Very excited to be singing with First Chorus Band Of Singers, Mama Kinand Spender at Howler Melbourne next week (Thursday 03 May).
This time the choir will have *microphones* so you’ll be able to hear us, woohoo yeh
It’s been so lovely to revisit the songs from this album, given that we’ve already performed at Northcote Social Club and Queenscliff Music Festival, and we know the songs reasonably well. So now we can focus on getting the nuance and the feel, and feel solid in our arrangements.
#MamaKinAndSpender #FirstChorus #HairBetweenUs #GoldenMagnetic#YesTheGoldenRobes #GetYourTixNow #kthxbye
Tickets via moshtix here
Went to my third Camp Bitch with the Real Hot Bitches this year. It was my Very Great Pleasure to witness Head Bitch Teleeshea Sunrise perform a lip-sync dance routine to Head Bitch in Charge, with Skittle Bitch and Feminem providing servant backup. Extraordinary, moving and the best finale to a great weekend away.
You don’t get that tho, you just get the original clip, soz
But this is also extraordinary and moving, right? A stirring collaboration from people based in New York and Melbourne, this track has been bouncing around my head for months now.
FREDA DU FAUR CA 1895. GEORGE MANNERING PHOTOGRAPH CANTERBURY MUSEUM
One of the best pieces of theatre i’ve seen was in Natimuk Frinj back in November 2015.
I was in town working with Sam Downing and Leonie Van Eyk on the B.A.R.E. Body Appliance Revival Experience, and my friend Tim Ratcliffe was playing in “The Freda Experience“. His play was getting all the buzz around the festival, everyone was talking about it, and one morning at 7am i found out exactly why that was.
When we arrived, we were sorted into groups and given our climbing equipment for the day. We were now in the early 1900’s being trained to undertake a basic climb, clipping ourselves into a chain of climbers. Freda herself came in the room to have a discussion with the trainer, as there was some concern about an unmarried woman being accompanied on the climb by a man, and also about the nature of her attire.
This was an immersive theatrical experience, where one group hiked around to the reading group and another to the lecture; where we all ended up in a giant projection which moved from the walls of the mental institution to the huge tents of a mountain-bound camping party.
They’d developed the play in Castlemaine for the State Festival, but Natimuk was the perfect location for its second outing, given the climbing history of that place.
The production was magical and inspiring, heart-breaking and confounding; Freda was well known in New Zealand where she was the first woman to climb several peaks, and the first human to climb others. In Australia however, it seems possible she was written out of the history books because of her sexuality.
As the show finished, i didn’t want to leave, but i was invigorated to continue my festival day at 9am on a Sunday in this tiny enchanted country town.
Jim Coad’s put up a video about the creative back-story to the play:
http://madeinnatimuk.com/thefredaexperience/
yes we will be wearing these golden robes… Oh Yes. Final rehearsal this arvo .. it’s been sounding good, i’m so excited (and i just can’t hide it)
Come and see us, go on!! Get your tickets on their page thing.
Also hear the background stories of Danielle and Tommy on Clare’s radio show last week, from 1h10m til 1h27ish, a beautiful interview with some live singing, you’ll get the feeling of what happens in these gigs: Mama Kin and Spender on ABC with Clare Bowditch, 02Nov17
Tommy wanted to “work with people and work with communities”.. First Chorus Band Of Singers is only one of the many choirs in this project.. also hear about their “secret weapon” the super magical Virginia Bott.. “like the Beatles had George Martin”
event page on the FB
plus all the FB hashtags
Loving this funky rendition from Lucky Chops. Thanks to Bushy for posting it, gold!!
Amarina Waters will launch her New Single on the 24th March at the Gasometer Hotel.
I advise you to attend, as this will be a beautiful evening..
Delicious sounds and light-hearted visuals, “A Sense of You”.. filmed entirely on location, in the place it was filmed. Haunting and ethereal, mildly surreal..
(PS i have heard rumours there might be an album in the works… hopfully!!)
Don’t miss this one if you’re at Rainbow Serpent this year. Real Hot Bitches and Rockerobics doing more than an hour of lycra power.
3:00-5:30pm on the Saturday, Playground Stage (28 January).
Very excited to be selected for this performance.. you’d better be ready to rock.
Here’s the facey event with more details: Real Hot Bitches and Rockerobics at Rainbow.
An extraordinary festival within another festival, The Village couldn’t be further from Falls, and yet it’s right next door, behind the main stage.
What a pleasure to be involved here, performing with The Real Hot Bitches, and also as a guest of Gherkin Khan’s Amusement Alkazar. Great crew, funny funky times and the best musicians in the whole wild world. Anyone who has had the pleasure of dancing to Tek Tek under the moonlight will know exactly what i’m talking about.
Most fun to be had? Watching all the different band line-ups and working out how many bands all these superstars were across. Carrie Webster, Steph Brett, Paul Dornau, David Bramble, Esther Henderson, Kat Karvess, Thomas Mitchell, Ros Jones, Ania Reynolds – all somehow featured in 3 or more of the supergroups on stage.
Most hilarious moment? David Bramble getting a buzz cut during The Haircuts’ song “Buzz Cut”. Or perhaps when Flaps Salad of the Real Hot Bitches strutted their Mulletty Hotness across the grounds during The Haircuts’ rendition of “Disco Mullet”!!
Most touching moment? Meeting Charlie, a 21 y.o. dude from Frankston who was out-of-sight blown away by the whole Village experience. “Forget the Falls Festival,” he told me, “this place is blowing my mind.. i never knew stuff like this existed.. i just want to find out how to get involved!”
New discoveries? Lisa Skye is a very funny human!!
Out there in the crazy world of the Falls Festival, we also saw some delightful music, eg Client Liaison, London Grammar, Childish Gambino, and the very wonderful Gretta Ray on her first big festival stage. Oh and The Avalanches live on stage for special NYE fun – they were so good!!
Some of the bands i can remember seeing at The Village at Falls:
Thanks Virginia Bott for reminding me of this beautiful album that Emma Tonkin made with First Chorus Band of Singers.
I’d been a big fan of Emma’s work for years, so it was inspiring to be a part of the recording ..and what an experience that was, learning the complex rhythms and harmonies Virginia and Emma created to accompany Emma’s deeply moving songs. If you’ve never listened to it, here’s your chance. (Listen below on this page, or over at bandcamp.)
<a href="http://emmatonkin.bandcamp.com/album/cave-of-lights-by-emma-tonkin-first-chorus-band-of-singers">CAVE OF LIGHTS by Emma Tonkin & First Chorus Band of Singers by Emma Tonkin with First Chorus band Of Singers</a>
Honestly i don’t know what this woman is doing, i wish i could write a complex and reflective review, but this piece just takes me to a place where i have no logical understanding. Seriously, listen to this.
okay that’s a bit gushing, right? If i was being critically reflective, i would say.. i need more of this. What happens next? it’s too short in time.
