Tuesday, April 06, 2004
Right, so we're heading to Melbourne to launch this perrrty single of ours on Saturday night. Make sure you get along. It'll probably rain, as happens every Easter long weekend, but all the more reason to get cosy at the Rob Roy. Besides, Deloris are playing. Case closed. So yeah, it'll be nice to get back amongst the Fitzroy posse once again, and probably the last show we'll be doing until June.
In other news, our newest filmclip for 'Swords Down' will be airing this Friday night on ABC's Rage - still the best show on television 15-odd years later. Go to the Rage website to find out the exact time it'll be showing so you can wake the kiddies for it.
We are also now estimating album release date to be somewhere in the first part of May, with a national tour the following month. Rumours of a visit to New Zealand in August abound too, but more on that much later.
yo, pics from the recent 'Swords Down' EP launch at the hopetoun are up here. and there was also another review of the EP - this one in the Drum
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Tuesday, March 30, 2004
Check out the review of the single in Melbourne's Inpress mag...
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Friday, March 19, 2004
'Swords Down' is now being played on national yoof radio a bit, so giss a leg-up by requesting it via
Triple J Request, or finding us on the scroll-down Triple J Net 50 list. Do it lots. Alternatively, hassle your local community broadcasters to play us - they've all got copies of the new single in their mitts now too. Cheers!
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
SYDNEY SINGLE LAUNCH
After much to and fro-ing, label movements, image makeovers, mud masks and media training sessions, PURPLENE are hitting the familar surrounds of the Hopetoun Hotel on Thursday 25th March to launch the first single 'Swords Down' from their forthcoming self-titled album (launching in Melb April 10).
Punters can expect some songs, some quiet times in between songs and several occasions where people playing songs will replace other people playing songs. Rumour has it there may also be an opportunity to buy the smashingly fancy new single as well.
Special guests Rand & Holland will be spearheading the support attack, with Captain Nemo (featuring members of Tweezer/Ukiyo-e/Further) providing an enriching nautical theme earlier on in the evening. Personally, I reckon that it'll be a great night but, hey, i'm a bit biased...
PURPLENE's self-titled record, their second, was recorded in August 2003 in Chicago with Steve Albini. Albini has recorded one or two bands you may have heard of and a whole bunch you probably haven't. The eagerly awaited record will be released through Big Dipper/Spunk/Inertia on April 19.
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PURPLENE 'Swords Down' Single Launch
+ RAND & HOLLAND
+ CAPTAIN NEMO
HOPETOUN, SURRY HILLS
THURSDAY MARCH 25
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www.spunk.com.au
www.inertia-music.com
'Swords Down' 3-track single available now / Purplene T-shirts available at shows
Cheers!
Monday, March 15, 2004
'Swords Down' is the latest and freshest release off the indie rock block that is Purplene, and it's out there as of today, Monday March 15. So, um...cheers! We'll have art and details up on the site werry, werry soon.
In other news, caught up with the Tucker B's lads on the weekend as they passed through Sydney en route to America for SXSW and a tidy two-week tour. In true Purplene style, the unkempt Perth bruisers were treated to world's best laksa at the Happy Chef, Chinatown. What I'm getting at is go there if you're cool and stuff. Yeah.
Blackman.
Tuesday, March 09, 2004
As you can see above, we've got the single launch deets available for y'all now too. Start telling yr comrades...
The single arrived from the manufacturers today - the beginnings of the new Purplene birthing program are just around the corner. So damn good to finally have songs from this fine recording seeing the light of day. Hopefully editing this clip this week to maybe have it ready for shipping around within a fortnight, but we'll see.
Monday, March 01, 2004
Spent the day yesterday shooting a film clip for 'Swords Down' - one of the more exhausting processes a band can go through. But rewarding, tres rewarding. Big thanks to JB for his tireless Bolex operation and to St Francis Xavier College, Newcastle, for the fine location. Adam felt naughty smoking cigarettes outside his old classroom. The clip should be ready and on air in 2-3 weeks, and the single itself comes out on Monday March 15.
Come to the Hoey this Thursday - Matt & Adam are doing a low-key duo thing opening up for Magnet, who's out here on tour this week (also on Spunk). Check it.
Friday, February 20, 2004
Quick reminder about the show on Saturday night - details are above.It'll be our last show before single and album launches start to wind up in late March, so tell yr friends and get along...
The 'Swords Down' single went into production this week, so the wagon is truly beginning to roll.
More soon.
Wednesday, February 11, 2004
hey here's a review of the hopetoun show that was in brag magazine the other day.
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Sunday, February 08, 2004
We have some news that is very good. It's regarding the release of this tasty record we've been slaving over for a mighty long time. We will be releasing the album in Australia/NZ on April 19 on Big Dipper/Spunk, with distribution happening through Inertia.
No inroads have yet been made overseas, but now that we've settled things on the home front we're going to set about getting things moving in the US, UK, Europe, Japan etc, and hopefully work towards a bit of overseas touring of the record later in the year.
The album will be self-titled, consists of nine tracks, and the first single is 'Swords Down' - released on March 15 with a tidy Joel Noble film clip almost ready to go too...
So yeah, cheers... (Mops brow) ..looks like it's all about to begin.
Monday, February 02, 2004
Here are some pics from the Hoey on Saturday night. Thanks again, as always, to the genius that is Pete Ottery, this time testing out his new Olympus digital doozy...
Cheers to those who came to the Hopetoun on Saturday. One of the best bills/shows in a long time. Nice one. Seems we've completely sold out of the felt-covered 'Songs From The Marketplace' EPs. We have 200 of the discs left, so we'll set about making some inserts/jewel cases for them, and they'll be available at shows and via this site. Big cheers again to Nannafee for the fine stitchwork...
Thursday, January 22, 2004
When half of Purplene and friends choose to eat Laksa, they eat at the Happy Chef. When that's closed due to Chinese New Year they choose to eat at Eating World.
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
For those unaware, Adam eats chips and Blackman eats ice-creams.
Friday, January 16, 2004
Allo, kind people. Exciting release news just around the corner, but in the meantime, do your ears a favour and head to the Triple J site to vote for us in the Hottest 100. There are two tracks in there for you to choose from - 'As The Marketplace Orders' and 'Swords Down'. Cheers! You've only got until the 23rd of Jan, so you gotta be quick.
While you're there, add the two sooooperb Deloris tracks to your selection because they're so damn good, and handsome gents to boot.
And yeah, we're playing at their 'Playing The Spaces' EP launch on Sat Jan 31, so make sure you git yourselves to the Hopetoun. It'll be our first show in months...
Friday, January 09, 2004
Blackman's Top 6 Amateur Attack Moves:
1. The Dead Leg - using fist, elbow or heel, strike your opponent in their deep thigh tissue.
2. The Typewriter - holding your opponent down on their back with your knees simultaneously pressing down their arms, type furiously with fingers on opponent's chest, resulting in a unique blend of tickling and pain.
3. The Crow Peck - using your middle knuckle, or all four knuckles, sharply rap your opponent on the back of the head, just beneath the crown.
4. The Blue Mountains - sharply strike your opponent on the forearm using a quick knuckle punch, and watch with delight as a small blueish raised section is created. You will briefly think you are in Katoomba.
5. The Horsey Bite - cupping your hand, swiftly thwack your opponent on the back of an open-skinned thigh when they least expect it, preferably when they are exposed to the sun. Watch in awe as a warm red welt appears.
6. Smell The Cheese - only to be used on simpletons and/or less experienced opponents, offer them a "smell of the cheese" with one open palm and a clenched fist placed on top of it. When the opponent's inquisitive nose comes in for the sniff, abruptly shock them with a sharp jab in the schnozz.
Peter's Top 6 Weekly (non proper book) Reading Material:
1. The Guide - TV guide liftout that comes in the Sydney Morning Herald every Monday. Excellent hifi reviews. I steal it from the team's paper stash every Monday morning.
2. Icon - every Saturday morning I drop the missus at work, check the surf, buy the paper, pull out the Icon section, retire to the bathroom for some 'me' time.
3. Drum street press - I pick it up at Bondi Junction every Wed morn while people clammer into the back of me while I pull it out of those really thick blue packing tape things.
4. Brag street press - I still read it but I'm glad Drum looks like it's coming out on top. There's some karma there.
5. Dick Smith catalog - comes out Thursdays in the Wentworth Courier. Makes the train ride easier. Yeah, f#ck off, I do have other interesting things going on, OK?
6. Column by Ruth Ritchie on the back page of 48 Hours in Saturday's Sydney Morning Herald. Funny.
Bedlam's Top 4 Most Offensive Attack Moves:
1. The Cupcake - often licked, never beaten.
2. The Burp and Blow - closely related to the Cupcake, but less offensive.
3. The Booger Roll and Flick - often picked, never eaten.
4. The Gollie Flick - related to the Booger Flick, but much more offensive. Best practiced during times of sickness.
Apologies for the recent lack of entries. There were a series of 'Top Fives' that Pete, Bedlam and I did, but they all got lost on email when Bedlam pissed off on "holidays". Never mind. They didn't offer any insight into the mechanics of the band Purplene, other than alluding to the fact that we're a little restless - still waiting for lots to happen with our record's release, and not much can happen when everyone's taking a break.
Goals for January are to get the training boots on, rehearse up, work on some new material, finish the month with Deloris's EP launch at the Hoey, and - hopefully - concrete deets and dates for album release action a month or two after.
Happy.....Christmas, or whatever.
And Happy New Year.
Did somebody say 2004's gonna be Purplene Year? Fuckin' cheers!
Blackman
Ahem, hello there. The results for the poll which is now widely known as "the heelis poll" have been tallied, and its conclusive. Heelis from Deloris looks like the pig farmer guy from Australian idol. Keep an eye out for more look-a-like polls in the future including one for yours truly. Personally, I can see the resemblance.
Oh, and i've trimmed down the links on the right there and removed the ones that were old and broken (hat tip: Simon).
That is all, back to work now. wasnt there a band around here somewhere?
peter the web guy
Hello. aop[idsu0g-jas-34mn.
We're serious.
abspoipoh-29430hnp;'aspd;
We will have more news about our new album very soon. In the meantime, waste some time at the Found Mag website. Dig.
Not much news to report this week - just getting to work on the business end of things regarding artwork, overseas release and whatnot. Hoping to have art completed in the next week or two, the same timeframe we're hoping to be able to bring forth some joyful public news about the album's local release. Tres exciting...
Don't forget to come to the Manning Bar at Sydney Uni this Saturday night. Your last chance to check us before the year's out, most likely.
A couple of shows and things you should know about before November ends:
FRIDAY NOV 21 (Part 1) - Purplene "Next Crop" day on Triple J radio
That means our national yoof broadcaster will be spinning a new song of ours - 'Swords Down' - a bunch of times during the day, doing an interview and that kinda thing - all part of Triple J Oz Music Month. This will be the first time one of our brand-new ones from the unreleased record has hit the airwaves, so make sure you're toon'd in. They've also put the track up on the JJJ site as a FREE MP3, along with blurb, pretty pic, et al. Click here to check it - it's up already. Won't be up for long, so feel free to share the love with your friends.
FRIDAY NOV 21 (Part 2) - Newcastle Church action
Newcastle punters and keen intercity commuters can head along to the Cambridge to see Purplene performing with The Church. Also playing will be Perth's The Panics. Don't be late...
SATURDAY NOV 29 - Amnesty International show - Manning Bar, Sydney Uni
This will probably be the last headline show before our record comes out next year, so if you're in ol' Sydney town you'd be a right twit to miss it. Aside from the heartwarming and charitable cause (yup, we ain't getting paid), you can also see the enigmatic lord of sexxx - Spod, the raucous magnificence of Dappled Cities Fly, as well as Mousemoon and DJ Adam
Spencer.
At both of these shows we'll have spunky Purplene tees and CDs for sale, so bring some spare change...
Oh, and a massive thanks to Pete Ottery, as always, but especially for putting together the tedious photo gallery we're spouting about below. Cheers.
Friday, November 07, 2003
F I N A L L Y. . .
..the Chicago session gallery is up. Head on over to the 'Pictures' page and check it out. Something for everyone, especially sound nerds. There's also some pics of Blackman's brief trip to NY. More news soon.
Q: What did the farmer say to the other farmer?
A: How's your farm going?
Thanks. I'll be here all week.
As listed above, come to the Hopetoun this Friday to see Blackman in solo mode playing with Dappled Cities Fly. Says he's playing a few sneakies off the new record and some ye oldies too. Should be a mightily pleasant way to farewell the month of October.
Stay tuned for more November Purplene live show dates, coming soon. For those still lost in the new-Purps-tunes wilderness, we're not sure of the exact album release date, but it will definitely not be before February next year.
Okey dokey. The album is finished, mastered and sounding sexier than Ad's voice after a night of drunken nude karaoke. As well as CD, we also printed a master to vinyl, leaving the option open to do some beautiful double 12" action when the opportunity arises.
The 49-minute album's still untitled at the mo, but the tracks are:
1. Love:Western
2. Swords Down
3. Lyonhardt
4. The Battler
5. Scars For Sores
6. Second Shift
7. Dead Letter Offers
8. Cahoots=1
9. Watch The Watch
In other news, our nice 'As The Marketplace Orders' clip will be on ABC TV this Saturday morning as part of the last of four (most excellent) Noise TV segments that have been happening this month. Check it, if you ain't seen it already.
We still have a handful of the 300 limited-edition felt-covered 'Marketplace' EPs left, and there's also Purps 'Just One Payrise Away' T-shirts in guys (black or red - XL/L) and gals (black - M only). Email us at purplene@purplene.com if want 'em...
News just in...our mastering session is booked.
In Melbourne, just because we miss life on the road.
With Tony "Jack the Bear" Mantz.
Monday, October 20.
Like Big Kev, we're excited.
We had our first practise on the weekend, since returning from America, and behold, it was very good. Apart from remembering how our songs go and pulling the Japan Airlines tape off our guitars, another rewarding aspect of the session is that we have agreed on a tracklisting for our record. But not a title as yet. There will be nine songs and it will go for about 50 minutes. And, yeah, we reckon it's gonna sound pretty frickin' good.
Initial reports from those lucky enough to get a sneak listen have included the comments:
"Is nice";
"I like"; and
"Ja, das ist gut."
The persons quoted above have asked that they remain anonymous. Full respect.
In other news, our master tapes have arrived in the country and we'll be endeavouring to have them mastered as soon as ruddy possible. In even more news, it's Bedlam's birthday this week. He'll be turning...17, isn't it, Bedders? Congrats, Dave - you'll be able to drink soon.
And thanks to our well-travelled man in London, Simon Gunning, and his wonderful Informant Spies updates, Purplene would like to recommend using the Death Clock site for any end-of-life inquiries you may have.
Cheers!
Blackman
Hey.
The break's been nice - we actually like one another again. But more importantly, we're doing our first show since the ones we did in America a month or two ago - check out the details above. It's for the lovely kids at Abicus Selections (clothes and record shop in Darby St, Newcastle), who are celebrating their second (or third?) birthday. I think it's $5 or something on the door, which is damn cheap, and the public are welcome.
Audiophile (the ace-serving Newcastle soopergroup featuring our very own Rosie and Ad) will be doing one of their stripped-back three-piece sets while Alex is still in Canada; and the rarely seen pop gem factory of Hooper will be showcasing their new line-up with the spunky Ms Al Galloway on drums and handsome Messr Benny D on bass.
Other than that, some other news is that we'll have Chicago photos (more of 'em) up on the site soon - we promise - and we're going to be mastering the album some time in the next two weeks. Nice.
We are thinking about doing a Sydney show or two before Christmas, and aiming to release the record very early in 2004.
Thanks. As you were.
Blackman
hey, i finally scanned some of the pics the lads brought home with them. i'll endeavour to add some more in the next few days. promise. Chicago Pics
pete
Back home and kicking back for a bit, deciding about what to do with this glorious record now that it's finished. News of which should be just around the corner...
Here the coffee is cheaper and five times better, and you get to choose whether you want sugar in the food you cook/buy. Such is the beauty of our wondrous homeland. That said, we miss certain Chicago fancies as regular games of pocketless billiards, the cats - Fluss, Pip and that crazy cat (Mandela?) that has a nightly habit of stealing pens from the office - that stuff's kinda difficult to match in Sydney town. But one day we will return. Oh, yes...we will return. Ooooaaaargh!
There will be some nice photos from the session arriving on the site in the next day or two.
Word. Blackman.
Right, that's it. Our new record is done. There are 11 tracks in total and we think it sounds absolutely magnificent. But bad luck, y'all can't hear it for a bit. Not until we sort out the tracklisting, record title, art, release date and a million other things including not seeing each other for a couple of weeks.
We'll have photos and maybe some little audio snippets (Dave brought a MiniDisc recorder) on the site soon, and probably some news about the above items.
Right, it's 3:30am here in Chicago, so I'm going to hug my beloved bandmates goodbye, because I can't be arsed getting up at 8am to wave them off to the airport. May they fly safely, and again, huge thanks to Steve and all the kind gents at Electrical for putting up with us for this long.
Blackman
We have one day of mixing to go on the record. One. We are all going slightly insane, but we'll soon be...better. Then the other three guys fly home and I go to New York for a look around. That should be nice.
Blackman
hiya, through the magic of technology we have some pics to show.
they'll load in below, apparently one of the interns at the studio took the pics. nice work son!
pete
Last show. Done. Played at Chicago's lovely Empty Bottle venue a few hours ago, and now we're back at the studio resting up in preparation for our final three-day mix session that begins tomorrow morning. Then thine record will be done. Done. Then we'll master it, put it out, and you'll be able to hear it. We think it will sound really...bloody...good. Not sure when, but we'll let you know. There's word of a small break rather than taking immediate action on the album's release, but...we'll let you know.
These U.S. shows have been the first time we've played pretty much the same set each night, which was kinda interesting in a case study kind of way. The Detroit show was cool, as were the kind Adam's Castle gents and Mr Rob 'Get Me The HELL to Australia' Shelby, and we thoroughly appreciate their friendly demeanours and warm hospitality. People seemed to dig us there, almost as much as we dug checking out the almost empty, post-apocalyptic Detroit downtown area. Ducked across the Canadian border to Windsor for a few hours too, just to get a couple more stamps on our passports.
Full respect regarding the Champaign, Detroit and Chicago shows: R Shelby, M Lake, S Chambers, J Novotny, S Albini, Buzzards, Adam's Castle, English Softhearts, XXO's, Wade, Mason, Otto, Eric, Jay, Enterprise Car Hire, Hot Dougs, Subway, bad coffee, bad motels and various lard-ridden fast food joints.
In other news, our beloved Melburnian labelmates Deloris have had their song The Unbroke Part Of It lobbed on the radio over at Triple J. It's a good 'un and they damn well deserve it. And wait till you hear the album. We've had our advance copy on solid Chicago rotation for almost two weeks now...
Meanwhile in lonesome little Sydney-town a live review of a past show at the Hopetoun goes up over at the Oz Music Project
Friday, August 22, 2003I must say it's damn good to get out of the studio even though those dudes are mighty fine gents.Our road trip today has consisted of only a couple of head on crashes but we are Aussies and i'm sure we are allowed to have a couple of mishaps here and there.Our show in champaigne has been a great one.Good on stage sound and the buzzards are a great bunch of dudes which we have tagged along with back to their house for some whisky shooters.Damn i'm feeling the affects of alcohol right now, but there are still some Miller high lifes to be had.Tomozza we ae off to Detriot and we are pretty keen to get a cabin along the way to enjoy the American woods life.We might wrestle a bear or two if they think there tough enough to mess with the purplene boyz.Any how we will keep you posted on our ventures and will keep you posted when we are all a bit more sane...........keep it real rosie..........
yeah so champaign.......
some dudes house - whiskey shooters.... talking shop. this house is great and stuff.. if we were frogs we would be blue frogs except we aren't sad - only happy. mason and otto are cool and stuff....
the 'ene and stuff.,.....
OK OK OK, so stop your complaining..... Whilst you bludgers have been taking time out of your busy work schedule to see if we posted recent occurences, we've been hard at work making a record. And not half an hour ago Blackman pulled out a klanger vocal track to complete a record that is sounding pretty damn fine. Tomorrow we leave this studio for more than ten minutes for the first time since we got here to check out the city of Chicago. Personally, I'm starting to get a warped sense of reality: apparently the world really consists of Studio B, the lounge room, the bathrooms, kitchen and bedrooms, some sound engineer nerd, a half-arsed comedian, and a bunch of techs. All sterling gents of course.... We're back in the studio on Wednesday to start mixing and doing a bunch of other stuff. We're also going to take in some baseball batting practice with some dudes here. We're going to knock them out of the park with their nancy-boy pitches. Just watch us.....
Anyway, what have we been doing the last few days......
Day 5
We spent most of the day reworking and knocking out a new song. We recorded it earlier the day before and decided it sounded completely shithouse. So we spent a lot of time, reworking it to the point where we were reasonably happy with it - I don't really know if its good or not but it's about 50 million times better than it was. The rest of the day was taken up reworking Watch the Watch featuring a few little sparkles from Mr Matthew Rossetti on the guit.
Day 6
A pretty heavy day. We started with recording Watch the Watch, and started to move onto some vocals and some keys. I can't really remember much about the day except that we didn't do any guitars. It was kind of nice not to have to spend any longer in the Dead Room knocking shit. Goddamn room was giving me a headache....
Day 7
Found out today how good Mellotrons are - sound like shite and really hard to play perfectly but sheez they have some character, especially when Bedlam is playing something super lame on them. We spent the day doing a few guitar overdubs, some vocals editing and some backing vocals and in another case of a poorly thought through song, Bedlam spends several hours doing a vocal that gets canned the next day. Mainly because it sounded shit....
Day 8
Finish off Bedlam's vocal, and complete the rest of our vocal tracks. Nice work - I can't wait to spend a few days not listening to the damn thing......
Yours.....
Bedlam/The 'ene
Day 2 to Day 4
We're just about to begin Day 5 of studio action. It'd be nice to blame the Great Blackout of 2003 on the lack of Purplene site updates, but it could be the silly hours we're keeping making a record. A record that's coming along quite well indeed, actually. We've almost finished the beds to all tracks, then we're going to sit down and review everything we've done so far to try to pick out any takes we might have to do again. But I think we're pretty safe.
After that comes keyboard tracks, a small amount of percussion, and then we'll start on all the vocal tracks. Luckily Blackman's tuberculosis-like cough has started to dissipate in time for that.
Steve's in-depth anecdotes of all things from pocketless three-cushion billiards to the history of the Mafia and past Chicago mayors is keeping us sane as we edge closer to cabin fever and 'interesting' sleeping patterns. After some astute initial instruction, Steve had some able competition from Adam on the billiard table late last night, and Adam will be endeavouring to improve his skills over the coming days. Good billiard.
Session one ends on Monday, then we'll take a few days off to check out some Chicago sights, then we head down to Champaign, then up to Detroit, then back to Chicago for a show and four more days of studio time. Might go and check out Giddy Motors tomorrow night.
Right, better get back to it...
Day 1
Chicago. No sleep. Wrong side of the road. Two songs half done. Everything sounding ridiculously good so far. Every update will be better than this one from now on, due to the incredible lack of shut-eye thanks to an overnight international dateline crossing. More tomorrow. rewvbuwrewefcoicweomprevfwu. Blackman.
We have decided that we're gonna try and manage some kind of daily recording/tour diary on this here site over the next month. We fly out on Sunday. None of us have a digital stills camera, so unless there's a scanner at Electrical Audio there won't be any photos until we get back. But yeah, hopefully we'll have plenty of recording and touring anecdotes to keep you amused while you're trying to look busy at work, impressive to your boss, etc.
Keep signing the guestbook if yer wanna know anything or keep in touch. Another interesting read - apart from the ludicrously good-looking recording environs and equipment lists - is the discussion forums on the Electrical Audio site. Always amusing, relatively nerdy and highly entertaining.
Best luck and godspeed to those Tucker B's chaps who, with ASG's Matt McGuire helping out on the skins, are gonna be rawking the sawks off punters at the Corner this Thursday for Melbourne's first Interpol show. Bosh the bish.
In other news, our good mate and original drummer Dave Hector gets married today. We wish he and the lovely Renee all the best and a bloody lovely life together. Cheers!
Almost time to pack up our kit bags and beat it. Couple of weeks, in fact.
Got some US dates that have recently been confirmed - see above.
To celebrate all this...stuff, Bedlam's gone and bought himself a new electric guitar. In a rare, candid interview, Purplene's Bedlam said, "It's going to sound really good."
Thanks to all who came to the Mandarin Club. Nice.
More about the shirts - they come in RED [L only] and BLACK [girls M, boys L & XL]. We only got 50 of these printed, and yeah, we'll have some fancy modelled snaps of the lil suckers on this here site soon.
SHIRTS!!
For the first time in about three years, Purplene have T-shirts. They're available in red or black, have a Purplene logo written on the front and small scribbly 'Just one payrise away' text on the back/shoulder area. We'll have them ready for the show on Friday, so garn, git one. If you can't make it to the show, you can mailorder one via purplene@purplene.com for AU$30 plus postage. T-shirt image should be up on the site early next week.
Less than four weeks to go before heading to Chicago. The Purps are currently hard at training, hoping for a good level of match fitness when the big game comes around on August 11. From current estimations, punters can expect about a 50-minute album which may be preceded by a limited-edition 7" double single.
Songs currently contesting for a starting jersey: Lyonhardt, Swords Down, Dead Letter Offers, The Battler, Watch the Watch, Quiz Kid Moe, Love: Western, Second Shift, Cahoots = 1, two untitled tracks, and maybe another one.
We should have some US dates ready for the website soon too. In the meantime, check out the poster below and tell all your friends about the show. It'll be our last show in ages - at least until this next record comes out later in the year.
Big thanks to y'all for turning up to the Hoey on Friday night - damn nice to see it packed.
We dropped the Mukaizake lads to the airport last night after a fortnight of good east coast lovin'. Sad to see the mightily talented gents returning to Perth, but hopefully we'll see them back here soon. Cheers to them and Dappled Cities Fly for their top shelf performances.
Now we can announce the last show we're doing before heading o/s - it's at the Mandarin Club in the city (opp. the Civic Hotel, cnr Goulburn and Pitt St) on Friday July 25. It's Deloris's first Sydney appearance in almost two years, and having recently heard snippets of their upcoming album, we can assure you you're in for a treat. Before Deloris will be Transporter and also Chasm (Christo from Ukiyo-e) who'll be busting his cruisey hip-hoppish treats before and in between bands. The night then kicks on with DJ D spinning his rare treats from the '70s and '80s till 3am or whenever we get kicked out. It all starts at 9pm - should be ace.
hey heres some photos pete took from last weeks melbourne jaunt. enjoy.
Monday, June 30, 2003Oh, and we're on JJJ this Wednesday night - on Robbie Buck's Home and Hosed show. It's the (kinda) live set we recorded a few weeks ago in at the ABC with the lovely Linda Radclyffe - there's three or four songs, talking and stuff. Tune in.
Back from Melbourne, where we played twice - once well and once not so well. It's always nice to get back down and see you fine Victorians, and thanks for the warm reception, kind words and top-shelf heckles. And this week we're launching at the Hoey - hope y'all can make it down. Joining us again will be the ever-golden audio masters from Perth, Mukaizake - who we got to know, love and loiter with over the wintery weekend just gone - and Sydney's own Dappled Cities Fly, the first time we've played with the lads. It's $8 and it's this Friday night, July 04. There are still copies of the felt-covered CDs, but they won't last for long, ladies and gents.
Wednesday, June 11, 2003Greetings, punters. Went into the studio over at the ABC yesterday and recorded four tracks for JJJ's Home and Hosed show - it'll be on air in a week or two - we'll let you know. We filmed quite a bit of the day and will hopefully be putting together a live clip (with live audio) to coincide with the release of this next album which we're recording in August. On the live front, we're doing our first show in a small yonk this Friday night at the Spanish Club. We're on early, so come on down if you're in the city. It's with the Tucker B's and City Lights. There's an interview Matt did over at Rockus about the upcoming rekurd and what not - check it.
Tuesday, May 27, 2003Hiya. we've just installed dolby home cinema theatre DTS surround sound on this 'ere site meaning you can now download some of our songs as MP3's. Check out the bunch of samples and even a full track (!) on the releases / MP3's page.
Thursday, May 22, 2003
Just put the new video clip on the right there. check it out - let us know in the guestbook if it plays ok,
cheers,
otters
Right - news of our album recording has just been confirmed. We're heading to Chicago, USA in August to make the record with Steve Albini, and will be taking a weeks break between recording and mixing to play some shows in a few eastern states. Pretty damn exciting. Those not aware of the work of Messr Albini's body of work might be aware of Shellac, Labradford, The Pixies, Low, The Jesus Lizard, PJ Harvey, The Breeders, and a little-known Seattle group called Nirvana, who all recorded their finest albums with the guy. Can't wait to hear how it comes out. We're hoping to release the as-yet untitled album in October, released in Aus/NZ through QSR/Shock.
In other news, 'Songs From The Marketplace' is now available for you to take home and cuddle. It's four exclusive tracks, including As The Marketplace Orders, and there are 300 limited-edition CDs with sexy maroon hand-sewn felt casing. The disc is available in select record shops in Sydney, Newcastle and the other capital cities, but you can also mail order a copy by emailing Quietly Suburban Recordings at quietlysuburban@bigpond.com - they're only AUS$10 plus postage.
Our national 'yoof' broadcaster are still playing As The Marketplace Orders, and it even snuck onto the JJJ Net 50 on the weekend - number 38 apparently. Who would've thought. Cheers for those who voted for it. Feel free to go to the Net 50 page and vote some more - you're probably already wasting time at work so another minute won't hurt. You can also request the track via the Super Request page. Cheers.
And if you were up watching Rage at 1:45am on Friday night, you may have caught our film clip - wedged in there between Audioslave and Augie March. Came up a treat.
Finished the new clip for 'As The Marketplace Orders' today - should have it on air mighty soon. It's the best one we've done. Big thanks to Jont Blackman, director of 'Damascus', which is the source of the visual goodness (and the actors appearing in it - TV, Rach, Marin, Nadine, Bartholemew), and big thanks to Damien Watkins, editor extraordinaire, for his sterling job make a film clip out of it. There will be a downloadable version on the site soon, and we'll advise about when you can see in on telly.
EP/single is released this Monday - we're launching it in Syd and Melb - check the site for dates.
And keep voting for us on the JJJ website - good to hear they're diggin' on it. Thanks.
5 decades
5 years
I can try to make you strong
Crazy, crazy times. Our song 'As The Marketplace Orders' just got put on high rotation on Triple J. Go us!
Big thanks to Mel Lake, Stella Chambers, Dave Hector, Pete Ottery, and all those beloveds who have got us thus far. To infinity and beyond.
Now we can be one of those bands providing wacky links to the Triple J website to encourage people to vote for us, request our song and stuff. Garn, help us quit our day jobs.
The EP/single thingie will be released in the next fortnight, with a videoclip to follow. Our album demos are almost mixed and done, and sound a right treat. Purplene highly recommend Tardis 2 Studios in Marrickville for affordable, high-qual 2-inch 16-track action.
Heading into a quaint lil' analog studio in downtown Marrickville this Easter weekend to record demos for this dang album, which we hope to record in August. Should be top-notch fun, and interesting to get some sort of idea of what these songs sound like from a distance. Been doing a bit of home demoing of late too. We've got about 13 songs eligible for album consideration, with a view to end up with 9 or 10. But yeah, they ain't sounding too shabby.
Our first and last show in a good while is this Anzac Day at the Annandale with Gersey & Gelbison - that's Friday April 25.
Next cab off the rank will be this EP/single thingie, and we're hoping to get it to radio next week sometime. There'll be launch shows involving a Melbourne tour in June-ish, so stay tuned for that. Oh, and the intriguingly handsome, all-male revue that is the Tucker B's are returning from the West - living case studies of what sleep deprivation does to humanity. Prepare thyselves.
Later,
Blackman.
The second shift starts soon
And new moons bear gifts soon
Laid bare, you're right there
With muddied straw damp underfoot
These circus smells bring tales of love that may repeat tonight
Yeah, hi there. Sure, we may now be involved in a ridiculous and selfish war, but there are more pressing issues of global importance, namely that Purplene have a new release that you will be able to buy soon called 'Songs From The Marketplace'. It's kind of an EP, but maybe kind of like an extended single thingie-whatsit. Make of it what you will.
The tracks, in order, are:
As The Marketplace Orders
??? (Fingers X'd)
Mooghurtplatz
Aun Doorback
This time we're endeavouring to release a clip for As The Marketplace Orders - featuring excerpts from 'Damascus' (16mm short by JB) - in conjunction with the song's release. Check it.
I'm listening to our first 5-song demo as I write this, on a dusty cassette I dug out of a drawer. To say it sucks would be a bit harsh, considering the stage we were at, but it is nonetheless 'interesting'. Songs such as 'Feed My Need', 'Waves Crash', 'Quit Chalkin' and 'Out of the Dark' are truly timeless classics. And no, you can't buy it.
More later. Love, Blackman.
We're heading into the studios of Sydney's 301 next week to master 'As The Marketplace Orders', which we reckon will come out as some sort of single and you'll be able to buy it and stuff. There are other tracks that'll feature on it, including a new instrumental number and another surprise or two. More info soon. And more info about soon-to-be-recorded album too...soon. Our next show ain't for a while (check above), but Matt might be doing a solo show sometime in between now and then - we'll let you know. Without trying to sound too political, the "president" of the United States is indeed a deranged peanut fuckhead bully, and a fool. Cheers.
Saturday, March 08, 2003The clip for 'Last Post' was on air last night/this morning on Rage. Big sexy debut. This sucker's been in the making since we shot it at the 2002 Anzac Day parade, two-up at the Courty in Newtown, etc. Should be on next week too, so check it!
Wednesday, March 05, 2003
Right, so the Adam Said Galore chaps are on there merry way around the country with them Bluebottle fellas, and we bid them safe journey. Hopefully Geoff's rock-injured foot gets better, the poor embattled digger. Brisbane was great - thanks to everyone who came to the shows, and especially Deb, Craig and Rik for their generosity and Deb's most-righteous organisational skills. Cheers. Let's hope ASG can somehow scrape together a tour diary and some sort of web photo album - there were some very tidy and not so tidy moments worth cataloging in there, and no dogs were lost or harmed.
In a nutshell -> not much sleep, post-apocalyptic servo food, plenty of warm wind and glowing reviews of one another's bands, semi-dangerous driving, irresponsible waterfall visitation by day and night, and a fortunate Purplene drummer who managed to survive our sketchy night driving, plenty of rock and the world's most dangerous backflip, and come up trumps with a $250 windfall at Greenslopes Bowling club. For the record too, the travelling ASG/Purplene circus narrowly missed out on a headlining opportunity at Taree RSL, beaten by Taxiride. According to Janni from the cafe round the corner.
And yes, in answer to your many fan emails, phone calls and letters, Purplene would indeed marry Adam Said Galore if the law permitted.
News of when and where for making our next record should be coming soon, as well as future show info. Cheers.
From the Desk of Bedlam
The search for Puddy.........
On the illustrous occasion of Adam Said Galore's visit to the eastern seaboard, i think its high time to tell the full story about purps, a lost dog and one man's search for the redemption of his fellow bandmembers.
Dateline: November 10, 2002 about 1pm
Place: Somewhere in Perth
It had been a long night. The Adam Said Galore album launch had been the night before and I remember seeing the sunrise through a frazzled head that could no longer speak coherently to anyone except myself. Simon ASG had talked up Melbourne bands, Blackman had been talking the same shit as he always does to anyone who would listen and Adsa had rejoined the boys for one night only. It was all good and sometime after sunrise, three smelly boys headed back to Simons for some sleep, having lost Adsa on the way and Blackman deciding to be tough and get no sleep till the butt crack of dawn the next day.
Now Simon and Charmaine have a dog. It's a cute dog, and he's called Puddy. You can still see a photo of him on the photos page. It was pretty clear from our time staying there that the dog had a pretty special place in Simon and Charmaine's heart. Not surpisingly really, because otherwise they would have turfed the little skunk out long ago.
So anyway, Blackman reappears at about 12 with the omnipresent Andrew Houston, we all get up, Simon and Charmaine head to get some brekky and Otters, Rosie and I head to the shops to get the 12th Mrs Mac pie in our week on the road, leaving Blackman in charge of dog-minding duties. We get back to see Housto roaming the streets looking for a lost dog who goes by the name of Puddy. Nice one Blackman........ Realising the potential gravity of the situation, we started "the search for puddy" and to be completely honest, it wasn't the thing i wanted to be doing at that time. It was fucking hot and we were all hungover and pretty tired from a week of not getting much sleep and eating like shit. But hey, a shitzu can't go far, right?
About two hours later, i started to realise that not only was this dog well and truly lost, the 'ene was about to go down in the record books for being responsible for the worst thing you could possibly do to make a tour descend rapidly into the abyss of shit. You lose a dog who not only belongs to the people you are staying with, but also to a guy from one of the bands who you played with. Another two hours later, i'd been hiking my arse around the streets of Perth continuously for five hours, periodically running into my fellow band members and talking about how shit it would feel to go home without finding that dog and how good it would be to find it and bring it home. With the sunlight fading as quickly as my hopes for a satisfactory resolution, i decided to go on one last circuit.
Some things are just luck, others are coincidence and occassionally, some things happen that make you suspect that there is such a thing as divine intervention. I decided to head up the hill to check out a little Perth sunset. There's something a little different about Perth sunsets. Clear skies and more stratos clouds filters the light a little, giving it a strange hue. With dwindingly hopes and sore legs, i started to dawdle a little, savouring the moment but dreading the farewell. About ten minutes walk from Simon's, a car pulled into the driveway of a nearby house. As i approached the house, two girls and a dog that looked like Puddy got out of the car. One of the girls called out to the dog and said "Come on, Puddy".
I stopped in my tracks. A long night and longer day had dulled my senses and it wasn't until the door to the house was closed that it clicked. I knocked on the door:
Bedlam: excuse me, did i hear you call that dog "Puddy"?
Girl: No, i called it "Patty", i love Mike Patton and it's my pet name for everything. We just found him today."
It turns out that "Patty" was found on the same street that Simon and Charmaine lived on. Puddy had a collar with a name and contact number and so I asked about it. They responded that he had no collar on at all. It's about this time in the story I would like to ask the reader to join the dots on that one.
NOT ONLY DID THIS CHICK HAVE SHITHOUSE TASTE IN MUSIC (liking Faith No More, Mr Bungle, and any number of Mike Patton releases) THEY HAD BLATANTLY STOLEN A DOG.
I grapped the dog and returned home in triumph. For a while, i had the strange sensation of being the most popular person in the band. This doesn't generally happen very often, so i savoured it for the fifteen minutes it took for people to start ignoring me again.
Tuesday, February 11, 2003
Hope you liked the 'Puprlene' mailing list email too. Maybe we'll change the spelling to that.
Cheers to those who came the late-notice Hoey show last Tuesday night - our mildly shabby, sort-of-acoustic three-piece set was 'interesting', but was nonetheless fun. Geoff and Bon were great, as were Centipede who haven't been seen for a while. That said, you'll be pleased to learn that you can see Centipede again opening for our show with Adam Said Galore (launching their superb new record 'Of Lost Roads') at the Hopetoun on Thurs Feb 27. Should be a cracker.
Those dates w/ Adam Said Galore again:
Thu Feb 27 - Hopetoun, Sydney (w/ Centipede)
Fri Feb 28 - Valley Rotunda, Brisbane (acoustic)
Sat Mar 01 - The Healer, Brisbane (w/ Brindle)
Sun Mar 02 - The Alley, Brisbane
Not only will this tour will be a chance for Simon ASG to attempt to return the favour of losing Blackman's dog (read Purps Perth tour diary for details), but also a chance for the two bands to wank on about how much we dig one another's music, share similar CD collections and generally piss in each other's pockets like twits. After the shows with us, they'll be heading off on a Bluebottle Kiss tour, so check 'em.
Check your telly screens during the next few weeks for the top-notch 'Last Post' video clip - complete with Anzac Day action, cool old diggers and two-up at Newtown's Courty, it's a very tidy number indeed. And speaking of diggers, don't forget about the No War rally this Sunday in Sydney's Hyde Park, 11am.
Got a couple of shows coming up that you may be interested in - check out the dates above. A bit of Brisbane action with the ASG boys should be a whole lotta riotous fun, and it's been just over a year to the day since we were there last. Also, at the last minute, we're doing a stripped back set at the Hopetoun next Tuesday Feb 04 with A Goldstar Secret and Centipede. It'll just be Ad, Bedders and Blackman doing this and that acoustically and electrically and maybe with a cheesy keyboard. Don't expect a lot, but it should be a fun way to spend a lazy Tuesday eve. More soon.
Tuesday, January 07, 2003
Hulloiey. First post to the site of the New Year, and what's new in Purps land? Not much, apart from being a little weary and a bit light-pocketed after a taxing festive season. Since the last proper posting we've played a couple of ultra low-key shows in Newcastle with some of the best bands in the country. Yep, you heard it from us - the Tucker Bs, Marcus Deloris, the Rebel Astronauts, Friendly Injun...dang! Where's Gunning when you need him? Then there was the superbly serene day in the sun/clouds at the Quietly Suburban Xmas Party at Sholto's with some more great bands, and a you-beaut-ripper-bottler night at the Hopetoun last Friday. By the way, Bedlam lost his E-bow there. If you find it, hear about it, or you stole it, please let him know. Chiss.
The Rebel Astronauts are easily the best-kept secret this country has - on a different playing field to the rest - and the cats have just sadly lost a member. Tom's decided to call it quits, and the group will now evolve into a three-piece. Can't wait to see the new-look band in action and we wish y'all the very best.
As for us, we're going to take it easy for the first time in a while, while those Audiophile brothers whoop Capt'n Foztex into a frenzy over at Velvet HQ, and while we all recharge our batteries a bit. In the next month or so, expect to see a finished 'Last Post' clip, hear some news about a 'Marketplace' single (of sorts) and maybe even get some idea about a when and where for the next album.
In even more positive news, a big hearty congrats and warm hugs to original Purplene gangster Dave Hector and his delectable Renee who got engaged before the new year. Not sure you wanted that news posted on the Internet, cobber, but you got it... :)
Two thumbs up till next time, Blackman
There's some pics from the Quietly Suburban Backyard Christmas show extravaganza on the pictures page.
Tuesday, December 10, 2002the QSR backyard gig on the weekend made the news - and we're in the photo!
Monday, December 09, 2002Wednesday, December 04, 2002
Ruining it for Perth: Tour Diary (Days 7-8)
Friday
A long Saturday that mysteriously turns into Sunday
Bedlam
Tuesday, November 19, 2002
BEHOLD: the photo gallery from the Perth tour.
Ruining it for Perth: Tour Diary (Days 4-6)
Tuesday Nov 5 – The Cup
Dunno who the fuck won the race that stops the nation, because we were in the back room of a pub in Bunbury waiting for our bowl of wedges while half the other sorry chaps were living it up, asleep in the carpark. Weird town. But now we’re back in the safe and loving arms of Capt. Houston’s West Perth palace, and have just returned from Leederville to see ‘Donnie Darko’. While four of us were eagerly glued to this fine piece of indie celluloid, Bedlam was on the nod/snore during most of it, just as he is now, snuggled up in his sleeping bag like a wee bairn. The Western hours we’re keeping really are taking their toll on the extraordinary guitarist this tour. No doubt he drifted off to sleep reminiscing about:
* lazily snorkling in the nippy, fish-filled Yallingup reef shallows, helping nurture his golden fire-engine tan;
* repeated comments from the chappies on how fucked travelling in this damn car is, and how we wish the car would disappear, but how it’s really quite necessary if we want to have a holiday and stuff;
* putting in a decent effort at the RTR radio interview and acoustic performance, that apparently sounded "good";
* drinking up a sexy sun-over-water sunset from a Cottesloe pub (Perth’s Bondi), with a jug of thinking-man’s on the table and some "good" takeaway food in the guts.
Wednesday Nov 6 – Pricks
Just returned from a sterling wander through a moonlit King’s Park after an interesting "show" at Fremantle’s Newport Hotel. While we were assurred by the organising bodies that it was cool to borrow amps and drums from the other bands that night, none of them knew a thing about it. First up was a nice dude named Tamas Wells, a solo performer from Melbourne who sung some nice toons to ease us our worries, but it was only after he finished that enough gear for us arrived. We ended up playing reasonably well, to a room of beveraged and barely-interested students, neo-punk metalheads and our two hosts with the most, who even chipped in with some heartwarming heckles to make us feel more secure. Up next were the Local Pricks, the band who generously lent us gear and their drum kit (complete with bonus kick drum text – ‘Rock Out With Your Cock Out’), and with a drummer who does indeed drum with his cock out. And when the lipstick-smeared singer began moving the microphone towards her fishnets, we figured we’d take the opportunity of getting away at a decent hour for the only night all week. Now that’s over and our seedy skin is inside the sleeping bag, let’s see what else happened today:
* how we really could make a habit of this morning pool thing – swimming, showering amongst throngs of soapy-bollocked Perth gents, and sampling the food and coffee selections. Nice for A & T not to have to put up with five dirt-arses lining up for showers and flooding their facilities every morning, and…well, there’s the novelty of kicking off each day looking at big fat men’s dicks;
* more soccer in the park, dirty feet, hangin’ wit’ Dustin the Beagle;
* sussing out the Perth CBD for the first time, its two cool rekurd stores, a comic shop, some good food shops and a Java Juice on every damn corner. Now, the ‘ene love Java Juice as much as the next band, but this is ridiculous. Needless to say they got a good amount of bucks out of us;
* anecdote of the tour – Pete’s brilliant "how much that weigh?/horses teeth" story, involving computers, an apple and a persistent, physics-obsessed wino;
* as with the rest of our Perth experience thus far, flawless weather again.
Thursday Nov 7 – Tanning
These days are just getting better, and this was the laziest and most relaxing. Our show tonight was great, but a bit rushed and sloppy. I attribute that to two things – testing out the idea of pints instead of middies during dinner and being forced to wear Hooston’s ‘Kill Them All Before They Kill You’ hunting cap by Andy-cakes and Geoff. They did, honest. Kinda cool to kick back at the Inglewood and listen to some fine countrified toons from Pete Stone and the Assistance, who were also kind and generous people to boot, and the food wasn’t too shabby either. The car trip home was a lil’ squeezy, but we made it back home to Hoost. With two days ahead of us, we napped with thoughts of:
* perhaps giving our kind hosts some relief from our smelly bodies from now on, and moving on to the fabled Struthers pastures of Mt Hawthorn;
* more morning pool & shower action, some reading in the park and some more day snoozing – all highly ‘rock’ activities;
* some back-crackin’ osteo action with a strange, lonely inner-city "osteopath" man for Pete & I, another "relaxed" day for Ad, another semi-sick-fluey day of rest for Rosie and many kms covered by a keen Bedders in King’s Park;
* a fine moment of foolish storytelling - reciting Marcus Smith’s famous tanning salon story to a table of listeners, with an actual tanning salon owner sitting shoulder-distance behind us. After laughing and attempting to rope us all in with business cards to have our next ‘safe bake’ at her joint, her angry, bearded date for the night up and left in disgust at how their romantic pub meal had ended. She quickly got up and bolted after him. Superb. Cheers, Marcus.
More to come, punters, as the tour de farce wraps up with days 7 and 8...soon.
Love from Blackman
Ruining it for Perth: Tour Diary (Days 1-3)
Saturday Nov 2 – Hi!
It’s supposed to be 8am (EST), but it’s 5am and we’re on the porch of Andrew ‘Hoost’ Houston and Tracey ‘Tracey’ Read’s spacious West Perth abode, drinking more Swan Draught, apparently the thinking man’s beer, with a shrinking crowd of post-cd-launch party patrons. Some annoying beanie-clad gents that no-one knows are the last to leave, and we embrace our sleeping bags with warm memories of:
* what could be the best performance of our tour, complete with uproarious cheers and applause that could mean we were good or that everyone was sloshed, or both;
* an introduction to Band Club, that communal rehearsal/recording space that you don’t talk about;
* a world-class performance from our label...Hi!...mates, the Tucker Bs, touching on the best parts of Pavement, the Beta Band, Sebadoh, Twisted Sister, perhaps even the Stone Roses, but ten times fucken better than the lot of ‘em…Hi! Flourescent lights, furry white-striped robes and...Hi!;
* a tops performance from the brilliant Tigers, and the rest of the tops line-up…tops to see Geoff & his SG in action too...tops;
* catching up with Mitch-ing The Seabed - thought he still lived in Melbourne, and had no idea he was about to father twins.
Sunday Nov 3 – Shoulder Room
We’re in a somewhat shabby cabin in a caravan park in Yallingup, idyllic coastal town somewhere near Margaret River, and have spent a day in the station wagon with four fully-grown, on-the-nose, hungover dudes. Last night was awesome, and when we left, the Tuckers men hadn’t yet slept. Hard livin’ - something of a Perth weekend tradition, as I’d find out the following Sat night. The cabin’s cosy and we’ve all got a bed, but Bedlam’s snoring and there’s a shit movie on this pint-sized telly. Thinkin’ fondly about:
* our rockin’ makeshift "dinner", made with spaghetti, bacon, tinned "mushrooms" and tomatoes, that the chaps seemed to dig;
* the piss-funny video footage from the show the night before that we watched that morning, featuring…HI!..and a special mammary segment;
* some killer soccer action and a soothing jug of thinking-man’s draught as the sun sank slowly in the west, and over the glorious, velvety pub grounds;
* how weird it was that it was 9pm and everyone was asleep…on a rock tour and everything…
Monday Nov 4 – Heights
Show us your scenery, WA. Bucketloads of it today, and tonight we are certainly being much more rock. A case of Swannies (note: use of slang, indicating closer understanding of local culture) wet our whistles, plus a visit to the Caves pub, featuring a Class A jukebox and pool table. Bedders and Rosie just tried prank-calling Matt’s brother at 4am (Newcastle time) but no answer. I think we just had a wrestle/stacks-on in the park too. Cop that for rock action, sceptics. A very fruitful day of leisure, including:
* climbing the 61-metre Gloucester Tree and doing the Valley of the Giants thing, feeling like a band of tough latter-day Kirk Douglases - Pete was scared;
* as Matt Said Galore suggested we might feel, feeling stoned from the excess oxygen provided by those sizey tree things – wonderful;
* a good carpark hack, dodgy meat pies and assorted Pemberton luncheon delights, a shit Margaret River coffee, and some shit novelty postcards;
* a surreal sunset drive through the gigantic trees and dairy fields back to Yallingup – the holiday highlight thus far.
The diary continues soon as the 'Ene head back to tackle the bustle of Perth, the hustle of downtown Freo, and to almost Ruin It for at least one band, two people and a dog. Days 4-8 to come.
Love from Blackman.
Ten valuable lessons we learned in Perth
1. Don’t talk about Band Club
2. Don’t talk about Band Club
3. Be extremely careful about dog minding, as it can assist in being welcome house guests
4. Matt Rudas likes orange witches hats, a lot
5. Touring bands can survive on the food and amenities of Beatty Park Leisure Centre alone, and behold, it is very rock
6. Double-check that it’s OK to borrow amps and drum kits before there’s five minutes left of the opening band’s set
7. Ignore pestilent Hay Street Java Juice spruikers
8. Adam Said Galore, Tucker Bs and the Tigers are indeed the best bands in the world, and the friendliest
9. It’s wise to consult Geoff Symons for advice on hosting successful house parties
10. Check flight times prior to arriving at airport
Photos from recording the other week. 2 sleeps till Perth.
Tuesday, October 22, 2002
heres a short video (1.3Mb quicktime .mov) for you to download that gives a sneak preview of some tracks purplene recorded last weekend. The vid quality is a little dark and din-jee as is the usual with web video - but you get the idea.
to download it just right-click on the link above (or click and hold on the mac) and choose "save target as" or whatever.
If you dont have quicktime, you can download it here (its free).
cheers, pete
We have set up a mailing list to let y'all know when we are playing shows etc - check it out
Tuesday, October 08, 2002
Everything seems to be falling into place quite nicely for the Perth tour in the first week of November. We'll have dates for y'all soon.
Before we get there though, there's a busy few weeks ahead of us in October. We're recording over the weekend of Oct 19/20 and will hopefully have something that resembles an EP, SP or something similar at or around Christmas time that comes from that session. At this stage we're hoping to knock out two songs and take our time with them. You know, make them good and stuff.
Then the weekend after that we're doing a headliner at ye olde/newly renovated Sando in the heart of Newtown on Saturday Oct 26. Joining us on the evening will be People Of Alaska and Toby from Youth Group in solo mode. Check it.
photo of us at the vic on the park last weekend:
blow it up baby;)
pics by pete
Guess what, punters? We're beating it to Perth to play some shows. That's right, the home of Bruce Reid will soon play host to four shoddy-looking chaps from the eastern seaboard who will lap up the opportunity to use other peoples' gear, sleep on other peoples' floors and perform to other peoples' crowds. We hope to see some of the browner inland whilst there too - maybe hire a car and go drink a pint with some hard-livin' Kalgoorlie men or somethin'. Big thanks to Mr Andrew Houston and his Tucker B's for his kind generosity thus far. Looking fwd to returning the favour when the Tuckers come out here in December.
Heading over on Saturday Nov 2 and probably coming back Sunday Nov 10. We'll update specific show info soon.
Cheers to those who came to the Vic on Sat night. 'Twas an interesting evening.
I think Adam shaved his head today. Number four, so not too savage.
Love from Blckrs
As you now know, the Newcastle show on Friday Sep 27 has been cancelled and By Ferry Or Steamer aren't coming up anymore. But we're pleased to announce that some warm 'n' hearty tunes will be provided in their place by Simon & Kristy Jean (el Mopa), with some lovely geetar/cello action. Great to have 'em. Apparently Bon (the el Moparite who recently began moonlighting with The Cannanes) will be getting up to assist on a few numbers too, which should be pretty tasty. So yeah, that's Sat Sep 28 at the Vic.
Rumours also abound of a new fully-operational Quietly Suburban website sometime soon. Onya, Lakeside.
As for us, we've gone for a return to the good-lovin' brown corduroy. Nice.
Purplene now have a manager. After months of deliberations, fiery debates, contracts, prison terms, red tape, as well as gaffer, masking and electrical tape, Stella Chambers has finally succumbed to twists to her elbow region and agreed to manage this here band. She's a sterling person, an upstanding member of society, and through her many industry contacts, honest charms and guillotine-like negotiation skills, we hope to not only become exceedingly and greedily famous, but to have a very noble time in the process. Welcome aboard - it's going to be tops. And you haven't even met Simon Gunning yet.
Now Bedlam can finally say what he's wanted to say to the hawk-like major label reps who continually hassle him to start a solo career outside his home in Erskineville and at shows - "Talk to my manager, I'm going to my trailer."
URGENT INFO -> The show on Friday Sep 27 at the Northern Star, Newcastle has been CANCELLED. No replacement Newcastle dates have been set, but we'll try to get up there to play in November, maybe sooner. Please let anyone who might've been going to this show know that it's not on, unless they feel like a savoury evening of favourites from Mick 'Start My' Hart anyway.
The other disappointing news we've just become aware of too is that due to this show being cancelled, By Ferry Or Steamer have canned their tour. They do have plans to make it up here again soon though - we'll let you know. Yeah, tis a shame.
Not much news to speak of this week. Our fine friend Simon is still spreading the Gospel According To Gunning around the many corners of the European continent, and sending us side-splitting emails about his many misadventures, but that's not terribly interesting for the swarms of regular purps.com readers who have no ruddy idea who Simon Gunning is. We can tell you that we're playing a sneaky show next Thursday at the University of NSW, out the front of the Roundhouse. It's free and it'll kick off at about 5pm.
Also, for the Novocastrians amongst us, word on the street is that the Friday 27 Sep show at the Northern Star might be being moved forward to the Thursday, due to political wrangling amongst the venue's administrators or something similarly pez. So yeah, we'll let you know. The posters are already up, so it's gonna be a right pain in the date. And yes, Gunner, we will play Dead Letter Offers this time.
We're going to return to the lairs of Velvet towards the end of October to put down a couple of tracks for a world-class, hit-worthy, chart-dominating single. And maybe even get over to Perth in the next month or two. Should be a sterling period for the new-look 'ene.
Big shout out to the Deloris kids too - doing it like real men in at Sing Sing as we speak. I'm sure it's sounding swell.
Blckrs
another fortnight, another failure to provide effective updating on this site......
we're currently trying to organise recording of a double A-sided single sometime in Rock-tober. four lads, two or three songs, numerous cases of beer, a golden-eared sound engineer and a stoic in-house assistant engineer willing to undergo extraordinary amounts of sleep deprivation for the good of all. hopefully, at the end of it we'll have a couple of nicely recorded numbers for the listening pleasure of the "ordinary australian".
we played back in our steel city for the first time in about six months the other weekend with our buddies el Mopa. was rockin'....
i can't speak for the other chaps but i'm currently enjoying the delightfully produced sounds of the latest Sonic Youth record. It's nice to see Mr O'Rourke lending his golden abilities to the Youth both from a production and playing perspective. Hallelujah, brothers and sisters, hallelujah. I'm also liking the split album by Tran Am and the Fucking Champs (TransChamps) or maybe i just like massive overuse of cheesy guitar harmoniser pedals and even cheesier guitar licks. Kinda of like a funnier Motley Crue without the hair and pretension.......
till next time,
bedlam
Cheers for everyone who came along to the show. As mentioned, 'twas our first show to display the goodness that Mr Rosetti has up his sleeve, and he played like he'd been manning the skins for us for years. Nice one. Decoder Ring played a right treat, and it was a full house too, so a winning night all round.
Next up, we're heading back to the warm, motherly shelter of Newcastle to give them a taste of the new-look 'ene and the mighty el Mopa. It's at the Northern Star on Sat August 10.
In news just to hand, fans have allegedly claimed that Bedlam is actually handsome. While we're all a little too close to the man to be remotely objective about this matter, you can take a look at the new band pic on the pictures page to make up your own mind. His wry grin suggests that some of you may already have told him what you think.
For Whom It May Concern:
Grubbsy.
Lordy, oh lordy.
If he wasn't before, David Grubbs is hereby a genius.
Long live the talented, softly spoken chap from the US of A.
He played last night at Sydney's Roma Room and made any person who has ever tried playing anything interesting on a guitar look like a right fool, and anybody who has ever tried singing over the top of such impossible riffage look like some kind of retarded backwater-treader.
onya Grubbsy.
Cheers.
and now for some far more important news.......
We have some more dates for upcoming shows. These are still two months away, but us purps chappies are starting to ramp up our public appearances, just like the NSW politicians on approach to the NSW elections next March, except that Purplene are infinitely less intelligent and marginally more cheesy.
Thursday September 12 at the UNSW Arts Week
Friday September 27 at the Northern Star in Newcastle with By Ferry or Steamer
Saturday September 28 at the Vic on the Park with Knievel and By Ferry or Steamer
We're also looking at a Perth tour in October and a Brisvegas tour sometime around November.
More news as soon as we pull more of our fingers out of the 'ene collective..... Wednesday, July 10, 2002
Righto, then. Back to work.
And a bit sooner than we thought - playing a little first-on support slot for Decoder Ring on Saturday July 27 at the Hopetoun, Surry Hills. That's pretty soon. The other band playing is Sleepy Jackson.
We had planned to make our first show in six months the next one - w/ El Mopa a fortnight later on Sat August 10 at the Northern Star, Newcastle, but a little practise in the warm and familiar environs of ye olde Hoey never hurt anyone. Should be good.
The rhythm section of Purplene, who are not only much more pleasing to the eye then those two funny-lookin' guitarists, are off to record their debut Audiophile record thingie with Steve Foster in Adelaide this week, and will be back just in time for a quick dodgy Hoey vegie burger before playing on the 27th. All the best to 'em.
We also hope to get this film clip happening too. A bunch of 16mm footage that's been lying around for ages, and needs some Final Cut Proing.
So yeah, cheers. See you on the 27th, from about 8:30ish.
see rock group purplene hard at work below preparing themselves for re-entry into the world of live shows for the first time in over six months. see from the photo that the boys have the same committment to rock and music that laurie oakes has to grubby journalism.
although their muscles have been wasted because of months of weightlessness in the loneliness of space, see that their recent addiction to workouts on the "Space Stairs" weightless stairmaster exercise machine has meant that they have maintained their bodies in a shape some people have referred to as "adonis-like". see matt r's rippling forearms. see adam's bulging pecs. see matt b's washboard stomach. see dave's rapidly disappearing hair and realise how sexy a balding man can look if you look hard enough.
purplene are in training for re-entry. we hope we don't burn up in the atmosphere. matty b has made a few re-entries on his own to pave the way, and with the helpful additions of a couple of new sidearms to our utility belt, we should be safe.
matty r is recording with the audiophile crew in adelaide mid to late july. following that, the 'ene shall be strapping on their booster rockets and oxygen packs and starting their descent.
rehearsal at gibson st last sunday
pic by pete - blow it up baby;)
Pre–Purplene news rant -
On behalf of all religious and semi-religious fans of this World Cup, I’d like to generously place a curse on those in charge of the Nine network for their appalling efforts thus far.
Not only are their pre and post game comments devoid of any confidence or insight, their blatantly obvious greed and disregard for the game of soccer has left many of us wanting more at the end of monumental matches (eg: Spain vs Ireland) as they hurry into five minute ad breaks, and token Nineism phone-in competitions. Bugger watching the teams celebrate, swap shirts, cry or discuss the game – cash in on the advertising dollars. Cheers.
Les, Johnny, Foz Snr and the team at SBS should hold their heads higher than…something really high. Packer and co should stick to their ‘unique’ brand of low-brow sports – games within their league of understanding.
Now, about this band, Purplene.
It is with great gladness, gaiety and glee that we can introduce to you our newest and easily most handsome band member - Matt Rosetti, drummer extraordinaire, frisbee and hackey stalwart and member of Newcastle guitarscape instrumentalists Audiophile. And a fact some of you may also know, and be mildly intrigued by, is that Purplene’s bass player and group stylist Adam Jesson has been playing bass with this talented group for a good while now, meaning both groups now share identical rhythm sections.
We’ve been putting our best rehearsal suits on and hope to be returning to the live fold in August. Actually, our first date looks set to be in support of our label mates el Mopa, when they’ll be single-launching on Saturday August 10 at Newcastle’s Northern Star. Should be a very pleasant environment to stretch our salty sea-legs, one would imagine, so put it in yr diaries.
Matt B (two Matt's to consider now) will also be playing a solo show at the Hopetoun on Thursday June 27 supporting the golden sounds of The Rebel Astronauts and Melbourne’s By Ferry Or Steamer. It’s been a long time since the great BFOS have ventured adrift this far north, also with a new drummer, and I believe this may be the last Rebel Astro show for a good few months. Come.
Cheers.
gday, just wanted to mention that I've updated the reviews and pictures pages. nothin new, just easier on the eye, so get in there if you have a hanking for nostalgia.
oh, and the damn guestbook is just about dead. we'll see if the link remains to be dead for a few more days then we'll try to find another service. no such thing as a free lunch.
web master ots
Hi, and welcome back into the seemingly dormant world of Purplene.
What's our caper? Well, firstly, and most importantly, a couple of months ago, we parted ways with our friend, drummer and co-founding band member, Dave Hector. Since then, we've been quietly deciding what to do. And while nothing's 100% set in stone at the moment, things are starting to look chirpy enough to assume we might be doing shows again by July-ish. More details as they come to hand.
We've got a bunch of new songs that we want to have ready before we start playing shows again, so hold ye horsies for that.
In a desperate attempt to feel useful, worthy and remotely creative during this mild stasis, a film clip for Last Post was also shot onto 16mm film over the past month, so expect to hear/see more about that sucker pretty soon.
And yep, it's safe to also assume that we'll be updating this website much more frequently too. Lordy, we might even do a (winter) spring clean of the whole site.
Matt's doing a solo show on June 15 at Newcastle's Northern Star Hotel, supporting The Devoted Few.
Come along. Cheers.
wooooe - thats what happens when we forget to renew our dubaya dubaya dubaya name.... :)
Apologies for the down-time, as you can see though we're back on the air, and hopefully you'll be seeing lots more updates as I've just moved into the 21st century and made it possible for Purplene to update this news area themselves via their little web browsers. blogger enables this if yr interested. nifty!
and of course another great site that is coming of age is tales from the bat cave which is put together by our frequent guestbook signerer - Sime. check it out.
later,
otters
mono.net got a redesign & as always it looks and works like a charm. hat tip. they've even got a new review up of our album.
18/3/02Just when you thought Purplene were a progressive-thinking, political band that were always keen to address the local, federal and international issues of the day through our words, actions and devastatingly powerful stage personae, don't worry - we're not.
Bedders just got carried away, a bit like Simons J and G are want to do from time to time, bless 'em.
No immediate news to speak of at the moment - we're taking a breather to work on these new songs, not play too much in Sydney, amongst other things. The new songs are good, we reckon. Yeah, good.
I've got a new Yamaha upright split-level 'nana' organ that I picked up from the Salvo shop in Newcs for $25. It truly rocks the casbah, especially the bossanova 'rhythm synchro'. Don't expect to see it on stage though - bit on the cumbersome side.
All my love,
Blckmn
From the desk of Bedlam
Transport, Politics and the Emerald city
Transport in Sydney has always been a key political issue. Granted, it should be - we have always had an expansive city and an efficient and functioning transport system has always been essential to the social and economic happiness of the city. Perhaps to put it more succinctly, the general Sydney populace has never failed to grab an opportunity to bash the crap out of politicians who are seen to be responsible for the state of our city's transport. The majority of major transport infrastructure in this city in the last 200 years, while undoubtedly originating from a distinct need for that infrastructure, has ultimately been constructed because of political need. Consequently, this city has inherited a transport system that is piecemeal. We have an incomplete road system. We have an inefficient and inadequate rail system. We don't have a light-rail system that other cities use so effectively for short to medium trips and there are whole regions within Sydney with large populations that currently have no major public transport.
Sydney has had more transport plans then you can poke a stick at. Major transport schemes have been proposed from 1875 to the Carr Government's Action for Transport 2010. In 1915, Dr J.J.C Bradfield, perhaps better known as the Chief Engineer of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, proposed a major railway scheme for Sydney with rail lines through Balmain and Leichhardt, Moore Park and Randwick, Rosebery, Coogee and Waverly. The scheme integrated rail and light-rail with a centrepiece of the Sydney Harbour Crossing. Action for Transport 2010 proposes similar themes of integration: more rail lines more motorways and grand plans for Rapid Bus Transitways in Western Sydney that can ultimately be upgraded to light rail if required. A grand scheme due for completion by 2010.
Bradfield's vision failed for the same reason that the Action for Transport 2010 appears to be derailing. The Government could build motorways for less than it could build rails. Bradfield had originally planned for the Warringah Railway. It became obvious to him that he would never get the funding for the railway so he built the Warringah Expressway. Similarly, major road projects such the M2 Motorway, the M5 East, the Eastern Distributor, the Cross City Tunnel and Lane Cove Tunnel and the Western Sydney Orbital have been built or are close to construction as part of Action for Transport 2010. No major public transport infrastructure has yet been built and the only one close to being built has been cut in half because of cost constraints.
The other problem is that, politically speaking, motorway construction and road upgrades have an immense benefit. They have an immediate traffic relief upon opening, are highly visible by the populace and are generally seen by the travelling public as politicians doing their job. By example, the M5 East, under siege for months by the people affected by stack emissions, has almost become a political non-entity. The M5 East has provided an immediate transport benefit to thousands of people in marginal electorates, much as the completion of the M4 did. The unfortunate thing is that the M4 is now approaching capacity in peak periods and it is clear at some interchanges that is now at capacity.
Roads are planned this way. Traffic modelling, an exercise akin to playing pin the tail on the donkey with earmuffs as well as blindfold, indicates that key sections of most roads will reach capacity within ten years of opening. Our road planners know it, but are forced to construct them to this capacity because of political direction and monetary cost. Thus it seems patently ridiculous that our Government devotes such massive sums of money to something ultimately unsustainable.
By contrast, rail transport takes time to reach congestion point. Many areas of Sydney are still serviced by Bradfield's electric railway scheme almost 90 years after it was first proposed and until recently, no major rail infrastructure had been constructed since the 1970's. Yet our rail system, while currently stretched and highly susceptible to minor incidents, copes remarkably well considering its antiquated components. This is demonstrative of the ultimate benefits of rail and is precisely the reason why it is heartening to see serious debate in Sydney over our future rail strategy.
I have a friend who often complains about the congestion on the Sydney - Newcastle Freeway and he only travels on it in peak times. The problem is not that this freeway is only four lanes when it should be six. Once upgraded, the road will reach congestion point again in less than ten years time. The problem is that the people of Greater Sydney including the Central Coast, Illawarra region and the Blue Mountains do not have a choice in their transport modes that is efficient and is comparable in convenience. We are not likely to in the near future and failure to start major planning works now to provide that choice will result in a future generation stuck in one big traffic jam from Gosford to Illawarra to Katoomba. At least they will have time to think about the lack of foresight of the generations that came before them.
25/2/02Hey, there's a review of our album over at CAPGUNzine
20/2/02Hello y'all.
This friday night marks a very special occasion - a night where Purplene play their first proper headline show in Sydney since their album launch last year, a night where we get to use our fancy glossy posters for the first time since Brisbane, and a night where everybody's confused about what bands are playing and when.
Yeah, they stuffed the pole posters up, so it looks like Further will be playing first, when it will indeed be Lariat. Got that? Further (them lovable lads who like being at the louder end of the indie rock spectrum) are main support, and Lariat (who feature that new handsome bassist from BBK singing and stuff, and apparently sound a bit like Sandpit) are first on at about 8.30pm.
It all starts at about then, so come a bit earlier than that with enough time to get some of the superb Thai from the restaurant out back in your guts.
I'm looking forward to it, especially sharing beverages with Family Further. Bring your friends and foes, because Purplene bring people together like a good cup of chai.
See you there,
Matt/Purplene
thanks to mr simon gunning for reminding me that there has been a purplene interview over at the ever glorious mono.net for a while now in case you missed it.
5/2/02hella nice review of our album over at the electric newspaper
31/1/02Purplene would like to add an addendum to our Brisbane tour thanks list, that being the enigmatic and lovable Fiona Cleverly. Fee adapted perfectly well to the roles of sandwich-maker, sometimes car-driver, map-reader, sleeping comfort-assurrer, water bottles re-filler and merch-wench. Full respect for putting up with a car full of skanky boys too. So yeah, cheers, and apologies for the initial omission.
30/1/02
Wed Jan 16
Pick up fancy hire car - drive to Lismore
Thu Jan 17
Loiter in the 'grounded' and 'earthy' and 'chillin' surrounds of Byron
Bay - swim and frolic to and fro in the warm waters, jump in high-walled,
prehistoric waterholes, blckmn injures his knee in bizarre sand wrestling
accident.
Fri Jan 18
Drive to Brisbane to play Healer w/ Rival Flight. First band Breathing
Autumn play a generous hour-and-ten-minute opening set, Rival Flight play a
very good set in the middle and we play a quite good set to end the night.
Although some punters started leaving dur