Albums from my Tween years.

1. The Butterfly Effect: ‘Begins Here’. As an unfortunate looking teen, I thought that if I could sing like Clint Boge girls would love me. Huge sound and intensity in that ‘Begins Here’ record and in their first EP.

2. New Found Glory: ‘Sticks And Stones’.  Music about girls. Music about girls. Music about girls. Music about girls. Music about girls. Music about girls.

3. Hilltop Hoods: ‘The Calling’. One of the first handful of Australian hip hop records I bought as a kid. Safe to say I aspired for that status from then on… after all, I can’t sing like Clint Boge.

4. Atmosphere: ‘You Can’t Imagine How Much Fun We’re Having’. Just the ultimate anti-thesis to the Eminem plague/ fever at the time. No gimmicks, minimal hyperbole hip hop music from real life.

5. Lazy Grey: ‘Banned In Queensland’. Undoubtedly the godfather of the Queensland hip hop scene. Crazy good lyricist and relatable while making me feel like a bad man. ‘BIQ’ was the epitome of loud, drive-with-the-window-down music for us as trouble makers. Good times.

Seven performs at Sprung Festival on Saturday November 10 at the RNA Showgrounds.

Ways to spend two dollars.

1. Bubble O’Bill. They don’t get old, they just get more delicious with age.
2. Cheeseburger. Just watch those sneaky pickles...
3. Water balloons. Dangerous and really fun to throw at children walking past your house.
4. Pez dispenser. Just be wary of hipsters; they have been known to steal them.
5. Give it to charity. Someone always needs it more than you (<3).

Tooshoes plays The Hamilton Hotel’s Derby Day Races After Party on Saturday November 3.

Top Five

1. ‘Brave New World’ (Aldous Huxley). This book is like ‘1984’ on steroids. A bleak, paranoid projection of a future in which humans are manufactured and have their life's path chosen for them. Not only is it a perfect piece of social commentary, it's also beautifully and poetically written, plus it's nerdy as hell. My perfect book.

2. ‘1984’ (George Orwell). Classic. Orwell seems like he'd be a rad guest at a dinner party. He's radical, funny, wise and humane. ‘1984’ is one of the few sci-fi novels that are revered by sci-fi heads and literati alike and for good reason.

3. ‘Counter Clock World’ (Philip K Dick). Philip K Dick was a crazy bastard and a sci-fi king. He wrote stories that later became films like ‘Bladerunner’, ‘Minority Report’, ‘Total Recall’, ‘A Scanner Darkly’, ‘Screamers’, ‘The Adjustment Bureau’, the list goes on. This was my favourite, about a world where time runs backwards. So you're born in your grave, then get younger and younger until you get unborn. Trippy as hell.

4. ‘Neuromancer’ (William Gibson). Gibson and his homies were like the Sex Pistols of sci-fi. They made it dirty and sexy and probably pissed a lot of people off. Gibson helped to coin terms and ideas like cyberspace, a global internet, the matrix. This was all in the early ‘80s, well before the world wide web or Keanu Reeves movies.

5. ‘War Of The Worlds’ (HG Wells).This book was written in the 1800s and it's about snail-like aliens that invade Earth via thousands of meteorites, then take over the world using sophisticated tripod-like death machines equipped with impenetrable forcefields and heat-rays that vapourise humans in a fraction of a second. The 1800s! Either HG was a genius beyond compare, or he was on the best drugs known to man. Possibly both.

Mantra Performs At Sprung Festival At The RNA Showgrounds Sat. Nov. 10.

1. The Great Northern, Byron. Every time we've played with good friends and partied on with the security till sunrise — good people and good sound.
2. The Joynt, Brisbane. Cosy little place that packs out and everyone’s down to bounce, plus they serve tallies. Shout outs to Jodie and the crew.
3. Beach Road Hotel, Sydney. Has five bars and rooftop chillout, no more needs to be said. PS. We didn't set off the fire alarm.
4. The Beach Hotel, Byron. Bringing the Byron peeps The Mank's fatness on the beach shore, BAM. Big thanks to Glen for getting it right every time.
5.The Electric Fruit Factory. The Mank’s very own studio. Nestled in the hills of the Sunny Coast; guaranteed goodness for all and an inspiring place.

The Mank support Kryptamistik at the Spotted Cow, Toowoomba, Oct. 12, Buddha Bar, Byron, Oct. 13 and Alloneword Oct. 19.

Reasons To Change Venue Name to Elephant Arms

1. It's still The Elephant... slightly different name... better logo... a better pub every day.
2. As one of our staff would say... it's nothing to be up in arms about; the more arms you have the more guitars you can play.
3. The Elephant has outgrown its image as an old, dark, dingey, British boozer.
4. Wheelbarrows shouldn't be brought into pubs unless full of beer.
5. Wheelbarrows are unsightly and uncomfortable to travel in.

The Elephant Arms is located at 230 Wickham St, Fortitude Valley.

See whats on at the Elephant Arms

The stellar cast recruited by Australian director John Hillcoat for his gangster epic, ‘Lawless’, may have hailed from diverse backgrounds and different countries, but they all shared a common approach.

“I think we came to this with a huge amount of respect for each other and a real desire to understand each other and show each other that we were keen and prepared to work together,” says Guy Pearce, who plays a corrupt deputy who wants a share of an illegal family-run moonshine operation.

“We shared the same desire to do the best for John and make this film be the best it possibly could be. And that's the best possible way to work. That's the way I love to work and it seemed to me that the others had that same approach.”

Tom Hardy (‘The Dark Knight Rises’) plays Forrest Bondurant, head of the clan who make the illegal booze during Prohibition-era America. On screen, Hardy and Pearce go head to head — off screen, there's clearly a mutual appreciation society between the two actors.

“There's mutual respect,” Hardy confirms. “We've been doing this for a while and acting is something that grows with practice, like anything else. So there's mutual respect if you know someone has been practising for a while.

“You expect a certain level of athleticism from this person so you go out there with your instincts open and you're aware and awake. And in this case, working with Guy, you are in for a good ride because you know that he has done his homework.

“I had a huge amount of respect for Guy and I was there to support entirely whatever it was that he needed — whatever he needed I wanted to facilitate that. It's actually very selfish because by supporting him I look good,” Hardy laughs.

The graphic nature of the story is based on true events that took place in Franklin County, Virginia, in the early 1930s. These violent events inspired Matt Bondurant’s book, ‘The Wettest County In The World’, which was then adapted by screenwriter and legendary musician Nick Cave (‘The Proposition’).

“Violence in reality is truly horrific,” Hardy says. “Truly horrific and truly pedestrian. Sometimes it comes out of nowhere and it's shocking. So there's the reality and the artificial. And of course it is in us as human beings to be violent — to survive, to live, to intuit, to feel, all of those things, and it's our job to observe it and reflect and entertain.”

“Any aspect of a character that you are delving into,” Pearce adds, “whether it's violence or a love scene or a speech or a physical presentation of something, it's all about finding the heart of it. And it's the same with violence. It's dangerous therapy but I do find it therapeutic.

“But it's never going to affect us, the actors, like it affects people who are really involved with violence. It's a million miles from it. We have fun playing cowboys and Indians and running around shooting each other and it affects you as much as you allow it to affect you. But it's never going to truly affect you because you have the safety of the film circus all around you.”

Indeed, Pearce and Hardy were often able to rely on each other for a break from the film’s relentlessly violent subject matter.

“Guy and I just chilled,” Hardy smiles. “We sat in the make-up trailer and talked shit.”

“Yeah, and we played ‘Angry Birds’,” Pearce laughs. “We were playing these two angry characters and in between takes we were sitting there playing ‘Angry Birds’!

“I think the funny thing is, particularly when you work on something that has some violence in it, you actually find a lighter, more humorous way of connecting with each other, I suppose, as a counter.

“And you do it without thinking about it. I mean, we laughed a lot of the time when we were making ‘The Proposition’. We kept thinking, 'it's so funny that we're laughing on this really violent movie...' And that made us laugh even more.”

‘Lawless’ is in cinemas from October 11.
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Self Sex Techniques
1. Dressed as James Grim on a merry-go-round. Bring whiskey for lubrication.

2. This is more of a timing thing than a technique, but it's always more fun after dancing until the only thing left to do is make love to somebody, even if it is yourself (use both hands for better results).

3. In front of your favourite band to show your appreciation. Be polite: ask if they would like to join you.

4. On the bar — this way you'll get the staff's attention and won’t have to wait in those damnably drear queues. Make sure to tip your bartender.

5. In the taxi on the way home — give the driver a story to tell when he finishes his shift. Once again, make sure that you ask if they'd like to join in and to tip appropriately.

Gay Paris will join James Grim’s Brother Grim & the Blue Murders for the Drunken Moon Festival at the Hi-Fi Saturday September 29.

1. Emergence. In his book ‘This Is Your Brain On Music’, Daniel Levitin describes a certain kind of devotional four-part male harmony that, if sung correctly, can give rise to an ‘emergent’ sonic phenomena that from the audience perspective sounds like a fifth, female voice. The guys who practise this type of thing like to call it the voice of Mary blessing the singing. We're not really that esoteric. But we are four dudes who sometimes sing together. And one of us has the habit of sounding like a girl.

2. Dischord. Remember having to sit through music class at school and the teacher telling you how proper chords are grounded in the I, III and V of a scale, and how certain other combinations of notes from the scale just sound jarring and wrong? We all skipped that bit.

3. Syncopation. Yeah. Possibly a bit math nerdy. But it's fun, and makes you dance strange. We're also pretty sure that Rosie's never played a beat without it.

4. Binaural Beats. It makes our head hurt trying to explain this. But it's well worth the Wiki time. 

5. Tinnitus. You've been warned.

Charge Group play Out The Back, part of Brisbane Festival, at Metro Arts, September 14.

1. The Music Box — Daniel Cloud Campos. Most people don't know that breakdancing is actually my profession. This video is by my favourite breaker/ dancer of all time, Cloud. He's an amazingly talented human. He writes and directs a lot of his videos too. This one is crazy but I urge you to check out his others.

2. KOTD — Hollohan — My Lost Love & Addiction (RIP Bruce B). For people that aren't necessarily into rap/ hip hop please do me a favour and watch this. This has to be one of the most real and heartfelt songs I've ever heard. Most people know and respect Hollohan as a battle rapper, but in the video he really pours his heart out about his ex-girlfriend, passed-away friend and his addiction to drugs. It's incredible. If it doesn't give you chills then you should probably check your pulse.

3. Kilian Martin: A Skate Illustration. I'm a huge fan of human ability and what people are actually capable of. Being an ex-skater, this guy takes the cake. He's taken everything you thought you knew about skateboarding and given it acid. Almost every trick that he does I have never seen before. It's like dancing on a skateboard. Amazingly graceful.

4. Macklemore X Ryan Lewis — Otherside Remix Feat. Fences. Another rap video for the non-rap fans. I'm a massive fan of this because the song is incredible, but the video only makes it better. Again it deals with the issue of drugs, but it's such a powerful and beautiful song.

5. PSY - Gangnam Style.This one came to my attention the other day. I'm not really sure how to  describe it but for some reason I can't stop watching it. Pretty sure this guy is a massive Korean pop star. This video, however, is one of the funniest things I've ever seen. That probably says something about my humour. You should just watch it and let me know how it makes YOU feel.

Bam Bam will be performing at Sprung Festival at the RNA Showgrounds November 10. sprunghiphop.com.au

1. Chett Donnelly — ‘Weird Science’. Am I a huge nerd for loving this movie? If it's from the ‘80s and involves hacking government mainframes with an IBM computer, I'm all over it. The Pax is the best part about this movie. Besides Lisa, of course — sha-wing! He's hilarious and does a fantastic job being a complete arsehole. And Oingo Boingo did the soundtrack which is also cool.

2. Pvt. Hudson — ‘Aliens’. Two words: "Game over".

3. Gus — ‘The Dark Backward’. You always hear stories about actors who get way too involved in a role and never break character even when they're off camera. I wish this were true for him and this movie. Perfectly over the top. Classic Pax.

4. Morgan Earp — ‘Tombstone’. This is a twist in the Top 5. Here we see The Pax in a more serious role. He's not as slimy or cracked-out and sweaty as I'd prefer, but I still love that he's in this movie.  

5. Simon— ‘True Lies’. He's only in the movie for a few minutes, but they were some of the funniest moments. I love the scene where he begs for his life and wets his pants. Again, classic Pax.

Catch Cartel, minus Bill Paxton, when they play the Surfers Paradise Beer Garden Thursday September 6.