For Mullum Music Festival Director Glenn Wright, when it comes to creating events it’s about keeping it ‘small and beautiful’. In fact, this humbler, and quieter approach to the big personality world of Festival Directors is the hallmark of Wright’s creative stamp. He loves making little festivals, and the model is paying off, with Bellingen’s signature event Bello Winter Music about to hit its fifth year and a new festival for Bendigo in April 2019.

This year, he says, he’s excited about Bombino coming to the festival: “I’ve been working on getting Bombino out for a few years now. Earlier this year the New York Times wrote an article on Bombino and announced him as the next biggest thing on the international world music scene. Back in the early 90’s I remember the same heralding of Youssu Ndour in the same way. I”m just over the moon that they’re coming to Australia.”

Glenn Wright – Director of the Mullum Music Festival

After 16 years of running the Harbourside Brasserie – one of Sydney’s most iconic venues through the 80’s and 90’s – Glenn is passionate about music. In fact when he moved to Mullum with his partner to have their first child in 2003, he was still running Vitamin Records, the label he had created for artists he believed “had fallen through the cracks”.

“I took on artists who hadn’t had much traction, their work wasn’t mainstream, so it wasn’t pop, it was across genres, and it was building,” Glenn says. “Then digital downloads hit the music industry and finally subscription music, significantly changing the role of the record label.” It was this change in industry, his long history with the Sydney music scene and his experience creating Live Bait back in Bondi in 2003 that seeded the First Mullum Music Festival which is now in its 11^th year. “In Sydney when I was booking the Brasserie, there were lots of great venues, like The Basement, and the Landsdowne,” he says. “I thought wouldn’t that be fun to mimic that in a small regional town, having all those venues in one precinct – you could have a music party each day!”

Although it was the advent of the digital era that really slowed down his record label, Glenn saw this as an opportunity to build a festival to offer people something real. “In this modern day people love the real thing,” says Glenn. “They love to touch the real thing, everything is so digital or it’s on Youtube – so to put on a music arts festival and have people see feel and touch music is very special. I think its more important than ever because of the way most people tend to live their lives through a screen. A music festival succeeds best when you put your screen down and get up and dance.” A good festival, according to Glenn, is a digital detox.

Glenn believes that smaller events like Mullum Music offer something different to the big events. “Small Festivals can really put love into particular interesting and fun aspects of a festival,” says Glenn, “whether it’s comedy sessions, or outdoor theatre or small piano bars of that kind of thing. If you try and do that at a massive festival of 50 000 it just doesn’t work. It only works when you have a smaller audience. Woodford is the only large festival that still really manages to profile small and beautiful performances.”

Mullum Music Festival operates for four days in November –usually the third Thursday to Sunday, attracting around 8000 people with about 2500 in attendance each day, with 500 on opening night. What is different about Mullum Music is that it engages people from the community to participate, even if they haven’t purchased a ticket. “Around 2000 people come for the free events at the farmers market to the pop up performances, the markets and the Sunday street parade,” says Glenn.

The Sunday Street parade is something special. It’s not like a usual town parade where you stand on the sidelines and watch. This one is New Orleans inspired and features a cacophony of horns that invite thousands of passerbys to come together and dance. “I love the authenticity of the street parade,” says Glenn. “I’m an old trombone player and we bring together musicians from the festival, and community members. The parade is an invitation to get involved. People do it because they love music and want to be part of it. A couple of years ago the street parade got rolling and the California Honey Drops turned up and joined in, Harry Angus plays with us most years. There is this incredible connection between fans and the people working on the festival and the festival artists – there’s this powerful inclusiveness and enormous respect.”

Mulum Street Parade. Photography: Evan Malcolm.

Each year Glenn programs a festival that not only reaches out towards international and national profile acts, but also draws down on the strong base of local talent. “I watched the Sydney festival and it was always disheartening to see the lack of local artists perform at that festival, and it was almost a month where local musicians had to go interstate to find a gig, I don’t know if it’s the same now, but putting on a concert you can put on your internationals and nationals, but if you put on a festival you have to engage your local artists – otherwise it seems opportunistic and a bit mean, artists in a regional area want to get their art out and playing Mullum Music Festival gives them a chance to meet artists from other regions and get out and perform in major cities.’

One of the key features of Mullum Music Festivals is its knack for booking emerging artists just before they break through on the world stage. Tash Sultana played Mullum just two years back, now she’s in demand on the World stage. Parcels who came through the mentorship program are playing shows in Europe to hundreds of thousands of people.

“We focus on career artists who may have been through it and artists who may be about to go through the next step,”  says Glenn. “If you’re a music lover and you want to find the next Tash Sultana, then a boutique festival is a good place to start, if you are a real music fan and you know all about the music scene you’ll know Susannah Espie is one of the best singers in the country and she’s playing Mullum this year. We are not guided by who is the most popular act of the day but who will be in the future and who has an impressive career already. We delve into a lot of different genres, if you like diverse genres of music then this is the festival for you.”

Bombino – on this year’s list for Mullum Music Festival.

Mullum Music Festival 15 – 18 November. For line up info and tix go to Mullum Music Festival

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Amongst the incredible line-up are British India, Ash Grunwald, Jeff Martin (The Tea Party), Lloyd Spiegel, Hussy Hicks, Opal Ocean, The Fumes, Dallas Frasca, Steve Edmonds, Joel McDonald, Nathan Kaye, Tullara, Minnie Marks, Shai Shriki, and many more.

This local festival prides itself on being accessible to all – add on the impressive guitar market, masterclasses and workshops worth their weight in gold, major raffles, brewery atmosphere, an intimate setting in which to rub shoulders with heroes of the guitar, and charity support offered by this event, and it’s one festival not to miss.

After rocking out to shredders and getting inspired by British India, The Fumes, Dallas Frasca, Legs Electric and more on Saturday, guitar lovers and aficionados will have the opportunity to really indulge in this ‘guitar lovers heaven’ on Sunday. As well as a guitar market (bring the credit card!), and performances from more legends including Ash Grunwald, Steve Edmonds, The Soul Movers, Nathan Kaye and more, get up close and personal in the guitar masterclasses.

Jeff Martin: Giving a Masterclass at the Byron Bay Guitar Festival.

SUNDAY MASTERCLASSES & WORKSHOPS

SAE Qantum Byron Bay is presenting a series of intimate theatre-style masterclasses and workshops with some of Australia’s masters of the six-string, and featuring some of the world’s moist celebrated guitar brands. This is a not-to-be-missed opportunity for beginners and advanced players alike. Here’s just a taste of what you can expect:

Jeff Martin presented by Byron Music

Jeff will be talking through guitar ‘alternate tunings’ that he has created and used throughout The Tea Party and solo works. These alternate tunings have been used to create the multi-faceted soundscapes that have become a renowned signature for Jeff’s music. Jeff will run through some of the Tea Party’s most intricate songs and discuss the method behind the music.

Lloyd Spiegel presented by Wazinator Stompboxes

Join Lloyd Spiegel (AU blues legend) and Warwick Porter (Wazinator Stompbox founder) in this rare discussion and demonstration of acoustic guitar technique. Lloyd will reveal his secrets to playing fast, singing loud and his methods of connecting to the audience. Warwick will introduce the range of Wazinator acoustic stompboxes and their different features. This workshop will be fun and informative and offer an up close and personal experience with one of Australia’s greatest blues players.

Joining these legends are flamenco freaks Opal Ocean presented by Yamaha, Angus Marshall presented by Fender, and a special workshop by Pro Music. Stay tuned for more info on these.

The masterclasses are extremely popular and there is limited seating available, so get in quick.

Byron Bay Guitar Festival is an all ages event, and supports the charity Be Happy Music Club.

Tickets are $50 for one day or $90 for two and are ON SALE NOW at www.byronbayguitarfestival.com

Full 2018 line up:

British India I Ash Grunwald I Dallas Frasca I The Fumes I Jeff Martin I Hussy Hicks I Lloyd Spiegel I Opal Ocean I Jimi Hendrix Show w. Steve Edmonds Band I The Soul Movers I Murray Cook I Southern River Band I Flying Machine I Joel McDonald I Frankie’s House Band I Andy Jans Brown & Cozmic I Tullara I Malcura I Legs Electric I Dan Hannaford I Jereome Williams I Martin Lartigau I Shai Shiriki I Nathan Kaye I El Dorado I When Hawk Met Sparrow I Taj Farrant I Jordan McRobbie I Byron High School Students + more!

General festival info:

The 2^nd Annual Byron Bay Guitar Festival

Dates: Saturday 6 & Sunday 7 October 2018

Venue: Byron Bay Brewery, Byron Bay

Tickets at: https://www.byronbayguitarfestival.com/

 +61 400 354 095

#BBGF2018

Official website: https://www.byronbayguitarfestival.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/byronbayguitarfest/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/byronbayguitarfest/

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Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda

Composer Ryuichi Sakamoto’s search for new sounds – especially natural or “found” sounds – leads him to standing outside in the rain with a plastic bucket over his head, listening to the noise the drops make as they land.

The film Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda, screening at the Byron Bay Film Festival, documents that obsessive search and how it fuels Sakamoto’s compositions, along with much else about the innovative musician, activist, writer, actor and dancer.

We watch – and listen – as he slides a violin bow across a cymbal’s edge, pounds a hollow log and plucks away at a piano that has been “warped and frayed” by its drowning in the tsunami that devastated Fukushima in 2011 – the focus of Sakamoto’s other preoccupation, the insanity of the world’s embrace of the nuclear option, be it for power or weaponry.

Ryuichi Sakamoto: Searching for new sounds.

His artistry and activism are intertwined and the search always uncovers something more than sound: in the film it takes him, thrillingly, to the Arctic and to Africa. Seeking to answer the question “why are we such a violent species?” he travels to Northern Kenya, to the site where Turkana Boy – the oldest human remains – were found. “It’s where we all came from,” he says. “The African Exodus started with a family group of about 30 – our universal ancestors. We are all ‘African’. So the notion of race is a false concept.”

And in music he finds a commonality: “Africa is a vast continent but it has one universal rhythm pattern. That family shared one language, one music … the first sounds we made as humans, our original language. What songs were sung? What was our first language?”

He is struck by the “minimal and modest” community living there still, and gleefully reports recording “some great sounds” at the site, and using them “at length in my song Only Love Can Conquer Hate”.

Sakamoto is fascinated by water and in the Arctic Circle he tramps across boulders and snow to drill down through the ice to locate water running below – the sound of snow melting. He is “fishing” for the sound, he says, and records it, capturing “the purest sound I have ever heard”. He incorporates these pellucid tinkles into a later work, Glacier, along with the tingshas, or Tibetan hand cymbals he plays within that wind-swept realm.

This mixture of natural sounds and instrumentation creates “a sonic blending that is both chaotic and unified”, and segments of it within the film, alongside his calm and modest musings, make Coda an enriching aesthetic and meditative experience. For the sounds all have a significance beyond the merely aural – in the Arctic he is “at the frontlines of global warming” the melting snow below the ice a sound from a pre-industrial age, when the Earth was a healthier place. Footage of these expeditions pre-dates a diagnosis of throat cancer in 2014 – something that made him put a compositional project on hold, and indeed stop playing altogether.

But in their expansiveness – in the breadth of Sakamoto’s curiosity and wonder at nature – they mirror the expansiveness that comes as he re-emerges into creativity, into composition once again, despite the cancer.

Despite a diagnosis of throat cancer Sakomoto keeps creating.

A humble heroism is revealed: while ill he remained active in the anti-nuclear fight, and towards the film’s end he is brave enough to enter the contamination zone around Fukushima, and walk along the seafront, his Geiger counter going off the scale. The camera circles him repeatedly, expressing the giddy sensation of absorbing the unbelievable reality of a radio-active ocean.

It is a gross example of humanity’s impact on nature: Sakamoto sees that impact everywhere, even in the magnificent piano he composes on – an instrument only made possible by the Industrial Revolution which created machines capable of exerting the tremendous pressure needed to bend the wood out of its natural shape to suit the tastes of humanity.

The tsunami piano takes on a new significance: a chord he has played on it leaps out as he is listening to his latest composition. It sounds damaged, melancholic – a bit like the composer himself – but fits perfectly into the musical work. And, he suggests, the piano’s transformation in the tsunami is one in which nature reasserts itself, slowly taking the man-made object back to its natural state.

Sakamoto is probably best known in the West as the composer of scores for films such as Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, The Last Emperor and The Sheltering Sky, and these are lovingly referenced here. But his work since, and even very recently, is more significant: richer and more meaningful.

Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda will be of interest to anyone concerned with current Japan, or with nuclear power, or even those interested in witnessing a man’s response to cancer. Fans of his music will gain an understanding of the beautiful spirit of its creator.

For them, and all music lovers, and anyone interested in the creative process, it is especially mesmerising.

By Digby Hildreth

The Infinite World of Yayoi Kusama

Yayoi Kusama is revered the world over for her extraordinary repetitive patterns and her ‘dotty’ paintings.

Kusama – Infinity, a 17-year project conceived by American filmmaker Heather Lenz, brings Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama’s fascinating journey to life through rich imagery, archival material interspersed with great snapshots from 1960s America—media imagery, archival video footage and photographs—together with short interviews with key museum figures and Kusama’s long-time friends and associates. Importantly, the narrative includes readings and interviews with the artist and revealing insights into her art practice. The film presents a chronological overview of a colourful life—a story of struggle, of hard times and above all, one of fierce ambition.

Today, Yayoi Kusama (b.1929 Matsumoto, Japan) is the most successful living female artist, although this is a relatively recent accolade. It is only in the past 30 years of her prolific career that she has gained greater recognition for her contribution to contemporary art. Her practice is far-ranging: painting, sculpture, fashion designer, installation, collage, performance art, film, poetry, novels and anthologies. In 1968, she starred in her award-winning film Kusama’s Self-Obliteration (directed by experimental filmmaker Jud Yalkut). In 1969, she opened a boutique and in 2012 co-created the Louis Vuitton + Yayoi Kusama Collection.

Kusama – Infinity affirms the artist’s important contribution to the story of art; her unrelenting desire to succeed (against the odds)—with little support from her family (and eventual repudiation), many years of patchy interest from gallerists, ongoing illness and intense competition from the male-dominated art scene in 1960s New York.

Yayoi Kusama and some of her more recent Infinity Nets…

Central to the narrative is the formative New York years (1958–73). Lenz acknowledges Georgia O’Keeffe’s importance and the adoration Kusama received from the reclusive genius Joseph Cornell. While Kusama failed to achieve the fame she so eagerly desired in the 1960s and a fraction of that enjoyed by her male counterparts—Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, James Rosenquist, Jackson Pollock— she remained loyal to her practice, consistently depicting her obsessions and inner torments.

Following her move to the United States, Kusama began producing Infinity Nets paintings; in the early 1960s, soft sculptures (continuous productions of her fears—the phallus—in an attempt to self-therapy); in December 1963 her first installation Aggregation: One Thousand Boats Show (which inspired Warhol); and less than three years later, her ground-breaking Peep Show/ Endless Love Show (first Infinity/mirror room). From the mid-1960s Kusama was staging Happenings (often anti-war/pro-peace performances incorporating her trademark dot painted onto naked performers) that attracted much publicity in the US and Europe and a backlash in Japan.

Lenz’s film begins and ends in Japan—from a prosperous, dysfunctional family, having a troubled childhood and experiencing frightening visions from a young age, to her return to Japan in 1973, decline in health and self-hospitalisation (to this day her place of residence) and return to a fervent art practice and ultimately global recognition.

In the years following her move back to Japan, Kusama’s work received little attention. In the 1980s there was renewed interest in her work and this increased in the 1990s. The final chapter of the film outlines some key exhibitions: from ‘Yayoi Kusama: Retrospective’ at the Center for International Contemporary Arts, New York in 1989; to the 45th Venice Biennale in 1993 (Narcissus Garden was her unofficial entry in the 1966 biennale) where she was the first artist to stage a solo exhibition in the Japanese pavilion; and ‘Love Forever: Yayoi Kusama 1958–1968’ a major retrospective, which opened at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (1998) and travelled to the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Walker Art Center and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo.

An Infinity Room – Lithoar, the Spirit of the Pumpkins.

Today, museums are eager to exhibit her work: high visitor numbers are guaranteed. Her Infinity rooms attract long queues and when on display her work The obliteration room (2002–present, in the Queensland Art Gallery’s collection) is obliterated in days as visitors clamour to stick coloured dots to a white room filled with white-painted furniture. Her audience is far-ranging, and her work lends itself well to an ever-increasing world of social media users—museum visitors eager to capture themselves in her wondrous infinities.

Kusama tells the story of climbing the Empire State Building soon after first arriving in the city in the late 1950s and there deciding to conquer New York. Whilst she did not achieve the success she craved during this stage of her career, Kusama: Infinity is proof that now she has conquered the art world. With her ever-increasing popularity , the release of Lenz’s film is timely.

Emily Gray

The Byron Bay Film Festival runs from October 12-21. Kusama: Infinity screens at 7.30pm on Thursday, October 18 at Byron Community Centre. Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda screens four times at the Festival – in Byron Bay, Brunswick Heads and Murwillumbah. Program and tickets at BBFF.com.au

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Organisers of Splendour in the Grass have dropped another world class line-up of music on North Byron Parklands, with some of the biggest legends in music from Australia and around the world to perform at the festival.

Kendrick Lamar spearheads the Splendour line-up this year straight off the back of winning the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music, making Lamar the first non-jazz or classical artist to win the award.

The stellar international cast also includes Lorde, Vampire Weekend, Khalid, The Wombats, CHVRCHES, Miguel, Franz Ferdinand, MGMT, Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite and the legendary Henry Rollins.

International star Lorde will be at this year’s Splendour.

Australian acts make up around 70 per cent of the Splendour line-up this year, making the festival the best place to catch Australian live music, including Hilltop Hoods, Angus & Julia Stone, Gang Of Youths, DMA’S, PNAU, The Avalanches DJ set and Dune Rats.

In all, over 100 acts will perform over three days across the Amphitheatre, GW McLennan tent, Mix Up and Tiny Dancer stages.

Tickets to Splendour were snapped up within minutes when they went on sale, with a record number of fans waiting online. A ticket resale facility – the only place where legitimate tickets for Splendour in the Grass 2018 can be purchased – has opened for anyone that missed out.

Splendour’s co-producers Jessica Ducrou and Paul Pittico were thrilled to see so many people wanting to attend the festival this year.

“The love and excitement for Splendour this year has been nothing short of amazing. We’re thrilled to be bringing you another awesome edition of Splendour in the Grass!” they said.

But Splendour isn’t only about great music. Splendour in the Grass also plays host to an innovative arts and cultural program that showcases some of the best arts practitioners from Australia and around the world. The 2018 program will once again present everything from projections and paintings to large-scale street art and unexpected encounters with life-size art installations.

And for Generation X and Y music fans that now have children, Splendour in the Grass organisers are set to continue their innovative Little Splendour program. Little Splendour is located in a fully fenced and secured area in the middle of Splendour in the Grass, designed exclusively for families to relax and explore their creativity. And when it’s time to count sheep, a dedicated family friendly campground has been set aside specifically for families in a quiet pocket of the regular camping area.

Little Splendour caters for families and kids.

SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS 2018 – SOLD OUT
Friday 20 July, Saturday 21 July and Sunday 22 July
North Byron Parklands
Tweed Valley Way, Wooyung (15 mins north of Byron Bay)
splendourinthegrass.com

KENDRICK LAMAR • LORDE (ONLY AUS SHOW) • VAMPIRE WEEKEND (ONLY AUS SHOW) • KHALID (ONLY AUS SHOW) • THE WOMBATS • HILLTOP HOODS • CHVRCHES • MIGUEL • GIRL TALK (ONLY AUS SHOW) • ANGUS & JULIA STONE • GANG OF YOUTHS • FRANZ FERDINAND • MGMT • BEN HOWARD • DUNE RATS & FRIENDS • BEN HARPER & CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE • PNAU • JAMES BAY • THE AVALANCHES DJ SET • CHROMEO • DMA’S • BALL PARK MUSIC • HENRY ROLLINS (ONLY AUS SHOW) • SAFIA • THE JUNGLE GIANTS • LIL XAN • METHYL ETHEL • AMY SHARK • THE BRONX • OCEAN ALLEY • CARMADA BY L D R U & YAHTZEL • DZ DEATHRAYS • LORD HURON • MIDDLE KIDS • HOCKEY DAD • TOWKIO • CUB SPORT • TOUCH SENSITIVE • SAMPA THE GREAT • DEAN LEWIS • SKEGSS • ALBERT HAMMOND JR • MALLRAT • MARMOZETS • ALEX LAHEY • RITON & KAH-LO • JACK RIVER • SUPERORGANISM • ANNA LUNOE • LEWIS CAPALDI • ALL OUR EXES LIVE IN TEXAS • ALEX THE ASTRONAUT • YUNGBLUD • CROOKED COLOURS • NINA LAS VEGAS • SOCCER MOMMY (ONLY AUS SHOW) • ELDERBROOK • ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER • TIM SWEENEY • STELLA DONNELLY • BULLY • BAKER BOY • WAFIA • NO MONO • WAAX • ANGIE MCMAHON • WEST THEBARTON • EVES KARYDAS • G FLIP • THE BABE RAINBOW • HAIKU HANDS • DIDIRRI • ALICE IVY • AMYL & THE SNIFFERS • ZIGGY RAMO • FANTASTIC MAN • LO’99 • HUMAN MOVEMENT • MANU CROOK$ • KASBO • MADAM X • ANDRAS ALTA • ARA KOUFAX • TWO PEOPLE • B WISE • MADE IN PARIS • JENSEN INTERCEPTOR • WOODES • TEISCHA • ANTONY & CLEOPATRA • MUTO • ELK ROAD • TRIPLE J UNEARTHED WINNERS
PLUS MIKE GURRIERI • LOVE DELUXE • LAUREN HANSOM • POOLCLVB • GODLANDS • NYXEN • EMMA STEVENSON • EBONY BOADU

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If you’ve been in the Byron Shire a while you’ll know that once upon a time most weekends involved gathering some friends and heading to one of the many gorgeous country halls that dot our coast line and hinterland. From major touring artists to small collectives of local original musicians, experiencing music up close and personal was the norm, usually with a chai in hand and some yummy food in our bellies.

But these days our scenic halls that were once the perfect location for live music have been appropriated by the higher paying clients, such as weddings, so that even those halls willing to host music are now priced out of the park for community events.

These days most of us are left to experience live music at crowded festivals, in passing as we loiter by a busker on street corners, or as the stripped back soundtrack to our café trip, or over the hum of drinkers in covers-dominated sets in local bars. The spaces to really savour the magic of live, original music and intimate community gatherings are now few and far between. Enter ‘The Song Lounge’, a fully curated, intimate music event for communities to come together to share music, share spaces, share food and share experiences.

Its first sparkling event launched in lovely South Golden Beach in April. The newly renovated SGB Community Hall was transformed into an oasis of tasty original music, delicious food and fabulous friends. Micka Scene, Phil and Tilley and Christina Giorgio & The Wishing Well brought to the table musicianship, storytelling and a reverence that had audiences captivated for hours. Even as the organiser I was blown away by seeing these artists in this setting and I booked them in! It had the feeling that we were experiencing a magical moment in time which we’d be telling our friends about in the future.

Luke Bennett at Mullum Drill Hall on June 16.

Song Lounge events are a total night out with doors opening at 6.30pm and Kristina’s Tasty Kitchen’s serving up $10 bowls – locally sourced, nourishing, kind to the planet and super tasty. Local Chai masters Hari Har Chai will also be brewing up spicy delight and baking sweet treats. In between acts set up on one of the shared tables, meet somebody new and get the conversations flowing. Grab a rug and cosy up with a cushion, chai and a loved one. These events are a chance to come together and escape the everyday in a space fuelled by community, connection, excellent music and a little bit of magic.

The next Song Lounge event is at the Mullum Drill Hall on Saturday June 16, featuring Loren and Luke Bennett. John Butler says of Loren:  “Loren writes the kind of music that when you listen to it you somehow feel like you’re getting a massage. A sweet, gentle voice accompanied by relaxed melodically plucked guitar written by a man with a heart of gold. I’ve watched him play a few times and am always inspired by how effortless the music is.”

Loren is widely known in the folk and acoustic roots circles for his emotive storytelling in song and passionate performances. His six album releases have found their way into many homes and his latest collection of songs shows a natural evolution in his ripening as a songwriter. The past few years have seen Loren take a step back from the festival/touring circuit, to stoke the fires of his passion for making music. Nestled in the mountains of the northern New South Wales a new direction has emerged in Loren’s music – more meditative and medicinal in flavour.

Launceston-born Luke Bennett grew up falling asleep to the sounds of Fleetwood Mac, Tracy Chapman and Dire Straits. At 14 he started to learn the guitar, and after finishing college he adopted a nomadic lifestyle. Songwriting turned out to be a natural expression for him. Luke’s songs talk about the richness of and adventure of life as well as its questions and internal desires. With the catchy pop sensibilities of John Mayer and Sting fused with the stripped back earthiness of Xavier Rudd and Jack Johnson, Luke Bennett’s warm vocals and intricate guitar sound are food for the soul.

The Song Lounge, Mullumbimby Drill Hall
Saturday June 16^th, 6pm
Featuring Loren and Luke Bennett
https://www.facebook.com/events/859236784263875/
https://www.ticketbase.com/events/the-song-lounge-mullum

SOUNDCLOUD  www.soundcloud.com/lorenmusic
FACEBOOKwww.facebook.com/lorenmusic
YOUTUBEwww.youtube.com/lorenmusicchannel

FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/lbennettmusic/
INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/lbennettmusic

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Melissa Etheridge is making a welcome comeback to Bluesfest this year.  Byron Bay embraced the singer/songwriter on her previous visit, who some years ago survived a battle with cancer.  Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004, the singer unerwent a particularly brutal form of chemo.  “My work had always been a drug-free zone,” she’s said, “but the chemotherapy that was prescribed was called “dose dense”: a harsher, stronger chemo than the usual because I had the benefit of not having to work during the treatment. My close friends told me that, as an alternative, medical marijuana was a natural way to help with the excruciating side effects of chemo.”

Melissa Etheridge (left) and Sheryl Crow – Bluesfest solo then Australia together.

Etheridge and Crow are both set to perform their own solo spots at Bluesfest before teaming up to hit Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney in early April.  Now that will be an outstanding gig.

For more info on the 29th annual Byron Bay Bluesfest go here: https://www.bluesfest.com.au/

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The Badlands have been doing Byron a noteworthy musical service recently, with their latest live efforts. After running a successful crowd-funding campaign, the band released their new EP on August 5th. and have begun a tour that is lighting up venues across the East Coast. With their biggest show to date just played at Byron Bay’s The Northern on August 12, the band are riding on a tidal wave of live support from their fans. There’s a murmur about the intensity and raw power of the band’s sound and they are living up to their name as being one of the Northern Rivers most exciting and  new bands.

Formed in 2014 as a group of musical talents from across Australia and New Zealand, The Badlands are rapidly becoming known for being the definitive emerging rock group to watch. Made up of NZ born Pauly Adams (Vocals), Mid-North Coaster Tommy Flint (Guitar), Melbourne’s Massimo Tolli (Drums) and The Sunshine Coast’s Alexx McConnell (Bass) the band have become increasingly tight as musical unit and group of friends.

Their recent gigs have seen fans hungry for the new tracks, which are now available on iTunes and Spotify, as well as physical CD online and at the gigs.  The word is spreading as The Badlands continue their upward musical journey, with dates due in Sydney and Melbourne coming up later in the year and ticketed shows indicating the rising demand for the band’s performances. As Lead singer Paul Adams says of the band’s shows:  “We are just best mates at the end of the day and we get excited. And whats more exiting than playing loud, hard music with your buddies.”

The new material was recorded through Byron Bay’s Studio 9, with the help of local producer Cameron Spike Porter, and marks a notable evolution in the bands addictive, mosh-inducing, grunge-rock sound. Local Byron artist NITSUA was commissioned to produce the artwork for their new EP, as well as for the debut single ‘Superstitious Wishes’, which was released on 05.05.2017, at what was deemed by one fan as:  “One of the best rock n roll shows to date at Woody’s Surf Shack. Elaborating on their sounds, Adams says: “It’s been a challenge to capture our sound over the years so we thought we should try a new process. It seems to be the best sound we’ve got in years.”

The Badlands are continuing with their run of gigs next weekend at The Sunshine Coast’s ‘The Basement’ in Nambour on Sep 1st and https://www.cialissansordonnancefr24.com/cialis-pas-cher/ followed on in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley at ‘The Bloodhound Bar’ on Sep 2.
Support comes from The Sunshine Coasts rockers Buck Dean and The Green Lips and The Los Laws.

Friday 1st Sep (The Basement,  Nambour)

Saturday 2nd Sep (The Bloodhound Bar, Brisbane)

Time: 9pm  Ticketed entry – $10

You can grab The Badlands new EP on CD, as well as other merchandise now available from the band at:

https://www.thebadlandsmusic.com

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There’s something about the long walk from the carpark to the Splendour site, that promises magic even before you get there.  It’s as if the crowd is being welcomed into another land, as the flat gives way to the rolling hills and the cradle of this beautiful valley.  Every year the Splendour call goes out to the increasing thousands of people who fly in from all over the world for one of Australia’s best-loved music festival, and like homing pigeons, many of us return for, not just the music, but the incredible atmosphere, landscape and art-works that make up Splendour in the Grass.

This year, back in my own region for the first time after a few years away, I came as a local rather than as a visitor, and it was lovely to feel so strongly connected to the Splendour community.  I’ve been covering the Festival for nine years now and of course this year, for the first time ever, Splendour came up against the intrusion of the outside world in the form of the possible threat of terrorism.  But the organisers dealt with it calmly and sensibly so that the presence of the extra 150 police, the wands on entry and the limitation on bag size, really hardly impinged on the flow of visitors – and if anything added an extra layer of comfort to the event.  Apart from the somewhat startling amount of young women who seemed to have given up clothes for gaffer tape and glitter, and the always-eclectic crowd mingled and moved happily between the stages.  However, the trend for baring all did cause various hash tags on social media to ‘encourage’ the use of clothing, such as #bringbackthepants.

But apart from the shortage of female clothing it was music business usual as usual – and wow – the stages were on fire this year.  Things got off to an amazing start.

Splendour co-producers Jessica Ducrou and Paul Piticco said, “Splendour 2017 is up there with our best events ever.”

“Thanks so much to our incredible Splendour community, for looking out for each other and embracing all the crazy shit we dream up. It’s you guys that make this event so special. Safe travels and we’ll see you all again next year (hopefully with pants on)!” they added.

Tash Sultana. Photo: Heidi Flumm.

FRIDAY

Day One acts that stole the show included Tash Sultana, Peking Duk and The xx.

Melbourne phenomenon, Tash Sultana, proved to be the ultimate multitasker dazzling the crowd with her one-woman band show. Her loop-pedal driven music which incorporates original jazz sounds with rock inspired guitar captivated a spell-bound audience.

Enter festival favourites, Peking Duk, who had joined the Splendour line up at the last minute after George Ezra cancelled. The Canberra dance duo stepped out from behind the decks for the first time, delivering a supercharged set peppered with multiple guest appearances by fellow artists that included Vera Blue and Dan Sultan.

Friday headliners, The xx, were probably one of the most anticipated acts of this year’s line-up. The brooding Brit trio didn’t disappoint. They delivered a hypnotic set laced with new and old classics, including favourites, Intro and Crystalised. The groups unique synthesised soundscape was the perfect close to a mind-blowing Day One.

Queens of the Stone Age – absent for a few years, but the wait was well worth it.  Photo: Heidi Flumm.

SATURDAY

The stellar Day Two line-up delivered lovers of rock into music heaven, starting with Bernard Fanning, who had crowds running to the Amphitheatre from all directions when he announced a surprise Powderfinger reunion. The group kicked off with the timeless, (Baby I’ve Got You) On My Mind followed by the megahit, These Days, before Fanning wrapped the set with Wish You Well.

Enter the night and a double serve of heavy. English drum and bass guitar duo Royal Blood hit the stage and whipped the crowd into a literal whirlpool. The sweat covered crowd slammed into each other through a thumping set of hits. The pair closed with a massive version of Out of The Black, which saw drummer Ben Thatcher jump off the Amphitheatre stage before heading back to smash-up his drum kit.

Queens of the Stone Age was an anticipated headliner for Splendour after having been absent from the festival line-up for several years. The wait was worth it. The group delivered a greatest hit set including the classics, If I Had a Tail, No One Knows and Little Sister. Singer Josh Homme also gave the Amphitheatre crowd a taste of his famous acidic tongue, as one heckler copped a brutal serve.

Retro dance master Client Liason. Photo: Heidi Flumm.

SUNDAY

Day Three, and enter retro dance masters, Client Liaison. The Melbourne duo delivered a stunned Amphitheatre audience into pop heaven when they invited Australian music icon, Tina Arena, to the stage. Arena joined the Triple J favourites to perform their collaboration A Foreign Affair, along with her own nineties mega hit Sorrento Moon and a glorious version of Womack & Womack’s Teardrops.

Fans assumed LCD Soundsystems’ performance at Splendour 2010 would be their last Australian gig after they had announced their breakup. Fortunately, the break-up didn’t stick. Bathed in blue and red lights and under a giant hovering disco ball, singer James Murphy led the group through a killer set, featuring hits like Dance Yrself Clean, New York I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down and Daft Punk Is Playing at My House. LCD Soundsystem closed Splendour 2017 with the Amphitheatre singing along to the all-time classic, All My Friends.

https://heidiflumm.com/

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The prospect of mingling with packs of counter-terrorism police didn’t stop 32,000 music fans descending on North Byron Parklands yesterday for Splendour in the Grass Arts & Music Festival.

For the first time, terrorism threats at music events around the world prompted Australia’s biggest music festival to beef up security. Entry to the sold-out event is now reminiscent of boarding an aeroplane.

The introduction of new bag restrictions bans backpacks. Other measures now include regular bag and vehicle searches and the threat of being subject to ‘wanding’ by a metal detector. Counter-terrorism police are reported to have joined more than 150 officers patrolling the site.

In spite of the increased security presence, the measures appeared to fail dozens of women who seemed to have had major sections of their wardrobe stolen. Droves of scantily dressed female festival attendees scampered about topless, with only gaffe tape carefully placed over their nipples in crosses to ensure their modesty.

Nonetheless, the mass loss of key clothing items and post September 11 security measures failed to dampen the festival spirit of the sundrenched North Byron Parklands.

Organisers have dropped possibly the best line-up since 2010, featuring a blockbuster cast of rock royalty, electro pioneers and hip hop innovators. Day one acts that stole the show included Tash Sultana and Peking Duk.

Tash Sultana wowed the crowd at Splendour.

Melbourne phenomenon, Tash Sultana, proved to be the ultimate multitasker dazzling the crowd with her one-woman band show. Festival Favourites, Peking Duk, had joined the Splendour line up at the last minute after George Ezra cancelled. The Sydney duo delivered a supercharged set that was peppered with multiple guest appearances by fellow artists that included Vera Blue and Dan Sultan.

Tonight’s stellar line-up will see lovers of rock blasted into music heaven at the amphitheatre stage with a double serve of heavy. The thumping Brit duo Royal Blood will perform, followed by one of the best live bands in the world, Queens of the Stone Age.

SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS 2017

Friday 21 July, Saturday 22 July and Sunday 23 July

North Byron Parklands

splendourinthegrass.com

SOLD OUT

THE XX • QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE • LCD SOUNDSYSTEM • ROYAL BLOOD • HAIM • SIGUR RÓS • SCHOOLBOY Q (ONLY AUS SHOW) • VANCE JOY • TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB • PEKING DUK • RL GRIME • BONOBO • FATHER JOHN MISTY • CATFISH AND THE BOTTLEMEN • TASH SULTANA • PAUL KELLY • STORMZY • KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD • PEKING DUK • FUTURE ISLANDS (ONLY AUS SHOW) • BANKS • BERNARD FANNING • DUNE RATS • CUT COPY • ÁSGIER • ALLDAY • MEG MAC • RAG‘N’BONE MAN • THUNDAMENTALS • LIL YACHTY • SAN CISCO • CLIENT LIAISON • REAL ESTATE • DAN SULTAN • VALLIS ALPS • D.D DUMBO • MAGGIE ROGERS • TOVE LO • POND • BIG SCARY • THE SMITH STREET BAND • OH WONDER • A.B. ORIGINAL • DOPE LEMON • THE KITE STRING TANGLE • YOUNG FRANCO • JULIA JACKLIN • KINGSWOOD • AMY SHARK • LUCA BRASI • THE LEMON TWIGS • VERA BLUE • SLUMBERJACK • BAD//DREEMS • BAG RAIDERS • TOPAZ JONES • MIDDLE KIDS • OCEAN GROVE • CONFIDENCE MAN • BISHOP BRIGGS • LATE NITE TUFF GUY • JULIEN BAKER • KILTER • LANY • HOCKEY DAD • KIRIN J CALLINAN • AIRLING • COSMO’S MIDNIGHT • GRETTA RAY • MOONBASE • THE PEEP TEMPEL • TORNADO WALLACE • THE MURLOCS • MALLRAT • LUKE MILLION • THE WILSON PICKERS • ROMARE • JARROW • GOOD BOY • KUREN • ONEMAN • WINSTON SURFSHIRT • SET MO • HWLS • HARVEY SUTHERLAND & BERMUDA • CC:DISCO! • ENSCHWAY • DJHMC • NITE FLEIT • ALICE IVY • WILLOW BEATS • WILLARIS. K • MOOKHI • TRIPLE J UNEARTHED: WINNERS PLUS… SWINDAIL • DENA AMY • ANDY GARVEY • PLANÈTE • SAM WESTON • SUPER CRUEL • CHRISTOPHER PORT • LEWIS CANCUT • KINDER

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Splendour in the Arts will once again transform North Byron Parklands into a 600 acre gallery space. A line-up of paintings, performance installations and mini-universes created by some of the world’s most innovative artists will feature as part of the annual festival line-up.

Leading Splendour’s Art Squad is internationally renowned installation artist Craig Walsh, curating a mind-bending batch of no-filter-needed moments from the second you hit the ground. Imagine an inflatable resting-bitch-face Kanye that needs your help to turn his frown upside down, prolific projections, monumental sculptures and interactive installations that trade in death and the afterlife.

Barcelona based art group Hungry Castle, featuring Dave Glass, create big, playful public art and are responsible for the formidable Mr Poopie at Splendour 2016. After exhibiting all around the Globe, they return to Australia with the 10m high inflatable Sad Kanye. After pondering why Kanye always has such a resting bitch-face, they want the public’s help to cheer him up. What can you put inside Sad Kanye to make him happy?

Pickle’s Funeral Parlour by Andy Forbes (A Tent of Miracles production).

Presented by performance and installation artist Andy Forbes, Pickle’s Funeral Parlour is a House of Horror audience walk-through featuring theatre, video, sound, performance, kinetic sculpture and installation. Let Gothic family, the Pickle’s, share with you all they know about death, the afterlife and all its mysteries as you explore three interactive environments. A Splendour mainstay since 2002, Andy captures the spontaneity and alchemy that occurs between artist and audience by blending raw comedy with satire on pop culture.

Optical Oval – Op art, Conceptual art and Minimalism.

Optical Oval is a site-specific projection installation of geometric designs that will be displayed across the Mix-Up stage grounds. The projected images are newly developed life-size optical designs and mazes, free for punters to explore. From a distance, they will look visually stunning. Up close they’ll offer up a new level of engagement for the audience. The ground will be transformed in a temporal installation playing with space and perception, drawing upon the traditions of Op art, Conceptual art and Minimalism – by artists Projection Takin, Nick Asides & Rose Staff.

Gateway, by Sam Songailo.

Artist Sam Songailo’s work takes form in painting, installation, video, sound and sculpture. Influenced by digital technology and electronic music, Sam adopts algorithms and the concepts from these disciplines to shape his approach to both physical and pictorial space. Highly immersive and realised on a monumental scale, Sam’s work accentuates the compositional elements of line and space in a form that recalls both the modernist grid and digital networks.

The Arch Tunnel Response returns! This site-responsive painting by Melbourne artist Ash Keating, was commissioned especially for the entrance tunnel to the Splendour in the Grass site to be exhibited over a three-year period. This project continues an ongoing investigation of site-specificity by the artist, the process guided instinctively by the shape and architecture of the tunnel itself.

SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS 2017
Friday 21 July, Saturday 22 July and Sunday 23 July
North Byron Parklands
Tweed Valley Way, Wooyung (15 mins north of Byron Bay)
splendourinthegrass.com

SOLD OUT

THE XX • QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE • LCD SOUNDSYSTEM • ROYAL BLOOD • HAIM • SIGUR RÓS • SCHOOLBOY Q (ONLY AUS SHOW) • VANCE JOY • TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB • PEKING DUK • RL GRIME • BONOBO • FATHER JOHN MISTY • CATFISH AND THE BOTTLEMEN • TASH SULTANA • PAUL KELLY • STORMZY • KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD • PEKING DUK • FUTURE ISLANDS (ONLY AUS SHOW)  • BANKS • BERNARD FANNING • DUNE RATS • CUT COPY • ÁSGIER • ALLDAY • MEG MAC • RAG‘N’BONE MAN • THUNDAMENTALS • LIL YACHTY • SAN CISCO • CLIENT LIAISON • REAL ESTATE • DAN SULTAN • VALLIS ALPS • D.D DUMBO • MAGGIE ROGERS • TOVE LO • POND • BIG SCARY • THE SMITH STREET BAND • OH WONDER • A.B. ORIGINAL • DOPE LEMON • THE KITE STRING TANGLE • YOUNG FRANCO • JULIA JACKLIN • KINGSWOOD • AMY SHARK • LUCA BRASI • THE LEMON TWIGS • VERA BLUE • SLUMBERJACK • BAD//DREEMS • BAG RAIDERS • TOPAZ JONES • MIDDLE KIDS • OCEAN GROVE • CONFIDENCE MAN • BISHOP BRIGGS • LATE NITE TUFF GUY • JULIEN BAKER • KILTER • LANY • HOCKEY DAD • KIRIN J CALLINAN • AIRLING • COSMO’S MIDNIGHT • GRETTA RAY • MOONBASE • THE PEEP TEMPEL • TORNADO WALLACE • THE MURLOCS • MALLRAT • LUKE MILLION • THE WILSON PICKERS • ROMARE • JARROW • GOOD BOY • KUREN • ONEMAN • WINSTON SURFSHIRT • SET MO • HWLS • HARVEY SUTHERLAND & BERMUDA • CC:DISCO! • ENSCHWAY • DJHMC • NITE FLEIT • ALICE IVY • WILLOW BEATS • WILLARIS. K • MOOKHI • TRIPLE J UNEARTHED:  WINNERS PLUS… SWINDAIL • DENA AMY • ANDY GARVEY • PLANÈTE • SAM WESTON • SUPER CRUEL • CHRISTOPHER PORT • LEWIS CANCUT • KINDER

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