Capital Eyes- 2011 Mixtape

Rather than doing a top 10 this year (mainly because I haven't been paying that much attention to what's been going on), I have made a "mixtape" - actually just a playlist, but it's getting there...

It basically reflects what I've been listening to and the bands I've gone to see. I am planning next year to make a mix each month.

You can download the file here.

Here is the tracklisting. You probably wouldn't call this groundbreaking, or featuring "rare tracks", but a lot of it I haven't listened to regularly this year.

Hoodlum Shouts- Guns Germs Steel

My friend Luke plays in this band, they are really good- definitely one of the best Australian rock bands to come out in quite some time. This will be on their full length album which comes out next year. When he first told me he'd joined a band that sounded "kinda like Midnight Oil" I was definitely interested. Their sound can definitely be described as "Australian".

Miles Away- Anywhere

I went and saw Miles Away this year, it was the first time I had seen them in a fair while, the first since they released Endless Roads, a good album to listen to when travelling a long way from home.

Fires of Waco- Change With The Tide

I got to see Fires of Waco twice this year. Once at the same show with Miles Away, and then I saw them on their home turf, at Fat Louie's in Brisbane in a free show. Their album, Old Ghosts Never Sleep is brilliant.

The Gaslight Anthem- Even Cowgirls Get The Blues

I had a ticket to go and see The Gaslight Anthem but I couldn't make it. This is probably the first time that this has happened to me, and aside from regretting the waste of money, I also regret not seeing them even more now, as I have listened to them a whole lot this year.

Grinderman- Bellringer Blues

It sounds like Grinderman may have bitten the dust this year, so that's a band I will never get to see. I love the story in this song.

The National- England

Our friend Sofia reckons that I look a lot like the singer from The National. I'm not so sure on that, but I like this song.

I Exist- Black Unicorn

It is really amazing to see how far these guys have come in just a couple of years. Relentless touring and releasing plenty of music will always help out. I also did an interview in BMA with them.

Kvelertak- Blodtørst

This is a band that got talked up a lot last year. I didn't really get interested in them until it got announced they were going to play the Soundwave Revolution- which didn't quite make it anyway. I like their sound, it's fun.

Break Even- Hells Gates

So far from home- that's where I've spent a lot of this year. Break Even played in Canberra just a couple of days after they put this song out, and almost the whole crowd knew the words. That was pretty impressive.

A Death In The Family- This Letters Proof

From the album Small Town Stories, I started listening to that album a lot more this year, particularly when visiting small towns.

Ringworm- Leviathon

From the split with Mindsnare. Long talked about, but I guess a lot of people didn't believe it would ever come out.

Frenzal Rhomb- Knuckleheads

Frenzal Rhomb, that staple of Australian punk, they've been around for nearly 20 years now. While it's not quite up there with their earlier works, it's a fun listen.

Parkway Drive- Carrion

It's hard to comprehend the popularity of Parkway Drive overseas, without seeing it first hand. Hearing a room full of people chant for CARRION- CARRION was impressive to see. I hope to see them in South America again next year.

Propagandhi- Dear Coach's Corner

I saw Propagandhi in Hobart and Canberra this year. They were both pretty cool shows.

Audrey Hepburn- Moon River

This one is a bit of a change of pace. This was the entrance song for Francisca at both of our wedding ceremonies.

Machine Head- Who We Are

I was a bit underwhelmed with Machine Head's latest effort. It was great to see them within the first few days of arriving in Santiago (with Sepultura). How about the encore of Davidian into Halo. Pretty good.

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.

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.

Capital Eyes issue 13...

Well I think the next zine I do, as I aim to reach that elusive 15 I mentioned some time at the start of the year....maybe it was a new year resolution, maybe I was just talking rubbish, but I've decided I should try to get there, even if I take some sneaky ways.

(eg, Issue 12, being my contribution to Sticky's Target 168...)

Anyhow, I have contributed some writings to some street press, but I think I might use the interviews (rather than the stories I put in those publications) to put in my zine.

So the next issue will probably have content from I Exist, Ignite The Ibex, Shihad, Daysend and maybe a couple of others.

Something different for Sticky monthly column

As I mentioned on the last post, for this month's Sticky contribution, I've decided to do something a little bit different. I didn't go to the zine fair at the beginning of the month, so I don't have too much news to report. Instead my good friend Bridget (Screwdriver Guilts, Trees Die Standing) also famed for making excellent hot chocolate and getting arrested in Palestine, we did interviews with each other about zines.

So for all my followers...

Here's an early look at the interviews

Here's the interview questions I answered for Bridget

Daniel Boyle- Capital Eyes

You're from Bega... did you get in to making zines there, or when you pulled up in the teaming metropolis of Canberra? How did it all start?

I didn't really know about zines when I lived in Bega. I used to however, when I was still fairly young, do a lot of the things you will find in zines. I would fill exercise books with my top 50 or 100 songs, and write my own album reviews and things like that. So these were really handwritten 1/1 zines when you think about it...

I lived in Sydney for a while and I picked up a few zines, I always picked up anything that was free or really cheap in some of the different music shops, but once I was in Canberra I helped do a zine with a couple of my friends, it was called Can I Scream (the name was from the Refused song New Noise, and it got a lot of criticism in the reviews)....we made it for free, we did three issues, I think we actually printed more than 500 of the first one. When we were doing that I was thinking, I would like to do my own zine, but it was a couple of years before I actually went and did that.

Your zines feature a lot of band interviews. How influential would you say zines are in Australian punk & hardcore these days (promoting, finding new bands, etc)?

Within Australia, particularly in the punk and hardcore scene, or all scenes I guess, people are getting their information online. It's instant and you can listen to the music straight away. For information about what's on immediately, I guess the street presses can be ok, although not everything is in there. The whole zine thing is a bit more fun, I guess.

Some people may read about a band and get into them from there, particularly this “bigger” zines like Pee Zine, which has been going for ages and is up to issue number 40 something, or Unbelievably Bad, though that doesn't seem to come out much anymore, those sort of zines have a good chance of giving you some ideas about new bands, whereas a lot of the smaller zines, I guess it's just a look at some punk rock dudes life with a few interviews of bands they like, which you may want to check out.

There are not that many punk/hardcore zines around, maybe one or two in each city, but I always love to pick up any zines when they're at shows.

Before I left Canberra you were the only other zine person I knew there. Now, it seems like the nation's (spew) capital has exploded in ZINE FEVER! Is this correct? How's the zinescape (yeah, zinescape) looking these days?

I'm not sure if these people were around already, or that it's just getting more organised. There seems to be a lot more zine fairs, there's one coming up at Gorman House next week, and zines were even featured in the National Gallery of Australia, now isn't that Art.

I think a lot of these people were already around previously, but basically you just had to know them if you wanted to get a zine, whereas there are more outlets to have your zines, Smiths Bookshop is selling a whole lot of zines now these days.

You're writing a zine blog now, right? How's it going? Have you ever given a zine a bad review?

I have a blog which I kind of use as a zine blog, I mainly use it to put up the old interviews from previous zines, or I put some of my other writing in there, mainly travel stories or comments about the Canberra Raiders season (currently going very badly) in there. I have been doing some zine reviews. I mainly write about ones that I like from these piles of zines sitting in my loungeroom so they are mainly good reviews, but not all zines are great!

Have you legally deposited your zines at the National Library (that is, donating one copy of each to the National Library for posterity)? My friend who works at the National Library says legally depositing your zines is not only important (for archiving media history etc) but COOL!

I think there are a couple of mine in the collection at the Library. Some of the ladies got a few of my issues at the last zine fair. I have been meaning to put a copy of the rest in there, but I'm trying to track down copies of all the previous issues somewhere around my house.

You went to Papua New Guinea, whoa! My dad, who btw is a badass, told me a story one time from when he was in PNG (he is a geologist/rock star. geddit? Haw!) & got robbed for everything he had on his back – including his undies - & had to walk back to Port Moresby naked.* Did anything like this happen to you?

I remember reading a story about your Dad in one of your zines, maybe it was a letter from him from China and it was mainly about pandas, he sounds like a good guy. We didn't have anything bad happen to us, we went on a surf trip which left out from Kavieng, which is in the north of PNG. Port Moresby airport seemed like a very sketchy place, but on the advice of the people who took us on the trip, we took a taxi to some rich guy hotel and ate lunch while we were waiting for the next plane. Not very “travel guru”, but better than being robbed. The trip itself was awesome, all the people we met in the islands were so friendly to us. For those playing at home I wrote about this trip in Issue #7 of Capital Eyes.

You're moving to Chile! Have you sussed out the zinescape there?

I'm looking forward to going to Chile. I don't really know too much about the Chilean zinescape actually. There is a girl that gives updates on the Sticky newsletter so I will have to get in touch with her before I go. I just got married this year and my wife is from Chile, so we will head over there for around two years. I guess I will make some zines about my experiences of being a gringo over there.

When the uninitiated ask you “what's a zine?”, what do you usually say?

I usually tell them it's a home made magazine, made by cutting and pasting and photocopied at your work or some other place cheap. Then they look at me and wonder why somebody would do such a thing.

I picked up this A4 folded thing at a gig the other night labelled “FANZINE” & it turned out to be some promotional crap about some crap sponsored by the EU. I felt a tinge of the same outrage that an African-American rapper maybe feels when their subculture is used to hawk mass-produced sweatshop corporate sportswear. What do you think? Do you think it's kinda cool that zines are considered so significant a medium as for their POWER to be harnessed by Big Money, or is it a contrived insult to our collective intelligence?

An interesting question really. Generally if a “zine” is made by some “big, powerful organisation”, it loses the touch of the zine world. It's all formally presented, the staples are nicely in place, the paper is suspiciously high quality. However, zines could be used as a massive promotional tool in any situation, and I guess it's up to the reader to interpret it as they will. In countries where the state runs all the TV, newspapers etc, making a home made “zine”, though it may not be called that, is a way of getting your message to people.

...art...

The introduction to Issue #6, as you may be able to see, I am very bad at drawing, but I decided to put a little comic in the beginning of that issue, detailing an encounter I had with a security guard.

Ruiner

I did this interview ages ago, when Ruiner played in Canberra on their tour last year. Soon after the tour they announced they would break up. The interview also appeared in Capital Eyes issue #9.

I'm talking to Rob from Ruiner

You guys just played in Canberra at Bar 32, how'd it go?

It was good, wish it could have been a house, but you know, it's good not having to take the night off.

Have you always had this infatuation with George Michael?

No, I just the video on the screen while we were playing, I was entranced!

Ruiner toured Australia at the end of 2008. How did this tour compare to that one?

Pretty similar so far. The booking and managerial side of things was very different though. A friend of ours over here did all the bookings and another friend helped us with the paperwork side of things. There's no hostels this time around, no guaranteed accomodation.

Where are you guys staying tonight?

Somebody's friends house...I believe.

The band has put out an album pretty recently...how do you feel it compares to the other releases to you personally?

For me personally, I like it a lot better. I like it better than the last record. I don't know if I want to use the words “most honest”, but I guess you could say that about some of the songs. They reflect what I was feeling, what I was going through at the time.

A lot of the songs seem to have a lot of yourself put into them

I'm extremely conceited, yes, you got me. I have no other way to write a song. All the songs are from my experience. Writing something topical, I don't really like it, it's more likely to be scrapped. I may touch on politics but it's not something I actually write about. Apart from religion, there's no other topic I really like to pick at.

What's your political mindset?

I'd be pretty liberal. When it comes to gay rights, back home it's a big deal. Things like gay rights, it's incredible there's even conversation that it should be illegal. I guess I get a little iffy on things related to capital punishment. I see certain crimes in certain ways. Most of my family are from a police background. I guess some people might say that some of my views in regards to areas of the law are not so liberal.

What does your police family think of you being in a hardcore band?

My father is extremely liberal. As a matter of fact, some might say I'm more conservative than him. Everyone in the family has been very supportive of what I do most of the time. My Dad gives me shit, cost I'm always broke. I come home from tour, have to go to his house and find some way to try and get out of debt.

How does Ruiner fund their tours

We book all our own tours. Pretty much, when you're in Ruiner, the band will cover you to get there, then you're on your own from there.

When you come somewhere as far as Australia, how do you fund something like that?

The band will pay for it. We're pretty good with money as a band. As individuals, not so much. As the entity “Ruiner” we are good with money, we know what we're after. We can pull something together to go somewhere.

What's been the highlight of the tour so far?

We just hung out in Melbourne for a couple of days. We barbequed, I play basketball, we just hung out. When you've been on tour for a while, it's good to have days like that sometimes. On this tour so far I had my ipod stolen, I had food poisoning for two days straight. Asia just whooped my ass.

Where in Asia did you go?

We went right through South East Asia. Shows were amazing, but every day was getting on planes, off planes, up and down, all around.

Would you recommend other bands go to Asia?

Yeah, I would say if you're a band wanting to see what you're made of, go to South East Asia. See what you can deal with as a band. The shows are amazing, but it's the rest of the things you're dealing with. We've done a lot of touring, that was definitely one of the more strenuous tours we've ever done, and that's nothing against the people putting on the shows. It's just the travel really, getting on a plane every day, waking up at 3am to get on a plane at 6.

What happens once you finish in Australia?

We fly back to California, pick our van there, we've got a couple of weeks in North America. We zig zag in between the US and Canada. Then we go home for a month or two, then off to Europe with Carpathian, from here. Well, you know, from Australia. After that, who knows, we'll figure it out.

Any plans for a new album or anything like that?

No, not at the moment. After the Europe tour, we have no plans at all.

When is the Europe tour?

It'll be in July and August. The last show is on my birthday actually. It should be a good time, there's a whole heap of other bands in Europe around that time as well. I think the last show is in Berlin.

I saw Propaghandi in Berlin last year, that was pretty sweet

We got to play with Propaghandi last year, it was amazing. Probably one of the highlights of my life.

What's on high rotation in the van at the moment?

I don't know really, everyone just puts on their ipod, but I haven't got one, it got stolen. So I've just been sleeping most of the time. I have no idea.

What are you expecting from the rest of the tour?

If it keeps going the way it has been so far, it should be great. I'm not really expecting anything bad at all.

I guess the key question for the evening is...what song will you sing at karaoke?

My parents are actually karaoke Djs, they run the show at the karaoke. I've been around the karaoke world since I was about 13, I know all about it.

What's your karaoke special?

When I was young...I've never said this in an interview before, but I guess, I've never been asked about karaoke...I used to sing “I Would Do Anything For Love” by Meatloaf, with my mother. I love Meatloaf, I love that band, I love that man.

What's your favourite band of all time?

Nine Inch Nails...that's where “Ruiner” comes from. Nine Inch Nails are my all time favourites, they've stuck with me the longest. In more recent years, maybe Lawrence Arms would be my go to band.

Do you have anything to add or anyone to thank?

No.

I mentioned in my last post that I have been working on a project for my Dad's 50th birthday.

I have received some great stories about the inner city Sydney punk rock scene in the late 1970s, mainly the bands which formed after the demise of the mighty Radio Birdman. Some of these will be appearing in my next issue.

One of the main bands talked about was The Hitmen.

I was looking for some pictures and came across this interview, done in the mid 90s, with their lead singer Jonny Kannis.

I also did an interview with Jerkstore today. It came about in a bit of a strange way actually. I was down at Lyneham shops playing Footbag, it's a good place for me to play because it's near my house and sometimes people get interested and wonder what I'm doing.

So anyway, Julian came by and I asked what he was up to. He said they were having a band meeting. I suggested that was not punk. Later Pete K argued that maybe they are not a punk band, so it doesn't matter.

We talked about tapes, as Jerkstore are doing a tape release in the UK. I think tapes are making a comeback in a pretty strong way. The nostalgia value seems to really be getting the tape thing happening.

It was a pretty weird interview actually, but I think I will be able to get something out of it. We did talk for 25 minutes, but a lot of that was not quality interviewing.

The Capital Eyes organisation is now renowned for its quality in previous publications though...standards, etc. It's DIY, it doesn't matter.

I was going to do the new issue tonight, but I think I will wait and put a bit more work into the layout of the zine.

It's going to have interviews with Ruiner, To The North, Jerkstore and that 70's punk rock piece.

I begin my first assignment for BMA tomorrow, with an interview with Shihad.

Sticky

The Sticky Institute is a big time zine institution down under Flinders St in Melbourne. They are also running the zine fair which is a part of the exhibition coming up at the NGA.

So anyway, each month or so, they send out an email to let all zinesters know what's happening in the zine world. I noticed there was no Canberra information in the last mailout, so I asked if I could give an update. They said, no worries mate.

Here is what I wrote

FROM OUR NEW CANBERRA CORRESPONDENT, Dan
This month: Canberra is the place to be. (They wrote that, not me, I wrote the rest)

Hello all, this is the first column from your new Canberra correspondent. My name is Dan and I
write a zine called Capital Eyes. I'm currently working on Issue #9, hopefully that will be ready
in a couple of weeks. If you want to read more about that, you can read my blog (http://capital-
eyes.blogspot.com).

So in the big news, we had a big zine fair a couple of months back. That was on the 3rd July,
so actually it was just over a month ago. This was my first zine fair, and it was an interesting
experience. There were local zinemakers, as well as people from Sticky, Bird in The Hand and a
few other distros. There was a really big turnout to Gorman House, I think there were about 500
people. Not a bad debut. I sold or traded all the zines that I brought with me, so I guess you could
say it was a success, or I didn't bring enough.

Looks like we have another zine fair coming up, this one's on the 30th October at the National
Gallery of Australia as part of the "Space Invaders" street art exhibition. That should be a great
exhibition, and best of all, it's free.

I was in the US last week, I went to compete at the World Footbag Championships. If things go to
plan, I will be doing a zine about my experiences, so hopefully that will be complete by the time the
zine fair rolls around.

I have got some interesting zines lately. One by Bridget Chappell, formerly of Canberra, she used to
do a zine called Screwdriver Guilts, probably my favourite from last year. She has been busy being an activist in Palestine, you may have seen newspaper reports about her arrest. As far as I know, she is going to make a range of zines, but this is the first one, Trees Die Standing. It's mainly about her time heading out of Palestine, she has some interviews with some guys who operate a tunnel which sneaks in goods to Gaza, as well as some of her experiences.

Another one is nothing to do with Canberra, I picked it up and the Bound Together bookstore in
San Francisco, it's called Raider Nation. Ok, to admit it, I only picked it up because I am a fan of
the Canberra Raiders. If you can, try and get a copy of the "Rock n Raider" zine from a few years
back. Anyway, this zine is about Oakland, where I was staying, it's a pretty full on place and it was interesting reading about these much more crazy things that happened earlier in the year- police shootings, riots etc.

Your best bet for zines in Canberra while you wait for the next edition, head into Smiths Alternative Bookshop in the city.

Thanks for reading my first contribution, see you next time.
Dan

http://capital-eyes.blogspot.com

I am now wondering about the idea of going to the This is Not Art (TiNA) zine fair. I think the idea has a lot of merit, as I will already be going to the Sydney area that weekend. BUT what if the Raiders make it to the grand final. That could be a dilemma. I don't think they will get there this year, but the next few years, they are on for a premiership. Look at the side they have at the moment, all signed up for a number of years. Very promising indeed.

I'm also working on a bit of a secret project, it's for my Dad. I plan on giving it to him the day before, and I'm actually considering having it as a zine as well.

Canberra Zine Fair

I plan to make a bit of a write up of my zine fair debut at today's Canberra Zine Fair, but upon looking at the pile in front of me, my first task will be simply to list all the zines I picked up today. I did a whole bunch of trades, spent a bit of cash, met some nice people.

Here's what I came home with...

• Blixa- Musings of an awkward girl - Spring
• Blixa- Musings of an awkward girl- #4
• Rhetorical, Issue #2
• My friends roof
• Reasons to be cheerful
• Hot Dudes Are Like Poetry
• It's Not Funny, It's Art #1
• Lesson 1: Music
• Something with a black cover...
• We Are Not Obscene #1- really like this one, some great pictures, high quality paper
• First World Youth Culture Problems To Be Addressed (#1,3,4)
• Don't Panic
• Jerk Store
• One Day I'll Be A CEO
• Sandwich With A Side of Time
• The Thoughts of Switchblade
• Distort (#3,21,22,23,24)
• Beef Knuckles #4
• Westide Angst #13/Y.O.U #353 (split zine)
• I Hate Masterchef

So I guess I have enough reading material to keep me going for a few years or so. It was a good day out, I had fun. Got to meet a whole bunch of people, some of who said "oh yeah, I read your blog", or were stoked to see I had a new issue out. It was nice to meet the people behind Useless Lines and Bird In The Hand zine shop.

It was my first zine fair, but I don't think it will be my last appearance. I'm liking the idea of going to the TiNA (This is Not Art) zine fair in Newcastle in October. I heard a couple of people talking about it, it sounds like a bit of a pinnacle of the zine fair experience.

By that time I might finally get around to making a footbag zine, it's something I've been meaning to do for so long. Hopefully I can get one done before Worlds, or I might make one based on my trip.

An enjoyable experience anyway, something I would do again for sure.

I took my camera to take some photos of the experience, but I didn't even bother to take it out. Some other people were taking quite a few photos though. Hundreds of people came through the doors of the CCAS which is a very impressive figure.

This Saturday is the Canberra Zine Fair. I have never been a part of a zine fair before come to think of it, so this is my debut. I planned on going to the last one, but I got called in to work on the day.

I will have some copies of Issue #7 (Polar Bear Club, Jungle Fever) and hopefully a whole bunch of Issue #8 (Dangers, Ruiner, 4 Dead). I'm looking forward to meeting a bunch of other people who spend their time on this sort of thing. I will hopefully also have some copies of one more zine from a friend of mine.

It's free, come down and say hi. It goes from 11am until 4pm.

Some of the zines involved include

Caught in the breeze, Geeen Comix, lip magazine, Rhetorical Zine, The Sticky Institute, We Are Not Obscene, The Monkey waiter, Capital eyes, Little beats, elodi magazine and many more.

It's organised by the ACT Writers Centre and Canberra Contemporary Art Space, it should be good fun.

Hopeless

Here is an interview I did, it was a while back now, with Brett, the singer from Melbourne's Hopeless after they played a show with Amity at the Tuggeranong Youth Centre.

Hopeless are ready to release an album now, to support this they're hitting the road with Ruiner.


Here's what we discussed. This interview went into issue six of Capital Eyes, I will begin work on number 7 in the near future.

Talking to Brett from Hopeless they’re from Melbourne…

So this is your first visit to Canberra…what are your thoughts?

This is our first visit. We have only seen this small area- Tuggeranong. It seems pretty fun so far, the show was a lot of fun. We haven’t seen much of the rest of Canberra, and we probably won’t get to see much more. It’s nice, everyone’s nice.

Have you got any plans for a return visit yet?

We haven’t really planned our next tour. We’ve done a lot of touring in 2009, so we haven’t made plans for a new tour yet. I think we’ll be here in the next 5 months…which is a long time, but hopefully sooner.

The band is reasonably new…you were all in other bands previously, what were they?

We’ve been going for about 2 years now, been playing shows for about a year. Tim (guitar) and I were in a band called Bear Trap. It was just like a Terror/No Warning style band. Jason was in a band called The Stallion. Chewy was in Cut Your Losses. All these bands were pretty standard. Never did a tour, never made a solid release or anything like that. Our drummer Dave is also in Carpathian.

This band’s a pretty serious project…what are the aims of the band?

Our aims are changing all the time. When we started out, it was basically just a fun little project. We started getting serious about the band fairly quickly. All that really matters to us at the moment is being able to write good songs and tour as much as possible. That’s basically our aim at the moment. To tour as much as possible, until we are not welcome anymore.

You’re touring with Amity and We Are The Ocean, how’s that going?

It’s been the funnest tour I’ve ever been on. We’re only a week in and have played a handful of shows, still got a handful to go. I’ve never gotten along with another band, or two other bands this much on tour before. Within the first day we were remembering names, getting along, all mates. It’s fun. It’s great to be on tour with bands that are not standard “hardcore” bands. It’s great opportunity for us to play with some different styles of band, but also just to listen to something a bit different for a change. That being said, that’s the main reason why this has been my favourite tour.

Do you feel like a Grandpa at Amity shows? (cos I do)

Sometimes I do. I look around and I see what I used to look like a few years ago. I’m not even that old, I’m only 21. Most of the rest of the guys are 21, there’s a couple who are 24 or 25. We all used to look like these kids five years ago. It’s great. It reminds me not to be so serious all the time. As you get older and grumpier, having fun is a big pay off.

What’s been on high rotation in the van?

It’s kinda embarrassing, we always play The Amity Affliction when we’re on tour. *Somebody interrupts* “Hey are you one of the singers?” “Yes, I am one of the singers. I sing for Hopeless.” “Oh, never mind”. What was I talking about? (Playing Amity in the van whilst touring with Amity). Oh yeah, we do play a lot of Amity. Been listening to Gaslight Anthem a lot too. They’re probably the main two bands.

What’s the plans for the next 6 months or so?

We’re going to finish writing a record. We’re three songs in so far. It’s going to be another album. We hope it will be out by the beginning or the middle of next year. We will be doing some more touring as well.

With a name like Hopeless, I guess there is a fairly negative vibe. What are the songs about?

The funny thing is- the lyrics I write are not really negative at all. Sometimes people interpret them as negative. We get called an emo band sometimes…“Depresso-core”. Really I sing about search for hope, rather than being comfortable with the fact that you are hopeless. A lot of the time I’m writing about things that have happened to me growing up, and I’m more reflecting on that. I write a lot about certain situations. A song we have is about a holiday park I used to visit as a kid. The lyrics for the new record are a bit different. I’m over the things I was going through previously, now I have a whole new batch.

Where do you guys stay when you go on tour?

We stay in the van a little bit. We stay in the van a lot actually. Other than that we stay at friends houses. In Sydney we love to stay at Billabong Gardens in Newtown. It is THE place to stay for bands. Sometimes it’s a bit hard to get into though. When you’re on tour, having a good time, there can be just one night when you absolutely NEED a bed and a shower. In Brisbane we stay with Joel from Amity. That’s probably the most relaxed we can be on tour. Just hanging out at his house.

What other Melbourne bands do you recommend at the moment?

I recommend a band called Vultures. Their singer is a good friend of ours. He’s a bit of a cutie. I’ve known him for quite a while now, sometimes I can’t believe the lyrics he writes come from his little head. Another band to check out is The Broderick. Their drummer is filling in for us at the moment. They’re a bunch of good dudes and writing a record at the moment.

Do you have any thanks or anything else to add?

Thanks for doing the interview. I’d like to thank all the guys from The Amity Affliction and We Are The Ocean. Big thankyou to Nigel from Trial & Error and Destroy All Lines. Yeah, that’s about it.

POLAR BEAR CLUB

I did an interview with Jimmy, the singer from Polar Bear Club after their Brisbane show at The Fort, a new artist run community art space. I also did an interview with Kel who is one of the main people behind The Fort. After a full day delay on their flight, they were not so impressed with United Airlines. The show was in a sweet venue (although incredibly hot) and they are paired up with two of the best bands in Australia (Break Even and The Gifthorse).

I am fairly new to listening to Polar Bear Club. I had heard people talk about them every now and then and always meant to check them out, but it wasn't until I saw “touring with Break Even and The Gifthorse” that I thought, hey, I better check this band out. After working up in Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays for the past month and a half, where no bands ever play, it was exciting that this was my first show of the year. Here is what Jimmy had to say:

So that was your first show in Australia, how'd you like it?

First show in Australia, first tour in Australia. We had no idea what to expect from tonight. With the internet these days, you get some snippets- “hey when are you guys going to come to Australia?”, twitterings etc. You get a vague idea, but you never know until you arrive. Tonight's show was incredible. It's a Wednesday night in Brisbane, I'd never even heard of Brisbane before the tour got announced.

So you guys are from somewhere in New York State, tell us about your hometown

Well I'm from Rochester and two of the other guys are from Syracuse. For most people they're just places six hours north from New York City.

So do any of you guys play footbag- (I asked this because Rochester has quite a strong Footbag scene)

No, we're not really sporty dudes. Well our drummer and guitarist, they play a bit of basketball. I love hockey, but I don't play it at all.

Before you came to Australia did you know of any Australian bands?

I knew about Break Even and The Gifthorse, once the tour was set up I did a little bit of research, but honestly before that, not really?

No AC/DC?

Do they count? They're like masters of the world. Ok, I knew AC/DC. Nate should do this interview, he loves ACDC. I was blown away when I heard both Break Even and The Gifthorse. When you find out you're touring with two random bands on the other side of the world, you never know what to expect. Sometimes you just hope for the best, and I think we got some of the best bands you could hope for.

The show was really sweet tonight.

It was great. It was diverse enough from band to band to band. Three bands, a perfect sized show. Great venue.

What are your expectations from the rest of the tour?

If every show was half as good as tonight, I would consider it a great success. It's such a mystery coming to Austalia. It's a place where bands come, but not so much. Although I think more bands are starting to come here now. Our friends have been out here a few times. The guys in Strike Anywhere. Every Time I Die were here last week. You don't know what to expect, and it's exciting to just explore, find out more for when we come next time.

You released the album “Chasing Hamburg” last year, what's the title all about?

Well it refers to the last song on the album, which has the same title. If you read the lyrics to that song, you might get your own ideas about what it means, why we might name the whole album after that. To me, that song drives home every other song on the album. For me, that song makes every other song better, it wraps things up.

It seemed really appropriate to name it that. It references a show we played in Hamburg, Germany, which was a really great night for us, and all the other bands we were touring with at the time. It's about that and a lot of other things.

So you guys have toured Europe a few times?

We've done England three times, Germany twice and some other mainland European dates once, but we're actually going back right after this tour. We have a week back home, then straight to Europe.

Would you say that you're “living the dream”?

Hahahaha. Yeah, I definitely am. Sometimes I have to remind myself. Anything you do day in, day out, sometimes it can feel like it's just a job. You know, some shows you just, they don't care, blah blah. You know that's what a lot of “Chasing Hamburg”is about. The album and the song itself. It's about reminding yourself that you're a very lucky person. You may lose sight of it at times, but you always come back to the love.

Do you think there'll be another Australian tour soon enough?

Well, today is the first day of this one, but we'd love to. Maybe we could come and play on Soundwave next year. We haven't talked about it at all, but that would be awesome. If the shows keep going like this one tonight, definitely, there's no way we couldn't.

You should play in Canberra on your next tour too.

Where's that?

It's the capital, a few hours from Sydney.

Oh! Well the routing on this tour is pretty weird. We play again in Brisbane, then we go to Newcastle and Sydney, that pretty normal. Then we fly to Perth and it seems like we switch between the middle and the east coast. It's kinda weird, but it should be fun.

Will you do any sightseeing while you're here?

Hopefully tomorrow we're going to the koala zoo here in Brisbane, that's what I've heard we're doing. Should be really cool. What's so great about this tour that we've never had before is that we're playing a bunch of cities twice. Brisbane twice, Sydney twice, so we get a chance to spend a whole day checking out places. We've never had that before- I went to Berlin last year, on my birthday, and we couldn't even see anything. So we're going to take advantage of this opportunity for sure.

Any plans for any new album, other recordings?

We're just getting to the point where we're thinking about doing a new one. We've given our brains a bit of break. After writing Chasing Hamburg, that's a lot of mental work. After that was done I had a week off from any of that sort of activity, but after that week, I was back writing songs. I really need to be writing songs. If I'm sitting around, and there's a guitar around, I could go on the internet, waste time, or I could pick up the guitar, start writing songs, or work on other songs. Nine times out of ten I'll take the guitar. Each of us has a slew of parts, ideas, that sort of thing. We've just had a fairly long break, two months off, so we started getting some ideas together.

So what sort of places are you staying in for the tour?

Mainly hostels, that's alright by me. This guy Graham lined everything up and our van driver is showing us the ropes. Judging by the one we're staying in tonight, things are pretty nice over here. In America and some parts of Europe you hear the word hostel and you cringe. Hostels are nice, they have, you know, a shower.

Anything else you want to add? Anyone you want to thank?

I just want to thank everyone who's here tonight. It totally surprised me. Thank you for letting me know what Australian punk is all about.

Thanks for the interview

Thank you, it was nice to meet you.





If you get the chance, go and see this tour. All three are great bands, lots of fun, lots of energy. I'm really weighing up if I want to see Jungle Fever tonight, or go for another round of Polar Bear Club, Break Even and The Gifthorse. Also, The Gifthorse are playing one more show after this tour, then it's all over. That's sad news.

A misappropriation of sector resources

So Issue 5 of Capital Eyes is complete. I printed it all off at work, took advantage of a quiet night. There are interviews with Ghost Town from the Gold Coast, Earthlings from Port Macquarie/everywhere, Canberra metal band Templestowe and local photographer John Hatfield.

There are 50 copies. If you are in Canberra they will be available at most shows, starting with Trash Talk/Extortion at the Majura Community Centre this Friday.