YISBLOG

Second Album Progress + Farewell Shows

2012-01-10T23:40:00.001+11:00

Work has begun on the writing and recording of our second album. It's being currently recorded at home, with the album to be released in September when we're all back from overseas.

You'll have two more chances to catch the band before we head to Europe; Saturday Feb 11 at The Old Bar for Russian Roulettes' LP launch, followed by a Brat Farrar + YIS double headliner farewell show at The Tote on Sunday March 4.

Also, a Simon Fazio solo set is happening at Bar Open on Sunday Jan 22 with Apple Time and Al Matcott. Free entry.

M+N Readers Poll Results

2011-12-16T15:24:00.007+11:00

According to the Mess+Noise Readers Poll, we are the #6 Best New-ish Act in 2011. And we released the 17th best Album of the Year. Freaking amazing. Couldn't be happier. Thanks to all who voted.

Update: We also came in at #36 on the Critics list.

New Plans!

2011-11-29T21:45:00.006+11:00

So, it seems like the next half-a-year is going to be a pretty exciting time.

First of all, next month, we've got three shows lined up. Our first show is at The Espy this Friday night, with Peabody, The Once Overs and ~~Altyan Childs~~ Alkan Zeybek. We're on second, so I imagine that will be somewhere around 10pm. After that, we're doing a last-minute fill-in job on Saturday night at Pony, 2am style. Last gig for the month will be a big Boxing Day in Ballarat; Yard Apes + YIS at Karova Lounge on Monday the 26th.

In addition, Andre and I will once again be backing up Brat Farrar on a few shows, including the Future of the Left support at The Corner on December 16. More Brat Farrar show info up on his Bandcamp.

After that, we'll be doing a couple more Melbourne shows (and maybe one in Geelong) and then putting a big fat line under the Kingdom of Fuzz-era of YIS, as after that, we're heading off to Europe to play a bunch of shows with Brat Farrar. Andre and I will hopefully be doing a few small YIS duo shows along the way, but you'll see us play Brat's songs of equal quality in the Netherlands, France, Spain, Belgium and Germany from March 22 until April 1. I will post the dates here when I've got them, but it looks like a big of shows.

I'm off to the UK and NYC after that, and Andre is going to spend some more months in Europe, while Bronwyn is finishing up study and does some important work type things, so, prior to that, hopefully we'll be able to pin Matt down for long enough to have one final hurrah at a venue that's yet to be decided. Hopefully on the other side we'll have something new, exciting and different to play for everyone.

Speaking of new and exciting, we did some other stuff this weekend; Andre recorded our pals in Bidet Mate, and then I whipped up this video. Enjoy, re-post, download, etc.

So, that's it for now. Hopefully see you at a show over the weekend. We'll be playing the favorites and some oldies from the vault. Until then...

Espy Show

2011-11-11T15:28:00.003+11:00

In what most likely will be our last show of the year, we're playing our first ever gig on the other side of the river with Peabody, The Once Overs and Happy New Year at The Espy on Friday, December 2. It's a free show and we're on second, so, that'll probably be around 10pm. More info when I got it.

On the other hand, Andre and I have a heap of shows backing up Brat Farrar, including supporting Future of the Left at The Corner in December. Dates and details on Brat's Bandcamp.

YIS By Request

2011-10-16T20:46:00.001+11:00

Gig coming up in a couple of weeks. Two sets. One set of new & old stuff, another set of requests and covers. Details here.

Holidays!

2011-08-28T20:18:00.001+10:00

Thanks to everyone who came out to The Retreat last night, and who came to shows over the last 1 and 3/4 years we've been playing out. We're taking a rest from playing live for the next few months so we can take stock and write and record some new stuff. Hopefully some new material will be ready before the end of the year. What that'll sound like, I have no idea. Anyway, thanks again. See you around soon.

August Brats

2011-08-07T14:58:00.003+10:00

We've got a pair of Brat Farrar shows in August too to go with the pair of YIS shows. The first is this coming Friday (the 12th) at The Old Bar, supporting Damn The Torpedoes, who are launching their III EP, which was recorded at the same place as our album with the same person behind the desk. Also playing are Sons of Lee Marvin, Kids of Zoo and Harvest Smoke. We're on second last. More details here.

The second is at The Cornish Arms on Friday the 19th with Mesa Cosa and The Dark Globes. Free entry. Details here.

As previously mentioned, YIS also playing on Saturday August 13 at The Tote and Saturday August 27 at The Retreat.

Next/Last Shows

2011-07-26T13:35:00.003+10:00

Two more Melbourne shows in August; supporting Legends of Motorsport on Saturday the 13th of August at The Tote with Sons of the Ionian Sea and a free headline show on Saturday the 27th of August at The Retreat with dotcoms. These will be our last shows before breaking to write the new album.

Nerdy Guitar Pedal Update

2011-07-24T20:56:00.002+10:00

So, as Google Analytics tells me, I get a lot of nerd traffic coming through the blog specifically to do with the gear related posts. So, yeah, here's another rundown of what I've been using lately.

My gain pedal section changes quite often. Never quite satisfied with what I've got, but this all sounded pretty good last gig. After the TC Polytune Tuner is my Foxrox Octron; still on the board because it sounds and tracks brilliantly. The first octave pedal I had was a POG 2 and I just couldn't get along with it because of the lag between playing and the note, and the fact it just sounded crap in a lot of ways. I don't really dig that Jack White-organ-guitar octave sound. It's just a crap sound. The sounds Future Of The Left pull out of the POG are orrite though. Anyway, this is about the Octron. Sounds great. Tracks great. Feels great. Good pedal.

Next up is my brand new Tym Guitars Big Mudd that I picked up in Brisbane a few weeks back. Sounds brilliant. I always end up running an overdrive after any Muff or Muff-type fuzzes because it gives a little more cut and presence. This one is one of the Ramshead series Mudds and they have a little trouble sitting in the mix usually but this sounded pretty good on Friday night so it'll probably stay a while.

The Lovepedal COT50 runs after that. This one is just a great pedal, but not all Lovepedals are the same by any means. The older stuff is great. The newer stuff is hit and miss. I've sold more Lovepedals than I've kept, but the ones I've kept are some of my favourites. Can be a bit tricky to match up with some guitars because of the single knob (sometimes playing guitars with hotter pickups tend to mean that gain pedals can sound quieter than the clean signal) but it always sounds great.

Last is a Fulltone Fat Boost 3. I like this pedal a lot. I click it on for a bit of a boost when I need it. Yep.

After that is pretty much the same as a while back: the Moog Freqbox is now the FORBIDDEN PEDAL as Mum said I hurt too many ears when I woosh this one. Note to self: be more considerate towards others re: square-wave. After that is the A/DA Final Phase, Cusack Tap-A-Whirl Trem and Earthquaker Disaster Transport Delay. Finally is a TC Electronic Hall-Of-Fame Reverb. It's a solid reverb that's small and tweakable. Not mindbendingly spectacular but it sounds good enough and it's small. Can't really ask for much more than that. I have an Eventide Space for home and that sounds better, but is the size of my face.

Vocal pedals are now a Line 6 M5 and a Pigtronix Keymaster. The old DL-4 got booted off the board for being too damn big. This M5 goes fine. Keymaster allows me to run XLR in and out of the M5 and there's a bit of a boost stage too. Got that running at 24 volts from the Pedal Power 2. Have got all my old DL-4 patches in the M5 and they sound pretty much the same. Plus now I can do other cool stuff on vocals that's not delay. Like this, maybe.

Any questions? Good.

Special Old Bar Thanks!

2011-07-23T23:08:00.003+10:00

A special thanks to everyone who attended our second anniversary show. It was an excellent night; all the bands were on fire and the packed house made us feel very warm and fuzzy indeed. If you missed out, we got it on tape thanks to our awesome pal Kris on the desk and Jacqui behind the camera (who also gave me Animals on vinyl for my birthday), so hopefully we can put those two things together and chuck it up online at some point in the next week or so. But here's the best bit anyway.

Only a few more gigs to go before we hibernate and try to write something new. The next one is on Saturday, August 13th with Legends of Motorsport at The Tote. The plan is to try to have a few new ones to test out, so, who knows. Might be new songs. Maybe.

Old Bar Tonight, Razorcake Review

2011-07-22T14:38:00.002+10:00

So, yep, it's my birthday bash at The Old Bar tonight. Should be fun. Bidet Mate on first at 9. YIS on at midnight. Russian Roulettes then Baptism of Uzi somewhere in the middle. Eight clams to get in.

Also, here's a great 'Kingdom of Fuzz' review from the latest issue of Razorcake.

YIS & Brat Farrar Blowin' Up

2011-07-14T16:14:00.004+10:00

(pictured above: my rear tyre that blew up on the Eastern Freeway at around 7pm on Tuesday night)

YIS and Brat Farrar in a pair of Top-5 lists on the web today:

Darren Levin, editor of Mess & Noise included 'Kingdom of Fuzz' in his Top 5 mid-year list, calling us "Melbourne's best pub rock band. Bar none." http://www.messandnoise.com/articles/4295308

Darragh Murray from Collapse Board said "Brat Farrar kicked some serious arse" amongst some other nice things in his Flavours of Skuzz review here: http://www.collapseboard.com/brisbane/five-things-learned-at-flavours-of-skuzz/

For Sale: 1961 Hofner V3 Electric Guitar

2011-07-14T10:14:00.006+10:00

The great gear cleanout continues with my 1961-62 Hofner electric. It's a great guitar. Didn't use it on Kingdom of Fuzz (cos I was too lazy to bring in another guitar aside from my Firebird), but I've used live and also to write a few tunes, "Ungreatful Motherfucker" being one of them. It's a great garage guitar but also has a really beautiful clean tone on the neck pickup. Here's me fiddling with it a little to show it works.

You can also hear it on this live Constant Light track.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://constantlight.bandcamp.com/track/factory-floor-too"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Factory Floor Too by Constant Light&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

And also our performance at the infamous Fall tribute evening:

So, yeah, it's on eBay. Starts on 99c.

Brat Farrar Brisbane Tour Report

2011-07-10T13:24:00.024+10:00

Brisbane was awesome. Since it's been quite a while since I've written a meatier blogpost, here's a rundown of what we got up to over the weekend.

We had the first QANTAS flight out at 7:05am on Friday morning, which meant the alarm was set for 5am. Didn't get much sleep the night before as I was up late watching In The Loop (hilarious movie), so, for some strange reason, my body actually felt okay with the earlier start. Weird. Anyway, after being we met Sam at the airport at 6 and headed over to oversize baggage to check in our things. Nothing really interesting happened on the airport or the flight. The plane served muesli for breakfast. Andre said it looked like "the food from The Matrix" and refused to eat it. There was also a little packet of apricots and an orange juice, accompanied by a special message from Mr. John Travolta on the screens telling us about how much he cares about our safety and how he loves QANTAS. Nothing about loving Xenu though.

Flight was pretty smooth and we got to Brisbane around 9, and then caught a taxi to the Valley. We had an in-store at Tym Guitars in the evening, so we headed down there in the hopes of being able to dump our stuff so we didn't have to lug it around all day. It wasn't open until 10, and Sam had heard about this great place for sausage rolls which was actually just next door (Flamingos?), so we stopped there for some breakfast that didn't look like "the food from The Matrix". The sausage rolls were pretty great (they had this tasty chutney/relish which was all sorts of delicious). Expensive but a decent size. Washed it down with some sort of watermelon/strawberry juice (tasty but again, expensive). It was a good meal though. Music was Human League followed by Hall & Oates.

Tym's was open by the time we finished, so we popped in and had a chat to Geordie (who also plays guitar in Dick Nasty and is a top, top dude), who was more than happy for us to leave our stuff in one of the rehearsal rooms. Despite spending thousands of dollars at the shop via the website, we had never actually been to Tym Guitars before. It's awesome. Easily one of the world's best shops for anything ever. The collection of guitars in stock at the time was good as always; a decent collection of used Fenders and Gibsons with a fair few Japanese and international oddities along with a great collection of boutique effects and amazing amps; easily better than any guitar shop in Australia, but nothing amazing-amazing for sale that made me whip out the CC.

However, the stuff in the back rooms was easily amazing-amazing-amazing. Aside from the 60s Epiphone Crestwood in a glass case, Mosrites, vintage Electro Harmonix effects and rare-as-rare-can-be fuzz pedals next to Ramones vinyl in the cabinets (right next to a selection of the best new and used vinyl that puts the vast majority of record shops to shame for both selection and price), the collection of hire stuff is also awesome.

Sam emerged from rehersal/storage area with a beautiful, road-worn '72 Fender Mustang to play in the evening. Geordie asked if I wanted to use a Fender Precision or a Jazz bass for the in-store. I went with the P, and he strolled out of the private section with an awesome '79 Sunburst. We got to take a peak back there and not only was there some amazing vintage guitars from Tim's personal collection, but a bunch of Tim's custom guitars (which he no longer has time to make) which made me weep tears of both joy and sadness.

I could go on for hours about this place, but it's probably best if you just go up there and hang for a while. And plus we went back twice more over the weekend, so you'll hear about it again in a paragraph or two.

We went for a walk around after that down to (soon-to-be shutdown/relocated) Rockinghorse Records in the hope of picking up some bargains. I was starting to crash hard by this point and had to go sit down. Sam and Andre picked up some good stuff though. Original pressing of Pink Moon for $20 in pretty good condition had me a bit jealous, but I think all of the really good stuff was long gone. We headed up to Egg Records and bumped into some people that Sam knew from other bands up for the weekend. Nothing too special at Egg, but I wasn't really in the mood for crate digging at this point.

After a wander, we met up with our host for the weekend; Pete from The Vegas Kings and Mere Noise Records. Pete is awesome beyond words; not only did he drive us around for the entire weekend, but he gave us his place for the weekend and went and stayed at his girlfriend's flat. Aside from that, he's just a cool guy. He was finishing his shift at the gallery where he works, so we had a coffee and hung around for a little bit. Sam bumped into Dan from Sixfthick/Gentle Ben on the way to the toilet and we had a chat to him for a while. Nice dude. When Pete was ready, we headed back to his pad; a great place near the Sydney St Ferry overlooking the Brisbane River, with the Gabba on the other side.

After a little bit of a rest, we headed back down to Tym's for our in-store with Hoss and The VeeBees. Tim was down there then along with Tony from Sixfthick/guitarnerd.com.au (who also does a lot of the design stuff for Tim's amps/effects/shirts/etc) and a host of other Brisbane folk (including the tall, mysterious "Cowboy" Bob who we'd encounter a few more times over the course of the weekend). The instore was heaps of fun; we played four songs and it all sounded and felt good. Sold a couple of YIS CDs and Brat Farrar 45s. The VeeBees were up next. Highlight was "Drive-Thru Bottle-O". We had an interview at 4ZZZ with Judy Jetson shortly after that, so we had to bail before Hoss.

Tim was manning the desk on the way out, and he stopped us to get us to sign the poster for the in-store (as all bands do at Tym's), and we were brave enough to ask about the new Fuzz Munchkin pedal he was making (which is an exact clone of J. Mascis from Dinosaur Jr.'s favourite Big Muff, reverse engineered by Tim). I'd been hanging out to get one of these ever since it was announced he was doing it, and he'd been getting calls from all around the world from some big, big names wanting him to reserve ones for them. However, he's just going to do 300 and put them on the site when they're ready; first-come, first-serve, no matter who you are (except that J gets 50 for himself). Much to my amazement, he just whipped it out the first one from behind the counter. It was probably as excited as I'd been about a new toy since they had Nintendo 64s in Epping Plaza four months before they were released. Freaking amazing. We even got to hold it. He told us all about it and he was almost as excited as we were. However, this one was J's own personal #001; we'd have to wait until they went up on the site to actually get our hands on our own.

We got down to the radio station at about 6:30 and had a chat on the radio. Judy played the three tracks from the Brat Farrar single as well as 'Burning Well' from Kingdom of Fuzz, which was ultra-cool. It's still awesome to hear your own songs on the radio; I don't think that'll ever get old. After that, we headed down to The German Club for dinner. We were told that we must have the Pork Knuckle, or failing that, the Pork Belly. The wait for food was insane (the line just to order took about 45 minutes), and during this time, Andre changed his mind from pork knuckle to pork belly and back again to pork knuckle.

The wait for the food was eased by Andrew; a sixty-year old one-man band playing at insane volume in the main dining hall. He was like of a cross between Colonal Landa from Inglorious Bastards, the German cannibal from The I.T. Crowd and Jandek, but with lederhosen. He had a big laminated sign saying "ANDREW" on his keyboard, as well as a flashing LED display that said "MUSIC BY ANDREW" in different colours and animations. Sam described it as "one of the most bizarre experiences" he's ever had on tour, and that's saying something. He did "Happy Birthday" at least seven different times. He had an amazing catalogue of MIDI backing tracks on his laptop, and along with singing in his thick german accent, he played keyboard, guitar, trombone and trumpet. We walked in to an amazing version of The Vengaboys' eternal classic "Boom Boom Boom Boom (I Want You In My Room), followed by "Sweet Caroline", "Bad Romance", a German folk tune, a German drinking tune, and then "Khe Sanh" into "I'm Too Sexy" (apologies to Andrew if the setlist is incorrect).

The place was going mental. In between sets people were chanting for Andrew to come back. His second set was nothing short of mindblowing. I was slightly disappointed he couldn't fulfill my request of Shout To The Top, but he more than made up for it with my highlight of the entire tour: Smells Like Teen Spirit followed by Du Hast. Nothing more needs to be said.

The wait between lining up to order food and recieving food was roughly the same time it took us to get from Melbourne to Brisbane, but it was pretty good when it came. The pork knuckle was indeed impressive. The pork belly wasn't bad. We headed off around 11, and managed to flag down a cab and headed back to Pete's for a well earned sleep. Good day.

We woke up on Saturday morning and did the regular thing; hung around and watched The Simpsons and did lazy stuff. We headed down to Tym's again to grab our gear and Tim was working in the shop. We had a play around for a little bit when he yelled for us to "plug in whatever we want". I did had my eye on one of his Lemon amps (but with the state of my bank account, I'd have to be content with the Lemon t-shirt). Then he said the magic words: "do you want to try out the J Mascis pedal?". Fuck yes. There was no Jazzmasters on the walls, so we grabbed a Jag and a Greco Strat. Being the hog that I am, I had to have the first go. It's freaking awesome. There's one set of regular controls and two channels. The rhythm channel is great. The boost channel is something else. Freaking amazing sounding thing. Would have loved to have cranked that Lemon up past 12'o'clock...

Tim strolled up the stairs grinning. He's just a great, friendly dude and a massive music fan who is genuinely stoked to be making gear for bands that he loves. He offered to make Sam his own signature duel-channel OD/Fuzz (which we've been planning ever since). He then offered me a go of his Big Bottom/Big Mudd hybrid pedal that he'd cooked up for Witch (and now is making one for Earthless; possibly the best live band on the planet). After playing the Fuzz Munchkin I wasn't quite as pumped to try this one out (and I already had a regular Big Bottom) but we had a couple of minutes so I thought I might as well. I plugged a regular P-Bass into a Bassman and kicked the thing on. Holy mother of God. Incredible bass fuzz. I ended up walking out with one of his Ramhead Big Mudds pedal. He fixed us up with some shirts as well. That, combined with an awesome big breakfast at Pete's mate's cafe and the weather made for a great morning.

We capped off the morning by visiting the lookout pictured above and checking out some other shops. Another guitar shop that was pretty ordinary (but anything would probably seem ordinary in comparison to Tym's). Went to a couple of second hand clothes shops. Vinnies. Nothing much was there apart from a weird Melbourne Knights scarf and a Chet Atkins record with dogs on the cover. Went back for a snooze before the main event; Flavours of Skuzz.

The venue was pretty weird; The Woodland Bar is a multi-room, band and sports bar in the middle of the Valley, not far from all the other main venues to play in Brisbane. There were three stages spread over two rooms upstairs; the main room which had the "Main Stage" and a smaller stage on the floor with a basic P.A. called "Floor Stage", and the "Function Room", which was in the "Mustang Bar" next door, where we were playing. There was also a two hour break about a third of the way through as a condition of the venue; apparently Rugby related. Weird.

We walked up the stairs to the around 5:30 to see the last few notes of Jonny Romeo, which was a shame. They sounded good from the stairs. Had a wander around while The Royal Family were playing on the Floor Stage and figured out where to stash our stuff until we played until 10pm. Sat down to watch Feathers after that; four local girls playing good-psych who enjoy using reverb pedals. They were good. Should have got one of the black t-shirts. I skipped off for a bit to watch Geordie from Tym's play in Dick Nasty. Metal. Opened with a Giants of Science riff which seemed to amuse/embarrass Ben Salter (in a funny way), who organised the event and was standing up the front. The place was starting to fill up even though there was only about 30 minutes of music before the 7-9pm break. Swapped back and forth for a bit between The Narwhals and The Boondall Boys (featuring Macka from The Onyas on vocals) who were tearing up the Function Room. Would have liked to have seen all of both but only got to see bits.

Went off for some Chinese with some awesome friends of Sam's during the break. We ordered heaps. It was pretty good. Szechuan-anything is always good in my book. Walked up the street checking the footy scores, thinking that Richmond might actually get up this week. (They didn't).

Got back to the bar in time for HITS and Blank Realm; two of the best bands of the night who were on at the same time. Damn. HITS started great and pulled a good crowd which grew to a massive crowd by the end of the set. And we had to follow them. Goddamnit. Blank Realm also sounded great in the main room. I missed out on Dick from HITS' poem to The Meatbeaters, which apparently was hilarious. Something about "I shouldn't have called you ________, because I should have called you gay, but gay in the cool way, because you're electric".

Our set felt pretty good; we probably played better at Tym's the night before but the crowd was great, even though the sound was like "playing in a tiled bathroom" (probably because the floor was tiled). Got to have a go at my new Big Mudd, which sounded great.

Wandered around patching myself up and getting my shit back together after the set and missed out on a lot of other stuff. Watched a bit of Hoss, who played Cheap Trick and Dead Boys covers. The VeeBees played another good set. Saw a bit of Straight Arrows, who had a big crowd. Velociraptor had an even bigger crowd at the same time, and their band was massive. Ten people, two stages massive. Only got to see a little bit of Undead Apes after that, which was sad, as we had to bail after Pastel Blaze's set. Hopefully can catch those guys in Melbourne sometime soon. Overall, this was a great night and hopefully it runs again next year. Would love to come up and play it again.

Had to walk out of the Valley to get a cab, as the line was massive. Nobody would pick us up for a few kilometers, but we eventually got one. Ate some bread back at Pete's, set the alarm and hit the sack.

So, back in Melbourne now; weather is shit and people are grumpy. All the people we met in Brisbane were just awesome; we had a great time and hopefully we can come back up with YIS in a few months. Time for pie and sleep, I think.

Here's the next gig poster and details.

Guitar Cab For Sale, Brat Stuff, Bidet Mate

2011-06-30T14:15:00.001+10:00

Selling up an old Eminar 2x12 guitar cab on eBay. Open to offers!

In other news; plenty of Brat Farrar stuff in this week's issue of Beat with the launch this Saturday night at The Tote. Click here to skip right to the interview.

As for the gig on Saturday night, Brat Farrar will be on at midnight. Doors at 9pm. $10 to get in.

Next weekend, Brat Farrar will be in Brisbane, playing a free instore at Tym Guitars early on Friday evening with Hoss and The VeeBees, followed by an interview on 4ZZZ, and playing Flavours of Skuzz at The Woodland Bar on Saturday.

Also, our pals in Bidet Mate (featuring Andre on drums) are now on Facebook. Like them.

Home from Adelaide, Brat Launch

2011-06-15T12:37:00.003+10:00

My brain is finally back to full functionality after our Adelaide roadtrip. Thanks to Fluffy and The Molting Vultures for having us out, and everyone who came to the Squatters Arms for the show. Good fun.

Next YIS show isn't until July 22, but we have a few shows as the rhythm section for Brat Farrar coming up; one in Melbourne on Saturday, July 2 at The Tote, and two in Brisbane on Friday July 8th (afternoon/evening instore) at Tym Guitars and Saturday July 9th at Jubilee Hotel for Flavours of Skuzz.

Grace Darling Photos + Adelaide This Weekend

2011-06-07T11:30:00.004+10:00

Cool gallery of photos from Friday night's show up at Faster Louder.

And a reminder, this Saturday night in Adelaide..

Also, Andre and I are playing at The Tote on Saturday July 2nd in Brat Farrar. More details here.

Weekend Playing Times

2011-06-02T12:01:00.004+10:00

Playing times for this weekend's shows are as follows...

Friday 3rd June at The Grace Darling, Collingwood

OUCH MY FACE (11:30) + IN TONGUES (10:50) + YIS (10:10) + HIGH TEA (9:30).

Doors 8:00pm, cost is $10.

Sunday 5th June at The Old Bar, Fitzroy

THE TOOT TOOT TOOTS (10:00) + YIS (9:00) + MESA COSA (8:00).

Doors 7:00pm, cost is $5.

Mess + Noise Review by Andy Ramadge

2011-06-01T17:01:00.004+10:00

"On the first half of Kingdom of Fuzz, YIS play the sort of dumb boy rock I've heard a million times before, but still like getting pissed and bouncing along to. Sometimes it's balls out, sometimes it's boring."

YIS + Brat Farrar Adelaide Show

2011-05-31T16:31:00.005+10:00

SATURDAY JUNE 11TH. SQUATTERS ARMS HOTEL, THEBARTON, SA.

THE MOLTING VULTURES (12.15pm) + BRAT FARRAR (11.15pm) + FLUFFY (10.15.pm) + YIS (9.15pm).

Amazing Posters For Next Weekend's Gigs

2011-05-25T10:17:00.004+10:00

Some fantastic poster art from Celeste from Ouch My Face (above) and Steve from The Toot Toot Toots (below)...

Radio Spots + Leetle Reviews

2011-05-18T17:05:00.003+10:00

Two very different radio spots for this Friday's Cherry gig running on Triple R and PBSFM.

Also some nice reviews by the JJJ crew up on our Unearthed.

For Sale: Bron's 1982 Gibson SG

2011-05-17T16:13:00.002+10:00

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230622785330

More Dates

2011-05-01T15:29:00.004+10:00

Friday 20th May at Cherry Bar - YIS + Death Valley Band + The Stiffys

8pm doors. $13. YIS on at 10:30pm.

Sunday 5th June at The Old Bar - The Toot Toot Toots + YIS + Mesa Cosa

8pm doors. $5. YIS on at 10pm.

Friday 22nd July at The Old Bar - YIS + Baptism of Uzi + Russian Roulettes + Bidet Mate

8pm doors. $8. YIS on at midnight. Simon's birthday party!

Also, Brat Farrar dates...

Saturday July 2nd at The Tote - Brat Farrar (7" launch)

Saturday July 9th at The Jubilee Hotel, QLD - Flavours of Skuzz Festival

Bits + Pieces

2011-04-19T15:02:00.006+10:00

A few small things.

Andre and I are heading up to Brisbane with Brat Farrar in the second weekend of July to play 'Flavours of Skuzz'; a one day festival put together by Ben Salter. We'll be doing a few other Brat shows around that. No YIS stuff planned as yet, but it'll still be good.

Additionally, Brat Farrar and YIS should be heading over to Adelaide on Saturday June 11th to launch our warez. More details soon.

As far as Melbourne goes, YIS are playing this Thursday night/Friday morning at Pony. We've also organised a headline show at Cherry on Friday May 20. The Stiffys are also playing, along with one other band. Brat Farrar will also be having a 7-inch launch at The Tote in July.

Our pals The Summervilles are heading down to Melbourne this weekend for two shows; Thursday night at The Blue Tile Lounge on Smith St (a couple of doors down from Yah Yahs, and a couple of doors up from Andre's beloved 'Fitzroy Kebabs'), and a party in Richmond that Bron's put together on Good Friday with Baptism of Uzi, Kids of Zoo and Mesa Cosa. Get in touch via yis@yisyisyis.com if you want location details.

Finally, Andre got a mention for his work behind the kit in this review for Constant Light's 'Mag-Amplitude' on Mess & Noise.

Poison Sockets, Live At The Workers Club, 14/04/11

2011-04-15T14:12:00.005+10:00

Part 1: Dreams of Dreams Denied (Constant Light cover)

Part 2: Untitled (song that "sounds like The Cult")

Two Watts Trailer

2011-04-13T18:10:00.006+10:00

Andre Fazio (YIS/Brat Farrar) and Al Matcott (The Thod) are TWO WATTS.

Appearing live at the following locations:

Saturday 16th April, The Great Britain Hotel, Richmond (supporting Chigwell Sharp)

Monday 25th April, Pony, Melbourne (late show)

Badges, Badges, Badges.

2011-04-13T09:50:00.004+10:00

We've got some badges on the way for people who like badges. For $2.50 (plus the cost of a postage stamp), you get a three badge set featuring the above artwork. Badges are 1.25 inches in diameter. Whoever can work out the circumference gets a gold star. No gold star for radius. Limited to 75 sets. Should arrive at YIS Manor about this time next week, and shipping out whenever we get them. Order now to avoid disappointment.

Poison Sockets, Two Watts

2011-04-13T09:39:00.006+10:00

Poison Sockets (Bron + James Dean + Krzysztof Derwinski) are making their live debut this Thursday night at The Workers Club, Fitzroy, playing with The Gruntled and Mystic Eyes. Poison Sockets are on first. 8:30pm.

Two Watts (Andre + Alastair Matcott) are making their live debut this Saturday night at The Great Britain, Richmond, playing with Chigwell Sharp. Two Watts are on first. 8:30pm.

Easter Weekend at Pony Poster

2011-04-11T18:02:00.002+10:00

Depressing art by Andre Fazio. Click poster to enlarge.

Shirts Shipping

2011-04-11T14:08:00.004+10:00

Picked up the next batch of shirts this morning. Orders will be shipped today. Thanks!

For new orders, click here.

Good Friday Eve/Good Friday Morn at Pony

2011-04-05T12:31:00.005+10:00

We've been to play the 2am slot at Pony on Thursday night/Friday morning, 21st/22nd of April, which is Good Friday Eve/Good Friday Morning. So, we're doing it. It's free. We'll try to throw in a G.G. Allin cover.

More Shirts, More Sizes, More Awesome

2011-04-04T15:49:00.007+10:00

(with thanks to Michael Lippmann for the tip-off)

More shirts headed to YIS Manor; we've put in a new order which should be in within the fortnight, so we can now offer new sizes in both Mens and Ladies cuts over at our Bandcamp. You can purchase anything from Mens Small up to Extra EXTRA Large, and Ladies Medium and Large over at Bandcamp now. Limited quantities at the very small and larger ends of the scale though, so order sooner rather than later to avoid disappointment. As we've ordered a few more this time, we got a bit of a discount, so shirts are now $1-2 less depending on what option you choose. $25 for the shirt + compact disc + signed poster + download, or just $20 for the shirt + poster + download (and no CD). Click here to order.

Also, here's a cool write-up over at the Australian Independant Music Charts' blog about the album.

We're currently sketching out some new ideas and have penciled in a few shows in June and July to road-test the new tunes. Details soon.

YIS + Kids of Zoo at The Retreat Poster

2011-03-14T19:15:00.005+11:00

Next weekend, night after B'Uzi launch. Drawing by Andre.

Beat Album of the Week

2011-03-09T10:40:00.004+11:00

Contrary to the flaccid protestations of contemporary royalists - who see the House of Windsor as some sort of perpetually stable institution, forever providing a moral, social and political crucible for a population yearning for stability - the English monarchy has itself been in a state of regular re-invention for its entire thousand-odd year history. With the monarchy currently struggling under the weight of the cult of celebrity, now is the time for Chuck, Bill and Harry to think seriously about where to from here.

That direction could, if only a bit of lateral thought was applied, be toward aKingdom Of Fuzz. Sure, the English monarchy has about as much empathy with fuzzed-out guitars and gut-busting garage riffs as Sarah Ferguson has with the mushy tinned peas and tepid mashed potato served up in the average council estate residence, but hope can still spring eternal.

And where better to start that process of re-invention than YIS's debut long-player, Kingdom Of Fuzz? Kingdom Of Fuzz has got everything a contemporary monarchical institution needs to stay relevant: Message offers up plundering riffs tougher than a western suburbs back pocket player working off an insult to the sanctity of his fledgling marriage, Stop-Go smears the angular college punk of Devo with a thick dose of industrial strength garage attitude, Lizardman is cartoon framed Digger And The Pussycats rock 'n' roll writ large and Trevor Block Rocking Beats affords Melbourne's iconic man-about-town the slick rock treatment and popular song status he's spent 30 years acquiring.

(I Feel) Repulsed is a new wave fly in the album's prevailing garage rock ointment, replete with dazzling synthesiser melody and emphatic pop vocals; by way of radical contrast, the succeeding Baby Come On is down, dirty and depraved, a viscous mix of polluted rock licks and defensive emotional pleadings, before Burning Well takes us down the bruising and painful path of introspection, with nothing but the ghost of Sonic's Rendezvous and early Asteroid B-612 to ease the pain.

By the time Injin locks into its vice-like instrumental groove, YIS' Kingdom Of Fuzz is looking better than a Tennessee distillery to Keith Richards; I Wanna Go Home is the proverbial icing on the cake, a rough and ready blend of powerpop spiced with Ramones philosophical underpinnings.

Kingdom Of Fuzz actually has bugger all to do with the future of the House of Windsor. But the fact that it doesn't says everything about the irrelevance of the monarch, and even more about just how fucking good this record is.

If you like this: Superfuzz Bigmuff MUDHONEY, Funhouse THE STOOGES

JEFF HAMMOND

Bron + Andre on new Constant Light album

2011-03-08T14:37:00.004+11:00

Constant Light have just put up their new album on Bandcamp. Bron plays bass on some tracks, Andre plays drums on track 5. They're launching it at The Empress this Friday. Details on FB.

Also, Poison Sockets (Bron + Jim from Constant Light) will be making their live debut at the International Noise Conference in Melbourne on Saturday May 21. More details soon.

last melbourne shows for a bit.

2011-03-07T17:59:00.002+11:00

hey everyone,

so, thanks to everyone who made it out for our launch the other night. we were overwhelmed by the amount of people there... it was a really special evening, so, honestly, thanks heaps for coming out.

so, we've got some more shows coming up this month, which will probably be our last in town for a good few months while we start working on some stuff that isn't the same stuff we've played for the last year and a half... we're trying to tee up some interstate stuff for april/may (but may/june/july seems a bit more likely), so hopefully we'll have something confirmed soon. sydney + nsw/act for sure, adelaide hopefully, brisbane maaaaybe...

but, anyway, as far as melbourne stuff goes, here's what you can look forward to... as we played the whole album at the tote, we're gonna try to pull out some different stuff for this show, so, kingdom of fuzz material by request only... or if you have any other requests...

***

Thursday 17th of March at The Johnston, Fitzroy for Pon De Thursday with The Dark Globes. $5/$10. http://www.pondethursday.com

this is a cheap drinks, say YIS to get half-priced entry type deal. we'll be on last.

***

Friday 25th of March at The Tote, Collingwood for Baptism of Uzi Cassette Launch with High Tea, Buried Feather. $10. http://www.thetotehotel.com

we're amazingly happy to be on this amazing bill; baptism and buried feather are two of the best bands going around and high tea are a new band featuring the dudes who used to be in baseball. we're on second last.

***

Saturday 26th of March at The Retreat, Brunswick. Free.

and, yeah, the following night, a free show at The Retreat. should be a blast. again on last, one other band to be confirmed.

***

hopefully we'll have this new album written and released by, i dunno, november? who knows. it'll be different.

also, we've got about five of the shirts in medium and large left, three extra larges and one small that was hiding at the bottom of the box. http://yisyisyis.bandcamp.com

thanks again,

simon

http://www.yisyisyis.com

YIS in Beat

2011-02-23T08:45:00.006+11:00

by Bruce Laird.

The first question in an interview is often the most obvious, and frequently the most revealing. So tonight’s interview with Simon Fazio and Bronwyn Liroudia-Rands, two-thirds of local garage band YIS begins with the obvious inquiry: where does the band’s name come from? Judging by the reaction, it’s a question that’s come up plenty of times previously. Fazio’s initial response refers to truncated New Zealand vowels in Flight Of The Conchords, supplemented by a few alternative acronym-based explanations (one of which apparently translates to ‘enlightened vagina’). But it’s Liroudia-Rands’ observation that provokes the best reaction. “My dad said ‘that Rick Wakeman prick is going to sue you!’,” she laughs.

Thankfully the prog-happy Mr Wakeman hasn’t so far issued
any legal writs, leaving YIS to its merry evolution. Fazio
(guitar, vocals, and the band’s principal song-writer) formed
YIS with his girlfriend (and ‘non-blood relative’) Liroudia-
Rands and younger brother Andre Fazio on drums a couple
of years ago. The brothers Fazio had played in a number
of short-lived local bands; notwithstanding a lack of band
history, Liroudia-Rands was commissioned to play bass in
the fledgling three-piece outfit. “It was a case of me being
handed the bass and told ‘here, play!’” she laughs. “We
jammed on some Dead Moon, and it sounded pretty good,
and then we ended up being offered a show, then we had
a big enough set for a show and it blossomed from there,”
Fazio explains.

Despite the occasional bout of fraternal friction (“I’m the
mediator,” quips Liroudia-Rands), the YIS dynamic, sound
and set evolved to see the band playing regularly around
Melbourne (the Fazio brothers have also been enlisted
recently to provide the rhythm section for Kamikaze Trio
and Digger & The Pussycats guitarist Sam Agostino’s new
band, Brat Farrar). YIS remains, however, Fazio the elder’s
band. “YIS is very much Simon’s band,” comments Liroudia-
Rands. “The last band I played in had about five different
opinions, and it didn’t really work that well,” Fazio nods. “I
think this time around the dynamic is better. You can trust
the other members of the band, because they’re people
you care about.”

Last year YIS teamed up with former Rocket Science
guitarist Paul Maybury to record YIS’s debut album,
Kingdom Of Fuzz, at Maybury’s A Secret Location studio
in Fairfield. “We went to the Big Day Out years ago, and
Rocket Science were the first band on the bill that we both
really liked, so it was great to be able to work with Paul,”
Fazio relates.

There are a few tracks on Kingdom Of Fuzz worth particular
attention, including Trevor Block Rocking Beats, a song
inspired by events at the 2009 Flipout! festival in Sydney.
“When we were at Flipout! I wrote Trevor Block Rocking
Beats on a bit of paper and stuck it on the ATM, and then
later on when we got back [home] I wrote that song,” Fazio
laughs.

And then there’s the opening track, Message, a thundering
garage track somewhere between X and The Stooges.
“Some people have said that there’s no actual message
mentioned in the song, but there is, if you count the
screaming part,” Fazio grins. In contrast, there’s the new
wave-esque I Feel Repulsed, which, according to Fazio is
actually a love song. “I sent it to Bronwyn when she was
in Sydney, and she said ‘that’s disgusting’, and I said ‘no, it’s
actually a love song!’” Fazio smiles. “I’m not good at word
play!” he laughs.

Fazio’s approach to distributing Kingdom Of Fuzz has
been decidedly laissez-faire. The record is available for
download from the band’s website, and the retail version
is priced well below the standard album cost. As for career
aspirations, it’s all about the music, and a healthy dose of
fun. “I know that what we’ve recorded is pretty good, so
I guess our aspiration is continue to make better albums,”
Fazio says. “I like to play shows to people, and for people to
like what they’re hearing,” he nods.

YIS launch Kingdom Of Fuzz with Ouch My Face, Telecom
and Trjaeu at The Tote this Saturday February 26.

Shirts and CDs in stock!

2011-02-14T23:24:00.004+11:00

...and they both turned out great!

(although the shirts look a little pinker in the photo than they are.)

Grab one (or both) now at Bandcamp.

Grand Sale! Grand Sale! MIGALO MIGALO MIGALO!

2011-02-04T10:47:00.004+11:00

GEAR FOR SALE.

T-SHIRTS + CDs FOR SALE.

Album Launch Details

2011-01-25T11:55:00.002+11:00

Described by our friend Sheamus as "an Australian classic" and almost universally acclaimed by our parents and relatives; "Kingdom of Fuzz" is the debut album by Melbourne psych-rock band YIS. The album was recorded by Paul Maybury (Rocket Science) at A Secret Location in Fairfield mid-to-late in 2010, and was mastered by Joe Lambert (Cheap Trick/DIO/Deerhunter/Animal Collective) at JLM Sound in New York about a month afterwards. It also features cover artwork by Rick Froberg (Obits/Hot Snakes/Drive Like Jehu).

YIS launch "Kingdom of Fuzz” on Saturday 26th of February at The Tote Hotel in Collingwood. Supporting will be Ouch My Face (performing not one, but two sides of their newly recorded 7-inch single), Telecom (playing all the hits from their amazing 2010 album “Prepare to Die”) and TRJEAU (straight off the plane from a short trans-Tasman tour).

$10 entry, 8pm doors.

Listen to "Kingdom of Fuzz"

2011-01-13T09:23:00.002+11:00

Season Finale of "Change"

2011-01-07T16:24:00.002+11:00

Change s01e02: "Changes". Directed by Simon Fazio.

YISFILMS #1: "Change: The Movie"

2011-01-06T15:39:00.004+11:00

The first in a new series of films made by me.

Somebody got himself a new camera. Oh yeah.

Constant YIS butcher The Fall

2011-01-05T18:37:00.006+11:00

Live at The Workers Club from a while back.

Parts 2-7 over at Luke Hand's blog.

Light YIS?

2011-01-03T15:01:00.009+11:00

Constant Light + YIS = Constant YIS? YIStant Light? Light YIS? Either way, it sounds like this. Some live goodness from Sasha and Jim featuring Bron on bass on "Factory Floor", and Andre on hi-hat, snare and kick and me on some guitar/crap scraping noises on "Factory Floor Too". Probably some guest heckling on the first track. Free download. Enjoy.

Tracks 1 & 2 recorded live at Sonic Array @ Irene's Warehouse, Oct 2010

Track 3 recorded live at Builders Arms, Nov 2010

credits

released 29 December 2010
with very special guests:
Bronwyn Liroudia, bass on 2 & 3
Peter James, Korg Monotron on 2
Simon Fazio, guitar on 3
Andre Fazio, drums on 3

More Awesome Tropodelica Photos

2011-01-02T15:28:00.004+11:00

A bunch of awesome NYE shots from Vignettes/BBR'n'R drummer Katie Frances on the Facebook.

2010: A Sydney Odyssey

2011-01-02T08:13:00.023+11:00

pictures by Bronwyn Liroudia, A.H. Cayley, Ivana Stab and me.

It was sometime after 11am when we pulled over somewhere up the Hume between Wangaratta and Wodonga for a piss and a stretch. Like everyone else, most of the time I glance at my phone at red lights out of boredom, but we had had a clear run since our departure around 8:30am on Wednesday the 29th of December and Dan Kelly's Dream had absorbed whatever buzz or vibration my mobile was making, wedged between a bottle of water and a packet of M&M mixups in the driver's cupholder. When I did check it, there were several missed calls from an unknown number, and one email on the band account:

Hey guys, I have tried to call your mobile this morning but am not getting through
- if you could call me asap on my mobile below that would be fantastic. Cheers.
xxxx
Booker, OAF

This could only be bad. We were scheduled to play the Gallery Room of Oxford Art Factory in Sydney that night. It was a free show in the smaller room of the two in the venue, and it paid just enough to cover our petrol up and back. I returned the call; Lightspeed Champion (who was playing in the main room of the OAF) had been snowed in in NYC, and it was not "financially viable" for them to open up the entire venue for our gig to go ahead. FFS. We had a vote on whether to turn back or not.

The count was two-to-one in favour of continuing the journey.

The next two hours was spent as follows; Bronwyn working a pair of iPhones in the back, frantically contacting everyone we knew in Sydney who could help us put together something the afternoon of the show, Andre texting our pals back in Melbourne who might have some contacts in New South Wales that could assist, and me muttering expletives behind the wheel and interjecting into Bronwyn's conversations with friends and venue operators.

Anyway, for fear of being berated by Andre when he reads this in the next room for being too wanky in my description of our trip, I'll abandon the dramatic tone and just tell you that we ended up having an awesome time in Sydney. Although we somehow managed to get in touch with a remarkable number of people and had a couple of offers for that evening (thanks to Kate Wilson, A.H. Cayley, Chris Hearn, Joe Hardy and anyone else who worked the phones/tweets/boards for us that afternoon), we ended up just crashing out at Tropodelica HQ in Newtown; home of our beyond amazing hosts Emma & Alex, and the venue for the second and final show of our trip. Most of our angst evaporated when we saw the Coronas + fresh limes waiting for us on the table when we walked in the door. We had an awesome meal at The Sultan's Table (mixed grill was very tasty, as was the Harem's Treat pide, and vegan and vego options looked delicious too), and then crashed early.

I awoke the next morning to (what I later discovered was) the thunk of a yellow hatchback plowing into the driver's side mirror of my car parked outside (which promptly sped away before registration could be noted). Alex asked me whether I wanted to the good news or the bad news. The good news was that we had awesome croissants and a selection of fine juices awaiting us in kitchen. The bad news was that I would need to employ a roll of gaffer tape to make it back to Victoria alive. Apart from this and a mid-sized electrical shock from accidental contact with the innards my busted phone charger, Thursday was pretty relaxed. We had lunch at The Courthouse (fish was average, chips were good), dropped by Repressed Records (where I picked up a copy of the newest Deaf Wish LP, mixed by our good pal Paul Maybury), and then Pete's Musicians Market further down the road, which was sadly closed.

We spent the rest of the afternoon back at the pub with half of The Holy Soul, the inseparable AHC & P. Street combo and few other pals before I retired back at H.Q. with a sore head and belly (from either the fish, the beer, the sun or a combination). Woke back up around 8 for some pizza from Bambino's; the Mexican (for "the men") was great, and the potato pizza with the blue-vein and gorgonzola ruled. Bron had some sort of vegan thing with tofu. It looked nice too. Early-ish to sleep.

Constructing a stage in a sloped backyard is, to put it bluntly, fucked. But we did it. After a couple of hours of angst on Friday morning (and one trip back to the stage hire place for some bits and pieces), we had one pretty awesome stage which somehow stayed erect for the entire evening. And it was best New Year's ever. After sorting the backline and power issues, two-thirds of The Summervilles and one-half of The Vignettes (later to be one-third of Bang Bang Rock & Roll) accompanied the carnivorous two-thirds of YIS back to dine at The Sultan's Table to provide a stable bed for the very generous rider provided to us by our gracious hosts.

The party was happening by the time we returned and the bands fired up a few hours later. The Summervilles were great; bright garage played by three great dudes (kinda reminded me of a more Ramones inspired version of Royal Headache) with some choice covers thrown in; Rave On and California Sun amongst others. Former two-piece The Vignettes were on next with a new member in tow on, and were retitled Bang Bang Rock'n'Roll, who threw in another few choice covers as well, opening with a cover of Big Spender, as well as a BRMC tune and a great version of Ginuwine's Pony.

In the middle of all of this, there were some projectiles being thrown over the fence; an older blonde woman was apparently not a fan of the occasion and responded by hurling eggs from her balcony. She also called the cops, who strolled up just before we were about to play around 8pm and had a quick word to us to keep the amps low.

The set was a lot of fun; we played well. the sound was really good and everyone seemed to get into it; the highlight of the set being the invasion by the Cookie Monster, Pikachu and a Centurion from the party across the road.

click for invasion video by A.H.C

The rest of the party was awesome; lots of Sydney friends, some Melbourne friends who had relocated and many new friends (most of whom seemed to be named Andrew). It was without a doubt my favourite New Years Eve that I've ever had.

The damage wasn't too bad the next morning; nothing got stolen, nothing got broken (except for a few brains), and after a shower and some goodbyes, we were packed and off back down the Hume, powered by a bottle of Mother (never again) and the audiobook version of Keith Richards' autobiography (as read by Johnny Depp). We arrived back in Melbourne, made some pasta and watched the Wife Swap USA marathon. Hilarious.

Sydney Tonight

2010-12-29T06:49:00.003+11:00

Leaving in an hour and a half to drive up to our free gig at the Oxford Art Factory tonight. Follow the action on the twitters.

An Exhausting Weekend Of Pain

2010-11-16T15:35:00.010+11:00

Originally titled "YISCRAWL 2010", but shouted down by several people, "An Exhausting Weekend Of Pain" is basically a series of gigs over the weekend that we're playing. I've gotten to the point where I'm just bored if I'm not actually playing a gig on the weekend, so this weekend will be the opposite of painful for me. However, if you are if you are, say, a very enthusiastic drummer (or audience member), then you will be needing a hot bath with epsom salts by the end of it all. Here's a guided tour through what's happening this coming weekend.

"Dreamland Recordings Presents: SONIC ARRAY. Saturday Nov 20th @ Irene’s Warehouse. 5 Pitt St. Brunswick East. $10.00. From 3pm – 10:30pm. First act performs 3:15pm SHARP. Sonic Array is the epic warehouse show we have always wanted to host, with a truly diverse mix of local music and experimental sound that has something for everyone."

Bronwyn has been invited to slap the bass with our pals Constant Light for at least one show. So, this is her debut, along with another dude named Peter who seems nice. He has a beard, I think. Fueled by cider and powered by the psychic powers of Linus the Cat (possibly the only cat on the planet that I get along with), they wrote a 30 minute "song" on Saturday which they will perform live on Saturday afternoon. Sounds impressive, but then again, it only has two bass riffs in it. So, I suggest coming, bringing vuvuzelas, and invading the stage while this happens. They should be on at 4pm. After that, there'll be a few bands worth hanging around for.

Then I suggest that you take a 2 minute walk around the corner to Mankoushe on Lygon Street for lunch/dinner. It is probably the best falafel in Melbourne, if not Australia, but that's not even their specialty (which is the Lebanese pizza-type thing that they're named after). Some very nice dudes run the joint, and play music very, very loudly inside (last time we went it was B.B. King, before that it was Pink Floyd), where they make falafel to order, and all the bread is woodfired. Really, really awesome. I think they're open until 9. After that....

"'Born from the fire pits of hell' (but Melbourne raised) Barbariön have emerged from the depths to bring forth a new age of fur clad metal and sweaty devastation. With a live show of gargantuan proportions, pyrotechnic excess and hazardous camp theatrics, Barbariön roam far and wide, ever seeking global domination. AND THEY SHALL HAVE IT!"

We've been working hard under the house for a couple of months now on something new; as previously mentioned, Andre and I have been chugging away as the rhythm section for the new solo project for Sam Agostino (who also plays in Digger & The Pussycats, Russian Roulettes, Kamikaze Trio, etc, etc). It's called Brat Farrar; this is our first show, and it'll be a pretty big one. We're on at 9pm. Been hanging out to see Barbarion for ages... alas, we will not get to see them this weekend. You might want to, but we have to go elsewhere...

Okay, there's no poster for this event, but it's a warehouse party at 38 Stafford Street, Abbotsford, which is apparently the address for Minh-Chi Pressing, which does ironing. Anyway, YIS are playing this one. It's a "Good Riddance Party" for a girl named Amy who books/manages a few bands around town. Also playing is HUF at 7pm, The Postures from NZ at 8pm, Damn Terran at 9pm, Bone at 10pm, then are YIS on around 11pm, Ouch My Face at 12pm and Mesa Cosa at 1am... It's about 30 seconds from Victoria Park Station. Free entry, BYO (obv).

Then you'll probably have to go home and get some rest for...

Brat Farrar's second show. Also playing are the wonderful Nightmaster. These Rock'n'Bowls things are awesome fun, and there's a cheap BBQ, cheap drinks (something like $3.50 for a bottle of Coopers), and good music. And bowls, of course.

Then we'll probably all go to Kim Salmon at The Old Bar, which is also free.

And that's pretty much it.

New Plans, New Bands

2010-10-17T17:46:00.007+11:00

Hachiko the Akita Inu, greatest dog of all time.

So, as of Wednesday morning (AEST), we've had a mastered album. We've been sitting with it for a few days and we're pretty happy with it. Mum and Dad like it a lot, so we have that over-50s cyclist demographic locked down, so it seems. We're just waiting on Obits to finish up their European tour so Rick Froberg can get started on the artwork. We're pretty thrilled to have Rick doing the cover; his artwork and album covers both rule. In the meantime, we're shopping around to get the wax pressed overseas (just working on the best way to ship and also the amount we're going to press). Looks like we're going with Rainbo but if you have any better advice, let us know. Should be a launch in the New Year, but we might sneak few copies out the door before then if we get it all together in time. We're also working out putting together a full album you'll get digitally when you buy the actual album with some old stuff (Happy Bears Forever, Electronic Love, M.A.R.C.H., Progress), some stuff we didn't put on the album but recorded (Hiboux, Ungreatful Motherfucker, our cover of Fire), and some live stuff (Going To Explode), and a couple of tracks that we didn't end up playing live much or recording (It's Not Enough). Might be even better than the actual album.

We played our first gig for a month the other night for the G-g-g-ghost Records benefit (new record label run by the dudes from The Toots). The night sold out around 10:30, so that was awesome for the guys (and our friend Lauren who was doorbitching that evening) and hopefully we raised enough cash to get their first release off the ground. I tried (and failed) at DJing around 1am (selecting songs off two burned CDs being a more accurate description); awesome selection of songs marred by inept crossfading. D'oh.

Our next gig is this Saturday (Andre's 22nd birthday!) at The Birmingham in Fitzroy for our pal Kieran P. West's album launch. Also from Eltham College's graduating class of 2006 is The Thod, who launch their new album "There Is Still Time, Brother" at Cherry on Friday, November 12th, with us in support. In between we're playing a Yah Yah's show with High Fangs and Sole Stickers (from Tassie) on Saturday, November 6th.

Andre and I are also doing a couple of new musical things; Andre has had a couple of jams with the guys from Chigwell Sharp, and we're providing the rhythm section in Sam from Digger's new band Brat Farrar. We've got a couple of gigs coming up already; Saturday the 27th of November for the Dunhill Blues album launch at The Retreat, and Meredith weekend back in Melbourne on Saturday 11th of December at The Tote, where Digger are launching the re-pressing of their first album "Young, Tight and Alright" with Legends and another band that's TBC.

If you're not busy on Friday, I suggest coming down to The Empress on Brunswick St, where our pal Ross is playing a gig with his band May, with Jim and Sasha from Constant Light providing bass and keys. Also, Thursday should be awesome too; Low are playing The Forum for $20. You'd be crazy to miss that one. Plus, the week after, The (amazing) Molting Vultures from Radelaide are coming down for a pair of shows; Off The Hip party on Friday 29th and Great Britain with Wrong Turn on the 30th.

Kingdom of Fuzz: Amazing Complete Lyrics by Simon Fazio

2010-10-07T10:23:00.006+11:00

self-portait of Simon Fazio by Simon Fazio

Message: I got a message for you/I got a message for you/I got a message for you/I got a message for you/Wow-wah-wa-wow-wah-wah/I wrote a letter to you/I wrote a letter to you/Cos I’ve got a message for you/I got a message for you

Stop/Go: I say stop/You say go/And you won’t ever let it go/I say go/You say stop/I’m i’m-a shout it to the top/Yeah

Lizardman: I/Lizardman/Slip inside/Creep in where I can/Sweet caress/Heavy load/Lay back watch me go/Wow-wow-wow-wow-wow-wow-wow-wow-ah/I/Slip inside/Shed my skin/Teeth, toe, tongue and tail/Don’t resist/Sweet and low/Ready to explode

Trevor Block Rockin’ Beats: Out on the street today/A man is on his way/With many secrets to reveal/Black coat and silver hair/Ear bling and underwear/A professional without peer/It takes so much just to get through the day/But it gets easier singing Old Bar blues to Trevor Block rockin’ beats/Out on the street tonight/Different than in broad daylight/Not the same man that we once knew/A man of mystery/With a chequered history/but now his grey skies they ain’t so blue

(I Feel) Repulsed: Looking at you/Talking to you/I feel repulsed/Staring at you/Talking to you/I feel repulsed/I’m a candle and you’re my wick/I love you so much it makes me sick/I feel repulsed/Hugging with you/Kissing with you/I feel repulsed/Sharing with you/I don’t know what to do/I feel repulsed

Baby Come On: I take you on a holiday/Not just to a cheap motel/Tell me what the Hell’s wrong with me, babe/Is it the way that I smell?/I bought you fancy jewellery/Made of silver and gold/And all of this tomfoolery/Is fuckin’ with my soul/My baby, come on/You know we can talk for hours, girl/Making love by the beach/But there’s a cold dead look in your eye that says/Says your way out of reach/My baby, come on/And now I feel so lonely baby/Feel so messed up inside/Low down and all shook up since/Since 1985/My baby, come on/Ahh

Burning Well: I fell into a burning well/Lost myself in a deep dark hole/I never saw myself again/And then I lost my self control-a-woahl/Burned my eye on a cold grey sun/Burned my hand on a flaming fire/And then I lost my self control-a-woahl/and I gave in to a strange desire-eh/Oh no/I got no place to go/Oh no/I can’t find my way home

Infin: Isolation/Oscillation/My elation

I Wanna Go Home: I wanna go home/I cannot go home/Get away/Away from here/I wanna get high/I cannot come down/Get away/Away from here/Alright/I wanna go home/I cannot go home/Get away/Away from here/I wanna calm down/I cannot go down/Get away/Away from here/Oh no

Deep.

Mighty Joe Lambert

2010-10-05T14:59:00.006+11:00

...and so our album is off to be mastered! And thanks to the awesome Australian-US exchange rate, we were able to afford the services of Mr. Joe Lambert of Joe Lambert Mastering (we are yet to confirm if there is any relationship between the dude and the company). Joe was responsible for the mastering on the last two Deerhunter records; "Microcastle/Weird Era Cont" and "Halycon Digest", the awesome Obits album "I Blame You"(featuring Rick Froberg from Jehu/Hot Snakes/etc.), the Dirty Projectors album "Bitte Orca", Animal Collective's "Merriweather Post Pavillion", and heaps more... DIO, Cheap Trick, Judas Priest and a bunch of other cool stuff you can see on his discography. Should be finished by this time next week, so now we just have to finish the artwork and (provided that nobody cool ends up wanting to put it out for us) we'll be putting out the album ourselves ASAP.

...announcing the new album, "Kingdom of Fuzz".

2010-09-26T15:21:00.003+10:00

YIS have made an album. We can tell you these things: it's 10 tracks long. It runs for roughly 35 minutes. It's called KINGDOM OF FUZZ.

It was produced by Paul Maybury; guitarist/producer for the Melbourne band Rocket Science. It was recorded at A Secret Location in Fairfield, Victoria on the 19th, 20th and 21st of September and mixed at the same location on the 23rd, 24th and 25th. (We rested on the 22nd.)

The band on the album is Simon Fazio (vocals, guitars and keyboards), Andre Fazio (drums and a little bit of sonic manipulation on "Baby Come On") and Bronwyn Liroudia Rands (bass and a little bit of backup vocals on "Trevor Block Rockin' Beats"). Paul Maybury rips in with a guitar solo on one track that was recorded straight to the board on the last night of mixing. The album was recorded (mostly) live, with all instruments and band members playing in the same room, with the vocals, wooshes and a few extra guitars put in later.

The tracklisting, release date and launch details will be put up in the next couple of weeks, with cover art still in the works. We're looking to put it out at the end of November or start of December (so you can crank it in your cars/vans/buses for the drive up to Meredith), with the Melbourne launch show hopefully taking place the weekend before Christmas, as well as some interstate launches in January 2011.

Until then, we've got a pair of shows lined up; a fundraiser for new record label G-G-G-G-Ghost Records on Friday the 15th of October with The Toot Toot Toots, The Orphanage and The Harlots, and then Saturday the 23rd of October for Kieran P. West's Album Launch (you may know him from The Strange Attractions) with Merrygorounds, which is also Andre's birthday! Hope to see you there.

Recording Snaps Day 1&2

2010-09-22T00:00:00.004+10:00

Recording Blog Part 1: Prologue

2010-09-13T09:47:00.008+10:00

Three weary musicians, one weary producer and one hungover pal who just wanted food drag themselves to the East Brunswick Club for a Sunday parma and to plan out the sessions for what is to be the debut YIS album. We talk about exciting special guests. Smoke starts pouring into the room from somewhere but nobody looks too alarmed. A Bruce Springsteen mix CD plays over the speakers. Glory Days - tick. Hungry Heart - tick. Secret Garden - CROSS. We have a chat about what gear we're going to bring along. Andre says he is excited about using his vibraslap. Bronwyn says that she prefers the Brown Rabbit pedal to the Sitori Bass Fuzz but I disagree. I try to work out a way to make Beatmaker on my iPhone pan different drums to the left and right channels. Paul says that he's looking forward to really mucking around with the drum sounds on the album. We all get excited by this. We talk about fuzz pedals; Foxx Tone Machine vs Octavia, the best place that sells DIY kits. Also about how one particular Superfuzz kit is crap. I get excited about using my fuzz arsenal on the album. Bronwyn angers me by telling me that she bought a Earthquaker Hoof fuzz and neglected to tell me or bring it over for me to steal. I try to work out in my head the best way to pull off the synth arpeggiator song. We eat.

We go back to a semi-trashed house on Lego Lane opposite the Brickworks, still heated from the Housewarming party the night before. I pretend to put on the CD of the nine demos I think will make up the album but instead put on Kelis' "Milkshake". This amuses me alone. We listen to the actual demos; some songs go over better than others, but the majority is pretty good. We talk about what else we might have a crack at. I crap on about the album's "emotional arc". I get harassed about my new Bonds tee (that makes me "look like Ross Kemp in Extras") and the pattern on my new briefs (which is kinda like The Phantom meets Spiderman) which are visible because the Bonds t-shirt is way too short. I mention that the colour of the briefs match the inside of my peacoat. Our hungover friend says that she reckons Trinny and Suzannah would never suggest this. I collect my copy of King of New York and The Dead Zone (Walken/Cronenberg film, not Anthony Michael Hall series) and put on the aforementioned coat. Paul races off on his bike (he is quite fast) and Andre and I head home but stop at JB to buy some DVDs on the way. We listen to the first three tracks of the new Grinderman and he says "It's like the first album. But not as catchy". I say that it's probably a grower. I think to myself whether our album will be a grower or not.

YIS vs Mother and Son Blood Battle

2010-09-07T17:47:00.004+10:00

Our guest guitarist Josh Sankey and Bodie from Mother & Son both ended up with bloody guitars after the gig at The Tote on Saturday...

However, my guitar was still shiny and clean.

Great night. Sold out!

Gear: New Toys!

2010-09-02T17:50:00.003+10:00

Got some new toys in the mail this week: a Foxrox Octron, Lovepedal Eternity and Death By Audio Fuzz War all came in the mail, whilst a Earthquaker Devices Disaster Transport Delay pedal came as a belated birthday present from Bron (aww). In addition, I'm using my Sitori Sonics Sitori Drive pedal which I got a while back but haven't had on my board, partly due to the fact that I'm using my Firebird a bit more now (due to the fact that I've broken pretty much all my other guitars in some small way that I'm too lazy to fix right now) and it needs the extra controls that the Lovepedal COT50 didn't have. Still using the Holy Grail Plus reverb (which I don't love but it's not a bad pedal), as well as the Cusack Tap-a-Whirl trem pedal, the Peterson Strobostomp tuner and the Moog Freqbox. Also changed my vocal delay pedal from the Line 6 DL-4 to my Moog Delay just because I can adjust the levels on it.

A bit about the new stuff: the Octron is pretty cool. It has internal trimpots for the tone and gain of both the octave up and down functions which I haven't fiddled with yet. At the moment, the tone of octave down is rolled off so it's a very warm sound with not much attack. It works pretty well and tracks fantastically (only does single notes though). It feels a lot better to play than the Electro-Harmonix POG2 that I sold, which tracked pretty good but it felt like there was a slight delay when it was coming out the other end, and I didn't really love the sound (I think that distorted POG guitar sound is one of the worst tones in history). However, our friend James Gilligan bought mine and uses it now with bass and he makes it sound very nice. The Octron isn't digital or polyphonic like the POG, but it is all analog and good. Octave up is more like a fuzztone, and you can get some really cool fuzzy sounds just from this box alone. When you kick it on feeding a Muff or the Fuzz War it goes bananas, and when you add the Freqbox as well it's demonic. Anyway, cool pedal.

The Death By Audio Fuzz War is insane; massive sized and massive sounding box, especially in conjunction with the Octron or Freqbox. I bought it partly because Jon Dwyer from Thee Oh Sees uses one and I was a bit obsessed last week. Don't think it's going to replace my Muff (just different sounds) but it'll get some good use. I think I played the main riff to Electric Wizard's Funeralopolis for about half an hour whilst trying it out this afternoon. It's got some cool useable sounds at any point on your guitar's volume knob.

Lovepedal Eternity is also a pretty cool box. I picked it up for $100 on sale off Lovepedal's mailing list (get on it, some great deals for great pedals). Usually more compressed than I like my overdrive sound, but it sounds pretty cool lead stuff and I'm using it for more of an in-between, sustained sound than I get with the Sitori Drive, which has more top end but doesn't really have a lot of the sustain. It'll hang around for a little while. I am also a big fan of Lovepedal's COT50 and BBB07 fuzz pedals.

The Earthquaker delay is also a fantastic pedal. I was using a Freakshow Digilog for a while, which sounds great but has a few shortcomings; for some reason the freak-out button on it doesn't really activate fully until you push back the delay time or up the mix knob, so it's kinda hard to us practically on some settings. This doesn't really automatically go towards the bright, biting slapback tone which I usually use (but I'm sure it's in there, and there's a tone knob for the repeats), but the default sound is more of a bubbling, tape-echo-esque ambient sound that sits underneath. It also has footswitchable modulation for the repeats, which kicks on the analog chorus/vibrato sounds on the repeats. Sounds awesome.

Not sure if I'm going to keep it this massive; even though everything is true bypass and I have good cables, it does knock a bit of your high end and gain from your signal. The A/DA Final Phase might make a return as well as the other Lovepedals, but I'm content with this right now.

Amazing Dong Video

2010-08-25T12:14:00.004+10:00

Amazing looking video of our song Infin (Live at Ding Dong) shot by Matthew Ellery. We on TV!

Next gig: Saturday 4th at The Tote with The Toot Toot Toots, Digger and the Pussycats, Mother and Son and Jack on Fire.

YIS Recommends: Dan Kelly's Dream

2010-08-17T18:00:00.008+10:00

There was a time in my life that I probably listened to no Australia music, because, well, a lot of Australian music is utter crap (not that other countries don't produce crap music, it either just doesn't make it out of the country or ends up of MMM where nobody listens to it anyway). The few instances that I did listen to Australian music, it was always the type of music that didn't sound particularly Australian (I think my first favourite Australian band after my Skyhooks obsession at age 4 was probably Rocket Science). To my teenage ears, the problem was that most Australian recordings sounded pretty awful (the same way that Australian films tend look dull and have this absence of vibrance in the colours of the picture that's just uninspiring), and bands from overseas just sounded better and more interesting. There was one instance on my first day of Year 7 in a new school where I was asked if I listened to Triple J (I had never heard of it) to which I replied that I listened to "gangsta rap like N.W.A." (for which I was ridiculed until they all got into rap in Year 10, after which it reverted back just to fat jokes). I turned on JJJ one night for a half hour, ended up buying Regurgitator's Unit and chucked out the rest.

Anyway, as you would have realised from the last post, there are more and more Australian bands that I'm growing to love; The Drones being one of the more recent bands that can stand tall against the bombast of the best internationals while sounding distinctly Australian, as well as Eddy Current being one of the best things ever who never even think about apologising about where they're from or who they are. And, yeah, the new Dan Kelly album.

I wasn't really a massive fan of Dan up until this point; a few live performances with the Alpha Males and an enjoyable yet largely uninspiring slot with The Ukelaides at Meredith didn't really make me want to rush out and grab anything (and in addition, the "Drowning In The Fountain Of Youth" came out when I was toiling away in a Country Road stockroom, and it's twee-as-fuck bubbliness in contrast to my no-natural-light box of pain made me want to murder, but anyway...). After seeing a pretty great set with The Dream Band at the "last ever" Tote show started to change my mind ever so slightly (despite the fact that Dan allegedly drooled on Bronwyn), and then I found a copy of Dan Kelly's Dream on the coffee table on Saturday morning.

Why this album is not shit:

It sounds amazing. As in, it doesn't sound like shit that was made in a day on a shoestring budget. The mix is great. The instrumentation is really lush and bold. Whoever mastered it did a great job. The instruments all sit in the right spot, or pop out at the right moment. It's not a boring listen.

It's inviting. The lyrics can sound a bit obtuse or sometimes self-aware, but it in contrast to something like, say, Beach House (which tends to evoke similar warm, often aquatic feelings), it feels a lot more welcoming and personable and just plain fun. It's cool, but it doesn't feel too exclusive.

It flows. The song order is spot on, and it flows in a way that works so well; yes, it's very, er, dreamlike in the way that it runs, with a lot of the songs segueing into each one another. Often this can lead to skippable filler or drone that, well, drones on for too long, and often means that some songs feel incomplete outside the context of the album due to an abrupt start and end. Not here.

The songs are great. The songs are great.

And there's more reasons, but you'll figure that out when you hear the album. I'm really enjoying it, and it's been one of the few experiences (along with the first time I watched Office Space) where I felt like putting it straight back after the first time round and actually did.

Kudos, Dan Kelly.

One Year On

2010-08-15T11:04:00.003+10:00

Sitting in bed on a Sunday morning (which is drifting into Sunday afternoon), listening to the new Dan Kelly album that Andre left on the coffee table and waiting around for Eels to play in around 10 hours or so. It's been roughly a year since we started the band, and it's weird to look around now and see posters that say we're playing at East Brunswick Club or The Tote and think that whatever stupid name we settled on all that time ago would be whatever would be on those posters. Or maybe they wouldn't. Or that it'd be what schoolkids shout out at me across the yard during my two weekly yard duties at school (although they seem to be obsessed with The Screaming Pigeons for some strange reason). The event was marked with a couple of gigs over the last week at Weekender at Ding Dong and a last minute job at Yah Yahs, and thanks to everyone who made the effort to come out and see us. Sometimes twice!

So, as I've mentioned, in about a month's time, we will will be laying down what we anticipate will be our debut album. I thought I had a pretty good handle on what it's actually going to be about a week ago when I burst into Andre's room with a piece of lined paper with ridiculous tracklists and album titles and how was going on and on about how awesome it was going to be, but after reassessing the situation I realise that I still have NO CLUE AT ALL. So, we'll just have to wait and see. I really don't want to do an EP; don't get me wrong, I have many, many favourite EPs but I have a big problem when I read bands talk about how they're putting out an EP to "raise their profile" or have it lead up to make this big grand statement that may never happen. But then again, we only have a few days of recording and too many ideas (or not enough ideas), and it'll end up being an EP. Or maybe a double album. I don't know. It's probably not going to be called "Qi" or "Hound's Brunch" or "Progress". This morning it sounds like it might be called "The Story of YIS".

By the way, this Dan Kelly album is pretty great. There's actually some pretty amazing Australian music that's being made lately; the last Love of Diagrams album was pretty great, and I'm still in love with the Mum Smokes double album that they put out a couple of years ago. It's amazing, and I don't say that a lot. It's a shame that sometimes the best bands can't stay together and will go off and do other things for whatever reason. Stay together for the kids, Mum Smokes.

Which brings me to something else that's pretty awesome about playing in this band; starting to play all the places that I've seen some of my favourite bands. Even though Fall Tribute Night at The Workers Club (formerly the Rob Roy) ended in a massive row, it was still pretty awesome to play there after going to see some of my first gigs as an eighteen year old there; seeing Love of Diagrams every couple of weeks (sometimes with a three-piece Mum Smokes). And, yes, we get to play East Brunswick Club next weekend, which is pretty awesome. Although I haven't seen as many amazing gigs amazing shows there as The Corner, I remember seeing Low play an amazing set there a few years back, so, it'll be pretty good to play there. We also get to play at The Toots' album launch in a couple of weeks and getting to play the main bandroom at The Tote (after playing the Front Bar and upstairs at Cobra before it shut) on a Saturday night. It's these small things that make me pretty happy.

So, I'm looking forward to at least a few more years of these kinds of cool things. Every time I feel my phone buzz in my pocket and see it's a new email on the YIS account, I hold my breath to see if it's another great gig offer (still holding out for Meredith or Golden Plains and then I can probably die happy) or somebody saying that they dug our band and want a CD (which sometimes happens!), but usually it's just something about staying harder for longer. Ah well.

Wet and Anxious

2010-08-01T21:03:00.008+10:00

Good weekend, overall. YIS played a pretty decent show on Friday night for Trevor Block's Last Tram Home. I kinda forgot how hard it is to open up a show. I think we've been spoiled in this band with all the cushy middle spots on weekends. Anyway, it wasn't a horrible show for us by any means, just a combination of still getting my voice back up to scratch after losing it last week and a late start due to some missing backline (along with Andre being totally in awe of the vintage Ludwig he borrowed from Myles from Wrong Turn) meant that we had the shakes a little bit, but it was fine. The highlight was probably the destruction of Sasha's vuvuzela. Sorry Sasha.

Last night was pretty awesome though. Despite some horrible technical problems (mostly with Matt's JCM800 dying then working then dying again), The Screaming Pigeons played to our most enthusiastic crowd ever (save for maybe Callum's backyard 18th party three years ago) and it was a lot of fun when we settled down after thinking that we might not be able to play the show. We played all the "hits" and a few choice MC5 and Black Flag covers. Sleepy Bear Parade played for an hour and were pretty awesome. Al (who usually plays guitar in The Thod) was a monster behind the drums, and it was good seeing Andre up and singing. (I need to make sure he has a microphone for the next YIS show and not because his taunts directed at me need amplification). So, yes, last show ever, and we made it count.

Sitting around at home today listening to a few CDs that I got off the Mistletone sale for cheap and freaking out a little bit about recording the album. Not sure what it's going to be. I think it'll be good to get it out of the way so I'm not freaking out about what the first release is going to sound like. I suppose we could do an EP, but I feel like that'd be a bit of a cop-out. After all, this might be the only album that I ever get to record properly, so I really don't want to look back and regret it. I'm just not sure where it's going to go... whether it's going to be a kitchen sink approach with everything that we want to do on it with all the electronic stuff and the ridiculous shit (which could end up sounding like filler or be the most interesting stuff on there), or just to make it a good psych-rock record... I guess we'll have to wait and see on that one. Bah, freaking out.

New Blog, New Album

2010-07-19T20:58:00.003+10:00

YISBLOG is back in business! Blogspot got rid of FTP (and I cracked it a little and stopped bothering), but I figured now was a good time to start updating everyone on what's going on.

So, we're going to be recording an album. It'll start in September (hopefully), with Paul Maybury (from Rocket Science) at A Secret Location in Fairfield. Andre and I checked it out over the weekend and had a listen to some of the stuff he was working on (including new and very awesome Baptism of Uzi release which you can hear here) and it felt like a good spot. So, the plan is to spend a few days recording, take a break, and spend a couple of days on the mix. I'm not really sure how it's going to turn out as we're not really sure what kind of album to make quite yet. It'd be pretty easy to crack out a decent garage/stoner album but whether that'd be worth listening to... I'm not sure... but I'm not sure if we chuck on everything it's going to be a bit of a hound's brunch... Anyway, when I brought this up with Paul, he said "well, there's only one way to find out", so, we will do just that. I guess we could pussy out and do a couple of EPs but that's no fun at all.

The working title in my head is "Qi" (pronounced "kee", which is the sound which Bronwyn and I decided is the imaginary sound that Captain Howdy from The Exorcist makes when he/she appears on screen for a frame), but Andre will probably hate that and I will too by the time we finish. We were actually planning to do a photoshoot with all three of us dressed as Howdy, however, the friend of ours that was going to shoot it just wanted to shoot us hanging around looking disinterested.

Anyway, all of our songs are up for consideration, so, all the stuff in our live sets, as well as some of the home demos I've been doing which sound more like Gary Numan and DEVO than anything. We'll be demoing the rest of the songs we haven't got a rough version of in the next couple of weeks to give to Paul so we can get a rough idea about what we're going to have a crack at over the few days we've got in the studio. We might chuck a couple of cameras up and do a web show type thing, but we'll see how that goes.

Otherwise, things have been pretty good. We had a whirlwind trip to Adelaide last weekend which was a load of fun, even if we did spend more time on the road than in Adelaide (although other have quipped that this was probably a good thing). We played at a great pub called The Grace Emily with The Molting Vultures. Nick (the vocalist/guitarist) saw us in Sydney and invited us over to play. They were great, and it was a top night (Richmond even won), and we've been converted to Central Districs fans in SANFL (the South Australian footy comp). Sorry to all our Adelaide fans who support Sturt. It was a bit of a long drive back, but it's a lot easier after a good gig.

We've got a couple more coming up before the show; next Friday night (July 30th) is Last Tram Home at The Old Bar, where we're playing with our friends Wrong Turn and another band that's yet to be worked out by Mr. Trevor Block. We're also playing the Legends of Motorsport horn party with Dynamo, which has landed on Election Night (Saturday 21st of August) at The East Brunswick Club. And then we'll firing up the tape machines... Exciting times!

Mo' Events, Mo' Problems

2010-04-09T18:10:00.003+10:00

A few things coming up...

Bron is coming out of retirement and DJing tonight at Vegas in Sydney.

Next YIS show is Wednesday, 21st of June at The Old Bar supporting Baptism of Uzi; last gig before Andre goes away for a month.

We've also just organised an Adelaide show for July; Saturday the 10th at the Grace Emily with The Molting Vultures. Hopefully another Adelaide show and we'd like to play some regional VIC shows in the week beforehand (Mildura, Warnambool, wherever we're wanted), so, if you can help out with any of that, let us know!

2010-04-06T18:03:00.002+10:00

Easter Tour Report

2010-04-06T09:49:00.002+10:00

2000km later, we're home! So, this weekend...

Thursday night was really daunting, especially as the show was delayed half an hour, and in that time, Kim Salmon happened to walk in. Fark. I've been looking forward to this show for months, and we were pretty nervous to be playing with three awesome bands in front of a big crowd... but I think we did pretty damn good. And also, despite having the shortest set of the night, we managed to have the most gear out of anyone. Hmm.

Kim and his Precious Jules were up after us. The song "Cheap and Nasty" was a highlight; very scuzzy-glam rock with "heys!". Love it. (By the way, the new Surrealists album is awesome, and you can listen for free right here at Low Transit Industries.) Legends were great (as per usual), but Digger just slayed everyone; really tight/loud/hilarious set, capped off with their brilliant cover of The Make Up's "Save Yourself". I played guitar tech for a couple of songs and felt very special.

Anyway, next day, we set off for the Can. The trip was long and a bit daunting; I was the lone driver, with Andre on company duties in the passenger seat and Bronwyn on sleeping and drooling duty in the back seat. The soundtrack was pretty solid on the way up, including my favourite album "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot", as well as the new Digger (very solid album).

By the time we hit Wodonga, the hunger set in... problem being that it was Good Friday and the place was a ghost town... We found somewhere to eat before we crossed the border into enemy territory...

Since we've never done the drive up the Hume any further than Wangaratta, we got some tips about things to see on the way, one of which being the MASSIVE SUBMARINE IN THE MIDDLE OF HOLBROOK. Wasn't expecting it to be that big.

Post-Holbrook listening was a treat; we listened to this unbelievable audiobook version of Dracula, produced by Hammer Horror and narrated by Christopher Lee. Words can't do it justice, just listen for yourself.

We hit Canberra listening to "Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space"... damn, that place is dark and green. The song "Cool Waves" came on when we turned onto the bridge which leads up to the new Parliament House. A nice moment.

Friday night was spent chowing down on some delicious okonomiyaki made by Bron (as shown above) with some Blue Tongue lager, and exploring about 50 different versions of XTC's "Making Plans For Nigel" on Youtube. Most of which are horrible.

Also, dips in Canberra = tops. Personal favourites were some weird hybids dips that we don't have down here: baba-hommous and beetroot-hommous. We also indulged in some top-shelf dark chocolate ice-cream which tasted like rich, delicious cake batter. Really freakin' good.

The next day we got up late, and some breakfast/brunch/lunch in town and did a bit of touristy stuff. Above is Andre looking angry in the old Senate. Below is Andre looking angry in the new Senate.

Also dropped into the PM's office. Sadly you couldn't sit in the seat.

He also happened to have some cool looking recording gear.

I was suffering from Melbourne withdrawals, so I found the local ABC radio station (666 on your AM dial if you're ever in Canberra) to listen to the last quarter of the Collingwood vs Melbourne game. Made it home and Bron was cooking up a delicious traditional Greek Easter chicken soup dish (kinda half way between a risotto and a soup, with rice, chicken, vegetables and lemon) which provided us with some much needed pre-gig nourishement.

We went down to The Front a few hours later. The venue is pretty much like someone's loungeroom; really comfy couches in a nice room, with an artists/gallery space next door with some cool wire sculptures. The only problem was that it was totally empty, aside from the two artists who were on staff for the evening and the weird sculptures and taxidermied animals that live around the place. We had happened to book the show the same weekend as the National Folk Festival, where everyone in Canberra that hadn't gone away from the weekend happened to be.

But people came! We managed to find the only people left in Canberra, and the place filled up around 8pm.

Opening up was a band called Teddy Trouble; a local three-piece with a bit of an early Flying Nun thing going on with some nice extra touches (12-string electric, delay on bass and the backup vocals).

Along with Sarah (pictured below with her companion Chris), there were plenty of ex-pats and visitors from Melbourne and beyond at the show; it was ace to see friends from back home (thanks for the beers, Doyle!) as well as old friends I hadn't seen in ages from Adelaide and family members of Melbourne friends. Also was nice to finally put some faces to names from the interwebs.

The show was a lot of fun and the vibe was awesome. Everyone stuck around for drinks afterwards (as well as race-car chocolates and marzipan eggs) until we hit the wall and dragged our weary bones back to our home for the evening to eat the leftover soup and listen to abysmal early 90s rave music.

The next morning we did the teary goodbyes and posed against this white wall before going up the Federal Highway to Sydney.

Our home for the night was the St Peters Formule 1 hotel, sandwiched in-between a KFC and a McDonalds. Below is the view from our window.

Found the closest Turkish eatery we could park directly outside of and chowed down on some kebabs/felafel/subs/ginger beer before loading in at The Lansdowne. Once again; pretty empty, but it was still early. We grabbed a pint and I sat down to watch my beloved Tigers get mauled by Footscray.

...although it wasn't really unexpected. I often get in a pretty foul mood after a loss at football (which is pretty dangerous if you're a Richmond supporter), but seeing lots of familiar faces along with the power of Coopers Pale Ale helped me ignore the 12-goal thrashing my team was enduring.

Yes I'm Leaving opened up the show; freakin' brilliant band and really nice guys who lent us most of the backline for the gig. Despite threats of a Minpins solo set from Andre, Whipped Cream Chargers managed to arrive with minutes to spare from a fashion shoot (all looking very sharp) and plowed through a half-hour of shoegaze/garage before the rest of The Nice Folk arrived safely from the Gong. Another awesome band with great people.

Then it was our turn; I was pretty nervous again. Managed to set everything up alright and with time to spare, so that made things a little easier. We played pretty damn well and the crowd response was amazing; there was dancing and toe-tapping and people cheered, and we even got called back on for our first encore ever. I blew my voice out a couple of songs earlier, but we manage to limp through a cover of Mudhoney's "Sweet Young Thing Ain't Sweet No More".

We loaded out and parked outside, and spent the time chatting to Sydney friends and the Yes I'm Leaving dudes, as well as new friends who came up to chat after the show. It was a really nice way to end tour and we can't wait to come back.

Yah Yah's Setlist: Going To Explode/Message/Lizardman/Infin/Sweet Young Thing (Mudhoney)/Electronic Love/Trevor Block Rockin' Beats

The Front, Canberra Setlist: Going To Explode/Trevor Block Rockin' Beats/Baby Come On/Ghost Rider(Suicide)/Lizardman/Electronic Love/Infin/Message

Lansdowne Setlist: Message/Trevor Block Rockin' Beats/Baby Come On/Ghost Rider(Suicide)/Lizardman/Electronic Love/Infin/Going To Explode//Sweet Young Thing (Mudhoney)

So, thanks to Sarah for putting on our Canberra show and having us to stay, as well as Pat for having us and playing some amazing cowbell... to Leyne for booking the Lansdowne show... Andy Moore for having us at the Digger show (and being a yellow-and-black shoulder to cry on)... Kate Wilson and Shaun at Tenzenmen for putting us in touch with supports... Lax & The Nice Folk for playing and being awesome, as well as the Teddy Trouble and Yes I'm Leaving dudes for playing and sharing their gear... and anyone who came. Best weekend ever.

YISCHEF: Easter Edition - Hot Cross Buns

2010-04-01T12:47:00.001+11:00

For the buns (this makes 12):

2 sachets of dried yeast

1 tsp raw sugar

1 cup warm water

4 cups plain flour

a pinch of salt

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp mixed spice

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp dutch cinnamon

1/2 cup currants

1/2 cup sultanas

1/2 cup muscatels

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup rice bran oil

For the cross:

1/2 a cup of plain flour

enough water to form a paste-like consistency (about 4 tbspns or so)

For the glaze:

half a cup of good quality (preferably homemade) apricot jam, melted

Do this:

Mix the yeast with the cup of warm water and raw sugar and let prove for a few minutes. Meanwhile, put the fruit, oil, 1/2 a cup of water, brown sugar and spices into a saucepan and heat. While that's happening, sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Add the yeast and warmed fruit mixture to the flour, and mix gently with a palette knife (a butter knife will suffice if you don't have one) until barely combined, then finish working the mixture with your hands till it comes together to form a soft dough. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead till the dough is smooth (usually takes about ten minutes). Chuck into lightly oiled bowl and cover with cling wrap. Set aside in a warm place till the dough doubles in size. That should take one to two (at the most) hours. Once this is done, punch dough down to its original size, turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Divide into 12 even portions and roll each portion into a ball. Put the buns onto a tray lined with greaseproof paper, about a centimetre apart. Cover tray with a tea towel and put aside in a warm place for about half an hour, or until buns double in size. While that's going on, preheat your oven to 190 degrees (180 if it's fan-forced).

For the crosses, mix the flour and water together until smooth, adding more water if the paste is too thick. Put paste into a piping bag with a small nozzle (or if you don't have one, you can use one of those snap-lock bags with a corner snipped off). Pipe flour paste over the tops of the buns. Chuck your buns in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until they are cooked through.

Melt the apricot jam and brush over the buns while they're still warm. These are best eaten warm, preferably on the day they're made. Accompanied by a pot of strong Twinings Earl Grey tea. Enjoy!

Titus, Gorilla King

2010-03-23T18:36:00.004+11:00

Shortly following our Zoo trip on Saturday there was a doco on ABC about Titus, an amazing silverback from the Virunga Mountains. He was a pretty awesome gorilla. Watch the whole thing right here, and then read about his death and burial back in September, but only if you've got a box of tissues handy. Or just read the Wiki if you're lazy. Poor Titus. You were truly the king.

Photos: Lansdowne Poster

2010-03-22T15:28:00.003+11:00

(thanks Digital!)

Photos: YIS go to the Zoo (just because), Minpins Album Launch

2010-03-21T01:24:00.006+11:00

YIS in The Age, 18/03/2010

2010-03-18T12:01:00.000+11:00

YIS News #5

2010-03-17T23:08:00.001+11:00

All quiet on the YIS front during March, mostly just to give everyone a rest and recharge the batteries before massive April.... so massive I'm going to bold it. APRIL.

But we've been busy. Not musically of course. Bron and I are moving into a new home (which we warmed over the weekend) in a week or so.

So, yes, APRIL should be pretty mega, kicking off with the Digger launch gig at Yah Yahs on the 1st, followed by our Canberra and Sydney shows on the Saturday and Sunday. Another confirmed gig is with Baptism of Uzi for one of their The Old Bar Wednesday residency shows in April on the 21st. Also playing are fellow all-caps fans TRAJEU (previously known as Floods). We're also trying to get down to Tassie over ANZAC weekend, so, we'll see how that goes.

After that, Andre is off to Europe for a few weeks to see The Stooges and Suicide in London and play some Minpins shows. During this time I intend to write and record a 14-track concept album about the life of my pug, Buster, to be pressed only on vinyl (with a locked groove at the end, because he will live forever).

Also, on Saturday June 5th we're putting together a supergroup with Sasha (from Spitfire Parade and Constant Light) and maybe a couple of others to play a tribute night for The Fall at The Workers Club. Should be pretty cool. Also playing are Breaker Morant and a group put together by Ash from Witch Hats with dudes from Parading and Pets With Pets.

We should probably record something, right? Anyway, to recap...

THURSDAY, APRIL 1st, 2010, YAH YAH'S, Fitzroy, 8PM

Good Friday Eve with Digger & The Pussycats (Album Launch), Legends of Motorsport and Precious Jules (Kim Salmon). YIS on at 8:30pm. $10 entry.

SATURDAY, APRIL 3rd, 2010, THE FRONT, Canberra, 7PM

Easter Saturday Gig with Teddy Trouble and one other band. YIS on last. Gold coin entry.

SUNDAY, APRIL 4st, 2010, THE LANSDOWNE, Sydney, 6PM

Easter Sunday with The Nice Folk, Whipped Cream Chargers and Yes I'm Leaving. Free entry.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21st, 2010, THE OLD BAR, Fitzroy, 8PM

Supporting Baptism of Uzi (Wednesday Residency) with TRJAEU.

(then Andre is going to Europe from April 28th until May 21st to see Stooges and Suicide)

SATURDAY, JUNE 5TH, 2010, THE WORKERS CLUB, Fitzroy, ?PM

The Fall tribute night with other supergroups with dudes from Witch Hats, Parading, Pets with Pets, YIS, Strange Attractions, Spitfire Parade, Breaker Morant.

Photo: YIS @ YIS New Winterhaus Housewarming, 13/03/10

2010-03-15T21:32:00.002+11:00

Thanks to Gretchen for the photo.

Tour Poster

2010-03-09T18:13:00.002+11:00

Yes, we have become a Jethro Tull cover band.

All Tour News

2010-03-02T12:07:00.004+11:00

Okay, so, our East(er) Coast tour is on...

Thursday the 1st of April at Yah Yahs, Melbourne supporting Digger & The Pussycats (Album Launch), Legends of Motorsport and Precious Jules (Kim Salmon). Good Friday Eve.

Saturday the 2nd of April at The Front, Canberra with supports to be confirmed.

Sunday the 4th of April at The Lansdowne, Sydney with The Nice Folk, Whipped Cream Chargers and one more band TBC. Easter Sunday, 6pm start.

No YIS shows in March, The Minpins are launching their second album "Wake The Neighbours" on Saturday the 20th of March at The Great Britain in Richmond, supported Baptism of Uzi. Minpins will perform the first half a duo (just Andre (YIS) and Tim (Strange Attractions), but the second half will be a performance by The Minpins Big Band. Who knows what that's going entail, but it's going to be... epic.

Other shows coming up on the horizon: we are playing one of the Baptism of Uzi April Wednesday residency show at Old Bar, and a supergroup is forming to play a Fall tribute night (with a few other exciting bands). Details, as always, are to be confirmed.

Also, if you happen to buy the Green Guide this Thursday (I think), you'll see a couple of familiar faces talking about guitar crap. At least, I think it's this Thursday.

Vote #1 Ben Butler for Australia's Worst Journalist

2010-02-25T21:11:00.001+11:00

from Mess & Noise

"Ben Butler has had the honour of being nominated as ''Australia's Worst Journalist''. This nomination comes courtesy of a website by the same name and the domain is registered to one ''Dr'' Geoffrey Edelsten.

I am lead to believe Ben Butler would dearly love to win this coveted award.

He needs your help though as he is currently experiencing some stiff competition from Kate McClymont of the Sydney Morning Herald.

All you need to do is visit this site:

http://www.australiasworstjournalist.com.au/worst-journalist-awards

and select Ben Butler."

Photos: YIS at SLAM Rally, 23/02/10

2010-02-23T20:36:00.005+11:00

Today's rally was awesome: even though we could hardly hear anything for most of it (due to choppers and low-volume speakers) it was a great occasion. Rough estimate is 17,000, which is amazing, and everyone behaved... except for those certain groups trying to use the rally as a platform for their own agenda... Sorry, but today wasn't about you, and it was a distraction from the main point.

I had some more (crap) photos, but there are heaps of better ones on the Mess & Noise writeup of the event, as well as The Age and The Vine.

NSW/ACT Tour Update (sorta)

2010-02-22T08:17:00.004+11:00

We now have some very tentative dates for our weekend jaunt up north over Easter: after our Yah Yahs gig on the Thursday of Mysteries we're hopefully playing Canberra on the Saturday night (April 3rd) and Sydney on Sunday night (April 4th), with the possibility of a leisurly afternoon play at Wombara Bowls Club on the Sunday afternoon. We'll hopefully have everything locked down this week.

Photos: Applecore, 20/02/10

2010-02-21T02:07:00.002+11:00

Spitfire Parade Launch/Final Gig

2010-02-20T20:26:00.000+11:00

$6 entry. YIS on at 9pm. Facebook event here.

YIS GET RICH! Pt. 1

2010-02-18T21:39:00.012+11:00

Friends,

You know, it's been four months since we had our first gig, and, well, things have been a little tense in Camp YIS. Our hopes and dreams of living off our craft have dwindled with each show, and, well, we were on the verge of doing the unthinkable: concentrate on our jobs rather than spending our "work" time googling our own band name.

And, then, out of nowhere...

Hello

I am Mrs Irina Gutavo a Russian Citizen and a Cancer patient, just
recently my doctor inform me i have a few weeks to live due to the Cancer.

I hereby bequeath to you my £20 Million Pounds in a United Kingdom Bank to
build a Gutavo Foundation as my sole benefactor for charitable purpose.

Please get to me so i can have my Lawyer/Solicitor contact you with
further instructions to receive this inheritance.

Sincerely.
Mrs Irina Gutavo.

So, long story short, WE'RE RICH, BIATCH.

So, as of now, we've officially pimped our name from YIS to ¥I$

I have replied asking what I can do to help out and when we'd be receiving the money.

O, happy day!

UPDATE!

Almost instantaneously I recieved a reply.

Henley Law Firm.
Delegate House, 30A Hart Street,
Henley-on-Thames, RG9 2AL.
United Kingdom.
Telephone: +447024086857

Attention

I am Barrister Thea Henley of Henley Law Firm, i was instructed to contact you by my client Mrs. Irina Gutavo regarding the Twenty Million Pounds (£20 Million Pounds) she wish to release to you for Charity Purpose.

Please completely fill and forward the below information to this Law Firm.

Full Names:

Nationality:

Country of residence:

Telephone Number:

Age:

Contact:

Address and Occupation:

Your response to this email with the necessary information will enable this Chamber prepare the inheritance documents from the British Justice Department, which i will then forward to the Management of the bank to release to you the funds for you to start the charity organization.

I will wait to hear from you.

Best regards,

Barrister Thea Henley,
Henley Law Firm,
United Kingdom.
Tel: +447024086857

I have replied:

Dear Thea,

You have no idea how happy you have made us. We are from a struggling rock band who play in Australia and we are in desperate need of this money to record our new album. However, I am unable to remember the requested details as we are all acid burnouts currently under the influence of mind-expanding psychotropic drugs. If possible, could you just bring the cash over tonight?

Cheers,
YIS

P.S. Oh, and also, Ange wants a Hamburger with the lot (no egg) from the fish & chip shop down the road. Cheers.

Gear: Fender Jazzmaster Makeover

2010-02-15T17:27:00.003+11:00

Before.

After.

Photos: YIS at Pony, 25th of January, 2010 by Jez Heywood (Heywood Industries/$15 Roast)

2010-02-14T13:12:00.004+11:00

Full sized images here, courtesy of Heywood Industries.

Gear: 70s Guyatone Mosrite Copy

2010-02-11T18:42:00.006+11:00

Ange had a new guitar in the mail today for: a Mosrite inspired Guyatone guitar from the 70s. Two P-90 style single-coils, a Jazzmaster-style trem. Sounds raw. Also good.

In the mail today for me was... some valves. Which will sound good, but it's not quite as exciting. Also got the Brain Children EP, which sounds great too. Great sounds all round.

Kim Salmon added to Yah Yahs show.

2010-02-10T11:01:00.002+11:00

Woohoo. Yah Yahs lineup is now DIGGER & THE PUSSYCATS, LEGENDS OF MOTORSPORT, PRECIOUS JULES (aka Kim Salmon Duo) and YIS. Good Friday Eve, Thursday April 1st.

SLAM Rally: Melbourne CBD, Tuesday 23/02/10, 4pm

2010-02-08T19:40:00.005+11:00

More information here at www.slamrally.org. Be sure to sign up, it's pretty quick and easy, and also to turn up at the State Library (Swanston and LaTrobe st) on the 23rd.

This Saturday

2010-02-08T09:20:00.003+11:00

It was a pretty quiet week in the world of YIS. But we have a gig on Saturday, where we'll be playing one, maybe two new songs... it'll seem like three if you missed the Pony performance.

Good Friday Eve: Thursday April 1st

2010-02-02T19:39:00.001+11:00

Yah Yahs : Thurs 1 April: Digger & The Pussycats (Album Launch), Legends Of Motorsport, YIS

Your Friday Night, curated by YIS

2010-01-28T18:54:00.008+11:00

A) Blue Tile Lounge, 95 Smith Street, 8:00pm-9:30pm. The Minpins then Kieran P. West (The Strange Attractions). Free!
B) Curtin Bandroom, 29 Lygon Street, 9:45pm-12:30am. The mighty Mesa Cosa then Scott and Charleen's Wedding then NIGHTMASTER. $10 with a free copy of Nightmaster's Tiger EP.

(Coming Soon on YISBLOG: Australia Day Eve shots by the amazing Jez Haywood, VIC/ACT/NSW Easter Tour arrangements (including a gargantuan Good Friday Eve show at Yah Yahs) and hopefully some new songs.)

Playing Time for Pony

2010-01-25T15:53:00.000+11:00

Doors @ 9:30/Baptism of Uzi @ 10pm/YIS @ 11pm/Bad Orchestra @ 12am. $7 at the door.

Cobra to Builders

2010-01-21T15:40:00.003+11:00

Our cancelled headline show at The Tote on Thursday the 11th of Feb with Where's Jerome, tvforcats and High Fangs has been moved to The Builders Arms on Gertrude St and is now on Saturday the 13th of Feb. Details soon. Well, the rest of the details. That's pretty much all of it.

YISCHEF: OKONOMIYAKI!

2010-01-20T11:41:00.002+11:00

This should make enough for two people to sufficiently stuff themselves.

Mix one and a half cups of plain flour and a teaspoon of salt with enough water to form the consistency of double cream. You can also add a beaten egg (which I omit for obvious reasons).

Chuck in a couple of handfuls of mixed shredded vegetables (I use red cabbage, wombok, carrot, spring onion and fresh shitake mushrooms, but you can add squid and prawns and whatever else dead beast you fancy).

Coat the bottom of a frypan with a fitted lid (well, any frypan will do, but if you don't have one with a fitted lid you'll need to find a lid from a similar sized vessel to use) with oil (I use rice bran oil, but anything flavourless will do, like peanut or sunflower, but not olive oil) and heat over high flame.

Add batter, even out, cover with lid and cook for 7 or 8 minutes, checking every so often to make sure the bottom is not getting too dark. If it is, turn the heat down. Flip pancake and cook for another 7 or 8 minutes. It generally takes about 15 minutes all up for flour to cook out. Bear in mind I do everything by sight, so if this stuffs up, you can blame my refusal to measure anything.

Anyway, once the pancake is cooked, stick it on a plate and cover liberally with Japanese mayo (I like mixing wasabi in it, so long as it's real wasabi and not that artificial lurid coloured shit), tonkatsu sauce, bonito shavings (which I also omit for obvious reasons, and should be shaved fresh, but if that isn't possible the pre-shaved stuff from Asian grocers is acceptable) and shredded nori.

Eat.

Enjoy.

Wash down with copious amounts of plum wine and/or sake and/or Japanese beer.

- B.L.

YIS on The 7:30 Report!

2010-01-19T23:11:00.005+11:00

...kinda! Play spot the band member in this story about The Tote's last hurrah.

(also in better quality on iView, 21 minutes in)

(also downloadable in mp4 or wmv format)

This Monday!

2010-01-19T21:52:00.000+11:00

Goodbye, Tote pt. 3 (Last Drinks)

2010-01-19T10:41:00.005+11:00

I'm attempting to write something up about this gig, but can't do it. It was just too emotional. The last song of the night was one of the best things I've ever experienced. Just an awesome day. Goodbye, Tote.

Goodbye, Tote pt. 2 (Memories)

2010-01-18T04:57:00.007+11:00

I haven't been able to sleep much tonight. I don't know if it's because of the significance of tomorrow or not, but thinking back over the times I've had at The Tote, as both a punter and a musician, it's been such a significant part of my life that I might actually end up getting emotional tomorrow.

I can't even remember the first time I went there, but a time that sticks out the most is when a slightly-underage member of a band that I may or may not be in tried to get into The Tote a few weeks before his 18th. It was the Guitar Wolf tribute night (after the passing of Bass Wolf), featuring Mach Pelican and Rocket Science, who were his favourite band at the time and hadn't played in a long time (and wouldn't for a while after that, due to Roman's brain injuries), and hence, this was an unmissable gig. We got there unusually early (as we were paranoid about not getting in), and the doors weren't even open yet. We ended up starting a pool game and getting hustled by a large African man who claimed he "owned the table". We didn't argue. We were pretty nervous about the whole thing. We both paid and got stamped and were just past the door when the lady said "wait a second, have you guys got ID". I did, but my companion accidentally "left his ID in Bendigo". We got a refund and slunk out. I backed into the roo-bar a ute whilst trying to get out of my parking space. We then went and watched DIG! at the cinema and cried into our popcorn. So, er, kids, don't try this because it doesn't work and it ends in tears. LITERALLY.

The Screaming Pigeons, 2005

A few months later we came back in an official capacity; The Screaming Pigeons (which consisted of myself, Andre and our younger brother Matthew) organised a show on a Tuesday night. Thankfully at that time The Tote did allow underaged band members when accompanied by a parent or guardian, so, we got to play. It was a pretty massive deal for us; I'd played in a few bands before and the only gigs I'd played previously were at a Frankston school fete and South Yarra backyard and this was THE TOTE, ffs. We were on first in front of about 20 people and we spent the rest of the evening with stunned looks on our faces. We all hung around way too late and were pretty bleary-eyed when we had to go to school the next morning. I'm sure Matt would have been the coolest kid in Year 9 if any of his classmates actually knew what The Tote was.

I've been lucky enough to play there again a few times, even headlining once or twice when I played with Push Button Auto. YIS were lucky enough to be able to do our first Live Mixtape show in the Front Bar a couple of months back (pictured below, with more pictures here), and got to play our second proper gig up in Cobra bar (pictured below, with more pictures here). We got the confirmation that we'd be headlining there in February only a week or so before we'd hear the news that they were shutting up shop for good.

As a spectator, I've seen some great gigs there. The one that sticks out in my mind most recently is probably Eddy Current in a packed Cobra Bar (after Teengenerate supported by Spencer P Jones, Kim Salmon and The Onyas), where Brendan practically did the whole gig whilst crowdsurfing. An insane mess of sweaty people. Bron's favourites were the New Year's shows with Guitar Wolf and Dead Moon, and an early Datsuns gig where Dolf spent a large amount of time swinging from the rafters. Evidently most great gigs at The Tote involved people swinging from things. This seemed to happen often when The Meanies played.

In a way, I'm sad that The Tote is gone, but I'm thankful that it's managed to stay open for as long as it has since it was set to close in 2008. I know that Melbourne will not be the same without it, but hopefully it's loss will serve as an example. It's sad that one of the very few times I've seen lines out the door was when it was announced it was closing for good, considering how amazing some of the shows I've seen there have been. Live music doesn't end with The Tote; there's fantastic things happening almost every night in this city. If you want to honour it's memory, go see something.

I hope to see many of you this afternoon and this evening. If you weren't lucky enough to get tickets, it'll be streaming live on RRR and PBS from 8pm.

Next YIS Gig: Pony on Australia Day Eve

2010-01-17T21:22:00.002+11:00

Monday 25th January at Pony: Bad Orchestra, YIS, Baptism of Uzi

"The night before a day off for something or other, three surprises take a ride at Pony. The dirty half-dozen that is (Chris Smith’s) Bad Orchestra rumble thru a Morriconian garage stomp ala Link Ray, with all the sleeze that that implies. After proving their worth in a series of mixtape shows at The Tote, showing their unhealthy obsession with the Stooges and Gun Club, YIS crank up their vintage gear with the energy of the young Iguana intact. Baptism Of Uzi have set their sights mow down any who step before their psycho-surfo-billy guitar machine-drum attack!" Doors at 9pm, $7.

(We might have one more band on the bill who's been displaced by The Tote closure. Stay tuned. I guess we'll be on at either 10pm or 11pm)

Goodbye, Tote pt. 1 (Protest Pics)

2010-01-17T21:06:00.008+11:00

All three of us were lucky enough to get tickets for tomorrow's farewell show. See you there, I hope. Especially if you are a Chow.

If you haven't got tickets, you can still get in to the front bar tomorrow... if you're prepared to line up.

Friends: Nightmaster

2010-01-15T16:20:00.007+11:00

Nightmaster have the groove to make you move. Nightmaster have liberal use of Bigsby-equipped guitars and Fender Bass VIs. Nightmaster are having their EP launch in two weeks from today on Friday the 29th of January. Nightmaster decided this would be at The Curtin Bandroom with Scott and Charlene’s Wedding, (the awesome) Mesa Cosa and Milk Teddy. Nightmaster decided to title their EP "Tiger" and give this away for free to every attendee at this gig. YIS thinks this is a proposition too good to pass up. Nightmaster agrees.

YIS Recommends : Spoon - Transference

2010-01-15T14:53:00.001+11:00

Ever since I first heard Wilco's "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" I've become a little obsessed with things missing in music; little pieces cut out to make the whole more powerful, or to highlight certain things within a song. "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" is the sound of a band pulling back and looking inwards; everything isn't layed out for you. Not everything is there all the time. Not all the arrangements are the most "classic" or satisfying as they could be in the way that a traditional musical climax is satisfying. Not everything is "pretty", even though it's a beautiful record. It's music that you're not sure you like but can't stop listening to until you're obsessed with it. New layers reveal themselves over a number of listens. Patience is rewarded, and although things might seem spontaneous or experimental, everything on that album is deliberate and sculpted to be just so.

It's an amazing album. I sometimes get a bit cynical about music; that one time back in 2005 where I described a gig as "amazing" to some friends they couldn't believe it. I seldom describe anything as "amazing" as I think it's a word that thrown around a little too much. Sometimes when it's a while since I've seen or heard something where "amazing" is appropriate, my stance softens a bit and I sometimes start to say some things are "pretty good" or even "excellent"... and then bands like Spoon come out and make music of such genius that reminds me of the true definition of the word "amazing".

Soundwise, I think a good counterpoint to the new album "Transference" is Grizzly Bear's "Veckatimist"; where as Grizzly Bear is soaked in reverb and sounds full no matter what number or combination of instruments are being played at once, Spoon's sound is dry and sparse; this isn't a big wash of sound; it's jagged little pieces that all sit in their own sonic realm. You can hear the gaps. I love the little touches on this album; the abrupt fadeouts or cuts at the ends of songs, the way the echo on Britt Daniel's vocals doesn't trail off nicely but just stops mid-decay. The way that they mix fidelities within songs, either abruptly transitioning between Britt's home recordings and full studio production, or with piano spilling over the gaps.

There's very few bands who make "pop" music today that are brave enough to make these choices. Spoon are a band who stand high above most, and the worst thing about it (as a musician) is how casually brilliant it is. There isn't anything on this album that could be described as "busy"; the playing is economical and the sound is distinctly Spoon.

Transference is out today in Australia. Go and buy it.