METAL PEDIGREE
I’ve been digging into my family history and I found that one of my ancestors was involved in the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava in 1854, the event immortalised in the song The Trooper by Iron Maiden. I’ve not yet established if this gives me birthright to ride on Ed Force One.
DADDY COOL REFORM FOR AWARD
Daddy Cool will reform to play a one-hour set when they’re inducted into The Age Music Victoria Hall of Fame on Wednesday November 19 at The Performing Arts Centre. Frontman Ross Wilson tells The Age, “We’re all still working musicians; Daddy Cool reforms only for very special occasions. We do get offers to play now and then, but we don’t tour. This is not only a prestigious award – it’s a fun thing, getting together with other musicians, people saying nice things about us and having a few free drinks at the end of the night. That sounds like fun and that appeals to us. Daddy Cool has always been about having fun.” Other acts performing at the awards include Russell Morris, Stonefield and Teeth and Tongue, and Davey Lane will perform a Jim Keays tribute.
METAL DOWN UNDER
Epic in its undertaking, Metal Down Under captures the past, present and future of the Australian metal scene and condenses it into three hours of riveting, essential viewing. Since the late ‘70s, a thriving underground scene of extreme music has continued to evolve in Australia. From grind-core, thrash, death metal, black metal, hardcore, doom, melodic metal, sludge, power metal and the many more sub genre’s that exist, Nick Calpakdjian’s documentary Metal Down Under traverses the full spectrum of Australian metal and takes a look at the bands, people and events that shaped this unique slice of Australian history. From promoters, radio hosts and magazine editors, to band members and extreme fans, it introduces you to a world you either didn’t want to know existed or have been a part of all your life. Featuring over 40 exclusive interviews as well as rare archive footage and photographs from Metal For The Brain, Metal For Melbourne, Big Day Out, SBS, music videos, live concerts and much more, it’s now available for preorder ahead of its Friday August 22 release. You can preorder the DVD for $30, or the DVD/t-shirt bundle for $50 from metaldownunder.com.
NEW PLANNING RULES TO PROTECT LIVE MUSIC
Victorian Planning Minister Matthew Guy is expected to sign off on a suite of changes to planning regulations which will put the onus on the agent of change in noise complaints against existing music venues. In other words, if apartment buildings, houses or businesses move in near an existing live music venue, it will be the responsibility of those new developments to mitigate the noise. The Victorian Government will also set up a $500,000 fund to provide noise attenuation assistance to heritage-listed buildings which are not covered by the new agent of change rules. The news comes just after Cherry Bar raised $50,000 from supporters to help sound-proof the legendary venue, and it’s a little late for Pure Pop Records who have already announced that they’re moving from St. Kilda after nine years of trial and tribulation.
NEW SHIHAD OUT NEXT WEEK
Shihad release the incredible new album FVEY on Friday August 15 via Warner Music. It seems them reunite with producer Jaz Coleman of Killing Joke, who produced their 1993 debut Churn. I recently had a chat with frontman Jon Toogood who said of Coleman, “His attitude was, ‘We’re not making an album. We’re making a brand new setlist that you can go onstage anywhere in the world with destroy any band that tries to step on you.’ …So there was that, and then we toured with Black Sabbath. And Black Sabbath is another reminder of ‘heavy is good’ Because heavy is good. And Live Evil, even though it’s Ronnie James Dio singing on it, was one of the first records I ever bought, so it was pretty awesome to hear them live, and also to hear Tony Iommi turning up three hours before he played, and his backstage room was right next to ours and he would literally play for three hours every night before he went onstage, because he was in Black Sabbath and he wasn’t going to let anyone down.” Check out the video for the first single Think You’re So Free on YouTube now.
LAST KILL TV SHOW BEFORE EP LAUNCH
This weekend is your last chance to catch Kill TV for a few months: they play Whole Lotta Love this Sunday August 10 at 8.30pm, and it’s their last show before their Soulcatcher EP launch on Friday September 19 at The Espy.
CISCO CAESAR ALBUM LAUNCH
It has taken nearly two years, a near-death experience, and a ridiculous amount of talent to produce the debut Cisco Caesar album Burnt & Broken – in fact, it’s seven years since their one and only EP. The band consists of Illinois expat James Cisco, former Pornland dude Paul ‘Caesar’ Slattery, drummer Jason Torrens (ex-The Reefers and Bugdust, and some of us may remember him as an actor in the lead role of Pugwall in the TV series Pugwall’s Summer) and guitarist Jacob Cole (The Portraits, Sal Kimber and the Rolling Wheel), and they’ll be launching Burnt & Broken on Saturday August 30 at The LuWow in Fitzroy.
