The photo above is really very silly but does look like Gaz is rooting the rest of the band, I've written a post called
The Roots of Gareth Liddiard and The Drones so maybe I should have used this photo but it's very new. I found it on the latest
mess+noise interview with him but god knows who took the photo.
OK, it's been a long wait for
this DVD. It would have been at least early last year when I first heard about it and the filming for Melbourne's
East Brunswick Club on February 20, 2010. Gaz has said it takes a long time in DVD land so I guess he's right but he's also done the reissue of
Gutterville Splendour Six on vinyl and recorded/produced
Ben Salter's debut solo album this year, plus of course his own solo album was released last year too.
Mike Noga also put out his own solo album early this year too. Mike Noga and Dan Luscombe both joined Augie March's
Glenn Richards for his debut solo album. Fiona Kitschin has been managing her boyfriend's solo career too, do you know who that is? If not just have guess, a clue his name is in the title of this post. So everyone has been busy, I guess but not the busy I would like. No really I have loved all the above projects but maybe I just missed The Drones.
This has been a long week too because I kept checking for the DVD since last Friday, 7th October which was the second release date which had changed from 16th September. I didn't get it until this Friday, 14th October. I always get this with anything on the
Shock Records distribution, you could really place bets on how late they are. It's all great being independent and all but I wish it meant stuff arrived on the due date or why have one, fuck knows should be the release date but I do live on the arse end of this country,
Perth.
So, now I have it I've watched it twice already even though I've worked a six day week at work, filling in for my boss who's gone on school holidays down south with his kids. The Fairfied Warehouse sessions are the quieter and in all color to the East Brunswick club session louder and in Black and White and is the first disc - both are from 2010. Then the second disc is 2005 to 2008 which is a lot of stuff recorded but never seen before or maybe just on youtube but you can now have it all in the one place which is so cool, I don't have to download it all the time now. I have read people saying four and a half hours is too long for any band but The Drones some songs are about ten minutes long and in the end it really is not too long. If anything, I wouldn't have minded another disc but maybe that is just me. I totally love this band, they're the greatest band in the world and this DVD has made them even more so.
In some interviews Liddiard has talked about a big box of live recording of mainly audio so I would love to hear them now too but this is mainly all the video recordings here. Of course a few years back they released their first DVD called
Live In Madrid which is Spain plus extras, like videoclips of
Shark Fin Blues and
Jezebel so this one maybe should have had
The Minotaur videoclip but that is really no great loss. That old DVD was really Rui Pereira time period on film and this new one is Dan Luscombe but The Tote footage on the second disc has
Rui Pereira back on guitar. France and Germany is covered here, plus the last two shows are from Sydney shows but no England at all, which is a bit funny because their
record label is English but who really cares about them anyway. What else can I tell you about it? Well, I spotted two
Vincent van Gogh reproductions behind Mike Noga's shoulder. On his right is a very small
Starry Night and
Pink Peach Tree in Blossom on his left. Behind Fiona Kitschin is
The Cricketers by
Russell Drysdale. The tracklisting is
here if you want to see what songs were played and on the DVD.
In the interviews over the last couple of weeks for this DVD and tour Liddiard has talked about how he's not really listening to any rock n roll anymore and how he's really gotten into all this
African music which has got nothing to do with rock 'n' roll and the whole of English and American music at all. Plus it is somehow is going to influence new The Drones songs, he's going to write over this summer. He also says The Drones can do anything now on more than one occasion in these interviews. In one interview he said "he's broke-up The Drones and is now forming a new band which is going to be called The Drones" or something along those lines. The only thing I wished one of these journos would ask Liddiard was to put together a list of the best and/or his favorite albums from
Africa.
The few below photos are from the first of three gigs at
Melbourne's The Corner Hotel on Wednesday night. The first three photos are from
tonedeaf and were taken by Andrew Briscoe and then the bottom five are from
fasterlouder by katie_fairservice. So as a celebration that I finally got my hands on The Drones' A Thousand Mistakes DVD I'd like to throw them into this latest post. I can't complain now because I don't think I'll stop watching it now, I'm fuckin' lovein' it. I think I would rate it ten out of ten or hundred out of hundred or just million out of million, go and get it yourself.
OK, I went to see both gigs in W.A. at Mojo's in Freo and The Bakery in Northbridge last week because it's been so long since seeing them live and it was a treat.
Adalita was a great opening act, she was joined by Raúl Sánchez so it was kind-of half a
Magic Dirt reunion but playing songs from her solo album, plus the b-sides from the Hot Air EP, just different ones on both nights.
The setlist was the same on both nights to start with but maybe mixed up later but I love pretty much all The Drones songs so they could play any of their songs and I would love it. They played Stop Dreaming both nights which according to an interview with Gaz I read last week they never play or not for a longtime, or never since Mike Noga and Dan Luscombe have join the band - who asked where did that song come from?
Some highlights were: Starting the night off with
The Best You Can Believe In and
Locust and then later
Sitting On The Edge Of The Bed Cryin’ but no Sharkfin Blues from
Wait Long By The River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By album but then again I've seen that one heaps of times before.
Luck In Odd Numbers,
The Drifting Housewife and of course
The Minotaur from
Havilah album.
Jezebel,
I’m Here Now and of course
I Don’t Ever Want To Change from
Gala Mill.
River Of Tears too so pretty much the whole night was full of highlights. Then at Mojo's they did a wicked version of
The Miller’s Daughter and at The Bakery they did
Sixteen Straws. But then Adalita came back on stage to sing with Gaz:
Oh Sister, a
Bob Dylan cover from his
Desire album which was unbelievable, they really should record it together. As far as I know this is the only time The Drones have ever done a Bob Dylan cover, I know they name dropped Dylan a lot before but never a cover but then again I might be wrong. I still wish they would record that one, it was classic. It seems they did it in Melbourne the week before and in Adelaide the next night too. It was two awesome nights so if you have never seen The Drones yet before they finish their run of shows or just go buy the DVD.
Plus here is another very new videoclip just on youtube for the song
Did She Scare All Of Your Friends Away from his great solo album
Strange Tourist filmed by something called Sideshow Alley which was only uploaded a few days ago.
Right I better stop or I'll never finish this post, I've been writing all month, adding and adding to it. Maybe I should have broken it up but it's too late now. Stay tuned for the letter "E" very soon from my favorite 100 Aussie albums, I promise.
