Leopard Lady is a huge fan of the extreme entity that is Peaches and plans on donning her prized Peaches T, brandishing a puffy pen and acquiring a wearable signature from the woman herself…. Peaches will be in Brisbane again around Big Day Out time next year… the anticipation has already begun to grow. Enjoy her latest vid with superb plot and choreography. Simply genius.
Tag Archives: australia
Digg This Story
April 7th, 2009
Kaiser Chiefs perform Never Miss A Beat at the Sydney V Festival 2009. Give us a shout out if you were there, and if not - well treat yourself to this video clip and spirit yourself there anyway. Along with The Killers, Snow Patrol, Elbow and Razorlight, the Kaisers have just finished their V Festival tour of Australia - taking in Sydney, Gold Coast, Melbourne and Perth. Check back soon for more video clips from V Festival Australia.
April 6th, 2009
Okay, so I have no YouTube access here in mainland China which has made sharing the latest installment of my world tour all that more difficult… But with V Festival Australia goodness to come, take a sneak peek at the rest of my Global V Pass adventures so far…
April 6th, 2009
Here we have Snow Patrol turning off the lights for Earth Hour at the Sydney V Festival 2009 as they launch in to Run. Give us a shout out if you were there, and if not - well treat yourself to this video clip and spirit yourself there anyway. Snow Patrol, along with The Killers, Kaiser Chiefs, Elbow and Razorlight have just finished their V Festival tour of Australia - taking in Sydney, Gold Coast, Melbourne and Perth. Check back soon for more video clips from V Festival Australia.
February 23rd, 2009
G’day folks! Howling Bells have succeeded in expanding their range of melancholy graininess into a forte of songwriting which is both formidable and peculiar. Radio Wars showcases some of the old genius from their self-titled debut album, yet also imbeds new and unexplored shades of beautiful darkness into their style. The first album was certainly not a one-off then.
Lead singer and rhythm guitarist Juanita Stein’s sumptuous and wistful voice is like melting chocolate throughout Radio Wars. Gee, I could listen to her voice for hours. However, it is that voice bookended with clever lyrics and unexpected guitar hooks that makes this album so listener friendly, maybe more so than their first album. It may be slightly less intense and more diluted, but I have a feeling this will draw more listeners, hmm. The masses need pleasing folks, and Howling Bells are pulling out all the stops to do just that.
The spectrum of Australian rock is growing ever wider with the psychedelic timewarp that is Tame Impala on the west coast and Howling Bells on the east. It’s all positive stuff - along with many other bands coming out of the woodwork on the far side of the world, it’s like a pleasant burst of hot air in the face to see a resurgence of good guitar-based rock bands coming into the fray from anywhere other than the UK and USA.
So, Howling Bells have still got the attitude and the songs. They paint their music on a technicolour canvass of love and loss and create a dreamlike outback landscape that you can lose yourself in for fifty minutes. They are possibly the best thing to come out of Australia since Nicole Kidman. Nice work!
7/10
MySpace / iTunes / last.fm / Amazon / Spotify
- Howling Bells and Tame Impala both play VFestival Australia 2009 - buy your tickets now!
- read Greg Rose’s Howling Bells gig review
February 12th, 2009
The Kills, M83, Howling Bells, Jenny Lewis, Jackson Jackson, Wolf & Cub and Children Collide join The Killers, Snow Patrol, Razorlight, Kaiser Chiefs, Elbow and Duffy on next month’s V Festival Australia lineup. Legendary 80s heroes Madness and Human League have also been added to the bill - fitting in to that classic retro groove so nobly filled by Duran Duran last year and Pet Shop Boys the year before. Human League will treat the V Festival crowd with a start to finish live performance of their landmark album Dare. Surely worth the ticket price alone!?
The presence of The Kills‘ Jamie Hince will alert Aussies to the possibilities of one Kate Moss making an appearance down under…
The Do, Louis XIV, Tame Impala, The Temper Trap and Canyons will also play the four dates across Sydney (March 28), Gold Coast (March 29), Melbourne (April 4) and Perth (April 5).
Visit vfestival.com.au now to book your tickets!
February 10th, 2009
Black Kids are so much fun to see live! Leopard Lady was keen to see them at Gold Coast’s Big Day Out festival and their set was a definite highlight. The Converse Essential Stage held a decent crowd with a very happy atmosphere. And as Reggie Youngblood, the band’s vibrant and friendly frontman delighted, practically the entire audience was singing along to their songs. It was refreshing to hear him say how amazing it was to him, hearing the singalong. There was a real down to earth vibe coming from Reggie and the rest of the Black Kids.
Not only are the Black Kids so very cool, their songs are extremely danceable and created a party mode with everyone smiling and excitedly jumping around. So much fun!
Black Kids are BUSY! If you visit their MySpace you can see what part of the world they will be playing next. Maybe they are in your town?! Leopard Lady recommends these fresh pop characters without hesitation. If you are nowhere near them for a live fix, you can start getting a taste for them via their YouTube channel.
The debut album, Partie Traumatic, is out there and contains such rad songs as Hurricane Jane, I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You (both songs also appearing on their EP, Wizard of Ahhhs) and Look At Me(When I Rock Wichoo).
Next up on Leopard Lady’s Hot Spots: Sneaky Sound System!
February 3rd, 2009
Mr Laneous (& The Family Yah) hail from Leopard Lady’s own hometown of Brisbane. They have an early slot on the Boiler Room stage at Australia’s Big Day Out festival and have drawn a nice crowd who are soon jumping and getting down.
Superstar frontman, Lachlan Mitchell has united a band comprised of some of the funkiest that said River City has to offer and Leopard Lady has seen them display high levels of funkiness in other live outfits as well. The band gives off a raw energy together with very tight grooves and infectious beats.
Besides a set of golden vocal chords, Lachlan posseses rad rhymes and keen style. He happens to be quite handsome also, which doesn’t hurt anyone.
This is a seriously happening project that Leopard Lady suggests you keep your eyes on starting with this YouTube clip of their song Bubblegum to get a taste of the fun hip-hop side of Mr Laneous. But be assured there is even much more to them… there’s funk, jazz, reggae, soul and heart melting croon… and there’s a promised LP to come - St. Ill Regal.
Keep yourself posted as Leopard Lady surely will, through their MySpace.
More of Leopard Lady’s Big Day Out highlights to come, including Sneaky Sound System, Black Kids, Quan The Amateur, and Neil Young! But, just wait, there’s more…
January 28th, 2009
This one’s for all you budding Aussie rock stars. V Festival Australia wants you to show us all what you’re made of. All you have to do is pick a song from a V Festival Australia 09 artist, no matter how far back in their catalogue, and offer your own interpretation. Capture your performance on camera, upload it to YouTube and the very best (or the worst) will be posted on the V Festival Australia website and an esteemed panel will pick the funniest or the best.
The one the V Fest guys think is the best will get to be a rock star - for real! First of all Virgin Mobile Australia will make sure you get rock star treatment at the V Festival in your city where you’ll watch bands from dedicated viewing platforms, drink and eat for free and of course be on the guest list! Then afterwards you will take a Virgin Blue flight to Sydney and be on your way to LA - the home of all that rocks, thanks to Virgin Blue’s brand spanking new international airline, V Australia.
So what are you wating for? All eligible Aussies should head straight on over to vfestival.com.au to enter. Rock on…
December 17th, 2008
Rhys Bobridge was Leopard Lady’s favourite dancer on the Aussie version of So You Think You Can Dance. His look is always striking and he certainly can move! Coming second place isn’t too bad and now he has a single out called Hot Summer which is being seeped into Australian homes via the Ten Network ad spots.
The video for Hot Summer, with it’s gorgeous tribal, feathery costumes that inspire images of the cast of Mad Max having a dance party in the jungle after a long day of paint ball skirmish. Check it out on Vimeo on his MySpace.
Leopard Lady found this Hundreds & Thousands remix on YouTube which will give you a taste of his awesome talents as a Make Up Artist. He is a colourful stunner!
We can forgive his past career stint as the Elf on a lame children’s program called The Fairies… if you are curious though, follow this link.
Leopard Lady can indeed confirm that here in Australia it is gonna be a Hot Summer!
December 8th, 2008
For all you eager Aussie beavers quivering with anticipation over the forthcoming Australia V Festivals - here’s a flashback to this year’s awesome V Festivals in Sydney, Gold Coast, Melbourne and Perth. Watch Queens Of The Stone Age rule the stage with Make It Wit Chu.
If you missed it before, here’s the interview with QOTSA backstage at the Melbourne V Festival: watch the QOTSA interview
The Killers, Kaiser Chiefs, Snow Patrol, Elbow, Duffy, Louis XIV, Tame Impala, The Do, The Temper Trap and The Canyons are already on the V Festival lineup for 2009 and tickets are on sale now. Check out vfestival.com.au for more details…
December 4th, 2008
The Kaiser Chiefs, fresh from the success of their new album Off With Their Heads, are now looking forward to heading over to Australia in March with The Killers, Snow Patrol, Elbow and Duffy for their four dates on the V Festival tour - Sydney, Gold Coast, Melbourne and Perth.
Here’s a ‘making of Never Miss A Beat’ video for you to enjoy in the meantime (worth it to see Ricky’s ‘walk the dog’ yo-yo skills in action, his surreal diva ‘I don’t want to be an anchorman’ moment and his umbrella-in-strong-wind dexterity). And be sure to look out for the second single off the album - Good Days, Bad Days - it’s brilliant… Can’t wait to see them at V Festival Australia…
November 27th, 2008
Yes you heard right, prolific songwriter Ryan Adams is bringing his Cardinals back to Australian shores in January. Last here in 2007, their live show was certainly a talking point, and with their new critically acclaimed album Cardinology in the bag, this trip is sure to get tongues wagging all over again.
Let it be known that The Cardinals are much more than just a backing band for one of this decade’s most phenominal artists. The musicianship within this group is quite frankly mind blowing and must be seen to be believed.
Tickets for the following shows are on sale 9am Friday 28 November… but get in quick, they will not last!
Sunday 25th January - Metropolis, Perth
Tuesday 27th January - The Tivoli, Brisbane
Thursday 29th January - Enmore Theatre, Sydney
Friday 30th January - Forum Theatre, Melbourne
Ticketek are selling for all Australian shows http://premier.ticketek.com.au/
November 26th, 2008
Tame Impala are one of the awesome acts already confirmed on the V Festival Australia lineup for March & April ‘09. Check out the video for Half Full Glass Of Wine - one of the corking tracks on their brilliant debut EP which will be available to download here in the UK on 1 December. You can preorder the EP from their official website: tameimpala.com
Currently touring Australia, the lads from Perth are set to release their debut album in the UK in Spring ‘09 and are promising a bunch of live dates - so keep your surfing eyes peeled for more info as we get it.
Tame Impala join The Killers, Snow Patrol, Kaiser Chiefs, Duffy, Elbow, Louis XIV, The Do, The Temper Trap and Canyons on the V Festival Australia bill - with more acts to be announced soon. Tickets are now on sale at Tickemaster - so what are you waiting for!?
November 26th, 2008
Dot.AY is a Brisbane Electro act who plays Gameboys. Leopard Lady loves Tetris on the Gameboy and is mighty good at it too, but Dot.AY, aka Alex Yabsley, is playing more than just the Nintendo games on his Gameboys. He creates tracks, live, using the music on the Gameboys.
This is a whole movement called Chiptune, that has been going strong and growing worldwide. Not massive in Australia (yet) but there is a 4 Day Festival dedicated to this retro electro music and art genre, called Blip Festival which takes place at The Bell House in New York, December 4 - 7. It is predicted that this artform is about to become a known known on a global scale and Leopard Lady is excited that she brings a little awareness through this here V Blog by sharing her experience of seeing Dot.AY live at The Press Club in Brisbane.
What a RAD set! Complete with super grooving by Dot.AY as he pounded out the familiar yet freshly twisted tunes from his Gameboys (One of which is the exact Gameboy he played as a kid) even adding vocals which was oh so rock’n'roll in the coolest of nerdy senses. He wielded a Guitar Hero (Wii) which just looked fantastic and he wore a pair of Reebok Hightops. Brilliant. Leopard Lady was inspired to capture a segment of his show for posterity via youtube.
If you hadn’t already heard of the Chiptune Community, you can be sure that there is a wave of super-cool geeks bubbling away in a town near you. If you want to get your own Education on chiptune, here’s a link to start you on your way: http://dot-ay.com/
November 5th, 2008
Talking to some mates of mine who are in independent bands I get the feeling that it’s not always easy to book gigs in Sydney, let alone around Australia. This is obviously not a problem for Brisbane band the John Steele Singers, as the past couple of months have seen them touring with the likes of the Polyphonic Spree and The Grates. When I called to talk to keyboardist and singer Pete Bernoth, the band had just arrived home from the latter’s national tour.
“We only got back yesterday after finishing the Grates tour and so I’m still waiting for my sleeping patterns to return to normal. It’s been a really busy month, busy couple of months really.”
Reclining on his front porch “just chillin” Pete confides that hitting the road for such long stretches is not always easy, but the band takes it in their stride.
“I dunno, we’ve just been offered these amazing opportunities which are just to hard to pass up. It’s costing us a fuckload of money yet the experience we get and the fun we have is just like totally worth it. It’s definitely worth giving up a month of work to go out on tour with the Grates because you can just party for a full month and come back and you’re absolutely fucked and just get back into normal life for about a week and then go out again.”
Playing with such high profile bands has also given the boys a chance to establish a bit of a reputation for themselves, as well as solidifying contacts within the music industry.
“Yeah, totally we’ve met a lot of people and especially with this Grates tour. Just because they’re pretty high profile we’ve had a lot of attention and it’s done wonders for us. The exposure that we got from touring with those guys was probably like… uh, you can’t put a monetary value on it. But yeah, it’s definitely starting to get a lot more momentum for the band and we just can hopefully capitalise on it with the EP and our own tour and make the most of it and keep on movin’ on.”
Their new EP, In Colour, is slated for a November release but it’s not the first release for the band. Pete explains that they’ve previously recorded a ‘mini-LP’ called The Beagle And The Dove.
“We call it a mini-LP coz it’s like 8 tracks and 31 minutes and I think you need 32 minutes to call it an LP or something so we just missed the mark. We recorded that up in White Rooms studios which is up in Mount Nebo near Brisbane, just like secluded in rainforest pretty much. It was a really fuckin’ cool environment to record songs and for our first experience of recording it was amazing.”
“[For the Ep] We got to go down to Sydney for a week and stay in an awesome house in Darlinghurst and just record and then party on the weekends, often partying like on the nights after finishing recordings. I love getting out to new cities. We’ve been to Sydney a heap now and have a heap of good friends and just party on like motherfuckers, it’s great.”
The John Steele Singers will once again be loading up the van and hitting the road, this time on a headlining tour in support of the new EP soon. Once that’s all wrapped up Pete says the boys are keen to do some more recording.
“After this tour we’re going to have to get down, busy and start demoing some tracks for an album which is just in planning stages. We’ve got songs that we’d like to record but other than that it’s just a plan. We’ll have an album out some time early next year hopefully if everything goes according to plan which quite often, well most often with us it doesn’t but eventually we’ll have an album out next year. We’ll be able to tour that and hopefully get overseas for a few shows and just spread. Spread the love.”
Spread the love. I like it. One last thing springs to mind though. There’s no one in the band called John Steele, so I wonder out loud where the inspiration came from.
“Trim, Scott and I used to work at an undisclosed family restaurant back in 2004, 2005. John Steele was a kids toy that was left there by the previous owner and was adopted by the service staff as some sort of mascot. I don’t know where the name John Steele came from, I can’t remember for the life of me. The Singers aspect is well, there’s four people who can sing in the band so it has some sort of merit.”
For more info check out the band’s MySpace page.
Words: Dan Clarke, Interview: Mikey Carr.
Musicfeeds - It’s Spanish for awesome!
October 13th, 2008
There must be something about the seclusion of a remote location that brings out explosive inspiration in some people. The Unabomber lived in a remote cabin in the wilderness of Montana, and Melbourne band The Drones adopted a similar dwelling to write and record their latest studio release, Havilah. Guitarist Dan Luscombe explains how it all came about;“Havilah. Yeah, it’s the name of the tiny little town we made the album in. We brought a whole bunch of equipment up from Melbourne and Burke who produced the album brought a whole bunch of equipment from where he works in Big Jesus Burger studio in Sydney. So we set up what turned out to be a rather state of the art studio in this house that runs off a generator where the nearest neighbours are several kilometres away, this big mud brick open plan four bedroom house.”
“We got a hold of some great mics and preamps, spent two days setting up the house and for the next two weeks we were there. Cooking meals in the drum room, which was also the kitchen, sitting around eating together and being very very free from distraction, at times almost too much really.”
Whereas the Unabomber embraced the seclusion of his log cabin for destructive purposes, The Drones have channeled their energies towards more constructive ends.
“It’s a great way to record because you can make that thing that you’re doing all that you think about. It’s great waking up in the morning and wondering about what you’re gonna do on a certain song, what kind of sound you want to get as opposed to all the other things you worry about in regular life.”
Never ones to do things conventionally (their last album was recorded in an old mill in Tasmania), the prospect of laying down new material in a tradtional studio didn’t really appeal.
“I don’t have anything against them as such, I mean they’re expensive for a start, but there’s this clock on clock off factor you know. You show up for work around 11, or well twelve and once you’ve sort of had enough you tend to go home. In the house we could wake up at any time and get straight to work, and if something dawns on you at some ridiculous hour you’re not too far away.”
With a busy touring schedule last year, singer Gareth Liddiard and bassist Fiona Kitschin took some time off to concentrate on writing new material before bringing in Dan and drummer Michael to rehearse and record the album.
“We didn’t start work on any new stuff when we were touring last year, it just doesn’t lend itself to that. We travel pretty frequently when we’re on tour, driving in the van, like on the European tour we did 52 dates in 63 days. You don’t really have time to rehearse and when you do have any free time the last thing you feel like doing is picking up the guitar, you’re just trying to get through the day and to get away from music for a second.”
The new album was written over two months and after four weeks of rehearsing the band was ready to lay it all down.
“The whole process really, from the writing to the mastering was done very quickly but with a lot of intent and a lot of excitement. It actually happened really smoothly, we didn’t get stuck on any tracks for too long and we kept up a good work rate, mind you Paul Burke who recorded and mixed it was up to 9 o’clock in the morning on the last day of mixing.”
“What’s the saying? Art is never finished it’s only ever abandoned. You don’t look back and say I’ve finished but I’ve still got a week of studio time, maybe my friends want to use it.”
If their earlier releases are anything to go by, Havilah will be a brooding mix of noisy guitars, howling vocals and ever so subtle melancholy that latches on to your eardrums and demands attention.
“If you’re taking a lot of different influences you’ll inevitably end up doing something different each time. There’ll always be common threads through your playing and approach. There’s always going to be a linear thing going through there.”
“I think the idea is just to enjoy yourself, and if you like a whole bunch of different music, you’re bound to try a bunch of different things. At the end of the day it comes down to what the song is, and if it’s a good song you can spend a lot of time and have a lot of fun dressing it up in different ways. “
With a new album plucked from the foothills of Mt. Buffalo, Victoria, The Drones are excited about presenting their newest creation to the world with another round of touring.
“It’s always great to have a new record out, it’s wonderful to go on stage with a whole bunch of new songs, and it’s been a while since we’ve done a show where we could do that. We’re really keen to see how the record is received because it’s a bit different for us.”
For this and much more on the live music scene in Sydney check out musicfeeds.com.au. And you thought Drum Media was the be all and end all of local independent street press… (btw It isn’t, check out the site and you’ll know what I mean…)
Words: Dan Clarke, Interview: Michael Carr
September 16th, 2008
Australia’s first EVA version of Hedwig and The Angry Inch performed by the legendary iOTA. There is a new production of Hedwig out now but iOTA is not revisiting his award winning role this time as he is currently rockin’it out there as Frankenfurter in Melbourne. Is there anything iOTA cannot do…?!!
Leopard Lady Advises: Check out his MySpace page for his outstanding original music as well: www.myspace.com/iotamyspace
July 23rd, 2008
This video clip here from Perth signals the end of my whirlwind tour of Australia V Festivals. First came Sydney, then Gold Coast, followed by Melbourne and we wound up in Perth - and Perth rocked, as you can see. There literally were fireworks. Duran Duran put on an amazing show and had everyone singing along (and yes the girls got their la-las out for Girls On Film), the crowd went nuts for CSS and The Presets while the Smashing Pumpkins and Queens Of The Stone Age took Australia by the scruff of its neck and shook it for all it’s worth. But just think - next year this could be you. Not only will we send you to Sydney V Festival, we’ll also send you to Toronto V Festival in Canada, Baltimore in the US and Chelmsford in the UK. And it’s you that’ll be filling these pages on music.virgin.com with all your adventures home and away. Not only do we want to hear all about the Virgin Festivals around the world - we want to hear about the music scene in your neck of the woods all year round. So this is your chance to be the music journalist you always wanted to be. How? Just enter the Global VPass competition and the world of V is yours for the taking…
July 22nd, 2008
Looking forward to the UK VFestival in a few weeks? Chelmsford and Stafford here we come! In the meantime - get a feel for how they do VFestival on the other side of the world. Check out this little film here which goes some way to capturing whatever it is that’s in the Perth water that makes the VFestival rock so much in Western Australia. Those guys know how to throw a party (but maybe it’s me - three cans of Bourbon & coke and I’m anyones). And if you fancy a bit of VFestival Australia style next year then all you have to do is enter the Global VPass competition to win an amazing worldwide rock’n'roll tour of VFestivals in Australia, Canada, US and UK. Then it could be you blogging your VFest adventures across the world VIP style for this very site… enter the Global VPass competition now
