GUTHRIE GOVAN MASTERCLASS
Guitar virtuoso Guthrie Govan (Steven Wilson, The Aristocrats, Asia) is coming to Australia for a rare masterclass thanks to the folks from Thump Music and sponsored by Galactic Music, RotoSound, Australian Rock & Metal Institute, GruvGear and my site, iheartguitarblog.com. Guthrie’s Melbourne appearance will be on Sunday July 27 at Gas Works Theatre, 11.30am. I asked Guthrie what we can expect from his masterclasses: “I’ll have a few default things do to if I have to, but what I like to do at these things is ask the people who made the effort to come to a clinic, ‘What do you want me to talk about? What were you hoping to happen?’ I have found some things pop up over and over again, and certain things have changed over the years. When I started doing clinics it was, ‘How fast can you play? What exercises should I do to get as fast as possible?’ And for some reason – maybe it’s YouTube-related – more people want to talk about more philosophical stuff, more meaningful stuff. So I get questions like, ‘What do you think about when you improvise? What are you thinking about when you hear a chord progression go by?’, which is a lot more fun for me and I think a lot more beneficial for them.”
MORBID ANGEL TOUR
The mighty Morbid Angel will be back to perform their death metal classic Covenant album in its entirety! They’ll also be playing classic material from their influential and legendary releases including Altars Of Madness and Blessed Are The Sick. They’ll be at The Hi-Fi on Wednesday April 23, tickets from soundworkstouring.com, primecuts.com and the venue.
CARNAGE AT THE BENDIGO
On Friday March 28 The Bendigo Hotel becomes home to State of Carnage, a devastating display of five of Victoria’s most heinously destructive death metal bands. The Arbiter have wasted little time in establishing a presence with their groove focused modern metal, kicking off their live shows by supporting King Parrot at their sold out Northcote Social Club show and already making moves interstate. Following up are the technical death metal outfit Flesh of the Earth. Exhibiting an absurd amount of maturity in their compositions, given their age, coupled with great technical ability, their debut EP Nature’s Reign earned them the accolades of connoisseurs of the genre everywhere, including metal obsession, who deemed them “some of the best local death metal we have heard in quite a while.” Without having an official release under their belt, Ire have shared the stage with the likes of Oceano, Upon a Burning Body, After the Burial and progressive death metal giants Born of Osiris. As they continue to build a presence locally with their unique spin on the tech death genre, they’re in the midst of preparing their debut EP. Internal Nightmare released their debut, DIY album Chaos Reborn in 2012 and are gearing up for the follow-up. And the evening will mark Hadal Maw’s first headline show and their last Melbourne performance for a number of months, as the band heads into the studio to record their much-anticipated debut LP.
3 SONGS NO FLASH
The 3 Songs No Flash concert photography exhibition is on again at Ding Dong Lounge, featuring the work of Yana Amur, Scott Boelsen, Jesse Booher, Perri Cassie, Katie Dutton, Carl Dziunka, Rebecca Houlden, Ian Laidlaw, Lou Lou Nutt, Naomi Rahim, John Raptis, Brett Schewitz, Richard Sharman, Anthony Smith and Heidi Takla. Between them, these 15 photographers regularly contribute to the top music publications locally and internationally and have taken hundreds upon thousands of live music photographs. With images captured from the smallest pub gigs to some of Australia’s largest festivals, both local and international bands are represented including Mastodon, Kylie, You Am I, Lorde, Pond, King Parrot and more.
THE VELVETS EP LAUNCH
Melbourne’s dirty blues-rockers The Velvets are launching their Cold Souls & Heartless Dolls EP at The Public Bar on Saturday April 12. Joining them on the night will be up and coming Melbourne rockers The Cherry Dolls, local legends Ugly Kings and Brisbane rock‘n’roll stalwarts Old Fashion. With doors opening at 8.30pm, and a measly $10 entry, the night is gearing up to be full of rock‘n’roll debauchery and mayhem.
