So back in March, a bunch of Ivy League bands hit the USA to peddle their wares at the annual BBQ + music fest, South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. There was laughter, joy and maybe even a few tears as lives were changed FOREVER. OK, that might be a slight exaggeration, but hey, everyone had fun, played awesome sets + saw some cool bands. Unfortunately we may or may not have left one band behind. Youth Group were last seen in New York City eating pastrami on rye + playing sold-out shows at Pianos. We hope they find their way home at some point…
Here is some photographic evidence, albeit not of the highest photographic quality, of Ivy League at SXSW:
YOUTH GROUP PLAYED A SHOW
Actually, they played quite a few shows, and wow, they played them well. This is them playing at a Chop Shop Music showcase. It was the last night of SXSW so there was much party-time fun after this show, including a killer drunk + disorderly set by And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead at a SPIN mag party. That’s a pic of them below. A very small pic.
JAMES MATHIESON VS TOBY + DANNY
Grizzly Bear played an amazing show in a church. It was a very popular show so there was a very long line to get in. Certain Ivy Leaguers may or may not have jumped said queue to stand in front of James Mathieson. Thanks James. He then did an interview for Nova with Toby + Danny from Youth Group as everyone queued.
Josh Pyke also took a photo of Toby + Danny being interviewed. Pat from Youth Group was mildly amused.
RED RIDERS ROCKED OUT
This was the guys playing at the Aussie BBQ where all the Ivy League bands showcased alongside other excellent Australian bands like The Drones + My Disco. They also played an odd party where hairdressers were on hand to do hair while people watched bands.
JOSH PYKE HAS INTERESTING FANS
Here’s Josh playing a showcase in a slightly swanky hotel bar. There was an old dude up the front singing along to EVERY song. Funny thing was he didn’t actually know the words. We give him a gold star for effort though.
WHEN GOOD SQUIRRELS GO BAD
When we caught up with our friends The Boat People in Austin, we noticed Robin had a funny scratch on his hand. When he told us that a squirrel attacked him, we scoffed + told him he was dreamin’. Then he showed us this pic:
Apparently in LA, he graciously decided to share some pie with the cute, furry lil guy. Alas, that wasn’t enough for the homicidal creature - it wanted flesh, and took a flying leap towards unsuspecting Robin’s outstretched hand. Impressive… and vicious.
April 22nd, 2009
2009 is looking up for the YG.
2008 had slowly and listlessly divulged its weak hand. In seasons past we were kept busy plucking bounties from corporate and municipal benefactors like fruit-pickers flown-in from the South Seas to orchards unnumbered. At summer music festivals and at spring racing carnivals and at the temporally-variable (but evergreen) council youth events we harvested our tariff. The PA-hire men played pilot fish to our basking sharks. And then last year we sat glumly in our huts (back in the South Seas) forlornly strumming at our ukeleles wishing we hadn’t squandered last year’s remittances. But 2009 is looking up again. If the bald mercantile metaphor of the previous paragraph concerns you with it’s lack of DIY vigour, or infact any pretensions to ideals, then too bad. It helps to remember that, as Thomas Pynchon said, rock n roll remains one of the last honorable callings and a working rock band is a miracle of everyday life. Anything to keep the wheels turning. And, dear reader, I don’t know what you did last Thursday night but Youth Group played a concert in the grounds of a castle in Fremantle. With a sea breeze at our backs. It was alright, as Toby said to the crowd. A miracle of everyday life even.
Our hosts were Death Cab For Cutie. Before soundcheck they spotted us and vainly attempted to ingratiate themselves by making small talk. We rebuffed them of course. Chris Walla was the first to greet us. He’s spent so much time in the studio he could pass for his own, implausibly thin, wax-works’ dummy. He is such a top bloke. They’re all great guys, including buffed-up singer Ben and his inverted-triangle physique. I find his stage banter these days amusingly aggressive. For example, he shouted, This’s song’a hope!, as his way of diffusing the tension surrounding their playing the song Grapevines from the new record - the song is about wildfires. Less sparing the crowd’s feelings than warning them not to get upset. There were a couple signature Beefcake Ben, How-ya-doin’?, exclamations at guitar-change points in the set - these too were verbal flexing for the crowd. Chris tempered this machismo by signing off at the end of the set with: Bye now double-u-ay. It’s all balanced. Some of their songs are absurdly catchy - No Sunlight stuck in my head for 24 hours. We had a great time. Their crew, whose size is befitting a #1 US band, are uniformly generous and chirpy which is a masterstroke of planning. Now, on to Melbourne.
March 2nd, 2009
Channel Nines’ record breaking drama, “Underbelly 2” is, quite rightfully the most talked about local television production ever – with the possible exception of “Chances” . After missing the first episode, I had the great pleasure last night of seeing what all the fuss was about. Needless to say, I wasn’t disappointed, and can only concur with all of the positive reviews that have been appearing in the papers, online , and around water coolers all over the country.
The performances are probably the best we’ve seen of this type on Australian television. The two main characters are acting out of their skins for the full hour we are treated to them. I’m not sure what’s been going on in at NIDA over the past few years, but they are getting the balance just right, and if these are the kinds of graduates they’re turning out on a regular basis, I say that Australian acting is in good hands. It’s not easy to carry an entire show like this on your own. As a young thespian, it’s all about ups and downs, and if ever there was an illustration of this, it’s on this show. It’s hard to imagine having to front up in front of the cameras for take after take, when you know how much promotion, money and expectation are riding on your performance. Network heads, critics, people who saw the first series and loved it – they’re all watching you, naked in front of the camera, waiting for you to fail, looking for a moment of weakness, waiting for you to deflate or lose some of the bounce that got you the role in the first place. I am very happy to say that none of these things occurred in last night’s episode.
I think my only criticism – and it’s a minor quibble – would be that, at times there is a tendency from the producers to lazily go for the lowest common denominator by constantly attempting to get a storyline, or some dialogue in there. I can understand that sometimes these devices are necessary to put the constant exposure of the female leads’ breasts in context, but really, this is some of the strongest “breast acting” we are ever likely to see. To constantly cut away to some dialogue between two minor characters, or to waste film with a wide location shot treats the viewer as a bit of an idiot frankly. Anybody with half a brain knows that people tune in each week to watch up and coming actress Anna Hutchisons’ breasts’ brilliant portrayal of Kiwi drug courier Allison Dine’s breasts. It is within these two strong, silent, but active characters that the real intrigue lies. There were honestly times last night when I had to do a double take and remind myself that this was NOT documentary footage. How the Hutchison mammaries came to inhabit the character of the Dine boobs so completely is a tribute to their commitment to their craft(s).
It’s only fair to mention Matthew Newton’s (playing Terry Clark) unselfish role in all of this. He makes sure that these magnificent mammarial thespians are given their due by never blocking their perky performance, and gives them plenty of space in which to perform. It is an unselfish act on the part of an unselfish actor, who is clearly committed only to making the best show possible, without regard to his own ego.
Apparently Kate Ritchie makes her debut in next week’s episode. One can only hope that she is serious about shaking off the frigidity of her Home and Away character, Sally, and sees this as an opportunity to expose her bosoms as much as possible. It’s no less than the public, and Kate’s breasts deserve, straight-jacketed as they were for all those years in a family friendly drama. And let’s hope that the producers get the message – just because the show airs in the post- 8.30pm timeslot, it should not be seen as an open invitation to get as much dialogue, plot or narrative arc on television just because you can. From Scobie Malone through Alvin Purple to Number 96, Australia has a proud tradition of breast acting, strong enough to stand up its own without the unnecessary intrusion of other unnecessary entertainments.
Andy Kelly
February 17th, 2009
and we sometimes tweet. We seem to be more efficient at updating that because it’s so quick and simple. Follow us here if you prefer short ‘n’ sweet bursts of fruit flavour…
February 5th, 2009
Horrified by the thought that the egg man, may actually be a living man, we had to find something softer, something crumblier, something flakier…….
This may very well be the ‘best’ jingle we’ve ever heard. Ten extra bonus points if you can tell us who’s singing it????
January 28th, 2009
Somehow we stumbled upon this today. It scared us more than a jungle full of giant, hairy, vampiric spiders…
January 27th, 2009
