Jeff Buckley - Rolling Stone Australia - September 2015

Issue 766 September 2015
$8.95 (GST INC) >> NZ $9.80 (GST INC)
JEFF
BUCKLEY
GRACE
TURNS 21
INSIDE THE MAKING

OF A CLASSIC
FOALS
RETURN
THE DOWNFALL OF
SUGE KNIGHT
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FEATURES
Postcards From the Edge
They might be dysfunctional and unpredictable, but garage

rockers Royal Headache refuse to die. By Jonn y Nail ..........44
From Rush With Love
Is this the end of the road for the geek-rock gods?

By Brian Hiatt....................................................................................48
How Sweet the Sound
This month 21 years ago, Jeff Buckley released his debut album,
Grace. By Jeff Apter ..................................................................56
The Fall of Suge Knight
He sold America on a West Coast gangster fantasy then the

bills came due. By Matt Diehl .................................................68
The King of Comedy
Judd Apatow on his childhood, conquering Hollywood and why

he still feels like an outsider. By Jonah Weiner.....................74
Up In the Air
A young man walked into an airport and took the next ight
anywhere he hasnt come down since. By Ben Wofford ...84
ROCK & ROLL

Foals Get Down
Northlane March On
British rockers waste no

time releasing follow-up to
acclaimed Holy Fire LP...... 13
Sydney metalcore sensations

switch singers and continue to
head north............................. 26
Q&A Diplo
Mumfords New Road
The Major Lazer and Jack star

on Madonna, Bieber, and why
he doesnt hate on EDM ....... 22
On the bus as the band goes

electric at Bonnaroo and
beyond .............................. 32
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Dave sits on his throne,

Tay hooks up with Lorde,
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Irrational Man
RECORD REVIEWS
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Gurrumul
Tex Perkins
Arnhem Land enigma goes to

church without incident...... 91
Do not get between the

frontman and his vases...... 106
ON THE COVER Jeff Buckley photographed by Merri Cyr.
4 | R ol l i n g S t o n e |
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PEGGY SIROTA
Woody Allen revisits some

familiar themes ...................102
Rush: Neil Peart,

Geddy Lee and Alex
Lifeson (from left),
photographed in
Los Angeles, April
2015. Page 48
CORRESPONDENCE
LOVE LETTERS & ADVICE
Taming the Beast

s o u. s . rol l i ng s t on e
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the cover and we get Kevin
Parker gazing dreamily into
the distance? Thanks Rolling Stone! Ill take the
delightful Kev over that notalent skank any day!
ROLLING STONE AUSTRALIA
Sister Act
Doco Doldrums
a s a dedic at ed r e a der
with a vagina, the last issue
of rolling stone was a step
in the right direction. Meaty
features on the brilliant Orange Is the New Black (the only
strong all-female cast on TV
no, the Real Housewives of
Melbourne doesnt count) and
kick-ass UFC fighter Ronda
Rousey in the same issue?
Keep this up and I just might
have to take out an annual
subscription.
a f t e r r e a di n g a b ou t
Kurt Cobain: Montage Of
Heck and Amy (the Amy
Winehouse doco) in recent
issues of rolling stone
(Montage on DVD, Amy at
the cinema), I feel shattered.
How could two so depressing
movies about such creative,
beautiful yet tragic figures
get released so close to each
other? Its enough to send any
happy chick to drink (just kidding)!
Gabby Priest,
Daylesford, VIC
Belinda Oaks,
Redfern, NSW
Brian Wilson looks like a big,

grey-haired baby. I hope Im like that
when Im his age.
Beach Babe
Violent Snub?
ta m e i mpa l as n e w r ecord is a revelation. After getting used to the absence of

guitar riffs, Ive come to love
Currents. Listening to it with
headphones makes you feel
like youre drifting in an isolation tank, which if you havent
tried before, you should its
a mind-bending experience,
much like Kevin Parkers trip
of a record.
reading jason fines interview with Brian Wilson in

the latest issue, it struck me
that staying young-at-heart
really does make you look
young on the outside as well.
Brian Wilson looks like a big,
grey-haired baby, and I put
it down to him just having a
positive mental attitude and
a love and understanding for
other people. What a deadset legend. I hope Im like that
when Im his age.
so violent femmes, the

band thats soundtracked
every adolescents sex angst
since 1983, announce a new
album and only get a measly
column in news? Pah!
David Branigan,
Melbourne, Vic
Ben Harrigan,
Brisbane, QLD
Kate Fitton,
Kempsey, NSW
Bronwyn Ellis,
Cargo, NSW
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S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
TOP: MARK METCALFE/GETTY IMAGES
We hit Splendour en masse

this year to bring you live
reviews of your favourite
acts, on-ground interviews
(in video, audio and text
formats) and behind-thescenes video and photos
from our time backstage.
So if you couldnt be there,
or if you want to see what
happens behind the hessian
screened-off areas, weve
got you covered!
Imagine
magine if da Vinci was asked not to think of anything except what he rst became
b
famous for. Kanye West
Monkey Wrench Hits Foos!

Dave Grohl was sprinting across the stage at Swedens Ullevi Stadium during
Monkey Wrench when he took a 12-foot tumble. I denitely shredded something!
he said. After cancelling European dates the Foos resumed their U.S. tour, with Grohl
resplendent on his own Game Of Thrones-inspired throne. Thoughts are also turning
to a new LP, which likely will be another concept album. Its not enough to just make
a fucking record anymore, said drummer Taylor Hawkins.
RUBY TUESDAY
Not content with
winning over the
U.S. in OITNB, Ruby
Rose hit the decks at
Pacha in New York.
Rock Royalty Team

Up For Jam
The Boss joined Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys on
stage for Barbara Ann and Surn USA at a
recent show in New Jersey. Here they are chillin
backstage with Blondie Chaplin pre-show.
RollingStoneAus.com
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: C FLANIGAN/WIREIMAGE; NOAM GALAI/

GETTY IMAGES; BRIAN WILSON/INSTAGRAM; JUAN NAHARRO GIMENEZ/
GETTY IMAGES
ROLE MODEL Cara

Delevingne pulled some
decidedly un-photogenic
facials while appearing in
Madrid on El Hormiguero,
a Spanish variety TV show,
while promoting her new
lm, Paper Towns. We still
love you, Cara.
SHAKEDOWN
STREET
I never
thought wed
be here, said
Brittany
Howard of the
Alabama
Shakes
main-stage
set.
I guess this is
what Woodstock
was like, Joel
said. Anyone
making babies
out there?
Bonnaroo: Extra-Hot!
Few festivals test the limits of its crowd more than Bonnaroo, with
80,000 fans camping out in the sweltering Tennessee heat. It was
worth it, with sets by Billy Joel, Kendrick Lamar, and Florence + the
Machine. Singer Florence Welch (above) is on the road to recovery from
her recent broken foot take heart, Dave Grohl venturing into the pit
several times. Its so hot out there, she said. Is everybody drinking?
BEST FRIENDS FOREVER

Taylor Swift welcomed good
buddy Lorde onstage in
Washington on July 13.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: GRIFFIN LOTZ; JASON MERRITT/GETTY IMAGES; GRIFFIN
LOTZ; MICHAEL HICKEY/GETTY IMAGES; KRIS CONNOR/LP5/GETTY IMAGES FOR TAS;
ILYA S. SAVENOK/GETTY IMAGES FOR FIREFLY; BIG BOI/INSTAGRAM
CANT STOP THE WAFFLE

In Atlanta, Kanye and Outkast
visited Waffle House. Kanye
got a chocolate-chip waffle
and chicken sandwich,
says manager Vincent Burt.
They tipped real nice!
BIG MOUTH
STRIKES AGAIN
Morrissey
wasnt happy
with the crowd
at Delawares
Firey Fest.
Would you
like us to go?
he asked.
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
SPEEDWAY FLASHBACK?
Youd think the Stones would steer
clear of Speedway shows after
Altamont. Fortunately their
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
show went off without a hitch.
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PROFILE NORTHLANE PG. 26 | TOUR MUMFORD & SONS HIT BONNAROO PG. 32
CR
R A VE
E
BURST
S
P i iippa s
o sta
t e las
year
Foals
Get
Down
British rockers waste no
time releasing followup to Holy Fire
By Craig Mathieson
C BRANDON/REDFERNS VIA GETTY IMAGES
heres a simple reason why Foals have returned with their fourth
album, the seething What Went
Down, so soon after the extensive
touring for their breakthrough
record, 2013s Holy Fire, had
concluded. We felt charged, declares the English rock groups
frontman, Yannis Philippakis. The last few shows for
Holy Fire were some of the best
wed ever played and we wanted to capitalise on that energy.
Stepping out of a London rehearsal room where the new compositions are being prepared for a
return to the road, Philippakis
is quietly enthusiastic about the
nished album but still trying to
get his head around the dizzying
creative burst that birthed What
Went Down (out August 28th).
The momentum was there
and we basically wrote the entire
record in three months, explains
the 29-year-old singer and guitarist. Theres this restlessness
and desire within [Cont. on 14]
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
RollingStoneAus.com
13
ROCK&ROLL
FOALS
[Cont. from 13] the band to put more
music out. Were increasingly aware
that time is of the essence and that
theres no need to marinate on one
album for three years. Weve done that
and the result was no better the rst
expression of a song, and the rst take,
is the best.
Dense but keenly focused, What
Went Down leaps from one idea to
the next, but the individual execution
is powerfully capable. The swirling
thump of Give it All is contrasted by
the building guitar charge of Mountain at My Gates, while the treated
drum patterns of Snake Oil give way
to the closing sci-fi cataclysm of A
Knife in the Ocean.
Recorded in a French village in February of this year with producer James
Ford (Arctic Monkeys), the record is
both the heaviest set Foals have created
and the most diverse. When the group
rst started coming together in Oxford
in 2005, Philippakis says they were dened by self-imposed rules, culminating in 2008s stylistically narrow debut,
Antidotes. After that, however, they
were set on breaking those rules, an outlook thats only grown stronger since.
Some guitar bands get trapped in
this idea of what they should be, and
every song reinforces that, he notes.
With us theres this fear that if we
stand still well be overcome.
Philippakis says the growing prole
of Foals Holy Fire topped the Australian charts and reached number two
in Britain has been surprising in a
pleasant way, but success hasnt translated into celebrity.
At the point when we might have
been seduced by the supercial side,
we were still living out of the way in Oxford, he says. Living there meant we
stayed grounded, and now that some
of us are in London were hardly dating
models and hanging out at the it spot.
Theres currently not a great deal
in British guitar music that impresses Philippakis, and his feeling is that
bands calcify if they nd themselves
growing too comfortable. Having just
penned an album where the restless,
demanding lyrics capture the essence
of whats going on in my brain, the
frontman isnt concerned that Foals
will suffer the same fate.
Behind every record of ours is a feeling that the best is yet to come and that
were chasing those moments when
something connects in a way that hasnt
happened before, declares Philippakis.
Thats our motor. Theres more to say
and there are better shows to play.
RollingStoneAus.com
BREAKING
JOURNEYMEN
Tim Carroll (left) and
Oscar Dawson
The Long Road to

Holy Holys Debut LP
More than a decade after
meeting, local two-piece
release their rst full-length
for the singer, though he had a guitar, and

he and Dawson would sit and play when
the work day was over.
Fast forward to 2011 and Carroll was
living in Stockholm and Dawson had remongst the textur al and located to Berlin with his then-band,
atmospheric pastoral rock of Dukes of Windsor. After Dawson took
Holy Holys debut album, When a trip to visit Carroll they started tradthe Storms Would Come, is a ing song ideas; over the next few months
song called The Crowd. Though mu- they swapped more and nutted them out
sically it doesnt stray far from the duos during short stays with each other. By
lush sonic blueprint, lyrically it takes a few 2013, with the duo back in Australia (Carsteps into uncharted territory. Its about roll in Brisbane; Dawson in Melbourne),
having dreams and feeling hortheyd become Holy Holy and
ried by what your own mind I had this vivid
released their rst single, Imcan manufacture, explains vopossible Like You. With mandream about a
calist Tim Carroll from Sweagement in place and a song on
zombie
den, where he and his wife are
the airwaves came tours with
apocalypse.
visiting her family. My girlacts such as Boy & Bear, Ball
friend at the time was having
Park Music and, earlier this
dreams of strangling and stabbing people year, festivals such as Primavera in Barto death, and everybody has dreams about celona, accompanied by glowing notices
fucking various people they shouldnt be. I from overseas magazines such as NME.
had this vivid dream about a zombie apoc- All of which makes a very nice launch pad
alypse, and so I just pushed those different for their debut album, which was recordconcepts together into the song.
ed intermittently over a three-year period
Its a surprisingly visceral lyric for an with producer Matt Redlich.
album that, elsewhere, deals in more tried
When we played at Primavera it was
and true themes of emotional turmoil. But about 8pm, the sun was going down and
then nothing about Holy Holy is overly there was a crowd watching, and the Medtypical. Take their formation: Carroll rst iterranean was literally right there, remet guitarist Oscar Dawson in 2003 when calls Dawson. Knowing that playing in a
they were teaching English in Thailand. bands taken you there . . . that was pretty
ROD YATES
At that point music wasnt really a concern cool. And weird.
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
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ROCK&ROLL
DANCE MUSIC
Disclosure Double Their Fun

The U.K. brothers aim high
on their second LP, featuring
Sam Smith and Lorde
a r l ier t his y e a r , discl o sure reunited with an old friend.

As the English dance-music duo
neared the nish line of their second LP, Caracal (due out September 25th),
they invited singer Sam Smith to come by
their new studio in Londons St. Johns
Wood neighbourhood. It was really exciting, says Howard Lawrence, sitting next
to his older brother and bandmate Guy.
We had three whole days to hang out with
Sam and write, which are two of my favourite things to do.
In the years since Smith sang on Latch,
Disclosures triple-platinum breakthrough
smash, both acts have rocketed to stardom. You can hear how that journey has
changed both of them on Omen, the song
they made together for Caracal a sleek,
blissed-out anthem that might be the happiest-sounding track either artist has ever
released. Hes denitely not lonely now,
Howard says of Smith with a laugh.
Another highlight from the new LP, tentatively titled Magnets, was co-written
and sung by Lorde. She turned up on her
own, no management or bodyguard, says
FULL
DISCLOSURE
Howard (left) and
Guy Lawrence
Howard. Thats the most equal collaboration on the record. You can really hear her
sound this sassy yet vulnerable thing.
They feel that the LP represents a new
turn in their songwriting. Theres not really any club music on this one, says Guy.
Its club-inuenced, but every song is a
fully structured pop song. Soon, Disclosure will launch their biggest U.S. tour
yet, including a headlining date at Madison Square Garden a major milestone

for the Lawrence brothers, who grew up
idolising arena-scale prog-rock bands like
Rush and Genesis. My dad gave me a
VHS of Led Zeppelin playing there when I
was about three, and I used to play drums
along to it, Guy says. So thats denitely
going to be special. SIMON VOZICK-LEVINSON
HBO MADE THE EDM STAR: ACTORS-TURNED-DJS

TV made them famous. Now
w theyre giving
g
dance music a shot. So, how well do they rock a party?
Best known as:

Co-host of the
History Channel show Pawn
Stars, where his goofball
comic charm has made him
a breakout star.
Years DJing: Since early 2015
Hows it going? After taking
lessons at a DJ institute called
Blend and practicing for, like, a
month straight, Chumlee made
his debut in February at Vegas
Ghostbar Dayclub; his rider for
the show requested ve Nerf
guns, Girl Scout cookies and
beautiful waitresses to take me
to the stage.
Kristian
Nairn
Best known as:
Hodor, the
lovable gentle
giant on Game of Thrones.
Years DJing: 12
Hows it going? Nairn, who
grew up in Northern Ireland,
was a xture on the Belfast DJ
scene years before he started
acting. Im shooting emotional laser beams out into the
crowd, hes said of his DJ sets.
Recently, Nairn embarked on
the Rave of Thrones Tour, which
promised the deepest house
from all seven kingdoms and
asked attendees to show up in
GoT-themed costumes.
RollingStoneAus.com
Nick Hogan
Best known as:
The son of WWE
legend Hulk
Hogan and costar of the late-00s reality-TV
show Hogan Knows Best.
Years DJing: 5
Hows it going? Hogan was
training to follow in his fathers
legendary footsteps and get in
the ring, but a shoulder injury
eventually pushed him into
DJing. In 2014, he released the
single Everybodys Doing It.
A video for the song shows
footage of people partying during DJ sets at Hogans Beach,
a Tampa Bay club and seafood
restaurant owned by his family.
RJ Mitte
Best known as:
The awardwinning actor
who portrayed
Walt Jr., Walter Whites disabled son on Breaking Bad.
Years DJing: The last little bit
Hows it going? Mitte debuted
on the decks with this years
ve-city Breaking Beats Tour,
playing a set that ranged from
deep house to hip-hop. Though
he has admitted hes not a professional, he said, I can match
up beats fairly decently. Mitte
isnt the rst Breaking Bad alum
to break a beat; in 2013, actor
Aaron Paul released a house
anthem called Dance Bitch.
Photograph by Griffin Lotz
COURTESY, 4
Austin
Chumlee
Russell
PRESENTS
A CLASSIC WEEKEND CELEBRATING AMERICANA MUSIC & CULTURE, WITH A TWIST
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MELODY POOL BEN SALTER ALL OUR EXES LIVE IN TEXAS
LACHLAN BRYAN & THE WILDES THE LONESOME HEROES (USA) OLYMPIA
RUBY BOOTS PERRY KEYES FRASER A GORMAN LOST RAGAS
DASHVILLE PROGRESS SOCIETY GREEN MOHAIR SUITS LEO RONDEAU (USA)
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PAPA PILKO & THE BIN RATS WILLIAM CRIGHTON CHRIS PICKERING BELL ST DELAYS
DAVID GARNHAM & THE REASONS TO LIVE JAMES THOMSON ELWOOD MYRE
GOATPISS GASOLINE MAGPIE DIARIES & MORE
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for more info & to grab your tickets
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ROCK&ROLL
BOOKS
The Great American

Internet Novel Is Here
he man who just published

one of the best novels ever written about the Internet has spent
less time online than almost anyone else his age. After graduating from
college in 2001, Joshua Cohen lived in
Eastern Europe for six years, writing ction, filing overseas dispatches for The
THE FOSTER WALLACE OF RED HOOK

Joshua Cohen as he appears IRL
Jewish Daily Forward and generally

avoiding the Web he didnt even have a
dial-up connection. When Cohen returned
to New York in 2007, everyone suddenly
had smartphones and Facebook accounts.
He found the Webs unrelenting creep
so unnerving that he considered going
back to Europe. I realised I didnt have
enough money to buy a ticket, says Cohen,
34, drinking whiskey and smoking cigarettes at a bar near his home in Red Hook,
Brooklyn, one recent afternoon, and I had
shipped all my stuff home on a boat.
Cohen still avoids social media, and
his wariness of the Web suff uses Book of
RollingStoneAus.com
Numbers, about a failed novelist-turnedghostwriter named Joshua Cohen whos

working on the memoirs of another Joshua Cohen, the founder of a Google-like
company called Tetration. (Cohen himself worked as a ghostwriter for two Holocaust survivors.)
The novel wears its postmodernism
lightly. Its a page turner about life under
the veil of digital surveillance, complete
with a plotline about Tetration helping
the government spy on citizens. Cohen
came up with that idea even before Edward Snowden made headlines.
If WikiLeaks allowed citizens
to see what the government was
up to, Cohen reasoned, the government can also see everything
we do. Its a law of the Internet,
Cohen says. Transparency cuts
both ways.
For the Tetration founder,
whos referred to as Principal by his ghostwriter, Cohen
invented a frequently hilarious
voice full of Web-friendly slang:
msg, brogrammer, algy for
algorithm. I took a little piece of
Jobs, took a little piece of Bezos,
took a little piece of Zuckerberg,
Cohen says.
With a signature pair of
thin-rimmed round glasses and a tendency to speak
in numerically ordered bullet points, Cohen sometimes
comes off like a particularly
devout tech CEO, despite a
pedigree that would suggest
anything but. He grew up in
Atlantic City and got a degree in composition from the
M
Manhattan
School of Music
before heading abroad. Cohens early ction touched on creative frustration and
religious conict, as well as his dark view
of the Web: In one short story, a journalist
investigates the lives of his favourite porn
stars, only to discover theyre somehow less
real in person than onscreen.
At its heart, Book of Numbers is an attempt to reclaim a sense of humanity in
the digital age, as the Internet becomes
less an anonymous playground and more
a tool for the surveillance state. Were
still the generation that realises that its a
transition, he says. The next doesnt even
KYLE CHAYKA
think its a change.
Cooper and
Dunaway
last year
HIGH TIMES
WITH ALICE
COOPER
Dennis Dunaway bassist for the
Alice Cooper band from 1968 until
Cooper became a solo act in 1975
has collected his wildest tales for a
new memoir, Snakes! Guillotines! Electric Chairs! My Adventures in the Alice
Cooper Group, written with R OLLING
S TONE contributor Chris Hodeneld.
Here are ve things we learned.
Early on, the bands management team paid the bills by

selling Dylan bootlegs.
Coopers managers allegedly got the

tapes through a source at Columbia
Records and sold them to record
stores as the band toured. They had
carloads of them, writes Dunaway.
Coopers famous boa constrictor

fell into his lap almost literally.
The snake, featured with Alice on

the cover of R OLLING S TONE in 1972,
became a signature after a fan threw
it onstage one night.
Salvador Dal was a fan.
The artist spent time with the group

in order to create a 360-degree hologram of Cooper. With the tips of his
mustache curled and his giraffe-hide
vest . . . he was every bit as surrealistic
as his paintings, writes Dunaway.
The bandmates thought Kiss

ripped them off.
Just as we had borrowed elements from our hero bands, writes

Dunaway, now it was happening
to us the makeup, the glitter, the
theatrics.
Dunaway still isnt sure why the

original group broke up in 1975.
Friends...suggested that reducing

the size of the band also reduced
the number of prot splits, he writes.
One day I was a rock star. The next
day I was uninvited. Boom. Deal
out. Gone.
ANDY GREENE
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
FROM TOP: MARION ETTLINGER; MIKE PONT/FILMMAGIC
Joshua Cohens Book of

Numbers is a fascinating look
at the dark heart of the Web
THE MUSIC OF
TIM & JEFF BUCKLEY
Recapture the magic of Tim and Jeff Buckleys songs through six stellar singers
and musicians with the depth, breadth and empathy to do them justice.
Brisbane Festival is an initiative of the

Queensland Government and Brisbane City Council
ROCK&ROLL
FIVE NOTES
The Rubens
BEER-SOAKED SECOND ALBUM FROM NEW

SOUTH WALES BAND OF BROTHERS
Back to the beach
Originally from Menangle in country New South Wales, the

band brothers Sam, Zaac and Elliott Margin, Scott Baldwin
and Will Zeglis headed to the nearby beach suburb of Coledale
to write their second album, Hoops. Its a beautiful place north
of Wollongong, south of Sydney, frontman Sam Margin explains.
We had this old bro shack. It was just the change of scenery
that we needed.
Writing isnt the only thing they did
When we all get together we drink a shitload of beer,

says Margin, laughing. It gets really messy, literally . . .
We were going through two recycling bins worth of bottles and
we were like, Man, we gotta sort this out! They even invited
American tour buddies Grouplove to the party. They came
down to the beach house for the day, we had a big barbecue
and went for a surf.
He doesnt remember writing one of the songs
David Kahne was the man for the job again
Hoops has nothing to do with basketball
Margin discovered Switchblade the albums lighters-inthe-air moment on his laptop the morning after a boozy
writing session. I had to decode my drunk lyrics and write a chorus to t, he says. I dont think drinking is conducive to writing,
but it worked for that one. Other tracks deal with the negative
effects of hitting the bottle too hard. Theres a quintessential
Australian drinking culture where we come from.
The L.A. producer (the Strokes, Lana Del Rey) personally invited the Rubens to New York to record their 2012 self-titled
debut. But it was a more self-assured act he encountered three
years on. This time we went in there with a bit more balls, says
Margin. We knew we werent going to budge on certain things.
The title track an 11th hour addition alludes to the difculties of getting a record made. Its a beat-driven, hiphop avoured track in the vein of their 2012 hit My Gun. First
single Hallelujah is another number that started from a drum
sample. Despite the cynical undertones, its not an anti-religion
song. Its anti the wrong people promoting religion, explains
the singer.
DARREN LEVIN
SOUL BROTHERS
The Rubens (Sam
Margin, centre)
RollingStoneAus.com
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
IN THE STUDIO
Don Henleys CountryRock Homecoming

For his rst solo LP in 15 years,
the Eagle recorded in Nashville
with Jagger, Haggard and more
FROM TOP: SEAN BAKER & RADIUM CHEUNG/MAGNOLIA PICTURES; DANNY CLINCH; COURTESY
hen don henley was a boy

growing up in rural Texas, he
used to listen to country greats
like Hank Williams and George
Jones on the legendary Louisiana Hayride
radio show. For Cass County, his first solo
album in 15 years,
Henley went back to
I write a
those roots, recordlittle bit
ing in Nashville with
every day,
singing partners like
says Henley.
Mick Jagger, Merle
Haggard, Dolly Parton, Miranda Lambert
and Alison Krauss.
I got people whose
voices move me, people whose music I respect, says Henley.
Theyre real singers
who can really get the
job done.
Henley wrote songs
for the album during the 250-kilometre
drive between Dallas
and his tiny hometown of Linden in Cass County, Texas, drawing inspiration from a landscape
he describes as where the Old South meets the
West. Co-produced by former Tom Petty and
the Heartbreakers drummer Stan Lynch, the
songs stretch from country and blues to rock

and Americana, the kind of organic blend hes
specialised in since the Eagles early days.
Henley spent ve years on Cass County, recording in Dallas and Orlando as well as Nashville. Henley, Jagger and Lambert mix voices
on Bramble Rose, originally by singer-songwriter Tift Merritt, and there are hints of the
Eagles Desperado on the understated Haggard duet The Cost of Living. Parton appears
on When I Stop Dreaming, a bittersweet 1955
classic by the Louvin
Brothers. Henley had
hoped to record with
Jones, but that collaboration couldnt be
arranged before the
iconic singers death
in 2013. Ill always regret that, says Henley.
Henley who has
toured steadily and
recorded one studio
album with the Eagles since the band reformed in 1994 enjoyed the process of
getting back in the studio, and also spending time in Nashville.
They have the heartattack food that I grew up on, he says. And he
doesnt expect itll take another decade and a
half before he releases his next album. I write
a little bit every day, he says. I still hope that
STEVE APPLEFORD
my best work is ahead of me.
FILM
Taylor (left),
Rodriguez
THE YEARS
FRESHEST
BUDDY
COMEDY
New lm nds laughs
in the lives of L.A.s
trans prostitutes
Filmmaker Sean Baker was
intrigued by the transgender streetwalkers hed
seen in his West Hollywood
neighbourhood, so one
day he approached a tall,
striking woman named Mya
Taylor to ask her for stories.
Says the director, She told
me shed help me make a
movie on two conditions:
You have to be brutal and
show what its like on the
streets...and you have to
make it funny. The result
is Tangerine, a raucous
comedy starring Taylor and
breakout performer Kitana
Kiki Rodriguez. Shot on an
iPhone, its the years best
microbudget buddy movie.
We werent trying to be
part of a revolution, says
Baker. But when you see
Mya and Kiki, you understand why these stories
need to be told. DAVID FEAR
THE TRAGEDY OF THE GIBB BROTHERS

New book delves deep
into one of rocks most
famous families
Rolling Stone writer Jeff
Apter can clearly recall the
moment he decided to write
his latest book, Tragedy: The
Sad Ballad of the Gibb Brothers. As soon as I saw Barry
Gibb standing alone onstage
in 2013 during his Mythology
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
tour, I couldnt help but notice

what a forlorn gure he
struck. Were so used to seeing the three Gibbs on stage
as the Bee Gees, that the
image of Barry alone really
drove home the recent loss of
Maurice and Robin. That was
the starting point for me, that
inherent sense of tragedy. I
also wanted to explore the
strong bond the Gibbs had
with Australia: this is where
they were raised and where

they served their musical apprenticeship. So began more
than a year of research and
writing as Apter unearthed
old lmed performances,
early interviews, press releases and old recordings. Its
such a poignant story, with
such a rich soundtrack, that
I found myself with enough
material for two books,
maybe more.
ROD YATES
RollingStoneAus.com
21
Diplo
The Major Lazer and Jack
star on Madonna, Bieber, and
why he doesnt hate on EDM
By Brian Hiatt
or producer-dj diplo, the past

12 years have been a slow but unrrep
lenting march from the ultra-hip
fringes to the dead centre of
pop music. Recently he had two charttopping singles from two different
projects: the Justin Bieber-featuring
Where R U Now, from his Jack
collaboration with Skrillex, and Lean
On, from his dancehall-inected act
Major Lazer, which went from studio
lark to festival-packing force. Diplo,
who rst broke through to the mainstream circa 2005 as M.I.A.s producer,
says theres never been a master plan:
Ive been 100 per cent improvising, he
says. When I moved to L.A. to producee
and write, I kept DJing on the side, but I
thought that was never gonna go anywherre.
So is Justin Bieber officially cool now?

Hed been stuck in a rut where he haas to
base.
do a certain thing because of his fan b
man,
Guy from Disclosure texted me, Yo, m
that Bieber record is amazing, and Im liike,
Man, you wouldve never written that a yyear
fficult
ago, and hes like, I know, this is very diffi
al life
for me to text right now. Biebers persona
is whatever it is hes a rich kid and hes pretty
p
much gonna have to be a jerk. But hes resspectful to me, and he has that weird gene wherre hes
good at everything: better at basketball than
me, better at drums. For us its more like an
a art
project where you utilise his voice.
media
Youre a thoughtful guy, but your social-m
persona is sort of obnoxious. Why?
If I have a ght with somebody, it maakes me
look like a prick, but it makes the social-media
heory: In
numbers explode. Its the Kanye West th
I
2015, become a prick and just get more popular.
p
dont want to be thought of like that, but also I just
ople take it
dont really care. Im doing jokes and peo
seriously, like thats the person I am.
Taylor
Any chance of squashing your beef with T
ooty?
Swift, after your comments about her bo
mmys and she
We squashed it! I saw her at the Gram
he beef, though.
was supernice and cool. Her fans loved th
Thats all they have they dont have, llike, real things
going on. Its still startling when these arttists pay attention
to my Twitter. Like, Ed Sheeran unfollowed me when I
believe these
said something about Taylor I cant b
people even know who I am.
also stand
EDMs rise boosted your career, but you a
apart from it. How do you see that relationship?
Its been a slow evolution in Americca [there
they] still have the biggest, glossiest, mosst masculine
excited about
music at EDM raves. But its got young people
p
RollingStoneAus.com
music. Jack is headlining festivals now, and Skrillex and

I are up there playing random
r
records, doing what I love,
being unpredictable, being trendsetting. Some of the big
guys are changing too David Guettas new album, nothings really dance on th
hat. And theres stuff like Disclosure
and [French house prod
ducer] Tchami thats not about being
the biggest and brightesst. Skrillex theres no precedent for
what hes doing and what he could do. His persona can
be as big as a rock star.
You co-produced several songs on
Mado
onnas new one, including her new
sing
gle. What do you make of the ageism
m she faces?
She created the world we live in.
Itt already sucks to be a woman in
the music industry, but to be a boss
woman is even harder. She sold
out her tour in minutes, but no
one seems to want her to succeed
Madonna, weve been there,
done that, now were about Kim
Kardashian. Her song Ghosttown was a guaranteed Number One for anybody else, but she
didnt get a fair shot. With Bitch
IIm Madonna, everyone said theres
no w
way it will go anywhere, but Im like,
Screw
w it, it represents you more than anything.
Youre 36
3 do you worry about aging out
of pop
p yourself?
Th
heres not usually the old white dude
in th
he music industry. You either get a
job in
i management or youre Willie Nelson the only dude thats cool and old.
But age has nothing to do with it, as long
as people are paying attention to me.
Your music
m
is pretty raucous what
do you
u listen to when you want something chill?
c
I lovve Marvin Gaye, I like jazz and all
that stuff. I used to be a record collector.
Mark R
Ronson, Questlove and I used to be
part of, like, a record-trading crew. Classic
rock, psyychedelic rock I like to dig up old
music and see what I can get inuenced by.
What wou
uld you do with a rock band?
Ive don
ne a lot of songs with Ezra Koenig [of
Vampire Weekend],
W
some really cool stuff that
I hope peop
ple get to hear. We wrote a couple of
things for an
nother artist that might be huge records for the end of summer one of them started with a Vampire
V
Weekend idea. But hes not
traditional rock
r
hes like me, a hodgepodge of
styles and in
nuences. And I have a studio with
[producer] Ariel
A
Rechtshaid, so every day Im
harassing Haim to listen to my beats. But I dont
make anything that they ever like [laughs]! My
rst productio
on job after M.I.A. was actually the
xx, but they diidnt like what I did, and at the end
of the day we u
used their demos.
Any other unexpected collaborators?
I just did a sessio
on with the Band Perry, and I didnt
think that would work.
w
But I listened to it yesterday
Im like, Yo, this iis a big, awesome song. The way we
recorded it was un
northodox I just did it in a room
with a mandolin
n. I mean, Ill try anything once.
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
MONICA SCHIPPER/GETTY IMAGES
Q&A
ROCK&ROLL
Jack Antonoffs Dream Life

jack a n tonof f
was already the
lead guitarist for a chart-topping band,
fun., when he decided to start a brand-new
solo project, Bleachers, not long ago. The
gamble paid off: Bleachers scored a Number
One alt-rock hit in the U.S. last year with I
Wanna Get Better, and Antonoff has been
writing and producing for artists like Taylor
Swift and Grimes. Im honoured it worked
out, he says. It couldve been a disaster!
We hung with Antonoff at the Brooklyn
Heights apartment he shares with girlfriend
Lena Dunham, then headed to Manhattan
to watch him produce new music by the CaPATRICK DOYLE
nadian dance duo Chromeo.
DAWN TO DUSK
To see an exclusive video of Antonoffs

day, including a studio performance
and a Lena Dunham cameo, visit
rsaus.com/jackantonoff
/j
EGG MAN
Antonoff cooks up his daily
broccoli-and-pepper omelet.
Its very bland no cheese,
he says (dairy affects his
vocals). Its like a good
meal in prison.
ON THE RUN
Going for his daily jog around
Brooklyn Heights.
SOCK ROCK
Antonoff
admits, Tank
tops are kind
of douchey.
FOR THE RECORD

In the studio with
Chromeo. Antonoff
likes every song
he works on
to meet three
requirements:
You want a piece
of the past to invite
someone in. Then
a very modern
element, and then
futuristic elements
that scare the crap
out of them.
RollingStoneAus.com
FROM TOP: GRIFFIN LOTZ, 3; JUSTICE APPLE, 2
SOME NIGHTS
Waiting to get picked up from
the studio by Dunham. Well
be in bed and Ill play her
what I did on my phone that
day. Shell either have an
emotional reaction or not.
Thats all that matters.
HOT ALBUM
could get excited about writing

new music. Two months later they
emerged with their third album,
Aesthesis. Once we made the decision we were like, lets write a
whole new album and create a
sound so that no one ever mistakes us for a metal band again,
says Benzie. From that point on
we just snapped into music mode.
I had a bunch of really basic
ideas, he adds, just really simple
ones. [In the past] we would always start in pursuit of some really high energy rock, and then
youd match the vocals to that.
We did it in reverse this time and
wrote the core of the story [rst].
ANGER IS AN ENERGY
A more personal album than its
Dead Letter Circus
predecessors (The Catalyst Fire
(Benzie, second right)
and 2010s This is the Warning;
Benzie credits the bands 2007 EP
as an inuence in that regard), it still picks
up on the political and social themes of
those records, as Benzie rallies against apathy and the constructs through which those
in power attempt to make us live our lives.
A lot of the new album actually borders on
bleak at times, where its kind of pointing
Benzie estimates they drove 35,000 kiloout a few of the really obvious things and
metres in one month supporting metal
going, times nearly up, get your shit togethacts whose fans werent quite sure how to er, he explains.
take DLCs more intricate melodies had
Case in point is rst single While You
left them uninspired. Regardless, they
Wait, with the line Your apathy puts your
ploughed on and spent 2014 touring, athand on the blade of the mother slain.
tending to their personal lives and workWhat Id love is for people to be singing the
ing on the Stand Apart EP, which reimagmelody and have it stuck in their head, and
ined songs from 2013s The Catalyst Fire then take time to peel back the lyrics and
in an acoustic setting. Come January this
go, Holy shit, Ive been singing about my
year they decided to book studio time and,
own apathy, says Benzie. And then have
ROD YATES
armed with only a few ideas, see if they a moment to think about it.
Dead Letter Circus Rage

Against the Machine
Brisbane rockers overcome
creative lull to release redup third album
here was a point, as dead letter Circuss U.S. tour ground to

a halt in 2013, that the Brisbane
quintet didnt know if they wanted to make another album. Not straight
away, anyway. The rigours of life on the
road in another country vocalist Kim
MACCABEES GO BIGGER, TOUGHER ON FOURTH ALBUM

British ve-piece return with
rst record in three years
Its the day after Glastonbury, and the Maccabees guitarist Felix White is back home
in South London rehabilitating after a
triumphant comeback show.
The gig was amazing, he says of their
return to Worthy Farm after six years.
There were loads of people, we had Jamie
T do a song with us. It was a pretty intense
experience, it was great.
That song was Marks To Prove It, the
title track from their rst album in three
years. After the expansive Given To the Wild
which was nominated for a Mercury in
2012 White says they wanted to create a
stripped-back album of shifting moods; one
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
that could be recreated live. He

says Marks To Prove It the albums most energetic track felt
like blowing out the cobwebs.
Its got a ippancy and a
freedom about it, which is sometimes difficult to afford yourself
when you make a record for three
years.
Part of the reason for the long
delay was the bands insistence
on giving all ve members an
equal say in the songwriting process. They holed up in their own
Elephant Studios formerly owned by the
Jesus and Mary Chain in Central London,
working 10am to 1am shifts for months on
end. The lashings of piano and female vocals only add to the records nocturnal vibe.
Weve been vindicated in the way weve

gone about it, explains the guitarist. The
new songs are the toughest, biggest and
the most complete Maccabees songs that
weve ever done. They stand up anywhere.
DARREN LEVIN
RollingStoneAus.com
25
ROCK&ROLL
PROFILE
Northlanes Brave
New World
Globetrotting Sydney
metalcore sensations switch
singers and continue to head
north By Matt Reekie
house and we had that on repeat for hours.

So its pretty surreal to now be a part of it.
Bridge landed his dream gig and was
thrown straight in the deep end. Within days, he and the band had written and
recorded a new single, Rot, and within
ort hl a n e a r e at t e mp t- weeks he was performing in front of 3000
ing one of the most dangerous fans in Sweden.
feats in the whole rock circus
I didnt expect it to go so smoothly,
switching vocalists while the says Bridge. I can be socially awkward
band are on the upswing. And they may and a bit weird at times, and its such a
just pull it off, too.
high-pressure situation as well, coming
The group have already performed one into a new band, but we have gelled quickact worthy of the great Houdini, rising ly. On tour, Im learning every day. The
out of Sydneys harsh western suburbs to other guys have got it down pretty good so
worldwide acclaim on the back of a pair they help me out.
of progressive metalcore epics, DiscovBridge has had to cop the obligatory I
eries (2011) and the Top 5 hit Singulari- like your old stuff better than your new
ty (2013). But when original singer Adri- stuff from sections of the fanbase; thats
an Fitipaldes announced last year that he a given for a frontman joining an estabdidnt have enough of the road dog in him lished group. But in his case the difference
to pursue a career in rock any further, the between old and new is amplied by the
remaining members guibrave new Northlane sound.
tarists Josh Smith and Jon
Their new album, Node, is
Deiley, bassist Alex Milovic
as much of a coming-out party
and drummer Nic Pettersen
for the band as it is for Bridge.
were forced to reach back into We werent
Recorded in New Jersey with
their bag of tricks.
going to let long-time producer Will PutWe werent going to let one
ney, Node is less ighty than
person leaving stop us, after one person
its predecessors, rooted more
wed all worked so hard, says leaving stop
deeply in song and burning
Smith. It just made us even us after wed with ambition.
more determined to continEven before Marcus joined
all worked
ue on.
the band we knew this would
Even before Fitipaldes split, so hard.
be a polarising record, says
Northlane had been plotting a
Smith. If we didnt release
new course. When they were
something that had that effect
hit with the news of his departure, the we would feel like we were doing someband saw an opportunity to pick a fresh thing wrong. Its something weve come to
voice that would help take them where expect because we are always trying to inthey wanted to go.
novate and move forward.
We didnt know exactly what that voice
As the man in the hot seat, Bridge adwould sound like, says Smith. We kinda mits he has experienced some anxious morealised that we would know it when we ments in the lead up to Nodes release, but
heard it.
is trying to take the big picture view.
Enter Marcus Bridge, formerly of felThis album is something that as a
low Sydneysiders Sound of Seasons, who group we would want to listen to, as opwas plucked from over 2000 respondents posed to just recording a heavy album
to an open call for video auditions online. with breakdowns and whatever on it, he
My old band played a couple of shows says. If people arent necessarily fans of it,
with Northlane, back before Discover- that would suck, but we just did what we
ies had even come out, Bridge recalls. wanted and we couldnt be happier.
Ive seen them grow and get recognised
Best-case? Node becomes the new Back
overseas. I remember when [2013 single] In Black.
Quantum Flux came out, I was at a mates
Well, laughs Bridge, I can hope!
RollingStoneAus.com
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
NEW BEGINNING
Northlane (l-r): Alex
Milovic, Jon Deiley,
Josh Smith, Marcus
Bridge, Nic Pettersen
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
RollingStoneAus.com
27
ROCK&ROLL
EXPERT
OPINION
Skrillex
We asked the EDM star whose
Jack project with Diplo released
its debut album this year
to check out ve songs.
BY HENRY
ROLLINS
Our man in the
van looks back
on an American
institution
Grateful Dead
China Cat Sunower

My dad was a big fan of the Dead,
so I used to hear them all the time
around the house. This song is so
psychedelic and free-owing and
deep. Its like its in 3D.
Janis Joplin
RollingStoneAus.com
Cry Baby
This is one of my favourite vocal
performances by Joplin. Its a forgiveness song. If a girl wrote a song
like this about me, I would be so
attered.
Aphex Twin
Bucephalus
Bouncing Ball
So incredible. Its a crazy journey, like
ve songs in one. Ive memorised
every single hit and solo and accent.
NEW
Taylor Swift feat. Kendrick

Lamar
Bad Blood
A year ago, you never would have
thought that Kendrick and Taylor
would make a song together. I think
its awesome. Really fun.
Fetty Wap
Trap Queen
The anthem of the summer. I play
this record in almost all my sets.
You cant help but sing along.
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAEL WELDON; NEILSON BARNARD/GETTY IMAGES FOR MERCEDES-BENZ FASHION WEEK
uly 9, 1995, at chicagos

in the next year. They were quite simply
Soldier Field was the last time
one of the best bands I have ever seen.
Jerry Garcia appeared with the
For me, it was the double drums of Hart
Grateful Dead. On the 9th day of
and Kreutzmann locking in with bassist
August 20 years ago this month GarLesh. It was a tremendously intuitive and
cia died of a heart attack at age 53.
powerful rhythm trio.
Almost two decades later, Dead
I saw a lot of parallels between the
members Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, Bill
Dead and Black Flag. Both bands toured
Kreutzmann and Phil Lesh, with Trey
hard and valued the quality of live perAnastasio, Jeff Chimenti and Bruce
formance, from the playing to the audio.
Hornsby eshing out the line-up, apOne of the examples for Black Flag getpeared at Soldier Field on July 3, 4 & 5
ting their own sound system for their
for three nal shows, billed as Fare Thee
last three years was due to the Deads
Well: Celebrating 50 Years of Grateful
total autonomy and control over their
Dead. I dont know what traction the
presentation. Both bands were insular,
band ever got in Australia
and while associated with
but in America the Gratecertain social strata, were
ful Dead were a true cul- I saw a lot of
quite independent of any
tural phenomenon.
group and were often at
They were a ba nd parallels
odds with their audience.
whose loyal fans were al- between the
They are perhaps the last
most always cast in the Grateful Dead
two bands you would ever
pejorative. Deadhead
think would have any rewas equivalent to filthy and Black Flag.
lationship at all. Of any
hippie, red menace scum. Both bands
band on the road in those
I remember many people
days, the Dead would be
writing the band off com- toured hard.
the one I would compare
pletely because of the fans
Black Flag to.
without ever checking out the music.
It was odd, towards the end of Garcias
I used to be one of those people until
life, when the Dead were accepted by the
someone loaned me a few Dead albums:
other America. With that came people
American Beauty, Workingmans Dead
drinking beer and ghting in the parkand Anthem of the Sun. The high level
ing lot. I think the band were somewhat
of musicianship on the albums was obamused by the embrace of MTV viewers.
vious, but for me bands have to prove
Why did they play these shows in Chithemselves live.
cago? I always felt a beautiful melancholy
The rst time I saw the Dead play was
at the end of a Dead show. Perhaps they
September 15, 1985, in Chula Vista, CA.
just wanted to go out one last time to say
I would go to four more of their shows
fare thee well.
OLD
NEW STUDIO
MINI-ALBUM
Marks To Prove It
and Something Like Happiness
Features the singles
HEALTH
DEATH MAGIC
FEATURES INDIE SMASH
STONEFIST
ROCK&ROLL
ON THE ROAD
Meg Macs Tour Diary

Our Van
When I rst saw our van I was comparing it to my summer family road trips to
Queensland with ve kids in the back
of a Tarago. This was fancy, it had Wi-Fi
and a TV. We rocked up to the rst show
in Oakland and parked between two out
of three enormous deluxe tour buses. It
wasnt so fancy anymore.
y name is meg
Mac and Im from
Australia. DAngelo
& the Vanguard are
taking me around America.
I say this every night after my
rst song to the crowd. There is this
mutual understanding that I am
a very lucky person and I can feel
it. I can feel the slight confusion
as I rst walk out on to the stage,
a very real and strong feeling that
Id better be good and have something to say.
I am nervous every night, but
once I sing it goes away.
The dressing rooms are usually
close enough in most of the venues
that I can hear D (thats what everyone calls him) and the band warming up together. Theyre all singing
together and clapping I have never
heard anything like it in real life. I
watch them all in a circle chanting
in the carpark in Dallas, DAngelo
RollingStoneAus.com
gives me a big hug and then joins

everyone for the pre-show ritual. I
am inspired before the real show
has even started.
Before the tour began I would listen to his music over and over as if it
was my tour homework and I needed to prepare myself and know everything. But every moment I had
with the guys, they wanted to talk
about my music, they were so nice.
I was travelling around a country,
so far from home, I was gone a long
time but it felt like some sort of
home.
I liked to watch the show from
the audience and soak it all up,
but there was something so special about watching from the side
of stage and being able to see his audience. They were so happy. There
is so much energy in these rooms,
what he does is so powerful.
I have been counting down the
days until I get to do a show again
since I got back to Australia there
is nothing better than the real thing.
And being a part of this tour has
made sure I never ever forget that.
Tour Pass
I am working on my artist
pass lanyard collection.
Now I have six.
Soundcheck
The venues are the biggest and the nicest Ive ever
played. Chandeliers and buildings with lots of history
I like to feel like I am singing on a stage where others
have sung before me and I am soaking it up and it is
making me sing better or something like that. It is a
good feeling, even if I made it up.
TOP
O L
LEFT:
E F T @TYNI
EFT:
@TYNIE626
N E626
E 62
2
The Melbourne singer writes

about her recent American
tour with DAngelo
Up In Lights
A reminder of just
how lucky I am, lit
up on a giant sign in
Denver, Colorado.
Utah
Everyone was arguing
about this toilet break
(my fault) but look at
this view.
NEW ALBUM
Shane
Nicholson
LA Merch
Desk
This is me at the
merch desk in LA
when I should have
been in my dressing
room meeting Kate
Hudson. She walked
into my room after
watching the show
to say hello when I
decided to go and say
hi to people at the
merch desk. One of
my tour regrets.
Opens Up
Award-winning songwriter
wasnt lacking inspiration for
his sixth solo album
C
New York Show
TOP: @BELLISSIMA_FARFALLE31/INSTAGRAM
In New York, Gary Clark

Jr also played so we all
got a photo backstage so
we didnt forget.
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
ath a r sis is a wor d

Shane Nicholson uses frequently to descr ibe Hell
Breaks Loose, his rst album
since the demise of his marriage to fellow singer-songwriter Kasey Chambers,
which several songs on the record confront.
Its a less guarded record than ever before, he says. Theyve all been honest but
this is certainly less dressed up in metaphor and disguise.
There were songs where I thought,
Wow thats a bit pointed, but I decided
that I wouldnt sugarcoat it.
The other vital inspiration was a trip to
Central Australia to spend time with his
friend, indigenous singer Warren H. Williams, whom Nicholson describes as his
Mr Miyagi, and whom he credits with
reinvigorating his songwriting mojo.
I felt this immediate removal from my
life, which offered so much perspective
after this tumultuous period.
Its my favourite record, he adds. It
feels like all the records before have been
just precursors and trial runs. BARNABY SMITH
RollingStoneAus.com
31
ROCK&ROLL
WILDER
MINDS
Mumford,
Marshall,
Lovett and
Dwane (from
left), in New
Jersey
in June.
PROFILE
Mumfords New Road

On the bus as the band goes
electric at Bonnaroo and
beyond. By Patrick Doyle
umford & sons are stuck

in Tennessee traffic on the way
to Bonnaroo a day before
their headlining set, their
bus nosing past a series of Waffle Houses and Flying J truck stops. Is it going
to take us three hours to get to this fucking place? banjo-guitarist Winston Marshall wonders to no one in particular.
A messy-haired Marcus Mumford f lips
channels on the bus TV, failing to nd the
Wales-Belgium soccer game. Marshall
sits on the couch, his newly grown-out
hair spilling onto his unbuttoned white
Renaissance-style shirt, blasting Kendrick
Lamar from his iPad.
Its the second week of their summer
U.S. tour, and one of the most important
shows of their career: the rst major fes-
RollingStoneAus.com
tival set since the release of their third

album, Wilder Mind, and a return to
Bonnaroo, a gig they had to cancel in 2013
after bassist Ted Dwane fell ill. It feels really lucky to be back, says Mumford. It
makes us want to smash it even more than
we wouldve done two years ago.
Bonnaroo holds a special place in their
hearts: They were nervous before they
rst played here, in 2010, but their heroes
Dave Rawlings, Gillian Welch and Old
Crow Medicine Show all joined them during their side-stage afternoon slot for a
version of Wagon Wheel. British bands
are quite gang-y at London festivals, says
Marshall. Here, they welcomed us with
open arms.
Mumford moved up to the huge second stage in 2011, and they were booked
to headline the main stage in 2013 after
the enormous success of their second
album, Babel. But two weeks before that
set, Dwane started feeling sick onstage in
Berkeley. He played a few more dates be-
fore doctors told him he needed emergency surgery; a blood clot was removed from
the surface of his brain. It was just pure
relief, really, because I had been feeling so
bad for a week, says Dwane.
The band held a tense meeting in an
Austin hotel room, where Dwane insisted he could play Bonnaroo against doctors orders, but his bandmates outvoted
him. He was really skinny and hed been
sick for, like, two weeks, just vomiting his
guts out great weight-loss program, says
Mumford. He still had that blue marker on his head. He looked fucking awesome. He looked like something out of
Schindlers List.
That might be my next look, actually,
adds Marshall.
Despite todays traffic, they are in good
spirits, bantering about the escaped prisoners in New York state (Fair play to
them, says keyboardist Ben Lovett). Marshall makes fun of Bonnaroos slogan
(Radiate positivity, guys! he says mockPhotographs by Da n n y Clinch
ingly as he ips through the schedule) and

Wilder Mind sold less than half of what
wonders whether the waitress was irt- Babel did in its opening week, and reviews
ing with him at breakfast that morning. have been mixed. But the band stands by
It was totally unprofessional she prac- it: Its our best record, says Lovett. Adds
tically invited me up to her room, he says, Mumford, People have been willing to
with more than a little pride.
come with us. Because we didnt know
You were peacocking, says Dwane. In whether they would. There was no guarcontrast to the rest of the group espe- anteeing, because we changed quite a lot
cially Mumford and Lovett, who are both of the formulas that were working for peomarried the exuberant Marshall makes ple, you know.
no secret of how much hes enjoying the
rock-star life on the road: Im a single
man, so Ive got not much to go home to,
he says. And I havent got many friends,
either. Im losing them. Will you be my
friend? When the bus nally makes it
to the festivals back entrance, he looks
out the window and sees a crowd of barely dressed women. Titties! he exclaims.
Time for babe-watch. Ill be at the front
of the bus.
Mumford are returning to Bonnaroo
looking and sounding like a very different band from the one they were not long
ago. Wilder Mind replaces the banjo, kick
drum and acoustic instruments of their
first two albums with drum machines,
along with electric guitars soaked in delay
pedals. Its been interesting approaching
the set list, because were denitely different to how we were two years ago, says
Mumford. Part of us has been like, Well,
should we be playing the show we wouldve
played two years ago? but we dont want to BACK ON TRACK Warming up backstage at
do that. He smiles. Is the audience going Bonnaroo. The band had to cancel their 2013
to want us to play the show we did two performance when Ted Dwane (back) fell ill.
years ago? Probably they do, but theyre not
In addition to acoustic instruments, the
going to get that. Theyre gonna get a new
band have also abandoned the waistcoats
one, which we think is way better.
The instrumentation isnt the only new and vests of their old wardrobe, leaning
element on Wilder Mind. After a conversa- more heavily now on blazers and leathtion on the last tour, the bandmates com- er jackets. [People are saying] Wow, so
pletely changed their songwriting process. youve really changed the way you look,
While Mumford wrote most of the God- says Mumford. Everyone changes the
fearing, Shakespeare-inuenced lyrics of way they look over a nine-year period,
their rst two albums, this time every band apart from my dad. What kind of a fuckmember brought songs to the sessions, ing question is that? Its the sort of celebwith studio time divided equally between rity culture that we live in.
Perhaps because hes most
each members material.
in the public eye, Mumford is
The band also wont say who They probably
especially sensitive to any talk
wrote what song although want us to play
about his personal life. I met
you can guess that Dwane or the show we did
him earlier that week in MasMarshall, both of whom retwo years ago.
sachusetts, hours after a news
cently split with longtime girlBut theyre not
report broke that his wife,
friends, had a hand in breakgoing to get that. actress Carey Mulligan, was
up songs such as Tompkins
pregnant with their rst child.
Square Park and Ditmas.
Theres always been very little ego in As we played basketball, I offered brief
the band, which has always been very congratulations. For what? he said, stephealthy and good for us, says Lovett back- ping back. Is that news? I think thats gosstage at a Massachusetts gig a few days be- sip. (He then headed to soundcheck and
fore Bonnaroo. Much to Marcus cred- cancelled the interview. He doesnt menit especially with his name above the tion it when we meet again at Bonnaroo.)
Back at Bonnaroo, after a searing set by
door and with people constantly pushing
the limelight onto him he as much as all My Morning Jacket as the sun went down,
of us understands the pure democracy of a sunburned crowd bounces beach balls
and waits for Mumford & Sons to take
the band.
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
the stage. From there, the audience seems

to go on forever more fans checked into
Mumfords performance on the festival
app than any other act of the weekend.
Mumford stubs out a cigarette as the
band reach the stage and deliver their solemn acoustic hymn Lovers Eyes in complete darkness for three minutes, until
after the second chorus, when the lights
go up with a kick-drum thud and a blast
of horns and strings. The eld erupts, and

the bandmates harmonise as Mumford
strums his acoustic furiously. Holy shit,
theres a lot of you, he says.
There are a few jitters Mumford grabs
a guitar and starts playing a different song
when he was supposed to play Lover of
the Light. I fucked up, he says, before
heading to the drum set for a slow rendition of Lover. Afterward, he shakes his
head and Marshall pats him on the back.
It was all forgotten by the time Ed
Helms came onstage to play banjo on the
singalong Awake My Soul. Mumford introduces the band, and Dwane gets the
biggest response, the crowd chanting his
name as he plays a goofy bass line, as if to
deect attention. One of the reasons were
glad hes alive is so we could come back and
play this festival, Mumford says. He did
it to get more attention. What a wanker.
For the final song, Mumford invites
members of Dawes, My Morning Jacket and Hozier for the Joe Cocker version
of the Beatles With a Little Help From
My Friends. Mumford trades verses with
Jim James and Taylor Goldsmith before
he perfectly nails Cockers ragged, climactic shriek. Then, as the song enters double
time, he grabs a tambourine and pounds
away. As the song fades out, there are bro
hugs all around onstage. It was a good
day, Mumford says with a wave. It was
a good day.
RollingStoneAus.com
33
ROCK&ROLL
My style of
dancing is a
cross between
slam dancing
and hip-hop
dancing. Its
not good.
RollingStoneAus.com
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
MY SOUNDTRACK
Josh Pyke
Appreciates ne songwriting, dances with gusto,

has a slightly morbid side. By Rod Yates
The First Song I Learned To Play
Soundgarden Outshined, 1991
Its in Drop D tuning, and I
still play in Drop D tuning.
Every song on every album
[of mine] is in Drop D, and
its because this is the song
that I learned how to play guitar to. A
guy at my high school introduced me to
Soundgarden. Up until that point I was
exclusively into Guns NRoses. As soon
as I learned how to play this song I started writing my own songs, so for me it was
a revelation, it was like unlocking the key
to being able to write my own songs.
The Song I Fell In Love To

Iron & Wine Naked As We Came, 2004
Its not the song I fell in love
to, but its the song I walked
down the aisle to, and its
just beautiful. Its very much
about the idea of longevity in a relationship. The lyrics are One
will spread our ashes round the yard
its fucking heavy. But it reminds me of
the concept of commitment and falling in
love. I cant hear that song without it being
an emotional memory.
The Song People Wouldnt

Expect Me To Like
Rihanna Umbrella, 2007
When its going ella ella,
theres one chord change
which is so good, and it
makes the whole song for
me. It changes to this weird
diminished minor chord, and it just
changes the song from being bland pop
into something much more interesting.
The Song That Makes Me Cry

Sufjan Stevens Death With Dignity,
2015
Even when I talk about it I
get emotional. Its so good.
The whole album is about
his mother passing away,
and when you listen to the
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
lyrics of that song with that in mind its

like, my god. The rst time I heard it I
[cried]. Its more an empathetic reaction
to a guy whos reduced to feeling like a little child. And I guess having kids changes your perspective on parenthood. As
much as its not particularly manly to cry
to songs, its also what Im hoping will happen. Thats what I want out of music, a fullon emotional response.
The Song That Gets Me on the

Dancefloor
OutKast Hey Ya!, 2003
Im not much of a dancer,
but I cant pass that one up.
Its a great karaoke song as
well. I remember singing
that song at karaoke with
Kevin Mitchell on the night that I met him
before we started a tour together, and we
ended up at a karaoke bar and we bonded
over singing that song. There was a lot of
dancing. My style of dancing is a cross between how you would slam dance to grunge and punk, and hip-hop dancing. A lot of
shoulder icking. Its not good, none of its
good.
The Song Im Most Proud Of

Josh Pyke Middle of the Hill, 2007
Its the song that opened
every opportunity Ive had
since, it changed the trajectory of my life, so that makes
me pretty proud. When did I
realise it was connecting? Id been booked
on the Big Day Out on one of the small
stages early in the day, and I was expecting
there to be a spattering of 50 people, and
it was fucking chockers, and I was blown
away. It was the day the Hottest 100 got
announced, and it was Number 19. The
same day I jumped in the car and drove
down to Melbourne to start a tour, and as
we went back up the coast I just noticed
that more and more people were showing
up for my set. And I was like, somethings
happening here. I knew I loved the song,
but I didnt think it would do anything,
cause it didnt really have a chorus and had
a linear progression and a very personal
narrative. But it was the one that did it.
The Song I Play Air Guitar To

Guns NRoses Sweet Child OMine,
1987
When I was trying to earn
money to keep ma k ing
music I was a guitar teacher briey, and I taught at a
girls school, and most of the
kids werent that interested, it was just a
way to get out of class. But there was this
one girl, she was an excellent guitarist,
so she wanted to learn the solo for Sweet
Child OMine. Im not a good soloist or
anything, but Id go home and really intensely learn it by ear and gure out how
it was written down cause she was learning it from notation. Its probably the only
song in which I can still remember how to
play the solo. So when Im air guitaring its
actually totally accurate.
The Song I Wish I Wrote

The Shins New Slang, 2001
Its almost perfect. The moment I heard that song I was
like, this is where I want
to be musically. I was on a
weekend away with a couple
of mates and one of them had a SubPop
sampler and it had New Slang on it. He
basically did to me what the girl in Garden State does to the guy, he was like, Sit
down, youve got to listen to this, it could
change your life. And it just oored me.
The Song I Want Played

At My Funeral
Enya Orinoco Flow, 1988
When I was about 10 years
old I was travelling in the UK
with my parents, and Enyas
Orinoco Flow was always
on the radio, and I fell in
love with it. I remember it vividly, walking
across this carpark at [supermarket] Tesco
and I was like, Mum, when I die, can you
play this at my funeral? And she was like,
OK. Mum thought I was just talking crazy.
So I feel like being a man of my word and
still having that played. I was a pretty intense little kid.
RollingStoneAus.com
35
CLASSIC SHOT
Iron Maiden Go
To Work, 2008
Photographed by
John McMurtrie
Any band that tells you they arent
affected by the size of an audience is
lying. This picture was taken during Iron
Maidens 2008 Somewhere Back in Time
world tour at the Ullevi stadium,
Gothenburg. Being the official
photographer for the band I get to
witness those moments the public dont
usually get to see. I have full access
throughout a tour to capture the journey
and the adventure from every angle.
Janick Gers [right] and Steve Harris were
breaking the ice here. It is a big show
lasting over two hours with set changes
and complex songs, and this photo
illustrates that they dont take themselves
too seriously. The intro tape with Winston
Churchill bellowing the immortal words
We will ght them on the beaches . . . We
will never surrender is just about to wrap
and the roar of the 60,000 sold out
crowd is literally deafening. As the band
await the pyro explosion which is their
cue to launch on stage, the tension is
palpable backstage. Tonight is special as
Maiden have played to over one million
people so far on this tour. The band, crew
and all equipment were packed on board
their own customised Boeing 757 with the
lead singer Bruce Dickinson at the
controls in the cockpit. One of the most
ambitious and historic tours ever
undertaken is only half way through, and
tonights show is just one of many special
memories on that tour.
On Board Flight 666, John McMurtries
photo documentary on life on the road
with Iron Maiden, is out now.
RollingStoneAus.com
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
RollingStoneAus.com
37
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We prole ve of the hottest

artists who are climbing
the charts, breaking the
Internet or just dominating
our office stereos . . .
TIRED LION
SOUNDS LIKE: Donning your best f lanny and travelling back to the Nineties to
watch Singles for the rst time
FOR FANS OF: Nirvana, L7, vintage Liz
Phair
WHY YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION: When
Matt Tanner was in high school, he
showed his friend Sophie Hopes the
Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream
album. I was like, Oh my God, thats
what I want my band to sound like! re-
RollingStoneAus.com
calls Hopes. That plan came to fruition

in 2012 when vocalist/guitarist Hopes
teamed up with guitarist Tanner and
drummer Ethan Darnell in Tired Lion
(bassist Nick Vasey joined later), and set
about making their mark on the Perth
scene. Fast forward three years and the
band have played Homebake, Splendour
in the Grass and Groovin the Moo, supported the 1975, Kingswood and Gyroscope, and watched as Triple J latched
onto latest single I Dont Think You Like
Me, from their just-released second
EP, Figurine.
THEY SAY: I dont think Id be around if

music wasnt in my life, says Hopes. I
dont know what my purpose would be. Im
a pretty emotional person, and having to
explain to somebody if they ask me whats
wrong or what Im feeling, I cant really
do it by talking, I literally have to sing it
out. When I pick up a guitar, thats like my
safety net.
HEAR FOR YOURSELF:Suck all Nineties
soft-quiet dynamics with a killer melodic twist and a hook begging to be shouted
at summer festivals: Im strung out, Im
ROD YATES
strung out, Im strung out!
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
KAMASI
WASHINGTON
SOUNDS LIKE: Jazz fusion that rockets every-
Wed go home
at 3 oclock in
the morning
and play until 7
in the morning.
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
where from electric Miles groove to Sun Ra

sputter, from velvety smooth to hardcore
squawk and still sounds as future-minded as any hip-hop or experimental electronic LP out.
FOR FANS OF: Kendrick Lamar, Flying Lotus,
Weather Report
WHY YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION: The Los Angeles saxophonist is the most audacious player in a movement making the electric urry of Seventies fusion jazz cool again: His
lush, bustling arrangements can be heard
on both Flying Lotus Youre Dead! and Kendrick Lamars To Pimp a Buttery. His gorgeous debut opus, The Epic, is 173 minutes of
virtuosic playing alongside a 20-piece choir,
32-piece orchestra and the West Coast Get
Down, the eight-man jazz Wu-Tang Clan
hes a member of alongside Thundercat.
The group spent a month recording, working 10 to 12 hours a day, every day, resulting in what Washington claims is eight individual solo projects, nearly 200 songs and
two terabytes of music. The three-disc Epic,
the rst album released from the sessions,
is 17 songs trimmed from 45. The hardest
part was shrinking it down, he says. The
17 songs kind of became the complete sentence of what I wanted to put out. Any song
that I take out, then Im missing something.
Washington and the West Coast Get
Down honed their connection with one another by practicing furiously in a shack in
his dads backyard in Inglewood, California. We were at every concert and then wed
go home at 3 oclock in the morning and play
until 7 oclock in the morning, remembers
Washington. I had cool neighbours. They
knew me. They were just proud to see some
young brothers doing something positive.
HE SAYS: I think people were starved for it,
says Washington of the sudden appeal of contemporary jazz. And they had a misconception of what it was. We took it as a challenge.
We played at like gothic clubs, literally, for a
crowd where upstairs they have an apparatus
where theyre beating people with whips . . .
That spiritual, soul-repairing thing that jazz
has has been missing in society for a while.
What xes your spirit when Ferguson happens? You need something to x it. And now
that theyre getting it its like, Oh wow, this is
a soul x, not a history lesson.
HEAR FOR YOURSELF: Disc three of The Epic
kicks off with the blazing, 14-minute piece
CHRISTOPHER R. WEINGARTEN
Re Run Home.
RollingStoneAus.com
41
THE FUTURE IS N
JOSEF SALVAT
SOUNDS LIKE: Suave, sophisticated pop
with a knack for sharp lyrics and sharper melodies

FOR FANS OF: Bastille, Sam Smith, Ed
Sheeran
WHY YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION: Currently based in London, the Sydney lawstudent-turned-charismatic crooners
been blowing up overseas. His love of
moody, cinematic pop had early reviews
marking him as the male Lana Del Rey,
but hes since proved far more interesting
than that simple equation. After breaking through with his gorgeous cover of
Rihannas Diamonds (used by Sony
for a TV ad campaign), the 27-year-old
followed through with his impressive In
Your Prime EP released last year. Sia, the
Preatures and the Jezabels have since
confessed theyre fans of his work.
HE SAYS: My albums pretty much
ready to go. Its called Night Swim and
the songs have been written over 10
years. Were just waiting to conrm a release date, but thats some record label
dark arts stuff so youll have to wait
and see.
HEAR FOR YOURSELF: The deliciously dark
Hustler (and its mini-movie music
JASON TREUEN
video).
THE STAVES
SOUNDS LIKE: A dive into a watering hole on
a sweltering summer day
FOR FANS OF: Laura Marling, deep think-
ing, humming, head-bobbing
WHY YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION: Watford,
Englands Staveley-Taylor sisters Camilla (vocals, ukulele), Emily (vocals) and Jessica (vocals, guitar) grapple with universal feelings of longing with their harmonic
folk. Theyve joined Mumford and Sons to
sing With a Little Help From My Friends
on Glastonburys main stage and toured
with the likes of the Civil Wars and Bon
Iver. Justin Vernon invited them to hang
out at his April Base Studio in Eau Claire,
Wisconsin, after an extensive global run
promoting their rst album, 2012s Dead
& Born & Grown. The trio accepted, going
in with no expectations (they didnt even
tell their label). But the special, sacred
time evolved into a stunning collection of
songs: Vernon ended up producing the sisters latest album, the gripping If I Was.
RollingStoneAus.com
We were on the outside a bit.

Wed gravitate to those people
whod pass the guitar around.
Released in March, the bands

second record (and Nonesuch
debut) is full of swelling orchestras, dense vocal arrangements
and thoughtful lyrics.
THEY SAY: [Growing up] we
were sort of on the outside a
bit, says Emily. Outside London and outside Watford. The
kind of Watford night out involves the classic drinking to
excess and either getting into
a ght or throwing up or copping off with someone. We always felt a bit marginalised because we were the people that
went out on a weekend wearing
trainers and jeans, not dressed
up to the nines, and we wanted
to dance to rock & roll. It was
kind of a feeling of being left out,
not the norm, then wed gravitate to those
other people at parties whod pass the guitar around.
HEAR FOR YOURSELF: Blood I Bled is If I
Was triumphant opening track. PAULA MEJIA
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
HALSEY
SOUNDS LIKE: Dont be deceived by deli-
cate single Ghost. Halseys larger body of

work is cinematic electronica, lyrically inspired by the ragers of the 1990s Ani, Alanis and Tori.
FOR FANS OF: Sia, Ellie Goulding, Lana
Del Rey
WHY YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION: Remember how excited we all were 10 years ago
when Lily Allens career went berko after
she uploaded demos to MySpace? There
wound up being more to it than that a record company was already in place, famous
connections, yada yada but it was a story
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
that lled the heart of every wannabe with

hope. Fast-forward to 2014 and 19-yearold New Jersey native Ashley Halsey Frangipane uploaded Ghost to SoundCloud
and iTunes. Overnight, ve record companies jumped to attention, with Astralwerks home to Kylie, Nervo and David
Guetta winning the golden ticket. What
makes Halsey the full package isnt just
the Anime-style turquoise hair or the fact
that she writes her own material. Shes analytical about the industry and eminently
quotable when it comes to philosophising.
SHE SAYS: What I can attribute to the speed
of the take-off is that my project is an extension of myself. I dont sit down with a team
and some fucking mood boards and ask,
What would Halsey do? What would this

look like? Theres not a poster that goes out
without my approval. But I have to be a control freak or people would take advantage.
HEAR FOR YOURSELF: Her EP, Room 93, is
a capsule piece of teenage lust, longing
and living out of hotel rooms. By contrast,
debut album Badlands (out August 28th)
is a concept record about a graphic novelstyle alternative universe, and is already at
#2 on the iTunes pre-order chart. Frangipane told Billboard she wanted to leak the
way more industrial and raw album and
small wonder shes impatient when her career has been one of rapid metamorphosis.
Pacify yourself with one track, Hold Me
JENNY VALENTISH
Down, on YouTube.
RollingStoneAus.com
43
Postcards Fr
They might be dysfunctional and
unpredictable, but garage rockers
Royal Headache refuse to die
BY JONNY NAIL
Photograph By Joshua Morris
om
om The Edge
ROYAL HEADACHE
im wall bursts through the glass backdoors of newtowns carlisle castle Hotel, drowning in a torn beige overcoat, four sizes too large for his frail frame. Hes 20
minutes late and visibly frazzled, quickly side-stepping around the beer garden obstacles:
an array of scattered wooden benches and drunk students. He offers his hand. Fuck, sorry
man. Ive got this crazy u. Its the same unnecessary act of urgency Wall has replicated across the stages of warehouses, pubs and most recently the Sydney Opera House
over the past six years. There, in his role as lead singer of Sydney band Royal Headache,
the man better known as Shogun marches purposefully in a dizzying, endless loop, mimicking the soundtrack of punk urgency provided by his three bandmates; a parade paused
sporadically when a particular lyric requires an emotional exhalation only achievable
from a crouched, clenched position. But here, in a quiet corner of the smoking section
of the Carlisle, that commanding, condent and often shirtless stage gure is nowhere
to be seen. In his place sits a softly-spoken 34-year-old man, polite yet concisely blunt, his gaze shyly transxed downwards. The fact hes even here at all is
somewhat of a miracle, considering that
as recently as May 2014, Shogun publicly
declared hed left the band.
I didnt want to be visible, he shrugs. I
just wanted to be like a dero. Thats where
Im comfortable.
It was pretty confusing, guitarist Lawrence Hall, 29, explains a couple of days
later. Hes not that upfront. Well hear it
through the grapevine a lot of the time,
which is really disheartening.
It was complex, Shogun insists. I
think I just felt that the band was sort of
stuck and I couldnt take it anywhere. I felt
like we were trotting it out.
Serving as consolation for Royal Headaches loyal fanbase was that Shoguns departure came with a conditional disclaimer: he would still complete his vocal duties
on the bands long-awaited second album,
as well as the obligatory set of live shows to
promote it. Then that would be it.
Yet as the band reconvened to start recording and the new album transitioned
from Shoguns predicted huge disappointment and embarrassment to an indication that the band was coming to life
again, the singer began to sink back into
his previous place of permanency. Shogun now claries that hes back in for the
foreseeable future, before adding with a
wry smirk, Im not doing anything else
particularly fucking constructive with
my life.
Hall attributes the motivation for this
second wind mostly to external parties.
The real reason it all came back together was we got an e-mail from this guy in
L.A., he just wanted to y us out, pay for
the visas to play a show.
This offer, from Berserktown festival, also enabled them to book a string of
North American dates this August and,
This is online editor Jon n y nails rst
feature for Rolling Stone.
RollingStoneAus.com
most importantly, gave the new LP a deadline. Meanwhile, as the recording process
wrapped, along came an opportunity via
Sydneys Repressed Records to headline
their Vivid Live night at the Opera House
in May. Everything was falling into place.
The Opera House [show] was a bit of a
ceremony, recalls Hall. It was like, Hey,
this is it, were back, the records coming
out, were gonna be here for a while.
It was a triumphant return, marred
only by the shows early conclusion. After
a handful of punters climbed onto the
stage, security and police intervened, forcing Royal Headache to wrap-up their set
several songs early. It was, in many ways, a
ttingly dramatic climax for a band whose
journey has always been synonymous with
turmoil.
The singers they auditioned just didnt

work out, and Shogun, who was helping
one of the prospects with vocal lines, eventually slotted into the role. In early 2009,
the four-piece laid down their rst demo,
a six-song tape that featured early versions
of Girls and Surprise.
With a DIY-attitude inherited from the
hardcore scene, the initial distribution
plan was simple: Homemade cassettes
for the friends, MySpace uploads for the
strangers. It was via the latter tool that a
dictaphone-recorded early demo of Eloise spread across an extensive network
of mp3 blogs, eventually landing on tastemaking U.S. website Pitchfork.
That was pretty surprising, Hall recounts. Like, Why are they paying attention to some little Sydney band?
I think I just felt that the band was sort

of stuck and I couldnt take it anywhere,
says Shogun. We were trotting it out.
he royal headache story

has its roots in the Hornsby
PCYC hardcore scene, where
Hall would go to shows as a
14-year-old and watch Shogun and drummer Chris Shortt play in
punk bands. As the trio moved into their
mid-twenties, explains Shogun, we started going back to the original punk stuff,
which maybe sounded a little bit twee or
not fast or brutal enough when we were
younger. It was this change in attitude
that, in mid-2008, led to the initial incarnation of Royal Headache.
Sans Shogun, the band (including original bassist Andrew Myers) self-recorded
an instrumental demo in their rehearsal
space a boatshed at Halls parents home
in Putney and set about sourcing a vocalist. We wanted to be just a power-pop
group with a strong female frontwoman,
Hall recalls.
The guitarist believes this initial online attention was one of a handful of integral moments where the band began to
gather momentum, holding equal weight
with the inclusion of Joe Sukit on bass,
who joined shortly after their initial demo
cassette. Also important was a particularly memorable early gig at Sydneys
now-defunct Club 77. I think it was our
third show, all our friends came and the
response was just unbelievable, Hall recalls. That was probably the show that I
realised, wow.
Shogun has a far less wide-eyed recollection of that formative year. The
circumstances were just so fucking disastrous and ridiculous, he states, accounting his differing opinion to the veyear age gap between he and Hall. He
concedes that by that stage, he was already
fatigued by what he calls a disastrous decade of inner-west life.
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
Id been living in houses with fucking

drug dealers and fucking psycho idiots for
the last 10 years and it rubs off and basically just ruins your life, he explains. Ive
[now] moved in with my mum, and its
fucking good.
This attempt to escape the associated
indulgences of living like a 21-year-old
when [I] was in fact pushing 30 also left
the sinewy singer at a point of re-evaluation. Previously hed waged something
of an internal personality battle pitting
his public persona as that Royal Headache guy, where its [about] being a really fucked-up guy and doing shows really [fucked-up] against the self-described
T
M
Sho
h
n eren
r n
renad
O p ra
us
o
socially awkward private reality. Looking back, he now concedes that his very
erratic, very impulsive and very emotional nature was easily seduced into the surrounding hedonistic lifestyle, creating a
volatile situation that, more often than
not, has been detrimental to the bands
creative progress. I think I was already
like that as a person and then being an entertainer exacerbates it.
PRUDENCE UPTON
nitially, royal headache believed their career would amount to

their debut 7-inch and a couple of
shows. Yet by 2010, following a continual run of live performances in
Sydney and interstate, Royal Headache
were set to release their debut album.
The self-titled LP, produced by Mikey
Young from Eddy Current Suppression
Ring a band whose second album, Primary Colours, Hall credits with having
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
a formative inuence on the Royal Headache guitar sound was a faithful and
realist recording, with minimal interference. An exercise in lo- delity limitations, yet also an attempt to capture the
bands raw live energy.
Mikey was the kind of guy who just
stuck the mic there [on the ground] and
hit record, Hall explains. Zero production, just the way we wanted. It was just
really clean and simple.
Simple, that is, until it came time for
Shogun to record his parts. After taking two days to track all the instruments,
Hall estimates they spent about six to nine
months doing vocals. Probably about 50
hours of takes, he says. Thats Shogun,

the perfectionist.
Even after that painstakingly laboured
process, Shogun publicly criticised the
album upon its release. The frontman
was so displeased with the nal result
it took him a year or two to be able to
listen to it. He now confesses to being
happy with it, yet is still quick to spray
the LP with discrediting labels such as
frisky and bright, before settling on
beach volleyball sound as the nal ambiguous descriptor. Its criticism that has
been seemingly adopted by his bandmates as a motivator for avoiding creative stagnancy.
What makes me the happiest is that
when we first started, the band could
only play really scrappy, thrashy sort of
fast, garagey punk stuff, Shogun enthuses. Now theyre handling all sorts
of stuff.
That fact hasnt just rejuvenated Shoguns interest in the band, but it also forms
the foundation for High, their long-awaited
second LP, due later this month. What the
band consider to be the debuts degree of
monotony has been replaced with a wide
patchwork of genres and a notable enunciation of their soulful side. The leap from
tender ballad Wouldnt You Know to the
confrontational taunts of Garbage mimics Shoguns own agitated personality. This
musical schizophrenia can, in part, be attributed to producer Jon Hunter, of Sydney
band the Holy Soul.
Jon is more of a sound artist [than
Mikey Young] and he gives weird noise
stuff with lots of effects, Shogun explains. He was happy
to experiment and he was very
patient with me because I was
quite fussy, trying to get the
right sound on things.
The diary-entry confessions
of their rst outing (Ill take
you home, but my bedroom
smells like cum) have also been
abandoned for a wider perspective. My Own Fantasy, Highs
opener, transitions from a ctional rock & roll existence starring tons of girls, a parody of
escapism nothing to do with
the real world anymore before looking internally, Shogun
concluding that I thought I
didnt need you anymore.
The singer seems nonplussed
about the albums complexity,
insisting that the band simply
want to perform a social function of just giving people something emotive, lively, spirited.
Hes quick to stress that, despite the title, its not an album
about being off your tits. Rather, its an attempt to encapsulate all heightened emotional states, including drugs, love, anxiety
and pressure.
Its an objective in stark contrast to the
newfound stability of Shoguns personal life, but the songs that feature on High
were all written during a pretty chaotic
period between three and ve years ago.
The album is the singers attempt to seal
that [time] off and create a schizophrenic, disgusting, extreme, confusing album
because thats basically what [my] life was
sort of like at the time.
And yet Shoguns opinion of the nal
product continues to waver. He initially
considered the compositions sloppy and
just totally worthless, yet now is more
concerned that fans will be caught off
guard by the varied spectrum of styles.
Its an indecisiveness he nally abandons
as he drains the last dregs of his beer, gets
his coat and parts with a nal statement.
Fuck making the same record again.
RollingStoneAus.com
47
FRO
RUSH
Lif
n
r
in A r
Los An
IS THIS THE END OF THE ROAD

FOR THE GEEK-ROCK GODS?
BY BR I A N HI AT T
PHOTOGRAPH BY
WITH
PEGGY SIRO TA
eil pe a rt dr i v es l ik e he dru ms. on a

bright mid-April afternoon in Los Angeles, fresh
from a rehearsal with his band, Rush, for what
might be their last big tour, he powers his pristine, silver, Goldfinger-style 1964 Aston Martin DB5 onto an exit ramp off the 405 at highway speed, slowing not at all speeding up,
maybe into a sharp, perilous curve. Call it
the way of the Peart: daunting technical mastery paired with a penchant for the gloriously excessive. Peart
plays an outsize role in Rush, writing the lyrics, serving as the
bands designated conscience, taking solos so lengthy and structured that they get their own song titles. To a certain breed of
rock musician, the drummer is a Claptonin-66-level god: Dave Grohl wept after
meeting him.
Peart is also an amateur auto racer,
and something of an off-ramp connoisseur. Racetracks are designed to
make it as difficult as possible to get
around that corner fast, he says over
the Aston Martins growl, hands tight
on the wheel as he whips through the
turn. And some ramps, by necessity, are
that way too. Ive been picking out a few
favourites the ramp to Wilshire on the
405 is awesome.
At 62, Peart resembles an off-brand
Tom Hanks, with a prominent, orid nose
and alert brown eyes. He is tall, dressed in
a black T-shirt, black khakis and Prada
sneakers; he has ropy, muscled forearms
and an athletes physical ease, despite
growing up as a self-described weakling.
He is a good deal more personable than
youd expect of a guy who wrote the lyrics to rocks premier anti-schmoozing
anthem, Limelight (I cant pretend a
stranger is a long-awaited friend), delivering crisp, all-but-indented paragraphs
in a rich baritone. A rigorous autodidact
and a gifted, near-graphomaniacal writer, he has penned so many books, essays
and lyrics that he cant help deploying
conversational footnotes: When I wrote
about that, I said . . .
Pearts fans consider him rocks greatest living drummer, and his peers seem to
agree: Hes won prizes in Modern Drummers annual readers poll 38 times. And
even those allergic to the spectacle of inhuman chops unleashed upon gleaming, rotating, 20-piece-plus drum kits
might consider Pearts talent for rhythmic composition and drama: Rush fans
know that his hypersyncopated beats and
daredevil lls are pop hooks in their own
Senior writer Bri an Hiatt wrote the
Stevie Nicks cover story in RS 761.
RollingStoneAus.com
right. Neil is the most air-drummedto drummer of all time, says former Police drummer Stewart Copeland, Pearts
friend, musical inuence and occasional
jam partner, who points to a core sense of
groove beneath the ashiness: Neil pushes that band, which has a lot of musicality, a lot of ideas crammed into every eight
bars but he keeps the throb, which is the
important thing. And he can do that while
doing all kinds of cool shit.
I SET OUT TO NEVER

BETRAY THE VALUES
OF MY 16-YEAR-OLD
SELF, SAYS PEART.
A COMPROMISE
IS WHAT I CAN
NEVER ACCEPT.
Neil Peart likes to ask himself a couple
of key questions. One is What is the most
excellent thing I can do today? The answers lead him to travel between Rushs
shows on a BMW motorcycle instead of a
plane or bus (creating scheduling nightmares for the bands management), and
to embark upon extracurricular bicycle
trips through West Africa and China and
Europe. He aims to ll every minute of
his life with as much much-ness as possible, which may also help explain all those
32nd notes.
The other query, posed in the face of
any moral dilemma, is What would my
16-year-old self do? Teenage Neil was
a brainy mist in a middle-class suburb
an hour and a half from Toronto who

permed his hair, who took to wearing a
cape and purple boots on the city bus, who
scrawled God is dead on his bedroom
wall, who got in trouble for pounding out
beats on his desk during class. His teachers idea of punishment was to insist that
he bang on his desk nonstop for an hours
worth of detention, time he happily spent
re-creating Keith Moons parts from
Tommy. For years, Peart wore a piece of
one of Moons shattered cymbals around
his neck, retrieved from a Toronto stage
after a Who concert, and his current drum
kit includes a sample trigger bearing the
Whos old bulls-eye logo.
In their early years, opening for practically every major band of the 1970s, Peart
and his bandmates singer-bassist Geddy
Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson were disturbed by what the drummer would later
describe as the sound of salesmen. We
would hear them give the same rap to the
audience every night, says Peart. This is
the greatest rock city in the world, man!
That was creepy. I despise the cynical
dishonesty. They did get along with the
guys in Kiss. We would get high with Ace
Frehley in his hotel room and make him
laugh, Lee recalls, and they were a really
good inuence on us in terms of learning
to put on a show.
They were taken aback, however, by
Gene Simmons and Paul Stanleys unabashed view of Kiss as a product. I dont
want to knock them, says Peart. But once
I was in a little restaurant in Kansas, and
a guy with Kiss Army tattoos kept playing
Kiss songs on the jukebox. He believed in a
marketing campaign, swallowed it as religion. He was like a convert to Scientology.
Ultimately, Peart wants the freaky, purist kid he once was to be proud of him. Its
about being your own hero, he says. I set
out to never betray the values that 16-yearold had, to never sell out, to never bow
to the man. A compromise is what I can
never accept.
ush have spent 41 years mastering the art of no compromise.

Theyve superserved their superfans while pretty much ignoring
everyone else, and its all worked
out pretty well. There are weirder
bands and there are bigger bands, but none
quite so weird and quite so big. In each
date of their current arena tour, Rush run
through their catalogue in reverse order,
so nearly all of the shows second half is
devoted to their Seventies work, showcasing the band in its purest, oddest, arguably
most awesome form.
Back then, they had songs so epic that
they actually continued from one album
to the next, including, memorably, Cygnus X-1: Book One: The Voyage. They
had Lee nailing erce bass-guitar parts
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
PREVIOUS SPREAD: PROP STYLING BY FRANCISCO VARGAS. LIFESONS COAT BY G-STAR, SHIRT BY JOHN VARVATOS. LEES COAT AND SHIRT BY G-STAR, JEANS BY LEVIS. PEARTS COAT BY G-STAR, SHIRT BY JOHN VARVATOS.
RUSH
FIN COSTELLO/REDFERNS/GETTY IMAGES
while shrieking like he had an overdrive

pedal in his throat, hitting notes that made
Robert Plant sound like Leonard Cohen.
They had Peart pairing polyrhythms with
polysyllables, and Lifeson summoning
proto-thrash riffs, classical-gas acoustic
bits, ringing chords and increasingly outr
leads. They were brasher and louder than
their stately prog forebears, Yes and Genesis: Rush sometimes sounded like they had
formed their entire style around that one
heavy bit in the latter acts Watcher of the
Skies. We were young, says Peart, quoting himself, inevitably, and foolish and
brave and fun.
As the Eighties approached, Rush discovered concision and synthesizers, recording taut songs that jumped straight
into the classic-rock canon: The Spirit of
Radio, Freewill, Tom Sawyer, Limelight. When punk and New Wave came,
says Peart, we were young enough to gently incorporate it into our music, rather than getting reactionary about it like
other musicians who I heard saying, What
are we supposed to do now, forget how to
play? We were fans enough to go, Oh, we
want that too. And by [1981s] Moving
Pictures, we nailed it, learning how to be
seamlessly complex and to compact a large
arrangement into a concise statement.
Even as their hair got shorter and skinny ties appeared, Rush remained militant
about power-trio purity: Lee multitasked,
holding down bass and vocals while also
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
GRAND DESIGNS
Peart, Lee and Lifeson on tour in

1976. Were never mean to each
other, says Lee. If we disagree, we
pout. Thats the Canadian way.
using every available limb to play synthesizers and trigger backing parts a feat
that pushed virtuosity into the realm of
circus act. Every rehearsal, I was screaming, I cant do it! says Lee. But it just felt
wrong to have another dude onstage with
us. We talked about it all the time we still
talk about it! But its a no-go zone, cant do
it. They had their rules, and they kept to
them Peart wouldnt even play the same
drum ll more than once in a song.
Rush have had the same lineup for four
decades, since Peart stepped in for their
original drummer, John Rutsey a Bad
Company fan who was averse to both odd
time signatures and U.S. tours just after
the recording of their rst album. Theyve
scarcely had an argument the whole time.
Were never mean to each other, says
Lee, so if we disagree, we pout. Thats sort
of the Canadian way. But we did used to
love punching Alex when he said something stupid.
If any of us were the slightest bit less
stable, says Peart, the slightest bit less
disciplined or less humorous or more
mean, or in any way different, it wouldnt
have worked. So theres a miracle there.
Lately, Rush have been moving ever

closer to pop cultures centre, with a hit
documentary, Rush: Beyond the Lighted
Stage, and a 2013 induction into the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame. But the end is in
sight sort of, maybe. Rush let their manager, Ray Danniels, include a press-release
line noting that their current run of dates
will most likely be their last major tour of
this magnitude a very Canadian version
of the splashy farewell outing that promoters wanted. Its most likely our last tour,
says Lee. I cant say for sure. But it doesnt
mean we dont want to work together still,
it doesnt mean we wont do another creative project, and Ive got ideas for shows
we could do that dont involve a tour.
I dont think were having much difficulty thinking about it as possibly the last,
adds Lifeson, 61, who has health issues and
wants to spend time with his grandkids.
Peart has disliked touring since their
rst month on the road, in 1974, threatening to become a studio-only player as early
as 1989. But the drummers concerns have
grown more acute. For one, hes pained
by long separations from his ve-year-old
daughter, Olivia. Theyre close enough for
him to know the name of every character
on her favourite cartoon, Bubble Guppies.
I realised on the last tour that its good for
her when Im there, and its really bad for
her when Im not, says Peart, who moved
from his native Canada to L.A. around the
turn of the century. Peart and his wife of 15
RollingStoneAus.com
51
RUSH
years, Carrie Nuttall, dont plan on informing Olivia about the tour until the week before it begins. Peart is worried about how
shell react.
As Peart gets deeper into his sixties,
hes also questioned his continued physical
ability to play Rush shows, a task hes compared to running a marathon while solving equations. But so far, hes surprising
himself. Everything hurts, but thats ne,
he says. Im just gratied that I can still do
it at not only the level I would wish to but
still getting better.
a r lier th at mor n i ng, the

three members of Rush arrive at
Mates Studios, a squat, U-shaped,
warehouselike structure in unglamorous Van Nuys thats been
a go-to arena-band rehearsal spot
since the late Eighties. In a brick-walled
room, a Guitar Centers worth of gear
awaits them, along with a big black rug
sistence on doing a month of solo preparation before group practices begin, telling
him hes the only man on Earth who rehearses to rehearse now they all do the
same. Lifeson, who lives within walking
distance of Lee in Toronto, has the simplest method: He blasts Rush songs in his
home studio and plays along.
Today, Rush are running through the
rst set, which begins with songs from
their most recent album, Clockwork Angels. Its an adventurous concept LP, complete with a full-circle return to sci-fi
motifs that Peart had long abandoned.
Their producer, Nick Raskulinecz, grew
up on the band, and pushed them to reembrace their Rush-iest aspects, urging
Lee to use his highest vocal register, encouraging Peart to throw a drum solo
right in the middle of a twisty track called
Headlong Flight.
Playing that song now, Peart is hitting
his snare drum so hard that the skin be-
MOST BANDS WERE AFRAID OF RUSH, SAYS A

LONGTIME CREW MEMBER. THEY WERE BEING
OUTPLAYED AND HATED IT.
bearing the logo of their R40 Tour. Lee is
using 26 different vintage basses on the
tour: the history of the bass on parade.
Peart is playing two different drum kits,
and for the rehearsals, theyre right next to
each other. One is his gold-plated current setup, with laser-etched logos from
late-era Rush albums; the other, for the
old songs, is a precise re-creation of his
circa-1978 chrome kit, complete with the
naked dude from the 2112 back cover on
the kick drum.
Peart, who is wearing his usual onstage hat, a rounded African-style model,
finds the old gear challenging. Hes a
uid and relaxed drummer now, but was
a clenched, scowling presence behind
the cymbals in the old days. This is all
thought out, everything comfortable, he
says, gesturing to his new kit. I can play
without looking. The old kit, everythings
stupid like I was at that time. Ride cymbal over there? That makes sense!
Lee shows off his bass-pedal rig, which
is really a sort of foot-synth, laid out like
piano keys. Sometimes its a keyboard,
he says. Sometimes its a sound-effects
machine. Like I dont have enough to do.
Dance, monkey boy, dance!
The opening date of the tour, in Tulsa,
Oklahoma, is only three weeks away.
Were still not very good, says Lifeson.
But were practicing!
Were practicing our mistakes, adds
Lee. They used to tease Peart about his in52 | R ol l i n g S t o n e |
RollingStoneAus.com
neath his jaw vibrates. Lee, in dark jeans

and a faded T-shirt, plays serpentine lines
on a green Fender bass with no apparent
effort; Lifeson, in looser, lighter jeans and
a grey sweat-wicking tee, is in his own
world at stage right, nailing a tricky chord
barrage. By the end, Peart is red-faced and
wiping himself down with a towel.
The band has a harder time with the
heavy instrumental The Main Monkey
Business, bungling the ending. Close,
Lee says.
Two out of three got it right, says
Peart. (You cant have that in a threepiece band, he notes later.)
I came in all right and then it got mixed
up, Lifeson laments. Theres like a stupid
fucking beat put in.
They eat lunch in a break room, where
Lifeson, whos attempting a low-carb regimen (Ive always been partial to the protein thing except when I eat carbohydrates), opts for a steak. Youre going
to sleep through the rest of the set, says
Peart, who picks a lighter entree, but then
inhales a bowl of ice cream: Drumming
burns a lot of calories.
On the yellowish-orange wall are striking portraits of Jeff Beck, Alice Cooper,
Prince and Rushs old tourmates Kiss,
along with a reproduction of John Entwistles cover art for The Who by Numbers.
As the meal ends, a roadie drops off both
dental oss and little gum-cleaning sticks,
which Lee and Lifeson put to immediate
and vigorous use the guys in those photos may have a bit more traditional rock
& roll mystique, but when it comes to oral
hygiene, Rush wins.
After lunch, the set list keeps moving
back in time, hitting one of Rushs best
songs, 1982s Subdivisions. The lament
of a teenager trapped in the suburbs, it
was a lyrical breakthrough for Peart, trading fantasy and philosophising for unadorned emotion. Nowhere is the dreamer or the mist so alone, Lee intones, over
ominous marching synths and a beat that
ghts against itself, mirroring the narrators struggle. Conform or be cast out!
Long ago, I was a suburban teenage
Rush fan, Roll the Bones tour tee and all.
It is an intense experience, all these years
later, to have the band a few metres in front
of me, playing that particular song straight
into my earphones. Growing up, it all
seems so one-sided, Lee sings, stabbing at
a keyboard, his bass hanging at his waist.
Opinions all provided/The future pre-decided. As discreetly as possible, I wipe my
eyes Grohl, for one, would understand.
A lot of the early fantasy stuff was just
for fun, Peart says later. Because I didnt
believe yet that I could put something real
into a song. Subdivisions happened to be
an anthem for a lot of people who grew up
under those circumstances, and from then
on, I realised what I most wanted to put in
a song was human experience.
his next song fe atures

Minnie Mouse, Geddy Lee informs an empty arena in Tulsa,
Oklahoma, adopting a squeaky
falsetto. Its a dress rehearsal a couple of weeks later, and
Rush just nished the surging 1977 song
suite Xanadu, with both Lee and Lifeson wielding double-necks (Lifeson named
one of his Heavy and the other one Bastard), and Lee attempting high notes that
seemed both easy and in excellent taste
when he was 23. You have to get over
yourself and just say, Well, OK, Ill just get
into the period, Lee says offstage. I didnt
really know what I was doing back then. I
was just kind of screaming. It took me, like,
10 years to learn that there are some keys
that are better to sing in.
For all his self-deprecation, Lee is
an unexpectedly formidable presence
trim, youthful-looking, unappably selfpossessed, with a hint of steel lurking beneath his affability. He can be intimidating because hes so smart, and such
a man of the world, says Raskulinecz,
producer on Rushs past two albums. In
my experience, Geddy is the leader of the
band. With his shoulder-length hair, distinctive nose and John Lennon glasses,
hes certainly the most recognisable member even with a cap pulled low, fans interrupt him a good 20 times as we try
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
COURTESY OF THE RUSH ARCHIVES, 2
to take in a minor-league baseball game

in Tulsa.
Lee would have no trouble keeping busy
without Rush he and his wife, Nancy
Young, have homes in London and Toronto, and spend a lot of time travelling. He is
a serious collector of many things, including art, wine and baseballs. But he is a lot
less eager to retire from the road than his
bandmates. Im denitely the most gungho about working, he says. With me,
mixing is a nightmare the guys have to
rip the fucking thing out of my hands beperfect. I
p
cause I keep trying to make it perfect
love putting shows together,
I love playing for people, so I
dont have any doubts in that
area. The other guys do have
doubts, and they have other
demands on their lives that I
dont have.
I look at Ged and I see a
man whos 10 years younger than his birth certicate
says, says manager Danniels. And the other two guys
are what their birth certificate says.
Lee takes note of slights
against his band, though his
score-settling is gentle. Aerosmith were notably ungenerous to Rush in their opening-act days, denying them
soundchecks and lowering
their onstage volume. Most
bands were afraid of Rush,
says longtime lighting director Howard Ungerleider. They
were being outplayed, and they
hated it. During Aerosmiths
early-Eighties struggles, the
Joe Perry Project opened for an ascendant
Rush, and as Ungerleider recalls, Lee told
his crew to treat Perry generously, to let
him soundcheck as much as he wanted. As
the story goes, Lee then stopped by Perrys
dressing room to ask if he was being treated well. When Perry said yes, Lee replied,
Good. Because I would never want anyone to feel the way we did when we opened
for you. (Lee doesnt recall this precise exchange but says Perry apologised.)
It was Lee who pushed hardest for
Rushs Eighties transformation, after
hitting prog overload with 1978s Hemispheres. Among other problems, they
wrote and recorded the backing music for
the entire album without checking whether Lee could sing over it. We wrote it in
such a fucked-up key, he says, his frustration still fresh 37 years later. It was
just the worst two weeks of my life recording vocals.
After that album which kicked off
with the meandering, 18-minute-long second part of Cygnus, with Lee singing
stuff like As a disembodied spirit/I am
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
PRE-LIMELIGHT
Top: Lee (left) and Lifeson at

Torontos Fisherville Junior High
School. Above: 16-year-old Peart in
his childhood bedroom.
dead and yet unborn the frontman told

Peart and Lifeson that Rush needed to
start over. I said, Look, in a way we are
becoming formulaic, just like all these
bands that we cant stand, he says. We
do the overture thing, and then we do this
theme and that theme. So we said, What
if we take six minutes and try to do something thats more tuneful but is still fucked
up, with really complicated musical moments that have a different energy? Thats
when we started Spirit of Radio and those
kinds of songs.
Lee has been friends with Alex Lifeson since they were nerdy teens in the Sixties. The guitarist set Lee up with Young,
whom he married in 1976. Clearly, Lee has
no issues with commitment, though touring strained his relationship with his family until Rush cut out European dates in the
Eighties. The worst thing you can do in

marriage is to look at your partner as your
wife or your husband, says Lee. We decided to treat each other as if we were still
boyfriend and girlfriend. That subtle bit of
semantics helps a lot, I think.
Lee, born Gary Lee Weinrib, is the child
of Holocaust survivors, and he traces some
of his drive to his parents legacy. They
met in a Polish work camp around 1941,
and had fallen in love by the time they
were both imprisoned in Auschwitz. They
were, like, 13 years old, Lee says over
a late-night beer in a sleepy
T
Tulsa
bar, so it was kind of
surreal preteen shit. He would
b
bribe
guards to bring shoes to
m mum. As the war went on,
my
h mother was transferred to
his
Bergen-Belsen, and his father
to Dachau.
When the Allies liberated the camps, his father set
out in search of his mum. He
found her at Bergen-Belsen,
which had become a displaced-persons camp. They
married there, and immigrated to Canada. But years
of forced labour had damaged Lees fathers heart, and
he died at age 45, when Lee
was 12. Lees mother had
to go to work, leaving her
three kids in the care of their
overwhelmed, elderly grandmother. Had my dad survived, says Lee, I might not
be sitting here talking to you
because he was a tough
guy, and if he didnt want
me tto d
do som
something, I may not have done
it. It was a terrible blow that I lost him, but
the course of my life changed because my
mother couldnt control us.
Lee turned his basement into a bandpractice space, even though his grandmas
kitchen was down there too. My grandma hated it, recalls Lees younger brother,
Allan Weinrib, a video producer and documentarian whos in charge of Rushs elaborate tour videos. That was not a good situation at all. One time, it was literally so
loud that it rattled glasses off the shelves,
which shattered into her chicken soup.
Lees mother was devastated when her
son announced that he was dropping out
of high school to play rock & roll. In some
ways, hes still making it up to her. All the
shit I put her through, says Lee, on top
of the fact that she just lost her husband.
I felt like I had to make sure that it was
worth it. Like, why did I do all that to her?
I wanted to show her that I was a professional, I was working hard, that I wasnt
just a fuckin lunatic.
The memory of Lees father is a driving
force in its own right. My dad missed all
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53
RUSH
the fun, he says. All that work and all
that grief, and he got ripped off at an early
age. I think thats why I just want to keep
playing, and also why I travel so much.
While I have my faculties, I want to enjoy
everything there is, see as much as I can,
just make the most of life.
ack in l.a., peart stops at a

traffic light and spots a sad-eyed,
sunburned woman begging by the
side of the road. He makes a habit
of giving to the homeless (People ask, Why dont they just get a
job? They couldnt get a job), so he asks
me to hand the woman 20 bucks. Ill pay
you right back, he says.
Thank you so much! she says. Now,
what kind of car is this?
Peart arrives at a gated little building a
couple of kilometres from his home that
doubles as an office and a garage for his
vintage-car collection. In addition to the
Aston Martin, he owns a Jaguar E-Type,
a Corvette, a Maserati convertible and a
Lamborghini Miura, all from the Sixties
and all silver, save for the Lambo, which is
banana-yellow. I call them the silver surfers, he says. Because all they do is drive
up and down the coast.
He pours us each a glass of Macallan
12, on the rocks. (When the jazz drummer Peter Erskine, who has given Peart
lessons in recent years, asked his student
if he applies ice after Rush concerts, Peart
replied, Yeah, I apply ice to my whiskey.) We settle on a couch in the corner
by his plain metal desk, where a plaque
reads it is what it is. The nearby coffee table is stacked with copies of Pearts
2014 travelogue, Far and Near, a recent
Clockwork Angels comic-book adaptation and a booklet commemorating the
adventures of his racing team, Bangers
N Mash. The walls are covered with car
posters and photos Peart has taken on
his travels.
In the Seventies, Peart rankled the rock
press with an affinity for libertarian hero
Ayn Rand he cited her genius in liner
notes, and critics promptly labelled Rush
fascists. Rushs breakthrough mini-rock
opera, 1976s 2112, is, in part, a riff on
Rands sci- novel Anthem. Theres nothing wildly controversial about 2112s proindividuality message: Its hard to imagine anyone siding with the bad guys who
want to dictate the words you read/The
songs you sing/The pictures that give
pleasure to your eyes. But Rushs earlier
musical take on Rand, 1975s unimaginatively titled Anthem, is more problematic, railing against the kind of generosity that Peart now routinely practices:
Begging hands and bleeding hearts will/
Only cry out for more. And The Trees,
an allegorical power ballad about maples dooming a forest by agitating for
RollingStoneAus.com
equal rights with lofty oaks, was strident enough to convince a young Rand
Paul that he had nally found a right-wing
rock band.
Peart outgrew his Ayn Rand phase years
ago, and now describes himself as a bleeding-heart libertarian, citing his trips to
Africa as transformative. He claims to
stand by the message of The Trees, but
other than that, his bleeding-heart side
seems dominant. Peart just became a U.S.
citizen, and he is unlikely to vote for Rand
Paul, or any Republican. Peart says that
its very obvious that Paul hates women
and brown people and Rush sent a
cease-and-desist order to get Paul to stop
quoting The Trees in his speeches.
For a person of my sensibility, youre
only left with the Democratic party, says
A LOT OF THE EARLY

FANTASY STUFF WAS
FOR FUN, SAYS PEART,
BECAUSE I DIDNT
BELIEVE I COULD PUT
SOMETHING REAL
INTO A SONG.
Peart, who also calls George W. Bush an
instrument of evil. If youre a compassionate person at all. The whole healthcare thing denying mercy to suffering
people? What? This is Christian?
Peart himself is not a Christian, having doubted the existence of God since he
was a small child: I sang the hymns and
I read the Bible stories, but I was always
perplexed, like, Really? Jesus wants you
for a sunbeam? For a what? In explicitly
atheistic songs like Freewill, he mocked
those who choose a ready guide in some
celestial voice. And 1991s Roll the Bones
posits a chillingly random cosmos, where
unlucky children are born only to suffer: We go out in the world and take
our chances/Fate is just the weight of circumstances. . . . Why are we here?/Because
were here/Roll the bones.
Peart has softened on his unblinkered
rationalism in the past couple of decades,
especially in the face of unbearable twin
tragedies. On August 10th, 1997, Pearts
19-year-old daughter, Selena, died in a
single-car accident on the long drive to
her university in Toronto. Just ve months
later, Selenas mother his common-law
wife, Jackie was diagnosed with terminal cancer, quickly succumbing. Jackie
received the news almost gratefully, Peart

wrote in his harrowing memoir of that
time, Ghost Rider. Peart told his bandmates to consider him retired, and he
embarked on a solitary motorcycle trip
across the United States, seeking meaning and solace.
Peart remarried in 2000 and reunited
with Rush by 2001. But Roll the Bones
came to mind more than once in his years
of darkness. God, that song, he says, over
dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse near his
home. What it came to represent. I mean,
Why does it happen? When something
really shitty happens, of course immediately you look to why. I went all supernatural: Somebody must have put a curse
on me, I must have done something really horrible, God must be mad at me. I had
to sift through all of that shit again looking for meaning.
But he still prefers the because it happens explanation to the one where fates
horrors are all part of some divine plan.
Do yourself a favour, he says. Dont ever
say to me, Everything happens for a reason. Cause youll be dead.
Peart suddenly remembers that he was
going to repay me the 20 bucks from earlier. I wave him off, saying Id rather keep
the karma. Yeah, right, ha ha, karma,
he says. Again, thats something I used to
believe in. Every Christmas I had pages
of charities that I contributed to, and I
would show my daughter who were giving to and why, as a karma thing. He
looks me in the eye. Until I found out it
didnt work.
Finding generosity again was a huge
gift, he adds. Because I had a time where
I was like, I hate everybody. Why are you
still alive? You should be dead. And then
I said, If Im gonna live, Im not gonna be
that guy.
l o s e t o m i d n i g h t, w i t h
Rushs tour kickoff less than 24
hours away, Alex Lifeson is kneeling on a relocated couch pillow
by the open window of his hotel
room, exhaling pungent weed
smoke into the humid Tulsa air. (If youre
in Rush and you want to get high, you do
so considerately.) He breaks into a violent coughing t. Well, thats the thing
with this pot these days, he says, passing
the joint. Its so expansive in your lungs.
The streets below us are post-apocalyptically empty. Its busy in town tonight,
Lifeson says.
Earlier that night, over a pleasantly
boozy dinner, I ask Lifeson if weed has
helped him write Rushs music. Maybe
just 80 per cent of the time, he says, roaring. I nd that smoking pot can be a really great creative agent. (Lee quit pot in
the early Eighties; Peart says, I like marijuana, but Im not going to be the poster
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
GARY MILLER/GETTY IMAGES
child for it.) But when youre in the studio and youre playing, its sloppy, Lifeson
continues. And cocaine is the worst, for
everything. If you want to feel your heart
pounding on your mattress at 7:00 in the
morning when the birds are chirping, its
perfect. Its awesome. What do kids do
now for drugs?
Lifeson was a fan of Ecstasy in the early
Nineties, and hadnt heard that its called
Molly now. Im glad you told me, just in
case, he jokes. My wife is a totally nondrug person, but for some reason I talked
her into it. We cranked the music and we
were dancing, and then we talked for hours
about deep personal stuff for what seemed

like the rst time, even though wed been
married for years. We were going through
a bit of a difficult time in our relationship,
and that opened up a lot of doors.
Like Lee, Lifeson is the son of immigrants, in his case from Yugoslavia. At 16,
he got his girlfriend, Charlene, pregnant
with their rst child (they married ve
years later, and are still together) which
added some urgency to succeed with the
early incarnation of Rush. It was certainly a concern, he says. But I always
had a backup in plumbing. He channels
his dads Slavic accent: You could make
good money in plumbing! I used to go
with him on jobs. Hed pick me up after a
bar gig at 1:30, then Id go work with him
through the night on some plumbing job
till 8:00 in the morning. Then hed take
me home and then hed go to work.
In keeping with his personality perhaps best demonstrated by a Hall of Fame
acceptance speech that consisted entirely
of the words blah blah blah Lifeson is
a more instinctual and untamed musical
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
animal than his bandmates. He is nothing if not spontaneous, says Lee. Hes
one of the most underrated guitarists
for years, he would never show up in any
of the guitar polls. I think cause so much
of his brilliance is so subtle, like his invention of chords, and his unusual choice
of notes.
Lifeson has faced some serious health
crises. He receives injections for psoriatic arthritis, and he was hospitalised
for anemia from bleeding ulcers a few
years ago, receiving blood transfusions.
For years, too, he had considerable trouble breathing, feeling like he could never
he next night, rush finally

launch their tour, and all of their
meticulous rehearsal is immediately thwarted by their fans enthusiasm: The crowd is so crazily
loud that the bandmates cant hear
themselves in their monitors. All our settings became obsolete, Lee says, cheerfully enough, between sips of champagne in a
black-curtained backstage room after the
show. As is his habit, Peart zipped off on
his motorcycle the moment they nished,
but the other guys and the crew stayed behind to celebrate.
Months of preparation meant nothing,
Lifeson adds with a shrug.
But they appreciated the fervour. There
was a guy in the second row during Xanadu, says Lee. I thought his head was
gonna pop off and roll away. He couldnt
fucking contain himself! I thought he was
gonna have a heart attack.
During the show, Lee introduced the
Permanent Waves track Jacobs Ladder
as a song weve never played live. Ged
is never wrong, says his brother but in
this case he was, agrantly so: Not only
had Rush played the song, as fans instantly pointed out online, its on a live LP, 1981s
Exit...Stage Left. Lee cant quite believe he
made this ub; perched on a couch, he begins looking up Rush trivia on his phone.
I fucked up, he says, eventually. I have no
memory of ever playing Jacobs Ladder.
Lifeson takes on the voice of an aggrieved fan: I fucking hate these guys!
Theyre liars!
I suggest that Lee continue
to tell crowds that theyve never
played the song, just to drive
COUNTDOWN
the fans nuts. He warms to the
In Austin in May.
idea. I should say, People are
Its most likely our
insisting we played this before
quite fill his lungs.
last tour, says Lee.
I cant be sure.
theyre full of shit!
When he underwent
Lifeson does a Cartmanrecent ulcer suras-Geddy voice: Im Geddy Lee,
gery, his doctor discovered the problem. My stomach and if I say we didnt play it before, we
was behind my heart, pushing against didnt play it before!
Theyre still enjoying themselves, these
my lung, he says. Everything is now
back in place, and hes thrilled at the old friends, and it suddenly feels unthinkprospect of playing shows without gasp- able that this is the end. Peart seemed
nearly giddy onstage, throwing in extra
ing for air.
In the hotel room, Lifeson picks up his stick twirls, breaking into a wide grin durPRS acoustic guitar his own signature ing Xanadu. It turns out his daughter
model and plays for a long while, eyes reacted better than hed imagined to the
closed, seamlessly unwinding a series of news of the tour. I think Neil is feeling
chiming, pastoral chords and driving, Led more optimistic, says Lee, because evZeppelin III-like riffs. None of it sounds erything seems easier than he expected.
For his part, Lee couldnt bring himlike anything in Rushs catalogue. This is
what I do, he says. He did the same last self to end the show with a real goodbye.
night, returning to his room after a three- Thank you for 40 amazing years, we so
hour Rush rehearsal to make more music. appreciate it, he yelped, after the band
I sat down and played guitar here, drunk completed its backward journey with its
and high, for an hour. Its cool, but its rst hit, Working Man. Just before leavkind of crazy. Im so lucky, honest to God. ing the lighted stage, Lee peered out from
I can sit and play for hours for my own en- behind his glasses at 19,000 expectant
joyment. It has nothing to do with Rush. faces and offered a tiny bit of solace: We
hope to see you again sometime.
Its just a pure exercise of joy.
RollingStoneAus.com
55
This month 21 years ago, Jeff Buckley

released his debut album, Grace. This is the
story of how an unknown singer-songwriter
made one of the Nineties greatest records
By JEFF A PTER
ou v e b e e n l i s t e n i n g t o
Robert Johnson, havent you?
Jeff Buckley ashed a smile at
his new friend, Michael Tighe. He
liked what he had just heard. They
were sitting on Tighes bed; the
guitarist had never been in a serious band before, but he was playing Buckley some music
for a song he was working on. Buckley, meanwhile, had
just signed a recording deal with Columbia Records.
Fast forward to late 1993 and Buckley, his friend Chris Dowd
from the band Fishbone and Tighe were in the Sony Studios in New Yorks Hells Kitchen, trying to nish some likely B-sides. The main sessions for Buckleys debut album,
Grace, were done. Tighes song now had a title So Real
but it didnt have much in the way of lyrics. Im going for a
walk around the block, Buckley said, tucking his ever-present notebook under his arm and heading off into the night.
R ol l i n g S t o n e
| 56 |
It was very late, around 2am; it seemed

as though the session was over. Tighe and
Dowd shrugged and hit the local 7/11.
But when they returned, Buckley was
in the vocal booth, way deep in song
the song Tighe had rst played for him
in his bedroom. Clearly, something had
happened during his nocturnal stroll.
Buckley lost himself in the soaring outro
that became a highlight of So Real, and
as he brought the song to its powerful,
overwhelming climax, Dowd and Tighe
looked at each other, lost for words.
Thats in, said Buckley, as he and
Tighe shared a cab home. That is in. Its
on the album.
Grace was nally complete.
Buckleys debut was both a beginning
and an end for the singer. It was the beginning of his proper recording career
for prestigious label Columbia Records,
who had such high hopes that they envisaged a musical bloodline that connect-
RollingStoneAus.com
Bright Star
Buckley in Atlanta in 1994.

All my songs come from
poems, he once explained.
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GR AC E
When revered New York guitarist/
composer Gary Lucas, whod worked
closely with Buckley at the St. Anns
tribute, tried to introduce him to Sonys
David Kahne during an April 1991 visit
to the imposing Sony HQ in New York,
Buckley refused to shake the execs hand.
Why did you do that? asked an embarrassed Lucas.
Buckley explained hed been told it was
Kahne whod ruined Fishbones career,
despite working closely with the band on
their four albums. Clearly, Buckley was
conicted about the business of music.
But eventually he did sign with the
label, a three-album deal worth close to
a million dollars. Buckley laughed about
it nervously, calling the deal big fucking
Michael Jackson money. The goateed,
obsessive Steve Berkowitz, who worked in
A&R, became Buckleys main go-to guy
at the label. Berkowitz had seen him perform at Sin- before signing him, while
sipping coffee with Hal Willner, whod
brought Buckley over from the west coast
for the St. Anns show.
How we wrote Mojo Pin

and Grace
By G ARY
L UCAS
met jeff at the greetings from tim buckley

rehearsals. The organiser wanted us to do a song together,
The Kings Chain, so I said, Why dont you come over, I
live in the West Village. He came around the next day, I handed him a microphone and he started to sing. My jaw dropped.
The wheels started turning in my head, because I had been
disappointed [with the current singer in Gods and Monsters].
Not long after things blew up with that singer and we lost our
deal with Columbia. So I called Jeff up and he said, Ill be your
singer. In the next few days I was inspired to nish a piece
which was Rise Up To Be, and I wrote this other instrumental called And You Will. As a title it was meant to encourage Jeff: and you will join me in Gods and Monsters. Later
that summer he came over, it was a steamy night in August
1991, and he said, You know Rise Up To Be? Now its called
Grace. The other one is called Mojo Pin. And he pulled out
his book of lyrics. The only thing we had to modify was when
we were playing Grace he said, Please repeat this section
again, I hear more lyrics. I said, Jeff, whats a mojo pin?, and
he mimed shooting up. I said to myself, I didnt really hear a
lyric on there that would have anything to do with heroin, but
I was not a censor, and I wasnt going to say, You cant do that.
I just thought, OK, hes a poet. Fine. Maybe its a metaphor.
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As Berkowitz looked on, Buckley

walked out from behind the espresso
machine, picked up his guitar and began
to play. In a New York minute, Berkowitz
grabbed Willners arm. Hal, he asked,
am I hearing what Im hearing?
Berkowitz coined the perfect term to
describe Buckleys vocal gymnastics, the
moment when he opened his mouth and
journeyed into the unknown: The Flying Buckleys.
Soon enough, the shabby, downbeat
Sin- was swimming in record execs, all
in search of Buckleys signature. Some
would vent their frustration, demanding
to know why they couldnt book a table.
Why did they have to queue with the regulars, straight off the street? The venues laconic owner, Shane Doyle, would
laugh and reply, Because we dont have
a phone. And we dont take bookings.
It was a smart move on Columbias
part to introduce Buckley with an EP
named Live at Sin-, which was released
with little fanfare in November 1993.
The four-tracker was a snapshot of a time
and place Buckley learning his craft,
early 1990s, downtown New York.
But it also posed a problem for Columbia: What type of artist, exactly, was
Buckley? While he played the occasional original at Sin-, and the EP included early takes on Mojo Pin and Eternal Life, his lengthy sets were littered
with covers, everyone from Bob Dylan to
Van Morrison, Screamin Jay Hawkins
to Calling You, the yearning theme
song from the recent hit movie Bagdad
Caf. Buckley sang Edith Piaf classics; he
transformed himself into Judy Garland.
He imitated the Sin- coffee machine
and chatted casually with the regulars
while he tuned. There seemed no clear
creative plan: was he a singer-songwriter? Or, as he preferred to describe himself, a male chanteuse? Grace would,
hopefully, answer all these questions.
eff buckley may have never
had a record deal before, but
he was no musical novice. Hed
learned his craft during the
1980s at the Musicians Institute
in L.A., where he specialised in
guitar and fusion and advanced musical snobbery he could play the complicated jazz-rock of Weather Report note
for tricky note. As for his family life,
it was disorganised at best; he considered himself rootless trailer trash and
bounced between various addresses in
and around the Orange Curtain in Or-
jeff apter is the author of A Pure

Drop: The life of Jeff Buckley and is the
Creative Associate for A State of Grace:
The Music of Tim and Jeff Buckley.
PREVIOUS SPREAD: DAVID TONGE/GETTY IMAGES
ed Buckley with Johnny Cash, Leonard

Cohen, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. It was also the end of his relatively
carefree caf days, in which hed served a
musical apprenticeship at the downtown
New York caf/drop-in centre known
as Sin-. The fun of Sin-, where Buckley sometimes sang for no-one, or shot
the shit with locals while strumming his
electric guitar, was over as soon as he
signed his Columbia contract in October
1992. This was business. Big major label
business. The pressure was on.
Buckley, however, had mixed emotions about signing with Columbia. He
understood the star-making power of a
major label, something hed craved since
rst coming east for the Greetings From
Tim Buckley tribute, a musical memorial to his father, staged at Brooklyns
St. Anns Church on April 26th, 1991.
But Buckley also knew how impersonal and destructive major label life could
be. Hed heard all about it from his L.A.
friend Chris Dowd, as Fishbone had been
signed to Sony.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: MERRI CYR, 2; JACK VARTOOGIAN/GETTY IMAGES
SO REAL
Left: Buckley with
former Gods and
Monsters bandmate,
Gary Lucas. Above: In
the studio in Miami,
remastering Eternal
Life for a Japanese
release. Right:
Buckleys band (from
left): Matt Johnson,
Michael Tighe,
Buckley and Mick
Grondahl.
ange County, California, with his mother Mary and half-brother Corey. It wasnt
long before he hit the road, playing bass
in a Commitments touring band and also
appearing in the backing band for a reggae toaster named Shinehead. He hung
about New York for some time, a period of discovery that he documented in
his diary.
Escaped to NYC in 90 for about seven
months, got into hardcore and Robert
Johnson, he wrote. Buckley also discovered Pakistani Qawwali great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who he proclaimed
my Elvis. His stunning imitation of Ali
Khan could silence the noisiest room he
would sometimes do this at Sin-.
I got into a few projects at once to
make money, Buckley said of his early
musical days, because I shied away from
lling in job applications because you

had to ll in details of your high school,
your elementary school there were so
many, it was too embarrassing. And to
be worth my salt as a musician I had to
play all the time, so I did . . . [But] some
of the bands were fun.
Buckleys sense of self-mockery was
also pretty well developed by this time.
He laughed about his unibrow a Buckley family curse and referred to himself
as the Monkey Boy King.
When Buckley got a message from
Hal Willner about the Greetings tribute, hed been playing guitar in a Hollywood metal outt called Group Therapy, fronted by a vibrator-wielding wild
child named Kathryn Grimm. Buckley
had also started to write; the rst draft of
Last Goodbye was written while he was
Buckley had mixed emotions about

signing with Columbia. He knew
how impersonal and destructive
major label life could be.
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camped out on Grimms couch. He cut a

demo, too, funded by Herb Cohen, his fathers former manager, which Buckley entitled the Babylon Dungeon Sessions. An
early version of Last Goodbye then titled Unforgiven was on the tape, along
with a prototype of Eternal Life.
In a letter to a friend from this time,
Buckley wrote about his father, Tim,
who he only met twice before he died,
aged 28, in 1975. Its obvious that Tim
was loved and respected, Buckley noted.
And if he were still around maybe there
would be at least one guy who had something real to say . . . I would have liked to
have kissed him and told him that everything was OK; everything hed done was
cool. [But] Im done looking for him.
Then the call came from Willner and
Buckleys life changed forever.
earsville studio, located in bucolic upstate
New York, didnt appear
to be the most likely place
for the 26-year-old Buckley to record his debut
major label album. Buckley had made
New York his home. When not lling
Sin- hed been taking in theatre and
performance art events and turning up
GR AC E
at seemingly every downtown gig, soaking up the citys vibrant artistic scene.
Buckley had also had his rst major relationship in the city, with a woman
named Rebecca Moore, who he met at
the Greetings From Tim Buckley event.
What Bearsville had going for it was
history: the legendary Woodstock festival, three days of peace and music, had
been staged nearby in 1969. Bob Dylan
and the Band had got back to the country in Woodstock, creating some true
musical magic in the late 1960s. Great
records had been made at Bearsville by
everyone from Cheap Trick to Alice Cooper, Foreigner and 10CC. But there were
other reasons, too, why Sony had booked
Bearsville in late September, 1993, something Buckley attested to when a documentary crew visited him as he settled
into the countried surrounds.
Im an easily distracted person, he
confessed, as he wandered down a rustic
Woodstock back road. So this is great.
This was backed up by producer Andy
Wallace in 2002. Somebody Jeffs age
and temperament, he said, choosing his
words carefully, well, there was bound
to be signicant distractions in the city.
Buckley got along well with Wallace,
a man who looked more college professor than rock dog, and a solid choice by
Steve Berkowitz as producer for Grace.
As Buckleys drummer Matt Johnson
notes, Andy was steps ahead of all of us
in his experience and competence. Wallace knew Bearsville, too, having already
worked there. Wallace knew the room
rooms, in fact.
Before heading to Bearsville, Buckley
knew that he wanted to get beyond the
singing jukebox solo act hed become at
Sin-. He needed a band; he craved having some warm bodies nearby. The two
guys he chose would join him for a month
for a bit jamming and pre-production in
New Yorks Context studios, before heading north.
The Danish-born Mick Grondahl
had met Buckley a few months earlier
in the city, which led to a jam at Buckleys apartment and an invitation to record together. (The recording of that
jam, known among Buckley-philes as
The Angel Tape, is a much sought-after bootleg.) Twenty-two-year-old relocated Texan Matt Johnson had played
for singer Dorothy Scott, who helped Jeff
get his Sin- residency, which led to one
of Buckleys mysterious late night phone
messages, inviting Johnson to Context
to jam with him and Grondahl. Within a
few hours of the trio plugging in together
for the rst time Johnson had not met
the other two guys before the framework of the track Dream Brother started to take shape.
Buckley had his guys. He knew, as he

told Grondahl, that they were down for
the ride.
Producer Wallace dropped by Context and got to know Columbias new rising star. As the band blasted away and
they were still very much getting to know
each other, musically and personally
Wallace would quietly sit in a corner, taking notes. At one stage he asked Buckley
a question. Is this song meant to be 15
minutes long?
Well, it could be, right? Buckley
grinned.
Speaking some 20 years later, Grondahl, who has since relocated to his native Denmark, recalls their time at Context as a time to live and breathe music
for six weeks. We were all discovering
new things and new approaches, new
ways to attack the songs, and that kept
us going.
Matt Johnson, who these days tours
with Angus and Julia Stone, now accepts that in many respects . . . the record company would likely have preferred a seasoned senior roster of noted
bunked down. Studio A, the main facility, was aircraft-hangar-huge, with a high
ceiling. Wallace had arranged a couple of
different congurations: an acoustic setup, which was an attempt to make Buckley feel as though he was back at Sin-,
with everything miked. Then there was
a second, more traditional conguration
where Buckley and band could cut loose.
Almost immediately, he warmed to
the acoustics at Bearsville. He sat down,
uttered a few words to get a feel for the
space and turned to no-one in particular.
This room is awesome.
When not settling into the studio, the
intrepid three wandered the grounds,
sizing up the neighbourhood. Deer darted around and stopped to drink at a
nearby creek. Buckley was a long way
from Sin-, but that was perfectly cool,
at least for the time being. He quickly
adapted to the bucolic surrounds.
But exactly what music did he have
prepared for the Grace sessions, as the
trees around Bearsville started to explode with what Matt Johnson calls the
most intoxicating colours imaginable?
As the band blasted away,

producer Andy Wallace sat taking
notes. Is this song meant to be 15
minutes long? he asked.
session musicians to accomplish the task
at hand. But one has to start doing this
sort of thing somehow, someway.
The fact that we had yet to fall into
a band dynamic meant that there was
a collaborative meeting and melding of
minds at play. It was inspiration in action, intoxication with the process . . . in
this sense, the green-ness of the band
was turned from possible con to pro.
I was dying for the chemistry of a
band, Buckley explained at the time.
You know, people, bass, drums, dulcimer, tuba, anything any way that the
band would work out.
The musical rm of Buckley, Grondahl and Johnson had yet to play a proper gig together or work in a professional
studio such as Bearsville yet now they
were on the road to Woodstock.
her e wa s big a n d
then there was Bearsville. There were two studios in the complex along
with guest cabins, where
Buckley and the band
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Hard to say. One morning in early October, Buckley woke and got to work,
ripping through a take on Focus prog
epic Hocus Pocus, yodelling like a deranged cowboy. He also tried out the
Dylan songs hed played at Sin- If
You See Her, Say Hello and Just Like a
Woman and Screamin Jay Hawkins
Alligator Wine. Then there was Calling
You from Bagdad Caf, Van Morrisons
Sweet Thing. During his time at Bearsville, Buckley would record close to an albums worth of covers.
During these rst sessions, he recorded as many as 30 versions of Leonard
Cohens Hallelujah (a song, admittedly,
that hed learned from John Cales rendition). The nal version which in many
ways remains Buckleys biggest musical
statement was pieced together from
at least three different takes. While he
was working his way through the song
which Buckley believed celebrated the
hallelujah of the orgasm, an ode to life
and love a camera crew, hired by his
label for a making-of doco, appeared at
Bearsville, capturing Buckleys every
How I Shot
the LP Cover
By Merri Cyr
I photographed Jeff for the

Grace cover in December of
1993 at my friend Billy Basinskis
Arcadia loft in Williamsburg,
Brooklyn. Jeff denitely had his
own sense of personal style. The
glitter jacket he is wearing is
one of his thrift store nds. The
shoot went on most of the day
he was a bit nervous because
it was the album cover shoot.
I wasnt even interested in the
shot Jeff chose for the cover.
Jeff saw it on a contact sheet
and said, Thats it. Thats the
cover. I can tell I am listening to
music in this shot. The music
he was listening to was Patti
Smiths Horses album. Later I
found out there was quite a bit
of controversy about the cover
selection. Management didnt
like it because they thought the
glitter jacket was too effeminate.
Others at the company thought
the image was too much of a
pretty boy shot. Jeff fought very
hard and insisted this image be
on his cover. It became a big, big
thing, and he wouldnt budge.
move. After one particularly enthralling take of the song, when it seemed as
though some spirit had briey possessed
Buckley, there was complete silence in
the room. Everyone: Wallace, the crew,
Sony staff, were speechless. Everyone,
that is, except for the singer.
That was OK, he shrugged, and
asked for another take.
MERRI CYR
or k w i t h t he
band began soon
after Buckley had
exhausted his collection of covers.
Guitarist Gar y
Lucas, Buckleys early New York mentor
and, for a time, bandmate in Gods and
Monsters (a loose-knit downtown ensemble that included members of Television and Talking Heads), was invited
to Bearsville for three days to work on
songs he and Buckley had co-written,
Mojo Pin and Grace. It was now about

three weeks into the costly sessions and
sparks really started to y.
But this wasnt an easy assignment for
Lucas. In March, 1992, Buckley insisted
upon line-up changes in Gods and Monsters which Lucas had formed in 1989
not long after joining the group. The
day after a well-received Gods and Monsters show at St. Anns that same month,
Buckley called Lucas at home.
Im just not comfortable with this
any more, Buckley said, referring to the
band hed just recongured. I just want
to work on developing my voice more.
I felt sick, Lucas recalls, like he had
just stabbed me.
Buckley duly bailed on Lucas, the
band and a production deal they had in
place with start-up label Imago.
So it was with mixed emotions that
Lucas re-united with Buckley at Bearsville; the scars hadnt fully healed. Buck-
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ley was inside what Wallace had dubbed

The Writers Cottage, a pencil in hand,
agonising over unnished lyrics. According to Lucas, he had the look of a guy
who was way, way under pressure. That
night, after sharing a few spliffs with
Lucas and the band, Buckley excused
himself and headed back to his cottage.
Clearly, there was more work to be done.
The next day at the studio, Buckley
began recording the vocals for the albums title track. Lucas may have seen
Buckley make magic in New York,
but this was something else altogether: again, it was as if he was possessed.
After a soul-stirring vocal take, Buckley emerged from the vocal booth with a
sheepish grin on his face.
Did I do good? he asked.
He knew it was fucking great, says
Lucas.
As for Mojo Pin, another song that
had come to life in Lucas New York
GR AC E
Pin blared on the vans stereo. They listened, enthralled by what theyd created.
This became their way of road testing
songs-in-progress.
It was a really good gauge of what the
song was doing, says Grondahl, whether it needed anything more.
Matt Johnson says these nocturnal
drives also helped unite the band.
That was a bonding experience, he
offers. There was a shared feeling of joy
at the creation that was taking shape.
For Steve Berkowitz, an occasional
visitor at Bearsville, Mojo Pin was the
moment when Grace came into sharp
A State Of Grace
Bringing the music of Jeff & Tim Buckley to life

t m a k es per fect sense th at the production
A State of Grace: The Music of Tim and Jeff Buckley should
be premiered in Australia, where Jeff Buckleys following still borders on the evangelical. Its also logical that Gary
Lucas, who worked so closely with Jeff when he rst came to
New York in the early 1990s, should be engaged as music director. A State of Grace, much like other successful tributes
such as Way To Blue: The Music of Nick Drake, is built around
a broad selection of songs (20, from both Tim and Jeff ), a
house band (in this case, Gods and Monsters, Lucas New York
ensemble) and a variety of vocalists. Those vocalists are Martha Wainwright, Steve Kilbey, Casper Clausen (from the Danish group Efterklang), Willy Mason, Cold Specks and Camille
OSullivan. Kilbey had his rst close encounter with the music
of Jeff Buckley purely by chance. I rst [over]heard Jeff at a
gig, he recalls. Someone was playing Grace and I was transxed by the music and his voice it still has the same effect almost 20 years later. Adds Lucas: The music of Jeff and Tim
Buckley is timeless and gracefully transcendental. It will continue to reverberate around the globe and seduce new listeners. A State Of Grace debuts in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane in September. See stateofgracelive.com for details.
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focus, proof Buckley was much more

than some human jukebox, the king
of covers. Berkowitz said the track represented a volcanic eruption of artistry from Buckley. He looked on, gobsmacked, as hundreds of musical ideas
emerged from the singer.
Buckley was now clearly in charge.
et after five weeks
at Bearsville, Buckley
and the band had nowhere near enough original material for the nished record, hav ing
recorded only Mojo Pin, Grace, Last
Goodbye, Lover, You Shouldve Come
Over and Eternal Life. All amazing
songs, admittedly, but not enough to ll
an album.
There was another Buckley original
cut at Bearsville, Forget Her, which
Berkowitz thought would have been a
great lead single, but Buckley stubbornly insisted it stay off the nished album,
leading to no small amount of friction
back at Sony HQ. (It seemed to be a
kiss-off to his former girlfriend, Rebecca Moore, perhaps too close to the bone
emotionally speaking even for Buckley.)
The singer was always good for an intriguing quote, but wasnt always clear
when it came to explaining his songs.
He insisted that Mojo Pin was about a
dream, though he also told Gary Lucas
that the term mojo pin was a reference
to heroin use.
All my songs come from poems,
Buckley sort of explained. He lugged a
notebook with him pretty much wherever he went, scrawling ideas and lyrics in
his cramped, left-handed style. Youre
shaping sound to t a feeling, he told
a reporter when asked about his lyrics.
Words have to be emotionally accurate,
you know.
The turning point for Matt Johnson
was the moment Buckley came up with
his vocal for Dream Brother. While recording the instrumental track, Johnson thought it was a B-side, at best. But
when he heard Buckleys vocals, everything changed forever.
That was an important moment in
my life. That was an instant when I could
clearly see the transformative power of
the human imagination. [It was] totally
unexpected, deeply satisfying and delivered with a charismatic conviction that
could make the sale.
Buckley explained that Dream Brother was about a friend, whod led a rather excessive life, even though it seemed
to refer to his father. A posthumous Tim
Buckley album was actually titled Dream
Letter. Buckley never cleared up this
mystery.
J IENNER
apartment a couple of years back, this

represented a key moment in the sessions, according to Mick Grondahl. At
this point, at least 19 takes had been recorded of Last Goodbye; Grondahl also
recalls the track Grace as some undertaking in the studio. Neither came particularly easily. But Mojo Pin brought
real clarity. It was uid, intense and did
not feel like a ve-minute song.
That night, Buckley, Johnson and
Grondahl drove around Woodstock in
a rented red mini-van, the type of vehicle usually favoured by soccer mums, not
rock bands. A rough recording of Mojo
As for the bounty of covers theyd captured at Bearsville, it was agreed that
Leonard Cohens Hallelujah, Benjamin Brittens Corpus Christi Carol and
James Sheltons Lilac Wine were good
enough for the nished LP. They represented, in Buckleys words, a gesture to
link this album to my past. Their inclusion was also out of necessity: Buckley
simply didnt have enough originals for
the album. (So Real, the co-write with
Michael Tighe, who joined the band for
the Grace tour, came later, in New York,
after the band had completed their work
at Bearsville. This was the song that replaced Forget Her. Buckley cryptically
described So Real as a track that combined fuck you and I love you.)
Interestingly, Matt Johnson didnt feel
that Buckley was experiencing any kind
of creative squeeze at Bearsville, despite
the shortage of new material. That crisis
came later, after Grace.
So far as I know, he says, looking
back, Jeff wasnt under too much pressure to write at that particular time. He
could use existing collaborations with
Gary, songs he had previously creat-
r ace kept some interesting company upon

its release in late August, 1994, among them
Oasis emphatic Definitely Maybe, Without
a Sound from slacker rockers Dinosaur
Jr and Boyz II Mens II. Grace, of course,
sounded nothing like any of them, or, for
that matter, like anything released in the
rst half of the 1990s.
Critics loved it, especially outside
of America: on the year of its release,
NME, Mojo, Select and Q all listed Grace
among their top albums of the year, as
did French magazine Les Inrockuptibles. France soon became, alongside
Australia, Buckleys biggest audience.
He was likened by critics to Nick Drake,
Van Morrison even his late father
Tim, the man he knew only through his
music. Peers Eddie Vedder, Chris Cornell and Thom Yorke fell under Buckleys spell, as did more seasoned players
such as Jimmy Page who once tried
to entice Buckley to open for Page and
Plant, without success Elvis Costello
and Paul McCartney.
Despite all this, as Buckley and his band hit the
road for the never-ending
tour that would eventually bring them to Australia
for the rst of two visits in
late August 1995, he could
have had no idea what lay
ahead: an album that people would still speak about
in awe some 20 years later,
and a life that was tragically cut short in the Mississippi in 1997.
I cant overemphasise
the quality of Jeffs gift, reects Matt
Johnson. I had always been sensitive to music, but that sensitivity was
never party to the type of effects that I
perceived with Jeff. Jeffs death, sadly,
took from us what was likely his greatest gift: his ability to deeply engage a
listener and transform their listening
experience.
Its easy to forget that [Grace] was
not made in the mindspace of destiny,
he continues. It was cobbled together
by whatever people could nd and avail
themselves of at the time. And thanks be
for that, adds Johnson, otherwise Id
have fucked it up royally.
Buckley was once asked what he
hoped to achieve with the album. He
thought the question through carefully
before responding.
Just to make things I never heard before, that say things that I cant say otherwise. Not so much go as far as I can, but
to go as deep as I can.
The turning point was

the moment Buckley
came up with his vocal
for Dream Brother.
Everything changed.
ed, covers and anything that popped up
in sessions to complete the album. The
songs on Grace were all strong and satisfying in and of themselves.
The work at Bearsville ended in late
October 1993. Buckley, Grondahl and
Johnson returned to the city, satised
with what theyd achieved, especially so
given their relative lack of experience.
Buckley ashed back to the lengthy history of such originals as Last Goodbye
and Eternal Life, which had been with
him since the Babylon Dungeon demo
back in LA, before he got the call to come
east in 1991. He referred to them, at least
in their original context, as loser songs.
But not anymore.
I put them on the album to prove to
the songs that they werent losers. Sort of
like nding kids that have been told all
their lives that theyre pieces of shit and
nally you have to go around proving to
them that, no, they are worth knowing
and loving.
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The Fall
From Grace
Where are the
major players from
Grace now?
MATT JOHNSON
Left the music industr y
for some time after leaving
Buckleys band at the end
of a set in Australia in 1996,
but has since recorded and
performed with Rufus and
Martha Wainwright, Beth
Or ton, St. Vincent and
Angus and Julia Stone.
MICK GRONDAHL
Went on to play with Elysian Fields and Black Beetle
(which featured Joan Wasser), but eventually returned
to his native Denmark. He
currently teaches music and
is working on a novel.
GARY LUCAS
After being plunged into
what he described as indie
hell in the wake of Buckley leaving Gods and Monsters, Lucas has since forged
a stellar international career
as a guitarist, bandleader
and composer. He has been
nominated for a Grammy, and his latest project is
music director for A State
of Grace: The Music of Tim
and Jeff Buckley.
MICHAEL TIGHE
Played in Black Beetle before forming The A.M. in
2002. In 2006, he covered
Britney Spears Toxic with
Mark Ronson, a minor hit
in the UK. Hes currently recording a solo EP, The Garage Band Sessions.
BEARSVILLE
The complex was sold in
2004 and is now a private
residence.
Last Goodbye
MARK HOSKING (KARNIVOOL)
GRACE
BY
TRACK
TRACK
A cast of Australian and

international musicians pick their
favourite song from the seminal LP
i remember studying
lm at Melbourne University, and someone had made
this documentary on local
cemeteries and graffiti artwork, and it had as its soundtrack Hallelujah, the Leonard Cohen song, but done
by this amazing dude with such soul and
mood. That night I did some hunting and
found him: Jeff Buckley. The following
day on the way to campus I stopped at a
music store and picked up my rst of what
was to be 11 purchases of Grace, my most
bought album of all time. I never made it
to class. Every single track had my head
spinning, but I just remember nights of
setting my CD player on single-song repeat and sleeping with Last Goodbye
playing on my headphones. That song
seemed out of time, like hed come back in
a time machine from the future and laid
down these melodies and harmonies and
had an outsiders perspective on it all. It
is such a beautifully light yet subtly dark
song. From the opening slide guitar you
are instantly lost in it, getting sucked into
the wormhole vortex and loving every
minute of it. Mind blowing.
4
1
Mojo Pin
KATIE NOONAN
the rst time i heard

Jeff Buckley my world
stopped. Never ha d I
heard such earnest, raw
and pungent beauty. I
also remember feeling relief that music
like that could exist, as I was beginning to dream my own sonic world and
he gave me hope! Mojo Pin was the
soundtrack to my first serious makeout session/sleepover with my then
new boyfriend, now husband of over 10
years, Zac. We were lying on the oor
of my share house bedroom listening
to the live version (Live at Wetlands)
and it is so, so seriously sexy: Love turn
me on/let me turn you all over/with my
thumb on your tongue/rest your heel on
my shoulder/your love melts like chocolate/on the tongue of God . . . So yeah,
a perfect soundtrack! I remember it really blew Zac away and he was a 100 per
cent jazz purist at the time. But Jeff and
this track made him turn he said it reminded him of late Coltrane. Jeff and
his band live were one of the clear moments in my life I will never forget he
was truly otherworldly.
Lilac Wine
MARLON WILLIAMS
Grace
MIKE KERR (ROYAL BLOOD)
the rst time i heard

Grace, I mustve been
about 12. I heard the live
version rst from Mystery
White Boy. I think its actually one of my favourite songs ever written. The chord progressions and Jeff s
back-up vocals over the lyrics my fading voice sings of love are truly magical. That set a re in me. To this day I
am still humbled by his incredible music.
His ability to scream like a demon then
croon like an angel whilst also playing
some of the most expressive and emotive
guitar playing really makes Grace for
me. His lyrics are poetic and his string
arrangements of the highest quality. Its
Zeppelin, Nirvana, Billy Idol, all performed by God. Beat that.
i discovered grace as a
14-year-old and completely
lost my shit. The voice and
the mystery sucked me all
the way in. I watched his
Live at Sin- and Live In Chicago concerts obsessively. I learned about Leonard Cohen and MC5 for the rst time.
But the crowning jewel of Grace for me
was Lilac Wine. It is a lesson in how to
take a song completely out of space and
time and make it a living part of yourself with disarming simplicity. I remember the sense of delight at nding it was
written by someone completely unknown
to me (James Shelton) in 1950 as part of
some failed musical theatre review. For
the rst time I glimpsed a truth that became more and more important to me;
that songs thrive best in anonymity, unwedded to the pen.
Its Zeppelin, Nirvana, Billy Idol,

all performed by God. Beat that.
MIKE KERR ON GRACE
| 64 |
RollingStoneAus.com
Christi Carol. This song is an example of his extraordinary ability to take

any song, from any genre and make
it his own. He plucks his guitar like
a harp and sings like an opera singer, creating a sound thats somehow
ancient and current simultaneously. I
remember the rst time I listened to
this song, waiting without breathing
to hear his last high note rise up and
disappear like smoke. The next week
I bought a Telecaster guitar like his,
and this is when my journey as a musician began in earnest.
So Real
ANDY BULL
there are t wo
things about Jeff Buckley that nobody wants
to talk about. Firstly: in
the Nineties, Grace was
very popular in the Christian-fellowship, Bible-study type scene. Secondly: many teenagers tried having sex
with Grace as a soundtrack. So, keeping these facts in mind, there are
two main reasons why So Real is a
stand-out. Firstly, while its true that
Buckley seems to be kind of Jesus-y,
nobody ever played So Real at Bible
study, and theyd think you were a
psycho if you tried. Secondly, regarding
your early attempts at eroticism; playing Grace during sex may have seemed
like a good-enough idea around Last
Goodbye and Lilac Wine, but when
the chainsaw-distortion middle section
of So Real hits, well, there in that precise moment you have the reason why nobody ever tried having sex to Grace twice.
Hallelujah
HUSKY GAWENDA (HUSKY)
bob dylan said something about uncovering

songs rather than covering them. I dont remember hearing Hallelujah for
the rst time it was always there. My
parents played Leonard Cohen non-stop.
And its a song thats been covered endlessly, or as Bob Dylan would say, covered so much its been buried. I think its
unrecoverable. Unless youre Jeff Buckley. When I rst heard Buckleys version
I heard the song again for the rst time. I
was 16. To say the song is about the greatest paradox of all, the ecstatic agony of
love, would be resorting to platitudes.
But any attempt to describe what Buckley taps into with his version of Hallelujah would be hopelessly inadequate. The
beauty, the longing, the aching vulnerability, the sex and desire and desperation
and mystery of being alive and in love . . .
well, there I go trying to describe it, and
failing miserably.
Lover, You Shouldve

Come Over
DAVID LEAUPEPE (GANG OF YOUTHS)
in the 21st century,

Grace has been adopted as
the default soundtrack to
the life of the archetypi-
Eternal Life
SUZE DEMARCHI (BABY ANIMALS)
cal lovelorn and hapless millennial

the one much too young/to keep good
love from going wrong, set to bewail
the stark complexities of love and humanness from atop his or her thrift shop
barstool with a craft beer in hand. Its a
painfully mawkish clich now, but with
all great time honoured tropes its founded in some goddamned fundamental
truth. If Grace was able to encapsulate
that brief and exciting period of time
where Jeff Buckley spoke straight to the
hearts and loins of a multitude, then
Lover, You Shouldve Come Over remains its denitive, zeitgeist moment.
The burning and lusty quintessence of
Buckleys blue-eyed-gospel-choirboy cadence with all its yearning and regret;
the sex, the longing and imperfection of
a mystery white boy ingrained in lines
like my body turns and yearns for a
sleep that wont ever come make for
a compelling and honest confessional
that two decades on still feels both harrowingly intimate and extraordinarily ambitious.
Corpus Christi Carol

ANNA CALVI
i was 16, on a bus home

f rom school when my
friend suggested I listened to this cool singer
Jeff Buckley, who had died
a few years ago. Everything changed
from this moment. I remember the same
night, staying up until it was light outside listening to Grace over and over. His
voice was so haunting and beautiful, the
music was so advanced and complex yet
so emotional rather than cerebral. It felt
like he had found something in me that
was mine, that I didnt even know had
existed. I was taken by all the songs,
but in particular the spine tingling adaptation of Benjamin Brittens Corpus
| 65 |
RollingStoneAus.com
i r emember he a r ing
Jeff Buckleys voice on the
radio somewhere in America and I just had to race
to the nearest music store.
Everyone wanted to know about this guy,
and he didnt give much away when he
spoke. He gave everything away through
his music and his performance. That is
what I want from an artist; that is what
I want to see when they perform. I want
to know them through their songs and
the way they move on stage, not through
an interview. This album shows us all
we need to know about him. His inuences. His poetry. His nature, fears and
optimism. All of his confusion. But most
of all, his frailties. Eternal Life sounds
almost like something Hendrix would
be doing had he lived. He manages to go
from deep heavy grooves to sweet and
orchestral and back again all through
this song without feeling disjointed. His
melodies are king and everything else
just wraps around his voice.
10
Dream Brother
RYAN LAMB (ALPINE)
grace is like a magnet

for awkward, earnest kids,
and God knows I was one
of the most awkward, earnest kids around. I guess I
was 15 when I heard it and I played the
CD to death. It literally wore out, probably because of our crappy, off-brand car
stereo. My parents were hugely relieved,
and our journeys went back to being
soundtracked by UB40 and Abbas Gold.
Dream Brother is the perfect closer
for Grace the brooding atmospherics,
the hypnotic rockout, and that sincere,
wounded voice rising above the chaos
and noise, pleading with his friend to
not abandon his son the way his own father did. And then, calm.
CLOSE-UP
The
Swede
Life
l ic i a v i k a n de r m igh t be t h e h a r de s t
working new actress in Hollywood, appearing in
no less than six movies this year. Next up is Guy
Ritchies The Man From U.N.C.L.E., in which she plays
the linchpin of a spy plot in the swinging Sixties, a part
the 26-year-old hopes adds to the recent crop of meatier roles for women. Movies with strong women leads like
The Hunger Games have proven over and over again that
female leads in big movies attract big, big audiences, she
offers from the U.N.C.L.E. set in Rome.
The daughter of a stage actress, the petite 55 Vikander fell in love with performing herself, training in ballet
and touring worldwide. After an injury in her teens cut her
career short she turned to acting, apFULL SCHEDULE pearing on TV in her native Sweden.
Vikander has six
As for whether acting is easier than
lms coming out
this year. She was
ballet, she says: No, its just different.
terried and
The hard work is still there; the acexcited by The
tions may be different but the actual
Man From
U.N.C.L.E.
body and mind work is just as hard.
It turns out acting can be equally as
punishing as ballet. I have some bruises and things, she
says of the U.N.C.L.E. shoot. What I love the most are
the car stunts.
Currently dating The Light Between Oceans co-star Michael Fassbender, Vikanders last major role, in Ex Machina, saw her play an articially intelligent robot, earning
praise from movie goers and critics alike.
I loved the script because the action is actually not
driven by physicality but because of the dialogue, she says.
In [U.N.C.L.E.], Id never done an action packed comedy
so I was both terried and extremely excited. DREW TURNEY
RollingStoneAus.com
67
He sold America
on a West Coast
gangster fantasy
and embodied
it. Then the
bills came due
BY MATT DIEHL
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION
BY SEAN McCABE
suge Knight
n march 20th, inside the high-security
wing of Los Angeles Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, the man once called the
most feared man in hip-hop is looking more
like the 50-year-old with chronic health issues
that he is. Suge Knight sits in shackles, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit and chunky glasses, his beard f lecked with grey, listening impassively. Its the end of the days proceedings,
and Judge Ronald S. Coen is announcing the
bail for Knight, who is facing charges of

murder, attempted murder and hit-andrun: In this courts opinion, $25 million is
reasonable, and it is so set. A gasp erupts
from Knights row of supporters some of
whom sport red clothing or accessories,
a colour associated with the Bloods and
Piru street gangs. The most shocked are
Knights family, who have attended nearly all of his court dates: his parents, along
with his ancee, Toi-lin Kelly, and sister
Karen Anderson. Hes never had a bail like
that before! Anderson exclaims.
As attendees exit and Knight is escorted out by the bailiffs, Knights attorney
Matthew Fletcher pleads with Coen to reconsider. Fletcher points out that Knight
has been held in solitary connement for
nearly three months, with next to no contact with family or friends. (They wouldnt
allow this at Guantnamo Bay, Fletcher says.) The lawyer goes on to complain
about Knights treatment in jail for his numerous medical ailments, which include
diabetes, blood clots and impaired vision.
The judge is unswayed, especially by
Fletchers pleas about Knights poor health.
He was offered food and refused it, says
Coen. At that moment, as if on cue, Knight
re-enters the courtroom, and suddenly collapses, his 135-kilogram-plus frame tumbling forward onto the padded chair he
was just sitting in minutes earlier. Outside,
Knights supporters have started a protest.
This is a public lynching! shouts a woman
in a red dress and blonde Afro. Black lives
matter! The painful irony is that Knight
is being prosecuted for murdering a black
man a man he once called his friend
and seriously injuring another.
This could nally be the end of the road
for the record-label head who, a generation
ago, helped bring the West Coast gangsta rap of Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Tupac
Shakur to the mainstream, pushing aside
the pop rap of artists such as MC Hammer
and Tone-Loc and putting low-riders and
gang signs into heavy rotation on MTV.
In the process, Knight established himself as a legendary music-biz tough guy.
Matt Diehl proled Beck after the
release of Morning Phase last year.
RollingStoneAus.com
His exploits some mythic, some real

during the heyday of Death Row Records
have become part of hip-hop lore: In the
early Nineties, he allegedly shook down
Vanilla Ice into handing over publishing
prots, walking the rapper out to a hotelroom balcony to show him how far his fall
would be. (I needed to wear a diaper that
day, Ice said later.) In his memoir, former
N.W.A manager Jerry Heller alleged that
Knight and his cohorts, bearing baseball
bats, intimidated Eazy-E into releasing
Dre from his Ruthless Records contract.
(The claims have never been substantiated.) Knight was sitting next to Tupac when
he was gunned down in 1996 in Las Vegas;
his participation in a ght on the night of
the shooting would land him in prison for
ve years on a probation violation.
As Knights fortunes have crumbled,
hes gotten closer to the streets, according to prosecutors. In a motion arguing
for the high bail (which would later be reduced to $10 million), the L.A. District Attorneys office alleged a recent scheme by
Knight to tax out-of-town rappers for as
much as $30,000 just to work in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Last year, Knight
called out Rick Ross in a video interview:
You know you owe that bread, titty man,
Knight said. Im gonna beat the dog shit
out of you. His targets arent limited to
big sh in 2014 he was caught on surveil-
knig
wouldnt leave the
n.W.a movies set.
Sloan told him,
you got the white
folks scared!
lance punching a worker at an L.A. medical-marijuana dispensary after being refused service for lacking documentation.
Knight hasnt been charged for any of
the above episodes; his current lawyer
Thomas Mesereau says, He never threatened Vanilla Ice, and that all the claims of
extortion are based on a lot of gossip and
innuendo. But former associates struggle to understand why such an undeniably talented businessman cant escape
this kind of small-time drama and thuggery. I watched Suge decline the last 10
years, says Cash Jones, a.k.a. Wack 100, a
former Death Row foot soldier who now
manages Ray J and the Game. Knight already has two prior violent felonies on his
record: If any of his current charges stick,
under Californias Three Strikes law, he
could be going to jail for the rest of his life.
Suge lost focus of the business, and
who he is, says Jones. He couldve been a
lot of things, but he chose not to.
nights most recent troubles apparently began like many

Suge Knight stories: with him
thinking that somebody owed
him money. The upcoming
N.W.A biopic, Straight Outta
Compton co-produced by Dre
and Ice Cube, and due out in September
was getting attention after a teaser leaked
in December. People working on the set
were calling and telling Suge, Hey, man,
this movie is really [becoming] a Death
Row movie, with a Suge look-alike in the
movie beating up people in the studio and
all that, says Reggie Wright, a childhood
friend of Knights who worked at Death
Row from 1994 to 2002. Suge felt like
they were using his likeness in this movie
without consulting him.
On the afternoon of January 29th,
Knight drove up to the productions base
camp in his red Ford Raptor pickup, breezing past the films security. Dres bodyguards would not move him while Knight
was on the premises, leaving producers in
a panic. Cle Bone Sloan a nonactive
gang member who was working as a technical adviser to the movie stepped in,
confronting Knight. Sloan said later that
he had heard there was a problem between [Knight] and Dre or somebody.
The confrontation turned into a shouting
match. Sloan said he told Knight, Why
dont you leave so we can move forward?
You got the white folks scared! Eventually, Knight left the set.
Shortly after clearing out, Knight received a call from a respected South Central entrepreneur named Terry Carter who
was at the shoot that day and was perhaps
hoping to mediate the dispute. Carter, 55,
was a self-made man who, after losing his
mother and brother in the space of a year
when he was 18, had built businesses in
music, cars and real estate most notably
co-founding Heavyweight Records with
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
Williams (who have both pleaded

not guilty), Redden has also led
a civil suit against Knight, alleging severe injuries to her back,
head and neck.
It dont matter if its $100
or $100,000, says Cash Jones,
when you take somebodys property and harm them in the process, its robbery a felony
charge that could also put Knight
away for years. Suge was already
out on bail for that case, and now
he has this hit-and-run situation
and theres video of it thats not
in his favour. Hes over with.
Let Me Ride
PREVIOUS SPREAD: PHOTOGRAPHS IN PHOTO-ILLUSTRATION BY FRED PROUSER/REUTERS/LANDOV; PAUL BUCK/GETTY IMAGES.

THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: COURTESY OF JONATHAN WOLFSON; GETTY IMAGES, 3
(1) Knight ran Death Row out of a

medium-security prison in Northern
California from 1996 to 2001. (2) In
court with his lawyer Thomas
Mesereau on May 29, 2015. (3) On
January 29 Knight ran over Cle Bone
Sloan, crushing his ankles, and (4)
local businessman Terry Carter, who
died from his injuries.
Ice Cube in 1998. Ice Cube and Dre would

come by the house like it was nothing, says
Carters daughter Nekaya about her childhood. Carter was a family man, with three
children; he had also taken in his sister-inlaws ve kids when she couldnt care for
them. People who knew Carter call him a
peacemaker.
There are different accounts of Knights
relationship with Carter. His daughters say
that he and Knight had done little more
than cross paths, but Knights friend and
bail bonds agent Jane Un says that Carter and Knight were friends and had even
explored going into business together.
Carter was now requesting Knights presence at a Compton burger joint, Tams, a
few kilometres from the movies base camp.
Minutes later, Knight pulled up outside
the Tams parking lot, where Carter and at
least one other man had already gathered.
According to Sloans interview with police, Knight started bad-mouthing Sloan
just as, unbeknownst to Knight, he pulled
up. He was talking shit, Sloan recounted, and I just popped out like a jack-inthe-box. Sloan came at Knight saying,
Lets do it! and began throwing punches at Knight through the Raptors window.
Knights vehicle lurched into reverse,
knocking down Sloan. Then he put it into
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
drive, running over Sloan and crushing his

ankles. Knights pickup kept surging forward, plowing into a eeing Carter, killing him. (The entire gruesome, abrupt series of events was captured on a grainy,
soundless surveillance video, which was
obtained by TMZ.com.)
Every day, I try to forget it, Sloan said
later. I screwed up, and Terrys dead.
Knight turned himself in to police about
12 hours later, around three in the morning. Knights initial counsel in the case,
James Blatt, told the Los Angeles Times
that Knight was heartbroken over Carters death. A subsequent lawyer, Fletcher, has suggested that Carter helped lure
Knight into a deathtrap. Carters friends
and family are still deep in mourning. It
was a tragedy, says Lydia Harris, an early
Death Row partner. Nearly 2,000 people
attended Carters funeral.
Knights strategy will almost certainly be self-defense. But even if he wins, he
is facing another case, which has received
less media attention, but may prove harder to beat. Last September, Knight and
comedian Katt Williams were leaving a
Beverly Hills studio when they encountered celebrity photographer Leslie Redden. Believing Redden had photographed
Knights son without permission, Knight
is alleged to have told her he had a bitch
who was going to beat her motherfucking
ass, and to have shown Redden his waistband. Redden f led, but was stopped by
Williams and an unknown woman, who
allegedly knocked the photographer to the
ground and took her camera. In addition
to criminal charges against Knight and
he wa s a lways t he s a me
guy, says Wright, boisterous, a
bully. Marion Hugh Knight Jr.
grew up on the east side of Compton, in what was, by all accounts,
a strong, loving family. The irony
is that you would think this guy
comes from a broken home, says
former Death Row publicist Jonathan Wolfson, but his parents
have been married to this day,
and they are the nicest.
Suges daddy was lovely! says
Knights ex-girlfriend, the R&B
singer Michelle, talking about Marion
Knight Sr. and mother Maxine. Oh, hes
just a dream. His mother is nice too, but
she has a mouth on her like Suge: Shed
curse you out one minute and then go,
Well, you know, baby, its OK the next.
Suge is a mamas boy, definitely. Many
who have dealt with Knight cite his keen
natural intelligence. Suge had huge potential, says Wolfson. He couldve done
anything he was a force.
A charismatic, gifted athlete, Knight
wanted more than his parents two-bedroom home. As soon as I was old enough,
he told The Guardian in 2001, I told myself that Id never live or end up dying in a
place like that. I made up my mind that
I wanted everything, and nothing would
stop me. Knight started playing on the
Lynwood High football team; he was fast
as well as strong. I remember our coach
chastising me because Suge beat me in
a race, and I was a running back, and he
was a lineman, says Wright. Knight said
that he would shake down wealthy white
kids outside their Hollywood high schools,
but he was more of an alpha-male football
player than a hoodlum as a teenager. He
had twin cousins, Ronald and Donald,
says Wright, and they pretty much ran
Lynwood High School. His neighbourhood was a Piru Bloods zone Knight has
said he sometimes saw bodies in the alleys
on the way to school but gangbangers
didnt mess with the athletes, says Wright.
Knight had two impressive seasons at
the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, and
a short-lived NFL career, going undrafted
but making it onto the Los Angeles Rams
RollingStoneAus.com
71
as a replacement player for two games during the strike season of 1987. That same
year, he shot a man in Las Vegas while allegedly trying to steal his car, and was
arrested for attempted murder. Knight
pleaded no contest to a misdemeanour and
was put on probation, but his pro football
career was over.
Interestingly, Wright attributes some of
Knights unpredictability and rage to diabetes, which has shadowed him throughout his life. A lot of people
dont know Suge has diabe1
tes real bad, Wright says. He
doesnt have the correct medication to treat it, or go to the
doctor to get it controlled correctly. So a lot of the times
when he gets angry, its because his sugar is up.
With the door to the NFL
closed, Knight used his size
to get into the music business,
working as a bodyguard for
Bobby Brown. Knight
began moving in the
2
same circles as rapper the D.O.C., as well
as Dre, Eazy-E, Cube
and a young MC named
Mario Johnson, who
complained that hed
written much of Vanilla Ices To the Extreme.
Knight saw his opportunity, which supposedly
led to the notorious hotelroom confrontation with
the white Florida rapper.
Ice settled with Knight for
an unspecied amount. It
was his rst big payday.
The next breakthrough
came when D.O.C., Dre
and Knight hatched a plan
to get the rappers out of
their contracts with Hellers Ruthless Records. Death Row was founded in 1991,
and the next few years were gilded with
hits: Dres The Chronic went triple-platinum, followed by Snoop Doggs quadrupleplatinum Doggystyle. In the space of a few
years, Knight had inserted himself into
the heart of West Coast hip-hop and taken
over.
Michelle, who was signed to Ruthless
and then Death Row, says that things
began to sour between Knight and Dre
when Tupac came into the picture in 1995.
Knight felt that Dre didnt have Tupacs
gung-ho work ethic; Shakur would become both Death Rows commercial focal
point and Knights close friend in a way
Dre never was. At the same time, Knight
began to feel disrespected by the superstar producer. Dre did not want to listen
to Suge, and that bothered him, Michelle
says. Suge was like, You were getting two
cents a record [with Eazy-E and Heller],
but I helped you make real money.
RollingStoneAus.com
But Wright says the break came when

Knight began a relationship with Michelle
Dres former ancee and mother to his
son Marcel in the mid-Nineties. Dre was
over Michelle he had another woman,
but thats still his baby mama, Wright
says. I think at rst, Michelle was Suges
spy, telling him what was going on between
Jimmy [Iovine] and Dre, but he grew to
love her. Knight and Michelle would have
a daughter, Bailei, in 2002.
oth fr ien ds a n d foes

agree that Knight never quite
recovered from his five-year
prison bid, which started in
1996. He tried to keep his hands
on the reins of Death Row
which was still a commercial
force from Mule Creek, a mediumsecurity prison in a small Northern California town, where hed been placed in the
general population. Wright, who was now
managing Death Rows
day-to-day operations,
would visit Mule Creek
The Cost to
from Thursday to SunBe the Boss
day each week to keep
(1) With Tupac
Knight abreast of label
Shakur at the
activities, while Death
Tyson vs. Bruno
Rows new publicist,
fight at the MGM
Wolfson a New Yorker
Grand. (2) Knight
who had recently startat Lynwood High
School, 1982.
ed his own PR company
(3) In his Track
found himself adaptRecording studio,
ing to the unique work
2002.
conditions. I was this
Jewish kid from Rock3
land County Id never
even been to a jail before, recalls Wolfson,
who would work with
Knight for six years. I
was instructed to bring
$30 in single dollar
bills to use in vending
machines. Id put this
mountain of food on
the table for him to eat.
They had this prisoner walking around with
a Polaroid camera. For
$2 he would take a picture with you and your
imprisoned loved one
in front of this backdrop with clouds and a
skyline. Thats actualIn 1996, Dre split with Knight, forming ly where we did a few of our press shots.
When I went up to the penitentiary
his own label, Aftermath like Death Row,
under the umbrella of Iovines Interscope to see Suge for the rst time, it was a real
Records. Knight was relentless in trying trippy experience, notes Kxng Crooked,
to get back master recordings that he be- a rapper who was signed to Death Row
lieved belonged to Death Row. According under the name Crooked I from 1999 to
to Randall Sullivans Labyrinth, Knight 2004. I went there to talk about my retalked his way onto Dres property claim- cord deal, and we were negotiating on
ing to be Iovine: When he opened the napkins! Hed ask me what I wanted, and
door, Dre said, In comes Suge with eight or Id write it on the napkin and slide it over:
Ah, thats doable. . . . It was crazy. Suge
nine niggas, demanding the tapes.
Jones points to that time as a crossroads was like, I can get you Grammys, I can
for both Dre and Knight. You know what put your name up on billboards. . . . I can
Dre did? He kept chasing success, says do all this.
When Knight got out of prison in 2001,
Jones. The fact remains that right now,
today, Suge sits in prison facing murder He was different, Wright says. And he
was more notorious than ever. Knight
charges, and Dre is a billionaire.
This fact is not lost on Knight, who still quickly returned to the high-roller lifestyle
feels entitled to hundreds of millions of hed enjoyed in the Nineties. There was a
dollars from Dre. According to a New York lot of partying in New York, Houston,
Times article, Knight told investigators Chicago, Malibu, staying at the Four Seahe expected a 10 per cent share of the pro- sons in Hawaii, says Crooked. We took
ceeds from last years $3 billion sale by Suges yacht out a couple of times and got
DJs and caterers on there, called up some
[Dre] of Beats to Apple.
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: JEFF KRAVITZ/FILMMAGIC; KEN HIVELY/LOS ANGELES TIMES VIA GETTY IMAGES; LYNWOOD HIGH SCHOOL
suge Knight
well-known strippers. We spent a lot of

time just enjoying life.
There were signs that the party was
going to end. Death Row had split with
distributor Interscope in 1998, which
meant less of a nancial safety net. But in
Knights absence, the label had some success with posthumous Tupac releases and
a greatest-hits compilation, and soon assembled a promising new roster featuring rappers such as Crooked and Kurupt
of Tha Dogg Pound and briey, before
her death in a 2002 car crash, TLCs Lisa
Left-Eye Lopes. I loved Left-Eye she
brought so much peace to the label, bro,
says Crooked. She would make sure the
guys were eating well, and make you herbal tea to clear up your cold. She was just a
warm spirit, bringing balance inside that
crazy world.
According to multiple sources, Left-Eye
was also getting warm with Knight. The
two started an affair, which created its
own drama. When she discovered a love
nest in the Death Row offices where hed
seduce other women, Wright says, Lopes
threw bleach all over the furniture causing thousands of dollars worth of damage.
(Knight has sired at least seven children
with various women. Michelle recalls discovering 17 lingerie-stuffed Victorias Secret bags during a work trip to the Bahamas with Knight before they were an item
each bag apparently intended for a different woman Knight was involved with.)
Knights dreams of restoring Death Row
to its former glory soon zzled. Not long
after he got out, He said, Lets go to New
York weve got to let the world know that
were back! says Crooked. So we hit the
media trail very hard went to all the main
stations, all the magazines, everything.
It just felt like, OK, its about to pop off.
It never did. Crooked was one of the
hardest rappers on the West Coast back
then lyrically, he could stand with anybody, says Jones. But he had no distribution and, ultimately, no album on
Death Row. Nearly all of the labels projects from that era suffered similar fates.
A lot of people didnt want to see Suge
succeed, Crooked says. People were intimidated by him. The ball would start
moving, and then it would just stop dead.
No one wanted to do business with
him, says Jones. He had no artists, radio
showed him no favours, his office building was in foreclosure, and there were all
kinds of tax liens and lawsuits. He had to
revert back to what he knew which was
the block.
We were getting into brawls, and our
CEO was throwing punches too, Crooked
says. Comic relief at the Death Row headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard was provided by a pet parrot squawking curse
words. Upon entering the office foyer,
guests were greeted by a painting depicting Dre being sodomised by a muscular
blond man, as Diddy, sporting a ballet
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
tutu, and a piglike Notorious B.I.G. look

on. Gangbangers roamed the halls, sometimes walking pit bulls on chains. People on the street looked at Death Row as
a gang more than a record label, adds
Crooked. I bought myself a vest, and
an arsenal a .357 Magnum and a P89
Ruger. Thats how real it was. I dont think
it will ever be like that again, and I dont
want it to be.
At the 2004 Vibe Awards ceremony in
Santa Monica, Knight allegedly paid an
associate to punch Dre as he prepared
to accept a lifetime achievement award
after which Dres attacker was stabbed,
apparently in retaliation, by G-Unit rapper Young Buck. (Buck was sentenced to
three years probation; his victim suffered
a collapsed lung; Knight was investigated
but never charged.) We were at the Vibe
Awards for one reason and one reason
w n
suge got out of
prison in 2001, he
was different. and
more notorious
than ever.
only: for a problem, admits Jones, who attended the event alongside Knight.
The authorities, meanwhile, were keeping an eye on Knight and Death Row.
There was pressure from the police,
Crooked remembers. If you were on
Death Row, your car and house were definitely marked. A cop would just knock
on your door and say, Were just checking on you. We know you Death Row rappers, we know how you all like to live.
One day in 2002, the L.A. County Sheriff s Department stormed the labels office
in a morning raid involving a gang-related
homicide. They made everyone get on the
ground, Crooked says. Then they cut up
the ceiling and took all the computers.
Crooked had enough: Im an artist. I got
tired of living this lifestyle and not putting
out music. (Crooked is currently signed to
Eminems Shady Records as a member of
rap supergroup Slaughterhouse, and also
performs as a solo artist.)
The nal blow for Death Row came in
2005, when Lydia Harris was awarded a
staggering $107 million damages judgment. Death Row had been started with
money from Harris then-husband, im-
prisoned drug dealer Michael Harry O

Harris. But her reasons for suing Knight
were personal as well as nancial. Years
had gone by, and then Suge got on national
TV, saying that I slept with so many guys,
says Harris, who was also awarded damages for defamation of character as part of
the larger lawsuit.
The following year, Death Row declared bankr uptcy, and the labels
assets were eventually liquidated and sold.
They auctioned off everything, Crooked
claims. They even sold Suges boxer briefs
that they found in the penthouse suite on
top of the Death Row building! Here was
one of the only African-American men to
own a major building on Wilshire Boulevard, and they sold the mans fucking
drawers. That either inspires you to get
up and create something even bigger or
you crumble up inside and become bitter.
Knights nances have never fully recuperated. He was recently in negotiations
to sell his life rights for lm, TV and technology projects to a company called Everlert. Its president, Mark Blankenship a
Yale-educated former attorney and onetime Republican congressional candidate
who sports a long braid down his back
says that, thanks to Knights latest ordeal,
those life rights are becoming more and
more valuable every day. But in the meantime, Blankenship says that Everlert had
to help pay the school tuition for Knights
young son Legend.
accor di ng to w r ight, the ba n kruptcy broke the man down. Knight
was busted for marijuana possession in
2005 (the charge was later dropped), and
in 2008 he was arrested for beating his
then- girlfriend Melissa Isaac while in
possession of Ecstasy and hydrocodone.
(Knight pleaded guilty to misdemeanour battery, was charged a $340 ne and
ordered to undergo counselling.) Suge
didnt do drugs back in the old days he
didnt smoke marijuana, or anything,
Michelle claims. All hed do was have a
glass of champagne to toast with at celebrations. That was it.
In 2005, at a party thrown by Kanye
West at Miami Beachs Shore Club before
the MTV Video Music Awards, Knight
was shot in the leg. The shooter according to federal documents obtained
by the Smoking Gun was allegedly paid
$10,000 to do so by Jimmy Henchman
Rosemond, a now-imprisoned cocaine
trafficker and former manager of rapper
the Game. I talked to Suge from the hospital, and he told me he accidentally shot
himself, which never made sense to me,
says Lloyd TaTa Lake, a former friend
and business associate. I discovered that
was a lie when a friend of mine told me
about a phone conversation hed hooked up
between Suge and Jimmy Henchman. He
quoted Jimmy as telling Suge, Keep my
motherfucking name out [Cont. on 104]
RollingStoneAus.com
73
THE
KING OF
COMEDY
Judd Apatow on his childhood, conquering
Hollywood and why he still feels like an outsider
By Jonah Weiner
udd apatow settles into the home office at

his Brentwood mansion one recent evening. Hes wearing
socks, jeans and a polo shirt. Messes of paper and books
cover every surface scripts he needs to read, novels and biographies he wants to. The mess is a tting visual corollary
to his neuroses, which, after all these years, still gnaw at
him. I have a very hard time ling things away, he says. Someone will come
in and straighten up, but then its back to looking like this in three days.
Over the past decade, Apatow has become the most prominent comedy-maker of our time. His name evokes not only a particular comedic tone
(heartfelt raunch) but also particular stars (Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Melissa McCarthy, all of whom he helped give big breaks), particular techniques (endless on-set improv, which he helped pioneer) and particular
gags (Steve Carell getting his chest waxed in The 40-Year-Old Virgin). Besides the just-released Trainwreck, with Amy Schumer, Apatow, 47, has directed four movies The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Funny People,
This Is 40 and as a producer he has shepherded Anchorman, Superbad,
Pineapple Express and Bridesmaids, among other smashes, to theatres.
To help inspire himself at the start of shooting Trainwreck, he returned
to doing stand-up for the rst time in decades. Stand-up was his rst
74
Photograph by Mark Seliger
Judd Apatow
love: As a teen, he interviewed comics like
Jerry Seinfeld and Garry Shandling for his
high school radio station. (These are included, alongside newer conversations, in
Sick in the Head, his recently published
collection of comedian interviews.) In his
twenties, he opened for his buddy Jim Carrey and wrote jokes for Roseanne Barr. He
was a driving force behind cult gems like
The Ben Stiller Show and Freaks and Geeks
shows that highlighted, respectively, his
twin interests in absurdity and naturalism.
More recently, Apatow helped Lena Dunham develop Girls.
Present these bullet points of his rsum to Apatow, though, and he demurs. Its about which collaborators
you luck into working with, he says.
And Ive been blessed to meet some
of the most talented people around.
Did your parents divorce drive you into
comedy?
When I was a kid, I wanted to move
to California I wanted to get out [of
Long Island]. Whatever was difficult in my
childhood, it was my motivation to get a job
and work hard. I never hear my kids say,
I gotta get the fuck out of Brentwood! or
The parking at Brentwood Country Mart
is awful! So I dont know if making their
lives stable is helping them or de-motivating them.
Whats it like where youre from on Long
Island?
I started in Woodbury, and then my
parents divorced and we moved to Syosset, next door. They separated when I was
in sixth grade, got back together, then separated again between eighth and ninth
grade, I think. Everyone in my neighbourhood, theyd start out living in a big house
and then their parents would divorce and
they would move to a condo a mile away. I
found a poem recently that I wrote when I
was 15, maybe 13, called Divorce. I wrote
it when I was a dishwasher at a comedy
club on the weekends. Its so funny but its
so sad. It predicts my entire life.
[Apatow walks to a backpack and retrieves the poem. It consists of couplets like
For me there was separation with lots of
tears/Going out with my friends, marijuana and beers; then, a few lines later, I cover
my pain with silly jokes/No more drugs or
beer, just Cokes. By the end, hes found a degree of solace in an imagined showbiz future: Maybe one day Ill be a big star, driving around in a big car, and I wont mind
that my parents split/Because it helped me
write my comedy shit.]
Its your career blueprint.
Isnt that crazy? I was trying to gure
out how to express all this. The next page
is Funny Stuff About Divorce. I tried to
Contributing editor Jonah Weiner
wrote about Courtney Barnett in RS 763.
RollingStoneAus.com
list whats funny about it, but a lot of these

things are really dark. It says, Charging
stuff , because my mother would charge
stuff on my dads credit card without permission. This is me trying to survive.
Its remarkable that you were already
treating your misery as potential material.
I always knew that Richard Pryors family ran a brothel was his mother a prostitute? His grandmother was the pimp. I
dont remember the details, but I remember
thinking, I wish I had something like that.
Your mum moved out and you stayed
with your dad. Did you take his side?
They separated and my mum moved to
Southampton. I said, Im not leaving. I
was close with my best friends Ronnie and
Kevin, and I was not gonna change schools.
Later, I talked to my mum right before
she died, and she said she thought she
would only be gone for a couple of weeks: I
thought we would get right back together.
But your dad had a girlfriend, and she
moved in.
My mum made me feel like just living
with my dad was a betrayal. . . . There was
a lot of energy from her, like, How can
you talk to him? And
she never took it back. In
modern times, people say
terrible things and then
that night they say, Im
sorry, I got upset, this is
a really hard situation.
My mum never said that,
my whole childhood, after
going on a run of hurt.
That puts you on guard
emotionally, it shuts you
down.
Your brother came from
the same situation and is
now an Orthodox Jew in
Israel.
Me, him and my sister, we were all split up
between my parents
we werent around each
other enough to be a normal, healthy unit. I get
along really well with my
sister today. But as kids
we had no tools to support each other. We were
all just winging it. My
brother was looking for
something he could use
to make sense of everything. And that became Judaism.
And for you it was comedy.
You get lucky that the thing you use as
your defence mechanism actually turns out
to be a way you can make a living. I could
have been into playing the spoons! I lucked
out that the thing I wanted to do turned out
to be a business that gets bigger every year.
No one was interested in it when I was a
kid. Back then, Im just alone in a library,
looking up articles about Lenny Bruces
death, not mentioning it to anybody. I had

to wait till I was 17 and I moved to L.A. to
nd like-minded people.
Please tell me about the time Jim Henson
basically called you unlikable.
Henson was trying to put together a
show where comedians travelled across the
country with video cameras. Adam Sandler
and I made an audition, with David Spade,
I think. We all got turned down. But when
I didnt get the job, the feedback was Jim
Henson would like to pay you a thousand
dollars for all of your ideas for the show,
but he thought you lacked warmth. It
only would have been worse if Mr. Rogers said it.
It was probably incredibly accurate on
some level not about warmth, but my condence was so low I was tight and probably still is, honestly, in life and art. Ive been
talking about that onstage [during standup sets] because it was my worst fear.
One of your longest friendships has been
with Sandler. Why is a guy as talented as
him making junk like Grown Ups, much
less Grown Ups 3?
I dont think you need to call it junk, because thats hurtful. Its
a naked thing to try to
make people happy and
try to express yourself
that way. And the culture
is brutal on anything they
dont like instantly, and
theyre especially tough
on people who have had
success. . . . Sandler said
something interesting
after we did Funny People. He said a lot of people think movies like that
one, or Punch-Drunk
Love, should be held up
higher than the hard-funny movies, but we know
how its as difficult, or
maybe way more difficult,
to make You Dont Mess
With the Zohan. When
comedy is done well, it
seems effortless.
Funny People and
This Is 40 didnt do as
well at the box office as
your first two movies.
Maybe part of the reason
is they arent about outsiders or losers, like The 40-Year-Old Virgin
and Knocked Up were.
Now that some of the movies have been
out for a while, I have people talking about
moments in This Is 40 that they relate to
what its about connects with people as they
reach certain moments in their lives. . . . I
write movies about bromances and being
immature, and at some point I have to write
movies about fatherhood and being sick
and mortality. Everyone is guring out how
to be creative in the next phase of their life.
My mum
made me
feel like just
living with
my dad was
a betrayal.
She never
took it back.
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
Youve said you came at comedy as an

outsider someone whose comedic fuel was
being the small kid picked last. Do success
and power make it harder to be funny?
The feeling of being the little kid never
goes away. The other day, I was in a restaurant and the head of Sony was there with
someone else from Sony. I walked over to
the table and I didnt have any clue what
to say, so I just said [his voice gets disconcertingly, awkwardly loud], Hey, hows
it going! Theyre like, ...Hi. And I went,
What do you guys eat here? One of them
said, The sh. I thought, Im such an idiot.
Early in your career, you kept making
shows that got cancelled. Were those early
played ball with executives and took their

notes more graciously, right?
None of my yelling had seemed to have
done anything positive. So I realised I
should listen and see what their concerns
are. Some I agreed with, some I didnt, but
there was a solution to all of them. I tried to
spin everything they were concerned about
into something positive. They said, Steve
Carell looks like a serial killer he looks
like Jeffrey Dahmer. Then we said, Maybe
we should talk about that in the movie, and
that became a part of the story.
What made you get back to stand-up?
I interviewed Pearl Jam about their last
record, and I thought, When you write a
MARY CYBULSKI/UNIVERSAL PICTURES
FUNNY PEOPLE
Apatow with Schumer and Bill Hader on the set of Trainwreck.
Schumer helped Apatow get back into stand-up.
failures programs like The Ben Stiller

Show and Freaks and Geeks the audiences fault, the networks fault or the
shows fault?
You never nd out. You can say, Freaks
and Geeks was on only 12 times over 26
weeks, so how was it gonna nd its audience? Or you could say, It didnt set the
world on re right away we werent Empire! But we were on Saturday night, up
against Cops, they moved us to Tuesday,
and we felt there wasnt a lot of marketing
energy behind it. But it feels like everyone
has seen it now.
It was ahead of its time in a few ways.
Yeah. Today, it would be a hit! At that
time you couldnt survive with 7 million
viewers. I was like, Maybe Im fringier
than I thought. Maybe this is the equivalent of a Replacements record I like the
Replacements more than almost everything in the Top 40.
Directing The 40-Year-Old Virgin, you
nally had a hit. In part its because you
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
song that connects with people, the rest of

your life you just sing it and have this communion with the audience, and you get
pure joy. You get none of that as a lmmaker. That was in my head: Wheres my
concert where I can play the greatest hits?
So I said to Amy Schumer, Write up
some premises for jokes for me, and Ill
write the jokes. She would send me areas,
like what if instead of having girls I had
boys. Then I started remembering some
stories I told on talk shows, and I put a set
together. After about six months of sets,
I gured out my older-comic voice, and I
think I did a better job on the movie.
Youve lately come to be seen as a champion of funny women onscreen, whether
its producing Bridesmaids and Girls
or working with Schumer on Trainwreck.
Was this a conscious move?
There was no political agenda for me.
Im not bumping into ve male Lena Dunhams Im turning down. Im not meeting
tons of Amy Schumers Im turning down.
Theres a perception that youre using

your stature to help break down barriers.
There havent been anywhere near
enough movies made by women, written
by women, starring women its all fresh
terrain, and thats exciting. Theres not a big
run of Gilda Radner movies we were left
with. A lot of these people didnt get those
opportunities, and they should have. But I
look at it more as a fan I want to see Amy
Schumer in a movie.
There is something lowercase-c conservative about the value your movies place
on building or protecting the family unit.
I like the family unit. I could make a
movie that ends with everyone being single
and deciding they dont like each other, but
thats not such a bold move to make. Theres
only so many ways to end these movies.
One common rap against you is that you
dont know when to end them.
Im rarely trying to compress time. Im
trying to slow life down so it never ends,
and that may be why all the movies are 15
minutes longer than some people would
want them to be. But then, I always say,
Youll go home and watch 11 episodes of
Breaking Bad in a row, so fuck you, I want
my 15 minutes!
How long did you hold out before searching for your own name in the hacked Sony
e-mail database?
I didnt. I didnt do it. My assistant took a
peek, and after 20 seconds I said, Lets not
do this. But the stuff that came out early
was really funny because it was me asking
for things and Sony saying no. Me wanting
to make Pineapple Express 2 at a certain
budget and them forwarding the e-mails to
each other saying no.
Sandlers character in Funny People,
George Simmons, is diagnosed with a rare
blood disease. Is one of the subtexts that
being a comedian having that personality and wiring is almost a worse fate than
having that kind of condition?
My mum died in 2008, and I was writing Funny People while she was sick. I had
one idea about someone who got sick and
learned nothing from it, then I had an idea
about how it felt to be a young comedian mentored by older comedians. Then
I realised it can be the same movie. But
it was written in deep sorrow. I noticed
that whenever she thought she was gonna
die, she seemed happier, and let go of her
neuroses.
Another thing about Simmons is that
hes in this huge mansion, sort of like the
one were in now, and hes miserable. Youve
said that as an entertainer, all the success
in the world wont heal you.
It doesnt do anything. There is a great
distraction in thinking, When I get to the
top of that hill, its all gonna be awesome.
And then when you get to the top of the
hill, youre like, Oh, I guess now I have to
really deal with my problems, because that
didnt work at all.
RollingStoneAus.com
77
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is on her way to a meeting in Santa Mon- al-time chats with fans, giving makeica. She hates being late.
up tutorials and showcasing her favouDoes this sound pretty dull? Yes, but its rite clothes. Its a digitally constructed
the stuff that Kardashian has spun into Kardashian world, on top of the rest of
gold, transforming herself from a beau- the world, which Kardashian has already
tiful but average L.A. girl into one of the made bend to her will. Narcissism isnt
worlds top pop icons and megabrands. Kardashians thing, per se; its solipsism,
She is everywhere in the media, from or a mode of living in which the world outE!s Keeping Up With the Kardashians, side the self doesnt really, materially exist
her 10-season-long TV show thats aired thats the key here. In the past, shes put
in 160 countries and spawned numer- it this way: Her life is like living on The
ous spinoffs, to her mobile game, which Truman Show.
has been downloaded 33 million times,
Now the group turns to a pack of Kimto high-fashion magazines, which have, ojis submitted by a graphic designer. I
rst grudgingly and then enthusiastical- wanted to do really fun, different emoly, accepted that the perfect, punctual, jis that you dont see on your phone, says
prettiest daughter of this extraordinarily Kardashian, then asks the group, Is this
powerful matriarchal clan is a force with designer Kanye-approved?
whom they must reckon.
Wielding a pen, she mulls over a long
And as much as her thoughts and ac- list of possible emojis, a mix of objects
tions on this Earth may be quotidian, that shes come into contact with as well
the way she looks is out of this world. As as people she knows, striking those that
she strides into the meeting precisely on dont meet her approval. A Speedo doesnt
time and in an outt made up of colours mean anything to me, same with discofound exclusively in nature dark-green ball earrings, she says. She pauses at
ankle-length dress, sand-coloured lace- emojis of the other Kardashian women,
up sandals and tree-bark Cline purse raising the pen a little before swiping
the effect is like a photorealistic painting, meaning
that the Kardashian on
the TV screen feels more
real than the Kardashian in the room. Shes a
jungle Aphrodite escaped
from a forest of big-booYoung
Her late father,
In the past
ty nymphs, with a mane
Kim
m
Robert, was on
decade,
as thick as a horses and
gre
ew up
O.J. Simpsons
in L.A.
legal team.
shes gone
as black as volcanic rock.
from Paris
Her eyelashes utter like
Hiltons
teeny-tiny go-go dancers
fans. Her nails are small,
BFF to
elegant talons, painted a
reality star
colour that manages to be
to postboth onyx and the bloodimodern
est red. But it is Kardashimultigenre
ans body that is the thing,
mogul.
of course, and today, as
always, her clothing is so
tight it feels transgressive,
clinging in particular to
that strange, glorious butt, a formerly again: I dont want any family members
taboo body part that is now not only an in it, she says. Theyll all want a piece.
inescapable part of the American erotic She keeps going. But I love a waist trainbut also our best and most welcome dis- er, and a Kylie lip. A fur-kini is kind of
traction from climate change, income in- cute, and a patent pink dress. She smiles.
equality and ISIS.
Oh, a pregnant belly. I cant believe I
Kardashian, 34, is poised as she takes didnt think of that.
a seat at a conference table, greeting,
ardashian may not come off
My team who is putting together our
as book smart, but she is extremenew website experience I dont know
ly savvy and possesses a high EQ,
if I want to call it a website, to disreboth of which are much more valuspect it. Whalerock Industries develable in this day and age. The TV
ops Web-based, magazine-like, subscripself and Kardashians real self are
tion-centred media on the Oprah model.
pretty much the same, she says,
It streams from her glam room and rewhen asked to dene the differVa nessa Grigoriadis wrote about
ence. When Im filming, when Im in
the founders of Tinder in November.
my most comfortable state, at my home,
The Unstoppable
Unstoppa
Rise
of Kim Kardashian
80
ROLLING STONE
with my family I cant get any more

comfortable than that. . . . But theres
so much more to me than that, and I
believe that I am so much smarter than
Im portrayed.
Who could have foreseen that in 2015
the Kardashians would be the most interesting story in America? But in terms
of cultural fault lines, sometimes it seems
like Kim Kardashians creamy thighs bestride an entire nation. Shes the immigrant daughter done good, the worlds
most famous A rmenian-A mer ican.
Shes an interracial pioneer, a Caucasian
woman married to a black rapper who
pushes the boundaries of race not only
in music, but also by demanding a ticket
into the predominantly European club of
fashion and design. Shes at once a sexual
muse sparking creativity in her husband,
and also a working mum. Shes outrageously feminine in an era of sex-role instability and gender-queer Miley, and also
the stepdaughter of Caitlyn (nee Bruce)
Jenner, the most famous transgender
woman in the world. (When I share these
thoughts with Kardashian, however, she
As she learned to
court fame with Paris
Hilton, wed just go
anywhere to be seen,
Kardashian says.
Her prom date
was Michael
Jacksons
nephew TJ.
says, I dont look at myself like that. But

my husband would.)
Kardashian is also at once extraordinarily human dont you want to hear
about the way she does her makeup?
and a master of what critic Jerry Saltz
has called the new uncanny, or art that
blurs the line between human and a robot
pretending to be a human. In her video
game, you not only can change her clothes
and hairstyle, but eye colour and skin colour. And over the course of the several
times we meet, her skin shifts from a deep
equatorial brown to a laid-out-in-Palm
Springs honey to a morning soy creamer,
depending on the makeup and tanning
spray. Something about Kim is very appealing to digital natives, says prominent
PREVIOUS PAGE: PROP STYLING BY ANDY HARMAN AT LALALAND ARTISTS.

SWIMSUIT BY JEREMY SCOTT FOR ADIDAS
I
K
tech journalist and Re/code editor Kara

Swisher. Kardashian also says things like
this: When I go on vacation, I only go to
the beach certain times of the day, and lay
out by the pool the rest of the time, because the sun is often too at, and if someone takes a picture of her, shell get caught
looking less Kim Kardashian-like than
shed like. In Miami, Ill get up at six and
swim in the ocean at seven in the morning right before the harsh sun comes up
and the pictures always look amazing.
What else makes Kardashian so weirdly appealing? At one point, I begin telling her that I also think that in a country of dysfunctional families, the fact that
her family communicates is also amazing, but all I can get out is and the other
thing about you thats appealing before she interrupts to say, Right, I think
its great that the show is aspirational. I started off in a small apartment,
and now Im in this huge home. That
someone might not find the Kardashians aspirational is simply something she
would not consider. Shes not conf licted about the point of life: Its to be happy
the woman who has made a science of the

sele, as Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom
puts it, adding, Instagram wouldnt be
the same without Kim.
Today, at rst, theres a ban on seles,
enforced by a bodyguard and put into
place in order to move people through as
quickly as possible. After staring into the
eyes of too many devastated teenagers,
Kardashian soon overturns this decree.
If youre fast, you can take a sele, she
says, decisively. Thats what the books
about. Fans rotate in at an incredible
clip, blurting out, Youre like a Barbie!
or, You are a role model for my daughters, or, I want to say, Fuck the haters,
because youre amazing. Girls in pink bedazzled shirts reading all hail kkw tell
her they missed school for this Oh, no,
I dont want to get you in trouble!
At the sight of her, gay men cry, and
then recover quickly to take the perfect
sele. There are grandmas, a few straight
guys and lots of people who just dont look
like they should be here, which is what
makes it hard to identify the half dozen or
so animal-rights activists with sleeve tat-
Ki on Kanye:
Kim
K
Were opposites.
I calm him
down, and
he pumps
me up.
On the sex tape:

I dont really
think about it.
When I get over
something, I get
over it.
Keeping Up With the

Kardashians debuted
in 2007, spawning
several spinoff s and
making them the rst
family of reality TV.
THIS SPREAD, FROM LEFT: KIM KARDASHIAN/INSTAGRAM; COURTESY, 2;

CHRIS WOLF/FILMMAGIC; JEFF VESPA/WIREIMAGE; BERTRAND RINDOFF
PETROFF/GETTY IMAGES; TAYLOR HILL/GETTY IMAGES
he activists waited outside

Barnes & Noble for Kardashian,
but she outsmarted them, sending her car to idle at the front door
while she sailed through the side.
Today in Santa Monica, though,
there isnt anyone on her tail, not
even paparazzi. I love these days
when no ones following, she says, stepping
into a black SUV and heading to Hillstone
restaurant for lunch. Talking to Kardashian can be fun when we rst met, we spent
20 minutes talking about how we dont like
dogs, and the kind of dogs we dont like
I am so not the type of girl who carries a
dog in my purse, she explains though at
other times, shes like a politician, answering the question she wants to hear instead
of the one she was asked.
In an orange leather booth toward the
back of Hillstone, Kardashian orders an
average-size meal: grilled artichokes with
a side of rmoulade, French fries and a veggie burger without the bun. Her weight is
a touchy issue. She eats about half of what
shes served, with perfect table manners
and a neatness that includes absent-mind-
With her mum

and mentor, Kris.
Between all us girls,,
we have 300 million
followers on social
media, says Kris.
and make money, and shes doing both.

Kardashian is a nice person theres
no way to spend time with her and not
come away with that impression.
Does she hear the haters, sharpening
their sticks over her Pandora-like release
of crass commercialism and oversharing
on the world? She doesnt read anything
about herself anymore, not tabloids, no
Google alerts, nothing. Nevertheless, the
hate came to her one day in May at Barnes
& Noble in Manhattan at the book signing
of Selsh, a book consisting of a collection
of her seles from the past eight years. Inside the midtown shop, she sat on a carpeted dais surrounded by 300 fans, few
of whom had shown up for a signed book
they wanted seles with their sele idol,
toos and gauge earrings in the line, who

wait until theyre right in front of Kardashians dais before beginning to attack.
Fifty animals skinned for one fur coat,
and you dress your kid like that? they
angrily shriek at Kardashian. Shame on
you! Youre the most disgusting human
being on the planet!
Kardashians face freezes, the lips in a
rictus grin. This is a special day, and they
will not ruin it she will not allow it. The
bodyguard disappears the angry activists, and soon everythings back to normal, with another teenage fan worshiping
at the altar. Youve inspired me to be hot
and famous, she says. The two of them
take a pouty-face sele. Aw, says Kardashian. I love you.
81
ROLLING STONE
edly folding and unfolding her white cloth

napkin after the meal has been cleared.
For a while, Kardashian talks about
growing up, the way that her dad, Robert,
was the disciplinarian and her mum, Kris,
a born-and-bred California girl who met
Robert at a racetrack while clad in a snappy outt paired with a necklace reading oh
shit, was a fun-loving yet warlike Mother
Goddess who would do anything to protect her baby gods: Khloe, a spitre Athena, with a thunderbolt of jokes; Kourtney,
puss-faced Hestia, keeping close to the
house; Rob, a jolly Apollo; and Kim, steady
and sweet. From Armenia, Robert Kardashians family immigrated to California
early in the 20th century and pursued the
American dream by making a fortune in
A
M
the meatpacking industry. Robert got out

of the family business and was a success,
founding the inuential music-industry
publication and conference Radio & Records, and then selling music and videos
to movie theatres to run before the lms.
Music was always such a huge part of
our life, says Kim. As kids, we were at
concerts like Michael Jackson every weekend. My first concert was Earth, Wind
and Fire. I was so young we were walking to our seats, the lights went off,
and I was so scared. She describes
superstar manager Irving Azoff as
being as close as an uncle. He says
the young Kim was a bright light
destined for great things, and always a great little businesswoman. I
coached her soccer team and, once,
she said, I dont want to play goalie, but for $100 Ill be goalie, and
she actually convinced me to give
it to her.
A s an adolescent, she liked
Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder, and played Mary J. Blige and
Jodeci on her bedroom record player. I still make mix CDs, she says. I
have an older computer with a disk
drive so I can do it. In high school,
she was obsessed with NSync and
the Backstreet Boys really obsessed, though I was more of a Backstreet girl. She also listened to
Snoop, Dre and Ice Cube. Did she
daydream about being a girl in a
rap video? No, she says. The runners at my dads office would say, I
cant wait until shes 18, I want to
go on a date with her, and Id be
like, Not a chance, get away. I always had a boyfriend. I loved having a boyfriend.
In her teens, she dated TJ Jackson, Michael Jacksons nephew, for several years.
Her dad explained to me that hes had a
lot of interracial friends, and it might not
be the easiest relationship. He said I should
prepare myself for people to say things to
me. . . . When I was growing up, when I was
in high school, Id get magazines and see
interracial couples and think, They are so
cute. Ive always been attracted to a certain kind of look. Of the Jacksons, she
says, They were the nicest family Ive ever
met. . . . Michael denitely was never this
disreputable person.
When Kardashian was 10 years old, her
parents divorced, with her mother quickly marrying Jenner. The kids split their
time between their parents homes, though
Kim was living at her dads house when
O.J. Simpson was accused of murder in
1994. Simpson briey moved into Roberts
house, living in Khloes room. It was surreal, with Johnnie Cochran and Robert
Shapiro and all these guys having meetings at my dads house, she says. Kris was
I
H
N
A
close with Nicole Brown Simpson and believed that O.J. was guilty, creating a massive amount of tension in the family. I definitely took my dads side, Kim says. We
just always thought my dad was the smartest person in the world, and he really believed in his friend. As far as what she believes now, she says, Its weird. I just try
not to think about it.
Kardashian doesnt drink or do drugs
except for five shots of vodka in Vegas
MOGUL, MODEL, MOTHER

With daughter North. Does she want
to be remembered as a businesswoman
or a sex symbol? Both, she says.
You can have it all.
every three years, she says. Envisioning

herself as a clothing-boutique owner, she
took college classes locally but didnt graduate, and her rebellion from her family,
if there was one, was her getting secretly
married to music producer Damon Thomas at 20. She was a teenager then, and
teenagers do a lot of crazy things, Kris
Jenner says. Kardashian explains it this
way: I was very happy at home learning
how to cook and clean and keep a house. I
knew that was where I wanted to end up.
In 2003, Robert Kardashian died suddenly of cancer, and in 2004, Kims marriage broke up. Soon, she was rolling with
Paris Hilton and the celebutante crew.
Wed go anywhere and everywhere just to
be seen, Kardashian says, matter-of-factly. We knew exactly where to go, where
to be seen, how to have something writ-
82
ROLLING STONE
ten about you. All you had to do is go to

this restaurant, or this party, talk about
whatever you want to talk about, and it
would be in the paper the next day. What
about the phase when some members of
the clique, most notably Lindsay Lohan
and Paris Hilton, were caught by paps exiting cars without underwear? I rarely
wear underwear, but that never happened
to me, she says. I was never drinking. . . . I
think that saved me a lot.
In 2007, she passed Hilton in
terms of popularity by enduring
an infamous sex-tape scandal. She
heard rumours in L.A. that the tape
she made with her ex-boyfriend Ray
J, the singer Brandys kid brother,
was making the rounds, but I just
never thought [the rumours] were
real, she says. Then, I was on a trip
to New York, and Id landed, and
then someone called me maybe
my sister? I didnt have a Blackberry then. . . . I think I went right to
my mums house, and she was there
with me every step of the way. She
didnt call me screaming or call me
crying. She was just there. She was
like, I dont know what you want me
to do. So we went through it. How
did she stay sane? There was a period of time when I just stayed home.
Khloes like, Ive never met someone
whos moved back in with her mother as many times as you.
Given that Hilton had experience
with a sex tape too, did Kardashian commiserate with Hilton about
the scandal? No, she says. I dont
think she was that happy. We didnt
really talk about it. I probably would
have thought, Oh, my gosh, let me
give her advice, but we had no communication. But our friendship had zzled
before that. Did she ever gure out who
leaked the tape? We did, and were in
major condentiality, so I cant talk about
it. Does she still think about the fact that a
great deal of humanity has seen her in agrante? She folds the napkin in half, and
then in a neat square. I dont really think
about it, she says quietly. I thought about
it for a long time. But when I get over something, I get over it.
s k a r dashi a n finishes her

meal, saying, Ive got to get this
food out of my face, I ask the question that must be put to her after
Lena Dunham, a prominent feminist if there ever was one, posed,
unironically, with a copy of Selfish: Kim Kardashian, are you a
feminist?
Ive never really been one on labels, and
I dont like to push my view, she says, folding the napkin again. If I feel something,
its how I feel. I never say, I feel this way, so
JOSIAH KAMAU/BUZZFOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES
I
K
you should feel that way. Not that theres

anything wrong with it, but I just am who
I am. But, yeah. She smiles. I think you
would call me a feminist.
Kardashian has not extensively studied the knowledge found in schools; she
draws money and power toward her by the
force of intuition. On her show, she and
her sisters have their own language on issues more complex than glam rooms: They
dont know things, they feel things; they
dont want something, they deserve it. At
the same time that they have championed
the waist-trainer product, which bears
much resemblance to a Victorian corset,
they also exhibit an attitude toward their
bodies that can only be called revolutionary. Women have long asked for fair vagina
representation in media, for their vaginas
not only to be sexual objects but
to smell and bleed and pop out babies, and on their show, Kardashian vaginas do all that and more,
which is very different than other
pop-culture vaginas.
And if you doubt they are inuential, consider that between all
us girls, we have 300 million followers on social media, says Kris.
Here is the way Kardashian describes some of her seles: I do
shoots that are nude, and I dont
want to say every girl, but all my
girlfriends send me these sexy selfies of themselves, she says. Just
being like, Oh, my God, Ive been working out for two weeks look at how good
of shape Im in. Girls send them to each
other. I dont want to say its normal, but its
just what Ive been used to. . . . And I think
its part of the whole sele phenomenon.
So its not about the male gaze? I guess
not, she says uncertainly. You wouldnt
send the picture if you didnt like it.
I next ask, But when you look at sexy
pictures of yourself, is it sexually exciting? She shakes her head violently, quickly changing the subject. So I say, In 20
years, do you want to be remembered as a
sex symbol or a businesswoman or what?
She says, Both. I think you can be both.
You can have it all.
We start talking about West. Is she his
muse, or is he her consort? Heres the way
she describes their relationship: I think
were definitely opposites. I calm him
down, and he pumps me up. When theyre
home, I ask, does West rant and rave while
shes secretly praying he would be quiet?
No, she says, stiffening a little. At home,
he loves to watch movies. Anything animated hell watch with North.
West doesnt want to be on Keeping Up
With the Kardashians, which is why he
isnt, most of the time. And I respect that,
she says. You cant expect me to jump up
onstage and start singing its not what
I do. But he has spent the past few years
dressing his wife. The makeover Kanye

has given me is amazing, she says. Shes
set a fashion trend pairing a blouse as
tight as a leotard with an overcoat and
was early to the current contouring fad in
makeup. Im obsessed with contouring,
she says. My nose is a completely different nose because of contouring. Would
she have started wearing runway fashion
if she hadnt married West? No, she says,
then reconsiders. Well, you know what? I
think it would have taken me a lot longer
to gure it out.
West is the product of a strong mother,
to whom he was famously devoted, and it
makes sense that hes found his way into
the Kardashian matriarchy. If Kris says
she is Kims twin soul, and Kim says
shes Kanyes twin soul, where does Kris
KARDASHIAN SAYS
KANYE REACTED TO
CAITLYN JENNERS
CHANGE BY SAYING,
IF YOU CANT BE
AUTHENTIC AND
YOU CANT LIVE
YOUR LIFE, WHAT
DO YOU HAVE?
t into Kim and Kanyes relationship? A
lot of people dont see the real, soft, wonderful side of Kanye, says Kris. We fell in
love with who Kim fell in love with. I will
never be able to replace the relationship
he had with his mum, but I sure can make
him know hes loved, unconditionally, and
we would do anything for him.
But what about the matriarchys relationship to the men in their lives? Many
who have heard their siren call end up on
the rocks, one way or another. Marriages ounder, substance problems are rampant, and even brother Rob has vanished
from the TV show. Its not that mysterious, whats happening with Rob, Kardashian says. He has gained weight. He
feels uncomfortable being on the show,
and thats OK. She pauses. Do I think he
smokes weed, drinks beer, hangs out and
plays video games with his friends all day
long? Yes. Is she sure that its not more like
hookers and meth at the Ritz? No, no, she
says, laughing a little. Or hed be skinny.
The situation with Caitlyn Jenner is
more complicated. Id heard a rumour
when I was 11 or 12 that he was caught
cross-dressing, she says. And then, when
she was 22, she walked in on Jenner
dressed up in the garage. I was shaking,
she says. I didnt know if Id just found
out his deepest, darkest secret, and he was
going to come after me. I grabbed my duf-
83
ROLLING STONE
fel bag . . . ran out to the car. Jenner called

her on the phone a half hour later, and said,
One day, Ill talk to you about this. Until
then, dont tell a soul. I said, OK. Eight
years later, when she was 30 years old, he
said, Lets have that talk.
Before their wedding, Kardashian told
West what she knew about Jenner. I
wasnt sure if Bruce was going to be comfortable walking me down the aisle. He
had just had his trachea shaved, so I knew
something was going on. I thought that
Kanye should know that this is the reality about one of his daughters grandparents. She was afraid of what West might
think. [Kanye] obviously moves to his
own drum, she says. He lives his life the
way he wants, a really authentic life, and
he was like, If you cant be authentic and
you cant live your life, what do
you have?
ack in the su v a fter

the mea l, K a rda shia n
starts talking about her
blonde hair, and the way
gossip blogs were confused
about why she so quickly
dyed it back to black. She
wanted it dark for a trip
to Armenia, plus what pregnant
woman wants chemicals on her
hair? Id have done anything for
this [pregnancy] to work out, she
says, then looks at me hard. Its a
scoop, I think am I grateful? Anyway,
she says, turning to look out the window,
thats one of the reasons I dyed it back.
She pats her stomach. That was the most
satisfying meal, you have no idea. Its going
to keep me full.
What else should one know about Kim
Kardashian? Shes a prolific handwritten-thank-you-card sender, and a devoted watcher of Dateline and forensic TV
shows. Shes not allergic to anything and
doesnt usually drink coffee because shes
not into the taste. She wont eat anything
with mustard or sardines, escargot, anything like that. Kanye can be more of a
fancy eater than me. Shes taking piano
lessons is that hard? Um, I mean, its just
if you put the time into it, she says. Shes
also a car girl: Cars dont mean anything
to Kanye he hasnt bought a new car in
seven years. I have a personal relationship
to my cars. She adds, I love, love, love a
Rolls-Royce. I know this may sound bratty,
but Ill own up to it: Its the best car if you
have kids, spacewise. Its low, and I like a
low car to put in the car seat and the baby.
The SUV begins rolling into the loading dock of a furniture store, where shes
meeting Kris and Kylie to tape a little bit
of the TV show. If the show were a total lie,
it would never work; but one imagines that
it is not completely real, either. Oh, good,
the lighting panel is here, [Cont. on 104]
Up
Last year, a young man
walked into the Seattle
airport and took the
the
next ight to anywhere

and he hasnt come
down since
B y B e n Wo f f o r d
he boarding procedure has barely started at Chicago OHare,

and Ben Schlappig has
already taken over the
rst-class cabin. Inside Cathay Pacific Flight 807 bound for Hong Kong,
hes passing out a couple of hundred
dollars worth of designer chocolates
to a small swarm of giggling ight attendants. The six suites in this leather-bound playpen of faux mahogany and fresh-cut owers comprise the
inner sanctum of commercial ight
that few ever witness. Theyre mostly
empty now, save for two men in their
Ph o t o g r a p h s b y
Bryan Derballa
84 | R ol l i n g S t o n e | RollingStoneAus.com
Terminal
Life
Ben Schlappig
in one of the
many airports
he calls home.
He says this
year he has
own more
than 645,000
kilometres.
Up
in the
Air
twenties who seem even giddier than the ight attendants. The
two stand to greet him. This is so cool! exclaims one, and soon
Schlappig is ordering champagne for everyone.
This sort of thing happens to Schlappig nearly everywhere he
goes. On this trip, his fans will witness Schlappigs latest mission:
a weekend jaunt that will slingshoot him across East Asia Hong
Kong, Jakarta, Tokyo and back to New York, in 69 hours. Hell
rarely leave the airports, and when he does hell rest his head
only in luxury hotels. With wide ears, Buddy Holly glasses and a
shock of strawberry-blond hair, Schlappig resembles Ralphie from
A Christmas Story if hed grown up to become a J. Crew model.
Back beyond the curtain in business class, a dozen jowly faces
cast a stony gaze on the crescendos of laughter and spilled champagne another spoiled trust-fund kid, theyve judged, living
off his parents largesse. But Schlappig has a job. This is his job.
Schlappig, 25, is one of the biggest stars among an elite group
of obsessive yers whose mission is to outwit the airlines. Theyre
self-styled competitors with a singular objective: y for free, as
much as they can, without getting caught. In the past 20 years,
the Internet has drawn together this strange band of savants with
an odd mix of skills: the digital talent of a code writer, a lawyers
love affair with ne print, and a passion for airline bureaucracy. Its a whirring hive mind of IT whizzes, stats majors, aviation nerds and everyone else you knew who skipped the formal.
Schlappig owes his small slice of fame to his blog One Mile
at a Time, a diary of a young man living the life of the worlds
most implausible airline ad. Posting as often as six times a day,
he metes out meticulous counsel on the art of travel hacking
known in this world as the Hobby. Its not simply how-to tips
that draw his fans, its the vicarious thrill of Schlappigs nonstop-luxury life one recent ight with a personal shower and
butler service, or the time Schlappig was chauffeured across
a tarmac in a Porsche. But his fans arent just travel readers
theyre gamers, and Schlappig is teaching them how to win.
Im very fortunate in that I do what I love, says Schlappig,
stretching out in an ergonomic armchair as we reach 30,000 feet
and just before the mushroom consomm arrives. In the past year,
since ditching the Seattle apartment he shared with his ex-boyfriend, hes own more than 645,000 kilometres, enough to circumnavigate the globe 16 times. Its been 43 exhausting weeks
since he slept in a bed that wasnt in a hotel, and he spends an
city I could ever live in. The 16-hour trip has become so routine
that its begun to feel like a pajama-clad blur of champagne and
caviar or, in Schlappigs terminology, a two-hangover ight.
As the sun descends over the polar circle, a recumbent Schlappig loses himself in a 2 Broke Girls marathon playing on a freestanding atscreen. The fact is, we are beating the airlines at
their own game, he said last year at a gathering of the Hobbys
top talent. The people who run these programs are idiots. Then
he paused. And well always be one step ahead of them.
chlappig wasnt so much introduced

to his xation as he was raised by it. Born
in New York, he became obsessed with airplanes as a small child, endlessly reciting
aircraft models and issuing ight announcements from the back of his parents car. Benjamin was always different than my two other
boys, says his mum, Barbara. Teachers told
me, Hes ahead of everything. He was bored.
Around age 13, he discovered the website FlyerTalk, a massive
free-for-all forum of all things airline, where users meet to strategise over deals, test for cracks in the bureaucracy and share the
spoils. There, Schlappig found a global community playing a massively complex game set upon three basic components.
One of the fundamental steps a Hobbyist can take is choosing
an airline to compete for top-tier loyalty status; Schlappig chose
United. Nothing was free up front the object of the game was
a return on investment. A Hobbyist doesnt spend unless he can
get the same or greater value in return. It took Schlappig about
a year to master the dozens of convoluted techniques, exploiting
mistakes in ticketing algorithms and learning the ins and outs of
the frequent-yer programs airlines had created after deregulation in the late 1970s. The second leg of the game is credit cards
collecting and cancelling as many as possible, and deploying a
series of tricks to reap the reward points that bank-and-airlinecard partnerships would virtually give away. As he delved deeper,
Schlappig learned about a third level, a closely guarded practice
called Manufacture Spend, where Hobbyists harness the power
of the multitudes of credit cards in their pockets. Airline-affiliated credit cards award points for every dollar spent,
so over the decades, Hobbyists manipulated the system by putting purchases on credit cards without ultimately spending anything at all. At its simplest, this
included purchasing dollar coins from the U.S. Mint
with a credit card and immediately using them to pay
off the charge. Schlappig read one detailed post after
another that insisted Manufacture Spend was the
only true way to y for free like sliding a coin into
a slot machine and yanking it back with clear string.
Eventually, the best way he learned to visualise
this bureaucratic gamesmanship was to see it as a series of table
games on a sprawling casino oor and if the airlines were the
house, Schlappig realised, the Hobbyists were the card-counters.
Exceptionally bright and equally motivated, Schlappig saw a
way of convincing his parents: by showing them how they could
visit family in Germany paying less in rst class than ying economy. From there, his parents grew to fully indulge his obsession.
By the time he was 15, they were delivering him to the airport on
Saturdays and retrieving him Sunday nights at baggage claim. It
was an interesting hobby, says his dad, Arno, as cicadas chirp
outside the St. Petersburg, Florida, condo their son bought them
after the blog took off. I said, Hey! Keep it up. Its better than
smoking pot. On a typical weekend, Schlappig would hopscotch
to the West Coast and back Tampa, Chicago, San Francisco,
L.A., never exiting the airports. Some of his friends knew, Arno
says. The teachers I dont think were aware of it.
His mission is to outwit the

airlines and y rst class,
for free, as much as he can,
without getting caught.
average of six hours daily in the sky. He has a freewheeling itinerary, often planning his next destination upon hitting the airport. Just last week, he rocketed through Dallas, Dubai, Oman,
Barcelona and Frankfurt. Yet for all his travel, it would be a mistake to call Schlappig a nomad. The moment that he whiffs the
airless ambience of a pressurised cabin, hes home.
An airplane is my bedroom, he says, stretching to reach his
complimentary slippers. Its my office, and its my playroom. The
privilege of reclining in this personal suite costs around $15,000.
Schlappig typically makes this trip when hes bored on the weekend. He pays for it like he pays for everything: with a sliver of his
gargantuan cache of frequent-yer miles that grows only bigger
by the day. Hong Kong, he says, is his favourite hub, and the only
This is Ben Woffords rst Rolling Stone piece. He
travelled to three countries for this story as Schlappigs guest.
RollingStoneAus.com
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
Despite his high IQ, Schlappig was an apathetic student.

He attended an all-boys Catholic school, where he struggled
to t in. When his homework was done, he went back to his
room on FlyerTalk, Arno recalls. And he just posted and
posted. Hobbyists say the game takes years to master. But
at 16, Schlappig became the rst known member to y across
the Pacic Ocean six times in one trip Chicago, Osaka, San
Francisco, Seoul and back again in July 2006. By his 17th
birthday, hed logged half a million miles. That year, Schlappig
was elected to FlyerTalks governing TalkBoard; in 2009, he ascended to vice president, second to Gary Leff, now 40, one of
the Hobbys most popular bloggers. (Schlappig calls Leff the
the only thing that seemed to calm her son. They drove to the
airport and sat together in silence, watching the airplanes take
off and land. His eyes were all sparkled, she says, remembering their daylong outings.
Eventually, the family relocated to Tampa, where Ben attended grade school and discovered his obsession. You know, in retrospect, they were crazy for letting me y, Ben says. Marc was
14 going on 30 overstressed and Ivy League-bound, intensely
focused on planning for law school while studying French and
Latin on top of his native German and English. Then, one day,
he was gone. By the time it came around to me, Ben continues,
the approach my mum had was, Life is too short not to take up
what you love.
Throughout high school, his jetsetting accelerated, as he crisscrossed
the country on his beloved United Airlines. For the rst time, he had found
a place to belong. When Ben was 16,
he earned elite status, proudly brandishing his Premier 1K card wherever
he ew. He found he connected socially with Hobbyists far better than with
classmates, and he started organising
meet-ups around the country, advertising them on FlyerTalk.
In the autumn of 2007, Schlappig enrolled at the only college he
applied to, the University of Florida,
without ever visiting. He was bored
almost instantly, lling the emptiness
with travel and FlyerTalk. The following February, Schlappig launched
One Mile at a Time, and he began
speaking at airline-sponsored events,
wonky consortiums where airline
employees and frequent yers could
mingle. It was at one such gathering
at San Francisco International in
The High Life
2009 that the 19-year-old Schlappig
An airplane is my bedroom, says Schlappig, whos own enough this year to circumnavigate
met Alex Pourazari, another teenagthe globe 16 times. Its my office, its my playroom. Im very fortunate to do what I love.
er whod become a member of Schlappigs rapidly growing following. I was
Godfather of the Hobby; the two e-mail each other daily.)
such a fanboy so embarrassing, recalls Pourazari. I still have
I was scared at the beginning, Barbara says. I mean, what
that adoring e-mail I sent him. It cracks me up. I go look at it
mum lets her son y at such a young age around the country,
sometimes, just to remind myself how far weve come. The two
right? U.S. air marshals wondered the same thing when they
quickly became best friends, together plotting ever-more-dizonce hauled Schlappig off a plane after glimpsing his baffling
zying ight routes to challenge each others game.
itinerary, demanding to speak to his parents. I think the reaWe were like brothers, says Pourazari, who now lives in Seson they let him y around as a kid, and why they let him follow
attle. It was more like we were best friends than anything. Then
his passion, says one friend close to the Schlappig family, was
we both realised that we were gay. And we grew up together.
because they already had one kid who basically left too early.
They logged hundreds of hours in the air together, rarely leaving airports. This practice called mileage running, or ying incessantly on steeply discounted ights to accrue frequent-yer
miles is a foundation of the Hobby, what dribbling is to basen wa s thr ee w hen his eldest
ketball. Schlappig and Pourazari took their rst mileage run on
brother, Marc, just days after his 14th
Valentines Day 2010. On one run, they hit seven airports from
birthday, was killed in a horric acciTampa en route to Hawaii, turning straight back without even
dent. Hed been riding a jetski his parbreathing the air in the parking lot.
ents had rented when a drunk driver
For the next year and a half, as their friendship grew into a
struck him with a boat. The family was
romance, they continued to perfect their techniques; one favoudevastated, and for young Ben the loss
rite was called ight bumping. At the time, airlines often oversold
was particularly hard. His father, who
their ights, and passengers who voluntarily gave up their seats
worked for a bank, was only around on
got a free ride on the next one, plus a $400 voucher. Oversold
weekends. Marc had been like a father to Ben, Barbara says.
ights are supposedly chance occurrences, but using software
He was everything.
popularised in the Hobby for collating obscure Federal Aviation
For the next year, Ben refused to go to preschool, and when
Administration data, Schlappig and Pourazari became masters
he did, the teachers couldnt stop his screaming. Eventually they
of predicting when ights would bump. It was free money. The
told Barbara to keep Ben home. On the worst days, Barbara did
two would stand side by side in front of a terminals sprawling
B
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
RollingStoneAus.com
87
Up
in the
Air
monitors, arguing over the best contenders like they were picking greyhounds at the track.
Soon, Schlappig began studying the rules of so-called apology vouchers. As a conciliatory gesture for anything broken on a
given ight, United offered coupons to passengers worth $200 or
$400. Every time he boarded a plane, Schlappig looked for something broken a headset or an overhead light and racked up
the coupons. When a system can easily be exploited, its tempting to push it to its limits, for the game of it alone, Schlappig
says. Especially combined with the arrogant condence only a
teenager can have.
During his senior year, he carelessly bragged to a New York
Times travel reporter that he had amassed more than $10,000
in bumping vouchers. A few weeks later, Schlappig says, just before his last college nal exam, in April 2011, he received a certied letter from United, cheerily informing him that because
he had taken advantage of the system his frequent-yer account
was permanently suspended. He was banned from ying, he
recalls the letter saying, unless he paid the company $4,755
the amount it claimed as losses through Schlappigs techniques.
I mean, how do you dene taking advantage of? Schlappig asks, passing a hand towel back to a doting attendant as we
y over the South China Sea. Was I seriously inconvenienced to
the tune of $200 every time my audio wasnt working? No. But
they create the system. (United officials will not comment on the
record on Schlappigs case, other than to say, We dont take steps
decided I might as well do this full-time. In April 2014, at the

end of his lease, he walked into Seattle-Tacoma International
Airport. He hasnt come down since.
n 1979, as der egul ation tr a nsfor med

the airline business from a monitored public good
into corporate Americas new Wild West, an ad
executive named Bill Bernbach hatched a marketing scheme that would change air travel forever, by incentivising sporadic customers to become
returning yers. Bernbach proposed to his client
American Airlines that it reward customers with
free travel. Two years later, the rst frequent-yer program was born, and the rest of the industry scrambled to
join the arms race.
The Hobby followed soon after, pioneered by a triumphant
menswear clothing manager and moonlighting aviation nut
named Randy Petersen, of Sioux City, Iowa. In 1986, Petersen
founded an aviation magazine called Inside Flyer with $800 and
no publishing experience. Im not a business guy, Im a surferdude guy, Petersen says. I kind of gured out how to earn free
travel when these programs were just starting out. In a brightyellow trucker hat over wild bleach-white hair, the 63-year-old
looks like a cross between Jesse Ventura and Doc Watson from
Back to the Future. Early editions of Petersens
magazine featured stories on deals from obscure
carriers; instructed iers on how to duck airline
countermeasures; and showed readers how they
could win a thousand free miles by subscribing to
magazines like Esquire. By 1993, Inside Flyer had
90,000 readers. Two years later, Petersen took the
community online as FlyerTalk.
Almost at once, FlyerTalk became the singular worldwide hub of airline nerds, and today it
claims to have more than 500,000 members. Virtually nothing on FlyerTalk is meant to be understood by outsiders. Posts there are littered with jargon like 3xx (Airbus), open
jaw (three-segment round trip) and FEBO (in-ight meal delivery). So Petersens next move was to launch Boarding Area, a
content platform for public consumption that featured FlyerTalks biggest stars on their own blogs.
This was where Schlappig launched One Mile at a Time.
Immediately he became one of the Hobbys biggest stars and,
according to his friends, a millionaire. His revenue comes from
three sources: impression-based ads on the blog; the PointsPros
consultancy; and affiliate marketing, which means collecting a
commission from credit-card companies each time a card signup originates from his blog. Schlappig admits that affiliate marketing gives him a vested interest in the very companies that
many Hobbyists game. A garden-variety Hobbyist owns at least
a dozen credit cards; many have more than 40.
Amassing a large cache of credit cards is essential to Manufacture Spend. No topic of discussion produces more worried
glances or tighter lips a code of silence is central to Hobby culture. Manufacture Spend reveals a fundamental but overlooked
truth about frequent-yer miles: Theyve become, in essence, a
currency. In 2012, a European Central Bank paper classied
airline miles in the same category as bitcoin, citing a 2005 calculation by The Economist that valued the global stock of frequent-yer miles at more than $700 billion. But if miles are currency, then airlines are like central bankers who can constantly
change the rules, devalue the points and close accounts at will.
In 2009, one frequent yer sued Northwest Airlines for closing
his account, insisting that he never broke the program rules. The
case rose to the Supreme Court, which sided with Northwest
last year, reasoning that the 1970s deregulation left the terms of
Theres a joke: Im not

heterosexual, Im not
homosexual, Im aerosexual,
says Schlappigs ex-boyfriend.
toward limiting member engagement with the program unless
we see acts of fraud or other serious violations.) Schlappig has
repeatedly offered to send United a cheque but has gotten no response. While it doesnt justify anything, I think it became more
about the game in those years, he says. And while I was far from
the only one playing, I thought I was the best.
Just weeks after receiving his banishment letter from United, Schlappig graduated with a degree in marketing. He stayed
in Tampa, still dating Pourazari by airplane, and after going on
a few corporate interviews, he decided to take a chance and turn
the Hobby into a career. That summer, with Pourazari on board,
he incorporated PointsPros, a consultancy that helps customers
build itineraries out of frequent-yer miles.
We were just plane geeks, plain and simple, Pourazari says.
He stops midsentence on the phone to call out the models of
planes as they pass over his balcony. Theres a joke: Im not heterosexual, Im not homosexual, Im aerosexual.
With their inscrutably complex rules, the airlines had created
a market of hopelessly confused vacationers, and PointsPros immediately found itself in demand. After a year of dealing with a
staggering workload and a long-distance relationship, Schlappig
decided to move in with Pourazari in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue. During the move, in the autumn of 2012, Schlappig met
with fellow Hobbyist Tiffany Funk in OHare, and he recruited
her to join the company. She arrived to nd the pair on the brink
of a stress-induced implosion. Things grew really fast, recalls
Funk, 31, who lives with her husband in San Diego. And Ben
was totally not prepared.
After a year, Schlappigs relationship with Pourazari completely unwound, and Schlappig found little holding him to the
ground. At that point, I was like, Screw it, he remembers. I
RollingStoneAus.com
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
COURTESY OF BEN SCHLAPPIG, 2
these programs entirely up to the airlines. In essence, airlines,

not customers, owned the frequent-yer miles, and an airlines
latitude for shuttering an account is wide similar to the right
casinos enjoy to kick out card-counters.
Schlappig is giving me this economics lesson while he waits
in the spa of the rst-class Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse in JFK
Airport in New York. He has been up all night, downing eight
cups of coffee and typing blog posts the entire ight; he maintains a militant work regimen, blogging only on Eastern time,
jet lag be damned. I think hes not a person who was meant to
work from nine to ve, says his mother. Now he probably works
18 hours a day. Schlappig is chatting through a complimentary
massage, enjoying the elbow in his back from a plump spa therapist and straining occasionally to sip his dry gin with crme
de mre. She chats him back, smiling, and asks how hes been
Schlappig knows almost the entire staff here by name, and he
schedules his globe-trots to make a pit
stop here every few weeks.
Hes treated equally well by ight
attendants, who are among his rowdiest fans. When a chief steward recognised him on one superluxury carrier, Schlappig stepped into his onboard
shower to nd a bottle of Dom Prignon on ice waiting for him. On a recent international ight, an attendant
maneuvered an unwitting Schlappig
into an empty row, administering
what he delicately terms a surprising
and unwanted hand job. (It was a disaster, he says. I tried to get out, but
there was no point.)
Despite his success, many in the
Hobby think the days of hopscotching
across the globe are numbered. ParaWinging It
noia is the lingua franca of all HobSchlappig enjoying
byists, and now is a good time to be
the benets of his
pessimistic. Earlier this year, Delta
rst-class life (above).
and United both switched to revenueHes been obsessed
based reward systems: Frequent-yer
with planes since he
miles are now awarded by total dollars
was a boy (right, with
spent, effectively ending the practice
his brother Michael).
of mileage running. Schlappig seems
Who lets her son y
unconcerned. Ive been at this for 10
at such a young age
years, he says. And theres not a sinaround the country?
gle year where I didnt hear at one
says their mum.
point or another, This is coming to
But Bens not a
person meant to
an end. But every year, we nd new
work nine to ve.
opportunities. Were one step ahead
of them.
For some, the game has evolved from a wonkish pastime into
an ends-justied obsession with beating the airlines less Rain
Man, more Oceans Eleven. While the games traditional methods remain technically legal, these Hobbyists imagine them
as the Deep Web of the Hobby use tactics that routinely violate airline terms and conditions, techniques that can span a
gradient from clever and harmless to borderline theft. (Schlappig concedes that he pushes the rules but insists he is careful
not to break any laws.) Take the practice of hidden-city ticketing booking your layover as your nal destination, like buying a ticket from Point A to Point C, then sneaking away at B
or fuel dumping, a booking technique that confuses the price
algorithm to deduct the cost of fuel from a ticket, often at an
enormous discount. In this strange and risky world, black markets exist where brokers buy and sell miles, and Hobbyists pay
others to y in their names.
They also write custom code to hunt the Web for mistake
fares posted accidentally by airlines and hotels. My friend can
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
write one of these scripts in two hours, one Hobbyist tells me.
These are huge companies, and they dont write a simple code to
double-check their prices. It blows me away. He recently used a
custom script to book a Westin presidential suite for $10.
These people have the ability to cause serious nancial
harm, says Henry Harteveldt, an industry analyst and former
airline loyalty-program manager. Harteveldt has spent decades
studying the Hobby and the airlines a war of attrition, he says,
between two equally obsessive tribes with very long memories.
No ones hands are clean in this ght, he adds. The gamers
have dirt on their hands, and airlines have dirt on their hands.
For now, the Hobbys principal advantage remains its size tiny
enough, he says, to avoid the attention of the airlines gargantuan bureaucracy. But for Hobbyists tempted by dreams of mastering the game and beating the house, Harteveldt offers a warning. Ultimately, he says, the house always wins.
for more than 30 years, the commercial airline industry has been mulling how
to solve a problem like the Hobby. The airlines basically thought they could manage it
down, Harteveldt says. Today, theyll never
be able to shut it down entirely. For years,
a de facto standoff ensued, with each side
equally invested in keeping the travel-going
public none the wiser.
This past year, however, the airlines
seemed to have unveiled a new strategy.
Following the example of the music industry in the early 2000s,
they have taken to suing
small fry in the interest of making an example. In November, United
joined the travel site Orbitz in a lawsuit against
a 22-year-old computer-science major named
Aktarer Zaman, creator
of the website Skiplagged,
a Hobbyist version of Expedia thats brought the
technique of hidden-city
ticketing into mass consumption. In April, an Illinois judge threw out the
claim; United has vowed
to appeal.
Theyre using the publics lack of knowledge
in order to prot greatly, says Zaman, a stick-thin kid who
looks barely old enough to shave, stuttering in a nervous mumble. Im helping increase the efficiency of the market. This is
good for society. Zaman reads Schlappigs blog, and in January he appeared with him on Huff Post Live, where they defended the practice.
Last December, Schlappig joined a slate of popular BoardingArea bloggers at the Frequent Traveler University, a weekend
boot camp hosted at a Hyatt in Arlington, Virginia. Roughly
150 people assembled for the advanced seminars three days of
PowerPoints from the Hobbys top talent; most of those in attendance are white and in middle management or IT, but plenty are college kids.
Inside a jam-packed seminar room, Schlappig delivers an emphatic lecture on complex ight segments. Hes followed by his
fellow bloggers speaking at a white-hot clip in the alien dialect
of airline legal departments. A chiselled twentysomething named
Scott Mackenzie makes his case for why airline [Cont. on 105]
RollingStoneAus.com
89
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Gurrumuls Gospel Evolution

Arnhem Land enigma
goes to church without
major incident
Gurrumul
The Gospel Album
Skinnyfish/MGM
BY MICHAEL DW YER
When news of this album

leaked, expectations of a dramatic recasting of Gurrumuls
extraordinary voice naturally
rose. Imagine that impossibly
plaintive instrument murmuring against a humming black
American choir; rising on a tide
of lung-busting hallelujahs and
handclaps as a Hammond organ rocks the pews. Talk about
a potent brew of cultural crosspollination. As it happens, the
gospel according to Geoff rey
Gurrumul Yunupingu is much
closer to home. His third studio
outing under the stewardship
of Melbourne bassist Michael
Hohnen is a slow, gentle, atmospheric hymnbook remembered from Sunday sing-alongs
in the Elcho Island church of
his Methodist upbringing.
There are some subtle sonic
developments whispering beneath the singers trademark
hypnotic lull. Distant urries of
churango and mandolin invoke
an island string-band breeze
in the likes of Walu (Time)
and Nhaku Limurr the
sole Gurrumul original. The
gentle weave of a sobbing cello
in Jesu, an elegantly tacking
piano in All Gods Children,
and low swells of electric guitar on Baptism are all pleasing colours on the decorative
canvas.
Illustration by A n wen K eeling
RollingStoneAus.com
91
REVIEWS MUSIC
But overall, the key word is
familiar. If it werent for the odd
mention of Jesu in the swirling
mystery of Yolngu language,
anyone acquainted with the
Arnhem Land prodigys rst
two albums would quite reasonably assume he was singing
timeless Gumatj business as
usual. Indeed, newcomers will
likely feel the Earth move in the
depth of his wordless, tightly
harmonised humming and
comforting three-chord cycles
of ngerpicking. But musical
evolution is as elusive as changing light in this world, and neither the chunky bush-country
guitar licks of Saviour nor the
soft-rock roll of Hallelujah
bring the glimmer of new horizons that might have furthered
the plot of this remarkable musicians journey.
In the absence of musical
innovation, the slightly uncomfortable question The Gospel
Album raises is whether the
phenomenon of Gurrumul is
enhanced by his subject matter. When we knew his ethereal
voice was speaking of tides and
sunsets, ancestors and totems,
we heard landscapes of time
immemorial; visions of roads
never documented before his
near-miraculous debut in the
world music charts of 2008.
When the vibe goes all Kumbaya, as it does in the stricttime stomp of The Sweetest
Name and the sloooow strum
and hum of Riyala (There Is a
River), that precious connection to a land we barely know
is short-circuited by something
most of the western world
knows backwards, and can
only nd far less remarkable.
In the context of the indigenous Australian story in
which Gurrumul stands so tall,
a sombre campfire rendition
of Amazing Grace is food for
thought of a pretty stodgy kind.
There are resonances here, certainly, that speak to the universal nature of devotion; the
sacred subtext of a magnicent
voice raised in song of any kind.
And neither Gurrumuls sincerity nor his uniqueness as a
performer are even slightly in
question. For now though, the
frontiers of discovery promised
by his arrival remain as static
as a lovely postcard sunset.
KEY TRACKS: Nhaku Limurr,
Baptism, Walu (Time)
92
Holy Holy
When the Storms Would

Come Sony/Wonderlick
Globe-straddling duo release
their debut album
Josh Pykes
New Tricks
Sentimental and Monday;

Wanderer; Pretty Strays for
Hopeless Lovers. Theyre song
titles that conjure dusty roads,
hangovers, heavy hearts and
hazy horizons, and Timothy
Carroll and Oscar Dawson,
frontman and guitarist respectively, make convincing
itinerant romantics. They rst
convened in South-East Asia,
and then Stockholm, after all;
its little wonder their seductive
psych-folk-rock debut sounds
more European than Australian. In Carrolls pastoral lilt and
Matt Redlichs warm production, theres more than a touch
of Midlake, too. Dawson provides needed edge, making like
David Gilmour with a ripping
solo on You Cannot Call For
Love Like a Dog. ANNABEL ROSS
Wistful troubadour tries to shake things

up on album number ve
Josh Pyke
But For All These Shrinking Hearts Wonderlick/Sony

It opens with a low, pulsing rumble. Then
theres a build-up of slightly unsettling keyboards. Ive been taking my cues from the
Book of Revelations, sings Josh Pyke. Well,
actually, hes pretty obviously been taking
his cues from Wilco, specically their career-dening 2002
fractured masterpiece Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
Hes said as much himself. On two songs Songliness
and Momentary Glow he used Jeff Tweedys trick of recording gibberish before he had any lyrics, then worked with
that mumble track to nish the nal
wording. Its a good idea and a bold move KEY TRACKS:
Book Of Revfor a guy who has built his reputation on elations, Late
four albums of personal, poetic songs Night Driving
that evoke everyone from Paul Simon to
Elliott Smith. Youll nd a surprising sunshine-pop chorus
in Songliness, and he previously would have never used
something like the oscillating keyboard line that threads
throughout Theres a Line.
But a romantic troubadour doesnt change his spots overnight and Pyke doesnt give himself over completely enough
to new working methods. His tendency towards wistful
reection remains, and with his default setting of acoustic
guitar and softly-softly multi-tracked vocals, a few of these
songs seem interchangeable with his past work. And Hollering Hearts, from the plinking ukulele to the singalong feel,
seems like an attempt to swim in the slipstream of Vance
BARRY DIVOLA
Joys Riptide.
Classic | Excellent | Good | Fair | Poor
Pavement
The Secret History Vol. 1

Matador/Remote Control
Slacker icons early work

revisited again
Before Stephen Malkmus became the poster boy for slacker

indie rock, Pavements earliest material was couched in
abstract wordplay and lo-fi
harshness. The rst in a series
of reissued shadow albums,
this 30-track set compiles the
bands B-sides and Peel Sessions for 1992s genre-dening
Slanted and Enchanted, plus
an engagingly loose yet fairly
forgettable Brixton gig. The
only trouble is that all of them
were included on 2002s deluxe
Slanted reissue, which makes
their individual release less of
an event. But theres still a lot
to love, from the charred charisma of Circa 1762 to the volatile jangle of My First Mine.
This being Pavement, the best
tunes feel ad-libbed and gloriously unnished. DOUG WALLEN
Ratings are supervised by the editors of R OLLING S TONE .
Its Good For the Soul

Menangles favourite sons return,
with added soul
The Fratellis
The Rubens Hoops
Cooking Vinyl
Ivy League
Eyes Wide, Tongue Tied
While their 2012 self-titled debut and singles My

Gun and Lay It Down
launched the Rubens into
Australias indie stratosphere, there was no escaping that, even
with its Motown ourishes, the brothers
Margin (Sam, Elliott and Zaac) and their
compadres Scott Baldwin and Will Zeglis made
very serious music.
Hoops is a welcome change; still composed of
typically big, grandiose indie rock, this time its
infused with more playful musical theatricality
and a relatable perspective. Because while the
subject matter behind tunes like Switchblade
or Battles isnt exactly
KEY TRACKS:
cheery, musically the band The Fool, Cut
are stretching out and ma- Me Loose
turing as youd expect from
a second album upping their soul game and
giving these tunes an experienced weightiness.
Its realised in the horns of Hold Me Back, the
Albert Hammond Jr.
Momentary Masters Liberator
Strokes guitarist sobers up and

makes his best album yet
At the height of his drug addiction, Albert Hammond

Jr. was the one person who
could out-party Pete Doherty.
But sobriety has finally been
embraced by the Strokes guitarist, who once confessed to
shooting up 20 times a day. Its
sharpened up his songwriting
for one, which was scungy and
tossed-off on 2008s Cmo Te
Llama? (recorded, like its predecessor, under the inuence).
Vocally, Hammond sounds
like a new man, soaring to unseen heights on the anthemic
Losing Touch. Born Slippy
(not an Underworld cover) is
the hit the Strokes were just
crying out for when they made
Angles in 2011. He ends it all on
the peppy Side Boob, which is
not nearly as questionable as it
DARREN LEVIN
sounds.
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
Football crowds wont be

chanting many of these songs
organ-led indie funk swagger of Cut Me Loose

(plus its killer guitar solo) and Things About To
Change, all excellent tunes that veer between
sunshine soul, indie pop optimism and painful
emotional introspection with an assured aplomb.
Space is also utilised better on Hoops; the
relaxed chill of the title-track weirdly recalls
Kanyes Cant Tell Me Nothing, while Bitter
End is icy and piercing a natural (Chet Fakerevoking) evolution from My Gun. But the best
is latter-day Black Keys-esque closer The Fool.
With Hoops the Rubens conrm that theyre
Australias go-to for outstanding indie-soul.
Destroyer
Poison Season POD/Inertia
Canadian cult hero is as creative

as ever 10 albums in
Youve got to hand it to Destroyer mainman Dan Bejar.

Even when hes onto a good
thing 2011s Kaputt was his
most acclaimed outing yet; a
soft rock masterpiece inspired
by Eighties pop-prog excess
he was always going to light a
match to the past. On his 10th
album, Bejar has put together
his most sprawling opus yet. A
string section turns Hell into
a chamber music dirge; theres
a Kaputt-esque lushness to
The River; while the blaring
sax at the start of Dream Lover sounds like an ironic nod to
Bruce Springsteens Rosalita.
This is not an entry-level Destroyer album like Kaputt or
Rubies. But those whove been
with Bejar for the long haul
will be enthralled at each oddD.L .
ball turn.
JAYMZ CLEMENTS
Tex Perkins &

the Dark Horses
If you judged a bands popularity solely on the number of times

one of their songs was chanted
en masse by English football
fans, then this Glaswegian trio
would be one of the biggest
groups in the world, courtesy
of 2006s Chelsea Dagger. But
they drifted into hiatus in 2009
and album number four nds
them running out of steam after the break. The glam-rock
stomp of Baby Dont You Lie
To Me and percolating feel of
Thief show some signs of life,
but they largely forsake the Libertines swagger and Supergrass
bounce of yore, content to mark
time on mid-paced bluster (or
slow-paced bluster in the case
of the inventively titled Slow)
as featureless as the blank canB.D.
vas on the cover.
Lindi Ortega
Faded Gloryville Cooking Vinyl
Tunnel at the End of the

Light Dark Horse
Shes still a little bit country and

a little bit rock & roll
Rock wildman still kicking

against the pricks wearily
The third instalment in Tex

Perkins landscape trilogy
with the Dark Horses, Tunnel
is a somnolent sign-off to the
languid country rhythms of
2011s self-titled LP and the
frayed, world-weary Everyones Alone (2012). I begin my
journey to the end of the day
with the kind of reluctance you
get at my age, Perkins sings on
Oh Lucky Me. All Is Quiet
suggests the kids are to blame
(all is quiet, the fuckin babys
not cryinoh, for a sleepin
pill). Its a hypnotic journey,
with brooding piano lines and
Gus Agars percussion work
keeping drowsy time throughout. A lengthy grab from Alien
(Un Sound) tells us Perkins
has fallen asleep with the TV
GARETH HIPWELL
on.
The ghost town of Lindi Ortegas fourth album title doesnt

find her as down-and-out as
it might sound. Beyond the
muted heartbreak of Ashes
and the funeral march of the
title track is a comfy halfway
point between the Fifties slow
dance of Someday Soon and
the swinging saloon doors of
When You Aint Home. Shes
all sprightly heels and toes in
the skirt-hoisting Rundown
Neighbourhood and her glassy
trill bounces back hard from
the rock & roll slap-echo of
Run Amuck. If theres anything faded about the Canadian cowgirls latest chapter, it
isnt the Bee Gees cover either:
a steamy version of To Love
Somebody that makes pop,
soul and country sound like
kissing cousins. MICHAEL DWYER
RollingStoneAus.com
93
REVIEWS MUSIC
Years & Years
Mac DeMarco
Communion Polydor
Another One Spunk
Hyped British band deliver the

substance on debut
Crowned the winner of BBCs

Sound of 2015, Years & Years
have made a promising start to
justify the attention. On opener
Foundation, an eerie vocal is
pegged against glacial, swirling
electronics. Elsewhere, Shine
is a blissful slice of pop, Ties
is propelled by a throbbing
bassline, and King is one of
the years most exciting rave
anthems. Although Olly Alexanders soulful vocals are an
obvious asset, his over-earnest
delivery on a handful of saccharine ballads especially Eyes
Shut is hampered by some
seriously dated pop production.
For the most part though, the
trio master melancholia and
euphoria in equal measure, and
Communion almost lives up to
its holy promise. MICHAEL WILTON
Canadian crooners quickre

follow-up to Salad Days LP
A Right Royal
Return
Ever yones favourite gaptoothed Canuck has always

been able to do goofy. But on last
years Salad Days he proved he
could so sincere. Almost a year
to the day since that LP comes
this eight-track mini-album,
which is more like a companion
piece than a bridging release
showcasing new sounds. Macs
not done with Salad Days easy
listening palette close-miked
drums, warm keys and feebly
guitar or its bittersweet romanticism. Another One nds
him still in his dressing gown,
paranoid his partner might not
love him; while he sounds positively broken on A Heart Like
Hers. When Mac signs off with
two minutes of gurgling water
and the offer of a cuppa it sounds
D.L .
like he needs a hug.
Sydney punks stretch out on an album that

may or may not be their last
Frankie & the

Heartstrings
Royal Headache High
Given the sense of volatility that surrounds

Royal Headache from an Opera House
stage invasion they unwittingly caused to a
live show that could implode at any point the
mere existence of this album is miraculous in
itself. Frontman Shogun has always hinted that Royal Headache are a band on borrowed time, recently telling Rolling
Stone that this record was that one umbilical cord thats
kept me connected to the fucking band.
But High sounds absolutely nothing like the contractual
obligation that statement implies. Theres a cluster of tracks
here that pick up where 2011 debut Royal Headache left off,
yet there are other moments where you get a sense theyre
becoming a different band altogether.
Theres (gasp!) an organ on Need KEY TRACKS:
High, Wouldnt
You, which sounds like theyve recruited You Know,
the Attractions Steve Nieve into the Carolina
fold (its actually Gabrielle De Giorgio, a
friend of the band). Theres (gasp!) a ballad that sounds like
theyre simultaneously paying homage to Guns N Roses
and Cold Chisel (Carolina). On Wouldnt You Know,
Shogun plays the role of a squeaky clean Fifties crooner over
a swampy riff and yet more organ.
Hes as committed to romanticism as he is to his vocal
takes. But Royal Headaches great trick is making you
believe in a future thats as uncertain as their next move.
Decency Wichita
Sunderland soul boys keep the

pub lock-in stomping
The sound of a lonely guitar

twanging over the dog racing on the wireless suspends
Frankie Francis in a timeless
UK bedsit romance. The atmospheric bookends contain
his third album of wiry British
soul: guitars begging, horns redeeming, tremulous white-boy
yodel throwing skinny arms
around every working class lad
with a bruised heart of gold.
Its plenty stirring in the rising
simmer of Hate Me Like You
Used To and the fragility of
Knife In My Back. Franciss
sharp tongue can be fun too:
Your father died and Im hoping its hereditary, he spits in
Decency. But the pint-spilling
stabs of Friday night exuberance can sound more like ller
than revelation. MICHAEL DWYER
RollingStoneAus.com
Owl City
Mobile Orchestra Universal
DARREN LEVIN
Electropop mainstay delivers

hits and misses on fth album
Adam Youngs early tracks as

Owl City were sonic diary entries, crafted in his parents
Minnesota basement using a
laptop and cheap gear. The success of sugary single Fireies
in 2009 gave Young a bigger
budget to work with, and hes
been attempting to diversify
his sound ever since. On Mobile
Orchestra, Young has most success when sticking close to his
old formula. Opener Verge
is rousing and cute, pairing
sincere guest vocals from Aloe
Blacc with a Nineties club beat
and bouncy synth lines; while
closer This Isnt the End is
unabashedly sentimental, with
layers of pillowy keyboards.
But attempts at country (Back
Home) and modern-day EDM
(Thunderstruck) are less conDAN F. STAPLETON
vincing.
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
JOSHUA MORRIS
Distant and Vague Recordings
Northlanes New Territory

Local metal favourites hit new peak on
multi-faceted third LP
Bullet For My Valentine

Venom RCA
Northlane Node UNFD

The departure in 2014 of vocalist
Adrian Fitipaldes left Sydney metalcore outt Northlane in a makeor-break position. Second album
Singularity had been rapturously
received, and successful tours both locally and
overseas had proven the groups stamina and
technical prociency. But without the charismatic Fitipaldes at the helm, some questioned
the bands ability to maintain their momentum.
Node is a triumphant rebuff to those doubters.
Its their most satisfying and coherent release so
far: an assured collection thats full of virtuosic
playing and tight songcraft. New vocalist Marcus
Bridge is remarkably versatile, displaying a deft touch KEY TRACKS:
when he screams and deliv- Rot, Weightless, Obelisk
ering nuanced clean vocals.
He may not quite match the
brute force of Fitipaldes, but he brings a depth of
emotion that will catch many listeners off guard.
Northlane teamed once again with producer
Will Putney, who has helped the band nd a balance between atmosphere and directness. Tracks
Family Fold
Lustre Glo Ind.
Former Lazy Susan frontman

returns with a slab of cheery pop
Known chiey as former frontman for Triple J favourites

Lazy Susan, Paul Andrews has
returned with a project perhaps destined to relegate the
Susans to little more than a
musical memory (no offence
intended, of course). Lustre Glo,
Andrews debut under the Family Fold moniker, shines in its
own warm, melodic and genrehopping right. Essentially a
pop album, its a release that
bursts with myriad tastes and
sounds, from the jangling guitar pop of opener Get a Grip
Upon Yourself to the more intricate New Friends. Along
for the ride are NAwlins-esque
horns and Americana-inspired
vocal harmonies with Sarah
Humphreys, amongst others.
This heralds more stuff to come
from Andrews. SAMUEL J. FELL
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
Fierce, focused return from

revitalised Welsh metal quartet
like opener Soma combine ominous intros and

pummelling verses with feather-light bridges to
disorienting and genuinely thrilling effect. The
lengthy Weightless builds effortlessly from a
single echoing guitar line to a widescreen vocal
climax, demonstrating the groups newfound
mastery of dynamics.
The showiness that occasionally made Northlane sound gimmicky has been replaced with
subtlety that rewards repeated listens. Node
pushes metalcore in unexpected, progressive
D.F.S.
directions, and it does so with grace.
The Jungle Giants
Gardens & Villa
Speakerzoid Amplifire
Brisbane band evolve into

something special on second LP
Often bands mistake creativity

and evolution for lazily resorting to synths, but the Jungle Giants have built from the by-thenumbers indie of 2013s Learn
to Exist to craft Speakerzoid, a
dazzling, inventive and beguilingly strange second LP. Bursts
of unexpected instrumentation
(flute, cowbell, wood percussion, recorder) and samples
nestle nicely within songs that
are anything but predictable;
shades of Beck and Gorillaz lie
on Not Bad and Kooky Eyes,
while Cornelius weighs heavily
on It Gets Better. With their
usage of tempo (the slinky indie
pop of Creepy Cool and What
Do You Think) Speakerzoid is
a restless beast, keeping you
on your toes throughout. An
excellent, eminently rewarding
JAYMZ CLEMENTS
surprise.
BFMV may have scored their

third Top 5 ARIA chart placing with 2013s Temper Temper,
but its raunchy, rock & roll vibe
felt contrived and misjudged,
discomfiting long-time fans
who view them as the heirs apparent to Metallicas throne.
A throwback to their Megadeth/Maiden-inspired origins,
Venom should present no such
problems. Though its difficult
not to read the album title as an
attempt to position LP number
ve in the direct lineage of acclaimed 2005 debut The Poison,
Matt Tucks band have never
sounded quite as forceful or selfassured as they do here on stateof-the-art bangers Worthless
and Venom. Their ascendancy
into metals premier division
PAUL BRANNIGAN
begins now.
Joss Stone
Music For Dogs Inertia

Californian pair return with most
potent offering yet
Gardens & Villas second album, Dunes (2014), wa s

charming but scattered torn
between nely crafted synthpop and more sprawling, ambient sound-swathes. This is
rmly in the former camp, and
is a revelation. Chris Lynch and
Adam Rasmussen can be seen
as the thinking mans MGMT,
with the undeniable catchiness
of their electronic indie given
added dimension by left-eld
production turns and a diversity of rhythms that hint at
Todd Rundgren, along with the
lingering LCD Soundsystem
inuence, strongest here on the
super Maximize Results. The
sound of a band reaching its
potential, Music For Dogs is
fascinating in its textures and
instrumentation, yet infectious
on a visceral level. BARNABY SMITH
Water For Your Soul Stoned
Soul songstress explores the

wonder of herb, and reggae
A reggae-tinged set of songs

would seem the least likely option for 28-year-old Brit Joss
Stone, but those who revel in
the unexpected will nd much
to enjoy here. Thats not to say
that her not-so-secret weapon
of a voice, soulful and sultry,
isnt front and centre, but the
musical backdrop for Stones
seventh LP is more Kingston,
Jamaica than Muscle Shoals,
Alabama. The Answer is a
co-write with reggae star Dennis Bovell; Damian Marley,
who Stone recently jammed
with as part of uber-group
Superheavy, also contributes.
Water For Your Soul runs
about three tracks too long,
but this deeply chilled set even
includes an introduction to the
wonders of sensimilla. What
JEFF APTER
else do you need?
RollingStoneAus.com
95
REVIEWS MUSIC
New Gum Sarn
New Gold Mountain Spunk
Kiwi band too fond of unfocused

wanderings
Auckland quartet New Gum

Sarn love tugging loose and
chasing a variety of guitar
threads, but they seldom lead
anywhere meaningful. Lead
single Money Talks has a lot
of grabby potential yet reels
off into unfocused sprawl, and
this debut album follows suit.
Instrumental opener Anxiety Nap nods to both Modest
Mouse and Slint, getting better as more layers materialise,
while Panic in the Treasure
Trove echoes jumbled African
guitar licks. Other songs wander aimlessly, even when Oscar
Dowlings quivering vocals rise
to the fore. Too short and too
lackadaisical alike, New Gold
Mountain swaps between a
handful of promising modes
but doesnt commit to any long
enough for them to stick. D.W.
The Calm After

the Storm
Moody post-divorce record from
doyen of Aussie country
Shane Nicholson Hell Breaks Loose

Lost Highway
Shane Nicholsons fth solo album marks a

kind of catharsis for an artist now something
of a veteran among Australias alt-country
community. Not only is this his rst LP since
his well-documented divorce from Kasey
Chambers in 2013, he also had to confront a case of songwriters block, overcome by an inspiring trip to Central Australia. Not that there is much sense of that locale or culture
on the unhurried, introspective Hell Breaks Loose, which sits
back without pretension or much complexity, making for a
disarmingly interesting listen.
Nicholson is never likely to reinvent the genre, yet this is
far from formulaic country-rock. An array of sombre ballads (aided by some very KEY TRACKS:
When the
pleasant piano parts) is balanced by more Moneys Gone,
dynamic songs such as the Jayhawks- Single Fathers
esque When The Moneys Gone. Another highlight is an impressive example of Nicholsons melodic
gifts, the rather Gene Clark-like You And Whose Army.
Nicholsons lyrics, which address his split from Chambers
on Single Fathers and with some feeling on Weight of the
World, are more direct than poetic, while one of his great
strengths, that of economy, is sustained here with few songs
exceeding three minutes, an almost punk-like insistence
on not overindulging an idea. It makes for a sharp, precise
record in both music and message that stands alongside his
BARNABY SMITH
best work.
Mas Ysa
Seraph Downtown/Create/Control
Oberlin grad issues emotive

electronic salvo
The debut LP from Brooklynbased Quebecois Thomas Arsenault lands with an arresting synth drone and so much
condence. Mixed by Damian
Taylor (Bjrk), Seraph wrings
mood from recycled, outmoded sounds. Punchy drum programming cuts through the
retro-shtick of Margarita,
while Suffer champions frenetic keys and Asiatic ute effects. Theres a dance banger
(Look Up), choppy techno
(Service), and even an acoustic weeper (Dont Make). Vocally, Arsenault is best when articulating genuine vulnerability
(Arrows), and a delicate backand-forth with Nicole Miglis of
Hundred Waters (Gun). Seraph is a study in forging beauty
and feeling from sounds otherwise discarded or forgotten. G.H.
Carly Rae Jepsen
Health
EMOTION Universal
Death Magic Caroline Australia
Tween fave shows signs of

maturity
At 29, Carly Rae Jepsen is still

young, but nearly two decades
older than her largely tween
audience, which puts the singer in a difficult position as she
contemplates life after Call
Me Maybe. EMOTION sees
Jepsen stuck between pandering to young fans and presenting a more mature self; on Boy
Problems and I Really Like
You shes zzy and girlish, on
incandescent wallower ballad
All That shes graduated to
the prom and on Warm Blood
shes all woman. Either way, it
mostly works; a huge A-team of
writers (Ariel Rechtshaid, Dev
Hynes, Sia, Greg Kurstin et al)
have helped Jepsen pen a ne
collection of songs that suggest
shes ready to play with the big
ANNABEL ROSS
girls.
RollingStoneAus.com
Danceable noise-rockers clean

up too much
Health made their name with

brash electronic noise before
branching out with well-curated remix albums and moody
video-game soundtracks. Their
third LP moves further into accessibility, pairing Liars and
NIN nods with echoes of Depeche Mode (Stonest) and
the Postal Service (Drugs
Exist). While Men Today
recalls their past industrialmeets-grind ferocity, Flesh
World (UK) is the limpest of
club pop. Besides ditching the
vivid harshness that saturated 2009s Get Color, Healths
makeover casts new light on
unfortunate lyrics like Life is
strange/We die and we dont
know why. There are scattered
ashes of volatility, but mostly
its tragically bland. DOUG WALLEN
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
Awakening the Senses

Fly Golden Eagle
Brisbanes progressive hard

rockers make a complex
third statement
Quartz Bijou
ATO
Nashville psych outt cover the

spread
Dead Letter Circus Aesthesis

UNFD
Its fair to say that no

other single released by
a Top 5 act in Australia this year will feature
lyrics such as Your apathy puts your hand on the blade of the
mother slain (While You Wait). That
Dead Letter Circus can deliver such a
line and make it as catchy as a nursery rhyme
is a talent in itself, albeit a very subversive one;
the art of getting you to think about the world
and your place in it without actually knowing youre doing it. For three
albums now, the Brisbane KEY TRACKS:
While You
quintet have raged against Wait, X, Born
the machine of apathy and (Part 2)
the tyranny of fearmongering
and ignorance, but theyve never done it with
the same kind of restraint they demonstrate
on Aesthesis. Not that its a mellow album, but
after a stint in the U.S. in 2013 touring pre-
dominantly with metal bands they returned to

Australia determined to make an album that
would never again have them mistaken for an
act of that genre.
The result is a record concerned as much with
atmospherics as it is big riffs, that conceals its
hooks, saving them for deeper listens. And so
while lyrically vocalist Kim Benzie may sometimes wield a blunt hammer (Put your faith in
fear and alarm, he sings in The Burning Number; One more lie/Will we swallow it? he asks
in Show Me), musically Aesthesis is an album
SIMON JONES
of complexity and space.
Cauleld
Flying Saucer Attack
Outcast Halfcut Records

Hardcore quintet craft their
sophomore album
After spending the better part

of the last ve years on the road,
Cauleld took time out to create Outcast. Fans of the Sydney
natives brand of melodic hardcore will not be disappointed.
Transitioning seamlessly from
throaty growls to clean vocals,
tracks such as Blind Faith and
Smoke and Mirrors showcase
the bands ability to fuse the
two ends of the sonic spectrum.
They hardly reinvent the hardcore wheel, though, Caulelds
perfectly timed breakdowns
and technical guitar riffs rarely deviating from the genres
standard formula. This makes
for uncomplicated listening
though, and priding themselves on their touring prowess, promises to translate even
better on stage. SALLY MCMULLEN
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
Instrumentals 2015 Domino

Bristol noisenik thrills with rst
album in 15 years
Nineties noise rock was, fundamentally, reactionary. Unsurprisingly, the recent Britpop revival seems to have drawn some
long-dormant antagonists out
of the woodwork. First there
was m b v (2013), now its David
Pearces turn. Instrumentals
2015 finds the cultish figure
alone with a guitar gone are
the folk-inspired vocal lines of
seminal debut Flying Saucer
Attack (1993). Instead, Instrumentals boasts 15 carefully-ordered tone poems comprising
familiar but implacable dronescapes and effects. Still doggedly analogue, Pearce recorded
Instrumentals direct to tape/
CDR. Given the resurgence of
the DIY eight-track ethos, hes
late to his own party but the
result is as striking as ever. G.H.
Frank Carter
& the Rattlesnakes
A selection of prime cuts from

26-track megalith Quartz
(2014), Quartz Bijou was produced in part by retro-specialist Andrija Tokic. Where
Swagger (2011) spun a miasmic,
funk-inf lected cloud, Quartz
Bijou shows up psych for the grab-bag of sound and inuence
it is. Keys player Mitch Jones
apes Ray Manzarek, while Ben
Trimble carries it all off with
his reedy but enthusiastic vocals (Stepping Stone). Separating themselves from Nashville peers All Them Witches
and JEFF the Brotherhood,
FGE delve into funk and soul
(You Look Good to Me), dog
T. Rex (Horses Mouth), and
offer up slabs of the West Coast
(Boychild Ghost). Never revelatory, Quartz Bijou is plenty
GARETH HIPWELL
varied.
The Maccabees
Marks to Prove It
Blossom International Death Cult
Ex-Gallows frontman rages

again with the help of new outt
Youre a useless fucking cunt/

you are nothing to me, intones
Frank Carter on I Hate You,
the closing track on the Rattlesnakes furious debut. Keep
in mind this is the same man
who, no less than two years
ago, purred Im so sick of singing about hate/its never gonna
make a change with his rst
post-Gallows outt, Pure Love.
Whatever it is thats seen Carter
give in to his devils once more
(Devil Inside Me documents
his torment in detail), fans of
his fury will be as austere as
it sounds glad for it. Because
Blossom sees the Londoner
bottle his rage, set it on fire
and throw it, with intent, at
your face. Brutal, candid and
OLIVER PELLING
cathartic.
Caroline Australia
London indie upstarts hit their

stride on fourth album
Realising potential instead of

simply having it is tough. Scuttling their middling indie rock
for the electronic ourishes of
2012s Given to the Wild was
smart, but the Maccabees also
forgot to write songs to back it
up. Marks To Prove It remedies
that. From the title-track an
immediate and ballsy statement-of-intent to the gentle
croon of Slow Sun and WW1
Portraits through the cascading melodies of Something
Like Happiness, the Maccabees have married their indie
nous with tunes that actually
showcase it. Despite occasional forays into beige Arcade Fire
kitchen sink-isms (Kamakura, Silence), this is expansive indie rock done without
JAYMZ CLEMENTS
pretension.
RollingStoneAus.com
97
REVIEWS MUSIC
REISSUES
The Basics
Buried In Verona
Love, politics and party power

from that band with Gotye in it
Sydney metal mob pay tribute to

their troublesome past
The Basics understand both

kinds of heartbreak. Theres
the kind where big business
poisons a world with no time
for refugees or basic human
fucking rights. And theres the
kind where your babys done
left you. Neither is any match
for the pub-rockin power of the
Melbourne trios rst studio LP
in six years, from Kris Schroeders nger-pointing Time Poor
to Wally De Backers hell-forleather love-lost-in-traffic metaphor in Roundabout. Third
man Tim Heath completes an
outt whose snap-lock chemistry is never less than gripping
in a range of styles agit-folk
in Whatever Happened to the
Working Class; Afro-pop in
Tunomba Saidia which is
either their secret weapon or
MICHAEL DWYER
their undoing.
After losing members and labouring through limbo, the

core of Buried in Verona have
reunited to create their fth
studio album. Written and
recorded independently, the
new tunes are a simultaneous
nod to the bands tumultuous
past and the promise of an
uncharted future. Laments of
loss and revenge are embodied
in tracks such as Extraction
and the melodic plea Extract
me, get me out, Im sick of the
ghosts that are dragging me
down. Its not all bitching and
moaning though, with the feral guitar riffs in Done For
Good and anthemic chants
of you fucking make me sick
in Separation proving that
sometimes an album bursting
with bangers is the best form
SALLY MCMULLEN
of revenge.
The Age Of Entitlement

The Three Basics
Ghost
Meliora Caroline Australia
Third sacred psalm sees Ghost

fortifying their sound
Swedens Ghost have forged

their own genre: pulpit metal.
Adored by Phil Anselmo and
Dave Grohl alike, thematically Meliora explores our preapocalyptic condition. Diverse
in pace, opener Spirit soars,
driven by an energetic doomsday musing. A decelerated approach means individual tracks
can be contemplated, like He
Is, an expansive ode to The
[Satanic] Master. Throughout,
Ghosts old school musicianship is affirmed, as riffs bow
to the masters, Metallica. Finale Deus In Absentia arrives
swathed in gorgeous melody
and choral accompaniment.
Like the swinging of vocalist
Papa Emeritus IIIs censer onstage, Meliora is hypnotic and
summons close attention. R.D.
Vultures Above, Lions Below

UNFD
The Angels
Commercial Peak
Legendary Oz rockers started a new decade with
the most successful album of their career
The Angels Beyond Salvation Deluxe Edition

Liberation
By the time the Angels relocated to Memphis in

1989 to make their ninth studio album, their inuence could be heard in acts such as Guns NRoses
soon to be the biggest rock band in the world,
and whose manager, Alan Niven, briey managed
h Angels
l during
d
the
this phase but their success in Australia was
yet to be replicated Stateside. Beyond Salvation was designed
to change that. Gone were the art school pretensions of Doc
Neesons lyrics, and in their place were songs such as Back Street
Pick Up (Queen of the night, you got a heart of stone/Now
youre back I cant leave you alone), aimed at seizing the oversexed zeitgeist of the then-exploding L.A. hard rock scene. Gone
too was founding guitarist John Brewster, replaced by former
Skyhooks six-stringer Bob Spencer. The resulting LP was bluesier
and more polished than previous efforts, and though it didnt
break through in America, it was the bands rst and only Number
One at home. Twenty ve years on it is very much a product
of its time, though it sounds remarkably fresh due, in part, to a
remastering spitnpolish by original producer Terry Manning. Two
discs of extras (U.S. versions, remixes, 12-inch mixes; an 11-song
live set) are good, but some more thorough liner notes from those
ROD YATES
involved would have been a worthy inclusion.
The Weed Still Smells Fresh

Tumbleweed Galactaphonic: 20th Anniversary
Super-Galactaphonic Edition Universal
In 1992, Wollongongs Tumbleweed kick-started an
Aussie love affair with fuzzed-out stoner-rock with
their groundbreaking debut. Twenty years on, their
breakthrough second album Galactaphonic sounds
less like the super-fuzzed dirge we think of as stoner
rockk now, and
d more like the hook-driven nod to Detroit garage and
surf rock it was probably intended to be. Comes loaded with an
inspired second disc of B-sides and live tracks.
MATT COY TE
RollingStoneAus.com
Vince Staples
Summertime 06
Def Jam/ARTium
Cali rapper paints a dark, painful

portrait of his hometown
The debut full-length from

22-year-old Vince Staples is
an ambitious double album
that sketches a vivid picture
of Long Beach worthy of director John Singleton bodies
in the alley, ignored eviction
notices and the deadly game of
tag from his days as a teenage
gangbanger. Staples ows effortlessly, suggesting a capable
understudy of Kendrick Lamar
or Earl Sweatshirt (This shit
aint Gryffindor/We really killing, kicking doors, he raps on
Lift Me Up). But the music itself, executive-produced by No
I.D., leans mostly on harder,
danker sounds built from rare
psychedelic samples. It adds up
to a hard-hitting 20-track portrait of life and love in a mad
city. CHRISTOPHER R. WEINGARTEN
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
Iron and Wine

and Ben Bridwell
Anthonie Tonnon
Failure
Black Cricket/Brown
New Zealand troubadour

delivers grower with solo debut
Obscure Nineties alt-rockers

prove they deserve their cult
Already acclaimed in his home

country, Anthonie Tonnons
debut solo album is something
of a mixed bag. Sonically it
ranges from sweeping, layered
guitar rock (Water Underground) to vocal and piano
introspection (The Songs
Of Your Youth, replete with
swelling vocal harmonies) to
the almost electronica of Railway Lines. Youre not quite
sure what youll get next. And
yet it comes together nicely because of Tonnons voice and
lyrics. For this is where the focus of Successor lies written
almost entirely in the second
person, these songs tell tales
of life, as normal as anyone
would experience, all delivered with no frills. Denitely a
grower, something new to nd
with every listen. SAMUEL J. FELL
Since their breakup in the late

Nineties, Clinton-era alt-rockers Failure have gone from
overlooked coulda-beens to
cult heroes, numbering Tool
and Paramore among their
admirers. The bands rst album in 19 years justies their
rep. Spacey and sprawling
yet packing plenty of guitar
muscle, The Heart Is a Monster picks up where 1996s Fantastic Planet left off (literally:
Both albums contain several
numbered Segue tracks). It
also dives deeper into classic
inuences like Pink Floyd, the
Beach Boys and the Beatles,
particularly on the wistful
ballad Mulholland Dr. As a
result, what mightve been a
simple Nineties nostalgia trip
feels more like history made
BRANDON GEIST
new.
Sing Into My Mouth
Indie buds get together for an

adventurous album of covers
On this set of far-ung covers,

Sam Beam (a.k.a. indie folk
act Iron and Wine) and Ben
Bridwell of indie rockers Band
of Horses tackle everything
from Talking Heads This
Must Be the Place to Spiritualized and early-Nineties Sade.
Bridwell renders a perfectly
gentle vocal on David Gilmours Theres No Way Out of
Here, cleverly landing closer
to the 1976 version by progpop footnote Unicorn, and a
versatile backing band featuring members of Calexico helps
elevate tracks like the soul obscurity Am I a Good Man?.
The album ends up feeling like
a mixtape put together by a
pair of old friends.
CORINNE CUMMINGS
Successor Flippin Yeah Industries
Ryn Weaver
The Heart Is a Monster

INgrooves
The Fool
Mad Love/Interscope
A pop eccentric makes her debut

after a viral 2014 hit
Last year, 22-year-old Ryn

Weaver broke through to online stardom with OctaHate
a supercatchy yet left-ofcentre pop jewel that drew
on the Top 40 ash of Benny
Blanco and the indie leanings
of Passion Pits Michael Angelakos, both co-producers on
the track. The California-born
artists full-length debut revels
in the same eclectic sensibility on warped, sparkling tunes
like the title track and Stay
Low. Elsewhere, on the sleepy
ballad New Constellations,
she channels her inner Mumford to less exciting results.
The biggest highlights on The
Fool (Here Is Home) balance
both of those instincts, tempering folky ache with subtle,
JILLIAN MAPES
twinkly beats.
BOOKS
Back To the Wild Frontier
Nineties party starters rave on

with St. Vincent and Beck
Stuart Coupe
As far as anecdotes
go, Stuart Coupes
unauthorised
biography of one of
Australian musics
biggest players
starts with a doozy:
the cancellation
th
ll ti of last years Rolling Stones concert. The author
a longtime journalist and former
manager of the Hoodoo Gurus
and Paul Kelly vividly recreates the behind-thescenes machinations as Frontier Touring founder
Michael Gudinski rallies to save the tour in the
wake of the death of Mick Jaggers girlfriend,
LWren Scott. It whets the appetite for a book
that, you hope, will be full of such tails, and to an
extent it delivers, particularly during its second
half as the author dedicates a chapter each to
some of the acts with whom his subject has
shared a long relationship: Jimmy Barnes, Kylie
Minogue, Paul Kelly and Split Enz, among others.
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
Born in the Echoes Astralwerks
Gudinski: The
Godfather Of
Australian RockNRoll
Hachette
The Chemical Brothers
PARTY BOYS
Michael Gudinski
signed Jimmy
Barnes after Cold
Chisel broke up.
The details of record deals, victories and losses
are where the book really comes to life, and its
likely that for many music fans these sections
will resonate most, as some of the details around
Gudinskis formidable empire building founding
Mushroom Records and its myriad offshoots, his
rst forays into touring and management whiz
by in a blur of names and events. Coupe is reverential towards his subject and, you sense, there
are juicier stories still to be told. But as a guide to
the life of a true titan of the music industry its as
colourful as its subject.
WILLIAM HARRIS
The Chemical Brothers are Bill

Clinton to Skrillexs Barack
Obama the genius Nineties triangulators who proved
dance music could rock blocks
without diluting its techno
soul. The latest from the U.K.
duo hits harder and lower than
their last album, 2010s Further, with guest-vocal turns
from artists as varied as QTip and St. Vincent over tracks
that couldve torched an outdoor rave in 1995. Ill See You
There is a Tomorrow Never
Knows-style psych-funk extravaganza, and Wide Open
gracefully ends the album with
Beck blissing out over the kind
of superchill loveliness thats
another Chems trademark.
Theyve got the whole world in
JON DOLAN
their beats.
RollingStoneAus.com
99
REVIEWS MUSIC
Buddy Guy
Various Artists
Born To Play Guitar Sony
When Sharpies Ruled: a

Vicious Selection Festival/Warner
Blues legend still going strong

after more than 50 years
Buddy Guys career has spanned

more than half a century, hes
released scores of records, won
a stack of awards; hes the last
of the old blues guys, and as his
new cut attests, time has dulled
nothing. Perhaps the most aptly
titled record this year, Guy is
in vintage form, his guitar as
incendiary as ever, his voice
solid and strong. A handful of
guests grace this deep and surprisingly heavy, for the most
part, blues romp, including Billy
Gibbons and Joss Stone. The
LP closes with two tracks, tributes to fellow legends BB King
and Muddy Waters, the former
featuring a duet with Van Morrison. This is pure Windy City
blues, performed with as much
passion and skill as Guy has ever
committed to tape. SAMUEL J. FELL
Frank Turner
Positive Songs For Negative

People Universal
Stirring sixth album from

English singer-songwriter
British troubadour (and former

frontman for hardcore outfit
Million Dead) Frank Turner
has, in the past, always been at
his most affecting in solo mode,
backed with nothing more than
an acoustic guitar. The power
he can summon with his words
and a six-string is evident in
album closer Song For Josh,
a genuinely heartbreaking
tribute to the 9:30 Clubs Josh
Burdette, who killed himself
in 2013. Elsewhere, though,
Turner harnesses the power of
a band better than ever before
see the rousing Josephine, the
everyman sentiment of Love
Forty Down and the pianoled refrain of Mittens, songs
which match Turners way with
words with melodies that stick
ROD YATES
for days.
Killer postcard from a wild

decade of Oz rock
A Cosmic Soul
Queen Finds
Her Sound
Prince collaborator Lianne La Havas bass-heavy
grooves recall vintage Aretha Franklin
Named for the sharp-dressed

youths who ran amuck in the
1970s, this lavishly packaged
compilation bottles a highimpact musical era dened by
serrated riffs, monster chops,
swaggering vocals, and a freewheeling party vibe. The 23
tracks span 73 to 79, with the
action moving from bluesy battlers to Skyhooks-style glam
brats and snide proto-punks.
Theres a lot of cheeky amboyance on display the La De Das
fuzzed-out The Place is an
early highlight, and the usual
suspects show up in due course:
Coloured Balls, Skyhooks, the
Aztecs, Rose Tattoo etc. Even
better are lesser-known gems
like the spiky New Wave of La
Femmes Chelsea Kids. D.W.
Bad//Dreems
Dogs at Bay Ivy League
Lianne La Havas Blood Nonesuch
Aussie pub rock revitalised with

big tude and big tunes
When we rst met Lianne La Havas, on her

2012 debut, she was a South London 22-yearold coming of age, electric guitar in hand.
Plucking out rhythm lines that sounded like
bossa nova gone rockabilly, she sang about
loves ups and downs in a voice that moved from gold to
gravel in a blink, intertwining strength and vulnerability.
On her second album, she still strums and ngerpicks like
an alt-folkie, but that new sound you hear is bass, and plenty
of it. Standouts like Unstoppable and What You Dont Do
make the case for La Havas as a cosmic soul queen, recalling the daydream music Aretha Franklin made in the midSeventies. Many will attribute the
change to Prince La Havas performed KEY TRACKS:
Wonderful,
with him on his last album and on SNL Unstoppable
but for all the low end, these grooves
are almost untouched by funk. Her music remains her
own; when she sings, All Ive ever known is how to be
alone on Tokyo, shes contemplating her independence
as much as lamenting her solitude. It doesnt all work (see
the mushy Midnight). But when it comes together as on
the bumping ode to Jamaica Green & Gold, and the spare
Wonderful this album demands, and rewards, all the
JOE LEVY
attention you can give it.
Adelaide quartet Bad//Dreems

call themselves outsider rock,
but in 2015 that simply means
theyre not a band that hide behind feedback and play while
staring at their shoes. Instead,
this is anthemic, in-your-face
Eighties-style pub rock with
stadium-sized production from
Mark Opitz (AC/DC, Cold
Chisel, INXS). Its unashamedly working class and refreshingly free from cultural cringe,
singer Ben Marwe a wry commentator on everything from
macho posturing to failed relationships (and sounding nonemore-Aussie with a perfectly
timed piss off on radio hit
Dumb Ideas). Its an assured
debut from a band still nding
their feet, crammed with big
choruses and an even bigger
JAMES JENNINGS
attitude.
RollingStoneAus.com
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
The Waifs Beautiful Return

Grown-up folk darlings reunite for their
contemplative seventh album
Fear Factory
Genexus Nuclear Blast
The Waifs Beautiful You Jarrah

Its 20 years now since folk trio the
Waifs used a Kombi van to travel to
early gigs around Australia. These
days, the band are leading all but
separate lives Donna Simpson
has recently returned to Western Australia after
eight years in Minneapolis, sister Vikki Thorn
lives in Utah, and Josh Cunningham splits his
time between California and New South Wales
and their albums are less frequent than during
their prolic period in the late Nineties. But theirs
is a camaraderie forged in re, and when the band
members do reconvene, as they did this January in
Byron Bays 301 studios with producer Nick DiDia
(Bruce Springsteen, Powdernger, Pearl Jam), the songs KEY TRACKS:
tumble out with ease, and the Black Dirt
Track, Beautiful
reection that maturity be- You
gets. Thorn reconnects with
the family home in Albany, WA, in wistful opener
Black Dirt Track, and considers the distance
between homes new and old in 6000 miles,
her cracked vocals overcoming cliche not even
oceans could come between us (just).
Album nine continues man

vs. machine theme
Born-again Christian Cunningham turns a

car breakdown into an examination of humanity on the earnest Dark Highway (its at least
melodic, and preferable to his dirgey Cracks of
Dawn), and on the title track Simpson reaches
out to a friend struggling with addiction a
battle with which Simpson is familiar, addressed
on 2011s Temptation. The bluesy Rowena &
Wallace, on which Cunninghams quicksilver
riffing duels with Thorns fervent harmonica,
adds welcome edge, but this is a mellow celebraANNABEL ROSS
tion of endurance above all else.
Deaf Wish
Sublime With Rome
Full Tote Odds
Melbourne bands blistering,

ball-tearing punk rock
Reconstituted Nineties beach

bros jam on into a new groove
Odds are this will put the local

crew on a wider radar than ever
Pain Sub Pop
One of the most aptly named

bands around, Melbourne fourpiece Deaf Wish offer up 30
minutes of ferocious, dissonant
punk rock on their debut LP
for Sub Pop. From the repeated
opening note of The Whip
through to the hoarse refrain
of the title track and the slower
but still squall-heavy closer
Calypso, this is No Wave at
its most we-dont-give-a-fuck;
an ADHD Sonic Youth with
anger issues. Each member
takes a turn on vocals, but the
sound is consistent: frustrated
and fucked-off until the bitter end, until a vague sense of
regret about the 25-minute
outburst that preceded it seeps
in on Calypso: Sometimes
my life turns to noise, so I pray
for peace. Hopefully it doesnt
J.J.
come too soon.
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
Sirens BMG/Chrysalis
Sublimes charismatic frontman, Brad Nowell, died just

months before their 1996
major-label debut became
a smash hit. The surviving
members of the SoCal crew
re-formed a few years back
with new guy Rome Ramirez
in Nowells place, but bassist
Eric Wilson is the only original
member left on the groups latest LP, which stirs up the same
hey-whatever mix of reggae,
hip-hop and punk that made
Sublime shirtless charmers 20
years ago. Ramirez sings about
peace, love and his dick with a
smooth versatility that matches
the buoyant music. But without
anything like Nowells sarcastic
slacker edge, Ramirez comes
off as not much more than a
good-natured party dude.
JON DOLAN
Fear Factory have been making

sci- projections for 26 years.
Genexus envisages a future
where human and machine are
indistinguishable. Early conict
is mirrored in Soul Hacker, as
Burton C. Bell barks his protest
at psyche theft; similarly, Protomech bears FFs industrial
metal style. Finale Expiration
Date is a triumph. The machines struggle with the human concept of death is told
via eerie melody. Co-producer
Rhys Fulber employs sparse
keyboard samples, while Dino
Cazares jackhammer riffs have
been silenced. For a band whose
longevity has been threatened
by personnel changes and exmember lawsuits, the cohesion
and might of Genexus raties
their raison dtre. ROBYN DOREIAN
Moses Gunn Collective
The Chosen Few Ind.
Mercy Mountain Create/Control
While not quite as expansive

as other Adelaide heroes, after
15 years in the game, Full Tote
Odds second album is emphatic in its own right, focusing on
issues like bullying, mental illness and empowerment, while
remaining an upbeat, positive
celebration of hip-hop. Knowing how lucky they are to be able
to get their message out, at various times FTO call on horns,
keys, acoustic guitar, sweet vocal lines, intense scratching and
recognisable samples to make
a chilled-while-hectic mesh
worthy of guests like Purpose
and Prime (You Dont Know).
Like they spit on Think About
Me, backed by Simplex of Terra
Firma, Youll never nd a level
that well ever be on, even if you
had a catalogue of incredible
LUKE ANISIMOFF
songs!
Brisbane freakniks throw the

psychedelic party of the year
God knows what theyre putting in the water in Brisbane.

Moses Gunn Collective, a
psych-pop quintet from the
Sunshine State, have put on
record the kind of loose, insanely fun party you dont
want to miss one where you
wake up in a pile of glitter and
with a membership to a freshly
formed cult. Theres a sweet
spot between spontaneous
jams and uplifting, expertly
crafted pop that the band regularly hit, the trip only coming
back to Earth for sombre closer Neighbourhood, a melancholy lament on suburban malaise until, half-way through,
it takes off for the stars again,
the brief check-in with reality
a reminder that sometimes its
better to just lose yourself in a
J.J.
day-glo dream.
RollingStoneAus.com
101
BLACK COMEDY
Emma Stones Jill
falls for Joaquin
Phoenixs Abe
in Irrational Man
Murder Was the Case

Woody Allen revisits some familiar themes in suspenseful mind-teaser By Peter Travers
Irrational Man
Joaquin Phoenix, Emma

Stone, Parker Posey
Directed by Woody Allen
getting away with murder in a godless universe is a

theme that has long compelled
Woody Allen, from Crimes and
Misdemeanors to Match Point.
Allen sees this as a cosmic joke.
And in Irrational Man, the
story of an impotent, alcoholic
philosophy professor (Joaquin
Phoenix) who tries to rationalise homicide, Allen serves the
comedy black and stinging hot.
Phoenix plays Abe Lucas,
an educator who hates himself
for leaving real-world activism
in Darfur and New Orleans to
teach a summer course in ethical strategies at Braylin, a ctional college in Rhode Island.
The students romanticise Abe,
especially Jill Pollard (Emma
Stone), who nds her boyfriend,
Roy (Jamie Blackley), paling in
comparison. Abe has a similar
effect on Rita Richards (a slyly
quirky Parker Posey), an unhappy faculty wife.
102
Alas, Abe cant get it up,

not until he and Jill overhear
a conversation in a diner that
involves a woman suffering a
grave injustice. In a switch that
owes as much to Hitchcock as
to the great philosophers, Abe
considers a crime of justice, not
passion, to which he cant be
connected by motive.
To avoid spoilers, let me say
that Allen has crafted a suspenseful mind-teaser that
might feel too much like an intellectual exercise if Phoenix
and Stone didnt infuse it with
raw humanity. The conceptual bubble Allen creates in Irrational Man is potent provocation built to keep you up nights.
movie debut in Trainwreck. In

the lead role and as screenwriter with director Judd Apatow
expertly harnessing her energy, not taming it Schumer is
a whole summer of comic fireworks wrapped in one ballsy package. Or is that sexist?
Heads up, guys. Schumers assault on cave-man attitudes
hits like a kick in the nut sack.
She plays Amy Townsend, a
writer for a mens magazine run
by an editor (a roaringly funny
Tilda Swinton) fond of headlines like are you gay or is she
just boring? Amy is sent to
interview Aaron Conners (Bill
Hader), a sports-medicine doc-
tor who tends the celeb likes of

LeBron James (spoong himself) and Amare Stoudemire.
The stage is set for love. But
wait. Amy, with a mouth fuelled by booze, weed and a neglectful dad (a tangy Colin
Quinn), will usually do a guy
and dump him. Aaron is less
of a dude, though the excellent Hader, whose skill as an
actor hits a new peak, gives him
complications. These two dont
blend sweetly. Sweet is not how
Schumer wants Trainwreck to
go down. She wants to explode
rom-com clichs and replace
them with something erce and
ready to rumble. Done.
Trainwreck
Amy Schumer, Bill Hader

Directed by Judd Apatow
amy schumer makes you

laugh till it hurts. Proof is in her
Comedy Central series, Inside
Amy Schumer, with its classic
skits on Bill Cosby and whether
Schumer is hot enough for TV.
Proof positive is in her starring
Hader gets
cuddly with
Schumer in
Trainwreck
Classic | Excellent | Good | Fair | Poor
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
Night of the Living Dread

French director brings terror
to the streets of Belfast
By Michael Adams
A D DAY WOR
ORK
RK
Co
ll
ks n
hours h l.
71
Jack OConnell
Directed by Yann Demange
Judging by this debut, youll

be seeing a lot more from
Yann Demange. Channelling classic The Battle Of
Algiers, the French-born
directors gritty action lm
will have you bolt upright
on the couch.
After a street riot turns ugly in 1971 Belfast, young British soldier Gary Hook is
separated from his unit and hunted by the
IRA through the nighttime city streets. As
if that wasnt terrifying enough, when he
witnesses undercover British agents providing Protestants with a bomb, his own
superiors decide hes better off dead.
Scripted by Scottish playwright Gregory Burke, who wrote the acclaimed Iraq
drama Black Watch, 71 condently explicates the confused politics of Ireland dur-
ing the troubles without taking sides.

The emphasis here is on one mans desperate bid for survival. Jack OConnell best
known as the lead in Unbroken is terrific in a role thats light on dialogue and long
on tense silences. Gary is our stand-in
hes simply an everyman, dropped into a
hostile environment, traumatised by what
hes witnessed, scared of violence and sickened when he has to perpetrate it.
As good as OConnell is, 71 belongs to

its director. Yann Demange turns Belfasts
relit streets into a menacing maze, superbly choreographing suspense and action scenes so we know brutality is coming but not from where. The lmmaker
is a John Carpenter fan so its tting this
comes off like a real-world, serious-minded Escape From New York, right down to
the spine-tingling soundtrack.
The DUFF
While Were Young
Get Hard
House Of Cards S3
Directed by Ari Sandel
Directed by Noah Baumbach
Directed by Etan Cohen
Created by David Fincher
Mae Whitman
Ben Stiller, Naomi Watts
Every teen clique apparently has a designated ugly fat

friend who makes the rest of
the group look hotter. Remarkably, The DUFF transcends this
irksomely gimmicky concept to
become an appealing if never
quite hilarious comedy about
female self-acceptance and empowerment. While following a
familiar path voiceover narration, an essay question that
needs answering, our girl enlisting the hot boy to help her
make herself over, homecoming nale the hugely likeable
leads Mae Whitman and Robbie Amell share a chemistry
that manages to be more than
the sum of their material.
Noah Baumbach continues his

fascination with white NYC
angst in this entertaining if uneven dramedy. Ben Stiller and
Naomi Watts are fortysomethings who become infatuated
with twentysomething hipsters
Adam Driver and Amanda
Seyfried. The performers are
great, themes about artistic integrity are thought-provoking,
generational-clash jokes are
accurate and the soundtracks a
winning mix of retro Eighties,
modern hippity hop and classical interludes. But while Baumbach pokes fun at Gen X-ers,
his dismissal of Gen Y as Tom
Ripley-lite famewhores comes
off as curmudgeonly.
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart
Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright
Whats a namby-pamby white

corporate douche gonna do
when hes sentenced to 10 years
in prison? Hire the only African-American man he knows
to teach him how to get hard
and avoid becoming someones
prison bitch. Theres no denying racial stereotyping and
rape panic are the foundation for this Will Ferrell-Kevin Hart teaming, though Get
Hards self-awareness and soft
heart means it gets off without
giving offence. But Etan Cohens comedy stands convicted
of a far more serious crime: despite a few laugh-out-loud sequences, its just not funny or
biting enough.
After a sudsy second season,

HOC comes back strong with
President Frank Underwoods
White House under assault.
His America Works program
is opposed by Congress, the
Russians mess with his Middle East peace plan, and the
Republicans line up to replace
him in the 2016 election. Meanwhile, former chief-of-staff and
chief-keeper-of-murderous-secrets Doug Stamper is on the
outer and dangerously out of
control. But the real threat to
his power might be much closer to home. Kevin Spacey and
Robin Wrights dynamic fascinates in what is a wonderful
binge-watch.
RollingStoneAus.com
103
KIM KARDASHIAN
[Cont. from 83] says Kardashian, spying
a crew member whose exclusive job is to
hold up a special lighting panel so that the
family looks perfect at all times.
The setup today is Kylie needs furniture
for her new house. Does Kim herself have
a shopping addiction? Well, I have a saving addiction right now, so that makes up
for it I put myself on a budget, she says.
Thats why I started the eBay store a long
time ago. I told myself I had to come up
with a certain amount of money if I wanted to spend that money for the month.
And I still try to keep myself in that budget. I sell stuff Ive worn, if I dont archive
it. She adds, somewhat unbelievably, I
try not to shop that much.
In the furniture store, Kylie and Kris
are wandering around endless living-room
SUGE KNIGHT
[Cont. from 73] your mouth, or next time
Im gonna pay my shooter [another] 10
grand to raise the barrel. (Audaciously,
Knight sued West for having inadequate
security and the loss of a $135,000 diamond earring; they settled out of court.)
And just last year, Knight was shot six
times by an unknown assailant at a party
thrown by Chris Brown at West Hollywood hot spot 1 Oak the night before the
Video Music Awards; Knight recovered
but has reportedly suffered from blood
clots since the shooting.
The once-untouchable Knight seemed
diminished and vulnerable. You couldnt
have paid nobody back in the day to even
look at the dude wrong, says Jones. With
Death Row gone, he lost his entourage,
says Wright.
nights ongoing embr ace of

the thug life may have destroyed
any remaining credibility he had
as a businessman. When it comes to the
Piru shit, he shouldve stepped away a
long time ago, says Jones. Instead, he
got neck-deep into it. With proceeds
from Dres chart-topping hits a distant
memory, and no new breakthrough artists to prot from, Knight has apparently had to nd alternative sources of income. Suge had to go back and adapt to
what he knew: going around and getting
money from people that he felt owed him,
Wright says. In 2007, when a reporter for
The Washington Post asked Knight how
he still had money, he preferred to evade
the answer rather than lie. I dont lie,
said Knight. The only people I lie to are
the police.
(One former Knight associate, however,
believes the Death Row boss had unusually close ties with law enforcement. I always [thought Knight was] an informant,
says Lake. The FBI knows the hip-hop
RollingStoneAus.com
setups, discussing getting measurements

for a chaise lounge and if small motherof-pearl and black tables might be cute for
Kylies new house. Kim slips a microphone
under her green dress to join the conversation. Are you sure you want to go black
and white like Mum? she asks. Kylie plays
the typical teenager who dips in and out of
attention, sometimes looking at her phone,
other times chugging from a water bottle
and staring into space. Kris plays the overexcited mum who is watching her almostgrown daughter move into her rst home
and wants everything to be exactly right.
Its the roles they really inhabit, or so they
tell us, and the lming despite the ve
or so cameramen, lighting-panel guy and
sound folks who trail them as they walk,
ducking behind gigantic mirrors and oor
lamps in order to make sure a crew member is never in the shot ows easily.
Kardashian stays only 20 minutes and

leaves to see her daughter; North was a little sick yesterday, and she made her special
bottles of tea with honey. Shell go home to
her mansion. West is in his home recording studio and asks if Kardashian would
come hang out since they didnt see each
other much the day before. He loves when
all the guys are there and theyre talking
about things, pop-culture events, she says.
They have these think sessions where everyone sits and talks and hangs out, talk
about theories and so many different
things. Ive learned so much, just culturally. Shell go to sleep early, and then the
next day do it all again the makeup, the
tweets, the lming, everything that makes
her professional and personal life, her
human and digital self, the fake and the
true, unreal and real, so intertwined and
seamless. Were not done watching yet.
industry, entertainment and drugs on the

streets are all intertwined, so you cant
nd a better informant for the government than Suge Knight he can infiltrate almost any camp. Knights lawyer
Mesereau calls Lakes assertion absolute nonsense, and Jones also disputes
the idea: Theres a code in the streets. If
you dont have real proof, dont call nobody a rat.)
Knight does have a giving side that
friends say is genuine, even if it sometimes resembles a scene from a Hollywood gangster movie. Crooked recalls
Knight spontaneously spending $30,000
at a Toys R Us and distributing the spoils
at a local childrens hospital; on Fathers
Day, hed hire a bus to bring children to
visit their incarcerated dads. Passing out
turkeys in the hood on Thanksgiving became an annual Death Row tradition,
as did Knights Single Mothers Day
event where hed rent out ballrooms in
a fancy Beverly Hills hotel for a ve-star
celebration for single mothers, who would
come in from all over greater Los Angeles.
And despite conicts over child support,
Michelle claims Knight is a loving dad to
their 12-year-old daughter. Hes a great
father to all his kids, she says.
He also still inspires loyalty in some
former associates. Quite frankly, with
all the headaches that I had with Suge
through the years, the good outweighed
the bad, says Wolfson, who now manages Hall and Oates. I truly owe him a debt
of gratitude for actually allowing me to
make decisions at the highest level.
There were not a lot of people in the
music industry hiring guys whod had
brushes with the law back in the day, says
Wright. He did that. He gave them jobs, he
gave them a chance when no one else would.
And thats why he has so much anger
because he feels hes helped a lot of people. Now all these people have turned their
backs on him.
Meanwhile, Knights former circle is

debating the outcome of his current situation. The lowest I can see him getting,
realistically, is 20 to 30 years, says Jones.
Worst-case scenario, hell get life. Either
way, hes out of business.
After hiring and firing a number of
lawyers in rapid succession including
Fletcher and, for a brief reunion, Death
Rows infamous legal consigliere in the
Nineties, David Kenner Knight has recently retained the powerful Mesereau,
who successfully defended Michael Jackson in his 2005 child-molestation case
and has represented controversial gures
ranging from Mike Tyson to actor Robert Blake. I am convinced of Knights innocence, and I am convinced these cases
should not have been led. I look forward
to defending him, Mesereau told Rolli ng Ston e. All I am going to say at
this point is that he was defending himself at all times, and should not be facing
any charge of murder, attempted murder
or hit-and-run. If I had been driving the
truck, I would not even have been charged
with a misdemeanour. And as far as his
robbery case goes, its utterly ridiculous.
As many of his associates have noted,
Knight has gotten out of seemingly impossible situations before. I still consider Suge a friend, but I cant deal with
that nigga hes crazy, says Wright. Hes
been knocked out three or four times, and
hes still walking and talking like hes the
baddest brother around. Hes got some wiggle room, though. Dont count him out yet.
The Suge Knight story has twists and
turns, dont it? Crooked says. We dont
have any clue how it will end. He seems
to think that hell be back on the streets.
Crooked goes on to relate a story about
the day that Knight turned himself in to
police.
He was smoking a cigar, and he put it
up in a tree, says Crooked. Then he said,
Ill get back to that.
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
UP IN THE AIR
[Cont. from 89] website search results are
incomplete and misleading. Hans, a babyfaced linebacker from Minnesota, explains
the ner points of gaming customer-service agents to accrue credit-card points. A
Russian-born math-professor-turned-nancier teaches Manufacture Spend. A dishevelled former White House staffer leads
a seminar titled simply Hacking United.
This is their Game Boy, says Petersen,
one of the Hobbys founding fathers, of the
younger recruits enchanted by Schlappigs
success. They dont play World of Warcraft
they gure out how to do mileage runs.
The darker element of the Hobby is
said to network at these events. If you
have the skills, you may get an invitation to join one of the bands that operate anonymously around the world. These
groups use secure servers and private email groups to communicate. Theres one
that Im on, says Gary Leff, referring to
an online group, stressing that he joined
only to monitor the chatter. Others Ive
had access to dont know. Schlappig for a
time practiced Manufacture Spend, but,
perhaps still haunted by United, hes decided that anything riskier lies beyond the
pale. Some of its the shadiest stuff Ive
ever seen, he tells me. Thats why I dont
do a lot of this crap anymore.
In multiple interviews, airline representatives insist that Schlappig and FlyerTalk represent little more than a portal
for passionate customers. But mention the
Hobbys darker side, and they turn grave.
If any members of these groups were particularly effective, they could have a catastrophic effect on an airline, says Jonathan
Clarkson, director of Southwest Airlines
rewards program.
Ever since the Skiplagged lawsuit, a
new perception has grown that it might
be airlines, and not Hobbyists, that are
in over their heads. If true, its a development that wouldnt lack for poetic justice, says Tim Wu, a professor at Columbia
Law School and a frequent writer on airline policy. Before deregulation, the price
for a given seat remained xed. But today,
says Wu, the range of prices that customers
might get charged for the very same seat is
spectacularly wide. They made a normal
activity suddenly like going to a casino,
he says. A lot of people get shafted. But it
also creates an opportunity for people who
can break the system and live like Schlappig. Theyre chasing around these people
who are trying to game a system that they
themselves set up.
t s a f t er m i dn igh t i n dow ntown Hong Kong, and after crossing

the Pacic on another 16-hour ight,
raccoon-eyed and hair mussed, Schlappig looks like he was just let out of school
for the day. Hes riding a buzz equal parts
champagne and coffee, and he has found
S e p t e m b e r , 2 01 5
himself in his favourite city once again.

Tonight, a cab has dumped him curbside
at the ve-star Hong Kong Hyatt. Theres
something indescribable in the air here,
he murmurs. Youll catch on to it.
Schlappig has barely stepped off the elevator into the hotels glistening VIP lounge
when someone shouts, Is that who I think
it is? Two stout men and a blonde see a
beaming Schlappig heading toward them,
all hugs and rst names. In the Hobby, a
run-in like this is an occasion for yet another bottle of champagne.
One hour in, and the three are swapping
stories about the time they met the teenage
Schlappig at a Hobby party he organised
in Sausalito, California. The woman at the
table is a corporate lawyer from New York,
one of the Hobbys few females. I met him,
and I was like, Oh, my God, she recalls.
This kid is, like, in high school. Each
person at the table has concocted a story
for their co-workers or friends about where
they disappear to on weekends. But this
evening, theyve found one another in the
Hong Kong night. Schlappig spills champagne on himself as he raises his glass for
a toast: So much for lonely, right?
The next morning, Schlappig is ghting
off a hangover as he trudges through Hong
Kong International for a ight to Jakarta.
He sighs. I dont really physically associate
anything with being home, he says, but
this is about as close as it gets. Bag in tow,
he pauses to gaze at the sprawling indoor
pavilion. The Hong Kong airport, the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse at JFK I do feel at
home there, he muses. Its weird. Soon,
it will be a year since he gave up his apartment in Seattle. He ponders the thought
with a glass of white wine somewhere over
the Indian Ocean, but for the rst time
he betrays a note of sadness in his blank
smile. Absolutely, its isolating, he admits. There are nights where its 3 a.m. in
Guangzhou, China, and youre like, Oh, I
could actually be in L.A. having fun with
friends. And theres nothing to do here.
Or anywhere: His trip reports betray a
theme, in photo after photo entirely devoid
of human companionship: empty lounges,
rst-class menus, embroidered satin pillows inanimate totems of a ve-star existence. On our next ight, a seven-hour
run from Jakarta International to Tokyo,
Schlappig tries to get himself motivated about the champagne selection, holding forth on the best meal pairings with
a $200 bottle of Krug. But there are no
fans waiting to surprise him here. An elderly Japanese couple sleep in the corner.
Otherwise, the cabin is deserted. Many air
carriers long ago made the judgment to let
rst-class suites go unlled, at the risk of
tainting the marketable aura of exclusivity.
I do what I love, Schlappig whispers, perhaps more to himself, trying not
to wake the couple. You have to understand: This has always been my passion.
His words trail off, and he closes his eyes.
Being in your twenties is hard being

a gay guy in your twenties is even harder, says Nick Dierman, a close friend of
Schlappig and a fellow Hobbyist. Lifes a
challenge. I think this is his way of escaping
it. Some of his friends have oated the idea
that Ben should become a lawyer. Why do
that? he asks, more than slightly annoyed.
Why would I want to sit in an office all day
when I can just y around the world?
By the time the plane touches down in
Tokyo, Schlappig has been in seven countries in seven days. He scoops his things
and drifts wordlessly to the exit. Its still
dark outside at Tokyo Narita Airport,
and at this hour the palace-size structure is nearly empty. A woman sleeps at a
McDonalds table, head back and mouth
open, the faint echoes of a vacuum cleaner
whirring in some far-off corridor.
In three hours, hell be on a ight bound
for the States, and to his dismay he nds
the VIP lounge still locked. With a pout,
he plops down among the waiting areas
bleak cookie-cutter chairs. Assuming the
death of the Hobby doesnt prove imminent, Schlappig repeatedly insists that his
life can go on forever this way. But he also
announces, genuinely, that he wants to settle down one day. Thats exactly what he
wants to do, says Pourazari. But he cant.
He doesnt know how.
Passing the time here in the dark morning contrasts starkly with the most cherished thrill of his life in rst class: After
the champagne bottles are empty, hell be
struck with the sudden urge to return to
New Delhi. There, tucked in a corner of
Indira Gandhi International Airport, hell
nd a perch and study the arrivals hall.
You see a whole family, 20 people, picking
up someone at the airport, he says. People with signs, people with balloons, with
owers. Theres something beautiful about
that. Hell watch for a few hours, pondering the stories behind the reunions and the
cries of laughter that come with each new
ight. But he still cant decide if what hes
just seen is a vision of his past or the future.
The world is so big, I can keep running, Schlappig says. At the same time,
it makes you realise the world is so small.
After a long pause, he continues, I want
what I cant have. Theres nothing gratifying about that. Its crazy, and its fucked
up. Id still like to think Im a reasonably
happy person. He grins. Despite all that.
Soon, a message comes over the PA system in muffled Japanese. He leaps to his
feet, still the 10th-grader at the bell, transxed once more by the prospect of escaping for the weekend and exploring the
world. Schlappig angles through the terminal, the low purr of his rolling carry-on
resounding across the cages of an empty
bazaar. Hes picking up the pace now,
bounding down the empty hallway, ready
to take off. At sunrise, the shops will reopen, the terminal will roar back to life.
But by then, he will be gone.
RollingStoneAus.com
105
THE LAST PAGE
Tex Perkins
The last time I swore at the telly
Every time I see our Prime Minister, Tony Abbott. The Conservative side
of politics has had some cold-hearted tiny-minded arseholes over the years, but
theres never been anyone like our Tony.
The swear words are usually euphemisms
for some kind of genitalia, ending in unt
or rick. I feel physically violated whenever I see him, as if someone has squirted vinegar in my eyes. Hate is not a strong
enough word.
The last time someone was rude to me
Was on the internet, of course. Where
every arsehole gets to express every tiny little thought and opinion they have.
The last thing I do before going onstage
Take a piss.
The last thing I do before going to sleep
Take a piss.
The last time I was embarrassed
The other night I was on stage with
Charlie [Owen], we were doing our duo
thing, and he comes to my side of the
stage, leans in and whispers, Tex, your
f lys open. Oh shit, I said, how long
I feel
has it been that way? I dunno, he said,
someone in the audience just told me.
physically
I was a little rattled but not devastated.
violated
Ive done a lot worse. Ten years ago I was
whenever I
on stage in Newcastle. At the end of the
fourth song I notice this guy making his
see Tony
way through the audience as he comes to
Abbott.
the front of the stage, directly in front of
me. He looks up at me and I lean down to
hear him say, Your dick is hanging out.
The last time I got a haircut
I did it myself.
at assembly as they drew out the winning
The last time I said never again
ticket . . . It was me! Id won! Now my
Was the last time I cut my own hair.
mother might tell you that this is proof
The last time I prayed
that God exists and is listening to our
The last time I rememprayers. Others might say
ber praying was when I was
that this is the power of posOUT NOW
about 10 years old. There was
itive thinking, and that that
a raffle at my school and the
much mental energy can
prize was a set of very lovely
manifest reality. But really
antique glass vases. I wanted
I was probably the only kid
to win them for my mother.
that bought a ticket in that
So over the next four weeks
raffle and gave a shit about
I bought tickets whenever I
those antique vases.
could scrape together a few
The last time I was starTex Perkins and
coins, and I prayed my little
struck
the Dark Horses
arse off! Every spare wakWas a few months ago in
Texs new LP with the
ing moment was devoted to
the Perth Virgin lounge. I
Dark Horses, Tunnel at
begging God to let this hapsat down with my chicken
the End of the Light,
pen! Eventually the big day
noodle soup , looked up and
was released last
month.
when they were drawing the
noticed Barry Humphries
raffle arrived. We all stood
sitting a few tables away. I
RollingStoneAus.com
love Barry. I wanted to launch myself over

there and tell him that I think he is the
greatest living Australian. In my head I
began preparing a speech were I thanked
him for all the laughs, all the wit and intelligence, for single-handedly saving Australias reputation overseas, thank him for Les
Patterson, for Dame Edna . . . I was going
to lay quite a heavy deal on him. Then he
got up and walked out. Lucky him.
The last record I bought
It was Becks Morning Phase. Pretty
fucking good! Deliberately, unrepentantly slow, sad and sweet.
The last lm I saw
Was on an aeroplane. It was Chappie,
directed by Neill Blomkamp. Its a futuristic dystopian fable set in Johannesburg.
I liked it, and was pleasantly surprised
to find Die Antwoord not only on the
soundtrack but actually in the movie.
S p e t e m b e r , 2 01 5
JAY HYNES
Warning: do not get between

the formidable frontman and
his antique vases
By Rod Yates
With Very Special Guests
MARK SEYMOUR & THE UNDERTOW

STONEFIELD
SATURDAY 21 NOVEMBER
ON SALE NOW

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Issue 766 September 2015

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ALL THE NEWS THAT FITS

Postcards From the Edge

They might be dysfunctional and unpredictable, but garage

From Rush With Love

Is this the end of the road for the geek-rock gods?

How Sweet the Sound

The Fall of Suge Knight

He sold America on a West Coast gangster fantasy then the

The King of Comedy

Judd Apatow on his childhood, conquering Hollywood and why

ROCK & ROLL

British rockers waste no

Sydney metalcore sensations

Mumfords New Road

The Major Lazer and Jack star

On the bus as the band goes

Dave sits on his throne,

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Arnhem Land enigma goes to

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Taming the Beast

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ta m e i mpa l as n e w r ecord is a revelation. After getting used to the absence of

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so violent femmes, the

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF & PUBLISHER: Mathew Coyte

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