Australian Metal Awards announcment: arias + screamfest

Excert from an Australian Metal Awards email I just recieved:

There are only 2 days left for the Screamfest competition. Anyone who purchases a presale ticket to the 2009 Australian Metal Awards before the 30th of September will go in the running to win 2 free tickets to the massive New Years Eve heavy metal festival "Screamfest". Tickets to the 2009 Australian Metal Awards are only $45 + bf through Moshtix outlets or online at www.moshtix.com.au. Get your tickets in the next two days to win.

We at The Association for Australian Heavy Metal have been working hard behind the scenes to push ARIA to recognise the heavy metal and hardcore music as legitimate genres and begin a "Heavy Metal/ Hardcore" chart for Australia. So far we have passed the first round of the ARIA board and conditionally passed the ARIA Chart Committee. We now need your assistance in getting this through, members of the ARIA Board and Chart Committee will be attending the 2009 Australian Metal Awards show to see just how big heavy metal in this country truely is. This is where you come in. By coming to the 2009 Australian Metal Awards show on the 7th of November at the Forum (Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park, NSW) not only will you see performances by 8 great Australian heavy metal bands as well as a 1 off special guest performance by the legendery extreme heavy metal act Sadistik Exekution, you will also be doing your part to push ARIA to recognise heavy metal in this country.

Doors for the 2009 Australian Metal Awards open at 5pm and the first 20 people through the door will receive an Australian metal pack including:
CD's
Merch
Discount vouchers
+ other giveaways

^pretend I didnt mention the door prize, because I want it for myself!!

Brushstroke 2

This is my weekly update on my listening habbits and includes my two cents on music news, and a rundown on gigs I have been to. I have three main listening styles.... My music I listen to before going to bed (I have chronic insomnia, and I cant go to sleep without something playing), the music I listen to on Triple J, and the albums I listen to at other times - I normally by a new one every two weeks, which gets high rotation - for a while anyway... I also have music on my computer at work, for when my MP3 battery is charging. I go on about metal a lot, because that is where my passion lies, but I haven't been listening to that all that much lately... just because I mostly listen to the radio... Some of these songs will be repeated weekly - I dont change my MP3s much...

Night Tunes: I made a cd of all my favourite Radiohead songs so this is mostly what I have been playing each night... Also been playing the 300, Twilight and Juno soundtracks and one of my NIN albums.

Day Tunes:
Albums:- Gossip, Rise Against, Tool, Dredg, Ihshan, Karnivool, Tori Amos
Loose MP3s:- Anima, Bertie Blackman, Deep Sea Arcade, Metric, Sarah Blasco, Yves Klein Blue - basically all the ones I downloaded from the JJJ website this year LOL

Radio Tunes I've taken note of: "Little Lion Man" - Mumford And Sons (I'm obsessed! must buy..), "The Start of War" - Claire Bowditch and the Feeding Set (still... very addictive..), "This is your life" - Dust Brothers, "Rusted For The Rain" Billy Talent, "With This Ship" and "The Number One Cause" by The Basics, "Tree Bones" - Port O'Brien, "No Need For Lovers" - Sugar Army etc. I've also been interested in Monsters of Folk, Mary Jane Kelly, The Creepshow and Paprika Balkanicus and need to investigate their music more...

CDs purchased: n/a (I'm broke)

Reflections:

• Ari and David have made some suggestions for some bands to check out at Soundwave in febuary... Of those suggestions, I really liked what I heard of The Creepshow and It Dies Today. I would welcome any other suggestions people have :)

• I'm going to see Fame tonight with the girls. I love musicals, but I have no idea what this one is going to be like... (my musicals tend to be in technicolour LOL bring it fred!) It looks like it will either be a fun movie, or just plain cheesy... I guess we find out! I still havent been to see (500) Days of Summer - I won tickets through Triple J, but then it was cancelled... the soundtrack is awesome, and i will probably still check it out - I do love Zooey Dreschenel.... anyway, mentioning that here cos the soundtrack is great...

*the naming convention of this series is from Dredg's El Cielo album...

What bands should I see at the Soundwave Festival?

I bought my ticket to Soundwave on Friday!! And now I am brainstorming on who I want to see... I need to do some myspacing to listen to all their sounds, because I am mostly familiar with the metal, and I know a lot of my mates are more into the punk.. I've heard most of what is played on Triple J, but I don’t always remember the names of the bands LOL So I know there are some here I do like, but I don’t remember I like them LOL

Anyway, here is the bands playing:

• Faith No More
• My Chemical Romance
• Janes Addiction
• AFI
• Paramore
• HIM
• Alexisonfire
• Taking Back Sunday
• Trivium
• Sunny Day Real Estate
• Eagles of Death Metal
• The Get Up Kids
• Reel Big Fish
• Meshuggah
• All Time Low
• A Day To Remember
• It Dies Today
• Escape The Fate
• Clutch
• Anti Flag
• Isis
• Gallows
• A Wilhelm Scream
• The Weakerthans
• Emarosa
• Anvil
• The Devil Wears Prada
• Comeback Kid
• The Almost
• Dance Gavin Dance
• Four Year Strong
• You Me At Six
• Whitechapel
• The Aquabats
• Rolo Tomassi
• Baroness
• RX Bandits
• Maxium The Hormone
• The Creepshow

The bands I particularly want to see are: Alexisonfire, Isis, Meshuggah, Trivium, Janes Addiction and maybe Faith No More. I'm open to seeing most other bands.... So of the people going to Soundwave, who wants to see which bands? And are there bands here that you think i would love, but haven’t really heard before? Just a warning, I’m not really into Emo bands like Paramore, MCR or AFI.... LOL

Anyway, can you let me know if you are going, and what bands you want to see?


Update: After talking to one of my friends I think I wanna see The Creepshow........ they sound great!! you know me and chick lead singers LOL Another of my friends suggested It Dies Today and I also liked what I heard of theirs on last.fm :) So they will definitely be some bands I wouldn’t mind checking out if I have time..




SO WHAT BANDS WOULD YOU CHOOSE TO SEE?

Tool - Right In Two

Angels on the sideline,
Puzzled and amused.
Why did Father give these humans free will?
Now they're all confused.

Don't these talking monkeys know that
Eden has enough to go around?
Plenty in this holy garden, silly monkeys,
where there's one you're bound to divide it

Right in two

Angels on the sideline,
Baffled and confused.
Father blessed them all with reason.
And this is what they choose.
(and this is what they choose)
Monkey killing monkey killing monkey
Over pieces of the ground.

Silly monkeys give them thumbs,
They forge a blade,
And where there's one they're
bound to divide it,

Right in two.
Right in two.

Monkey killing monkey killing monkey
Over pieces of the ground.
Silly monkeys give them thumbs, they make a club
And beat their brother down.

How they survive so misguided is a mystery.
Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability
to lift an eye to heaven conscious of his fleeting time here.

cut it, divide it all right in two (x4)


They fight, till they die
Over earth, over sky
They fight
Over lies, over blood, over air
And light, over love, over son
Over blood
They fight, till they die, over what? for our lies!

Angels on the sideline again
Benched along with patience and reason
Angels on the sideline again
Wondering when this tug of war will end

cut it, divide it all right in two (x3)
Right in two

Right in two...

Brushstroke 1

So I thought that I might do a weekly blurb on what I've been listening to.. I have three main listening styles.... My music I listen to before going to bed (I have chronic insomnia, and I cant go to sleep without something playing), the music I listen to on Triple J, and the albums I listen to at other times - I normally by a new one every two weeks, which gets high rotation - for a while anyway... I also have music on my computer at work, for when my MP3 battery is charging. I go on about metal a lot, because that is where my passion lies, but I haven't been listening to that all that much lately... just because I mostly listen to the radio...

Night Tunes: I made a cd of all my favourite Radiohead songs so this is mostly what I have been playing each night... Also been playing some Sigur Ros and Goyte.

Day Tunes:
Alums:- Gossip, Rise Against, Tool, Dredg, Ihshan, Karnivool, Tori Amos
Loose MP3s:- Anima, Bertie Blackman, Deep Sea Arcade, Metric, Sarah Blasco, Yves Klein Blue - basically all the ones I downloaded from the JJJ website this year LOL

Radio Tunes I've taken note of: "Goreki" - Lamb, "Simple Things" - Seth Sentry, "The Start of War" - Claire Bowditch and the Feeding Set (its been stuck in my head all week! yeay, they are playing it again as I type!! that’s twice today *sigh*), "Dominoes" The Big Pink, "Its nice to know you work alone" - Silversun Pickups, "Little Lion Man" - Mumford And Sons etc

CDs purchased: n/a (I'm broke)

Reflections:

• I've been watching season three of Skins (my DVD purchase this week), and I'm really loving the music... Some of the songs I recognised, some I didn’t. I think I’ll be doing a search to find out the track listing..

• My friend Aaron Symonds played at The Basement this week!!! And it was awesome.... the club has a fairly big rep, so I was surprised how absolutely miniscule the backstage section is! seriously, its the size of a walk-in wardrobe... Awesome tho - its got street press posters and graffiti covering all the walls..... The club itself is a lot of fun.. posters tastefully covering the walls, great lighting... its such a small place, but has such heart... The showcase was Soundsalive and most of the performers were part of the Singer Songwriters comp of a few months ago (I missed that one - I was at the Bald Stag seeing Ba'lakor etc that night..). Its a TV show on TVS and Aaron was a finalist or something (I'm not sure if they had just one winner, or runners up or whatever.. I'd been doing tequila shots when Richelle invited me to that gig...). Anyway, there were six acts, and Aaron was on third. The first was fun - Nathan McKenna’s Hermione song was fucking hilarious!! Lets just say, it had adult themes LMAO I need to see if he has a myspace... After Aaron there was this girl, Naomi Merciai who I really liked... But, and I’m not being biased because he is my friend, and going out with one of my favourite people, but I think Aaron really outshone them. Maybe because he has done a lot of live gigs, but he really has stage presence, his songs are tight, he has the right amount of chatter between songs, his guitar playing is solid and he engages the audience. Plus his songs are awesome... he needs to hurry up and cut a cd, because I always get Angels stuck in my head for days after I hear him play it!! This time he did a flamenco introduction. I wasn’t aware that he had professional flamenco training!! Awesome, you all know how much I love flamenco!! god I love guitar!! He also played a new song he had just written, which was gorgeous. I wish the Strawberry Hills still let him run the Jam Nite.. that was always a lot of fun… I told Richelle if he has more gigs, and she wants someone to hang with, to let me know… I miss catching live gigs…………. And hanging out at pubs… and I never see Richelle anymore LOL isn't it funny how we get so wrapped up in our lives, but when asked what we have been up to all we can say is “not much”…

• They are playing the new Muse album, The Resistance, on Triple J this week... as they did last week... I just think it is overkill... I still cant tell if I like it or not.. I hate “United States of Eurasia” as it sounds too much like Queen, and grates every time I hear it. They do have one song I think I like, but the rest is just so... I don’t know, I just know that if Triple J hadn’t been pushing it the last two weeks, I wouldn’t have too big of a problem with it. But last week, they were doing a pre-release showcase where they would play a new song each day, then they played the whole thing later that week. I thought, yeay, now I can have some peace... until I found out that its this week's feature album! WTF!?! So my sigh of relief turned into a groan, and I am getting PO'd every time they play a song... Seriously, THERE IS SUCH A THING AS OVEREXPOSURE!! Cant wait for next week, just so there is a new artist to listen to...

• I bought my Soundwave tix this morning!!! So freaking excited! I'm flying up to Brisbane in February to attend... Lillian is bussing down from Toowoomba, and Sami, Tara and Bubbles (AKA Colin) are flying down from Townsville.. Ari and Rat have also said they are likely to be going, so should be able to catch up with them too. I wish Lindy could be there, but the tickets are $164, so I can understand that... Its gonna be freaking awesome!!! plus, I miss Sami... she is flying down in Nov for the Australian Metal Awards, and it will be brilliant, but I miss hanging out all the time. and she is my only friend who likes the same sort of music events as me.. we have to same style of music appreciation LOL so this will be brill!

*the naming convention of this series is from Dredg's El Cielo album...

music survey

1. What are you listening to right now?
Young Cardinals - Alexisonfire

2. Your favorite band/artist of all time?
Opeth

3. The band or artist you hate the most?
Britney Spears - i know thats a cop out, but i dont listen to music i dont like, so i cant think of any other artists LOL

4. Your last musical discovery?
The Gossip

5. Best feminine voice?
Bjork or Tori Amos

6. Best masculine voice?
Mikael Åkerfeldt followed by Maynard James Keenan

7. What is the musical genre you listen to the most?
Metal --> Death Metal --> Melodic Death Metal

8. Last concert/festival you went to?
Ba'lakor, Dreadnaught, Switchblade, Darker Half and From Winters Grace - played at the Bald Face Stag last month.

9. The last VERY famous band or artist seen live?
Morbid Angel

10. The band or artist you listen to the most?
Opeth

11. What is the worst song in the world?
the popcorn song

12. A band or artist you think the world should love as much as you do?
Opeth or Sigur Ros

13. The coolest music video?
The whole of Lateralus played in a row.... Tool is amazing... the whole thing is claymation, and all the clips sync and create this long narration..

14. Which song makes you sad?
lots of them.. music moves me

15. What do you listen to, to feel bouncy and happy?
metal

16. What do you listen to when you need to relax?
metal

17. A song that makes you think?
a lot of stuff by heaven shall burn, tool, ani difranco and rise against.

18. What is the perfect song for a love night?
opeth, maybe sigur ros

19. Can you play a musical instrument?
no *sigh*

20. Which musical instrument do you dream of learning how to play?
guitar or drums

21. Do you play in a band? If yes, which kind of music and what is your part in the band?
no..

22. Did you ever go out with a musician?
no... had flirtations tho ;)

23. And what song are you listening to right now?
Misanthrope - Ihshan

24. What do you think of classical music?
I like some of it. And I love how classical is woven into a lot of melodic death metal..

25. What do you think of French Variety?
no idea

26. What do you think of death metal?
its heaven!

27. Are you a fangirl?
totally

28. Do you listen to music in other language than English?
yes.. quite a lot of it.

29. The best band or artist in your town or near around?
this is a hard one.. i live in sydney now... we have a lot of fantastic bands!

30. If you were a musical instrument, which would you like to be?
Guitar... have you seen Alexi Laiho play? <3

31. Do you listen to the radio? Which one is your favorite?
Yes, and I listen to triple j

32. Do you watch music TV?
rage on abc

33. Do you follow the charts?
hells no! not the mainstream... i listen to music on triple j tho..

34. Have you ever met a famous musician?
it depends how you define famous...

35. The song that could describe your mood and feelings at the moment?
same ol' road - dredg

36. The song that could describe your life?
winter - tori amos

37. Do you know the name of the people in the bands you listen to?
sometimes

38. Does physical appearance influence your musical choice?
no... but i have to say, a hot lead, or a buff nuff guitarist sure doesnt hurt my eyes at a metal gig ;)

39. Favorite Original Soundtrack?
the crow or 300

40. And RIGHT NOW? What are you listening to?
Sewn & Silent - Karnivool

41. Do you wear t-shirts or anything else of your favorite bands or artist?
yep.. at the moment its a morbid angel one i picked up a few months ago

42. What do you think of people who do that?
metal is awesome... i keep my eyes out for guys wearing metal shirts... its a sense of idenity..

43. Which song did you have in mind all day today?
bird of prey - bertie blackman

44. Do you sing in the shower? If yes, what? If not, why?
no. i have housemates. i do sing in the car tho...

45. To which musical culture to you think you belong to?
metalheads are my people

46. What is in your MP3 walkman at the moment?
opeth, morbid angel, heaven shall burn, tool, rise against, karnivool, dredg, the gossip and a random selection of mp3s

47. Which importance have the musical taste of your boy/girlfriend? Friends?
extremely important

48. Hanson moves in next to your house, do you go introduce yourself or make everything impossible so they want to move somewhere else?
as a 13/14 year old I would have jumped Tay LOL now i would just thing, "huh", and keep on going... although I would probably work it so i could introduce my friend to them.. as she is still hooked after 10 years LOL

49. Sex, drugs and rock'n'roll, is that your thing?
rock n roll... actually, metal all the way, but you know, its the same mentality.. LOL

50. Do you sing on the toilet?
wtf? do people do this? bahahaha

The Do - On My Shoulders

The Do - On My Shoulders

Why would I carry such a weight on my shoulders
Why do I always help you carry your boulders
You wonder why I carry such a weight on my shoulders
And why would I tttts such a load

‘Cause someday you’ll see
Next time I’ll try it another way
Why would you try to make me friends with them soldiers
When you know that I’ve never been familiar with orders
When you know that my heart is in a pretty disorder
And you should know that in my heart you fill every corner

And someday you’ll see that all I want is to please
Next time I’ll try it another way

How long will I sit and wait like a soldier
How many summers will it take
How many summers will I wait
How many shoulders will I break

Why would I carry such a weight on my shoulders
Why am I always by your side when you’re down
Why did I help you build a beautiful house
And why did I break my back for you in the cold

‘Cause someday you’ll see
Next time I’ll try it another way

Why would I have to quit if time makes me older
Why do they wonder why I never get bored
How could I tell them that I’ll never let go
But hey, you’re my man but they just won’t understand

‘Cause someday you’ll see
Next time I’ll try it another way

How long will I sit and wait like a soldier
How many summers will it take
How many summers will I wait
How many shoulders will I break

Why would I carry such a weight on my shoulders
Why do I always help you carry your boulders
You wonder why I carry such a weight On My Shoulders
And why would I tttts such a load

‘Cause someday you’ll see
Next time I’ll try it another way
How long will I sit and wait on that boulder
How many summers will I wait