Jazzy Hip Hop - E.P

A live record I engineered in Avondale inside an Industrial warehouse. It's unpolished and raw but has a sweet vibe.

Merk at the Winecellar - 2017

                                                         Photo by Josh Yongy


My friend and I rolled up late to the gig at the Winecellar. We paid our door charge and then quickly a young man scribbled the name of a band on each of our hands. I was labelled a Bozo laughs. My friend Azriel and I bounded through the narrow doorway and then crashed to a halt drinks in hand as the sweaty tall crowd barred most of the gig we came to see. People were crammed into nooks and crannies filling up the newly renovated room of the wine cellar.    
                                            
A nostalgic pang nudged me forward as I realised for all intents and purposes that this winecellar before my eyes was not the original but a simulacrum or version 2.0. Long gone were the mouldy couches and decrepit furnishings even the ceiling of the venue seemed to slouch less like an old fat mans tummy who has discovered the virtues of a good trusty belt to keep his overflowing gut under wraps. I also hazily seemed to recall carpets in winecellar but that could be mind playing tricks on me. Whatever it is this new place seemed considerably less homely and instead more vibrant and awake ready built for gigs and entertainment of a less sleepy nature. For to be fair in the past there were a lot more acoustic gigs in the previous reincarnation of the wine cellar.  But now it seemed the midnight country crooners had fell out of favour and instead bands reigned supreme which is all good in my book. 

Getting back to why I was even there for I cast my vision to the centre of the stage at the far end of the room where I spotted Merk on guitar, Fazerdaze on bass, someone who I think is Neil Finn's younger son on drums (although I could be completely wrong) and a curly headed man with fingers dancing up and down millions of piano keys. The ramshackle bunch of musicians were all silhouetted on stage by cheap manual overhead projectors, the ones with lightbulbs inside them that they use to use at school when I was in primary. Like before the invention of computers as we know them laughs. Huddled round the projector were two girls with dark hair who looked rather tall pouring cooking oil on a see-through plastic tray and scraping it around with a piece of plastic so they could make funny shapes and textures that were in turn lashed onto the barren walls by the two projectors creating instant mind-bending ambiance. 

With all this going on Merk's music seemed to come alive as did the whole band who were all laughing and grinning as they jumped from one song to the next with the odd bit of banter in-between. What I really like about the sound of the music set was firstly the tone of the drums which sounded excellent and larger than life in many parts due to the expert talent of the metronomic drummer. Indeed the band as a whole all seemed very precise and well rehearsed making it a pleasure to listen too. The bass guitar played by Amelia was like a chunky fat little child struggling to be pushed up a great big hill by a petite mother gripping onto her wayward pram for dear life. While Merk pounced around like a black panther in the middle of the stage overflowing with equal measures of happiness (that comes from within from what I have read) and joy (that comes from without or outside). 

It was fun to see the bands ringleader dash from instrument to instrument smiling and laughing with a theatrical jib or joke thrown in to catch the baited audience off guard. One of the most memorable parts of the show for me was when Merk looked to be standing high up on something maybe a box playing a simple yet eye watering guitar lead in a crashing crescendo of a song while simultaneously looking around the crowded room with piercing eyes. To me it looked like he was trying to ascertain whether anyone was aware of how simple and easy what he was playing on the guitar was to play. And perhaps if given half a minute any one from the audience would've been able to play what he was doing and usurp him. Then again I could be completely wrong and he could've just been struggling for air and hot up on stage while nearing the end of his set.

My favourite highlight from the show in hindsight was when Merk and his band collaborated with the crowd at the wine cellar choosing a chord structure by throwing jacky sacks into hoops or trash cans or something to that affect. With the chords on the wall I think he pulled up some lyrics and recited them over the music, but maybe he came up with them on the spot I'm not sure? Anyway I really enjoyed the song this song that was sweet and crusiey that Az and I were loosely a part of helping create. After the jingly song ended Merk was gracious enough to state to all of us in attendance             "that everyone will be getting a fair-share of the Apra royalties from that song!" laughs.

https://www.facebook.com/merkscoolsongs

Bob Marley the Forklift Driver

Taking up the Piano and on Musicians

If you don't know I have recently taken up the piano and have been learning to read music which is really fun. I am also still studying the drums. I highly recommend learning two instruments at once. I am also wanting to pick up the trumpet too as I tried it once before once and didn't quite get the hang of it, but i'm keen to give it another try. The great thing about learning an instrument is it gives you discipline. While it also reminds you what drives you. If you want to learn something new passion is everything in my book. Practising your instrument should be equal if not better than preforming on it to others. I read a famous quote today about a famous piano player and once he got a standing ovation and people were celebrating his performance while he was already back stage practising on his piano again haha. It made me think hmm yes either the piano player was mad and didn't want to enjoy his success. Or after thinking about it a bit more maybe he simply realised that he enjoyed playing the piano more than drunken pats on the back and hollow applause and adulation. Which reminds I read something else that there are apparently two types of musicians those who play for applause and those who don't. Sadly some musicians get so invested in playing for a crowd and applause no matter how small or drab that they go off playing for themselves, I mean that should always be number one.   I recall the late Amy Winehouse saying music is just something I do and it's not dependent or tied to anyone else's opinion but my own, or words to those affect. The great artists don't need applause or magnificent standing ovation they do it to express themselves, come closer to who they are and try and understand this mad thing called life. The painting above depicts the famous composer and pianist Chopin playing some music to rich twits by the look of it! haha  

The Beths and Kip McGrath - Live at Cassette Nine

God the night of the gig must have been one of the coldest of the year, seriously it was freezing.
Despite the frigid temperature plenty of music enthusiasts turned up for Sal Valentines new club
night at Cassette nine were he jokingly quipped on stage about how it was funny he booked his own band for the first night. To be fair though The Beths is somewhat of a side project for Sal who sings in Sal Valentine and the Babyshakes but drums in The Beths (which I had no idea was the case until i went to the gig last night). I firmly hold it's always cool to try and promote your side project as much as possible, I mean if your gonna have a fling enjoy it am i right Sal? lol.

Photos from the reviewed gig viewable at Under the radar:
http://www.undertheradar.co.nz/photo/20360/Kip-Mcgrath.utr#/10

Usually good music wouldn't be enough to entice me out into the cold on a freezing Spring night but I had made plans to see my lady friend and so I was looking forward to the gig a lot polar blasts withstanding. Unfortunately I missed the bus on the way to Cassette, as the first bus driver was stuck on auto-pilot and couldn't see my in the dark. So I walked down the road nearer to St Lukes were there was more light and managed to flag down the next bus like a man possessed waving about. Being an Auckland Public transport veteran I take it as a personally challenge to see from how far away I can flag down a bus from, a hundred meters two hundred meters, ok that's bullshit but when the driver sees you and starts indicating it feels good to relax and pretend to be cool knowing your going to get from a to b.

After getting off the bus and thanking the kind Polynesian female bus driver i skipped over the lights and bumped into my friend Rufus and his girlfriend Jenco. Apparently the had  just been swimming at the tepid pools somewhere, at the news of such delights on this ice age like night my body was overcome with a jealous flash of emotion, they just looked so much warmer than me lol. After wrangling my emotions Rufus mentioned how he had a rap record sitting on his hardrive that he had recorded in Vietnam which he had only left last month to return home to NZ. I told them I had some studio monitors and a bunch of enthusiasm about the project so he rumbled round in his wallet and produced a very novel business card, which had a funny play on words on it instead of the 'fuck the world' acronym he had flipped into 'Pup the World' with a little dog on the world with all his social media and email address starting with PTW we had a good laugh about it then I said had to run to the show as I was running late. I snuck in a cheeky high five and ran across the street cutting my way through the cold.

Checking into the venue I bounced past the bouncer and scanned the room while mentally clocking the outrageous disco ball dangling from the ceiling. I couldn't see my friends anywhere who I had actually meet at Face club the week before and hit it off with. I knew they were there somewhere though so flopped over to the bar. I ordered a lemon, lime and bitters from a very friendly and sincere bartender. Then just as my drink was being stirred I saw my friend wearing a coloured blue and black tartan shirt with her mate with blue dyed hair and plonked my weary bones on the chair beside them while simultaneously offering a genuine heart rendered apology for being late. I detest lateness. A quick scan of the drums and amps on stage thankfully signalled I hadn't missed the first act Kip McGrath. Which allowed me to rest back in my chair a little easier, i took my coat off in preparation for a thoroughly enjoyable night. My friend uttered she had high hopes for the show and later after the show she would mention how she hadn't been disappointed.

Kip McGrath a young ensemble of talented musicians were the first to preform. Their music reminded me of Mac Demarco with maybe a more ruthless Kiwi edge, less chorus more grit. The band lurched and rolled like a well oiled rocknroll machine. My new friend Rachel mentioned how
she enjoyed the arrangements of the songs and how the lead guitarist who I am pretty sure is Kip himself was doing a stellar job, he also even jammed some dirty funked up synth in one song which kicked ass! Also as a classically trained grade 8 musician I tend to take what Rachel says with some air of authority, she nodded her head and clapped with appreciation at Kips bands her favourite of the night. Rachel also mentioned how she played the french horn, which she told me sells for like 10K wow!! so she didn't actually have one ;(


The flow and feel of the drummer of Kip's groups with his snare flourishes plus the way he leaned into and accented the high hats in a haphazardly human way was great, something a drum machine can really struggle to replicate do in my opinion. As a whole I thought the McGrathies sounded more jubilant and daring than on their records all though fun and imaginative their records so far didn't quite do sound justice to how tight and well orchestrated their live performance is. However, I don't think this is uncommon phenomena as band members tend to change and musicians get better and evolving from past works that tend to represent a band in their adolescent period. My favourite track from the Kip was the groovy disco funk number towards the end of the set that the crowd loved.
Carb on Carb in the crowd looked to also be really enjoying the show i didn't get to say hello to them
physically but mentally i did haha

https://www.facebook.com/KipMcGrathBand

Next up were the headliners The Beths a casually dressed rocky quartet oozing swag. I'm pretty sure every member of the band is classical trained something I really admire in musicians.
Earlier in the night all the members had been waltzing around the room lookin chilled literally and very relaxed with no signs of worry about any rabid Beth's super fans in the crowd jumping out at them haha. It's always nice to see a band in good spirits before a show I think it can really tell how the gig is going to go.

I also spied the bass player of Miss June gearing up for the Beths set, it looked like he was flying solo looking to drink in the next onslaught of rock music, I thought about saying hi and mentioning how much I enjoyed June's set at Fuzzy Islands a while back but was feeling shy and hanging with friends.
I really admire anyone who goes to a gig by themselves it shows moxy and a strong sense of character.

Suddenly the Beths jumped on stage and started some pre-gig banter on stage with a comical 'fucking fuck' ringing out across the room uttered from the mischievous lips of drummer Sal Valentine.
On stage right, guitarist Johnthan Pearce a local mixing/production whizz-kid and a personal inspiration was tonifying his weapon of a choice a slashesque Lez Paul. I actually had to do a double take on the guitar he was practising scales on as even though I had seen him rocking it in the Beths music vids it triggered off  a flashback of when I saw Guns and Roses play at Vector Arena, hey Johnathan that guitar needs a trigger warning sticker on it haha. Then in the latent memory banks of my brain meat I remembered the god of everything good in the world Neil Young plays a black Lez and I recovered from my mental discombobulation. On a side note one of things I like best about The Beths music are their backing vocals that remind me of the crazy horse maestros compositions. My view of the bass player was blocked but after a few kicks, doubles and flams paradiddle diddles on his practice pad Sal and his friends all fell into soupy mess of kiwi garage propelled rock music.

https://www.facebook.com/bethsmusic/

The first couple of songs from the headliners were polished renditions of tracks off their debut E.P Warm Blood you can buy here:


I think Liz the lead singer said the first song was a pseudo soundcheck but you never would've even guessed that. Bob Frisbee manning the mixing desk was as always killing it, I heard some guys moan about the sound behind me when you were right up close but I couldn't hear a damn thing wrong but I did have my earplugs in. The only thing I could that was wrong was their pretentious moaning dont talk of the music please!!  I was sitting at closest table to the front of stage and it sounded perfect, just shows how you can't please everyone peeps. I also think people don't have much of an idea how to mix live sound just mutter about small problems. I mean if you get up real close in a small club your probably gonna get a lot of sound from the actually amps which is something an engineer has really no control over if they are being slammed full boar like The Beths did winning. In polar opposition to the dis-gruntled and rather annoying spectator I thought the vocals drums and guitars were beautifully insync with the bass pulsating like a beautiful well measured earthquake. Sal's starchy Ludwig acrolite snare sounded beautiful matched with his virtuoistic drum feel, it almost seems unfair how much talent one person can have, then you remember it almost always comes down to hard-work haha. As Kevin Hart said on his hilarious DVD "everyone wants to be famous, no one wants to put the work in"!! To me Sals rolls reflecting this quotes power as his prowess behind the the kit during the Beths songs really stood out to me due to his endearing sense of time, the way smashed his cymbals with fury and such wild abandon and the different beats and flashes across the toms. It may be an over statement but it's probably worth seeing the Beths play just to witness Sal thrashing a kit in all the right ways! especially if your a drummer.

Moving on to the guitars both Liz and Johnathan worked really well together both guitars harmonizng and singing together well. What of my favourite moments of the gig was when Liz played the first lead line on her guitar that sounded so musically like a trumpet which I am pretty sure is an instrument she also plays. Her singing was also clear and beautiful with unorthodox note choices in the vocal melody throwing the listener of when the song would return to the root note. Certain high and low notes really created a sense of random joy to the music that more predictable vocal lines and note choice would have lacked.

The wall of guitars driven forth by Johnathan were also sublime in the fact that you could tell how much detail he had put into his choice of tone and his pedal board. His lead guitar playing also reminded me of Dire Straits as did the whole bands sound. As a group the hit song "Whatever" was flawless and kept you in the groove and running through the highs and the lows of the dynamics but the new stuff was in a different league. As a group the Beth's are starting to hit their stride and I believe their new album that they have been recording is going to rock our socks off :) :)

The real bonus of seeing The Beth's play on such a horrible night was to get a glimpse at the new and unreleased material that is going to make its way onto their latest record. But as a memento after the show I scored a physical copy of the E.P as a keepsake and also out of practical necessity as i love listening to compact discs. I also bought my friend a band t-shirt as I thought it would look good on her. Apparently she plays the clarinet.

Photos from the reviewed gig viewable at Under the radar:
http://www.undertheradar.co.nz/photo/20360/Kip-Mcgrath.utr#/10


https://www.facebook.com/bethsmusic/


https://www.facebook.com/KipMcGrathBand

When your at a rave and trying to hype it up

last night at Kandy club the beats were banging the drinks were flowing and the ravers were raving

the music was so loud it could blow out your eardrum and leave you balling on the dance-floor

it wasn't for the fainted hearted but for the brave it proved a relentless and intense night with 

a phenomenal DJ whipping the house up into a frenzy slaying the crowd with back to back bangers and the random chill out to build back up to peak euphoria. 

Gabe and I chatting about Maths, Attending a Punk show & Partying at the Kings Arms

Last weekend my brother drove up from Wellington. I hadn't seen him in agesss and his friendly face was a sight for sore eyes. His hair had been cut short having grown out from a number one buzz cut and he looked as healthy as one can living in a flat haha. Gabe had until very recently been grappling with some serious problems in maths and physics at stage 3 inside the dungeons of Victoria University. He had driven up with his friend Gus who also flats with him and studies maths too. I was also super surprised at Gus' hair that was strikingly similar to my my niece Desdemona hair colour being coppery red.

A day or so or after they arrived Gabe was explaining how there's a blurry line between the disciplines of both "Maths and Physics saying how 'they seem to seep into each other, or collide" he also mentioned how "If you don't have enough maths, you can't really do physics at the highest level. He told it was because there are a lot of random variables in physics with a kinda of lazy good as it gets mentality prevailing. That's why I think Gabe likes Maths it's just more robust and pure as it tries to avoid flawed foundations as much as possible.

The chat with Gabe also tied into how I had been reading about the philosopher Bertrand Russell
and how as a boy he became obsessed with finding out the true foundations of maths
in-particular trigonometry. Russell wasn't satisfied with the claims of maths that took a similar
position to physics where you couldn't be absolutely certain how or why underpinning factors
were a given. Sadly for his sake Bertrand's pure maths obsession didn't cease leading to him
writing a right a mammoth of a book called the Principia Mathematica. The book took him over
9 years of 12 hour days to complete. What a jail sentence! but it could make for fun heavy reading
for Gabe if could bear to turn the pages of such a fear inducing book, hide your calculators.

After mulling over the importance/irrelevance of maths Gabe convinced me we should go out
as it was Friday night. So amongst the wind and rain we ran out into the drizzly night while
scanning online for something to do on our phones. Thankfully early in the week my friend
Temuera had messaged me about a gig happening at the Kings Arms but for some reason
I had convinced myself it was at Neck of the Woods. Probably because I really like the later
venue as some of Tem's cool friends work there. In fact the last gig we went to see saw a
fast as hell rapper from Bone Thugs 'N' Harmony preforming a secret show to hype the
Blockparty festival he was playing the next night. However, equally awe inspiring was the
gig before that I attended with Tom Scott and his musician mates going ape shit and throwing
down a rowdy ass hip hop set. I'm telling you the bass and low end of that gig was intense
plus the energy from the Auckland crowd was hyped turning the charm and enthusiasm
way up for the local muso, music meshed everyone together in a good buzz.

Anyway it finally clicked that the gig was at the Kings Arms. I had previously heard an advert
on BFM early in the week advertising a Third3ye show. My neurons made the connection that
this was the gig Tem said was happening. On route to that gig we decided to drop into another
a punk show at Obie Dobie at 300 dominion road. I got us some drinks and low and behold my old mate Ben Olsen was screaming his lungs out with his latest band Riot Carcass. His vocals were
shredding and the backing band made up of guitar, bass and drums (classic set up, tried and true) were holding down some meaty riffs with the occasional callous cymbal crash thrown in. Ben and the gang played a solid set almost nose to nose with the audience as there was not stage. The crowd consisted of some direhard music fans, other band members and random dudes. There were also people outside puffing away on death inducing cigarettes while the music from the gig leaked down for blocks which was rather funny in itself. In between bands once Ben finished Gabe and I charged outside for a bit of air and to rest the old ear drums. I just remembered before the punk gig Gabe and I had searched in vain for earplugs at the local Countdown in Mt Eden but there were none, shame on you Countdown for not stocking such a basic commodity in your overpriced shelves. Once the next band took the stage we decided to bugger off as they were a bit indie and mellow for our taste.

Out in the cold we were throwing up not literally just to get a burger or not. We foolishly settled
on Burger Fuel. I got some 10$ thing that was pretty much just a meat patty in burger bun.
I mean pretty uninspiring for the price tag, never eating their again. People say Burger fuel its not the same as it use to be but I think folks we all need to admit to ourselves that the food was
always shit even from the beginning. On a funny side note another one of my friends worked
at the Burger fuel in Mt Eden for ages and he said that under his contract he could eat a burger every shift he worked there. But apparently the rules changed so new employees didn't get a a free burger so it was just him all on his lonesome after his other co-workers had moved on cooking up these monster burgers every shift for himself while the other employees just looked on hungrily. Anyway Gabe ate some Japanese burger thing with some mad stuff inside it that just looked like deep friend onion rings, his burger looked much better than mine but still rather drab after a while we decided to leg it to the next venue just before the rain came down which was a good call, well a cheap call.

When we jumped into the fray of second mosh pit of the night after paying our
ten dollar door charge we grooved along to Bailey Wiley mid-set firing the crowd up
with a pretty electrifying and sexual music that reminded me of Beyonce lyrically, musically
and visually. Eden was djing behind her playing beats for her to sing over, I remember him
from Mt Albert Grammar he played the drums and was a real nice guy. The way Bailey moved
around on was primal and the music exceedingly dance-able. The next guys up on stage where
the headliners called Third3ye with Basil djing, beat matching and scratching behind them
on the dj decks taking over from Eden. On stage Third3ye explained to the crowd how the
show was slightly different to a normal release party. Together they had decided to preform
all their new songs live before recording them and releasing the latest record. Such a move made perfect sense to me, because the more you can play the songs the better the music is gonna be when you record it. When you kind of know the songs by instinct instead of counting bars and crap like that you can do some nice stuff. The guys started to do their thing by firstly shouting out Fuck the Police before expanding our minds with some spiritually infused eastern by way of NZ rap songs. My favourite part of the set was when one of the Mc's started talking about souls, he said their was definitely a few old souls in the building as well as some young ones it made me laugh when he made it clear that he didn't discriminate between souls! The guys new songs reminded me of Cyprus Hill and people started lighting up the ganja towards the end of the set.

Gabe was consistently up the front moshing in the crowd for the whole Third3ye set blowing off some post exam stress. I went outside into the garden area of the venue and gazed at the stars and bricks that made up the music venue tortured by loud music. My brother eventually came outside and I let him know how there had been a bit of a commotion over developers trying to pile a shit ton of apartments on the music venue. He thought it was all rather funny. I told him how Dad probably thought the business had been their for long enough that they might have bought the building and probably hated the idea of bowling the place.

It kind of surprised me to hear of people who still have a decent bone in their body choosing art and commerce over just pure commerce. But I think its probably the right decision as no one wants to get dragged into the fatalistic frenzy of the Auckland property boom this late in the second half. But lord only knows how much they would stand to make if the owners flogged the place. An image of a yuppie chasing a carrot attached to a bag full of millions rushed through my mind or something stupid. Everywhere people were smoking cigarettes i asked Gabe if he was still smoking he said nah price was to much for him now "30$ bucks for a smoke, bugger". So we just chilled with our beers watching people smoke away their money on $30 dollar cigarettes.

Salsoul Records - My fav Disco label

Today I read a book on the history of the disco music movement. To my surprise I discovered the power of independent record labels that ran the game. My favourite disco label was Salsoul Records started by 3 brothers and spearheaded by one particular brother. The label sold their first single to a major for 100k as the bigger company wanted to take it too the pop charts, they failed.

But the money was still paid and allowed the brothers to invest in roughly ten singles with the best studio musicians in Philadelphia. Their second single went on to sell 400,000 copies and the first album around 500,000.

However, the brother did get stuck in a bad position and had to release the first album himself but lucky he did! because they got all the money haha. By the 80's disco was dead, I wonder if modern electronica will be the same? Whats for certain is 'dance music' continuning aka music that makes human beings dance, the question is in what genre and style next!

Ate A Frog - Moss Rock

The Neo-Kalashnikovs "Cream E.P" is OUT NOW!!! :)

                     

A giant thank you to everyone involved who helped us make this record and to all our fans and supporters super stoked :) enjoy Moss 

The Symposium is Over! Pluto were the bloody hell are you! I mean Plato

 

The Symposium is over, had a wickedly good time at the Mercury Theatre on Saturday in the God's theatre. The poetry and music were wonderful and the genrous red chairs very pleasant to relax in. A big thank you to all the Theoradical Hobohemians  and everyone that came along and had a beer, wine or cup cake and enjoyed the nights entertainment. 

I was also merry enough to take to the stage on the night with Mick Innes who was preforming as Socrates and natually I was his faithful student Pluto, I mean Plato! However, after I trooped down onto the stage Socrates decided to lose the Toga a controversial and comical move and delieverd a modest and moving poem in his black underpants, classic Socrates move.

Below I am just gonna chuck up some ideas I wrote for Mick before he decided we should just wing it and just play it by air! Also thanks to Leighton Keutenius for coming along to see the show with Karen, always great to see you two at an event :) & Amber and Ben the sound and lighting was super dope. Finally If I have time I might post up a collage of images that I projected for the back drop for "Sympoisum"

p.s - thanks to Ruth Bioletti (Mother dearest) for organizing and promoting the whole show it was a big undertaking and I was super stoked to be involved, I had a brilliant time and glad the show was a hit and we had fun doing it! :)

https://www.facebook.com/theoradicalhobohemians

Random Ideas about Socrates:

My names Socrates people fancy me as a Philosopher King 

but really im just a professional bullshit artist, isnt that right Pluto 

I mean Plato come here boy. 

You see when Im not dumpster diving at Countdown I like to fancy myslef as

 a bit of alright too my self-inflicted poverty isnt ideal but hey were living in the

real world arent we! well I hope we are bloody metaphsyics gets you know where 

in the end take it from me! 

You want to know a story? to bad im gonna tell it to you anyway and yeah you must 

just learning something about the philsophy of life 

So there I was in the black of night at Countdown Plato's keeping watch for pesky 

security and I am about 3 feet deep in trash just about to grab hold of a some primo canberra cheese

when Plato starts yapping like he's discovered the meaning of life - I ascend to the top and 

by god securities fast approaching and it looks like they've hired a new guy built like 

an armoured horse and carriage, but I peered a bit closer and it was just a shadow an

illusion and the moral of the stories always get the Canberra bar nothing! 

Your still here jesus thats the story I tell to people and it always propels people away 

like a Sparatan at an end of year work do in Athens always good for a laugh 

Look Im not gonna profess to know everything Plato's the real philsopher round here 

arent you boy yes you are fetch boy fetch 

But I definely know a hell of a lot about the Kardashians to give you an example 

i could pick Kim, Kendal, Khole, Kylie and what the hell even Kanye's ass out of any 

police line up in the world, we've definetly done our 10,000 hours of reality television 

havent we Plato. 

Which is a shame really I rather enjoyed that ten year period of my life, even if I was a bit depressed. 

Some people think that anyone could be a philospher if they tried real hard their so idealistic 

why dont they try coming up with how to unfuck the world everyday before breakfast, I had to give that shit up and I loved cornflakes. But I got so stressed I had an exoistential crisis from which I havent really recovered am I here, I know think I am but Am I really damn you philosophy!!!! 

Recently I've come to the sorry conclusion were living in a world controlled by silver back gorillas 

that has to be why everyones obssessed with someone elses banana   

you know the worse thing you can say to some in the whole world apart from "go die you worthless piece of shit you god damn failure" these days is 'dont do it" because it guarantees that some idiot somewhere in a hick town is gonna serach it up on youtube laugh inthe face of good reason and say say "you know what, I know I shouldnt but Im just gonna shot some fireworks out of my ass" 

the funny thing is they always ask you to watch them do the stupid thing, poor Aristotle he still has phantom limb pains from that manipulative little wombat that had the audacity to make up his own rules and ethics and rip his balls off. 

Through all my philsophizing im really only certain of one thing who ever created the universe had a sense of humour just look at the Platypus half duck, half stoat, half beaver cute as a teddy bear and more lethal than a rabbie infested stray dog terrifying your children at a picnic on a bank holiday. 

then I found out it wasnt a dream 

You wouldnt believe it I once had a dream I owned a playpus once, it was so smart it drove where I wanted to go without even telling it - telekensis or sometjhing I came up with that word! first we pulled up to my favourite liquor store in Mangere, then we went through the 

Mac Donalds drive through, round to my drug dealers house and finally to my drug dealers house for a bit of a buzz before finally settling in for a flutter on the roulette wheel on skycity. 

I tell you I never so much money in my whole life with that lucky Platypus by my side, I just started giving money away but then my acid trip turned sour and I started lossing heavily on the tables every number was red instead of black Why WASNT IT BLACK I started threatening the staff with a finnish dagger my friend Ensis had given to me for safe keeping, bloody armed defenders turned up 

thats when I decided to drink the hemlock all in one go I just couldnt be assed putting my hands on my head, it was a bloody great night though

Anyway i've got to catch up with the bloody stoics soon you know its bad when their all walking round with their flaming togas around their heads

  

The Local Musicians Music Show @ The Dogs Bollix 2015

                       Benjamin Silver and LA Thompson 

Check out: http://localmusicians.co.nz to find out more about the acts from this music review!  

Rolling into the Dogs Bollix I was struck by the

professional set up of LA Thompson's

Local Musicians Music show, a night spearheaded

by the independent artist set to showcase awesome

homegrown NZ talent in the underground stables 

of Auckland City, with the possible inclusion of other 

musos from different areas to be included in the future. 

I wasn't let down by the live sound either.

It was dialled in immaculately on the sound

desk and the speakers were set at just the right

volume for the first performer of the night 

singer songwriter Kerryn playing solo on her 

trusty acoustic guitar. 

     Kerryn     https://www.facebook.com/KerrynBand/

Sitting up straight on a bar stool Kerryn

strummed off a bright and chirpy first song

before jumping waist deep into a brooding

cover of Bruce Springsteen's anthem 

"The River". I have to say I was a bit surprised

by the song choice as you don't usually hear

that song being played to much at your local bar. 

But I'm glad Kerryn did as it proved to be a 

real gem of a rendition. With no signs of intimidation

at all Kerryn just rocked into it like any other song 

and did it more than justice displaying solid vocal 

abilities and flare. She also resisted the temptation

to overplay and go full Boss mode on the song 

and try and take the Dogs Bollix Roof of which

Im sure she could've.


 Also of particular interest was Kerryn's original 

song "Dreaming" that followed   'The River". 

Inspired by hard working themes not dissimilar

 to our favourite guitar slinging New Jersey boy

with sullen themes of dissatisfaction and self-

alienation brought about by the working day it even

hinted at a bit of resentment for having to work in the

first place. Kerryn's final song made you think. After it

finished the crowd applauded her final song with a

note or possibly more a chord of approval about the

pains tackled by the subject matter of "Dreaming".   

After the first performer left the stage LA Thompson

quickly jumped on stage grasped the microphone and

let the audience know there would be a brief break

before the next act called Benjamin Silver took to 

the Dogs Bollix's stage. In the mean time Bob Marley's

anti-establishment reggae song "Get Up Stand Up" 

blasted over the speakers loud and proud. 

    Benjamin Silver   https://www.facebook.com/TheBenjaminSilver

After sorting out his amp and plugging in his tobacco

stained Fender Stratocaster Benjamin Silver introduced

himself very briefly with a 'how do you do?" before stealing 

the hearts in the crowd of the room with his powerful

gravelly voice and spidery melodic guitar work.

Throughout his short set Ben painted a picture of his

personal adventure through life with its triumphs, 

pitfalls and those many in-between moments.

His original song "Journey to Home" conveyed the 

repetitive lack of meaning in life that sometimes we 

all must face hopefully with a good sense of humour 

as it can be painful to never quite get to a place we are

truly happy with. The line that grabbed me the most in

Silver's first song was; "how many more miles must 

I travel before I arrive". 

Moving further into Ben's set his voice shone brightest

in a heartfelt cover of "Walking in Memphis". Everyone

in attendance went quiet as Marc Cohn's song was 

given new life by Silver. The crowd were collectively

impressed with the quality of such a performance 

conveying the beautiful yet raw timbre of Ben's vocal

performance as well as its emotional intensity with lines

 like; "You aint got a prayer in Memphis, in the middle of 

the pouring rain" reverberating round the room long 

after the songs final refrain. Silver finally emerged into 

a Rock 'N" Roll version of the Beatles "Let it Be" 

that was akin to the Beatles channeling the energy 

of Grunge rocker Eddie Vedders raspy vocal delivery. 

Certainly not an obvious blending of two beloved artists

but the unison of both was wicked to hear. 

     LA Thompson      https://www.facebook.com/lathompsonsmusictoday

LA Thompson and Frankencopter would finally

finish of the nights entertainment with a very professional 

edge. The former playing an almost flamenco style finger

picking guitar over sweltering electronic drum machines. 

The almost Led Zeppelin feel of Thompsons song;

 "New Sun Rising" and many other songs from her set 

really added glimmers and shades of colour and sound 

to the show that were new and refreshing. 

Frankencopter by contrast with a full live band set up

hammered away with tenacious wild abandon on the

drums with screeching guitars, vocal harmonies soared and 

the Kiwi band rocked as one. Well except for the very

groovy bass player who was a suspected Aussie by his

fellow Frankencopter bandmates.The guys fronted by a 

talented lead singer who didn't hit one bung not all night 

launched into a final hair raising version of "Gutter Black"

 in tribute to "Graham and that other guy" with a full on 

saxophone solo. It was raw fun even a bit raucous. 

What a Kiwi plus an Aussie classic played with gusto, brilliant, 

fantastic :)  By Moss Bioletti 

          Frankencopter   https://www.facebook.com/Frankencopter

Chris Barclay

Chris Barclay also shredded the guitar to death at

the show. I've never seen someone play guitar like

that before my head literally exploded roll over to his 

Facebook page;

https://www.facebook.com/Chris-Barclay-124877030889411/

to check out his GoPro live recording that he 

managed to film himself of his guitar playing antics

at lightening speed wow!! 

Check out: http://localmusicians.co.nz

      to find out more about the acts from 

                  this music review!