Industrial Strength: Part 1

Image: Julia Jacklin

200,000 MIDNIGHT OIL TICKETS SNAPPED UP

200,000 Midnight Oil tickets have been snapped up around the globe for the band’s first world tour in two decades. All 14 North American shows sold out, as have dates at London’s Hammersmith Apollo (disappeared in minutes) and the Olympia Theatre in Paris.

At home, eight shows hung out the Sold Out sign: Kuranda, Brisbane, Hunter Valley, Sydney, Melbourne, Macedon Ranges, Canberra and Wollongong. Frontier Touring has added second shows for Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Details for the latter two are still being finalised.

Frontier asked fans not to buy tickets from reseller websites, adding: “The first actual tickets for the Australian dates on The Great Circle 2017 world tour will not be printed and mailed out until early August so any online scalpers claiming to be in possession of tickets before that time are knowingly misleading fans.”

POLICE OK WITH SECRET GARDEN RAVERS

Police have declared they were “generally pleased” with the behaviour of punters at the Secret Garden festival on a farm in southwest Sydney on the weekend. This was despite five suspected overdoses, 36 drug detections, 44 thrown out for drunken behaviour and eight for underage drinking.

The self-styled “forest disco” drew 10,000 over the two days.

X-PRESS MAGAZINE UP FOR SALE

Perth street magazine X-Press, the city’s entertainment bible since 1985, is up for sale, alongside its digital arm. Founder and publisher Joe Cipriani has his heart set on family, property, fishing “and some involvement at an arm’s reach with entertainment publishing in Perth”.

MELBOURNE LAUNCHES MUSIC WITH MATES

A new initiative in Melbourne aims to connect music fans with new migrants aged 18 to 30 to attend three or four gigs together. The idea is for them strike up longer-lasting friendships, and introduce newcomers to the city’s music scene.

Clare Bowditch, Josh Pyke, Bob Evans and The Waifs have donated tickets, while ticketing agents will contribute their unsold tickets to gigs.

Christine Leahy, co-founder of Music With Mates, says, “It can be really hard to make new friends in a new city, [and] this project makes it much easier to do. Going to a gig in Melbourne with your mates is one of the best parts of Melbourne life.”

She is looking for Melburnians willing to participate, who can find more details at https://www.musicwithmates.com/. Newcomers on working holiday visa holders are ineligible, given the temporary nature of their stay.

SCM LOOKING AT NZ RADIO ASSETS

Southern Cross Media has confirmed that it is looking at buying the radio assets of NZME in New Zealand – but only if the radio division could be separated from the rest of NZME’s business.

ARTLANDS HEADS TO REGIONAL VICTORIA

Regional Arts Australia is staging the biennial Artlands 2018 in the vibrant Victorian regional cities Bendigo and Castlemaine. It’s its first time in Victoria since 2004.

“Artlands 2018 will stimulate new thinking on how we develop, critique and power creative practice across Australia’s regions,” says the Director of Regional Arts Victoria, Esther Anatolitis.

ARN CAMPAIGN FOR KYLE & JACKIE O

Australian Radio Network’s new TV, digital and social media campaign ad for KIIS 1065’s high-flying Kyle & Jackie O takes the form of a real-life focus group where listeners talk about them – good and bad – while the duo watch from behind a two-way mirror.

ARN Chief Marketing Officer Anthony Xydis explains, “We used a real focus group because genuine reactions from both the group and Kyle and Jackie are funnier than anything we could have scripted and whether they were lovers or haters, what everyone can agree on is there is only one Kyle & Jackie O.”

VIDEOS #1: JULIA JACKLIN BACK AT OLD HOOD

Julia Jacklin’s new single Coming Of Age is a pep talk to herself, to stop fretting over the passing of time and get on with work. The video sees her taking a trip back to her childhood, when as a teenager she’d wander around the streets of Springwood.

“So it seemed fitting to make the music video for Coming Of Age with my high school friend behind the camera and my younger brother and I in front,” Jacklin said.

“My first job was at the Springwood Gardens Chinese restaurant and I managed to get my old boss in a shot. I didn’t think he’d remember me – it’s been a decade since I spent my weekends cleaning plates and putting prawn crackers in the deep fryer.”

Jacklin continues to hit the international market, returning to the UK, US and Europe for a slew of headline shows – including a sold out 800-capacity Scala in London – and billings on festivals as Primavera in Barcelona, Field Day in London, Pickathon in Oregon and Down The Rabbit Hole in the Netherlands. She returns to tour Australia in May.

VIDEOS #2: BUFFALO STARS WITH DARWIN BAND

Darwin band At The Dakota’s new single Arrow Holder is about a jealous guy “who always holds the arrow and never shoots the target”. So this column was somewhat bewildered to see a buffalo chase in the video, shot on a hot day in the middle of the tropical bushlands in Litchfield National Park.

Back came the explanation: “The buffalo is a nod to another track on the EP, Like A Buffalo. We wanted to make a fun video that showcased a bit of the Northern Territory scenery. It doesn’t relate to the song at all but for us, it didn’t have to. We just wanted something vibrant that told a story.”

Like A Buffalo is out April 8.

VALE TRISH SHOESMITH

Trish Shoesmith was a booker at the Esplanade Hotel in Melbourne for ten years in the ’90s, and was renowned for giving unknown acts their break. “She just wanted her pub to be the rock’n’roll heartbeat of the town with artists who bled bullets and played from the gut,” says Dave Larkin of Dallas Crane.

Under her watch, the Espy had three stages showcasing acts seven nights a week. Shoesmith was also Operations Manager at gig labour hire company Lock and Load since 1993. After a long illness, she passed on Feb 19 aged 60.