News:
· Puff 'n' Stuff
Everything that's happening in Adelaide this fortnight.
· Puffio
Theatre news.
· Dance
Dance and electronica news.
· Metal
Updates from the wide world of metal.
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Puff 'n' Stuff.
Puff was surprised and delighted to come back to the dB Magazine office after the break and switch on the Puff-approved ornamental blue iMac to start downloading the vast amount of invitations, sexually-charged mash notes and epic works of love poetry that bespeak the passion and respect of dB Magazine's grateful readership, only to look at the computer's date and time and discover that it was not, as the so-called "experts" had insisted throughout December, January 2006 at all - but, in fact, the year 1901! Yes, dear reader, those string-theory eggheads would appear to be right: somehow time has folded in on itself and we have journeyed to the beginning of the twentieth century. And what a time to be alive! The first Australian Parliament sits within weeks, the inaugural Nobel Prize will be awarded at the end of the year and, according to the leading lights of the Intelligent Design movement, dinosaurs and unicorns roam freely in the streets. Sure, there are those that suggest that time's arrow cannot be so easily reversed, or even that there was a power outage over the break and the computer's date simply reset to the factory setting, but Puff can't wait to explore this simpler, more innocent and cholera-riddled time. And with these sorts of temporal anomalies bouncing around, who knows what epoch we'll be in tomorrow? For what it's worth, Puff hopes it's the roaring twenties. And, if so, consider yourself warned: when Puff does the Michigan Rag, everybody does the Michigan Rag.
Or perhaps it'll be the mid-nineties - after all, we just got
news that long-defunct locals Loaded Zilla and Temporal Lobe
are playing a special one-night-only reunion show at the Crown
& Anchor on Fri 13 Jan. And, in a further throwback to the times
before decimal currency, it's free!
And speaking of faces from Adelaide Rock Past, now-Ireland-resident songstress Ronnie Taheny makes her annual pilgrimage to her ex-home town for a show at the Gov on Sat 4 Feb.
Fivestar are also back - well, sort of. There have been some
changes, perhaps most notably the fact that they're now called
Slash Princess, and you can spot the rest of the differences
for yourself when you get along to their all-ages gig at Fowler's
Live on Sun 15 Jan, where they'll be joined by The Borderland,
This Collision, Impartial, Sumi, Liability Of My Own and Comp
Jaime.
And they keep a-coming: the Super Raelene Bros are coming down from the top end for the first time since the members abandoned Auntie Raelene and Adelaide for life in the desert. See them embrace civilisation with their two piece violin/kickdrum/bass acoustic dance attack on Thurs 12 Jan (at the Prince Albert Hotel) and Sat 14 Jan (at the Grace Emily). Here's one of those Raelenes now!
But as some SA bands reclaim past glories, others announce that
they're calling it a day - such as The New Pollutants, who are
playing their final ever show at the Crown & Sceptre on Fri
20 Jan, and Spacejunk, who ring down the curtain at Kumfy Klub
At The Shores on Sat 21 Jan. Sniff.
Maybe it's The Liar's Bench who are launching a CD. Maybe it's Soul Trader. Maybe it's both. Maybe they've joined forces in the studio and are doing on together. Perhaps neither of them are launching anything at all. Whatever the story, chances are at least one of the bands are launching a CD at Jive on Sun 22 Jan, with the other band either playing or also launching. Or something. Puff might have a little sit down now.
And there are more CD launches on the horizon, including The
Scholars (Fri 27 Jan at the Jade Monkey) and Bindi (Sat 4 Feb,
also at the Jade Monkey).
Roo Shooter are also launching a CD shortly - the long-rumoured 'Corrupter Of Me' - but the launch will be tinged with sorrow since it'll also be their last ever show. Said performance will be at the annual Melvofest showcase at the Jade Monkey on Sat 28 Jan (a show testifying to the influence of the 'Shooter's own Karl Melvin), with Spindickle, Sweet Raxxx, Antony Of The Future and more paying homage.
Atmospheric Melbourne sorts The Daze are making their first
Adelaide visit with their new disc 'Street Light Solace' and
gigs at Jive on Thurs 12 Jan (with Little Ice Age) and the Prince
Albert on sat 14 Jan.
So, you've got a few dollars left in the envelope your grandparents gave you for Xmas and you're wondering if the coming months have anything rocktacular to offer you, the jaded music aficionado. And as it happens, yes it does: there'll be sweet, sweet rock action from the likes of Canadian siblings Tegan & Sara (Governor Hindmarsh on Sun 12 Feb), US rock stalwarts Lagwagon (Adelaide UniBar on Tues 14 Feb), underground legend Calvin Johnson (Avalon Gallery on Tues 14 Feb), Australian rock'n'roll legends Radio Birdman (making another reunion lap of the nation with a stop at Fowler's Live on Thurs 16 Feb), new punk heroes Comeback Kid and Her Nightmare (a double-header at Fowler's Live on Sun 19 Feb), and the punk/folk crossover masters Against Me! (Enigma, Thurs 23 Feb). Maybe you should take nanna along - she'd appreciate it.
Stuff from Puff: UK sorts The Needs, formerly Special Needs,
can now officially be called "also formerly The Needs" since
they've split up... US emo sorts Pedro The Lion have also announced
they've rung down the curtain with the departure of TW Walsh,
leaving singer/songwriter David Bazan to embark on a solo career...
And while we're visiting Splitsville, Puff will point out that
Mutya Buena has left UK pop kids Sugarbabes, although a replacement
has already been announced in the form of one Amelle Berrabah...
Similarly, soon-to-be-playing-in-Adelaide US pop-rock maestros
Thunderbirds Are Now! have announced the perfectly amicable
departure of drummer Michael Durgan (who was, incidentally,
the only founding member left in the band). He's leaving to
take on "the real life issues that playing in a full-time band
sometimes make impossible to tend to," according to a statement
from the TAN! fold. But fret not, pop lovers: the drum seat
will be occupied by Matt Rickle (skinsperson with Detroit's
Javelins) for the upcoming tour... Puff hopes
you've had your shots and that your medical insurance is paid
up, since we're about to take an impulsive midnight burn through
the neighbourhood that we call Rock Star Injury And Deathville.
First up, Obie Trice: Eminem-approved rapsman and, Puff assumes,
lyrical gangsta. He was driving with his lady on the mean streets
of Detroit when he was wounded by gunfire from a passing car
on Sat 31 Dec. He's OK now, although Puff shudders to think
what his New Year's Resolutions are... And in appalling
news from the US, former Gutterball/House Of Freaks guitarist
Bryan Harvey was brutally murdered on Sun 1 Jan, along with
his wife and two daughters (aged four and nine). Horrifically,
the entire family had their throats cut before the house was
set on fire. Harvey's former bandmate Johnny Hott discovered
the blaze when he and his daughter arrived for a New Year's
Day party... And while we're on the subject
of tragic deaths, Anthony Mikel Gius, ex-drummer with !!!, was
killed in December when a car hit him while he was riding his
bike... ex-Alarm frontman Mike Peters has posted a message
on the band's website revealing that he's suffering from chronic
lymphocytic leukaemia and has begun chemotherapy. Puff's no
doctor, at least not since that farce of a tribunal hearing,
but reckons that since Peters was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins
lymphoma over a decade back, he probably knows his cancers...
And oh wah wah wah, Noel Gallagher. After
bitching about how Oasis are definitely (not, presumably, maybe)
not re-signing to Sony when their deal expires in 2006, he's
now complaining that the company will probably want to do something
completely unreasonable - like, say, release a career-spanning
Greatest Hits. "It's all a scam," he recently moaned in the
UK press. "You should put one out only when you're finished
- in chronological order. But I have a feeling [Sony] will do
the dirty on us." Right on, Noel! Take that Sony, you dirty-doing
bastards! God forbid that a record company would want to make
money off their acts, especially the ones whose best days are
waaaaaaaay behind them.
So, you read the above thing and went "Thunderbirds Are Now!
are touring? Here? In Adelaide? Why haven't I been informed?"
Well, hold your horses: not only are they touring, but they're
part of a two-night, five-band indie extravaganza at Jive! We
may not be getting the St Jeromes Laneway Festival like those
jerks in Sydney and Melbourne, but we are getting the cream
of the crop with Pretty Girls Make Graves and The Gossip on
Wed 1 March, followed by Thunderbirds Are Now!, Les Savy Fav
and The Hold Steady on Thurs 2 March! And as anyone who saw
the Fav/Pretty Girls double header in late 2004 will attest,
these are not bands you want to miss.
Who fancies some rock? You do? Excellent: get yourself to Enigma
on Fri 13 Jan for a whole lot of guitar-themed noise courtesy
of Manic Distortion, Vars, Pigsteerer, I'm Gonna Fucking Kill
You and Obdenate Seduction.
There'll be a whole lot of down south all-ages rock at the Reynella Enterprise & Youth Centre on Fri 20 Jan, with Black Knight, Destruction Overdrive, LT, Demeaning, Hair On Fire and The Kix. It kicks off at 7pm - for the kids.
Having launched their disc late last year, Later That Night
are gearing up for a regional SA assault in the coming months
- but before they rock Whyalla and Mt Gambier (or, as Puff will
forever know it, Mounty G) they're doing an all-ages show at
Fowler's Live on Sat 21 Jan with Equal Minded, The Jonestown
Syndicate, 1000 Nightmares, Previal and Burning Effigy, as well
as Chase Manhattan (from Melbourne) and Torn Identity (from
Mounty G). Doors open at 4pm, so don't dilly-dally.
The good folks at Sky City Adelaide have decided that nothing helps the gambling go down like a dose of laughs, and hence they're bringing a whole mess of entirely free comedy every Thursday night in the Balcony Bar. They're kicking off in style with the ever-popular Mr Greg Fleet on Thurs 12 Jan, along with Craig Egan, Big Al, Steve Copley and Hawaii's Kehau Jackson.
Alright, after careful scrutiny of the Universe it seems that
Puff might have jumped the gun a little and that it is 2006
after all - so let's just persevere with things as they are,
assume that time is going to behave and that it's safe to...
Get Out Of The House!
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