Lunchtime WalkTunes: Week 48

Lately I’ve been going for a 45 minute walk each lunchtime while I listen to an album. In the spirit of Twelve Major Chords’ One Sentence Reviews, here’s what I have got through so far:

Mon: Owl City - Ocean Eyes
People keep comparing these guys to the Postal Service, but this just has a way more auto-tuned pop feel to it.

Tues: Jeffrey Lewis and The Junkyard - Em Are I
Jeffrey may be straying from his raw, anti-folk roots but he still manages to write clever, catchy indie rock tunes.

Wed: Lights - The Listening
Canada has it’s answer to Kylie - if Kylie couldn’t choose between electro pop and indie that is.

Thurs: Laura Veirs - July Flame
I’d be surprised if anyone referred to this as Laura’s strongest release - it’s really just more of the same.

Fri: Girls - Album
This album + deck chairs + Beefeater 24 and tonic with cucumber = #radsummer.

In just under an hour, I’ll be boarding a plane to head back to the city I love, my home of Melbourne.

Is it bad I’m already planning the next trip back? Miss u Sydney.

How I broke Coachella's no passouts rule and lived to tell

This is a true story I wrote up for the My World Tour contest. It happened when I went to Coachella in 2008 and until I wrote it up tonight, I had never spoken about it to anyone outside of the people I was with. Enjoy.

WARNING: This is the first time I have told anyone the following story, as I was deeply ashamed of what happened. I would not suggest following any of this as advice, because you’ll find yourself in the shit pretty quickly if you do.

Coachella doesn’t have in and outs, or as we call them in Australia - passouts. Once you are in the festival, you’re in for the day; and once you exit the festival, you’re out for the day. While would you want to leave anyway? Coachella is a place of plush green grass, chill people, awesome bands, the makings of a great festival.

So what would you do if you accidently left a festival and weren’t done for the day? For me, this was a reality.

It all started earlier that day. My friend Juan managed to get the hookup - premium VIP wristbands that allowed full access. They are emerald green and feature the Coachella logo, clip-art of palm trees and most importantly - the letters VIP. I’m special and can go anywhere - how cool is this! He puts on the band and I celebrate with him, heading to one of the states to catch some tunes. Following said tunes, I see him off and decide to head backstage to check things out. Maybe I’d see a few rockstars and have a real life chit chat instead of a fan/muso convo that I usually have. Maybe I’d get side of stage and get brought on ala Paris Hilton viewing Girl Talk the previous year. I was at Coachella and the world was my oyster.

I walk though a secured exit and I was in the backstage part of Coachella! Score one for me! I walked around for a while, checking things out as people rode by on golf carts and headed to their cars in the private car park. I decided that I’d get side of the stage, but one quick glance of the signs confirmed the bad news - side of the stage requires a special pass along with the wristband. Green wristband only? No entry. Drat.

Backstage adventure done, I decide to head back through the exit I left so I could check out more bands. So I approach to gate ready to go in but the burly American security guard stops me in my tracks.

“Can’t enter here - you have to go to the front.”

OHCRAPOHCRAPOHCRAPOHCRAPOHCRAPOHCRAP

Panic sets in. Does that mean I can’t get into the festival grounds? Did I just leave the festival for the day? I start to walk away from the festival and before long I find myself in the VIP Camping area. A person looking after the campgrounds comes up and asks if I need help. I sweat - more so out of panic then the sheer heat of the Californian desert. I consider explaining what has happened, but end up telling the person that I am trying to get to the festival. He looks at me funny.

“Are you stoned?”
“No I’m Australian”
“Ohh an Ozzie!”

After a brief chat about my homeland he points me in the right direction, slapping me five before I had off. Not many people are around the entrance - it’s about 8pm and those who aren’t inside are bored looking security, sipping on bottled water. Two youngish teens head to an entry gate and I follow closely behind. I notice they both have the same green wristbands as I do. We all walk in together and the person at the booth asks “Where are your ticket stubs?” The boys respond “We sold out tickets to other people” and quickly walk in.

I should have done the same. It was a perfectly good excuse. Instead, I stop. I reach into my pocket to pull out my ticket and give it to her. She isn’t that impressed. It’s no longer a ticket but a melted mashed up pulp that once resembled a ticket. She takes the barcoded area and I walk away from the entrance with haste, occasionally looking over my shoulder to make sure no security is following behind to throw me out. The plush green grass, chill people, awesome bands - I’m now back at Coachella.

After the show ends that night I meet Juan back at the car.

“How was your night?”
“Interesting. I left the festival and somehow got back in.”

Juan gasps.

“You left? Why?”
“Yeah, I walked through a side exit. I thought you said this was VIP!?”

Juan laughs.

“Yeah, it gets you into the VIP BARS. Not backstage.”

Festival lesson learnt, and almost learnt the hard way. One thing is for sure, if you’re not done with the festival don’t head out the exit!

Breaking down Big Day Out 2010 by the chart

So the Big Day Out 2010 lineup is here and is the case with most festivals, the reaction from the public is mixed. If there are two major complaints with the lineup, they are that it’s too recycled (featuring too many internationals who have recently toured) and that it features too many of the “same old” local acts. With the lineup now out, it gives a good chance to analyse the data (and gives me an excuse to use Google’s Chart API).

First, let’s look at where the artists are coming from:

The Big Day Out are known for flying in the top artists from around the world to play, but in 2010 just under half the artists announced in the first lineup are based locally. Given the second and third announcements will focus on local artists for the most part, you have to wonder if Lees & West are saving a big international act for the second announcement. However, previous lineups would indicate that this is not the case.

Only four of Australia’s states are represented in the BDO2010 first announcement. Australian headliner Powderfinger gets the state of Queensland up, while Victoria gets the nod for having the most acts on the first announcement.

Let’s get down to the issues that drive the anger. Of the 25 artists announced, twelve have never played at the Big Day Out before. If you break that down by country, it looks even better.

Looks pretty good right? The majority of the artists are from overseas which in theory should mean you’re being exposed to more international bands who haven’t toured here. Unfortunately for the Big Day Out, International artists don’t only tour for the Big Day Out, and the artists picked to appear on the 2010 bill seem to like Australia.

Eep. No wonder people are saying this year’s lineup is recycled. Just over half the international acts playing BDO2010 have been out in the last year, and over three quarters have flown into Australian airports within the last twenty-four months. The lone act on their first tour of Australia are The Decemberists. What are the chances that they are Big Day Out exclusives?

Of the international names that have been booked, over a quarter have played the Big Day Out twice already. Peaches will make her fourth appearance at the BDO in 2010. Headliner Muse are here for their third Big Day Out tour, while main stage acts Lily Allen and Kasabian will appear for the second time on the 2010 bill.

Those Internationals who are playing the Big Day Out in 2010 for the first time probably remember Australia pretty well. Half of the newbies have been here in the last twelve months, including Boiler Room acts Groove Armada, Calvin Harris, and Girl Talk.

There are similar findings for the Australian artists on the bill. Local headliner Powderfinger have played the festival tour six times as have Magic Dirt, with festival favourites Grinspoon trailing behind at four showings.

Of course, the Big Day Out isn’t the only game in town. As should be expected, all eleven acts played a festival date in this country within the last twelve months. But if you’re headed to a non-Big Day Out event between now and January 17, there’s a good chance you’ll see a BDO local. Over three quarters of the acts will appear at four or more festivals in the run to the Big Day Out, with all but Magic Dirt appearing at one or more festivals.

Breaking it down further, it appears that Perth’s Southbound gets a rub of the BDO Aussies, with The Temper Trap, Midnight Juggernauts, Kisschasy and Karnivool. Homebake, the Falls Festivals and Pyramid Rock follow closely behind.

In short, the Big Day Out has booked international names that the audience is already familiar with - safe names who have previously drawn crowds. It’s unlikely that we will know if these names have been booked due to competition in the market (Falls grabbing big indie names such as Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Moby and Grizzly Bear; Soundwave offering a one-two reunion punch of Faith No More and Jane’s Addiction) or in order to increase revenues.

It’s fair to say that the Big Day Out is Australia’s biggest festival tour - it was one the first in the country to establish a travelling music circus and in the past have booked the biggest of the big names. But it’s past two lineups are safe, and by booking safe you risk being complacent, which in turn sucks credibility away from your brand. Sure, you’ll still get those ticket buyers who couldn’t care less who is playing in the short term. But in the long term you risk turning away your music fans who carefully spend every dollar to get the maximum bang from their buck. Those are the people who will convince their non-music loving friends to buy a ticket, and if they are buying a ticket for Falls or Soundwave because those festivals are booking interesting acts; you’ll slowly see the Big Day Out’s fall from grace when the big groups who don’t care about the tunes head to those festivals because it’s the popular thing to do.

Dear people on the street

I don’t want your free newspapers.

I don’t want to give blood.

I don’t want your coupon for a free back massage.

I don’t want to join your fight against the people running our public transport.

I don’t want to spare some change to get you off the street.

I don’t want a catalogue for your CBD workers only sale.

I don’t want a free can of apple cider.

I don’t want to sign a petition regarding safety for international students.

I just want you to get off the street. I’m trying to get somewhere and all you’re doing is making the place crowded.

How ingrateful can you be when you're signed to a major?

This is a draft essay to be published on Tunebinder.com.au.

“People will always say nasty things. But you don’t stop making music because some people don’t like you,” says Charlie Thorpe, 19, aka Dash. “You don’t Google yourself unless you’re ready to read horrible things about yourself.”

A Dash Of Pop - Nui Te Koha, Page 8, Play supplement, Sunday Herald Sun 30/08/09

WARNING: If you are Dash, Will, or anyone in the Dash & Will camp I would suggest closing your browser right now. You are not going to like what comes next.

When Dash & Will burst onto the scene last year, the people behind them were in full spin mode. “Youthful, multi-talented and vivacious, Dash & Will are the perfect antidotes to all that is plastic,” said their signing press release. People wrote up the comparisons - it’s Tegan & Sara meets The Veronicas! It’s “indie pop rock that will have everyone jumping around, shaking their hair and singing along in no time!”

The duo were added to festival bill after festival bill last year in order to get the punters to ride that hype train. I caught some of their set at the Falls Festival and while it wasn’t offensive stuff to listen to, it didn’t have me shaking my hair and singing along. The comparisons were accurate, except that Dash & Will were closer to The Veronicas then Tegan & Sara. Sure, they played their own instruments and all; but the songs were rudimentary and on-stage action forced. Compelling? Hardly. Not plastic fantastic like Britney or Christina, but the elements almost seemed forced on Josie & Charlie.

“But Mike you dummy, you’re getting stuck into a couple of eighteen year old girls! If they’re crap, why bother?” I don’t think about pop groups that much, so when I came across an interview with the two of them in the Sunday papers, I was a tad stunned at some of the quotes.

“We thought songs got played on the radio automatically. We thought people looked pretty in video clips on their own. We didn’t know the work behind it all.”

A Dash Of Pop - Nui Te Koha, Page 8, Play supplement, Sunday Herald Sun 30/08/09

“It’s so easy to get pissed off about shit when you are so young,” Dash says. “We are poor, we don’t have roadies, we don’t have a sound guy, we look after ourselves. But you can’t afford to use that to stay in a bad mood and do a shit show.”

A Dash Of Pop - Nui Te Koha, Page 8, Play supplement, Sunday Herald Sun 30/08/09

Shit is hard for anyone trying to establish themselves in the music community, whether you’re releasing an EP on your own dime or just trying to get the punters through the door at a dingy little venue away from everything. So to have amazing levels of support behind you only to turn around and cry “oh woe is me, this is hard!” seems a tad ingrateful. These problems being suffered by Dash & Will are hardly unique if you have spoke to any band playing at at your local city, something you put up with now in hope of not having to worry about it if you make it to the big time. Given the quotes, it becomes apparent of how little knowledge the two have on how being a performer is - clearly not all posh hotels and business class flights. If they had any indie cred, it has vanished in a puff of smoke.

Dash & Will are pretty young things - there’s no denying it. They write their own songs, play their own instruments. Good for them. But there’s hundreds of decent acts around this country that do the same. Just like Dash & Will, they are poor, they don’t have a sound guy, and they do things for themselves. Yet the majority don’t have a major label releasing their debut album. They don’t get support gigs with international acts at big venues at the click of a finger. They don’t have a publicist booking interviews with the Sunday papers. They just get on and do what they have to do in order to make a name for themselves.

People say stupid things when they are young. But someone in the Dash & Will camp needs to sit the two down and remind them of the unique situation they are in. It’s a situation that very few are given anywhere in the world, let alone in this country. If Dash & Will are trying to win over the indie crowd over the pop crowd they will want to avoid making such silly statements in the future, because that indie crowd knows how to read between the lines.