BobbyAlu speaks
09/01/11 • 0 Comments

CHARLES WALL AKA BOBBY ALU Island Vibe Festival 2010 Interview Transcript: During the course of Island Vibe, we got to sit down and chat with a few of the performers including the lovely Charles Wall (AKA Bobby Alu) who spared his time between sets. Pretty sure we made him late to the second one. Sorry. We spoke briefly about the drinking culture of the music industry which I think warrants a deeper discussion. But that’s for next time. Full transcript below. When was the last time you drank to get drunk? The last time I drank to get drunk would have to be…last weekend. Have you ever had an extended period of sobriety? I have. How long? The longest sober period would be… a month? Why did you choose to do that? The previous 3 months had been very full-on (laughs) Why do you drink? The main reason would be to step up [...]

Self-Indulgent Flippery (and the human syringe)
22/12/10 • 1 Comment

A while back now, right before Chris Raine moved away from Melbourne (about a month before I did also) we sat down to say our good-byes. What was meant to be coffee turned into lunch, and we spent the next 6 hours having one of those conversations you generally reserve for people you’ve known longer than the collective 8 hours you’ve spent with them. I was kind of embarrassed after we parted ways. I thought about the things I had told him; about my family, about my friends, about my dreams and aspirations, and the things that scared me in the world. There was a moment of regret, images of ships sinking because of my loose lips. I nicknamed him the human syringe for having the uncanny ability to reach in and steal all my secrets. One thing in particular has stayed with me from this particular conversation, and it’s [...]

To sum up your honour, it’s the constitution, it’s law, it’s the vibe, of the thing
21/11/10 • 0 Comments

“It’s just…the vibe… of the thing” – Dennis Denuto, The Castle. It’s difficult to describe a festival like Island Vibe. Legally challenged lawyer, Dennis Denuto, said it best with the above. You know. When you can’t quite describe something because you can just feel it in your bones. It’s not so much a festival (as I know it to be) as an opportunity to go camping en masse with the option of seeing some good music in the afternoon. That’s if you’re awake, OR not at the beach, OR not having an impromptu sing-a-long with your neighbours, OR making pina coladas in coconuts. Yes, we happened to be drinking, if you were wondering. We were questioned on this time and time again at the festival, and wondered whether or not we ‘should be’ as HSM representatives and how it would affect our experience. Chris and I both completed a 3 [...]

Island Vibe 2010
29/10/10 • 1 Comment

Good Afternoon fellow HSM’ers…! For those of you who missed the Facebook Post, Chris (Beavon) and I are going to Island vibe tonight to do some coverage on behalf of HSM. Besides having a generally excellent time, we’re taking a handy-cam along to talk to a few of the artists about their thoughts on the drinking culture in the industry and in general, as well as a few people who are spending the weekend sober….and maybe some silly stuff too. We’ll also write a review and snap a few happy snaps so you can live vicariously through us. Depending on the network coverage I’ll be twittering throughout the weekend too, so if you want to follow some intellectual discourse, you can track them on: http://twitter.com/Mahreeko or wait for the final review next week. Chris and I have already completed a 3 month HSM each, and are (generally) happy little campers, [...]

Birthday Hurdle
29/07/10 • 3 Comments

I spent my 25th birthday sober. Yes. Sober. If the first sentence sounded inexplicably morose in your head, (not dissimilar to a doctor giving a patient bad news), we could be related. If the words that followed were steeped in melancholy, well! Pull up a chair and sit by me. We’ll drown our sorrows in a couple of G + T’s. Hold the G. When it comes to words, there is nothing as cruel as the word lisp, or more sobering as the word sober. Except for me. Sufficiently depressed? This should just about bring you into my headspace the night before my 25th. It was the first point in my HSM where I felt sorry for myself. It’s not that I had a bad day. Quite the opposite. The night before, there was an amazing dinner and even more amazing cake (see below). I had a good friend by [...]