The Blackmail » Music

Ten Inches

tristan — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 04:12:29 +0000

Text: Michael Kucyk

Since my first introduction in 2007, my conciousness has been drip-fed and stimulated by the inspirational mixtapes of Japanese underground music luminary Nozaki.

Only known in a small circle due to geographical circumstances and language barriers, those lucky enough to be exposed to the same output have shared the same eye opening experiences. Each of his eclectic sets stand alone, traversing territory as wide as rare private press Chicago house, little-known funky Italo records sourced by hand from the motherland, disco psych-rock and ’90s Star Track r’n'b instrumentals. But don’t be falsely assured – just when you think you get it, Nozaki’s next instalment will take things on an interesting twist. Expect the unexpected. Only expect to embrace it.

A fascinating personality, Nozaki became fluent in Italian and English and traveled abroad regularly to collect records, befriending ’80s cult figures such as Daniele Baldelli and Sangy. For years he dealt choice picks from his house but has since retired from record pushing to start label 10 Inches of Pleasure and explore his own top-level productions, remixes and edits. This month Nozaki will make his first visit to Australia, playing parties in Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney. Finally, every one will have the opportunity to enjoy and collectively experience one of Tokyo’s finest secrets!

Michael Kucyk: You learnt to speak fluent Italian in order to travel there and become more knowledgeable about Italo (disco). What does Italy have to offer?

DJ Nozaki: Italia, land of bootlegs… un cafe, due to due, tre nitalia, quattro chiacchiere… Italian life as same as Miracolo Milano!

MK: How did you come in contact with Daniele Baldelli?

DJN: Amici degli amici (friends of friends) style. Mortar records passed me his contact. Although, at the time I was there he was at university learning agriculture.

MK: Was music also your motivation to learn English?

DJN: Just O.J.T. (on-the-job training) style. So Japanese-English milanese alla Cacciatora.

MK: Many of my favourite DJs are from Japan – yourself, Kenji Takami, Wataru, Forces of Nature, Chee Shimizu, etcetera – each very individual and unique. What is it about Japanese culture that breeds such innovative DJs?

DJN: I don’t know directly what is the Japanese culture. I think that the perception of proper culture [is] by outsiders. Insiders try to the best each other, merely.

I know Takimi-san, Wataru-san, Kitazawa-san,Kent-san, Shimizu-san from long time ago. Definitely, they are solid-state survivor. I guess our roots is rootsless-ness. La zingara cultura!

MK: You are musical director of Dorothy Parker, a venue in Tokyo. What is the vibe there?

DJN: Not director – just contract under the resident. The place is space. It is a DJ bar in Nishi-Azabu. I DJ every week from last September. Not a loud system – JBL 4331 – pure audio style. LED device by Yama-Chang and graphic by DJ 1Drink (Keita Ishiguro). A place called RGB (Red, Green, Blue) inferno.

MK: What has been your most memorable night in Tokyo?

DJN: Every night is unforgettable. Latest funny one is that drunken sexy bartender came up to DJ booth and said, “I would like to take sex now!” I just stacking Yoshiyuki Oosawa – sosite boku ha tohouni kureru –approximate meaning is, “And I have no way…” – actually, I had no way…

MK: The club name is a reference to Prince’s Ballad of Dorothy Parker. You also made The Purple Mix, a rhythmic collage of Prince commons, live bootlegs, edits, interview discs and b-sides. Why is Prince such an inspiration?

DJN: You know his music well. I like his music very much. So his music is our other language.

MK: Last year you launched the label 10” Inches of Pleasure. Why is 10” your preferred format?

DJN: 10″ is better than 12″ for Japanese size. Dieci’n'polici!

MK: The first release was Mick ‘Macho Brother’ featuring a Nozaki remix on the flip. It was supported by many DJs including Thomas Bullock, Tim Sweeney and Forces of Nature yet not many people know anything about Mick. Who is Mick?

DJN: Mick is Mick. My man medalist.

MK: Do you have any other releases/projects scheduled?

DJN: Pepe California – Yureru (DJ Nozaki’s Pure Pleasure Control Mix Pt. 1 & 2) (IOIOP/PPC 10″)

Boot Shine Girl EP (Moonlegs 12″)

Marbeya Sound – Sancho (DJ Nozaki’s Mi Manca La Mancha Mix) (Mad On the Moon 12″)

DJ Nozaki – You Shuggie You Done Mix CD (Oh! You Done Records CD)

DJ Nozaki – Tropical Winter Vol.2 Mix CD (-)

MK: You are a giant amongst Japanese men (187cm). Are you looking forward to going shoe shopping in Australia?

DJN: My sister gave me the mission of salvage original UGG Boots.

MK: What do you look forward to most about Australia?

DJN: Reversal vortex.

MK: What vibe are you planning to bring to your Australian parties?

DJN: Moovin’!kickin’!! groovin’!!!keep music strong!!!!

MK: Can you please recommend any Japanese films for Australian’s to see?

DJN: Meshi, directed by Mikio Naruse. Every one of his continuities are beautiful sequences without verbal. He directed films under not only talky but also silent. Also actress is my perpetual girlfriend Setsuko Hara and team Naruse (Masao Tamai, Satoru Tyuuko, Sanezumi Fujimoto and Ichizou Kobayashi) ripest period production!

MIX AREA:

Do As the Cornbeefers Do (PAMMIX009, 2005)
La Esserezza (NEDSIX909, 2009)
HOT10TOT10TROT10 VOL.1 (Noise In My Head, 2010)

Next story: First Show – Kaliman Rawlins

Unslayable

tristan — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 00:12:36 +0000

Text: Digby Woods

Here’s a bit of trivia: the oxymoronic Little Dragon took their name from the frustrated in-studio tantrums of lead singer Yukimi Nagano. Thankfully for the other band members, that fire is no longer spewing forth at random but has been creatively channeled into the likes of Ritual Union, Little Dragon’s third, and arguably most eclectic, album.

Although difficult to categorise, their sound is instantly recognisable, drawing deep upon familiar concepts such as love, heartache, renewal and uncertainty. Having earned fans in Gorillaz and Erykah Badu, Little Dragon are set to burn the stage down at this year’s Parklife festival. In anticipation of this, Digby Woods talked with Yukimi about songwriting, recording on the road, Toro Y Moi and Star Wars.

Digby Woods: When asked about the songwriting process, many bands say that they simply get together and make music. How does Little Dragon go about this initial creative process?

Yukimi Nagano: Well, we pretty much do what you described. If you want to simplify it, it is pretty much just getting together and trying stuff and experimenting to see what we can come up with and to try to stay inspired, make sounds and songs that we feel excited about. As passionate as we are about making music, I think the reason we got addicted to it was that we just wanted to have fun and I think that’s still what we want to keep when we write today.

DW: Is there a specific place where you prefer to make music, that is more comfortable, or can you do it anywhere?

YN: I think that we could do it anywhere but we’ve recorded the first, second and now with Ritual Union, the third album, all in our studio in Gothenburg. That’s kind of our space, our security. We can get a little bit lost. We have a huge kitchen, we make food, we hang out, we rehearse there, we record everything there, we used to live there at one point, and it has our history in it. I’m not saying that we couldn’t do it anywhere else, but I definitely feel that it’s good to be in a comfortable zone where you can try stuff and not feel like, “Oh my god, it’s costing me this much to be here,” or, “I don’t want to record something that’s weird because maybe someone is listening who’ll think that’s stupid,” you know? You want to feel completely relaxed.

DW: What is it like for you to record while touring?

YN: We can come up with ideas on the road but I think we still want to record them properly at home in our studio. It feels a bit limited on the road. I feel like 50% of the time I record vocals on the road I want to redo them when I get home. But definitely when you instantly want to write something down when you feel inspired, that’ll happen and we’ll record then for sure.

DW: What kind of equipment/programs do you use in the production process and how has this changed over subsequent albums? Have you upgraded over time, or stayed with more or less the same instruments etcetera that you were first using?

YN: This is definitely a question that one of the guys should answer and not me (laughing), because they each have their own individual set-ups. It’s basically one room with three computers and a bunch of synths and a bunch of junk everywhere, and the ideas come up from the individual corners and by the end of it everyone has added their piece and it’s a song that we’ve made together, but it starts out from one person pretty much.

DW: When creating a song, do you wrap your vocals more around an idea one of the others has come up with, whether Erik or Fredrik or Hakan, or is it vice versa, do they build off you?

YN: It’s definitely the beat first. Generally it’s always a bass line and drums first, and then the melodies and lyrics come afterwards.

DW: Is there anything past or present that you’ve especially had fun experimenting with while songwriting?

YN: I think the process has always been the same but we’re always looking for a new sound, like this new album is based very much on live drums, it has more of an organic sound to it, maybe a bit more minimal. I think Machine Dreams has a lot of layers and a lot of soundscapes and is sort of thicker in the sound, whereas the production on Ritual Union, our most recent album, is more minimal, more resolved.

DW: If you could score any movie, past, present or future, what would it be and how would you do it?

YN: Probably Star Wars. I’m kind of a Star Wars fan. Fredrik has a sophisticated film taste whereas I don’t really watch that much film. I really like A Serious Man, the Cohen Brothers film. I love the Cohen Brothers, I thought A Serious Man was great, but I especially like their early stuff. I thought Fargo was great. They have kind of a weird feeling in them, an atmosphere that feels very realistic but also kind of like a nightmare at the same time.

DW: Are there any artists you’ve been listening to lately that you’re particularly taken with?

YN: I really like Ariel Pink, The Dreams, Nite Jewel. I haven’t listened to Toro Y Moi’s new album yet but I heard some songs from before so I’m really excited to pick that up.

Little Dragon

Next story: Just Say Yes – Georgia Perry

Donny Be Good

tristan — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 00:10:54 +0000

Text: Gabriel Knowles Images: James Nelson

If Donny Benet shoots to U2-esque prominence or ends up playing to a stadium full of adolescent girls shrieking his name despite not knowing why they actually like him, Hollywood will make a film about him. It will be the first feature about the life of a disco accordionist/jazz bassist.

See, the Donny Benet story has it all. First of all there’s the name, Donny Benet (ben-ay), it rolls off the tongue. It makes you want to pick up the phone, dial, wait a few rings and ask for Donny. I actually do and he answers, sounding quite laid back as he explains that he’s tending to the vegetable garden at his family home in Hurstville, south of Sydney’s CBD. “Snow peas have got to come out soon, they’ve got a bit of fungus growing,” Donny says. “If you stay a bit ahead you’ve always got enough for a nice soup.”

Then there’s the family backstory: Donny’s dad, a famous Italian accordionist, fell in love with the daughter of an accordion repairer, of all people. You couldn’t script that better if you tried. Of course Donny picked up the accordion, but at age 15 the electric bass tempted him away from his dad’s beloved instrument. Benet Senior didn’t always approve but, in keeping with the scripted theme, he’s since come around. Donny reckons that his upbringing gave him the tools he needed to make his debut album Don’t Hold Back all on his own.

“One of the things that came out of that is that I can play a bit of everything, I can play the piano, keyboard, I can play the piano accordion still, I play a lot of bass. I like to create all the sounds myself, so there’s no loops or anything like that. Coming from that background, it’s not the only way I know, but it’s the way I feel most comfortable and productive.”

“The drum patterns are obviously looped but I play everything else,” he quickly clarifies.

Donny’s stint as a solo lounge act in Las Vegas has all the filmic boxes ticked too. A gig arranged by a family friend soon became a lonely experience but Donny is adamant the material he managed to accrue there more than makes up for it.

“I was playing on my own in Vegas but it was a different thing. I was playing in the background and it wasn’t really an appreciative audience, at all. It inspired me to write all the songs on this album. It definitely inspired me in that aspect. That’s why a lot of the songs are written and they’re a bit desperate, it was good to get out of there in a way,” he recalls.

“The desperation was more on a relations level. I was trying to interact with people but everyone has tunnel vision there and their relationships are based around money. You’ve got to do what you do to make it a positive situation and I’m really glad all these songs came out of it.”

The songs that came out of it are in essence a collection of synth-laden, smooth grooves that sound like some early ’80s r’n'b has been melted down with classic disco. Whether or not they’re enough for Donny to make the silver screen proper, only time will tell – in the meantime, he’s taken getting on screen into his own hands.

“There’s also a bonus karaoke DVD of all the songs that Spod made. It’s awesome. It’s also the only album being released right now that has an accompanying karaoke DVD.”

Don’t Hold Back and bonus karaoke DVD are out now through Rice Is Nice

Donny Benet launches Don’t Hold Back in Sydney at Goodgod Small Club with Collarbones and Kirin J Callinan on August 12, 2011 and The Workers Club in Melbourne with Mark Barrage and Electric Smile Band on August 13, 2011.

Next story: Australian Badlands – Warwick Baker

Henge Beat

tristan — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 11:15:26 +0000

Text: Emma Ramsay Images: Zephyr Pavey

Be alarmed. At this very moment, the imagery and ideas of late 70s synth punk are being reworked in the suburbs of Melbourne. Total Control, whose debut LP Henge Beat is to be released this month, are bringing a unique kind of gravity back to live music, quietly redirecting people’s imaginations of what punk can be in this strange retroactive century.

As a pre-release copy of Henge Beat spins in my computer, nods to the legacy of Moog pioneers and German discotheques of EBM past emerge. Rising over the shoulders of the more danceable acts post-punk left behind, forging forward and bruising you on the way through are Total Control. Enter drummer James Vinci to talk us through this hot mess of sounds and ideas.

Emma Ramsay: How are feeling leading up to the release of Henge Beat this month?

James Vinci: I am feeling good. I will be relieved when it is out. I am not expecting it to set anyone’s world on fire but I will feel – I think we will all feel – a sense of accomplishment, and pat each other’s tushies.

ER: What are you trying to evoke with that title? Is it thematically important to the songs?

JV: It is not at all thematically important but I can’t divulge too much, and I don’t think a UV Race-style manifesto is appropriate. It’s a personal thing, innit?

ER: Tell us about the early stages of the band.

JV: We probably are in the early stages of the band now. Up until the second half of last year, we had only ever practiced three times in the preceding two or three years – one of which was the recording session of our first 7inch. In that period of inactivity, Daniel and Mikey did a few demos that came out as the second 7inch. Somewhere along the way there was a possibility of maybe playing some more shows, but around then Mikey and Dan had a lot of other stuff on so Total Control wasn’t really an ongoing concern for a long time. But then UV Race were doing an American tour, Mikey was going to play keyboard for them and I think Zephyr was going to America anyway, so one of them suggested that we play also.

ER: Do you consider Total Control to be your music project or is it more of an autonomous music grouping these days?

JV: ‘Your’ as in me? Well, I am probably more invested in the band in less important, less creative ways than my band mates. I think Total Control can just operate on a Daniel and Mikey basis, but all of us put our own indelible mark on the music and, I think, Total Control is best when it is all of us. It has evolved to the point where it is Zephyr, Mikey, James, Daniel and Al.

ER: One thing that strikes people about Total Control is the contrast between the live shows and your records. Have the 7inch releases in the lead up to your album allowed you to accentuate or expand on subtleties that exist in your sound or make up as a band?

JV: The 7inchs are just experiments, I guess, or rough ideas – adventures we want to go on. Everything is quite free, but I can’t say they are made with the express desire to expand on ideas in particular. I think, given the way new songs are sounding, we are going to have to, you know, address that whole thing about the difference between recorded and live.

ER: As a band you have an uncanny sense of rhythm and shared energy on stage; it’s super impressive and blows people away. What is it that activates that synergy between you all when you are performing?

JV: Thanks. I guess we just work well together. I seriously had given up on the idea of being in a band that I felt red hot about or even liked. But I really like playing in this band; it just feels good.

ER: People have thrown the term ‘synth punk’ at you to describe your sound, but I feel there is something a little more conversational going on within your songs, compared to music from that era. Is that something you are aware of in your music: an exploration of that dynamic between guitars and electronics, or the tension and interlocking patterns of the drums and vocals, but using quite a classic punk format?

JV: Synth punk was definitely the intent of the band but I don’t think the original idea that spawned the band necessarily needs to be strictly adhered to. If someone came up with a song that was good but wasn’t “synth punk”, then it would be a bit silly to not play it because it wasn’t synth punk. I guess synth punk means something very specific but, at the same time, kind of means nothing at all. Like, obviously a synth punk band has to have a synthesiser to qualify as a synth punk band. Oh dear, there is no point going on – it’s not like we would have any objections to being called a synth punk band, but as you say it’s probably not totally accurate. I guess we are a punk band, but what is a punk band? Public Enemy are a punk band, yeah? I digress. I know that I personally was against the idea of having a really varied body of work because that can kind of come across as corny. But I don’t feel so much that way anymore, especially considering Mikey’s sense of melody. I think it helps to give the music cohesion. When we do play, I’ve had a lot of trouble with drum machines – either they get unplugged or just stop working mid-song, they don’t sound loud enough through the PA or there is no PA. These problems have forced us to reinterpret the songs slightly. To me, this is a definite barrier that will stop us from ever being a true synth band.

ER: Why do you always play that Swell Maps song when you play live?

JV: Simple – to fill out the set! We’ve tried a few other covers but we always seem to come back to that one.

ER: I remember you once mentioning that working with 8-tracks leaves room for interesting mistakes and unplanned overlaps. Was there a lot of experimenting happening before locking down time to record the album as a band?

JV: That is more applicable to stuff that I make at home on the 4-track with drum machines. Some of those I send off to Mikey, who makes a song around the beat, which so far has had some pretty good results. One of the songs on the album was made that way. There wasn’t a great deal of forethought put into the recording, all the band stuff we just did in one day. Just knowing how much we needed to record in that day was a little nerve-wracking. I did think about recording a lot and had some ideas of things I wanted to do over my drums, some of which worked, some of which didn’t. But the band is very experiment-friendly I think, which is a good thing.

ER: Who mixed and mastered the album? They’ve really made the music sparkle.

JV: Mikey Young. I don’t mean to piss in his pocket but he has vision in spades. Going back to the last question, he arranged whatever experimentations were captured in the studio and added some more, and the end result is – yes – a very good sounding album indeed.

ER: ‘Carpet Rash’ is one of your longer songs. The tone of it is a little different to most of the other tracks. I think it offers something dense to hold onto on the brutal island of rhythm and energy the other songs create live. It also ends up being the throbbing core of the album. Tell us about the writing of that song.

JV: The length of the song is quite confrontational. Like most of the songs, it was given life as an electronic demo on Mikey’s computer. When we first started practicing it, I remember trying to replicate the austerity of the demo version by putting a cymbal on the snare and playing quite stripped back. Fortunately though it didn’t really work out as I am not a very machine-like drummer and it went against the heavy emotion of the song. It took a while for it to come together as I guess most songs do, but when you are playing the song it’s obviously a different experience to a person watching it who could be bored out of their brain by the length of the song. I played that song to Deni who sings in the Perth band Mental Powers and for him it was a low point of the album as it had too much of a “Fitzroy swagger”. Oh and also, there was a funny review in the local street press in Melbourne that said it sounded like it crawled out of Brandon Flowers’ (from The Killers) jock strap.

ER: What aesthetic, era or artists are you drawing from with the typography and design for Total Control? What elements of the music are you trying to uphold with the visual impact of the sleeve art? It’s very distinct.

JV: Honestly, I’m not trying to uphold anything. If anything, the band has provided a convenient outlet for me to explore a certain aesthetic that I have slowly and lazily cultivated over the last few years. It’s probably a composite of all the things that I like put together, filtered through me. I think the methodology is kind of similar to what happens when I make stuff for the band on 4-track. Yeah, I am definitely NOT an accomplished graphic designer. I guess I am inspired by a lot of things. I am really into typography. In fact, that is pretty much all I like. Karl Nawrot is someone that has a lot of impressive work and he doesn’t consider himself to be a type designer, [it's] just something that he dabbles in. I think some of the type he has made in the last few years is very impressive and a lot of people, I think, are inspired by it whether they know it or not.

ER: What would people be surprised to find in your record collection?

JV: I don’t think there is anything surprising. I don’t really know any Stooges or Velvet Underground songs.

ER: Describe your current staple winter jacket.

JV: Two jumpers and a blue and red ski jacket that is starting to get really grubby, and the zip fell off the other day.

ER: How were you received in the USA last year? Is this when the record opportunity came up with Iron Lung Records?

JV: It went really well. I think we were all shocked by how well it went; we weren’t, like, swimming in accolades or anything, but just playing felt so good. At least it did for me anyway, but people seemed pretty into it which I am sure helps. It was a good time. One of the high points was watching Point Break in New York City with Marcus from the UV Race and then walking to get some food. On the way back to where we were staying I noticed Marcus wasn’t beside me anymore, so I looked back and saw him talking to a guy that looked familiar and it turned out to be Keanu Reeves. Iron Lung released the second Total Control 7inch in 2009 and they also did an Eddy Current Suppression Ring 7inch around the same time. I think they were probably always interested in doing a Total Control album. When I say ‘always,’ I mean after they did the Total Control 7inch – not that they were born with the knowledge that, some day, some how, they would release an album by a band called Total Control. Iron Lung (the band) have toured Australia twice and Jensen from Iron Lung has been here with another band. I think he also came to Australia for his honeymoon last year. I think most of us would have had contact with them before Total Control existed.

ER: How did you invitation to play All Tomorrows Parties Festival in the UK come about?

JV: Someone from Les Savvy Fav or their label got ahold of some of our music, and they asked us to play.

ER: What are your most pressing plans for Total Control this year?

JV: We are recording some songs for a record this weekend, possibly making a video clip, releasing a 12″ of a recently uncovered band from Perth from the early 80s called Division 4 and then playing more shows in America and Europe at the end of the year. Hopefully we will make it through that and record more songs.

ER: The band name. That Motels song is so heart-achy….

JV: Yeah, it’s a Mikey and Daniel thing. I am more partial to ‘Situations’ by Yazoo or ‘I.O.U.’ by Freeez.

ER: Any final words?

JV: Zephyr our bass player is exhibiting some of his photos in Sydney, 12th -14th August at China Heights gallery in Surry Hills.

Melbourne’s Total Control release their Henge Beat LP this month on Seattle based label Iron Lung Records.

Total Control

Next story: One Basket – Greedy Hen

Sunshine Folds

tristan — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 00:08:59 +0000

Text: Gabriel Knowles Images: Miles Martignoni

“We always wanted to be a big sounding small band,” explains Teneil Throssell, founding partner and guitarist/front-woman of Dark Bells on a particularly wet and wild Sydney afternoon that seems at such odds with their sound.

“We get referenced as shoe-gaze pretty often, but we skirt around a lot of different genres and never really fall into one particular spot. There’s a bit of a psych feel, and a bit of shoe-gaze or a dreamy sound but it never falls in one pocket. We use a lot of chorus and reverb which is a really shoe-gazey sound, but then some people give us The Cure references but I think that’s to do with effects on the bass.”

Throssell, along with co-founder and bassist Ash Moss are in the middle of mixing a 7″ at the BJB Studio in Surry Hills with a helping hand from The Scare’s Wade Keighran. They’re readying it for pressing in the Czech Republic but aren’t sure when or where they’ll launch it with an impending move to London. The upside of that uncertainty is offset by the anticipation of leaving their comfort zone and the need to find a new drummer to replace Simon Parker (Damn Arms, Lost Valentinos), something not all bands would be overly enthused by needing to do. But Throssell is relatively upbeat about it.

“We’ve had three different drummers through the years and Simon’s not coming with us so we have to find another drummer. We’re heartbroken but I sort of like the idea of that being a little bit of a revolving door and the two of us having a real partnership. Technically Simon is our perfect drummer but unfortunately he didn’t have the same plans as us right now, hopefully he’ll be back with us sooner rather than later though. It’s exciting to play with someone new though, it’s like a new chapter.”

Straying from the beaten, and safe, path seems to be a recurring theme for Throssell and Moss who have both had relatively successful stints in the past with Diamondback Rattler and Mercy Arms respectively. Perhaps veering off into less chartered territory is made easier due to the fact they’d met well before the band was formed, giving them both a chance to organically realise they were on the same page creatively?

“We’ve known each for years, we were just buddies through mutual friends and playing in bands so we were very aware each other was both quite musical. We used to talk about music heaps but it was a bit of a coincidence that we both had a lot more free time on our hands at the same time so we went in for a bit of a jam and that was kind of it.”

“The thing we do try to avoid is doing anything too obvious when we’re writing music or joining parts in too much of a predictable way or a predictable effect,” continues Throssell. “We try and push ourselves to do something that will make the song sound a bit different, I feel like we’ve succeeded in doing that. The more that you play together the more you grow a concise way of how you want something to sound and it just happens naturally I guess.”

“Our friendship and songwriting has become a lot more tight and comes easier these days. We have to push each other to try new things as we don’t have many instruments so with the few we do have, we need to focus on making it sound as big as it can.”

Dark Bells

Dark Bells play Yah Yah’s, 99 Smith Street, Fitzroy Melbourne on Thursday June 2, 2011

Next story: Soul Mates – Provensen

Music Lessons

tristan — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 00:02:02 +0000

Text: Emma Ramsay Images: Rene Vaile

The Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys are making quite the rumble. El Nino, flash floods and wild islands made of plastic bottles appearing in the ocean at the drop of a novelty beer drinking cap, it’s nice to know that there is a Sydney band who prove that, no matter who you are or how terrible you think world is the turning out, there has always been – well, I guess there hasn’t always been, but there definitely will be from here on in – and will always be ROCK‘N’ROLL MUSIC to soothe our growing pains.

From the first shows of complete mayhem, instrument swapping and piggy backs to a slightly more refined approach to guitar slaying (enter permanent drummer DLG), the Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys are proving, show after show, that at their molten core is a spirited take on DIY rock ‘n’ roll.

Emma Ramsay: When did you guys first become mates back in Cairns?

NW: Well, I don’t think I really liked BW [N's brother] when I lived with him…

JS: B used to tell me that you got on with everybody in the house, but B would start the most shit. N was the mediator …he’d say something funny and everyone would get over it and drink orange juice.

NW: Or Dad would get angry: “N, why are you saying such silly stuff, you’re always talking so much crap…” and then we’d forget what the family was arguing about. And then I’d be good. “Glad I settled that one down now we can sit down and eat our Osso Bucco…”

BW: That still happens when we go back to Cairns. I start shit and you sort of mediate.

JS: N and I were in the same class, and then in Grade Ten I was like, “Hey N, punk rock’s cool…” and he was like, “Nah, punk rock sucks.” He was real into The Doors.

NW: I WAS NOT INTO THE DOORS!

BW: Yeah, you were.

DLG: Hahahaaaa

NW: I had a Queens of the Stone Age CD and you were playing The Strokes and we did a swap. But before that, all I liked was rap music. I thought punk music was Blink 182 and NOFX at best. I didn’t know the Sex Pistols existed, but then when I found them, you better believe I got a mohawk.

JS: You actually did get a mohawk and dyed it black as well.

ER: What kind of music were you playing before you became the BWBBs?

BW: I was playin’…talkin’ the best music, man. Red Red Krovvy. The best band Cairns has ever seen or ever will see.

NW: They were a good band. I played in a noise band with Daryl Prondoso, who was my first friend at university, when I moved down to Sydney and went to UWS. It wasn’t very good, but it was exciting at the time.

JS: You missed the start though: N and I had a band in high school, we used to play the Stooges and Ramones.

NW: I didn’t know how to play anything so I was the default singer.

ER: D, have you been in bands before??

DLG: Yeah, when I was at college. Dom Broadhurst and I, we used to jam in the music room. We started off comin’ home drunk and I’d play piano and he’d play drums with his thongs.

JS: Was it funk?

DLG: I don’t think you can play funk with drum thongs and piano.

JS: Was it donk?

DLG: It was more donk than funk. Then [Dom Broadhurst] was like, “I want to do guitar,” cause he played guitar, and I said I’ll try the drums. We had maybe eight really rudimentary songs. We were called Talking like Suicidal Sports Symbols. We had a really good logo, which was a skull with a racing car helmet and goggles, crudely drawn. It was fantastic.

JS: That’s awesome!

BW: Lets adopt that for the Bad Boys…

NW: Who here has had music lessons?

DLG: I played piano in Grade Four.

JS: I played in the stage band, I played saxophone.

DLG: Oh yeah, I learnt some saxophone.

NW: I’ve never fucken’ learnt shit.

ER: B, I remember you playing a show with Red Red Krovvy and Circle Pit at Hibernian House years ago. You were a total shredder! We know where you ended up but where are the other Red Red Krovvy members now?

BW: So that RRK show was Jack Mannix’s 19th birthday, with Circle Pit, Holy Balm, Axel Rosie O’Donnell and one another band.

JS: Axel Rosie O’Donnell was me and N.

BW: So my schoolies was a couple of days on the Gold Coast, and then coming to Sydney and playing those shows, and Naked On The Vague and Pee Wee…a pretty full week.

NW: The very first rock show at the now-Goodgod space.

DLG: Club Consolodor?

NW: In the old Spanish Restaurant.

BW: We were 17, and snuck in the back and it was all pretty mind-blowing to be in Sydney. Ashley, who sang, is in Melbourne, playing drums in a band called Pop Singles. Adam, who played drums, is still in Cairns, but he always talks about moving.

NW: He probably has green hair, still a punk.

ER: You really had fun with the title of that first 7 inch, Best Band in Sydney/Worst Band in Sydney. What’s this I hear of a new one? How did this one come about?

NW: It’s the last 7 inch that we did as a three piece and we did it just before we started jamming with Doug. David Akerman recorded it and I think it sounds pretty darned good and it’s gonna come out in June and we’re gonna do some rock shows to support it. Get those big dollars selling 7 inch singles. That’s where the money is in rock‘n’roll.

DLG: In an outdated format.

BW: A historical format.

NW: The picture on the sleeve is a photo in full colour.

DLG: Offset printed?

NW: No. Digital. The 7 inch was also recorded digitally. Who cares, garage sucks.

ER: Is there an LP release planned? And what label are you going to do it with?

NW: No one has ever offered to release anything by us…ever. Oh yeah, nah, we’re gonna do it on the greatest record label in the world, Rest In Peace Society Records. The CEO Nic Warbucks approached us and said, “I’m gonna make you stars,” and I was like, “Yeah sure,” and he was like, “I’m gonna press this massive number of 300 copies, they’re gonna sell like hot cakes.”

JS: “They’re gonna sell more than the first Thin Lizzy 7 inch.”

BW: Didn’t we have more people come to our first show at the Annandale than Midnight Juggernauts the night before?

JS: We had more people at our first show than the Sex Pistols…

NW: And we have as many guitars as Television. It’s a selling point.

DLG: So that’s basically yes, we have an LP coming out.

ER: You have injected a lot of fun and ol’ fashioned song writing values into a larger Sydney music scene that can sometimes, let’s face it, struggle to uphold the DIY ethos you guys live by. Who inspires you to fight the good fight and be involved in the music biz on your own terms?

BW: Doc Ellis. Doc Ellis inspires me everyday.

NW: Hang on guys, I want to answer this one a little seriously. Matt and Lucy (NOTV), Holy Balm, the whole Chooch-a-bahn thing was really important for me when I moved to Sydney. I was inspired to do things on my own. Same goes for The Castings guys and the Yvonne Ruve space and the Spanish Magic label. Punk dudes from Melbourne, DX and the UV Race…

DLG: Jimmy and Hana as well…

NW: Yeah, people who just grab things by the balls.

DLG: They’re prepared to take risks on behalf of other people.

BW: They have faith in other people to get behind it as well.

NW: Sometimes the punk community are sceptical towards things that are popular, or have a somewhat monetary focus but I think it’s important to do that; because what’s the point of having self-righteous DIY squat shows to eight people and to never ever reach people beyond that. If you are doing something that you feel is worthwhile, you should promote it, and try to get as many people into it as possible.

ER: If the BWBB made a collection of self-help tapes, what would be the ultimate BWBB music making mantra?

NW: I’ve got the title. ‘Be Yourself’. It wouldn’t have any musical tips.

JS: And then ‘Boys Will Be Boys’ is the tape that comes second, once you’ve finished ‘being yourself.’

BW: If I made a self-help tape it wouldn’t have anything to do with music, because I think good music comes from a good life.

JS: No, this is a help tape for the worst bands in the world I think…

BW: There are too many bands as it is. Give up and get a nine-to-five job. Throw in some batting practice. That will help.

NW: No, it would actually be ‘Be Yourself’ – because I think that’s a problem with most modern music: people are so concerned about their positioning in the blogosphere, or their legacy, or they’re reacting to this or that, and they’re not actually sitting there in room with the other people in their band, thinking about both their own personalities and their musical personalities, and making something that is informed by that. They’re thinking more about what people in the blogosphere say. If you’ve got good intentions and work hard you’ll probably come good.

Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys will tour Australia with Melbourne three-piece Woollen Kits. The new 7 inch Nobody Else is available through NW’s label, Rest In Peace Society Records. The Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys will be sharing a tour van with Sydney’s Royal Headache when they visit the USA later this year.

Bed Wetting Bad Boys

Next story: Bleem Weaver – Brianna Lee Martin

On A Whim

tristan — Sun, 01 May 2011 11:11:06 +0000

Text: Michal Roucek Images: WIM

It’s not often mentioned that Sydney’s WIM, Modular’s recent signing, are named after Wim Wenders and that the man himself is well aware of this fact. Just back from an Australian tour with stable mate Grace Woodroofe and independent Emma Davis, WIM bassist Dustin Bookatz spends some time with Michal Roucek and makes public the band’s desire to work with Wenders.

Michal Roucek: Just back from Mackay the last in a nine date multi-state national tour, how was it?

Dustin Bookatz: It was our first tour and apparently you can tour with bands you don’t like and it’s a bit awkward. It was like a little family with Grace and Emma.

MR: Wait, what’s a band you wouldn’t like to tour with?

DB: Well I haven’t met them yet but maybe Gypsy & The Cat are arseholes!

MR: Ha-ha well of course you’re starting a national tour with Gypsy & The Cat at the end of the week…

DB: Ha-ha I’m going to go tour on the assumption that they’re not arseholes… I’m sure they’re amazing people and we’re certainly looking forward to touring with them. Especially to Melbourne, their hometown and a place we had a lot of fun on tour with Grace and Emma. Grace sings a song on The Panics’ yet-to-be-released new album so when we hit Melbourne Jae Laffer sang with her, well on a few songs with her actually, and so we met them and had a great time with them too.

MR: This all comes off the back of your first single See You Hurry being released, with an amazing video clip accompanying it shot by Dan Askill. Tell us a bit about how that came about.

DB: Well Martin (Solomon – WIM lead vocalist) and Dan knew each other previously and when we were signed, Modular and Dan had a working relationship so we talked about doing a video together. We all love it which is really great. It’s so nice to get to hang out with people like Dan. I mean Dan’s awesome so on a personal level it’s great to hang out with people and do things which we find inspirational.

MR: I think that’s something I’ve noticed hanging around you guys as a band, is that is something you guys seem to do so well. You guys are all such good friends outside of music and all the people you tend to collaborate with are people who you meet along the way.

DB: It’s this weird thing about this band, we’ve had some amazing people come into our spheres who want to work with us and it’s sort of been through friends of friends, and whatever it is I think if you generate good energy it speaks volumes and it somehow moves..

MR: There have been some amazing connections in the recording of your album, the album was produced by Australian supremo Tony Buchen and the album was recorded in Los Angeles with industry heavyweights Bob Clearmountain and mastered by Bob Ludwig.

DB: I mean, I suppose the best way to describe the experience in LA is that Sydney feels quite corporate, families are made up of lawyers and consultants, but if you’re talking about Los Angeles it’s run on creative stuff. When we would go out in LA we would meet by coincidence other lovely people, one in particular who writes for the LA Times and loved our music. It’s just through people – when it boils it down it comes to these people connections. Even our wonderful producer Tony Buchen, who journeyed over with us, is somebody I met when I had my Bah Mitzvah as a thirteen-year-old!

MR: Precisely – people connections indeed. So, as you mentioned earlier, you guys are kicking off another national tour at the end of the week with the folks from Gypsy & The Cat in some larger venues, which are traditionally major Australian musical soap boxes, like The Metro in Sydney and The Palace in Melbourne and The Hi-Fi Bar in Brisbane.

DB: It’s going to be excellent to learn the lessons from our first tour – a small venue thing – and apply them to these venues and hopefully share with some more folk a little about who we are as a band. It’s great to play at the small venues – where we are playing this music for us, and sometimes the five people in the room, and that’s all that matters right now and learning to really not to care about the ego stuff. So it’s going to be interesting playing these venues. We got a taste of it playing St Jerome’s’ Laneway in Sydney, playing on big stages, and we’re certainly looking forward to it on this tour.

MR: Your single See You Hurry is out now through Modular and fascinatingly it’s been remixed by one of Brooklyn’s most interesting groups Twin Shadow.

DB: I was at work one day and I got this Skype message from a colleague saying to check out this Twin Shadow stuff and I listened to it and I loved it. Then the next time we met with the label I just mentioned, “hey check out this Twin Shadow stuff, I’m really into it,” and somebody else said “I think I know the guy, George Lewis Jr.,” and they approached him to see if he wanted to do a remix and a month later the remix drops into our inbox! It’s fun, he’s reinvented the song in this really crazy sort of summer-time fun meets this tripped out Prince layered shit…

MR: I’ve been lucky enough to have a cheeky listen to it and it’s really typical of the way he sees the world I suppose, a mix of ’80s feel synth, typically made with this decade (2000s) equipment and incorporating with it classical feeling acoustic guitar layers to make something very, very interesting. It would really be something if it made it onto a single b-side or something…

DB: I don’t know if physical singles are made anymore. It’s more digital these days, which is something I’ve come to really like. The blogs and tweets allow us to share our music with vast numbers of enthusiastic people who are seeking out music and scenes generally. In fact a really lovely thing happened the other day when an Air Force pilot from Orange County emailed us to say that he loved our music and wanted us to tour before he becomes contracted for six years to be posted all over. He said if it’s not possible to tour, to update him on how the band goes and he wished us all the best. I mean it’s amazing to be able to touch people on the other side world and to illicit that sort of reaction. Traditionally it’s been something only bands like Pearl Jam do.

MR: Well I suppose you’ll have to play a show in Iraq or Afghanistan for him at some point! It’s also through Myspace and the digital world you’ve had a connection with German film Director Wim Wenders, is that right?

DB: When we were in LA we got reviewed in the LA Times – and it mentioned that we were “named WIM as in Wim Wenders which might mean that they are the most pretentious three lettered band name in music history!” Three weeks later we got an email from Wim Wenders saying “most pretentious name in history? I don’t think so! Send me some of your stuff” and so we did and he liked it, who knows where that will go!

MR: It might be a good second film clip!

DB: Hey if you want to and you see this, Wim, let’s work. I’ve got a little bit of money in my wallet here, I mean I’ve got to pay for this coffee here first but… let’s work on something together for sure!

WIM

Next story: Keep On Rollin’ – Tobias Rowles

Level Crossing

tristan — Sun, 01 May 2011 11:09:29 +0000

Text: Shannon Carlsson Images: Tristan Ceddia

Fresh from a US tour for one of many projects Steph Hughes is involved in, my sneaky early arrival wasn’t as early as Steph’s – who’s decided to be really early for everything from now on. Returning a changed girl from overseas, three-and-a-half years can seem like a lifetime ago from when you and your friends were sinking beers and sometimes getting stoned in your mum’s garage over summer. It really helps when these friends are some of Melbourne’s garage finest and you just happen to find your newest band being talked up all over the place.

Shannon Carlsson: Boomgates is one of the newest ‘supergroups’ to come out of Melbourne with all the members in successful bands already. Brendan – Eddy Current, Gus – Teen Archer, Rick – The Twerps, yourself – Dick Diver and ex-Children Collide, Sean – Trial Kennedy. Do you think you had a lot to live up to because of this?

Steph Hughes: We all just hang out and don’t think about it. It was years ago when I first started jamming with Brendan and Sean. About three and a half years ago. I was in Children Collide, Sean was in a break from Trial Kennedy and Brendan was still in Eddy Current, but they weren’t playing many shows. That was the first time we all jammed together and we didn’t really think about people’s work in other bands. We just have a really good creative chemistry. When we hang out, we come up with a good story, or words or ideas about a painting or whatever. We always come up with stuff together.

SC: How did Boomgates happen? Obviously, everyone in the band has similar musical influences. How did it all come together? So it was Brendan, Sean and you initially.

SH: We were jamming in my Mum’s garage years ago, because it was easy to jam at and free, and Brendan and me would be hanging out on the weekend anyway. It all started because he would have an acoustic guitar and we’d make up songs on the acoustic guitar together. One day we pumped up the amp and Brendan called up Sean. I didn’t know Sean and we became instant friends. When rehearsals are free, and you have beers and it’s summer and you’re all just hanging out anyway…..It was three and a half years ago. There have been times in the middle when we’ve stopped. When Rick came along, it all kind of locked and became more of something. Gus came along in the middle as well. He was initially playing bass and as soon as we shifted him to guitar and Rick on bass it was just – yes! I was in high school with Gus and we played underage shows together in different bands. He was in a metal band. He was a total prodigy and they always used to win the battle of the bands. We loved them. They would always win because they were so good. Even now I’m in awe of Gus. He has so many ideas all of the time. Everyone has always been stoked to jam together.

SC: You haven’t played too many shows so far, with Boogie Fest and Tru Mould being the most recent ones. Was it a good vibe at the warehouse? Is it different doing other shows to warehouse venues?

SH: Sure, when we put on a show we’re going to put on a good spread. We’re going to make it really good. We wanted an environment that was a bit more than a regular venue could provide. We’d met Assassins 88 recently in Brisbane and we asked them to come down. As soon as we knew they were going to do it, and Craig with Scott and Charlene’s Wedding, it seemed like the perfect thing for me to do before I went overseas for two months. We wanted to do a big send off in a big place that was kind of weird and didn’t have the restrictions that other venues have.

SC: People like going to different things and it was in the daytime as well.

SH: Yeah. I used to do a shopfront in Lygon St, called Catfood Press. Catfood got pretty heavy because I used to put on gigs every weekend and the council came down on me pretty hard. All of these APRA things were coming to the house in my name. The East Brunswick Club were getting complaints about it too. Now at Catfood, they do it a bit differently. In terms of shows, they’ve always been my favourite. Dick Diver has played there.

SC: It’s been said that Boomgates is just Brendan’s (Eddy Current) side project. What do you think of that?

SH: It’s a bit of a cop out. Everyone has bands and are doing stuff that we’re all proud of, but Boomgates is 100% about all of us. I’ve never been in a band that has divided everything so evenly, in terms of input and making songs. It just happens that Brendan’s in a band that’s a total institution. It is what it is.

SC: You used to have a radio show on Triple J, Home and Hosed, and were in Dick Diver and Boomgates at the time.

SH: I left the radio show late last year, and did it for two years. It got a bit too much. I didn’t want to work full time in an office, I wanted to do other things. I loved doing it and what I could do. I loved playing stuff I really believed in. It’s a tricky thing to get national exposure for a lot of bands. It was a really cool thing that I got that opportunity to do that. Eventually, working full time in an office did my head in.

SC: Out of all of that’s on your plate, what do you look forward to doing the most?

SH: Everything I do I look forward to doing equally. How could it not be? If I’m doing an exhibition, it’s equally as needed and ties in to all the music.

SC: One feeds into the other.

SH: It’s nice when you see it all working together, like with Boomgates and how we came together. It wasn’t just a musical chemistry, it’s an ideas chemistry. We’re all just stoked. We’re really stoked to be doing everything that we do.

SC: I thought you said stoned. We’re all just really stoned!

SH: (laughs) Sometimes. When it’s called for.

SC: Do you get ideas and inspiration from your illustrations, and other projects you have going on?

SH: We’re all just hyper-creative people. Gus is an amazing artist and Sean has ideas constantly.

SC: So everyone else does visual art in the band?

SH: Everyone. Brendan has had shows at Utopian Slumps and Hell Gallery. Everyone except Sean but he has ideas about everything. Gus is doing a fine art degree and Rick is a graphic designer. When it comes to booking gigs, we have to plan it six months ahead. Everyone is hyper.

SC: What local bands are you currently into?

SH: Anything Al Montfort does. UV Race, Lower Plenty. The Lower Plenty tapes are my favourite thing on earth right now. They’re just beautiful.

SC: It can be anywhere in Australia.

SH: I love Bitch Prefect and Dud Pills and Peak Twins. I really like Peak Twins out of all of Liam Kenny’s projects. In the whole of the country, holy shit. You have to put Sleepless Nights up there, Amy and Harriet from School of Radiant Living. They do a kind of country thing. I’ve been playing country songs too. Sleepless Nights and Lower Plenty have taken it to another place for me right now. I played a lot of Royal Headache on the radio last year. In Boomgates, I try to bring across a lot of really nice melodies. There’s a band called Pine Gap and they only played one gig, and by all accounts it was incredible. I have the CD and everyone in that band is a total genius.

SC: Were you happy with how the recent EP turned out?

SH: There’s so many that have come out. We’ve got one that we’re launching next week, a split with Super Wild Horses. There’s an EP that has come out in the US called “Laymen’s Terms and Nothing”, put out by Smart Guy records.

SC: I only have the Bright Idea 7”, released by RIP Society.

SH: I’m stoked with how that turned out. We’d written ‘Cameo’ a couple of days beforehand and ‘Bright Idea’ was one of the first songs we wrote. When we went in and recorded it, it was so easy and Mikey (Young) always does such a good job. With Mikey, it’s a pleasurable experience. You just go in there and he didn’t have mic stands. He just sat them on the chair. It was so easy. That’s how I want to record. He has such a tried and good formula. We did one take with a lot of stuff. Maybe we did a couple of run-throughs with some of them. Vocals are recorded at the same time. We just bang it out. It was so easy.

SC: What releases are out right now or coming out soon?

SH: We have the Super Wild Horses 7” split being launched in Melbourne on Friday May 6. Laymen’s Terms and Nothing is out now in the States. We always have something on the horizon. We’re always stockpiling songs, whether it’s more 7 inches or something else.

SC: Will you have an album coming out this year?

SH: We’re always working on something. We write so much and record all the time, whether that’s more 7 inches or something else. I can’t say if something longer will come out this year. Maybe not this year, will have to ask the others I reckon.

Boomgates

Next story: Bongolia Haze – George Egerton Warburton

Cosmic Maestro

tristan — Sun, 01 May 2011 11:09:05 +0000

Text: Steele Bonus Images: Daniele Baldelli

When the line up for The Sydney Vivid festival 2011 was released it was a real surprise to see one particular name on there, Italian DJ Daniele Baldelli. Whilst Baldelli may not be very well known amongst the mainstream, to fans of underground dance music the man is a bit of a legend. His career spans 42 years, starting out at a time before the actual title and profession of a DJ even existed. In ’77-’78 he was resident at Italy’s first ever joint for domestic night clubbing, The Baia Degli Angeli. Here he would pioneer the art of mixing records, playing an innovative blend of disco and funk from America and Europe. Later from 79-84 he would become DJ at the Cosmic. It was here he would develop the unique style of DJing that he is famous for today. Playing records on the wrong speed and mixing new-wave with ethnic jazz, and African percussion with industrial to amazing effect.

In recent years his legend has spread around the world thanks to the Internet, inspiring young music fans and releasing mixes, edits and his own productions on hip labels such as Eskimo and Gomma. Despite his cult status he has never left Europe to DJ because of a fear of flying. While it may have been more likely that he would have visited The United States or Japan first, instead he’ll be coming to Australia. Lucky for us. Steele Bonus caught up with him to chat about his past, and his upcoming visit to Australia.

Steele Bonus: Can you tell us about your first gig playing records?

Daniele Baldelli: When I was 17 in 1969 I was going to a club that had been open for three months, it was one of the first clubs in Catolica where I lived on the Adriatic coast. Instead of dancing I would spend all night watching a boy there play records. After three or four months the boss of the club came and asked me if I was interested in the job. I was afraid but I said yes. At this time the name ‘DJ’ didn’t exist yet, instead it was just called ‘putting on records’.

I would just play 7″ with no mixer, no headphones and no monitor. I would play these records one after the other as you would in a private party at your home. It was very simple to do and there was no creativity because the records were already prepared by the boss, he said to me ‘you have to play this in this sequence’. There was also a rule at this time that you would have to play three fast records followed by with three slow records. That was my beginning.

SB: When did you realise that DJing was something you wanted to do as a profession?

DB: In the beginning it was not a profession, just a way to do something I liked. I was a student so during the week I would go to school and on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon would be my gigs. After a while DJing started to take up more of my time and became more important and the money was always good so eventually I stopped going to university. At the time my parents told me ‘what are you doing, it’s not a good job’, but now it’s been 42 years that I have been a DJ.

SB: Did you ever have to work any other jobs? Was there ever another profession that you considered?

DB: No, I have never had another job, only DJing.

SB: In ’77 you became the DJ at the legendary Italian club Baia Degli Angeli. What was it about this club that made it such a memorable place for you and many others?

DB: This club was 2km from my home. It was an all white building on a hill overlooking the sea with 2500 capacity, very nice. It was opened by a man that lived in the area and he employed two DJs from New York City, Bob Day and Tom Sisson. They were not famous DJs but they had a lot of American music that nobody in Italy knew because importing and exporting of records was not happening at that time. They were there in ’75 and ’76, we became friends and when they left to go back to the States they introduced me to the owner and I became the DJ there in ’77.

Another nice thing about the place was that the DJ booth was in a glass elevator which I was able to control. I could go up and down inside the club between the first floor and second floor so I could see all the different dance floors. It was also nice to go up and down in the night with the lights, a very good situation.

SB: So did Bob and Tom first introduce you to the disco music that you later played at the Baia Degli Angeli?

DB: In the early ’70s I was playing mainly rhythm and blues, funk and also some white music like rock music from England and things like that. Of course when disco music became big we received some records (in Italy) but a lot of them were unknown to me and I listened to a lot of stuff from Bob and Tom that I hadn’t heard before. One year later the importing and exporting of records became much bigger in Italy and then I started to find all this sort of music.

SB: Was this also around the same time you started making mix tapes and becoming famous in Italy from these tapes?

DB: The mix tapes I started doing in ’71-’72 when I was a DJ in TABOO club. These tapes were just compilations with no mixing. People asked ‘can you make me tapes with James Brown, Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin?’ and I said ‘Oh yes I can do that’, so they started as a request. Then around ’76 I started to mix records together and recording the mixes in this way and I have never stopped.

SB: Are you still attached to tapes or have you moved on to CDs?

DB: Now I have moved onto CD of course, no tapes. But a lot of people ask me for the 136 original tapes that I recorded when I was at Cosmic from ’79-’84. There are a lot of collectors who want the original cassettes.

SB: So then in 1979 the Baia closed down and you moved on to become DJ at Cosmic. How involved were you in the creation of this club in terms of the décor, layout, sound system and DJ booth?

DB: The boss of the club was a young man, 32-years-old. When he contacted me he already had a clear idea that he wanted to make a very different club. There was a very big dance floor very similar to the one in Saturday Night Fever with a lot of lights on the dance floor, a lot of lights on the ceiling, a lot of lights on the columns and no room for sitting. The company who made the club decided on the sound system, it was very good with Macintosh amplifiers and JBL sound system. The name Cosmic was also the idea of the boss, he came up with the logo by looking to the logo of the band The Commodores.

SB: Do you remember what first gave you the idea to experiment with combining the records you played at Cosmic?

DB: It wasn’t an idea, it was simply a feeling. I didn’t think about it like ‘this record is disco and I can’t play it with this one because it’s electro or this one is jazz and I can’t play it with reggae.’ I was very free in my mind and it was only an instinct and a feeling. I would just play everything together. It was not like now where you have a techno DJ who will only play at a techno club. At that time in my club I could do what I wanted. Maybe it was also a nice period and at that time everybody was just ready to understand it.

SB: Would you experiment with mixing together all these different records while you were playing inside the club to a dance floor or was this done when at home?

DB: During the week I was always listening to records at home all day long. I was always trying things out and making experiments to see if the records could go together. It was very difficult at the time because all the records were played live so they were not like the new records made with drum machines where the beat is perfect. So listening to a lot of music and trying things out helped me in the club to make the right mixing.

SB: The Cosmic was eventually closed down due to drug problems. What sort of drugs were people there using at this time? Was this a big part of the experience at Cosmic?

DB: In the beginning when the club opened there was a rule of no alcohol inside. The idea was that this would be a place where people would only go to dance, like a gym with music. Eventually the club started to become famous and people started to come from everywhere including Austria and Germany. In 1980 this was the period when heroin started coming down from Holland where everything was free at the time. Lots of people used to smoke marijuana and hash but lots of people also fell down in the heroin problem. Most of the people that would take drugs would stay outside, 90% of the people that would come into the club were there only for music and dancing.

Outside the club this bad situation grew for us, we would have 1000 inside and maybe 2000 outside that made problems with the people that lived nearby because they made lots of noise and they would rather spend money on drugs and not on coming into the club. Because of this the club was closed in ’84.

SB: This period in Italy stands out as a time where there were also many other great DJs such as Mozart, Rubens, Meo, TBC, Beppe Loda etc. Did you feel much of a need to compete and out-do other colleagues?

DB: At the time there was no competition because each of these DJs had their own club, which were not really close to each other. Cosmic, Typhoon, Chicago, La-Meca, there were five or six important clubs. Every one of us created our own way to DJ, we all started out with a similar idea and conditions. At the time Mozart was maybe more funk, Rubens more Brazil and Baldelli more electro from Germany. The bad thing was that everybody in Italy started to give us the name ‘Afro DJs’. This was wrong because Afro was only a small part of what was being played at the time. Now I prefer to be called ‘Cosmic’ because Cosmic became the club that everybody would look at and try and imitate. Later we would end up working together and get to know each other and there was still no problem. Since this time some of them, and this is only my opinion and maybe they feel the same about me, but some of them maybe started to become jealous. Some of them are bad people and it would be better not to know them but unfortunately I do. Some of them have said bad things about me and I don’t know why. It’s only jealousy and this is the human part of the DJ.

SB: Why do you think this was such a good period in Italy for producing DJs?

DB: I think at this time we had all different kinds of music at our disposal. Disco, electronics, jazz, funk, new-wave, punk, a lot of things that you could listen to and learn about. Now most of the music is made by DJs. Techno DJs producing techno music for their dance floor. Most of the time these people are not musicians and they are just using machines to make the tracks. There is no melody and no musician’s feeling so now there is less creativity in the music. I hope that this changes. I’d like to find good music when I go to the shop. I don’t like it when I spend four or five hours listening to new productions and don’t buy anything because I don’t like anything. Fortunately I have more than 60,000 records and I always can find music I have never heard before in my own collection.

SB: With so many records do you have a problem with them over taking your house?

DB: No fortunately I don’t because I have the entire bottom floor of my apartment just for records. Its full of shelves and it’s like a library.

SB: Are you still going digging and discovering new records and music today?

DB: Yes, every week I go to the shops and I always buy records and CD’s. I also buy a lot of old stuff from collectors and today I still discover many great records from the ’70s I don’t have. I thought the ’70s was finished but I am discovering more all the time and this is very exciting.

SB: You have been involved in a few production projects in the past. Do you have any planned for the future?

DB: Yes, I have a CD album coming out any day now dedicated to Richard Bone, an artist from New York in the ’80s. He gave us the licence to make remixes of his tracks and we chose 12 and made an album and it’s called Daniele Baldelli and Marco Dionigi present Richard Bone Adaptors. I am also in the studio with musicians to record My Funky Side 2. Then I am working on another project with Marco Dionigi for Juno Download called Cosmic Eagles which will be dedicated to music from Cosmic. I have also done a remix for Phil Manzanera, guitarist of Roxy Music, but it is still not ready to come out.

SB: Was this a remix of one of his old tracks?

DB: Yes the track is Caracas from the album Primitive Guitars. We have done two remixes and he was happy with them but we are still waiting. I never stop producing, when all these projects are finished I will start on others

SB: So you will be soon visiting Australia to DJ at Vivid Festival. Have you travelled outside of Europe to DJ before?

DB: No, never. This is the first time I have flown such a long way and I am very scared. I am very afraid of flying. I have said no many times in the last five years to Japan, the States, Brazil, Canada. They have asked me to come but I said ‘no thanks, I am very afraid and I will stay in Italy’. But now I have decided to come and I hope everything will be OK.

SB: What made you change your mind after all these years and decide to travel to Australia?

DB: Maybe because of the money and also because I think it will be a good experience. It was very nice to be invited and it’s very nice to see that people want to have you.

SB: Were you surprised to discover that people in Australia are fans of the Cosmic sound?

DB: I know that I have fans everywhere because of the web. These days you can download all of my tapes. In the beginning I was angry about this because at the time I was selling my tapes, but now I understand it is a good thing. However the younger generation these days think everything should be free, and if everything is free I want to know how a musician can live. This is the bad side of the web I think.

SB: You will be DJing at Club Kooky with DJ Gemma and Seymour Butts, Horse Meat Disco and Azari and III. Are you familiar with any of these artists?

DB: I only know Horse Meat Disco. They are four guys from London and I played at Horse Meat Disco last Sunday night. I was in Manchester at Easter time, then went to London and Paris and then back to London again. When I am in London I always have a gig with Horse Meat Disco. Most of the music they play is disco, on the contrary when I play there I play my own Cosmic style.

SB: From your experiences DJing in clubs today how does it compare to what it was like in the late ‘70s early ‘80s?

DB: When I play in Italy I play gigs that I organise. So for sure the atmosphere is the same. Lots of people and lots of fans from the old generation come. Also a lot of people from the new generation. It’s very nice to see 20-year-olds come up to me and say ‘wow what kind of music is this? It’s very good!’, because they have grown up with techno or house, so this is very nice for me.

When I play outside of Italy in Paris or Oslo or Germany, these people I think know me from the web so I feel I can be free and just do what I do. I think they expect to listen to me as a Cosmic DJ so I just be myself and fortunately I never have a problem.

SB: In your travels have you had the chance top hear any other DJs that have an exciting sound of their own?

DB: I don’t have much time to go to other nights because I am always working, so it is very difficult for me to listen to other DJs. Sometimes when it has happened, up until now I have not found someone that has excited me. I hope one day soon to hear somebody and say ‘wow, this I really like!’

SB: If you were to ever to DJ at a party on the moon what would be your opening track?

DB: (Laughs) I would play Moonboots by Orlando Rivia Sound… so I can dance better on the moon.

Daniele Baldelli plays Club Kooky as part of Vivid Festival June 5 2011 at the Sydney Opera House. Purchase tickets here.

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Icy Focus

gabe — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 12:52:31 +0000

Text: Mikey Gilles Images: Stevie Dance

The Killing Words is a mysterious entity, to say the least. Their hypnotic, measured ballads gives you the impression they are an itinerant cult, rambling through remote mountain ravines, far away from the trappings of the modern world, leading a wholesome reflective existence and only very occasionally transmitting a profound sonic postcard to the rest of us busy metropolis-locked folk, a signal from a better place. Concise yet fertile, their unpolluted prose somehow dissects the confusion of our fast-paced ant mounds in the way that Neil Young’s sparsely-strummed feedback guides you through William Blake’s purgatory in Jarmusch’s Dead Man. It is deceptively simple, like when illogical phrases make perfect sense in a dream. It is not the sort of music you make in a city. The Killing Words should be recording in an isolated, hand-built log cabin somewhere, like Dick Proenneke, or boxcar travellin’ with Warren Zevon and Townes Van Zandt, only with slightly less whiskey – not recorded next to a spare mattress in HOXTON.

Oops, the cat is now peeping out of the bag – I was trying to retain that air of mystery that pervades any published material about The Killing Words, but now it seems silly to cover up the fact that Sydney’s Broken Stone Records‘ next release was indeed conceived, written and recorded in the dirty, bustling avant-gardening capital of the United Kingdom… by one man. In his spare room. Darn it, there I go again, that cat just keeps wriggling its little paws out of any available crevice… Suffice to say there is one consistent member, with a few guest appearances – Lucy from Magnetic Heads, Kelly Saunders, and a couple of ex-members of Brian Jonestown Massacre (Anton’s band-mates are still dropping like flies evidently). The following conversation is with the band’s mysterious mouthpiece, in a sunny yet chilly English park at the dawn of spring. We got to the bottom of such mysteries as how a highly populated city can mimic the conditions of the wilderness, creatively speaking.

Mikey Gilles: So when and where did The Killing Words begin?

Mysterious Mouthpiece: I guess the ideas began when I was still living in Sydney but travelling around a lot. I wrote a bunch of songs here [in London] and in Hong Kong and most of those became the first album, which we released after I left Sydney.

MG: How long have you lived away from Australia?

MM: Six years now.

MG: Ramblin’ man…

MM: Yeah, um, you miss [Australia], but it’s mainly the people and the beaches that are hard to live without.

MG: What is the difference between making music here in London and in Sydney?

MM: I’ve found certain things tough over here, you know, just having a base of people you know you can collaborate with, like in Sydney, is one thing… building it from scratch kind of sucks.

MG: The difference is the people?

MM: Yeah, but more importantly the difference is the inspiration – you just end up making different music given your environment.

MG: So London is more inspiring?

MM: I think so. You get more productive. You’d think there’d be more distractions but that’s at home as well.

MG: That was something I was going to ask you actually: does London’s general air of business encourage your work ethic or distract you?

MM: It definitely encourages it. You have big periods of the year where it’s dark for, like, 14 hours of the day. It’s freezing cold, you can’t go outside, there’s not a lot to do… and that’s the time you can sit inside and really make a lot of music and get things done.

MG: So it gives you an icy focus.

MM: Yeah. And on the flip side there’s such a hive of cultural activity that there’s always something to see or do that’s the cutting edge compared to anywhere.

MG: I’ve noticed a lot of people can get pretty caught up in that though too.

MM: Yeah, it sounds boring but you have to have personal discipline – finding the time and making the time, really.

MG: Nothing seems to get done easily in London, it can be quite a shitfight.

MM: Well, actually the new album’s been quite good…

MG: In what way?

MM: Well, the background of it is that it is a lot more abstract, not like the last one, which was thematic, all about certain ideas – love. This one’s called Abstractions & Dreams. Half of it is all, like, randomness and the other half is basically dreams that I’ve had in London.

MG: That’s interesting because your music doesn’t sound like it’s coming from the city.

MM: There’s definitely a thematic throwback, maybe to being on farms and stuff back in Australia, but it’s really the dreams – there’s these very vivid dreams I’ve been having while living in my current apartment. I’ve been channeling all sorts of weird shit!

MG: Oh wow, do you mean like a ghost?

MM: There could be. I’m not that sure. There is a graveyard not that far from my house where all these people are buried, like Robert Louis Stevenson and William Blake. That might have something to do with it. Even just the city seems to have ghosts everywhere, given its age. Everything you touch has an air of nostalgia attached to it.

MG: I wonder what other dead poets you’ve touched while you’ve been here?

MM: Well, like before, there’s a lot more time to read over here. I’ve been reading a lot of Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, the old modernist poets. They’re a big influence on what I’m trying to do, at least lyrically. Dante…

MG: Dante! Woah, epic. Were you thinking ‘epic’ with this new album?

MM: Not really. Just the way he phrases things, the turning of words…

MG: Well, it’s definitely profound and concise. I really like it. What’s next for The Killing Words?

MM: Putting this album out, then we’ll be working on the next one.

MG: Whereabouts? London?

MM: Yeah. Oh, actually we’re going to try to get to Berlin to record some stuff at a friend’s studio there.

MG: Time for a minimal house tangent like Neil Young maybe?

MM: Haha, maybe – you never know.

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The Killing Words

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