Nick Milligan's Blog, page 11

Top 20 Melbourne Cup Day songs

Melbourne Cup Day contains “the race that stops the nation” – but why can’t it be “the race that bops a nation”? Sure, gambling and watching small men flagellating horses is a lot of fun – not to mention the excessive drinking – but your Melbourne Cup celebrations will have no flavour without the right tunes. Hopefully you warmed up your Derby Day on Saturday with a broad selection of Terence Trent D’Arby. Now it’s time to get the crop out and fly down the home stretch. Here are the Top 20 essential Melbourne Cup Day songs of all time.

ROCK OUT WITH YOUR CUP OUT: These songs will add another dimension to your Melbourne Cup party.

20. ‘DEAD HORSE’

by GUNS N’ ROSES

19. ‘HORSES’

by PATTI SMITH

18. ‘MINE’S NOT A HIGH HORSE’

by THE SHINS

17. ‘BERLIN HORSES’

by SEABELLIES

16. ‘FASHION’

by DAVID BOWIE

15. ‘HORSE WITH NO NAME’

by AMERICA

14. ‘(GHOST) RIDERS IN THE SKY’

by JOHNNY CASH

13. ‘RIDERS ON THE STORM’

by THE DOORS

12. ‘PONY BOY’

by BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

11. ‘THE DISTANCE’

by CAKE

10. ‘WILD HORSES’

by THE ROLLING STONES

09. ‘ONE HORSE TOWN’

by THE THRILLS

08. ‘A HORSE IN THE COUNTRY’

by THE COWBOY JUNKIES

07. ‘BRING ON THE DANCING HORSES’

by ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN

06. ‘PONY’

by TEENAGER

06. ‘GO FRENZAL GO’

by FRENZAL RHOMB

NIGHT MARE: Alison Goldfrapp. of Goldfrapp, hugs a horse.

05. ‘RIDE ON A WHITE HORSE’

by GOLDFRAPP

04. ‘HORSE POWER’

by THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS

03. ‘WHIP IT’

by DEVO

02. ‘PONY’

by GINUWINE

01. ‘HORSES’

by DARYL BRAITHWAITE

Top 20 Halloween songs

MOTHERFUCKIN’ MONSTER: Kanye West in his creepy clip for ‘Monster’.

Of all the annual events that require a cracking playlist, Halloween is the most fun to choose music for. Here is a countdown of 20 essentials that should be on every Halloween playlist. These are chosen for their atmosphere as well as their theme. For example, ‘Hocus Pocus’ by Focus has the right title – and is arguably the greatest song ever written – but it doesn’t really evoke a “spooky atmosphere”. So here’s some tracks that tick all the boxes and set a devilish mood. They will also work for a Friday the 13th party:

20. ‘THRILLER’

by MICHAEL JACKSON

19. ‘A FOREST’

by THE CURE

18. ‘I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF’

by THE CRAMPS

17. ‘BLOODLETTING (THE VAMPIRE SONG)’

by CONCRETE BLONDE

16. ‘BORIS THE SPIDER’

by THE WHO

15. ‘BLACK SABBATH’

by BLACK SABBATH

14. ‘MONSTER MASH’

by BOBBY ‘BORIS’ PICKETT and THE CRYPT-KICKERS

FEEDING TIME: Alice Cooper dons his spider costume.

13. ‘FEED MY FRANKENSTEIN’

by ALICE COOPER

12. ‘HORROR MOVIE’

by THE SKYHOOKS

11. ‘WEREWOLVES OF LONDON’

by WARREN ZEVON

10. ‘THE BOOGIE MONSTER’

by GNARLS BARKLEY

WITCH CRAFT: The video for Queens of the Stone Age’s ‘Burn The Witch’ is suitably gothic.

9. ‘BURN THE WITCH’

by QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE

8. ‘ABRACADABRA’

by THE STEVE MILLER BAND

7. ‘GHOULS NIGHT OUT’

by THE MISFITS

6. ‘ THIS IS HALLOWEEN’

by MARILYN MANSON

ANIMAL INSTINCTS: The Ramones state very clearly that they do not wish to be buried in a pet sematary – a fair request, given that they are humans.

5. ‘PET SEMATARY’

by THE RAMONES

4. ‘AMITYVILLE’

by EMINEM

3. ‘MONSTER’

by KANYE WEST

2. ‘SEASON OF THE WITCH’

by DONOVAN

1. ‘DON’T FEAR THE REAPER’

by BLUE OYSTER CULT

Travie McCoy: interview

REAL McCOY: Travie McCoy of Gym Class Heroes. Picture by DIANA LEVINE (www.dianalevine.com)

When Travie McCoy answers the phone, the rapper says he is in a New York studio “just recording some music”.  The Gym Class Heroes front man is then asked if this means his fans can expect some new music from his chart-topping group. McCoy remains coy. “You can expect some music soon, that’s for sure,” the rapper replies, stopping short of confirming his current recordings may be with Gym Class Heroes.

But one thing is for certain – McCoy’s hip-hop-pop-rock hybrid are headlining the Fat As Butter festival on Saturday and will have crowds leaping with excitement as the sun sets over Newcastle harbour.

Gym Class Heroes are no strangers to Australia’s shores but, unlike his band mates, McCoy is often too snowed under with media commitments to visit our country’s tourist attractions. “The boys usually get to [look around] but I usually get stuck doing a shit-ton of press,” McCoy says. “So I don’t get to indulge – but they’ve got to go out and see kangaroos and crazy stuff.  Hopefully this time the tables will turn and I’ll make them do all the press while I go and hang out with kangaroos.”

Gym Class Heroes appeared in 2001 with the self-released record …For The Kids, before being discovered by Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz and signed to his Decaydence record label. Their sophomore record, 2005’s The Papercut Chronicles, and its single ‘Cupid’s Chokehold’ – which featured Fall Out Boy vocalist Patrick Stump – gained international exposure.

The four-piece has since released three more albums, the most recent being 2011’s The Papercut Chronicles II. Their sound has remained an unpredictable fusion of music genres, underpinned by McCoy’s laconic rap style. Hunter fans can expect Gym Class Heroes to be just as unpredictable on stage.

“We try to differentiate the live show from the album as much as possible,” McCoy says. “Whether it’s changing the songs up or just the energy – if we set out to make the rock show exactly like the CD there would be no point in coming to the live show. People could just sit at home and listen to the album. We try to go all out live and keep the energy up to a thousand – we try to make the show an occasion and make people feel like they are a part of something.”

When recording their songs, the reaction of a live audience isn’t far from McCoy’s mind. “There’s definitely parts to songs where I consciously make an effort to [allow] crowd participation – I think ‘This will sound great when five thousand people are singing along,’” McCoy says.

The rapper and Gym Class Heroes drummer Matt McGinley met in year nine in Geneva, New York. By 1997 they had formed the earliest incarnation of the band and would go on to draw fans from many genres. They were invited to play the punk-orientated Warped Tour in America four times between 2003 and 2008. Influenced by both rap and hardcore punk, Gym Class Heroes’ sound incorporated a wide range of styles.

The melting pot expanded in 2004 with the inclusion of guitarist Disashi Lumumba-Kasongo and in 2005 with the addition of bassist Eric Roberts. “It was something that wasn’t necessarily a conscious decision,” McCoy says of their diverse sound. “Musically we all come from pretty diverse musical backgrounds and there’s obviously a lot of music that we all enjoy. With Disashi growing up in Africa – in the Congo – he listens to a lot of cool world music as well as other stuff that he experienced once he moved to the States. My dad was a bass player growing up, so from an early age I heard everything from Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes to Red Hot Chili Peppers. Matt grew up on Paul Simon and stuff like that. So when we got together all that shit found its way into what we do. It’s a very, very democratic process when it comes to writing.”

While they’ve kept their full ­spectrum of influences in their music, McCoy feels Gym Class Heroes have improved at structuring their songs. “They always say that you have your entire life to write your debut album,” McCoy says. “Especially when you put it out on a big scale – whether it’s an ­independent label or a major label, it is the world’s introduction into who you are as a musician. With our first record, a lot of it was written from the ages of 16, 17 to 20, 21 – there’s a lot of years and a lot of growth in between there. On [2011’s The Papercut Chronicles II] I think there’s definitely a lot of growth from us as individuals and musicians and songwriters. On our first album we had no idea what we were doing. We wrote until we felt like it was done and we had no sense of song structure. I didn’t know what a bridge was or how to count bars – in a sense it was the purist album we’ve ever written because of that. Because we didn’t know how to write a well-structured song – there’s an innocence and a naivety to that record that can’t be duplicated. But as we grow as  songwriters we aim to write songs that will stand the test of time, that years from now will still sound good. That takes a lot of effort as far as the basics of writing a well structured song. I learned a lot from listening to guys like Daryl Hall and John Oates – their music will never get old, it’s timeless. I take what I’ve learned from them into the studio.”

While McCoy grew up on a steady diet of hip hop and hardcore punk, he has since come to appreciate the music his parents listened to – artists such as Phil Collins and the aforementioned Hall & Oates. “All the shit that I heard as a kid and hated, is all the stuff I love now,” McCoy says. “You let all the good stuff fall by the wayside and listen to whatever is popular with your friends. But all that stuff I despised back then is everything I love now.”

McCoy’s creative energy is apparent in his prolific output. Besides being a talented graphic artist, he also released a hit solo record in 2010 called Lazarus which featured the Bruno Mars collaboration ‘Billionaire’. McCoy confirms that he doesn’t like to take a break from working on his many projects.

“I just recently went through a dry spell creatively – this week was probably the worst case of writer’s block that I’ve had in years, it’s quite depressing,” McCoy says. “I am so used to being able to express myself, whether it’s with poetry, writing, lyrics or painting – I just hit a brick wall this week and it sent me for a loop. I’m trying to recover from it now. You can’t be on your A-game all the time. In a sense it can be your brain telling you to step back and assess things.”

When McCoy began work on Lazarus, it was during a dark period. He was overcoming an addiction to painkillers and also went through a break-up with pop star Katy Perry. The artist wrote a lot of “sad and sombre” material for the solo release but ended up scrapping it to go in a more jubilant and positive musical direction. He is not sure if he should ever release that dark collection of songs.

“Honestly, that’s something that I fight with myself over almost on a daily basis,” McCoy says. “Now being in the studio, I’m writing knowing that I have a vault full of songs that I thought were awesome at the time – and probably still are awesome – but are very, very personal to me. “It’s a chapter of my life that I’ve gotten past and I’d hate to rehash a lot of those feelings that went into writing all that shit. “But at the same time I think I would be doing myself and my fans a disservice by keeping that stuff to myself. “Whether that chapter of my life is closed or not, there is still some really good stuff that was written during that period. “I might actually have to return to some of that stuff to get out of this [songwriting] funk I’m in.”

No matter his mood, McCoy still draws on personal experiences for lyrical inspiration. “For the most part a lot of it is just every day life, things that I learn from by getting through them and overcoming them,” McCoy says. “I just try to be as clear and concise as possible. Music has been around forever so for me to think that I’m the first person to write about a particular subject is completely silly. If I’m going to write a song about a particular subject I’m going to do it from my perspective and try to do it better than how anyone else has done it. It’s all perspective.”

McCoy has worked with a very long list of artists, from Daryl Hall to Cee Lo Green, T-Pain, Adam Levine and Travis Barker, but there is one musician that he would love to make music with. “There’s a ton of artists [I’d like to work with], but Andre 3000 is someone I’ve admired since the summer of ’93, when Outkast brought out their first album,” McCoy recalls. “There is something about his voice and his tone. But also the cadences and rhyming patterns that that dude comes up with are f***ing astronomical. He’s just one of those artists that’s far beyond his time and I’d love to just hang out in a [recording] session and pick his brain and hope that some of it would rub off on me.”

Given McCoy’s unwavering creative energy, one can only assume it is just a matter of time.

Gym Class Heroes play Fat As Butter on Saturday at Camp Shortland, Newcastle Foreshore.

Got Milk? Amazing photos by Jaroslav Wieczorkiewicz

Just stumbled across the incredible images of photographer Jaroslav Wieczorkiewicz. There’s no illustration technique used in the following images – just some pinpoint lighting and photo composites. The artist and his assistants splash liquids across the bodies of naked females and then layer hundreds of splashes to create incredible outfits and other imaginative attire. Some of the following images are from a new collection that reinvents the pin-up girls of the ’40s. It’s titillating, sure, but also very clever. Enjoy.

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Suze DeMarchi: interview

ANIMAL INSTINCTS: Suze DeMarchi is back in front of Baby Animals.

Baby Animals were on their way to conquering the world of rock music. Their 1991 debut self-titled record, with its singles Rush You, Early Warning and One Word, catapulted them to the global stage. They went eight times Platinum in Australia, appeared on David Letterman’s show, and toured overseas in support slots with Van Halen and Bryan Adams.Their 1993 sophomore record Shaved and Dangerous saw them tour with Robert Plant across America.

But then the four-piece was dealt a double whammy. In 1994 singer Suze DeMarchi suffered vocal nodules that required her to temporarily step away from the microphone. In 1995, on the brink of the Baby Animals’ first major American headline tour, their US label Imago Records folded.

During these years DeMarchi met and married Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt and moved to America.

The writing was on the wall for the band and their career stopped. But DeMarchi always had a sense of unfinished business with the Baby Animals and in 2007 the group reformed to make an acoustic record for Liberation.

“We never stopped wanting to make music, it’s just that we couldn’t record for a while because of contractual stuff,” DeMarchi recalls. “I went and had kids and I was living in another country – it became hard to keep it going. The catalyst [for our reformation] was when we did the acoustic record for Liberation. Dave [Leslie, guitarist] and I did that record in a week in LA and then we thought let’s get the [original] boys back in and we’ll see how that all works on tour. And that was fun, but when it came time to actually start writing a new record it was pretty clear that that line-up just wasn’t going to work – to keep everyone happy. Dave and I continued writing and we got Mick Skelton to play drums and Dario [Bortolin] ended up playing bass on the album. Now it feels like everyone wants to be there, so it works really well.”

Although the Baby Animals left the music scene in the ’90s, DeMarchi and Leslie maintained their musical bond. The guitarist also played on DeMarchi’s 1999 solo record Telelove.

“I call Dave ‘the bright light to my right’,” DeMarchi says. “He has always been really supportive of me and I’ve always loved the way he plays. Over the years he would send me pieces of music and when I was in Australia we’d get together and work on stuff.”

The new Baby Animals line-up has already played a series of comeback gigs and the fans returned.

“I was very surprised,” DeMarchi says. “Once the word got out and we started engaging with people online, it gave us instant access. We could actually talk to them online directly. I had a moment a few months ago when we played at The Factory in Sydney and I stopped towards the end of the show and I thought ‘wow’. Our fans have incredible loyalty, they’re the reason why we can keep doing this. If they didn’t come to the shows we wouldn’t be able to keep playing. It’s a hard business to maintain on any level – even starting out again, it’s a whole different world now. We’re lucky to have that fanbase.”

DeMarchi returned to Australia following her separation from Bettencourt in 2009, who she divorced this year, paving the way for the Baby Animals’ new studio recordThis Is Not The End.

“I moved back [to Australia] so I could work more and also because I wanted my kids to be near my grandparents and have some Australian childhood as well, and not be that whole ‘Beverley Hills thing’ too much,” DeMarchi says. “It was a really tricky time from when we moved back and then until my marriage ended – and that was like ‘Wow, ok.’ I guess this record was a bit of a saviour for me because it gave me something to put my time and thoughts into. It’s good to have something to wake up to every day. It was a really tough time.”

Musically, This Is Not The End sees the band pick up where they left off. It’s a collection of hard-rocking, hook-laden numbers.

“Our first album was purely us as a unit and there wasn’t much outside influence – it sounded like we sounded, who we were,” DeMarchi explains “The second record got a little bit fancy and a little bit rushed. This [new] record sounds exactly as it was meant to – there’s nothing fancy about it. We just let the songs dictate how we should produce them and where they should go. Email was the last song we wrote for the album and we wrote it very quickly and we just left it – we didn’t play with it too much.”

The first single, Email, is unmistakably a break-up song. There’s no misconstruing the lyrics of the track’s breakdown: “You said it in an email – 18 years in an email.”

“I tend to write about things that are going on in my life and I do write exactly what I’m thinking,” DeMarchi says. “Sometimes I read them back and I think ‘Oh, I don’t know if I can say that.’ Like with Email, I thought ‘I don’t think I can put that’ – but then I thought fuck it. What are you going to do? It’s part of who you are – and it’s part of being an artist. Everyone goes through that stuff and there’s something really good about opening your chest up to people and just saying ‘This is what I felt that day’ and if someone relates to it, great. You should write what you’re feeling and let it come out.”

DeMarchi admits that in the early days she was more willing to censor her lyrics so their human subjects weren’t as obvious.

“The [early] songs were more flippant – I wasn’t going through divorce when I wrote those songs,” the singer says. “But there was heavy subject matter – there was still relationship stuff and death and people who had affected me. I’m not a political writer – I just like four-on-the-floor rock music and I like to keep things simple.”

And the singer’s barbs made it to Bettencourt’s ears.

“I did have to apologise to my ex for a couple of those songs,” DeMarchi laughs “I did say, ‘Look, sorry about a couple of those lyrics – whoopsies.’ He was very gracious – he said, ‘Oh well, it worked for Adele didn’t it?’ So it’s all good.”

The Baby Animals’ tour launched in the Hunter and was called “Feeding The Birds”. The name stems from a now ­infamous moment, captured on camera, in which DeMarchi spat red wine into the willing mouth of a punter in the front row.

“It’s kind of funny because it was a spur of the moment thing that happened one night at one particular show,” the singer recalls.

But following the incident, perhaps unsurprisingly, more fans came to Baby Animals shows in the hope of being “fed” wine by the gorgeous front woman.

“This one girl I did it to came back to a show nine months later and she was very pregnant,” DeMarchi says. “She said ‘Look what you did to me!’ It has turned into this running gag, so we decided to call it the Feeding The Birds Tour. It doesn’t happen every show, only in the right moment. Sometimes the front row looks a bit dodgy and you don’t want to do anything to them, you know?”

Joey Cape: interview

GIMMES ALL YOUR LOVIN’: Me First and the Gimme Gimmes – the world’s greatest cover band – have evergreen popularity. Joey Cape is pictured second from right.

It seems like logistical genius. But influential Californian punk rocker Joey Cape says it is serendipity that has seen three of his musical outlets booked for Australian tours throughout October and November.

Cape rose to prominence as the frontman of perennial favourites Lagwagon. But fans of his music can see him perform with shambolic punk covers band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes at the Cambridge Hotel in Newcastle. He returns to the same venue on Wednesday, October 30 for an acoustic ­tribute to his long-time collaborator – late No Use For A Name frontman Tony Sly. Then Cape is back to the Cambridge again for a show with his alt-pop group Bad Astronaut.

“I guess you could call it lucky,” Cape says of the three tours. “They were all booked at different times and it just came together that they were close – honestly, it was just a fluke. I’m excited about [the Cambridge shows] – it’s great, but am I going to be wearing out my welcome there? I don’t know.”

Despite his prolific output in different ­projects, Cape appreciates a break from songwriting. “I have to take a break every once in a while because there’s times the well is dry and I’m not feeling inspired to create something with any integrity or conviction,” Cape says. “So the breaks happen automatically – I would rather they didn’t, because you can’t time them.”

Cape admits that playing guitar for Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, who take classic rock, pop and soul songs and speed them up with a shot of punk adrenaline, also ­constitutes relaxation.

“It’s a total holiday, man,” Cape says of a Gimme Gimmes tour. “There is literally no work – if we had any kind of mantra it would be ‘Don’t try’.”

Even rehearsals don’t factor into the Gimme Gimmes’ plans.  “Honestly, we probably should [rehearse],” Cape says. “In the earlier days we took it just a little bit more seriously and actually rehearsed for about four hours. We would run through a set, leaving in all its mistakes and dysfunctional glory. Now that happens usually the first night of the tour – which, in my opinion, is usually the best show. Because it’s chaos and there’s something good about that.”

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes released their debut record, Have A Ball, in 1997 and the supergroup’s line-up over the years has included guitarist Chris Shiflett of Foo Fighters and bassist Fat Mike of NOFX. Cape is interested to see if there is still love for the Gimme Gimmes when they return to Australia.

“It’s a question of whether it is popular­ ­anymore,” Cape says. “There was a time when we did really well, and I think we were more visible because we were touring more and didn’t take so long between records. I really don’t know what to expect with the Gimmes [Oz tour]. I’m completely shocked that the band ever made a record and beyond that were able to tour and play shows – and that people dug it! It’s fun for me and I get that the songs are good songs and guilty pleasures – I get why it works, but I’m astounded that it’s still going at all.”

While Cape won’t divulge many track details, he does confirm that he has just ­finished recording his guitar parts for a new Me First and the Gimme Gimmes record. He reveals that there will be a cover of Boy George song.

But in stark contrast to the frivolity of the Gimme Gimmes’ gig tonight will be Cape’s October 30 Cambridge show – an acoustic set with fellow songwriter Brian Wahlstrom.  The two musicians were one half of indie rock group Scorpios, which featured singer Tony Sly. On July 31, 2012, Sly, the singer of No Use For A Name, died in his sleep. He was 41.

Sly had been a long-time friend and ­musical collaborator of Cape’s and the upcoming show will be a celebration of the departed frontman’s music. “We are going to do a bunch of Tony songs – we’re going to have a tribute section of the show each night, probably about eight songs,” Cape says. “It’s really hard to put into words – it feels cathartic, of course. It’s tremendously sad every night when we do the songs – it’s really hard to keep it together. It’s really nice to honour him – it feels amazing to play the songs because I’m a huge fan of his. I played so many of those songs with him that they’re engrained [in me] like my own songs are. It’s hard to do though – I don’t want to do it much longer. It’s part of a mourning thing and it’s been going on a long time now. Words aren’t big enough to describe these things.”

Fans of Sly’s music have been coming to the tribute shows and Cape has been keeping Sly’s wife and children updated on the outpouring of appreciation for the songwriter’s music.

The third of Cape’s shows is with his Bad Astronaut project, which will appear at the Cambridge Hotel as part of the Hits & Pits Splits mini-­festival – a night that also includes Boysetsfire, Snuff and Off With Their Heads.

Bad Astronaut were a studio ­project, releasing their debut record in 2002. Before they ever played a live show Derrick Plourde, Bad Astronaut and Lagwagon’s original drummer, took his own life.

“There was this time in Lagwagon where I was feeling that I really ­needed to branch off as a songwriter,” Cape says of Bad Astronaut’s ­genesis. “I had felt that way for quite some time. [Lagwagon] made a record called Let’s Talk About Feelings and during that period I was already collaborating with other musicians and thinking of doing something else. But it felt like it was a dirty thing to do, like cheating on your wife – it­ ­didn’t feel right. I love music and it’s important to be satisfied with what you’re ­making. But there’s always this balance in a band between change and ­serving the collective soul of the band – what the band wants – and also honouring what your fans enjoy. When we made Let’s Talk About Feelings, there was a track where I brought in a piano and a cello player – both guys are in Bad Astronaut. Long story short, it went over ok with the fans but the guys in [Lagwagon] were a little uncomfortable with it and it’s not fair on them. So I decided: ‘I’m going to do [a project] on top of Lagwagon that has zero rules and I can get my yah-yahs out’.”

Cape was working on Bad Astronaut’s third album when Plourde died, making it emotionally difficult for the band to continue. “If it’s possible to have a soul mate, musically, [Derrick] was mine,” Cape says. “Musically, we finished each other’s sentences. So when he passed I didn’t feel like it was ok to keep doing it. Five years passed and I was still friends with the other guys in the band, and every once in a while I’d hear from them and we’d talk about how [Bad Astronaut] never even did one show. I felt like there was some ­emptiness in that. But now we have the second best drummer from Santa Barbara– after Derrick – and it’s become a really enjoyable thing.”

Enormity released in paperback

OUT NOW: Enormity is available in paperback at Abicus on Darby Street, Newcastle.

The time has come. Enormity is now available in paperback. I can’t say it has hit “the shelves” per se, as it only has one stockist. But it has hit “the shelf” of Abicus in Darby Street. I was very flattered to be approached by the store and incredibly grateful for owners Tiff and Tim’s support.

Enormity will eventually have more stockists, but for the time being it’s exclusively at Abicus. Get along and grab a copy!

The next steps in the book’s release are the announcement of the official book launch (looking at late November) and also Enormity‘s availability in paperback through Amazon and as an eBook through other channels like iBookstore, Kobo, Barnes & Noble etc.

Stay tuned for more news.

Nick Milligan: profile

BATMAN AND BEN: Yours truly dressed as Batman and Ben Mitchell, taken at Music and Movie Trivia.

This is a profile on yours truly by the talented and awesome graphic artist/person known as Ben Mitchell. It appears as the cover story of this month’s edition of the zine Newcastle Mirage. It’s very flattering and talks a bit about Enormity, casting an Enormity movie, and my trivia night etc. Enjoy. – NM

THE MONTHLY NICK, WITH BEN MITCHELL: 

NICK MILLIGAN – ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST, AUTHOR, TRIVIA HOST

Newcastle is a city filled with men of many names – plenty of Matts, Seans, Lukes and Bens – but after years of steel city mingling, this reporter has found that the real pioneers, the Novocastrian glue holding the cultural scene together, all share a name with the humble Saint Nicholas. Our city is bursting at the seams with Nicks, each doing their part to make it a better place. After noticing the common bond of passion and ambition attached to the name, it was only a matter of time before The Monthly Nick came into fruition, as there are likely several Nicks near you, keeping the dream alive in their own way, regardless of recognition or celebration. These are their stories.

With September’s Monthly Nick sitting finished in front of me, I found myself extremely nervous to see what sort of response I’d get, as I was extremely aware that usually my strong points involve making pictures, rather than sentences. As helpful as my friends were, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the many times my musician friends have shown me the results of them ‘trying their hand’ at graphic design, under the encouragement of their loved ones. For real feedback, I’d need to turn to a writer. Luckily, for the better half of this year, I’ve been friends with a man who has written for Rolling Stone, Dazed & Confused and Frankie, as well as acting as editor in chief for Reverb for three years and recently launched his career as an author with a debut novel. With a sigh of relief upon hearing he thought my last article ‘read well’, I was struck with the realisation that his name, too, happened to be Nick.

Before I knew how hard working and important Nick Milligan was in the entertainment journalism scene, I knew him as the loveably scruffy host of the Cambridge Hotel’s Music and Movie Trivia night, and much like last month’s Nick, coming into contact with him was a chance encounter. At the beginning of the year, the Cambridge’s dinner menu was very different, and after forgetting to reserve a table at Asa Don, a friend and I were recommended to head there as a backup dinner plan because on Tuesdays, they ‘had trivia as well’. Upon arriving, it was made clear that the trivia did not come second to the food at all. After founding a two-person team named after a reference no one understood, I was blown away by our host’s charisma and sense of humour and found myself becoming a regular for months on end. Music and Movie Trivia had its third birthday last month, with around 20 teams attending, each team name more offensive than the last, and the whole night running overtime to fit more of Nick’s bizarre sense of humour into each round. For the nine months I’ve been attending, not much as changed – it’s always a fantastic way to spend a Tuesday night.

TRIVIA TIMES: Some of the sexy crowd at Music and Movie Trivia, with yours truly up the front.

But according to Nick, it hasn’t always been this way. Three years ago, Nathan Zervos, the Cambridge’s manager at the time, needing a way to get more people at the bar on a Tuesday, introduced a games and trivia night. Knowing he was a huge music and cinema nerd, Zervos got Nick on board as a host and eventually, the ‘games’ concept was dropped for him to host trivia to three to four teams a week. The way he described this to me gave a very different vibe to how the show is run today – there were no ‘regular’ teams, and one night even had to be cancelled due to only one team showing up. Also absent, according to Nick, was his wry sense of humour, as only in the past eighteen months or so has he grown more comfortable behind the microphone. Today, Nick’s wit is evident not only in his hosting, but through the ridiculous questions he comes up with – be it ludicrous misheard lyrics for popular songs, or constantly working in ’80s hip-hop train wreck Snow as a multiple choice answer – the whole game has become one massive inside joke. In addition to his nine-to-five at the Maitland Mercury, Nick spends around six hours a week coming up with forty questions for each Tuesday, his connections with the media helping him stay extremely up-to-date with industry news for ideas.

Though both his life and career are heavily rooted in the music industry; not just through journalism but also from promoting and managing bands, Nick describes himself as ‘generally terrible’ at playing music. His main outlet for creativity is in his writing, which is evident in his recently released debut novel, Enormity. The book, a sci-fi epic four years in the making, follows Jack, an astronaut crash-landed on an unknown planet who lives out his dream of becoming an interplanetary rock star by performing classic rock covers to an alien nation that believes them to be his own originals. Apart from the cinematic outer-space setting, Enormity doubles as an unapologetic satire of the music industry, with a lot the principle characters – their behaviour, mannerisms and language – being loosely based on musicians Nick has met and worked with through his role in the industry.

“I know what I’d do,” he told me, before describing a concept he had started writing in his university years – a novel about Novocastrian teenage vampires – long before Stephanie Meyer ever released the Twilight series, “If I could travel in time, I would finish that fucking book!”

Though I’m a huge fan of science fiction and musical satire, one of the most exciting parts of the story for me is the dark turns the novel takes when Jack’s dishonesty spirals out of control. I was reminded of Craig Robinson’s character in Hot Tub Time Machine going back in time to steal a Black Eyed Peas song to make himself famous, except with real, actual, Breaking Bad-esque consequences. Keen to read more of how the novel deals with morality and stolen ideas, I asked Nick if he’d behave in a similar way given the right circumstances – through either time travel or space travel – and what concept he’d want to play off as his own. Though his self-discipline, like tempered steel, prevents him from falling into the same traps as our astronaut friend Jack, he’s reminded of a similar situation from his past.

“I know what I’d do,” he told me, before describing a concept he had started writing in his university years – a novel about Novocastrian teenage vampires – long before Stephanie Meyer ever released the Twilight series, “If I could travel in time, I would finish that fucking book!”

MORE TRIVIA TIMES: Music and Movie Trivia at the Cambridge Hotel – every Tuesday.

I had suggested, since his musical ability was already established as out of the picture, he go back to the eighties and write American Psycho before his idol Bret Easton Ellis could, knowing he managed to get an interview with the writer in 2010. Nick, halfway through writing Enormity at the time, treated the 40-minute Rolling Stone interview as more of a masterclass than part of a press junket, asking about Ellis’ approaches to writing and trying to get advice out of him. It was at this point that I wanted to treat our interview as a masterclass on how to pull sketchy moves to land interviews with your heroes, because his “freelance writing gymnastics” to get Ellis’ time of day even rivals the sketchiness of Enormity’s aforementioned morally ambiguous astronaut.

“I contacted their publicist and said, I’d like to get an interview with Bret Easton Ellis – I think Rolling Stone would be really interested.” Nick explained, “The woman said, ‘Okay, if Rolling Stone are interested then we’ll get you some time.’ So I contacted the editor of Rolling Stone and said, ‘Hey, I have an interview with Bret Easton Ellis, are you interested in a feature about his new book,’ and the editor said, ‘Sure, if you have the interview then we’ll run something.’ I went back to the publicist and said, ‘Rolling Stone want a feature.’” And a week later, Nick got to spend over half an hour with ‘the master’. They, unfortunately, did not get to compare business cards.

Though he’s interviewed some huge names over the years, including Ice Cube, Pete Townshend, Dylan Moran, and Huey Lewis (an interview which, I am sure, was featured in ‘the news’) on Nick’s website his first-billed interview subject is, both understandably and hilariously, Matt Damon. Damon was reportedly a really genuine, down to earth guy in the 20 minutes Nick got to spend with him, but the best part of the Matt Damon story did not even involve Matt Damon. As part of the press for The Bourne Ultimatum, Nick got to attend an advanced screening at the Sony Theatrette, and arrived early to an empty cinema. As more members of the press slowly arrived and packed the place out, by pure coincidence he ended up being seated next to David Stratton and Margaret Pomeranz, hosts of ABC’s At The Movies. In one of the greatest moments of Nick’s life, he was quite literally At The Movies.

This is, of course, was a story that would have been lost on Matt Damon. I asked if Damon, Elysium’s saviour of the Hispanics, would be a good fit for the lead role in a film adaption of Enormity, as in a brief stint doing some illustration work for the novel I was instructed to give Jack a muscular back. Nick laughed, and after a brief exchange of potential leading men (including Dexter’s Desmond Harrington, if only for his ability to lose weight in his face) we settled on Christian Bale – not for his work with Batman, but with Bateman, nailing the mix of horror and humour in American Psycho. I was surprised when this conversation revealed that though music journalism is where the money is, Nick’s main goal in life is professional creative writing; not necessarily for an Enormity adaptation (though most readers have described it as ‘cinematic’) but definitely writing screenplays, for film or TV. From what I’ve read, I think he is more than qualified to make it happen.

However, if things took a different direction I could definitely see Music And Movie Trivia being taken on by ABC on Tuesday nights, with Nick’s love for the industry and ridiculous sense of humour stealing the heart of a generation. Not only is he one of the funniest, most down-to-earth people I’ve seen behind a microphone, he’s the only writer I’ve ever witness discuss the latest Kanye West album without sounding pretentious. For those of you who simply can’t wait for Mr. Milligan’s antics to replace Spicks and Specks, or for Christian Bale to pick up a space-guitar on the big screen, you’ll have to catch this month’s Nick holding the fort at the Cambridge every Tuesday night, or grab a copy of Enormity from Amazon or (eventually) a store near you!

Nick Milligan hosts Music and Movie Trivia at the Cambridge Hotel every Tuesday night, starting at 7pm. His debut novel, Enormity is available as an eBook at Amazon.com and will be available in hard copy in October. Be sure to check www.facebook.com/enormitynovel for updates!

BEN MITCHELL’S WEBSITE: http://www.benmitchell.com.au

The Canyons: film review

INSIDE HOLLYWOOD: Lindsay Lohan and James Deen in The Canyons.

THE CANYONS

3/5

Author Bret Easton Ellis has lamented the film adaptations of his books. But, in his defence, they have wavered in quality and insight. When you consider that 1987′s brat-pack showcase Less Than Zero was barely recognisable as an adaptation of Ellis’ first published book, and that 2009′s The Informers lacked the self-awareness and satire of its source material, the author’s frustration is justified.

Ellis stated that Roger Avary’s 2002 adaptation of The Rules of Attraction “captured the sensibility” of the novel more so than Mary Harron’s cinematic reinvention of American Psycho. But Avary omitted the conflicting first-person accounts given by The Rules of Attraction‘s characters, essentially leaving out that book’s most fascinating aspect. Given these efforts, it seems that writers and directors find it problematic to turn Ellis’ books into films.

Therefore, fans of the polarising author will be intrigued to see The Canyons, because it has a script written by Ellis directly for the screen. The movie was mostly funded by his fan base, so the demand for this project was undeniable. The big question: what does The Canyons capture that the aforementioned adaptations lack? What does a pure, unsullied, undiluted Ellis vision look like on screen? Although the movie is directed by Taxi Driver screenwriter Paul Schrader, Ellis was involved in its production. This is an Ellis movie – so what does an Ellis movie look like?

POLITE SOCIETY: James Deen and Linsday Lohan feign interest during the opening scene of The Canyons.

The Canyons is every bit as puzzling and perplexing as one might expect from Ellis. This is for a number of reasons. But the characters are no surprise –  they are instantly recognisable as the author’s creations. The opening scene introduces two couples. In a classy restaurant, Christian (James Deen) and Tara (Lindsay Lohan) sit opposite Ryan (Nolan Funk) and Gina (Amanda Brooks). It’s immediately clear that we’re dealing with the spoiled narcissists that invariably inhabit Ellis’ version of privileged Los Angeles. Their dialogue is stilted and indirect. It’s an inconvenience that they have to step outside their own vanity and make idle chit chat.

Christian is a rich kid who is investing in movies to keep his father off his back. Gina is Christian’s assistant and put in a good word for Ryan, an aspiring actor, to get him a role in Christian’s horror movie. Tara is with Christian because he allows a decadent lifestyle. This is Ellis’ initial setup, but from here The Canyons immediately slithers through twists and turns as we peer beneath the surface of these shallow people.

When The Canyons confronts us with the vain and vacuous souls that we’ve come to love or hate across all of Ellis’ novels, one must ask the question: “Why?” That’s the perplexing question. Why was this movie made?

In his debut, Less Than Zero, as a 21-year-old writer, Ellis painted a devastatingly bleak portrait of the rich kids of Los Angeles. He explored the circumstances – the affluence, the absent parents – in which monsters are made. Yet here, as a 49-year-old writer, Ellis is seemingly retracing his steps. This is very familiar territory. At least when he wrote Less Than Zero Ellis was the same age as his protagonists. So why hasn’t he moved on? What is new about The Canyons? Why has he written this film? Is Ellis repeating himself?

To the latter question, the answer is “yes”. This is Ellis in his comfort zone. But while fans of his writing can live with unlikeable characters in his books, on screen they are stripped of Ellis’ turn of phrase, sizzling prose, sharp observations and dark humour. When left with purely dialogue – plus details refracted through Schrader’s camera lens and a brooding score by Broken Social Scene’s Brendan Canning – we are given only the horrific sterility of these empty people. The bleakness is even more bleak – and slightly less interesting.

Adult film star James Deen gives an appropriately creepy performance as Christian, but struggles to embody anything more than a caricature of a vain psychopath. Some audiences may even view him as a parody of a typical Ellis character. But does the writer deserve more credit? Perhaps.

The Canyons takes on a layer of intrigue when you realise that Christian is a malevolent metaphor – a sinister construct. Christian is the personification of Hollywood’s evil. He can be compared to the river of slime that rises beneath New York in Ghostbusters II. The different ways in which Christian impacts on the lives of those around him reflects the ways in which Hollywood can also destroy those that venture there in search of fame and fortune. Those that make pacts with Christian – the characters who sign an unspoken contract – learn that there are consequences. Maybe this is Ellis’ observation of the deals that aspiring stars and starlets make with the corrosive force of Hollywood.

So, on this level, the film is interesting. But does the concept justify the exercise? The Canyons is by no means a large film and, despite its low budget, is by no means ambitious. But it is certainly Ellis’ most direct statement about the evils of Hollywood and the type of people who are either drawn to or forged there.

Lohan’s involvement has been the largest talking point of the movie’s production. In The Canyons the troubled actress reminds us what a natural and immensely talented actress she is. This is a brave performance, made all the more powerful because of what the audience knows of Lohan in real life. There is something deeply poetic about her casting in this movie and maybe it was the very idea of placing her in this role – in this relationship with Christian – that was Ellis’ ultimate reason for writing The Canyons. It gives the exercise some value.

The result is neither a failure or a masterpiece. And it is not the finest example of Ellis’ writing. But, despite its flaws, The Canyons deserves to be watched and taken seriously.

Snakadaktal: interview

TEENAGE DREAMS: Snakadaktal have released an accomplished, dreamy synth-pop debut record.

Four members have just finished high school while another prepares for the HSC. But Snakadaktal create a mature soundscape that belies their relatively young age. Following the success of singles Air, Chimera and their self-titled EP, the group have released a beautiful and immersive debut album called Sleep In The Water.

While the name of the band came from a very specific idea – a mythical hybrid of snake and pterodactyl devised by singer and guitarist Sean Heathcliff in a maths class – the group’s sound took longer to design.

Bassist Jarrah McCarty-Smith, drummer Barna Nemeth, guitarist Joseph Clough and Heathcliff simply aimed to be like some of their favourite acts.

“I don’t think we had a clear idea [of our sound] – we just made up ideas of what we would like to copy, in a way,” McCarty-Smith, pictured far left, laughs. “Artists like MGMT – that’s what we wanted to sound like. We had a bit of a Kooks vibe, as well.”

But as the band’s personal tastes diversified, the sound evolved. “After that we all went different ways, some people were into rap and stuff,” McCarty-Smith says. “Others like techno, folk and pop. We listen to everything as a group, but we all have different musical tastes and I think that’s why it works when it comes together.”

The inclusion of singer Phoebe Cockburn, who was in the year below the four boys at high school, added another dimension to the sound. Her sweet voice provides serene counterpoints for Heathcliff’s gentle vocals.

“Having a female vocalist is wonderful in any band,” McCarty-Smith says. “We were probably going to be more rocky if [Phoebe] wasn’t there.”

Phoebe was a friend of Clough, who invited her along to a band rehearsal. “He found out she was quite talented and dragged her along to a band practice after school,” McCarty-Smith recalls. “We recorded a song straight away – you could feel it. That might have been the early stages of Air. [Phoebe] came to that rehearsal and she has been to every one since.”

Prior to stepping into a professional studio to make their stunningly atmospheric debut record, Snakadaktal had self-recorded their music. Working with producer and former Evermore drummer Dann Hume, whose credits include Alpine and Lisa Mitchell, the band noticed the jump in sound quality compared to their home recordings.

“[Dann] enjoyed our music and why it worked out so well – he put in a lot of effort to get to where we wanted to get to,” McCarty-Smith says. “It was an awesome experience.”

To give Sleep In The Water an echoed atmosphere Hume put delay effects on the instruments, giving the songs a dream-like quality. It gives the synth-pop tunes, like ­single Hung On Tight, a cohesion from track to track. Their relatively young ages aside, the five members of Snakadaktal are proud of their efforts.

“Anyone that records their first album is not going to be 100 per cent happy,” McCarty-Smith says. “You make decisions at a point and then you second guess it afterwards. But that’s the whole journey of recording an album. You have to write a couple of albums before you know what makes you happy and you can make the best album you can make. Hopefully we’ve made an album that people want to listen to and ­possibly get more ­overseas attention than what we’ve had so far.”