Author: Larry Heath

As we look back on our time at SXSW last month, we wanted to briefly reflect on four comedy films we caught during the festival. We’ll give these the full review treatment closer to their Australian release dates, but in the meantime, here are our first thoughts on the overwhelmingly impressive run of films at…

To say I’ve been anticipating the return of The Decemberists for some time is an understatement. Since first seeing the Portland, Oregon group in Canada almost ten years ago, I’ve jumped at every chance to see the band live. When first in Australia for Big Day Out in 2010, I was lucky enough to catch…

Part of the Millenium group of Hotels and Resorts, Singapore’s Studio M Hotel is a perfect example of the city’s unique ways to make the best of small spaces, something which is typical both of the city’s hotel rooms and the apartments that line the streets. But Studio M takes this concept to another level, bringing…

We return domestically with an East Coast capital city service from Virgin, who have kicked things up a notch in recent times to compete with Qantas more aggressively on the domestic market. Airline: Virgin Australia Route: Sydney-Brisbane, VA931 Seat: 7A (Window) Aircraft: Boeing 737-800 Flight Time: 1 Hour 30 Minutes On Schedule? Yes, departed aircraft…

With a surprise appearance from J.J. Abrams helping get the crowd in the mood, the premiere of Secrets of The Force Awakens: A Cinematic Journey – an insightful, feature length documentary about the 7th Star Wars film, The Force Awakens – attracted a massive crowd at SXSW earlier this month, keen to learn the secrets behind…

Chicago is transformed by the iconic music festival Lollapalooza every year, giving the some 100,000 attendees – alongside those who didn’t get a ticket – the chance to experience the bands and the flavour of the incredible music that the event offers. Last year, we headed to Chicago to check out the festival and also see…

Lord Huron have stuck out as one of the highlights of this year’s Bluesfest line up down in Byron Bay and it’s no wonder – a blistering live show littered with stage charm and an endearing presence that can only really be learned through years of honing their craft, the band won many new fans on…

Earlier in the month at SXSW, I had the chance to sit down with the cast and crew behind the first Pee Wee movie in almost 30 years (you can read these chats HERE). One thing that was universal with all the interviews I conducted was that this now classic – yet still bizarre in all…

Cold War Kids are back in Australia, hitting our festival scene once again with a killer live show at Bluesfest in Byron Bay overnight. Larry sat down with vocalist Nathan Willett on site at the festival to catch up on what’s been happening with the band since we last saw them out this way a few Falls Festivals ago…

David isn’t here any more and we’re still processing that… but after some weeks of grief I now feel incredible fortunate to work with him. – Jonathan Barnbrook On Saturday – the final day of the SXSW Music Conference in Austin, Texas – The Blackstar visual piece “UNBOUND: A★INSTAMINISERIES” was shown in full for the first time, accompanied…

The Daughter brings together an incredible Australian cast with Director and Writer Simon Stone, who penned the Belvoir adaptation and marks his screen debut debut here, as did Cowell with Guthrie. The 1884 Norwegian play has been transformed here into an Australian family drama (though the duck, naturally, remains present), set on the NSW South Coast, focusing on a family and…

Luca Guadagnino’s new film A Bigger Splash is a riveting tale of passion, jealousy and rock stars. Larry caught up with the director himself to talk about the film. Read what he had to say during the pair’s in-depth discussion of the film below. You took the main bits of La Piscine and you treated it as a…

Supported by experimental London septet The Moonlandingz and Brooklyn solo instrumental artist (and birthday girl) Noveller, Iggy Pop officially kicked off his USA tour tonight as part of the SXSW conference in Austin, Texas. The show technically marked the second of two nights for legendary American artist at ACL Live’s Moody Theater, having taped in the venue the…

On the announcement of her addition to the Coachella 2016 lineup, Australian artist Sia seemed to confirm her return to the touring scene, some four years after calling it quits on her live shows – which would go onto create her much talked about “blonde bob” alter ego for 2014’s acclaimed 1000 Forms of Fear,…

This Friday, the SXSW (South by Southwest) Film and Interactive conference and festival kicks off in Austin, Texas… then the Music Mayhem starts next Tuesday! We’re just days away from flying to the great city ourselves for the 7th consecutive year of coverage, so we thought we’d share with your our top nine festival tips in this…

The 2016 SXSW Film Festival kicks off on Friday and as always there are dozens upon dozens of amazing films to choose from. Here are our picks: 8 films and 1 Episodic Premiere that might help you make your selections for this year’s anticipated event… Keanu Key and Peele’s first big screen adventure looks ridiculous….

This Friday, the SXSW (South by Southwest) Film and Interactive conference and festival kicks off in Austin, Texas… then the Music Mayhem starts next Tuesday! We’re just days away from flying to the great city ourselves for the 7th consecutive year of coverage, so we thought we’d share with your our top nine festival tips in this…

In the new documentary The Smart Studios Story, making its world premiere next week at SXSW in Austin Texas, Director Wendy Schneider takes a look back at the legacy of the legendary Madison, Wisconsin recording studio founded by Butch Vig and Steve Marker: Smart Studios. We caught up with Wendy ahead of the premiere to find out…

Seeing a band like the great Sleater-Kinney at a venue as prestigious as the Sydney Opera House is something of a strange experiment; because when the band are at their best, they’re one who make you want to jump up and down, and throw yourself all around. This is something hard to do from a more conservative,…

Larry Heath sat down with Cub Sport earlier today, the day their debut record “This is Our Vice” is finally released internationally. We talk about making the record their album, the three music videos already released – “Only Friend”, “Stay” and “I Can’t Save You” – and look to the year ahead. Tim and the band…

Boasting excellent service and a great location for those visiting Calgary, the Kensington Riverside Inn is a high level, contemporary boutique hotel. Situated in the trendy area of Kensington, this hotel is just across the road from the beautiful Bow River, an easy walk to the beautiful Prince’s Island Park and just around the block…

Monsters come in many forms. And next week, with the arrival of 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE from Executive Producer J.J. Abrams, we may just get to meet some of them. The film stars John Goodman alongside Mary Elizabeth Winstead and John Gallagher Jr. and serves as a long awaited follow-up to the 2008 film Cloverfield. Just how…

Yesterday, the Foo Fighters revealed they were making a band announcement – a band announcement that music media around the world quickly assumed would be the band announcing they were breaking up, or taking an indefinite hiatus, based on one quote from the drummer a while back. There was so much rhetoric about it that…

It’s hard to know where to begin when covering the NSW boutique festival Secret Garden, an event I attended for the first time over the weekend. It takes place about an hour out of Sydney and gives precedence to its name by not revealing its announcement until the event sells out; which was about a week…

In today’s Flight review on AU Abroad, we take you on Singapore Airline‘s iconic Airbus A380 journey from Sydney to Singapore, which was recently reduced to one service a day. Airline: Singapore Airlines Route: Sydney to Singapore, SQ232 Seat: 34G (Aisle Seat, of a 3-4-3 configuration in Economy) Aircraft: Airbus A380 Scheduled Flight Time: 7…

Located about an hour out of Austin, where SXSW kicks off next week, San Antonio offers its own incredible nightlife for locals and visitors a like. Sure, there are plenty of bars around, showing the football and serving wings and beers… and you can rarely go wrong there! But, this list is about the places for…

Having been on the road for most of the past decade, Aussie rock group Dallas Frasca will be continuing this tradition in the year ahead. The group will be headed to Europe this May with American rockers The BellRays in tow, and fitting in a couple of Aussie dates before they make the trip. Check out the…

When boarding a long haul flight, there are few greater moments of jealously one experiences than seeing someone in business class enjoying a glass of champagne on a seat that you know lies flat and ensures no one is going to be climbing over you for the entire duration of the flight. Well, last year I…

Avoiding the obligatory entry of “Ramen”, here are our five picks of the things you have to eat in Tokyo (and where to eat it): Photo Credit: Explore Japan. SOBA by Andrew Campbell and Erin Smith Soba, particularly cold soba if you’re after something a bit different. Masudaya in Shinjuku has some great soba dishes…

As we approach the 88th Annual Academy Awards – screening live in Australia on Monday February 29th from Noon on Channel Nine – it feels pertinent to reflect on one of the most justifiably endearing topics of this year’s awards: race. #OscarsSoWhite is a hashtag (engineered by April Reign, Managing Editor of BroadwayBlack.com) that circulated the social…