News:
· Puff 'n' Stuff
Everything that's happenin in Adelaide this fortnight.
· Industry
The latest from the music industry.
· Puffio
Theatre news.
· Dance
Dance and electronica news.
· Metal
Updates from the wide world of metal.
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Puff 'n' Stuff.
Puff's received word that The Cants, The Specimens and The Kamikaze Trio are heading this way for a show at the Crown & Anchor on Fri 25 Feb. They're described as young and restless (and, indeed, have joined forces for a tour-only CD entitled 'The Young & The Restless' which will be available at the show), and so issues the below picture as a public service. Study it closely, remember the distinctive features and prepare yourselves accordingly. It's the only way we can be sure.
It's always lovely to see Deb Conway in our
neck of the woods: specifically, she'll be in the woods-neck
that includes the Governor Hindmarsh on Fri 25 Feb.
Transit are also in a launching mood: they're setting their CD free at the Jade Monkey on Fri 25 Feb, along with Superlux (who just released a CD of their own, you know) and Blow Up Betty.
And it doesn't end there: the ever-charming
Heather Frahn launches her brand new CD-EP 'Acoustic Energy'
at the Jade Money on Fri 11 March.
GT Stringer have also put the finishing touches to their brand-new 'Booby Trap', which they'll be launching at the Wheatsheaf Hotel on Sat 19 March.
Bad Girls Of The Bible are - finally! - launching
their double A side 7" single (pressed on Czech vinyl, no less)
at Jive on Sat 26 March, along with Mirrorline and Pharoahs.
They've also catered for those who are less old-school by packing
a CD with the tracks thereon in with the single. These Bad Girls
are thinkers, you know.
However, it's not all smiles and sunshine: Hi-End Audio are calling it a day with their final ever gig at the Enigma Bar on Sat 26 Feb, along with Away From Now, Mere Theory and Realist Few.
Aurora Jane will be heading west to pay us
a visit on Fri 25 Feb for a show at the Wheatsheaf Hotel.
The Sneaky Sound System are making their first ever visit to Adelaide on the back of their Hip Hop Hooray single: catch them at Garage on Sat 5 March.
It's probably the closest you'll actually
get to seeing Guns'n'Roses, you know: Velvet Revolver play at
Thebarton Theatre on Sat 26 Feb, along with The Screaming Jets.
Fans of US legends of country, take note: you'll be getting not one, not two but three of them when Kieren Kane, Kevin Welsh and Fats Kaplan join forces for a show at the Governor Hindmarsh on Thurs 3 March.
Michael Dixon and his band The Rest managed
to pack out Jive last time they played there so they're doing
it again just to check that it wasn't a fluke: they'll be going
for sell-out number two on Sat 26 Feb.
David Ross McDonald is possibly best known as the chap that hits things for The Waifs, but he's popping in front of the drum kit with his solo album 'Far From Here' and his first non-Waifs Adelaide show on Thurs 10 March at the Grace Emily Hotel.
Stuff from Puff: George Clooney is Puff's
new hero after mocking Russell Crowe, actor and powerhouse musician
behind 30 Odd Foot Of Grunts, who took a swipe at actors like
Clooney, Harrison Ford and Robert de Niro for cheapening their
celebrity by doing commercials. According to imdb.com, Clooney
responded to Crowe's claim in a recent interview that actors
doing commercials was "a complete contradiction of the fucking
social contract you have with your audience" with "I'm glad
he set us straight, because Harrison, Bob and I were putting
a band together called Grunting For 30 Feet and that would also
fall under the heading of 'bad use of celebrity'. Thanks for
the heads up." Puff decrees that "Wednesday" shall now be renamed
"Clooneysday" in his honour... Razorlight insist they're not
splitting up, despite a disasterous US tour and postponing their
UK shows (singer Johnny Borrell is apparently down and out with
a serious throat condition)... Of course, as regular readers
of Puff'n'Stuff will be only too aware, a band's split is merely
a prelude for the inevitable reunion. Latest cab off the there's-still-so-much-creativity-inside-us
rank is Warrant - yes, as in Cherry Pie. Puff assumes that an
Ugly Kid Joe reformation can be only days away... Speaking of
reunions, Abba have gotten together for the first time in around
20 years: last week Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Anni-Frid
Lyngstad and Agnetha Faltskog appeared at the Cirkus Theatre
in Stockholm. However, before you start that online petition
to get them to Australia, you should also be aware that they
didn't sing a note: all four were attending the Swedish premiere
of the Abba musical 'Mamma Mia'. Nor did they appear together
(Benny and Bjorn took a bow on stage, Anni-Frid and Agnetha
stayed in their seats), so it's more a case of them all being
in the same room than any sort of "reformation". And in case
your hopes are still up, let Puff continue to dash them by adding
that Abba reputedly turned down over a million dollars to reunite
on the 20th anniversary of their Waterloo Eurovision win last
year... it's not just bands that make comebacks: Factory Records
is back, baby, under the moniker F4 since it's the fourth incarnation
of Tony Wilson's idiosyncratic Manchester label, which has enjoyed
some fascinating ups and downs since it first hit the highs
with the massive success of New Order (and then lost it the
first time when the Happy Mondays held their 'Yes, Please' album
to ransom for crack money). Interestingly one of the first new
signings is Vini Reilly, whose band Durutti Column was one of
Factory's first signings back in 1979... Time for Puff's Legal
Corner: that charming and erudite fellow Kid Rock demonstrated
his class and gentle good humour by being arrested in the wee
small hours of Clooneysday 16 Feb after punching out the DJ
at a Nashville strip club, supposedly for playing music he didn't
care for (strip clubs, after all, being the place one traditionally
goes to listen to one's favourite tunes). He ran off before
surrendering to police and has been released on $US3000 bail
and technically faces the possibility of a year in jail for
assault. However, since the Kid played one of George W Bush's
inauguration gigs, Puff wouldn't be surprised to see these charges
mysteriously disappear, like WMDs in the desert... P Diddy,
meanwhile, is being sued by Random House for forgetting to write
that autobiography they gave him a $US300,000 advance for in
1998. Puff's not sure who's the poorer: Random House for not
seeing anything for their money, or society as a whole for missing
out on the wit and wisdom of the man they once called "Puffy"...
Fellow hip-hop chap DMX had has his court case postponed until
late March: he pleaded not guilty to charges of speeding (104
mph in a 65 zone), unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and
driving an unregistered vehicle. Fight the power, DMX... Michael
Jackson was rushed to hospital en route to jury selection for
his child molestation case with a "serious illness" which subsequently
turned out to be "flu". Third rate stand-up comedians and breakfast
radio announcers the world over were also delighted to discover
that Stevie Wonder has been called as a defence witness (the
premise of their jokes being that Wonder is blind. Get it? Witness?
Blind? Hilarious, no?)... And the late Joe Strummer, singer/guitarist
with The Clash who died of a heart attack in 2002, has been
honoured by having a train named after him in Bristol. Puff
welcomes readers to make their own Train In Vain joke,
but also points out that it was actually written by fellow Clash
singer/guitarist Mick Jones. Puff's just saying is all.
Hey, Riverland readers! Puff trusts that you've bought your tickets for Handpicked, the music festival that is coming straight outta Loxton on Sat 12 March. The lineup already includes such good-rockin' fare as Grinspoon, Shihad, DJ Nick Skitz, Snap To Zero, Everest, locals Third Best and more in a day long celebration of music at Loxton Oval. There's even on-site camping available for those city folks who fancy the trip over: but get your tickets soon while there are still tickets to get.
Ms Holly Throsby was last here supporting
Hayden at the Grace Emily, but now she's back with her debut
album 'On Night', new single Things Between People and
a national tour that will see her back at the Grace on Sat 26
Feb along with Grand Salvo. Ben Farrell is celebrating his birthday
with a show at the Austral on Fri 25 Feb with the cunningly-titled
Ben Farrell Band. It'll be their last gig in a little while
as they compose material for their second CD.
Got your ticket to see Sarah Blasko at Fowlers Live on Fri 25 Feb with Little Ice Age and The Zero Kelvins? Well, you'd better pull your finger out: continuing the exciting run of recent sell-outs, it's doubtful that there'd be tickets still available by the time you read this. But you might be lucky...
Hoo, baby! Trans Am have been to Australia a couple of times
but have always given Adelaide a miss - until now! What's even
better is that these post-rock legends are being joined by The
Fucking Champs (who've collaborated with the Am on many occasions,
releasing records as TransChamps and The Fucking Am). And they'll
all be at the Enigma Bar on on Sun 27 March! Take Puff's word
for it, you don't want to miss this.
More Stuff From Puff: Let's pay a visit to Puff Drummer Corner with an update on Nickelback's drummer Ryan Vikedal, who walked a few weeks ago. Now it seems his place has been taken by Daniel Adair from 3 Doors Down. Adair's place, in turn, has been filled by Puddle Of Mudd's Greg Upchurch at least temporarily. Puff, meanwhile, has a simple and elegant solution for all of the aforementioned bands: split up... Of course, if Vikedal is looking for a new gig, maybe he should give Brodie Dalle a call: Andy Granelli has left The Distillers to concentrate on his other band Darker My Love... Shania Twain is developing her own line of perfumes and fragrances: no word yet on what involvement husband/co-writer/producer/svengali Robert "Mutt" Lange will take, but Puff's hoping for a scent based around his production work on Def Leppard's breakthrough 'Hysteria'... Snoop Dogg took a bottle to the head toward the end of a gig in Nottingham, UK. Apparently he was OK and the tour has resumed, but Puff suspects Merry Man involvement in the bottling and demands to know what the Sheriff plans to do about it... And finally, The Flaming Lips' Michael Ivens has taken time off from the new Lips' album ('At War With The Mystics', due mid-year) and the final shooting schedule for the long, long, long awaited Lips feature film 'Christmas On Mars' (due in time for the festive season) to cameo in one of the final episodes of 'Star Trek: Enterprise'. Ivens, along with with the Lips' manager and fellow Trek enthusiast Scott Booker and his wife, will play miners. Oh, you crazy nerds!
With so many shows selling out left, right
and centre it seems as though people are actually going out
to see live music again - to which Puff says a mighty "Huzzah!"
- and so it's particularly important that you, dear reader,
be alerted as to which of our talented local types also have
new records for your delectation. To that end, let's note some
CD launches: like one for punkers Badtaste, who launch their
debut CD-EP 'Please Notice My Tie' at the Underground on Sat
26 Feb, along with Stolen Youth, The Brews and Trashlife.
Maybe it's just because they're free of that infernal bubble, but it seems like Regurgitator are some sort of touring machine at the moment: they're at the Adelaide UniBar on Fri 4 March, along with The Vasco Era, in support of perky new single My Friend Robot.
Chicks On Speed were last year for the Big
Day Out a couple of years back, but now they're returning for
their first ever headlining show in Adelaide: catch them at
the Enigma Bar on Sun 6 March, supported by the always-entertaining
Sweet Raxxx.
Queenland's Fagan are bringing their beautifully atmospheric pop to Adelaide for the very first time in support of their 'Shipping Secrets' album. Catch them at Jive on Fri 25 Feb, and the Royal Oak Hotel on Sat 26 Feb.
Gomez are also making a welcome return to
Adelaide on Tues 22 March for a show at Thebarton Theatre, along
with touring buddies End Of Fashion.
Melbourne's indescribable art/noise/rock collective The Grey Daturas are paying Adelaide a visit for a show at the Exeter on Rundle St on Sat 26 Feb, along with The Night Crash and My Sister The Cop.
And don't forget that the Violent Femmes
will be at Thebbie on Sun 3 April, and tickets are already moving
out the door.
Got your tickets for the Adelaide Uni O-Ball yet? You'd better have, since it's got its best lineup in years: Eskimo Joe headline, with Evermore, Gerling, The Cops, The Panda Band, The Hot Lies, For Amusement Only, Mirrorline, Tokyo Story, Red Monika, A Tribe Is Forming, Ozi Battla, Elgusto & Urthboy and Style High Club giving helpful tips on tertiary education in and around the Union Building and Cloisters on Sat 26 Feb.
Oh come on! Just look at the amount of stuff
going on above, not to mention WOMAD and the Adelaide Film Festival:
you can't tell Puff that you're not all set to...
Get Out Of The House!
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