News:
· Puff 'n' Stuff
Everything that's happening 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.
Look, at the risk of overstating the case, Puff's pretty sure that there's a largish city between Perth and Melbourne: bit under a million people, disproportionately groovy live scene, lots of great bands and venues, savvy and attractive population, has an astonishingly brilliant fortnightly street magazine... anyway, it seems that while the nation's cartographers are familiar with Adelaide, Australia's promoters have apparently forgotten we exist. Billy Corgan can't be bothered coming to Adelaide. Queens Of The Stone Age and The Futureheads are perfectly happy to take our own Wolf & Cub on tour, but can't be arsed visiting their hometown. Hot Hot Heat are avoiding us. Smog and Joanna Newsom are giving us a miss. Fantomas have also passed. But just to add insult to injury, The Foo Fighters (and touring support The Kaiser Chiefs) are visiting every other mainland state capital, but guess who misses out? No really, take a guess. And it's not like they're only making a flying visit either: Puff's seen the national dates and there are several perfectly serviceable options to pop over to Adelaide. We've had a two-year run of sold out shows, for god's sake, what else do we have to do? Come on, Grohl, lift your game.
Anyway, we should celebrate those fine folks that do bring artists
to Adelaide - artists like those fast'n'furious guitar-slinging
punk heroes The Explosion, who'll be at the Enigma Bar on Fri
5 Aug with Backseat Romeos and Fighting Words. And it looks
like they've done a good job with your laundry too.
Feeling Clashy? Then Ian "Bang!" Bell has just the thing for you in the form of his next "A-Rama" tribute night: on Wed 27 July (the very day this issue hits the streets, don't you know?) he'll be raising money for three-d radio with 'Clash-A-Rama', with a bunch of bands - specifically The Ramonettes, Central Deli Band, The Fleck Allstars, The Saucermen, The Big Band, Kamikaze, Everest and Tunnel Visionaries - playing their favourite Clash and Clash-related songs at Jive. Doors open at 8 and it should be a hoot, Puff tells you.
How many CD launches are going on in this town? A thousand?
A million? That sounds about right to Puff, and one of them
is for Krysalis who are launching their 'Towards The Sun' CD
at the Enigma Bar on Sat 30 July, along with Remedy and the
Matt Winter Band.
Seeing Orbo are also on the launching trail: the duo of Max Lorenzin (uncle of Declan, guitars, other instruments, vocals) and Declan Lorenzin (nephew of Max, vocals, blind since birth) will be launching their self-titled CD at the Fad Bar & Gallery on Thurs 28 July.
Mick Kidd's hard-working blues combo Bluestone will be launching
their new CD at the Dog'n'Ute (until recently known as the Callington
Pub) on Sun 31 July.
Don't think for a second that the CD launches stop there: The Unspoken Things are launching their debut CD at the Jade Monkey on Sat 6 Aug, with The Trafalgars and Poly & The Statics in support.
The Pales are demonstrating an impressive commitment to efficiency
with their launch for the second CD 'Black & Tan': not only
is it their CD launch, it's also their final ever gig. How's
that for compacting a whole career's worth of activity into
the one night? They'll be joined by Sunset Club and Midstream,
and they do look very happy about it.
Fancy a nice warm Sunday afternoon gig? Of course you do - and The Peccadillos and The Yearlings (who've only just returned from their east coast tour) are way ahead of you. They're playing an oh-so-civilised early evening show at the Grace Emily on Sun 7 Aug.
Sure, some bands might not think Adelaide's worth visiting,
but there are some absolutely A1 tours coming our way, so make
sure you have your diary marked up for Shihad's Sun 4 Sept date
at Heaven, not to mention the long-awaited return visit of US
indie legends Spoon, who are coming to Fowlers Live on Sat 10
Sept. Punk heroes Millencolin make a welcome return to Thebbie
on Tues 20 Sept and the band that dB Magazine's music editor
Andrew P Street loudly declares as being "the best thing in
the whole wide world ever", The Mountain Goats, come to Jive
on Thurs 15 Sept. Miss it and Mr Street will personally hunt
you down. He's not joking either.
Stuff from Puff: Let's kick off with some breakup news, specifically that Washington's Q And Not U have decided that seven years is just about enough and are calling it a day in September... An Elliot Smith tribute album is in the works for a spring release, marking two years since his tragic death. Among the oh-so-indie artists already confirmed are The Decemberists (doing Clementine), the Helio Sequence (Satellite), Lifesavas (Happiness) and The Thermals (Ballad Of Big Nothing)... You think your flu is bad? Spare a thought for Spiritualized/former Spaceman 3 honcho Jason Pierce who's just spent two weeks in hospital after nearly dying from what the NME refer to as "an as-yet-unspecified illness", but is reportedly back home and recovering well... Matchbox 20 frontman and recent solo star Rob Thomas has slammed rumours that he was caught in bed with Tom Cruise. "If I were gay, Tom wouldn't be on the top of my list," he was quoted as saying at imdb.com, "it would be Brad Pitt" However, showing an unexpected streak of good sense, he also quipped "I'm more offended by the rumors saying I'm Scientologist."... ... Two reunion albums are in the works: the classic Primus lineup, who've been doing the US festival circuit for the last year or so, have announced that they're planning to hit the studio shortly, while the Pixies have also confirmed that they'll definitely be recording a new album this year... According to the entertaining-but-not-necessarily-trustworthy types at Popbitch, Jack Johnson has been the unwitting beneficiary of a design snafu that has seen sales of the recently released UK compilation 'Electric 80s' be attributed to him: the compilation's cover design is a barcode, and apparently some retailers have been scanning it by mistake - and, incredible though it may seem, it allegedly works! Not only does it register the price as being five pounds less than the RRP of the double CD set, it also comes up in the system as being Johnson's 'In Between Dreams'... Mariah Carey had a Janet Jackson-esque wardrobe malfunction when her dress fell apart filming a TV show in Germany. The audience got a flash of the Carey rack before she was hustled off stage to repin and reshoot. Apparently she thought it was pretty damn funny... Plans for the ashes of the late Hunter S Thompson to be blasted from a cannon as per his final wishes are well underway: Johnny Depp (who befriended Thompson when playing him in Terry Gilliam's film of 'Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas') is helping construct a 150 foot cannon to blast the ashes over Thompson's Colorado property in August... And Grandaddy's new album might still be a ways away, but they're about to release a stop-gap eight-track EP entitled 'Excerpts From The Diary Of Todd Zilla' and promise that none of the tracks will appear on album #5. That's all well and good, but the big news is that frontman Jason Lytle has - brace yourself - shaved off his beard. Puff's aghast.
Melbourne's Responder have just released their rockin' debut
CD-EP 'Seeing and Thinking at Twice Speed' and they reckon you'd
like it. To that end, they're coming to Adelaide for shows at
the Crown & Anchor (Fri 5 Aug) and the Austral (Sat 6 Aug).
Let's take a quick spin around the softly-lit dancefloor that Puff likes to call "the courts": R Kelly's child pornography charges look set to come to trial soonish, now that the prosecutors have narrowed the time frame that they claim the videotapes of Kelly getting' his freak on with an underage partner were made. The singer's set to return to court on Wed 27 July... Rapper Gucci Mane, meanwhile, has just been fingered by Johnny Law in Miami on an outstanding warrant for aggravated assault. He's likely to be sent back to his home state of Georgia, since he's got a murder charge to answer in Atlanta. Oh Gucci, why can't we all just get along?... Michael Jackson, meanwhile, might face contempt of court charges after not showing up to answer more child molestation allegations against him, this time from one Joseph Bartucci. Of course, the case against Jackson - that he kidnapped Bartucci at the 1984 World's Fair in New Orleans, held him captive for several days and sexually molested him before releasing him, the memory of which he repressed until it suddenly came flooding back in 2003 when he was watching TV - does seem a little less than completely watertight... With all the other legal dramas going on its no wonder that he innocently forgot to pay the financial firm that helped him buy The Beatles publishing catalogue: New Jersey's Prescient Acquisition Group Inc helped Jackson get a $US48 million loan which - whoops! - he never paid them for, so they're taking him to court to get it back. Maybe everyone will be nicer to him in Berlin, where he's rumoured to be planning a move.
Those rock'n'roll bad boys Cockfight Shootout are heading our
way with their 'Breed Until Broken' CD in their hands and a
gig at the Crown & Anchor on Sat 30 July, with the Backseat
Romeos.
A Death In The Family (featuring ex-Days Of Iris folks, incidentally) are coming over from Melbourne with a set filled with that emo music that you young people are all listening to these days: and you can be among those young people by getting along to the Crown & Anchor on Thurs 4 Aug (where they'll be joined by IGF Kill You, Before The Aftermath and Equal Minded) before heading a block north to play at the Exeter Hotel on Fri 5 Aug (with Liability Of My Own and Line Of Departure).
Ex-Adelaide sorts Marty and Tom Williams (late of Big Things
Flying and The Jaynes, respectively) are popping back to their
old hometown to catch up with family, water the garden and play
under the guise of Cousin Leonard at the Wheatsheaf Hotel on
Fri 29 July with Michael Dixon & The Rest (who, incidentally,
recently packed out Jive for the third time - not bad for a
local band, says Puff).
It's been ages - simply ages - since we saw Nunchukka Superfly in our neck of the woods, but they're back, baby, with a show at the Crown & Anchor on Fri 29 July along with Manic Distortion and Lycosa.
Or maybe you're enamoured of the idea of catching goth types
Inkubus Sukkubus, who are coming all the way over from the UK
to play one single Australian show - and it's in Adelaide! More
specifically, it's at the Dom Polski Centre on Sat 6 Aug with
support from Spiral Dance.
More Stuff from Puff: despite rumours to the contrary, Eminem has declared that he's definitely not retiring from music - although he will be taking some time off touring, it seems, and producing some other acts... Following up the Dereyk Whibley from Sum 41/Avril Lavigne engagement news that Puff told you about last issue, the latest starlet/punk wannabe coupling news is that Good Charlotte's Joel Madden and pop princess Hilary Duff have announced that they're totally in love and everything... Courtney Love was rushed to hospital on Wed 20 July after feeling faint at a music industry event, and definitely not for any drug-related reasons. In fact, she was set to appear in an LA court on Fri 22 July to report on her progress in drug rehab and, according to a spokesperson, she'd been making "fantastic progress" in not taking drugs. She was released a few hours later and is reportedly fine. And drug-free, of course... And speaking of people for whom music seems to have taken a back seat in favour of pharmaceuticals, it's been simply weeks since we had any news on Pete Doherty so it's good to hear that the former-Libertines-singer/guitarist-now-over-indulged-smack-fiend has pulled a UK tour for his band Babyshambles at no notice, and the NME reports that sessions for the first album are hideously behind schedule and, it's rumoured, he's sacked the rest of the band. His ex-band mate Carl Barat, meanwhile, has just finished off his 'Under The Influence' mix CD and is readying his solo debut. Here's Carl'n'Pete in happier times.
The folks behind the Trinity Sessions want to lend a hand to
rebuild the Karoonda clubrooms, which were destroyed by storms
in June. To that end they're enlisting the help of a bunch of
city slickers to play some tunes for a fundraising concert -
hence Jeanette Wormald, The Audreys, Junior, ReCall and TM Sextet
are all singing, strumming and whatever-else-it-is-that-they-do-ing
at Clarence Park's Church Of The Trinity on Sun 31 July at 3pm.
It's always a pleasure to see Mick Thomas in our neck of the woods, and you can experience that pleasure in a more up-close-and-personal way by being at the Grace Emily on Thurs 28 July, where he'll be playing with Dan Warner.
Lawks a lordy, you don't have to be reading this! Look at everything
that's going on: take a step back, run hard and leap through
the window in order than you might...
Get Out Of The House!
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