The Formative Years – Welcome to Venice

It must have been in 1990 that I first came across the Welcome to Venice compilation.

I was instantly hooked and made it my mission to find out more about each of the contributing acts, specifically Suicidal Tendencies, whose self-titled debut album was glued to my turntable once acquired.

While it was clear that ST was essentially a punk band, their crossover approach marrying hardcore punk with virtuous solos, metal and groove along with their idiosyncratic aesthetics were unlike anything I had grown to expect to emerge from California from the often overly melodic fun driven bands released by e.g. Mystic Records, whose charm was often found in the utter dilettantism.

The gang culture and resulting violence surrounding Venice and its bands is well documented and while it added an alure of danger to the mix, what made ST interesting was the other end of the spectrum, i.e. the fact that Mike Muir displayed both a sense of humour, authenticity as well as refreshing thoughtfulness when he e.g. delved into experiences with alienation and depression.

The second album Join the Army solidified their sound and ignited a commercially successful triumvirate of albums, with How Will I Laugh Tomorrow and Controlled by Hated / Feel Like Shit…Déjà Vu, each of which are classic full-lengths in their own right that have stood the test of time.

Light…Camera…Revolution was the first album the release of which I witnessed first-hand and it proved to be both technically and sonically the most refined offering so far with the songs not only being more complex but majorly enhanced by foci set on thrash metal as well as funk elements. A classic, focussed and inspired album.

1992 saw the release of The Art of Rebellion, which is by many considered Suicidal Tendencies’ most “experimental album” – a classification that was more often than  not meant as a put down as hardliners saw them loose their edge in a bid to blend in with the new wave of grunge and alternative rock acts.

I consider it a masterpiece.

While staying true to their punk and hardcore roots, with The Art of Rebellion ST managed to grow further as band by skilfully incorporation funk and pop sensibilities, which seamlessly tie into more progressive song structures.

Yes, it was more accessible and melodic yet did not stray from the band’s DNA, instead it saw Mike Muir utilize his vocal delivery even more as an additional instrument, infusing the songs with a new vulnerability without ever running danger of entering lachrymose territory.

High Adventures in the Great Outdoors – Undone

There are no two ways about it: The opposite of “off-the-rack” is gaining in popularity with customization being a feat of exclusivity and luxury. What in the world of bespoke tailoring with clothing being made to individual measurements of the customer, has been practiced for the longest time, specifically with tailor-made suits in the UK has now firmly established itself for other products as well.

When it comes to watches and the Hypebeast era we live in, brands tend to dominate the scene and while it might be hard to argue with the craftmanship that results in the creation of a Rolex, theme-wise it seems like antiquated concepts around e.g. aviation and seafaring, are being rehashed again and again. On the other end of the spectrum there are mass produced, widely available cheap variants which usually do not have staying power or merit beyond the flavour-of-the-day appeal. In other words, the equilibrium between accessibility and personalisation paired with quality manufacturing in the realm of watch making is rarely to be found.

Having used the Apple Watch for many years in a utilitarian manner for its features, I felt it was time to invest into a watch to sprinkle my day with a different aesthetic and add a bit of variety to the daily humdrum.

Enter Undone and their endeavour to make individuality matter by creating unique timepieces by understanding their customers’ requests and creating the desired watch specifically for them without any further third party involved. After having refined their approach to watchmaking by mastering the fundamentals via the creation of a line of vintage-inspired lines based on both mecha-quarts and automatic variants, they embarked into more experimental territory.

The way it works is that you browse Undone’s website to select the individual components of your watch, with the option to customize each minute detail from thousands of possible options and component either by relying on tried and tested presets or customizing everything from colour schemes, bezels, straps, etc. from scratch, including adding initials, engravings and other personal touches to the mix.

Once happy with the design and features, the individual parts are then being assembled by expert watchmakers, placed through strict quality control to make sure that nothing is out of place – a process, which also ensures responsible production and the elimination of excess waste.

Apart from the bespoke services Undone offers, collaborations with partners like DC Comics, illustrators and established graphic designers further aid in Undone’s commitment to explore and accentuate your own story.

The watch I created is based on a classic basecamp design with the customized features chosen paying homage to both classic designs as well as personalised touches, which includes the display of artwork I have specifically created for the backside of the watch, sealing the uniqueness of the watch.

Quality at work when it comes to building monuments to the greatest of all thieves.

Water of Life - Roe & Co.

Despite having more than a weak spot for peated variants, I have always had a failble for Irish whisikies as you would know if you followed this series, with Irish whiskeys being a bit underrepresented yet highly appreciated in the instalments we covered them with.

Needless to say, when  Diageo announced four years ago the return to Irish whiskey with the launch of Roe & Co. after they parted ways with Bushmills, I was intrigued.

Roe and Co. is a new Irish blend that set out to do push the boundaries and do something different by employing the services of Master Blender Caroline Martin to create a drop with a distinct Irish profile yet being versatile enough to become a go-to for bartenders the world over.

The pear shaped bottle in itself, being rounded and completely transparent, is a thing of beauty, which bodes well for pale golden liquid.

Clocking in at 45% ABV, Roe and Co’s core expression tickles the nostrils with fruity notes topped by pear highlights, set against a honeyed vanilla backbone and hints of delicate spices.

Texture-wise, what materializes on the roof of the mouth is creamy, bordering on the oily with flavours continuing what the nose promised, i.e. sweet and fruity apple notes and pear nuances mixed with honey, woody vanilla derived from the maturation in first fill Bourbon casks, culminating in more dominant gingery warm spicy flavours, which seamlessly transitions into a nice elongated finish with the sweet notes delicately fading into a peppery crescendo.

Roe and Co’s non-chill filtered core expression is a fine Irish blend of single malt and grain whiskeys set to excite aficiondas and the uninitiated alike as it makes both a nice addition to cocktails as well as a dram to be enjoyed by itself.

Once travel restrictions are lifted, I cannot wait to pay a visit to Roe and Co’s newly opened distillery to try not only their cask strength single malts and grains but their own Guiness Citra IPA cask finished  (I am salivating already) and Guiness Antwerpen Stout variants, which are unfortunately currently only available in Ireland.

Thus Let Us Drink Beer – OZ round-up

Green Beacon Red’s Dead IPA, Wayward Brewing’s new sour and Foghorn Brewery

If you have followed this series diligently, you would have recognized that there are a few Australian breweries that not only emit interesting new concoctions on a regular basis, but push the boundaries every time in terms of creating fulminant flavour experiences.

Green Beacon is one of the distilleries that yet has to disappoint and if you have had the fortune to sample some of their core range ales, you would probably do the same as me, i.e. be on the lookout for their fantastic seasonals which they revisit at different times of the year.

One of those limited releases is the aptly titled Red IPA, Red’s Dead,  which delivers is the hop department but has the pirate skeleton which adorns the packaging flex its muscles specifically in the chocolatey end of the malt spectrum, culminating in  sweet, biscuity and berry rich highlights, which are counterpointed by a resinous, piney backbone. The result is a complex, flavourful yet subtle IPA with an ABV of 6.5% ideal for the colder months of the year and a perfect component of a boilermaker with a peaty dram.

Foghorn Brewery

Despite of having released an array of beer variants and with its head brewer  and former university lecturer Shawn Sherlock being accolade decorated, I was yet to be introduced to the emissions of Foghorn Brewery. With its HQ being located in a converted industrial unit in Australia’s Newcastle, Foghorn’s line-up is comprised of a diverse range of style from pilsners to saisons, stout, IPAs and melanges in between.

Let’s start with one of Foghorn’s more accessible emissions, i.e. the sessionable Newy Pale Ale, which is understood to be a hoppy ode to Newcastle. With the hops being at the fruity end of the spectrum and being added late in the brewing access , they unveil their full potential set against malty and slightly yeasty highlights. With an IBU of 35 and ABV of 4.5% a nice entry point into the realm of how Foghorn channels its alchemy.

A personal favourite of Foghorn’s brews is the visual and nomenclatural ode to David Bowie, i.e. the Young Americans IPA, which is a balanced, sublime India Pale Ale paying homage to the traditional American style with a welcome overload of Simcoe and Citra hops, which are infused with idiosyncratic flavour notes via the addition of New Zealand Wakatu flowers, resulting in a delicious tour de force of resinous goodness, set against a well-calibrated bitterness. Clocking in at a devilish ABV of 6.66%, Foghorn’s Young American IPA makes one lust for their more limited variants and a visit to their brewhouse.

With the dram of a neck pour of a freshly opened Laphroaig Quarter Cask waiting for a companion, I gave Foghorn’s Sligo Stout a go and well, it is a thing of beauty. With an ABV close to eight percent and the name being an homage to the Western part of Ireland and its legendary stout heritage, what hits the palate is a melange of dark chocolate and nicely calibrated coffee nuances , which rests against a balanced backbone of hoppy bitterness. Once sampled, it is not further wondrous that it won a range of “best stout” category awards.

Wayward Brewing

Wayward Brewing has established itself firmly on the firmament of Sydney breweries that pump out consistently quality , limited releases and while the names and flavour might sounds a bit wild at times, they always manage to pull it off.

Case in point: Wayward Brewing’s new Peaches and Cream Vanilla Sour.

Yes, you would be right in assuming that this one is located a bit left of centre of what a more traditional beer aficionado would expect from a brewery, however,  Wayward has channelled its alchemy in a way that even if you are consider sours an acquired taste, you cannot help to find yourself thinking that it was a worthwhile tasting experience.

Resting on a foundation of the marriage of  Australian-grown peaches and Madagascar Bourbon vanilla, this velvety sour is what the name suggest, i.e. the equivalent of an ice-cream sundae in beer form, however, it would not be Wayward if it did not delicately meander the spectrum from sour to sweet and back in manner that lets one discover more than the nuances that the name suggests.

Another example par excellence for Wayward confidently going off the beaten track to win over new palates.

I cannot wait for Wayward Brewing’s upcoming IPA variants…

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images from company websites

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

Enmore Theatre

April 22, 2021

Sydney, Australia

Claiming that the collective known the world over as King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard is “prolific” and “productive” would be an understatement par excellence: The band has steadily pumped out quality releases ever since their inception ten years ago, clocking in at currently seventeen full length albums.

If I had to pin down the DNA of King Gizzard to the uninitiated, I would probably start by explaining that they have created their own microcosm, i.e. “The Gizzverse”, where psychedelic rock is married with a knack for catchy and innovatively compact song writing with enough space for all things weird to be incorporated, not for novelty’s sake but to add to their idiosyncratic allure. Needless to say, with close to twenty albums under their belts, the driving force is the will to consistently reinvent oneself and avoid stasis at any cost. It also allows to confidently march down off the beaten track routes and if it proves not fruitful, the sheer volume of outcome helps to make it fade in the wealth of goodness that is being produced.

Having used the lockdown period to work on new material and with pandemic related restrictions easing on terra australis, I was excited to celebrate the attendance of a proper live show with the sextet.

The ability to draw from an extensive, stylistically varied catalogue bode well for an evening that proved to be a celebration of music and life within the realm of the Gizzverse. With an unrivalled fluidity, the King Gizzard was not only frenetically welcome by a hungry audience at the sold out Enmore Theatre, but incarnated with a nuanced set synthesizing their entire musical prowess, taking detours via Kraut rock, microtonal Middle Eastern influences, Americana, homages to proto punk and metal, world music and everything in between. The fact that it never feels overloaded, speaks volumes about King Gizzard having finetuned carefully calibrated their live performance while still allowing for improvisational impulses to blossom, which because of their surprising nature and crescendos the whole band gets involved in, become highlights in themselves.

Set against projections framing them in their own worlds, King Gizzard in a live environment is a treat to be savoured and a mesmerizing and  unique experience where a band is unveils its very own distinctiveness by being musically chameleon-esque as they could be.

A much needed life-affirming musical rollercoaster ride.

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photos by @k.a.vv