Books Editor. An admirer of songs and reader of books. Simon has a PhD in English and Comparative Literature. All errant apostrophes are his own.
On Saturday night, as storms blew across the city and with lighting carving across the sky, C.W. Stoneking’s national tour came to close with a sold out show at Fremantle Arts Centre. To me it seemed a fitting prelude for an artist as idiosyncratic and otherworldly as Stoneking. Listening to Stoneking is like listening to…
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Photo by Jon Green The Cockatoos is the latest work from writer and director Andrew Hale of Happy Dagger Theatre. Adapted from Nobel Prize winning author Patrick White’s short story The Cockatoos follows the goings on a suburban street in Australia; where under the surface of respectability there are plenty of secrets and dark goings…
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Benjamin & Me is the latest work from writer, director, performer and purveyor of the ukulele, Mark Storen. It’s also the debut show for his new production company Whiskey + Boots. Benjamin & Me is quite simply a feat of storytelling and imagination. A show that is quirky, a little bit silly, but packed full…
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Yesterday in Perth, I got to have breakfast with musician, activist and former government minister Peter Garrett as part of a tour to launch his newly released autobiography Big Blue Sky. OK so technically there was a room full of other people there as well… but still… Staged by WAM in partnership with independent bookstore…
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Ahead of his tour of Australia (which is happening right now), we caught up with Los Angeles based country musician Sam Outlaw to find out a little bit more about his debut album Angeleno (a favourite of mine), working with legendary musician and producer Ry Cooder, not to mention finding out his experiences of touring Australia with Justin…
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With the band soon to arrive in the country for their first ever tour, we caught up with Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance ofJamestown Revival to find out a little bit more about the friends, their new record Utah, and what they might have in store for audiences as they make their way to Australia…
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Perth was a hive of activity this weekend past. There were two football finals; two festivals, Wave Rock Weekender and Listen Out Festival, plus the usual selection of weekend gigs. Saturday night also saw Icelandic techno duo Kiasmos play their first West Australian show at The Rosemount Hotel. Thanks in part perhaps to the late…
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‘The Beautiful Game’ is a well worn cliché that is off trotted out when talking about football. It seems to be the best you need to not only have tactical know how; but also have some fleet and fancy footwork and an array of tricks to outwit the opposing team’s defenders – I’m thinking your…
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Ahead of the release of his new retrospective live record From The Violent Banks Of The Kaaterskill we caught up with American singer-songwriter Simone Felice to discover a little bit more about the recording of the album; just how you decide what to include from ten years worth of songs; and we chat a little…
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After a couple of regional shows down in Western Australia’s South West, The Rubens national tour, in support of their new record Hoops, hit Perth over the weekend for a sold out show at the Astor Theatre. Joining the group on tour and kicking off the evening’s proceedings were Central Coast folk duo Winterbourne. I’ve…
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Perth Concert Hall, normally home to the likes of Schubert and Beethoven, was transformed into Perth’s largest and grandest folk club on Tuesday night for the return of hometown favourites The Waifs as they continued the West Coast leg of their national tour in support of new record Beautiful You. There was wolf whistling, mass…
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Between Solar Systems is the latest work from emerging Perth theatre group Second Chance Theatre. Written and directed by Scott McArdle the play centres on the actions of Vincent, the sole survivor of Earth’s cataclysmic sea level rise, or is he? I’m going to try and get through this review without giving away too many…
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Following the release of new record Beautiful You and as they kick off their national tour in support of that record, we caught up with Vikki Thorn; one third of folk-rock band The Waifs. With the west coast leg of the tour now well and truly under way we found a little bit more about…
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Ahead of the launch of his latest play Between Solar Systems, we caught up with writer and director Scott McArdle to find out a little bit more about the new play from his company Second Chance Theatre; and we couldn’t resist asking Scott for his favourite Science Fiction films or shows whilst we were at…
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Sunday evening saw Joshua Radin kick off his Australian tour with an intimate gig at Perth’s Rosemount Hotel. It might have been a Sunday night and it might have been father’s day but that didn’t stop a sizeable crowd come out for Radin’s first ever gig in Perth; “the chillest place on earth” apparently. Opening…
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Perpetual Motion People the latest record from Chicago native and singer-songwriter Ezra Furman is his fifth release, and his first record since signing to Bella Union. It also happens to probably be my favourite record this year to date. It’s a wondrous mishmash of genres and styles, delivered urgently and overflowing with dazzling hooks, guitar…
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Latitudes is the new play from emerging Perth theatre group The Lost Boys, and marks the debut theatrical work from acclaimed screenwriter, film maker and musician Mark Walsh. Directed by Mikala Westall it is a work suffused with ideas of memory and of forgetting. An at times clever, meditative and mesmerising piece Latitudes has ensured…
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Refugees, asylum seekers and broader immigration have long dominated headlines and political slogans from all parties within Australia, and more recently abroad in Europe and the UK. For many people it is a polarising issue, for Perth theatre group The Last Great Hunt it provided the starting point for new work All That Glitters. A…
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Of all of Shakespeare’s works, Hamlet is perhaps his most oft-performed and perhaps most recognised (of the tragedies at least). Indeed as I write this review; a version of the play with Benedict Cumberbatch playing the titular anti-hero is in previews and dominating news headlines back in the UK and beyond. Hamlet is also my…
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Ahead of their September tour alongside Australian favourites The Smith Street Band, we catch up with Ohio’s The Sidekicks to find out a little bit more about their new record Runners in the Nerved World, working with Phil Ek and what they have planned for when they hit Australia next month. What was the inspiration…
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Kitty Daisy & Lewis captured by Carl Dziunka. Perth, being the most isolated capital city tends to find itself playing host to a lot touring bands playing their final shows of any given tour; especially if they’re in the country for Splendour. This can generally lead to some pretty interesting shows, in some cases the…
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Photo Credit: Stuart Sevastos. Thursday evening saw Death Cab for Cutie play the final show of their Australian tour, their first since 2012, at Perth’s Metro City. An event that saw certain OC memes flood social media in the days and weeks running up to the gig. Bit of a big disclosure right from the…
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We caught up with Steve Kilbey, frontman of iconic Australian band The Church, following their recent Australian tour in support of new album Further/Deeper. Billed to play the Small World Festival in Sydney in September, and just about to head out on tour in the States, we found out a little bit more about their…
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Photo Credit: Stuart Sevastos It had been 18 years between visits for Blur when they played Perth Arena on Thursday night, or as frontman Damon Albarn aptly put it, “It’s been a while… A generation”. I was mulling this over at the gig and I realised that the last time Blur played Perth in 1997,…
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Songbird, presented as part of NAIDOC week, is the sophomore production from local theatre group Imprint Productions, and the final production in the current season at Perth’s Blue Room Theatre. Written by Shakara Walley, directed by Ian Wilkes and featuring live music, Songbird tells the story, of three young indigenous people and their fracturing relationships….
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Thursday night, with the weather outside bleak and wintery and with drizzle pattering on the tin roof, Perth singer-songwriter Riley Pearce played an intimate show at the Blinco Street Café, the first of a series of shows across Perth with visiting Sydney muso Dylan Wright. In hindsight I don’t think I could have picked a…
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Fracture, the penultimate work in the current season at Perth’s Blue Room Theatre, is the first work from emerging playwright and WAAPA student Lucy Clements. Directed by the ubiquitous Joe Lui, Fracture examines the aftermath of familial trauma and the isolation that can result from grief. It’s been roughly twenty-four hours since I stepped out…
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He’s not the Messiah, he’s a very naughty boy! Or rather more accurately in this case, he’s a neurotic actor, with just the right sized nose and a slight drinking problem; tasked by the Ancient Israeli equivalent of Don Draper, with spreading the word of this new fangled religion – Christianity. If you haven’t already…
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Youth, released next week, is the first album released by Nashville’s Chase Coy under his own name since 2011. He hasn’t been sitting idle however, since then he has released music under two different pseudonyms Sun Culture and as Third and Union. He has also spent plenty of time garnering co-writing credits, and working behind…
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Fresh from his crowd pleasing appearance on ABC’s Q&A, American philosopher and activist Cornel West appeared at The Astor Theatre in Perth for the first of a series of lectures around Australia, speaking primarily about race relations and the forced closures of aboriginal communities. Over the course of his career West has been a regular…
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