Larry Heath sits down with Austin Jenkins and James Petralli of Austin Texas band White Denim during their first ever Australian tour in January 2014, not long before they hit the stage in Sydney, supporting Hanni El Khatib, in a Falls Festival sideshow.
the AU review is proud to support Curve Lurve, the McGrath Foundation’s education initiative, developed to help increase breast awareness in young Australians, with a particular emphasis on young women. To help promote Curve Lurve, the McGrath Foundation has commissioned a 1950s inspired caravan named Curvey that will attend the 2014 Big Day Out in…
In the now classic song* by Sydney band The Beards, it’s exclaimed “There’s Nothing Better Than Having a Beard”. What Canadian troubadour Ben Caplan proved in his Sydney Festival opening set, accompanied by his band The Casual Smokers, is that a) this is true and b) it’s even better when that beard can play some…
We’re weeks away from experiencing the wonder that is Soundwave Festival around Australia, and one of the local bands to be a part of the bill are Melbourne’s Deez Nuts. Philippe caught up with the band to talk about the festival, their latest album and more… There were a lot of guest spots that appeared…
It’s still very much holiday time at the Australian Box Office, with nine of the top ten films grossing over $1 million over the past weekend. Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug continues its dominance of the chart and shows that the public’s thirst for films set in Middle-Earth has not waned. In second place,…
the AU review presents Canadian artist Mo Kenney performing the track “The Happy Song” LIVE, exclusive and acoustic on the AU sessions. Filmed in Sydney, Australia at AU HQ on 8th January 2014. Mo Kenney is currently touring Australia with the following dates remaining: Thursday 9th January at The Basement, Sydney Friday 10th January at…
With the main summer festival season just kicking off around the country once again, we are bringing you our top 5 favourite Australian festivals of the last year, as voted for by our contributors. Though the list is dominated by the larger national touring festivals, a number of the local state specific festivals racked up…
From mirrors in the streets, to bullets in your teeth, Sydney Festival will have it all when it kicks off this Thursday night. But let’s face it – there’s just too much to choose from! So to help, we’ve listed 14 performances and attractions you can’t miss at Sydney Festival 2014! LIMBO January 8th to…
Canyons are willing to get up, about and all crazy in a live setting most of the time (as are most bands on the Modular label), but the last year has seen a different type of performance from them as a group. Throughout this year, the outfit has performed 100 Million Nights – a slightly…
***MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD*** With AMC doing their whole standard mid-season split, fans of The Walking Dead are left with a few months to ponder the long overdue prison break our nearest and dearest survivors have now been forced to make. For a second there, it looked like we might have a repeat of the slow-burning…
In the Horror Comedy Ghost Team One, a sensation from the 2013 Slamdance Film Festival, films like the Paranormal franchise are parodied, and word is that it’s to a hilarious result. We’ve been sent the official red band trailer for the film, which is now available digitally through Paramount Home Media Distribution. Watch the trailer…
Fans of Disney films, and in particular Mary Poppins and those interested in the back story of how that film came to pass will find this almost biopic about author P.L. Travers intriguing and even emotionally moving. Saving Mr Banks is a somewhat confusing title as the film focuses on Travers and her dealings with…
After some 115 shows around the world, including an impressive (and slightly humbling – we’re rarely so spoilt) two stops in Australia, Brooklyn group Grizzly Bear have brought their Shields tour to an end with a spectacular two hour set at the Sydney Opera House. The crowd lapped up every minute of the set, which…
The Iris is proud to bring you our top ten films of 2013, as voted by our contributors. We kick things off with an American comedy that met our writer’s expectations… 10. Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues How could we reserve passing judgement on a sequel to one of the most quintessential comedies of the…
Every two years, Melbourne’s much respected Circus Oz pitch their tent in Sydney, and while it might feel like just yesterday that the troupe were last here, that time has arrived once again, with Thursday night holding the opening night premiere of the newest Circus Oz production: Cranked Up. While Sydney Festival offers circus and…
Not long before he released his new record, Don’t Tell the Driver (available now), I caught up with Mick Turner, best known for his work as part of Dirty Three to talk about his music, his art, touring with Bill Callahan and much more… Mick will be playing Sydney Festival on January 23rd. You’re a…
The Iris is proud to present a list of our top twenty films of 2013, voted by our contributors. All films on this list are subject to the Australian release dates – not the original release date in the film’s home country. And we kick off with one such film, released in 2012 in the…
Ahead of the premiere next week of LIMBO as part of Sydney Festival, I spoke to Danik Abishev about his role in the show described as a “dirty and dangerous circus-cabaret”. Danik, meanwhile, is described as an “aggressive hand balancer”. Find out what that means and more about the show in this interview! LIMBO looks…
With a big night before in check, Field Day offered enough dance music to keep the celebrators happy while offering a few more chilled out options for those still recovering from New Year’s Eve. Its size, slightly smaller than a regular festival, meant that it was easier to get around and criss-cross genres throughout the…
As expected, the second film in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy, The Desolation of Smaug, comfortably won the Boxing Day Box Office Battle (BDBOB) for 2013. The fantasy epic took $5.465 million on opening day, which is the second highest Boxing Day take ever. The record still belongs to the first Hobbit film, An Unexpected Journey, which made $5.925 million on Boxing Day in…
Majestic, powerful and intimidating, the sad reality is that sharks have more reason to fear us, than the other way round. Thanks to netting, shark finning and mercury poisoning we’ve managed to push over 90% of shark species to the brink of extinction. Directors Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas choose to broach the subject more…
Tomorrow will see the release of Dublin based singer/songwriter James Vincent McMorrow‘s much anticipated record Post Tropical – the follow up to the highly acclaimed Early In The Morning. He’s currently in Australia to kick off his tour for the record, playing Falls Festival, Southbound and sideshows in Sydney and Melbourne next week. Just before…
2013 marked a lot of firsts for us at the AU, and one of the new additions to the site we’ve been most excited about has been our new video games section “VideAU Games”. We asked our new team of contributors to tell us their favourite games of 2013, and from that, we bring you…
Earlier this month, Larry caught up with Lee Ranaldo from the iconic group Sonic Youth, who will return to Australia next month for the local premiere of his new work Hurricane Transcriptions (Last Night on Earth) exclusively at the Sydney Festival. We talk about the composition, his recent work with his band The Dust and…
We asked the contributors of The Iris to tell us their favourite shows of 2013, and here now are the top thirteen they voted! Only three new series make the list, with the other ten proving that the best only get better as the seasons continue… 13. Person of Interest – CBS, USA This continues…
It’s almost become cliché to say it now, but Meryl Streep dominates yet another film. August: Osage County is an adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning play of the same name, with original playwright Tracy Letts penning the screenplay for The Company Men director John Wells to helm. A darkly comic drama, the film begins…
The release of Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues has sent Ron Burgundy and his News Team straight to the top of the Australian box office over the past week. The comedy sequel made an impressive debut, especially considering that the original Anchorman only made $1,669,440 in its entire Australian run back in 2004. David O. Russell’s American Hustle and animated sequel Cloudy With…
If you’re a Doctor Who fan, “The Time of the Doctor” was more than just your usual Christmas Special. It means the end of the Matt Smith era and the beginning of our time with Peter Capaldi. Before we get to those eyes who appeared quickly in “The Day of the Doctor” (the 50th Anniversary…
The new documentary Muscle Shoals tells the story of a little town of the same name in Alabama, USA, where an incredible amount of iconic music was recorded at Rick Hall’s FAME Studios. We’re talking tracks by everyone from The Rolling Stones to U2 and Aretha Franklin (all of whom appear in the film)… to…
