Australia Day at HMB Basement — Nux Vomica, Prefix, King Mungi, Ochre, Full Scale, Japunga

If it’s one thing Ochre believe, it’s that Luke from Cog is a sexy bitch. I want an amp like theirs that can display messages such as that. From the relatively primitive amps I currently own, there’s a long way to go.

The Stewart Hill fanclub got what they came to see, but the evening surely belonged to drummer Tony, allowing himself to cut loose and obliterating his bass drum in the process. Nice one.

Melbourne’s Full Scale were a success, and I’ve never heard a rock band appeal to the crowd for noise so often. The bombastic lead singer is this band’s best asset, screaming from atop a very flimsy guardrail separating the stage from the audience, clasping hands with random members of the audience—including myself—and jumping into the audience.

The lyrics are saturated with politics and I’m not generally into political rock, but the music makes a sufficient case for you to oscillate your cranium.

Tell you what, it was oscillating in the morning.

Triple J, making fun of Nelly in your Hottest 100 broadcast yesterday was very mean. He has feelings just like everyone else. If he never comes to Australia, I place the blame squarely on YOU.

First of all, props to Dave for the use of Casa Kelso down the coast. It certainly helped that what turned out to be a 21-hour day for me wasn’t made any longer by having to drive down on the morning.

Yes, the Big Day Out. Dave, Daz “I am the Pork Fireman” Murray and myself caught the fun and action on Saturday.

I am still equivocal to the concept of festivals, and this year’s was by no means unmissable. However, they are at least an opportunity to discover new bands. Local bands are mostly squeezed onto an out-of-the-way stage with no shade that I probably wouldn’t be able to park my car on. Not a lot of faith shown there.

As usual, the big stages were nigh on impossible to get to except for the most hardy and persistent of fans. The Deftones were a write-off for me because the sound sucks at that distance and you can hardly see the band. So it was a day of frequenting the smaller stages.

Post-Life Disorder have some interesting ideas and they certainly fulfilled their role as token metal band in distinguished fashion. Not bad at all.

Hollow, you’ll be fine. Just decide whether you are a reggae or metal band and get a new vocalist.

Incidentally, you’ll never see me doing that daft index finger and little finger salute at a concert.

Resin Dogs I have never been a particular fan of, but I have to hand it to them, they can certainly get a crowd in motion.

Cog certainly have their vocal supporters in Brisbane, and unfortunately the 45 minute slot did not do this band justice. The crowd yelled for an encore knowing how futile this would be at a festival. The vocalist did the standard speech about how everyone should get out to see Australian bands more, as it is a cheap night out and you are supporting local talent. It is a valid message, and while it seems that he would be preaching to the converted, it gives the converted pause to preach to others. Kudos.

Machine Gun Fellatio, you are all show and no talent. You are the Anna Kournikova of the music industry. Only slightly more nude.

You Am I. I used to like you Tim, until you started saying things on stage like “don’t trust guys, they’re c…”. Be quiet, you’ll blow our cover.

Girls Germs, it seems you can keep in time now. It’s amazing what a bit of practice can do!

6012 did their thing well but the band seems to lack focus. Diversity is cool but they seem to dart between hip-hop and metal a bit too profoundly. The guy is a decent rapper, so I think they should run with that.

Xzibit was the first rap concert I’ve been to, and I was thoroughly entertained. A lot of people seemed to know the words. I didn’t think X was particularly popular down under, but with his weed-and-booze populism, it’s not hard to see why he is. This was one of a number of acts that slipped in a moot encore by finishing up ten minutes early. I’d probably rate Xzibit as my highlight of the day.

In summary, there was a lot of fun to be had for hardened festival types who don’t mind rocking up to concerts very early or charging drunkenly through a crowd of punters. Otherwise, you shouldn’t be disappointed if you gave this one a miss.

So the month is January and that means Big Day Out for all. The David Kelso Allstars and I are packing the sunblock and earplugs for the trip down to this year’s event. The only plan is that there is no plan.

The only band that I consider to be a must-see is Cog, and I’m guessing the other dudes will be catching Queens of the Stone Age and Deftones among others. So I’ll be looking forward to just freestylin’ it and maybe discovering some new tunes.

Rule #2. A new household must be without telecommunications for awhile until you get to know each other.

We have just got ourselves a phone line, after a week of living here. I am presently masking dial-up Internet to five people, people who are all accustomed to thrashing the bejesus out of cable. Broadband is coming but it might take awhile to arrive.

Find out more about the ordeal in my upcoming book, “Healthy Living”, a treatise on share housing and bachelorhood that will surprise and appal you.

Rule #1. Household drinking trophies are not transferrable to a new house.

Starting today, the race is on to attain and sustain a credible range of bottles to display, as evidence that we, the householders, have the wherewithal to consume alcoholic beverages.

In other words, some sort of housewarming is in order!

This is the first article (of probably two) in which I ramble about my favourite music from 2002. I split it up because it’s long, you don’t have the attention span, and neither do I.

Ochre — Horizon (EP)

Ochre are a hard rock band in Brisbane at a time when there are a lot of hard rock bands in Brisbane. Go to one of their concerts and chances are there’ll be at least three other bands playing. Almost every aspect of their live show makes it obvious that they intend to stand out from their contemporaries.

Kim Benzie’s rubbery-faced frontman act only makes his vocals and crunching guitar riffs more impressive. Stewart Hill’s cocksure bass-slapping antics might be laughable if he weren’t genuinely good. And the video projector does add a bit of colour to the proceedings. But above all, it’s the songs themselves which give this young four-piece its growing fan base.

If Ochre are playing one of their all too rare concerts, go and see them. Run, don’t walk.

Cog — Just Visiting Part 1 (EP) and Just Visiting Part 2 (EP)

The EPs were released only months apart, and I’m not sure why they didn’t just do an album. But that is the least of the challenges that Cog’s music presents to the listener. Drawing complex soundscapes into coherent songs whilst inflecting in ways unheard of in other music, one needs to listen to the songs a few times before they start to make sense.

The easiest and laziest comparison would have to be Tool, as the songs share roughly the same sonic space and judicious use of distortion/overdrive. But Cog also embellish their tunes in ways which that band does not, with less of the gratuitous time signatures and percussion. I lack the insight required to list any more Cog soundalikes. HMV says people who bought Cog’s stuff bought absolutely nothing else.

In the end, Cog have created something unique and worthwhile, and I’m sure they’ll go places. Hopefully more than a few people will catch them on the Big Day Out later this month.

IT SEEMS everyone is doing one of these, so before it gets too 2003-y, I’ll record something here about the last year, for posterity. (Please note that ‘posterity’ means future reference.)

For a lot of people I know, 2002 has been a year of transition, whether starting uni, or graduating, or whatever. I started the year having quit a pretty good job with the intention of finding a better one. Over the ensuing months I became disillusioned over the lack of well-paying, easy jobs for relatively inexperienced folks like myself, and went back to University. This had the indirect consequence of everyone in my family going overseas except me. All at the same time, ie. during my 21st birthday.

In other words, 2002 was fairly lame. Not a bad year, just a dearth of milestones. 2003 is shaping up to be much better.

There are a few people to thank, so that they know that I am thankful. Some of them probably don’t read this site, but like I said, posterity. If I forgot anyone else, I’ll put them in here. Indeed, I have edited this a few times already.

My family, because I can always rely on you to be there for me—I would probably go crazy sometimes if you weren’t.

Jono, for being a drinking buddy, for your unique sense of humour, and for your “can do” attitude, especially when it came to handing me my arse so regularly in squash. For actually listening to my theories on life, however well-intentioned and wrong they are.

James and Raamon, for the laughs, and there were many. For being frendz, and for giving me that “ban” hat for christmas. For jokes that no-one else would get.

James again, for being my employer briefly during 2002.

Kryz, just for being a m8, and for those occasional times we’d catch up over breakslow ‘n’ a cup of joe.

Darragh and David, of the David Kelso All Stars. Our as yet brief alliance has been fun and rewarding. I hope we have many a jam sesh in the new year, and perhaps learn a song or two.

Joe, for being such a reliable and worthwhile mate over the years. For intellectual stimulation. For taking the time out of your very busy schedule to have a bean. For having a busy schedule in the first place. Your 2002 was truly a benchmark for myself and others. For the new year’s party.

Kewn, your site has continued to be a runaway success. Your acerbic and humorous commentary, both on Kewn’s World and elsewhere, has brought a roffle to the hearts of many.

Erin, for remaining the angel that you always were, however tumultuous a year it has been for you. Hugs for Poet.

Kewn and Erin again. Sunrise, sunset. May the coming year be a more fulfilling and prosperous one for each of you.

Saul, for being a good mate and an upstanding gentleman. For quick chats that turn into major discussions. Also for listening to my ill-begotten theories on life.

My other housemates, for keeping their pants on most of the time.

Catheryn, for the all too occasional times when we went out and did something.

Everyone else who I forgot to mention, which probably includes a lot of the chat people. I should probably be most thankful to them, because they manage to take everything I say, whether it be “Hello!” or just a stream of obscenities, in context. Thanks a bunch.

Peace out.

Well, a couple of hours after having put it online, James has wasted no time telling me my site sucks. His site has also gone the b2 route, but with few if any modifications. This of course means that folks can leave comments and even post articles.

Comments are cool. I am looking into enabling comments here, and maybe articles, but I don’t want some random posting a big stream of obscenities on my site. Only my friends can do that. So I’ll figure out how to make this happen.

If YOU have something to say — drop me an email. This site conforms to XHTML 1.1, so it should not make your browser cough and splutter if it is up to date.

This is the first post hopefully of many.

People often tell me that they visited my site often, waiting for it to be updated in some way. This is the update that you have been waiting for, and that I have been putting off so diligently. It represents about two months of very sporadic toil. The monumental paradigm shift required for this site to become something I could update often, was worth it because I am giving something back to people who still bother coming here.

This site will not be a “livejournal”. Not to belittle folks that use those, but I personally do other things with my feelings and personal minutiae. Sometimes I write them down. Good ole–fashioned pen and paper is marvellous for that sort of thing. So you won’t find any of that here. It would no doubt be boring anyway.

Having said that, it will be a place for my thoughts, ideas and rants. Kryz has proved that this format works very well. More recently, James and Squik have been having a stab at it as well. I hope to evolve something unique and worth reading here, for folks I know, and perhaps for the folks I don’t.