Curt's picks for 09

Hello,

Writing is coming along nicely for the next release - just not entirely sure how/when it will come out and what shape it will take...

In the meantime, here's my picks for 2009...

MEW "No More Stories...." - points for the extra long album title (do a search for it), and luckily the content backs it up. I seriously wondered how they would top "Glass Handed Kites", but they did with this. In an another universe, they would be the worlds best pop band. Wait on... they already are. A tour please, gentlemen...

HAVE A NICE LIFE "Deathconsciousness" - this actually came out in '08, but I only discovered this year, so it gets on this list by default. No physical release that I am aware of, so had to make do with downloading, not something I am overly fond of (apart from the odd rarity/b-side etc). Sounds like a home recording - if you could imagine "Pornography"-era Cure, Joy Division doing a evil waltz with some of that weird, reverb soaked music that Buffalo Bill was listening to in his hideout in "Silence of the Lambs", then you're in the ballpark of what this sounds like. Awesome stuff! And kudos for best song title, that being "Waiting For Black Metal Records To Come In The Mail".

THE CHURCH "Untitled #23" - Australia's (and the world's) most criminally overlooked band. The Cure have forever been my favourite band, but The Church are making the kind of music I wish Smith and co. would make. A sublime album - up there with their other highwater marks "Priest = Aura" and "After Everything, Now This". Saw them a couple of weeks ago at the great Northern in Byron Bay and it was a priviledge, because a band of this calibre should be playing theatre venues at the very least. And, just for the record, Peter Koppes is the man.

NO ANCHOR "Steam" - Brisbane two piece (swinging sludgy bass and drums) that I still haven't caught live yet, but need to. Apparently they have another bass player since this release, so I pity the PA systems in Brisbane and beyond!

JESU "Infinity" & "Opiate Sun EP" - two slices of Jesu goodness this year. "Infinity" is a 50 minute song which goes through all sorts of sound scapes, at one point touching on his hardcore past with some serious growling. My favourite part is around the 20:30 mark, all fuzzy bass with blissed out guitars... nice! "Opiate Sun" is a 4 song ep showcasing more hooky leanings, albeit through some monster sounds.

SUGAR "Beaster"- yep, straight from 1993 this one, but its my list, my rules. Bob Mould's finest work, which is no mean feat considering his career. One of the few records that I pull out once a month or so, and listen from start to finish. Handy hint - PLAY LOUD! And, while we're on the 90's....

JAWBOX "For Your Own Special Sweetheart" - great re-issue/remaster of a seminal album. Goodbye mid 90's life-sucking compression, hello massive bottom end! And, again, while we're on the 90's....

SWERVEDRIVER "Raise" and "Mezcal Head" reissues - once again, the bottom end is given a great deal more presence than the original release, but not at the expense of those magical guitar lines and Adam Franklin's cool as fuck vocals. Is there a better bassline than on "Deep Seat"? I doubt it. Most praise from the this era seems to always be heaped upon My Bloody Valentine. MBV were/are a great band, no question, other worldly even. But Swervedriver had the sounds AND the songs. The only bummer with these reissues was that they were not a little more comprehensive, as the band was incredibly prolific around this period. "Raise" alone had another album's worth of high quality b-sides. Ah well, save it for another day.

THOM YORKE "FeelingPulledApartByHorses" Single - trippy electronics from some guy who has significant day job

SONIC YOUTH "The Eternal" - which they are. I always flog the absolute heyzus out of a new SY album, then forget about it for 6 months. Then come back to it. To my ears, this sounds like the logical follow up to "Dirty" (if SY had decided to cash in back in the day).

DECODER RING "They Blind The Stars, And The Wild Team" - I didn't mind when they added vocals to their arsenal a few years back, but this feels like the true version of the band. Everything that is great about them comes to the fore on this album. Terrific live show too.

AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD "Century Of Self" - I wouldn't say a "return to form" as such, just a return to the road more travelled. After the slight detours made on "Worlds Apart" and in particular "So Divided" (which I didn't actually mind), "Century" finds the band playing to the strengths that made "Source Tags And Codes" such a brilliant album. A great show at The Zoo topped it off.

THE SOUND MOVEMENT "Memory And The Human Heart" - cracking e.p. from my good friend Graham's band in the U.K. Andrew Day writes wicked tunes!

AXXONN "Masters Of the Epic Day" - tasty mini release from the Brisbane electronic 2 piece. Boys that bring the noise...

DINOSAUR JR "Farm" - JLouMurph add some, dare I say it, classic rock swagger/swing on some of the stuff on this, and it sounds awesome

FUCK BUTTONS "Tarot Sport" - a head fuck of emotion and noise. Took me awhile to get past the first song because its so damn good

NIRVANA "Live At Reading" - If Nirvana ever pulled off a better gig than this, then I would have loved to have seen it. Powerful, ragged. Someone who I have a lot of respect for recently called Cobain an "accidental musician", however I'm pretty sure you don't write and perform music like this by accident. The "Nevermind" material comes across somehow bigger here (love the deliberate sabotaging of "Teen Spirit"), but for me, its the stuff from "Bleach" that really flys. You kind of wonder where his music would've gone if he had stuck around.

MAGNETIC MORNING "A.M." - Adam Franklin (mentioned above) has one of the most sublime voices. It kind of drifts.... His solo release "Spent Bullets" was cool too.

A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS "Exploding Head" - do a fine job of taking the last 20 or so years of prime noise guitar (JAMC,MBV, Cure) and making it their own

MONO "Hymn To The Immortal Wind" - I didn't give this too much of a listen before seeing them last Sunday, but it's been getting belted ever since. I read an article recently that described Mono as "Mogwai's plane crashing into a Beethoven concert" (or words to that effect), and I fully agree. They do it brilliantly.

Notable shows (saw plenty, so just going off the top of my head here) - Cult Of Luna at The Tivoli, Mogwai at The Tivoli, The Church at The Great Northern, School of Seven Bells at The Zoo, Butcher Birds at The Shark Bar, Axxonn at The Hangar, Trail Of Dead at The Zoo, Flaming Lips at Splendour In The Grass, Hazards of Swimming Naked album launch with Restream at The Zoo, Mono & Laura at The Hi Fi Bar, The Specials at Splendour In The Grass, Decoder Ring at The Sound Lounge

The blog that works backwards... step inside the Delorean...

Photos from the Neverland show a few weeks back

Show this Friday

the sea shall not have them will support renowned Brisbane band VEGAS KINGS, who are launching their third album "You’ll Never Work In This Town Again" this weekend. Also appaearing is another Brisband BUTCHER BIRDS, who are readying the release of their debut album "Set My Bones", due in October.

Both of these releases are being brought to you by the fine people at MERE NOISE

Rounding out the bill is new Gold Coast band HANG 'EM HIGH.

The details:
Friday 18th September
Miami Shark Bar, 2043-2047 Gold Coast Hwy, Gold Coast

appearing with VEGAS KINGS (Bris), BUTCHERS BIRDS (Bris) & HANG 'EM HIGH

Doors open 8pm
Music kicks off around 8.30pm

Need further info..?

www.merenoise.net

www.myspace.com/vegaskings
www.myspace.com/butcherbirds
www.myspace.com/theseashallnothavethem
www.myspace.com/hangemhighson

We are coming out of hiding...

we are coming up for air...




Noise annoys!!! You've been warned....

See you later... for now

Had a great night at Rosies on Friday night. From what I understand, the venue is normally reserved for more metal/hardcore bands, and the promoter Jay took a bit of a risk putting on something different. But there was a decent crowd there and all the music seemed to go over pretty well.

Particularly for Hazards of Swimming Naked, who played an awesome set. The boys say they are pretty close to finishing their album, and I for one can't wait to hear it. To my ears, their music is of international quality and conjures up a real visual element in one's head (I was not drunk or anything, by the way). During their set, I imagined harsh deserts, rolling oceans, lonely night time highways... you get the picture.

We played ok, a couple of sticky moments earlier on. Again, we brought a new song into the set that I only presented to Mat a few nights earlier in rehearsals - an old song called "Traces" that we did with more of an "electronic" feel (yes, a new version of an old song that shares the name of our e.p, but didn't appear on said e.p - confused?). Its about the fourth time I have revised this song and already, we are talking about doing the song a different way again. I used to be indecisive, but now I'm not so sure...

Anyway, Mat and myself are pulling back on gigs now until the album is ready. Funnily enough, our ideas for this album have been formulated on paper as much as in the rehearsal room, as we have strong thoughts about its sound and structure (to paraphrase the Fight Club here "we are not unique and individual snowflake", as I'm sure every band worth its salt does this too). We are in no rush, so it could happen in a couple of months, or it could happen next year, who knows? We've talked about getting a few friends in local bands we admire to contribute too, people we think could help us shake things up a little.

There are some great albums out there at present - the church (another brilliant album from the most criminally underappreciated band in THE WORLD), Adam Franklin, No Anchor (Brisband that melts the ears and mind), Trail Of Dead, The Sound Movement (Aus expats in London with great new ep), National Skyline, MBV and Swervedriver remasters, Jeniferever, Mono - that certainly distract the writing process, but its a nice distraction to have. But the writing process with TSSNHT has never been forced anyway - its kind of like when the inspiration strikes, which can be at anytime and be by anything. I think we are half way there, in that we have four or five "keepers" that we have been playing live, and a few ideas on paper and in the head that I think will give us a good album. With whom/where/how we do it remains up in the air...

"Traces" (the e.p, not the song) came about from some songs I had been gigging on when TSSNHT was initially a solo project. Mat has been a friend for a long time and, after coming to some solo gigs, wanted in. I was/am very fortunate to have a drummer of Mat's calibre to bring our songs to life. Without the incredible generosity of Ian & Georgie Haug, "Traces" would not have happened, so a big thanks to the Haugs! Releasing & promoting the e.p. has been a big learning curve and its been a lot of fun. Onwards....

Curt

Last gig for a while

Yeah, yeah... I keep saying this. But it's for real this time. Couldn't resist the offer to play with Hazards of Swimming Naked either.

Mat's wife is due to have a baby around this time, so expect an "edgy" show from him... ha ha!

Things go quiet... again

Hello there,

There you go - forgot I had this blog. And thought now would be a good time to give it an update.

A couple of shows recently - one at the Shark Bar a couple of Fridays ago. Nice and loud, just the way we like it...





We then played what I think will be our last show promoting the "Traces" ep last week at Rics in Brisbane. Rics is a funny venue to play for a band like us, in that we rely on a roaring foldback system to hear ourselves with the sequencing that goes on. With Rics, you have a PA system thats tucked away above the front doors facing into the venue, essentially to contain the sound because they have a db limit that they continually police. Then you factor in a drummer like Mat, who belts the shit out of his kit, and in the end, I am more or less playing off him whilst you can faintly here the sequencing tracks somewhere up in the air. Makes for an interesting time. But we like playing there, and talked about doing alternate versions of some of the songs when we play there again. Maybe...

It was a great night to catch up with a few people too. We haven't seen Emerson Bavinton, who engineered and mixed the "Traces" sessions, since we finished the ep. So it was cool to catch up with him and talk future recording stuff. Some of my favourite Brisbane bands, Aheadphonehome & Restream, were playing across the street at The Troubadour, which was a bummer as I would have loved to have caught both sets. But guys like Andrew from Restream and Phil from Aheadphonehome were there at various times during our set, which was very nice of them. Great guys. And Tom and Ian from Axxonn (www.axxonnband.com), one of my favourite Brisbane acts at the moment were there too.

Headed back to Bris on Saturday night to catch the Church in all their underappreciated glory at The Zoo, only to find out they had cancelled due to band illness (I hadn't checked my emails for a few days). Bummer, as I'd heard their Vic shows were pretty special.

Ah well... Drifted over to the glorious Hangar, which was celebrated its 2nd birthday. Caught awesome sets by Axxonn and the re-constructed Aheadphonehome (once a solo act, now a five piece). I'm a big fan of the Hangar - its a great space, and the line ups are very diverse on any given night. Good crew there too.

So... no gigs coming up. Writing new stuff, make a start on the next lot of recordings...

Curt

Time Off's "Have You Heard..?" - unedited

This was in last week's Time Off magazine
Have you heard?

the sea shall not have them

What do you think is your band’s greatest strength?
Hopefully fooling people into thinking that all this noise comes from just two people.

What movie do you think your music would best accompany and why?
The movie that is unfolding in your head when the drugs take hold and you happen to be at one of our shows. Umm, failing that.... I've always liked "Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind". And "Jaws" too - when it's down to just Chief Brody and Bruce (the shark) in the final few minutes. We would love to re-score that showdown.

What are your plans for the immediate future? And the rest of the year?
Immediate future - to get through this bottle of red in front of me, then finish this new song we've got so we can throw it into Saturday night's set hopefully. Rest of the year - I'm planning to lock Phil from Aheadphonehome away in a cabin for a weekend, Wolf Creek style, and together we’re going to make a deal with the devil. And something beautiful will come from that I would imagine. And the band will birth & polish some new songs with a view to an album later in the year. It'll give those 10 people that keep coming to our gigs something new to listen to, I guess.

What is your favourite song lyric and why?
"I think it's dark, and it looks like rain, you said. And the wind is blowing like it's the end of the world, you said. And it's so cold, it's like the cold if you were dead. Then you smiled for a second..." The Cure - "Plainsong" from "Disintegration". Pure fucking poetry if you ask me. When the press etc eventually stops taking the piss out of Robert Smith, they will realize what a true artist the man is. And at least when you see The Cure live, he still sings their songs in original key, unlike Bono. Bono can fuck off & go save the world, and let Smithy keep saving people's souls!

Favourite hangover cure?
Kids. Having kids stops you from getting to that point where you know you're going to be hurting in the morning. They are completely unforgiving, in the nicest way :)

BAND MEMBER: CURT EMERTON
ROLE: GUITARS / BASS / NOISES
NEXT UP COMING EVENT / GIG / RELEASE: "TRACES" EP OUT NOW. SPLIT EP WITH AHEADPHONEHOME & DEBUT ALBUM LATER IN THE YEAR

Welcome

Welcome to The Sea Shall Not Have Them's blogspot...

The weekend was fun... Everyone rags on about there not being many places to play on the Gold Coast, but I actually think the Shark Bar is one of the better places to play. For a start, its kinda in the middle of the coast, so you are not trying to drag people either up to Sufferers Paradise, or down to Coolangatta. More importantly, the venue itself is a pretty good band room - we've always managed to get a decent thumping sound up there, and it doesn't take many bodies to fill the room and therefore get a little bit of "vibe" happening. Pool tables too, beach across the road, whats not to like..?

We have been doing some shows around Sth East Queensland with our good mates HELM (www.myspace.com/ghostatthehelm) and these have been great fun. HELM are at the start of a national tour to support their album release "Vol 1 Keelhaul" and we are very thankful to have been invited along. Whilst the "genre pig" (Lucas from Helm's term) could ignorantly lump these boys into the metal category, HELM are offering something which is more than a little different to that. Their music takes in all sorts of influences and spits out a noise which seems to defy easy categorisation - yes you hear metal, but also post rock, I hear some blues in there, and some damn strong hooks too.

For us, it's been a good opportunity to gig test some new material too. 3 new songs in various states of development made their way into the set on Saturday night. In fact, "Popdrone" was only birthed on Wednesday night at rehearsal.

Setlist went like this:
Fluid
Theme From An Airless Room
Sophie And The Spaceman (new version)
Since When?
From Far Away
Popdrone
Second To Last
Stormsong
(with various segueways in between etc)

We have another show in early March, and then some quiet time. Mat has plenty of things on his plate in the coming months, including the birth of his first baby. So its exciting times for him... We are going to use this time to develop new material with a view towards an album later in the year. And there are other plans in the pipeline too...

Stay tuned,
Curt