Jamie T at Amsterdam's Melkweg

The first time I saw Jamie T was in Sydney's Kings Cross, at Candy's Apartment – a low ceiling basement, jam-packed with up-to-speed Brit backpackers and in-the-know locals not a month after his first album had been released. Jamie took the small stage with only a borrowed acoustic bass guitar. It didn't stop the kids from moshing and crowd surfing - The upstart's urgent, thrashy style transcends instruments, it could have been a ukulele and we'd have still got those scuzzy Pommy pumas in our faces.

The next time was at the Gaelic Club. Word had got round and Jamie had got a band, The Pacemakers. The show this time was a raucous punk show, loose and youthful. T's brash accent spat rhymes like the beer he sprayed on the crowd and everyone was up for it. Panic Prevention was filled with chant-a-longs and a chance for everyone, travellers and locals alike, to become unashamed geezers, from our "screams calling 'London!'" to his cover of Billy Bragg's 'A New England'. He's visited more recent - read these Sydney reviews: Metro & Gaelic Club

For me, three years on and Jamie T and the Pacemakers play Melkweg's Oude Zaal, sold out. Seemingly the support act didn't turn up, giving much time for the packed crowd to get beers under belts before a rowdy night. Jamie, however, starts mellow with 'Emily's Heart' (see the very sweet video below), an acoustic cut from new album 'Kings and Queens' (reviewed here by Bobby Six).

'Atlantic City', a Bruce Springsteen cover follows that may have gone over the heads of kids down the front but hit the balcony of elders (we had a great view). Out to prove his worth and longevity on the second go-round, 'Kings and Queens' brings a more mature side to this Wimbledon youf. Whether he's covering them or just acknowledging them, you can hear the Troubadours before him: Dylan, The Boss, Strummer, Billy Bragg, and Skinner. And when the band kicks you've got the Clash, Beastie Boys and Rancid on up-rocked ska and grinding organs.

Highlights through the set include the 'oh ohs' of 'Chaka Demus', the Balkan ska of 'Dance of the Young Professionals', the back-chat of 'If You Got The Money' and of course 'Shelia'. The Encore, as well as The Clash's '1977', saw Jamie play a double time thrash version of 'Salvador' and cleared the dancefloor for an old school circle pit for the guys. Not to be outdone, two handbag-embracing girls hopped the stage for a skank as Jamie sang 'the ladies dance'. They crowd surfed off without sight of security. Well - that only added fuel to a fire. Closing with the ska-punk of 'Sticks and Stones' turned the circle pit into a frothing mosh until that girl again jumped on stage. Then a girl from the left side. Then a dude in the middle. The three more on the right. Before long the stage was invaded by drunken teenagers as surely Jamie's did in his youth. The star steps aside and lets chaos reign and the kids taste the limelight as more and more clear the pit for momentary fame: front and centre, at the guitarist's mic, on the drum and keyboard risers. Forty people maybe.

It's this energy, frustrated and angsty, rough and tumble, raw and rebel-rousing that Jamie brings to an indie scene too often filled with acts polished and packaged before the ink has even dried on a contract.

An Interview with Jamie T

Jamie T Interview from the archives

From TNT Magazine
Jamie T is one of the UK’s most exciting musicians of the last year. He talks moshing at acoustic shows, blowing £5000 and sucking at the didgeridoo. It’s 9am in Sydney and around midnight in London, and Jamie T, the affable lad, feels bad that I’ve only just woken up and he’s in full swing.

Full swing?
Well maybe a bit past full swing, but still okay. I just got home an hour ago. I went and saw a friend play an acoustic show. So I’ve had a good night.

Anyone we’d know? 

Nah, but he’s acoustic, folk kinda stuff.



I was on your myspace yesterday. 

Well he’s in my top eight friends. His name is The Turncoat.



I was listening to him last night.

He’s got a great tune called “Port Arthur” about Tasmania. I don’t know exactly what Australian Folk is but he’s right into it. It’s kinda upbeat folk.



Well I was listening to a song of his with didgeridoo on it.

That’s on my new mixed tape. It’s called “Messerschmitt”. He has a mate called Grant who plays didgeridoo really well so he got him in to do that.

Is Grant able to get up with him and play live? 

Yeah, they played with us at the Hammersmith Palais, which is this really cool venue and we played a gig there and he got up and played it. Someone gave me one while I was in Australia but I don’t know how to play it, it’s crazy man.

I was at your Sydney show and you mentioned your didgeridoo. How’s it going? 

There’s no point man. I can play anything that is like a keyboard, guitar, bass – I can’t play anything properly but anything that is wind, I can’t get a thing out of them.

Your small shows were great... 

It was great. I had a really good time and met so many cool people. We ate some great food which helps when you’ve had a party the night before. This time I’m bringing my friends with me and it should be great.



How do the two shows differ – your solo shows and an evening with the Pacemakers? 

Oh man, immensely. When you play acoustically the best possible outcome for the audience is quite quiet and listening to you, whereas playing in a band the best thing is to get people screaming. We’ve always tried to have a party and fuck shit up.



Well your acoustic set down here wasn’t too quiet.
That’s the thing that’s weird. When I started if I could shut a crowd up it was good ‘cos it meant they were listening to me. But it’s strange ‘cos I’m playing acoustically and people were dancing about. That’s almost better than people shutting up. I had a good laugh.

You were nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, but Klaxons eventually won. As a result you had to postpone your Australian shows until October. Does the Mercury Prize mean a lot to you? 

These things are complicated. It was lovely to be running against the bands that are involved cos they are all fucking wicked bands but as awards go, you speak to those bands and they don’t give a fuck – music isn’t a competition. Getting nominated was a fucking nightmare though ‘cos it meant cancelling shows in Australia. I had a dilemma cos I didn’t wanna fuck these people off. So we came up with a compromise, move it back so I could get this thing over and done with and get to Australia. I’d rather be playing shows than going to some fucking awards show. No disrespect, all my friends are saying that’s quite an accolade but it’s a nightmare when you’re trying to play shows to people and someone is telling you you have to go and do this whole malarky.



Although the £20,000 would have been nice.

I was thinking about it the other day, chatting to a friend of mine and when we were about 15 she got five grand of inheritance and we literally spent it all. She was like you wanna spend my money with me and I was like “Cool let’s do it” and we fucking rinsed it. And I said I tell ya what, if I do win 20 grand we’ll go out with five grand and blow it. It’ll be a right laugh.



Are you the type of musician that needs to be always recording, always creating?

I think so. It’s one of the things I enjoy doing. When you record something you enjoy listening to it back and I find it frustrating to be away from it for too long.



Is it a type of venting?

It’s everything – from writing lyrics that you believe in, and writing music behind it. It’s on many different levels.

Musically who’s influenced you? 

Let me look at my computer ‘cos I got loads of music on here. Finlay Quay, you got Finlay Quay over there? Beastie Boys, Massive Attack, Paul Weller. Joey Thunder and the Heartbreakers – a massive band. And you better stick Tom Waits in there. There’s a band called DFL that were on Grand Royal, and another called Bran Van 3000 that I really like.



I love Bran Van 3000.

Yeah man. Both albums are sick. No one gives a shit about them but I love ‘em.



And they just disappeared.

Yeah, but I know someone that knows someone that knows someone and they are trying to get it back on track. 



Who passed these bands down to you? Do you have an older brother?

I have an older brother but he was a musical thicko until a few years ago. I think he introduced me to Guns N Roses and the Beastie Boys but I had friends that were down with good shit. So I think it was my friends. When they find a band they’re like, “You’ve gotta listen to this, you’ll shit yourself when you hear this.”



How have you been received in the US? 

We’ve only played five or so shows there to be honest. I treat everywhere the same way. It doesn’t matter about the country, it matters about the gig you’re paying. The people inside the venue. Whether a country is getting you, is just too big-scheme-of-things to worry about. I had one guy tell me America didn’t need me ‘cos they already had the Beastie Boys. I was like, ‘Yeah that’s cool, dickhead.’ I’m a big fan of the Beastie Boys. I can’t complain.



Will you get to see much of Australia? 

We’re only there for a week and I’ve seen the schedule, it’s like gig, promotion, gig, promotion. But I’ve always thought to get to know a city you’ve got to drink in the bars and clubs and fortunately that’s where I play, so we get to see enough.

Live review from Amsterdam's Melkweg (15/02/10).

The Raveonettes in Amsterdam (now with interview)

Tonight the Melkweg's Oude Zaal is not sold out, not even the balcony is open - a surprise to myself and friends. After enough time to nurse a beer, get a good spot and wall of fuzz from the stage lasting as long as the 'Chicken v Peter Griffin fight', Sune Rose and Sharin of The Raveonettes take the stage and wash the crowd over with distorted white noise and harmonies they've become known for.

Their's is a package that has evolved from a restricted, highly self-aware duo aiming for purity in kitsch with their first two albums (recorded in B-minor and B-major), into a multi-faceted, unrestrained act on more recent records Lust Lust Lust and In And Out Of Control.

Sonically they're star-crossed lovers. A '60s Spector-pop chick coupled with the '50s rock n roller with Rebel Without A Cause disaffection nodding to '80s shoegaze ala Jesus & Mary Chain.


Sune Rose's loose guitar whines and chimes spaciously as the platinum Foo cuts a seductive visage through billows of smoke, the bass rumbles and the floor tom thunders - it's a very Lynchian affair on the slower, moodier songs. None more so than on song of the night 'Aly Walk With Me' (maybe it's just the title reminds me of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me) from Lust Lust Lust, churning out a chugging and hypnotising rhythm until it explodes into wall of noise and the strobes refresh faster than Sonic the Hedgehog, threatening all that don't look away a possible fit. Elsewhere there's the punchy 'Break Up Girls' from fresh album of October,In And Out Of Control.

Electro-rock 'n' roll of 'Love in A Trashcan' from Pretty in Black kicks with surfy, hippy shake and the fuzzed-out twang on 'Dead Sound' from Lust Lust Lust echoes out.

I thought I'd dig up an old (and not so ground-breaking) interview from the archives of travel magazine TNT with Sharin from last year, while she was promoting Lust Lust Lust.



Sharin Foo is in a van on her way to Canada for “work, work, work”. You’d think she had a gruelling job by the tone in her voice but the stunning blonde Dane of The Raveonettes is on her way to Toronto and Montreal to play shows off the back of new record Lust Lust Lust, she’s passing the time watching Twin Peaks.

So who killed Laura Palmer?
“It was her dad, but he was inhabited by an evil spirit,” she says.

The Raveonettes are kinda like the town of Twin Peaks, where clean and innocent 50s rock 'n' roll and 60s pop merges with the darker side of 80s shoegaze sinister. Previous records Whip It On, Chain Gang Of Love and Pretty in Black were influenced by Buddy Holly and The Ronettes with tales of teen rebellion. But on Lust Lust Lust the sinister rises to the surface.
“Lust Lust Lust is probably our darkest album to date. It’s intimate yet noisy and intense.”

Pretty In Black was a homage to ‘50s and ‘60s artists and American, nostalgia. Did you have a theme for this album?

No, not really. I think its theme is more personal, more reflection. I would say it’s a documentary rather than fiction. Even Pretty In Black wasn’t meant to be a homage to the past, it embraced technology which we always do. I guess our inspiration came from people who collaborated with us: Ronnie Spector, Maureen Tucker and Martin Rev (of Velvet Underground), so we were paying tribute to our inspiration.

Your first two albums were recorded entirely in B flat. You broadened your range on Pretty In Black. Do you feel Lust Lust Lust is even more open?

It’s not a conscious decision to do something a specific way. I mean, not for this album, and it wasn’t for Pretty in Black either. I guess Whip It On and Chain Gang of Love had guidelines which were the one key, three chords, stuff like that. For this album there was no specific guidelines but there was a very minimal approach and that’s the very natural approach. That’s just the way it’s turned out.

You have moved from Denmark to the USA. What is it about living in America that fascinates you?

There’s something fascinating about living in a country that is so big, when coming from Denmark. There’s a feeling of space and something spectacular which is unusual when you’re from a small country of five million people in Scandinavia.

You’ve been to Australia before. Did you get to experience the large landmass that is Australia?

The only experience was flying for a long time to Perth, like flying across the US. We were working so hard we didn’t get to embrace the whole travel feeling.

Where was the first place you travelled to without your parents?

I went to China, but with my grandparents when I was 12 years old. My grandfather is Chinese. We went to visit the family.

Any culture shock?

I was still a little girl but I don’t know if I had any culture to get a culture shock. It was very chaotic, but I’ve been to China six or seven times now so I’m used to it.

How do you get a feel for a particular city when you’re travelling?

It depends on what city it is. I like to be able to walk around and get a vibe. Ask people you meet and the people at the hotel where their favourite place to go is.

Review: Jamie Lidell at Melkweg

Still holding that new theatre smell, Melkweg's Rabo Zaal kick started 5DaysOff this evening with British born Berliner and nu-soul/electro man, Jamie Lidell.

Anyone that knows Jamie only via latest album Jim, or track 'Multiply', that made it onto the Grey's Anatomy soundtrack may have been shocked by the night that followed. Gone was the more evident elements of his soul sound, instead enveloping his electronic and experimental funk sides with a vibrant, hectic and eclectic attitude to his songs. The usual smoothness of 'Figured Me Out' gave way to spazzed-out jazz-funk with baritone sax and 'Little Bit Of Feel Good' turned into a fucked up (compliment) off centre rhythm with bone shaking, clunky percussion. It was around 'Green Light' that Jamie explained himself. The 5DaysOff crew had asked for something special, something unique. With just a couple of days to throw that 'something' together he and his band developed a set to keep people guessing, riding on spontaneity and the odd bit of improvisation. Jamie, not set behind a keyboard as such, but more an entire sound desk or work station manipulating keys, laptop, sampler and live overdubs. However through the changes one constant remained - Jamie's soulful voice, clean and crisp in sweet falsetto, gruff and stylistically strained in the rock. It was both the backbone and the centre piece to the show.

Giving the band a break midway through the set he used that voice instead for beat-boxing. What started as a simple boom-bap beat grew as he manipulated more layered vocal patterns; a bass here, a high note there, a sound-bite from a lyric of his, Once the beat was right he came to the front of the stage and began 'When I Come Back Around' before bringing it back to a two-step deal - hard and sharp.

These days phones can so often ruin a show - if not for a poorly timed ring than for constant shitty video capturing that ends up on youtube. Jamie instead decided to embrace the technology. 'Take out your phones', tell me you're not making us use them instead of lighters for a ballad, Jamie? Nope. 'Play your ringtone'. A couple of hundred people hold their phones in the air playing their ringtone. Embarrassed by my stock standard Nokia fare I scrolled quickly through my playlist. How the fuck did Guru Josh get on my phone? As Jamie collected a few phones from the front row and recorded them into his mic I played 'Infinity 2008' even receiving an agreeable nod from a fellow 'fan'. Liz, beside me is playing Kanye's 'Touch The Sky', of course. What came about were chirping crickets under the delicate 'All I Wanna Do'.'Wait For Me' was dedicated to Dolly Parton as a rocked up gospel number that rose and fell like a revival tent going town to town. Jamie's dance moves came into their own here. Missing the rhythm of a James Brown good foot but with the enthusiasm of a Muppet and possession of a fat southern preacher the lanky lad jittered and jaunted around the stage.

'Multiply' showed the crowd new his older stuff. The 'My Girl'esque bassline was replaced by a deep doo-wop a capella before Jamie and band lead us all through the glorious chorus, 'I'm so tired of repeating myself, beating myself up, wanna take a trip and multiply, least go under with a smile'.

And if we couldn't be uplifted anymore he played 'Another Day' straight, admittedly with some relief. Such a perfectly crafted song altered could have left the crowd on less of a high note. But the relatively direct version sent a warm glow throughout the crowd. The Motown swing somehow reminds me of watching New York through Sesame Street, of a carefree summer day in Central Park, kids running through sprinklers. As with Multiply, the band dropped out, leaving it to the fans, there may have even been some swaying from the audience. The band lined up and took as couple of bows as a few determined punters tried to build it up one last time but to no avail. As we left the hall and moved down the stairs it seemed everyone was hooked on the hook, singing loud, singing proud; 'Another day, another way, for me to, open up to you' before trying to perfect Jim's wail… One guy hit it. The rest of us were shit.

Review: The Temper Trap at Melkweg

Meeting at 8.30 I thought would give us plenty of time to see the start of Silversun Pickup's Australian support The Temper Trap however when we got there they'd already started.
A great band who've made their mark on the Australian indie scene already and are now sifting through the shit of cracking the UK and Europe, The Temper Trap can create a rather large sonic boom given the chance. However being the support act I couldn't help but feel Silversun Pickup's sound guy had turned them down a wee bit, especially once Brian Aubert's guitars began to wail… But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Thankfully, as it turned out, we still caught the majority of their set, a set that was filled with lots of new material and slight directional change since we last saw them.

Conditions
The essence of their original sound still remains, from Dougy's falcetto to Lorenzo's guitar noodling, the chugging bass and jagged dancing of Toby and Jonathon's solid drumming backbone but an additional keyboardist/guitarist adds the expansive sonic breadth that no doubt came from time in the studio with Jim Abbiss (Arctic Monkeys, UNKLE). That time produced debut album Conditions, released this week in Australia but won't be out in Europe or the UK until August.
Beyond the jagged post punk indie they began at, their journey has taken them into a much more layered territory, when experimental cues of Tv on The Radio or Mogwai, when commercial - Bloc Party or early U2 - but you get the picture. They're aiming for a big sound, but let's not call it 'stadium' just yet. Speaking to Lorenzo after the show he said it was moving 'maybe a bit dancy'. Not a rock guitarist's favourite realisation. However, on lead single, 'Sweet Disposition' you hear Lorenzo invoking hook-God, Edge's echoing guitar work that brings about that big sound. 'Down River' sounds like a Dappled Cities tune while 'Fader', that live draws a sing-a-long and handclap over heads, is pure pop.
Possibly playing their album right through, celebrating the fact it went on sale in Australia early that day, both show and record build moment towards the end. 'Resurrection' rises from Dougy's ethereal falsetto into a balls-out wall of sound, all instruments forming the barricade while 'Science of Fear' comes out with the melodic live dance of New Order. Last track of the album (unless you score bonus track 'Hearts') is Instrumental 'Drum Song'. It's one of the few I recall from their early live shows. Beginning aptly with a concussive percussion by Jonathon and Dougy on an extra floor tom, echoey Gang Of Four-like guitar chimes in before long it's a thundering maelstrom.
The crowd, here to see Silversun Pickups seem suitably blown away. After the show, Girlfriend Liz overhears a local say to his friend that Brian Aubert (Green?) and co. better watch out or they'll be opening for Temper Trap next time 'round. My friend Aris thought they were, as usual 'bloody amazing'.

Temper Trap mySpace

Ticketmaster & Slave

From: Amsterdam Weekly
Recently trip-hop pioneer Tricky played at Paradiso. His recently released album had reinvigorated my interest, so I rushed to an outlet and bought two tickets. Somehow I'd spent $64.90 (without beer or T-shirt) before he took the stage. How's that? Well, two times tickets ($52), two times service costs ($6.90), two times Paradiso monthly memberships ($6). Simply gig-going is getting more expensive, and it's not due to egotistical rock stars or diminishing record sales. The add-on costs are spiralling out of control.
The quickest add-on to excuse is the membership both Paradiso and Melkweg require; either $3 monthly or $18 annually (which allows discounts and deals that a monthly member doesn't get). Melkweg's Marketing Manager Jon Heemsbergen explains, 'It's a multi-disciplinary, cultural centre. Melkweg theatre, cinema, gallery and media room are small-sized rooms. It's not possible to gain profit here. A small part of our income, nine per cent, is subsidised by the municipality of Amsterdam. Because of the membership regulation, Melkweg is able to do what we do for all our customers.'
Service charges are more complicated. 'If you buy a ticket on the night of the show we don't charge any service costs,' says Heemsbergen. 'In advance at Melkweg box office, we charge $1.50-$2.50 per ticket. If you buy a ticket [through Ticket Service] it will cost you a little more, but you actually pay for the guarantee to get in.' But shouldn't the purchase of a ticket be guarantee enough? Is it a chargeable privilege to buy your ticket in advance?
Event companies and venues like Paradiso and Melkweg pay leading ticketing distributor Ticket Service (Ticketmaster internationally) to sell their tickets. Ticket Service also takes a fee from the customer on a sliding scale based on the purchase amount, rather than its processing cost, because, as Peter van Ruijven, General Manager of Ticket Service Netherlands says, 'You can't put our standard fee on low prices, so we invented the relation with the ticket price.'
Had I bought my $26 ticket online I'd have paid a $4.15 service charge instead of $3.45 from the outlet. I'd also have paid $1.06 to receive my ticket as a PDF document in my inbox, or in the post. However, a ticket to the delightfully named Fuck Buttons this week for $12.50 will have a $3.55 online service charge and $0.56 delivery fee. This sliding rate in delivery fee, Van Ruijven says, is due to 'dealing with software licensing costs'.
Why do I pay two service charges by Ticket Service when I buy the two tickets as one service? 'All our costs are related to one sold ticket.' And why can't I buy tickets to more than one event in one purchase, thus reducing charges? Van Ruijven says they're working on it. 'Perhaps in time.'
'When we chose Ticket Service they were the biggest and best distribution network physically and that was important to us,' says Jeanine Albronda, Head of Publicity and Marketing at Paradiso. 'Both Melkweg and Paradiso are experimenting with online companies that are cheaper than Ticket Service for e-ticketing. They offer different ways of charging the customers. The fee systems are very important because that affects our customers, and that's who we work for.' So should Ticket Service be worried? 'They didn't have competition and now they do. It's easy to see that they should be worried. We're watching what they'll do and how they'll respond.'
A relatively new avenue for event companies and venues such as Sugar Factory is Paylogic. Commercial Director Jan Willen van der Meer says, 'We charge a fee of $1.95 per transaction to the event company, not the consumer. This is our sole income. It's up to the event company what they want to do with that fee. They might include it in the ticket price, add it as a service charge or even inflate that service charge.' The big difference to consumers is only one booking fee whether you buy one or multiple tickets, and there's no charge for sending a PDF. Should you fear the internet, you can buy tickets from Primera, with a $3 booking fee.
So should we boycott Ticketmaster over service charges like Pearl Jam did in 1994? The effort by the band was appreciated but resulted in few gigs in the US over the next three years, and we'd like to see a show before 2011.
There are no great alternatives-- at least while online companies fight for position in the market. To see a band whose ticket is available through Ticket Service, van Ruijven says the best way is via an outlet store, paying cash. Otherwise you could pin your hopes on lastminuteticketshop.nl for half-price tickets on the day, or hope it doesn't sell out and buy your tickets on the door. But that's risky, and you may face a scalper's wrath. It's a tricky business.

A night out in Amsterdam

After a recent Tricky show at Amsterdam's Paradiso I hung around out the front to ask a few punters, some coming out of Tricky, others going into a hiphop show, where the best night spots are to go out.
If you're coming to Amsterdam soon and want to find where the cool kids hang, rather than just sitting in the Leidseplein at a tourist's bar, listen closely.
Pass the Dutch.