SCOTTY HARMS gets talking with ARCHITECTS drummer DAN SEARLE and both use the word ‘hype’ several times. Is there subliminal treachery afoot? No, not really.

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• Howl launch their self-titled debut EP on Friday Feb 19 at Rosies’ Cubby Hole as part of their Anyone But Us tour.
• Latin Vibe will be playing as a trio when they perform at Gertie’s Bar & Lounge on Saturday Feb 20, playing Latin jazz with the help of Cuban guest percussionist Tanja Hafenstein.
• Fresh from their Good Vibrations appearance on Feb 20, New Jersey natives Naughty By Nature will be making the crowd yell “Hip Hop Hooray” when they appear at Mystique in the Valley for a Brisbane sideshow on Wednesday Feb 24. Tickets for the show go on sale this Friday.
• The Thin Kids are a local supergroup with ironic quotes around the ‘super’ and possibly also the ‘thin’ and the ‘kids’. Members are soulful warbler Edward Guglielmino, hard man of Brisbane letters Everett True, manager/radio personality Margaret Collins and Scotty Regan from The Gin Club. They’ll be playing at The Troubadour on Wednesday Feb 24, which may actually be their first gig ever, and on Saturday Feb 27 with the Mapletons.
• When Orbital play Family on Wednesday Feb 24 they’ll be supported by locals Tim Fuchs, opening the night, Cosmo Cater, warming up the stage for the main course, and Scott Walker keeping things going until five in the am.
• Formed in the richly diverse locale of Budapest, Hungary, Bobby Bass Ewing and Rapper G originally hail from Big D, Texas – and together they form the USA Kings. Plying a subgenre of breakcore-mash-up known as dancecore, they bring their 200-300bpm tracks to The Step Inn on Friday Feb 26. Recent 7-inch launcher Sweet Dreams supports, alongside Potato Masta, Loose Grip and select DJs. It’s $9 on the door from 8.30pm.
• To raise money for Qpunx Magazine there will be a fundraiser at the Jubilee on Saturday Feb 27. On the line-up will be The Quickening, No Credit, The Molotov, Soars, Sled, Forefold, Dementia 13, Align, The Lost Cause, The Lost Arcade, Trust And Fall, Castaway, The Kombi Killers, Fire Driver and DMS. Tickets are $15 and the first 50 will get a free compilation CD. Doors open at 1.30pm.
• Queenslanders The Medics have a second EP ready and it’s named This Boat We Call Love. To celebrate it they’re initiating an East Coast tour, which includes taking in The Troubadour on Thursday Mar 4.
• Placing his stand-up comedy career on hold, Kiwi Sterling Silver turned busker and songwriter, and eventually wrote and recorded a debut EP reminiscent of Beatlesque melodies in the Neil Finn and Bic Runga vein. He headlines a show in his adoptive city, Brisbane, when he plays The Troubadour on Sunday Mar 7.
• Texas Tea have a new release coming out, a limited-edition collection of rarities on vinyl. They’ll be launching it at The Troubadour on Friday Mar 12 and Bon Amici on Saturday Mar 13. Silver City Highway and Ben Salter support.
• As part of the Waxing Lyrical sessions at Brisbane’s Powerhouse, The Holy Sea frontman Henry F Skerritt will be playing on Saturday Mar 13. Fans of the band will have to wait for their album, Ghosts Of The Horizon, which has been delayed until late September.
• Country punk Dick Desert and burlesque sweethearts The Judy Dolls play at Ric’s on Friday Mar 19.
• Henry Manetta And The Trip bring their soul-jazz-funk and a blend of originals and reworked classics to The Brisbane Jazz Club on Saturday Mar 27. Doors open at 7.30pm.
• Returning for the first time since their first visit to Australia in 2008, Baltimore’s Ruiner will be playing Shed 5 in Burleigh Heads on Saturday Apr 24 and Billionaire at Rosie’s on Sunday Apr 25. Tickets are available through OzTix.

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• Sadly, My Chemical Romance have pulled out of the rapidly-approaching Soundwave – frontman Gerard Way’s vocal chords are playing up. But as something of a salve, Arizona’s Jimmy Eat World will be playing instead! Don’t forget, you can still grab tickets from Soundwave or Ticket for $155+bf for the RNA-hosted event, happening on Saturday Feb 20.
• As The Club House at The Empire no longer exists, so The Club House at (the old) Valley Studios rises from the ashes. As such, Jonathan Boulet’s Saturday Mar 13 show now happens at the old 610. (Someone should really keep tabs on Brisbane’s ceaseless name-changing venues.)

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After wowing audiences at Woodford’s Folk Festival and Byron Bay’s Bluesfest, Mama Kin (pictured), plays The Zoo on Friday Feb 12 in support of Jackson Jackson. Head along for an intimate club show, with tickets available through all regular outlets for $25+bf, or $32 on the door.

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QPAC Lyric Theatre - Tue Feb 2

OK, so the debate is a valid one among diehards of California’s most evocative soundtrackers – can any combo without the presence of sonic architect Brian Wilson call itself The Beach Boys? But to the audiences who pack out the Lyric Theatre over two nights, this is a minor-to-non-existent point. As long as Mike Love, Bruce Johnston and hired musos pull off the harmonies, as long as the marriage of surf hits and strings is successful, and as long as they play Barbara Ann, it’s all good to the man and woman in the street.

The controversial Mike Love helms this incarnation of the Boys and reading the accompanying tour program, you’d think he was the group’s real visionary. That said, as a pure entertainer, he’s not a bad guy to spend two hours with – Love has a deadpan sense of humour and can’t resist good natured pokes at Bruce Johnston’s Grammy win for Barry Manilow hit I Write The Songs.

In addition, the line-up pay tribute to Brian Wilson’s harmonic forefathers The Four Freshman in a spine-tingling a cappella version of the near-Gregorian Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring. The orchestra add gravitas to grandiose anthems Heroes And Villains and Good Vibrations, while surf ‘n car hits Don’t Worry Baby, I Get Around, Fun Fun Fun and Surfin’ USA are as clap-along catchy as ever.

The orchestral augmentation also allows the traditionally hits-heavy Mike Love to let through some lesser known gems, such as Disney Girls, The Ballad Of Ol’ Betsy and Pet Sounds album track Here Today. So while this doesn’t come close to the genius that was Brian Wilson and band playing the Smile album, it still proves a darn entertaining night out.

MATT THROWER 

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(Roadrunner/Warner)

Grave-desecrating auteur returns to music

Rob Zombie’s career diversity is staggering. Now, the ex-White Zombie frontman does not only sing about shitty horror movies, but he even finds time, somehow, to write and direct – you guessed it – shitty horror movies (House Of 1000 Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects). As you would expect, the love of B-grade schlock that has defined Rob Zombie’s career ever since White Zombie released Soul-Crusher in 1987 continues on Hellbilly Deluxe 2. Serving as a sequel of sorts to Zombie’s first solo record, 1998’s Hellbilly Deluxe, the new record sees Zombie write some guilty-pleasure, catchy, organ-laced hard rock, that will prove more infectious than you’ll be willing to admit. Single Sick Bubblegum has an anthemic, sleazy industrial vibe that makes it the album’s standout offering. Characterising the groove and power of tracks like Dragula and Living Dead Girl off the first Hellbilly Deluxe record, Sick Bubblegum is like a killer in a horror flick: even your best laid plans to escape from it will fail. Other album highlights include the staccato chorus to the deliriously idiotic Mars Needs Women, where Zombie chants Mars Needs Women/Angry Red Women ad naseam or the Grindhouse trailer-turned-song, Werewolf Women Of The SS. As you would expect the case to be from the man who directed last year’s Halloween 2 movie, Hellbilly Deluxe 2 offers no surprises. If you’re a fan of the genre, you’ll pay the price of admission and be entertained at a highly superficial level for a short amount of time.

***

TOM HERSEY

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