Skipping Girl Vinegar - Chase The Sun

Check out this excellent video clip. Australian band Skipping Girl Vinegar sent a hobo monkey called Baker to the edge of space, in a low rent spaceship made from foam and gaffa tape. On the morning of Sat 27th November 2011, attached to a giant weather balloon, Baker and the onboard camera soared to 110,000 feet (4 times higher than Mt Everest) capturing the rolling image that is now part of this new film clip. Reaching speeds of over 200kmh and experiencing temperatures as low as -50 degrees, Baker carried an Mp3 player beaming out the new SGV single Chase the Sun and messages to the Universe from the people of Earth.

Skipping Girl Vinegar have played many of Australia's premier festivals including packed shows at Splendour In The Grass, The Falls Festival, Woodford Folk Festival, Sunset Sounds, Pyramid Rock and Port Fairy Folk Festival. SGV have also supported the likes of The Lemonheads, Something for Kate, Shout Out Louds, Missy Higgins, Angus & Julia Stone.

Find out more about the band here.

Expatriate interview

Carol Bowditch caught up with from Expatriate after the band's lonnnng period of playing and writing in Europe. We haven’t really heard from the four-piece since their 2007 release, In the Midst of This, so Damian (the chap just to the right of lead-singer Ben's cheek in the above picture) explains what they had been up to.

Tell us what you've been doing for the last few years?
At the end of 2008 we flew over to Germany to release In the Midst of This. We had an English management company and they got us a Warner Brother record deal in Germany, so we went over there and, just as we were about to sign it, the first economic crisis happened. We ended up going with one of Europe’s biggest independent labels called PIAS. We spent a-year-and-a-half touring that album, doing all of the main festivals, like Rock in the Park, all these massive festivals, from Turkey to Greece, Helsinki… We also did about 50 shows with Placebo throughout Europe, so by the end of it we were well and truly sick of the songs. It’s not a good move to put out a record, and a-year-and-a-half after you have done it in Australia, do it over again in Germany. It was a bit like Groundhog Day.

So, we’ve just done our second record that has been sitting on the shelf for about a year, but that’s finally being released. I would like a third album [or] another EP released within October or November. Cause we have so much newer, fresher material.

You played with Placebo around Europe, who would you want to do a tour with in the future?
It depends really, whoever I’m listening to at the time. I really like bands like m83, lots of different stuff really, like The Weeknd and Drake. I have been listening to William Basinski, who does all of this experimental stuff. He’s a bit like Steve Reich, makes this like a sonic landscape, droney, multimedia thing, it’s really different.

How is Hyper/Hearts different from your last few releases like Lovers le Strange and In the Midst of This?
It’s much more over produced. We spent a lot of time in the studio. We tried to make a different record to In the Midst of This, which was very rock, in a way, with lots of guitars. We tried to add a lot more keyboards. It’s a lot more developed and refined in terms of production and stuff.

What is your favourite track on the album?
I would say Dangerous Stranger; it’s just really dark and fucked up, like an early Black Rebel Motorcycle Club sound. A good mix of guitars and synths, I like that. Also, Do You Remember is a good singalong.

Tell me about the two new videos that have recently been released on your blog. Do you enjoy making videos for your songs?
I love making videos, we do them ourselves. Dave our bass player does them and is quite good at it. It’s such a hard thing though, like making music, when it comes together and it works, it’s amazing. I love making video clips and I film, I love that medium. If you can marry those two together, that’s awesome. I don’t think you need a massive budget, it’s all about the idea I guess.

How are you finding playing in Australia after so long?
Brisbane was awesome. It was like an indie rock DJ night. Our record label is up there too. It was an eventful occasion.

I think in a way, people have moved on, like Triple J… After coming back after three years, like, Robbie Buck, who was our biggest advocate and supporter of us, is over at the 702 station, Ha Ha… Nothing wrong with that obviously, it just appears that we haven’t got the same support that we once got.

After talking to Damian, I went along to see the boys play at Sydney's Spectrum. I was reminded of all the festival gigs that I had seen them play years ago as a 16-year-old fangirl of the band. They played a mix of old faves like Play a Part and The Spaces Between, as well as a sample of new material, like aforementioned Do you Remember, along with few other newbies off Hyper/Hearts. They dedicated their song Crazy from In The Midst of This, to all the friends and family that had turned up on the night.


Interview by Carol Bowditch. Hyper / Hearts is out now. 

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

Elle Skies - City

You might remember Elle Skies as the singer/songwriter from Melbourne who released her debut EP, Skyscraper back in 2006. Although it was a small, DIY, independent release, it provided Elle a strong foundation within the musical landscape, winning the then 19-year-old many accolades, including first prize in a UK-based songwriting competition.

Well, Elle now returns armed with the jaunty and rather lovely single City and a new EP to be released soon. Have a little look at the cute video clip, which was shot over a few hours on a warm Saturday afternoon in Melbourne; the part time-lapse/part stop-frame animation nicely depicting the spontaneity and youthful innocence of the song. 

You can keep up to date with all the good stuff that Elle has got going on by Liking her Facebook page.

Zulu Winter interview

Carol Bowditch talks to Will Daunt of Zulu Winter in the midst of their hectic touring schedule:

Zulu Winter are sardined in the back of a van, whizzing about the streets of London after playing a gig. They are in high spirits, as the show had gone well, and they are humbled that “people had actually come to see us.” How sweet. Vocalist Will takes a few moments out to have a chat to me about their upcoming shows:

So you’re heading to Australia for the Splendour in the Grass festival, have you been before? 
I have actually, when I was 18. I did the whole thing of travelling up the East Coast and yeah, got very drunk and didn’t really see anything of importance, ha.

Will you get any time off to have a look around this time? 
Well we are only there for like nine days. I think we are just literally playing gigs. We will probably just do what I did last time, which was see the inside of bars. Yeah, it’s going to be amazing, we cannot wait. It’s a very weird thing for us to come to Australia cause we're so far away and you know, like, it’s really, really exciting, we’re really stoked.

So you guys met when you were kids and then you went off to college. What brought you back together to make music? 
I think that we just really needed to do it because we kind of just messed around in bands. When we turned a certain age, we thought if we are going to make a record, then we should make a record, and that’s what we did... We really wanted to make an album, and we really wanted to do it properly.

I read somewhere that you were in a Sex Pistols tribute band? 
Hahaha, that was our guitarist and keyboardist. They called themselves “The Next Pistols”, which is, you know, a genius title.

Your debut album, Language, has just been released. What were your musical influences for the new record? 
We all love bands like Portishead, Caribou and other stuff, but actually, we’re all into quite different things. Our drummer is into electronic, dance. I’m more into like pop, more song-based stuff, it has to have some sort of sentiment.

What’s your favourite track off the new record? 
I kind of waiver between two, I’m a big fan of the last song (People That You Must Remember), just because we had that song for a long time and it started out as this big rock anthem and we didn’t really feel comfortable with how it was sounding, and I didn’t really have faith in it. Then our guitarist, took the song by the balls and had a vision for it, and it turned into this very relaxed, spooky song and I just really love it.

The other song, Worlds That I Wield, just appeared. We were playing one day and it just turned up, which is a lovely way to make a song.

I like the video for the new song We Should Be Swimming. Can you tell me a little about how you created it? 
It is inspired by a woman called Loie Fuller, she did this thing called the “Serpentine Dance”, we wanted to use that and make something quite different...  It was filmed in Scotland in mid Winter, which is unbelievably cold. The dancers actually had it much worse than us, wearing leotards in this, like, freezing bog, up to their ankles in freezing water, ha.

So what should we expect from your live show? 
People kind of expect that us to be like a “dance act”, it’s actually got a bit more subtlety to it than that. We’re quite moody and down, and I hope that it’s slightly unsettling, in a way as well.

Some of the songs are about some stuff that is not that pretty. So it’s quite nice to have a slightly darker show as well. We’re definitely not a metal band, ha, but there is darkness to it. Also, no encores, unless people actually want an encore cause there’s nothing worse than a rehearsed encore!

 Zulu Winter are playing heaps of shows across the UK, Europe and Australia over the next couple of months. Check their tour dates on Facebook. Especially exciting are their dates in Melbourne and Sydney (24th & 25th July), as they are playing on an epically awesome bill alongside Howler and Friends. 

Interview by Carol Bowditch

Missy Higgins - The Ol' Razzle Dazzle

Nicole Dora has a listen to the very long-awaited return of Missy Higgins: 

It was 2004 when Missy Higgins came along and became a permanent etching on the Australian culture scene. With her debut album The Sound Of White going platinum nine times over, everyone knew about the Melbourne based singer and her mix of light-hearted cynicism and beautifully tragic melodies/sonnets. Eight years after that first album and with a second long-player also under her belt, it seems that Missy is only just starting to get her groove back. With that second record kind of fading into the background, this third album - The Ol' Razzle Dazzle - is a reminder that the national icon is still alive and kicking (you can't blame me for saying that - The Sound of White is practically the soundtrack to the mid-noughties for the lives of many ladies and gentlemen all over Australia). Some call The Ol' Razzle Dazzle a foray into darkness and, while there are undertones of this through the album, at the same time it just sounds like someone who has lived life a little bit.

The first single, Unashamed Desire, shows us a hint of sinister intentions with the handy use of a cowbell, while songs If I'm Honest and Everyone's Waiting don't have the same conviction as previous tear jerkers like The Special Two, but you get the feeling that this album is trying not to get too concerned with the whimsy of unrequited love.

With ample time to let this album grow on me, I am still waiting for the funny feeling that I got from Higgins' first record - something that swayed from the heart-swelling to the stomach-dropping. This time round you can tell the direction is intending to move into new territory and it will be interesting to see what this cultivates and what path Missy goes down from here.

Review by Nicole Dora

The Griswolds - Heart of a Lion

Sydney indie-pop five-piece, The Griswolds, have just released their second single: the joyous, upbeat, Heart Of A Lion.

The video clip that accompanies the song was filmed over one day in a film studio, and took five days to clean up. The Griswolds are now banned from that studio.

The band have had a fast start to 2012, with support shows around Australia with Last Dinosaurs, Millions, San Cisco, Hey Geronimo, and Kids of 88. Their first single, Mississippi, has also received high acclaim, featured on over 100 blogs worldwide, and charting on college radio in the USA. Both songs are from an upcoming EP due for release in August 2012. We're big fans, here at Bobbysix. So should you be.

Get $25 off your Parklife ticket with Bobbysix!

UPDATE: THE BOBBYSIX TICKET OFFER HAS NOW CLOSED. YOU CAN STILL CLICK THE ABOVE LINK THOUGH TO GO TO THE PARKLIFE TICKET PAGE: 

The epically awesome Parklife festival returns to Australia this September/October, and this week an appetite-whetting line-up was announced, not least the long-awaited return of electronic royalty, The Presets. As well as their unmissably massive performance, you can see the likes of Nero, Passion Pit, Citizens and Brighton's Rizzle Kicks. Also, we're especially looking forward to catching Tame Impala, Chairlift, that sweary scoundrel Plan B and electro pop queen, Robyn. 

And the best news? We've teamed up with our mates at Fuzzy to bring you a ridiculously good deal. Click on the above picture or click this link to get $25 off the cost of a ticket. For reals! 25 Bones! All you have to do is follow the link and enter the promo code SIXER to take advantage of this insane generosity.

Grab your ticket now (the offer wil expire at midnight on June 25th). We'll see you at Parklife and will gratefully accept you buying us a beer with some of the 25 bucks we just saved you.

Check out the full line-up for the festival - which visits Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide - on the Parklife website.

This Epic Tour - featuring Kingswood, Money For Rope and Damn Terran

Combining forces to create a three headed assault machine that would compel Godzilla to retreat to the depths of Tokyo Bay with his head hung in shame, Melbourne bands Kingswood, Money For Rope and Damn Terran emerge from the primordial ooze to take their rock largesse to the good people of Australia.

Yeah Go Die, Kingswood’s debut single of inimitable sludgy goodness is currently getting plenty of spins on national radio and with their recently unleashed EP Change Of Heart promising to continue the momentum, the band have an appetite whet for destruction. The same is true at camp Money For Rope, their latest single Ten Times has seared its mark on listeners around the country, laying a path for devastation when their self-titled full length emerges later this year. Completing the triumvirate, Rebels, the first single from Damn Terran’s upcoming album has further seen them etch their name on the hearts of fans around the country.

Already proven entities in their hometown, the Kingswood, Money For Rope and Damn Terran juggernaut will rain fire in these not-to-be-missed shows. Get in early to assure your seats ringside.

Dates:
28/06/2012 – Thursday, The Workers Club, Fitzroy, VIC
29/06/2012- Friday, The Workers Club, Fitzroy, VIC
30/06/2012 – Saturday, Jive Bar, Adelaide, SA
5/07/2012 – Thursday, The Great Northern Hotel, Newcastle, NSW
6/07/2012 – Friday, Lansdowne Hotel, Sydney, NSW
7/07/2012 – Saturday, Yours & Ours, Wollongong, NSW
12/07/2012 – Thursday, Oh Hello, Brisbane, QLD
13/07/2012 – Friday, The Beach Hotel, Byron Bay, NSW
14/07/2012 – Saturday, Hard Rock Cafe, Gold Coast, QLD

Castratii - Kingdom

Check out the video for Kingdom, the first single to be lifted from Castratii’s new album Eora, which is released in June.

Castratii, for the uninitiated, are a musical collective hailing from Australia's Blue Mountains. They make a bunch of densely abstract and dreamy gloom-gaze sounds, kind of like an aural re-imagining of the enormity and sparseness of Australia's wilderness. There is a spatiality to Castatii’s sound - the sprawling electronic drone, the languid vocals provided by The Duke Spirit's resident powerhouse Liela Moss (who has previously appeared w/ UNKLE) and the pulse and shudder of electro pop. What do you think? D'ya dig it? 

Reef cancel Australian tour

Due to a bereavement in the Reef family, it is with great regret that the UK band are cancelling their Australian tour which was set to start on June 1st. There are no plans to reschedule at this point so fans will be able to get a full refund at their point of purchase.

The band would like to extend their apologies to anyone who has purchased a ticket and to thank Select Touring for their understanding at this time.

To dilute your disappointment, you should get your hands on their complete recorded works in an all-encompassing box set. Spanning across their ten year career, the 9 CD and 1 DVD package features every commercial song recorded, including their very first demo, The Purple Tape – which lead to the band being signed to Sony - as well as b-sides, demos, live tracks, rarities and previously unreleased and unheard material. The DVD includes all music promo videos, TV appearances and interviews and some home movie footage capturing the story of this iconic ‘90’s band. Beautifully packaged the box set also contains a 64-page booklet featuring never-before-seen pictures of the band, a 12” vinyl of their newly arranged 5th album (Lucky #5), a vintage poster and a replica demo of their Purple Tape sessions.

The Human Rights Arts and Film Festival Australia

The fifth Australian Human Rights Arts and Film Festival (HRAFF) opened in Melbourne this week. Vinisha Mulani tells us more: 

What started as a group of friends brainstorming in a share-house kitchen six years ago, is now a national film festival in its fifth year, based at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, has Margaret Pomeranz as a festival patron, includes a music festival, art exhibition, forums and the President of the Maldives doing a live Q&A.

But that's not the sole summary of its success - despite its escalation from the kitchen table to ACMI, the success and soul of the Human Rights Arts and Film Festival lies in its content and intent. As inspiring as the festival's establishment and growth, are its films.

From Wrinkles, a Spanish comical animation about Alzheimer's, to Buffalo Girls, about girls in a Muay Thai child boxing tournament, the films range in topics but are all consistent in how you feel when you leave the cinema. HRAFF films can catapult even the most cynical suit-clad individual into a state of inspiration to change the world for the better. (Just a heads up, Australian Volunteers International and Intrepid Travel - there may be an unexplained exponential increase of people lining up in front of your offices over the next month). The Island President is also a program highlight; an inspiring documentary about the president of the Maldives' and how he tackles his small nation's slow extinction in the face of climate change.

Whatever incredible film you choose to watch at HRAFF, you will have something to gain - whether it be inspiration to do something great, raising your awareness in something you had no idea about, or a window into the life of an individual on the other side of the world.

HRAFF's dates around Australia:
Melbourne 15 – 27 May
Canberra 28 – 30 May
Adelaide 29 May – 1 June
Sydney 29 May – 1 June
Brisbane 5 – 8 June
Alice Springs 8 – 10 June
Byron Bay 12 – 15 June
Perth 14 – 16 June

For more detail on the program in general and to purchase tickets: http://hraff.org.au/
Words by Vinisha Mulani

Reef interview

Reef's Gary Stringer talks to Bobbysix.com about the band's box-set and their upcoming tour of Australia:

UPDATE, THE BAND HAS CANCELLED THEIR AUSTRALIAN TOUR. DETAILS HERE. 

Here's the interview anyway:

It's your first tour of Australia for 12 years, do you remember much about your last trip here? 
I don't know about our exact last trip but I can remember beaches and sun and pies and surfing and hot gigs and space and orange sand and friendly folk and Daryl Somers.

What are you most looking forward to about coming back? 
All of the above, maybe bar Daryl.....

How has your touring dynamic changed since last time you were here? Are things a bit less crazy on the road nowadays?
Sure. I sleep more and drink and smoke less, but it still feels like a party. I've been doing an acoustic band with Jack these last two years (http://stringerbessant.com/), so the contrast is massive between the two. Last year we played with Reef in front of 80,000 people at Wembley Stadium to open the football season here and ended up that same night playing with stringerbessant to 500 folk on a beach in Cornwall as the sun went down. That's what i'm talking about! Yeah man!

Does is still excite you to step on a stage, all these years on? 
Yep, for sure. I love singing more than ever .

The tour coincides with an all-encompassing box-set of your work. Can people expect a greatest hits set-list at your shows?
You got it! We did two shows in London last month to promote the box-set launch here and we played plenty of b-sides and rarities and all the hits too, but I would say we'd be primarily sticking to the hits for the Australian jaunt.

When your box-set was being put together, were there any songs from your back-catalogue that you had forgotten about, or that you didn't often play live, that have since found a new lease of life? 
Plenty. It was fun rediscovering songs that we had forgotten about and songs that weren't released first time around. Then we picked our favourites and played 'em live. The b-sides were like Reef with the shackles off, no commercial awareness needed, just sing and play, you know?

Conversely, are there any songs that you listen to now and think, 'ooh, I wish we had done that differently'?
Of course. I should like to make some small changes to some of the lyrics on Rides! And there was no need for those huge choruses on Wandering and Solid. In fact, I may do a couple of edits of those songs when I get five minutes. Ha!

What does the future hold for Reef? New albums? More shows? 
No new album planned as yet, but never say never. Me and Jack have a ton of new songs for the second stringerbessant album which we hope to record this autumn/winter and we're talking Dom into playing drums on it. Maybe next time if we get Ken involved it'll be a new Reef record. ha!

Tell us something that we would be surprised to learn about Reef... 
We won the 1996 soccer six cup? We had the biggest selling front cover of NME in 1997? Kenwyn has five fingers on his left hand?

Interview by Bobby Townsend. Photo courtesy of Steve Gullick. Check their Australian tour dates here.

Kirin J Callinan - new video and tour news

We first chanced upon Kirin J Callinan in 2006 as as the guitarist of Mercy Arms. He was clearly a very talented musician and soon became a good friend. We turned up unannounced one time at his apartment to find him shirtless and wearing a spectacular pair of high-waisted, tight, purple corduroy pants. When we asked him why he was dressed so utterly brilliantly, he kinda looked puzzled, shrugged and said that he was just cleaning the kitchen. It was at this moment that we knew this was a fellow who did things differently from the norm.

And so it proved to be. Since Mercy Arms split, Callinan has freed himself from the shackles that confined him during that time and has gone on to become one of the most inventive, brave and exciting artists around, as his new single and video clip (above) illustrates.

A synesthetic joyride to the frontline, W II W (Way to War) is the first single from Kirin's forthcoming debut solo album and launches with this amazing, gif-laden video clip from acclaimed film director Kris Moyes. All napalm, machine guns and loneliness, choppers and tracer bullets, W II W (and its accompanying b-side, Thighs) will be digitally released worldwide on 19 June and on 7" vinyl on 31 July.

Kirin will be playing a few Australian dates in June. You'd be an idiot to miss him:

Thursday 21 June Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane
Supported by DCM + Nite Fields + Kangaroo Skull
Tickets available from www.oztix.com.au

Friday 22 June Goodgod Small Club, Sydney
Supported by DCM + Forces + Kangaroo Skull
Tickets available from www.moshtix.com.au

Thursday 28 June The Tote, Melbourne
Supported by DCM + Machine + Kangaroo Skull + Forces DJs
Tickets available from www.moshtix.com.au


* NEW SHOW JUST ANNOUNCED* 
Friday 29 June The Exeter Beer Garden, Adelaide (solo show)
Supported by Lochie Wilson (Steering By Stars)
Free entry

Missy Higgins returns with single, album and Australian tour

We know what you're thinking. You're thinking, what the hell happened to Aussie songstress Missy Higgins? Well, Missy privately decided to quit music, despite selling over a million copies of her first two albums, gaining multiple ARIA Awards and gold certification in the U.S. for her song Where I Stood. However, after a five year absence, she finally returns with a brand new single Unashamed Desire and the announcement of ‘The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle Tour’ for June and July. This will be Missy’s first national tour in since 2007. 

The story of the journey that brought her back to music - including her battle with writer's block - forms the backbone of her new album The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle which will land in June.

Unashamed Desire was directed by the award winning Natasha Pincus. You'll know Pincus as the director of the clip for Gotye's Somebody That I Used To Know, and the connections continue as Missy recently joined Gotye on stage in San Francisco to perform Kimbra’s vocal part on that song. The pair also teamed up again for a sold out show in Los Angeles the following night.

We checked out Missy's exclusive performance in Bondi last week, where she debuted songs from her forthcoming record. You can finally do the same at the following venues. Tickets went on general sale this morning, so get busy:

Fri June 1:  Adelaide, Her Majesty's Theatre www.bass.net.au / 131 246
Sat June 2:  Perth, Astor Theatre www.bocsticketing.com.au / 08 9484 1133 / 1800 193 300
Wed June 6:  Brisbane, The Tivoli www.ticketek.com.au / 132 849
Fri June 8:  Sydney, York Theatre, Seymour Centre http://sydney.edu.au/seymour / 02 9351 7940
Mon June 11: Wollongong, Illawarra Performing Arts Centre: www.merrigong.com.au / 02 4224 5999
Wed June 13:  Newcastle,  Newcastle  City Hall www.ticketek.com.au / 132 849
Thu June 14:  Canberra, Canberra Theatre www.canberratheatrecentre.com.au  / 02 6275 2700
Fri June 15:  Geelong, Geelong Performing Arts Centre www.gpac.org.au / 03 5225 1200
Sat June 16:  Melbourne, Her Majesty's Theatre www.ticketek.com.au / 132 849
Fri July 27:  Mackay, Mackay Entertainment Centre www.mackaytix.com.au / 07 4961 9777
Sat July 28:  Rockhampton, The Pilbeam Theatre www.pilbeamtheatre.com.au / 07 4927 4111
Sun July 29:  Splendour In The Grass, Bryon Bay moshtix.com.au / 1300 GET TIX (438 849) from 9am AEST Friday 27 April

Wish You Were Here ticket giveaway!

Wish You Were Here is a psychological drama/mystery starring Joel Edgerton, Felicity Price and Teresa Palmer. Four friends - husband and wife Dave and Alice, and Alice's sister Steph and her new boyfriend Jeremy - head off on a South East Asian holiday, but only three return back to Australia. Dave and Alice come home to their young family desperate for answers about Jeremy's mysterious disappearance. When Steph returns not long after, a brutal secret is revealed about the night her boyfriend went missing. But it is only the first of many. Who amongst them knows what happened on that fateful night when they were dancing under a full moon in Cambodia?

We were lucky enough to have a beer or two with director Kieran Darcy-Smith the other day, and will be bringing you the results of our chat real soon. For now though, wanna see the movie for free? Course you do. Well, we've got a bunch of passes to give away thanks to our mates at Hopscotch. All you gotta do is complete the following sentence: "I wish I was...". Just send your answer, along with your address to info@bobbysix.com, we'll randomly pick some winners and shoot some free passes in the post this week. The passes are only valid in Australia, so, you know, bear that in mind when entering the competition, otherwise it might be quite a pricey cab ride home.

Hero Fisher interview

There is a glint in Hero Fisher's eye as she sips red wine in a Sydney bar. Blonde hair tumbles onto her shoulders and a cheeky smile exudes an instantly beguiling impishness and engaging charisma. It is little wonder she is feeling particularly ebullient today as, a couple of nights previously, she had wowed the same room with the launch of her debut EP; her solo set of live songs receiving a rapturous reception. It's not just the Sydney public that are paying attention either. Last November, Andrew Wyatt invited her to record one of her songs, Break My Heart And Mend It, in Prague with an orchestra he was working with to record his own solo album. Soon, she would head to the UK to perform at the Royal Opera House alongside the likes of Boy George, Jonathan Pierce and Alison Mosshart in a dance production written by Wyatt and Mark Ronson and orchestrated by Rufus Wainwright. "I am so excited about the show," she exclaims. "It's such an amazing mix of worlds, and I feel so lucky to be involved." With her star clearly ascending at pace, it's safe to say that you'll be hearing a lot more from this Sydneysider in 2012.

A perfect English accent suggests that she was not born-and-bred in Australia, yet it also belies her French upbringing. “I ended up in Australia about two years ago because I needed to get away from Paris, which is where I grew up for most of my life. I have got Australian parents and I guess I initially just wanted to see what they had run away from.” And so she ended up in the Harbour City, where she instantly fell in with a creative bunch of like-minded musicians, such as Bobbysix favourites, The Preachers. Friendships were formed. Music was made.

While Hero (which is her real name, incidentally) was happy to nestle in the bosom of Sydney's musical family, initially she found working with others to be a strange experience. “I'd been playing solo all my life, so then I had huge fear of collaborating with anyone and just this fear of having to look someone in the eyes and say, 'This is the reality of the song. It's not that good but we can work it out,' rather than 'Hello everybody, this is me in my perfect state,' which never happens. Having a producer was new to me as well. That was full-on. But it was great and a really good learning experience and I'm so glad that I did it.” The eventual result of such collaborating is a stunning debut EP. “At this point, what I like about songwriting is that I don't feel convinced about anything,” she says of her creative processes. “I'm really enjoying it. I like that I'll come up with some brilliant idea and think 'This is genius,' and then a week later I'll be like, 'No. It's shit.' The songs are at a point where the subject is about letting things flow past you rather than being up against them, being aware that you'll always change your mind and that it's fine to do so.”

Her folk musings are born from a love of some of the all-time greats. As talk turns to her influences, one name continues to crop up. “Bob Dylan is my number one hero. He's my god. He has influenced me so much and I just love how naughty he is. He is a totally mystery. It's impossible to understand the man. I also love Billie Holiday. She's one of my favourite singers and I love how she sings everything right after the beat. There are loads of others... Neil Young, Jeff Buckley, Joni Mitchell.” Mitchell is certainly a good reference point, as would be Laura Marling. Wise yet yearningly poetic lyrics over acoustic guitars and flourishes of strings make for an achingly beautiful listen and one which you would be foolish not to embrace.

You can catch Hero at the Royal Opera House throughout April. For ticket information, and to purchase her wonderful EP, head to http://www.herofisher.com/. 

Interview by Heidi Pett and Bobby Townsend.

The Maple Trail interview

The Maple Trail's Aidan Roberts talks to Bobbysix.com about Cable Mount Warning, his new album:

How does Cable Mount Warning differ from what has come from you before? 
With every new recording I feel like I’m trying to capture a period of life, a span of time. This album feels older to me, it’s less cluttered than the first record – the sounds are subtler, and the lyrics reflect the older me. This is my favourite of all the albums I’ve done.

You focused almost exclusively on using acoustic instruments for this record. Was that a conscious decision from the outset or something that came about organically? 
The album’s gone through many changes since I started recording the first songs a few years ago; finally I think the album was taking shape when I was living with very few instruments around me – so by necessity, I just tried to fill it all out with the acoustic instruments I had around me, find interesting ways to record them, and I found I really liked not having many amplified sounds. There’s a couple of electric guitar parts, but only subtle ones.

The album was written and recorded in various different places from New Zealand to Stanmore in Sydney via the Blue Mountains. How important is location in the creation of your songs? Does where you are have much of an affect on what you write/record? 
I’m always inspired by wide open spaces, and people-watching when I’m in the city. I wish I could write while I’m travelling – but the reality is you collect ideas in your mind but never really get to sit down and fill them out. But I always, always carry around my songbook because I do get inspired everywhere I go, and at least I can scribble down a few lyrics or a picture, and later I can get behind the guitar or piano and make something of it.

From where did you take inspiration when writing the album? Musically or otherwise. 
Some of these songs (The Dinosaur Hunters for example) are actually quite old – the lyrics have survived a decade or so, and I’ve used my current musical inspirations to build them into something new. Some songs are very new, and grew out of the process of making the music itself; Captain Dies was initially about the frustration of recording this album and where I was at emotionally in everyday life. There’s a few songs that have stemmed from my responses to a good film, or a hard time I’ve been through or whatever. Really, once I had a collection of songs, I assembled 11 of them into what I felt was the album that makes the most sense to me – and it sort of took on a life of its own.

Will you be touring the album? 
We’re doing a couple of very special launch shows in Sydney and Melbourne in April/May, then we’ll tour some more as the year progresses. The Maple Trail is like a rare forest creature. Doesn’t come out of hiding very often! But we’re hoping to turn that around this time.

You recently were part of the Broken Stone Records Roadshow. Did you have fun on the road with the other bands? What were your highlights? 
The BSR tour was one of the best months of our lives. So rarely do you get to tour with the same 17 people, playing night after night in remote and beautiful venues, just having a daily life together while playing beautiful music. We would all go for nice long ocean swims against the current before breakfast, play acoustic sessions at cafes during the day, it was like the most amazing working holiday with my best friends.

Were any friendships forged/strengthened that could lead to future collaborations?
Most of us on the label are already friends, but there were a few new faces who are now definitely a part of the musical family. We really did make some excellent music on the road, and Ella Bancroft is making a film about it, so I can’t wait to see that.

The Maple Trail Cable Mount Warning Launch Tour: 
MELBOURNE: Tuesday 24 April (Anzac Day Eve) - The Gasometer
SYDNEY: Tuesday 3 May - The Vanguard 

Interview by Bobby Townsend

The Jezabels - Rosebud

When we first saw The Jezabels supporting Bridezilla in Bondi about 4 years ago, we thought "Yeah, this band has got some serious potential." Fast-forward to today and that potential has been realised to an incredible degree. 2011 ended with sold out shows across Australia on the back of UK and US tours, while accolades included Album Of The Year at the 2011 Rolling Stone Awards, Best Independent Artist at the AIR Awards and ARIA Nominations.

2012 is shaping up to be another big year for the quartet, with fans voting single Endless Summer in at number 9 in the triple j Hottest 100 and more recently the band have taken out the 7th Annual Australian Music Prize, for their debut LP Prisoner and received a nomination for Apra Song Of The Year for Endless Summer. The Jezabels are currently doing a run of sold out shows in Europe and North America, and will be hitting up festivals all over Europe in the summer. Have a look at the brand new clip for Rosebud and see what all the fuss is about.

Zulu Winter postpone Australian tour dates but will be playing Splendour

It is with semi-sadness that we announce Zulu Winter will be postponing their Australian tour. Semi-sadness? That's right. Dry your eyes mate, because they have a bigger plan in store. After witnessing their scorching live show at SXSW, the Secret Sounds promoters have decided to keep Zulu Winter up their sleeve for a special Australian debut performance at SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS this year.

Zulu Winter will be making good use of their now ‘spare time’ in April, with their international schedule ramping up off the back of their performances in Austin. They will be heading to Europe where demand continues to increase from promoters, fans and press. After hearing rumours of their incredible live show, the likes of Arcade Fire, Mumford & Sons and Kaiser Chiefs all made it down to catch separate Zulu Winter SXSW shows. It is little wonder that Zulu Winter are amongst the hotly tipped bands in the world right now. The bookish lads from Oxford’s lead single We Should Be Swimming (above) have been turning heads across the UK and US with Q Magazine naming them amongst their “Essential Listening” on the eve of SXSW, NME ticking them off as a band to watch and previous tracks receiving a Pitchfork endorsement. 

Any Zulu Winter fans who got in early for tickets to their April show will be happily refunded at their point of purchase. Stay tuned for further announcements.