TISM SHINES ON THE BIG DAY OUT
The Big Day Out took place Saturday 23 January 1998 at Homebush Bay drawing some of the best Australian Bands and some excellent overseas bands to the showground site. Dominic Moawad, Laszlo Virag and three others from the Moawad clan made their ways to the site via public transport - which was woefully unequipped to deal with the 40000 visitors - considering it was a SATURDAY, hopefully the 'congestion' of 150 thousand people during olympics time won't bring our transport system to a halt.
The highlight of the night was TISM. Not necessarily because they were the best act, but because out of all the performances, here was an act that had a rare level of intelligence, musical style and stage presence - a brilliant way to cap off a day and night that saw so many diverse musical styles - where dance music and hard core punk were only metres away - shit, I had a dream! Regurgitator was another stand out. Anyway, here is a summary of the bands our chief music reviewer domad caught:
The day started out walking around the place aimlessly until we found the Green Stage (otherwise the cattle pavillion) to see Bodyjar at 11:45am. Here was a very competent band - performing some of their more polished songs on their CD (as heard on Triple J) with a more 'live' feel, but certainly very close to that CD sound. The act was so good that I thought that the other bands would be very hard to match. You see, hearing a band sing live is often an experience you would rather forget because it sounds so unlike the CD. Pop sensations which have a habit of being unable to sing live because they are created by producers (ie spice girls, any number of quartet/duos/etc) as well as a wholly artificial sound, uncapable of being played live unless with backup tapes (ie. Mariah Carey doing multiple layers of her voice at the same time). With the more grungey/garage band style music, it's all there - either you can perform or not - and this band performed excellently.
At 12:30 we basically followed the crowds rushing into the stadium (future baseball site) to catch Jebediah at 12:45pm. Starting on the dot - Jebediah played most of the songs from their album. Jebediah was just as impressive as Bodyjar - singing their songs very well and from a distance, it may as well have been the CD. The sound that the lead singer of Jebediah makes is unique - and I like that drawl where you can't understand what the hell he's saying but know it must be something profound or funny otherwise they wouldn't have sold that many albums. It's more remarkable given that in real life he doesn't have a speech impediment. Anyway, my younger sister and I had ourselves some seats at the back of the grand stands after almost suffocating to death very close up in what was one hell of a huge moshpit. I vowed never to venture into one of these vortexes for the rest of the day. This left Laszlo all by himself to bodysurf etc. After being ten minutes late to the meeting point - we continued watched the next band on the adjoining stage in the stadium, The Living End. Here is an impressive band. Sharp, Fresh and sounding like the ultimate garage/Australian band. Very good. Again, their main songs were performed well; we don't need no one losing some of its melodic touch due to the mixing of spoken and sung sections. Sometimes I wish some of these bands tried singing lessons a bit more - just to make their act that much better.
Halfway through The Living End, having missed meeting anyone - we ventured outside to catch some of the music going on. First stop was the boiler room. The boiler room contained some of the best dance/dj music acts around. DJing is an art form no doubt - and when done live with records, can often become quite creative forms in spite of their use of previous music. It is a postmodern artform - and we caught a bit of RANSOM, who were very good. It's a totally different experience in the very well set up boiler room with thumping (not annoying) bass sounds giving the music an extra quality and inspiring even the worst dancers to at least shake a head, or tap the foot in approval. In the boiler room, you do get an appreciation for the work done by the DJs, the audience will even clap a clever change or insertion into the music. While this didn't happen during Ransom, it was because the room was pretty empty (The Living End). There were some spaced out people dancing away in la la land - very funny watching. After catching one of the mixes they do that actually comes on Triple J (here's where live music is better than the stuff you get on CD!!!), we headed off towards a big top. Unfortunately it wasn't the circus but Rappa Jase in the hot house who we heard for only a minute. Across the grass area we went to the Purple Stage, where we heard the first few songs (and main hits) of FINISCAD. This was very impressive once again. The lead singer's voice was certainly much better than it had been during Recovery earlier this year - perhaps someone told him he needed to brush up on the high notes. Anyway, some very hard songs to pull off were done with ease and the audience was thanked for being there considering he thought he would only have five people listening (ie the Living End was on in the main stadium!). This time we wanted to make the 2:15pm meeting time.
But before we met, we walked past the "What is Music" stage. Very aptly titled, I think "What is Music" challenges us to see whether organised sound can become music - i.e. it shows us the fine line between noise and music. Indeed, at first hearing the AFJ Liberation Front (I presume) sounded like noise. Six or so brass/woodwind/percussion instruments, including saxaphones and trombones ignoring the finer points of melody time and rhythm. But after a while, there was some logic to the running scale passages, and the interesting inclusions of almost jazz style rhythms and bass in the background - surely making it 'music'. Not appreciated if not in the mood to open your mind to "what is music".
While waiting outside the stadium at 2:15pm, I bumped into Colin McDonnell, Nathan Ridley and the chicks they were with. Colin has changed a bit, but Nathan hasn't changed much. Anyway, continuing on, Laszlo eventually turned up, followed by my older sister and her husband. Colin and Nathan took off while we went off to hear "that german song" from Not From There. Unfortunately, we got there right towards the end of it. The next song was woeful. The lead singer needs remedial lessons in vocal technique and melodic invention (not to mention structure). Left after just one song. Showed everyone the Boiler Room, where a greater crowd had gathered to hear the excellent Sonic Animation. After that, we moved to the main arena, where Superjesus were playing at 3pm. Superjesus performed very well in a setting that isn't ideal for the more intimate and finely refined style of singing that we expect from Sara. Here is one band that pays attention to music first - before working on catchy cries or even shouting (i.e. The Living End's "we don't need no one to tell us what to do"). Unfortunately for Sara though, her voice took a while to rise to the challenge - overly strained on a few occasions. Obviously this was due to the type of music and of course, I have a picky ear. I was sitting in the stands for this one - and over all, She ended up very comfortable, working the huge crowd very well - and the whole act just picked up a notch, with the crowd having lots of fun and obviously enjoyed this different (yet not that different) change of pace.
Regurgitator's UNIT album was a huge hit in Australia, getting critical acclaim and popular support. The critical acclaim is understandable. Unit was has been one of the most inventively clever Australian albums of the last few years and was released just before the 80s officially made its way into all this retrospectivity in the late 90s culture. The album itself is a clever dig at your 80s pop style electronic music, with references to (and inspirations from) Prince in a great song called "The Song Formerly Known As". But Regurgitator (4-5pm at the stadium)was the best performance of the entire day not because of their almost flawless renditions of the songs off the album - the sheer scope of their music makes them one of the most versatile bands around - which explains why UNIT was such a cleever album. Regurgitator feels just at home (if not more so) in punk and then in foul mouthed rock as well (if not a bit of both in some songs) - and then electronic pop music. The lead singer of Regurgitator needs to work on his voice. Why oh why can't they get singing teachers. I know this music has to have that live quality to it - but there is no excuse for singing a quarter tone flat at times when it is so obvious (though not to almost everyone). One of the electronic instruments used in Polyester girl was a differnet sound and slughtly out of tune to the one on the album - but it was amazing that they had most of the sounds from the UNIT album up and running live - I can't believe they pulled those UNIT songs off so well because they're hard to do. Well done and brilliant. It was even more enjoyable when it rained halfway through the act because I could get more close without choking from freaky people.
After powder finger, we moved over to Antenna (5pm green stage). It is a slower style of music, which older people like my sister and her husband enjoyed, but after a few songs, sung very unconvincingly, me and my younger sister went off - I hoped to catch some more of the music in the Boiler Room: this time from Pee Wee Ferris. We stopped over for corn cause my sister wanted some - and that took around 10 mins. We could only stand outside the boiler room, because my stupid sister didn't want to go in with food. So, I missed another opportunity to see how these people work the turntables and by the time she finished her corn, we were due for the 10 to 6pm meeting time for the next four huge acts at the stadium. Bumping into Colin and Nathan yet again on our way to the stadium, they were queuing for one of those upside down style rides and due to go to powderfinger as well.
Powederfinger (6pm) played to a very large and enthusiastic crowd at 6pm in the stadium. How great they were! After finding our excellent seats (to hear sound - not necessarily a good view) in the noow packed stands because I was way too tired to stand up, the songs were played with accuracy. Here was a polished band, with a lead singer that sang his songs IN TUNE and didn't need any fancy stuff to cover up shortcomings (cause there were none). Another band that can go from slow rock to almost heavy punk at times. While not as versatile as Regurgitator - they have a style of their own and certainly the lead's singing voice is much better. In short: Excellent.
Korn was due to start straight after powderfinger at 7pm, but as a big OS act, they milked the anticipation and started at around 7:10pm. What a perfect performance. Korn is a heavy rock/metal/punk? band that is very very popular. From what little dialogue I could get, they presumably preach the alternative bible, and this helps them in their popularity. But what was so good about the performance was that the lead could still sing his songs and be so energetic on stage. Jumping around, dancing, Jumping around, going crazy, etc.- all while 'singing'. Excellent energy which soaked into the crowd - The 'moshpit' was now a throng of people covering half the stadium - it was an awesome effect. This is one performance that I vowed to buy the album after watching.
For me, I find Marilyn Manson disappointingly mainstream - Like Howard Stern is a shock jock, Manson is a shock rocker. One newspaper article called his act boring. The writer mustn't have been there - or at least was writing to reassure the parents of the many stoned kids that heard him preach the goodness of 'drugs', in the clever "I don't like the drugs but the drugs like me". There was a huge sign saying "drugs" in the background. It was quite ironic given the strong police presence. At least, there's some sort of countenance to this 'war on drugs' propoganda that has become a major part of govt control of its citizens. Anyway, Marilyn Manson played the crowd - often insulting us for effect. And after an outstanding performance of "The Beautiful People" (may as well have played the CD it was so good), Manson trashed the stage. Another good performance.
Courtney Love of Hole (9pm) used to be one of the most attacked women. Accused of driving her husband too suicide and even of his murder because she found out he would leave her out of the will (if she was so scared of that, divorce would have given her half of his estate), Love has had a bit of an image change after stopping using heroin etc. This is reflected in some of the excellent songs in the Hole album "Celebrity Skin" (the famous lines "Oh make me over"). From far away she came on and has a nice innocent sounding voice - totally different to that deep voice we hear on the album. Then she burst into song - and as Bruce McAvaney might say when our Aussies fall over: "geeee wasn't that disappointing for little Courtney Love". Thankfully, she wasn't as bad as the SMH said she was. She has competent musicians playing for her, and while she didn't sing that flat - the setting for Hole would be more appropriate in a smaller stage. It's just that that style of music doesn't work in a stadium. Unfortunately, I didn't hang around much because I knew it was more of the same, so I actually missed the title track from Celebrity Skin.
So, at around 9:35 I caught Fat Boy Slim. Unfortunately, we were too late to be inside the boiler-room, where the dancing had spilt onto the main parade. I joined in with the other three in the clan for around 20 mins - trying desperately to keep moving amongst people who were such good dancers - I mean, I obviously don't have the dance gene - but why was everyone around us so good. At around 10pm, went to see Laszlo outside the stadium and bring him back to force him to hear this style of music (hahaha). Now, Fat Boy Slim is very famous and not for no reason. The rhythm was spot on, and the mixing was outstanding. In one song, he's playing a beat, usual techno stuff, then all of a sudden (but seamlessly) introduces Prince's "When Dove's Cry" into the mix. Very clever and very well done. We were all tired of dancing by then (well, not me because I was barely moving), and I definitely wanted to see TISM, whose song "wanker" is very clever.
TISM (10:15-11:15pm) did not disappoint. In fact, they were better live than I've heard them on radio. They have two or three people that do nothing except dance along (choreography in heavy australian rock is very rare!!!!). And like a boxing match, one of those people walks around with a cardboard announcing each song. The lead singer can actually sing and in tune, and if he writes the stuff, is one of the cleverest people in the music industry. During the act, a poem was read, highlighting how TISM lead singer took Marilyn Manson to suburban sydney. Very well read, very funny and it had the audience on a high. Finally some great songs (all homeboys are dickheads or something like that) about Australian culture. A very interesting and brilliant way at summarising a national ethic and shows that you don't need to be a great novelist or write big words or write incomprehensible poems to make a great statement about life. TISM was the highlight for me, not because they were the best band but because they were pretty close to being the best band while making their performance so much fun. I also admire how they perform with long sleeved shirts and balaclavas throughout in such a high energy act. I was wet from sweat and I was around fifteen rows of people back for five mins. Their encore was the perfect BIG DAY OUT sort of way to end the night. From there, we moved towards Homebush Bay Station. The party outside the Boiler Room was even bigger, and the queue at Homebush Bay Station for tickets was so large that the station ran out of change (2000 is only 1.5 years away!!!) forcing the police to tell people to break the law and catch a train with no tickets (and I thought the Marilyn Manson act was ironic). The train ride took 25 mins from Homebush Bay to Strathfield in a packed - non airconditioned train. I was so delusional I was pointing towards Auburn saying "E.T. go home", while the train guard attempted a pathetic comedy act which made us feel even worse. Again, 'congestion' was cited for the delays. "Congestion" at midnight on a Saturday is hardly an excuse! God help us get to the olympics in 2000 (if it's still on!).
Anyway, I diverged. All in all a great day, worth every cent of the money I haven't yet paid. I'll be buying my tickets early next year cause I'm sure most will be back after this one.
DR STRANGELOVE APPROACHES APOCALYPSE - TURNS 21
The year of our Lord 1999 will be remembered as the year Rudolph Pereira turned 21. When Bill Gates is just a footnote in the planets proud history - Rudolph will remember the time that gave him the idea to start off Strangelove enterprises - part of a devious stratedgy to insert microchips in cranal lobes to ensure a 'better quality of life'. As Rudolph approaches this historic moment in his life, the Australian Voice has a special tribute section in honour of him: where you can read every article ever written about this creature, a friendly and polite person that once attempted to inflict serious bodily injury through a pen on another due to a quarrel over a laser printer and a grandfather clock. Yes, Rudolph is a caring and gentle beast, as these articles demonstrate. Happy Birthday.
A TRIBUTE TO RUDOLPH PEREIRA: OR HOW I STOPPED WORRYING AND LEARNED TO LOVE STRANGELOVE ENTERPRISES
DR STRANGELOVE - CINEMA AT ITS BEST
With Philips Open Air cinema screening this 1960s classic thirty five years after its release, a brief review of the movie would be worthwhile. This one I'll analyse more after January 31, 1998.
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Dr Strangelove follows the tale of what happens as a nation (unknowingly and) unwittingly enters a nuclear showdown after a mad general decides that the communists are infiltrating our "bodily fluids" (this whole routine is brilliantly played out) and he must single handedly start the nuclear conflict to once and all destroy the commos. Simply put, Dr Strangelove is the best satire to be put to screen, and some would argue one of the most intelligent comedies ever. |
It contains the typical Kubrick themes of power and sex, although in such a ridiculous form it is comical. Forget crash as a statement about man, machinery and sex being linked - this film does so with brilliance while giving us much more - highlighting the stupidity of the extremists in the "communist threat" argument were thirty years before it had been fully revealed to us now (ironically, recently we've seen how some of the few times the world came close to a nuclear showdown was with malfunctioning machines). And thankfully, the movie itself is removed enough from Hollywood (Kubrick is british) to subvert the cliches of the American films even before they became cliches (that is, the british major being the 'good guy'). In other words, its originality stands the test of time, and its themes are important even though the nuclear threat and communism is dead. There's also some primary linkage to the more overt sexual references made in Full Metal JAcket about military hardware and military types.The film also has a conference room scene in the emergency room that has been a hallmark for similar set lay outs in countless films - and was sent-up in reverence by the genius designers of a Simpson's episode.
Rarely does a film work as an intellectual, insightful, comical and artistic (not 'cinematic poetry' arty farty stuff, but still very significant) endeavour. This one does. PS. Peter Sellers does an excellent job, playing three or four roles, including Dr Strangelove.
95/100
ALCOHOLIC ICE BLOCK BEAT UP
I FORESEE TOMMORROW'S (13-01-99) DAILY TELE EDITORIAL (which I think is soon going to be incorporated into the Piers Akerman column):
If no action is taken soon, in a few days, our innocent youth will be exposed to and corrupted by a new alcoholic fad - indiscreet looking alcoholic ice blocks. With six percent alcohol content, and the sellers of it planning to place the product in licensed hotels and shops such as Liquorland; we will be exposing our youth to the horrors of alcohol up to 18 years before they can experience it legally - we will soon be bring up generations of alcoholic children. Some may say its name and its alcohol content rating clearly labelled on the front of the package will make it abundantly clear that this is not aimed at young children - but if you read our expose of the education system - these kids CAN'T READ until they're 20. So what's the use of that! As for its presence in licensed liquor shops only - what rubbish - kids can freely buy (and they do) alcohol from many of these "licensed" liquor shops anyway, so this won't stop the trade of these dangerous ice blocks. In a democracy - we must protect the decency of our society - therefore we must BAN BAN BAN BAN BAN these ice blocks before they destroy the fabric that binds this nation together. We don't want to see a nation of alcoblockaholics.