A Students First Home

After three months of living out of home for the first time there are a few things I have learnt about myself and the people around me.
It's been three months now and it definitely hasn't been the amazing experience I expected it to be. Although I am living in a wonderful apartment in a beautiful city, there have been a number of areas of my life that have interfered with the independent, wild and fabulous lifestyle I envisioned.
I moved cities and away from my family. Despite having travelled and spending over a month away from my family it's a completely different thing being away from them permanently. I manage to visit home once a week and just being there is calming yet emotional. I love being at home with my family on the farm. It's an escape from everything else in the world and my family really are wonderful and amazing people. Although I always knew this, it has taken me moving away to really appreciate it. I miss home so much and have never felt lonelier. I never considered myself a lonely person; I like being alone and doing things on my own. But now that I am actually alone, I look forward to the moments spent with family and friends.
I don't, however, live alone. I do have a roommate. She has been a dear friend of mine since we were 14. I thought I knew her well but you never really know someone until you live with them. Despite promises of partying and meeting all her great friends in this new and amazing city, it became very clear very quickly that she was well established in her own life here without much room for me. Of course I am understanding of this and am aware of the need to establish my own life but it's easier said than done.
At first I was on cloud nine in my new apartment but for a number of weeks not too long ago I spent a lot of time in bed crying. I had lost track of my goals and just became obsessed with the little things (like cooking and cleaning).
I believe this also had a lot to do with the sh*tty job I was working. It was a job I liked doing but with awful hours and horrible management. It was an extremely unpleasant workplace and also meant I never had time to see anyone. First world problems, I know, but it really effected a lot of different aspects of my life and particularly my happiness.
The up-side of living out of home is the obvious benefit of not having to check in with your parents or run things by them; you can go anywhere and do anything whenever you like. I'm also enjoying the domestic side of things. I like going grocery shopping and being able to buy the food that I want for me. I like cooking dinner every night based on what I feel like and watching whatever I want on TV at whatever hour I feel like. It is freedom. But with freedom comes loneliness. And for me, with loneliness comes sadness and self-pity.
At present, I have found a new job and am eagerly awaiting commencement. I have made a few good friends in this new city and am trying to regain focus of my goals and passions.
If I were to give any advice to anyone moving out of home for the first time, it would be to keep your family close. Even though you're most likely moving out to be away from them and have your own space, sometimes that space can be sickening and it's good to know they're always there if you really need them. It's also good to learn how to store food correctly because cooking for one is hard!

Brisbane Music Venues: New And Different

If you’ve hit the streets of Fortitude Valley recently you may have taken a stroll past Foundry Records on Wickham Street next to the iconic The Elephant hotel.

What you might not know is that Foundry Records is an extension of Brisbane’s latest music venue The Foundry.

This trend of business amalgamation among Brisbane music venues is on the rise and can also be seen at The Triffid with its inclusion of The Café and Beergarden.

Founder of City and Sound, Leith Jacobs, has observed this growing trend and puts it down to clever business.

“Venues such as The Foundry and The Triffid are fairly new and I think they knew that being another square room with a bar and big speakers wasn't going to cut it.

“The inclusion of extra features like cafes and record shops that run during the day is a well thought-out one, I think, and is due in part to the experienced teams behind each venue,” said Jacobs.

Jacobs goes on to recall a number of Brisbane music venues that had to face closure recently and believes that including other forms of business allows venue owners to rely on other streams of income.

“Live music is a niche in Brisbane when compared to the club scene and having other streams of revenue is a safer bet for music venues,” he said.

The Foundry is one of Brisbane’s newer music venues to open its doors and also includes Foundry Studios and Foundry Records.

Venue booker at The Foundry, Patrick Balfe, says the decision to include Foundry Records was to fill a space in the venue.

“We had a spare space on street level below the venue and there wasn’t a lot of places to get good coffee on our street,” says Balfe.

Martine Cotton, manager of Foundry Records, agrees with this and adds that there was more importantly a void to fill in Fortitude Valley, “the space was created to fill something of a void in the Valley; a place for music people to hang during the day, having meetings, listening to music and supporting local bands,” he says.

Supporting local musicians and bands has always been a mantra of Fortitude Valley music venues.

The inclusion of Foundry Records at The Foundry encourages this supportive environment for the community.

“It helps builds a sense of collaborative community for the music industry,” says Cotton.

“The whole building is a collaborative hub – all our residents, bands and friends get a chance to bounce ideas off each other, work together, hang out and see live music,” agrees Balfe.

From a business perspective Balfe says that opening a record and coffee shop during the day promotes the venue as well as giving people a collaborative space in Fortitude Valley.

“It was also a good way to spread awareness of the venue during the day and have a chilled out space for people to have meetings and listen to records,” he said.

Brisbane musician, Kurt Pitman, says that these kinds of venues “simply help the most important thing which is crowd numbers”.

Although positive about the opening of new venues, Pitman is worried that these venues may be attracting patrons who aren’t there to appreciate live music.

“I think it depends on the physical integration of the spaces,” says Pitman.

“If, for instance, the place has a bar and dining area that is part of the music venue then that’s really only a positive as patrons of one are patrons of both.

“But if they are separated it doesn’t really contribute to the music side of things and might even detract as music fans are less likely to go to venues full of people who don’t appreciate live music,” said Pitman.

Jacobs agrees that these additional attractions to the venue will in course attract further patrons but is more positive about the possible turn out, “I think extra services will attract customers who might not otherwise step into that music venue and they might end up stumbling across their new favorite band”.

Although we’re seeing further additions to the traditional idea of Brisbane’s music venues it’s hard to say how long they’ll last.

“More venues ultimately means spreading the audience thinner.

“Those with less business will eventually become unsustainable and the great birth and rebirth of venues will begin again,” said Jacobs.

Maroochy Music And Visual Arts Festival Review

What do you get when 21 bands, 10 DJs, 30 visual artists and 5 bunnies get together on a golf course? The answer, Maroochy Music And Visual Arts Festival, AKA a brilliant cocktail of music and arts.

Upon entering the scene, you are immediately greeted by an array of culinary options ranging from burritos, wood fired pizzas and German sausages to Churros and potato slinkies. Continue past a bunker and you’ll be surrounded by five seven-metre tall illuminated rabbits part of ‘Intrude’ by Amanda Parer.

Not far from here you’ll come across what looks like a lone shipping container. On the inside, however, it’s a mini-gallery belonging to singer/songwriter Bertie Blackman. She exhibited a number of canvases displaying ink and watercolour images of surreal cats and rabbits. Just beside this lay large, colourful cubes showing a variety of murals painted live throughout the day by the likes of Conrad Square, Gus, Jay Beez, Thom Stuart, Fuzeillear and The Zookeeper.

Turn left to exit arts and enter music. The festival featured just one main stage, which meant no clashes, but it also meant half hour breaks between each band. During each break the Ghetto Blaster area showcased a number of DJs throughout the day including Tim Helmy, Elleyet, Toby Walker, DJ Shift-T and Jesswah. The C&O Garden was also occupied between sets by Pilgrims, Gian, Jazzella, Wash, Agnes J Walker and more.

Waax opened up the main stage nice and early at ten AM followed by Marlon Williams, Harts and Hiatus Kaiyote. Following this was Sydney group, One Day, comprised of Horrorshow, Spit Syndicate, Jackie Onassis and Joyride. Although not a group that has been performing together for very long, they had incredible chemistry on stage and seemed well practised. They also just seemed to really enjoy, not only the performance, but their music as well.

Gang Of Youths took the stage afterwards and jumped into an aggressive and intense set – something unexpected. Front man, David Leaupepe, stared down the audience with wild and crazy eyes. He mixed it up every now and then as he attempted to bump and grind his way around the stage and managed to stack it with both grace and sex appeal. David jumped into the audience giving them everything he had. The band experience some minor sound issues near the start of their set but they drew little attention to it and continued on despite the vocal layer being barely audible for their opening song.

Alpine experienced some similar sound difficulties during their set. They couldn’t hear much up on stage and therefore missed the mark in their opening song ‘Crunches’. They went from strength to strength with each song, however, and managed to pull it together performing favourites such as ‘Foolish’ and ‘Damn Baby’. Leading ladies, Phoebe and Lou, were extremely energetic, bright and quirky as hell. 

DZ Deathrays took the stage next and then The Kite String Tangle shifted the mood into the night time hours with a beautiful and mesmerizing set. His silky smooth vocals had the crowd hooked. He brought out crowd favourites like ‘Arcadia’ and brought Dustin Tebbutt up on stage for ‘Illuminate’. He also invited Tiana Khasi on stage with him to perform ‘Stone Cold’. So far The Kite String Tangle performed the stronger set of the day.

Backing it up with another strong set were Flight Facilities. It was hit after hit for Hugo and Jimmy smashing out ‘Crave You’, ‘Sunshine’, ‘Clair De Lune’ and ‘With You’. Kurt Kristen helped them out on stage with his smooth and sexy vocals. Owl Eyes performed a large portion of tracks effortlessly as well. Even when she would giggle or miss a beat, it still sounded good; she could do no wrong. Flight Facilities certainly left the audience on a high.

With a dull half hour break between sets Hermitude were left to pick the crowd back up. Although they performed an engaging set their sound was way too quiet too make much of an impact and their music is best played loud. For two DJs stuck behind a desk, however, they did well. Luke Dubs and Elgusto tried to mix it up a bit and step out in front of the desk but their set-up limited them.  

As the day came to an end it would seem to be a success. Announced as an annual event, it’ll be interesting to see how next year’s festival will differ from this year’s debut event.

MMVAF gallery

One Day

Gang Of Youths

Alpine

The Kite String Tangle

Flight Facilities

Hermitude

Doughnut Time vs. The Doughnut Bar

My first visit to Doughnut Time was after dinner one night in the valley near the beginning of the year. Doughnut's had just come onto the scene as the hot new artisan food. I first heard of the Doughnut Craze when The Doughnut Bar was set to pop-up around Brisbane. 

Upon my first encounter with Doughnut Time, I ordered one Slim Shady, a vanilla glazed doughnut covered in m&m's, and a chocolate glazed doughnut with a peanut butter candy similar to Reece's cups on top - I can't remember the name of it. They were delicious, yet over-rated, but I was most impressed with the actually doughnut itself. It was light and incredibly tasty even without the toppings. 

I returned to Doughnut Time a few months ago and got the Veruca Salt doughnut which was sugar coated with a dollop of delicious salted caramel in the middle - definitely a favourite!. I also got the Tim-Tam doughnut which was chocolate glazed with Tim-Tam pieces on top. I enjoyed them just as much the second time.

I was passing by The Doughnut Bar van on Edward street and decided to give them a try. From the pictures I had seen on social media, it seemed as though their toppings were a lot more impressive than those on the doughnuts at Doughnut Time. On the day I went, they only had the Nutella doughnut and the Golden Gaytime doughnut available, so I grabbed one of each. 

They looked great! The Nutella one had a syringe of Nutella inserted into it's centre where a dollop of Nutella was. It also had a small amount of Nutella filling in it's doughnut centre. The Golden Gaytime doughnut tasted just like a Golden Gaytime (funny that) and had a whipped cream filling. They were both delicious but the actual doughnut was much heavier and similar to a cake texture. Therefore, it was a lot more filling and hard to get through both. 

Although the doughnuts at The Doughnut bar looked great and have wonderful toppings, personally, I prefer the quality of the doughnut itself from Doughnut Time. 

Josh Pyke @ Black Bear Lodge Review

Josh Pyke just completed a short run of 'fans first' shows finishing at Black Bear Lodge in Brisbane on Wednesday night (12 August).

Pyke started his solo show with not a single word and jumped straight into playing his 2007 hit ‘Memories And Dust’. Following up with ‘The Summer’, it became apparent that in this unaccompanied and intimate setting, with nothing but a loop pedal, stomp box and guitar to back him up, Pyke was in his element. 

He effortlessly engaged in banter and conversation with his obviously devoted audience who hung off his every word and sang every song lyric for lyric. Members of the crowd were only able to score a ticket for the show if they pre-ordered his new album, ‘But For All These Shrinking Hearts’, so it was no wonder they were all BIG fans. Pyke knew how to please them though, even taking song requests throughout the night.

In the audience was Bellingen musician Jack Carty, who Pyke invited up on stage for a last minute duet to perform ‘Make You Happy’. Fans lapped it up and welcomed Carty back into the crowd when he finished with hearty slaps on the back and murmurs of congratulations.

Josh and Jack

Pyke showed high attention to detail in adapting some of his songs for a more acoustic style and setting. It was clear he had spent a decent amount of time over the years perfecting his tracks for live performance. With very limited gear on stage, he was able to create multiple layers resulting in a large, warm sound that reached every corner of the room. His vocal performance was spot-on; he hit every note and it seemed so natural for him.

Showcasing a few tracks from his new album, including ‘Be Your Boy’, ‘Songlines’ and ‘Hollering Hearts’, it was evident that Pyke has developed some variety in his songwriting during his ten-year-long career.

With no signs of stopping any time soon, owing it all to his fans, I suspect Pyke has a few more kilometres left in the tank. His music spoke to his audience. It was a moving thing to watch; I thought I was a big Josh Pyke fan but there are clearly many more adoring and devoted fans out there than I. He told stories of his grandparent’s love and childhood memories that the audience enjoyed and connected with. He made a small mistake during his final song that only made the audience love him more for the way he dealt with it.

Pyke was a completely different person on stage Wednesday night to the man I saw play at The Tivoli in 2013. He rarely spoke between songs and seemed so focused back then.
Performing a solo set, compared to the full band set-up in 2013, Pyke was totally at ease and had the audience eating out of the palm of his hand.

To read this whole article, plus more photos from the show, head to Scenestr.

Saturday Fresh Markets

Last Saturday I took a trip to the Farmers Markets at Rocklea.
There is something about being surrounded by fresh fruit, vegetables, flowers and pastries that is food for the soul as well as, well, actual food.

I went in with only $40 in my purse. I had nothing in particular that I wanted but knew I needed a couple of pieces of fruit. I honestly thought I'd have to make a trip to the ATM at some stage during my time there because, knowing me, my eyes would be hungry for all the delicious fresh food around me. I did not, however, have to make that trip.

$40 got me what I needed and more. I started out buying broccoli, bananas and avocados. I later grabbed a loaf of fresh white bread and a fruit and nut loaf; two for $7.00! I found a delightful little deli and got a Mediterranean olive mix - I'm a huge fan of olives, semi dried tomatoes and Fetta cheese etc. I found some super cheap strawberries and got a container of Roma tomatoes (about 15 in the pack) for just $1.50.

At this stage I had a wee bit of money left over and decided to get myself some lunch. I got a pesto chicken crepe with spinach, ricotta and tomato filling. It was so much better than I was expecting!

I usually stop by the flowers on my way out and grab a bunch to take home but there was a freshly squeezed orange juice stand nearby that was tempting me in it's direction. So I used my last remaining change on an orange juice, and you know what? It was probably my best investment of the day. It was SO yummy.

Visiting the Fresh Food Markets for the first time in a long while was a wonderful start to my day which continued with me going to work for the afternoon/night. I hope I can make more of an effort to go more often.

The Grates @ The Triffid Review

Back at it in their hometown, The Grates played to a full house at The Triffid Friday night (7 August).

Opening the night were female duo Pleasure Symbols, with a dark, synth-heavy set. It was painfully beautiful as their monotone droning filled the room and captivated you. With little happening on stage, you still couldn’t look away, perhaps unsure as to whether you liked it or not. Following on from them in complete contrast were Sydney band Straight Arrows. Their set definitely woke you up with their garage-punk-dance music and super-fun high energy.

The Grates made their entrance shortly afterwards clad in all-black with capes and pentagon necklaces. All except lead-lady Patience Hodgson, who sported an orange faux-fur jacket with an eccentric floral collar over a silver jumpsuit finished with tinsel-toed, white ankle-length go-go boots – she definitely stood out.

Opening their set with ’19-20-20’ from their 2006 album, ‘Gravity Won’t Get You High’, had the audience dancing from the get go. They included hits from their newest album, ‘Dream Team’, such as ‘Wild One’ and ‘7-Eleven’, as well as other popular favourites including ‘Turn Me On’, ‘Burn Bridges’ and ‘Aw Yeah’ – all well-known tracks among the audience.

Many people in the crowd had obviously amped up their bizarre style for the night, in tribute to The Grates, sporting fur coats, wigs, fluffy scrunchies and earrings and platform shoes. Someone brought a beach ball that made its way around the room from hand to hand. There was also a blow-up kangaroo floating around here and there and glowsticks getting thrown and passed about as well. The sold-out show had a huge variety of people crammed into the room all singing each song word for word while dancing the night away.

Throughout the night all three bands experienced some feedback interfering with their sets, but it didn’t seem to bother The Grates as they just smashed out hit after hit. Their high energy seeped its way into the tempo causing many songs to be sped up. This was often insignificant and just added liveliness to their already dynamic songs, in some moments, however, you could hear Patience rushing over lyrics to keep up – she never missed a beat though.

Patience threw roses into the audience as she confessed her love for us all over and over again. Her vocal performance was impressive as she jumped around the stage dancing, and even crowd surfing, she was still able to reach every note and produce her strained, yet strong sound with just the right amount of grit. It was the moments between songs when she was talking with the crowd that became a bit grating (pun intended). It often felt a little forced and awkward; I just wanted to hear the next song and keep dancing!

There is no doubt Patience is one of the stronger lead ladies of our generation. Although a mother now, after her display at The Triffid, I don’t see her and The Grates stopping any time soon. They seem to love what they do way too much.

They performed a high energy, fun, enjoyable and quality set.

To see this whole article, plus more photos from the gig, head to Scenestr. 

My New Camera: Samsung NX500

I had been looking at getting a new camera for a long time for a number of reasons.
Firstly, so I can take better quality photos of my products for Kate's Craft Corner without having to get a photographer for photoshoots and using my iPhone in between, and to also take social photographs at the Karalee Tavern - the hotel I work at that family own - without having to pay for a photographer. It would also be a good investment personally as well so I can take better quality photographs while travelling. More importantly though, I recently gained a position at Scenestr and there is a lot of work requiring reviews and photographers. With a new camera, I'm able to get a bit more work out of this if I'm able to do photography as well as review.

So I began searching, but more importantly saving, for the perfect camera. I initially started looking at compact system cameras thinking it might be better to get something smaller so I can transport it a little easier. I also just really liked the look of them - they're quite high-tech but kind of vintage looking. I knew, however, that the look of a camera wasn't enough reason to purchase. I did a little searching and research and decided I liked the Olympus OM-D E-M5 best.

After a little more thinking, I thought, "to hell with it! why not get a full kit?"So I started looking at DSLRs. After a bit of research and talking to some friends, I decided on the Canon 1000D. The 1000D is the top camera of Canon's starter level digital SLRs and is recommended for first time digital SLR users who want quality photography - it sounded perfect.

But I still wasn't sure on which camera I liked more.
So I decided to go in-store and talk to a professional and see what they thought.

I told the gentleman there which cameras I had been looking at and why. He agreed they were both great cameras but had another in mind for me. He suggested the Samsung NX500.

I was immediately taken by it's moveable touch-screen and vintage look. It's a whopping 28 megapixels with 4K and UHD video! It can connect to wifi and can share photos straight to my smartphone via bluetooth. The salesman actually owned this camera himself. He said that after three weeks of him playing around with it in-store he bought it and abandoned his old DSLR kit. He said it does everything a DSLR can do but is lighter, smaller and easier to use. So after a little thinking while I browsed the CDs, I decided I was SOLD, and went ahead with the purchase. Better yet, it comes with it's own little flash and the lens was included in a package price, so I didn't have to break the bank in buying all the accessories.

The NX500 is quite automatic so there wasn't a lot for me to learn. I was a little anxious about getting a DSLR thinking it might take two years to learn to use! The Samsung NX500, however, is very simple to use. You can see a few of the photos I've taken with it in my previous blog posts. I'm happy with how they've turned out. None of them are edited or anything and I think they look good. I'm so happy with how easy this camera is for me to use and how wonderful the shots I'm getting are. It's also great for me to be able to transfer them straight to my phone and post them to social media instantly.

Now I just have to get plenty of practise and learn how to use Lightroom!

SITG Pre-party @ The Triffid

To kick off the Splendour In The Grass weekend festivities, Brisbane hosted one of two pre-parties at The Triffid last Thursday night, featuring The Dandy Warhols, Last Dinosaurs, Dune Rats and Circa Waves.

As with any night at The Triffid it starts with one of their signature Triffid Burgers and a beverage outside in the beer garden while waiting for doors to open. Once inside, we were first greeted by Liverpool band, Circa Waves, who started the night with a bang. They started to a room of about 20 people, but by their second song, the room was quickly filling. By their fourth song, I doubt there was a space left. Although jetlagged, Circa Waves produced a high-energy set, which proved to be a strong and impressive start to the night. They included hits from their new album, ‘Young Chasers’, including ‘Fossils’, ‘T-shirt Weather’, ‘Get Away’ and more - performed effortlessly.

 Following Circa Waves were Dune Rats. They were very pleased to be playing at home in Brisbane again. Dune Rats were definitely the contrasting performers of the night but were popular among the crowd. They were extremely high energy and I thought at some stage Brett Jansch (bass/vocals) was definitely going to break his neck from excessive head banging. Frontman, Danny Beusa (guitar/vocals) really embraced his crazy on stage with bulging eyes and even kicking the AV guy and spitting on the guitar tech. Although their set was nowhere near perfect and they experienced a brief technical issue with the lead guitar, their high spirits and energy was infectious. It was hard not to enjoy their set.

Last Dinosaurs took the stage after Dune Rats and performed a precise and polished set comprised of a mixture of songs, including ‘Zoom’, ‘Honolulu’, their new track ‘Evie’ as well as a standout cover medley of Spiller’s ‘Groovejet’ and Modjo’s ‘Lady’ that had everyone grooving along with them. Although their set was a somewhat subdued segment of the night, their talent displayed on stage made you stand back and watch as they played intricate riffs and rhythms. Youthful and dedicated, these tidy hipsters have a lot to look forward to after their second album release this year.

At this point in the night the audience could wait no longer; it was time for The Dandy Warhols. You could feel the anticipation in the room as the crowd whistled at every false-alarm-roadie that walked on stage as they waited for The Dandys to make their appearance.

The Dandy Warhols started their set heavy and deep with opening track ‘Be In’ but brought out popular favourites ‘We Used To Be Friends’, ‘Get Off’, ‘The Last High’ and ‘Bohemian Like You’ later on in the set which, surely enough, had the crowd hooked and going off. The Dandy Warhols are what I would describe as a band of moments. There were moments of reflection and surrealism, moments of depth and emotion, as well as plenty of moments of elation, fun and happiness all rolled into one short set. With a collection of material that dates back to 1995, you can expect The Dandy Warhols to take you on a journey as they play snippets of their timeless catalogue.

Courtney Taylor-Taylor (guitar/vocals) sported his signature pigtails and said very little, other than thank-you, throughout the set but still managed to have the audience hanging off his every sung lyric. It was amazing to see how much these guys seem to still enjoy doing what they’re doing. This was most evident on the face of drummer Brent DeBoer as he smiled his way through each track. Peter Holmstrom (guitar) performed flawlessly and pulled out the usual too-cool rock star moves. For anyone that has seen The Dandy Warhols live before, I don’t think I need say more about Zia McCabe (keys/bass/percussion), but if you’re wondering, yes, she’s still got it!

The night may have ended abruptly and a little prematurely but it definitely gave the audience a taste of what they might be seeing, or in some cases, missing out on, at Splendour at the weekend.

If the pre-party was any indication to what you might have experienced at Splendour In The Grass at Byron Bay, minus the mud, I'm very jealous!

To see this whole article, more photos from the gig, and a bunch more info on SITG, head to Scenestr.