Blog — Page 20 of 282

Ska-Punk legends, Save Ferris, recently skanked through a lively set in Pomona at The Glass House. The band ripped through songs spanning their career as well as covers, including Sublime's "Santeria" and of course their classic rendition of Dexys Midnight Runners' "Come On Eileen." Check out our gallery of photos below.

Darkness
The Newtown Library
Sydney, Australia
04 February 2023

Opulently decked out with eclectically curious, gothic-tinged brick-a-brac and restaurated into a venue that swallows ye who dares to enter, Newtown’s heritage listed Library proves to be a locale par excellence for a drama that is inspired by an event in 1816, which saw five protagonists holed up within the confines of the Villa Diodati adjacent Lake Geneva.

Overshadowed by a crisis brought about by one of the largest volcanic events in the history of mankind with implications reminiscent of what we are grappling with in the current day and age, the group of five decides to kill time by each spinning a spooky yarn imbued with inherent truths yet spun from fantastic and morbidly gripping vantage points.

Set in scene in a 360 degree site-specific way that engages the audience from all angles, Darkness embodies the DNA of an immersive experience, which is only further accentuated by how playwright Andrew Bovell connects themes of the past with the present to then project them forward, thereby increasing their intensity manifold.

Dramaturgically excelling with the portrayal of the depths and complexities the emotional worlds of the protagonists harbour and further enhanced by carefully calibrated atmospheric lighting and foreboding sound effects, one cannot help but be transported into an alternative universe at the crux of existentialism, love and death.

Allowing the audience to hang out at The Library’s otherworldly bar to further contemplate and reflect after the performance on the need to be, Darkness is a vibe situated somewhere between the all too familiar universal questions and the unknown.

The Formative Years – Marginal Man

Marginal Man were a five piece hardcore punk band from Washington DC that rose from the ashes of Artificial Peace’s breakup, whose emissions were more on the rudimentary end of the spectrum, and one of the first hardcore bands from the DC scene that featured two guitars.

Marginal Man’s their first LP, "Identity" was released on Dischord Records in March 1984 and while getting exposure and appreciation, remains one of the more underappreciated and overlooked records in hardcore punk history. 

Marginal Man combined the unbridled, raw energy of bands like Minor Threat and Crucifix and paired it with varying artistic influences of Dead Kennedys, straddling the line between the aggressive style of first-wave ferocious hardcore and the more melodic, thereby providing fertile ground for slow grinding emotional struggles that records like Black Flag’s My War riffed on long before “emo” became a thing.

Marginal Man’s Identity album, the primary theme of which is the existential quest for one’s purpose and place in society, stands out from Dischord Records’ flawless discography in that it captures the imagination and wiry agility of hardcore punk yet pulls back to delve into more refined realms substantiated with unrivalled melodic sensibilities and incredible guitar work that was way ahead of its time.

The Formative Years – Trio

Neue Deutsche Welle not merely dominated my youth but my childhood as when it first emerged, much to my delight it was omnipresent both on mainstream radio and TV.

Trio was a German, formed in the town of Großenkneten in 1979 and three years later they created a world hit with what became their signature and most memorable song, i.e. "Da Da Da".

What resonated instantaneously with me was not merely the primal, stripped down nature of Trio’s songs, devoid or any ornamental flourishings but their strange sense of humour and their quirky, Dadaistic appearances on prime time TV with the lead singer, droll voiced Stephan Remmler, playing pre-programmed simplistic ditties on a Casio keyboard backed by the disinterested drummer playing simple beer garden rhythms singlehanded while eating an apple with the other one. 

Essentially, Trio presented a deconstructed version of rock’n roll and with their idiosyncratic personalities appeared otherworldly doing so. 

Depending on your point of view, it could be classified as highly conceptual performance art or alternatively as nonsensical minimalism reminiscent of the Plastic Ono band – a comparison that is given a further dimension by the fact that their overlooked classic first record was produced by Beatles collaborator and ex-Manfred Mann bassist Klaus Voormann.

Trio’ first album is essential for anyone interested in late seventies and early eighties new wave with punk, post punk, rockabilly, comical Schlager, reggae and synth pop sensibilities as it managed to artfully merge the aforementioned influences to an explosive melange that while showing appreciation also poked fun at anyone taking the individual genres too seriously.

A unique, fun and essential album.

Water of Life – Bakery Hill MMXXIII

If you happen to even remotely follow this series, you could not be blamed for finding the sheer range of activity within the confines of the Australian distillery landscape overwhelming, especially given the large number of new entities popping up on the radar on a regular basis and the exponential increase in international accolades being bestowed on them.

While there is merit in innovation and the creation of new products along with the inevitable declamatory noise via social media channels, there are distilleries that just seem to have gotten it right from the start.  Focussing their efforts on finetuning their craft centred around the creation of meticulously distilled drops, they let their liquid emissions speak for themselves.

One of those distilleries is Bakery Hill.

Having incarnated twenty-three years ago and thereby being one of the oldest distilleries on the mainland that is terra australis, what was originally founded by David Baker in the Eastern part of Melbourne has established itself as a widely esteemed, veritable heavyweight internationally based on the father / son duo’s long-term vision, product development and trust in the process.

My first exposure to Bakery Hill was via their core expression, i.e. the Classic Single Malt. 

Clocking in at 46% ABV, I vividly remember how immensely more-ish I found what tasted like a lighter style of a malt centred expression, with delicate nuances of drying oak and spices enriching the finish.

Needless to say, being a hopeless Islay head, I fell head over heels for Bakery Hill’s defiantly peated Sovereign Smoke expression, which as the telling name suggests, rules supreme in the realm of deliciously phenolic and bonfire goodness.

What I found interesting about Bakery Hill’s approach, apart from them doing their own milling, was their focus on American oak ex-bourbon casks instead of an over reliance on wine casks and longer maturation periods compared to other Australian contemporaries, which results in cleaner, undiluted from overly tannic flavour profiles with the limelight set on the malt.

Having perfectioned its core portfolio, Bakery Hill’s special releases are never not a special treat and it took until 2023 that I finally got a hold of the much fabled about Blunderbuss 2022 expression.

If you follow our “Thus Let Us Drink Beer” series, you would be familiar with Hop Nation’s Imperial Stout beer that goes under the moniker of The Kalash, the flavour profile of which is informed by having spent significant time in Bakery Hill barrels. 

Now that the barrels have been returned, Bakery Hill in turn refilled them with their six year old Bakery Hill Classic whisky. 

With a powerful ABV of 58%, this little number proves to be an example par excellence for a dense complex tour de force: Aromas of dark chocolate and coffee with highlights of orange peel tickle the nostrils, before honeyed stout flavours flanked by a natural ocean taste materialize on the top of the mouth. 

The finish is an elongated affair, meandering between savoury and sweet terrains, eliciting a Pavlovian reaction.

Beautiful.

Given all of the aforementioned, it would be highly concerning if I did not love Bakery Hill’s vibrant Peated Double Wood expression: Having undergone a maturation period of five years in American oak before seeking further refinement in fifty litre French Oak barrels, earthy peat aromas lure one in.

On the palate, smoky peat serves as the foundation on which tobacco and floral citrus notes dance against a backdrop of oaked sweetness. The long and elegant finish rounds things out with spirit driven reverberations.

Things get interesting with the High Seas expression as it is the result of what commenced twelve years ago when a barrel of Scottish whisky was sent across to the Southern hemisphere to be decanted and filled with Bakery Hill’s peated single malt.

The amber coloured drop brims with maritime aromas and flavour-wise navigates around chocolate milky caramel territory, candy and clove flavour notes reminiscent of honey and rum. The finish culminates in the delicate and balanced marriage of peat and vanilla without either constituent overpowering the other.

Finally, I was lucky enough to sample a dram of one of Bakery Hill’s future releases, i.e., Muscat Cask, which as the name suggests, after maturation in the American oak ex-bourbon casks spent a year in ex-Yarra Valley Muscat Casks before being returned to American oak again.

The result does not disappoint: With vanilla, cinnamon and apples prominent on the nose, a multi-layered tapestry of rich dark fruits and cocoa is unveiled to culminate in a crescendo of rich, oaky spicy highlights.

Despite being pronounced on the flavour front, I like the subtle sweetness and lingering hints of muscat of the finish. Another winner that will hopefully see the light of day sooner than later.