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Anyone fortunate enough to sweat it up amongst the crowd flailing around to Madness at one of the Australian V Festivals, can confirm that this 10 piece has only improved with age. Their sets at Sydney, Gold Coast, Melbourne and Perth had everything - sing alongs, classics and more love than you could poke a bowler and brolly at. If you weren’t there, then feast on this - live from Sydney V Festival… we present Madness!

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.

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.

Watch this fantastic performance from The Killers as they play Human at this year’s V Festival in Sydney, Australia. Give us a shout out if you were there, and if not - well treat yourself to this video clip and spirit yourself there anyway. Having already played Gold Coast last weekend, The Killers are now set to headline V Festivals in Melbourne and Perth this weekend… Check back soon for more video clips from V Festival Australia.

Elbow are set for a summer of love in 2009, music.virgin.com’s Eleanor Conway will be hot on their heels in true stalker fashion as they prepare for V Festival Sydney sunshine, ahead of their UK dates (including V Festival of course!). On the eve of the hotly commended Wembley Arena gig last week, Eleanor Conway gets down and dirty with the boys from Elbow in this exclusive video interview…

Martin Martini is not a normal musician. Normally if a musician were to tell me that they went over to England recently with the sole purpose of finding a drag queen who picks up one hundred dollar bills with her asshole, I might be a little turned off. Normally I would. When Martin Martini explained this, however, it seemed strangely appropriate. Turns out he never found the drag queen, and he didn’t really like the country either.

“England’s a fuckin’ terrible place to play. I didn’t enjoy it at all. We went to Berlin afterwards and that was really fun. We holidayed in Berlin though, we didn’t play there.”

Everyone I know who’s been to England seems to share one major bone of contention; the cost of everything over there. Martin felt the tug on his hip pocket too.

“We lost a lot of money, put it that way. Even though people really loved what we were doing, we lost a shitload of money. The response was fantastic.”

Since then Mr. Martini has been rocking the socks off of adoring crowds in Adelaide, garnering five star reviews in the local papers to boot. He’s accompanied over there by an eclectic mix of complete strangers.

“They flew over some dude, some guy from the UK who’s two hundred kilos, and black and he dresses up in Lycra and does drag. They’ve got Paul Capsis in the show as well and they’ve got this really cute blonde girl that kinda looks like Marilyn Monroe from Ireland who sings songs on the uke so it’s sorta all these people I don’t really know thrown into this tent to just sorta do whatever we want really.”

The option to do whatever he wants in these solo performances has prompted Martin to begin incorporating a rather obscure talent. Having learnt to tap dance from his mother as a young boy, he has decided to work it in to his live show through “a sort of a rap song accompanied by my feet.” Again, not something I would expect from a normal musician, but Martin Martini might very well have broken that mould.

“It’s a little bit weird. I’ve got a pair of dunlop volleys and I just chucked some metal plates on the bottom of those and I tap dance in those.”

Martin’s last recorded work was a dark, powerfully ominous affair. He explains that it was reflective of his experiences at the time.

“Yeah, that album, I dunno man, I was in a pretty bad place there. I was pretty sad and this woman fucked me up a bit. Then I drank too much and I got behind the wheel of a car and I fell asleep and then I went to court. Things were going down hill quick. I think it was a wake up call.”

He’s “out the other end now” and is working on a record that’s romantic again. It seems We’re All Just Monkeys was a learning experience, but not one that he wants to replay. The songs have been omitted from more recent performances, replaced by new and perhaps more uplifting fare, ready for his upcoming visit to Sydney.

“I just cut those songs out now. We’re playing a whole new set now that doesn’t really consist of the Monkeys album. We’ve pretty much got a heap of new material that we’ve been doing and I don’t think Sydney have heard much of it so this is pretty much the last time I’ll be coming to Sydney before we lay down a new album.”

The shift in attitude has also seen him concentrate on some athletic aspirations. He’s “fuckin’ obsessed with running” in an interesting experiment at reconciling his physical and mental well being. It’s a move that he hopes will make him a more prolific writer.

“That’s why I’m running, I’m trying to get fitter at writing. To be honest it’s not working yet, but it’s only early days. I’m steadily writing. I still write a song a week but I’m not writing enough. I want to write one every day.”

Most people wouldn’t make the connection between those two pursuits so readily, but Martin Martini isn’t like most people. I guess that’s what makes him so compelling on and off the stage.

For more info, head on over to Martin Martini’s MySpace page.

Musicfeeds - Tighter than a nun’s schedule!

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…

Razorlight have been added to the V Festival Australia lineup. Johnny Borrell and the boys will now join The Killers, Snow Patrol, Kaiser Chiefs, Elbow and Duffy on the four dates across Australia: Sydney (28 March), Gold Coast (29 March), Melbourne (4 April) and Perth (5 April).

Razorlight are heading to their first ever shows in Australia next week where their Sydney and Melbourne gigs quickly sold out. But as a treat for Virgin Mobile customers in Oz who didn’t manage to get their hands on the sought after tickets, Virgin Mobile has grabbed the last 40 tickets to each show and is giving them away free!

To get your hands on a double pass, all you have to do is line up @ Virgin Mobile Pitt Street in Sydney tomorrow (Wednesday January 28), or Swanston Street in Melbourne on Thursday (January 29) before 1pm. It’s first in best dressed so get there early…

Razorlight play the Metro in Sydney on Thursday January 29, and The Hi Fi Bar in Melbourne on Saturday January 31.

The last 40 tickets will be given away from 1pm:

SYDNEY - Virgin Mobile Store at Westfield Centrepoint, Pitt St Mall, City on Wednesday Jan 28 (from 1pm).

MELBOURNE - Virgin Mobile Store, 133 Swanston St, City on Thursday Jan 29 (from 1pm).

On the strength of a YouTube gem from Melbourne band, Miami Horror, Leopard Lady ventured down to the Gold Coast, rife with Schoolies, one rainy night in the last days of 2008 (Lightning strikes and thunder cracks!)

People really should check out said YouTube clip of their song Don’t Be On With Her. They have managed to create an authentic 80s video complete with distortion at the intro which makes it appear to have been taped off a TV program. Leopard Lady found an affinity with this project and was instantly intrigued to see Miami Horror live.

The guy behind Miami Horror is 22 yo Benjamin Vanguarde who has been remixing and DJing under the Miami Horror moniker before running with the full band version. Perhaps too young to have really lived through the 80s, he certainly digs and gets the era. Citing Prince, ABBA and Supertramp as influences on his songwriting, Miami Horror has an edgy, post-millenium electro style of production down the path of Daft Punk or Cut Copy.  The EP Bravado is out now but Leopard Lady is very keen for the promised album that is proposed to be a complete concept album.

As for the live experience: The venue offered a very small stage which was strangely blocking the band from the dancefloor, more suited to a DJ set. Benjamin seemed a little introverted but lead singer Josh Moriarty got warmed up and turned on the rockstar antics to Leopard Lady’s delight. Also noted was the style and pathos of keyboard player Daniel Whitechurch. Over all, Leopard Lady was left still wanting as far as the band connecting with the crowd. They also performed a number of covers, while they put their own spin on those songs (Praise You - Fatboy Slim, Electric Feel - MGMT, Music Sounds Better With You - Stardust… to name a few) Leopard Lady would like to hear more of their originals. Don’t Be On With Her rocked live.

This is still early days and these kids are still young-uns, so Leopard Lady has no doubt that after a bunch of shows and with the anticipated release of their full length album, Miami Horror are going to blossom and are one of LL’s picks to watch for in 2009.

Check out their MySpace and you can catch them at Good Vibrations Festivals (Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Perth) in February.

Classically trained Julian and Kim from The Presets have hit London town bringing in tow half of the world’s Antipodean population as a matter of course. With a longstanding tit fetish, a secret Minogue lust and the ability to fluster the Conway, Eleanor Conway Presents: The Presets in association with music.virgin.com

http://music.virgin.com/author/eleanorconway

http://www.myspace.com/elleuk

http://www.thepresets.com

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…

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…

get your mitts on V Festival Australia tickets now

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/

I’m not sure where to start with this one. Do you want the good news or the bad news first?

I saw Bloc Party tonight at Festival Hall (20 November 2008) and yes, they were good and I enjoyed it, but I regret to say that I was slightly disappointed at the same time.

So let’s start at the beginning. It’s only been a little over a year since Bloc Party last played in Australia, but since then, they’ve released a ridiculously brilliant album. Intimacy, in my opinion, is honest and true to Bloc Party. It’s such a strong album, with songs that easily match those on Silent Alarm (and THAT was a such a amazing debut!) Admittedly, I was puzzled by Weekend In The City. I thought it was a little bit over the top and unnecessarily dramatic. As much as I tried to like it, I just couldn’t do it.

So I buy my tickets to see Bloc Party again this year, expecting them to showcase the tracks from their latest album, but instead I just heard more of the same. They played about 90% of Silent Alarm and a good chunk of Weekend In The City, which the crowd loved anyway. I was beginning to wonder if I was the only one amongst the thousands who was hoping to hear Ion Square live. There were a lot of young fresh faces in the crowd, so for those who were newly-over-18, I’m sure they were happy to get a chance to hear Like Eating Glass, Helicopter and Banquet live. But… that was so three years ago! It seemed like Bloc Party were happy to play it safe with the ‘hits’, rather than take a chance and perform the new stuff. Which sucks, because they played majority of the second album last time they were here.

However, despite the safe set list, they did put on a really good show. They were really tight and songs like Mercury and Ares were delivered impressively. There was plenty of crowd participation clap-alongs which Kele seemed to love initiating. They played for a substantial amount of time (around 1 hr and 15 mins) and gave two encores. They ended with Price of Gasoline and the crowd went crazy for it.

It’s a shame to say, but that’s probably the last time I’m going to see Bloc Party in Australia. I would see them again another time, perhaps in the UK, because it seems like they take a few risks with the stuff they play in their own territory (I heard they’ve covered Prince’s I Would Die 4 U).

I’m really looking forward to what they’ll do in the future, but I’ll be happy to listen and simply view it from afar, rather than the front row.

V Festival Australia is on for 2009 and The Killers, Snow Patrol and the Kaiser Chiefs will be headlining. Virgin Mobile’s third V Festival whirlwind is to hit Sydney on 28 March, Gold Coast on 29 March, Melbourne on 4 April and Perth on 5 April next year. Elbow, Duffy, Louis XIV, The Do, Tame Impala, The Temper Trap and Canyons beef up the already awesome lineup with more acts to be announced soon. Tickets will be on sale Friday 28 November but if you’re a lucky lucky Virgin Mobile Australia customer then you can get your hands on pre-sale tickets from this Wednesday 19 November. Check out vfestival.com.au for more details…

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

Unsigned bands quivering in their Converse to find out if they’ve won the Road To V competition to open up this year’s UK VFestival might want to look up Little Red - the brilliant band who won Australia’s equivalent Garage To V contest a few months ago. These harmonising punk rockers from Melbourne took it all in their stride - as I found out when I cornered them in the Virgin Mobile Venue at the Gold Coast VFestival just after they came offstage. Little Red have since released their debut album ‘Listen To Little Red’ and are about to go on tour across Australia with Vampire Weekend, The Holidays and Andy Bull - and now the world is their proverbial oyster. Take note young Road To V-ers, watch, listen and learn… check out this little video interview here and then go and take a butchers at Little Red’s MySpace.

So while Duran Duran are impressing Europe with their major gigs in Paris and London, swanning around with Mr Mark ‘TheCoolPerson’ Ronson, let’s take a look back through the rectangular window at that moment backstage at the VFestival in Melbourne when I tried to not wet my already moist knickers even further as the legends that are Nick Rhodes and Roger Taylor cosied up on the sofa next to me for a nice little chat. It seemed that the very proper and polite Duranie chaps were doing acceptably for gentlemen of their procilivities (I didn’t even flinch when Mr Rhodes said that) and like a real smooth smarmy sycophant I managed not to get on the receiving end of a Rhodes right hook when I described them as evolving beautifully (when touching upon that subject of how long they’ve been on the scene). Which was nice as, being a genuine fan and willing arse-licker, I so didn’t want to offend them. It was all quite surreal but I hope I got enough juice out of the truly awesome Duran Duran for you all to enjoy here. And I am most miffed that even after all that arse-licking I didn’t get an invite to the Mark Ronson gig in Paris. It was on my birthday as well. Bastards.

It’s been approximately 2 months after V Festival and I’m STILL writing about it - talk about a festival with substance!

See above for a quick video of The Rakes performing “When Tom Cruise Cries” at the Melbourne V Festival. Watch out for Alan’s unique dance moves - quite infectious and contagious. Don’t be surprised if you start pulling out those moves when you’re out dancing!

For my review of The Rakes, click here!

So this is how the good people of Melbourne welcomed VFestival in to it’s warm, welcoming and very cultured bosom. For one day only at the Showgrounds - Melbourne hosted the likes of The Smashing Pumpkins, Duran Duran, The Presets, Queens Of The Stone Age and more. I spent a large part of the day wandering around chatting up and spooking out lots of punters in an attempt to get under the skin of that cool Melbourne thing and this little film is the result. Highlight of my day? Meeting Duran Duran? I say no. Meeting Queens Of The Stone Age? I say no. Meeting all you bloody mad punters? I say yes! I think I even got married to a lesbian goth at one point in the afternoon. Brilliant. I love Melbourne.