HAYSEED DIXIE

Killer Grass

Cooking Vinyl

Shock

Although you don’t truly get a feel for how talented John ‘Barley Scotch’ Wheeler is until you listen to his original band, The Kerosene Brothers, his hillbilly tributes/reinterpretations with Hayseed Dixie have been consistently brilliant since the get-go – this time around seeing the likes of Queen, Black Sabbath and even The Prodigy going under his musical scalpel.

The formula is tried and trusted: take a great song and inject it with equal parts killer bluegrass and humour; but the pure gold (as always) are the band’s own tunes… of which there is an abundance on Killer Grass.

Wheeler – an incredibly sharp and politically-aware chap – never strays too far from his beloved themes of ‘drinkin’, cheatin’, killin’ and hell’, but even when he’s having a laugh his lyrics are so spot on it’s crazy… ‘drinkin’ beer ain’t fun like it used to be / I just can’t get drunk anymore’ Wheeler begins on Tolerance, following the set-up with the beautiful twist of ‘tolerance / people say we need tolerance / I wish I could give ’em some of mine’.

Fun as they may be, Hayseed Dixie are also exceptional musicians, so an appreciation of the band can form on any number of levels… but at the end of the day, ‘drinkin’, cheatin’, killin’ and hell’ are all pretty fuckin’ awesome places to start.

A band that never fails to impress.

_MIKE WAFER

X-Press Radio by X-Press Magazine

NEWS

X-PRESSIONS

And just when you thought things couldn’t get any more warped! If the fact that Australia’s ‘infallible’ political convention has well and truly shat itself wasn’t oddball enough, the madcap Axl Rose has gone and announced he’s bringing his post-millennium incarnation of Guns N’ Roses to Perth.

KEEP MOVING

The folks at One Movement For Music have finally lifted the lid on who is going to share their expertise at this year’s Musexpo Asia Pacific conference, and the line-up reads as a who’s who of the music industry. Hailing from various overseas locations, individuals such as Simon Renshaw, Henning Ahrens, Wu Jun, Jakomi Matthews, Jimmy Steal, Scott Schorr, Benji Rogers, Crispin Parry, Rob Graham, Mark Smutz Smith, Seven Webster, Neill Dixon, Rob Zifarelli, Monte Malone, and Ande MacPherson, will share their knowledge at Musexpo. On the home front, experts such as Molly Meldrum, Michael Chugg, Peter Hebbes, Ian James, Harvey Lister, Paul Piticco, Michael Harrison, Damien Slevinson, Dan Medland, Nick O’Byrne, Jaddan Commerford, Keith Welsh, Russell Thomas and Shayne Locke will share their thoughts on the music industry. To learn more about these fine speakers and all things One Movement, head to onemovementmusic.com.

WET AND SLIPPERY

Eighties rock legends Bon Jovi are set to invade Australia in December as part of their Circle World Tour.

TURNING JAPANESE

Mega successful local lads Birds Of Tokyo are back home at the beginning of October for their self-titled album tour.

[MORE NEWS]

CD REVIEWS

ZOLA JESUS

Stridulum EP

Sacred Bone Records/Midheaven

For an artist that has admittedly struggled with the limelight, Stridulum is a document that leaves Nika Roza Danilova – otherwise known as Zola Jesus– naked.

[MORE CD REVIEWS]

FASHION

AVATAR

West Australian based student designer Jeromy Lim will pack his bags for an overseas adventure next month to participate in the finals of a prestigious international fashion competition hosted by the Paris American Academy and the International Textile and Apparel Association. A student of Curtin University by day and Polytechnic West Institute by night, Lim is an extremely talented designer who isn’t afraid of hard work.