I Love Chile - February Edition

I wrote the cover edition of the February edition of I Love Chile. It was an interview I did with Marlen Olivari, who is in a musical, which is also called "I Love Chile".

You can now read the digital version for free here

This woman, she shot to fame by hosting one of those TV shows where a woman reads the weather whilst taking her clothes off. She has also been the centre of various incidents, many of which resembled the Janet Jackson "closet malfunction" at the Superbowl a few years back.

She has a kid now so it's all about a "changed life" of something along those lines.

Here's a couple of clips from the show.

I will try to post up some more stuff about what I've been up to writing wise. Yesterday I interviewed a guy, Miguel. He is holding a comic expo, this guy has some stories. He began his writing career with the guy that started Condorito (before Condorito started) and went on to work for Pixar and Disney.

I also mentioned a while back that I was looking to do an interview with these guys that skated through the Atacama. I got my answers back from them. I'm going to write a story for the paper, but I might just put up the questions and some pictures on here, that sounded like a cool trip.

In more personal news, I went and picked up the keys to our new apartment today. We are going to start living our own lives, in a much more central area. Over the next couple of days we're getting a bed, washing machine and fridge delivered, so things are starting to come together in that regard.

I am back in action with my Masters, I just have two subjects remaining and to be honest it looks fairly daunting. That could be a good attitude to have. If you think you're going to come in barnstorming, you will probably come out the other side with your tail between your legs.

For a great example of this see: Canberra Raiders, 2011.

Speaking of Canberra, there have been floods lately.

This is at the Cotter Dam. Well I think the new part which was hoping to save things because of the drought.

That's how it works I guess...

I am about to head off and play a Pichanga (pick up soccer match). I played one on Monday as well, that was good fun. There were a bunch of guys from Singapore playing, and that day I happened to be wearing a Tiger beer shirt.

This match is going to be "Latin America vs Rest of the World". I guess when you think immediately, you would jump to the conclusion that LatAm would be winners straight away. However, fútbol is the world game after all. So it will be interesting to see how that goes.

I finally got myself a pair of boots, so hopefully I can put in a better showing than previous matches. It has been a long drought of goals for me.

Chile played against Ghana last night, and that sure was a weird game. As the commentators said at half time (which went for 35 minutes), "everything about the organisation of this game has been a disaster".

The final score was a 1-1 game, with Matías Fernández scoring the equaliser from a penalty kick. I might do some player rankings on the I Love Chile site. Then again, I also might not. You can read this article about the change of the venue from New York to Philadelphia a few weeks back.

I may have mentioned we went to see Morrissey the other day. That was the first gig I'd been to all year, and we hadn't seen anything since Parkway Drive, back in November. That's something that will have to change.

Opeth are going to be hear at the end of the month, I will definitely head along to that one. I'm not sure if they're still on their "easy listening" run of shows. Even still, they're a great band. I had an excellent time seeing them with Ben many years ago in Sydney.

Canberra Music Inquiry submission- 2010

Last year in Canberra, there was a commission into what should be done about music in Canberra. I'm not really so sure anything came of the inquiry, but I had my two cents on the matter- can be read- http://www.parliament.act.gov.au/downloads/submissions/52%20Daniel%20Boyle.pdf.

Inside that story, pretty much sums up my time in Canberra. Of course venues close down in other cities all the time as well, but it seems that has always been the fight in Canberra, just having a regular place to play.

In other news, I applied for a job yesterday. The first time I have ever applied for a writing job. It is as Reporter for the website This Is Chile, which is run by the Santiago Times, an English language online newspaper. It would really be GREAT if I could get that job.

Another opportunity may have come up here as well. Helping a friend of ours with a conference in the Atacama Desert. If this one comes through it will be an amazing opportunity, both for me in my "career", and also as a travel opportunity too.

Capital Lies

So in the past few weeks I have been dwelling on our upcoming departure from Australia, and thinking of doing some kind of zine for the occasion. Of course, time is almost up, and I just have a blank page, and many more things to do, so there will be no farewell issue of the zine.

That's not to say there won't be any more issues though. I will probably do some more, from Chile, I haven't decided if I will keep the Capital Eyes thread running. I plan on making a zine about the adventures in South America of an Aussie Gringo, called Grassy Arse. (geddit...) I might even think about doing a podcast, but first things first, I'm going to get myself settled down over on the other side of the ocean.

We only have 3 days left in Sydney. Our time in Canberra finished earlier this week, we finally picked up one of those elusive $15 tickets on the bus. Got to see a lot of our friends, but of course you can't see everyone you plan on seeing.

Have already managed to catch up with quite a few friends, talk about the old days, etc and I have almost booked myself out for the next couple of days, so of course I will need to find some time to pack too. Busy times ahead in the next few days.

Australia vs Malaysia, 5-0

We went to Bruce Stadium last night to watch the Socceroos take on Malaysia. Now it's been a long while since I saw a win there, Round 1 way back in March. We had got some tickets as a group, but instead of going to our allocated seats, we sat in the Malaysian supporter area.

We arrived a few minutes late, and Australia were already on the board by that time. The Malaysian team really didn't do a lot to trouble the attendants, but the fans were cheering right through til the very end.

It made the game a lot more fun to be amongst their chanting, drumming and singing, as opposed to the polite claps from the rest of the ground. I think the Malaysian fans were more excited than the Australian ones even when Australia scored a goal.

They sure scored plenty of them too, Australia were up 4-0 at half time, but only added one more to their tally in the second half, final score Australia 5- Malaysia 0.

A bit of a walk

We're into our last week in town in Canberra now, next Tuesday we will take the bus to Sydney, and it's not many more days and we will be bound for Chile. I decided to do some walking. Some time ago Jonathan and I somehow came up with this VM Challenge. The concept of VM came from the German word for World Cup or World Championship, weltmesiterschaft, which the Germans pronounce vee-emm. Our original challenge was to run up 5 mountains, going by bike between each one.

We never made it to any of those mountains running, but I decided the better idea would be to do the full challenge, walking. I told a couple of others about it and they were keen too, especially if the walking challenge was fuelled by beer. Of course, it never happened, but I had most of a day to kill, and didn't want to spend it standing in lines.

So the original plan was to go Mt Majura>Mt Ainslie>Black Mountain>Mt Painter>The Pinnacle. Some may argue that The Pinnacle is not a mountain, but none of them really are, and this run made the best case for not having to travel too far between destinations.

Anyhow, I had already walked around 10km before I started my "real" walking, which could explain why I didn't get to the end. I stopped in Weetangera for a pie, what a weird combination of shops they have there. No supermarket, but they have a publisher...righto.

From the shops I cut across the backstreets and made my way to The Pinnacle. Up a few steps, no worries, there we go. A fairly easy start. So as to not go through any private property, I took the loop track right back around to the main entrance and went on to Mt Painter. I had been up there once before, but it was a bit more of a climb coming from the bottom end. When you come from Cook, the parking area is already some way uphill. It wasn't too much effort to get up there, however the part that always had me wondering about this trip is where to go between Mt Painter and Black Mountain. I wasn't sure if it would be better to go through the suburb or Aranda, or to cut through the Aranda Bushland area.

I came down the mountain and decided to head for the bush. This turned out to be the right option, as soon enough I was on the Old Weetangera Road. This must have been one of the first roads heading further out of town. There is a little house just behind the stadium, which is called Weetangera Homestead. This old track, though it is now interrupted a few times by major roads, begins there.

In a previous expedition to Black Mountain I had come across that road, so I knew I was on the right trail. Heading up the Black Mountain trail was a lot more strenuous than my previous efforts, and with the sun on my back, I was definitely feeling the effects. I had to stop for a while and this photo shows a pretty accurate description of how I was feeling.

What a looker...

So at the top I contemplated whether I would pay the entrance fee to go in the Telstra Tower. I decided not too, and just sat on a chair and rested for quite some time. Heading back down I was reminded of what must have been the first time I walked up Black Mountain. Coming down, almost back to the road, there was a bloke with a t-shirt, and absolutely nothing underneath. That sure was a weird sight!

I had never been into the Botanical Gardens before, as most of the times I've taken the track has been outside of the garden hours, so I popped through the gate. The Gardens have the largest collection of Australian plants and trees in the world, but in Australia, are gum trees etc all that impressive? The rainforest section I was much more impressed by though, Canberra doesn't really have a climate that produces rainforests.

Whilst I should have carried on to the final two mountains, instead I headed in to the city for a beer stop. What my explorations showed though, is that the challenge is definitely achievable. I guess I won't have time this time around, but maybe some time in the future.

Leaving home

In our last few weeks in Australia, we are upholding the pacer lifestyle. This term pacer comes back to a spelling error during the "Danpacers era". A while ago I went up to Queensland for work, and in the time I was away, turned by two bedroom apartment into a sort of mini hostel.

So you know, what comes around goes around, so we are relying on our friends to give us a roof over our heads. We have been staying with Viv and Bret for the first portion of our stay, which has been really good, we can just walk to work etc. We don't want to impose on them for the whole stay, so today we move over to Caroline's house, multiple times Australian Women's Footbag Champion...

We will stay there for about a week and then come back here, then finish off our time in Australia with a stint and Grandma and Grandpa's in Sydney. Not really long at all to go to takeoff.

Let me remember how I felt just before leaving to go away to Queensland:

It has been great to have our friends help us out, and it has been fun to stay with Viv and Bret. We share some jokes and I have been reading various books that have been picked up from garage sales, borders closing down sales etc. I polished off Danny Buderus' autobiography, now I reading about "Laurie and Clyde", two of my heroes growing up, who I got to see in action earlier this year in Hay. You know, as much as these may be embarrassing to have in your collection, I actually really like to read these sports books, brings back a lot of memories.

New zine idea

Well I haven't written anything about zines in this blog for some time and it's been even longer since I made a zine. At the start of the year I said I wanted to get to issue #15 of Capital Eyes before stepping out of the country.

We fly off in just a few weeks and the last one I did was #12 for the Sticky Target 168 thing. That was a while back. I have a few ideas floating around my head. I may do a little travel zine about our recent times in Asia, which ended with me in hospital. Not such a feel good story. Another idea I have, which some may say is cheating, is to make a collection of the interviews I've done with just Canberra bands over the last few years. This could be a pretty good way to bow out from the Canberra scene and tell a few good stories about those times.

Off the top of my head, these are some interviews I have done with Canberra bands- 4 Dead, I Exist, Templestowe, Yoko Oh No, Super Best Friends, Jerkstore, Slowburn. Considering that I have been doing this for a few years, it probably should be a bigger number, but there's not so much you can do about that. Let's see if I can get that done, I have had a pretty productive night tonight, so if I can continue that form over the next couple of weeks, we'll see what happens...

Speaking of zines, This Is Not Art (TiNA) is on this coming weekend. I met a girl last week who said hey you should go. I have to work and I don't really have any money, so it's not going to be an option at this stage. However, once we come back from Chile, that's something I could do.

Alan Tongue retires

Today is a sad day in Canberra Raiders history, to go on with the abysmal season that has been 2011, Alan Tongue has announced this year will be his last. He will go down a one club man, and one of, if not the most passionate player to wear the lime green.

Since his debut in 2000, the Raiders have not enjoyed the success of the early 90s, but there have been some good years and some bad years. Tonguey has been there through the thick and thin. Between 2006-2008 was probably his peak time, his huge tackle rates and support play and mainly, passion would sometimes singlehandedly get the Green Machine home.

Last year Tongue was injured for most of the year, but managed to notch up his 200th appearance for the club, to huge applause. In the final against the Tigers, especially with Campo busting his leg, Tongue scored a decisive try to keep the Raiders in the fight.

So many times he has played with a variety of injuries and played through the pain, he has been an inspirational leader and lead with his actions, but this year I think you could see the toll of all these tackles coming against him. Being overseas I will not get to see the last game at home. Unfortunately my last viewing was the shutout received by Melbourne.

I hope the Raiders will use Tongue in some manner of the field in the next seasons, he will be a great role model for the younger players. Alan Tongue is a different mould to most players. You quite simply won't see the same "bleeding green" of players like Tongue and Josh Miller in the next years at the Green Machine.

And back in the 'berra

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/national/national/general/abbott-gets-rockstar-treatment/2259942.aspx

A two fold protest greeted the return to parliament and this was no greenies etc.

Part one- an anti carbon tax rally, part two an anti gay marriage rally.

Seriously...

It is amazing that this kind of person exists, let alone in large numbers....

4 Dead interview

This one is not one of mine, but I love to read interviews with 4 Dead. With the amount that one mr Jon Dangerous talks, it's surprising you don't see more interviews with him.

Although with only one released full length album in a long, long time, it's not like the band has new products to spruik or anything like that....

The interview was on the Chucking a Mosh website, I enjoyed it quite a lot. I did an interview with Jon last year which was in Issue #8 of Capital Eyes.

When does the holiday begin?

Well technically it has begun already. On Friday I packed it in from the place I've worked for more than 3 years, then had a good party with friends from a pretty good spectrum of the years I've lived in Canberra....about 7 years in all. As much as Canberra gets written off, I have always had a pretty good time there and I will miss all these friends a lot.

To begin with, we're hitting the road in mainly South East Asia for two months. So since that party we have been packing up our things and cleaning up the house we've lived in for the last 4 months. 4 months isn't too long to live in a house, and it's not long to forget the memories of cleaning the previous place, so it hasn't been that exciting.

Today I drove down to Bega to drop a bunch of things with my parents, then tomorrow I will take the bus back to the capital. I guess once we finish the cleaning, we will be ready to go, ready for a holiday.

So here's a brief outline of where we are headed for the next couple of months.

• Sydney
• Gold Coast
• Malaysia
• India- fly into Mumbai then head north by train and bus to Nepal
• Thailand- fly into Bangkok then head by train or bus to
• Cambodia and Vietnam

We have 2 months so of course we won't be able to see everything we want to, or to completely experience all the places, but it will be a good chance to see what we like, then we can visit those places in the future. Francisca has never been to Asia and I have only really spent a few days in a couple of places.

So I'm pretty excited to be hitting the road and will try and post here reasonably regularly to give some updates about what we get up to.

National Library of Australia- zine blog

Those good people at the National Library of Australia have a started a blog to talk about the fringe world of publications, mainly the world of zines and comics etc.

Go and check it out.... https://blogs.nla.gov.au/the-eloquent-page/

One from the vault

Julian just posted up the long lost Condorcet cover of the Slowburn "classic" Take A Swing.

I decided I should put up the interview that I did with Sean, who also played in Condorcet, and now plays in Loveshy.

Most of the other guys who were in Slowburn play in I Exist, who you can scroll down the page slightly to see the interview I did with them a couple of weeks ago.

(I changed some stuff in the questions like "this year" became "last year"-sean)

1) To start with, who's in the band and what do they play
Aaron Drums, Sean and Sam guitar, Dave sings, Petey plays bass.

2) Slowburn has played with some really big name acts throughout last year (eg Terror, Mindsnare, Internal Affairs etc). Has there been a particular highlight in the Slowburn live experience?
Sean: For me our set with Miles Away at The Jamo was a favorite. I think mainly due to the atmosphere, for some reason all the lights were off so we were playing in almost darkness. Multiple circle pits and kids screaming along. I also really like playing house shows and sweating a whole lot during them.


3) When you changed the name from Top Gun to Slowburn, did this reflect a change in the original objectives of the band, to more of a serious project
Sean: The idea at the start was to play really short and fast youth crew inspired music. We had maybe 3 songs of that sort of stuff done pretty poorly. After that we branched out a bit I think while still playing hardcore. The name Top Gun was just a sort of silly name that Dave came up with as we needed a band name. We were getting sick of the whole top gun "omg like the movie?" thing so we changed it. I think we have always been a serious project, it's just that we wanted to change the name.


4) Your fan base has grown strongly in Canberra, and you have played a few shows outside Canberra... how have you been received being an "out of town band" when playing these shows
Sean:We haven't really played many shows at all out side of Canberra. Our first show in Sydney was a bit crap I remember. However the out of town show's we have played so far this year in Melbourne and Sydney have been much better. I think when your playing to people who don't know you it's kind of exciting and you just run yourself dead onstage maybe make an impression. Playing down the south coast is lots of fun to, it's pretty much an extended Canberra scene down there.

5) So you've recorded some songs for an EP...how is it sounding and what are the plans for its release?
Sean:It sounds really good to me. I really really like all of the songs on it, and it's pretty diverse. We did rough recordings of the songs before hand and I wasn't so siked on some of them, but after recording them properly they have come out sounding so big. Recording in a real studio is a new thing to us so it was kind of strange to us at first but the lady who recorded us was super at her job and put us at ease. Not sure exactly when it's going to be released but hopefully soon, it's all a matter of money and we are all really poor.



Here is the video to the song Sleepwalker.

6) Do you think the band is always improving, as this is the first serious band for most of you guys?
Sean:Well I think we have improved in bounds since we first jammed as all bands do. Me and Aaron have had a bit of experience with being in bands, but I think the way in which we operate and how things are going is a first for all of us. I definitely think that with each recording we have improved in song writing.


7) You've had a lot of opportunities this year with international supports etc, do you think if you were a band outside of Canberra you would get this opportunities at such an early stage of a band?
Sean:Probably not, if we were in say Sydney, I doubt that we would of got some of the international supports that we have. When we first started there was seriously only two or three bands that loosely fit into the hardcore category in Canberra which meant that there wasn't much choice if you wanted a local support. It's good to see that there are a few more now, it's not like there is a huge scene but it's definitely picking up.


8) Canberra has always had a serious problem with venues, why do you think the problem always continues and can you see any solution to it?
Sean;Well maybe not so much a problem with venues but all ages venues or licensed all ages venues. It is really frustrating to be under age and miss out on seeing bands, when they play an overage show that isn't attended as well as it could of been if all ages. Under age kids are what keep the scene thriving and it is vitally important for there to be an all ages venue that is hardcore friendly. I remember being so bummed when I was underage missing out on shows purely because of my age.
In Canberra we need someone with a clue and commitment to set up a medium sized allages venue. Sound Underground had so much potential for this but unfortunately the guy who ran it (while being a really nice guy) didn't have much of an idea how to operate a business. Jamison inn, while used as a venue for hardcore shows a lot in 2007, became increasingly hostile towards hardcore shows. And now the place is getting knocked down, so it's a no go anymore.

9) What are the best bands going around at the moment (international and Australian)?
Sean: Australian wise I am currently really into Pisschrist, Extortion and SJN. These bands are being just so much more hardcore that most pap out there. The emerging 'screamo' scene of bands like Eucalypt, Majorca, James Dean etc. has gotten me really siked on screamo in australia which was just about dead for sometime. Internationally, because I'm a heaps fruity dude, I have been getting heaps into Canadian indie like The Arcade Fire and Tegan and Sara.


10) Anyone to thank or anything else to add?
Thankyou Dan.

I put this interview in Issue #2 of Capital Eyes. The interview was dated, Feb 13, 2008.

Way up in the sky, little darling

Hot Air Balloon Ride with Balloon Aloft

As a gift for our wedding, my parents gave Francisca and I a voucher for a balloon trip. I had never really contemplated doing one before, because it's a bit of an outrageous cost to do it yourself. We had tried to go one time before, but bad weather put things off. A couple of months have already gone by, so it was time to try again. I called up last week and they had no spots available, so I booked in for this weekend.

It was an early start, making the 5am call to check if the wind was ok, I expected it was probably going to have the result where we went back to sleep, but we were on. After the coldest ever May 6, May 7 was slightly warmer, at just -3 overnight. By the time I got to scrape the ice of the car, it was probably only slightly below zero.

Our meeting point was at the Hyatt Hotel, we headed there, then we went to check out Weston Park as a possible launch spot. A test balloon was sent up, and seemed to head straight up, with not much drift to take us anywhere. The balloonists were slightly concerned about the fog, but after sometime of waiting in the cold, some more time of waiting in the truck with the heaters on, the thumbs up was given.

We drove further into the park itself, and all systems were go. There were quite a few balloons going up that day, but in the end our one was the first to go up, and the last to land. Our pilot Richard had 20 years of flying experience, and he seemed to know exactly what he was doing.

Once we were away, which was 2 hours on from when we actually met up, we shot up quite quickly, straight above the park with views over the lake and the Arboretum. What's currently mainly dirt, it will be a very different sight to behold in 10-20 years time. We could look down and see the rowers on the lake, they were also off to an early start.

There's not so much control of where you can go in a balloon, but our drifting took us right through the inner south area of Canberra. After floating around for a while, it looked as if we would be landing in the fields in Deakin, near the mint, but then we went up again, over past Manuka and towards Narrabundah. It seemed at one stage we would be landing on the fairway of the 5th on the golf course, we came so close to the ground that I was able to grab a leaf from a tree, but then we were up again, bound for the model plane airfield.

Yes, Canberra has a model plane club, and yes, they have their own airfield. We had to land west of the Monaro highway as to avoid any air traffic coming into the airport, but also to avoid landing in the jail, as they may become suspicious this vehicle with no steering may be used as a getaway...

Once we finished up with the balloon it was on to the Hyatt, firstly for champagne, then on to breakfast. As we had been up in the air so long, the breakfast was about to finish, so I'm not so sure it was as good as it could have been, but we talked to some of our fellow balloonists and enjoyed our meal

My interview with Bridget

So this month I don't have too much news from the Canberra region. There was a zine fair on, but I was unable to attend. My spies tell me there was not anywhere near as many people as at the same event last year.

What I have done instead is interview my good pal Bridget (Screwdriver Guilts, Trees Die Standing), who used to live in Canberra, but is now popping up all over the world...

What first got you started on the idea of making zines?

I honestly have no idea. I always liked cut & paste..

You're living in Austria at the moment....what's the zine scene like?

So far a bit bullshit. There's one infoshop here in Vienna, at the one squat (not a real squat), with a secret knock & stuff before you can get in. I'm gonna keep digging though, I'm optimistic.

And to follow on from that, is it difficult to make zines there- are paper, staplers, glue and photocopiers widely available?

The good news for Viennese zinesters is that there's a super-friendly anarchist printing place that will only charge you material costs, so at least this part of it's totally covered. Meanwhile, due to some stupid scene infighting junk the place is being effectively boycotted by most of the people in the city who could, should & would be using the place.

What's your personal favourites of the zines you have made so far?

I'm kinda keen on ish one of Trees Die Standing (which will totes be reprinted & in our favourite smelbs store before long). For those of you (most of you) who haven't read it, it's about the time I went to the Egypt-Gaza border last June. It's a long story. I interviewed a bunch of people coming out of Gaza, as well as some of the people involved in the tunnels/smuggling trade & learnt a lot about the Bedouin struggle in the Sinai. I also found out that the going price for a Grad missile launcher in Gaza is $50,000, while in Somalia it's only $6,000.

Your zines are mainly based on your personal experiences, without the adventure would there be no zine?

Um yeah, I think so. I hope so! My first few zines (Screwdriver Guilts #1 & 2) were an amalgamation of crap, mostly nothing to do with me. I interviewed some skater in Norway about when THE GOVERNMENT OUTLAWED SKATING FOR LIKE 15 YEARS WTF, & Quan Yeomans from Regurgitator, who can I just mention, is such a dude.

Trees Die Standing #2 is about your experiences in Palestine...what would you do differently if you were to go there again?

Yeah wow! Maybe everything or nothing? I'd probably try to shoplift more in Tel Aviv, & eat (even) more falafel.

What's next on the production line?

So many. I spent some time with the No Borders group in Calais, France last year where European activists are supporting the migrant struggle for freedom of movement... literally hundreds of migrants are stuck in this pissant town in northern France at any given time, trying to smuggle themselves on to a boat to Britain. Basically it's a losing game of trying to stop the cops from beating them up too much during raids, & just to be a friendly face to these people who have gone through such incredible, relentless bullshit. Anyway, as soon as I get time I want to write an “Arabic for Activists” zine especially for Calais, to combat the language barrier (a lot of people there were from Sudan, Iraq etc) & help activists be more effective. I wanna write a “Middle East Vegan” recipe zine, even if no-one reads them – this might have something to do with this fucking Palestinian cookbook I'm editing right now (I say “fucking” because the recipes are so vague it feels more like I'm writing a cookbook than editing). And I want to sit down & write my zine from Iraq/Kurdistan, which I hope to call “All My Friends Are Mountains” because, well, it's often been said that the Kurds have no friends but the mountains... & gosh I like mountains!

What sort of music is the background to these zines?

This is ridiculous but when I was cut/pasting my last zine together it was to the soundtrack of my boyfriend reading me Sherlock Holmes aloud.

Apart from zines, you do a fair bit of other writing, how does making zines fit into your writing game as a whole?

Zines are totes the writing equivalent of um, “me time” - when I get to write whatever, however I like, with no deadlines, word limits or target audiences. Wahey!

What are the best and worst zines you have ever read?

I don't think I've ever read a BAD zine, hey. I have a pretty low threshold for ranty socialist zines or wistful-teenage-girl-growing-up-in-the-Midwest perzines unless they're really well done, but whatevs. Well, actually, I did read a zine once called “Why Nonviolence Protects the State”, but it was actually a photocopy of the un-copyrighted book of the same name, & it was (for me) complete bullshit.

I read a really rad zine once called something like “Why Restaurants Should Be Abolished” which was pretty much what it said on the box, deconstructing the power-plays that define restaurant interactions between customers & staff. Good stuff for anyone who's ever worked hospitality!

Do you think you will find yourself back in Canberra anytime?

I'm coming back to Australia at the end of the year, mostly out of a growing desire to address the political situation & do some intense introspective junk re: being a product of colonialism & how to circumvent it. And Canberra's magnetic pull can only be staved off for so long. Actually zine-wise I'm really fucking excited!!! Australia's zine scene seems to be totally exploding! Kapow!

Anything else to add or anyone to thank?

Thanks Special Agent Dale Cooper, for being you!

Mt Painter and Surrounds

Yesterday was a big day of walking. We decided to walk up a mountain somewhere and chose Mt Painter in Cook, one I hadn't been to before. Although it stands at 743m, it is a very easy walk on a fairly well made path.

We hadn't been walking long and were already at the top, so we continued walking over to The Pinnacle which is across a main road, but not too far. We have been to The Pinnacle before, so we continued along the Springvale Track which took us along the back fences of Hawker. I was surprised to see almost every backyard littered with swimming pools, tennis courts and the like. On the way back I led us on some horrendous wrong turns, but we got there eventually.

When we were on top of Mt Painter I also got a short Footbag run in.

Yoko Oh No

Yoko Oh No, Canberra's leading/only punk band.

I did an interview with a couple of the guys a fair while ago. There was a show on at Bar 32 and midway through the show we went and did the interview. I'm not really so sure why it took so long to get this one done.

Yoko Oh No

Yoko Oh No are a punk band from Canberra. One of the only punk bands in Canberra at the moment come to think of it.

What's happening in Yoko Oh No at the moment?

We've almost written an album. Danny, our bass player was away for a while...we got Alex to fill in, he's in I Exist, yeah I EXIST. Danny's back now, so he's back in the band.

What's the plan for the album? Any label interest?

We might be doing a split 7 inch actually, with four other bands. The Phantom Shitters.

Is that really a band name?

Yeah, that's there name. Los Croutons are another one. Yeah...I've never heard of any of these bands.

What are your thoughts on the punk scene in Canberra?

It sucks. We pretty much are the punk scene at the moment. Outcome Unknown will be over soon, not sure if we're meant to tell people that. I'm a bit disappointed. So it just us, we're it. As far as I know.

You guys didn't get to support Propaghandi when they came here. Were you cut?

Well, there's a story behind that. I knew Outcome Unknown were meant to be playing, but they were breaking up. So I thought it would be worth asking the guy that used to run the shows, that guy Luke. So I asked him, turns out he hates me. He was really drunk and just abused me for five minutes or something.

Are you happy with your year? Has it been a good year?

Yeah, it's been a pretty good year actually. We played with The Porkers and Los Caps, that was this year I think. We played at The Annandale, it was packed. Not when we played, but later on. We played a good show the other day, The Real Deal, a ska band from overseas. We've played in Melbourne a couple of times. The first time we played with Party Vibes and Anchors, the second time it was with Party Vibes again and another band, Yeah Right. We played in Wollongong with Lungs, that was awesome. They're great.

Any record labels interested in your works?

Yeah, Sony are coming with a deal to protect us from everybody. Actually, no. Nobody cares.

What do you think of punk in Australia?

It's good. Frenzal Rhomb will probably break up soon. Unpaid Debt are going to play a reunion. Lungs, after Frenzal are probably my favourite Australian punk band at the moment. Local Resident Failure are pretty good, and can't forget Anchors. I'll get in trouble if I don't mention them. We played with them the other day. Everyone reading this should buy it. The one person reading it, probably Rob. Thanks for reading Rob.

If you guys could play with any particular band, who would it be. Pretty sure I know the answer already...

Propaghandi. Fuck you Luke Myers.

I don't think he'll read this but would you say to him?

I just said it. Forget you buddy.

What's the plan for Yoko Oh No next year?

We'll record February-ish. Then we'll do an East Coast Tour later in the year after the album. Sample the kebabs throughout Australia.

Los Capitanes are pretty punk, they're pretty good. I'm backtracking, I'd just like to put it out there. There's a couple of bands in Queanbeyan that are playing punk.

What's the best band in Canberra....one band

Red Menace were pretty good....I guess for me Los Capitanes. Four Dead were good before Morgan join.

Do you guys have anything else to announce?

If you're in an up and coming punk band, we'd support you. We are the real punks. If you put on the show, do all the work, we'll play. Up the police, fuck the punks.

We're into a new year.

The first day of 2011 it sounds like I've turned into a super keen fitness fiend. One of my resolutions was to exercise every day. However, we kicked things off well today.

Francisca and I walked up Mt Majura, then swam some laps at Dickson Pool. Just to complete the day, we kicked a soccerball around once it got a bit cooler in the evening.

I honestly couldn't tell you a top 10 of albums that came out in 2010, the quality just wasn't there, or I wasn't looking for it.

I did like

The Amity Affliction- Youngbloods

The Gaslight Anthem- American Slang

I Exist- I: A Turn For The Worse

Alexisonfire- Dogs Blood (EP)

How about a top 10 shows that I attended for the year...that will be easier to complete.

1. Polar Bear Club, Break Even, The Gifthorse @ Rosies, Brisbane

2. Polar Bear Club, Break Even, The Gifthorse @ The Fort, Brisbane

3. The Ghost Inside, Break Even @ Underworld, London (UK)

4. Machine Head, Hatebreed @ Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide

5. 4 Dead, Hoodlum Shouts, Boonhorse @ Bar 32, Canberra

6. Ruiner, Hopeless, I Exist @ Bar 32, Canberra

6. Alexisonfire, Comeback Kid, Anti Flag @ The Forum, Sydney

7. Alexisonfire, Break Even @ UNSW Roundhouse, Sydney or The Palace, Melbourne

8. Dangers, Graf Orlock, 4 Dead, Vera @ Bar 32 Canberra

9. Slowburn last show @ The Jam Factory, Canberra

10. Elysian, Ignite The Ibex @ The Basement, Canberra

2010 was a great year personally, easily the best ever. 2011 will definitely be an adventure, a big year ahead. I should have a new issue of Capital Eyes in the next few days, with interview from Elysian and Yoko Oh No.

Farewell belco

At the zine fair Luke from Half Arsed skateboard zine had the plans out for the new Belco park.

I had heard rumblings about it but didn't know things were really stepping into action. In his younger years your dear writer was reasonably handy on the rollerblades having been inspired as a youngster by Drazic and co in Heartbreak High.

So I thought as they're going to smash it down next week, I better have a roll.

So I rocked up, the sun was down already, there were a few bmxers sitting around. I said hey how's it going, they grunted, prettygoodmate. I embarked in something I have done so many times before, but not for a long while.

Start up near the bowl, drop down the flatbank, into the donut, launch out for a 540, down the snake run. A little air midway through, a stall on the next turn, down into the street section, a little grind along that tiny rail.

Living right nearby when I was at uni, I spent a whole lot of time there, that place holds a lot of memories to me. The new plans look amazing though, I can't wait to see the finished product.

Talking Tapes w/Jerkstore

This was a pretty weird interview. I think it's the fact I did it with some guys that I knew pretty well, it was just an off the cuff thing, I was hanging around my local shops and Julian came by, he said the rest of the band were having a meeting, I suggest the idea of a zine interview.

We ended up talking for ages but it didn't come out that well. What I've put into the zine was mainly a lot of talk we got into about tapes. Jerkstore are putting out a tape in the UK.

We did the interview in Tilley's, inside. There was so much noise around, so in the tape you couldn't always here what was going on.

I wrote down some of the ideas that came across:

Dan: What's the plans for Jerkstore coming up?

Julian: Some band from Adelaide wants us to come and play with them...so maybe we'll go to Adelaide.

This bloke Chaz, he's from The Midlands in the UK. He's going to put out this tape over there. There's going to be 100 copies made.

When's the tape launch tour?

J: Doesn't look like we will manage a tour from the cassette sales.

Sean: Maybe one of us could go on a hype tour, just go around and play the tapes.

Pete K: We could just go to everyone's house that buys it, give them a personal launch.

We're going to do a slit 7 inch with Marathon sometime.

We're going to play Electric Lake. It's Warwick's thing. It should be good. I like playing outside. It's in the park, where punk in the park was. We're at the bottom of the lineup though. There's bands that have never played before above us.

You guys got any other bands going?

J: I might be doing something with Morgan (Dead Kings/4 Dead) and Alex (Hard Luck). Fast hardcore. Morgan wants it to sound like xfilesx

S: I'm in this pop punk supergroup. And Loveshy...we're doing a demo tape. We might to a launch show of the tape.

J: You can't launch a demo. That's not on.

Have you guys been in any other zines before?

We're having a track on a compilation in the next Nerf Jihad, Issue 10. I guess we've been mentioned a couple of times. The Hollow said they like us I think. We got a mention in that zine about Marathon. This is the first interview though. It's one word, Jerkstore.

Do you think tape is making a big comeback?

P: There's definitely something about it. There's that whole nostalgia thing.

My friend...funnily enough, he lives in Adelaide now...that's how I got into music. He played me a tape of TLC- Waterfalls. I later bought the tape off him because of the memories attached to it.

J: I was a bit young for buying tapes. I guess my first tape was a My Disco tape or something. Maybe this band called Rubber Baron, they were ok I guess. Oh, once my friend and I made a tape for my parents for Christmas. He played guitar, three power chords, I sung in this high pitched voice.

P: On a tape, it's a bit more forgiving. The bias kind of covers up a lot of little errors that might come out a lot clearer on CD. We did a cover for the UK tape...it actually sounds horrible on CD, all the errors come out loud and clear. The tapes a bit more forgiving.

Maybe we should do a Radio Birdman cover for the Australian version.

Naomi: My first tape was probably a Straight Jacket one or something.

That's a bit cool for a first tape. Mine was 100% Hits of 1996

Actually, I got a Savage Garden tape back when I was young, that would have been my first.

S: I once taped Spiderbait- Grand Slam and Regurgitator- Unit which I borrowed from the library.

I had those two on tape as well.

That's all that I wrote in the zine, I've added a few more parts that came to mind as I was typing.