SOUNDWAVE - SYDNEY & MELBOURNE

So I was very fortunate to be working Soundwave for Sydney and Melbourne and I had an absolute blast!
Met so many awesome people and saw some truly amazing, mind boggling bands.
Festivals like this remind me why I want my career to revolve around music.

First things first - SYDNEY

So Sydney was ridiculously HOT!!! It was something like 40 degrees and I was melting in my clothes before I even started work.
Buuut when I finally rocked up and started working backstage on riders, I had the pleasure of having Dallas Green and Steely from Alexisonfire come over to ask if they could go into our cooler van after they played since they were crazy drenched in sweat. Ah be still my beating heart! Steely is a babe and Dallas Green is Dallas Green, Enough said.

Daryl Palumbo from Glassjaw - the coolest, most down to earth guy with a massive smile. Bribed me with the offer to have sex with Iggy Pop if I could get him some more beer (I was wearing an Iggy Pop shirt) so I got him some more beer stat! haha and then found out I had to PRESENT Iggy Pop.

''Nup nup, not part of the deal. you promised me getting sexual with Iggy Pop and I'm going to film it dammit!''.

Then he offered to have sex with my shirt but I didnt really want to be walking around with just shorts and a bra so had to pass on that one.

When it got a bit later in the day and some of the bands had left, I went on a trawl with my new friend Lisa to collect left over alcohol, food and tubs and on our travels had one of the guys from A Wilhelm Scream ask if we could give him some beer we found so on the way back handed over some beer and he gave us A Wilhelm Scream hats and cigarettes. Haha

It was a busy day and so hot and when night came, it was still pretty warm but slowed down thankfully and Lisa and I met some graff guys who were backstage graffing 2 walls with all cool, random drawings and they roped in Lisa and I to bail up some of the bands to come and do some graff in their down time so we got some guys from This Is Hell, Meshuggah and Rolo Tomassi to partake which involved drawing a penis on a sphinx (You gotta draw a penis, it's like tradition).

Also sighted
*On my way back from Triviums band room, walked past Dave Navarro.....with no shirt on....mmmmmmm....(him not me of course, haha).
*Gallows hanging in their band area, Frank typing away on his laptop
*Aaron from The Almost sunning himself
*Guys from A Whilhelm Scream creating a game which involved chucking chairs to each other
*A band that shall not be named smoking fat blunts which wafted over to me all afternoon
*Paramores Jeremy Davis chasing a bottle of whisky if available at the end of the night
* Guys from Escape the Fate applying make up

MELBOURNE


FRIDAY -Got to Soundwave at about 1:30pm by train which wasn't so bad, on a breakfast of two museli bars and apple juice. Go for a bit of trek to the gate I'm being met at by the lovely Rob whom I'm working for and cruise in.

The morning workers were great and made the rest of the day much easier in running riders to all the bands and it meant I got a chance to see some phenomenal bands such as Alexisonfire, Janes Addiction, AFI, Placebo,  Anti Flag, Jimmy Eat World and Faith No More.  Later on in the day went to see how the bands riders were faring and to be sure everyone was happy with their lot and see what's going on. Heard Janes Addiction warming up in their rooms, ran into one of the guys from Rolo Tomassi (his name escapes me) having a feed before making the journey to the airport to head to Adelaide. Wrapped up the night seeing one of the guys from Anvil macking a babe in a leopard print dress and emptying tubs of ice and seeing the booty left over (Gee, next to no beers were left, what a shock, lolz).

Headed to the hotel afterwards to have a drink with Justin (Anti Flag) and met Will from Emarosa who is possibly one of the nicest guys I've ever met and Frederik from Meshuggah who kinda tripped me out. Listening to him speak made me think of Metalocalypse.

All in all, I had such a great time working Soundwave. Truly an amazing festival, times, can't wait for next year already.

By the way, I hear Gallows are keen to come back before the year is out. I am sooooo there! If you havent seen them live yet, you're off your head. They're such an electric, high energy, rip your face off and dance on it band. Loves it.

I haven't listed this sorta thing in YEARS!

So the new year is upon us and I'm seeing New Years Resolutions EVERYWHERE!
I'm beginning to feel like the only person who doesn't partake.
The last time I think I made any sort of resolutions was perhaps 4 years ago?
Pretty sure I stopped bothering when I realised I didn't keep even one of my supposed resolutions and the only way to not fail is to not even go there.
But now I am curious. When trying to think of New Years Resolutions, what the hell is going to come out of me? I'll give it a try.

NEW YEARS RESOLUTION 2010

1.Eat more vegetables

2.Stick to Vegetarianism

3.Get healthy........er

4.Be happy

5.And optimistic

6.Save a LOT of cash

7.Live off my own means without any help whatsoever from parentals

8.Make more contacts in the music biz

9.Learn more

10.Set myself up for 2011

 Not a big fan of putting it under the title of New Years Resolution because it just feels like it's meant to be broken. But that's ok. Can only let the year unfold. Fingers crossed it's a good one. 2009 really was a piece of shit.

Too many dicks on the dancefloor

Ah be still my beating heart.
I love Flight of the Conchords.


Anywaaaaaays, I thought I'd use that intro to talk about the latest electro tunes that get my motor running and post some vids so you can see what the hell I'm talking about.

                                                               AMANDA BLANK

I have fallen head over heels for a total fox by the name of Amanda Blank. I got into her music a few months after reading about her in Nylon mag and thought I'd check her out. Her album ''I Love You'' has been on high rotation on my Iphone for the last 2 months, it is just ridiculous.
She melds rap with electro beats and so much sex. She reminds me of Peaches in being an unashamed, totally sexual female who says what she wants and doesn't give a fuck what anyone thinks, which I so so love.
        With lyrics like

"Ride no lie just get inside me

Like you better if you just ride me

Grind me try me watch me finish

I like you better if you get up in it''

What a babe.
I was lucky enough to see her play at Falls and she completely exceeded my expectations. She came out in a white costumed bodysuit with tights and she removed layers as songs went by and took her hair out and rapped and danced and thrusted, all the while laying out track by track with no pause except for occasional shout outs to the audience. I thought I loved her before but seeing her perform just sealed the deal that she is definitely one to watch. She also counts Santigold and M.I.A amongst friends so maybe that'll get your attention.




                                                                MAJOR LAZER

"Lazer is a Jamaican commando who lost his arm in the secret Zombie War of 1984. The US military rescued him and repurposed experimental lazers as prosthetic limbs. Since then Major Lazer has been a hired renegade soldier for a rogue government operating in secrecy underneath the watch of M5 and the CIA. His cover is that of a dancehall night club owner from Trinidad and he enlisted the help of long-time allies and uber-producers, Diplo and Switch, to produce his first LP. His true mission is to protect the world from the dark forces of evil that live just under the surface of a civilized society. He fights vampires and various monsters, parties hard, and has a rocket powered skateboard.

As part of a plan to subdue the forces of evil with a batch of futuristic dancehall bangers, the three encamped at Tuff Gong Studios in Jamaica to record the Major Lazer record. The product of this collaboration is Guns Don't Kill People Lazers Do, a collection of tracks that draws from the rich dancehall tradition of Jamaica, the futuristic dance-floor-killing aesthetic of Diplo and Switch, and contributions from some of the biggest names in dancehall today. The record runs global pop culture through the filter of Major Lazer's particular brand of 80's-inspired digital dancehall, at once an homage to a bygone era and a look to the future of dance music''



With a bio like this, you know you're in for something special. Their performance is just pure pure electricity. You wonder at how they manage to just keep going so hard the entrie time. For anyone who didn't stick around to see them at Falls, they so so missed out. I was so incredibly tired on the night they played, after recovering from being sick over christmas plus epic journeys to lorne and heatstroke from the ridiculous sun whilst working AND I had to get up at 7:30am the next day but goddammit, I stuck around and I LOVED them. The music was so fucking cool and you couldn't not dance to them.
Also, anyone who strips down to their underwear on stage gets my vote.
Skerrit Bwoy kept the crowd bumping and I nearly got crushed against the barriers when he asked all the ladies to come up on stage (no i didnt go, although I did ask crazy ladies to chill and not smash me against the barriers).
Major Lazer are playing tonight at the Corner with Amanda Blank which I would so love to go but alas I am in Albury and sicky sick sick at the moment, but I know it'll be such a rad show, I'm way jealous of anyone who does head there.



P.S Anyone who wants to make me a rocket powered skateboard, be my guest.

Why blog you technological whore?

So forever ago, whilst I was studying at RMIT, we were asked to make up a blog for reasons I now forget. I actually quite liked doing it and used it as an excuse to go on Youtube during class hours and finding all my favourite tracks and posting them on my blog and writing up why people should be listening to them.
I found it so easy and actually got decent marks for it, which surprised me considering I often didn't rock up to class either.

Well it's been awhile and that blog has since disappeared into the bowels of the forgotten blogs since once I finished uni, I totally forgot about so alas here I am making a new one and a concerted effort to keep it going.