Assorted Musings

THE SHINS

I finally got to see The Shins the other day. I loved it. It was kind of odd because it wasn’t one of those shows that ‘went off’ and yet I came out thoroughly satisfied. They played a perfect mix of new and old and played it all brilliantly. Even if their drummer did happen to be asleep…..

MP3: Turn A Square

Quarter Acre

I’m gonna do something out of the ordinary here and recommend a band. That band is Quarter Acre and they put on one of the best shows you’ll ever witness. I saw them last night and didn’t stop smiling the whole time. It’s a well known fact that main man Andrew Burgess is insane, but it's the GOOD type of insanity. The whole show is just him and his antics and it's brilliant. They’ve been around for a while now and I can’t understand why they aren’t better known. The songs are all good in their own right, but live they are simply amazing. People of Sydney, write this down somewhere. Go. See. Quarter Acre.

MP3: Castle Hill

America Sucks

I’d always found it funny that Americans couldn’t drink till they were 21, but it wasn’t until ten minutes ago that I thought about the consequences. It’s not the lack of alcohol that is significant, but the inability to go to licensed events. In Australia, nearly every venue you go to sells alcohol and because of this, 95% of gigs are overage only. How you could live through this period with such limited gig access is beyond. These are the years when you’re carved into an indie connoisseur or a brain-dead clone. The implications for young musicians are even worse. Just recently I was thinking back to some of the unforgettable nights I had had since coming of age and how much better life gets when you turn 18. What are Americans doing during these years? I can only hope that underage gigs are far more frequent or they at least have a healthy fake-ID trade because otherwise it would be a very bleak outlook. Sucks to be them.

MP3: Who’s Ya Daddy? (Gerling)

Gerling were my first such gig. Very memorable indeed.