First of all, I binned the last post, as I wasn’t too pleased with it. Maybe I’ll redo it but maybe not. Not today in any case, just recycling the picture.

I came home late, ate even later, cleaned up, paid some bills and now I’m sitting here. It’s almost midnight, I should go to bed but I want to do something creative, to relax and clear my head, to find inner peace so I won’t kill my co-workers tomorrow.

But I’m tired, I don’t feel like painting, and my head is full of cobwebs. I wrote comments on other people’s blogs, erased them again because I couldn’t think of anything worth saying, wrote them again, erased them again.
I have to face the cruel truth. I am without inspiration. My muse, a redhead Walküre in a chainmail bikini, went on holiday.

There are some tricks to overcome the dreaded writer’s block, you’ll find them here and there in books and self-help guides. You probably know them yourself: ask yourself questions, go for a walk, stick to a routine, drink seven cans of Red Bull, end up in the ER and write an erotic romance about doctors and nurses, whatever.

My personal trick is to randomly pick three books from my bookcase and put them next to me on the table. I usually end up not writing about any of the things in those books, but they usually set me on the right track again.

So here I am with my three books. On real paper, and everything. The first one is a book about magical alphabets. The second one is a book about supernatural mysteries and the third one is a translation of the Berlin papyrus nr 3024.

There is not a lot in the magical alphabet book that looks very interesting to me right at this moment, except maybe the Rose Cross Cipher because it looks like it came from outer space. So that book goes back in the bookcase for now.

Let’s give you a random quote from the Berlin papyrus instead. The text is about a man who speaks with his soul, his Ba. My book is not in English but you can find an English version here.

Hearts have become greedy and there is no man’s heart on which one may rely.

Whom can I talk to today? None are righteous and the land is left to evildoers.

Whom can I talk to today? An intimate friend is lacking and one turns to a stranger to complain to.

Whom can I talk to today? None is content there, and he with whom one walked is no more. Whom can I talk to today?

I’m laden with misery for lack of an intimate friend. Whom can I talk to today?

The evil that scourges the earth is without end.

Death is in my sight today, a cure of a sick man, like going outside after confinement.

Death is in my sight today, like the smell of myrrh, like sitting under a sail on a windy day.

Death is in my sight today, like the smell of lotus flowers, like sitting on the shore of drunkenness.

It seems to me that not a lot has changed in 4000 years.

Book number 3 is a little book about mysteries such as the shroud of Turin, vampires, zombies, shamen. I haven’t read it yet. So this is live browsing. Bilocation is interesting. Nessie is extremely boring. Sirius, somewhat interesting. Time warps, oh yes, very interesting. Carnac and Glastonbury, somewhat interesting. I’m mostly interested in how they managed to put up those rocks. Lourdes, a blasphemous scam.  Oh, this one is interesting. About the Fatima miracle, it says that few people know angels appeared 6 times before the actual apparition of Mary. Probably a scam too. I vaguely remember my grandmother telling that what those children heard was so terrifying they (=priests/pope…) kept it secret. Oh, maybe worth looking into too, just for a laugh.

Speaking of Mary, I wish I had a toast with Mary or Jesus on it so I can send it to the newspaper, but this morning my toast looked more like the devil, completely burnt and stinking like hell.

***

Grinderman – Bellringer Blues

When I was copying that text from Berlin I suddenly had to think of Nick Cave for some odd reason. Checked out some Grinderman videos on YouTube. Ended up with this  (Love the lyrics, ha ha):

Instrumental rock trio the Dirty Three (Warren Ellis, Jim White, Mick Turner) have had a long and illustrious career since their inception in Melbourne, Australia in 1992, releasing nine hugely acclaimed studio albums during the course of their two decade-long career. Their intricate, melancholy instrumentals and frantic, sometimes frenzied live shows has afforded them legendary status as masters of improvisational, atmospheric and virtuosic musicianship.

Aside from their Dirty Three activities, each of the band members have quite separate and successful side careers and projects – the fabulously-bearded violinist Warren Ellis frequently collaborates with Nick Cave in the Bad Seeds and Grinderman (in fact, the last time I saw him was in Cave’s recent incarnation Grinderman, furiously bowing his violin into submission centre stage with Cave), Mick Turner is an accomplished visual artist and solo recording artist, and Jim White has toured and recorded with the likes of Cat Power, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, and PJ Harvey.

After a seven-year break, the Dirty Three released their ninth album, Toward the Low Sun, in February, 2012. Check out their NPR Tiny Desk concert for a taste of their intense and brilliant live show:

The Dirty Three play at one of my favourite venues, El Lokal, ZH, Saturday, 17.11.12. Tix here. 

Toward the Low Sun is out now on Bella Union/Drag City. 

Before you listen to it, put volume on the maximum and open your windows!!

Setlist:

1. Mickey Mouse and the Goodbye Man
2. Worm Tamer
3. Get It On
4. Heathen Child
5. Evil
6. When My Baby Comes
7. Honey Bee (Let’s Fly to Mars)
8. Kitchenette
9. No Pussy Blues
10. Bellringer Blues
11. Grinderman
    Encore:
12. Love Bomb

Goat – World Music (Rocket Recordings)

World Music, two words that when together usually have me reaching for the off button, not that I’ve got anything against music from other cultures but ‘world music’ usually indicates something that Andy Kershaw would be frothing over and everyone else thinks is just some bunch of guys rhythmically banging some tupperware.

But as the title of the debut album from Swedish bonkers seven piece collective Goat, it fits perfectly as describing an album of sounds that has its heart pretty much spread all over the planet! Psych, krautrock, funk, folk, jazz and African rhythms can all be found here in a dazzling, if short, storm of music that has been one of the first albums this year to really make me sit up and take notice. Its use of pretty much every instrument you can think of, and more, also adds to its global quality, squealing wigged out guitar riffs butt up against tablas and saxophones to produce a joyous cacophony that is virtually impossible to sit still to and not whack up the volume and start dancing round your house!

Imagine, if you will, a strange universe where Can, The Go! Team, Grails, Comets on Fire, Alexander Tucker and A Hawk and A Hacksaw are all trapped in a room with an infinite array of instruments and a large helping of psychedelics. It would not be a huge stretch of the imagination to see this album as the result of such a get together.

It starts off with “Diarabi”, whose eastern sounding intro really brought Grails to mind. It then gradually builds with a guitar riff to which whirling dervishes would find fitting to their circulatory desires! This leads into a spoken word sample introducing the suitably animalistic “Goatman”, the first of three “Goat” tracks on the album, “Goathead” immediately after and “Goatlord” the penultimate track of the record. Not sure what the goat fascination’s all about but as one of the band claims to be the eleventh son of a voodoo priest we should probably just gloss over it!

The squalling, heavily effected guitar sound of these two tracks, especially “Goathead” touch on the mad, free-forming noise of Comets on Fire but add a deep down funkiness of a floor rattling bass line. This is an album that needs to be played above average volume to really appreciate it, so, sorry neighbours!

Fourth track is the inappropriately named “Disco Fever”. No disco I ever went to played music like this, mind you I’ve never been out dancing in Kinshasa! Afrobeat, meandering Hammond organ and sounding nothing like a Saturday Night Fever track, I can’t imagine a white suited Travolta getting down to this!

“Golden Dawn” starts off sounding a bit like early nineties “world fusion/ethno-techno” outfit Transglobal Underground but then quickly changes with the addition of that throbbing bass again.

It then goes all Go! Team with “Let It Bleed”, jangly guitars, tom-toms and half way in a funky scuzzed up riff is joined by a modern jazz style sax solo that would normally have me running in the opposite direction but the glorious whole just has me nodding and bopping away!

The hypnotic tabla rumble of “Run To Your Mama” is an almost too brief two and a half minute delight that appears to end just as it’s getting going and in no time we are into “Goatlord”, whose guitar solo sounds very Warren Ellis in his Grinderman role.

Completing this rather fantastic album is my favourite track, the hypnotic organ melodies of “Det Som Aldrig Förändras/Diarabi” an extended coda to the opening track serving to close what is fast becoming one of my favourite discoveries of the year.

Check it out with this Spotify widget right here (you don’t even need an account!);

You’ll find a feature on Dirty Three in Thursday’s Gazette. (The feature can also be found here.) Below is the full transcript of our interview with Warren Ellis.

Gazette: How are you, Warren?

Warren Ellis: I’m good. I just cooked a spectacular roast beef and put my kids to bed. My work is done.

Gazette: I was worried I had the wrong time – I’m not often told to call someone for an interview at 10 p.m. their time.

Ellis: No, no – I had a parent/teacher interview and I had a long day with the embassy as well, trying to convince them that I was a person of – what was their term? – extraordinary talent. (Laughs) That’s the terminology for the visa application. That’s what’s written on there. And then they look at you with a serious face and say, “This is a serious question, and you have to answer it seriously: Why are you a person of extraordinary talent?” And you’re wondering, “Uhhh … (Laughs) How do I not get myself in trouble here?” It’s very strange. So this is a good time for me.

Gazette: I hope they bought your rationale for being extraordinarily talented.

Ellis: Well, I got my visa. I said, “Look, I just won a Mexican Oscar. Is that extraordinary enough?” And they looked very impressed by that. The woman said, “Yeah.” And then I said, “You have a lovely haircut.” And she did – she had a sort of Ziggy Stardust haircut, which I thought was very brave for a 40-something-year-old woman. It was very cool. I don’t know if she thought I was taking the piss out of her or not – I’ve got a beard like bin Laden and a receding hairline, so I guess she figured I was probably insane and that I probably meant it. (Laughs) You know, it’s so funny, because all my visa photos I take, I just look more and more insane as the years go by, and yet they still continue to give me a visa and don’t ever look at me sideways. So I guess I’m doing something right. I guess I’m just extraordinarily talented. They just probably look at me and go, “This has got to be a joke. Obviously there’s no way this guy’s for real.” They just think I’m probably harmless.  

Gazette: I guess I should get to the reason I’m disturbing you after your roast beef …

Ellis: Ah, I thought this was why! This is the good stuff. This is the best interview I’ve done in 20 years.

Gazette: I’ll try to ask you some more questions about your beard later.

Ellis: All right, then.

Gazette: So, on some of Dirty Three’s albums – Ocean Songs and Cinder especially – it sounds like you guys went in with very specific ideas of what you wanted to do. I was wondering if that was also the case with the new album.

Ellis: I guess on those records there probably was an idea of what we wanted to do, even if it was a really small one. Ocean Songs, we wanted to make a quiet record, but we didn’t really have any ideas: we just knew we wanted it to be quiet. And Cinder, we wanted to try to make the songs shorter than we had and see how that affected what we did. Actually, that record made us realize what we needed to do to make this one, which was to let it go again and stop trying to hem it in. The live shows had been working, but trying to record a follow-up to that record hadn’t proved very fruitful. And then it was a matter of looking at the live show and wondering why that continued to be evolving and enjoyable while we hadn’t been able to find a new way into the recording. The answer was there: we needed to let it go again, and just run with playing with the dynamics and the more improvised approach to things. And once we realized that, the recording came easy. But it took three different attempts to do it. But yeah, there was definitely an idea, and that was to keep the ideas simple again and take some more risk again with the way that we play with each other.

Gazette: The risk seems to be there right from the start of Toward the Low Sun, in Furnace Skies. I can’t think of another opening track you’ve done that’s so jolting.

Ellis: No, and that was very much the first take, and I just said to Jim … you know, particularly I think on the last recordings and other things I’d seen him do, I’d noticed Jim was being kind of hemmed in, and the really great thing about Jim is that he’s really unmanageable. It’s like he’s got attention deficit syndrome – he can’t sit on one thing. It’s what’s really wonderful about playing with him, because he’s always looking for something different – he doesn’t want to do the thing that he’s done before. And so you’re constantly playing off him, and it’s a real joy and it’s really fantastic for your own playing. And I’d noticed that he’d got locked into playing a very different way, and that first track, I said, “Jim, I’m gonna click the button on and something’s gonna come out, and just go for it.” And that’s what came out, was that track.

Gazette: It sounds like his drumming would be extremely difficult for you and Mick to play off of, since it’s not grounded, but is it a case where that helps keep your own work more improvisational?

Ellis: Yeah, everybody does their thing and you find your place. I don’t think it’s something that we could have done years ago; it sort of required us to have some confidence in what we’ve been doing for the last few years.

Gazette: Was it especially hard to find your respective places since you had such trouble in the previous attempts at making a new album?

Ellis: Well you know, I really personally felt like I’d lost the narrative for the group for a few years. I guess I’d been looking for other things from music. Particularly in the soundtrack work I’ve been doing and with Grinderman. And I did feel like I lost the narrative of the group with getting new stuff together, but always would come back to it live. I did start to wonder whether we’d said about as much as we could say and it was time to bury it. But the sense of urgency that the live shows continued to have and knowing the way I felt when we played live and we’d all get off after the show and go, “Wow, there’s still something really great here. What can we do to get this next recording under way?” It’s just that some things take time, and certainly the more records you do, it doesn’t mean they come any easier. It’s the opposite, actually.

Gazette: I saw you guys at the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in the Catskills a few years ago …

Ellis: Oh, when we played Ocean Songs.

Gazette: Yeah, and it was the most inspiring set of the weekend for me.

Ellis: Well, you know, that was the thing: even with the songs that we’d been playing for a while, live we’d still find a way into them that felt inspiring to us, but we couldn’t get any new material up and running that grabbed us. It was very frustrating.

Gazette: Now that you’ve done Toward the Low Sun, do you feel like you’ve got the plot back for good?

Ellis: No, I don’t think you ever do. I mean, I never feel like that with anything. I’ve spent 20 years with continuous self-doubt and wonder each time I go in there, “Is this the time it doesn’t work?” I never really go in at any point knowing for sure we’re gonna get something. There’s always that feeling: Is this the time when it all dries up? That’s always in the back of my mind. It’s been there for 20 years. So no, it doesn’t feel like it’s given me more confidence. I think what I’ve been able to do for the last 20 years, and particularly the last 10, is move into other areas, whether that’s with the different groups I’m in, with the Bad Seeds or with Grinderman more recently, or the soundtrack work. And within that, try different things and then bring that back to whatever I’m working on next. Play some different instruments and try to keep the whole thing going forward.

Gazette: Do you find you drew especially from the soundtrack work on the new album? I think most of your work in that area has been done since the last Dirty Three album …

Ellis: Maybe it was. It started around 2004 with The Proposition, I think, so it’s probably around that time. It’s interesting, because it requires you to work for something else and not for yourself in a way. You’re serving something else. I think at first the idea of that seemed to be so much at odds with what I thought making music was about. Particularly in a band., you’re just doing it for yourself and for the other people you’re working with, and it’s just that self-satisfying thing where you feel you’ve got something that’s moved forward, and you move on. And with a film, you might think something is really good, but it might not be what the director likes or the producers, and then you find yourself having to get rid of stuff that maybe you think is really good, and maybe you’re wrong. And this came up several times on films I was working on, particular The Assassination of Jesse James (by the Coward Robert Ford), where Andrew (Dominik, director) just kept continually sending us back saying, “It’s not really what I wanted.” And that actually was incredibly liberating. That was probably the most liberating thing, actually, was to have a framework and a structure, and to have somebody else having some ideas, having some opinions and saying, “Well, I don’t really get that.” And that actually had an incredible knock-on effect of being able to let go of things, and go in and try to get something going when you thought you had something already. That was a real learning thing for me, and something I don’t think I would have even given a thought to 20 years ago. I just would have said “F— you” and walked off. I mean, I DID do that in a film and just said, “Well, we’re going to do this, and either take it or you don’t.” I wasn’t interested in what anybody else had to say. I can certainly see ever since that point where I found myself making stuff that was against my better judgment, and trying to work out a way to work within that set-up has actually been really strengthening. And then you go back to your own work and you go, “Actually, we CAN throw this out.” It teaches you to edit things, and I’ve found that to be fantastic. It’s certainly opened the door for stuff like Grinderman in that respect, just to attempt stuff that maybe your better instincts would tell you to leave alone. It encouraged me to take more risks, in an odd kind of way. Having the freedom aspect of things taken away.

Gazette: Did it also encourage you to be much harsher in terms of what you’d be satisfied with?

Ellis: It’s hard to judge your own criteria, what you measure things on. I only know that if there’s a certain point when I’m listening to something that I’ve been involved in that it feels good and I feel like I can let it go. Then I’m happy to put it out and I’ve let go of it, and that’s it. As long as it satisfied me at some point, and I can’t even put it any other way than that I just know deep down that that’s the best that I could do at that particular point in time. And obviously later on you might hear it and go, “Well, we can do better than that next time.” But there has to be that feeling of release that you can let it go. It’s something I know pretty quickly, and if I don’t, it doesn’t come out. It’s an instinctive bulls— detector, I think. Hopefully.

Gazette: When you were recording Toward the Low Sun, were there things you thought were really good or the best that you could do that you still got rid of, for the reason you said about Jesse James – it wasn’t what you wanted?

Ellis: No, I don’t think so. I mean, it’s a democracy in the group, so you have to give and take, but we generally agree on most things. It’s probably why we continue to make music, because we have similar tastes within the group. Or the other person can generally explain what they think is good about it. It certainly means that you throw a lot of stuff out, though – which is a good thing, I think.

Gazette: How often do you approach a song with a definite idea of what you want out of it, and how much of writing is tiny details that bubble up and end up forming the basis of a song?

Ellis: Oh, we don’t ever really get into tiny details with anything. I’ve always preferred the broader strokes. I mean, tiny details take time, and we don’t spend very long recording. It’s more about the moment and what comes out, and what you lose on the technical side of things you gain on the feeling. And just working on stuff in detail always seems to knock the life out of it. I’ve never actually recorded in any outfit that spent longer than a week on a recording, or 10 days or something. Fine tuning and things like that, hopefully it’s something that’s going along as you’re doing it. (Laughs) You hope, you know.

Gazette: I guess detail was the wrong word; I was thinking of something like the piano notes in Sometimes I Forget You’ve Gone, which seem very minimalist but carry a lot of weight.

Ellis: Well, that was improvised, that one. Again, I said, “Jimmy, here we go – I’m coming in. (Laughs) I’m starting up.” And you know, Jim’s great – he just jumps on. Doing those first two songs got the ball rolling, which was great. It threw things up in the air again. They were really important, those two, but they were kind of confusing and then they settled, and then we realized it was a way forward.

Gazette: I’ve seen the Bad Seeds and Grinderman more times than I can count, and you always seem to be playing on the edge, but are you actually as free in those groups as you are in Dirty Three?

Ellis: Yeah, I actually don’t know any other way. And if it would change, then I would stop. I mean, it was always the thing that drew me to playing live. The first time that I played live, experiencing this kind of energy that was really addictive, it’s very much like drug-taking or something – you feel something and you want more of it, and you don’t always get it the next time, but you keep hunting it down. The live thing was very much like that. For some reason, it’s continued to be there, and if it wasn’t, then I wouldn’t do it. There’s always that element of risk that you take, and I love the whole live thing. It was always my favourite part of the whole deal.

Gazette: Do you think you’ll ever become purely a live band and stop releasing albums altogether?

Ellis: Well, the recordings were just to document things, and we started as a live band and nobody wanted to put anything out by us, because we were around at a time when grunge and all that was going on, and we were I guess at the time quite an unusual prospect. And yet the rock ’n’ roll crowd took us to heart, because I guess they recognized an attitude that was going on in there, and the punk rockers and people like that. And we were just always playing live. To me, it’s always felt like we were a live band, and in a way I don’t think we’ve yet to make an album that reflects what goes on when we play live. It’s just not possible to get that in the studio, because there’s no audience and there’s no interaction. You know that you can redo it in the studio, and it’s very different to that thing of being live in the moment and knowing that at any particular moment it could fall apart in front of even three people, or 30,000. And that’s what’s fantastic.

Gazette: How often does it fall apart?

Ellis: Oh, a lot. I think that’s part of the charm. When it’s on, it’s really on, and when it’s off, (laughs) it can be a long hour and a half.

Gazette: Are you speaking just about Dirty Three, or have you found that with the Bad Seeds and Grinderman too?

Ellis: Well, I just think that’s inevitable with playing live. I mean, if it was always the same, it would be just like a job or something. And I hope it’s never like that. It’s that element of risk that’s actually there. I guess you can get a certain consistency going on with the show, but when you have a night when it’s really fantastic, it’s inevitable that you have ones that don’t work. It’s just the way it works. And it’s what kind of keeps you interested in it, too. I mean, some of the bad ones can be amazing. (Laughs)

Gazette: Actually, I saw a bunch of shows on the Bad Seeds’ last North American tour, and one of the ones that I remember the most was in D.C., where it turned into a bit of a train wreck. Nick was losing his voice and eventually started taking requests, because I guess he figured the show had gone off the rails anyway by that point.

Ellis: Oh, is that right? Yeah. Well, sometimes those can be the greatest shows for everybody, because suddenly you’re thrown in a very different kind of scenario, and that can be great. And usually what’s great about those shows is the audience gets on side with you and they kind of become a party to something as well. Their involvement’s necessary as well. And, well, you know what I’m talking about.

Gazette: Yeah, and when you’re at the level you are now, unlike maybe 20 years ago, the audience is going to be on your side from the beginning, right? They’re more likely to be forgiving if things go sideways.

Ellis: Well, one would think so, but that’s not always the case. (Laughs) Some people aren’t. It just depends on where you are, I think, and how people are feeling.

Gazette: I’ve read about the early Dirty Three shows and the polarized reaction, and you saying that it fuelled the three of you. Do you miss that in a way? Would you want to go back to a period where you need to really prove yourselves?

Ellis: Well, that can still happen. We played a show not so long ago in Brisbane. We were playing before Florence and the Machine at some festival, and Ed Kuepper, the guitarist who was in the Saints, he turned up, and afterward he said: “Wow, it was so encouraging to see that show. It was like the old days with the Saints when you realized 90 per cent of the people in the audience wanted to murder you.” That was like three years ago, so it still happens. You know, Florence and the Machine’s audience is not really ready for us. Thankfully. But yeah, I guess we come across more audiences that are aware of us these days, and with the Bad Seeds and stuff like that, obviously it’s much more pitched toward the audience coming along, but you can still find yourself in the wilderness, and it’s great. It’s great to get out of your comfort zone, that’s for sure. And Dirty Three, we can get out of comfort zones pretty quickly.

Gazette: Do you even have a comfort zone?

Ellis: Well, no. (Laughs) I guess not. But there are certain places where people are more tolerant of you. In a city is a safer bet than getting out in the country. I mean, I remember we did this tour – one of the coolest tours we did was with Pansy Division. It was our biggest tour of Canada; it was fantastic playing with them. It was just mad – we thought WE were on the edge, but jeez, those guys were going out in the sticks in Canada and doing the whole show playing nude and all this. I was just like, “Respect! This is fantastic!” Doing the whole thing, and I don’t know – Jim wouldn’t get his gear off. I just thought he would have looked great buck naked behind the kit, but he didn’t want to do it for some reason. He’s kind of conservative underneath all that hair.

Gazette: What was your excuse for not stripping down?

Ellis: Well, it wouldn’t look very dignified, jumping around the way I move. I mean, Mick could have got away with it – he just stands there. But jumping around, it would be like going into the butcher’s during an earthquake. You could do without that.

Gazette: (Laughs) Thanks for the nightmare.

Ellis: Well, there’s your headline! (Laughs)

Gazette: So, whether you’re buck naked or not on stage, do you ever find you’re stepping on each other’s toes in the music, or is there always enough space for all of you?

Ellis: I think we always just try to make enough. Part of the thing about making music is that what you don’t do is really important. And I particularly learned that with the Bad Seeds. I came in there when there were eight people in the band. I thought there wasn’t enough room for a new person, but they wanted a different sound in there, and I realized then it was what I DIDN’T do that was important. And they were a band that were really economical and knew when to pick the moments, and that was a real learning curve for me. With Dirty Three it’s fewer people, but the space that you can make in the music when there’s just three of you, it’s so wonderful.

Gazette: Do you still feel that way in the Bad Seeds, that it’s what you don’t play? Because from the audience’s perspective, you do seem to have become Nick’s right-hand man in the band.

Ellis: Well, things change over the years, and I guess it just depends when we’re talking about. I guess of late I’ve been more involved in things. On some albums I think some people shine and then step back a bit. I don’t really know. I’m just trying to keep making stuff.

Gazette: I know it’s not what you’re here to talk about, but is there anything you can tell me about the new Bad Seeds album?

Ellis: No, I can’t at the moment. (Laughs) I can’t say anything.

Gazette: It’s coming out in February, right?

Ellis: I believe so.

Gazette: So, with everything you do outside of Dirty Three, are you satisfied with how much you do inside Dirty Three?

Ellis: Oh, I could always do more, but yes and no. It’s kind of like most things that I do. It’s probably a good thing that we come to town every once in a while rather than all the time, because I just think it’s good for everybody. I think it’s good to spread things out. I mean, I feel the fact that all of us have been doing different things has only added to the longevity of the group, as opposed to destroying it. I think we would have killed each other 10 years ago if it was all we were doing.

Gazette: Do you find that even if you haven’t done a show together in a year, you can pick up the thread right away? Live, at least?

Ellis: Well, there’s something there. We learned the craft together, playing 11 months a year, seven nights a week, and up until this point now, it hasn’t betrayed us. But again, I’m kind of always waiting for that day to happen that it does, going back to always wondering if this is the day. I seem to spend a lot of the time thinking that. It’s good to live with a sense of doubt about that stuff, I think. It keeps it above you and it puts you below it, which is a good place to be, I think. Nothing worse than an upstart. (Laughs)

jzivitz@montrealgazette.com

Twitter: @JordanZivitz

The writing life.

Check it out here-

http://www.purplesneakers.com.au/2012/08/top-10-potential-fathers-for-my-indie-baby/

12. Thunderstruck – AC/DC
You can’t write a post about Australian music without mentioning the big daddy of Aussie bands, AC/DC, otherwise known affectionately as Acca Dacca. Crank it loud!

11. Need You Tonight – INXS
Another hugely popular, world-famous Australian band with a four-letter name. Aside from being enormously talented, lead singer Michael Hutchence was sex personified.

10. Winning Days – The Vines
The Vines came to prominence in the early 2000s as part of the 1960s-influenced garage rock revival along with various other bands whose names begin with “The” (viz. The Hives, The Strokes, The White Stripes). Here’s a track from their album of the same name.

9. Come Into My World – Kylie Minogue
Some of you will be snooty about the inclusion of Ms. Minogue on this list, but this song is pure pop candy goodness and the video features four Kylies for the price of one!

8. The Weeping Song – Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds
Gothically inclined Nick Cave of The Birthday Party, The Bad Seeds, and latterly Grinderman, thrills with his intense music, poetic lyrics, and deep, seductive voice.

7. Hole In The River – Crowded House
Crowded House were formed in Melbourne by New Zealand-born Neil Finn who, like Nick Cave, has found success with more than one band (Split Enz, Crowded House) and as a solo artist. “Hole In The River” is a track from their self-titled 1986 debut record.

6. Joker And The Thief – Wolfmother
This track is from Wolfmother’s eponymous 2005 debut album. You can hear the influence of bands like Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Doors, and fellow countrymen AC/DC in their music.

5. Are You Gonna Be My Girl – Jet
Classic-rock throwbacks Jet were founded in Melbourne in 2001 by brothers Nic and Chris Cester. The band recently announced their breakup after only three albums, but members Chris Cester and Mark Wilson have gone on to form a band called DAMNDOGS.

4. Soon We’ll Be Found – Sia
Cream rises to the top. It doesn’t matter where you’re from; if you’re born with a voice as incredible as Sia Furler’s you will somehow end up on the world stage.

3. Land Down Under – Men At Work
This song from Men At Work’s 1983 debut album Business As Usual hit #1 on the Australian, Canadian, U.S., and UK charts. Not bad for a song with lyrics full of Aussie slang unfamiliar to people who don’t speak “Strine”.

2. Short Memory – Midnight Oil
In his former life, activist, environmentalist, and Member of Parliament Peter Garrett fronted iconic Australian band Midnight Oil and secured his place as one of the most charismatic frontmen in rock.

1. Streets Of Your Town – The Go-Betweens
Topping the list is a song by my favourite Aussie band, and one of my all-time favourite bands in general, The Go-Betweens. Tragically, co-founder Grant McLennan died far too young in 2006, but his musical legacy lives on.

***Bonus Track!***
Wine And Women – The Bee Gees
And the Honorable Mention goes to British-born Bee Gees, who grew up in Australia and recorded their first album there in 1965 before returning to England the following year.

I saw my old friend Gabriel
Down the perimeter ringing the bell
I said hello
Hey man is there something wrong?
Where has everybody gone?
I don’t know
Well I put my hand across my mouth
And I went out, moving slow
What are you doing he said to me
I’m looking for my company
He said don’t bother no

Next thing you know I took a look
Gabe was trying to sell me a book
But i got no dough
He said check it out it’s going cheap
Check it out it’s going cheap
Ok I’ll give it a go
I read that book every page
And then I put it away
Said I don’t think so
It makes slaves of all of womenkind
And corpses of the men
And I just don’t know
And we care a little bit
We get scared a little bit
Oа those two cold dead eyes
That stare a little a bit
And we cry a little bit
And we get by a little bit
Let your tears
All come falling down
Put me on a big white steed!
Ride it it up and down your street!
Wrapped up in a crimson coat!
Sail me in a great big boat!
I’ll sail around the waters for you
Kill your sons and daughters for you!
Put me on a big white horse!
Send me down to Banbury Cross!

It’s okay Joe it’s time to go!

Things that start with the letter P…

Presley, as in Elvis.

Porgy and Bess, George Gershwin’s 1935 opera.

Pavement, Stephen Malkmus’s seminal indie band from Stockton, California and the source of this blog’s name.

Polly Jean Harvey, an amazing artist.

Pixies, the originators of the loud-QUIET-loud sound.

Peel Sessions, the most famous feature of legendary broadcaster John Peel’s BBC Radio 1 program.

Paul Weller, lead singer of the Jam and prolific British songwriter.

Puccini, the Italian composer who wrote ten operas, including Madame Butterfly, Turandot, Tosca, and La Bohème.

Paris, the capital city of France and muse for countless musicians.

Patti Smith, New York’s greatest living punk poetess.

Portland, Oregon, home of independent label Kill Rock Stars.

Percussion, the backbone to any musical composition.

Palaces of Montezuma, the standout single from Grinderman’s second album, Grinderman 2.

Pale Blue Eyes, the softer side of the Velvet Underground.

Pet Sounds, Brian Wilson’s remarkable masterpiece.

Punk, my favorite music genre.

Free reign of the pit? pfffft! not tonight. whopping great road case, smacked right in front of the stage in the middle of the pit, so if you started on one side, you stayed there and couldn’t get to the other side.

How am I supposed to work under these conditions!??! When it’s Nick Cave and Warren Ellis on stage, it’s easy to work under these conditions.

MONEY SHOT – BAM!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Originally published in X-Press Magazine #1252 (February 10, 2011)

1 LCD Soundsystem – Losing My Edge

2 Gary Lucas – Songstress on the Edge of Heaven

3 Wganda Kenya – Elyoyo

4 PJ Harvey – Let England Shake

5 Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Andre Previn: conductor – Excerpt from Holst’s “The Planets, Op. 32,” VII: Neptune, the Mystic

6 Bob Dylan – Subterranean Homesick Blues

7 Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah

8 Grinderman – Love Bomb

Hand painted limited edition of 50

Acrylic on Timber Artist Mannequin 35cm x 14cm

2011  $479

Sam’s Track of the Day
Laura Marling: Rest In The Bed
About 18 months ago my best friend, Guy, was in a new relationship. One of the first things we got talking about when I met Jen was music, and from getting a sense of what she’s into I put her (and Guy) onto Laura Marling. Guy and Jen are getting married today, and they’ve chosen this song for their first dance, so it’s my track of the day.

Steve’s Track of the Day
Grinderman: No Pussy Blues (Live)
Grinderman know how create the most unholy of rackets imaginable. With Nick Cave sporting the finest moustache I’ve ever seen outside of seventies porn and sidekick Warren Ellis wearing a beard that looks like it could provide a home for a family of woodland animals (squirrels or something) they unleash No Pussy Blues in a maelstrom of mangled guitar with Saint Nick showing anyone watching exactly how to grow old disgracefully. This is the kind of music the devil listens to while he’s picking the flesh of sinners from between his teeth with the prongs of his pitchfork. On the night Travis were up next with a gentle, jangly ditty. When the camera settled on them they looked like rabbits caught in the headlights of a truck.