Local rock band Axe Girl have been running a Pozible campaign to raise funds for the recording of their debut album and as the final days of the campaign approach they’re getting close to their target.

The band which features Axe out the front on vocals, also includes Vanessa Thornton (Jebediah, End of Fashion, Felicity Groom), Brett Mitchell (Jebediah) and guitarist Warren Myers have been making a name for themselves since forming in early 2012. Myers replaced former member Nat Ripepi who has returned to her solo career.

For loyal fans who donate to the campaign the band offers a range of incentives from digital downloads through to the band coming round to play in your lounge room. If you donate at the top level the bans even promise to head over and cook you dinner too.

Currently the campaign has raised just over $8,000 of the bands $10,000 target. With only six days remaining the band are seeking some more loyal supporters to come to their aid. In Pozible campaigns if the full amount is not reached, none of the money is transferred through.

OUTinPerth caught up with lead singer Axe to see how the campaigns been going so far.

How has been watching people donate so far?

It has been totally blowing our minds how many people have been so generous. When we first started the campaign we thought we might be wishfully dreaming, but the response has been out of this world. It feels like we have this amazing giant Axe Girl family out there and we’re all working together to make this magical thing happen.

What’s planned for the album?

We’ve written 13 juicy songs, some people will know, like ‘Animatronic’ and ‘Teeshirt’, but mostly new stuff. Themes range from death, relationships and love to Power Rangers, shoes and drag queens.

If I donate over $10,000 what might you come around and cook me for dinner, what’s your specialty dish?

You know like when they serve sushi on a nude woman? it’ll be like that, only with four naked platters (two quite hairy) and it’ll be Mexican… like an AWESOME NAKED PARTY INSIDE A GIANT TASTY BURRITO! Yummy!

Donate to Axe Girls Pozible campaign

Graeme Watson

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05-06-2012   Meet Axe Girl

DJ Philthy Holster is appearing at The Court Hotel on Saturday night.

The Sydney DJ gave us an insight in to the type of tunes he’ll be bringing to The Court dance floor.

“At the moment I’m loving anything the ‘Crazibiza’ remixes or produces.” said Holster.

“I love my house music, but then again I do love the big room sounds as well”

“I also make a lot of my own stuff through mashups. So I’ll take a nice bouncy house track and put a vocal over it to bring out more feeling.”

“I’m looking forward to DJing at The Court!”

My Top 10

1. “Heartbreaker (Crazibiza Remix) – The Disco Boys” Mashed With “Happiness – Alexis Jordan”

2. Right Now (SESA Remix) – Cece Rogers & Sugarstarr

3. Center Of the Universe (Remode) – Axwell

4. Lola’s Theme (eSQUIRE’s Disco Loop) – The Shapeshifters

5. Get Lucky (Audio Jacker Remix) – Daft Punk

6. One Night (Vicetone Remix) – Matthew Koma

7. Don’t You Know – Hook N Sling

8. “File My Claim (Crazibiza Remix) – Yolan, Kenia” Mashed With “California Gurls – Katy Perry”

9. My Lips (My Digital Enemy Remix) – Crazibiza

10. Street Player – Tradelove

Philthy Holster is at The Court on Saturday June 22.

Read other’s DJ’s In The Crate selections.

Ben Taaffe, Jody Harsh, Drastic on Plastic, Dan Slater, Samuel Spencer, Skooby, P Lilly, Minx, Mama Cass,

If you like the darker tail end of music, once found in American speakeasys circa 1920, you might want to hit up a queer musician that is about to make an overdue visit to Western Australia.

Talking to Mojo Juju, the Melbourne based artist naturally grabs your attention with her killer smarts, wits and undeniable talent.  The singer is performing music reminiscent of a far more fascinating era.

When asked to describe her style, Juju instinctively chuckled.

“I always find that really hard to do. The root of all this music stems from Americana tradition, so blues and jazz and country, it’s a bastardisation of all of them I think. I’m always trying to bring something else to it as well and add to it in some way. A huge great deal of my inspiration comes from cinema and literature”.

Citing both musician Tom Waits and writer Charles Bukowski as inspiration, Juju described her muse as simply being her day-to-day existence.

“I think any creative person is constantly observing and drawing information and inspiration from all their encounters and because I’m fortunate enough to spend such a great deal of time on the road, I’m constantly meeting new people and being put in different environments.

“There is something really romantic to me the idea of being on the road”.

Building a reputation for jumping into sinister alter-egos for her song-writing and performing, the artist promised that a lot of it is the process of creating beautiful music but also comedy driven.

“Some of it’s fact, some of it’s fiction, I won’t tell you which bits are which”, she said.

Staying on light-hearted tones, Juju promised that, if you come to her gig, she’ll do her best to get you drunk and get you laid.

“My agenda whenever I have an opportunity is really to get people either heavily drunk or to hopefully find someone to mate with.

“I’m just there to create the mood, so it’s up to you guys to do the rest. I’m there to encourage you and cheer you on.

“For me a lot of these songs are confessional so I’m really looking to be absolved… if you come and enjoy the show and applaud a little bit… I start feeling better about all the shitty things I’ve done that I’ve had to write songs about, so it’s a give and take”.

Mojo Juju will be performing at Deville’s Pad on July 26 and (aptly) Mojo’s, Fremantle on July 27. Grab your tickets here.

 Nadine Walker

Cazwell’s newest track ‘Guess What’ sees him teaming up with Luciana for one of the catchiest dance tunes in recent memory. It’s the latest in a series of intriguing collaborations for the NYC based artist, last year he teamed up with Peaches, and he tells OUTinPerth there will be more collaboration to come in the future.

How did you come to be making this track with Luciana?

It’s kind of funny, I was about to leave for a holiday and head off to Hawaii. I was at this bar in the East Village and Ian Sklarsky, who directed Luciana’s videos for ‘I’m Still Hot’, the one with Betty White and the original video too, came up to me and he was like, “You know, I know Luciana, you should really do a song with her”. And I said, “You know, I really love her voice, do you really think she’d do a song with me?” He said, “Yes, she is really laid back and I think she’d do it, let’s do something when you get back”.

So I headed off on my holiday to Hawaii and I met another guy who said, “You know what, I know Luciana and you should do a track with her”. So I had two people six thousand miles apart telling me the same thing, so I thought – I guess I should!

We started with this instrumental track created by Fagault and Marina that my record label Peace Bisquit hooked me up with, they represent Fagault and Marina too. I thought this track, I could really hear her voice on it, and I love her voice, it’s made for the dance floor. I sent it to her, and she sent me back the hook and it just sounded so good, so I probably spent more time on the rhymes than I normally would have just because I wanted them to match up to her vocals. I wanted my voice to be as good as her vocal was.

We didn’t meet face to face until the day before we shot the video in LA; we did a show together the night before, that’s when we met. Then we shot the video with J.B. Ghuman Jr. and the rest is history.

You’d never know that, looking at the video it comes across that you guys are out partying together regularly.

We both clicked, better than most people I work with. We’re both Cancers and there were a lot of Cancers on set that day. We had a really great time. Luciana’s very easy to love.  She’s really fun, but not crazy fun, just a fun spirited person.

What was it like shooting the video?

It was pretty stress free, it’s the first video that I didn’t micro-manage everything. We shot in LA so it’s not like I got the chance to do a hundred face to face meetings with the director and go over everything, come up with concepts and know in detail the schedule and shot list.

I’ve known J.B. for a while and I liked his treatment and knew it was nothing I was going to be able to really control, because it was all done with his people and it really came from his brain. It’s the first time I was just like, “Just make me look good, that’s all I care about”.

I was really happy with everything and it was easy breezy. I didn’t get stressed out by everything and it was definitely a lot of fun.

How’s the new album coming along?

The new album is going well. I’m on deadline to finish the rest of the tracks this summer. It’s taken a while because I keep writing new tracks and finding things to add to it, then deciding there are things I want to take away from it. I’m just really focussed at this point right now of dropping a single and video every six to eight weeks, which is what I plan to do for the rest of the year.

I have three videos in the bag already. I’ve got one with Manila Luzon who was on ‘Ru Paul’s Drag Race.’ I did a track with her called ‘Helen Keller’ which is really awesome and that track and video is going to come out in August. Then I’ve got another video for a song called ‘Sprung’ which is going to come out in September or October. I’m working on another video right now; my whole life is consumed with getting videos made and finishing the album. Maybe it’ll be out in the fall or a little later, but I promise I’ll be dropping tracks regularly.

We’ve also seen you popping up in Jodie Harsh’s videos for Laundry Service.

Yeah, I owed her a few favours. She is like a sister to me. We’ve known each other a long time and we’re really supportive. Whenever she’s in New York she stays at my house and when I go to London I stay with her. We have a great friendship… She’s been to Australia twice this year, I hope I get to come to Australia!

What are the chances?

I guess it depends on how well the song does there. I love going to Australia, the boys there are so cute. Australian boys are so ‘unsteroidy’. You can always tell in New York that the guys are on steroids, which I’m not necessarily complaining about, but all the hot guys in Australia they seem to just eat right and exercise. I was definitely impressed; I thought the guys were really good-looking there.

Cazwell and Luciana’s ‘Guess What’ EP is available for download via iTunes.

Singer Wendy Matthews is back with a new album ‘The Welcome Fire’. It’s a collection of adult contemporary songs that are filled with influences including gospel, country and rock. It’s possibly the best work of the acclaimed singer’s career.

Matthew’s life story is compelling. The singer grew up in Canada but left home at 16 to travel the world busking. In the late 1970’s she was in Los Angeles gaining work as a backup singer. There she met lots of Australian musicians, including Glenn Shorrock, the lead singer of The Little River Band, who in 1983 persuaded her to come to Australia on a tour. Matthews decided to stay and quickly became an in demand singer working with bands like The Models and The Rockmellons.

Matthews joined the band Absent Friends, a band made up of musicians from many other bands, including members of The Models and INXS. She sang lead vocals on their cover of the Eddie Floyd song ‘I Don’t Wanna Be With Nobody But You’. The song is one of many featuring Matthews that became a staple of Australian radio airplay.

Through the 1990’s Matthews released a series of bestselling albums, scoring hits with ‘The Day You Went Away’, ‘Let’s Kiss Like Angels Do’, ‘A Woman’s Gotta Have It’ and many other tunes. As the new millennium dawned Matthews made a major life change, giving up city living for a 10 hectare property on the NSW north coast. Stories of her building a traditional tee-pee and a mud brick house have become part of her narrative.

As we chat on the phone I note that she makes country living seem very appealing, and ask if she misses the city. Matthews breaks out in a loud laugh, and in her still clearly Canadian accent says,

“God yes, no I absolutely adore my trips in to town and I stay with friends in Double Bay in this just incredible house, which I real enjoy, it’s just a complete dichotomy that one.

“The reality is that it’s damn hard. I had all these incredible romantic notions, but good Lord, its pretty sort of ‘life in the raw’ to be honest.”

On her new album Matthews has written songs with a range of top songwriters including Megan Washington and her producer John Castle, Brisbane based singer songwriter Mark Sholtez, Gina Jeffrey’s producer and husband Rod McCormack and US singer songwriter Kim Richey and Josh Pyke.  Matthews puts the credit for these interesting combinations squarely at the feet of her publisher.

“I have the luxury this time of having met a couple of people, and having a wonderfully proactive publisher which is pretty rare in this country,” said Matthews, “Maree Hamblion would just ring up and say, ‘Look, I’m thinking maybe you and so and so would get along well. I’ll set up a day.’ So I would get on a plane or in a car in my own time and meet up with this or that person. She was hugely instrumental in that.”

The album marks the first time Matthews has been involved in writing every song on her record. She acknowledges her growing confidence as a songwriter and independent artist.

“The last album I put out was on my own little label and that was more just an exercise in trying to feel great about,  owning every aspect of what I do, and learning the whole other side of it, which I’m not naturally interested in.”

“I just really wanted to get a general overview on the whole thing. Forming my own little label and putting out a record was a huge exercise for me. But it was just a long time coming. I’ve got journals and journals of little bits and pieces, poems and rhythms and melodies. It was a long time coming just putting it all together.”

Matthews is quick to agree that she doesn’t have a great deal of ambition, preferring to take time to allow things to naturally develop.

“Oh God no, no I’m not ambitious in the traditional sense, not by any stretch. I think I’m just a little to existential for that kind of thing. I find it kind of hilarious. It’s just not for me. I’ve never been as fighter to get to the front, to be the artist. As corny as it sounds, I’ve just always really enjoyed singing, I don’t care whether it’s up the back or in the front, all that crap is just an illusion.

“The only thing I have found, which is wonderful, is that the closer you are to the front; somehow you have a little more power to be able to do what you’d like to do.”

The finished album is a powerful piece of work. An album that you can easily play many times in a row without wanting to skip through a single track. Each individual song is a solo work of art. Discussing the albums powerful cover image, a burning heart painted on the singer’s back, Matthews shares the inspiration for the design,

“I had this dream of these Milagros, which are folk charms from Mexico, and they’re very kitsch. You tag them on to crosses mainly just old wooden crosses and their blessings. You can bless you ears, and your dog, and your donkey and your house and your car. But the big mother load of them all, the big boss of the all, is the flaming heart.

“I was racking my brains for the cover thinking well big bonfire, fire hmmm. Then I thought, no hold on, these Milagros, which I’ve got all over my house, are exactly what I want to say in a very subtle way and it a welcome return to inspiration and whatever fire might mean to anybody. So I thought, ‘I’m going to put a huge whopping silver Milagros on my back!’

Wendy Matthews ‘The Welcome Fire’ is released on 23 August. She’ll be playing at Friends Restaurant on 12 September, the Ravenswood Hotel on 13 September and the Charles Hotel on 14 September and the Bridgetown Hotel on 15 September.

Graeme Watson

When singer Michael Griffiths, who recently appeared in ‘Jersey Boys’, sat down with Dean Bryant, the man behind Trevor Ashley’s ‘Liza on an E’ show, to brainstorm ideas for a cabaret show it didn’t take them long to come up with an idea.

“I very quickly thought of Madonna because it’s a good body of work,” says Griffiths, “I said ‘let’s do Madonna but let’s do them [the songs] in respect to the stories that they tell.’”

Griffiths’ credits local performer Nick Christo for inspiring the tone of the show. A few years ago Christo performed a tribute to Frances Faye where he took on the persona of the cabaret performer without doing a full impersonation. It’s a technique that Griffiths uses to great effect, he is Madonna. “I’m not dressing like her, or looking like her” says Griffiths, “the audience take a leap of faith”.

Griffith explains that everything in the show comes from Madonna, whether the source is a song, a newspaper story or an interview. “A real philosophy behind the show is, as much as it’s fun and it’s entertaining, it’s also a song about giving Madonna credit as a songwriter, which is something that is never discussed”.

Noting that Madonna has written songs on all of her twelve albums, Griffiths’ nominates the under appreciated ‘American Life’ as one album full of interesting songs. Narrowing down the singers massive catalogue to a select number of tunes was a challenge for the team admits Griffiths, saying that as gay men nearing forty – they knew them all.

“We do the obvious ones of course, if people come to a Madonna show they want to hear ‘Like a Prayer’, they want to hear ‘Express Yourself’, and ‘Vogue’, you can’t not do these songs. We often give them a context though that maybe you are not used to,” explains the performer.

One example of that is the song ‘Cry Baby’ which is used to share a tabloid story about Madonna insisting her husband Guy Ritchie have an adult circumcision. “Who can say if that’s true,” says Griffiths, “but it was in the media for while, so we do ‘Cry Baby’ as a cake walk honky-tonk number and we change the lyrics to tell that story, it makes it a show for grown-ups”.

Since devising the show a few years ago the show has been a huge success at the Edinburgh Festival and has toured around the world, it’s finally making its debut in Perth this month.

‘In Vogue – The Songs of Madonna’ is on downstairs at The Maj from Thursday 29 August – Sunday 31 August.

Graeme Watson

Codie Sundstrom has just released her debut EP ‘Darkest Shines’.

The EP was recorded last year at Studio Couch in Fremantle and features five tracks that the self taught singer songwriter composed at just 16 years of age. Living in rural Western Australia contributes to Codie’s unique sound and perspective.

Two of her songs ‘Megalomaniac’ and ‘Heart of a Lion’ were nominated for 2012’s WAM Song of the Year and the latter managed to win the Outstanding Regional category.

OUTinPerth caught up with Codie ahead of the EP’s launch this weekend.

Tell me about the songs on your EP?

The songs on this EP were written and recorded between the ages of 15-16, so they’re very much like aural incarnations of high school yearbook photos. It feels strange to release them now that I’m an adult, but the songs are still relatable and talk about the forming and breakdown of good and bad relationships.

How does living in rural WA influence your song writing?

I always get asked this question, but I never really know how to respond. I suppose being in such an isolated and conservative country town makes you reflect inward a little more.

How did you go about recording this EP?

The idea was to record five tracks in five days, so it was pretty intense. Studio Couch is in North Fremantle, and the beach is literally across the road so the week was very laid back despite all the work we were doing.

We started laying down scratch tracks acoustically and built them up from there. Working with Matt Gio from the Voltaire Twins and Dan Carroll was a blast- I’d highly recommend them both to anyone.

What’s next up for you after the EP launch?

We’re going to continue playing live for a while in the band because I’ve only recently turned eighteen which means the bar scene is new to me. Hopefully I’ll start work on a new EP early next year. I expect it’ll be slightly more in the indie rock direction, but I’ve been experimenting with electronic music too so it could go either way.

Download Codie’s EP from her bandcamp account or iTunes. Head down to the EP Launch at the PICA Bar on Saturday 24August from 7pm, Jake Wall of Jake & the Cowboys and Leah Miche will be supporting. 

Graeme Watson

The tables have turned for the diversified Sydney party DJ, Alison Wonderland, as she hits the road promoting her first ever debut single ‘Get Ready’.

Part way through a mammoth national tour, Wonderland takes some time out to talk to OUTinPerth about being on tour, Billy Corgan and which artist really gets her goat!

KC: What would be the top three things that are helping to keep you pumped on this tour?

AW: Oooh, my iPad (laughs) so I can watch movies on the plane and not go insane. You know the crowd response keeps me really, really pumped on this tour. It’s just been so good. It’s really weird, on this tour I’ve noticed I’ve been able to have a lot more freedom with what I play, people are accepting a lot more new music that they don’t know and that’s really keeping me going. Also knowing that when I get home from touring I get to see my dog- that keeps me going!

KC: Yay! Has anything crazy ever happened while you’ve been playing a set?

AW: Yes!

KC: Care to share a story?

AW: Well I’ve had people wearing blow up toys jump off the stage when I was playing into the crowd, that happened on the weekend. I did not realise that was gonna happen, it was pretty funny. They were just surfing along on these blow up turtles.

KC: Awesome. Would you say you’d prefer playing more at bars and clubs, or at festivals?

AW: I can’t really pick one because to me, it’s more about the vibe of the audience, so if the energy’s really good I don’t care if I’m playing in a toilet.

KC: Hah! I heard you met your idol, Billy Corgan last year, did you end up playing him the song you wrote him when you were a youngster?

AW: Nooo! He doesn’t even know! Hell no! But I did play him some of my music,that was really amazing and I tried not to look like I was going to cry.

KC: Cute. Can you give us a demo of some of the lyrics that were in the song?

AW: (laughs) I really don’t want anyone to know!

KC: Ah, top secret! Well it’s no secret you’ve got a pretty eclectic taste in music, is there any artist or song that you wouldn’t touch with a 10ft pole?

AW: Oh there’s heaps, there’s heaps of shit out there! I wouldn’t go near Pitt Bull or Flo Rider, ever, or Will.i.am— he can suck my wang! People who have ruined the term ‘pop music’ because I don’t think ‘pop music’ is a bad term, I think it’s awesome— like I would consider Hot Chip pop music.

KC: Fair enough! When are you releasing the details of your secret show on the 28th?

AW: I’m not sure, but I think it’s in Perth- it’s actually in your lounge room.

KC: Excellent! Please do! We’ll we’re running out of time so last question to wrap it up, if you were stuck on a desert island and you could only have three albums with you for the rest of your life, what would they be?

AW: Graceland by Paul Simon, The White Album by The Beatles, and Bach’s Cello Suite played by Janos Starker, ‘cause you need a bit of classical in your life when you’re on an island. If it wasn’t on an island, maybe it would be a different answer… otherwise that would be them.

KC: Well I feel like that was a difficult question given your broad taste in music, so kudos on the prompt response.

AW: Well, look. Graceland is my happy album, so I could never ignore that one.

KC: I think that’s a lot of peoples happy album. Well thanks so much for your time and looking forward to hearing you when you come to Perth.

New single, ‘Get Ready’  featuring Fishing and some crazy cool Juggalo kids has set the bar for what’s to come from Wonderland. Take a listen below.

Catch Alison Wonderland playing live on Wednesday, 28th August (secret show) and Friday 30th August at Speak Easy, Villa, Perth.

Tickets available at Moshtix.

Katie Cameron

Queer rap star Le1f is locked in for his first visit to Perth as part of the dual venue event ‘Slanted and Enchanted’.

Le1f had a tour of the east coast earlier this year but didn’t make it across to Perth, but now as part of ‘Slanted and Enchanted’ he’s set to appear alongside a stack of other uber cool artists.

Appearing and The Bakery on Saturday 7 December, L1ef will be joined Mess Kid. Also on the bill is Jon Hopkins, who has one of the best electronic albums of 2013, Mathas, Kelpe, Diger Rockwell and DJs Rok Riley and Craig Hollywood.

The Bakery gig is the second half of the ‘Slanted and Enchated’ event, earlier in the evening at The Astor Theatre will be performances from Deerhunter, Metz, Cave, Fabulous Diamonds, Perth and DJ Jamie McDonald.

Tickets can be purchased to both shows, a shuttle bus will operate between them, or you can grab a ticket to the individual halves of the bill as well.

Tickets are available from Life is Noise. Check out the video below of Le1f teaming up with Boody for ‘Soda’.

Australian pop singer, and darling of the national music industry, Kate Ceberano is hitting the road next month to tour her new album, Kensal Road.

It’s the first album of original music in ten years for the artist whose most recent releases have been collections of covers and a Christmas album.

This time around, Ceberano has taken a similarly nostalgic approach by focusing on the music she listened to growing up, as well as reflecting on a life that has taken her many places.

“Music was very much a part of the culture that I was raised in,” Ceberano said pointing out she has a mix of favourite and influential musicians, citing Grace Jones’ 1981 release ‘Nightclubbing’ and Motown hits as inspirations.

The new album, taking its name from the Kensal Road recording studio in the United Kingdom where Ceberano wrote the whole album herself, has a relaxed, folk sound to it.

“This album has given me a chance to get really great, lush vocal harmonies, lots of ukulele and guitar, it’s very contemporary,” she said.

Ceberano also said it is a reflection on her journey as a woman, mother, partner and daughter and having written the whole thing herself, it has been a real labour of love.

Quizzed on whether this is a ‘mature’ album Ceberano baulks.

“It’s not actually –I don’t consider myself mature,” she said “but as I write I find out more about myself.”

One could see that this project has been of great importance to the artist and while she enjoys being a celebrity and has worked hard to develop her business sense in the music industry, it is being recognized as a singer/songwriter by her peers that get Ceberano most excited.

The explorative side of Kate Ceberano is certainly evident in the album, it has ethereal sounds, soft melodies and what seems like a more folk approach, however there are still hints of the boisterous songstress who made us all wake up with Bedroom Eyes.

“You can’t help but have you in the songs… even if you try to camouflage it or hide it, it always ends up sounding like me.”

Kate Ceberano will be in Albany on Wednesday October 2, Bunbury Thursday October 3, Mandurah Friday October 4, Perth Saturday October 5. More information head to www.ticketek.com.au

Joe Cassidy

Kim Wilde is back on the road bringing her full show, and fellow 80’s star Nik Kershaw, to The Astor Theatre in October.

In the middle of the 1990’s, Kim Wilde put out a new album and for the first time in her 15 year long career, it really didn’t sell. Since exploding onto the music scene with ‘Kids in America’ in 1981, Wilde had enjoyed a huge string of hits including ‘Chequered Love’, ‘Cambodia’, ‘View from A Bridge’ and a humungous hit with a Hi-NRG version of the Supreme’s song ‘You Keep Me Hanging On’. She’d toured with Michael Jackson and stayed in the charts with ‘You Came’, ‘Never Trust a Stranger’ and ‘Love is Holy’.

The album ‘Now and Forever’ was different to her previous works, an RnB flavoured collection of tunes that drew critical acclaim but didn’t find an audience. Looking back on that time the singer says she made one of the best decisions of her life, she got out of the music business.

Wilde acknowledges that it’s hard for established singers to break out into different styles of music.

“I think certainly as my career progressed through the 80’s people weren’t so willing to go in some of the directions that I wanted to go in,” said Wilde, “In the end it created a situation where I thought I really was best out of the music business, which coincided with me meeting my husband. The timing was perfect really. We were ready to start a family and we made that our priority. It was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life.”

Outside of the music business Wilde found a new love in gardening, she authored several books, appeared in a series of television programs and even won a medal at the prestigious Chelsea Flower show.

In 2001 though she made a return to music, taking part in the ‘Here and Now’ revival tours that featured a host of ‘80s acts, like close friend Nik Kershaw, Banararama, Spandau Ballet’s Tony Hadley and Belinda Carlisle. Now Kim and Nik are joining forces to bring their full show to Australia.

Wilde shares that she has a special affection for Australia, having first come here as a child, accompanying her musician father when he was on tour, and then later spending some time backpacking around Australia after the end of one of her tours.

“I’ve done a bit of backpacking, I did a tour and as soon as the band left from the airport I buggered off with a mate of mine, and we grabbed a backpack. We ended up on Magnetic Island and a few other enticing places.”

It seems unthinkable that at the height of her fame Kim Wilde could just go off backpacking around Australia, but the singer says hardly anyone recognised her.

“Most people didn’t because I didn’t have the lipstick on, and the hair was swept back and I was hidden under a rucksack and very au naturelle,” explains Wilde, “Sometime people would give me a second glace, but then think ‘Kim Wilde wouldn’t be here in a youth hostel backpacking!’”.

This time in Australia joining Wilde and Kershaw on stage will be her brother Ricky Wilde, who wrote and produced many of her hits, and her niece Scarlett Wilde will be on backing vocals.

Wilde’s family all have musical careers, her father is 50’s rocker Marty Wilde, while her mother Joyce was a singer and dancer, while sister Roxy was last in Perth as part of Kylie Minogue’s ‘Les Follies Aphrodite Tour’. Given this musical pedigree it’s surprising to hear Wilde say that her teenage ambition was to work in the local record shop.

“ I was really into art and went to art college just before ‘Kids in America’ became successful  and I had applied to try and work in the local record shop which I was really excited about, of course those were the days when you went out and bought a vinyl 7 inch,” said Wilde.

Wilde says all she really ever hoped to achieve in a music career was to be a successful session singer.

“Realistically what I really wanted to do was to be a session singer and work with lots of different artists because my tastes are so varied. I thought I’d be a session singer. I knew I could cut it as a singer and stylistically it would afford me the opportunity to sing lots of different kinds of styles.

When ‘Kids in America’ came along I didn’t have big plans of being a world superstar. I simply wanted a job in music. I had very modest ambitions.”

Now Wilde’s career is busier than ever. She’s been releasing albums in Europe that having been getting a great reception and has a host of new projects in the works. Recently she’s been collaborating with the British Electric Foundation, creating the third volume of the ‘Music of Quality and Distinction’. The project created by Martin Ware from Heaven 17 and The Human League sees singers creating dark electronic versions of songs that are best known for being more upbeat.

For the project Wilde takes on a song penned by Stevie Wonder, ‘Every time I See You Baby I Go Wild’ and says she’s “over the moon” to be part of the project alongside singers including Boy George, Scritti Politti’s Green Gartside and one of her own heroes, Sandie Shaw.

Wilde laughs when I suggest she looks like she’s having a lot of fun in the song’s Gothic vampire themed video.

“There is nothing fun about spending the whole day wrapped in black PVC, with twelve inch Gucci heels and a killer corset so you can’t breathe. Nothing fun about that at all!

Wilde admits she needed a little coaxing to go along with the proposal, “When they told me what they wanted to do for the video I just said, ‘Are you really sure, are you really sure that you want a middle aged Hertfordshire housewife dressed in PVC and doing all that to zombies? Are you really sure?’

Now the video is finished Wilde concedes it was a pretty good vision, and admits she got to fulfill some of her own fantasies.

“I got to live out my Lara Croft ambitions and pull out a gun and kill a zombie. It was really good fun.” The singer is also excited about several other projects she has coming up. One of her most popular albums ‘Close’ is about to be reissued having been digitally remastered and the new version is set to include a stack of remixes and bonus tracks and before the end of the year she plans to fulfill a long term goal of releasing a festive album.

“This Christmas I’m going to be releasing an album that I’ve recorded already. I started writing and recording straight after last Christmas. I’ve always wanted to make a Christmas album and I’m really excited about it. There are twelve songs, six originals and six traditional or well known songs.”

Being a huge fan of the Christmas period Wilde says writing Christmas songs came very easily.

“It’s not hard to write a Christmas song, I had them all inside me, I love Christmas. All these songs were just waiting to be born. It’s a very personal album. It doesn’t really go into the realm of religion, it’s focuses more on what Christmas is about to me which is family and friends and humanity.”

Although her music career is busier than ever, family is still the biggest priority for Wilde, and she says being a Mum to two teenagers is the most important thing in her life.

“There’s nothing straight forward about being a Mum to teenagers. You go down some lonely roads with teenagers sometimes and I think that any mother or father will know exactly what I’m talking about. Bringing up teenagers in this day and age can sometime be more than challenging.”

Gardening, tours, Christmas albums, re-releases, raising teenagers and an album of new material coming out in the new year –Wilde is certainly got a lot on her plate.

“There’s a lot of plate spinning going on,” said Wilde, “and I just take it head on.”

Kim Wilde is playing the Astor Theatre on October 20th, tickets available from www.showticketing.com.au

Take a look at some of our favourite Kim Wilde video’s below.

Graeme Watson

The post Kim Wilde Talks Pop, Parenthood and PVC appeared first on OutInPerth.

Aysha Amani is an urban dance music vocalist and MC, who has developed her own unique vocal style, seamlessly blending soulful vocals with conscious rhymes to create an engaging live performance.

Amani has now formed The Amani Consort, one of the freshest new acts which takes the singer into a new organic soul and hip-hop direction. With some of Perth’s most talented musicians in the line up this band have been getting some notice on the live scene.

This Friday the band are performing at AGWA nights, a double ticket event that gives audiences that chance to visit the Art Gallery’s current MOMA exhibition ‘Van Gogh, Dali and Beyond’ and listen to the band play.

“It’s going to be fabulous,” Amani told OUTinPerth, “I’m really looking forward to it.”

On the agenda on Friday night will be an offering of sould and funk tunes. Amani describes the bands sound as “Erykah Badu meets D’Angelo.” The singer says her range of musical interests has always been wide, but her career has primarily involved dance music. Amani jokes that as she’s gotten older the beats have started to get slower and she’s moved more into soul music.

“I think soul music is making  a big comeback,” said Armani, “I listen to lots of it when I was younger, learning how to play the guitar…it’s nice now to be revisiting those sounds.”

When asked if the Art Gallery is the most unusual location the band had played in Amani pauses and thinks before coming up with somewhere a little more off-beat. “We played at the Film and Television Institute in Fremantle once, that big imposing old room in what used to be the Fremantle Boys School. It’s a beautiful room, but one of the more unusual places.”

Armani Consort play AGWA Nights on Friday 27 September, doors open at 5:30pm, a guided tour of the exhibition starts at 6pm and the band plays at 7pm.

Read more about the current exhibition at the Art Gallery of Western Australia.

Graeme Watson

The post Get Down with The Amani Consort at the Art Gallery appeared first on OutInPerth.

Waiting to chat to Jedward on the phone is quite daunting, aside from the thick Irish accents and their tendency to talk over one another, they’re just a little unpredictable – but that’s what makes these twins so special, you never know what’s around the corner.

Jedward first clocked on to the pop culture zeitgeist back in 2009 when John and Edward Grimes from Dublin auditioned for the British ‘X Factor’. Simon Cowell cut them off halfway through their rendition of a Backstreets Boys’ song to call them two of the most irritating people who’d ever graced the stage. Fellow panelist Cheryl Cole said the spiky haired duo were “intriguing, but maybe not in a good way”, while Danni Minogue said they were “cocky” and fourth judge Louis Walsh labeled them “cheeky”.

Jedward ended up coming sixth overall in the show. The boys have gone on to make their own TV show, appeared on ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ and recorded three albums of pop tunes.

Last month the boys spent a week in Australia promoting their upcoming tour. Many Australians would know them from their two attempts to win Eurovision for Ireland but over seven days they did their best to appear on every TV and radio show in the country, in between squeezing in chats with magazines and filming the occasional YouTube video.

“I want to tell you what we’re wearing,” said Edward, the brother who does the majority of the talking for the pair, “We’re wearing all black and white and some chrome.”

The fashion declaration came without any provocation, but it seemed as good as place as any to start, for a moment I was tempted to ask if they boys had flat hair or spiky hair today, but decided to go a little deeper, so I asked Edward if their dedication to fashion had lead to a lot of luggage.

“We actually brought a lot of clothes, because everything we do we have to have different clothes, because our fans like to see us,” explains Edward, “We style ourselves, it’s not like we have a stylist. We have loads of clothes and trainers and then we also brought a bag of studs and spikes, so if we bought anything over here we’d be able to stud it. We bought some crazy t-shirts in Korea town and we wore them yesterday.”

Indeed shortly afterward the boys posted a YouTube video of themselves wearing matching sheer black and gold shirts adorned with gold tigers. They’d added hundreds of gold studs themselves. “We spent a long time putting in the studs” explains John in the video.

We share with John and Edward some of the questions that OUTinPerth readers sent in for them, first up we asked if there were times they wish they weren’t famous.  The boys list off a mountain of times that fame is a disrupter from having your twitter feed inundated with comments, to having to wear caps to go out in public, not wanting to be caught shopping in sales and not being able to enter a marathon. One of the worst Edward says is trying to go to the movies.

“When we go to the movies we have to wear caps, and sometimes at the movies if people are in front of us, they’ll spend the whole movies looking back at us, sometimes we just have to leave.”

Secondly we asked the boys if they were to be a character in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ which one would take their fancy, Edward jumps at the chance to be the Lion, “I’d be the Lion, so then I could appear in Katy Perry’s ‘Roar’ music video!” After some consideration John chooses the Tin Man because he’d get to wear a lot steel and would feel quite safe.

We pass on another reader’s question asking, if you were a Kangaroo what would you keep in your pouch? The boys are unanimous on their answer, they’d have load of cameras and take pictures of everyone who takes pictures of them.

John has however recently become wary of marsupials after a koala grabbed his hair. Edward jokes that it must have been a professional, “We did meet one that wouldn’t let go of Johns’ hair. It was rearranging his hair; it was a hair stylist koala!”

Jedward share that they do have a few pre-performance rituals, before each show they love to tweet people in the audience and are guilty of peeking through the curtains to look at the crowd. Edward admits he’s quite fond of hearing the crowd shout “Jedward, Jedward!” before the show begins.

One of the boys’ new videos shows them visiting MTV Australia and creating a new dance move which they’ve christened ‘the jedshake’. The move is their personal response to twerking, unlike the twerk, which is mainly an up and down motion of the derriere, the jedshake is like a vibration. Edward clarifies that you officially need two people to undertake a jedshake, it can’t be done alone.

Jedward tagged twerk obsessed singer Miley Cyrus in their online post, but they haven’t had a response back from her yet. The boys giggle as they recall the British press declaring that Miley looked like them with her new short hair cut.

“When Miley cut her hair, that was breaking news in the UK. Everyone was like, ‘Oh no, she’s cut her hair like Jedward!’ When she was in the UK everyone kept asking her if she was going to have a ‘flat’ day.  When she first cut her hair short though she did look like our record cover for ‘Lipstick’,” said Edward.

Pressed for a description of their upcoming show at The Regal Theatre the boys declare it’s going to be a lot of energy, jumping around, mountains of fun and that there’ll be crowd surfing. Then after a ten minute interval there’ll be more energetic jumping around.

Just before our chat ends Edward asks if we’d seen the Instagram video he posted the night before of him jumping into the hotel pool. I admit that I had seen it and his Speedos had been discussed in the OUTinPerth office. ‘They’re not Speedos”, he declares “I just decided to jump in the pool, that’s my underwear, I figure everyone has seen us before on Big Brother so why not!”

Jedward will be back in Australia soon, performing at the Regal Theatre on Saturday 23^rd November.   

Graeme Watson

The post Watch Out: Jedward Are About appeared first on OutInPerth.

Up and coming indie rocker Aimee Francis is touring around the country and her tour bus is set to pull into Perth this month before taking a trip down south.

Do you like life on the tour bus?

Apart from having smelly boys around me most of the time it’s okay. No we’re all good. It’s fantastic it’s a lot of fun.

You’ve recently played at some of P!nk’s Australian shows and I noticed you’ve toured overseas and worked with lots of different people, how have you scored so many great support slots?

Yeah it’s a matter of me being slightly gangster when it comes to booking and managing myself… I have done some pretty cool things, I’ve played some festivals in America and England. I did the ‘Dinah Shore on the shore festival’ in Palm Springs, LA which was great, I played with Pat Benatar and Steel Panthar and I just got off the road with P!nk so it’s been really good.

You manage yourself, which seems to be something a lot more artists are doing, what are the disadvantages of this?
I guess if you have a manager who knows what they’re doing, which I did not have at the start, which is why I left them and went independent. I guess if you have a manager with few more contacts then you might. I don’t know, I don’t know that many advantages of having a manager because I haven’t really had one that has been productive for me; it has always just been a headache. A disadvantage of managing yourself is that I am everything at the moment, I am my own booker and my own manager, so 24 hours of my day has to be spread into the creative and the business side of things so I think sometimes I need to pull myself from the business side of things and go “okay, you need to start writing and focusing on the music” –you really need to try and find some kind of medium or else its not going to work.

Do you find the songs change a lot once they have hit the studio?
I’m a bit of a control freak when it comes to my songs, they’re my babies. When I go into the studio I make sure the producer is totally amazing and gets where im going and im fairly production savvy so I can express what I want to hear most of the time and put my 95 cents in and the producer has his little 5 cents as far as what he feels; Although I am definitely into collaboration, but it’s a process.

I noticed on one of your facebook posts that someone had made a comment that you are a great Rock Chic, I don’t know if you saw it earlier this year but Abbe May wrote a piece about how much she hates that phrase – do you have any thoughts on it?

Unfortunately all I know about Abbe May is about her writing controversial stuff online and I don’t really want to know about her music now because of what she said on the internet, so I disagree with her. People are going to look a certain image, and with whatever she feels is right and wrong, people are always going to box other people into certain categories because that makes people feel better about life. This is what a rock chic looks like, this is what a rock chic sounds like.

Do you care about being put into boxes though?

No, I’ve given up. If people want to put me into little boxes that’s cool – I’m glad that they’re talking about me and they want to spend time worrying about what box I fit in. I’ve always struggled with that, I’ve always been myself and if people are happy with that and they want to put me in the rock chic genre then do – it’s great.

I see you’ve done a lot of advocacy for bullying in schools and you’ve spoken out about your own bullying in school?

That’s just something that is so common with any generation and everyone can relate to it, whether it’s at school, at work, family not accepting you for something – I think bullying happens every day and if I can make some kind of awareness of that, that this is happening, then that would be awesome because I really didn’t enjoy it when I was getting bullied.

Aimee Francis – Losers’ Game Tour (WA) presented by Events West is at The Ellington Jazz Club (acoustic session) on 13 October, The Court Hotel on 17 October with Lionizer and Codie Sunstrom, The Elliot Bar in Bunbury on 18 October, the Duckstien Winery in Margaret River (Oktoberfest) as well as the Swan Basement in Fremantle in 19 October.

Graeme Watson

The post It’s OK to Call Me a Rock Chick appeared first on OutInPerth.

The infectious beats of Sneaky Sound System will help revelers get into the new look PrideFest during ‘Celebration’.

The gang that brought you ‘I Love It’, ‘Pictures’ and ‘UFO’ will bust out crowd-favourite classics to set the dance floor alight but, will also use the event to test out a few new tracks.

OUTinPerth caught up with guitarist and producer Angus McDonald aka Black Angus ahead of the gig, where he spoke about measuring their success, hanging out in Tokyo and chilling with Beyonce.

“I think we had a pretty clear idea about what we wanted to do,” McDonald said, referring to Sneaky Sound System’s ability to retain a unique voice while experiencing commercial success.

“We’ve stuck to our guns, especially when we released our first album, which was really at the start of when dance music was starting to happen in Australia.”

McDonald is referring to he and band mate Connie Mitchell’s 2004 self-titled debut that went platinum and earned them two ARIA awards for best dance release and best breakthrough artist.

“It just wasn’t treated as a serious form of music back then and we found it really hard to find (a) sensible record deal, which is why we released it ourselves,” he said.

Prior to the breakthrough of electronic music into popular top 40 tracks, the mainstay of electronic music was drum and bass, but as outfits like Cut Copy, Van She and Digitalism have shown the Australian electronic music scene has evolved.

“We had four songs in the top forty at one stage, it was bizarre,” McDonald said, “It was a pretty rare thing to happen.”

The group also held the record for having the longest running single in the ARIA top 100 chart, beaten only recently by Justin Timberlake whom McDonald cheekily described as a “worthy advisory.”

During one of their most recent trips to Sydney McDonald recalls a random encounter with one of the world’s biggest talents.

“One night Kanye West called up and wanted  Connie to come over and do some vocals, so we both went over to this mansion in Sydney and low and behold also there was Jay Z and Beyonce,” he said, “It was the three and us, an engineer and ten hours of Connie singing away and I had the pleasure of speaking to Beyonce for a couple of hours.”

And what did they talk about? “Family, holidays, kids, you know? The normal stuff. She’s just a really beautiful person, it was just pretty f***ing cool,” he said.

It’s the exposure to the big end of town when spending time in London and New York in the late nineties and early two thousands that opened McDonald’s eyes to the potential of the scene in Australia.

“I basically went to a night called Lazy Dog hosted by Ben Watt of Everything But The Girl on a Sunday every fortnight and I thought it was the best thing I’d ever been to,” he said.

Fast forward to more than a decade later and the groups first album peaked at number five on the ARIA charts, their second debuted at number one and they’ve played successful  shows in New York, San Francisco, Canada and throughout Europe.

When McDonald and Mitchell head out West next month revelers are in for a treat.

“We’ve got a whole series of collaborations about to come out very soon and we’re going to be test driving a couple when we come over to you,” he said.

“We don’t know if we’re going to do a whole album, we’re certainly going to do lots singles with lots of different people.”

Not wanting to “jinx anything” he defies requests for further information, assuring OUTinPerth that fans will get their SSS dance fix.

Asked if there was a methodical approach to creating tracks McDonald, unlike many other dance producers of the moment, said there is no linear formula for dance floor success.

“A bit of divine inspiration hits and other times I come up with some music and we write a melody on top of that, it varies each time,” he said.

Arguably one of the group’s most recognizable hits and certainly a track that has helped heat up dance floors not only in Australia but across the world, ‘Pictures’ was the fourth release from their debut album and the first to be released in the UK.

It caused quite a stir in the in Commonwealth for a band that grew from throwing club nights in Bondi for a couple of hundred people and it often takes McDonald back to a particularly memorable moment.

“We were literally driving past Stonehenge and ‘Pictures’ came on the radio and it was ‘Best Song in the World’ for that week, so they were flogging it on Radio One,” McDonald said.

“We got to Glastonbury and it was so incredible and our stage was so rammed and it was just one of those moments like, ‘wow, people are into it here.’”

He admits the response was unexpected, both he and Mitchell thought the whole thing would be a disaster, complete with an empty unenthusiastic crowd forcing them to return to Australia with their tail between their legs.

“We were pleasantly surprised,” he said, “Also Ibiza, we’ve been going there for seven years now and that whole experience has just been awesome.”

Hear Seriously Sound System at this year’s PrideFest during CELEBRATION on 2^nd November . Tickets available from www.pridewa.com.au

Joe Cassidy

The post Sneaky Sound System Reveal Their Celebration Plans appeared first on OutInPerth.

Often, ‘flash in the pan’ celebrities who appear on reality television shows can struggle for relevance once they make the step from prime time to the real world  of showbiz but since first appearing on ‘Australian Idol’ Paulini Curuenavuli has kept busy with a steady flow of work and an increasing international profile.

She spoke with OUTinPerth’s Joe Cassidy about performing at New York City Pride and how the sport of ping-pong lead to meeting Susan Sarandon.

Paulini has just returned from a “hard, but worth it” work out session that involved a lot of sprinting, her way of relaxing.  Taking some down-time is certainly a good idea for the 25 year old that has had a busy year and having just returned from the mother of all queer parties, New York City Pride.

“As soon as I got there it was just buzzing, when you stepped out of your apartment it was just a great vibe, people on the streets are buzzing and obviously the music there was unbelievable,” she said.

Performing during the event ‘Shark’ Paulini sounded genuinely excited and impressed with her fan base in the US.

“It was so funny, I was surprised while I was singing ‘Fireman’ I could see a few people singing along,” she said.

“I always get a buzz when you look out and people know the songs and you kind of go ‘ok, they do listen to the music… they are there to see you’.”

The Fijian-born singer harbours aspirations to break into the lucrative US market but not only for the bigger market and audience.

“I’ve gotta say, some of the boys in New York are the most beautiful boys, that’s the only way I can explain it, they were gorgeous! But obviously they weren’t looking at me!” she laughs.

Although the dream is to get a number one in the US charts or hit the top 20, Paulini said she would be happy just to work in the Big Apple’s clubs.

“When I went over there I could actually see myself performing every night and getting great money for it, it was unreal,” she said “there is always work over there and people looking for new talent.”

Success in the coveted US market could come sooner that she thinks, having recently toured internationally in London, Berlin, Paris and Germany, with different locations providing inspiration for the self-penned songs on her upcoming new album.

“Through the last five years I’ve been writing and all of those songs I connected to the most are across the album, it’s basically my life and my world,” said Paulini, “It’s really the only place where I can be honest, in my words, and I’ve totally just been enjoying that whole process.”

The new album  may be a more artistically mature collection that her 2004 debut, ‘One Determined Heart’ which went platinum and hit number one on the ARIA Charts. Since its release Paulini has collaborated with Ronan Keating on 2010’s ‘Believe Again’ and with Guy Sebastian on ‘Receive the Power’ in 2008, the exposure from which helped raise her international profile.

In 2011 she performed her song ‘Show Me Your Colours’ (the Ping Pong Mix) in China at the Volkswagen Table Tennis Cup Championships, and ended up having dinner with ping pong aficionado Susan Sarandon.

After performing Paulini and her management team were invited out for dinner and sitting comfortably at the table when they arrived was the famed Hollywood actress.

“I was in shock. I mean, hello? You just never think that an amazing woman and an international actress would be sitting at the table where you’re about to have dinner, it was insane,” Paulini shares.

“We were all freaking out and she was like, it’s all good, we were just hanging out and having a few glasses of red wine.”

Sarandon was an ambassador for the Table Tennis game internationally and owns a handful of clubs dedicated to the sport in New York. Sarandon, obviously impressed by Paulini’s presence and familiar with her work, invited her to perform at the opening of one of her clubs in New York.

“So I went over to New York and performed at these clubs that she owns, Q-Tip was there, it was an amazing night.”

Paulini approaches all of her shows with equal enthusiasm, when I mention if she’s excited about performing here in Perth her response was similar to when she speaks about New York.

“I haven’t been to Perth in ages! C’mon! I’m like, why aren’t I getting any invites to Perth? Don’t they like me? I really want to come over, I just haven’t for such a long time, so I’m really, really looking forward to it.”

Paulini performs on Friday the 18 October at The Court Hotel’s 911 Party to raise money for Telethon.

 Joe Cassidy

The post Paulini on Pride, Ping Pong and Pretty Boys appeared first on OutInPerth.

Speaking about his new album, the constant reminder of his stunning vocals on the eighties hit single ‘Gold’ and working with a symphony orchestra, Tony Hadley admits he’s pleased to be back in the limelight and keen to talk about his new album.

“We’ve got a lot of strings going on with the new stuff, a lot of great synths and just really interesting tunes,” he said, “I’ve been working with people like Rob Davis who did all the Kylie stuff and Dorris Pearson –she’s actually brilliant and DJ Gosling who’s been involved with One Direction.”

Hadley, while still content to be touring the world and playing music, laments the change in the music business. “It’s not the same as it used to be, peoples tastes and interests in music has changed… I find it somewhat difficult because I suppose in a sense it’s just changed and you have to develop with it, y’know?” he said.

“But the album sounds great and hopefully it will connect with people, but it won’t be out until next year.” Although referring to his next yet-to-be-released solo album and keen to look to the future, it’s his past with Spandau Ballet that continues to draw in the crowd.

He could have chilled out and enjoyed the royalties from the Spandau days but instead has been touring, thrown himself into various solo projects, including four studio albums through Universal Records and EMI and releasing an album of swing music on his own label, Slipstream Records.

“I normally get distracted and end up going on tour somewhere which is kind of what’s happening now ‘cos we’re coming to Australia so it’s on hold for a month,” he said.

Hadley is heading down under to perform the hits of Spandau Ballet with the Perth Symphony Orchestra, he fondly recalls the last time he was in Perth was when Spandau Ballet had recently reformed, “patched things up” and had a successful run of shows.

He has experience working with an orchestra and his upcoming show promises to be a solid one for eighties stalwarts and hipsters alike. “I love it, when those strings kick in and that timp and everything else,” he said “it’s quite amazing the process behind this is, you’ve got the core, the Tony Hadley rock band in the middle and surrounded by the lush strings and brass and timpani and percussion.”

“It’s a really great experience, when you work with orchestras you have to be really disciplined. When you’re just a rock band, if you want to talk to the audience for 16 bars you can, if you want to talk for 32 bars you can, if you forget where to come in, don’t worry , the band will pick you up,” he said.

“Honestly, I’ve heard an orchestra when it’s all gone out of time or someone forgot to come in at the right place and it’s a car crash, so you have to rehearsed, very disciplined, because the guys in the orchestra will follow the dots.”

How often does Hadley hear that classic single ‘Gold’?  He admits it got a pretty good workout at the London Olympics last year, and he was pleased to perform it personally for all the gold medal winners at a reception after the games.

Tony Hadley will perform with the Perth Symphony Orchestra on Wednesday October 30 at the Astor Theatre in Mount Lawley. Purchase tickets at Showticketing.

Joe Cassidy

The post Tony Hadley Explores His Classical Side appeared first on OutInPerth.

The 90′s Pop Revival Continues…

Following the reformation of S Club, Vengaboys and Aqua, UK boy-band 5ive have joined vocal forces once more, minus one member that is. Ahead of the show at Metropolis Fremantle, Scott Robinson (the one with the spiked hair) had a chat with OUTinPerth and as Joe Cassidy found out, never have the words, “let’s get the band back together” ever been uttered with more enthusiasm.

Robinson is based in Essex, about an hour out of London and his home is about 20 minutes from where the television program The Only Way Is Essex is filmed –which he insists is not an accurate reflection of the area. He has two boys and is happily married to the same girlfriend he had all the way through 5ive.

Tell us about your time in 5ive, do you look back on it with fond memories?

It’s a hard one, there are some fond memories and some not so fond memories. Obviously being in a boy band that does really well, I always dreamed of being successful and we were. We worked very hard and this time round I’m certainly appreciating it a lot more and enjoying it a lot more because we’re doing it on our own terms and everything we do we’re not being forced into it. We’re doing it because we want to. So I’m really enjoying it this time round.

Was there any point where you said, ‘Ok, I’ve had enough, I want to lead a so-called normal life?’

No it’s not that I wanted to leave to have a normal life, it’s the fact that I was being worked too hard and we were like, y’know what? We need a break. What we should have done, instead of quitting, we should have said we need some time off. That’s the only mistake I think we made. The right thing to do would have been to say, right we need a year off, maybe two, but it’s a lot harder to come back from a break up than it is to come back from having some time off.

Were you the consummate family man post-break up or did you continue to perform?

I was still at home, but continued to perform, I did a bit of radio presenting, I was in a musical and then I toured up and down the country doing all the 5ive hits on my own for a long time, for about 3 or four years and the Abs (Love –another original member) joined me for the last couple of years.

Where did the original idea to get the band back together again come from?

Me and Abz always spoke about it, we do a show and say can you imagine if we ever got back together and he kept saying “it’s gonna happen man.” It wasn’t until he got me to start believing as well, that we said we’ve got to put it out there. So I started thinking positively about it and here we are.

Did you lads stay in contact after the break-up?

No, not really. I spoke to Rich a couple of times via email and once or twice on the phone but not a lot. I didn’t see or hear from Sean for ten years and Abz obviously I was working with. What was nice about seeing the lads again was we were still friends. Me and Sean obviously had some bridges to build, but we’re there now and we’re really getting along well and enjoying each other’s company.  The fact I hadn’t seen Rich for five years didn’t seem to matter we got on instantly again which was fantastic.

Do you have a highlight of the time that you guys were huge?

I’ve got two really, one of the highlights from the band the first time was performing with Queen. That was pretty awesome, to actually get to sing with Brian May, being on stage with such legends that’s pretty impressive. Another highlight is actually doing it again, just to be back together with the lads is a highlight in itself and we’re just really looking forward to coming out to Australia. What the fans should know is that we’re not being forced to do anything this time, like before they might have had to get us on a plane and we would have been tired and no wanted to go whether that be Australia, America, New Zealand or wherever it was. This time we wanted to come to Australia, like really wanted to and we’ve got some really cool fans out there.

5ive will perform at Metropolis Fremantle on Wednesday 30th October.

Joe Cassidy

The post 5ive The Second Time Around appeared first on OutInPerth.

Kim Wilde has announced the release of ‘Wilde Winter Songbook’ her new Christmas album which will be released on 15^th November.

The album is a mix of brand new songs and seasonal classics, plus a few surprises like a cover of the Fleet Foxes song ‘White Winter Hymnal’. Wilde teams up with her father 50′s rocker Marty Wilde and her brother Ricky Wilde on the tune. Keeping it in the family she also records a track ‘Burn Gold (Silent Night) with her husband Hal Fowler.

Two other 80′s stars make an appearance, ‘Winter Wonderland’ is a duet with Rick Astley. Wilde notes she thinks the combination of her voice and Astley’s in a perfect match.

“I think Rick Astley’s and my voice go perfectly together; like a hot cup of tea and a digestive biscuit!”

Also making appearance is Wilde’s touring partner Nik Kershaw. The two record ‘Rocking Around the Christmas Tree’. Kim previously recorded the song with the late comedian Mel Smith for the charity Red Nose Day back in 1987.

Wilde recently told OUTinPerth about the recording of the album,

“I started writing and recording straight after last Christmas. I’ve always wanted to make a Christmas album and I’m really excited about it. There are twelve songs, six originals and six traditional or well known songs,” Wilde said.

Being a huge fan of the Christmas period Wilde says writing Christmas songs came very easily.

“It’s not hard to write a Christmas song, I had them all inside me, I love Christmas. All these songs were just waiting to be born. I’ve always wanted to record some of the songs that are on there.

“It’s a very personal album. It doesn’t really go into the realm of religion, it’s focuses more on what Christmas is about to me which is family and friends and humanity.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Winter Wonderland (Duet with Rick Astley)
2. Hope*
3. One*
4. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
5. Winter Song
6. New Life*
7. White Winter Hymnal (featuring Marty Wilde & Ricky Wilde)
8. Burn Gold*
9. Song For Beryl*
10. Let It Snow
11. Hey Mister Snowman*
12. Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree (Duet with Nik Kershaw)

* indicates new composition

‘Wilde Winter Songbook’ her new Christmas album will be released on 15^th November.

The post Kim Wilde Reveals Christmas Album appeared first on OutInPerth.

Dj Jewel is set to play at the ‘Celebration’ event in Russell Square tomorrow.

‘Celebration’ kicks off at 1:30pm right after the Pride Parade.

Jewel shares with us some her favourite tracks of the moment.

1.    Roger Sanchez – My Roots

2.    Gallo, Alaia – Dis Love (Won’t Pay The Rent)

3.    Jorge Montia – Funkeh

4.    Lana Del Ray – Summertime Sadness (Peep This Remix)

5.    Deorro – Yee

6.    TJR – What’s Up Suckas

7.    Martin Garrix – Animals

The post DJ Jewel Shares Her Top Tracks appeared first on OutInPerth.