The Peep Tempel

Growing up in Narrogin gave Blake Scott a sense of humour that’s pitch black.

Like the Drones’ Gareth Liddiard, who was born in Port Hedland and raised in Perth before fleeing east, Scott brings that mix of mirth and menace to Melbourne rockers the Peep Tempel.

“We’re a family that really talked,” the part-time punk and construction worker says of his childhood on the edge of the Foxes Lair national park.

“There was always a real larrikinism to Narrogin and the people we were surrounded by. A lot of humour. A lot of storytelling.”

“My dad’s a real storyteller and we were always having a barbecue and a beer, and we’d tell stories.”

As he got older, Scott sensed darker edges to the tales, often told by heavy drinkers.

“I grew up around a lot of booze, and I don’t think that’s just Narrogin, that’s everywhere — Australia is a very big drinking country.

“That’s something that I’ve picked up as I’ve gotten older, this humour had a real darkness to it. I’ve gone ‘Wow, that’s actually not funny, that’s actually sad’.”

After living in Mandurah, Subiaco and Fremantle, plus a six-month stint working in Karratha, Scott loaded up his van and drove to Melbourne in 2003.

He started out playing solo acoustic gigs. “Then people started to say ‘You’re that roots guy’,” Scott laughs. “F... off! I just haven’t got a band yet, I’ll make some noise later.”

In 2008, he formed a guitar-and-drums rock duo with his neighbour, Steve Carter.

After a few permutations, Scott and Carter were joined by bassist Stewart Rayner and released 2012 self-titled debut on their Wing Sing label.

Released two years ago, second album Tales earned an Australian Music Prize nomination and oodles of acclaim for the idiosyncratically Australian outfit.

This week, the Peep Tempel unleash their brilliant third album Joy, also on Wing Sing and again recorded with WA producer Anna Laverty.

Despite themes of masculinity and the bloke-y delivery of their dark punk-rock songs, Scott insists Laverty was not recruited to “break up the sausage party ... Anna’s just a really great producer and engineer”.

Alongside unhinged rockers such as Totality, Neuroplasticity and frenetic single Rayguns, Joy features highly evocative storytelling songs.

The album opens with Kalgoorlie, a dark family drama set amongst the skimpy bars and brothels of the mining Mecca.

While he hasn’t spent a lot of time in the Goldfields, Scott has always been fascinated with this “quintessential WA town”.

“Kalgoorlie’s always has this aura as this hard, big drinking town, a town of legend,” says the singer, who started singing the track on acoustic guitar at parties.

“I thought it was hilarious,” Scott says. “Not many people really got it, they thought it was a sad song but when I played it for my dad, he laughed his f...ing head off.

“That’s his favourite song on the record.”

The other storyteller song on Joy is Constable, a spoken-word track set to electric guitar from the perspective of a police officer exiled to rural South Australia for an “odd loose step”.

Admitting to be an “incredibly undisciplined” songwriter, Scott says he often waits until the band are in the studio before penning lyrics “quick-fire” in a “stream-of-consciousness sort of vibe”.

“Ninety-five per cent of the time with the Peep Tempel, the music creates the environment for a situation or character, then it spills from that quite naturally.

“If it doesn’t come natural,” Scott adds, “it’s doesn’t go — we don’t push it too hard.”

Joy is released October 14. The Peep Tempel play Amplifier on November 26. Tickets from Oztix. - The Western Australian

Blake Scott, the frontman for corrosively cathartic Melbourne three-piece the Peep Tempel, grew up on a rural property outside Narrogin in West Australia's wheat belt, where the bush was an unchecked playground and his imagination was his one constant companion. The isolation was something he grew comfortable with, and even appreciated.

"I spent a lot of time with my own thoughts until I was ready to let them go," recalls Scott, who has lived, rehearsed and sometimes recorded in West Melbourne over the last 12 years.

"Everyone feels they've got a voice and they want to be heard. They want their photos and their opinions liked and they can find like-minded people," Scott says. "People can find their own clans online now and that's why we have so much hysteria aimed at rallying them."
The characters in Scott's songs, with their vivid, vernacular-fuelled monologues, also live isolated lives, although generally not by choice. But by documenting their dissatisfaction and self-defeat, the songwriter finds the very satisfaction they hunger for. "The beauty of music," the 34-year-old says, "is that you get to blow out those ill feelings."

Released today, The Peep Tempel's third album Joy takes those monologues to their definitive ends, turning pub mutterings and car journey confessions into demands to be acknowledged and heard. "I'm salt of the earth, assaulting the earth," Scott sings on the lurching opener Kalgoorlie, and the record is a dispatch from Australia's divisive discourse – the personal made very public.

On Joy the band – Scott, bassist Stewart Rayner and drummer Steve Carter – have mastered a sound that reflects the music's psychology, tempering their post-punk howl with discombobulated piano and industrial squeals.

They've seized on the opportunity given to them by the breakthrough success of their second album, 2014's Tales, which earned the band extensive airplay via triple J for the single Carol, a national touring profile, and inclusion on the shortlist for the 2014 Australian Music Prize. Tales, more than anything, provided vindication.

"The best thing for us is realising that we are a good band," Scott says. "You do wonder, and you generally have enough suspicions to keep going, but the three of us have realised that we're lucky. We make records and tour widely. We play better now we know that people are truly invested in what we're doing."

Joy is out today on Wing Sing Records. The Peep Tempel play the Corner Hotel, Richmond, on November 19; and Oxford Arts Factory, Sydney, on December 2. - The Age

PLENTY of blokes can be stand-up philosophers at the pub, solving the world’s problems one by one as they blow off the froth.
It takes a proper artist to put the bottle aside and capture cogent arguments on record. Blake Scott and his charges in The Peep Tempel are a rare breed. They’re hard as nails on the outside and deep-thinking puppydogs on the inside.

“You’ve got Luke Beveridge talking about his feelings after the Bulldogs won the Grand Final, that’s mainlined straight into the arm of Australia, that's huge,” Scott says, taking the pulse of the nation. Bevvo and Blake are made of the same stuff. Equal parts bruisers and thinkers.
The Peep Tempel’s second album, Tales, scored a shortlist nomination for The Australian Music Prize in 2014 and spawned an unlikely crossover hit in Carol.

They gigged hard at any beer barn that would have them, which lead to a pivotal slot at Meredith Music Festival where they earned the raised Boot of the Supernatural Amphitheatre (the festival’s highest accolade) as 10,000 people snarl-sang: “I don’t think Trevor is good for you, Carol."

News just in: They’ve been added to Golden Plains XI in March next year.

The Peep Tempel’s third album, Joy, introduces us to a new band of (dodgy) brothers: Alexander and the Constable. “Alexander is a song with similar intent to Lance off our first album. That foreboding intention. Lance has this grandiose paranoid vibe to it and so does Alexander. It reminds me of Funnel Of Love by Wanda Jackson, it has that R & B feel to it.”

Scott’s lyrics stab investment bankers in the front: “St Nick Filling up ya Goldman Sachs” and lampoons negative gearing when the Constable blurts “At least I own my house.” Scott sings “Don’t race, you’re better off stealing,” like he’s Ned Kelly. “I’m singing that to remind myself,” he says. “We talk about the Australian dream and everyone is chasing home ownership. I work in construction and I have some huge problems with it.”

Joy was recorded at Sing Sing Studios with engineer Anna Laverty. Again, not necessarily what you’d expect what with the girl germs etc. “Anna is very honest, easy to talk to, y’know, a lot of times in the studio you’re not getting the feedback you really need. They just give you thumbs up. There was no ego. She had her first bub and was back working away on Joy with us.

The Peep Tempel’s album cover rises another today’s mundane counterparts. Picture: Wing Sing Records
The Peep Tempel’s album cover rises another today’s mundane counterparts. Picture: Wing Sing RecordsSource:Supplied
“The guitar sounds very stressed, like they were in pain, we haven’t pushed the bottom end much before. That adds to the tension,” he adds.
The album notes from Scott noted “Human thought, is a pure and true chaos,” and making Joy was a way to quiet his monkey mind.
“I battle to sit still. Music is the one thing for me I completely feel at home in. There’s no distraction. It’s a form of meditation. Leading up to shows the nerves are actually getting worse. The biggest challenge is to get by without booze and substance, which I try to keep to a minimum,” he says with a jocular laugh.
“A lot of creatives would agree with this, you’re making environments where you’re exhausting yourself by being someone else.”
The Peep Tempel were christened garage punk pop. I’m sure they’d like to add rock, and withdraw pop from the term. Picture: Kate Griffin
The Peep Tempel were christened garage punk pop. I’m sure they’d like to add rock, and withdraw pop from the term.

One song on Joy is titled Neuroplasticity. It’s an umbrella term that describes lasting change to the brain throughout an individual’s life. Scott sings “I want joy” and doubles down with a neat self-help line: “Don’t stress, think about it less.” It’s catchy as hell. “We did some helium balloon singing stuff on Neuroplasticity,” he says.

How has Scott’s brain changed since Tales came out? “Personally, I’m more positive I guess. Neuroplasticity is all about being taught new tricks. There’s still a lot of darkness in our records. I’m a reasonably positive person, predisposed to depression,” he says, before cracking a huge smile and showing his mostly-white teeth.
“Off we go, here I come Joy, gonna getcha Joy.”
HEAR: Joy (Wing Sing) out now.
SEE: Corner Hotel, Richmond. Nov. 19. $22. ticketscout.com.au
The Zoo, 711 Ann St, Fortitude Valley, Nov. 12. $22. oztix.com.au
Golden Plains, Meredith. March 11-13. 2017.goldenplains.com.au - The Herald Sun

The Peep Tempel's terse character studies crossed over in a big way with 2014's Tales. The Melbourne trio reconvene with engineer Anna Laverty for their third album, doubling down on frontman Blake Scott's restless scrolling through different accents and vocal styles. That tactic suits his irony-salted Australiana, from the declaration "And they're all on ice!" during "Rayguns" to barstool asides like "I'm often tired and I'm often drunk". A wider splay of sounds pushes keyboards to the fore, and beneath Scott's gruff immediacy lopes a chewy rhythm section that peaks with the Krautrock chug of "Neuroplasticity". These shout-along anthems survey both our beer-sodden culture and the collective hangover that awaits. - Rolling Stone Australia

When you're included in a list of artists like Total Control, Blank Realm, Chet Faker, AC/DC, Sia, Courtney Barnett and others for some of the best songs in your country, my guess is you probably delivered. But that's the deal with the Peep Tempel, who was not only nominated for the APRA Awards' best song of the year in 2014, but also the (deep breath now) Australian Independent Record Labels Association 2015 Carlton Dry Independent Music Awards' best hard rock or punk group. Big shoes to fill, but that's some real competition there.

Since the band didn't take home those awards, maybe the fact that they didn't will make them more hungry? Or maybe the new song "Totality" from their forthcoming LP Joy might be another step closer to the winners' circle? And maybe the indie-kissed punk tune is exactly what the judges are looking for? Or maybe they're just trying to make a sick full LP for their label, Wing Sing, and have it ready by October 14? Pre-order it if you want, maybe?

Then again, who cares about awards when you have riffs like these? Stream the new track below. - CLRVYNT

Review: Meredith Music Festival 2015. Father John Misty, Harvey Sutherland, Peep Tempel and more


Father John Misty at Meredith Music Festival 2015 doing the hippy hippy snake.

Caviar.

I have caviar in my mouth.

It’s salty as all hell like licking a wizened fisherman’s hand after he’s trawled since dawn. With a headcold. Snotty. It’s also delicious and recharging and exotic.

How did it get in my gob? Have I lost touch with my people? Has becoming an artist (read: Interstitial DJ who plays other people’s songs) mean I’ve become part of the bourgeois? Would I outsource the lifting of My Boot to a pleb?
All I know is it’s doing the job at the end of another classic weekend in postcode 3333 as I pack up after a debut stay in Band Camp and mess up my tenses.

Let’s start at the start.

Meredith Music Festival 2015. Punter with the right attitude and a part-time witch doctor on her left.
Meredith Music Festival 2015. Punter with the right attitude and a part-time witch doctor on her left.Source:Supplied

You know you’re at a good festival when there’s only one stage but you have FOMO on the 1000 things swirling around you, fun that’s a one minute walk away on the Highway To Hell or a ten minute sashay to South Pines via Inspiration Point or monkey business in Tom Mankeys.

Meredith is for dropping off the grid. The only bars you should be concerned about aren’t the ones on your iPhone, they’re Pink Flamingo or Eric’s Terrace. It’s about tuning in to humans and giving them good reception. I put away my device for two and a half days, turning it on once to call my lovely lady and my chirpy three year old Juno from Inspiration Point.

In a very Meredith moment, two topless girls walked past at the very moment my girlfriend answered but I remained a true professional and only thought “Free the nipple!”

I didn’t say it.

POWER

Idiot Box. Deer Park caravan cook vibes. Unhinged. As expected, Power were more fulsome live than on their Electric Glitter Boogie record, much like Salma Hayek’s eyebrows in Frida. “Meredith’s maaaad!” singer and guitarist Nathan Williams signed off, which reminded me of the line in Two Hands “Yeah, shotties are good mate!”

Power at Meredith Music Festival 2015




PEARLS

Jousting through a muddy mix, groin first, Pearls brought it home, glamping style with Pretend You’re Mine and Big Shot. That key-change, man!

BULLY

Grungy, dirge-pop done correctly. The Breeders and Veruca Salt both come to mind. And the word salty. Like the caviar mentioned earlier. Bully were consummate explosionists. “We’ve only heard very specific positive things about this festival. It’s been excellent so far. I really like the one stage thing,” noted Alicia Bognanno of the Nashville trio. They’ll be back.

THURSTON MOORE BAND

Thurston Moore Band at Meredith 2015




SHELLAC

Bludgeoning, stop-start rumble fish rock. Bob Weston and Steve Albini aren’t trying to impress anybody except each other. With his droll statements and stinging song intros, Albini wasn’t trollin’, he was rollin’, enjoying the chance to play songs like My Black Ass, Steady As She Goes and You Came In Me. They came, they saw, they kicked The Sup’s ass.

BIG DADDY KANE

He may have blown out six interviews with me BUT I DON’T HOLD A GRUDGE At age 47, BDK’s flow remains seriously great and his scratch pervert of a DJ threw down Pharoahe Monch’s Simon Says without knowing that song will forever go down in Meredith folklore. Monch’s DJ played it in 2009, wound back the start and played it again even more ferociously. Place went bonkers. Ain’t No Half Steppin’, Raw and Warm It Up, Kane got things cooking as temperatures plummeted like Bill Shorten’s approval rating after Malcolm “Turnt” Turnbull stepped up as big daddy a few months back and kaned him.

GOAT

Earlier in the day we took the back way into Meredith (not telling) and lo ‘n’ behold, spotted Goat limbering up in the paddocks, all 48 of them, bounding about. They looked fit and ready to go (and squirt out milk for cheese). Later on Sweden’s Goat entered the stage with enviable caftans and straw and wooden masks and played Gathering of The Tribes, Disco Fever and the one-two of Goatman and Goatslaves. Is Goat, is good.

Goat at Meredith Music Festival 2015




UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA

They were rushing and/or dragging at first then locked into a groove that suited The Sup’. Better in a late arvo slot though. The chamber music and musings in The World Is Crowded were apt as some punters who hadn’t touched water since Melbourne started pinballing around. Can’t Keep Checking My Phone and Multi-Love brought it home with funk and guitar histrionics. Solid.

TKAY MAIDZA

She lapped up the attention like a pro. It’s still an enthusiastic karaoke session though; Maidza is early days in her career and let’s face it, a lot of hip hop can be disappointing to see live. “Ready? (pause) READY?” she asked. A grey jellyfish defied Aunty Meredith’s polite request to not bring Things On Sticks into The Sup’. It was fairly wispy though and had mastered the Trap Arms dance. Not all bangers are created equal and U-Huh is still out in front of lesser cuts like Brontosaurus and M.O.B. She flicks her hair so savagely I’m worried she may get whiplash. A lowly green LED in the crowd bobbed about to the beat, well jell of the jellyfish’s height. The Zimbabwe-born, Adelaide raised pocket rocket is ready to Switch Lanes and release a few classics, she’ll get there.

Tkay Maidza at Meredith Music Festival 2015




HARVEY SUTHERLAND & BERMUDA

Everyone’s favourite deep, marshmallow house jam, Inspector Norse, led into Harvey Sutherland’s Sup’-levelling set. It was an appropriate track, Todd Terje is commonly known as Norway’s answer to Harvey Sutherland. Things got jazzy and loungey and spiritual with Sutherland as he played bumping compositions that are comforting without verging on vanilla. “I love the fiddler!” a guy said to anybody within beer-shot. That was Jack Nicholson look-alike/think-alike Tamil Rogeon, a violinist and composer who had previously played The Sup’ twice with TrueLive and has now joined Sutherland’s live act as Bermuda. He scythed his instrument like a Samurai, using the bow in the most punk way since Nigel Kennedy circa 1986. Drummer Graeme Pogson cut the mustard and the three of them looked resplendent in crisp whites bought from UNIQLO. It was dorky, danceable and esoteric…and The Sup’ raved hard to every kickdrum and keyboard trill of Clarity, New Paradise, Bravado, Old Wars, Q3, Piano Track, Bamboo and closing track (snap) Bermuda. That’s the whole show, lift your game, setlist.fm. We were in good hands.

SCOOP: a European tour is booked for next year and as Michael Gudinski would say “The vibe is BIG. Big vibe. VIBE. (vibe).”

Meredith Music Festival 2015. Harvey Sutherland playing Blue Monday. Maybe. Picture: Lily James.
Meredith Music Festival 2015. Harvey Sutherland playing Blue Monday. Maybe. Picture: Lily James.Source:SuppliedSupplied

INTERSTITIAL SET

I was honoured (#blessed) to be selected to play the 10pm-3.10am Interstitial Set this year under the DJ name Joey Lightbulb and, well, how does one review oneself without sounding pompous?

One simply cannot.

I will say this, ladies and gentlemen, all I really thought about for three months was the perfect one hour and 50 minutes of music to play to make people shake it off (more Tay Tay referencing later) and cut loose on a Friday night in a field in regional Victoria, dancing like everyone’s watching. This crimped into this verrry nicely:

Mighty Boosh at Meredith Music Festival 2015




LCD Soundsystem at Meredith Music Festival 2015




LUCY CLICHÉ

The Sydney no-wave techno and house DJ kept things deep and punchy. I dug it. Then at 5am I dug into my tent, put in earplugs and used a pair of fresh underwear as an eye mask. The jocks were mine.

Meredith Music Festival 2015. Goat having escaped their paddock, refusing to be milked.
Meredith Music Festival 2015. Goat having escaped their paddock, refusing to be milked.Source:Supplied

~^~^~^~^~^~

SATURDAY

Up up and away. Gatorade, banana, apple, coffee, shower, bite of someone’s egg and bacon envelope from Hotties Eat Rotis, war stories swapped from the night before and we were good to go.

JULIA HOLTER

Holter has a beguiling Sofia Coppola presence and an aloof Joni Mitchell-on-Prozac timbre. Watching her is like flicking through channels on a Sunday night and chancing upon a David Attenborough documentary about oceans and knowing, just knowing, this is exactly what you need right now. She thumped her keyboard, rocked back and forth and her hair is a whole other band member, hypnotising like the central plot device in Infinite Jest. (Enough of the hair fetish stuff – Creep Alert Ed). Utterly transfixing, Medusa-like. Had she played Sea Calls Me Home yet? Nope, there it was: “I can’t swim, it’s lucidity, so clear!”

Julia Holter at Meredith Music Festival 2015




BRIGGS

I missed him. UnAustralian. We went to the Cocktail Party instead. Very strong reports he was excellent. I’ll make it up to you, Briggs, lest I never get let into Shepparton again.

GL

Ditto. Rob McCafferty and team didn’t make the same mistake.

GL at Meredith Music Festival 2015




MOON DUO

Opening with a palette cleanser, The lead guitarist, singer, ZZ Top lookalike Ripley Johnson (Wooden Shjips) let his curly wurly beard swirl in the breeze and they snapped The Sup’ into shape. Third song a third person on stage. “When did they get there?” I asked my accomplice. “She’s been there the whole time,” the Oakland native replied with admirable levels of condescension. The red, black and white visuals were reminiscent of old Hardware Rave posters by Nick Dem Q. “It’s like they’re pushing you away but pulling you in,” commented a friend on the Tron-like tripwire imagery. They had a song I dubbed “ACCA Maraca”. They had nuanced WARP records burbles and ticks. They had a Ramones-like track, a sped-up Jagwar Ma track…at least that’s what my notes say. Disclaimer: Pink Flamingos are stronger than they appear.

Meredith Music Festival 2015. Moon Solo.
Meredith Music Festival 2015. Moon Solo.Source:SuppliedSupplied

NEON INDIAN

Way to get out of a rut, Alan Palomo. The spicy Mexican loverboy put the ill in chillwave in 2009 on Psychic Chasms, slipped up with the not-so-hot Era Extrana then returned two months ago with VEGA INTL Night School and a whole lotta shakin’ going on. Virile Matador™ is the look of 2016 and he waved his arms side to side, hooked on the rhythm of Slumlord, shoulder-dancing like MJ in Smooth Criminal, clapping at imaginary salmon like a peckish bear. Neon Indian’s windy, LCD Soundsystem grooves and steel-drums were mightily received by the dusty footed crowd. Skills.

PEEP TEMPEL.

Trevor’s had a tough 18 months.

Tame Impala made Trevor a nefarious character in a bizarre love triangle and he was felled by Kevin Parker’s sniper synth in The Less I Know The Better. But Blake Scott had got in a year earlier, choosing ol’ mate Trev as the villain in Carol by Peep Tempel. “I’m the one that’s been helping you through the divorce!” Scott pleaded. Little story: Rock City’s erstwhile scribe Shane O’Donohue texted me last year “Carol, Peep Tempel, song of the year.” He was right. Once the bruisers from West Melbourne were booked, Carol was always going to get The Boot at Meredith’s 25th Birthday. Even Aunty herself zinged them in her Welcome To Meredith intro: “Get loose, but keep your sh!t together, no one wants to be a Christmas ham.”

Peep Tempel played like demons from the get-go, slinging into “Vick-ay, Vick-ayyy, my head is all fuct!” then revving up the opening chords of Carol. Scott stabbed his tongue out — it looked forked — like a lascivious cobra as Trevor copped a hiding. Then Scott went into spasmodic guitar convulsions as thongs, Blundstones and shoes were held aloft. A renowned label manager turned to me: “Geez he looks like he’d be a c---.” “He’s actually a really sweet guy,” I corrected.

“Who’s already had a spew today?” asked bassist Stewart Rayner, looking for all money like a member of The Angels, then added proudly, “I have!” If you missed them, you’d be spewin’. Scott told a little story of someone they met prior to the show “This four-year-old kid Leo is our biggest fan, he knows all the words to our songs apparently…which is concerning parenting.” Peep Tempel were Best on Ground.

Meredith Music Festival 2015. Peep Tempel’s Blake Scott moments before turning into a snake.
Meredith Music Festival 2015. Peep Tempel’s Blake Scott moments before turning into a snake.Source:SuppliedSupplied

UNCLE ACID AND THE DEADBEATS

What the hell was this? Soily stoner rock? Cambridge doom? LSD Soundsystem? It was bloody good, that’s what. We submitted. “Either this is working really well or this is the best thing I’ve seen all weekend,” quipped a mate. “Bit of both, Captain Fun.”

FATHER JOHN MISTY

He put tinsel around his neck like a wreath. He dropped sardonic bon mots. He played When You’re Smiling and Astride Me, Hollywood Forever Cemetery and The Night Josh Tillman Came To Our Apartment, he put his arms and shielded himself from some unknowable act, from Shaman to shamed man. Every physical movement felt like a revelation, calculated to within one molecule but unimpeachable. He was everything, he was nothing. He was there for us, he turned his back on us. It was a wild ride and then his band played Bored In The USA and The Boots came up…even Josh Tillman’s footwear: “I don’t know what this means, I’m just going with it. I’m just following local custom.”

Meredith Music Festival 2015. Father John Misty campaigning for President of Meredith 2015. WE VOTE YES.
Meredith Music Festival 2015. Father John Misty campaigning for President of Meredith 2015. WE VOTE YES.Source:SuppliedSupplied

RATATAT

They sounded sick and Cream on Chrome instantly made 12,500 people walk/dance/feel cooler. Another stage was calling though, my Betty Bora...

LEVINS

A semi-wise man whispered in my ear: “You can see great bands and DJs at Meredith but the best times you have are in cars with your friends.” Hence I missed Bieber-Gate and lots of Drake remixes. Who cares if a DJ plays Bieber’s Sorry if a. everyone is having a great time; b. the DJ mixes it well. By all reports both were happening.

Having said that, I don’t know about signing off on the mic with “I’m off to eat pizza with your mum” though. Let your tunes do the talking.

NB: There’s a better Levin(s) story hiding in this review if you read close enough.

Meredith Music Festival 2015. Meredith Skyshow from the Friday night. No planes crashed.
Meredith Music Festival 2015. Meredith Skyshow from the Friday night. No planes crashed.Source:SuppliedSupplied

FLOATING POINTS

Similarly, let your tunes speak for themselves. After recharging in our car and then accepting the kindness of a stranger to pop into his Campervan for Gin and an iPod session of Push Upstairs by Underworld we were ready for Sam Shepherd to do a number on us (in a good way). He begun his set with funk 45s and forgotten soul classics, lurching and bobbing forward over the decks with a Luna Park smile like he wanted to bring his equipment down onto the plastic-bottle strewn dance floor and rock the party Dan Deacon style. Let me say you dodged a bullet there, Shep, between a dreadlock-and-bindi guy frothing at the mouth, devoid of motor skills, shoving into us like a Jetski that had lost its pilot and ten other drunken boats around us, Floating Points was best suited guiding the good ship Meredith from stage in a flurry of pink and orange lights. He rode the high pass filter like he had just been shown how to use it and that became tedious, where’s the beat? The vibes were high though and after some DF repositioning he teased in his existential house classicNuits Sonores, building the celestial tek bulldozer until it gushed down like a waterfall, causing some in the crowd (me), to pop out of throng like jumping fish. This footage was filmed at the time:

Flying Carp at Meredith Music Festival 2015




“Look at ‘em go!” We were putty in his hands at that point and he chose to...mellow it out with soul when he could have really driven home the point. NB: if you had a wicked time, don’t let me ruin the memory, I’m a fussy fock. Floating Points wound up his two hours with an inspired Latino, whistle-while-you-twerk cut.

OPTIMO

“Scooootish ludgends!” a guy yelled as Optimo hit play on the first track of an always-plotting-never-plodding 2.5 hour journey. Eclectic DJing is an art as exact as it is unteachable and the indefatigable duo brought in Omar Souleyman moves and snarly basslines then a beefed up version of Shocking Blue’s 1969 heart-starter Love Buzz. Filthy. Righteous.

Optimo slotted in AC/DC’s TNT too: “Oi Oi Oi Oi.” I hit the hay as verdant shards of light kept the crowd fresh but a friend of mine BadKnee (who was defying his nickname by remaining front left speaker as the sun was coming up) reported “At exactly the hour mark, right on 5.30, they went BANG,” and upped The Sup’ from rolling to rocking. Don’t worry, I’ll find a recording of the set for us, my pretties.

One other key to Bad Knee’s success: “I was dancing without moving.” Gold.
~^~^~^~^

SUNDAY

6 hours sleep, both nights, that’s worth a total of 24 at a festival. Unheard of.

JESS RIBEIRO

Keeping it low-key in her trusty red cap, Ribeiro and her charges souped-up songs from her gear-shifting Kill It Yourself album. Ribeiro commented she may take a piss on the stage — nerves? bladder issues? Shirley Manson proclivities? — luckily this didn’t happen and there’s no Fergie footage doing the rounds. Working her way through Hurry Back To Love she concluded a stunning dusty folk set with the twanged refrain “Have you been cheating on me?” in the Cowboy Junkies-esque If You Were A Kelpie. She has a decent scream too. What hangover?

TOTALLY MILD

More questions from the stage: “Did you do bad things last night?” asked Elizabeth Mitchell. 98 per cent of the crowd replied with an internal groan. The quivers of livers. Totally Mild’s falsetto pop was as shiny and silver as Aunty Meredith’s jubilee and just the thing to continue the healing process. They tapped our temples with a velvet hammer. Hard decay and soft attack. Christa, Work It Out, Nights, Move On and Battleship brought us closer to feeling human again. “I’ve got sweat-face going on...that means I’m having fun,” chirped Mitchell.

Meredith Music Festival 2015. Totally Mild sinking battleships, capturing hearts.
Meredith Music Festival 2015. Totally Mild sinking battleships, capturing hearts.Source:SuppliedSupplied

STEVE MILLER BAND

Sleazy listening. De-based God. Handsome Steve has had his share of refreshments and his band were in no mood to be messed with. His drummer stood up and da-dommmmed her kit, the hip-flames in her swimsuit catching alight. I turned to my friend Lozioh and gawped “I’ve never seen anything like that in my life.” Very Russ Meyers.

Meredith Music Festival 2015. Steve Miller’s drummer The Shewolf just before she ignited.
Meredith Music Festival 2015. Steve Miller’s drummer The Shewolf just before she ignited.Source:SuppliedSupplied

MEREDITH GIFT

If you were there, you know Mystery Bag was the real winner. “I’d like to thank the Mystery Bag I found last night which has really helped me out” he said as he put on the Golden Jocks that he weren’t even his.

Meredith Music Festival 2015. Mystery Bag using his Jedi ball tricks to accept the Golden Jocks...after he lost.
Meredith Music Festival 2015. Mystery Bag using his Jedi ball tricks to accept the Golden Jocks...after he lost.Source:SuppliedSupplied

NOW FOR THE GOOD STUFF

INAUGURAL, COMPLETELY SUBJECTIVE MEREDITH MUSIC FESTIVAL AWARDS:

You Belong in The ‘Sup Award:

Peep Tempel. Born to do it. “Here’s a little love song we wrote.”

Peep Tempel at Meredith 2015




[[SBS Spoiler Alert]] Best Comeback From Dying In Fargo On Wednesday Night Award:

Angus Sampson, snug in a denim Cherry Bar jacket, rocking back and forth to Moon Duo and (probably) picking bullets out of his sternum. Incidentally he tweeted a few months ago about Meredith from the ‘States:

“Is it worth flying all the way back for it...if I don’t remember anything?”

Best Space Costume At Beechcomber’s Bavaria Cocktail Party Award:

The Space Cakes, Bender from Futurama, The Jedi and the six Kevin Spaceys mugging about.

Matador Core Award

Neon Indian donned a bolero jacket and moved about the stage like an imaginary bull was after him. Next time he needs to get off the stage faster, Peep Tempel were ready to rip his head off, which now you mention it only added to the fullbore, fast-bowling lace-out attack they began and maintained. We owe Neon Indian a thank you.

Moon Trio Award

Harvey Sutherland and Bermuda. The milky way pants, tees and kicks clinched it, sorry Moon Duo. #factcheck #qanda

Meredith Music Festival 2015. Harvey Sutherland and Bermuda giving it to us in a scalene triangle.
Meredith Music Festival 2015. Harvey Sutherland and Bermuda giving it to us in a scalene triangle.Source:SuppliedSupplied

Worst T-shirt of the Weekend Award

“Satan Is Great, Whiskey Is Super.” I nearly reported him to a Helper Hut for being a d!ckhead purely based on the lack of punchline. You too, Levins.

Worst Thing On A Stick Award

Kevin Rudd giving the thumbs up “F---ing Mint!” Best to leave that one at home next Meredith, guys, it’s not exactly timeless.

Best Thing On A Stick Award

The Before and After faces of CommSec’s Tom Piotrowski (clean shaven, then bearded h-word) on either side of a laminated poster. My buddy Schwiiiiiise borrowed the Kevin Rudd “F---ing Mint” Thing On A Stick and went up to the owner of the Big ‘Piotrowski and the following took place:

“Tom (nod)”

“K.Rudd (nod)”

“Are we ready to do this?”

“Yes we are,” (a one minute, high altitude, good-natured face-smashing battle between Tom and Kev took place).

Meredith Music Festival 2015. The crowd, far from clapped out.
Meredith Music Festival 2015. The crowd, far from clapped out.Source:Supplied

FASHION, TURN TO THE LEFT

Father John Misty’s snake-hips cool thinspired a lot of guys to wear their shirt buttons down and brood for Australia. Most snapped out of it by Magic Hour except for FJM. But he’s Father John Misty, a man who has described his concerts as “like watching a pervert on a bus.”

Plenty of I Love Taylor Swift T-shirts and even one Tayredith attendee wearing a Taylor Swift 1989 towel as a cape.

Overalls are in for men and I don’t know how I feel about this. Whatever (you think) works for you, gents.

Lots of pixie braids, daisy dresses and a girl wearing a Lobby Lloyde T-shirt.

One chap wore a ball-hugging pair of Paisley stocking-pants (?) that were very close to meggings. He was comfy, he was at a festival, no shade.

“Melbourne as F—k” T-shirt.

SCOOPS

The good folk at Look Out Kid entrusted me with a world premiere of the Mikey Young remix of Jess Ribiero’s Hurry Back To Love. Young describes the track: “I met Jess. She was super funny and off kilter. She said do a remix for me and make me sound like Donna Summer. So after trying to turn her into a bunch of Steve Reich tape loops for a day, I gave in and had a crack at unashamedly ripping on Moroder and Patrick Cowley as hard as I possibly could and coming up short of course but not tooooo short”.

It yo-yoed very smoothly out of the big rig on Friday night.

Chapter Music’s Guy Blackman played an unreleased track by No Zu. He also said “Don’t quote me for a comment in passing. You’re infamous for that.” Obstreperous chap at times.

HOUSEKEEPING IT CLEAN

Fee Bee Squared knew it. You knew it. I knew it. King Kunta by Kendrick Lamar was the Clean-Up song all weekend long, 2015’s hip hop banger. At Meredith 25, it really cleaned up.

Meredith Music Festival 2015. Hands-free torch.
Meredith Music Festival 2015. Hands-free torch.Source:Supplied

OVERHEARD

“I’m doing an Oral History of Silence Wedge.”

“Better together. It’s a good festival mantra.”

“We’re in the no judgment circle”

“I was immersed in potato cake and dim sim people.”

“Father John Misty, he’s a douche but a hot douche”

“Careful, you can overdose on potassium.”

“Is this Father John Farnham?” “No, it’s Father John Fogerty.”

“Going in the Meredith Gift is ultimate memoir fodder” - Town Bike 1.

“It’s like The Hunger Games ... only I’m full.” - Jane Clifton.

“That’s a lot of crack.” Jane Clifton again.

“Michael Schumacher’s brain injury was caused by him wearing a GoPro on his head while skiing. No sh!t.” “I will not be DJing with a GoPro on my head then.”

“Thanks for the offer of cherries but I can’t do them, they remind me of…”

“Brondercon Expectorant?” “Yes, Wild Cherry flavour (throws up hands in defeat), disgusting.”

RANDOM ANTHEM OF THE WEEKEND THAT WILL BE YOUR NEW EARWORM

“(singing) ‘Siri, Open Tinder. Tech Bro SWIPE LEFT, Married Couple SWIPE RIGHT.’ It’s by a band called Child Birth.”

SURELY NOT?

Without getting too Christie Eliezer on your ass, did Father John Misty nearly slurp down something that wafts? Rumour has it a bottle was offered to him by a local scribe before everyone around him shouted “YOU DON’T DRINK IT!!” Earlier in the day FJM had sampled some of the front row’s herbal remedies.

Somehow, some way, The Bennies must have been involved.

Speaking of drinks, could the Meredith Sunset — like it has IRL as a Meredith institution — one day overshadow the famed Pink Flamingo? Ya never know.

Meredith Music Festival 2015. I am the Lizard Queen!
Meredith Music Festival 2015. I am the Lizard Queen!Source:SuppliedSupplied

WRAP IT, LIGHTBULB

Segue, nothing can overshadow the relentless good times and great classic hits of Meredith and the 25th edition was a 4.5 star winner.

Thanks to Aunty Meredith, Nephew Woody, Peely, Nolesy, Jeff the Security Guard, Ang Henley, Mystery Bag and my 12,499 friends who made it so special.

Special mention to the photographers: Ryan Wheatley, Steve Benn, Kane Ikin, Lily James and Darby Bicheno.

Now, where’s the rest of that caviar, dahleeeng? Why, Blake Scott’s got his tongue in it, Carrrrollll.

Meredith Music Festival 2015. Dingus on left, legend from Pearls on right.
Meredith Music Festival 2015. Dingus on left, legend from Pearls on right.Source:SuppliedSupplied

You can riff with Mikey Cahill on twitter.com/joeylightbulb - Herald Sun

Australian Music Prize shortlist is a tale of two cities and no Taylor Swift

This is one prize Taylor Swift can't win no matter how many Buzzfeed campaigns are run for her. The 10th Australian Music Prize has revealed a shortlist that will instead feature a head-to-head battle between traditional centres, Melbourne and Sydney, for the most prestigious and one of the richest prizes in local music.

Mind you, it's a head to head battle with a bit more weight behind one city.

Chet Faker enjoying the fruits of his success.
Chet Faker enjoying the fruits of his success.
The nine acts on the AMP Shortlist feature a wide variety of styles, from hip-hop, experimental noise and electronica to rock, pre-Elvis gospel blues and what is often called folktronica. Their origins though are narrower.

Brisbane, which has been incredibly fertile in producing a stream of successful acts since Powderfinger peaked a decade ago, has only one representative, in the noisescapes of Blank Realm. Not that Sydney, the business hub of the Australian music industry, has fared much better this year, with two acts – the folk-and-electronics artist Caitlin Park and the gospel blues revivalist CW Stoneking – calling that city home.

To the great satisfaction of Melburnians, who have long claimed spiritual home status for Australian music, the remaining six acts are from Melbourne – though one, dark-hued folk singer Laura Jean, is originally from the NSW Central Coast.

Melbourne's other representatives are multiple ARIA-winning electro/soul artist Chet Faker (real name Nick Murphy), rapidly rising hip-hop MC REMI (real name Remi Kolawole), raw and witty band The Peep Tempel, adventurous rock band Total Control and #1 Dads, the quietly seductive side project of Tom Iansek, whose main band, Big Scary, won last year's AMP.

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The AMP, whose $30,000 prize comes from the main licensing body for use of recorded music, the PPCA, qualified some 300 albums for consideration by a judging panel consisting of artists, retailers and music critics. That initial intake was reduced to a 65-album longlist late in 2014.

The winner of the 10th Australian Music Prize will be announced on March 4 in Sydney.

*Bernard Zuel has been an Australian Music Prize judge for 10 years.

The 10th Coopers AMP Shortlist:

About Face by #1 Dads
Built On Glass by Chet Faker
Gon' Boogaloo by C.W. Stoneking
Grassed Inn by Blank Realm
Laura Jean by Laura Jean
Raw X Infinity by REMI
Tales by The Peep Tempel
The Sleeper by Caitlin Park
Typical System by Total Control - Sydney Morning Herlad

Peep Tempel’s Tales break through

Matthew Hogan - The West Australian on May 7, 2015, 1:05 pm

Peep Tempel’s Tales break through
The Peep Tempel tour WA for the first time in May

Filled to the brim with spit and bile, the Peep Tempel’s second album Tales was a critical high point for Australian music last year. Now the Melbourne punks come to WA for the first time.

The tour has been a long time coming for frontman Blake Scott, who lived in Narrogin until he headed east at age 19.

With lyrics about low-level criminals, barflies and other Australian social blemishes, was it his formative years spent in the Wheatbelt that shaped his depressing outlook?

“I had a really happy childhood, Narrogin was a great town,” Scott says. “I’ve spent a lot of time all around Australia and I think, particularly around the time we were making this record, there were changes politically that were a bit unsettling for us and there was a real feeling of resignation to the whole thing.”

In addition to changes at the top of the political food chain in late 2013, the band was struggling creatively. After three solid months of writers’ block, though, they managed to write two of Tales’ finest songs, Carol and Big Fish, in one afternoon.

“I still remember when Stewy (Rayner) was playing that bass line on Carol, I just started whacking the guitar with that chord and that started working,” Scott recalls. “As he kept changing through the bass I kept banging through the guitar and it just summed up how this process had been feeling; futile and helpless.”

When Tales was finally released late last year, it was quickly short-listed for the prestigious Australian Music Prize, an award that has previously gone to the Drones, Augie March and Big Scary.

Although it was young rapper Remi who eventually took out the top gong in March, Scott says he is thankful the album has been well-received.

“I think all people who don’t win awards say this but awards are not really why we made the record, but it’s great to have the recognition,” he says.

“To listen to how people see the record, both good and bad, is funny because sometimes people are just downright trying to insult you, which seems to be pretty popular these days, but to cut a long story short, to be nominated for the AMP was fantastic.”

The Peep Tempel plays at Jimmy’s Den on May 7, Prince of Wales, Bunbury on May 8, Settlers Tavern, Margaret River on May 9 and Mojos on May 10. See the venues for tickets. - The West Australian