The Week That Was: 4 March 2016
Lockouts, pill testing and festival shenanigans hang heavy in a week full of protests, event collapses and Kylie-on-Kylie action
From Violent Soho's massive album tour (and greatest band photo ever) to pill-testing debates, trademark disputes, petitions, protests, venue resurrections and more, it's been another huge week across the music industry. (Isn't it always?)
Now, we know you're busy and there's only so much time in the day, so let's get straight to it — here's what you might have missed this week...
announcements
Beloved Brisbane rockers Violent Soho are ramping up to the release of their eagerly awaited new album, Waco (out 18 March on I OH YOU), by embarking on a national run of dates with good mates and fellow chaos-peddlers DZ Deathrays and Dune Rats.
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There is absolutely no way in hell that this doesn't end with something getting broken, and we wouldn't have it any other way.
Local metalcore heavyweights Northlane and In Hearts Wake both had individually massive years in 2015, and now they're joining forces to unite their considerable power for a jaunt around the country this June.
Even the band members themselves believe there's never been a better time than now for this dream-team tour, with Northlane guitarist Josh Smith effusing: "We always want to be on the road with those guys but I think the fact that we’re both now in a pretty similar stage in our career makes it the right time to do something like this in Australia."
Heavy-metal veterans Fear Factory are staring down the barrel of a southern sojourn this June, hot on the heels of new album Genexus.
The new work has received critical acclaim since its release, and was the first of the band's full-lengths to drop through independent record label Nuclear Blast. Tickets are on sale as of today, so you'll want to move quickly to ensure you secure your pass in plenty of time.
LA-dwelling French act M83 have announced a series of local performances in support of new album Junk, due for local release on 8 April.
The band — led by musical mastermind Anthony Gonzalez — have been wise enough to give fans a little bit of time with the new record to let its goodies be properly absorbed before they hit Aussie shores for their first show of the tour, in Melbourne, on 10 May.
news
The topic of testing illegal drugs at festivals has been a hot source of debate this week, with Victorian premier Daniel Andrews joining NSW premier Mike Baird in expressing his explicit condemnation of the practice, instead opting for the apparently far more reasonable position of "abstinence or death".
The hard-line governmental position resulted in an act of defiance from a group of doctors at the Drug Law Reform Foundation, who vowed to test pills at festivals regardless of state opposition.
THE FRIGGIN' PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES IS GOING TO SXSW.
You read that right - Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, will be the first-ever POTUS & FLOTUS to make an appearance at the annual industry conference and showcase, with the pair signing on to deliver keynote addresses at this month's event in honour of its 30th birthday.
The news is made all the sweeter by the revelation of the line-up for this year's Aussie BBQ, which features local powerhouses such as Harts, DMA's, Big White, Stonefield and many more. Someone tweet the White House and invite them; they're usually pretty good about that sort of thing, and it'd be a good exercise in diplomacy if nothing else.
A security guard at Perth's under-18 Good Life Festival became an internet sensation for all the wrong reasons after suffering a devastating kick to the face at the hands of an 18-year-old man (boy), who has since been charged by police over the assault.
Literally the only good thing to come out of this video is reassurance that - despite the million iPhone videos and obvious rubbernecking going on - several young punters immediately attend to the fallen guard in the aftermath of the attack, which occurred as the guard attempted to detain another attendee who had allegedly jumped the fence to enter the grounds.
Oh, the folly of youth - millennial fashionista Kylie Jenner may have bitten off more than she could chew this week when she announced her intention to trademark the name 'Kylie', as though there hasn't been an incredibly successful pop musician very publicly using that moniker for the better part of the past 30 years or something.
Yep, 'our' Kylie Minogue isn't having a bar of Jenner's nonsense, with her representatives at Australia-based business KDB even describing the aspirant Kardashian spin-off as a "secondary reality television personality", which is a refreshingly mean thing to see from a corporate entity.
During a recent visit to Kevin Smith and Ralph Garman's Hollywood Babble-On podcast, '60s Batman star and consequent Family Guy/Big Bang Theory guest Adam West provided a dramatic reinterpretation of lyrics from Kanye West's Bound 2, and it is everything we never even knew we wanted.
End your week on a high note by watching a cult favourite actor read lines about bitches and hoes with unwavering gravity, and know that the world really is a beautiful place sometimes.
industry
Perth's Beaufort Street Festival has been forced to cancel plans for a 2016 event after consistent growth - which has seen the event swell to welcome crowds of about 150,000 - has made it too difficult to finance.
As a non-profit entity, Beaufort Street Festival made a name for itself among the national community-event calendar as an A-class smorgasbord of music, art, food, drinks and more, and its loss is a real blow for the diversity of affordable entertainment on offer in the West.
However, not all is lost; according to Beaufort Street Network spokeswoman Pam Heron, "The Network may relaunch a smaller community celebration in future years … it's time to try some new ideas. We're planning a number of events throughout the year and looking at other ways we can create a better Beaufort Street."
As anyone living in Sydney or Queensland can tell you, lockout laws aren't all they're cracked up to be. From logistical nightmares and the death of small businesses to preventing late-night hospitality workers from even having a beer after a long shift, their benefits are questionable in the face of the obvious social damage they wreak.
None of that has discouraged the Northern Territory from considering the implementation of their own 1am lockouts though, despite the existence of current 3am one-way door policies, not to mention Darwin having literally four venues that would be affected. Indeed, Australian Hotels Association NT chief executive Des Crowe says the idea of territory-wide laws on the issue is absurd: "We wouldn't think the environment in Alice Springs would demand any form of lockout."
Meanwhile, in Sydney, people just won't stop protesting. Understandably.
Last week, we reported on the potential redevelopment of The Tivoli, one of Brisbane's best-loved venues.
The news has apparently struck a chord with locals, with Redcliffe man Wayne Wilson starting up a Change.org petition to plead with state premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to grant the venue Heritage status.
When we first wrote the story, the petition had a touch over 2000 signatures; that figure has since blown up to more than 7000. Sure, the official nomination period for new Heritage properties has closed already for 2016-17, but hopefully the sheer visibility of support for maintaining the space as it stands is enough to make some potential apartment developers rethink their plans.
Things are a little brighter south of Brisbane though, with the once-iconic rock venue at the Paddington RSL, in Sydney, set to be resurrected in the near future. So, at least one city has some good news about a historic space this week.
AMID founder and SXSW South Pacific representative Phil Tripp is recovering after suffering a heart attack in Hawaii that left him DEAD FOR FOUR MINUTES, which sounds like one of the most genuinely upsetting things someone could possibly experience.
Tripp was at a hire-car... emporium?... in Honolulu earlier this week, which ended in near-tragedy when the heart attack struck. Some good Samaritans nearby performed CPR and restarted his heart three times before he was whisked away to a local hospital's ICU.
All said and done, the seasoned industry identity seems a lot calmer about what he just went through than we would be in his shoes: “Out of surgery with a new implant by one of the US top cardiology. A new age digital defibrillator and pacemaker combo. They had to reboot me though. Out of ICU in a day, a few days on the beach to recover, then back home to recover. Close!” he said on Facebook.
Veteran Aussie rap crew Hilltop Hoods have stormed the ARIA Albums Chart this week, as reimagined double album Drinking From The Sun, Walking Under The Stars Restrung stepped out atop the pile at the start of the week, dethroning previous #1 Molly (the mini-series' soundtrack).
At the same time, local outfit Tigertown put in a solid effort by taking the sole Singles debut on this week's Australian Independent Record Labels Association Charts, entering just inside the top 20, while Hands Like Houses, DMA's and mega-church Hillsong look poised to clash for this week's top ranking.
Still want more? Check out our most recent album reviews, live reviews, and interviews to help get you by.
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