Theatre In Preview

If the hallmark of a good theatre company is a consistent run of engaging, important shows that reach out to their audience, then La Boite can congratulate themselves on a sterling year already.

Theatre School In Preview

Ever had a hankering to join the Follies? Yearned to follow the yellow brick road? Then put down the knitting, the book and the broom and come to the Queensland Musical Theatre Summer School.

The Reef
'Jaws', eat your heart out. When you're trapped in the middle of an ocean with three of your mates, half a boogie board and a pair of flippy-floppys, your only hope is to swim like buggery. Damian Walshe-Howling has just spent far too long in deep water fending off one mother of a shark, and the results may just terrify your swimsuit off.

Film In Review

Writer-director Lucia Puenzo scored a critical hit in 2007 with her strikingly original debut feature ‘XXY’.  Her second effort, ‘El Nino Pez (The Fish Child)’, is a similar exploration of familial and romantic love.

What The Duke?

Ellington are not your traditional rock band so it surprising to find them climbing the ladder of the UncharTED competition that was once strictly the domain of indie rock. For a band from Tannum Sands, life is looking up.

This year the Toohey's Extra Dry uncharted competition is offering the winner a spot at Splendour In The Grass and a $25 000 development package - not band for a struggling up and coming band. Brisbane's own Kate Bradley and The Goodbye Horses were the winners of last year's competition so it would be nice to keep it in the 'hood.

Two young, surfer kids from Central Queensland have dusted off their wetsuits and are ready to take on the competition. Currently ranked seventh on the chart, Ellington are amassing a solid fan base on their journey. After their debut EP, 'The Joy We Keep In', earned them some dedicated fans, Ellington worked relentlessly to start recording a batch of new songs they could develop even further - and introduce to a wider audience.

Enlisting the help of producer Matt Malpass (Copeland, Lydia) and some special guest stars (Matthew Thiessen (Relient K), Jeff Turner (Say Anything) and Leighton Antelman (Lydia), the six-track record sounds phenomenal for a duo self-releasing it.

Jake Bosci's warm and inviting vocals barely register a whisper above the atmospheric, dream-like guitar work, moving away from the melancholic self-loathing most indie-pop bands centre on, instead focusing on love and all the senses it manipulates with its gentle embrace. While the band has expanded to include three more members, the songwriting core is Jake Bosci and Michael Beatson.

“We started in Tannum Sands about two years ago,” Beatson says. “We started to get some good momentum up there so Jake and I decided, after going to the States to record our EP, to move to Brisbane to take it further.”

This isn't the first time the boys have been in the uncharTED competition. Last year they were achieving some success when they were disqualified on a technicality.

“We had just signed a publishing deal with Sony,” he says. “When we heard that they had changed some of the rules that caused our disqualification we thought 'let's go for it again'.”

The boys have a dream and that dream is to abandon their full time jobs and be able to play music full time - the dream of many really - but for these boys it looks like coming to fruition.
“We just want to play music full time and have people enjoy it,” he says. “Everything has essentially been self-funded up until this point but there has been a lot of momentum around our EP.”

The latest EP, 'More Like A Movie, Less Like Real Life', had garnered the band attention overseas before it had even made a ripple in Australia. In a scene that is heavily dominated by indie, shoegaze rock, Ellington feels that they have been lucky with their success in the Brisbane scene. “We've found it really supportive,” he says genuinely.

“But yeah, it is a small scene. You pretty much either gig around a small venues or hope to get a decent support slot with an interstate or international band.”

With so many Brisbane bands making the move to Melbourne is it possible we will lose another band to the south?

“It's funny that you say that because we do love it down there,” he says. “Our music seems to go over really well and the venues down there are so much more accommodating.”

With the line-up set in place Ellington look set to generate more interest in their breezy tunes, whether or not they win uncharTED. The boys are busily preparing for another hectic tour supporting Short Stack after having only just finished up from a tour with Behind Crimson Eyes.

“We just want to keep touring as much as we can and keep pushing the EP,” he says enthusiastically. “The last tour was short, but really fantastic and we're looking forward to the Short Stack tour. It's not long now until the uncharTED semi-finals as well and we've been pushing hard to get the votes.”

Ellington support Short Stack at The Hi-Fi Bar. It's an afternoon, under 18's show, Sunday July 12. To vote go to www.uncharted.com.au

Xen Master

Brisbane based music/ art fusionists Edge Of Colour have started the year off in fine fashion: being invited to play at the MONA FOMA festival on the strength of their MySpace page, releasing their debut EP and making the top 100 of Triple J’s Unearthed competition.

Google Champion

If the number of Google hits an artist returns is any indication of their popularity and success, then Eddie Halliwell must be right up there. After trawling through all 2.2 million of them - not! - I decided it was going to be difficult to write about a man who's had everything written about him before.

HARD DANCING

Dutch masters of hard dance Endymion are just three friends having a good time but the way their tunes have been rocking the genre there’s gotta be more to it than that. Scene caught up with the lads to talk about their upcoming gig at the Doomsday party.

What got guys you hooked on hard core in the first place - misspent youth?
When we first heard hardcore we were like, ‘what the hell is this?’ The roughness in hardcore cannot be found in any other style of music. We just love the energy in this music.

Tell us about the moment when you guys thought 'hey, let's join forces and team up'?
This was not a thought through decision. We just started making music together for fun. We experimented on some crappy PCs and we tried to DJ with cd players without pitch control. After some years we send out some demos and we started playing on small local events. Then in 1998 we received an offer from Ruffneck to sign at his label. So nothing was planned, we are just three friends who do what they like. Now this hobby has turned into a successful company which we run together.

Just as it does with bands, it takes real chemistry to make a DJ team a success - can you give us a short rundown on what you feel each member brings to the team?
As a DJ team, Bas and Bart are an oiled machine. They know exactly how to get the crowd crazy when they play. In the studio Jelle and Bart do most of the work. They both know how to build a track, but when one of them runs out of ideas, the other one always knows what to do. Besides that we also have our own design department which is ran by Bas. He does all the websites for Endymion and for our other customers. As a live-act you see the whole package, Jelle behind the knobs and Bas and Bart hyping up the crowd as MCs.

Damn, I'm a music journalist and I still can't describe your sound apart from maybe maniacal (as in the inmates have taken over the institution). What do you think sets an Endymion tune apart from others?
I think our music stands out because it always contains some kind of emotion. When we play a melody, it always has that special note that creates goosebumps. Our main goal is to make music that you feel. So when we sit in the studio, we think beyond the dance floor. We want our music to be nice when you play it in the car, at home or at a big rave.

The rep for your live shows is nothing short of monstrous. Can you tell us a bit about how your set will play out at The Doomsday party here in Brisbane? It ain't gunna be for the faint-hearted is it?
The last year we produced so many new tunes. So our sets are filled with a lot of our own music. 60 percent of the tracks we play are produced by us, maybe even more. So it will not be for the faint-hearted! Expect extreme loudness combined with uplifting melodies and rough kick drums.

You are not shy of a little crowd interaction either huh?
Not really, we love to be in front of a big crowd! The energy they give makes us go even crazier! So don’t be shy when we are out there! It will be great!

Just what is running through your minds when you are standing up there with 5000 dancers going nuts? It must feel pretty damn good?
It is hard to describe. Some say it is like sex, some say it’s better than sex. It makes you feel powerful. Especially when we play our own music the feeling is magical. We love doing it, that’s why we do this for more than ten years now!

Ever been dancing in a club and one of your tunes came on? What did you do?
We are not the best dancers, ha ha. But of course we hear many of our tunes when we visit parties. When this happens we always look at each other and smile. It will always be a great feeling when people dance to our music.

Endymion play at The Beat’s Doomsday Party on July 10 with fellow Dutchman The Masochist in support.

How ‘Bout Them Apples?

Whether she’s rocking a dancefloor with her selection of dance tuneage, or gracing the cover of magazines as a glamour model, there’s little doubt that Emily Scott will grab your attention.

Hitting Brisbane for a mid-week set next Wednesday, Emily took time out from her Monday schedule to answer a couple of searching, and not so searching questions.

Time Is Short

Speaking with Eloquor on the release date of his new album ‘Charge’ saw him caught up in an emotional whirlwind of reflection, excitement and relief. Perhaps it was his state of mind at the time, but every aspect of his life that we discussed was coated in a euphoric and inspired glaze, and it’s also now clear that these things shine through on the album.