30 Hargrave Street, Castlemaine.

WEDNESDAY 21 MARCH 
Sydney Opera House Concert Hall Tickets from
 www.sydneyoperahouse.com or phone 9250 7777 (transaction fees apply). *ON SALE NOW

THURSDAY 22 MARCH 
Brisbane, The Tivoli presented by Time Off Magazine Tickets from www.ticketek.com.au, feelpresents.oztix.com.au, phone 132 849 or in person at all Ticketek outlets.

St Jerome's Laneway Festival announces its 2012 line-up

At Bobbysix.com, we've been fans of Laneway since the early days. We were there in 2007, watching The Temper Trap belting out anthemic tunes at Sydney's Circular Quay before most people knew who the hell they were. We saw Daniel Johnston's heartbreaking performance, Mumford & Sons' triumphant display and Florence + The Machine's lung-busting turn in 2010.

So we're excited to bring you the line-up for the 2012 event, which, once again will take place in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Auckland and Singapore. Highlights of next year's event include the wonderful Laura Marling (above), Feist, The Horrors, Portugal The Man and Yuck.

So, without further ado, here's who you can see at next year's Laneway: ACTIVE CHILD, ANNA CALVI, AUSTRA, BULLION, CHAIRLIFT, CULTS, DZ DEATHRAYS, EMA, FEIST [except Adelaide], GEOFFREY O'CONNOR, GIRLS, GIVERS [Syd + Melb], GLASSER, HUSKY [Bris, Syd, Melb], JOHN TALABOT, JONTI, LAURA MARLING, M83, ONEMAN, PAJAMA CLUB (feat. Sharon and Neil Finn), PORTUGAL THE MAN [Syd + Melb], SBTRKT (Live), TRIPLE J Unearthed Winners, THE VERY WEST, THE DRUMS, THE HORRORS, THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART, THE PANICS, TORO Y MOI, TOTAL CONTROL, TWIN SHADOW, WASHED OUT, WU LYF, YUCK

Tickets go on sale Wednesday October 19th at 9am (EDST) through Greentix.We said it last year and we'll say it again, if you want to go, you'll need to be on the ball when tickets are made available. If you snooze, you lose.


You can keep up to date with all things Laneway on Facebook and Twitter.