Port Douglas

Okay, I'm back from a sabbatical in Far North Queensland. Whilst on holiday in the tropics I was listening to some 60s Australian rock. The Mrs then says "Sometimes rock and roll is a bit incongruous." Who was I to disagree? Once while visiting Mildura at the height of a gruelling Australian summer I remember going for a walk in the 35+ degree heat. On my i-pod I had The Kink's Something Else while sweating in the semi arid conditions. The incongruity of that was precisely the point. I loved listening to tales of 60s British suburban life, it didn't fit at all. When I saw The Trip with Steve Coogan playing Joy Division in the picturesque English countryside I thought 'Ah a like mind, with a perverse sense of humour.'

Anyway I thought about Emma's comment and thought okay let's see if I can match this scene of humidity, palm trees, insects, lagoons, jellyfish, The Great Barrier Reef and The Pacific Ocean. A quick check of the I-pod showed I currently had 3 Dolphins Into The Future releases synced. I put one on and immediately there was synchronisation between the world in which we were in and the sounds we were hearing. The funny thing is from our room with lagoon views in which you could see palm trees, gum trees, brightly coloured tropical birds, the Pacific Ocean etc. you couldn't open the window for fear of giant mosquitoes entering your space and destroying your pleasure. With that window being closed all you could hear was a low hum of the air conditioner. Putting on the Dolphins put the sound back into our room. It fit like a glove. In some way though this was just as fake, like a sound designer putting the environmental sounds retrospectively onto a film. It made me think that in some ways this is as incongruous as the rock. Anyway for the next week it was all Three Dolphins records as the soundtrack to our balmy holiday. The perfect soundtrack.

The only other album I put on the i-pod dock was Paul Shutze's New Maps of Hell III. This fit as well. I remember a critic once describing it as music from the pacific rim. This however was a slightly darker take on similar themes. I checked the title of one track, it was called The Rapture of Drowning. The next day while on a boat for a Barrier Reef snorkeling tour I couldn't get that kind of horror vibe out of my head. I thought if Radha Mitchell turns up and starts talking to us we're definitely doomed.

Ugly Thing-The Creatures

I always thought it was cool that I knew a guy from Macclesfield who lived in the same street as Ian Curtis and inherited his turntable (the turntable bit may need a pinch of salt). All along I was living in a region of garage-rock royalty. The Creatures were from Mildura and they had brilliant Aussie garage-rock compilations named after them and as well as a popular American garage-rock magazine. My dad saw the Easybeats at The Murray Moon before they were famous but can't recall the support band. It was probably this lot right here.

Bieber Fever: I've finally got it.

How can you not like this? I love that bassline like a sample from some second rate Joy Division clones from the UK in the early 80s. I know there is no need for me to promote The Bieb as this has had over a 100 million hits. Add one more! I also love that little brostep break at about 1 minute 50 seconds that rocks.

Posting Youtube Clips Is My Rage

I know I use the youtubes a little bit too much. Growing up as a kid in Australia though it has always been a dream (along with thousands of others I suspect) to one day programme Rage. Rage is an all night Music show on the ABC on Friday and Saturday nights. On Saturday night they have a guest programmer for the first 3 or 4 hours. Name any Australian band/artist or any international touring artist and chances are they've probably been a guest. The most memorable for me being Steve Kilbey in like 1992, Johnathon Donahue in the the late 90s, Michael Hutchence had a go and more recently filmmaker Richard Lowenstein was a fabulous guest. I've missed hundreds and probably some of them were probably my favourite bands/artists. Anyway I'm just playing Rage fantasy guest host a lot of the time.

*NOTE: Probably best not to play The Birthday Party's Nick The Stripper or Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division as they get played every week. There's probably plenty of guest bits up on Youtube.

 

Beards A reprise

Early Joy Division early beard

The Original beard king even before I got into Dennis Wilson was of course the legendary Peter Hook. Jim Morrison, The Beatles etc. all had them during trend times as did Dennis but it was Peter Hook in the coolest band of the late 70s and then another cool one throughout the 80s who stuck with it in the non trend times. It did stick out like a sore thumb. Of course now it seems normal. I think though in recent times he's even been shaving. He just seemed to not fit. He shoulda been drivin a truck or something. My brother and I used to find it hilarious. I dunno if we appreciated his contrariness or his out of time naffness. Anyway in tribute to the great man we made a fantastic collage of about 20 photographs all with beard in different phases of growth. It really was quite foreign particularly to have facial hair in the post-punk/indie/dance scenes. Clean shaven was the go and really only went indie in the 00s and has now gone corp/fashionista/sportsman/knob etc. In the late 70s & 80s it only belonged to science and geography teachers. A hipster wouldn't have been caught dead with a hair on his chinny chin chin! I wish I still had that collage, it used to take pride and place in our flat. Hooky Monster Respect!

This is his classic beard and hair look for most of the 80s in New Order.
Not that dissimilar to Dennis Wilson.

Transmission
Joy Division
Best bearded bassline ever!

Miserable/Funny Songwriters

I was going to bang on about New Zealand music and why the 80s to about 91-92 were a golden era etc. and not just the popular Flying Nun bands but the weirder ones plus xpressway etc.  Another time perhaps or maybe look elsewhere on the net for such information.  I remember a pretty good article on Flying Nun at the Stylus Website. There is also a good doco on the youtubes about Flying Nun Records.  Popwatch fanzine once had a terrific piece on the xpressway label. 

I was thinkin' about funny singers and songwriters.  It used to be, people would say 'Nick Cave was a bit dour.' and not see the funny side in the 80s into 90s, but now he's almost a fully fledged comedian so people are comin' round to the idea.  There also used to be "How can you listen to The Smiths? They just moan!" Of course as soon as anyone said this you knew that they hadn't truly listened to the band.  Morrissey was fucking hilarious!  Those Smiths albums still make me laugh.  Leonard Cohen too, what a laugh he was. Then there was the more obvious funny dudes like Robert Forster, Mark E Smith and Dave Graney. As well as hardcore like Flipper and Angry Samoans.

I had another category as well where it all seemed so serious surely they were havin' a laugh.  Maybe they were, maybe they weren't.  It didn't matter to me I thought they were a laugh a minute.  First example being Swans.  The darkness, the impotence, the serious delivery, the sickness etc. what a hoot!  Michael Gira possibly the funniest man on the planet.  Jarboe a bit funny too.  Joy Division were funny.  Add in Ian Curtis's dancing you got yourself a good time.  Primitive Calculators were great fun to me and my little sister when I was in my early teens.  Still one of the good time bands for me.  It turns out in recent interviews that indeed they had great senses of humour.  Einsturzende Neubauten with their crumbling architecture, wanting the world to end, the harshness, the screaming the mental illness etc. all good comedy fare.  Liabach, pretty funny as well.  Rollins too but I had to love the music as well so I don't know if he counts.

Funny songwriter or just a funny guy?

Anyway the whole reason I was thinkin' about this was because I was listening to The Drones for the first time in years and wondering where Gareth Liddiard fitted into this.  Sure on the telly he's a funny guy (RockQuiz a couple of times) but do I find his songs funny? I'm still not sure.  Steve Kilbey a recently hilarious dude was something nobody saw coming, well not from The Church's music anyway.  He might have always been a private card but I like the idea of him flowering late with his comedic prowess.  Gettin' loose in his old age.

Maybe all of this says more about me than anything else. Who knows?  Any thoughts out there ?


**That's a great painting of Gareth Liddiard (from The Drones)  from last years Archibald Prize Exhibition, which I managed to catch in The Yarra Valley.  That painting was also one of the strongest in the competition.