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October/November 2000
Hi! Sorry, I've been a bit slack with this. I did aim to do one a month but I'm glad there has been some feedback from it, and that people have been using the guestbook to leave comments. All of this stuff is useful and comments are taken on board. It's cool to have direct contact with punters.
Firstly, I want to apologise for once again having cancelled the Hobart show at the last minute. We'll make a special effort to make it work next time. The reason for this muck up was the venue owner's changed hands at the last minute, and changed the name to the Wildwest Saloon Bar. Call me precious but I've always had a rule of thumb-beware the Theme venue and theatre restaurant. I don't know why. I had visions of kitsch America, and chicken wire and barmaids with cowboy hats.
People have commented that some of the places we played were not perfect for the atmospherics and the scale of sound we were projecting-yep. Until we get this to a certain level, there will be a degree of compromise, a balancing act between money and production values. Some of the gigs on the last run (Fishos in Manly, and the wedding party intrusion at the Gypsy Bar—you had to be there—spring to mind) were a bit iffy but the HiFi, Basement, Gov Hindmarsh, Newcastle and the Blue Mountains gigs all worked well for us.
There are some good shows coming up in the new year—check the tour diary—Big Day Outs, shows with Coldplay in Sydney and Melbourne, Jan 22 at the Metro and 29 at the POW, Womadelaide both solo and with Telek, Port Fairy, Byron Bay, Perth Festival, a winery show at Margaret River (mmmm), plus talk of some shows with Neil Finn and The Doves, who we played with around album launch time.
The album gets released on EMI in the UK in March, then Canada and Poland—we'll be big in Poland, my producer Ian Caple said so as we watched England playing a dull nil-all draw in Warsaw. He said 'you should call the record Nil All in Poland—either that or Carry On Up The Oodnadatta'. He's a visionary. We were mixing Sad at the time.
Those of you in Melbourne will I'm sure head along to the Reconciliation Walk which leaves Flinders Street station between 8am and 11 am on December 3rd. A town like Melbourne should make a big statement with this one, hopefully to rival the Bridge crossing in Sydney. On Dec 1st at the Conti I'm playing a few tunes at a fundraiser for the Reconciliation weekend with Kutcha Edwards, Pat Dodson and Lou Bennett—ticket price is a bit exxy, but they&Mac185;re trying to raise money from the legal fraternity for a mentorship workplace project.
I've been working on a six part doco series on NIDA with Chris Scallan in the studio and it's going well. It's a good opportunity to work with some textures and feels that may see the light of day later on. I'm also composing for a doco on gun smuggling into South Africa made by the same producers who did the stolen generation doco that SBS aired recently. Amazing story entitled Guns under their Bums about smuggling arms in Bedford trucks carrying unkowing Australian and New Zealand adventure tourists through Africa.
I'm off to New Orleans next week to start work on Bill Bennett's feature Tempted which stars Burt Reynolds, amongst others. Bill's after a murky swampy soundtrack, not roots-based but more along the lines of Kid A—which suits me fine—analogue heaven, weird bayou samples, orchestration, gritty shit. He's a very lateral director to compose for, very encouraging and supportive of the music process, which can't always be said for directors of feature films. This soundtrack will be pretty full-on time wise as it's due in April.
It was weird hearing old NDW tracks such as Moving Around and Mr Pooh on the J Files special the other night. Tinny little 808-drum machine. I was honoured to get a 3-hour feature. Quite embarrassing hearing excerpts from interviews in the 80s-very Spinal Tap-but thanks Richard K for all the effort you put in.
Dive is the next single, to be released late January. Marius De Vries has done a fine single mix. We're putting Act of Free Choice (the track and a live mix) on there as well and we shoot the film clip next week—me and some dancing girls—okay, me looking sheepish.
I'm planning to be selling a CD of un-released film and project music that I've recorded over the past couple of years soonish-in the process of compiling it now—this will only be available through this website by credit card order for those of you who are so inclined.
It's worth keeping in touch with developments in West Papua and Bougainville over the next couple of weeks. The peace process in Bougainville seems to be teetering at the brink unfortunately and, in West Papua, Indonesian military are pouring into the province at an alarming rate as the deadline of Dec 1st to pull down all the Morning Star independence flags comes up.
I'll be barracking for Courtney Walsh in the cricket. Terribly saddened by news of the Spice Girls impending retirement. Hope the holidays treat you well. I am doing my annual RRR radio show on Christmas Day Arvo for those in and around Melbourne.
DB
Saw Rachel Perkins' film Radiance for the first time on SBS last week; it's wonderful
Have been listening to:
Linton Kwesi—Johnson Independent Intavenshan
Rebirth Brass Band—Rollin
Bohemian Like You—The Dandy Warhols or the Rolling Stones
Songs from the Cold Seas—Hector Zazou featuring Bjork, John Cale, Jane Siberry, Siouxsie.
Brokeback field recordings from the Cook County Tortoise/Doug McComb's side project
Lift your skinny fists like antennas to heaven—God Speed You Black Emperor
Anna Burley who sings with the Killjoys has done some electro recordings/New Orderish called Red Lantern and I reckon it sounds real good
On tour I've been given CDs by people, much of which is really interesting. I'm not sure whether these have been released but I'll mention them in case you can buy them or when they are it may prick your memory:
Gravity—Fred Smith (songs inspired by a stint on Bougainville). Fred is a really important songwriter I reckon and has an inspired turn of phrase.
Tunguska Butterfly—Dandelion Wine. Whilst the band name might be a bit on the luke-warm side (this coming from a guy who had a band named My Friend the Chocolate Cake), the CD is certainly not. Good bilas, too.
Folken Word—James and the B-Rads from Adelaide. Songs that brood with spoken word and a hefty bit of soul, cello and acoustic guitar.
Bergerac—When the Weather's Fine I Go By Foot. Reminds me of the good parts of The Birthday Party in some ways. Bruce Milne's fave Aust record this year.
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