daveolivetti

[daveolivetti]

I did this interview for the Drum Media in 1999. Drum Media was a free street press paper at the time. Nunchukka Superfly were an amped-up, in-the-red distortion power trio. They were about to go on the road after a two year break. The interview with Blackie aka Peter Black. He is the chief songwriter, and he seemed pretty pumped to be back playing in this outfit after being away with the Hard Ons. I spoke to him over the phone from my small flat in Balmain. I'd seen the band a few times before, and always admired Blackie's unbridled creative spirit and uncompromising attitude toward the music business.

Nunchukka Superfly Interview - Drum Media (1999)

The dream becomes a reality, or something like that. It's taken two years for Nunchukka Superfly to get their act together. For Blackie and Ray, the past came back to haunt them. The Hard Ons are popular again. However, flying all over the world has not dampened their interest in breaking the sound barrier. Nunchukka Superfly is a three piece reconstructing sound with a brand of terror unique.

Blackie aka Peter Black formed Nunchukka Superfly out of the frustration that plagued his previous group, The Hard Ons. A twitching spontaneity and eagerness was creeping into his songwriting, and a method of attack for the Hard Ons - fast and furious garage punk/pop - had gradually worn thin.

He hankered for a sound he heard in his dreams and on the road that suggested a serious, thought-out approach towards songwriting that coalesces intuitively. Hard Ons bassist Ray Ahn joined his lifelong friend to crystallise his penchant for amplified, riff-based noise. Alongside Joel Ellis, a nervous drummer with a healthy appetite for Jazz replaced the original drummer some months ago. The band has delivered a stunning self-titled EP.

The fact the band's name came to Ray Ahn in a dream, "We did an outdoor festival and our drummer put down his sticks and went 'thanks very much. We're Nunchukka Superfly' is symbolic of a band and its songwriting ideas developing naturally.

"Just after finishing the Yummy album with the Hard Ons, I started getting into the Beatles White Album and rediscovering things like The Birthday Party and P.I.L." says Blackie, who is the chief songwriter of the band.

"One thing that I liked was that they used a lot of stream of consciousness. Like things that don't make sense, they didn't worry about. They just did it anyway. I started doing that as well. It was a real eye-opener."

A fair step away from the adolescent punk of the Hard Ons, and certainly not as odd as Blackie's other project, Chrackie, Nunchukka Superfly showcases Blackie's murderous side. Crunching riffs, lurching bass runs, and a brutal drum sound.

Impressive is their successful combination of controlled feedback, rhythmic agility, and band inter-communication. Ray and Joel play the perfect foil for Blackie's expansive pieces. He says there is room for improvisation.

"It's a pretty creative situation, which is awesome and obviously very important. Our songs have structures but within the structures there are certain elements that we can do what we want with them. Hopefully as we get further along and more comfortable with each other and start to get that telepathic sense we can expand on that."

The project illustrates Blackie's evolving songwriting and guitar playing. He possesses a deep-rooted sensibility to paint pictures through guitar sounds, while lyrically he's learning to trust his initial creative impulses.

Blackie really liked psychedelic music from a young age. "The British stuff like Pink Floyd, and the Chocolate Super Diabetic records, a lot of sixties English stuff, which was just out-there," he enthuses.

"When I first started all I could play was bar chords. I was never able to explore that myself but, now I'm playing a bit better."

The reason for this faith in cosmic sound is a philosophical one.

"It's a sound that I really like and it's just happening. I accept it. To me music is the purest form of magic."

[daveolivetti]

The sights of Kings Cross, Sydney. 2010. Photos: Dave Olivetti.

[daveolivetti]

The Dead Kennedys were one of the great punk bands. And so strange looking. I was always mesmerised by Klaus Flouride's turquoise coloured bass as a teenager:)

[daveolivetti]

Photo: Dave Olivetti

I called this photo 'Total Control'. It was christmas time, 2019. I was on the corner of O'Connell and Campbell in Parramatta, Sydney. On my way to meet lifelong friends to catch up (re-live) on the past, I faced this eerie premonition on the new decade ahead... our lives were to be turned upside down.

[daveolivetti]

Records You Need To Hear

I love music. It's my passion. Over the years, I've played it on my radio show, I've written about for various magazines and papers, and I've talked about endlessly, especially in my time working in record stores. So I guess it's a bit weird I haven't been listening to records lately. In an attempt to arrest that situation, I thought it was time to dust off the vinyl from the collection and start listening again.

Funnily enough it's taken a lot of mental effort to find the time to listen to records. In between working, living and kids, I found it all too much to simply pull a record from the shelf.

So the goal is to listen to one record a week, and listing them below. They're are some phenomenal records here, but I'm biased of course.

Dead Kennedys - Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death

Label: Alternative Tentacles

Discovering music could come with a political voice was a big turning point for me.

This album is really aggressive but psychedelic. The guitars jumped out at me straight away. They had this weird surf rock tone that was out of this world. Songs like 'Holiday in Cambodia' and 'Police Truck' really captured the times.

I remember buying this on vinyl at the old Utopia records store on Clarence street, which was a trip in itself with it's basement vibes and poster plastered walls. It felt like I was entering a secret society.

The album cover is a classic (and the title is so apt for these times). Reading the band line-up on the back of the sleeve, names like Jello Biafra, East Bay Ray and Klaus Flouride... I thought how mysterious this band was. They sounded like they were from outer space; punk poets here to blow our minds and show us the way.

They were one of my favourite bands for a long time. I ended up writing 'DK' on everything!

Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks

Label: Virgin Records

What can I say? An incredible album that changed my life. I loved the energy and attitude and this dual thing they had going on where they were both hostile and aggressive but loose and funny. You can hear this in songs like 'EMI'. It's something that set them apart from a lot of punk bands of this era.

Musically the songs are just so full of power. The guitar playing by Steve Jones is simply OUTSTANDING. A big nod also goes to producer Chris Thomas, who doesn't get the credit he deserves. What a masterpiece!

Appetite For Destruction - Guns 'N' Roses

Label: Geffen Records

These street urchins from LA will always hold a special place in my heart. Guns N' Roses was the first band I became totally OBSESSED with. I think what I loved most was they were hard rock but with a punk spirit.

The memory of blasting the opening riff to 'Welcome to the Jungle' on my beloved Hitachi 3-in-one stereo is burned in my brain. It was like my first shot of rebellion. The attitude came through loud and clear. All the songs on the album were so much more raw and nasty than anything in the charts at the time.

They also turned me onto a lot of other bands too, like the Sex Pistols, Aerosmith, The Misfits, Ramones and more.

I still love this album dearly to this day.

Christiane F. - Soundtrack (1981)

Label: RCA Records

When I was a teenager I was fascinated by the underground and all its sleaze and seediness. And this movie was all about that. It was called "Christiane F. It's German. And it was based on the true story of a 14-year-old girl's descent into drugs and prostitution. So yes, this movie scared the shit out of me. And a big part of that was the soundtrack - a collection of Bowie songs which soundtrack add tension drama, sadness and tragedy.

This movie was made in the late seventies and it was set in Berlin, and while this album was released in 1981, a lot of the songs are from Bowie's Berlin years (1977–1979) with Brian Eno. Both the guys I consider to be the masters of atmosphere.

And this album is a bit of an art rock classic. Songs like "V-2 Schneider", "Boys Keep Swinging", "Sense of Doubt", "Warszawa" and a killer live version of "Station To Station" capture the mood perfectly of Christiane and her gang strung out in squats and seedy underground train stations, headlong on a downward spiral.

It's bleak, frightening and eerie.

For Bowie collectors there is a rarity with "Heroes", titled "Helden", partly sung by Bowie in German.

Tracklisting

Side One: 1. V-2 Schneider 2. TVC 15 3. Heroes/Helden 4. Boys Keep Swinging 5. Sense of Doubt Side Two: 6. Station to Station 7. Look Back in Anger 8. Stay 9. Warszawa

Double Natural - Boomgates (2012)

Label: Bedroom Suck Records

This is a pure little gem of an album. A real diamond in the rough.

I can't quite recall where, when or how I found out about this album.

There may have been a description on the album sleeve, saying it featured the members of cult favourites Eddy Curret Suppression Ring and the Twerps. I'm a big fan of Eddy Current, so this was a must-have in my books, even though I don't think I had heard anything from it before.

The sound is kind of a mix those two bands - jangly guitar pop, with very lo-fi production but recorded well. For comparisons, they are reminiscent of Television, Wire and Flying Nun bands like The Clean and maybe even a garage version of the Go-Betweens - particularly the latter with the peculiar Australian-ness that's really at the core of this band.

Songs like "Flood Plains" (with its lyric "I went and built house on a flood plain" and "Layman's Terms" are funny little Aussie stories. The dual vocals of Brendan Huntley and Steph Martin do a brilliant job delivering it all.

Summer In The Southeast - Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (2005)

Label: Sea Note Records

This live album is a BLAST from the past; a valuable companion piece to my fond memories seeing this traveling troubadour live in concert, in his various incarnations (too many monikers to mention), across numerous occasions. (And the times I interviewed him).

This is Will Oldham's first ever live album. It was released in 2005 and the sound quality is pretty good. And captures the Kentucky singer-songwriter & his band of cohorts in familiar surrounds - a smattering of club gigs across the US's southeast like Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and North Carolina.

It's everything Bonnie has built his live career on. It's raw. It's ramshackle. It's loose. It's intimate. And really visceral in parts ("Nomadic Revery", "Death to Everyone"). His raspy voice is affecting as ever, while the band he's assembled including guitarist Matt Sweeney give the sets a ragged, country rock-orientated feel. (Side note: this record came hot off the trails of two of his most "polished" albums).

It rocks the same way as Bob Dylan or how Neil Young did on his live album masterpiece, Tonight's the Night.

The set-list is a mix of his early hits and newer tracks. Tracks like "Master and Everyone", "Madeleine Mary" and "May It Always Be" are wonderful to hear again, the rousing guitars are killer and the latter's punkish energy is a reminder how he can rock it out with the best of them.

If you wanna get into Will Oldhan I'd start at the beginning with the Palace Brothers classic There Is No-One What Will Take Care of You or my personal favourite I See A Darkness.

But this album is definitely recommended for Will Oldham fans.

Geogaddi - Boards of Canada (2002)

Label: Warp Records

Masterpiece from the pagan ambient duo of Scotland.

I have loved them ever since their chillout debut; but this album is deeper and darker than its predecessor.

Boards of Canada have and will always be a band that affects me - there's an ancient alchemy to this TRIPLE album that I can't quite put my figure on; a divine dreaminess shrouds the 23 songs; sometimes it's all angels, sandcastles and sunshine and other times it's downright creepy and terrifying.

I have fond memories of blowing smoke with friends in my tiny flat in Balmain, dreaming of ways to bring them to Oz. This never happened. And I believe no one else is yet to make it happen either. If one day it does. I'll be the frst one there.

Everything Went Black - Black Flag (1982)

Label: SST Records

Black Flag were the coolest punk band. And they were unlike any punk band of the time. I wrote their logo on everything and even contemplated getting it tattooed... they were such a cool band.

They emerged from the skate-scene in California, so I think their take on punk was heaps more bratty than their east coast compadres.

But they were outcasts as well. The band's (spiritual) leader, Greg Ginn (who went on to start SST) couldn't give a shit about surfing and skateboards. So it was always a volatile mix.

I've always thought their were two versions of Black Flag - the pre and post Henry Rollins era. I especially loved the pre-Rollins stuff... Rollins is an awesome singer, but vocalists like Keith Morris and Dez Cadena (both featured on this album, with Keith credited as "Johnny Bob Goldstein") were my favourites. Rollins was heavy, but the singers before were more reckless and garagey. And this amazing compilation highlights the latter. All early songs before Henry Rollins joined the band, it's a double album of previously unreleased recordings, captured between 1978-1981.

Superfast songs like "Depression" and "Gimmie, Gimmie, Gimmie" still floor me with it's emotional fury and fuzz-distorted guitars, drum and bass. It was harder and faster than any other punk I had heard before.

If there was a list of greatest punk rock songs of all time, "Depression" would be on there.

Everyday Skank (Best of Big Youth) - Big Youth (1980)

Label: Trojan

I went through a big reggae / dub phaze... maybe around the late 90s and early 2000s.

My favourites were 'dread' weights like King Tubby, Bob Marley, Augustus Pablo and this guy... Big Youth.

This Jamaican deejay was huge in the 70s and still does stuff today, although his output has been less freqient since the 80s.

He had a great vintage style about him, mixing singing and chanting over killer drum beats; a musical style that was audio as much as visual (check out the killer album cover).

This record is a great place to start for anyone getting into dub and reggae, including my ABSOLUTE favourite - "Cool Breeze" with it's deadly chant "stop this train / I wanna get off'.

I Blow Minds For A Living - Jello Biafra (1991)

Label: Alternative Tentacles

For me, the Dead Kennedys were the most exciting punk band. Their outrageous frontman Jello Biafra was a hero of mine when I just finished high school. He gave punk rock a political voice. It was cool music that really said something.

I admit I have 'grown up', becoming a bit more objective of this big wide world, but there will always be a part of me that agrees 100% in everything Jello says.

This double-album captures the sardonic punk poet in spoken word form as he blitzes his way across America.

It's 1991. George Bush (senior) is US President. And the US has invaded Iraq in Operation Desert Storm... or "Desert Scam" as he calls it. 'The Arab people are so damn mad we'll be lucky to walk out of there alive," he spits.

In his inimitable way - think sardonic, rapid-fire and deeply political - he takes aim at his home country; the US needing to keep the third world under control, the government getting so frightened that it uses nationalism to whip up fear, the economy and how it's rigged on making guns and war, a mercenary state to ensure there is no peace, media distorting what we see, the drug wars around growing pot and more.

He also dedicates a chunk on his one-time decision to run for office, getting mainstream coverage for a campaign that included things like legalizing squatting on unoccupied buildings, police officers required to run for election every four years and other policies designed to put a 'pitchfork up the butt' of the status quo. There's more here.

When I first heard the Dead Kennedys, I thought they were the most exciting band ever and bought everything they did. I wrote "DK" on everything I owned. When I bought this record I didn't realise it was a spoken word album until I put it on. But it's a great listen for anyone into punk and the times.

One Foot In The Grave - Beck (1994)

Label: K Records

I'm a massive Beck fan, and have been there since the beginning.

This album was recorded before Mellow Gold but was released after it. So I was really surprised to hear the stripped-down, ramshackle nature of this record after the mega success of Mellow Gold, with its samplers, tape loops, feedback, drones and distortion, which I absolutely loved too. I've always thought of Mellow Gold as an underrated 90's classic. But any way... onto One Foot in the Grave

Lo-fi in the extreme, the songs on One Foot in the Grave are mostly folk, blues and acoustic inspired. But as the album title suggests there's a theme of trash and doom running through the songs, like Beck is just singing his songs while the world is burning down around him.

It was released on Calvin Johnson's indie K Records, and this is one of favourite Beck records.

If you're into bands like Pavement or Smog, then this is a worthy addition to your collection.

The Beatles (White Album) - The Beatles (1968)

Label: Parlophone

I have a soft spot for this album from the fab four.

This self-titled record is a wild and nonsensical double-album. The band sticks its neck out while stripping it all down, starting with the plain white cover art.

What I love about this record is there are so many songs - you can hear everything from rock n' roll (Back in the USSR), acoustic folk ("Blackbird"), orchestral pop ("Martha My Dear"), avant garde (“Revolution 9”), and what I think could be the grunge prototype ("Revolution").

It was also the album where all the band members had a crack at putting their stamp on the songs. Yes, there were rumours of creative differences between the group, including Yoko Ono who appeared throughout the sessions for the first time around John's shoulder. But the fact we get to hear George Harrison's searing guitar on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" or Ringo's classic "Don't Pass Me By" - well I think it's worth it.

If you want to hear the Beatles at their experimental best, then get this album.

The Axeman's Jazz - The Beasts Of Bourbon (1983)

Label: Big Time Records

The hellish debut album from Aussie garage rockers Beasts of Bourbon.

It's what you get when a bunch of hoodlums make a record. Critics talk about the obvious Rolling Stones influence, but I can hear a lot of Iggy and the Stooges. It's also a pre-cursor to what The Gun Club would go on to do - merging blues into punk.

It's a pretty amazing collection of songs for a band that was really just a side-project for the members involved (Tex Perkins, James Baker, Spencer P. Jones, Kim Salmon and Boris Sudjovic were all in bigger bands at the time). And legend has it they recorded this album in just one supercharged afternoon!

Indeed, these 10 songs capture a time and place, bottling its pickled essence perfectly. It's sinister yet darkly humourous; a hard-drinking rock band trying their darndest to make sense of this mixed-up world.

Song-titles like "Evil Ruby", "Love and Death", "Psycho", and the sneering "Save Me A Place" with its line "Save me a place in the graveyard," sum up the mood and feeling of this record perfectly!

If you're into that kind of swamp garage / country punk blues made famous by The Cramps, Gun Club, Stones etc... then this a must-have.

Holland - Beach Boys (1972)

Label: Brother Records

This album has one of my favourite Beach Boys songs, "Sail on Sailor".

This was their 19th album (can you believe that!) and was recorded in 1972. It was a troubled time for Brian Wilson and the band. Brian Wilson ws suffering from depression and the band weren't topping the charts. It was hoped that going to the Netherlands to do the album would get the creative juices flowing. And while the songs can be hit and miss, there are some awesome songs on this album that make it worth a buy.

It's not Pet Sounds, but it's still a lovely album. It's not as avant garde as Pet Sounds, but Holland has a beautiful, lush simplicity that calms your mood and makes you smile.

Lapsed - Bardo Pond (1997)

Label: Matador Records

Trippy space rockers Bardo Pond deliver another masterclass in the hypnotic art of space rock.

This album is really heavy and pychedelic. It's been described as "hot, thick, sticky and sweaty... like their hometown of Philadelphia," and I have to agree.

This five-piece do a wonderful job in massaging what seems like formless walls of distortion, feedback and vocals into a heavenly slab of noise.

It's definitely a listening experience, this album. Despite all the walls of white noise, if you can just sit there, focus on the music, notes and rhythms while letting all other thoughts go, it becomes a calming experience.

If you like bands like Spaceman 3 and My Bloody Valentine, then you'll love Bardo Pond.

Islands - The Band (1976)

Label: Capitol

This was the last album the original line-up ever did. It was their 7th album and was a collection of what you'd call 'odds and sods', all previously unreleased material.

I've always been into The Band. These roots rockers were Bob Dylan's backing band when he first went electric. They have a musical spirit that I really respect and admire, so I was always interested to hear what they'd done... even the lesser-known stuff like this album, which I bought from a second-hand record store in the Blue Mountains (Velvet Fog), having never heard of it or any of the songs.

It didn't get the greatest reviews, but it's still a worthy album for all fans of The Band. It's got a mellow groove that's classic Band and the songs still sound fresh with plenty of country soul.

If you're just getting into them, I'd avoid this album and start at the beginning with their classic debut Music from Big Pink and work your way up from there.

All The Nations Airports - Archers of Loaf (1996)

Label: Alias Records

This is a lot like Vee Vee (see the record below), but a lot of critics say this was a more "accessible" album than their previous ones. I'm not sure about that, but it is more mellow and atmospheric, and I read how they took three weeks to record the album which was the longest time they had ever taken at that point to record an album!

Listening to it, songs like the opening "Strangled by the Stereo Wire" and "Scenic Pastures" still floor me.

If you were to pick an Archers Loaf album I'd still go for the debut Icky Mettle and Vee Vee first, making this one strictly for fans.

Vee Vee - Archers of Loaf (1995)

Label: Alias Records

This is the killer second album from noisy 90s indie rockers Archers of Loaf. It's a band that I rarely listen to now, but when I do, I wonder why I don't listen to them more!

There are some really catchy melodies on this record, but the way they twist and meld it in a thousand different directions with their raw, angular guitars and rock-solid bass & pounding drums, gives it a big sound and unique energy. And let's not forget Eric's amazing lyrics and vocal delivery. In a way, they might be the perfect grunge band; or a post-punk take on grunge, if you want to look at it another way.

These guys seemed a million miles away from a lot of the grunge bands that were out at the time. Maybe it was because they were from the South (in the US) - they were from North Carolina - or maybe it was just the weird tunings and rhythms.

I always loved this band, and one of my favourite memories of the time, is sneaking backstage with a mate to interview the band after their sold-out show at the Annandale Hotel around the time of this release.

Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival 1972 - Various Artists (1972)

Label: Atlantic

I don't know what's better about this album - the music or the album cover!

Being a big Sun Ra fan, I was immediately drawn to the amazing photo that graced the cover - Sun Ra's image hovering behind Muddy Waters like some sort of ghostly cosmic figure.

Recorded in 1972, this double live album set sounds great and features some of the biggest musical heavyweights of the time, including Muddy Waters, Dr. John, Howlin' Wolf and the above-mentioned Sun Ra & His Solar-Myth Arkestra - and it captures them all doing what they do best.

It also features legendary Americal poet and political activist, John Sinclair - he helped put the concert together.

This album is a real gem - it captures a time and place, and is a good one for fans of blues, jazz and 70s music collectors.

Wolf City - Amon Duul II (1974)

Label: United Artists Records

What a great album! I am a krautrock disciple and with Faust, Germany's Amon Duul II are my favourite krautrock band and this album is a ripper.

This was their fifth record and more "songier" and "straightforward" than their early freakout albums, and more folkier too. But it was still otherwordly in the way they meshed and loaded the eight songs with e-guitar, synthesizers, organs and vocal. I love that despite the mellowness it has a real pre-punk attitude - definitely a product of those post-6os, hippy commune times. It's a pysch-folk masterpiece.

I bought this from my friend Ray Ahn, who had a stall with Utopia Records at a record fair in Glebe, Sydney. It's a must-have for lovers of pyschedelic music.

Strange Kicks - Alternative TV (1981)

Label: I.R.S Records

Alternative TV are a UK post-punk band led by Mark Perry. He was one of the fathers of the 76' UK punk scene, starting the legendary punk fanzine Sniffin' Glue.

This album is a bit poppier, more new wave than their earlier suff and sees him reunite with original guitarist Alex Fergusson after a falling out.

I bought this album from an awesome second-hand record store in Wellington, NZ called Slow Boat Records.

Overall, I would say this album is for completists only, for those lovers of anything Mark Perry related or lovers of UK punk between 1976-1983.

[daveolivetti]

I have always been a fan of the tremendous and wonderful guitar style of Mick Turner. His guitar work has a bright, shimmering quality that has always left me entranced, hypnotised even. Beautiful work that ebbs and flows like the big wide world. So when I got the call from Spunk Records, I jumped at the opportunity to interview him. This was in 2000. He was on the promo tour for shows he was doing for his second solo album Marlan Rosa. When the interview finished we continued talking about some of our favourite bands and artists, and particulary those who reminded me of what Mick was doing. We struck up a rapport and he told me to come and say hi after the show. Against me better judgement I took him up on the offer. We had an awkward exchange but I did hand him a mix tape of some guitar artists I thought might interest him. I remember it included one Melbourne player called Chris Smith. He did this kind of avant rock drone thing which I particularly liked at the time and was similar to Mick's stuff. I sometimes wonder whether he still has the tape. Anyway, here is the interview below.

Interview with Mick Turner Published: Drum Media, 2000

Mick Turner may have made his strongest artistic statement with The Dirty Three. But for his solo explorations he is finding inspiration from his musical roots. Learning to trust himself, his current directions in music are brilliantly captured on his solo recordings. His most recent work sees him using improvisation as a guiding (or wandering) light. This concept, however, is hardly new for Turner; his musical career began with The Sick Things and Fungus Brains, two highly influential bands that would go on to corrupt Australian undergroud music with outright experimentalism and naive experimentation.

Indeed, Turner's legacy as an underground figure is becoming more apparent. "Early Fungus Brains was totally experimental. We used to make stuff up all the time and never actually learn songs. We'd just totally improvise in our lounge room," laughs Turner, remembering those wild days of abandonment and terror. "We'd never actually play live but I found that period really inspiring to what I do now."

His new album Marlan Rosa has been a year in the making. A collection of 15 short instrumental guitar pieces, it was put together by virtue of open-ended recording.

"I record a lot, so I'll do hours and hours before I'll have an album," he says, speaking from his home in Melbourne, Australia. "It's a continuation of the other record (Tren Phantasma) in a lot of ways, following on from the same ideas and going down that same road I was exploring. It's fairly improvised, which is the way I like to do it. It's the angle I'm coming from. I think it's more exciting to have it a bit more random and not too neat."

Marlan Rosa sees Turner continue his fascination of creating virtual landscapes using guitar, violin and effects. It's certainly a departure from the heavy storms and bloody drama of The Dirty Three.

"It's more improvised and more subtle," he says. "The Dirty Three is a bit of a rock show really, which I love but I think this is a different angle and it's much more laid back. This is more abstract."

While the guitars retain the colour of that band, the textures and movement are a different proposition. Marlan Rosa is a surreal offering that demands the listener wrestle Turner's loose-ended compositions in order to find meaning and offers a peek inside his mind where thoughts and actions reveal themselves as they happen. Guitars ebb and flow over loops, forming transcendental grooves that conjure fantastic worlds. The song "Arana I" allows gentle guitar rotations to shift among the bells and melancholy sweeps, while the space blues strum of "Cavalera" swell like a midnight tide.

"I always want to make music that I like myself and definitely not try and invent something that I think people will like because that's a really bad reason to make music. I've discovered improvisation over the years and developed from that. I did that from the early days and I've actually gone back to it. We had a room set up with instruments and everyday people would just come around and play. It was always very much a personal thing. I've always done it but it's only recently that I have had the courage to actually put it on record and do it live."

Accompanying Mick Turner on tour will be Jessica Billey, who features as sole contributor to Marlan Rosa and Joel Silbersher (Hoss, Tendrils). Together they will play alongside a film Turner made of landscape captured from his travels. "It really goes with the music and it puts you in a headspace to be open to the music and take you put of yourself."

[daveolivetti]

What is Music Festival By David Olivetti Published - Drum Media 2000

"As a guitarist, I'm interested in expanding what a guitar can do and what a guitar is meant to sound like," says Oren Ambarchi. "There's a lot of different aspects that you'll just pull together and it becomes a language. Your language."

The idea of defining or categorising music has infected sound throughout centuries. People have been traveling from the rainforests of the Amazon to virtual Las Vegas in search of an answer. Some cultures fail to understand such a question. "There are many languages," wrote musicologist Kofi Agawu, "that do not have a single word for what in English is meant by the word music."

Which brings us to the What is Music? festival. Celebrating its sixth year, Australia's premier avant garde and experimental music festival is underway, returning from a run of shows at the Big Day Out. The festival organisers do not claim to have the answer of what music is. "When we named it, it was more a joke off-the-cuff,” admits Ambarchi. However, upon close inspection the list of players to have performed at this annual 'meet' offers light to such spheres of debate.

Ambarchi and Robbie Avenaim have been the festival's organisers since its inception. As musicians, their relationship stretches back to Australian terrorist noise outfit, Phlegm. They have continued to work together and seperately; Ambarchi reeasing impressive solo records, making sufficient impact to tour with Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and The No Neck Blues Band.

"It's music that's vital and it's happening," says Ambarchi, translating the music the festival promotes as a living, breathing organism.

"It's music that's constantly evolving. We do it and we're also fans. We're into it. The first line-up was basically all local - Jon Rose, The Machines for Making Sense, Phlegm, The Mumesons... It was like this weird cross-section. Four nights and only one act a night in those days. It's much bigger than it used to be and it's more well-known."

Indeed, what started as a one-off has blossomed into a full-fledged world class event. This year's festival is shaping up to be the most exciting yet, featuring artists from all over the globe including artists from the Mego label roster, avant garde guitar legend Keith Rowe, English improviser Simon Wickham-Smith, American funnyman Neil Hamburger, Melbourne quartet Dworzec and saxophonist Jim Denley.

The festival brings together a dynamic mix of artists exploring a soundworld through acoustic improvisation, digital technology, free music and far-out collaborations. It's sure to raise the hairs on the back of one's neck, fire the senses and offer insight into a mysterious music world. The line-up suggests a retreat from the terrifying wall of noise characteristic of previous What is Music? festivals. However, the chance of a surprise attack is never out of the question.

"Well you never know with those guys from Mego," Ambarchi smiles, suggesting artists suc as these are in a constant state of metamorphosis and impossible to pin down. "In the beginning those Mego guys were connected to the techno community and minimalism. Since they've taken off, all their new releases are really noisy. Mego has inadvertently become a focal point for this year's festival. The label's most accomplished artists - Peter Rehberg, Simon Bauer, the acclaimed Fennesz and video band Skot - are all performing.

An Austrian label, Mego works across the field of electronic media choosing digital technology as it's chief source of musical mischief. However, Mego reflects a new music state, where sound created through software packages, computers, modulated synthesisers and effects units have become the modus operandi, inventing a new computerised language.

"I'm happy about the Mego label coming here because I think it's something happening right now. It's not something that happened two years ago and then it comes to Australia."

Peter Rehberg and Simon Bauer are two artists at the forefront of the digital music scene. They write and perform their own compositions as well as running the Mego offices. "I've always been interested in the latest developments of music," says Rehberg, discussing his movement from an ambient/experimental DJ to digital innovator. "It developed from the wider availability of software. Prices coming down in computer hardware made it an easier thing to do. You can make sounds now on a computer, which you couldn't make on an analogue machine 10 years ago. I think that interests me more."

On the other side of the spectrum, Keith Rowe is arguably the festival's biggest name. Best known for his ground-breaking work with British group AMM - a post-John Cage improvisation collective than began in the sixties and still perform today. He continues to astound audiences as a one-man sound laboratory. His role as a 'tabletop' guitarist sees him exploring and extending the possibilities of the guitar. Often, he places the guitar flat on a table and with a clear mind and a box of preparations (nails, screws, electric motors, rulers) he begins his compositions as you see it. Much like a painter in the studio. He is very much looking forward to the festival.

"One thing I've realised is that 30 years ago, the freely improvised music that we developed in Europe and North America was particular to a few towns and a few cities whereas now it's across the world," says Rowe. "That music spread everywhere. I'm looking forward to seeing that development happening on the other side of the globe. It’s fantastic."

As a senior member of the avant garde movement, who has been performing for close to 40 years, Rowe finds working alongside the current crop of artists propose new challenges and offer insightful collaborations. "I find it really invigorating because they have a completely different agenda to us older guys in the sense that when we started to make tis freely abstract kind of music without a repertoire we were really fighting against the established giants like [John] Coltrane. We were trying to develop our own music, our own agenda, our own aesthetic. Of course, the young guys have got something completely different. They are much more with computers and technology. I'm a primitive in that respect."

The What is Music? festival is essentially grounded in its enthusiasm, but like the music it promotes the festival itself is evolving. The very act of the festival finds itself (sub)consciously peeling open the systems of established states of performance for both the performer and listener, and offers space for new spheres of thought. Its alive both as a free music enterprise and an ideas factory.

On what influences his current playing, Rowe says, "I think challenging new ways of assembling material. The way a performance is shaped, you know, what happens in a performance. What is a performance?".

[daveolivetti]

When I saw Hawkwind at the turn of the century, I was going through a massive krautrock phase. I was heavily into bands like Amon Duul, Faust and Popol Vuh. And I'd read Julian Cope's 'Krautrocksampler' from front-to-back. Hawkwind was a band loosely linked to that era and while I'd read a lot about them, especially the Lemmy connection, I'd actually listened to very little. So I jumped at the chance to review these guys and gals when they dropped into town. It was 2000 and dance culture was riding a massive wave of popularity that had overtaken rock. And it was interesting to see Hawkwind had arrived in Sydney, having just played a dance rave festival nights before.

Live Review: Hawkwind, Thumlock at The Metro (Sydney) By David Olivetti Published - Drum Media (2000)

Appearing halfway through their set certainly didn't dampen my enthusiasm for these bunch of kids blurring the edges of heavy rock. Having witnessed an encouraging performance supporting Sydney noisemeisters Nunchukka Superfly some time back, it was with considerable interest to see how they've been travelling since. It's evident Thumlock are moving away from the rock modes of earlier performances. Peaks are reached when they explore drone workouts. Foot on the pedal and don't stop, that is until the battery wears down. Be sure, Thumlock hold a luminous quality.

Born in the netherworld of the late sixties, Hawkwind are a product of hippydom. They were founded in the hippie enclave of Ladbroke Grove in London - and as a group they were closely associated with community and benefit concerts. No surprise then, that after numerous (outer) world tours, left-hand turns and personnel dropouts, Hawkwind should wind up ensconced in the 1990's rave scene and the recent Happy Valley festival.

As alien craft landing in human territory, greeted by an adulating assembly of freaks, dropouts, rockers and curious onlookers, Hawkwind appeared on stage amid keyboard drone and fanatic applause. Carrying a fuselage loaded with overdrive guitars, the 'world famous' solar fire light show, cargo of effects, and enough out-of-body experiences to fill a universe, they came ready to blow out the high way. The stunningly kitsch slides of lost worlds, cosmic gateways, and hallucinatory freakouts supply much of the atmosphere for their chemically blurred science fiction. And as is one of the first laws of the spiritual (new) age, it is essential that to capture the spirit of the occasion, one must remain totally in the moment.

Verging upon a mutant space metal, Hawkwind unfurl a varied, ethereal palette of blusters, wisps, drones and grooves. Their combination of psychedelic noise with neo-romantic synth and sequencer comes off sounding like a heavy duty Pink Floyd. However they forego that band's egotism and confinement, and consider the idea of (cosmic) travel - flight, rhythm and endurance - far more appealing. Track titles like "Motorway City" and "In Search of Space" emphasise emotions of time and place where a pulsating, machine-like trance propels throughout a whoosh of fire breathing and spatial effects. While songs like "Right Stuff", heightened by swirling mantras and images of magic mushrooms, coalesce ideas of higher consciousness, risk-taking and natural goodness. Hawkwind is Now, and they take you there.

[daveolivetti]

Live Review: Guitar Wolf at The Metro (Sydney) By David Olivetti Published - Drum Media (2000)

Music has the ability to transcend other art forms, especially in terms of intensity. The Stooges and the Beasts of Bourbon come to mind as bands who have often been the subjects of mythology when discussing the art of live performance.

Guitar Wolf, a trio from Japan, play like their heroes. Their records are great but their live performances are better. Rock ‘n’ roll, after all, has always championed loks and action as more important than technique hasn’t it?

On stage they are an imposing sight. They look like punk archetypes: leather jackets, sunglasses, jet-black hair and 'live fast, die young’ cool. Seiji, vocal and guitar, animates the songs, which are classic garage punk, with hostile movements and rock 'n’ roll poses. Raucous, psychotic slashes of guitar splatter the room as a heroic rhythm section lays down a tribal beat.

The emotional commitment from Guitar Wolf is fascinatiing; stage-diving, broken glass, shrieks and devel screams conjure a picture that one is witnessing rock 'n’ roll in hell’s very own basement.

The end verged towards a feverish blackout. Seiji literally dragged a kid from the front row, threw his guitar at him and told him to play. Needless to say he did, despite not knowing a single chord. Seiji stage-dived and the people lifted him high. Rock 'n’ roll can still be dangerous.

[daveolivetti]

I’d been a fan of Japanese rockers Guitar Wolf for a while when I heard they were touring Australia, so I thought it would be a great opportunity to interview them. I contacted their label and they put me in touch with a man in Japan who worked for Sony. I think he was just a friend of theirs because they weren’t on the label. He gave me Seiji’s home phone number in Japan, so I just called him. I knew I was stepping inside a strange world, but I didn’t know how strange. Only later after the interview that I realised there was a lot more to this band than the super-charged in-the-red distortion. Before the interview little did I know Seiji hardly spoke a word of English. He was in Japan and I in Australia, so the interview was done over the phone. The conversation was slow because of his broken English, but I did get some gold! This article was printed in the Sydney Morning Herald around the time the band released the album ‘Jet Generation’. They played two nights at the Iron Duke hotel in Alexandria (I think around 1999/2000), which for a brief period of time was a music venue run by a booker named Mark Erber and was great venue for garage rock.

Meet the Jett Sons By David Olivetti Published - Sydney Morning Herald (1999/2000)

Howl at the moon, baby! In the tradition of Link Wray and the Ramones, comes Guitar Wolf - a pyschotic and hilarious cult trio from Japan.

“I want to be cool. I want to do like Bruce Lee and Johnny Thunders, Joan Jett and the Ramones,” cackles vocalist Seiji. “I want to play like my heroes”.

Animated, leather-clad assassins that plunder the vaults of vintage rock ‘n’ roll, Guitar Wolf have carefully considered aesthetic principles.

“Number one is looks. Number two is passion. Number three is action. Four and five is nothing and six is technique,” Seiji laughs. “Looks is very important for rock 'n’ roll because if somebody appears on stage, if they are bad looking, nobody looks.”

Guitar Wolf have made their reputations as loud and fast live performers delivering incisive, yet anarchistic, prototypical rock. “Our technique is very bad,” Seiji offers matter-of-factly. “We have to hide our technique by noise.”

Remarkably, this is their first visit to Australia. “Everybody says that Australia is great and cool people for rock 'n’ roll. I can’t wait.”

[daveolivetti]

This was a photo I took at House Of Commons co-op, in Austin, Texas. I like the quote, especially in the current times. It doesn't include sports, obviously :) Plus, the quote below is pretty funny too.

[daveolivetti]

Photo: Uranium Club

Just got tuned into the Uranium Club. It's the kind of "lo-fi trash rock" that reminds me of other bands I like, like Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Pavement, Guided By Voices, Royal Headache etc.

I'd definitely see them live.

It's a must-listen for anyone into punk and lo-fi. Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0EfPKjhywHpqUo1jIQNiVI/related

[daveolivetti]

This book is a TRIP down memory lane. Those of you who grew up going to the Annandale, Hopetoun and Lansdowne will enjoy this personal, music-obsessed memoir on the 90s music scene in Sydney. It's called Ninety9. It's by Vanessa Berry. Here is her very-Sydney blog: https://vanessaberryworld.wordpress.com/

[daveolivetti]

I stumbled upon this vintage footage of the Sydney Rave scene in the 90s.

I was never big into raves but working at Radio 2SER 107.3 FM in Sydney at the time I was SURROUNDED by dance music.

The fashion and culture... the pop-up warehouse parties, the loose clothing, and no one looked like they had come straight from the gym! Good times.

[daveolivetti]

Mark Of Cain Look On The Dark Side Of Life

By David Olivetti Published - Drum Media (2001)

The Mark Of Cain will not let go. Having spent the better part of 15 years constructing a muscular take on Punk/Metal, the South Australian trio continues to sound with their distinctive spund and sheer bloody-mindednes. Their courage in throwing forward music that is challenging and confronting is as much a victory for rock n roll as it is for the band.

The Mark Of Cain are a sporadic, highliy volatile unit. At the helm are brothers John and Kim Scott, whose work as musicians is just one of the many roles in the duos life.

Unlike others who write music to make money, the Scott brothers are not music careerists.

They occupy full-time jobs (both work as engineers), and it's this seperation from the 'scene' surrounding music that ultimately ensures their vision stay intact; distance from the herd afford the band freedom to communicate their outsider imagiation.

It's been six years since their last album proper; the Henry Rollins-produced Ill At Ease. With the new album, This Is This shaping up to be their strongest work yet - a successful return strengthens the hope that their creative worth is a cause worth fighting for.

Storm-fields of fiery guitars, bruising rhythms and almighty roars are emblematic of The Mark Of Cain sound, as they find a common bond with bands like Joy Division and Jesus Lizard.

However, securing ex-Helmet drummer John Stanier and acquiring the service of Andy Gill (Gang Of Four) as producer made certain the band put their best foot forward.

This Is This continues to map the band's, and in particular John Scott's interest in detailing the way humans deal with extreme situations.

The album's songs draw from a mesh of characters from which Scott adopts various personae in order to communicate his found scenarios of reality and fantasy; a battle-scarred zone of mind, body and spirit.

"I've always been interested in reading first-hand oral accounts of people being in extreme situations," Scott reveals.

"That's why I've had the interest in military history and black box flight recordings. I find it interesting to see how people react in those situations.

"We have a penchant for looking at the darker side of life. You know, the disenfranchised and the loners, the white-male middle-class loner."

So the new album may touch on some old points, but it draws from new energies.

Studioplay was less preoccupied with hairsplitting and complexity, and more about perspective and purpose.

Specifically the differences can be found in the band's approach toward song arrangement and performance. This was partially due to ideas put forward by John Stanier, Andy Gill and Phil McKellar which unlocked the band from habit.

"I was really nervous when we were doing this, thinking 'fuck! are we going to pull this off?' and we did!" he admits.

"There was four years of songs to express and we had John Stanier who's an excellent drummer.

"It was very easy to get ideas across. From my point of view I knew I would be talking to a guy [Andy Gill] who understood where I was coming from. We went in with Phil McKellar (Silverchair, Spiderbait) as well.

"The balance was Phil McKellar captured a big sound, while Andy from a vocal point of view really pushed me in ways we'd never consider."

The new single "[R] Retaliate" has gathered momentum through its accompanying video, which as drawn attention for it's violent subject matter.

Scott considers the controversy - it was pulled from ABC's Rage programming due to viewer complaints - demonstrates the hypocrisy that lies within viewer perception.

"People are happy at 8.30 at night to sit down and watch The X-Files and see 14 people with their heads hammered in and blood al over the pillows. Yet if they see a music video that has an introduction of violence, it's like 'No, no, no. Music videos are not meant to be like that.

"MUSIC VIDEOS ARE NOT MEANT TO BE LIKE THIS"

"What we're looking at is one person losing control," he says.

"The final scene actually shows my brother [Kim] shooting me but if you pause it when the trigger's pulled, you'll see it's really me pulling the trigger shooting against me sitting in the chair."

The Mark Of Cain considers their creative peak emerges when dark shadows loom.

"I reckon the day that I'm really happy I'm going to stop making music," he laughs. "If I'm feeling good I really want to enjoy myself."

Aware of his ever-present connection with the dark-side, Scott is learning to allow a little light into his world.

"I'm a lot more accepting of things," he says. The struggle when you're younger is to work out a way to live your life and get satisfaction. And that's what everyone tries to do.

"As I've got older. I've become a lot more accepting of stuff."

[daveolivetti]

Thanks to a mate for putting me onto these two guys and their weekly 'Dig Me Out' Podcast, where they review "obscure" albums from the 90s. And they actually do a lot of Aussie bands too!

So I was super keen to hear this interesting pick - the Rollins-produced 'Ill At Ease' from Adelaide's super (IN)TENSE, and Oz's most misunderstood band, The Mark of Cain - a band I interviewed many times back in the day and saw a lot live always supporting 'bigger' touring US bands.

They were always gloomy and heavy on the riffs, which I liked... So I did have a laugh over the way they tackled this review. You can hear the full episode by clicking on the headline above.

[daveolivetti]

Guided By Voices release their NEW single "Space Gun" from their 26th album (and Robert Pollard's 102!!!).

Due to sheer volume I know their tracklistings can be hit and miss, but there's ALWAYS one song from each record that makes it onto my Desert Island Jukebox.

I can't wait to hear the rest of it!