Not sure what to do this Saturday? This is the answer.

James S. Doyle - Raygun Mortlock

Raygun Mortlock have a pretty distinctive sound. How did you develop this sound, and was it difficult to get where you are now in terms of such a strong identity as a group? The sound came quiet naturally, the point has always really been to keep everything as raw as possible, with very little technical gloss. This, combined with, well... our "Strong Identity" as you put it haha, definitely made things hard, especially coming from somewhere like Murwillumbah

So being an emerging band in Murwillumbah, has it been pretty difficult to get people to catch on when you're obviously about much more than just playing whatever's "in" at the time? Well, I have always tried to steer the band clear of any sort of "Trend" or "Scene", but that's not to say people have not caught on. The fact that we don't really fit anywhere seems to be one of the things that has attracted people. The situation has always basically been that pubs wouldn't give us a gig because we wouldn't play "Popular Pub Rock Favorites", I have no interest in playing music like that. First and foremost I make music for myself… if other people enjoy it that's cool, but I don't play just for the benefit of some greedy publican . And I never will.

That's really good, to see a band more focused on their own goals and their own images than what a venue might want to see. Because when it comes down to it, a bar manager can't speak for the whole music industry. Publicans and Club owners, especially in an area like the tweed coast and gold coast, are of the opinion that all their patrons want to hear is the same mindless, middle of the road, generic rubbish. So it hard for someone trying to do something different to get a break, that's why i started doing the self-promoted shows at the bowls club at Condong, and surprisingly we got a wide range of people from all age groups and walks of life interested in us.

You have a pretty broad spectrum of influences, but which of those would you say really stand out for you guys when you’re making music? Well I can’t speak for everyone in the band. My main influence comes from a lot of underground noise rock stuff, The Jesus Lizard, Big Black, The Birthday Party. And some more commercial stuff like early Marilyn Manson. I have also drawn a lot of influence from non-musical artists, such as Authors like William S. Burrough, David Lynch films.. all that good stuff.

With Severe Noise Entertainment and the upcoming “Great Banana Barn Dance”, you’re obviously pretty big on collaborative gigs. Do you think that’s an important part of local bands being able to really push themselves and get their names out there? I like to see everyone playing. I like to encourage young bands who haven't done their first gig yet to come and play at the shows that I organise. It’s my goal to let everyone and anyone have a go. And if only 10 people turn up to watch that's fine. It’s not about money to me, or numbers or anything like that. It’s just about everyone having somewhere to play without the hassles of pub managers and club owners telling them what they can and cannot do.

So it's obviously not all about competition, then? There is no competition at all, it’s nice to see the bands get acknowledged for their efforts and have a few people show up, sometimes we pull really big crowds at those gigs which is great. But that's not really even the point. Its more about just having somewhere to play. Which can be impossible at times if you are an artist trying to do something that is a bit different .

That's really good. Speaking of live gigs, yours can be pretty full-on. Do you think it's easier to convey the core of what you are as a band through live performance, as opposed to recordings? Raygun Mortlock has never and will never be a "Good time party rock band"… It is in essence a vehicle for expressing my own disgust and frustrations with a variety of subjects ranging from Apathy, Right-wing conservative government, Domestic Violence, Substance abuse... there is a huge list of themes but I try to make the point as clear as I can whether it be through music, live performance or interviews like this. But the live gigs are getting more full-on, also we are slowly breaking our way into the Brisbane scene, so there is a fair chance the gig will grow more abrasive and even violent as they get bigger.

Wildest gig you've ever played?

There has been a lot of good ones, lots of bodily fluids and constant threat of violence.. ranging from playing at bikie club houses, being spat on, urinating in beer glasses.. good times.

What advice would you give to other young musicians who hope to make it big in the music industry? Well, no one really makes it "big" anymore unless you are extremely lucky. But for personal success, it’s best to just play what you want, don’t follow a trend or a try and join a genre scene just because a heap of people told you that it is cool at the moment. Scenes and trends die as quickly as they are born. Play what makes you happy and in a genre that gives you the space to express yourself comfortably. Art is about freedom, not following some fashion or stylistic criteria.

Slow Riots

Mudgereebah three-piece Slow Riots are well on their way to cementing a successful career as talented musicians. Currently in their final year of high school, the band strives to stand out from the crowd and are focused on being successful in their own right. I spoke to guitarist and vocalist James Hilan to discuss their recent successes and future goals. 

Describe Slow Riots in two words. 

Noise Gaze.

With influences such as The Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, Tool and My Bloody Valentine, you've obviously got a pretty strong identity as a group. Was this difficult to achieve as a band, starting out?
We started out as 12 and 13 year olds playing stuff that was influenced by indie and semi-mainstream alternative. At that age, it's very difficult to develop your own sound, especially within the rock genre, partly because there's just so much stuff you haven't heard. We found that with every discovery of a great new genre or band (like the ones you mentioned) our sound took a step forward in maturity. But it certainly took time for that to happen.

Many young bands allow trends to override unique creativity, but you guys seem to steer clear of that path. Are you glad to have made such a decision? 

Of course. We couldn't deal with playing stuff that sounded too samey, or too much like any other band. People say we remind them of all sorts of different bands, so I guess it's working. It's more beneficial in the short term for a local band to play trendy stuff, but our resistance to that is paying off. Every new song has been the result of challenging ourselves to write something better and more unique, and we're glad to have stuck to that over the past 5 years.

How has the release of your EP, "Bored" affected you as a band? Have you found it to bring about a greater level of public recognition for yourselves?
'Bored' took over a year to record, because of lazy engineers, promises made by recording studios, lack of money, etc. The songs were fairly old by then anyway, so we were very tired by the end of it and just wanted to put the CD out. Eventually we got to a great studio and managed to breathe new life into the recordings, so that got us excited about it all again. We're hoping it will be received well when we start distributing it on iTunes and in independent stores in Australia, but since it's only been out for a month there haven't been any great leaps in recognition for us yet. Hopefully we can sell a fair few copies at our next show in Condong and really make a name for ourselves in that area.

What should the crowd expect from Slow Riots at the upcoming "Great Banana Barn Dance"?
A lot. This will be our first show since the start of June and our first with new bassist Shannon Kelly, who is by far the most talented musician we've played with thus far. We'll be playing a new song with him that nobody has heard before, and it really shows how well we all gel together as a band now. Of course we are also known for throwing ourselves around and being a bit psychotic at certain parts in our songs, so everything people have come to expect from past Slow Riots shows will be back in full force.

How do you feel generally about collaborative events such as this one? Do you feel it's important for local up and coming bands to support each other more often in this way?
They've pivotal to the development and continuation of any sort of musical scene. The Great Banana Barn Dance will be especially great because, unlike most other local festivals, it combines many different sub-genres of rock and metal. James Doyle from Severe Noise Entertainment is responsible and he's doing a lot more stuff like this in the future, so we're eternally grateful to him for that because it will give alternative music a major kickstart. Something's got to knock hardcore off the podium eventually.

  

MB Allstars 28/05/2011

Founders of Allstar Entertainment, Ben Goulding and Kyle Mann, aka the MB Allstars, have been dominating the entertainment circuit of Murwillumbah and surrounds for well over eighteen months. With residencies at the Roundhouse Tavern and The Bah as well as the Watch This Face charity gig under their belt, the two DJs are well on their way to a successful career. I interviewed the boys recently to discuss their accomplishments and plans for the future.  


So, how did it all begin?
Kyle: We’ve been DJing together for 18 months…it just sort of started as a bit of fun, just mucking around, jamming and stuff and then we got a bit of work out of it and decided we’d put a name and a face on the business and started the Allstar Entertainment Crew…it just started out like a whole bit of fun and a joke and it’s slowly started to get more serious, which is good.


Other than developing a pretty solid name for yourselves, what have you achieved so far under the alias of MB Allstars? 

Ben: I think the big one was probably the charity gig, "Watch This Face". That was a big thing for us, and a good thing for us. It was all about the notoriety, really. 
Kyle: The best part about that was getting noticed. A lot more people, even setting up the next one that we’re doing, a lot more acts were approaching us to come and play after hearing how good it was, which was good.


"Watch This Face" was aimed at raising money for Palliative Care, correct? 

Kyle:Yeah. We chose palliative care mainly because a friend of mine lost his wife to cancer. In the end we ended up raising $1500 and putting on a sick night and it was all for a good cause. There were 250 people there, which was awesome for our big debut. 


Other than obviously personal motives, what else inspired you to run a charity event? 

Kyle: In town, people don’t really like to go places and spend lots of money. You get in everywhere in town on a Friday night for free; they don’t want to go and see on a Saturday night what they can see on a Friday, and have to pay for it. There’s been other guys who’ve put on charity gigs at the Bowls Club; they had bands playing and stuff and the max they’d get in there was 150 or 160 people, and we walked in there the first night and blew it out of the water. It was like... we needed a way that we can raise money and get that exposure, so that was sort of the plan we came up with.


Your public image has obviously grown a lot since Watch This Face, with Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter approaching you to raise money for them in your next big event, Seen This Face? 

Kyle: That was the best part about it; we were approached to do that because of what we’d done in Watch This Face. It’s worked well, and the Allstar Entertainment Crew as a whole gained a good reputation from that, which was great. Being approached was sort of a pat on the back.
Ben: Being approached makes it worth it, really. Obviously no one’s going to want to let us do something for charity in the first place if they haven’t seen what we can do. That’s what Watch This Face was all about, getting it out there, showing everyone what we can put on, organise and run.


That must be one of the biggest steps initially - getting that recognition. Ben: I think it helps playing 12-18 months prior to organising that, because we had an idea of the crowd you get in Murwillumbah, what they wanna hear, what they’re more likely to come to rather than just throwing on maybe a massive big band orchestra sort of thing, with no one turning up, so it made it a lot easier to work around that. We pretty much took what we did already and made it bigger.

Kyle: Yeah, we had the experience, and knew what we needed to do to take that idea and throw it in a small town and be able to market it. 


Do you expect your next big charity gig, "Seen This Face", to be much bigger?

Ben: We’re trying to include other DJs in town so we get more variety and a bigger range of people. We’re 22 and above so we’re not so in touch with the 18-year-olds so to speak, so we’ve only got a limited amount of people that we can involve personally.
Kyle: That’s the better part of getting different acts involved; we’ve got a crowd base that we’ve built, then all these other guys have a crowd base that they’ve built and it’s great getting everyone in there together so they all bring their crowd with them, and then they get to see everyone - not just the same people they see every week. This time we’ve got two really good upcoming DJs and producers from Kingscliff. They produce their own music, which is great. That’ll be featured pretty highly in our set.


So while you’re trying to get your own names out there, you're helping other local DJs at the same time?

Kyle: That was the whole point of the first gig; we also want to give a lot of these other guys some exposure. I mean, we spent 18 months working on getting ourselves exposure and it was a good way for us to get more exposure and to help some of the younger ones as well; there was a couple of big-name promoters who came from the Gold Coast to Watch This Face which was really good - big promoters coming down to check out what was happening.


Looking beyond Seen This Face, how else do you intend to expand the MB Allstars throughout the rest of 2011? 

Kyle: Four words: get out of Murbah.
Ben: Haha...it's not so much that being here's a bad thing, but there’s only really so far you can go in Murwillumbah, and because everyone has their own little niche, we’ve only got a select few that we play to…so it’s basically getting out of Murwillumbah - to Coolangatta, Byron Bay, and you know, playing to people who haven’t heard what we’ve done before. Kyle:We worked hard on developing our sound, what we wanted to play but at the same time what people wanted to hear…so instead of being just the commercial guys who play around town...that just play the top 40 commercial stuff, and whatever, we’ve worked hard on creating our sound and it’s what we want to play, but it’s still what people want to hear. It’s not just go in there and play nothing but whatever’s on the top 40 charts all night; that's not what we want to do. We want to be able to pick our style of music and be able to play it, so that’s our plan. 


You’re both obviously very big on collaboration with other DJs?

Kyle: The thing with what me and Ben have as the Allstar Entertainment Crew stems from Ant [Antony Jackson] who’s the guy from the coast who comes down and plays with us a lot; he plays under the alias Fiend or Foe. He used to run a promotion company called For Love of Promotions. That was 2 or 3 years ago now and the whole idea of that was to be able to go out and have fun, and listen to the music that we wanted to listen to at the time. He used to promote DJs at clubs and we would get who we wanted to play - instead of going out and just listening to what the club thinks is their little brand. He was putting on his own night - and was killing it - so that was part of it. Back then he threw me a few gigs and he’s been a bedroom DJ for a good 2 years now, and so we thought you know, why not give him a hand, throw him some gigs like he’s done for us. It’s worked out tenfold. People pick up on what he plays and now we’ve got a good collective going with the three of  us.

Ben: It’s better working collaboratively due to the fact there’s more input from people for starters, rather than just me and Kyle just saying “Oh yeah this’ll be good, let’s do that” - if we get input from obviously Ant and the other people in Murwillumbah, see they know what people want to hear as well, so it’s kind of a win-win situation really.
Kyle: The best part about having the three of us play is that everyone has a different style of music they like the most; Ben’s more into the RnB and hip hop sort of stuff, I’m more into the house style and Ant’s into the real electro stuff…so when you come and see all three of us play in one setting, you get everything. You get absolutely everything. There’s something there to please everyone.


So while it’s a pretty competitive industry, it’s really good at the same time…you’re all friends and you all help each other out?

Ben: Yeah, there’s no point being angry at other people because it’s not going to work.
Kyle: Everyone in the industry’s like that. It’s like, you may as well make as many friends as you can because it’s not what you know, it's who you know. Just 'cause you’re getting gigs doesn't mean you’re good.


What direction does the future of MB Allstars look to be heading in?

Kyle: Just up in general. There’s no point doing something if you don’t aspire to be something better.
Ben: When we play the pubs in town some people come to listen to the music, others come just to drink…so we’re hoping to get somewhere where they pretty much have people who come there just for the music. You can tell the difference between those types of people, they actually I respect what we’re playing which is what we’re there for.
Kyle: There’s no point just playing the same place every week and just being happy with what you’re doing. It’s always about getting better, perfecting what you do and what you play and your playing style…you may as well keep working on that and always keep looking for something bigger, and that’s the point right now; we’ve been in town DJing for 18 months now so it’s about time we try to take it to the next level. Get a bigger venue, a better venue, anything really, more people. Be able to take MB Allstars to a bigger market - that’s the ultimate plan.

A little bit inspired

Yesterday I went to what was probably the most inspiring seminar ever. Forget cheesy get-rich-quick schemes designed to rip you off; Rossco Paddison's "The Fame Equation" was far removed from all of that. Essentially, his presentation inspired me to actually start this blog. Not that the idea hadn't crossed my mind before - I think about things like that a lot, but whether or not I'll actually listen to my brainwaves is a different matter entirely. All I can say is I'm glad I've rethought the decision to steer clear of blogs. I concluded eventually that the potential exposure is worth any risk of having to actually make proper adult decisions about things...things like this here blog. It might even mean, despite my chosen career path, I may not have to live off  mi goreng and toast my whole life. Theoretically, anyway...

Hi there, internet. It's a pleasure to meet you.

So it would seem I've decided to finally jump aboard the bandwagon that is Blogger. Now I'm actually here, I'm not even sure what to say. It's all so new and exciting that I'll probably forget all the really important bits. It feels like the first time I used my new smart phone, or my first digital SLR camera; I don't really care whether or not I'm doing it right because quite frankly, I'm too freaking excited. I'm not entirely sure where this blog will take me. I just hope it'll be a suitable outlet for my passion for photography and writing. All I can say is enjoy.