Here’s a few shots taken at the Essential Festival on Friday. It was a great day of music and a good opportunity for me to see a bunch of bands I normally wouldn’t have gone to see. I left half way through Ratatat due to the fact that by that point it just got too crowded and taking a decent photo was practically impossible.

See the rest of our photos over at the 12MC Flickr.

I’ve spent most of today hunched over my laptop scratching my head, trying to figure out how to best review Saturday’s Die! Die! Die! Vs. All in Attendance show at the Oxford Art Factory. After several attempts, I’ve come to the conclusion that the only way to properly assess the ferocious evening of New Zealand post-punk, is by implementing an equally fast, angry and loud postmodern writing technique; quoting myself being quoted via another review. From A Reminder:

As Angus said after the gig, it was a “proper fucking punk show.”

And still pretty much says it best.

May I also add, that I’ve not seen a frontman receive so much package handling this side of Tom Jones in Vegas.

For more photos, head over to our Flickr Gallery.

On Saturday night we attended a double headlining show featuring The Paper Scissors and Triple J favourites, Bluejuice, at the Gaelic Club. We queued for almost an hour to get into the venue due to the fact that it was an all-ages event and they were practically strip searching the kiddies upon arrival to make sure the UDLs were left at home at not stuffed into underpants and back pockets.

Both bands played a hell of a show, with The Paper Scissors kicking off the night with some woah-ohh’s and a whole lotta cowbell. Bluejuice later erupted on stage and within thirty seconds the front area turned into a photographer’s nightmare, with drinks and bodies flying towards me and my camera. Had Bluejuice’s fans been more like the audience at a Josh Pyke concert, I’m sure I would have gotten quite a few more decent shots of them.

Check out the rest of the photos at 12MC’s Flickr.

Last night instrumental three piece Pivot played their last show in Sydney before heading overseas with a record contract in their back pockets. With the lovely Jack Ladder claiming the support slot, we were originally planning to attend this show but were unable to make it in the end because Angus was feeling unwell. Luckily, our trusty second-unit was there to capture some of the magic.

Check out The Fetus’ Flickr for the rest of the photos.

File this one under: better late than never.

The Playground Weekender Mark II (March 7, 8 and 9) was a delightfully sordid event, having far more in common with the naughty boy-haven Pleasure Island from Pinocchio than say, your star-studded, garden variety mainstream summer music festival. Much like last year, there was a scarce level of headliners with ‘real’ pulling-power, but this doesn’t appear to be the promotors’ intentions with the Weekender, nor does it detract from the festival’s unique brand of enjoyment.

To say we spent more time with our media passes screwing around with friends in tents than actually watching performances and constructing future posts in mobile phones is probably the most honest compliment I can give a festival - we were having far too much legitimate fun (and sun) to work. And this is coming from a vampire who hates the outdoors.

The extreme portion of acts we saw were either Australian or British, so either these guys really hate on the yanks or it’s super easy for the promotors to get UK acts out here. We arrived slightly too late on Saturday to see the unveiling of Dappled Cities’ new drummer, but just in time to self-professed ‘Big Ears’ Ben Lee do his lovey-dovey, feel-good festival routine. Crazy Penis, or: the band you’ve only ever known the name of but were afraid to ask, didn’t really do much for me personally, but then again, I wasn’t as immersed into the Saturday night Fancy Dress contest as most. ($3 Wookiee mask incase you’re wondering.)

I’d be lying for the sake of appearing trendy if I said I actually knew who headliners Kruder & Dorfmeister were, so after a ’song’ (rough translation: K&D laughing and high-fiving each other while dudes rapped) I returned to the safe confines of my indie comfort zone for a killer, silly dance-inducing DJ set in the Uncharted World Bar from The E.L.F.

If there’s one gripe I have with the festival it’s the timetable and playing times. Not the usual ‘clashing’ of certain favourite bands (and that’s really the telltale sign about the star-power of a festival), but the fact many acts we wanted to see were on late on the Sunday night, or that there was too much space in between interesting acts. Yes, I know - that’s not very rock ‘n’ roll, and it’s more than likely designed that way to make us take a ‘cultural wander’ - but the combination of the fact we have day jobs, Uni and Wiseman’s Ferry isn’t the most user-friendly place to get to, makes it a big ask to stick around for the Sunday night headliners (The Wombats, Maximo Park, Ian Brown).

Having got that minor grumble out of the way, it must be said that I did have an overall brilliant time, and there’s still no words that truly do justice when describing the beauty of the Del Rio Resort. Luckily, there’s still plenty of time for the promotors and organisers to iron out these hindrances, as the Playground Weekender is over all an a one-of-a-kind festival that’s still taking its baby steps. We’ll see you next year, Playground Weekender.

Presets t-shirt tally: 4 (approx.) over two days.

“EELS…. ENMORE…. ON SALE NOW!!!” was the desperate phone call I received yesterday afternoon. I jumped to my feet, rubbed my eyes in a cartoon-like manner and instantly started searching the web for an information concerning this mysterious Enmore show. Seconds later, all my questions were answered. How I missed out on finding out about this sooner, I’ll never know, but thanks to my trusty pal, The Internet, tickets were purchased immediately and I was able to sit back down and relax. Thanks, World Wide Web!

On the road to promote the release of their recent Rarities and Best Of collections, the Eels are once again setting their controls for Down Under and heading to our sandy shores, um, Inner West. While 2004 saw the stunning Eels with Strings tour and 2006 brought us a heavier rock tour (complete with a dancing security guard), audiences attending the 2008 Eels tour at the cosy Enmore Theatre will be graced with an intimate acoustic performance.

Tickets are available right now on Ticketek’s website and will set you back about $75, which is a small price to pay for the sound of E’s husky voice and a chair. Additionally, you’ll be able to pick up a copy of EELS LIVE AND IN PERSON!; a DVD and CD package recorded live in London in 2006, only available at their merch desk at their 2008 shows. Get your tickets here, right now!

Last night I was very lucky to photograph the Midnight Juggernauts at their first show at the Enmore Theatre. The band had an amazing stage presence, a pretty damn good light show and I’d be lying if I didn’t say that as a result, the crowd went absolutely nuts. The Melbourne trio have recently been nominated for The 2007 AMP (Australia’s answer to the Mercury Music Prize), alongside Architecture in Helsinki, Bluejuice, The Mess Hall, Urthboy and a stack of others.

It was actually my first time with a photo pass at the Enmore Theatre, so I was looking forward to the opportunity to take some decent photos at a venue that I’ve always dreamed about shooting.

Ever since 12MC hit FBi we’ve been getting quite a few invites to some exciting events, so there’ll be plenty more interesting things coming soon if you stay tuned!

One major criticism about the recent trend of online music distribution is that while results are proving the ‘revolutionary’ process to be a lucrative marketing exercise, it seems to be only really financially beneficial to the big boys, a la Radiohead and more recently, NIN. But this setback hasn’t deterred Sydney muso mcArtney (no, not him - note the singular ‘c’) from releasing his self-produced, self-recorded debut EP, Volume One, exclusively online. Commence press release snippet:

…mcArtney sees the value in communicating directly with his audience, and for an independent artist removing the gatekeepers of the industry lets him have creative freedom and more importantly hold the profits his musical gains”.

At performances, mcArtney is going to sell login codes for a page from his website for $5. “That’s the whole thing, it’s so easy for me and so easy for consumers” says mcArtney, who is potently confident. “Although, I am not shutting myself out to doing a small run of actual discs…if there’s a demand I’ll supply”.

So run along the launch at the Hopetoun on March 19 to grab yourself a login and prepare yourself for all of the folky-pop glory you can poke a stick at. Of if impersonal, albeit more convenient online transactions are more your thing, get yourself the Volume One EP from here.

You’d be right for thinking that onetime regular 12MC haunter, Dave ‘Uncle Dave’ McCormack, had been living out some kind of romanticised version of the retired rocker’s life, judging from the complete lack of news surrounding 1999’s ‘Best Music Video’ ARIA winner.

So it’s with great pleasure that we kickstart the McCormack engine once again with the news that ol’ mate Dave isn’t off blowing royalty checks on the purchasing of flashy automobiles and tropical islands - but rather with the triumphant announcement that the ever-dapper one is launching the debut long player from his latest musical venture, The Millionaires, at the Hopetoun this evening. So what do they sound like? Well if the Millionaires had an online dating profile, their favourite music would be ‘Country/Western/Australia/Supergroup/1990s’ and their interests would be ‘playing at various Sydney drinking holes over the past year’. I’m getting hot just reading that. (That and the Team Zissou press shot).

The night kicks off at 8pm with the joint role of support band being filled by The Maladies and Jason Walker. So if you’re a fan of C&W, checkered shirts or having drinks poured by your favourite Sydney indie musicians, then be there or be square.

Word on the street (or the Hopetoun’s MySpace page) is that Faker and Dappled Cities will be playing a super impromptu last minute gig at every misfit’s favourite drinking hole, the Hoey, for a measely $10 AU ($9.309 US approx.)

Why the performance out of nowhere, guys? Well it looks as though it’s one last group effort from the Faker camp, before frontman Nathan Hudson bails on his bandmates and embarks on his acoustic Be The Solo tour. Also, a little birdie has told me that Dappled have filled the drum stool that was once taken up by Dappled Hugh’s buttocks, who we reported was leaving the band, so could this be Hugh’s final hurrah? Or Ringo’s first gig before the Playground Weekender this Saturday? Only time, and a tenner will tell.