Musical safari

Musical safari

By Chris Mineral

Drummer and percussionist Ash Davies will showcase his prodigious and ubiquitous skills alongside a great band for his unique Ned Kelly Show this month. 

Playing the Word For Word National Non Fiction Festival at Wordi Youang at Geelong Library and Heritage Centre on November 17, this is a brilliant audio/visual show of the life and times of Australia’s most famous bushranger.

The show is presented with the late Ian Jones’ historically accurate narration, performed by Derek Guille and accompanied by a five-piece band featuring Monique DiMattina, Shannon Bourne, Rosie Westbrook and Michael Lewit. The musical soundtrack, which is emotive and engaging, will be accompanied by archival images from the collection of the State Library of Victoria.

Melbourne Music Week (MMW) 2019 returns for its 10th edition, celebrating Melbourne’s phenomenal musical culture and take place from November 14 to 23. A highlight will be Loose Tooth who will be performing at The Curtin as part of the great Live Music Safari on November 14, where a range of venues across Melbourne will have stacks of bands performing in a night of superb musicianship.

Cherry Bar will be relaunched in the CBD in November at a genuine rock and roll location that will soon be announced. The relaunched Cherry Bar will be a reprise of the late-night rock and roll bar that was much loved at ACDC Lane. One feature of Cherry Bar that is bound to return will be the Sunday Arvo Blues sessions that feature great bands and musicians every month such as The Heinous Hounds, Phil Para Band and Three Kings. Its world-famous soul nights on Thursday nights should also feature on the musical menu.

CaseyBEBENEK continue their stellar one track a month release on all digital platforms with their latest album being launched on October 31 at Factory Sessions in Northcote. CaseyBEBENEK is a musical duo (Adam Casey and Julia Bebenek) that performs improvised atmospheric musical soundtracks inspired by nature. 

JP Shilo, the Melbourne muso from The Hungry Ghosts had a great show to launch his album Invisible You at Rocksteady Records, Mitchell House entrancing a packed record store on a Friday night in October. JP Shilo is a deluxe rock and roll funkmaster who is a distant cousin to Tex Perkins. He has played with Rowland S Howard, Blackeyed Susans and had a stellar band performing with him, that included Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth), Cambodian Space Project’s Glenn Lewis, Mick Harvey, Kim Salmon and Enrique Maymi from The Brian Jonestown Massacre. The Rocksteady Records show occurred the night after JP Shilo, the rock and roll ultra-reverb insect, played an electrifying set to a full house at The Spotted Mallard. Invisible You, the debut solo album from JP Shilo is brooding, sparse rock and roll with the vocals front and centre in the mix, as well as laid back guitars and spacious drumming akin to The Dirty Three. 

This year’s Aria Awards will be held on November 27 in Sydney and will be hosted by Guy Sebastian. The event will occur at The Star Event Centre. Paul Kelly has a few nominations across three different categories and his total nomination record is now at 58. The Teskey Brothers have seven nominations. Album of the Year nominees are Dean Lewis for A Place We Knew, Hilltop Hoods for The Great Expanse, RUFUS DU SOL for Solace, The Teskey Brothers for Run Home Slow and Thelma Plum’s Better In Blak. 

Spiderbait are also performing at the Forum Theatre to celebrate their illustrious career with support from Maddy Jane and Moody Beaches. Spiderbait, who are renowned for their great cover of the song Black Betty, will soon be releasing their 7 inch singles collection and one of the feature songs will be the classic Old Man Sam. 

Overdriven fuzzed out Detroit rock influenced guitar rock supremo Penny Ikinger is playing a few shows around Melbourne in November, playing songs from her illustrious catalogue as well as songs from her most recent album Tokyo. On stage with Penny will be Tim Deane on the guitar, Katie Dixon on the bass guitar and Tim O’Shannassy on the drums.

Legendary German duo DAF (Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft) will make their Australian debut in an exclusive show for MMW, performing at Melbourne Town Hall on November 17. Support will be from Total Control and Dark Water.

Gigs/ Shows

Melbourne Music Week 2019: Various venues, November 14-23

The Dandy Warhols: The Forum Theatre, November 3

Spiderbait: Forum Theatre, November 9

Penny Ikinger: The Espy, November 1

Fuzzfest: The Bendigo Hotel, November 16

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