ma. gallery's third birthday party at Oxford Art Factory, Sydney

From humble beginnings in 2009, ma. gallery has grown to become a widely recognised “travelling circus”, showcasing over 300 creative types in Sydney, Melbourne & Tokyo. To celebrate its third birthday, there was a massive shindig at Sydney's Oxford Art Factory.

Amid art murals by Sydney-based international exhibiting artists Jumbo, Esjay, Bennett, John Hynd & Jaxie Yael, a bunch of bands, DJs, a load of booze and some live tattoos artists ensured that the festivities went off with a bang. Especially noteworthy were exceptional sets from La Mancha Negra (pictured above), Mother & Son (pictured, below) and Kill City Creeps. Meanwhile, Glitter Canyon (pictured, bottom) headlined the night with a histrionic set which saw them wrestle with individual crowd members and climb the rafters.

A fittingly fun and interesting party to celebrate three fantastic years of ma. gallery. Here's to many more.

Words and pictures by Bobby Townsend. See more photos on Facebook.

Sydney's ma. gallery celebrates its third birthday with an epic shindig

Sydney's ma. gallery is going all out this year for its third birthday with the help of Oxford Art Factory, who are opening their doors for a night of underground talent & entertainment, with spiced rum shots on arrival for guests & live tattoo artists sponsored by Sailor Jerry.

From their humble beginnings in 2009, ma. gallery has grown to become a widely recognized “travelling circus”, showcasing over 300 creative types in Sydney, Melbourne & Tokyo. To celebrate their third birthday they are pulling out the big guns on May 19th, with a mouth watering line up, including La Mancha Negra, The Walk On By, Mother & Son, Kill City Creeps, Glitter Canyon, Atom Bombs, Spirit Valley, Danger Danny’s, The Pieter Van Den Hoogen Band & House Of Beggars (feat Popey from Dead China Dolls). There'll also be art murals by Sydney-based international exhibiting artists Jumbo, Esjay, Bennett, John Hynd & Jaxie Yael, as well as vinyl DJ’s spinning some sick tunes.

We'll be there this Saturday May 19th, and you should be too. So get your tickets today for the bargain price of ten bones.

Tickets available through Moshtix.

Loene Carmen & La Mancha Negra to play Wolf Call!

In loving memory of Route 66 Co-Founder Ross Waddington, who took the stairway to heaven last month, Route 66 Sydney (EST. 1983) present the very first WOLF CALL. Waddington was an obsessive vinyl enthusiast and DJ (his collection mounting over seven thousand), avid gig-goer, a cultural pioneer, a wealth of inspiration and, without a doubt, the epitome of cool.

So, the White Christmas edition of WOLF CALL takes place on December 16th at GoodGod Small Club Danceteria in Sydney. Featuring:
LA MANCHA NEGRA who say what they mean and say it mean. The roughest 'n' ready South American-style garage in the land. Shake, Rattle & Roll.
ATOM BOMBS. An explosive tsunami of surf instrumentals to thud and rumble through your very being and take you on a rocky ride straight to the shores of Hawaii.
JESSE REDWING. The Beastly Blues Extraordinaire. Performing numbers like Slim Harpo's King Bee. Lured from the basement of Commons where you may find him nightly. He got rhythm, he got soul and he plays a mean Harmonica.
LOENE CARMEN (pictured above). Lady Luck herself, The Underground Queen of Sugar & Spice, and All Things Nice. Nashville mastery, tear-soaked blues noir, anthemic lullabies, psychedelic hymns and spacious folk.
FLASH & CRASH DJs (Leroi Waddington & Holiday Sidewinder) to play All American Rareities & Classics, All 45s. Rhythm & Blues, Soul, Rock 'n' Roll, Garage, Surf. Till Sunrise.


You'll find this awesomeness at GoodGod Small Club Danceteria in Sydney. This Friday 16th December. Ten bones on the door. From 8.30pm.

Photo by Bobby Townsend

Getting To Know... Chicks Who Love Guns

Sydney's Chicks Who Love Guns play at The Gaelic this Friday. Vocalist Cass (front left in the above picture) tells us what to expect:

I would describe Chicks Who Love Guns' sound as something that spawned from boredom, then evolved into something a little more thought out. It's got a real brash element to it which is probably the boredom thing coming into play again. We play fast songs, loud songs and generally it's something that we feel is sonically entertaining - at least to people who are in the same boat as us and are sick of generic indie pop blegh.

We take inspiration from all over the place. Xavier (Drums) is as much into watching Dave Grohl or Jimmy Chamberlin play drums as he is into listening to The Budos Band. Jack (Guitar) listens to all sorts of shit too, he makes electronic music on the side in the vein of Flying Lotus or Gaslamp Killer. Mitch (Bass) listens to a lot of 31G bands like The Locust and Some Girls, Mody (Guitar) loves him some Rowland S Howard and Liars but has a pretty keen ear for good local music and always seems to be the one playing us some random band from Brisbane or Melbourne or something. I guess that leaves me, these days I listen to loads of hip hop. A group like OFWGKTA appeals to me heaps (well, all of us really) because they have a real punk ethic to them and seeing footage of them live is more like seeing one of our shows than your standard hip hop gig.

Sydney is pretty good. Some of the music that comes out of here is truly awesome but a lot is rubbish. I'm a grumpy bastard though and really can't stand any music that is too quirky or cutesy and there seems to be a neverending flow of that. There are some great bands here though - Zeahorse, La Mancha Negra, Psychonanny and The Babyshakers, Myth & Tropics, Mother and Son (Wollongong) - bands that have more balls and substance for me. I'm sure it's like that everywhere though, there will always be a counter-culture. Whether we are or they are is something I'm not sure of.

I am currently listening to Earl Sweatshirt, Pulled Apart by Horses, Rolo Tomassi

It might surprise people to learn that the G from The G,L + S tattoo Xavier got tattooed in his lip for our video clip has already worn away. Ahaha now he just has L+S.

Our show at The Gaelic will hopefully be one of the best we've done. We haven't played in about two months because we've had a couple of members overseas, so I'm hoping we get a good crowd down. It will be a supremely fun night I think, tell a friend. BYO ruckus. We just may be doing a cover of this:

Check out Chicks Who Love Guns on their Myspace Page. They are are supported by Redcoats and The Rubens at Last Night at The Gaelic on Friday. Tickets are a bargain ten bones on the door.